The British Admiralty in conjunction with the Council of the Royal Society decided to fit out two expeditions: One under Captain John Ross and Lieutenant Edward Parry, whose object was to force a northwest passage through Davis Strait and to explore the bays and channels described by Baffin at the head of the immense bay that bears his name. The second expedition under Buchan and Franklin was to direct its course by way of Greenland and Spitzbergen in search of the Pole, and make its way through Behring Strait out to the Pacific. The four ships were the best equipped for Arctic research that had ever been sent out from England, and the commanders were instructed to collect all possible information that would promote scientific knowledge in natural history, geology, meteorology, and astronomy as to the special phenomena existing in high northern latitudes. On the 3d of May, 1818, the two expeditions parted company in Brassa Sound, Shetland, and sailed for their respective destinations. The _Isabella_ and _Alexander_, under the command of Ross and Parry, reached Wygat Sound on the 17th of June, where they were detained by the ice in company with forty-five whalers, until the 20th. They made observations from the shore of Wygat Island, which they found to be misplaced on the maps by no less than five degrees. By warping and towing they made slow progress, narrowly missing destruction by the pressure of huge ice-floes, but finally making the open water. High mountains were descried on the north side of this bay called by Ross, Melville Bay, the precipices varying in height from one thousand to two thousand feet. An Eskimo, John Sacheuse, who acted as interpreter to the expedition, went ashore and brought back with him a dozen or more natives, who were much entertained by the hospitality provided for them by the ship’s company. After partaking of tea and biscuits, a dance was held on the deck, and of this Captain Ross gives an amusing description:—