A FORLORN HOPE. 441 



lieutenants together in the Enterprise when she was 

 sent after Sir John Franklin, in 1848, and wintered to- 

 gether in her at Port Leopold. Now, from different 

 hemispheres, they had come so near meeting at this old 

 block of sandstone ! Mr. Mecham bade his mate build 

 a new cairn, to put the record of the story in, and hur- 

 ried on to the Resolute with his great news. 



It thus became known to Kellett and his companions 

 that the Investigator had been frozen up in the Bay of 

 Mercy, only one hundred and seventy miles from their 

 own position. It must have been a sore trial, to all par- 

 ties, to wait the winter through, and not even get a 

 message across. But, until winter made it too cold and 

 dark to travel, the ice in the strait was so broken uj 

 that it was impossible to attempt to traverse it, even 

 with a light boat for the lanes of water. So, the differ- 

 ent autumn parties came in, and the officers and men 

 entered on their winter's work and play, to push off the 

 winter days as quickly as they could. 



The system of travelling in the fall and spring 

 abridges materially the length of the Arctic winter as 

 Ross, Parry, and Back, used to experience it ; and it 

 was only from the 1st of November to the 10th of 

 March that Kellett's party were left to their own re- 

 sources. Late in October one of the Resolute's men 

 died, and in December one of the Intrepid's ; but. ex- 

 cepting these cases, they had little sickness for weeks 

 no one on the sick-list ; indeed, Capt. Kellett says that 

 a sufficiency of good provisions, with plenty of work 

 in the open air, will insure good health in the Arctic 

 climate. 



As early in the spring as he dared risk a travelling 

 party, namely, on the 10th of March, 1853, he sent 

 what they all called a forlorn hope across to the Bay 

 of Mercy, to find traces of the Investigator ; for they 



