442 PIM'S JOURNEY 



scarcely ventured to hope that she was still there. This 

 start was earlier by thirty-five days than the early par 

 ties had started on the preceding expedition. But it 

 was every way essential that, if M'Clure had wintered 

 in the Bay of Mercy, the messenger should reach him 

 before he sent off any or all his men, in travelling par- 

 ties, in the spring. The little forlorn hope consisted of 

 ten men, under the command of Lieut. Pini, an officer 

 who had been with Kellett in the Herald on the Pacific 

 side, had spent a winter in the Plover up Behring's 

 Strait, and had been one of the last men whom M'Clure 

 and his crew had seen before they sailed into the Arctic 

 Ocean, to discover, as it proved, the north-west pas- 

 sage. 



Lieut. Pirn started with a sledge and seven men un- 

 der his own immediate command, and a dog-sledge with 

 two men under Dr. Domville, the surgeon, who was to 

 bring back the earliest news to Captain Kellett. There 

 was also a relief-sledge to accompany the party a por- 

 tion of the way. Pirn's orders were to go at once to 

 the Bay of Mercy in search of the Investigator ; if she 

 was gone, to follow any traces of her, and if possible to 

 communicate with her or her consort, the Enterprise. 



One of the sledges broke down soon after the party 

 started, and they had to send back for another. Bad 

 weather came on, and compelled them to encamp on the 

 ice. "Fortunately/ 7 says the lieutenant, "the temper 

 ature arose from fifty-one degrees below zero to thirty 

 six below, and there remained ; " while the drifts accu 

 mulated to such a degree around the tents, that within 

 them the thermometer was only twenty below, and 

 v/hen they cooked rose to zero. There they lay three 

 clays, smoking and sleeping in their bags. On the 

 fourth day a new sledge arrived from the ship, and they 

 got under way again. Thus far they were running 



