Having taken our final leave of Beering's Strait, 

 all hope of the attainment of the principal object of 

 the expedition in the Polar Sea was at an end ; and 

 the fate of the expedition under Captain Franklin, 

 which was then unknown to us, was a subject of in- 

 tense interest. Amidst the disappointment this failure 

 in meeting with him had occasioned us, we had the 

 consolation of knowing that, whatever vicissitudes 

 might have befallen his party, our efforts to maintain 

 our station in both years had, by the blessing of Pro- 

 vidence, been successful, so that at no period of the 

 appointed time of rendezvous could he have missed 

 both the boat and the ship, or have arrived at the 



1827. 



PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 295 



of the Needle Rock in the channel of Oonemak, and chap. 



VII. 

 passed through the strait. The strength and uncer- 

 tainty of the currents about these islands should make Oct 

 navigators very cautious how they approach them in 

 thick weather : whenever there is any doubt, the most 

 certain course is to steer due east, and make the 

 Island of Oonemak, which may be known by its lati- 

 tude, being thirty miles more northerly than any other 

 part of the chain ; and then to keep along its shores 

 at the distance of four or five miles, until the Needle 

 Rock, which lies nearly opposite the Island of Coo- 

 galga, is passed ; after which the coast on both sides 

 trends nearly east and west, and a ship has an open 

 sea before her. 



The Aleutian Islands, when we passed, were covered 

 about two-thirds of the way down with snow, and 

 indicated an earlier winter than they had done the 

 preceding year. 



