dition; towards the end of
September, 1850, these ships got caught in an ice-bank, and were
forcibly driven into Lancaster Strait. It was Shandon who related
this catastrophe to James Wall before some of the brig's crew.

"The _Advance_ and the _Rescue_," he said to them, "were so knocked
about by the ice, that they were obliged to leave off fires on board;
but that did not prevent the temperature sinking 18 degrees below
zero. During the whole winter the unfortunate crews were kept
prisoners in the ice-bank, ready to abandon their ships at any moment;
for three weeks they did not even change their clothes. They floated
along in that dreadful situation for more than a thousand miles, when
at last they were thrown into the middle of Baffin's Sea."

The effect of this speech upon a crew already badly disposed can be
well imagined. During this conversation Johnson was talking to the
doctor about an event that had taken place in those very quarters;
he asked the doctor to tell him when the brig was in latitude 75 degrees
30 minutes, and when they passed it he cried:

"Yes, it was just there!" in saying which tears filled his eyes.

"You mean that Lieutenant Bellot died there?" said the doctor.

"Yes, Mr. Clawbonny. He was as good and brave a fellow as ever lived!
It was upon this very North Devon coast! It was to be, I suppose,
but if Captain Pullen had returned on board sooner it would not have
happened."

"What do you mean, Johnson?"

"Listen to me, Mr. Clawbonny, and you will see on what a slight thread
existence often hangs. You know that Lieutenant Bellot went his first
campaign in search of Franklin in 1850?"

"Yes, on the _Prince Albert_."

"Well, when he got back to France he obtained permission to embark
on board the _Phoenix_ under Captain Inglefield; I was a sailor on
board. We came with the _Breadalbane_ to transport provisions to
Beechey Island!"

"Those provisions we, unfortunately, did not find. Well?"

"We reached Beechey Island in the beginning of August; on the 10th
Captain Inglefield left the _Phoenix_ to rejoin Captain Pullen, who
had been separated from his ship, the _North Star_, for a month. When
he came back he thought of sending his Admiralty despatches to Sir
Edward Belcher, who was wintering in Wellington Channel. A little
while after the departure of our captain, Captain Pullen got back
to his ship. Why did he not arrive before the departure of Captain
Inglefield? Lieutenant Bellot,