1876 POLARIS BAY. 335 



across the channel to the Greenland shore. A dog- 

 sledge despatched to recall Mr. Conybeare and his 

 men overtook them on the 5th, when about six miles 

 from land. 



On the 7th of May Lieutenant Fulford and Mr. 

 Conybeare finally started from the c Discovery ' with 

 eighteen men, dragging a twenty-foot ice-boat on a 

 twelve-man sledge. On the following day they reached 

 the spot where the boat had been left ; the party was 

 then divided, eleven men dragging the larger boat 

 and seven "the smaller one. On the 12th, after five 

 days' travelling, the boats were safely deposited near 

 the depot at Polaris Bay, and the same evening Captain 

 Stephenson accompanied by Mr. Hart likewise arrived 

 there. 



While crossing the channel the weather was thick 

 and gloomy with a strong breeze from the southward, 

 which made the journey very unpleasant, but the ice 

 was the best they had yet travelled over. Some large 

 floes of young smooth ice were met with in Hall's 

 Basin, but on both sides of the channel, near the shores, 

 hummocks and pressed-up ice formed considerable 

 barriers ; the greatest obstacles being met with on the 

 Greenland coast. 



On the loth of May, in the presence of twenty- 

 four officers and men, Captain Stephenson hoisted the 

 American flag over the grave of Captain Hall, and at 

 the foot erected a brass tablet brought from England. 

 The inscription read as follows : — 



