OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 
309 
S. 54° E., distant eleven leagues. Previously to our parting company with the 1820. 
u • • • October. 
Griper, I had given Lieutenant Liddon an order, in case of separation, to 
repair to Lerwick in the Shetland Islands, and to wait a week there for my 
arrival. On the morning of the 28th, however, being between Fair Island Sat. 28. 
and the Orkneys at daylight, and the wind being fresh from the northward, 
I determined to proceed at once to Leith, where the necessary repairs of the 
Hecla’s masts and rigging would be more quickly and effectually completed, 
previously to her venturing upon the English coast, and I should have an 
earlier opportunity of repairing to London, agreeably to my Instructions, 
to lay before my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty a full account 
of the voyage. 
On the 29th we made Buchaness, and on the following day, the wind Sun. 29. 
having come to the southward, so as to make our progress very slow, I landed 
at Peterhead, accompanied by Captain Sabine and Mr. Hooper ; having first, 
in compliance with their Lordships’ directions, demanded from the officers, 
petty-officers, and all other persons on board the Hecla, the logs, journals, 
charts, drawings, and other documents which the voyage had furnished, and 
directed Lieutenant Beechev to proceed with all possible dispatch to Leith. 
Having left Mr. Hooper at Leith, to report the Hecla’s arrival to Rear- 
Admiral Otway, the commander-in-chief at that port, and to provide fresh 
beef and vegetables for our people, Captain Sabine and myself proceeded 
without delay to London, where we arrived on the morning of the 3d of 
November. 
Such was the excellent state of health which we at this time continued to 
enjoy on board the Hecla, that, during the whole season of our late navi- 
gation from Winter Harbour to the coast of Scotland, being a period of 
thirteen weeks, not a single case had been entered on our sick-list, except 
from one or two accidents of a trifling nature ; and I had the happiness of 
seeing every officer and man on board both ships, (with only one exception 
out of ninety-four persons), return to their native country in as robust 
health as when they left it, after an absence of nearly eighteen months, 
during which time we had been living entirely on our OAvn resources. 
