' ENTERPRISE,' 1850-51. 117 



reaching it. The ice hummocks here were frequently found to 

 be 25 feet above the sea, and on one or two instances as much as 

 30 feet was seen ; but this was the greatest height. Hero no 

 bottom with 60 fathoms was found, and the temperature of the sea 

 rose to 40°. Seeing there was no hope of progress in this lane, the 

 ship's head was turned to the southward, having traced the pack in 

 a south-easterly direction for 145 miles from lat. 72° 45' and long. 

 159 3 5' w., with no signs of opening to east or south-east. Further 

 progress to the eastward was considered impracticable this season. 



Returning to the south, the southern edge of the pack was found 

 on August 27th to be 20 miles to the southward of where it was 

 on the 16th. Hounding it a lane of open water was found trending 

 e.n.e. and w.s.w., up which we proceeded, reaching at length lat. 

 73° 23', in long. 164° 4' w., where the pack-edge, both to the east and 

 west, trended southerly, leaving no hope of further progress to the 

 north or east. 



Point Hope was reached on August 31st, and Port Clarence on the 

 2nd of September. On the 14th the Enterprise again proceeded to 

 the north, and remained cruising between Cape Lisburne and Icy 

 Cape until the 30th, when the thermometer fell to 18°, and the ice 

 formed so rapidly as to interfere with navigation. Wo returned 

 to Port Clarence on the 2nd, and visited Fort Michailowski, in 

 Norton Sound, on the 16th of October, where Lieutenant Bernard, 

 Mr. Adams, assistant-surgeon, and Thomas Cousins, A.B., were 

 landed. 



Leaving Hongkong on the 2nd of April, 1851, the Enterprise touched 

 at the Bonin Islands on the 28th, passed through the Aleutian chain 

 on May 24th, and fell in with the pack in lat. 62° and long. 179° E. 

 on June 1st. Boring through the pack, Cape Behring was seen 

 on the 11th. On the 18th three baidars came off to the ship from 

 Cape Atchene, which was 8 miles distant. Cape Prince of Wales 

 was sighted on the 25th, but owing to the quantity of ice in Behring 

 Strait, Port Clarence was not reached until July 4th. The whole 

 length of the passage was 41 days, of which 28 were passed in the 

 pack. The position by account differs from that by observation N. 

 54° E. 264 miles, or 6^ miles per day. Leaving Port Clarenco on 

 July 12th, Wuinwright Inlet was reached on the 19th, and on the 

 20th the ship was beset in the pack off the Seahorse Islands, when 

 the following currents were experienced : — 



