THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 441, 12 November 1875, Page 3

THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

The Valorous, having accomplished its part of the expedition, returned to Plymouth on August 29th, and, among others brought by her, the following letter has been published : It is June 21st, and we are still between 300 and 400 miles from Cape Farewell. Up to the present time, excepting the fair wind which cleared us of the Channel and all its dangers, we have experienced head winds and hard gales. No light summer breezes to waft us across the Atlantic ! No; we started to invade the most sacred territory of Nature, and instead of remaining quietly at homo till we hail arrived at the threshold of her jealonslv-gnnrded dormin, she has mc.t and opposed us from the very start with some pretty strong head winds and a gale or two; but still we have got on little by little, and shall even now, I hope, reach Disco by the lot of July, which is the date we wish to arrive there—that is, no later than that date ; and I only hope that these same winds that have been doing so much to stop our advance may be blowing with equal stiength in Smith's Sound and Melville Bay, and then, far from doing us any harm, they will be doing us the utmost good. There is nothing that could help us more, or which we should have more wished for.

We left Bantry Bay on Wednesday, June 2nd, about 11 a.m. The Valorous was waiting for us just outside, and having joined her, we all proceeded together under sail, the wind, wbut there was of it, being fair. By the morning it was quite calm, so steam was got up, but soon after, a breeze springing up again, we made sail. The poor old Valorous could hardly keep up with' us, even by using steam (slow speed) in addition to her sail. We had to keep under such easy sail that we rolled a great deal mo're than there was any need for. At last, on the evening of Saturday, sth, Valorous was informed by signal that for the present we would relieve ourselves of her company, but that she was to be at Disco by July Ist. We accordingly ran on, and soon lost sight of her. However, we saw her again in the distance for one or two days after, as the winds were light and variable, and she used steam. By Wednesday, the 9th, we had reduced the distance to Cape Farewell from 1250 miles, which is, I think, about the distance from Bantry Bay to 800 miles, but on Wednesday a foul wind set in after our first strong one ; aud by Saturday, 12th, we had brought the distance up to 832 miles, having been driven to the southward. On Saturday, at noon, we were 778 miles off, having made on our course 22 miles in four days. There was too much wind and sea all that time for us to use steam, let alone the waste of coal. On Sunday, 13th, our first real gale commenced at about lam. The wind came from the westward, blowing pretty fresh up till 7 a.m, when it very suddenly increased, and continued doing so until about 11 p.m, when it blew its hardest. There was a very rapid fall of the barometer as we stood to the northward, the fall increasing in rapidity as we approached the centre of the storm ; for by the rapidly-falling barometer, the confused state of the sea, the heavy and violent squalls, &c, we knew we were in a circular stjorm. This warned us to get on the other tack, as it is not desirable to get into the centre of a circular storm. So at about 10.30 p.m. we wore ; the wind shifted as we did so about five points. We now stood away to the westward. The barometer commenced rising almost immediately, but the wind did not go down much till Tuesday morning, and by the evening it was calm. From the 13th till the 27th we had a succession of hard head winds, with short intervals of calm, during which intervals we steamed. The ship was pretty wet, taking in a great deal of water, of which, to our great disgust, a large amount found its way below. On the 27th we came upon our first ice, heavy pack, along which we skirted, sometimes getting into it, until the Ist July, on which day we saw the last of the floe and pack ice on this side of Disco. During this time we had seen only a few bergs, and those not at all large ones. July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th were three lovely days. We were steering to the north, along the land, about thirty or forty miles off. The coast line consists of a rugged mountain chain running north and south, the tops aud sides of which were covered with snow in many places, but whether unusually so or not we cannot tell. The coast line was broken with numerous inlets and deep fiords running far inland ; the sea was beautifully blue and quite calm, and the sun shining brightly, made the mountain, sides and tops glisten and sparkle like diamonds, which a few dark, snowless patches helped to show out all the more brilliantly. Here and there a few icebergs out at sea broke the uniformity of horizon in that direction. In fact, except that the air was rather too cold, it was easy to imagine oneself in the Mediterranean. As we approached the Island of Disco, icebergs became much more numerous, and we saw some very large ones, but still, especially in height, nothing to what I expect we shall see.

On Sunday, 4th, in the evening, we crossed the Arctic Circle, and on Monday the sun was shining brightly all night. It scorns very odd going to bed in the bright sunlight. On Tuesday, the 6th, we arrived and anchored at Godhavn, Disco, where we found the Valorous. SShe got in on Sunday, thanks to her power of steam, in spite of our calling her dummy, &o, at first. She came through some ice, but not so much as we did, having come more to the westward. She has 250 tons of coals left, and between us we shall take from her something like 120 or 130 tons, so I expect they will have to go to a place on the mainland called Ritenbank, just opposile Disco, and dig for coal, which will be a long, disagreeable job, as the ground must still be very hard from the frost, and the coal is so bad that the Danish Government sends out every year the coal required for the settlements. However, as long as they get enough to clear them of the ice on the way to Uape Farewell, and for tin sounding and dredging they have to do on their way home, it will do, as they can sail the rest of the time. On Sunday, the 11th. 1 record that we have been hard at work ever since our arrival at Disco, getting in coal and stores from the Valorous, and taking observations of all descriptions on shore, the naturalists making excursions after

flowers, &c. There are a good many different kinds of plants and flowers growing on the sides of the mountains, but not in any very great abundance. There are, except dogs, no animals on this island, and not many birds. Some ducks have been shot—eider—but not many. There are a few cod to be caught in the harbour, and some salmon tro'it in the rivers, but not mauy of either ; still they are very acceptable in supplementing our other provisions. This is not a very magnificent settlement, only consisting of about twelve or fifteen huts and houses, with a population just uader 100. The inspector of the whole of the Danish possessions in Greenland lives here. He is a great swell, of course, and is generally a military man. His pay is £6OO per annum, and he has to remain out here for eight years. Ido not envy him. Then there is a Governor of the place, who is not nearly so big a man. Every Danish settlement has a blacksmith and a cooper, Danes, attached to it, who have, I believe, to sign regular articles before leaving Denmark to remain out here for a certain time. The women's dress is picturesque to look at. They wear colored boots, red or yellow, of dressed skins, which reach to the knee. Then white trousers, and a colored jacket fitting tight round the neck, and coming just below the top of the trousers. Seal-skin jacket and trousers are worn over these in cold weather, with the hair outside. The jacket has a hood in it foi carrying the babies. They all of them look just like Chinese about the eyes and face. I don't think they use much water, except for drinking. The Valorous, it appears, is not going for coal to the same Ritenbank as we go to for our dogs ; the one we go to is on a small island just off the mainland of Greenland, and opposite to this place, whilst the one she goes to for coal is on the north-oast of this Island of Disco.

To-day (July 16th) we arrived and anchored at Ritenbank at 11 am., and we leave at 6 o'clock to-morrow morning, just giving ourselves time to get the dogs and take a few observations. Our letters go tonight by the Valorous, so I must conclude now. We had a very quiet trip across here, and 1 think we shall find the towing to be economical ; but it has not had a'fair trial yet. To reach this piace we had to cross the mouth of the Waigattet, up which we go to morrow. It was very pretty to look at ; a long, narrow, winding channel—it is about eight miles broad and eighty long—running up between rugged mountains, snowcrowned, but the sides of which were dark and steep, with a few patches of green and snow. The water was a most beautiful blue, and was dotted all over with quantities of icebergs of all sizes, through which to morrow we shall have to wind in and out on our way to the north. This is a settlement of about the same size as Godhavn, situate on a small island just off the land, and between which and the land is a narrow deep channel, up which we came, and anchored in a fjord, just to the northward of the settlement, and running a short distauce into the mainland ; the water very deep close to the shore.

Now, I must finish up, as the letters have soon to go. Since our arrival in the Arctic regions everything has been most favorable ; aud if we can only carry this beautiful weather through Melville Bay we shall do. We are sending no invalids home ; in fact, we don't know what sickness means, and the doctors are able to turn their attention entirely to scientific pursuits. I think by the time we return that we shall have acquired a great deal of information on many things up here of which little or nothing is known at present. As we go along we correct the charts as much as possible, particularly at any place where we anchor, when theodolites and sextants and compasses go ashore at once.

I do not kuow whether you will hear again or not from me, but if not, no news is good news, and in this healthy climate, bar accidents, I don't see what harm cau happen to us ; in fact, I should rather like to bring the next news of our expedition ourselves, and please God that will be news of snecess.