4 ADMIRALTY INSTRUCTIONS. [1852. 



orders in the first instance, and determining the point at which the 

 power of compliance with those orders ceases. 



12. It is of course possible that seasons siich as were experienced 

 by the Expedition in 1850-51 may again occur to prevent a passage by 

 ships up Wellington Channel or to the west of Griffith Island ; and, 

 under such circumstances it will be for you to consider how far it might 

 serve any useful pui*pose to undertake an examination by travelling par- 

 ties from Baring Bay or Prince Alfred Bay, in the direction of Jones's 

 Sound ; in addition to those which it will be your duty to send out to 

 the north and north-west, for traces of Sir John Franklin, in the direc- 

 tion of Queen's Channel. 



13. Our instructions therefore are without reference to the possible 

 circumstance of records still being found at Beechey Island or elsewhere 

 (and for which it will be your duty to search), at a certain distance 

 from the respective cairns, where it has been stated it was Sir John 

 Franklin's custom to deposit them ;* and if by such records it shoidd 

 prove that Sir John Franklin proceeded to the eastward out of Lan- 

 caster Sound, after he wintered at Beechey Island in 1845-46, you will 

 still continue to push forward two of your ships towards Melville Island, 

 as already directed by us, and with the other two you are to act as cir- 

 cumstances may render necessary, depending on the information which 

 those records may convey. And adverting to the report of two ships 

 having been seen on the ice in the North Atlantic in the spring of 

 1851, we think it expedient to draw your attention to this subject, that 

 you may adopt such steps on your way from Baffin Bay, with reference 

 to search and inquiry on the shores of Davis Straits, as you may con- 

 sider most advisable under the circumstances above stated, and the 

 information the records may convey. 



14. You are aware of the deposit of stores and provisions at Port 

 Leopold, and of the steam-launch left there by Sir James Ross : you 

 are at liberty to employ that vessel in any way that her services may be 

 made available ; but with reference to the store of provisions at Port 

 Leopold, and also those for one hundred men which were landed by Mr. 

 Saunders on an island in Navy Board Inlet, it is our directions that 

 such provisions and stores shall on no account be touched by any of 

 the vessels under your orders, unless compelled to do so bv absolute 

 necessity. 



* The piece of tin or copper, said by Adam Beck to have been 

 dropped from a staff, should also be looked for. See Evidence before 

 the Arctic Committee. 



