CHAPTER XXVI. THE RETURN VOYAGE IN THE ICE.
Preparations for abandoning ship, 344; communicate with "Discovery," 345; discovery of Eskimo relics, 347; a severe nip, 348; critical situation of ship, 349; Discovery Harbour, 349; return of Beaumont, 350; a frozen cave, 350; "Alert" forced on shore, 351; struggles with the ice, 352; pass Cape Fraser and Dobbin Bay, 353; a seal and fox shot, 354; reach the open sea, 354.
Cape Isabella, 357; letters from home, 358; bad weather, 359; Whale Sound, 359; off Lancaster Sound, 360; reappearance of fulmar petrels, 361; reach Godhavn, 362; receive letters from England, 363; leave Godhavn, 363; Egedesminde, 364; sight the "Pandora," 366; arrive at Valentia, 367; at Queenstown, 367; welcome home, 368.
PAGE "ALERT" AND "DISCOVERY" _Frontispiece_ POLAR BEARS _To face_ 46 WINTER QUARTERS H.M.S. "ALERT" 151 HIGHEST NORTHERN CAMP 308 REDUCING A FLOE-BERG 349 H.M.S. "ALERT" FORCED ON SHORE 351
SEALS BASKING ON THE ICE 23 ESKIMO WOMEN 28 WALRUSES 75 CAPE HAWKS 84 PLAN OF ICE DOCK 88 "THE MOANING OF THE TIED" 89 MUSK OXEN 105 KNOTS 111 DOG-SLEDGE IN DIFFICULTIES 131 START OF THE AUTUMN SLEDGES 143 DIAGRAM OF MAGNETIC OBSERVATORIES 153 FLAG-STAFF POINT (CAPE SHERIDAN) 155 ROYAL ARCTIC THEATRE--SCENE FROM "ALADDIN AND THE WONDERFUL SCAMP" 170 NELLIE 189 LEMMINGS 212 CAIRN HILL 220 SLEDGE UNDER SAIL 231 DOGS AND SLEDGE 247 GETTING READY TO "BAG" 269 CHART OF OUTWARD AND RETURN TRACKS 274 INTERIOR OF TENT 280 A PACKED SLEDGE 281 SNOW-BUNTING 319 BRENT-GOOSE AND EIDER-DUCKS 340 ALLMAN BAY 355 FULMAR PETRELS ("MOLLIES") 361 FAREWELL! 369
MAP SHOWING THE DISCOVERIES OF THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION, 1875-6 _To face_ 1
[Illustration: ARCTIC EXPEDITION 1875-76.]
"Vitailled was the shippe, it is no drede, Habundantly for hire a ful long space: And other necessaries that shuld nede She had ynow, heried be Godde's grace: For wind and weather, Almighty God purchace, And bring hire home, I can no better say But in the see she driveth forth hire way."
The above quaint lines, written five hundred years ago, well describe the scenes that were being enacted during the months of April and May, 1875, in Portsmouth Dockyard.
Busy as this great naval depôt of England almost always is, it is seldom, in peace time, that so much interest is shown in the equipment of two small steam-vessels as was the case with regard to those that were then lying "all a taunto" in the steam basin of that extensive yard.