XXll 
OFFICIAL INSTRUCTIONS. 
through that Strait, you are then to proceed to Kamtschatka (^if 
you think you can do so without risk of being shut up by the ice 
on that coast), for the purpose of delivering to the Russian Governor, 
duplicates of all the J ournals and other documents which the passage 
may have supplied, with a request that they may be forwarded 
over-land to St. Petersburg!!, to be conveyed from thence to London. 
From Kamtschatka you will proceed to the Sandwich Islands, or 
Canton, or such other place as you may think proper, to refit the 
ships and refresh the crews ; and, if during your stay at such place, 
a safe opportunity should occur of sending papers to England, you 
should send duplicates by such conveyance. And, after having re- 
fitted and refreshed, you are to lose no time in returning to England, 
by such route as you may deem most convenient. 
If, at any period of your voyage, but particularly after you shall 
have doubled the north-eastern extremity of America, the season 
shall be so far advanced* as to make it unsafe to navigate the ships, on 
account of the long nights having set in, and the sea not being free 
from ice ; and the health of your crews, the state of the ships, and all 
concurrent circumstances, should combine to induce you to form the 
resolution of wintering in those regions, you are to use your best en- 
deavours to discover a sheltered and safe harbour, where the ships 
may be placed in security for the winter; taking such measures for 
tlie health and comfort of the people committed to your charge, as 
the materials with which you are supplied for housing-in the ships, or 
hutting the men on shore, may enable you to do. And, if you shall 
find it expedient to resort to this measure, and you should meet with 
any inhabitants, either Esquimaux or Indians, near the place where 
you winter, you are to endeavour, by every means in your power, to 
