The Sun.
London, England, 1850-01-28 00:00:00

THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

The following are the sailing orders for Captain
Collinson, of her Majesty's ship Enterprise, from the
Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High
Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland :

1. Whereas the efforts that have been made during
the last two years to relieve the Erebus and Terror
have failed, and all access to the Parry Islands has
been prevented by the accumulation of ice in the
upper part of Barrow Straits ; and whereas it is pos-
sible that the same severity of weather may not pre-
vail at the same time in both the eastern and western
entrances to the Arctic Sea, we have now determined,
lin a matter of such moment, to send an expedition
into the Polar Sea from the westward, and having a
full confidence in your zeal and skill, we have thought
proper to appoint you to the command of her Ma-
jesty's ship Poterprise, and also to place under your
orders her Majesty's ship Investigator, both of which
vessels having been duly fortified against collision
with the ice, equipped for the polar climate by a
warm-air apparatus, and furnished with provisions Cr
three years, as well as a large supply of extra stores,
you are now required and directed, as soon as they
are in all respects ready for sea, to proceed to make
the best of your way to Cape Virgins, in order to
arrive at Behring's Straits in July.
2. At Cape Virgins the Commander-in-Chief in
the Pacific has been desired to have a steam-vessel
waiting fur you, and by her you will be towed
through the Straits of Magellan and the Wellington
Channel, and on to Valparaiso.
3. At that port you will use the utmost dispatch
in watering and refreshing your crews, and in fully
replenishing your bread and other provisions and
stores.,; and having so done you will again use your
best exertions to press forward to the Sandwich
Islands.

4. There is only a bare possibility of your reaching
those islands in time to meet her Majesty's ship He-
rald, under the command of Captain Henry Kellett;
but if that should be the case, you will receive from
him, not only every assistance, but much useful in-
formation touching your passage to the Strait and
your further proceedings to the northward. It is still
more improbable that her Majesty's ship Plover should
be there ; but wherever you may fall in with her, you
are hereby directed to take her and Commander
Moore under your orders.
5. At the Sandwich Islands you will find additi-
tional orders from us for your guidance, which we
prop•se to forward hence by the Panama mail of next
March ; but if none should arrive, or if they do not in
any way modify these directions, you will enforce
the greatest diligence in revictualling your two ves-
sels, in procuring, if possible, the necessary Esqui-
maux interpreters, and in making all requisite prepa-
rations for at once proceeding to Bahring's Straits, in
order to reach the ice before the Ist of August,
6. An examination of the several orders issued to
Captain Kellett will show that it is uncertain where
he may be fallen in with. You may probably find
the Herald and Plover together.
7. We consider it essential that after entering the ice
there should be a depot, or point of succour, for any
party to fall back upon. For this purpose the Plover
is to be secured in the most favourable quarter, as
far in advance as can be found—such as Wainwright's
Inlet or the Creek at Hope Point ; but if they be un-
safe, and none has been discovered nearer to Barrow's
Point, then at Chatnisso Island, or any part of
Kotzebue Sound which may afford the necessary
shelter.

8. Considering, however, the nature of the service
in which the Plover will already have been employed,
and that a portion of her crew may be unfit to con-
tend with the rigours of a further stay in those lati-
titudes, you will call for volunteers from that ship,
and from the Herald, if in company, sufficient to form
a crew for the Plover; taking care that the men to
be selected are men of good character, and that they
do not exceed in number what is actually required
for the care of the ship, and for defence and security
against any treacherous attack on the part of the na-
tives of Norton Sound.

9. The petty officers' ratings that may ha vacated
by men invalided are to be filled up by men volun-
teering to remain ; such volunteers are to he subjected
to a strict and careful survey by the medical officers
of the several ships ; and those only are to be re-
tained who would seem to be in all respects fit to
encounter this extended service ; and the remainder
necessary to complete the crew is to be made up from
the Enterprise and Investigator.

10. Such crew having been formed (to continue
under the command of Commander Moore, and with
the officers now in the Plover or with those who may
volunteer for the service), the Plover, if the Herald
should be in company, is to be filled up by Captain
Kellett with all the provisions, fuel, and stores that
can possibly be spared by Captain Kellett, who will
bear in mind, not only what may be required for the
use of the Plover's crew until the autumn of 1853
and the contingency of parties arriving on board from
Sir john FrAnklin's expedition, bttt also the pool-