Intrepid, screw steamer.

Lieut.-Commander -B. Cator.

Each of the tenders had a crew of 30 men

Two of the officers appointed to this expedition, Lieutenants Browne and M'Clintock, were in the Enterprise under Captain Sir James C. Russ in 1848.

The Emma Eugenia transport was dispatched in advance with provisions to the Whale-Fish Islands, to await the arrival of the expedition.

It having been suggested by some parties that Sir John Franklin might have effected his passage to Melville Island, and been detained there with his ships, or that the ships might have been damaged by the ice in the neighboring sea, and that with his crews he had abandoned them and made his escape to that island, Captain Austin was specially instructed to use every exertion to reach this island, detaching a portion of his ships to search the shores of Wellington Channel and the coast about Cape Walker, to which point Sir John Franklin was ordered to proceed.

Advices were first received from the Assistance, after her departure, dated 5th of July; she was then making her way to the northward. The season was less favorable for exploring operations than on many previous years. But little ice had been met with in Davis' Strait, where it is generally found in large quantities, so that obstacles of a serious nature may be expected to the northward. Penny's ships had been in company with them.

Ice is an insurmountable barrier to rapid progress; fortifications may be breached, but huge masses of ice, 200 to 600 feet high, are not to be overcome.

On the 2d of July the Assistance was towed beneath a perpendicular cliff to the northward of Cape Shackleton, rising to the height of 1500 feet, which was observed to be crowded with the foolish guillemots, (Uria troile.) When the ship hooked on to an iceberg for the night, a party sent on shore for the purpose brought off 260 birds and about twenty dozen of their eggs. These birds only lay one egg each. 20

The following official dispatch has been since received from Captain Ommaney:

"Her Majesty's ship Assistance,' off Lancaster Sound, latitude 75° 46' N., longitude 75° 49′ W., August 17, 1850.

"SIR,-I have the honor to acquaint you, for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that her Majesty's ship Assistance, and her tender, her Majesty's steam-vessel Intrepid, have this day succeeded in effecting a passage across to the west water, and are now proceeding to Lancaster Sound. Officers and crews all well, with fine clear weather, and open water as far as can be seen.

Agreeably with instructions received from Captain H. Austin, we parted company on the 15th instant, at one A. M., off Cape Dudley Diggs, as the ice was then sufficiently open to anticipate no farther obstruction in effecting the north passage. He was anxious to proceed to Pond's Bay, and thence take up the examination along the south shores of Lancaster Sound, leaving me to ascertain the truth of a report obtained from the Esquimaux at Cape York respecting some ship or ships having been seen near Wolstenholme Island, after which to proceed to the north shores of Lancaster Sound and Wellington Channel.

"On passing Cape York, (the 14th inst.,) natives were seen. By the directions of Captain Austin I landed, and communicated with them, when we were informed that they had seen a ship in that neighborhood in the spring, and that she was housed in. Upon this intelligence I shipped one of the natives, who volunteered to join us as interpreter and guide.

"On parting with Captain Austin we proceeded toward Wolstenholme Island, where I left the ship and proceeded in her Majesty's steam-vessel Intrepid into Wolstenholme Sound, and by the guidance of the Esquimaux, succeeded in finding a bay about thirteen miles further in, and sheltered by a prominent headland. Ir the cairns erected here we found a document stating

that the North Star had wintered in the bay, a copy of which I have the honor to transmit to their Lordships.

"Previous to searching the spot where the North Star wintered, I examined the deserted Esquimaux settlement. At this spot we found evident traces of soinə ship having been in the neighborhood, from empty preserved meat canisters and some clothes left near a pool of water, marked with the name of a corporal belonging to the North Star.

Having ascertained this satisfactory information, I returned to Wolstenholme Island, where a document was deposited recording our proceedings. At 6 A. M., of the 16th inst., I rejoined the ship, and proceeded at two to the westward, and am happy to inform you that the passage across has been made without obstruction, towing through loose and straggling ice.

"The expedition was beset in Melville Bay, surrounded by heavy and extensive floes of ice, from the 11th of July to the 9th of August, 1850, when, after great exertion, a release was effected, and we succeeded in reaching Cape York by continuing along the edge of the land-ice, after which we have been favored with plenty of water.

"Captain Penny's expedition was in company during the most part of the time while in Melville Bay, and up to the 14th inst., when we left him off Cape Dudley Diggs-all well.

"In crossing Melville Bay we fell in with Sir John Ross and Captain Forsyth's expeditions. These Capt. Austin has assisted by towing them toward their destinations. The latter proceeded with him, and the former has remained with us.

"Having placed Sir John Ross in a fair way of reaching Lancaster Sound, with a fair wind and open water, his vessel has been cast off in this position. I shall, therefore, proceed with all dispatch to the examination of the north shores of Lancaster Sound and Wellington Channel, according to Captain Austin's directions.

"I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient aumble servant.

"ERASMUS OMMANEY, Captain."

The Resolute got clear of the Orkneys on the 15th of May, and arrived with her consort and the two tenders at the Whale-Fish Islands on the 14th of June

The Resolute was in Possession Bay on the 17th of August. From thence her proposed course was along the coast, northward and westward, to Whaler Point, situated at the southern extremity of Port Leopold, and afterward to Metville Island.

66

In order to amuse themselves and their comrades, the officers of the Assistance had started a MS. newspaper, under the name of the " Aurora Borealis." Many of my readers will have heard of the "Cockpit Herald," and such other productions of former days, in his Majesty's fleet. Parry, too, had his journal to beguile the long hours of the tedious arctic winter.

I have seen copies of this novel specimen of the 'fourth estate," dated Baffin's Bay, June, 1850, in which there is a happy mixture of grave and gay, prose and verse; numerous very fair acrostics are published. I append, by way of curiosity, a couple of extracts :"What insect that Noah had with him, were these regions named after?-The arc-tic."

"To the editor of the Aurora Borealis.

"SIR,- Having heard from an arctic voyager that he has seen crows'-nests' in those icy regions, I beg to inquire through your columns, if they are built by the crows, (Corvus tintinnabulus,) which Goodsir states to utter a metallic bell-like croak? My fast friend begs me to inquire when rook shooting commences in those diggings?

"A NATURALIST.

["We would recommend to 'A Naturalist' a visit to these 'crows'-nests,' which do exist in the arctic regions. We would also advise his fast friend to investigate

these said nests more thoroughly; he would find them tenanted by very old birds (ice quarter-masters,) who would not only inform him as to the species of crows and the sporting season, but would give them a fair chance of showing him how a pigeon may be plucked. - EDITOR."]

VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN SIR JOHN ROSS IN THE “FELIX" PRIVATE SCHOONER, 1850-51.

IN April, 1850, Captain Sir John Ross having volunteered his services to proceed in the search, was enabled, by the liberality of the Hudson's Bay Company, who contributed 500l., and public subscription, to leave England in the Felix schooner, of 120 tons, with a picked crew, and accompanied by Commander C. Gervans Phillips, R. N. She also had the Mary, Sir John's own vacht of twelve tons, as a tender. Mr. Abernethy proceeded as ice-master, having accompanied Sir John in his former voyage to Boothia; and Mr. Sivewright was mate of the Felix. The vessels sailed from Scotland on the 23d of May, and reached Holsteinborg in June, where Captain Ross succeeded in obtaining a Danish interpreter who understood the Esquimaux language; he then proceeded on, calling at the Whale Fish Islands, and passing northway through the Waygatt Strait, overtook, on the 10th of August, H. M. ships Assistance and Resolute, with their tenders the Intrepid and Pioneer, under the command of Captain Austin.

On the 13th of August, Captain Ommaney in the Assistance, and Sir John Ross in the Felix, being somewhere off Cape York, observed three male Esquimaux on the ice close by, and with these people it was prudently resolved to communicate. Accordingly, Lieutenant Cator in the Intrepid steamer, tender to the Assistance, and Commander Phillips in the whale-boat of the Felix, put off on this service. The Intrepid's people arrived first, but apparently without any means of expressing their desires, so that when the