xvi SAILING ORDERS. 



at Lyttelton Island. In this case one or both ships would remain 

 out for the winter of 1877, if unable to extricate themselves in the 

 summer of that year, a contingency which is hardly possible. 



21. You must, however, bear in mind, that it is not desirable, 

 under any circumstances, that a single ship should be left to 

 winter in the Arctic regions. If one ship remains up Smith 

 Sound, a second ship should remain at the rendezvous at its 

 entrance. 



22. In the summer of 1877, a relief or depot ship will be de- 

 spatched to Smith's Sound, and she will be directed; in the first 

 instance, to repair to Lyttelton Island, and then to follow such 

 instructions as you may have deposited in the cairn there. The 

 instructions you will leave for this ship, so far as they need be 

 decided on at present, are, that she is to be found at the rendezvous, 

 specified in the records at the cairn, not later than the last week 

 in August 1877. She will be equipped and fitted for wintering in 

 the Polar Seas, and, in the event of there being no tidings of the 

 expedition nor instructions to the contrary, in the records to be 

 found at the rendezvous you will have named, she will be ordered 

 to pass one winter at that rendezvous, returning to England in the 

 latest part of the navigable season of 1878. 



23. If, under the circumstances alluded to in paragraph 20, 

 the retreating parties should arrive at Lyttelton Island in 1878, 

 and find no relief ship there, or no intelligence of her, it will be 

 taken for granted that some unforeseen accident has prevented her 

 reaching Lyttelton Island, and in that case the retreating parties 

 must rely on their- own resources for reaching Upernivik, looking 

 out, of course, for the whalers on their fishing grounds, between the 

 months of May and August. The expedition will, in any case, 

 on its return, revisit the cairn on Lyttelton Island, and leave 

 records. 



24. Should the season of 1875 be so unfavourable as to 

 prevent the expedition from penetrating beyond the 79th parallel, 

 it is left to your discretion to decide whether the ships shall winter 

 there, or return to England and renew the attempt the following 

 year. 



25. Although the expedition intrusted to your charge is one of 

 exploration and discovery, it must be kept in view that detailed 

 surveys are unnecessary. The requirements of hydrography and 

 geography will be provided for if the prominent features and 



