206 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. 



twice their own length in diameter was now open 

 around them. I determined therefore," he adds, 

 " notwithstanding the apparent hopelessness of saw- 

 ing our way through four or five miles of ice, to 

 begin that laborious process." By the 6th of August 

 about four hundred yards of ice were sawn through 

 and floated out, leaving now a broad canal eleven 

 hundred } T ards in length. Through this, and by 

 the disruption of the floe, the Fury w 7 as liberated 

 and floated into open water on the 8th of August ; 

 and on the 12th w 7 as followed by the Heel a. Parry, 

 now that the ships were once more afloat, began to 

 reflect on what he had proposed to do on the return 

 of summer. 



" When the lateness of the season to which the ships had 

 now been detained in the ice is considered, with reference to 

 the probability of the Fury's effecting anything of import- 

 ance during the short remainder of the present summer, it 

 will not be wondered at that, coupling this consideration 

 with that of the health of my officers and men, I began to 

 entertain doubts whether it would still be prudent to adopt 

 the intended measure of remaining out in the Fury as a 

 single ship ; whether, in short, under existing circumstances, 

 the probable evil did not far outweigh the possible good. 

 In order to assist my own judgment on this occasion, upon 

 one of the most material points, I requested the medical 

 officers of the Fury to furnish me with their opinions as to 

 the probable effect that a third winter passed in these 

 regions would produce on the health of the officers, seamen, 

 and marines of that ship, taking into consideration every 

 circumstance connected with our situation." — p. 470. 



