SIR

CHAPTER XVI.

EDWARD BELCHER'S EXPEDITION. ARRIVAL IN BAFFIN'S BAY. THE AMERICAN WHALER. ARRIVAL AT BEECHEÝ ISLAND. SEARCH COMMENCED. ·INGLEFIELD'S VOYAGE.— THREE MORE EXPEDITIONS. INGLEFIELD'S RETURN.NEWS FROM M'CLURE. PARRY AND FRANKLIN. --M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. ADVENTURES WITH ESQUIMAUX. PERILOUS NAVIGATION. DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. PERSONAL PERILS. ABUNDANCE OF GAME. WINTER QUARTERS.

SLEDGE-PARTIES. STILL FROZEN UP. PLAN OF ESCAPE.

THE unexpected and somewhat premature return of the squadrons under command of Captains Austin and Penny, in the autumn of 1851, increased the universal desire that the mysterious fate of Sir John Franklin's expedition should be thoroughly investigated. The interesting details brought back of the discovery of Franklin's winter quarters on Beechey Island, in 184546, revived the hopes that had begun to fade rapidly away. The opinion of those engaged in the sledging operations of 1851, that the missing ships had proceeded up Wellington Channel, and entered the open sea discovered by Captain Penny, and believed by him. to be the great polar basin, and the supposition that the lost ones might still be imprisoned, and alive, in its gloomy solitude of ice, all tended to influence the public mind in favor of a continuance of the search.

Accordingly, in the spring of 1852, another expedition the most extensive that had yet sailed for the polar regions was fitted out, and placed under the command of Sir Edward Belcher. This squadron consisted of five vessels the Assistance, the Resolute,

the North Star, and two steamers, the Pioneer and Intrepid. These set sail in April for Baffin's Bay, purposing to make Beechey Island their head-quarters, whence the various vessels were to set out, separately or together, as might be thought best, to search the neighboring coasts. The Assistance and Pioneer were directed to sail up Wellington Channel, under the command of Sir Edward Belcher. The other two were to proceed, under Captain Kellett, to Melville Island, there to deposit provisions for the use of Captain Collinson and Commander M'Clure, should these gentlemen be successful in making the passage from Behring's Strait, for which they had set sail, it will be remembered, in January, 1850. The North Star was to remain at Beechey Island, as a dépôt store-ship.

The squadron sailed from England on the 28th April, 1852. On the 6th of July it was making its way through the ice in Baffin's Bay, in company with a fleet of whalers, which were there beset. Caught at the head of a bight in the ice, with the Assistance and the Pioneer, the Resolute was, for the emergency, docked there; and, by the ice closing behind her, was for a while detained. Meanwhile the rest of the fleet, whalers and discovery ships, passed on by a little lane of water, the American whaler McLellan leading.

The North Star, of the English squadron, followed the McLellan. A long train stretched out behind, — whalers and government ships, as they happened to fall into line, -a long three quarters of a mile. It was lovely weather, and, though the long lane closed up so that they could neither go back nor forward, nobody apprehended injury, till it was announced, on the morning of the 7th, that the McLellan was nipped in the ice, and her crew were deserting her. Sir Edward Belcher sent his carpenters to examine her, put a few charges of

powder in the ice to relieve the pressure upon her, and by the end of the day it was agreed that her injuries could be repaired, and her crew went on board again. But the next morning there was a fresh wind, the McLellan was caught again, and the water poured into her, a steady stream. She drifted about, unmanageable, now into one ship, now into another; and the English whaleinen began to pour on board, to help themselves to such plunder as they chose. At the captain's request, Sir Edward Belcher, to put an end to this, sent sentries on board; and he also sent working parties, to clear her as far as might be, and keep account of her stores. day or two more she sank to the water's edge, and a charge or two of powder put her out of the way of harming the rest of the fleet. After such a week spent together, it will easily be understood that the New London whalemen did not feel strangers on board one of Sir Edward's vessels, when, as we shall see, they found her "ready for occupation," three years and more afterwards.

In a

On the 10th August the squadron reached its appointed head-quarters at Beechey Island. The season was remarkably open; Wellington Channel and Barrow's Straits were equally clear of ice. On the 14th Sir E. Belcher, with the Assistance and Pioneer, stood up the channel; and the following day Capt. Kellett, with the Resolute and Intrepid, sailed in open water for Melville Island. In this position we leave the expedition for the present, and proceed to give an account of the next that entered the field.

In consequence of the report, set afloat by Sir John Ross, on the authority of his Esquimaux interpreter, that Franklin and his crews had been murdered, by the natives, at Wolstenholme Sound, Lady Franklin refitted the Isabel screw-steamer, and sent her out, under Com

mander Inglefield, to ascertain the truth of the story. Inglefield sailed from England on the 6th July, 1852; coasted the northern shores of Baffin's Bay; advanced much further up Whale Sound than any previous navigator, finding, as he proceeded, an immense expanse of open water; and pushed through Smith's Sound as far as latitude 78° 28′ 21′′ north, without discovering any opposing land. Instead of the narrow strait which Smith's Sound has usually been thought, Captain Inglefield found it about thirty-six miles across, expanding considerably as it extended northward. The sea was open- that is, free from islands, except one looming in the extreme distance, to which the discoverer gave the name of Louis Napoleon.* From appearances, the leader of the expedition inferred that he had reached a more genial climate than that of Baffin's Bay; instead of the eternal snow which he had left behind, the rocks appeared of their natural color. There was ice, indeed, and in pretty large quantities; some of the mariners conceived they saw an ice-blink to the north; but the captain thought he could steam through. A gale, however, arose, which, increasing in violence, fairly blew them back perhaps providentially, for they were not well fitted to winter in those high latitudes, with the probability of being held fast for an indefinite time.

"It was deemed, by every one on board, madness to attempt a landing; and thus," says Inglefield, "I was forced to relinquish those desires ere we bore up, which,

* “An island similar in position to that designated by Capt. Inglefield as Louis Napoleon does not exist. The land sighted in that direction may have been the top of a high mountain on the north side of Franklin Pierce Bay, though this supposition requires us to assume an error in the bearing; for, as given in the chart, no land could be within the range of sight. In deference to Capt. Inglefield, I have continued for this promontory the name which he had impressed upon it as an island." - Kane's Narrative of the Second Grinnell Expedition, vol. 1., page 323.

with the heavy gale that now blew, was the most prudent step I could take. The rest of the 27th and the following day were spent in reaching, under snug sail, on either tack, whilst the pitiless northerly gale drove the sleet and snow into our faces, and rendered it painful work to watch for the icebergs, that we were continually passing. On this account, I could not heave the ship to, as the difficulty of discerning objects rendered it imperative that she should be kept continually under full command of the helm. The temperature, 25°, and the continual freezing of the spray, as it broke over the vessel, combined with the slippery state of the decks from the sleet that fell and the ice which formed from the salt water, made all working of ropes and sails not only disagreeable, but almost impracticable; so that I was not sorry when the wind moderated.

By four A. M., of the 29th, it fell almost to a calm; but a heavy swell, the thick fog and mist remaining, precluded our seeing any distance before us; and thus we imperceptibly drew too near the land-pack off the western shore, so that, a little after Mr. Abernethy had come on deck, in the morning watch, I was called up, as he said that the ship was drifting rapidly into the ice. Soon on deck, I found that there was no question on that score; for even now the loose pieces were all round us, and the swell was rapidly lifting the ship further into the pack, whilst the roar of waters, surging on the vast floe-pieces, gave us no very pleasant idea of what would be our fate if we were fairly entrapped in this frightful chaos. The whale-boat was lowered, and a feeble effort made to get her head off shore; but still in we went, plunging and surging amongst the crushing masses.

While I was anxiously watching the screw, upon which all our hopes were now centred, I ordered the