ARCTIC VOYAGES, FROM BAFFIN TO M'CLINTOCK. 



361 



ative safety till the 29th, when the immense floe to which she was attached was 

 raised edgeways out of the water, from the pressure of surrounding ice, and 

 lifted perpendicularly some twenty-five feet. The slightest additional pressure 

 would have thrown the delicately-poised vessel entirely over, but fortunately a 

 large piece from underneath was rent away, and after one or two frightful os- 

 cillations the floe righted itself and drifted onward, bearing the ship unharmed 

 upon its course. 



During the succeeding month, every day brought its perils. 'Now forced 

 ashore by the pressure of the ice, now hurried along amidst its inclosing masses, 

 the adventurers, slowly working their way along the north coast of Banks's 

 Land, at length found refuge in a harbor to which the appropriate name of 

 Mercy Bay was thankfully given. Here they spent two winters — the interven- 

 ing summer having failed to release the ship. In the spring of 1853 Lieuten- 

 ant Pym brought them the joyful news that the "Resolute" was not far off„ 

 Such had been the adventures of M'Clure up to the moment when Kellett wel- 

 comed him on board. 



Meanwhile neither the sledge parties of the " Resolute," nor those which Sir 

 Edward Belcher had sent out in all directions from his first winter-quarters in 

 Northumberland Sound (76° 52' K. lat.), on the west side of Grinnell Peninsula, 

 had been able to discover the least traces of Franklin. The winter (1853-54) 

 passed, and in the following April Lieutenant Mecham found in Prince of Wales' 

 Strait, and later on Ramsay Island, at its southern outlet, documents from Col- 

 linson, bearing date August 27, 1852, and giving full intelligence ol his pro- 

 ceedings since his separation from the " Investigator." While M^Clure was 

 achieving in 1850 the discovery of the north-west passage, Collinson, having 

 arrived in Bering's Straits later in the season, was unable to double Point Bar- 

 row. In 1851, however, he succeeded in getting round that projection, and pur- 

 suing the continental channel as easily as his precursor had done, followed him 

 through Prince of Wales' Strait ; but, though he penetrated a few miles farther 

 into Melville Sound, he found no passage, and returning to the south end of the 

 strait passed the winter of 1851-52 in Walker Bay. Next summer he carried 

 his ship through Dolphin and Union Straits and Dease Strait to Cambridge 

 Bay, where he spent his second winter (1852-53). His sledge parties explored 

 the west side of Victoria Strait, but a deficiency of coals compelled him to re- 

 turn the way he came, instead of attempting to force a passage through the 

 channel. He did not, however, get round Barrow Point on his return without 

 passing a third winter on the northern coast of America. 



On returning to the " Resolute," Lieutenant Mecham found all hands busy 

 preparing to leave the ship. Sir E. Belcher having given orders to abandon her, 

 as well as the " Assistance," " Pioneer," and " Intrepid," which had now been 

 blocked up above a year in the ice, and had no chance of escaping. 



Thus the summer of 1854 witnessed the return to England of the "North 

 Star," with all those brave crews which had spent so many unavailing efforts, 

 and in numerous boat and sledge excursions had explored so many known 

 and unknown coasts in search of Franklin ; and thus also M'Clure and his com- 

 rades, abandoning the " Investigator " in Mercy Bay, returned home through 



