The account they gave us of Mr. Fife and his two companions led us
to believe that we should find them, if still living, at a
considerable distance to the westward; and some parties were just
about to set out in that direction, when the trouble and anxiety
which this mistake would have occasioned us were prevented by the
arrival of another of the searching parties, with the information
that Mr. Fife and the two men were on their way to the ships,
being about five miles to the eastward. Some fresh hands were,
immediately sent to bring them in, and they arrived on board at
ten P.M. after an absence of ninety-one hours, and having been
exposed during three nights to the inclemency of the first wintry
weather we had experienced. Almost the whole of this party were
much exhausted by cold and fatigue, and several of them were
severely frostbitten in their toes and fingers; but, by the skill
and unremitted attention of our medical gentlemen, they were in a
few days enabled to return to their duty.

At three A.M. of Tuesday, the 14th, the thermometer fell to 9°;
and from this time the commencement of winter may fairly be dated.
On the 20th I considered it a duty incumbent upon me to call for
the opinions of the senior officers of the expedition as to the
expediency of immediately seeking a harbour in which the ships
might securely lie during the ensuing winter. The opinions of the
officers entirely concurring with my own as to the propriety of
immediately resorting to this measure, I determined, whenever the
ice and the weather would allow, to run back to the bay of the
Hecla and Griper, in which neighbourhood alone we had any reason
to believe that a suitable harbour might be found.

At half past two on the morning of the 22d, the night signal was