hed
in a dog sledge to communicate with the ships; but, as the ice was
already breaking up, it was with the greatest difficulty that the
channel was crossed in about three days. On their arrival, the captain
immediately set out with a relief party. Great anxiety was felt for
another party under Lieutenant Beaumont, which was absent far longer
than had been expected. He had with him a whale-boat, in which he and
his people were driven far up the Sound, and it was not until the ships
were on the point of returning home that they were picked up.

The above brief account may give some faint idea of the hardships and
sufferings endured by the officers and men of the expedition, as well as
of their courage and perseverance.

At length the icy barrier which had enclosed the _Alert_ for so many
long months began to break up; but there appeared not the slightest
indication of a passage opening up to the northward by which the desired
goal could be reached. Captain Nares felt fully confident that the sea
before him had for centuries remained frozen, and would continue for
ages more in the same condition. His crew were all, more or less,
suffering from scurvy.

As much resolution and moral courage is often exhibited in retreating as
in advancing. Captain Nares saw that to remain longer in the Polar Sea,
in the vain attempt to carry out the object of the expedition, would not
only be useless, but would in all probability prove destructive to the
lives of his gallant followers. Steam was accordingly got up, and the
_Alert_, boring her way through the ice, succeeded in again entering
Smith's Sound. Early in August she got within ten miles of the
_Discovery_; but for some time being prevented moving farther south by
the ice, an officer was despatched overland to direct Captain Stephenson
to get ready for sea. Not, however, until the 28th of August could the
_Discovery_ force her way out of her ice-bound harbour.

It often appeared as if all their efforts to get free would be baffled,
but by dint of constant watchfulness for an open channel, by boring and
blasting the ice before them, and often running full tilt at the mass
which impeded their progress, they forced their onward way, until at
length the open sea was gained. The Arctic Circle was recrossed on the
4th of October, exactly fifteen months after it had been crossed on the
northward voyage.

Happily the _Pandora_, Captain Allan Young, who had gone in search of