The ships were secured to a berg at six P.M. of the 18th, and the wind having freshened up to a gale from the N.W.b.N., with some swell, we were much annoyed during the night by the ice which drifted under the lee of it, and on which the ships were constantly striking with a heavy shock, such as no others could have long withstood. This danger is avoided by ships lying very close under the lee of a berg, but a much greater is thereby incurred from the risk of the berg's upsetting; a circumstance which is always to be apprehended in a swell, and which must be attended with cer tain destruction to a ship moored very near to it.

On the 24 and 25th we continued our progress to the southward, but without any success in ap. proaching, or even getting sight of, the land; the ice being as close and compact as when we sailed along the margin of it in July of the preceding year. Soon after noon on the 24th we crossed the Arctic Circle, having been within it fourteen months and three weeks.

On the morning of the 26th we again stood to the westward as much as the ice would allow, but were soon obliged by it to keep away to the south. ward, precluding every hope of making the land on that part of the coast which it would have been most interesting to explore. In the afternoon, after various attempts to get to the westward, ap. pearances became more unpromising than ever, the packed ice extending from N.b.E. round to S.W. There were, indeed, parts of the ice which, with constant daylight, a ship might have entered with some probability of success; but, with twelve hours' night, the attempt must have been attended

with a degree of risk which nothing but a very im. portant object could justify. The wind had now freshened up from the N.N.W., and the mercury in the barometer fell with unusual rapidity, with every other appearance of an approaching gale. I was therefore under the necessity of admitting the conclusion that, under existing circumstances, the season was now too far advanced, and the state of the ice too unfavourable, to allow of any farther examination of the coast; and I determined, there. fore, to make the best of my way to England. The boats were accordingly hoisted in, and the ships made snug while in smooth water under the lee of the ice, and a course was then shaped to the E.S.E., in order to obtain an offing before we bore away to the southward.

On the second of October, in scudding before the wind under the main-topsail, a heavy sea struck the Hecla on the larboard quarter, rendering it necessary to press her forward under more canvass, by which we lost sight of the Griper in the course of the morning. As soon as the weather moderated, we hove-to for her; but, as she did not make her appearance, having, as we afterward learned, been obliged to lie-to during the height of the gale, we continued our course out of the Straits, and did not again meet with the Griper till our return to England.

On the afternoon of the 16th, the sea being very high and irregular, and the ship pitching with considerable violence, the bowsprit was carried away close to the gammoning, and the foremast and main-topmast immediately followed it over the side. The wreck was quickly cleared; and, by

the greatest activity and energy on the part of the officers and men, the mainyard and mainmast were saved, the latter having been endangered by the foremast falling across the stay, and the for. mer by the wreck of the main-topmast and topsail-yard lying upon it. Notwithstanding the continuance of the gale, and the uneasy motion of the ship for the next two days, we succeeded in getting up our jury masts so as to make sail on the even. ing of the 18th.

On the 29th we made Buchaness, and on the following day, the wind having come to the southward, so as to make our progress very slow, I landed at Peterhead, accompanied by Captain Sabine and Mr. Hooper; having first, in compliance with their lordships' directions, demanded from the offi. cers, petty officers, and all other persons on board the Hecla, the logs, journals, charts, drawings, and other documents which the voyage had furnished, and directed Lieutenant Beechey to proceed with all possible despatch to Leith. Captain Sabine and myself proceeded without delay to London, where we arrived on the morning of the 3d of November.

SECOND VOYAGE

FOR THE DISCOVERY OF A

NORTHWEST PASAGE.

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

THE discoveries made by the expedition to the northwest in the years 1819-20 being such as to afford a strong presumption in favour of the existence of a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific in that direction, his majesty commanded another attempt to be made to effect that object; and the lords commissioners of the admiralty were pleased once more to honour me with the command of an expedition, to be equipped at Deptford for that purpose. The Hecla having been found well adapted to this service, a second ship of precisely the same class was now selected, and I received my commis. sion for his majesty's ship the Fury, of three hun. dred and seventy-seven tons burden, on the 30th of December, 1820. The Hecla was recommis. sioned by Captain George Francis Lyon on the 4th of January following.

In our official instructions I was directed to proceed, as quickly as might be consistent with every precaution, towards or into Hudson's Strait until VOL. I.-R

the ice was met with, when the Nautilus transport, which was directed by the navy board to be placed at my disposal, was to be cleared of its provisions and stores. We were then to penetrate to the westward, through Hudson's Strait, until we reached (either in Repulse Bay, or on other part of the shores of Hudson's Strait to the north of Wager River) some part of the coast, which I felt convin. ced was a portion of the Continent of America.

If we happily reached the Pacific, we were to proceed to Kamschatka, from thence to the Sandwich Islands or Canton, and, having refitted the ships and refreshed the crews, to return to England by such route as might be deemed convenient.

CHAPTER I.

Passage across the Atlantic---Removal of Stores from the Nautilus Transport, at the Margin of the Ice.-Departure of the Nautilus for England.--Enter the Ice in Hudson's Strait, -Perilous Situation of the Hecla, and loss of her Anchor.Meet with the Hudson's Bay Ships.-Passage up the Strait, and Communication with the Natives inhabiting the Northern Shores.-Pass the Trinity Islands of Fox.--Arrival off Southampton Island, where the Researches of the Expedi tion commence.

THE FURY, HECLA, and NAUTILUS transport were completed for sea towards the latter part of the month of April, and on the 29th, at ten A.M., the Fury was taken in tow by the Eclipse steamboat, which vessel had before taken us down