Leaving his companions to follow up these discoveries, Forsyth instantly made his way back to England. De Haven also intended to return home, but the ice intervened, and the American ships were firmly beset before they had left Wellington Channel. From that time onwards their experiences were much like those of the _Terror_. Drifting northward with the ice, they were carried up to Grinnell Land, which had never been sighted before, and then, the drift changing to the south, they were borne down Wellington Channel along Lancaster Sound, and into Baffin Bay, till, after covering a distance of over a thousand miles in this fashion, they were finally released in July. There was now nothing for the other three parties to do but to find winter quarters, whence they might prosecute the search as soon as spring made it possible for them to send out sledging parties. The _Lady Franklin_, the _Sophia_, and the _Felix_, therefore, put into Assistance Bay, at the south end of Cornwallis Land, while Austin and his squadron made for Griffith Island, where they were frozen in in September. It was Penny’s special duty to explore the shores of Wellington Channel, and, as soon as the worst of the winter was over, he and Petersen started out with this end in view. As they pushed northward, they became more and more convinced that the channel led into a great open sea, and they had already determined to pursue their investigations further in this direction as soon as summer should have released the ships, when, to their amazement, on rounding a headland, they came upon a great channel of water, stretching away for at least twenty-five miles to the northward, and probably further. Racing back to the ship with all possible speed, they obtained a boat and succeeded in dragging it over the ice to the scene of their discovery. Unfortunately, however, contrary winds and drifting floes made it impossible to proceed any further, and they were obliged to turn back without exploring the water-way and its shores. [Illustration: BOATS AMONG THE ICE FROM A DRAWING BY CAPTAIN BACK]