CHAPTER XYI. 



Bra EDWARD BELCHER'S EXPEDITION. ARRIVAL IN BAFFIN'S BAY. 



THE AMERICAN WHALER. ARRIVAL ATBEECHEY ISLAND. SEARCH 



COMMENCED. INGLEFLELD's VOYAGE. THREE MORE EXPEDITIONS. 



INGLEFIELD'S RETURN. NEWS FROM M'CLTJRE. PARRY AND FRANK- 

 LIN. 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 1845- 

 46, 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 pro- 

 ceeded 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 expedi- 

 tionthe most extensive that had yet sailed for the 

 polar regions --was fitted out, and placed under the 

 command of Sir Edward Belcher. This squadron con- 

 sisted of five vessels the Assistance, the Resolute, 



