We have too much to tell in this short article to be able to dwell on the details of her visits to the hospitable Danes of Greenland, or of her passage through the ice of Baffin’s Bay.  But here is one incident, which, as the event has proved, is part of a singular coincidence.  On the 6th of July all the squadron, tangled in the ice, joined a fleet of whalers beset in it, by a temporary opening between the gigantic masses.  Caught at the head of a bight in the ice, with the “Assistance” and the “Pioneer,” the “Resolute” was, for the emergency, docked there, and, by the ice closing behind her, was, for a while, detained.  Meanwhile the rest of the fleet, whalers and discovery ships, passed on by a little lane of water, the American whaler “McLellan” leading.  This “McLellan” was one of the ships of the spirited New London merchants, Messrs. Perkins & Smith, another of whose vessels has now found the “Resolute” and befriended her in her need in those seas.  The “McLellan” was their pioneer vessel there.

The “North Star” of the English squadron followed the “McLellan.”  A long train stretched out behind.  Whalers and government ships, as they happened to fall into line,—­a long three quarters of a mile.  It was lovely weather, and, though the long lane closed up so that they could neither go back nor forward,—­nobody apprehended injury till it was announced on the morning of the 7th that the poor “McLellan” was nipped in the ice and her crew were deserting her.  Sir Edward Belcher was then in condition to befriend her, sent his carpenters to examine her,—­put a few charges of powder into the ice to relieve the pressure upon her,—­and by the end of the day it was agreed that her injuries could be repaired, and her crew went on board again.  But there is no saying what ice will do next.  The next morning there was a fresh wind, the “McLellan” was caught again, and the water poured into her, a steady stream.  She drifted about unmanageable, now into one ship, now into another, and the English whalemen began to pour on board, to help themselves to such plunder as they chose.  At the Captain’s request, Sir Edward Belcher put an end to this, sent sentries on board, and working parties, to clear her as far as might be, and keep account of what her stores were and where they went to.  In a day or two more she sank to the water’s edge and a friendly charge or two of powder put her out of the way of harm to the rest of the fleet.  After such a week spent together it will easily be understood that the New London whalemen did not feel strangers on board one of Sir Edward’s vessels when they found her “ready for occupation” three years and more afterwards.