Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea During 1875-6 in HM Ships Alert and Discovery: With Notes on the Natural HistoryThe British Vice-Admiral and Arctic explorer Sir George Nares (1831-1915) received several honours for his contributions to science, including a fellowship of the Royal Society. He attended the Royal Naval School, New Cross, before joining the service in 1845. After a varied early career and the successful Challenger scientific expedition in the Atlantic, he took command of the British Arctic expedition of 1875-6 that hoped to reach the North Pole. Nares' popular two-volume account of the journey was published in 1878. Volume 1 describes the journey north, and covers the discovery of the channel later called Nares Strait, and the remarkable dog-sled expedition of second-in-command, Albert Markham, that set a new record for the farthest distance north achieved. Nares' official report of the expedition and Markham's account of the journey, The Great Frozen Sea, are also available from the Cambridge Library Collection. |
Contents
CHAPTER I | 1 |
CHAPTER II | 15 |
CHAPTER III | 34 |
CHAPTER V | 73 |
CHAPTER VI | 98 |
CHAPTER VII | 130 |
CHAPTER VIII | 153 |
CHAPTER IX | 174 |
CHAPTER XI | 252 |
CHAPTER XII | 282 |
CHAPTER XIII | 331 |
Lieutenant Parr arrives on board AlertDistressing condition | 344 |
Common terms and phrases
able seaman advance Aldrich Alert appeared Arctic Arctic ships arrived boat cairn calm Cape Joseph Henry Cape Rawson Cape Sabine Cape Sheridan Captain Stephenson clear cliffs coast cold colour Commander Markham deck depôt of provisions Discovery Bay Distance marched dog-sledge dogs dragging drift ebb-tide Egerton eider ducks Eskimo expedition experienced fathoms feet Feilden Fiord floebergs forced formed Franklin frozen gale glacier Greenland Greenland hills Harbour hills hummocks icebergs inches Island Kennedy Channel land large floe latitude Lieutenant Lockyer Island Markham miles minus navigation neighbourhood night noon north-west northern northward observed obtained pack Parr party passed Polar Polaris pool of water reaching remained rising road Robeson Channel round scurvy ship ship's shore side Sir Edward Parry sledge crews Smith Sound snow snow-drift southward surface temperature tent thick to-day travelling walk weather westward wind winter yards young ice