Engraving showing HMS 'Alert', her bow covered in ice, heading home to Great Britian at the end of the 1875-1876 Arctic Expedition. In 1875 the British Admiralty sent Captain George Nares with two ships, HMS 'Alert' and HMS 'Discovery', to make an attempt to reach the North Pole via Smith Sound. The attempt was unsuccessful, but a new 'furthest North' record was set, the coasts of Greenland and Ellesmere Island were charted and much scientific data gathered. 1876