250 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [part i 
Cape Bird. They little knew how near they were to the 
solution of the Franklin mystery. 
The sledge travellers reached the Enterprise again on 
June 23rd. The strength of all the men was much im- 
paired, mainly from insufficiency of food. Four broke 
down altogether, one having to be carried on the sledge. 
The return journey had been a period of intense labour, 
constant exposure, and insufficient food. M'Clintock 
alone returned well. They had gone over five hundred 
miles in thirty-nine days. The weight to be dragged 
per man was too great, and the whole scheme required 
revision. Still, it was the greatest Arctic sledge journey 
that had ever been made up to that time. M'Clintock 
noted everything, down to the minutest detail, and with 
the eye of genius saw the numerous improvements that 
might be made, and the great future that sledge travelling 
had in the work of polar discovery. 
As the summer advanced scurvy broke out, and it 
was only kept in check by the very large number of 
birds (2300) that were shot. A long lane had to be cut 
through the ice, and it was not until quite the end 
of August that the ships were clear of their winter 
quarters. Sir James Ross had intended to continue the 
search in Barrow Strait, but on the very day after 
leaving Port Leopold the ships were closely beset and 
drifted helplessly down Lancaster Sound into Baffin's 
Bay. They were not released until September 24th, 
having been firmly fixed in the drifting ice for 24 days. 
There was nothing for it but to return to England, which 
they did in the full expectation that they would find the 
Franklin expedition safely returned before them. Bitter 
was their disappointment. 
In the spring of 1849 the old North Star frigate, under 
Mr Saunders, the Master who served in the Terror with 
Sir George Back, was sent out with stores to enable Sir 
James Ross to continue the search, but he too was un- 
fortunate. Unable to get through the ice of Melville Bay 
in time, he was obliged to winter in Wolstenholme Sound 
on the Greenland coast. In the summer of the succeeding 
year Mr Saunders landed a depot of provisions at 
Admiralty Inlet in Lancaster Sound and returned to 
England. 
