26 THE VOYAGE OF THE JE ANNETTE. 



count of icebergs, luffing to the wind as occasion served or 

 required. 



" At this point I was forced to the conclusion that prosecut- 

 ing the search any longer was out of the question. My orders 

 read positively to return when the fuel was half expended, and 

 on no account to risk the boat in the ice-pack. The fuel was 

 half gone, and what was left was in such a condition as to lead 

 to very grave doubts as to its being reliable for steaming on the 

 return. As far as we could see to the northward and eastward 

 was pack ice, and it was in this direction that our port lay. I 

 did not know how close to the middle pack we had been blown 

 during the gale, and I feared if the wind came out in the N. 

 W. we should not only be blown down upon the Melville Bay 

 pack, but be followed by detached portions of the middle pack, 

 and be caught firmly between the two. Again, if we had suc- 

 ceeded in working our way through a lead in towards the land 

 and had reached it, we had not fuel enough to work our way 

 back through the pack ice, supposing that a N. W. wind had 

 not closed us in for the year. 



" Up to this time we had seen nothing of the Polaris or of 

 her people. Had they been at Cape York, it would not have 

 added to their chances of safety had our little party increased 

 their number, with the ice effectually closing our means of 

 exit. Anxious as we were to find them, and tell them of relief 

 coming, I could not further risk our party being caught in the 

 ice in an open boat, with the season closing, new ice forming, 

 and only fuel enough to keep us warm for a few days. I did 

 not know how far the U. S. Steamer Tigress was behind us, 

 nor what our chances would have been of her rescuing us, had 

 we been frozen in. The weather was uncertain, another gale 

 like our previous one was by no means unlikely, and my orders 

 expressly forbade me to jeopardize the lives of the party by 

 putting the boat in the pack ice. 



" Reluctantly, therefore, I w\as compelled to announce that 

 the search must be given up, and headed the boat to the S. E. 

 on our return, having steam enough to go ahead at four P. M. 

 Having gone up on the inshore track, I concluded to return 

 by the offshore, or mid-channel track, in hopes that we might 



