The Sun.
London, England, 1837-09-26 00:00:00

the energies of both officers and crew were strained fo the
utmost, but in vain.
" Oct. 17.—The thermometer fell to 9 deg. below Fah-
renheit. In the beginning of November the ship was
housed in, and every arrangement made for meeting the
rigour of winter ; snow walls were raised round the ship,
and in this manner we drifted to and fro off the high land of
Cape Comfort, at times carried so close to the rocks as to
excite alarm for the safety of the ship.
" December 21.—A furious gale from the westward
drove us off shore 14 miles to the eastward of Cape Com-
fort, from which point the coast not before laid down in our
charts was surveyed, as we drifted to the south-eastward
for the distance of about 120 miles, as far as Seahorse
Point, the eastern extremity of Southampton Island. The
general character of the coast—barren hills and cliffs, vary-
ing from 750 to 1,000 feet above the sea.
"On Christmas-day the first symptoms of scurvy showed
themselves, which gradually extended itself to all hands.
At one time 25 men were suffering severely from it, but
eventually only three persons fell ♦ictims to this dreadful
disease—viz., the gunner and two seamen. In the begin-
ning of January, during a calm, our floe of ice split with a
fearful crash, and this was the commencement of a series of
shocks, that nothing but the great strength of the mass of
timber and iron employed in fortifying the ship could have
withstood ; as it was, the vessel strained in every direction.
" Feb. 18.—Early in the morning, thermometer at 33
degrees below zero, a disruption of the ice took place, and
waves of ice 30 feet high were rolled towards the ship,
which complained much ; the decks were separated ; the
beams raised off the shelfpieces ; lashings and stones used
for supporters gave way ; iron bolts partially drawn ; and
the whole frame of the ship trembled so violently, as to
throw some of the men down. Yet this was not our worst
disaster.

" On the 15th of March, while drifting to the south-east-
ward, off a low point (since appropriately named Terror-
point'), a tremendous rush of ice, from the north-west, took
the ship astern, and, although buried to the flukes of the
anchor in a dock of ice, such was the pressure, that she was
forced upon it, and, at the same time, thrown over to star-
board—the stern-post was carried away, and the stern lifted
seven feet out of the water. The same night a second rush
of ice tore up the remnants of our floe, and forced the ship
on the ice, so that her forefoot was quite out of the water ;
her sunken stern was threatened by an overhanging wave of
ice, full thirty feet high, but which, providentially, stopped
as it touched the quarter of the ship ; the water poured in
through the stern-frame, and the ship creaked and strained
in every direction ; provisions were got on deck, the boats
lowered, and every preparation made for the worst extremity,
and in the darkness and silence of the night we calmly
awaited the anticipated coming of another shock, which, to
all human appearances, must have been the last.
Heaven ordained it otherwise, and in this novel cradle

of ice :re were drifted, without further injury, to Seahorse-
point. The ice that bore us was ascertained to be 70 feet
thick, and it was not until we had sawed through long lines
of 23 feet thick, at a future day, that the ship was freed
from thii situation. The position of SNiliorse-point was
determined to be 63 (1.. g. 43 min. long., 89 deg. 10 coin.
west, vari..tion 49 deg. westerly ; the lowest temperature
was .53 deg. below zero, when both mercury and brandy
were frozen.

" On the Ist of May the ship, still on the icc, was
drifted near Mill Island, thence to the southward of Not-
tingLim Island, between it and Cape Woolstcnhohne,
perpendiealar cl•ff of 1,000 feet high, thence to the north-
ward of Charles Island, which we reached on the 2:st of
.I❑no. Tire ice now sho sett syroptorns of disruptio;:, and
we set all haw is to work with a 35 foot ice-saw, worked by
shears ; and on the llth of July, having sawed to within

3 feet, the file split in a fore and aft direction and liberated
the larboard side ; we immediately made sail on the ship,
but found we could not extricate her from an iceberg be-
tween tile fore and main chains ; we again had recourse to
saws and purchase:7, when the lump of ice still-fast to the
ship rose to the surface of the water and threw the vessel
on her ends, the water ruAing in with frightful ra-
pidity. Al! hands were instantly set to work aAain, and
Lboured day -and nieht unrumittiagly at the fatiguing but
indispensable operation of sawing, till, exhausted by their
exertions, I was obliged to call them in limn the ice for
rest and refreshment. Not a querter of an hour had
elapsed from quitting the work when a stnNen disruption
of the ice took place, and the mass crashed with terrific vio-
lence against the ship's side, snapping, apparently without
effart, t.h a lashings and spas that had been placed, fearing
this occurrence ; and, but for the merniival interposition of
l'eovidenee; all would inevitably have been crushed by the
mass of ice on which they had just been labouring.
" As the ice separated the shiP righted and drifted along.
Finding it impossible to hang the old rudder, a spare one
was fitted, and sai! made on the ship : it was an anxious
moment as we waited to see if she would answer her helm,
• and as she bore up before the wind, with her head towards
England, a cheer of gratitude burst from all on board.
" I had cherished to the last moment the hope that the
damages sustained might not be so great as to prevent my
pushing for Wager Inlet by Sir Thomas Roe's Welcome,
and there to beach the ship and repair damages, while sonic
in boats carried into effect the object of our expedition ; but
when I found she required two pumps constantly going to
keep her free, that both outer and inner stern-posts were
gone, the keel seriously damaged, besides various other ca-
sualties, I felt it became my duty, however reluctantly, to
make the hest of our way homewards. Fortunately, the
early part of our passage across the Atlantic was favour-
able, but subsequently the weather became boisterous, and
the ship leaks increased very much, so that we could barely
keep her free with incessant pumping ; to secure the ship
also we were obliged to strap her together with the stream
chain cable.
" On the 6th of August we again passed though Hud-
son's Straits, and on the 3d of September arrived in Lough
Swilly, not having let go our anchor since June, 1836.
" Tu speculate on what might have been the result of
this expedition, had I reached either Repulse Bay or
Wager River, would now be idle, but I cannot resist
the opportunity of recording my unaltered opinion as to
the practicability of the service, when once a party should
have reached either of the before-mentioned starting places.
" The north-eastern shore of Southampton Island has
been now surveyed, for the first time, by Lieut. Owen
Stanley, who has also made various views of the coast, and
a chart showing the track of the ship, the remarkable posi-
tion in which the ship was placed among the ice, admirably
illustrated by Lieut. Smyth, in a series of spirited and cha-
racteristic drawings.
" I cannot conclude this brief account without bearing
testimony to the great assistance I have invariably re-
ceived from Lieut. Smyth, and all the officers and crew
employed under my command in this expedition, to the
cheerful obedience with which all orders were obeyed, and
to the steadiness of behaviour evinced in circumstances
of no common trial.
" I have the honour to be, &c.,
" Sept. 11, 1837. GEORGE BACK."

EXTRAORDINARY CASE AT NOR-

WICU.

The inhabitants of Norwich have been in a state of the
greatest excitement since Sunday last in consequence of
Mr. W. G. Moore, upholsterer of Bethel-street, in that
city, having been shot at and mortally wounded by a gen-
tleman in a gig as he was returning home from his work at
North Walsham, on Saturday night, between eight and nine
o'clock. Soon after' the shot was fired the poor man was
heard to groan, and was taken to the George and Dragon
at Catton, and thence to the hospital at Norwich, where
he expired on Tuesday morning. In consequence of evi-
dence given before the Mayor, Mr. J. W. Cooper, of St.
Mary's, and the clerk, Thirkettle, were apprehended on
Sunday morning on the charge of committing the act, and
were committed to Norwich Castle to await the poor man's
fate.

An inquest was summoned on Tuesday afternoon, when
evidence was taken, of which the following is an abridge-
ment _ _

The first witness was Rebecca Bacon. She saw Mr.
Cooper, at Catton, get into his gig with his clerk. She was
walking along the road when she heard a shot fired, which
was immediately followed by a groan. She proceeded a
little further on the road when she came up to a man bleed-
ing, who told her he had been shot by the gentleman in
the gig and was dying. She went to the George and
Dragon Inn, whence two men came and conveyed the
wounded man to the house. He said his name was Moore,
and that he was returning home from North Walsham.
Charlotte Bacon confirmed the above. In addition to
which she said that she heard the gentleman in the gig say
to deceased, " How do you do, old boy ?" She then saw
him turn and shoot Mr. Moore.
Mr. John Mason, of Catton, heard the shot and the
groan, but did not go to the assistance of the wounded
man, being alarmed.
Hyllyard, of Catton, was told by the two
Bacons that a man had been shot by a gentleman in the
gig, and went out with two men, named Crampton and
Gymer, and brought the wounded man into the George.
When in the inn, Mr. Moore did not relate anything that
took place between him and the gentleman in the gig pre-
vious to the shot being fired.
Thirkettle, clerk to Mr. Cooper, made the fol-
lowing statement :—I accompanied Mr. Cooper from an inn
at St. Miles's to Cotton, about six o'clock on Sat urday.even-
ing. He stopped at the house of Mrs. Symonds, a female
with whom he cohabited, and I drove the Gig to the George
and Dragon, where I waited until the horse was taken out
and fed ; then I returned to Mrs. Symonds's house until a
little past eight, when I went to the inn for tl'e chaise. We
then. drove off towards Norwich. Abcut °O 'yards beyond
the nin Mr. Cooper met a man on the road, to whom he
said, " Good night, old boy," and fired off his pistol, as I
thought, into the hedge ; the man must have been l 3 or 20