At this stage of the journey excellent winter quarters were found for the Discovery. The retreat of the ships had been secured. Orders were for the Discovery to remain in or about the eighty-second parallel. Such a situation was now found. The Discovery therefore remained just north of Lady Franklin Strait, on the opposite side of Hall’s Basin, to that on which the Polaris wintered.
On the 26th of August the Alert proceeded alone into Robeson Channel, but got into difficulties with the ice, which bore down on the ship in tremendous masses. But fortunately she found shelter, and escaped destruction. Any further progress appeared impossible, so preparations were made for forming the winter quarters near at hand. As September had come the sledges were got ready, and Commander Markham set out with stores to establish a depot for the spring exploring parties farther north. The party returned in three weeks frost-bitten and exhausted, but they had accomplished their mission. Lieutenant Aldrich had also come back, but reported nothing but ice.
Attempts were made to communicate with the Discovery, but the state of the ice and snow prevented any such adventure, though Captain Stephenson was only sixty miles distant. Winter now set in, and the Alert was banked in snow. Candles and stoves and snow kept the inhabitants warm, and snow-houses were erected for scientific and storage purposes. The prospect afforded a view of limitless snow, and then darkness set in and limited the view to a few yards, except when the oft-recurring moon gave her welcome light. Doctor Moss, in his journal, gives a spirited description of the daily routine, which we condense. The cold was intense—the greatest ever experienced (73 degrees).
The toilet is rapidly performed, a tub is a weekly luxury. The men have breakfasted, and the rattling of cups and saucers warns the officers curried-sardine day has come round again! Cocoa is ready and hot rolls. Then the men have lime-juice and hot water for health’s sake. Afterwards all hands parade on deck for inspection and prayers. Then work begins. Water is procured from ice, tools mended, etcetera. The crew dine at one o’clock, the officers at 2:30. The latter go for a walk or rehearse theatricals. Going out, the air smells like green walnuts, says Doctor Moss. The walk, unless there is a moon, is taken up and down a beaten track, in the dark, half a mile long. The dinner gong sounds, all come in (brushing off the snow first). Then dinner, and when the cloth is off the white cat seats herself on the table. After dinner reading or writing, then school for the men; and music, chess or whist concluding the evening.
The Alert had no sun for a hundred and forty-two days, and the darkness was nearly as deep at noonday as an ordinary moonless night in England. On the 2nd of March the sun shone brightly, and the sledging was arranged for. The theatrical season had ended on the 24th of February. Many favourite farces were played, and the burlesque written by the chaplain met with great success.
A sledge party left to find the Discovery, but returned exhausted, and Petersen was nearly lost. He afterwards died, poor fellow, and was buried by his comrades on Cairn Hill, on the 14th of May. We have not space to follow all the sledging expeditions. We must condense the information and the interest. For two months and a half this, the most monotonous of all travelling, was continued. The labour was most severe and incessant, the distance made only a mile or two a day. Scurvy began its ravages, and the northern expedition had been nearly overcome, when Lieutenant Parr returned to the ship for assistance. Summer had arrived by this time. Immediate help was dispatched, but it was no easy task to find the men. Four of the party were alive, one had died. The sick man had been dragged on the sledge thirty-nine days, and they had buried him after all in a solitary spot in the far north—“a paddle and a batten” made a rude cross, and the sketch shows it most effectively in Doctor Moss’s book. Five only of the seventeen of the party came back in working condition, and they were nearly exhausted.
The question now arose whether the Alert should remain, advance, or retreat. It was impossible to advance more than a few miles—the crew was suffering—and retirement was the most sensible act. So the vessel rejoined the Discovery, some of whose men had not returned, and great anxiety was manifested concerning them. At length the party appeared, after an absence of one hundred and thirty days.
From Discovery Bay they struggled south in company, racing against winter. On the 9th of September Cape Isabella (Smith’s Sound) came in sight. Here letters were found which had been left by the Pandora. These were a cause of great joy, and when Disco was reached, and some coal procured, the explorers felt almost at home. On the 2nd of October the ships sailed for England. The Alert anchored at Valentia on the 27th of October, and the Discovery in Bantry Bay on the 29th.
A great deal had been accomplished by this expedition. The Alert had explored the west coast for two hundred and twenty miles, the Discovery had surveyed the Greenland coast, and Captain Stephenson placed a tablet over the grave of the brave Captain Hall of the Polaris, with a suitable inscription. The Alert men had attained the highest latitude ever reached, viz, 82 degrees 27 minutes North. The idea of the open Polar Sea then received its “quietus,” for nothing but ice is there.
The Queen commanded the Admiralty to thank Captain Nares and the officers and men under his command, and Captain Nares was knighted. Some little dissatisfaction was expressed, but the effects of the work so ably done quickly extinguished any hostile feeling.