THE NORTH -WEST PASSAGE. 



CAPTAIN M'CLUllE'S DESPATCHES. 



' Her Majesty's Discovery Ship, Investic/ator, ojf Point Warren, Polar 

 Sea, August 2ith, 1850, iji.lat. G9° 1.3' N., lony. 131° 57' W. 



8 IK, — I have the honour to report to you, for the information of 

 the Lords Commissioners of the xldmiraltv, that we arrived off the 

 Mackenzie on the 21st instant. The letters that I forwarded by Her 

 Majesty's sliip, Herald, from whom I parted company on the 30th 

 ultimo, off Cape Lisburne, will have put you in possession of my 

 proceedings up to that date. 



After parting with the Herald I stood to the N.N.W. with a fresh 

 breeze from the N.E., with the intention of making the ice, which 

 way accomplished on the morning of the 2nd of August, in lat. 7^ 21' N., 

 long. IGG"^ 12' W,, and at 11 a.m. stood into the loose ice for the 

 purpose of examining the pack ; the wind, however, falling before we 

 got far in, I was induced to run out to avoid being beset, having ascer- 

 tained that the pack was very close and heavy, extending from E.N.E. 

 to W.N.W., and, seeing no hope of getting through, worked along 

 its edge in soundings from 24 to 26 fathoms (mud) ; the hundreds of 

 walrusses that were lying upon the ice, thickly huddled together like 

 sheep in a fold, were most astonishing. We continued working along 

 the ice, occasionally getting drifted in, until the 5th, when the weather, 

 which had been preiiously thick and misty, cleared a little, and no 

 ice being in siglit, I shaped a course for Wainwright's Inlet, with the 

 intention of getting between the pack and shore ; in running exchanged 

 numbers with Her Majesty's ship Plover, and at 11,30 a.m. observed 

 a low beach, apparently shingle, distant about two miles. The wea- 

 ther again having become thick, we went entu'ely by our soundings, 

 which varied from 14 to 73 fathoms ; in which latter we rounded Point 

 Barrow at 11.30 p.m., without, however, observing the land, and 

 steered to the eastward, direct for Banks's Land, finding that the ice 

 was sufficiently loose and practicable for sailing through. These hopes 

 were soon, however, dissipated ; for on the forenoon of the (ith it 

 suddenly cleared, when L found, that we had bei'ii running directly into 

 the pack, which was very heavy and impenetrable, extending from 

 S.E. to S.W. (bv the north), in lat. 7 1" 35' N., and long. 155^ 12' W, 



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