290 SIB J. C. ROSS'S EXPEDITION. 



Bay, till they were abreast of Pond's Bay, and there i 

 threatened to precipitate them on a barrier of icebergs. 

 But, just in the very crisis of their alarm, it was rent, 

 as if by some unseen power, into innumerable fragments, 

 and they were set almost miraculously free. 



The crews sprang from despair to hope, and from 

 inaction to energy. All sail was set, and warps were 

 run out from each quarter to work the ships past the 

 heavy floes. The Investigator got into open water on 

 the 24th, and the Enterprise on the 25th. " It is impos- 

 sible, " says Ross, "to convey any idea of the sensation 

 we experienced when we found ourselves once more at 

 liberty ; many a heart poured forth its praises and 

 thanksgivings to Almighty God for this unlooked for 

 deliverance." The harbors of Baffin's Bay were now 

 all closed by ice, and the course to the west was barred 

 by the pack from which the ships had just been liberated. 

 The expedition, therefore, had no alternative but to 

 return to England, and they arrived off Scarborough on 

 the 3d of November, 1849. Thus ended the third of 

 the government explorations in search of Sir John 

 Franklin. 



Lieutenant Pullen, who, it will be remembered, was 

 despatched from the Plover on the western coast, and 

 ordered to extend his search to the mouth of the Mac- 

 kenzie, ascended that river and reached Fort Simpson 

 on the 13th of October. Here he wintered, and, while 

 on his way to York Factory, the following spring, re- 

 ceived instructions by express to attempt a passage in 

 boats across the sea to Melville Island. He immediately 

 hurried back, and, on being supplied with four thousand 

 five hundred pounds of pemmican and jerked venison 

 by Rae, descended the Mackenzie. The season of 1850 

 proved more severe, however, than that of the previous 

 year. Pullen found the sea, from the Mackenzie to 



