The rendezvous at Beechey Island was reached without misadventure, and the two divisions immediately set off in their several directions, leaving the _North Star_ behind. Kellett, with the _Resolute_ and _Intrepid_, sailed direct for Winter Harbour, which he had intended to make his headquarters. He was disappointed, however, to find it entirely blocked with ice, and he was compelled, in consequence, to moor his ships in a bay between Dealy Island and the mainland, which was found to answer his purpose admirably. No sooner were the preparations for the winter completed than the work of sending out sledge parties began. He was fortunate in having several excellent officers under his command, among them being Lieutenants Mecham, Bedford Pim, and Hamilton, the mate, Mr Nares, who commanded the great Polar expedition of 1875, and De Bray, a French volunteer. The brief autumn days were spent not in the serious work of the search, but in forming depôts of provisions at points where it was thought that they would be most useful on the long spring journeys, and it was during one of these that Mecham visited Winter Harbour and found the paper that M’Clure had left there during the spring of the same year, recording the detention of the _Investigator_ in Mercy Bay and the discovery of the North-West Passage. The winter passed uneventfully enough, but as soon as the first signs of the advent of spring appeared, the ship was alive with preparations for the sledge journeys. One of the first to be sent out was that which Lieutenant Bedford Pim conducted in search of the _Investigator_, but as we have already dealt with that, it is unnecessary to dwell upon it again here. Nor is there very much to be said concerning the parties led by M’Clintock of the _Intrepid_, and Mecham and Hamilton of the _Resolute_. By exploring the Parry Islands thoroughly they added greatly to the world’s store of knowledge concerning those regions, but one sledge journey in the Arctic regions bears a very strong family likeness to another, and these differed from their predecessors in no important essentials. Some idea of the vigour with which the work was pushed forward, however, may be gathered from the following figures. During the autumn and spring M’Clintock, the greatest of all Arctic sledgemen, covered 1661 miles in 145 days, Mecham, 1375 miles in 117 days, Roche, 1039 miles in 79 days, Nares, 980 miles in 94 days, Domville, 739 miles in 77 days, and De Bray, 642 miles in 62 days. Altogether, the various parties covered about 8558 miles, most of which had never been traversed by a white man before.