OFFICIAL REPOET. 
In May the noon-day sun began to take effect upon the snow which covered 
the ice ; the surface of the floes became watery, and difficult to walk over. 
Still, the dissolution was so slow in comparison with the mass to be dissolved, 
that It must have taken us a long period to become liberated from this cause 
alone. More was expected from our southerly drift, which still continued, and 
must soon carry us into a milder climate and open sea. 
On the 19th of May the land about Cape Searle was made out, the first that 
we had seen since passing Cape Walter Bathurst, about the 20th of January. 
A few days later we were otf Cape Walsingham, and on the 27th passed out 
of the Arctic Zone, 
June 6th, a moderate breeze from southeast, with pleasant weather ; ther- 
mometer up to 40° at noon, and altogether quite a warm and melting day. Dur- 
ing the morning a peculiar crackling sound was heard on the floe. I was in- 
clined to impute it to the settling of the snow drifts as they were acted upon 
by the sun ; but in the afternoon, about five o'clock, the puzzle was solved very 
lucidly, and to the exceeding satisfaction of all hands. A crack in the floe took 
place between us and the Rescue, and in a few minutes thereafter the whole 
immense field in wMch we had been imbedded for so many months was rent 
m all directions, leaving not a piece exceeding one hundred yards in diame- 
ter. This rupture was not accompanied with any noise. The Rescue was 
entirely liberated, the Advance only partially. The ice in which her after-part 
was imbedded still adhered to her from the main chains aft, keeping her stern 
elevated in its unsightly position. The pack (as it may now be called) be- 
came quite loose, and but for our pertinacious friend acting as an immense drag 
upon us, we might have made some headway in any desired direction. All our 
efltirts were now turned to getting rid of it. With saws, axes, and crowbars 
the people went to work with a right good will, and after hard labor for forty- 
eight hours, succeeded. The vessel v/as again afloat, and she righted. The 
joy of all hands vented itself spontaneously in three hearty cheers. The after 
part of the false keel was gone, being carried away by the ice. The loss of it, 
however, I was glad to perceive, did not materially atfect the saiUng or working 
qualities of the vessel. The rudders were shipped, and were once more ready 
to move, as efficient as on the day we left New York. 
Steering to the southeast, and working slowly through the loose but heavy 
pack, on the 9th we parted from the Rescue in a dense fog, she taking a dif- 
ferent lead from the one the Advance was pursuing. 
On the morning of the 10th, with a fresh breeze from the north, under a press 
of sail, we forced away into an open and clear sea, in latitude 65° 30', about 
thirty-five miles from the spot in which we were hberated. 
• The wind, which in the ice was merely fresh, proved to be in clear water a 
gale, with a heavy sea running. Through this we labored until the next morn- 
ing. When it moderated, the coast of Greenland was in sight. 
Our course was now directed for the Whale-fish Islands (the place of ren- 
dezvous appointed for our consort), which we reached on the 16th, not, how- 
ever, without having some difliculty in getting through the unusual number 
of bergs which lined the coast. In an encounter with one, we lost a studding- 
saiTboom. , 
I had two objects in visiting these islands, that of verifying our chronometers 
and to recruit our somewhat debilitated crews. The latter object I learned, on 
505 
