The Great Frozen Sea: A Personal Narrative of the Voyage of the "Alert"Markham, Albert Hastings, Sir
History
The Great Frozen Sea: A Personal Narrative of the Voyage of the "Alert"
Markham, Albert Hastings, Sir
Alert (Sloop : 1856-1895); Arctic regions; Nares, George S. (George Strong), 1831-1915
lb. oz.
Pemmican 1 0
Bacon 0 4
Biscuit 0 14
Preserved potatoes 0 2
Chocolate 0 1
Sugar for ditto 0 0.5
Tea for two meals 0 0.5
Sugar for ditto 0 1.5
Salt 0 0.25
Pepper 0 0.05
Onion powder or curry paste 0 0.125
Rum 0 2
Spirits of wine 0 2
Stearine 0 3
Tobacco (weekly) 0 3.5
This we found a very ample allowance, and one that could not, in my
opinion, be improved upon. The different articles were excellent of
their kind, and of very superior quality.
Since our return to England, fault has been found with our leader
because lime-juice was not included in the scale of dietary for the
sledges, during April, as a daily ration. Our scale of diet was
necessarily based on that of preceding expeditions, and we had no reason
to expect that we should suffer from that dread disease, scurvy, any
more than did our predecessors. Lime-juice had never before been taken
as a daily ration by an extended sledge party, and Sir Leopold
McClintock, the highest living authority, has since publicly declared
that, in following the precedents established by former experience as
regards the lime-juice, Sir George Nares acted exactly as he would have
done under the same circumstances. Moreover, the lime-juice was
supplied in a form that made it impossible to use during an Arctic
March, April, or May, away from the ship. It was in bottles or very
large heavy jars, and, of course, the moment such vessels were placed
near a fire to thaw their contents, in such a temperature, they would
have been cracked to pieces. This is a conclusive answer to those who,
without experience, and ignorant of the conditions under which we
travelled, have expressed opinions on this subject. After May, when it
was possible to use it, lime-juice was always taken by our sledge
parties as a daily ration. When we came home, the use was suggested of
lime-juice lozenges, and the Medical Director General has proposed that
lime-juice should be mixed with pemmican. It is certainly very much to
be regretted that some such arrangements were not made and carried out
before the expedition left England. It will be seen (if lime-juice would
really have prevented the attack of scurvy) how terribly we had to
suffer from the consequences of the omission.
Lieutenant Parr and myself each took two bottles of lime-juice, with the
intention of using it when the warm weather of June arrived. It was not
possible to use it to any advantage, hard frozen in a bottle, during
March, April, or May.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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