'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From December 1854 to March 1856. (New Issue.) Edited by the Secretary. Volume XII.' [‎41] (152/258)

ON ARCTIC DISCOVERY —1850. ^
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with two other Officers, pushed northward > Lieutenant Mee C) ha m </the,
Investigator, journeyed westward.
I have already mentioned the departure in January 1850 of the Investigator
and Enterprise, under Captains McClure and Collinson, (p. 35) the former
being first despatched under Sir James Ross—these vessels having been two
years in the Icy Seas without being heard of, and being the last to return home
I have hitherto confined myself to a notice of their departure, in order to be
enabled to give a continuous narrative of their proceedings. The vessels hav
ing rounded Cape Horn, passed the Auletian Islands in long. 172 o 30’ W
The Investigator entered Bhering’s Straits on the 27th July and anchored
in Kotzebue Sound. Though the Enterprise left the Sandwich Islands some
days before the Investigator, it was found impossible to penetrate the ice, and.
Captain Collinson was compelled to return and winter at Hongkong.
Capt. McClure dashed into the ice in bold disobedience of the orders ofCapt.
Kellet, of the Herald, the senior officer of the station, and who signalled his
recall. By one of those singular coincidences, with which these Polar adventures
abound, Lieut. Pirn, who was the last to see the commander ol thelnvestigator
on the west side of America, was the first to meet him on the east just three
years afterwards. The Investigator rounded Point Baivow at the north-eastern
extremity of Bhering’s Straits on the 5th August; and keeping close along
shore—passed the north of the Colville Jones Island, where he held some com
munication with the Natives ; they were opposite the mouth of the McKenzie
river on the 24th ; passed Cape Parry on the 6th September, and were at
this time close to the field of the researches of Dr. Rae in 1851. The Inves
tigator next pushed her way through Prince of Wales Strait, as they termed
it, dividing Baring Island from Prince Albert Land. They were now pursuing
a course right for Melville Strait, and in hopes of making the Nortb-west Pas
sage in a single season, when on the 11th September, five weeks after they
had entered the ice, their progress was arrested, and the ship frozen in. The
winter was spent in exploring the dreary regions around, and it was not till
the 11th July 1851 that the ice opened and the vessel was released. They were
now in lat. 73° 14’ N., long. 115 32’ W., and it was resolved to retrace
their steps through the channel, and endeavour to round the N. W. end of
the island. Everything went well with them till the 24th September, when
they were once more frozen in, and there, so far as is known, their ship re
mains till this day. In April 1852 a party from the Investigator crossed the ice
to Melville Island. It consisted of Captain McClure, Mr. Conart, and six
others. They deposited a paper under a cairn, giving an account of their late
adventures and present position—it concluded with the following sentences,
furnishing a fearful idea of the perils of arctic navigation, a noble one of the
coolness and courage with which they were met