INGLEFIELD'S EXPEDITION. 3S5 



boiler, which had been under repair, and was partly 

 disconnected, to be rapidly secured, the fires to be 

 lighted, and to get up the steam ; in the mean time the 

 tackles were got up for hoisting out our long-boat, and 

 every preparation was made for the \vorst. Each man 

 on board knew he was working for his life, and each 

 toiled with his utmost might ; ice-anchors were laid out, 

 and hawsers got upon either bow and quarter, to keep 

 the ship from driving further in ; but two hoars must 

 alapse before we could expect the use of the engine. 

 Eager were the inquiries when will the steam be up ? 

 and wood and blubber were heaped in the furnace to get 

 up the greatest heat we could command. 



" At last the engineer reported all was ready ; and 

 then, warping the ship's head round to seaward, we 

 screwed ahead with great caution ; and at last found 

 ourselves, through God's providence and mercy, relieved 

 from our difficulties. It was a time of the deepest sus- 

 pense to me ; the lives of my men and the success of our 

 expedition depended entirely on the safety of the screw ; 

 and thus I watched, with intense anxiety, the pieces of 

 ice, as we drifted slowly past them ; and, passing the 

 word to the engineer, ' Ease her/ ' Stop her,' till the 

 huge masses dropped into the wake, we succeeded, with 

 much difficulty, in saving the screw from any serious 

 damage, though the edges of the fan were burnished 

 bright from abrasion against the ice." 



Besides penetrating one hundred and forty miles 

 further than previous navigators, and finding an open 

 sea stretching northwards, from Baffin's Bay, to at 

 least the latitude of 80, Captain Inglefield discovered 

 a strait, in about 771, which he named Murchison 

 Strait, and which he supposed to form a northern bound- 

 ary to Greenland. In addition to the shores of the 

 polar basin, he more accurately surveyed the eastern 



