'INVESTIGATOR,' 1851-52. 139 



sea on reaching the coloured water of the Mackenzie rose from 

 28° to 39°. On the 30th reached Cape Bathurst, and communicated 

 with the natives. On September 6th discovered Baring Land. 

 Landed and took possession on the 7th. On the 11th the ship was 

 beset in lat. 72^ 52', and long. 117° 3'; but the ice continued in 

 motion until October 8th, and the ship narrowly escaped destruc- 

 tion several times; on one occasion listing the ship 34°, when 

 they were firmly fixed for the space of nine months in lat. 72" 47' n.. 

 and long. 117 : 34' w., 4 miles from the Princess Royal Isles. Here 

 three months' provision and a boat were deposited. On the 21st 

 Captain M'Clure started with sleighs, and reached the entrance 

 into Barrow Strait, in lat. 73° 30'. and long. 114 ? 14' w., and thus 

 established the existence of a north-west passage. On July 14th, 

 1851, the ice opened without any pressure; but the ship was so 

 surrounded by it that they were only able to use their sails twice 

 until August 14th, when they attained the furthest northern position 

 in Prince of Wales Strait, viz., lat. 73° 14' n., long. 115° 32' 30". w. 

 Finding the passage into Barrow Strait obstructed by north-east 

 winds setting large masses of ice to the southward, which had 

 drifted the ship 15 aiiles in that direction during the last 12 hours, 

 bore up and passed to the southward of Baring Island. 



August 20th, lat. 74° 27' x., long. 122° 32' 15" w. Have had 

 clear water to reach thus far, running within a mile of the coast 

 the whole distance, when progress was impeded by the ice resting 

 upon the shore : secured the ship to a large grounded floe-piece in 

 12 fathoms. 



August 29th, ship in great danger of being crushed or driven 

 ashore by the ice coming in with heavy pressure from the Polar 

 Sea, driving her along within 100 yards of, the land for half a 

 mile, heeling her 15°, and raising her bodily 1 foot 8 inches, when 

 we again became stationary and the ice quiet. 



September 10th. Ice again in motion, and ship driven from the 

 land into the main pack, with a heavy gale from south-west. On 

 the following day they succeeded in getting clear of the. pack, and 

 secured the ship to a grounded floe in 74° 29' x., long. 122" 5 20' w. 



September 12th. Clear water along shore to the eastward. 

 Worked the ship in that direction, with several obstructions and 

 narrow escapes from the stupendous Polar ice, until the evening of the 

 23rd, when they ran upon a mudbank, having 6 feel water under the 

 bow and 5 fathoms astern ; hove off without any damage. Finding 

 a well-sheltered spot upon the south side of thi> Bhoal, ran in, and 

 anchored in 4 fathoms, in lat. 74° 6', long. 117 54', on the 24th, 

 and were frozen-in the same evening. 



