AECTIC VOYAGES. 
169 
end; the real work is only beginning. We have only got to repeat the 
attempt this year which failed so signally last year. Our progress was 
finally stopped in Melville Bay, August 18, from which time up to the 
24th of April we remained in the pack, drifting southward with it. 
While beset, we have drifted down from 75^° N. to 63J°N.; the whole 
amount is 1194 geographical miles. You will understand what disap¬ 
pointment and anxiety this ill fortune entailed upon me. For a whole 
month in Melville Bay our fate hung in the balance. The season was 
very similar to 1848, when I was with Sir J. Ross; the whole bay was 
crammed full of light pack, and there was no land ice. Having pre¬ 
viously examined the edge of the middle ice down as far as 72° 20', with¬ 
out any prospect of success, there was but one course open to me—to 
enter the pack whenever a favourable opportunity offered, and trust to 
boring through into the north water. This is what Sir J. Ross did, and, 
being on the same spot, and also on the same day, and, moreover, a very 
favourable opportunity of long leads opening out, I tried the same plan. 
We did not succeed; a long run of southerly winds closed the ice to¬ 
gether so much that it did not open again. Still I had the precedent of 
the North Star from which to draw the hope of a drift through into the 
north water, and this, I think, we should have done in time to save our 
season but for the grounding of some bergs on a bank off Cape York, 
which it has been our lot to discover. We drifted up within twenty- 
four miles of that Cape, and subsequently far to the westward, before com¬ 
mencing our southern march. But all this you will see in my statement 
of proceedings and track chart, which I have sent to Lady Franklin. 
We are thoroughly efficient, but rather short-handed, and I am sorry to 
add that R. Scott (leading stoker) died on the 4th of December. We are 
in excellent health, and the ship uninjured. She leaks a little, and we 
had to pump her out all the winter three times weekly. Forty tons of 
coal remain on board, and we will take in as much more at the Waigat. 
As for provisions, we have, excellent in quality, of salt meat seventeen 
months'; preserved meat and pemmican, thirteen months’, &c., &c. 
From this you see how well provided we are, and how easily we can 
complete ourselves for a third winter at Beechy Island. With regard to 
my return plans, I see no reason for departing from my original scheme. 
If early into the west water, I will thoroughly sift the Pond’s Bay na¬ 
tives, so as to separate the history of Belcher’s abandoned ships from 
such knowledge as they may possess respecting Franklin’s ships. I 
hope to look into Port Leopold before Beechey Island, as the former 
would be the place to which we would have to fall back. If the launch 
is injured, I will take a boat from Beechey Island, and leave her there, 
should I go down Bellot Strait, or at Cape Walker, should I succeed in 
getting down Peel Strait. Should I get down to the Magnetic Pole, I will 
pass on the east side of King William’s Land, communicating with the 
natives, and into Fish River. If I can manage to complete my work 
in Fish River by ship, it would be an immense advantage to winter near 
the south-west angle of King William’s Land.” 
