Jules Verne

“ Hatteras was still silent.
“No,” said Clawbonny, “let us talk frankly; it's not the boat you mind, it's the man.”
“Yes, Doctor, yes,” answered the captain, “that American; I hate him with real English hate, that man thrown in my way by chance—”
“To save you!” ”

“ The next day the weather was much milder; the wind changed suddenly, and the thermometer rose to +15°. So great a difference was soon felt by both man and nature. The southerly wind brought with it the first signs of the polar spring. ”

“ Sir Edward visited Wellington Channel, wintered in Northumberland Bay, and explored the coast, while Kellet, pushing on as far as Brideport on Melville Island, explored that region without success. But then it was rumored in England that two ships, abandoned in the ice, had been seen not far from New Caledonia. At once Lady Franklin fitted out the little screw-steamer Isabella, and Captain Inglefield, after ascending Baffin's Bay to Victoria Point, at the eightieth parallel, returned to Beechey Island with equal unsuccess. ”

“ If I'm not mistaken, Griffith Island, which I see in the middle of the open space, has become a general rendezvous for explorers.”
“True, Doctor, and Franlkin's ill-fitted expedition has been the means of our learning so much about these parts.”
“Exactly; for there have been a great many expeditions since 1845. It was not till 1848 that there was any alarm about the continued non-appearance of the Erebus and the Terror, Franklin's two ships. Then the admiral's old friend, Dr. Richardson, seventy years of age, went through Canada, and descended Coppermine River to the Polar Sea ”

“ Another similar symptom was the reappearance of some ptarmigans, arctic geese, plover, and flocks of quail; the air was soon filled with the deafening cries which they remembered from the previous summer. A few hares, which they were able to shoot, appeared on the shores of the bay, as well as the arctic mice, the burrows of which were like a honeycomb. ”

“ The captain pointed to a spot near Cape York. “We are in the middle of this open space, exposed to every wind; into it open Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait, Wellington Channel, and Regent's Inlet; here, of necessity, come all northern explorers.”
“Well,” answered the doctor, “so much the worse for them; it is indeed an open space, where four roads meet, and I don't see any sign-post to point out the right way! What did Parry, Ross, and Franklin do?”
“They did n't do anything in particular; they let themselves be governed by circumstances ”

“ Is it the greater rapidity at the equator which has thus modified things, while the land lying at the extremity, which was fluid at the beginning of the world, could not condense and unite as elsewhere, on account of slower rotation? ”

“ He built cairns, enclosing copper cylinders with instructions to the absent expedition; during his absence, Lieutenant MacClure explored fruitlessly the northern coast of Barrow Strait. It is noteworthy, Captain, that James Ross had among his officers two men who afterwards became celebrated, MacClure, who found the Northwest Passage, and MacClintock, who found the last remains of the Franklin expedition.”
“Two good and brave captains, two brave Englishmen; go on. Doctor, with this account which you know so well; there is always something to be learned from the account of bold adventurers.” ”

“ He seems to defy me, to act as master, to imagine he holds my fate in his hands, and to have guessed my plans. Did n't he show his character when we were giving names to the new lands I Has he ever said what he was doing here? ”