170 Sir James Boss's Expedition. 



of young ice which covered the harbour. With- 

 out the aid of steam a boat could not have moved 

 her own length. Sir James also caused a house to 

 be built of spare .spars and covered with housing 

 cloths, and on his departure he left, besides the 

 provisions, the "Investigator's" steam launch, 

 lengthened seven feet, and made capable of con- 

 veying the whole of Sir John Franklin's party to 

 the whale-ships. Sir James Ross's expedition was 

 in Port Leopold from September 11th, 1848, until 

 August 28th, 1849. In this desolate spot three of 

 the greatest of our modern Arctic navigators thus 

 found shelter for nearly twelve months. Besides 

 Sir James himself, the discoverer of the North 

 Magnetic Pole, there were McClure, the future dis- 

 coverer of a North-west Passage, and McClintock, 

 the discoverer of the fate of Franklin. On Sep- 

 tember 21st, 1851, Mr. Kennedy, of the " Prince 

 Albert," landed and passed the night in the steam 

 launch, marching thence, with a sledge, to his 

 winter quarters further south, in Batty Bay. He 

 was there again on July 27th, 1852, while on his 

 long sledge journey with Lieut. Bellot, round North 

 Somerset, when he deposited a record. The place 

 was afterwards again visited by McClintock on 

 August 19th, 1858, when in command of the 

 " Fox" — the final expedition sent out in search 

 of Sir John Franklin. He found that the ice had 

 been pressed in upon the low shingle point, forcing 



