XXIV 



OFFICIAL INSTRUCTIONS. 



depot of provisions at that period in the most advanced situation to 

 which they can safely be conveyed. In the event then of our not 

 receiving from you such intelligence as may render the measure unne- 

 cessary, we shall, about the close of the year 1823, direct the Com- 

 mander-in-Chief on the South American station to despatch a vessel 

 with a supply of provisions and stores, so as to be at Behring's Strait 

 about August or September, 1824. The commander of this vessel 

 will be directed to make the best of his way round Cape Prince of 

 Wales, where he may expect, as we are informed, to find an inlet in 

 latitude 68° 30', in which Captain Kotzebue is stated to have found 

 anchorage a few years since. He will be directed to lie in that ancho- 

 rage, or in the nearest good anchorage he may find to that latitude ; 

 and he will be ordered to erect, in the most prominent and visible 

 situation, a flagstaff for your direction. As it is possible that you 

 may touch at the Sandwich Islands, this Officer will be directed to call 

 at Owhyhee, in order that if you should have passed to the southward, 

 he may not be put to the inconvenience of going on to Cape Prince of 

 Wales. 



Whenever the season shall be so far advanced as to make it unsafe 

 to navigate the ships, on account of the long nights having set in, and 

 the sea being impassable on account of ice, you are, if you should not 

 return to England, to use your best endeavours to discover a sheltered 

 and safe harbour, where the ships may be placed in security for the 

 winter, taking such measures for the health and comfort of the people 

 under your command, as the materials with which you are supplied for 

 housing in the ships, or hutting the men on shore, may enable you to 

 do. And when you find it expedient to resort to this measure, if you 

 should meet with any inhabitants, either Esquimaux or Indians, near 



