“In the voyage between the Mackenzie and Coppermine, I carefully executed their lordships’ instructions with respect to the examination of the coast-line, and became fully convinced that no ships had passed within view of the mainland. It is, indeed, nearly impossible that they could have done so unobserved by some of the numerous parties of Eskimos on the look-out for whales. We were, moreover, informed by the Eskimos of Back’s Inlet, that the ice had been pressing on their shore nearly the whole summer; and its closely packed condition when we left it on the 4th of September made it highly improbable that it would open for ship navigation later in the season. I regretted extremely that the state of the ice prevented me from crossing to Wollaston Land, and thus completing, in one season, the whole scheme of their lordships’ instructions. The opening between Wollaston and Victoria Lands has always appeared to me to possess great interest, for through it the flood-tide evidently sets into Coronation Gulf, diverging to the westward by the Dolphin and Union Strait, and to the eastward round Cape Alexander. By the fifth clause of Sir John Franklin’s instructions, he is directed to steer southwestward from Cape Walker, which would lead him nearly in the direction of the strait in question. If Sir John found Barrow Strait as open as when Sir Edward Parry passed it on four previous occasions, I am convinced that (complying as exactly as he could with his instructions and without looking into Wellington Sound, or other openings either to the south or north of Barrow Strait) he pushed directly west to Cape Walker, and from thence southwestwards. If so, the ships were probably shut up on some of the passages between Victoria, Banks, and Wollaston Lands. “Being apprehensive that the boats I left on the coast would be broken up by the Eskimos, and being, moreover, of opinion that the examination of the opening in question might be safely and efficiently performed in the only remaining boat I had fit for the transport from Bear Lake to the Coppermine, I determined to entrust this important service to Mr. Rae, who volunteered, and whose ability and zeal in the cause I cannot too highly commend. He selected an excellent crew, all of them experienced voyageurs and capable of finding their way back to Bear Lake without guides, should any unforeseen accident deprive them of their leader.