OFFICIAL REPORT. 
505 
In May the noon-day sun began to lake effect upon the snow wliich covered 
the ice ; the surface of tlie floes became watery, and difficult to walk over. 
Still, the dissolution was so slow in comparison with the mass to bo dissolved, 
that it must have taken us a long period to become liboratiffi 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 w'ere cfl' Cape Walsingham, and on the 27th passed out 
of the Arctic Zone. 
June Gtli, a moderate breeze from southeast, with pleasant weather ; ther- 
mometer up to 4()‘^ at noon, and altogether quite a warm and melting day. Dur- 
ing the morning a peculiar crackling sound was heard on the lh)e. 1 was in- 
clined to impute it to the settling of the snow drifts as they were acted upon 
by the sun ; hut 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 which wc had been imbedded for so many months was rent 
in all direction.?, leaving not a piece exceeding one hundred yards in diame- 
ter. 'rhis rupture was not accompanied with any noise. The Rescue was 
entirely liberated, the Advance only partially. The ice in wliich her allcr-pari 
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 bo called) be- 
came quite loose, and but for our pertinacious friend acting as an immense drag 
upon us, wc might hav^e made some headway in any desired direction. All our 
efforts were now turned to getting rid of it. With saws, axes, and crowbars 
the people went to woik with a right good will, and after hard labor for forty- 
eight hours, succeeded. The vessel was 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 curried away by the ice. The loss of it, 
however, I vvas glad to pc'rceive, did not maU‘riaUy affect the sailing or working 
qualities of the vessel. The rudders were shipped, and were once more ready 
to move, as eflicient as on the day wc left New York. 
Steering to the souiheast, and working slowly tlirough the loose but heavy 
pack, on the 9th we parted from the ResiMie in a dense fog, slie taking a dif- 
ferent lead from the one the Advance was pursuing. 
On the morning of the iOth, with a fre.sh lircezo from the north, under a press 
of sail, wc forced away into an open and dear sea, in latitude 65® 30', about 
thirty-five miles from the s])ot in which wc were, libcniled. 
The wind, which in the icc was merely fresh, proved to be in clear water a 
gale, with a heavy sea nmning. llirough this we labored until the next morn- 
ing. Wiien 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 IGth, not, how- 
ever, without liaving some difficulty in gelling through tlie unusual number 
of bergs wliich lined the coast. In an encounter witli one, wc lost a studding- 
sail boom. 
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 
