256 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1820 . 
August. 
no longer be deemed justifiable in me to persevere in a fruitless attempt to get 
to the westward. 
By Mr. Hooper’s report of the remains of provisions, it appeared that, at 
the present reduced allowance, (namely, two-thirds of the established pro- 
portion for the navy), they would last until the 30th of November, 1821 ; and 
that an immediate reduction to half allowance, which must, however, tend 
materially to impair the health and vigour of the officers and men, would only 
extend our resources till the 30th of April, 1822; it therefore became a 
matter of evident and imperious necessity, that the ships should be cleared 
from the ice before the close of the season of 1821, so as to reach some 
station where supplies might be obtained by the end of that, or early in the 
following, year. 
By the same report, it appeared that the fuel, with which we were fur- 
nished, could only be made to extend to a period of two years and seven 
months, or to the end of November, 1821 ; and this only by resorting to the 
unhealthy measure of both crews’ living on board the Hecla, during six of the 
ensuing winter months. The above calculation was made according to the 
proportion of fuel hitherto consumed on board each ship, varying at dif- 
ferent periods of the year, from one and a half to three bushels of coal 
per day, — a quantity which, far from affording the officers and men com- 
fort in so rigorous a climate, was found barely sufficient to preserve their 
health. 
The ships might be considered almost as effective as when the Expedition 
left England ; the wear and tear having been trifling, and the quantity of 
stores remaining on board being amply sufficient, in all probability, for a 
much longer period than the provisions and fuel. The health of the officers 
and men continued also as good, or nearly so, as at the commencement of the 
voyage. Considering, however, the serious loss we had sustained in the 
lemon-juice, the only effectual anti-scorbutic on which we could depend, 
during at least nine months of the year in these regions, as well as the effects 
likely to result from crowding nearly one hundred persons into the accom- 
modation intended only for fifty-eight, whereby the difficulty of keeping the 
inhabited parts of the ship in a dry and wholesome state would have been 
so much increased, there certainly seemed some reason to apprehend, that a 
second winter would not leave us in possession of the same excellent health 
which we now happily enjoyed, while it is possible that the difficulty and 
danger of either proceeding or returning might have been increased. 
