THROUGH CORONATION GULF 177 



homeward journey, owing to his taking the tracks of 

 sledges and barking of dogs as indicating the presence, 

 not of M'Clure as it did, but of Eskimos, with whom, 

 being without weapons, he was unable to cope. 



Released on the 5th of August, the Enterprise pro- 

 ceeded to sea, coasting along past Rae's farthest and 

 Cape Baring, and so, where no ship had been, through 

 Coronation Gulf to Cambridge Bay. Here the winter 

 of 1852-3 was spent, and hence the sledges went up 

 Victoria Strait. At Finlayson Islands, what seemed 

 to be a piece of a companion-door was found among 

 the driftwood, which might have been a relic of the 

 lost ships ; but that was all. During the return along 

 the northern coast the Enterprise was beset in Camden 

 Bay, and here the third winter was passed, release not 

 coming until the end of the following July, and Bering 

 Strait not being reached until the 21st of August after 

 a voyage, like that of the Vega, too well managed to 

 yield much adventure. Like all the other Arctic 

 voyages of this period, it failed in the one object it 

 was undertaken to achieve ; but in days to come the 

 first ship to sail the passage from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific was to follow Collinson from Cambridge Bay 

 along the route laboriously completed by the surveyors 

 of the mainland from James Cook to Dease and 

 Simpson. 



M'Clure claimed and to have done with the matter 

 obtained the reward of 10,000 for discovering the 

 North- West Passage through Prince of Wales Strait, 

 though he sailed only half-way up it and, in attempting 

 to get round to Parry's farthest, lost his ship and 

 started sledging on the west side of the pack ; while 



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