Having been accompanied by a supporting party as far as Cape Henry, Markham set out over the Polar Sea on April 10, 1876. Fearing that they might chance upon an open sea, the party took with it two boats, which added greatly to their labours, making it necessary for them to cover every mile of their journey four times. Their way, moreover, lay in peculiarly unpleasant places, for the ice-field over which they had to travel was like a frozen ocean, the depressions between the waves being filled with snow and broken pack-ice. One of the boats was soon abandoned, but the men dragged the other as far as lat. 83° 20´, the highest point attained up to that time. The homeward journey was even more trying, for scurvy had broken out among the men, five out of the seventeen had to be placed on the sledges, and many of the others could barely drag themselves over the ice. It soon became obvious that they could not reach the ship without assistance, so Lieutenant Parr gallantly volunteered to set out by himself, and performed the truly astonishing feat of covering the thirty miles which lay between his starting-point and the ship in twenty-four hours. The help that he brought back was only just in time, for one man died on the way, while eleven of the others had to be dragged to the ship on sledges. In many ways Markham’s journey was one of the most extraordinary on record. Instead of advancing at a steady walk, more than half of each day was spent by the whole party facing the sledge and dragging it forward a few feet at a time. The maximum rate of advance was 2¾ miles a day, the mean rate being 1¼, while, though the distance from the ship to their farthest point was only 73 miles, on the outward and homeward journeys they actually covered no less than 521 miles. Aldrich’s expedition also suffered severely from scurvy, but succeeded, nevertheless, in doing excellent work, by exploring the northern shores of Grinnell Land for 220 miles, that is to say, as far as lat. 82° 16′ N., 86° W. Fortunately Nares, becoming anxious about Aldrich’s safety, sent out Lieutenant May and two sailors to relieve him. It was as well that he did so, for he found that only Aldrich and one man were in a fit condition to haul, and the whole party would probably have perished if it had not been for his timely aid. Lieutenant Beaumont’s expedition from the _Discovery_ also very nearly ended in disaster from the same cause. He was especially detailed to explore the coast of Greenland to the north, and so well did he fulfil his mission that he far outdistanced all his predecessors, and succeeded in reaching lat. 82° 20′ N., 51° W. The homeward journey was a long and stern fight against disease, which seemed likely to end in disaster when, on reaching Robeson Channel, he found the ice too rotten to permit them to cross to the _Alert_. Fortunately Rawson and Dr Coppinger arrived just in time to save all of the party but two.