SHORES OF THE POLAR SEA. 249 



the Blossom had been at the distance of 

 only one hundred and sixty miles from me, 

 no difficulties, dangers, or discouraging cir- 

 cumstances should have prevailed on me to 

 return: but taking into account the uncer- 

 tainty of all voyages in a sea obstructed by 

 ice, I had no right to expect that the Blos- 

 som had advanced beyond Kotzebue Inlet, 

 or that any party from her had doubled Icy 

 Cape. It is useless now to speculate on the 

 probable result of a proceeding which did 

 not take place ; but I may observe, that, 

 had we gone forward as soon as the weather 

 permitted, namely, on the 18th, it is scarcely 

 possible that any change of circumstances 

 could have enabled us to overtake the Blos- 

 som's barge."* 



* Captain Franklin adds, in a note, " I have re- 

 cently learned, by letter from Captain Beechey, that 

 the barge turned back on the 25th of August, having 

 been several days beset by the ice. He likewise in- 

 forms me, that the summer of 1827 was so unfavour- 

 able for the navigation of the northern coast of Ame- 

 rica, that the Blossom did not reach so high a latitude 

 as in the preceding year ; nor could his boat get so 

 far to the east of Icy Cape, by one hundred miles. 



