The following notes on the stay of the Ross Expedition in Van Diemen's Land have been prepared from the diaries of Lady Jane Franklin, which were recently bequeathed to the Scott Polar Research Institute under the will of Miss Jessie Lefroy, a niece of Miss Sophia Cracroft. Miss Cracroft was herself the niece of Sir John Franklin and the lifelong companion of Lady Jane.

No officers, apart from those who actually served in the Franklin expedition, were so closely connected with it, both before and after its departure, as Sir Edward Parry and Sir James Clark Ross. Parry, after his last Arctic expedition (1827), was consulted as a matter of course by the Admiralty on all Arctic problems; he assisted in organising the Franklin Expedition; and was one of the Admiralty's principal advisers during the search.

Few will dispute the fact that some type of boat for work in polar regions is an important requirement for all who live or travel there. As a corollary I think that few will agree about the exact type required. The reason for this is that the various regions of both Arctic and Antarctic differ widely, and it would be a mistake to suppose that the same set of conditions applies to all the coasts of the polar regions. With a view to provoking interest in this very absorbing subject, the following article describes a boat which was built in the Antarctic by the British Graham Land Expedition and was designed with the knowledge we had of that coast. Whether or not this boat would be suitable in other areas is better decided by those who may have a more varied knowledge of the Arctic and Antarctic foreshores and of travelling across sea ice.

The wary book-hunter is always on the alert for the unexpected. “Arctic and Antarctic, The Economy of Human Life. 1808. 12mo. morocco”, in a book-list was the unexpected spoor which led to the capture of a rare specimen and afforded a sidelit glimpse of the mind of a great explorer.