细节
LIEUTENANT CHARLES PALMER, R.N.
Autograph letter signed by Lieutenant Charles Palmer RN, to his uncle, Revd. Edward Palmer, HMS Hecla, Woolwich, 22 October 1823, describing Parry's second voyage to discover the Northwest Passage on which he had served as second-in-command of HMS Hecla and from which he had just returned, and their encounters with Eskimos. 3 pages, 2°, address panel on verso of second leaf (folds weak), seal, seal tear, postmarks, recipient's endorsement.
Palmer writes, 'The greatest of degree of cold we registered during the first winter [1821-22] was 35° below zero...the snow on the land began to melt about the middle of May and on the 2d. of July we left our winter quarters and proceeded along the coast to the northward, until we entered a strait leading to the westward... the Ice not breaking up in this strait prevented the Ships from going farther than 83° 30W. but a walking party reached 86°... which is the farthest this voyage ... From the information we could get from the Esquimaux and our own observations this strait appeared to separate all the lands to the North from the continent of America'. Palmer describes the Eskimos who set up quarters beside the Europeans, 'they lived in Huts made intirely of snow, and those without any artificial warmth, except what was produced by an oil lamp in which they used diced pieces of moss for wicks. Their food consisted chiefly of Seal & Walrus flesh...their dresses were made of skins, chiefly Reindeer...Every family had a sledge and dogs...I fancy none of us could make out that they had any perfect Idea of a Supreme being, but they appeared to have some notion of a future state...' Parry set out on his second voyage to discover the Northwest Passage with two ships, HMS Fury and HMS Hecla, leaving the Nore on 8 May 1821. They spent their first winter on the coast of the newly discovered Melville Peninsula (just south of the Arctic Circle) and their second among the Eskimo at Igloolik (69° 20/N.) The expedition discovered a channel leading westward from the head of Hudson's Bay which Parry named Fury and Hecla Strait.
See the previous lot for Allen's portrait of Palmer taken between the two voyages in 1821.
Autograph letter signed by Lieutenant Charles Palmer RN, to his uncle, Revd. Edward Palmer, HMS Hecla, Woolwich, 22 October 1823, describing Parry's second voyage to discover the Northwest Passage on which he had served as second-in-command of HMS Hecla and from which he had just returned, and their encounters with Eskimos. 3 pages, 2°, address panel on verso of second leaf (folds weak), seal, seal tear, postmarks, recipient's endorsement.
Palmer writes, 'The greatest of degree of cold we registered during the first winter [1821-22] was 35° below zero...the snow on the land began to melt about the middle of May and on the 2d. of July we left our winter quarters and proceeded along the coast to the northward, until we entered a strait leading to the westward... the Ice not breaking up in this strait prevented the Ships from going farther than 83° 30W. but a walking party reached 86°... which is the farthest this voyage ... From the information we could get from the Esquimaux and our own observations this strait appeared to separate all the lands to the North from the continent of America'. Palmer describes the Eskimos who set up quarters beside the Europeans, 'they lived in Huts made intirely of snow, and those without any artificial warmth, except what was produced by an oil lamp in which they used diced pieces of moss for wicks. Their food consisted chiefly of Seal & Walrus flesh...their dresses were made of skins, chiefly Reindeer...Every family had a sledge and dogs...I fancy none of us could make out that they had any perfect Idea of a Supreme being, but they appeared to have some notion of a future state...' Parry set out on his second voyage to discover the Northwest Passage with two ships, HMS Fury and HMS Hecla, leaving the Nore on 8 May 1821. They spent their first winter on the coast of the newly discovered Melville Peninsula (just south of the Arctic Circle) and their second among the Eskimo at Igloolik (69° 20/N.) The expedition discovered a channel leading westward from the head of Hudson's Bay which Parry named Fury and Hecla Strait.
See the previous lot for Allen's portrait of Palmer taken between the two voyages in 1821.