is first winter
before advancing into Wellington Channel. Here Creswell, MacClure's
lieutenant, after a march of four hundred and sixty miles on the ice,
rejoined the _Phoenix_ and returned to England. The last ship which
anchored at Beechey Island before the _Forward_ was the _Fox_;
MacClintock took in supplies there, August 11, 1855, and repaired the
dwellings and storehouses; that was but a short time previous.
Hatteras knew all these details.

The boatswain's heart beat strongly at the sight of this island; when
he had last seen it he had been quartermaster on the _Phoenix_;
Hatteras asked him about the coast, the place for anchoring, the
possible change of the bottom. The weather was perfect; the
thermometer marked 57 degrees.

"Well, Johnson," said the captain, "do you recognize this place?"

"Yes, Captain, it's Beechey Island! Only we ought to bear a little
farther north; the coast is more easily approached there."

"But the buildings, the stores?" said Hatteras.

"O, you can't see them till you get ashore; they are hidden behind
those hillocks you see there!"

"And did you carry large supplies there?"

"Yes, they were large. The Admiralty sent us here in 1853, under the
command of Captain Inglefield, with the steamer _Phoenix_ and a
transport, the _Breadalbane_, loaded with supplies; we carried enough
to revictual a whole expedition."

"But did not the commander of the _Fox_ take a great deal away in
1855?" said Hatteras.

"O, don't be anxious, Captain!" answered Johnson; "there will be
enough left for you; the cold keeps everything wonderfully, and we
shall find everything as fresh and in as good condition as on the
first day."

"I'm not so anxious about the provisions," answered Hatteras; "I have
enough for several years; what I stand in need of is coal."

"Well, Captain, we left more than a thousand tons there; so you can
feel easy about that."

"Let us stand nearer," resumed Hatteras, who, glass in hand, kept
examining the shore.

"You see that point," said Johnson; "when we've doubled it, we shall
be near our anchorage. Yes, it's from there we started for England
with Lieutenant Creswell and twelve sick men of the _Investigator_.
But if we were fortunate enough to be of service to Captain MacClure's
lieutenant, Bellot, the officer who accompanied us on the _Phoenix_,
never saw his home again! Ah, that's a sad memory! But, Captain, I
think it's here we ought to anchor."

"Very well," answ