CONSULTATION OF OFFICERS. 1 IS 



and the dark water sky over Duke of York's Bay, 

 were only five or six miles from the shore, which 

 would have afforded us some shelter, and yet 

 here we were fixed, compelled to endure the 

 furious buffets which each successive tide brought 

 upon us, and at the mercy of the mighty power 

 that bound us. The temperature had varied 

 from 18° to 23°, and the wind had drawn round 

 to the east, though this was now become of tri- 

 fling importance, as the westerly wind on which 

 so much reliance had been placed had not even 

 separated the floes, much less driven them from 

 the land ; and in fact, according to our united 

 opinions, had made no impression whatever. 



Deeply sensible as I was of the growing peril of 

 our situation with days contracting and the prospect 

 of a speedy decrease of temperature, I now made 

 an official demand on the officers of his majesty's 

 ship, for their respective opinions in writing, upon 

 the probability of any further progress being made 

 by our own exertions in the present season, to- 

 wards Repulse Bay. Their unanimous convic- 

 tion, from the experience of the thirty-four 

 days in which the ship had been beset, was, that 

 any thing more, with that view, was utterly im- 

 practicable, and they suggested the adoption of 

 certain precautions in the event of any sudden 

 contingency obliging us to have recourse to the* 

 boats for safety. In this opinion I entirely coin- 



i 



