444 CAPTAIN Ross's ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 
ward, " Boothia," as also the isthmus, the peninsula to the 
north and the eastern sea, after my worthy friend Felix 
Booth, Esq. the truly patriotic citizen of London, who, in the 
most disinterested manner, enabled me to equip this expedition 
in a superior style. 
The last winter was in temperature nearly equal to the 
means of what had been experienced on the four preceding 
voyages, but the winters of 1830 and 1831 set in with a de- 
gree of violence hitherto beyond record — the thermometer 
sunk to 92 degrees below the freezing point, and the average 
of the year was 10 degrees below the preceding ; but not- 
withstanding the severity of the summer, we traveled across 
the country to the west sea by a chain of lakes, 30 miles 
north of the isthmus, when Commander Ross succeeded in 
surveying 50 miles more of the coast leading to the north- 
west, and by tracing the shore to the northward of our por- 
tion, it was also fully proved that there could be no passage 
below the 71st degree. 
This autumn we succeeded in getting the vessel only 14 
miles to the northward ; as we had not doubled the Eastern 
Cape, all hope of saving the ship was at an end, and put quite 
beyond possibility by another very severe winter ; and having 
only provisions to last us to the 1st June, 1833, dispositions 
were accordingly made to leave the ship in present port, 
which (after her) was named Victory Harbor. Provisions 
and fuel being carried forward in the spring, we left the ship 
on the 28th May, 1832, for Fury Beach, being the only 
chance left of saving our lives ; owing to the very rugged 
nature of the ice we were obliged to keep either upon or 
close to the land, making the circuit of every bay, thus in- 
creasing our distance 200 miles by nearly one half; and it 
was not until the 1st of July that we reached the beach, com- 
pletely exhausted with hunger and fatigue. 
A hut was speedily constructed, and the boats, three of 
which had been washed off the beach, but providentially driv- 
en on shore again, were repaired during this month ; and the 
unusual heavy appearance of the ice afforded us no cheering 
prospect until the 1st of August, when in three boats we 
reached the ill-fated spot where the Fury was first driven on 
shore, and it was not until the first of September we reached 
Leopold South Island, now established to be the N. E. point 
of America, in latitude 73, 56, and longitude 90 west. From 
the summit of the lofty mountain on the promontory we could 
see Prince Regent's Inlet, Barrow's Strait, and Lancaster 
