ARCTIC EXPLORATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 307, 7 March 1879, Page 16

ARCTIC EXPLORATION.

Thk schooner Lmic P. Simmons, Captain Buddington, arrived at re' Tom n^ ° l , ovcmber 2«, after a protracted sojourn in the Polar J,L^ t wballn iv expedition. The schooner sailed northwards from New London, May 31, 1877. She encountered in August great SSS 18?7 «1 g """^^A""? d « rin S ««e last three 8 weeks of vfflffi « f' v W , aS cotn P lctel y blocked in Repulse Bay by ice. taily in September she was freed, but on September 25 she became •onnr°^7 ' ff "*»*»* ~«" August 0, 1878. Captain BuddingSn icports that dur;ng the winter one of the natives brought him a solid Si 8^ 0 " ?f n » lish makc ' said tohavebeenfoundin Repulse 2}i •?• handle .'f engraved a crescent of flowers, in the centre of which is an armorial crest. This, however, is so worn as to be undecipherable but is thought to be the family 'crest of Sir John Franklii li^% n f wh ° S ave ifc . to Ca Pt^n Buddington stated that he had had it from another native, who asserted it to be a relic of the St C l? ° re i AS 1? the WCather ' Ca P tain Buddington says he omitted to make any thcrmometrical observations during the winter ; but the season was mild in comparison with other winters passed by ™' DTD T \ l \ c Polar regions during five preceding voyages. Severe weather began to be experienced in March of this year, when the aveiage daily thermometer marked 86 degrees below zero. He furtlier reports that he never saw the country about Cumberland Inlet look bleaker or more wintry than in last September. The land was covered with unusually deep snows and ice of extraordinary thickS T, Ug " S - fc ]< ;.'i ß78 ' be s P° kc the American exploring schooner S -f t i 1° sc ' cntinc . P'-»ty under Lieutenant Schwatka? were on l)epot Island. It was intended that the Eothcn should winter cither nlcpulscßayor at Marble Island, 100 miles south-west of Cape lUil erton It is worth noting that Captain Bnddington's first voyage f^hcAi-ctic^gionswas made in 1852 with Captain Tyson, when \ *♦• w? C I>lckcd ''I' the abandoned ship Resolute, sent "out b-> the British Oovcriimeiit to starch for Sir John Franklin's party.— 2 ;«,/•*.