liOSS'S FIVE YEARS' VOYAGE. 315 



CHAPTER IV. 



INEFFECTIVE ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE — FOURTH WINTER IN THE ICE — AFLOAT IN 



THE BOATS — RESCUE AT LAST. 



It appeared at last that the sorely-tried crew of the " Victory " were to have 

 the " chance," which is said to be afforded to every man at least once in his 

 life, for no sooner were the boats ready for the water than the ice broke 

 up, and the sailors had the happiness of seeing clear navigable water once 

 more. No time was lost. The boats were stored with provisions for two 

 months, with bedding and other necessaries, and launched on the afternoon 

 of the 1st August. ' Sailing with the northward flowing tide, the boats 

 advanced eight miles along the coast. With the turn of the tide it was 

 known that the ice-stream would return to the south, and, to avoid it, Hoss 

 caused the boats to be unloaded and hauled up on the beach. " It was not 

 a minute too soon," writes the captain, "for the ice immediately came 

 down, and two floes near us were broken to pieces with a violent crash so as 

 to form a ridge of hummocks close to the shore. ... It was a singular 

 coincidence that we experienced this narrow escape not only where the 

 ' Fury ' was wrecked, but on the same day that she was lost eight years 

 before." For four weeks the shore remained packed with ice. On the 28th 

 August the boats were a second time launched. Eoss steered a northward 

 course, and on the 29th he stood for the edge of the packed ice, in the 

 direction of Cape York. On this and on the following day the pack was 

 diligently searched all along the entrance to Eegent's Inlet, but no opening 

 could be found. Landing near Cape Seppings, and ascending a mountain 

 on September 2d, Eoss obtained a view of Barrow Strait, and saw, to his 

 dismay, that the whole of that inlet was one unbroken field of ice, and the 

 dismal prospect of having to return to Fury Beach for another winter was 

 the only one which the scene suggested. Another and yet another attempt 

 was made to pierce the pack, but every attempt was vain ; and on the 30th 

 September the wretched explorers were forced to haul up the boats on the 

 north cape of Batty Bay, land the stores, and prepare for a journey south- 

 ward to their old " home " on Fury Beach. This plan— the only one prac- 



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