LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
445 
ship, at 8 o'clock in the morning, and Commander Ross fol¬ 
lowed them the same night at 9, having twelve days provisions 
with him. 
During the whole of the 24th, the carpenter was employed 
in getting the pumps in order, and on the following day, the 
ship was pumped clear, it being the first time that it had been 
performed for nine months; the stench of the bilged water was, 
however, so great as almost to sicken the men ; and when it is 
considered, that closely, and compactly as the ship may have 
been built, it was scarcely possible to prevent a portion of the 
noxious effluvium from escaping, some degree of surprise is 
naturally excited, that the health of the crew should have been 
so long preserved, or that the ship should have escaped some 
of those epidemical diseases, which are the consequence of inhal¬ 
ing a tainted atmosphere. 
The labor of the pumping being completed, the crew were 
set to work to cut the ship clear, as it was found she had a 
list or inclination to the starboard; after considerable difficulty, 
they succeeded in righting her about 6 inches, but still she 
had a considerable leaning, which, as it occasioned a severe 
pressure upon her starboard timbers, it became a matter of 
great importance to remedy the evil with all possible expe¬ 
dition. From the thickness of the ice, it was, however, found 
impracticable at that time to bring the ship to her proper level, 
and, therefore, she was obliged to be left in a straining position, 
as it was not feasible to support her on the starboard side, by 
the props usually employed on those occasions. 
On the 26th, the wind came on to blow hard from the west, 
but several hands were sent with the dinegy, to a lake with the 
seine, with the expectation of catching some fish, but after 
having spent almost the whole of the day, they returned in the 
evening, without a single fish. This attempt was made upon 
the report of some of the Esquimaux, who spoke largely of the 
quantity of fish, that were to be caught in the adjoining lakes, 
and the first experiment did not tend to induce the crew to 
place any great confidence in the different reports, the truth of 
which, they had yet to confirm. 
