"_Enterprise_," 540 Tons.
Captain, Sir James C. Ross; Lieutenants, R.J.L. McClure, F.L.
McClintock, and W.H.J. Browne; master, W.S. Couldery, acting; surgeon,
W. Robertson, acting; assistant surgeon, H. Matthais; second master,
S. Court; clerk, Edward Whitehead. Total complement, sixty-eight.
"_Investigator_," 480 Tons.
Captain, E.J. Bird; Lieutenants, M.G.H.W. Ross, Frederick Robinson,
and J.J. Barnard; master, W. Tatham; surgeon, Robert Anderson; mates,
L. John Moore and S.G. Cresswell; second master, John H. Allard;
assistant surgeon, E. Adams; clerk in charge, J.D. Gilpin. Total
complement, sixty-seven.
The expedition left England on the 12th of June 1848, and reached
Barrow's Straits by the end of August. Sir James Ross then endeavoured
to find a passage through Wellington Channel; but it was so completely
blocked up with ice that he was compelled to give up the attempt that
year as hopeless. The ice closing in on the ships at an unusually early
period, after running great risk of being crushed, Sir James took refuge
in Leopold Harbour for the winter. Hence several expeditions were sent
out on foot. Sir James Ross and Lieutenant McClintock set out in May,
with sledges, each accompanied by six men, and explored the whole of the
north and west coasts of North Somerset; and, being absent thirty-nine
days, returned to the ships on the 23rd of June. Meantime Lieutenant
Barnard started for the northern shore of Barrow's Straits, crossing the
ice to Cape Hind. Lieutenant Browne visited the eastern shore of Regent
Inlet, and Lieutenant Robinson the western shore, and reached several
miles to the southward of Fury Beach. No traces were discovered,
however, of Sir John Franklin, but every device that could be thought of
was employed to let his party know of the position of the ships. At
Fury Beach, Lieutenant Robinson discovered Sir John Ross' house, and
much of the provisions left there by the _Fury_ in 1827 still remaining,
and in excellent condition. On the 28th of August the vessels quitted
Leopold Harbour, where, at Whaler Point, a large supply of provisions,
fuel, and a steam-launch were left, in the hopes that some of Sir John's
party might visit the place. Again, from the 1st to the 25th of
September, the vessels were so closely beset with ice, that it was
feared they might be compelled to spend another winter in those regions,
even should they escape being crushed to fragments. Happily they got
clear, after drifting into Baffin's Bay, and reached England in
November.
The _North Star_, an old twenty-six-gun frigate, of 500 tons, had in the
meantime, in the spring of 1849, been despatched with provisions for Sir
James Ross, under command of Mr J. Saunders. Having got blocked in by
the ice for sixty-two days, she was compelled to winter in Wolstenholme
Sound, on the western coast of Greenland.
Immediately on the return of the _Enterprise_ and _Investigator_ they
were re-commissioned, and placed under the command of Captain B.
Collinson, with directions to proceed to Behring's Straits, to resume
the search in that direction. HMS _Plover_, Commander Moore, was
already there, employed in surveying the north-western coasts of the
American continent.