to wait for a favorable chance to reach Beechey Island.
Meanwhile a great deal of coal was consumed; though during the
frequent halts only small fires were kept burning, sufficient to keep
steam up day and night.

Hatteras knew as well as Shandon the reduced state of their supply;
but feeling sure that he would find fuel at Beechey Island, he did not
wish to lose a minute for the sake of economy; he had been very much
delayed by running south; and, although he had taken the precaution of
leaving England in April, he now found himself no farther advanced
than previous expeditions had been at that time of year.

The 30th they passed Cape Walker at the northeast extremity of Prince
of Wales Land; this is the farthest point seen by Kennedy and Bellot,
May 3d, 1852, after an expedition across North Somerset. In 1851,
Captain Ommaney of the Austin expedition had been fortunate enough to
get fresh supplies there for his detachment.

[Illustration]

This cape, which is very lofty, is remarkable for its reddish-brown
color; in clear weather one can see as far as the entrance of
Wellington Channel. Towards evening they saw Cape Bellot, separated
from Cape Walker by MacLeon's Bay. Cape Bellot was so named in
presence of that young French officer to whom the English expedition
gave three cheers. At this place the coast consists of a yellowish
limestone, very rough in appearance; it is protected by huge masses of
ice which the north-wind collects there in the most imposing way. It
was soon no longer to be seen from the _Forward's_ deck, as she was
making her way amid the loose ice towards Beechey Island through
Barrow Strait.

Hatteras, having resolved to go on in a straight line, in order not to
be carried past the island, hardly left the deck during the subsequent
days; he would go aloft to the cross-trees in order to pick out the
most favorable path for the brig. All that skill, coolness, boldness,
and even maritime genius could do, was done by him while sailing
through the strait. It is true that fortune did not favor him, for at
that season he ought to have found the sea nearly open. But by dint of
sparing neither steam, his men, nor himself, he succeeded in his aim.

July 3d, at eleven o'clock in the morning, the ice-master saw land to
the north; Hatteras soon made it out as Beechey Island, the general
rendezvous for arctic explorers. Almost all the ships which sail in
these latitudes touch here. Here Franklin passed h