LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
615 
co-operating member. It was considered high time for Capt. 
Ross to think of travelling, when the final farewell was taken 
of the ship ; and indeed had he possessed any regard for the 
health and convenience of his crew, he would not have imposed 
upon them, the additional labor of dragging his ponderous frame 
over hills of snow, and hummocks of ice, when their strength 
had been brought to a state of almost complete exhaustion, by 
the daily fatigue, which they had to undergo. At this time the 
men were on full allowance, but there were two or three of 
them, who could not eat the whole of it, on account of the 
complaint in their bowels, from which they never properly re¬ 
covered, and therefore they were frequently obliged to apply 
to Capt. Ross for some medicine. 
It was on one of these travelling parties, that two of the men 
were very ill, and they applied to their captain for some relief, 
but his only answer was in his usual imperious tone, “Go along 
shore, and see if you cannot find some salt water, and take a 
good drink of it, and if you cannot find any water, swallow a 
musket ball.” This, said one of the poor fellows, 1 thought 
very hard usage, for a man that had been working the whole 
of the day, more like a slave than an English seaman, and 
to be treated so by his captain, an old man, who now depended 
entirely on the strength and health of his crew, whether he 
would ever see his native land again. Capt. Ross was one of 
those, who, on the first travelling parties, could not eat the 
whole of his allowance, but rather than share the surplus with 
his men, he would put it carefully into a bag, so that by the 
time that the boats, provisions, &c., were all got down to the 
same spot together, he left his bag of spare provisions behind 
him, when they all returned to the ship for the last time. 
It may be rather interesting to take a view of the isolated 
state of the Victory, at the time when she was on the eve of 
being abandoned, and then compare the conduct of some of the 
invalids, with the boasts, which they were daily and hourly 
making, of the great strength and exertion, which they would 
put forth on every occasion in which they would be required. 
In the first place, Anthony Buck was blind ; and although his 
