32 RETURN OF COMMANDER PULLEN. [October, 



ration, as it was soon made out that Commander Pullen 

 was one, and a boat was sent to bring him on board. 

 Commander Pnllen had been obstructed by water at a 

 bluff about six miles southerly, where he had left the 

 sledge and remainder of the crew, bringing on one man. 

 Lieutenant May was immediately despatched with the 

 cutter, and before ten that evening the party was safe 

 on board, having, as they termed it, " been reduced to 

 lurmnes for the last two days." This great hardship our 

 poor fellows would most gladly have submitted to with- 

 out a murmur; but those who had been revelling in 

 mutton, salmon, and ducks, might reasonably fancy in- 

 ferior food a deprivation. 



From Commander Pullen we obtained satisfactory in- 

 telligence of our sledges, having met them within two 

 days' march of Beechey Island, and free from further ob- 

 struction, should they prefer the land journey. Thus, 

 in the course of a few hours, have we experienced three 

 important causes for gratitude ! From the report how- 

 ever of Commander Pullen, it proved that he had expe- 

 rienced a narrow escape, possibly from a similar fate to 

 that of poor Bellot. He had incautiously taken to the 

 floe, encamped, was caught by the gale, which levelled 

 his tent during a snow-storm, and eventually had barely 

 time to regain the land ice before it separated. These 

 constant liabilities prove how imperative it becomes to 

 provide boat-sledges or Halkett boats,* for service in au- 

 tumn. The question is not what an officer may choose 

 to risk in his own person, but what degree of confidence 



* These Halkett boats are invaluable on any service, but, it occurs 

 to me, especially so for the conveyance of wounded, arms, ammunition, 

 etc., across streams. 



