Acting under these orders, Captain Kellett reluctantly prepared to desert the _Resolute_ and _Intrepid_. Both ships were stored with provisions, the engines of the _Intrepid_ put in such good order that she could be got under steam in two hours, the hatches calked down, and notices placed at proper points for the guidance of two sledging parties that were away from the ships at this time. On the 15th of May, 1854, the captain and crew said farewell to their trusty crafts and started, with sledges, for Beechey Island, where M’Clure and his men were greatly surprised by their arrival. [Sidenote: _CAPTAIN BELCHER_] Since Sir Edward Belcher had parted with Captain Kellett August 14, 1852, parties from the _Assistance_ and _Pioneer_ had been diligently exploring Wellington Channel. Having anchored near Cape Beecher, in latitude 76° 52´ and longitude 37° W., boat and sledge expeditions were sent northward as early as the 23d of August. On the 25th remains of several well-built Eskimo houses were discovered, of which, says Captain Belcher:— “They were not simply circles of small stones, but two lines of well-laid wall in excavated grounds, filled in between by about two feet of fine gravel, well paved, and, withal, presenting the appearance of great care—more, indeed, than I am willing to attribute to the rude inhabitants of migratory Eskimos. Bones of deer, wolves, seals, etc., were numerous, and coal was found.” New lands discovered were given the names of North Cornwall, Victoria Archipelago, and to an island of this group forming a channel to the Polar Sea was given the name of North Kent. Other sledging parties intended for the search of the northeast section left the ship May 2, 1853, and soon reached the limit of their discoveries the previous year. Belcher reached Cape Disraeli, an elevation of six hundred and eighty feet above the sea, and later made his way to the entrance of Jones Channel, where he had an extended view of successive beetling headlands on either side of the channel. The roughness of the frozen pack compelled the party to take to the land, but progress was again impeded by an abrupt glacier. Other attempts to continue the land journey proved futile, and by the 20th of May the party could advance no farther. Of the return journey Belcher writes:— “Our progress was tantalizing and attended with deep interest and excitement. In the first place, I discovered, on the brow of a mountain about eight hundred feet above the sea, what appeared to be a recent and a very workmanlike structure. This was a dome,—or rather, a double cone, or ice-house,—built of very heavy and tubular slabs, which no single person could carry. It consisted of about forty courses, eight feet in diameter, and eight feet in depth, when cleared, but only five in height from the base of the upper cone as we opened it.