Ilatsiak - 11

Transfering the cargo from the Barretto to the two Naval ships Erebus and Terror seemed to take forever and David was quite aware of the mountaing tension in the officers. When he had a chance he slipped ashore to the Whalefish Island in Disko Bay. Here he could wander around in the native camp and see what was happening. His easygoing and quiet nature appealed to the Inuit and they soon had him in their tents for meals. In no time, David acquired an ablility to converse somewhat in the local language much to their delight. Once a few of the men tried getting him into their kayaks, but even though most of these were too small for him to fit into, they tried nonetheless, even attempting to bend his legs the wrong way to squeeze him in. David was intrigued with their paddling skills and only wished the boats were bigger. He would stand on the shore for hours, watching the Inuit roll their boats over and then magically come up, usually lying back on the rear deck as if they had fallen asleep, only to suddenly sit up and laugh!
Naturally, David was called back to his duties on the Erebus and for him the days in Disko Bay passed much too quickly. The day of departure, July 12, 1845 did arrive and heading northward, the Erebus and Terror began the real purpose of their journey: the discovery of a passage through the icy waters to China and thence home to England. He would circle the globe.
A few days later leaving Disko Bay, some whalers were sighted and again on the 25th of July two more ships were sighted while Erebus and Terror were held up by heavy ice in Baffin Bay. The last ships seen were more whalers on the 29th, but with ice conditions improving rapidly, both the Erebus and Terror headed westward and entered Lancaster Sound.
What followed was a happy time for everyone on board. The weather remained as good as any had seen it in that part of the world. While ice blocked their passage due west, they discovered open water northwards, and managed to circumnavigate Cornwallis Island before the season came to an end. Franklin and his officers were obviously elated with their new discoveries.

With the end of August, Franklin directed the ships to return to the little harbour behind Beechey Island where he had earlier made the decision to winter over if no way to the west was found that year. Accordingly, both ships anchored a mile apart and preparations were made for over-wintering. Top-masts were lowered and canopies raised over the decks to provide some additional room out of the winter storms. On shore, several buildings were erected for various purposes and duties were assigned both for ship and shore. It was a busy time. With the excitment of having already accomplished a great deal of useful exploration, the winter season was looked forward to as being even more rewarding and exciting.