338 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. May 



stove in on the starboard bow, for which defects the 

 materials necessary for repairs were at hand ; in other 

 respects she was serviceable. 



' The stores found under the boat seemed to have 

 been but little affected by the weather ; for instance, 

 some biscuit, of which there was about twenty pounds, 

 lying loose in the lockers, was in good condition. Great 

 difficulty was experienced in getting at some of the 

 gear, the bags, for instance, being frozen so stiffly that 

 it was impossible to examine their contents without 

 tearing them in pieces. 



' Expecting to find two tents to correspond with 

 the two boats, I searched in various directions for a 

 second, but in vain. Therefore having made a rough 

 list of such stores as circumstances would admit of our 

 examining, having packed upon the sledges the instru- 

 ments and documents which I could transfer to Polaris 

 Bay, and having erected a conspicuous cairn and 

 attached thereto a record of proceedings, we struck 

 tents, packed up, and proceeded to the eastward.' 



Captain Stephenson during his stay at Thank God 

 Harbour, took the precaution of placing a depot of 

 provisions on the shore of Newman Bay, in order 

 to insure relief to the party under the command of 

 Lieutenant Beaumont, in case the heavy snow lying on 

 the neck of land between that bay and Hall's Eest 

 delayed the travellers on their return journey from the 

 north. This duty was carried out by Lieutenant 

 Fulford and Doctor Coppinger. 



From the 12th to the 15th of May the travellers 

 at Hall's Eest experienced a gale from the north- 

 ward. On the 16th the barometer fell, accompanied 



