ELISHA KENT KANE. 



alone. More was expected from our southerly drift, 

 which still continued, and must soon carry us into 

 a milder climate and open sea. On the 19th of May 

 the land about Cape Searle was made out, the 

 first that we had seen since passing Cape Walter 

 Bathurst, about the 20th of January. A few days 

 later we were off Cape Walsingharn, and on the 

 27th passed out of the Arctic zone. 



"On the 1st of April a hole was cut in some ice 

 that had been forming since our first besetment in 

 September : it was found to have attained the thick- 

 ness of seven feet two inches. In this month (April) 

 the amelioration of the temperature became quite 

 sensible. All hands were kept at work cutting and 

 sawing the ice around the vessels, in order to allow 

 them to float once more. With the Rescue, they suc- 

 ceeded, after much labor, in attaining this object; 

 but around the stern of the Advance the ice was so 

 thick that our thirteen-feet saw was too short to pass 

 through it; her bows, and sides as far aft as the 

 gangway, were liberated. After making some altera- 

 tion in the Rescue for the better accommodation of 

 her crew, and fires being lighted on board of her 

 several days previous, to remove the ice and damp- 

 ness which had accumulated during the winter, 

 both officers and crew were transferred to her on 

 the 24th of April. The stores of this vessel, which 



