overed
the North-West Passage. Indeed, it is believed that it is only by the
way he came, if any passage is practicable, that a ship could get round
from the east to the west.

On the 10th August the _Enterprise_ once more put to sea, steering
westward. The Straits were found free of ice till they were abreast of
the mouth of the Coppermine River, where they were detained till the
23rd. They passed Cape Bathurst on the 31st, again encountering ice;
Herschel Island on the 5th of September; and, after overcoming various
obstacles, were finally fixed for the winter on the west side of Camden
Bay.

The season passed mildly away. In the spring more expeditions were
made, and visits received from the Esquimaux. The ship was not free
till the 20th of July. She reached Port Clarence on the 21st of August;
and at length Captain Collinson was able to send home despatches
announcing the safety of his ship, officers, and crew.

We are inclined to consider Captain Collinson's voyage, with the light
of the information subsequently given us, not only as the most
remarkable of all the Arctic voyages, but as guided by the greatest
wisdom, and executed with a courage, forethought, and perseverance
unsurpassed. He may well claim the honour of being "the first navigator
who took a ship of 530 tons through the narrow Dolphin and Union Straits
and Dease's Strait, ice-strewn and rocky as they are, in safety to
Cambridge Bay (105 degrees west), preserved his men in health through
three winters, and finally brought them home in health and his ship in
safety."

We must now return to Sir Edward Belcher's expedition. The greatest
service it rendered was through Captain Kellet, by whose means the brave
Captain McClure and his crew were rescued from their perilous position.
We left the _Resolute_ and _Intrepid_ on the northern side of the
Strait, frozen up in Bridport Inlet, in the spring of 1853. Although a
northern gale drove them to sea during the summer, when they drifted
about for eighty-seven days helplessly in the pack till off Cape
Cockburn, on the 12th of November they were again frozen in; and the
_Investigator_, also remaining fixed, was abandoned, the officers and
crew spending the winter on board the _Resolute_. The _Assistance_ and
_Pioneer_ being likewise frozen in, Captain Kellet received orders from
Sir Edward Belcher to abandon his part of the squadron; and on the 26th
of August the two last-named ships were also aba