INSTRUCTIONS 13 



and weigh the prudence of making such an 

 attempt. If your original passage should be 

 made with facility, and you see reason to be- 

 lieve that your success was not owing to cir- 

 cumstances merely accidental or temporary, and 

 that there is a probability that you may be 

 able, also, to accomplish the passage back, it 

 would be undoubtedly of great importance that 

 you should endeavour to make it; but if, on 

 the other hand, it shall have been attended 

 with circumstances of danger or difficulty, so 

 great as to persuade you that the attempt to 

 return would risk the safety of the ships and 

 the lives of the crews, you, in this case, are 

 to abandon all thoughts of returning by the 

 northern passage, and are to make the best 

 of your way homeward by Cape Horn. 



Previous to your leaving England, or, at any 

 rate, before your departure from Shetland, you 

 are to fix with Captain Ross, to whom the other 

 expedition is entrusted, upon a rendezvous in 

 the Pacific ; and, if you should join that officer, 

 you are to put yourself under his orders ; but 

 if you should be joined by the Alexander alone, 

 or if Captain Ross should not be in command, 

 you are to take the ship or ships under your 

 orders, and, having detached one ship, with a 

 copy of all your papers, and a complete set of 



