1853.] CONTEMPLATED RELIEF. 39 



with them a heavy load of ship's books, logs, private jour- 

 nals, instruments, etc., and after clue rest and prepara- 

 tion at the ' North Star/ will eventually be told off for 

 our new and exciting search westerly. Thus far indeed 

 the supplies saved from the ' Breadalbane' become of 

 considerable importance, as many of the most important 

 necessaries for travel, including fuel, etc., have been en- 

 tirely expended in the operations of last season. 



Under our contemplated duties of laying out depots, 

 it is more than probable that it will involve the necessity 

 of extending them even as far as Melville Island, and 

 that a second Division will follow up another search on 

 the southern shores, where Captain Collinson's parties 

 have also to be sought, and supplies for their sustenance 

 deposited. 



The entire distance between Melville and Beechey Is- 

 lands, we are now aware, has been travelled by Mr. Roche, 

 attended by invalids, in twenty-two days ; but as west- 

 erly winds prevail, and offer much greater impediment, 

 particularly in March, it will be necessary to allow thirty 

 as the shortest under the then very low temperatures. 



In accordance with onearticle of the late Instructions 

 I had fully determined that one vessel should be left 

 near Assistance Bay and at Cape Capel, should it be 

 found practicable. My calculations would enable me to 

 throw across, by our entire force, about 2500 rations, 

 and should the water open early and release the ' Pio- 

 neer/ possibly about 2500 more in July, leaving about 

 5000 rations, or three months' for sixty men. These, in- 

 cluding the depots left by Captain Kellett in his advance 

 in the autumn of 1852, would, if no intelligence had 



