The thought of a third winter in the dreary Arctic had a most disheartening effect upon the crew. Their only hope of ultimately extricating themselves from their forlorn situation was in abandoning the _Victory_, taking to their boats, and making their laborious way to the wreck of the _Fury_, where, supplying themselves with a fresh stock of provisions, they could push on to Davis Strait, in the hope of being picked up by a passing whale-ship. The general health of the men was showing a decline; scurvy showed itself as early as November of this trying year. By April 23, 1832, the first part of the expedition started on the wearisome journey of some three hundred miles to Fury Beach. Owing to the weight of the loads, combined with snow-drifts and ice barriers, it was necessary to go back and forward and cover the same ground several times; thus after a month they had travelled three hundred and twenty-nine miles in this trying and circuitous manner to gain thirty in a direct line. [Sidenote: _THE RETREAT_] On the 29th of May, final leave was taken of the _Victory_, her colours nailed to the mast, a parting glass drunk in her honour, and the brave old ship left to her Arctic loneliness. Not until the first of July did the whole crew reach Fury Beach, after incredible obstacles had been encountered and overcome, the slow and laborious advance made more arduous by the heavy loads they carried. Immediately, however, they set to work and reared a canvas shelter, which they called Somerset House. The following month was spent in fitting out their boats. An open sea now gave them hope of reaching, through Barrow Strait, to Baffin Bay. Icebergs and gales proved most disastrous to their hopes and, after making a heroic attempt, they found it necessary to return to Fury Beach and spend their fourth winter in the Arctic. The winter proved exceedingly severe, and their canvas shelter quite inadequate to keeping out the cold. However, matters were improved by a thick snow wall. Sickness, in the dreaded form of scurvy, caused much uneasiness, and in February, 1833, one of their number succumbed to the disease. Their situation had now become alarming, for if they were not liberated the following summer, there was little chance of any of their number surviving another year.