Captain Kellett was at first inclined to favour M’Clure’s efforts to save the _Investigator_, but, on the 2d of May, Lieutenant Cresswell reported to Captain Kellett that two more deaths had occurred. It was then deemed advisable that Dr. Domville should go back with Captain M’Clure and inspect the crew. Those unfitted to pass another winter in the Arctic were to be ordered home, and the healthy should be given their option of going or remaining. Only four of the crew were willing to remain, although all of the officers volunteered to stand by the vessel. Preparations were therefore made to abandon the ship. A depot of provisions and stores was landed for the use of Collinson, Franklin, or any other person that might find them, and on June 3, 1853, the colours were hoisted to the masthead, and officers and crew bade farewell to the _Investigator_. Upon arriving at Dealy Island, they were accommodated on board the _Resolute_ and _Intrepid_. [Sidenote: _DEATH OF BELLOT_] In connection with the glorious report of the discovery of the Northwest Passage and the safety of M’Clure, Captain Inglefield brought home news of a sad and tragic character; the death of that gallant Frenchman, Lieutenant Bellot. He had returned to the north in the _Phœnix_ drawn by the fatal lure of the Arctic which to his adventurous soul was irresistible. In August, 1853, he had volunteered to lead a party to Sir Edward Belcher’s squadron near Cape Beecher in Wellington Channel. They started on a Friday, the 12th, from Beechey Island,—Harvey, Johnson, Madden, and Hook, with Lieutenant Bellot in the lead,—carrying despatches from Captain Pullen of the _North Star_.