The
crew dine at one o'clock, the officers at 2:30. The latter go for a
walk or rehearse theatricals. Going out, the air smells like green
walnuts, says Doctor Moss. The walk, unless there is a moon, is taken
up and down a beaten track, in the dark, half a mile long. The dinner
gong sounds, all come in (brushing off the snow first). Then dinner,
and when the cloth is off the white cat seats herself on the table.
After dinner reading or writing, then school for the men; and music,
chess or whist concluding the evening.

The _Alert_ had no sun for a hundred and forty-two days, and the
darkness was nearly as deep at noonday as an ordinary moonless night in
England. On the 2nd of March the sun shone brightly, and the sledging
was arranged for. The theatrical season had ended on the 24th of
February. Many favourite farces were played, and the burlesque written
by the chaplain met with great success.

A sledge party left to find the _Discovery_, but returned exhausted, and
Petersen was nearly lost. He afterwards died, poor fellow, and was
buried by his comrades on Cairn Hill, on the 14th of May. We have not
space to follow all the sledging expeditions. We must condense the
information and the interest. For two months and a half this, the most
monotonous of all travelling, was continued. The labour was most severe
and incessant, the distance made only a mile or two a day. Scurvy began
its ravages, and the northern expedition had been nearly overcome, when
Lieutenant Parr returned to the ship for assistance. Summer had arrived
by this time. Immediate help was dispatched, but it was no easy task to
find the men. Four of the party were alive, one had died. The sick man
had been dragged on the sledge thirty-nine days, and they had buried him
after all in a solitary spot in the far north--"a paddle and a batten"
made a rude cross, and the sketch shows it most effectively in Doctor
Moss's book. Five only of the seventeen of the party came back in
working condition, and they were nearly exhausted.

The question now arose whether the _Alert_ should remain, advance, or
retreat. It was impossible to advance more than a few miles--the crew
was suffering--and retirement was the most sensible act. So the vessel
rejoined the _Discovery_, some of whose men had not returned, and great
anxiety was manifested concerning them. At length the party appeared,
after an absence of one hundred and thirty days.

From Discover