ch. xxviii] The Search for Franklin. IL 265 
being for some time in great danger. The squadron reached 
Beechey Island August 14th, where the North Star was to 
remain as a depot ship. Next day the two divisions parted 
company* The Assistance and Pioneer proceeded up Wel- 
lington Channel to winter in a harbour in 77 0 52' N., while 
the Resolute and Intrepid went on to Melville Island with 
little difficulty, where they found winter quarters in a 
bay sheltered by Dealy Isle, so named after a midshipman 
of the Hecla, in 74 0 56' N. 
We must pause here for a moment to record a modest 
but successful expedition carried out in the same season 
of 1852 by Captain Inglefield, who in the little Isabel, 
piloted by wonderful old Abernethy, went for a summer 
cruise up Baffin's Bay. He reached the entrance of Smith 
Sound and saw that it was an important channel leading 
to the polar ocean — really Smith Channel. To the land 
on the west side, which was discovered by Baffin but not 
named by him, he gave the name of Ellesmere Island. 
M'Clintock decided upon a system of autumn travelling 
for laying out depots on a much larger scale than in the 
previous expedition. This time he was absent 40 days, 
and went over 260 miles. Four other autumn travelling 
parties laid out depots, Mecham doing 212 miles in 25 days, 
Vesey Hamilton 84 miles in 16 days. Mecham made a 
very important discovery. He found a record left by 
Captain M'Clure of the Investigator on Parry's sandstone 
rock, in the spring of 1852. M'Clure gave the position 
of the ship in the Bay of Mercy, and added that if the 
Investigator was not again heard of, she would probably 
have been carried into the polar pack west of Melville 
Island, in which case any attempt to succour him would 
be useless — a very noble thing for a man in his position 
to have written. 
The plan for sledge travelling in the spring was that 
M'Clintock was to explore as far as possible to the north 
and west, Mecham to the west, and Vesey Hamilton to 
the north. On March 10th a sledge was sent to com- 
municate with the Investigator in the Bay of Mercy, a 
distance of 160 miles. 
M'Clintock's two large sledges, when loaded, weighed 
2000 lb. ; or 228 lb. per man on starting. Of the sledge 
crew of 185 1 Salmon was still well and hearty. George 
