The expedition left the Thames April 15, 1852, and M’Clintock acquired great skill in handling the _Intrepid_ in the ice of Melville Bay, where the _Resolute_ received a very severe nip, and was raised 8 feet out of the water, being for some time in great danger. The squadron reached Beechey Island August 14th, where the _North Star_ was to remain as a depôt ship. Next day the two divisions parted company. The _Assistance_ and _Pioneer_ proceeded up Wellington Channel to winter in a harbour in 77° 52′ N., while the _Resolute_ and _Intrepid_ went on to Melville Island with little difficulty, where they found winter quarters in a bay sheltered by Dealy Isle, so named after a midshipman of the _Hecla_, in 74° 56′ N. We must pause here for a moment to record a modest but successful expedition carried out in the same season of 1852 by Captain Inglefield, who in the little _Isabel_, piloted by wonderful old Abernethy, went for a summer cruise up Baffin’s Bay. He reached the entrance of Smith Sound and saw that it was an important channel leading to the polar ocean--really Smith Channel. To the land on the west side, which was discovered by Baffin but not named by him, he gave the name of Ellesmere Island. M’Clintock decided upon a system of autumn travelling for laying out depôts on a much larger scale than in the previous expedition. This time he was absent 40 days, and went over 260 miles. Four other autumn travelling parties laid out depôts, Mecham doing 212 miles in 25 days, Vesey Hamilton 84 miles in 16 days. Mecham made a very important discovery. He found a record left by Captain M’Clure of the _Investigator_ on Parry’s sandstone rock, in the spring of 1852. M’Clure gave the position of the ship in the Bay of Mercy, and added that if the _Investigator_ was not again heard of, she would probably have been carried into the polar pack west of Melville Island, in which case any attempt to succour him would be useless--a very noble thing for a man in his position to have written. The plan for sledge travelling in the spring was that M’Clintock was to explore as far as possible to the north and west, Mecham to the west, and Vesey Hamilton to the north. On March 10th a sledge was sent to communicate with the _Investigator_ in the Bay of Mercy, a distance of 160 miles. M’Clintock’s two large sledges, when loaded, weighed 2000 lb., or 228 lb. per man on starting. Of the sledge crew of 1851 Salmon was still well and hearty. George Green, ice quartermaster, was captain of the sledge, an excellent man; Henry Giddy, boatswain’s mate, was almost equally good. May 4th, 1853, was a day to be remembered, the beginning of the greatest sledge journey but one on record. The sledges were drawn up in two lines with their banners displayed, and started. M’Clintock and his depôt sledge advanced over the land to Cape Nias. Mecham and Nares went away under sail to the westward, with a fair wind.