PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. J 



hereby required and directed to put to sea in 

 His Majesty's ship Terror, under your command, 

 the moment that she is in all respects ready, and 

 to proceed with the utmost celerity in the ex- 

 ecution of the following Instructions : 



" If, on quitting the Nore, the wind should be 

 decidedly from the westward, you will pursue 

 the usual track, north about ; but if, on the con- 

 trary, the wind should appear to promise a more 

 speedy passage down the English Channel, you 

 are to push out in that direction, as affording the 

 best chance of completing this undertaking within 

 the present year, which will mainly depend on 

 your early arrival off Hudson's Straits, so as to 

 be able to take advantage of the first opening 

 in the outer barrier of ice, provided you should 

 find it still shut up. 



" Having once entered this strait, you will pro- 

 bably find the water comparatively free till you 

 approach Salisbury Island, and you will then have 

 to choose between the direct and obvious course 

 up Frozen Strait, which was performed with ap- 

 parent ease by the Fury and Hecla in 1821, or 

 the more circuitous route by the Welcome, 

 which was unsuccessfully attempted by the 

 Griper in 1824, but which you are left at 

 liberty to adopt, if the state of the ice, after the 

 late severe winter, should render Frozen Strait 

 impassable. Again, though we consider Wager 



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