GOOD QUALITIES OF THE PRINCE ALBERT. 383

and easily managed; that her two large boats, the gutta percha especially, for service among ice, were excellent; that her spars were good; her foremast crew a fine and suitable set of men; and that she was in herself everything one could wish, must, I think, be clear, if what I have stated be truth; and that it is strictly true there can be no doubt. Hence those who would wish to decry the bonnie little craft do her gross injustice; and I therefore take upon myself to say, that for the service she was intended to be engaged in there could not have been a better or a more suitable vessel. By a reference to the commencement of the book it will be seen what that service especially was; and I can only add, that should the reader ever make a voyage similar to that of which I have here given an account, I only hope that it may be in so good and so excellent a little craft as the "Prince Albert."

It is understood that, if Lady Franklin's funds admit of such an undertaking, the "Prince Albert " will be despatched again next spring, to renew the search which we unhappily failed in effecting. If so, I hope I have so far gained the good will of my readers, that they will join in my earnest desire that I may again have the happiness of finding myself on board of her, and be able to write a better book than this, at the close of a happy and successful voyage.

384

EXPLANATION OF TERMS

USED IN THE FOREGOING NARRATIVE.

[Extracted from Dr. Scoresby's excellent description of the Arctic Regions.]

Iceberg. A large mass of solid ice, generally of great height, breadth, and thickness.

Field-ice, or a field of ice, " is a sheet of ice so extensive that its limits cannot be discerned from the masthead of the ship."

A floe is similar to a field, but smaller, inasmuch as its extent can be seen.

Sconce pieces are broken floes of a diameter less than half a mile; and, occasionally, not above a hundred, or a few hundred feet.

Drift-ice consists of pieces less than floes, of various shapes and magnitudes.

Brash-ice is still smaller than drift-ice, and may be considered as the wreck of other kinds of ice.

Bay-ice, or young ice, is that which is newly formed on the sea, and consists of two kinds, common bay-ice and pancake ice; the former occurring in smooth, extensive sheets, and the latter in small circular pieces, with raised edges.

Sludge consists of a stratum of detached ice crystals, or of snow, or of the smaller fragments of brash-ice, floating on the surface of the sea.

EXPLANATION OF TERMS.

385

A hummock is a protuberance raised upon any plane of ice above the common level. It is frequently produced by pressure, where one piece is squeezed upon another, often set upon its edge, and in that position cemented by the frost. Hummocks are likewise formed by pieces of ice mutually crushing each other, the wreck being heaped upon one or both of them. To hummocks, principally, the ice is indebted for its variety of fanciful shapes, and its picturesque appearance. They occur in great numbers in heavy packs, on the edges, and occasionally in the middle of fields and floes, where they often attain the height of thirty feet and upwards.

A calf is a portion of ice which has been depressed by the same means as a hummock is elevated. It is kept down by some larger mass, from beneath which it shows itself on one side.

A tongue is a point of ice projecting nearly horizontally from a part that is under water.

run aground upon tongues of ice.

Ships have sometimes

A pack is a body of drift-ice, of such magnitude that its extent is not discernible. A pack is open when the pieces of ice, though very near to each other, do not generally touch, or close when the pieces are in complete

contact.

A patch is a collection of drift or bay-ice, of a circular or polygonal form. In point of magnitude, a pack corresponds with a field, and a patch with a floe.

A stream is an oblong collection of drift or bay-ice, the pieces of which are continuous. It is called a sea-stream when it is exposed on one side to the ocean, and affords shelter from the sea to whatever is within it.

Open-ice, or sailing-ice, is where the pieces are so sepa

C C

rate as to admit of a ship sailing conveniently among them.

Heavy and light are terms attached to ice, distinguishable of its thickness.

Land-ice consists of drift-ice attached to the shore; or drift-ice which, by being covered with mud or gravel, appears to have recently been in contact with the shore; or the flat ice resting on the land, not having the appearance or elevation of icebergs.

A bight is a bay in the outline of the ice.

A lane or vein is a narrow channel of water in packs or other large collections of ice.

A lead is an opening, large or small, through the ice, in which a vessel can be able to make some progress either by sailing, tracking, or towing.

APPENDIX.

The following appeared in the " Times," and other papers, at the period the "Prince Albert" was fitting out; and, as it affords an explanation of the particular object of her voyage, I give it here at length, having referred to it at page 6.

"SEARCH FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, BY REGENT INLET AND THE PASSAGES CONNECTING IT WITH THE WESTERN ARCTIC SEA.-The necessity of this supplementary expedition in aid of the liberal measures adopted by the Government, for the rescue of our missing countrymen, is founded upon the conviction which exists in the minds of its originators, that Sir John Franklin would earnestly endeavour to follow his instructions, and would, therefore, in the first instance, after attaining the longitude of Cape Walker, or 98° W. in the parallel of about 74° N., diverge to the South and West, sparing no efforts to advance in that direction; also, upon the probability that in the event of his meeting with insuperable impediments in this unexplored part of the Arctic Sea, he might, even for successive seasons of great severity, be unable to extricate his ships, and would at last be compelled to abandon them. In such a case, it is presumed that the course he would take in order to get back to Lancaster Sound, from which quarter he would naturally look for assistance, would be mainly influenced by the means he could anticipate of supporting life during a long and painful passage, and during the unknown period of delay which might succeed it. The only resources on which he could rely were the provisions deposited from the wreck of the "Fury," on the West shore of Regent Inlet, and the most promising track which he could follow, in order to attain this point, would seem to him to be the so-called Strait of James Ross, which, in Sir John Franklin's charts, was laid down as an open passage into Regent Inlet, through a region which he was aware was not destitute of the resources of animal life.

"It is in especial reference to the probably exhausted and disabled condition of the fugitive party before attaining Fury Beach, that the present expedition is planned. The opinions of the Arctic officers, and other competent authorities, as to the importance of search in this direction, are to be found under various dates in the Parliamentary returns of 1848, 1849, and 1850. At this moment, the recent intelligence from Captain Pullen and Mr. Rae tends to give it additional interest, by proving that up to the autumn of last year, no traces of the missing party had been found W. of the Coppermine, -a fact which narrows the field of search to the region E. of that river. It