NARES

Nares's was Captain of H.M.S. Challenger, a wooden corvette of 2,306 tons, which left in December 1872 for a voyage of exploration of the Southern oceans. They reached Cape Town in 1873 and visited the little-known islands of Marion, Kerguelen, and Heard, before making a short visit to the Antarctic regions. It was, the first steamship to cross the Antarctic Circle. In November 1874 the Challenger reached Hong Kong, and Nares was recalled to England in order to lead a government Arctic expedition in the vessels Alert and Discovery, the chief aim of which was to reach the Pole. They sailed on 29 May 1875 and reached winter quarters on the coast of Grant Land. The following spring (Sir) Albert Hastings Markham in the Alert made the northern record, after terrible difficulties over very rough pack-ice. Nares returned in 1876 and his ships reached Portsmouth in October. This letter was written only a couple of months after their return.