483 SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



scarcely have experienced before. And although there can be no doubt, 

 that the various changes of ^vind and tide would occasionally block up with 

 ice the shores surveyed by Ca])tain Franklin, yet the open water he observed 

 is a proof that the ice has a considerable space to move about in ; and I 

 cannot, therefore, but entertain a very confident hope that if a ship coidd 

 once be got upon that coast, she might, by patience and perseverance, ulti- 

 mately complete the desired object. 



The report of the Russian ships that lately visited Icy Cape is, also, as 

 respects the state of the ice, as favourable as the most sanguine mind could 

 wi>h ; for their description is precisely that of a kind of navigation through 

 which our ships have already held their course, uninjured, for hundreds of 

 leagues, and through which, therefore, they may, under Providence, be 

 again conducted by similar exertions. When, indeed, a body of ice lias 

 been once detached from the land, and has acquired some room to recede 

 from it, which appears to be the case in the summer about Icy Cape, it is 

 seldom that a ship need despair of making progress, unless the season be too 

 far advanced to allow her to take advantage of the occasional openings. 



Reports so favourable as these of the state of the ice during the summer 

 upon the central and western parts of the north coast of America, certainly 

 combine to offer a new view of the enterprise in which we have late been 

 engaged. From these and from the late failure of the Fury and Ilecla in 

 endeavouring to force their way into the Polar Sea, it would ajipcar that the 

 principal difficulty lies on this eastern or. Atlantic side; and it becomes, 

 therefore, a matter of more interest than ever fo inquire by what route a ship 

 is most likely to reach that part of the coast lately discovered and surveyed 

 by Captain Franklin. 



The opinion I have before given as to the advantages of continuous land in 

 tiie navigation of the Polar Seas, has been considerably strengthened by our 

 subsequent experience for the last three sea-jons ; and I am more than ever 

 impressed with the belief that the only way in which a ship can, widi toler- 

 able certainty, succeed in penetrating any considerable distance is by watch- 

 ing the openings occasionally produced by winds and tides between a body 

 of ice, when detached and moveable, and some land continuous in the de- 

 sired direction. I have here adverted to this only for the purpose of further 

 remarking that, however unsuccessful have been our late endeavours, they 

 were unquestionably directed to the right place, and that, with the limited 

 geographical information we then possessed, no other route than that pointed 



