The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-16 00:00:00

SUN LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING NOVEMBER, 16 1849

MARLBORO -STREET—THIS DAY.
William Roberts, a Irol about fourteen years of age, was
placed before Mr. Hardwick, charged with having em-
bezzled the sum of 15s. belonging to his master, John
ll,,ruans, greengrocer, Wells- street, Oxford-street.
It appeared that on Saturday last the prosecutor gave
the prisoner 155., with directions to go to Covent-garden
market and fetch two sacks of potatoes, which he (pro-
secutor) had purchased. Not returning with the potatoes,
the prosecutor went into the market, and from inquiries
made by him he learned that the prisoner had not been
nigh the person of whom the potatoes had been pur-
chased, and that the truck which he had taken had been
left in the market, where it was found by one of the
constables, who took it to the G-reenyard. Nothing
more was seen of the prisoner till this morning, when
prosecutor met him in the street, and gave him in charge.
The prisoner, in defence, said he lost part of the money
and spent the rest.
Mr. HARDWICK committed him for trial.

THE LOVER TO HIS DEPARTING LOVED ONE.
(From Eliza Cook's Journal.)
Thou art leaving us all lore, and much may befit!, love,
To warp and to wean thee from infancy's ties;
Thou wilt tread fairer places, and see brighter faces,
And freshness and beauty will dazzle thine eyes.
Thou haat promised thine heart, love, but now, ere we
part, love,
Take back all the vows thou hast given to me;
They were made in our joy, love, as girl and as boy,9ove,
II hen moonlight was gilding the old hawthorn tree.
We have grown up together like green moss and heather,
Our hands were entwined ere our footsteps were sure;
But the dreams of our youth, love,, too often, forsooth, love,
Are painted in colours that will not endure.
And now thou art going where life will be glowing
With all the enchantment thou longest to see;
And a rarer Elysian may shut from thy vision
Our fairy romance and the old hawthorn tree.
If thou findest another whose presence can smother
Our earliest words and our latest adieu;
Thou hadst better be breaking thy word than be taking
An altar to serve wh,..re thou couldst not be true.
I'd have thee forget, love, if aught of regret, love,
Should come with the thought that thy will is not free;
Oh! I'd have thee forget, love, that ever we met, love,
With promise and pledge 'neath the old hawthorn tree
Think not I would gain thee if duty but chain thee,
Think not that 1 deem thee unchangeably mine;
Shouldst thou love one more dearly, oh ! tell me sincerely,
And my hopes and my claims I will sadly resign.
For my heart, while possessing its coveted blessing,
Would bitterly bleed, if affection could see
That thy young love had vanished, and feelings were
banished,
That gladdened my soul 'neath the old hawthorn tree.
I see by thy smile, love, thou'rt thinking the while, love,
That thou wilt return with thy spirit the same;
And perchance I am wrong, love, in breathing a song,
love,
That shadows one moment thy well-cherished name.
So, l'll tell thee no more, lore, but that I adore, love,
With passion as fervent as passion can be;
And that if thou wilt come, love, unchanged to thy
home, love,
We'll have orange-bloom twined with the old haw-
thorn tree.

ELIZA CooK.

PRETENDED ROBBERY AND ARREST

OF A TRADESMAN.

On Friday, the 2d instant, considerable excitement
was created in Stourbridge by the report that the
house occupied by Mr. Davis, grocer and collector of
assessed taxes and of the market tolls, had been
broken open during the night preceding, and upwards
of 3001. in money, besides other property, carried off
by the thieves. The account given by Mr. Davis of
the robbery was that the thieves had first entered his
back kitchen by opening the window; that they
returned through the window into the court yard,
bringing with them a bar of iron which lay in the
kitchen, and with this they had burst open the back
door and obtained admission to the sitting room and
the other parts of the house. His money was kept
in his children's bed-room, which was situated
over his own, and the thieves discovered where
this money was placed, and had got possession
of it. They had also stolen a quantity of silver
spoons, a silver watch, and other valuable ar-
ticles, and with all this property and about 251bs. of
tea from the shop they had got clear away. Nobody
in the house had heard their movements, and nothing
was known of the burglary until the children came
down in the morning. Mr. Davis then sent for Su-
perintendent Bevan, and informed him of his loss and
went over to the Bewdley Bank in order to ascertain
the numbers of some of the stolen notes, which he had
previously received from that establishment. Of the
money lest no less than 1701. had been received in
the shape of taxes, and 140/. were his own, and much
pity was felt fur Mr. Davis, because it was known that
so large a loss must prove very serious indeed to a
man in his circumstances. When Superintendent
Bevan and Mr. Grove, the parish constable, came to
examine the premises, they found that there were no
footmarks inside the house or outside. A brightly
polished mahogany table, which stood immediately
under the kitchen window referred to,
had no traces of nails or dirt upon it. The
kitchen window had apparently not been disturbed for
a considerable time, as a quantity of dust had lodged
in the groove in which it travelled. Then there was
a dog in the house—an animal particularly remark
able for its vigilance during the night, as every one in
the habit of passing the shop at a late hour was well
aware—and no alarm was given by it. After these
discoveries the police did not trouble themselves about
the matter, but Superintendent Bevan waited upon
the magistrates at the Town-hall, on Wednesday, and
in order to free the police from the blame which some
people had visited upon them for not taking vigorous
measures to discover the supposed thieves, related the
facts above given, and declared emphatically that he
did not believe that a burglary had taken place. On
the same day Davis was arrested under a warrant
from the Commissioners of Taxes, and his goods and
stock were seized at the same time to assist in making
good the account due by him to the revenue.—
Worcester Chronicle.

Yesterday the Lord Mayor, accompanied by Mr.
Sheriff Nicoll; and escorted by the Under-Sheriffs and
the Mansion-house officials, attended divine service at
St. Paul's, where a sermon was preached by the Bishop
of London, adapted to the occasion of the general
thanksgiving. The congregation was extremely nume-
rous. It will be recollected that the late Lord Mayor,
at the Guildhall banquet on , the 9th instant, said " he
was happy to add, that by the blessing of Divine Provi-
dence, he had bees enabled to hand over the government
of the City to his successor with a clean bill of health."
The prelent Lord Mayor has, in the opinion of his
fellow-citizens, adopted the best means in his power of
publicly acknowledging, at the opening of his mayoralty,
that this, with every blessing which this vast city is
favoured with, cometh from Him who is the King of
Kings and Lord of Lords.

BIRMINGHAM, THURSDAY.—Yesterday the Right
lion. Sir Robert Peel, Lady Peel, and a distinguished
party, visited Elkington's electro-plating manufactory in
this town; after which they proceeded to inspect the grand
exposition of arts and manufactures, which had been
honoured on Monday last by a visit from Prince
Albert.

HANDSOME DONATION.—The Right Hon. the Earl
of Onslow has forwarded the handsome donation of 100
guineas to the treasurer of the City of London Hospital
for Diseases of the Chest, in aid of the funds of that use-
ful institution.

There is a thread in our thoughts, as there is a
pule in our hearts. He who can hold the one, knows
how to think; and he who can move the other, knows
how to fed.—Eliza Cook's Journal.

Lady Anne Beckett left town on Wednesday for
Downham•hall, Norfolk, on a visit to Lord and Lady
Wm. Powlett.

BOW-STREET.—(THis DAY.) REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS
A resptctehly-attired middlnaged man, named Bedy, OF HER MAJESTY'S SHIPS ENTERPRIZE AND
was charged with having assaulted Mr. Joseph INVESTIGATOR, BETWEEN THE 13TH OF JULY,
Stopford, of No. 8, Southatupton-buildings, Chancery-
1818, AND THEIR ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND ON
lane; who represented himselt to be the secretary to the ( THE 3RD OF NOVEAIBEI,, 1849.
Artesian Water Company. [The following communication will be perused with
The complainant stated that on 'Wednesday night he profound interest, being a full report of the pro-
was passiog. along Wellingtoz.-street, in the Strand, when ceedings of her Majesty's ships Enterprize and
the prisoner, whom he had known for some time, came
up and struck him violently with a stick on the head and Investigator, under the command of Captain Sir
face, which collected a crowd around them, and a po- James Ross, between the date of his last dispatch to
licemen coming upon the scone of the assault, he felt it
not only ti be his duty, but for his own protection,lto give the Secretary of the Admiralty, from Upernavik, in
July, 1848, and the arrival of the expedition off
him into custody.
Mr. JARDINE asked him if he had given hlm any pro- Scarborough, on the 3d of this present November :ea]
vocation?—The complainant said he was not aware that In accordance with the intentions expressed to the
he had.
Secretary of the Admiralty, in my letter of the 13th
The police-constable, who arrested the prisoner, con- of July, 1848, her Majesty's ships Enterprise and
firmed the statement as to the crowd being collected in Investigator sailed on that day from the Danish
the street, sled the prisoner being given into custody.
Mr. JARDINE asked the prisoner if he had anything settlement of Upernavik.
Bv running...through an intricate archipelago of
to say in answer to the charge? The prisoner replied .
islands, which lies off the main land, and seems to
that he lasd much to say; the complainant, whom he
stigmatised with language that the law of libel will not keep off the pressure of the main pack, we succeeded
permit to be reporter?, had broken his peace of mind by in passing the position in which the whale ships had
debauching his wife. He had long suspected that been so lung detained, and made every day some
the complainant, notwithstanding that ho pro- advance to the northward, until the 20th, when we
havingll Hull), fl) ,
run .11 ir.
teased to entertain a most ardent friendship for made fast to a berg aground off Cape Shackleton.
himself, had a design upon the virtues of his Here we were joined by the Lord Gambier (of
Elf
the s, buuturet he
of the connexion never could thato of lattain any e
had rectexisted pro
t•th
Ho.Heill, southwardn res master, w
, whoith a
informed fotrhie e e
restd m
of
et htahet,
of
between the two till the evening in question, when be whaling ships, and having carefully •
examined the
°been ed them come out of a brothel in Waterloo-roads
.
Lambeth, which was kept open to the public as a coffee- pack edge for any opening that might lead them
shop. lie had a friend with him at the time, or he to the westward, he had
lere was not the smallest chance,
come to the
c,con-
would have chastised the fellow there and then, but his lusion there
friend restrained his violence till they got across the from the close, compact, and heavy nature
bridge into Wellington-street, whither he and his friend of the ice, for any ship crossing to the west coast of
fellowed them. Perceiving that they were on the point Baffin Bay this reason. Be bad, therefore, returned
of parting, he could contain his feelings no longer, and to the north, end expected that all the other ships
gave vent to them in the manner that had been would soon follow him, and endeavour to round the
described.
north end of the pack ; he spoke very confidently of
Mr. JARDINE asked what became of the wife ?—The being able to accomplish b the firstweek of
this y
police-constable said there was a female taking part in
August, and promised at any rate to remain in
the quarrel, but she ran away.
Mr. JARDINE, under the circumstances stated by the company with us until the 3d of August. We cast
defendant, declined to adjudicate in the case summarily, off from the berg early the next morning, towing the
but would leave it for the complainant to indict the de- ships through loose streams of ice towards some lanes
fondant at the sessions. In the meantime he would take of water, which had opened out during the calm
bail for the appearance of the defendant, which prevailed all night.
The depositions were then taken, and the complainant Our progress was, however, very slow during this
bound over to prosecute. After which the defendant was and the next few days, and our situation often difficult
liberated on bail. and embarrassing.
On the morning of the 26th, when off the Three
: Islands of Baffin, in lat. 74 deg. N., we were surprised,
on the fog clearing off, to see the Lord Gambier,
about eight miles distant, standing under all sail to
the southward; thus disappointing us of the only
remaining means of forwarding information of our
proceedings to their Lordships—and this was the
more annoying as we had only the evening
before passed within a quarter of a mile of her,
when, upon any signal of her intention of going to
the southward, we would have placed on board of her
all our letters and dispatches. Her enterprizing
commander deserves the highest praise for perse-
vering alone so far beyond all his fellows, and, had it
depended on him, I believe he would not have left
us until we had got through the great difficulty of
Melville Bay.
We pursued our course to the northward under
varying circumstances of perplexity, anxiety, and
success; for although I could not but feel assured
that we should eventually get through the Melville
Bay barrier, yet calms and light winds so greatly
impeded any movement in the pack, that day after
day passed away until the season had so far advanced
as to preclude every hope of accomplishing much, it'
anything, before the setting in of winter.
NO exertions, however, were spared to take ad-
vantage of every opportunity of pushing the ships
forward until on 20th August, during a heavy breeze
from the north-east, the ships, under all the sail they
could carry, bored through a pack of ice of but
moderate thickness, but having amongst it heavy masses
mingled with the lighter ice that covered the larger
surface through which it was necessary to drive the
ships at all hazards. The shocks they sustained
during this severe trial were great, but fortunately
without serious damage to them.
We gained the clear water at four P.M., on 20th Au-
gust, in lat. 75- degrees N., and lon. 68 degrees W.,
and steered direct for Ponds Bay, where I felt
assured of meeting with the whale-ships, if any
should have crossed to the west land, and might learn
from them if the Erebus and Terror, or their party
in boats, had passed along that shore, and also with
a view to communicate with the Esquimaux, who
annually visit the coast, and from whom we might
have derived information of our absent friends.
On the 23d we made the land about ten miles to
the southward of Ponds Bay, and could trace the
line of the main pack close in against the land, at a
distance of three or four miles to the southward, so
closely pressed home as to leave no room for ships or
boats to pass between it and the shore. We next
stood into Ponds Bay and hove to, within half a mile
of those points upon which the Esquimaux are known
to place their summer residences, firing guns every
half hour, and with our glasses closely examining
every part of the shore without being able to discern
any human being.
From Ponds Bay we commenced a rigid examina-
tion of the coast to the northward, keeping theships
close in along the land so that neither people nor
boats could have passed without our seeing them.
Opposed by a strong current, although going before
the wind between two and three knots through the
water, we found by the result of all our observations,
as well as by unerring marks on the land, that we
were sometimes carried astern against the wind.
On the 26th we arrived off Possession Bay, and a
party was sent on shore to search for any traces of
Sir John Franklin's Expedition having touched at
this general point of rendezvous. Nothing was found
hut the paper left there recording the visit of Sir
Edward Parry, in 1819. The paper was very much
damaged, but by careful washing and fitting together,
nearly every word was clearly deciphered. (It is
preserved.)
From this point we continued the examination of
the coast with equal care, fbr we fully expected
every hour to see those of whom we were in search,
and the most vigilant look out was kept aloft and
from the deck.
On the let of September we arrived off Cape
York, and a party was sent on shore to seek for our
friends, and to fix a conspicuous mark at this remark-
able point, in which was placed a paper for the guid-
ance of any party that might fall in with it. This
service was performed by Lieutent M'Clintock, with
much skill, under very difficult circumstances.
Every day we were in the practice of throwing
overboard a cask from each ship, containing papers
with information of all our proceedings, guns were
fired during foggy weather, and blue lights and
rockets during the hours of darkness, the ships being
kept under such easy sail that any boat seeing the
signals might have reached them.
The general tenor of the information thus distri-
buted along the coast was to acquaint Sir J'ohn
Franklin, or any of his party, that, as the whale-
ships had not been able to cross to the west land of Baffin
Bay, they could have no hope of assistance from them,
and recommending them to make for Port Leopold,
where I intended to form a depot of provisions, and
perhaps, leave the Investigator to winter there ; they
would, at any rate, with the provisions find a notice
of the position in which the nearer ship was passing
the winter.
It therefore became necessary to push for Port
Leopold to fulfil these promises, for had any of his
party met with one of these notices they would ,
assuredly have gone to that point.
We accordingly stood over from Cape York to-
wards N.E. Cape, until we came in with the edge of
a pack, too dense for us to penetrate, lying between
us and Leopold Island, about fourteen miles broad;
but as we could perceive that it was still in motion,
we hoped that a few days might produce a favourable
change, and in the mean time we stood over to the
north shore of Barrow Strait, to seek a harbour fur-
ther to the westward and to examine the numerous
inlets of that shore, Maxwell Bay and several
smaller indentations were thoroughly explorked, and
although we got near the entrance of Wellington
Channel, the firm barrier of ice which stretched
across it, and which had not broken away this season,
convinced us all was impracticable in that direction.
We now stood to the south-west to seek for a
harbour near Cape Rennell, but found a heavy
body of ice extending from the west end of
Cornwallis Island, in a compact mass, to Leo-
pold Island. Coasting along this pack dur-
ing stormy and foggy weather, we had
difficulty in keeping the ships free during the
nights, for I believe so great a quantity of ice was
never before seen in Barrow Strait at this period of
the season.
With the thermometer at 15 degrees every night,
young ice formed rapidly and became so thick as to
frustrate all our exertions to pass through some of
the looser streams. Nevertheless, after some days of
anxious and arduous work, we succeeded in getting
through the pack which still lingered about Leopold
Island and N.E. Cape, and entered the harbour of
Port Leopold on the 11th September. Had we not
got into port on that day it would have been
impossible to have done so any day afterwards, the
main pack, during the night, having closed the land
and completely sealed the mouth of the harbour.
We had now, at any rate, accomplished one ma-
terial point, and were rejoiced to find the anchorage,
of which we had before been in much doubt, well
adapted to our purpose, and as it was desirable to
secure a good position for one ship, I resolved that it
should be the winter quarters of the Investigator.
I had much satisfaction the next morning
to find how perfectly our steam launch
fulfilled our expectations in an experimental cruize
about the harbour, before proceeding in her to the
westward in search of a harbour for the Enterprize,
as it was now beyond probability from the early setting
in of winter and from the unbroken state of the ice
to reach Melville Island this season. The pack at
the
_harbour's mouth, however, still prevented our

immediate departure, and all our energies were
devoted to landing a good supply of provisions upon
Whaler Point. In this service the steam-launch
proved of infinite value, conveying a larger cargo
herself and towing two deeply-laden cutters, at the
rate of four or five knots, through the sheet of ice
which now covered the harbour, and through which
no boat, unaided by steam, could have penetrated
beyond her own length.
The place selected for the depot was upon the low
S.E. point which forms the chief protection to the
harbour, two miles distant from our anchorage. This
work was not only tedious, but sometimes hazardous,
from the flows of thin ice folding over each other,
and thus forming an obstacle at times difficult to
overcome. Indeed our operations were still incom-
plete when they were interrupted by the ice in the
harbour becoming so thick as to require all our atten-
tion to the ships themselves. A prevalence of strong
easterly winds had caused the pack to press so
heavily against the outer margin of the harbour ice,
that the ships were carried away with their anchors
so far up towards the head of the Bay that they
grounded at low water. All hands from both ships
were set to work to cut a canal and warp them cif
the shore. This had scarcely been accomplished
when another severe pressure drove them again into
shallow water, and had we not fortunately hauled off
in time, it is probable the ships must have laid
aground all the winter. The work of sawing was
recommenced, and, after two or three days, w e suc-
ceeded in getting our ships into a position of compa-
rative safety, although with only a foot or two of
water to spare at low spring tides ; but the winter had
now set in with so much keverity it was impossible
to keep the people any longer employed at such work
without serious injury to their health and their suf-
fering from severe frost bites.
On the evening of the 12th of October the ships
were hove into their winter position, within 200 yards
of each other.
I was indeed most anxious to have taken the En-
terprise to some distance to the westward, but any
attempt to leave the ships, under the circumstances
of their situation, would have been highly injurious
and probably have led to some calamity, but the
pack which sealed the harbour's mouth the night
after we entered it never admitted a chance of even
a boat making her way out ; and across the Isthmus,
as far as we could discern from the hills, the same ex-
tensive mass of heavy, hummocky ice, which we had
coasted along in search of an opening in the early
part of September, was still pressed closely home
against the north shore of North Somerset, and re-
mained fixed there throughout the winter, so that if
the Enterprise had been able to get out of the
harbour, she could not have proceeded far, and
would most likely have been compelled either to pass
the winter in the pack, or to have returned to Eng-
land, and thus have defeated all prospective measures
for the assistance of our long-absent friends.
And although I could not but feel extreme disap-
pointment at the small advance we had been able to
make during our first season, yet we had much to be
thankful for in having been permitted to gain secure
winter quarters at Port Leopold, a position that of all
others was the most desirable, if any one spot had to
be selected fin' that purpose : being at the junction of
the four great channels of Barrow Strait, Lancaster
Sound, Prince Regent Inlet, and Wellington Channel,
it was hardly possible for any party, after abandon-
ing their ships, to pass along the shores of any of
those inlets without finding indications of the proxi-
mity of our expedition.
The winter was passed as are all winters in this
climate, but long experience and liberal means gave
us many comforts that no other expedition had en-
joyed ; yet it is remarkable that the health of the
crew suffered more during this winter than on any
former occasion. Our want of success might have
tended in some measure to depress their spirits, and,
unfortunately, the cold of winter was prolonged un-
usually far into the spring before we could give them
more active employment.
During the winter a great many white foxes were
taken alive in traps set for the purpose, and as it is
well known how large a tract of country these crea-
tures traverse in search of food, I caused copper
collars, upon which a notice of the position of the
ships and depots of provisions was engraved, to be
clenched round their necks, and then set them at
liberty again, with the hope that some of these mes-
sengers might be the means of conveying the intelli-
gence to the Erebus and Terror, as the crews of those
vessels would assuredly be eager for their capture.
After several short preliminary journeys, in April
and the early part of the next month, to carry out
small depots of provisions to the west of Cape
Clarence and to the south of Cape Seppings, I left
the ships on the 15th of May with a party consisting
of Lieutenant M`Clintock and twelve men, with forty
days' provisions, which, together with tents, clothes,
blankets, and other necessaries, were lashed upon two
sledges. We were accompanied for the first five days
of our journey by Captain Bird, in command of a
large fatigue party, which increased our numbers to
forty-two. He would willingly have extended his
valuable assistance still further, had I not felt that
his presence at the ships would be more beneficial to
the service in sending forth such other parties and
completing such further measures as I proposed
should be adopted during my absence.
A detailed account of this journey may be found in
my journal ; it may be sufficient here to mention, that
the examination of all the inlets and smaller indenta-
tions of the coast, in which any ships might have
found shelter, occupied a large portion of our time,
and cost us much labour, but it was necessary that
every portion of the coast we passed along should be
thoroughly explored.
The north shore of North Somerset trends slightly
to the northward of west, until after passing the ex-
treme north cape of America, a few miles beyond
Cape Itennell ; from this point it trends slightly to the
southward of west, until after rounding Cape Bunny,
when it suddenly assumes a nearly south direction.
From the high land in the neighbourhood of Cape
Bunny we obtained a very extensive view, and ob-
served that the whole space between it and Cape
Walker to the west, and Wellington Channel to the
north, was occupied by very heavy, hummocky ice,
whilst to the southward it appeared more favourable
for travelling ; I therefore determined not to divide
the party as I had originally intended until we
should find a more :practicable point for their
exertions.
We therefore proceeded to the southward, tracing all
the indentations of the coast, when our progress be-
came much delayed by several of the party becoming
useless from lameness and debility, so that it proved
most fortunate that I had not divided the force, which
could only under such circumstances have terminated
in the complete failure of both ' • for although the
load of provisions was every day becoming less, the
necessity of carrying two of the sufferers on the
sledges, and the loss of the services of three others,
who had scarcely strength to walk behind, greatly
increased the labour of the few who were now able
to work.

The examination of the coast was pursued until the
sth of June, when, having consumed more than half
our provisions, and the strength of the party being
much reduced, I was reluctantly compelled to aban-
don further operations, as it was, moreover, neces-
sary to give the men a day of rest. Butt that the
time might not be wholly lost, I proceeded with
Sergeant Hurditch and William Thompson, a seaman
of greater endurance, to the extreme south point in
sight from our encampment, distant about eight or
nine miles. From this point we had so fine a view
as fully to reward us for our additional labour, more
especially when we reflected that from the nature of
the ice over which we, unencumbered, had travelled
with comparative ease, could hardly have been ac-
complished by the party in one day, whilst it would
have required another to have got back to their
present encampment.
The extreme point of our operations is in latitude
72 deg. 38 N., and longitude 95 deg. 40 W.
It is the west point of a small high peninsula, and
the state of the atmosphere being at the;time peculiarly
favourable for distinctness of vision, land of any
great elevation might have been seen at the distance of
100 miles.

The extreme high cape of the coast, however, was
not more than fifty miles distant, still bearing nearly
south,* the land thus trending for Cape Nicolai, the
northernmost point which I had reached during my
journey from the Victory in 1832, and which I hoped
to have attained on this occasion, as well as to have
re-visited the Magnetic Pole, in its immediate vi-
cinity, and had not so many of our party broken
down, it might have been accomplished.
We observed several small bays and inlets between
us and the southernmost cape, of whose continuity we
could not be assured at so great a distance, yet they
are marked on the chart which accompanies this
account of our proceedings, by which it will be
perceived that a very narrow isthmus separates Prince
Regent Inlet from the western sea at Cresswell and
Brentford Bays.

On our return to the encampment I found they
had all been well occupied during our absence.
Lieutenant M'Clintock had taken some magnetic
observations which will be of great value from our
being so near to the Magnetic Pole. Two of the
party had cut through the ice, which they found to
be eight feet thick, and fixed a pole by which the
state of the tides was ascertained ; and all the rest
that could work had erected a large cairn of stones on
a high knoll just above the tents, in which a copper
cylinder was placed, containing an account of our
proceedings, and all necessary information for the
guidance of any of Sir John Franklin's party that
might be journeying along this coast.
Although our resources did not admit of any fur-
ther perseverance on our part, we could not but feel
some satisfaction in the assurance, that if those of
whom we were in search had at any time been upon
the north or west coast of North Somerset, we must
have met with some traces of them. The season for

We had now fully made up our minds that the
ships were fixed for the winter, and, dismal as the
prospect appeared, it was far preferable to being car-
ried along the west coast of Baffin Bay, where the
gronnded bergs are in such numbers upon the shallow
banks off that shore, as to render it next to impossible
for ships involved in a pack to escape destruction.
It was therefore with a mixture of hope and anxiety
that, on the wind shifting to the westward, we per-
ceived the whole body of ice begin to drive to the
eastward, at the rate of eight to ten miles daily.
Every effort on our part was totally unavailing, for
no human power could have moved either of the ships
a single inch • they were thus completely taken out of
our hands, and, in the centre of a field of ice more
than fifty miles in circumference, were carried along
the southern shore of Lancaster Sound.

After passing its entrance the ice drifted in a more
southerly direction, along the west shore of Baffin
Bay, until we were abreast of Ponds Bay, to the
southward of which we' observed a great number of
icebergs, stretching across our path and presenting
the fearful prospect of our worst anticipations. But
when least expected by us, our release was almost
miraculously brought about. The great field of ice
was rent into innumerable fragments as if by some
unseen power.
Hope revived, and our people worked with energy ;
all sail was made and warps run out from each
quarter to spring the ships past the heavy floe pieces.
The Investigator reached an open space of water on
the evening of the 24th, but it was not until noon of
the 25th September that the Enterprise could clear
the pack. It is impossible to convey any idea of the
sensation we experienced when we found ourselves
once more at liberty, whilst many a grateful heart
poured forth its praises and thanksgiving to Almighty
God for this unlooked-for deliverance.
The advance of winter had now closed all the bar-
hours against us, and as it was impossible to penetrate
to the westward, through the pack from which we had
just been liberated, I made the signal to the Investi-
gator of my intention to return to England.
Standing to the S.E., we came in with the middle
ice of Baffin Bay, within a few miles of the land, and
were obliged, in order to make our retreat the more
sure, to run along its western edge to the N.E. until
we reached the latitude 74i N., where we rounded its
north end, on the 4th October, insight of the coast of
Greenland. ,
Favoured by unusually fine weather as we pro-
ceeded to the southward, we passed without any
accident through the great cluster of bergs which is
always found in lat. 69 N., and on the 12th we re-
crossed the Arctic Circle, after which time we saw
no more ice.

Strong westerly winds carried us past the meridian
of Cape Farewell on the 18th, and at one A.M. of the
28th we struck soundings off Mould Head. At day-
light we found ourselves in the Fairway, between
North Roualdsha and Fair Island, but southerly
winds so impeded our further progress that it was
late on Saturday night before we could anchor off
Scarborough.
I arrived at the Admiralty early on Monday, the
sth November.
I cannot conclude this report without expressing
my deep obligations to Captain Bird for his cordial
co•operation and zealous support throughout this
most arduous service, and my admiration of the con-
duct of the officers and crews of both ships, whose
meritorious exertions fully entitle them to the most
favourable consideration of the Lords Commissioners
of the Admiralty.
JAMES C. ROSS, Captain, R.N.

JON MIGUEL DE BRAGANZA.—On Wednesday,
the illustrious Prince, attended by Senhor Saraiva, the
Viscount de Queluz;General Gomez, General Arroyo,
Colonel Sacanel, Major Quartin, Captain Lopez y Ca-
racuel, Captain Santa Maria, the Chevalier Cremmens,
and Mr. Algernon Borthwick, went over the new
Houses of Parliament. Mr. Barry, jun., pointed out the
various parts of the building, of the design and gorgeous
decorations of which the Prince expressed his high
admiration.

The bearings herein given are true.

travelling in these regions had also passed away, the
thaw having commenced, and had they abandoned
their ships at Melville Island, they must have arrived
on either of these shores long before this time, where
they would have found us in the best possible position
to render them assistance and conduct them to our
vessels.
We set forward on our homeward journey on the
evening of the 6th June, and, after encountering a
variety of difficulties to which I need not now further
allude, we reached the ship on the 23d, the party so
completely worn out by fatigue that every man was
from some cause or other in the doctor's hands for two
or three weeks, and I am sorry to say that two of
them are not yet recovered.
I had walked in advance of the party to select the
best road by which to cross the isthmus, and as soon
as I got sight of the ships I was met by Captain Bird
and Lieutenant M‘Clure, from whom I was greatly
grieved to hear of the decease of :Mr. Henry Matthias,
the assistant-surgeon of the Enterprise, of consump-
tion, which had been deeply rooted in his constitution
.
before leaving England. Ile was a promising young
man, of great amiability of disposition, universally
beloved and regretted. Several others of the crews
of both ships were in a declining state, and the general
report of health was by no means cheering:.
During my absence Captain Bird had dispatched
parties in several directions. One, under the command
of Lieutenant Barnard, to the north shore of Barrow
Strait, a second commanded by Lieutenant Brown, to
the east shore of Prince Regent Inlet, and a third
conducted by Lieutenant Robinson, along the western
shore of that inlet. The labours of these parties
were of comparatively short duration, still they, like
ourselves, all suffered from snow-blindness, sprained
ancles, and debility, especially that under Lieutenant
Robinson, who extended his examination of the coast
for several miles to the southward of Fury Beach.
Although it was now but too evident, from no
traces of the absent expedition having been met with
by eny of these parties, that the ships could not have
been detained anywhere in this part of the Arctic
regions, yet I considered it proper to push forward to
the westward, as soon as our ships should be liberated
from their winter harbour. My chief hopes now
centered in the efforts of Sir John Richardson's party,
for I felt fully persuaded that Sir John Franklin's
ships must have penetrated so far beyond Melville
Island as to induce him to prefer making for the con-
tinent of America, rather than seek assistance from
the whale-ships in Baffin Bay.
Our crews weakened by incessant exertion were in
a very unfit state to undertake the heavy labour which
they had yet to accomplish. The season at this place
was so extremely backward that hardly a pool of
water was to be seen on the surface of ice which
covered the harbour, except only along the line of
gravel which had been spread out towards the har-
bour's mouth during the winter, and there appeared
but small prospect of any release this season.
All hands that were able commenced with saws
extending the breadth of the canal so much as to
admit the ships to pass down it, towards the point of
the harbour, a distance of rather more than two miles.
These labours were continued until the 15th
August, when, the canal being nearly finished, the
harbour ice divided along its line into two nearly
equal parts, and thus saved us a few days' work ; but
the ice to seaward remained to all appearance as firmly
fixed as during the winter, but we could perceive it
was wasting away close along the shores, and it was
not until the 28th August that we succeeded in get-
ting clear of the harbour.
Before leaving Port Leopold I had caused a house
to be built of our spare spars, and covered with such
of our housing cloths as we could dispense with, and
for which we could find a subsitute if needful, leaving
also twelve months' provisions, fuel, and other neces-
saries, together with the Investigator's steam-engine
and launch, which had been lengthened seven feet for
the purpose, and now formed a fine vessel capable of
conveying the whole of Sir John Franklin's party to
the whale-ships, or :ourselves, should any calamity
befal our ships in their progress to the westward.
We now proceeded towards the north shore of
Barrow Strait for the purpose of following up the
examination of Wellington Channel, and, if possible,
of extending our researches as far as Melville Island ;
but when about twelve miles from the shore, we
came to the fixed land ice, which had not broken
away this season, and nothing but an uniform sheet
of heavy ice was to be seen to the westward.
IVe kept the ships near that which appeared to
be the most probable spot, watching for
-any opening
that might present itself; when a strong wind sud-
denly arising on the Ist September, brought the loose
pack, through which we had been struggling, down
upon, and closely beset the ships. At times, during
two or three days, they sustained severe pressure and
ridges of hummocks were thrown up all around us,
but after that time, the temperature falling to near
zero, formed the whole body of ice into one solid
mass. We were so circumstanced that for some days
we could not unship our rudder, and when, by tho
laborious operation of sawing and removing
the hummocks from under the stern, we were
able to do so, we found it twisted and da-
maged, and the ship was so much strained as
to increase the leakage from three inches in a
fortnight to fourteen inches daily, which, though of
but trifling importance at present, served to convince
us that she was not, as we had hitherto believed,
invulnerable.
The ice was stationary for a few days ; the pressure
had so folded the lighter pieces over each other, and
they were so interlaced, as to form one entire sheet,
extending from shore to shore of Barrow Strait, and
as far to the east and west as the eye could discern
from the masthead, whilst the extreme severity of the
temperature had cemented the whole so firmly to•
gether that it appeared highly improbable that it could
break up again this season. In the space which had been
cleared away for unshipping the rudder, the newly-
formed ice was fifteen inches thick, and in some places
along the ship's side the thirteen feet saws were too
short to work.