In the first week or so their progress was rather slow. The season was, however, far more open than was that of the preceding year and, on reaching Coronation Gulf, they found it, to their great delight, perfectly navigable. From that point they pushed on apace. On the night of the 20th they stopped at Boathaven, and thence, helped by a favouring wind, they ran rapidly along the west coast of Kent Peninsula to Cape Franklin, which they reached exactly a month earlier than Simpson’s party had reached it in the preceding year. Here again they were favoured by fortune, for they found an open passage of water, two miles wide, along which the boats bowled merrily. They reached Cape Alexander on the 26th, and then, rounding the eastern extremity of Kent Peninsula, they ran along the shore which they had been previously obliged to traverse on foot, discovering and naming Melbourne Island and Roxborough Cape as they went. On the 10th they entered the strait which is now called by Simpson’s name, and it was then that they realised that they were on the verge of linking up Franklin’s discoveries with those of Back, for the rapid rush of the tide from the east told them that they were about to enter the open sea into which the Great Fish River disgorged its waters. On the 13th all doubts on this point were set at rest for, on rounding a very sharp cape, they saw before them a sandy desert which they knew to be Back’s Ogle Point. By reaching the estuary of the Great Fish River they had practically accomplished the objects of their expedition. Simpson, however, was by no means disposed to rest upon his laurels, and he determined to make an effort to discover whether or not the North American continent was linked to Boothia Felix or whether a strait connected the Boothia Gulf with the Arctic Sea. Accordingly, with his wonted energy, he selected three volunteers and set off on a short voyage of exploration in one of the boats. He was not destined, however, to succeed in his search, for on the 20th adverse winds compelled him to take shelter in a small river, which he named after the _Castor_ and _Pollux_. To attempt to proceed any further would have been foolhardy, and might well have resulted in the loss of the entire party. Accordingly, having decided his position as lat. 68° 28´ N., long. 94° 14´ W., he turned back and reached Cape Britannia, where Dease had remained, on August 20. They decided to vary their homeward journey by sailing along the coast of Victoria Land, which had never, of course, been explored. They made its nearest point, which they named Cape Colborne, on September 6. The 7th and 8th were spent in sailing across two great bays, to which they gave the names of Cambridge and Wellington Bays, and on the 9th they were nearly opposite Cape Franklin, the shore of the American continent being then about twenty miles away. On the following day they made for Cape Barrow, having explored some 156 miles of the new country.