'ENTERPRISE,' 1853-54. 143 



Eskimo left ns in November and returned on May 2"»th. In the 

 sledge travelling along the coast of Prince Albert Land drift-wood 

 ■was fallen in with in small quantities until Peel Point was reached. 

 On this point the ice was piled 30 feet high. The beach, which 

 had hitherto been gravel, now became mud intermixed with sharp 

 stones, and was upturned by the pressure of the ice. 



The Resolution sleigh, Lieutenant Tarkes, started from the head 

 of Prince of Wales Sound on May 7th for Melville Island, and 

 upon the following day got among hummocks that rendered 

 travelling with the sleigh very difficult ; on the 9th, not being able 

 to find a passage for the sleigh, it was left behind in lat. 73° 31'. 

 Melville Island was sighted on May 12th, and they landed under 

 < 'ape Providence on May 16th. Lieutenant Parkes travelled along 

 the coast towards Cape Hearne, coming across sleigh-tracks which 

 we now know to have been those of Captain M'Clure, who passed 

 along here a fortnight previous. 



On the 17th they left Melville Island, and reached the tent on 

 the 21st. 



The ship moved in the ice on July 19th, but was not able to 

 leave Winter Cove until August 5th; and in consequence of the ice 

 resting on both shores we did not lose sight of our winter-quarters 

 until the 30th. After running up to the head of Prince Albert 

 Sound, and proving it to be a gulf and not a strait, on September 

 12th, the Dolphin and Union Strait was entered on the 17th. 



On August 29th, 1853, the Enterprise (having left Cambridge 

 Bay on the 9th) arrived at Cape Bathurst. 1 In passing the entrance 

 of the Mackenzie, a much larger quantity of ice was observed 

 than had been met with in 1851. On the 2nd it was calm, and 

 an easterly set of 1"2 knots per hour was observed. The Pelly 

 Islands were passed on the 3rd, and Herschel Island on the 5th 

 of September. Here we found our progress to the westward 

 barred by a close pack resting on the shore. On the 8th, the wind 

 changing to the north-east, caused the ice to slacken, and when the 

 fog cleared off we found we had been driven back to Point Kay, 

 40 miles to the eastward, since midnight of the 5th. After blasting 

 a passage through the pack with gunpowder, we succeeded in reach- 

 ing Herschel Island a second time on the evening of the 9th. Tho 

 ice resting on the shore caused great delay, and we did not pass 

 Flaxman Island until the loth, and made fast to a grounded floo 

 in 1\ fathoms in Camden Bay, lat. 70° 5', long. 144° 50', on the 

 Kith, the easterly wind having packed tho ice close on Brownlmv 



1 For the voyage of the Enterprise through the Dolphin and Union Strait, see 

 page L53. 



