442 CAPTAIN Ross's ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 
CAPTAIN ROSS'S NARRATIVE OF HIS LATE 
ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 
The following letters addressed by the gallant navigator to the 
Admiralty, will 'put the reader in possession of all the Ad- 
ventures and Discoveries of this memorable expedition. 
O71 board the Isabella, of Hull, ) 
Baffin's Bay, Sept. 1833. \ 
Sir, — Knowing how deeply my Lords Commissioners of 
the Admiralty are interested in the advancement of nautical 
knowledge, and particularly in the improvement of geogra- 
phy, I have to acquaint you, for the information of their 
lordships, that the expedition, the main object of which is to 
solve, if possible, the question of a north-west passage from the 
Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, particularly by Prince Regent's 
Inlet, and which sailed from England in May, 1827, notwith- 
standing the loss of the foremast and other untoward circum- 
stances, which obliged the vessel to refit in Greenland, reach- 
ed the beach on Avhich his Majesty's late ship Fury's stores 
were landed on the 13th of August. 
We found the boats, provisions, &c. in excellent condition, 
but no vestige of the wreck. After completing in fuel and 
other necessaries, we sailed on the 14th, and on the following 
morning rounded Cape Garry, where our new discoveries 
commenced, and keeping the western shore close on board, 
ran down the coast in a S. W. and W. course, in from 10 to 
20 fathoms, until we had passed the latitude of 72 north in 
longitude 94 west ; here we found a considerable inlet leading 
to the westward, the examination of which occupied two 
days ; at this place we were first seriously obstructed by ice, 
which was now seen to extend from the south cape of the in- 
let, in a solid mass, round by S. and E. to E. N. E. ; owing to 
this circumstance, the shallowness of the water, the rapidity 
of the tides, the tempestuous weather, the irregularity of the 
coast, and the numerous inlets and rocks for which it is re- 
markable, our progress was no less dangerous than tedious, 
yet we succeeded in penetrating below the latitude of 70 
north in longitude 92 west, where the land, after having car- 
ried us as far east as 90, took a decided westerly direction, 
while land at the distance of 40 miles to southward was seen 
extending east and west. At this extreme point our progress 
was arrested on the 1st of October by an impenetrable barri- 
