By the beginning of June 1854, Kane had begun to realise that he was in a very uncomfortable situation. All his men were diseased, and several of them were completely disabled; fuel and food were becoming very short; and, to crown all, there seemed no prospect of extricating his ship that year. He soon came to the conclusion that the only thing for him to do was to attempt to reach Beechey Island, and there to ask for assistance from Sir Edward Belcher. Accordingly, he patched up his whale-boat to the best of his ability, and, taking with him the only five members of his crew who were in reasonably good health, he started off on his hazardous voyage. He was not, however, destined to get very far, for he found the mouth of Smith Sound so cumbered with ice that he had no choice but to give orders for a retreat on the ship, which he reached on August 6. A careful inspection of his stores now forced him to the conclusion that he must cut down the allowance of fuel. Here is the passage in his journal in which he records the step. “Reduced our allowance of wood to six pounds a meal. This, among eighteen mouths, is one-third of a pound of fuel each. It allows us coffee twice a day and soup once. Our fare, besides this, is cold pork boiled in quantity and eaten as required. This sort of thing works badly, but I must reserve coal for other emergencies. I see darkness ahead. I inspected the ice again to-day. Bad! bad!—I must look another winter in the face. I do not shrink from the thought; but, while we have a chance ahead, it is my first duty to have all things in readiness to meet it. It is horrible—yes, that is the word—to look forward to another year of disease and darkness to be met without fresh food and without fuel. I should meet it with more tempered sadness if I had no comrades to think for and protect.” There was now only one expedient to be tried, and that was a land journey in search of succour from the Eskimos. Accordingly Hayes, Petersen and seven men set out from the ship on August 28, leaving the rest of their companions to shift for themselves as best they could. Had it not been for an alliance which they made with a tribe of Eskimos, whose settlement lay some seventy-five miles from the ship, they would probably have perished miserably of cold and starvation. By the terms of this alliance the natives undertook to refrain from stealing from the ship, and to supply the sailors with fresh meat and dogs, while Kane in return promised them the assistance of his men on their hunting expeditions, and undertook to provide them with needles, knives, and other trifles dear to the heart of the native. The sledge journey from the ship to the settlement and back was, however, so long and arduous that Kane only undertook it when it was absolutely necessary.