During the absence of Captain Ross, other parties had explored the vicinity of Cape Hind, and another along the western shore. This last party under Lieutenant Robinson reached as far as Cresswell Bay, a few miles to the southward of Fury Beach. He found the house in which Sir John Ross had wintered in 1832-1833, with a quantity of stores and provisions of the _Fury_, that had been there since 1827, and were in excellent state of preservation. Preparations were now made for leaving Port Leopold, Captain Ross’s object being to examine Wellington Channel and, if feasible, to penetrate as far as Melville Island. To this end it was necessary to set to work with ice-saws and cut a channel of over two miles that the ships might be freed. This tedious work was accomplished by the last of August, but before leaving, a shelter was built on land, twelve months’ provisions, a steam-launch, belonging to the _Investigator_, and such other stores being left behind as would be found welcome to Sir John Franklin’s party should they reach that spot. Hardly had the ships got under way when a strong wind brought the ice down on them, and they were soon beset. For some days it seemed as if the ships were hard fast for a dreary winter, but the wind shifted to the westward, the whole body of ice being driven to the eastward, and in the centre of a field of ice more than fifty miles in circumference, the ships were carried along the southern shore of Lancaster Sound. After passing its entrance, they drifted along the western shore of Baffin Bay until abreast of Pond Bay, when, with a suddenness that was all but miraculous, the field broke into innumerable fragments, and the ships were freed. “At once all sail was set, warps were run out from all quarters, to assist the ship through the heavy floes, and at last the _Investigator_ and _Enterprise_ found themselves in open water.” “It is impossible,” writes Ross, “to convey any idea of the sensation we experienced when we found ourselves once more at liberty; many a heart poured forth its praises and thanksgivings to Almighty God for this unlooked-for deliverance. “The advance of winter had now closed all the harbours against us; and as it was impossible to penetrate to the westward through the pack from which we had just been liberated, I made the signal to the _Investigator_ of my intention to return to England.” Thus the three expeditions so far sent out had not met with success, and the anxiety in England over the fate of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ was increasing. In March, 1848, the Admiralty offered the sum of one hundred guineas or more to the crews of any whaling ships that should bring accurate tidings of the missing ships and of Franklin.