We must now revert to Franklin, who, as we have seen, had been despatched by the Admiralty to outline the north coast of America, only two points of which had been determined, the embouchures of the Coppermine and the Mackenzie, discovered respectively by Hearne and Mackenzie. It was not till 1821 that Franklin was able to start out from the mouth of the Coppermine eastward in two canoes, by which he coasted along till he came to the point named by him Point Turn-again. By that time only three days' stores of pemmican remained, and it was only with the greatest difficulty, and by subsisting on lichens and scraps of roasted leather, that they managed to return to their base of operations at Fort Enterprise. Four years later, in 1825, Franklin set out on another exploring expedition with the same object, starting this time from the mouth of the Mackenzie river, and despatching one of his companions, Richardson, to connect the coast between the Mackenzie and the Coppermine; while he himself proceeded westward to meet the Blossom, which, under Captain Beechey, had been despatched to Behring Strait to bring his party back. Richardson was entirely successful in examining the coast-line between the Mackenzie and the Coppermine; but Beechey, though he succeeded in rounding Icy Cape and tracing the coast as far as Point Barrow, did not come up to Franklin, who had only got within 160 miles at Return Reef. These 160 miles, as well as the 222 miles intervening between Cape Turn-again, Franklin's easternmost point by land, and Cape Franklin, J. C. Ross's most westerly point, were afterwards filled in by T. Simpson in 1837, after a coasting voyage in boats of 1408 miles, which stands as a record even to this day. Meanwhile the Great Fish River had been discovered and followed to its mouth by C. J. Back in 1833. During the voyage down the river, an oar broke while the boat was shooting a rapid, and one of the party commenced praying in a loud voice; whereupon the leader called out: "Is this a time for praying? Pull your starboard oar!"