606 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
gone of attaining the great object they had in view, for which 
they had endured every hardship, and undergone a series of 
privations, which, perhaps, only the heart of a British sailor 
could stand up against. No excitement existed to future exertion, 
and faint indeed was the hope, that they should ever reach their 
native country again. With the knowledge that the whaling, 
ships scarcely ever entered Lancaster Sound, they had before 
them the prospect of a long and harassing journey, before they 
could reach those quarters frequented by the whalers; at the 
same time, that if the provisions were not still remaining on 
Fury Beach, a death by actual starvation threatened to be their 
lot. The Christmas day of 183*2 passed off sadly and heavily; 
the thought of what might be their fate, before another Christ¬ 
mas came round, forced itself upon their minds, in the midst of 
their forced mirth, and damped those effusions of hilarity, by 
which, the return of the Christmas season is so generally dis¬ 
tinguished. Their imagination carried them to their home 
and friends, and to those, who were dear to them in their native 
land, they heard in their fancy the jovial song, the merry laugh, 
and last of all they heard the toast go round to those, who w ere 
“ far away on the billow,” and whose return had now become 
a matter of serious and anxious doubt. It is true, that the cus¬ 
tomary quantity of grog was given to the crew T , but it was 
drunk with that coldness, which comes over the heart, when 
the hope of better days is banished from it, and all its finer 
and nobler feelings stifled by the gloomy prospect of an un¬ 
certain future. It was, in moments like these, that the cheering 
inspirations of a bold and undaunted commander, were wanting 
to uphold the flagging spirits of his crew, and by a cool and 
energetic mode of action contribute to dispel the fears, which, 
under such circumstances, would naturally at times creep over 
the minds of his men, and perhaps by degrees instil into them 
such a disgust for the service, on which they were engaged, 
as perhaps finally to lead to a positive abandonment of their 
duty, and a subversion of the discipline of the ship. The 
spirit, that fired the actions of a Cook or a Columbus, in the 
midst of their disheartening dangers, was here wanting ; the 
