1853.] REFLECTIONS ON MOVING. 33 



a Commander can entertain, and even of ultimate re- 

 proach to be heaped on him, should any fatal accident 

 overtake a party despatched by his orders, unprepared. 



From the report of Commander Pullen as to the state 

 of the ice in the lower channel, and also of the danger- 

 ous coast-line, on which the vessels might probably be 

 nipped, between Cape Osborn and Beechey Island, even 

 if they escaped nearer dangers, together with the opinion, 

 that, should any such accident befall, no such shelter 

 as was here offered could be afforded, I determined at 

 once that, unless driven by stress of weather, or by other 

 causes over which I had no control, I would not risk the 

 destruction of all by any blind movement.* Nor was it 

 simply our immediate safety that was now to be consi- 

 dered ; I was here the Commander-in- Chief of this dis- 

 jointed Expedition, and the lives of all would be required 

 at my hands. Of the Western Division I knew nothing 

 beyond the jeopardizing of sixty additional souls belong- 

 ing to the ' Investigator ;' indeed all might be in extreme 

 difficulty or even extinct ! Upon our efficiency, as well 

 as that of the ' North Star,' and last season had proved 

 her insecurity, all now depended ; caution therefore be- 

 came imperatively necessary. 



Properly to comprehend my position, none but the 

 Powers who sent me forth could understand ; next, the 

 simple reading of my Instructions clearly indicates, that, 

 by the advice of the Committee of October, 1851, (page 

 2, paragraph 4,) the safety of the crews was to be my 

 main consideration; page 5, paragraph 18, is to the 

 same effect ; and the concluding matter reduces my final 



* Later events proved this decision to be correct. 

 VOL. II. D 



