Chapter I: Preface

I place these Sketches in the hands of my Publishers, believing that careful chromo-lithographic fac-similes of them will convey a fuller and perhaps more novel idea of Arctic scenery than any rendering in black and white. As Sketches from Nature, they, for obvious reasons, illustrate rather the scenery of our Expedition than its leading events; the latter are the prerogative of the Historian, and do not come within the scope of a Sketch-book, in which the letterpress is subordinate, and intended merely to connect and describe the pictures. Whatever may be the artistic value of the Sketches—and they lay claim to none—they are at least perfectly faithful efforts to represent the face of Nature in a part of the world that very few can ever see for themselves.

EDWARD L. MOSS.

_2nd February, 1877._

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

Entering the Arctic Circle—Continuous Daylight—Dispersion
of the Squadron—Rendezvous at Godhavn—The Lost Norse
Settlements—Embarkation of Eskimo Dogs and their
Driver—Ascent of Hills at Disco—The “LYNGEMARKEN”—A
Paradise for Botanists—Education at Disco—Parting from the
Valorous—Proven—Sanderson’s Hope—The “North Water”—Northern
Limit of Human Habitation—Melville Bay—Northumberland and
Hakluyt Islands, 9

CHAPTER II.

Classic Ground—A Ramble over the “Doige Mountains”—Foulke
Fiord—The Mer de Glace—Pack Ice—The First Check—Hayes’
Sound—Twin Glacier Valley—Charged by a Berg—Varying
Fortunes—Walrus, 15

CHAPTER III.

A Haul of the Dredge—Norman Lockyer Island—Traces of an Eskimo
Exodus—Midnight on the 12th August—Mysterious Cairns—Forcing the
Tidal Barrier—“Kane’s Open Polar Sea”—Hannah Island—Grant Land
Reached—Musk Oxen—“Discovery’s” Winter Quarters, 21

CHAPTER IV.

The Ships Part Company—Robeson Channel—Strange
Ice—Lincoln Bay—A Gale—A Rush North—The “Alert” reaches
a Latitude never before attained by Ship, and enters a
Polar Sea—Precarious Position—Disappointment—No Land
to the North—Perennial Ice—Altered Prospects—Autumn
Sledging—Pioneering—Dog-sledging—Romance and Reality, 27

CHAPTER V.

Exploration to the Westward—Dumb-bell Bay—A Seal—Search
for Game—Lonely Lake—Fish in the Lake—A Gale—Return of the
Boat Party—An Opportunity fortunately lost—The Expedition
becomes _the most Northern_—Depôts sent forward—Frost-bite
Range—Attempts to communicate with H.M.S. “Discovery”—Unexpected
Difficulties—Soft Snow—Sunset—Preparations for Winter—The Snow
Town—Building Snow Houses—Twilight Walk Shoreward, 32

CHAPTER VI.

End of Twilight—Moonlight—Daily Life in Winter
Quarters—Condensation—Breakfast—Morning Prayers—Outdoor
Work—Exercise—The Ladies’ Mile—A Walk to Flagstaff
Point—Sounds from the Pack—Optical Phenomenon—Dinner—Our Cat
“Pops”—Occupation during Winter—Mock Moons—“Sally”—The Darkness, 40

CHAPTER VII.

Winter Climate—Preservative Effect of Cold—Falling
Temperature—Unprecedented Cold—Extreme Low Temperature
not Unendurable—A Visitor from the Shore—Cold _v._
Vitality—Sudden Changes—A Breeze from the South—Warm Wind
Aloft—Danger from East Wind—Dawn—Brilliant Effect of Low
Sunlight—Lemming—Sunrise—Preparations for Spring—Snow-shoes—Our
Prospects—Motion of the Floes—A Tide Wave, 46

CHAPTER VIII.

The Sledging Campaign Opens—A Push for the “Discovery”—Petersen
Breaks Down—Shelter in a Snowdrift—Difficulties in Retreat—A
First of April Chase—Programme of Spring Sledging—Limited
Hopes—Departure of Main Detachments—Double Banking—The Camp—A
Night in a Tent—A Typical Floeberg—The Hare’s Sanctuary—Coat
of Arms—Castle Floe—Parhelia—Road-finding in the Fog—Mirage—A
Crevasse, 53

CHAPTER IX.

News from the “Discovery”—Sickness—Petersen’s Death and
Burial—The Relief of the Northern Detachment—The most Northern
Grave—The March to 83° N. Lat.—Its Results—The Advance of
the Season—Anxiety for the Safety of the Western Party—Its
Return—Two Hundred Miles to the West—Further Efforts Poleward
Hopeless, 62

CHAPTER X.

Arctic Summer—Flowers and Butterflies—Feathered Visitors—A
Strange Shot—Deceptive Game Tracks—The Land Ransacked—No Vestige
of Man—Nature’s Records—The Raised Beaches—The Break-up—Farewell
to Floeberg Beach—Running the Gauntlet—Robeson Channel
Ice-drift—A “Nip”—Walled in by Floebergs—Escape—Re-union with
the “Discovery,” 69