348 Overland Arctic Expediticm, 



son and Mr Kendall, with a party, in two of the boats named 

 the Dolphin and Union, to survey the coast to the eastward ; 

 while he himself, with Lieutenant Bach, and the remainder of 

 the expedition, directed his course to the westward. 



They reached the sea on the 7th of July ; on the 9th they 

 were stopped by a compact field of ice adhering to the shore, 

 and the remainder of the month was spent in pushing the boats 

 through the partial openings formed in the ice. Their progress 

 in this way was not only tedious and hazardous, but also extreme- 

 ly laborious ; nor, from the nature of the coast, was the danger 

 diminished, when, in the month of August, the ice gave way, 

 and afforded them a passage. The approach to the shore was 

 so difficult from the shallowness of the water, that they could 

 seldom get nearer than a mile or two, even by dragging the boats 

 through the mud ; and only once were they able to effect a land- 

 ing on the main shore after passing the 139th degree of longi- 

 tude. On all other occasions they were obliged, when in need 

 of repose or shelter, to have recourse to the naked, sandy, or 

 gravelly reefs which skirt the coast. On these cheerless banks 

 they were detained by frequent storms, and dense fogs, one of 

 which lasted eight days ; — and they occasionally suffered from 

 the want of fresh water, having once passed forty-eight' hours 

 without that needful refreshment. Notwithstanding these for- 

 midable obstacles^ such was the zeal and perseverance of the ad- 

 venturers, that, by the 18th of August, they attained nearly the 

 150th degree of longitude, after having been carried by the 

 trending of the coast beyond 70| degrees of north latitude. 



They were now nearer to Icy Cape than to the Mackenzie, 

 and whether Captain Franklin advanced or turned back, the 

 difficulties and dangers were numerous. Since their arrival on 

 the coast the party had made the utmost exertions for forty-two 

 days in getting thus far ; they had reason to fear that the 

 stormy weather would become more frequent as the short and 

 precarious summer of that climate drew to a close, and that 

 the navigation of the sea would not continue practicable for 

 their small open boats above a fortnight, or at the very utmost 

 for three weeks longer. The Blossom was appointed to meet 

 the expedition in Behring's Straits, and all the skill and per- 

 severance of an accomplished British seaman were exerted by 



