Captain Ross, whose arrival at Hull we mentioned veil , briefly
in our last paper, reached that port, with Commander James Ross, Mr. M'Diarmid the Surgeon, and Mr. Thom the third in command, on Fri- day the 18th. The inhabitants of Hull soon collected in crowds to be- hold them ; and they were conducted by the Mayor and Aldermen in procession to the Mansionhouse, where they partook of refreshment. All the vessels in port hoisted their colours, and a public dinner was given to the Captain and his companions. Captain Ross was also pre- sented with the freedom of the Corporation in a silver box. The same evening, he took his departure for London ; and arrived, with Com- mander Ross, at the Portland Hotel, late on Saturday night. On Sun- day, they had the honour of dining with the King and Queen at Wind- sor Castle.
The following letter, addressed by Captain Ross to the Board of Admiralty, furnishes an outline of his proceedings during his perilous expedition. It is dated Baffin's Bay; but Captain Ross was disap- pointed of an opportunity of transmitting it by a whaling vessel, and was therefore the bearer of it himself.
" On board the Isabella, of Hull, Baffin's Bay, September 1833.
" Sir—Knowing how deeply my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty are interested in the advancement of nautical knowledge, and _particularly in the improvement of geography, I have to acquaint you, for the information of their Lordships, that the expedition, the main object of which is to solve, if possible, the question of a North-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, particularly by Prince Regent's Inlet, and which sailed from England in May 1829, notwithstanding the loss of the foremast and other untoward circum- stances, which obliged the vessel to refit in Greenland, reached the beach on which his Majesty's late ship Fury's stores were landed on the 13th of August. " We found the boats, provisions, &c. in excellent condition, but no vestige of the wreck. After completing in fuel and other necessaries, we sailed on the 14th, and on the following morning rounded Cape Garry, where our new dis- coveries commenced ; and, keeping the western shore close on board, ran down the coast in a S. W. and W. course, in from ten to twenty fathoms, until we had passed the latitude of 72 north in longitude 94 west; here we found a con- siderable inlet leading to the westward, the examination of which occupied two days ; at this place we were first seriously obstructed by ice, which was now seen to extend from the south cape of the inlet, in a solid mass, round by S. and E. to E.N.E. ; owing to this circumstance, the shallowness of the water, the rapidity of the tides, the tempestuous weather, the irregularity of the coast, and the numerous inlets and rocks for which it is remarkable, our progeess was no less dangerous than tedious, yet we succeeded in penetrating below the latitude of 70 north in longitude 92 west, where the land, after having carried us as far east as 90, took a decided westerly direction, while land at the distance of forty miles to southward was seen extending east and west. At this extreme point our progress was arrested on the 1st of October, by an impenetrable barrier_of ice. We, however, found an excellent wintering port, which we named Felix Harbour. " .n.arly in January leaf) we hair tile good fortune to esu it a Inenary in- tercourse with a most interesting consociation of natives, who, being insulated by nature, had never before communicated with strangers ; from them we gradually obtained the important information that we had already seen the con- tinent of America, that about 40 miles to the S.W. there were two great seas, one to the west, which was divided from that to the east by a narrow strait or neck of land. The verification of this intelligence either way, on which our future operations so materially depended, devolved on Commander Ross, who volunteered this service early in April, and, accompanied by one of the mates and guided by two of the natives, proceeded to the spot, and found that the north land was connected to the south by two ridges of high laud, fifteen miles is breadth, but taking into account a chain of fresh water lakes which occupied the rallies between, the dry land which actually separates the two oceaus iaoaly five miles. This extraordinary isthmus was subsequently visited by myself, when Commander Ross proceeded minutely to survey the sea-coast to the southward of the isthmus leading to the westward, which he succeeded in trac- ing to the 99th degree, or to one hundred and fifty miles of Cape Turnagain of Franklin, to which point the land, after leading him into the 70th degree of north latitude, trended directly : during the same journey he also surveyed thirty miles of the adjacent coast, or that to the north of the isthmus, which, by also taking a westerly direction, formed the termination of the western sea into a gulf. The rest of this season was employed in tracing the sea-coast south of the isthmus leading to the eastward, which was done so at to leave no doubt that it joined, as the natives had previously informed us, to Ockullee, and tire laud form- ing Repulse Bay. It was also determined that there was no passage to the west- ward for thirty miles to the northward of our position. " This summer, like that of 1818, was beautifully fine, hot extremely unfa- vourable for navigation, and our object being now to try a more northern latitude, we waited with anxiety for the disruption of the ice, but in vain ; and our utmost endeavours did not succeed in retracing our steps more than four miles; and it was not until the middle of November that we succeeded in cutting the vessel into a place of security, which we named " Sheriff's Harbour." I may Isere mention that we named the newly-discovered continent, to the southward, " Boothia," as also the isthmus, the peninsula to the north, and the eastern sea, after my worthy friend Felix Booth, Esq., the truly patriotic citizen of London, who, in the most disinterested manner, enabled me to equip this expedition in a superior style.
" The last winter was in temperature nearly equal to the means of what hail been experienced on the four preceding voyages, but the winters of 1830 and 1831 set in with a degree of violence hitherto beyond record; the thermometer sunk to 92 degrees below the freezing point, and the average of the year seas ID degrees below the preceding; but, notwithstanding the severity of the summer, we travelled across the country to the west sea by a chain of lakes, thirty miles north of the isthmus, when Commander Ross succeeded in surveying fifty mites more of the coast leading to the north-west,' and by tracing the shore to the northward of our position, it was also fully proved that there could be no pas- sage below the 71st degree.
"This autumn we succeeded in getting the vessel only fourteen miles to the northward, and as we had not doubled the Eastern Cape, all hope of saving the ship was at an end, and put quite beyond possibility by another very severe win- ter; sod having only provisions to last us to the 1st of June 1833, dispositions were accordingly made to leave the ship in her present port, which (after her) was named' Victory Harbour. Provisions and fuel being carried forward.in the spring, we left the ship on the 29th of M 1832, for Fury Beach, being the only chance lefe of saving our lives ; owin8 to the very rugged nature of the ice, we were obliged to keep either upon or Closest) the land, magi ,g the circuit of every bay, thus increasing our distance of 200 miles by nearly one half.; and it was not until the 1st of July that we reached the beach, completely ex- hausted by hunger and fatigue. "A but was speedily constructed, and the boats, three of which had been .washed off the beach, but providentially driven on shore again, were, epaircd during this month; but the uuusual heavy appearance of the ice affordeilms ne cheering prospect until the 1st of August, 'when in three boats we .1.6ached the ill -fated spot where the Fury was first driven on shore, and it was- not until the 1st of September we reached Leopold South Island, now established to be the north-east point of America, in latitude 73 56, and longitude 90 west. From the summit of the lofty mountain on the promontory we could see Prince Regent's Inlet, Barrow's Strait, and Lancaster Sound, which presented one,impenetrahle mars of ice, just as I had seen it in 1818. Here we remained in a state of anxiety and suspense which may be easier imagined than described. All our attempts to push through were vain ; at length, being forced by want of provisions and the ap- proach of a very severe winter to return to Fury Beach, where aliine there re- mained wherewith to sustain life, there we arrived on the 7th of October, after a most fatiguing and laborious march, having been obliged to leave our bciats at Batty. Bay. Our habitation, which consisted of a frame of spars, thirty-two feet by six- teen feet, covered with canvass, was during the month of November enclosed, and the roof covered with snow from four to seven feet thick, which being saturated with water when the temperature was fifteen degrees below zero, immediately took the consistency of ice, and thus we actually became the inhabitants of an iceberg during one of the most severe *inters hitherto recorded ; our sufferings, aggravated by want of bedding, clothing, and animal food, need not be dwelt upon. Mr. C. Thomas, the carpenter, was the only man who perished at this beach, but three others, besides one who had lost his foot, were reduced to the last stage of debility, and only thirteen of our number were able to carry provi- sions in seven journies of sixty-two miles each to Batty Bay.
" We left Fury Beach on the 8th of July, carrying with us three sick men who were unable to walk, and in six days we reached the boats, where the sick daily recovered. Although the spring was mild, it was not until the 15th of August that we had any cheering prospect. A gale from the westward having suddenly opened a lane of water along shore, in two days we reached our former position, and from the mountain we had the satisfaction of seeing clear
water almost directly across Prince Regent's Inlet, which we crossed on the 17th, and took shelter from a storm twelve miles to the eastward of Cape York. Tho next day, when the gale abated, we crossed Admiralty, Inlet, and were de- tained six days on the coast by a strong north-east wind. On the 25th, we crossed Navy Board Inlet, and, on the following morning, to our inexpressible joy, we descried a ship in the offing becalmed, which proved to be the Isabella, of Hull, the same shipwhich I commanded in 1818. At noon we reached her, when her enterprising commander, who had in vain searched for us in Prince Regent's Inlet, after giving, us three cheers, received us with every demonstration of kindness and hospitality which humanity could dictate. I
ought to mention also that Mr. Humphreys, by landing me at Possession Bay, and subsequently on the west coast of Baffin's Bay, afforded me an excellent opportunity of concluding my survey, and of verifying my former chart of that coast.
" I now have the pleasing duty of calling the attention of their Lordships to the merits of Commander Ross, who was second in the direction of this expe- dition. The labours of this officer, who had the departments of astronomy, natural history, and surveying, will speak for themselves in language beyond the ability of my pen; but they will be duly appreciated by their Lordships, and the learned bodies of which he is a member, and who are already well acquainted with his acquirements. " My steady and faithful friend, Mr. William Thom, of the Royal Navy, who was formerly with me in the Isabella, besides his duty as third in eon-
:nand, took charge of the meteorological journal, the distribution and economy 4 provisions, and to hisjudicious plans and suggestions must be attributed the aqcommon degree of health. which our crew enjoyed ; and as two out of the tree who died during thetour years and a half were cut off early in the voyage,. -try diseases not peculiar to the climate, only one man can be said to have perished. M‘Diarmid, the surgeol, who had been several voyages to these regions, Ed justice to the high recommendation I received of him; he was successful in Avery amputation and operation which he performed, and wonderfully so in his treatment of the sick; and 1 have no hesitation in adding that he would be an wsament to his Majesty's service. "Commander Ross, Mr. Thom, and myself, have indeed been serving without pay; but, in common with the crew, have lust our all ; which I regret the more, because it puts it totally out of my power adequately to remunerate my fellow-
mffereara, whose case I cannot but recommend their Lordships' consideration. We have, :however, the consolation that the results of this expedition have been asaehreive, and to science highly important, and may be briefly comprehended fa the following words :—The discovery of the Gulf of Boothia, the continent sad isthmus of Boothia Felix, and a vast number of islands, rivers, and lakes ; the undeniable establishment that the north-east point of America extends to the 74th degree of north latitude ; valuable observations of every kind, but par- tivelarly on the magnet; and, to crown all, have had the honour of placing the Eastman name of our Most Gracious Sovereign' William the Fourth on the sue position of the magnetic pole.
"I cannot conclude this letter, Sir, without acknowledging the important ad- vantages we obtained from the valuable publications of Sir Edward Parry and Fir John Franklin, and the communications kindly made to us by these distin- guished officers before our departure from England. But the glory of this en- terprise is entirely due to Him whose divine favour has been most especially ma- nifested towards us, who guided and directed all our steps; who mercifully pro.. sided, in what we deemed a calamity, His effectual means of our preservation ; and who, even after the devices and inventions of man had utterly failed, crowned sar humble endeavours with complete success.
" I have, &c. Joint Ross, Captain R.N. " To Captain the Honourable George Elliot, &c. Secretary, Admiralty."
A meeting of the Committee for managing the Arctic Land Expe- dition under Captain Back was held on Tuesday, at which it was de- teemined to send a despatch to Captain Back by express, acquainting him with Captain Ross's return, and directing him to apply himself to the second object of his mission,—that of completing the survey of the coast line of the North-eastern, part of America, of which little more than one hundred and fifty miles remain to be traced. At the same meeting, a letter from Captain Ross, expressive of his gratitude for the exertions made for his deliverance, was read by the Chairman, Sir Charles Ogle ; who.was directed by the Committee to make a suitable reply.
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