NARRATIVE OF AN UNRECORDED ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXI, Issue 5602, 31 August 1875, Page 2 (Supplement)

NARRATIVE OF AN UNRECORDED ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

B V TJir HOt. K M'lMVOR.

'Twm In the Arctic Ocean, And the wind filled all our »»il«. For it was our nflr.p to tind the 1'ole. And not to hunt for whale*. But we had not gone a fnrlon*^. Into the land of mow, When we loit our mast, and We ship stuok fast In the middle of a thick ice-Hoe, Singing " Kule Britannia," Ac. And mch was ant position Tint we could not move an inch : And, O dear me, it was *vd for to .ic« The frost our no»»i pinch. Then six of us were eaten By a treat bijf boar in the night. And the ict broke through with othcrtwonty-two, And buried them from our sight ! Oar hatchtU anil our> crowbars We worked with might-ami main ; But erery slice that we cut from the ice Was f rosen up again. So we all sat down in a body. And swore that it was no go ; And we "piped our eye" to think that we should alt Forgotten on a cold ice-floe ! We sat thus sad and sorrowful For a month, and nought us cheered, Till lo ! one day. the ice gar* way. And a big wliale's nose appeared ! " Hullo?" be said, "my heartie*" (We started when w* heard him speak), " H»t« yon seen tin Polo T My eye, how droll '— Bat it serrM you right for your cheek !" We thought his speech unfeeling;, * And our captain told him to : But he said, "Look here, my bold buccaneer, If yon b k » ll y want to go.— I haro a friendly sentiment ! Towards every brother sailor, I And particularly towards yon, d'ye «ee, Because you a n't a whaler. "So listen and do what I tell you, 1 And don't be oter nice. > Just shove your boat half down my throat, And I'll paddle you there in a trice V AVe held some consultation, ! But British pluck prera'lcd ; So we shored our boat half down his throat, I And away to the Pole wo " whaled !" 1 W* saw the Polo at hut. whore It stands (Perhaps not <(iilto *o thick At the Monti mint nt home, » or the Column ( Vendomc. 1 But a (rood ttuut ploei of <iUck". \ We thanlftd our h\g Conductor, I And prayed to be fc'.Ven back : So he wheeled about hU fins (track ont. And ire readied oar ship in a cwek. But atas ! my doleful story Here reaches its dolvfnlost note, For Just a* he got to the proper spot— UK K0POKNLY HWIIX0WC1) TIIK BOAT I Now I am the sole survivor. For I Just escaped his ja\v3 ; — And not one man, since the world began, Has yot been where I was !