Transcriber's notes on inconsistencies, errors and corrections.
Table of Contents: Part II., Chapter X., "The Pleasure ofWinter-Quarters" is corrected to "The Pleasures of Winter-Quarters" tomatch the chapter title.
Part I.
Chapter 2: The letter says the large Danish dog will arrive on the15th of February. In chapter 3 the dog arrives on the 15th of March"as the captain's letter had said." Other versions have the sameinconsistency.
Chapter 5: In the discussion of steamers, the doctor observes of the_Fox_ that MacClintock "succeeded in making his way more easily andmore directly than all his successors." Other translations say"predecessors" which makes more sense.
Chapter 5: On April 14 the longitude given is 22 degrees 37 minutes.Other versions give 22 degrees 58 minutes. Other versions agree thatthe latitude is 51 degrees--which hardly seems possible for a shipleaving Ireland at nearly 56 degrees latitude and sailing northwest.57 degrees seems more likely. A few days later the latitude is furtherconfused during the discussion of iceberg sightings. The doctor statesthat they are two degrees further north than a sighting of icebergsoccurring at 42 degrees latitude, apparently confusing the _Forward's_latitude with that of the _Ann Poole_.
Chapter 6: In the remembrance of Parry's expedition into LancasterSound, mention is made of the prize for crossing a meridian at higherthan the seventy-seventh parallel. Here the specific meridian is leftout, which is not very informative. In the French version, it is the170th meridian, which is clearly wrong. The Ward and Lock translationchanges it to the 117th meridian. Historically, the prize was for the110th meridian.
Chapter 8: On Saturday, the temperature is stated to have fallen to 8degrees above zero. The French and Routledge translation state 8degrees below zero. This makes more sense since the previoustemperature cited, from which it had fallen, was 6 degrees above zero.
Chapter 8: The block of ice which turns upside down is stated to be800 feet high. This appears to be a mistranslation of the French;other translations have it as at least a hundred feet high.
Chapter 9: According to this translation, the _Forward_ crosses the62nd parallel on May 5. This is clearly incorrect since the ship isnorth of its May 1 latitude of 68 degrees. Other versions have this asthe 72nd parallel. This agrees with the accompanying map.
Chapter 10: Although "the Governor was born on the island of Disco,and he has never left the place," the landing party meets him atUpernavik which is well north of the island of Disco.
Chapter 12: The captain declares their latitude to be at 72 degreeswhen they are actually at 74 degrees. The promise of 1000 pounds foreach degree beyond 72 is continued throughout the book.
Chapter 12: Names of several English explorers have been garbled inthis translation:
"Stuart" = Charles Sturt "McDougall Stuart" = John McDouall Stuart "Wells" = William John Wills "Havnoan" = ??--Haouran (French version) is a place in Syria.
Chapter 15: "During the day two whalers were seen making toward thesouth;" should be "During the day two whales were seen" etc. to agreewith other translations and the French version. Finding whalers inthis area would contradict the spirit of the adventure.
Chapter 16: "the barometer fell to 29 degrees" should be "thebarometer fell to 29 inches" to agree with the French version and themeasurement scale of barometers.
Chapter 16: "Friday, June 7th" should be "Friday, June 8th" to agreewith the French version and the timing since the previous date of June6.
Chapter 16: "found a declination of only 89 degrees 50 minutes,"should be "89 degrees 59 minutes'" to agree with other translationsand the French version and to make sense of the following statement ofbeing within a minute of the magnetic pole.
Chapter 18: "'The way west is easier than the way north.'" agrees withthe French, but has been changed to "'The way east'" in othertranslations. Baffin's Bay is, in fact, east of Melville Bay.
Chapter 18: Clifton's counting of the crew at sixteen is faulty sinceGarry turned into Hatteras and would no longer be counted. The perdegree rate should be 62 pounds not 72 pounds to agree with all otherversions and actual calculation.
Chapter 18: On June 19th, Point Minto is said by all versions to be at72 degrees latitude. It is actually at 73 degrees. The next paragraphimmediately proceeds to 74 degrees latitude at Melville Bay.
Chapter 20: Creswell's march to Beechey Island was 470 miles in theFrench version and in later discussions in Part II, Chapter 15.
Chapter 21: The year of Lieutenant Bellot's first expedition in searchof Franklin is corrected from "18 0" to "1850."
Chapter 23: The large white masses gathering "indicated an approachingthaw" is translated in another version as "an approaching frost" whichagrees with the French version and makes more sense.
Chapter 25: Clifton's anticipated fortune is said to be"hardly-earned" when "hard-earned" would be more appropriate.
Chapter 29: The temperature on January 15 of -22 should be -32 degreesto agree with the French version and the other translations.
Chapter 31: The doctor's ophthalmia should not lead to "deafness" butto "blindness" as in other translations.
Chapter 33: In the final sentence of the chapter the latitude of the_Forward_ should be "eightieth degree" not "eighty-fourth degree."Eighty-fourth is clearly wrong since in chapter 2 of part II, theirlatitude is stated as eighty degrees fifteen minutes.
Part II.
Chapter 1: The count of "eighteen men who had sailed in the brig"continues to ignore that there were only seventeen men and thatHatteras and Garry are one and the same person.
Chapter 2: Johnson's question, "how far are we from the nearest sea tothe west?" should be "how far are we from the nearest sea to theeast?" The disorientation continues with Bell's suggestion to travelsouth or west. Baffin's Bay, the only place they can hope for rescueis south and east of their current position.
Chapter 3: The date of the day the doctor killed the seal is stated asthe 18th and should be the 15th. The date mentioned two paragraphspreviously was the 14th, and the date mentioned as the next day in thenext paragraph is the 16th.
Chapter 5: "Hatteras loaded the gun with the last charge of powder"should be "the doctor loaded the gun with the last charge of powder"to agree with the French and the sense of the paragraph.
Chapter 5: Altamont comments that his ship is less than four degreesfrom the Pole when it actually is not, but is within seven degrees.
Chapter 9: The author's intention for the outside temperature here isuncertain. The -31 degrees of this translation does not agree with theFrench in which it is -73 degrees (-31 degrees Centigrade). The lattertwo are not equivalent temperatures. Later in this chapter it isstated that the outside temperature can never exist lower than -72degrees. If the author intended -31 degrees Centigrade, this wouldconvert to -24 degrees Fahrenheit.
Chapter 9: "The temperature of Englishmen is generally 101 degrees" isa incorrect conversion of the more accurate 37 degrees Celsius in theFrench version. The correct temperature should be 98.6 degrees.
Chapter 9: The mention of "Hadley" concerning a comet collision shouldbe "Halley" as in the French version.
Chapter 19: "_Uredo vivalis_" should be "_Uredo nivalis_" as in theFrench version.
Chapter 20: In this translation as in the French version, AltamontHarbor is said to be at longitude 118 degrees 35 minutes E. ofGreenwich, whereas it should be W. of Greenwich.
Chapter 22: The spelling of the name "Penn" is corrected to "Pen" as atypographical error.
Chapter 23: "With a scrap of wood to hold him up," should be "withouta scrap of wood to hold him up," as found in the French version andrequired by the sense of the sentence.
Chapter 23: The doctor "uttered an explanation which it is impossibleto render," should be "uttered an exclamation which it is impossibleto render," as found in the French version and required by the senseof the sentence.
Chapter 24: The doctors comparison "it would take seventy-five moonsto make the sun," should be "it wo
uld take seventy-five moons to makethe earth," as in the French version.
Chapter 24: The motion of the Pole "describes a circle in abouttwenty-six years" should be "describes a circle in about twenty-sixthousand years" as in the French version.
Chapter 26: "The American durst not not finish his sentence," iscorrected to "The American durst not finish his sentence," as atypographical error.
Chapter 26: The spelling of the name "Penn" is corrected to "Pen" as atypographical error.
Chapter 27: The timeline of the concluding chapter is odd. September9, 1861 the party is at the end of North Devon. The next day(September 10) they are picked up by the Danish whaler. Ten days later(September 20) they arrive in Denmark. The 13th of the same month(September 13? October 13?) they reach London. July 15 (1862?)Clawbonny attends the Royal Geographical Society of London meeting.For this to astonish the learned assembly it would need to be two daysafter their arrival in London rather than 9 months.
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