OFFICIAL INSTRUCTIONS. 



Bi/ the Commissioners for execiding the OJfice of Lord High 

 Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 

 Ireland, <$-c. ^-c. 



Lord viscount ^MelviUe having communicated to the King the 

 proceedings of the late Expedition into the Arctic Seas, and His 

 Majesty having been graciously pleased to express his commands that 

 a further Expedition should be fitted out, for the purpose of renewing 

 the attempt to discover a passage by sea between the Atlantic and 

 Pacific Oceans, and of ascertaining the geography of the Northern 

 boundaries of the American Continent, we have thought proper to 

 appoint you to the command of the Expedition ; and you are hereby 

 required and directed to put to sea in His Majesty's ship Fury 

 under your command, together with His Majesty's ship Hecla, whose 

 commander has been placed under your orders, and taking also with 

 you the Nautilus Transport, Avhich we have directed the Navy Board 

 to place at your disposal (for the purpose of carrying a proportion of 

 your provisions and stores across the Atlantic and Davis' Strait,) you 

 are to proceed as quickly as may be consistent ^^■ith every precaution to 

 avoid any risk of your parting company from cither the one ship or the 

 other, towards, or into, Hudson's Strait, until you shall meet with the 



