Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v3p1.djvu/67

 by the officers. By thus participating in their amusements, the men became more attached to their superiors, at the same time that the latter contributed to their health and cheerfulness. The hearts and feelings of the whole were united in one common desire to make the time pass as agreeably as possible to each other, until the return of spring should enable them to resume the great object of the expedition.

Every thing seems to have gone on pretty well till the end of the year; but, owing to the extreme severity of the weather in the months of January and February, 1826, the sources from whence they had derived their food failed them. All the animals but the wolf and the fox had migrated to the southward; the stock of dried meat was expended; the fish caught did not allow more than three or four small herrings to each man per day, and, being out of season, not only afforded very little nourishment, but caused frequent and general indisposition. Under such circumstances, they were obliged to have recourse to the pemmican, arrow-root, and portable soup, which had been set apart for their voyage along the sea-coast. Towards March, however, their situation began to improve. Mr. Back had by this time been promoted to the rank of commander.

On the 24th of May a new boat was finished, and named the Reliance. It was constructed of fir, with birch timbers, after the model of the Lion, but with a more full bow, and a finer run abaft. Its length was 26 feet, and breadth of 5⅔. It was fastened in the same manner as the other boats, but with iron instead of copper. To procure sufficient nails the blacksmith was obliged to cut up all the spare axes, ice-chisels, and other implements. Being without tar, the carpenters, one of whom had had the misfortune to break his leg in the spring of 1825, substituted strips of water-proof canvas, soaked in some caoutchouc varnish, to lay between the seams of the planks; and for paint, they made use of resin (procured from the pine-trees in the vicinity), boiled and mixed with grease.

On the 1st of June, the preparations for the voyage along the coast being in a state of forwardness, Captain Franklin’s 