APPENDIX. 895 



The retreat commenced on the 18th of June ; and during the ensuing 

 three months the entire ship's company remained together, under the 

 direction of the commander, struggling against obstacles which required 

 indomitable pluck and perseverance to overcome — compelled to drag 

 their heavy boats and loads of provisions over broken and shifting 

 fields of ice, at times ferrying them over the water-spaces, and often 

 carried far out of their course by the drift of the pack, delayed by 

 storms, fogs, and snows ; there seems to have been no precaution neg- 

 lected which would tend to insure their safety. During this time, as 

 well as upon other occasions, the conduct of Ice Pilot Dunbar, Boat- 

 swain Cole, and Fireman Bartlett elicited well-deserved commendations. 



The original plan of retreat was to make a southerly course, presum- 

 ably, to reach the open water as soon as possible, and thence by way 

 of the New Siberian Islands to the delta of the Lena, the nearest point 

 at which it was supposed that relief could be obtained. But the com- 

 mander found after a time, by observation, that the current was sweep- 

 ing them so rapidly to the northward and westward that their labor 

 was almost in vain, and that the course made good Avas but little to the 

 southward of west. He wisely refrained from discouraging the party 

 by announcing this fact, and changed his course so as to cross this cur- 

 rent at right angles, and get beyond its influence as soon as practicable. 



After twenty-three days of toil and anxiety, Bennett Island was dis- 

 covered, where they landed, and occupied eight days in resting and 

 making necessary repairs to boats. In trying to reach this island the 

 party suffered many disappointments and encountered unexpected 

 dangers, difficulties, and delays in overcoming a very short distance, 

 owing to the swift currents and rapid movements of the broken ice 

 close to the shore. 



A further delay, from August 19 to August 29, was afterwards 

 forced upon the party by the condition of the ice, which rendered 

 progress impossible. Meantime it had been deemed expedient at Ben- 

 nett Island, in order to save food for the men, that about half of the 

 dogs should be killed, as they were no longer needed to drag the sleds, 

 and it was considered inhuman to leave them there to starve, and 

 afterwards all but two of them escaped on the ice ; but still it was 

 found necessary to reduce the allowance of provisions from time to 

 time during the remainder of the journey. 



On the 12th of September the three boats were separated in a gale 

 of wind when approaching the Siberian coast, at an estimated distance 

 of about ninety miles to the northward and eastward of the Lena Delta, 

 and no further record exists of the second cutter's party ; but as Lieu- 



