Ilatsiak - 39

Crozer gave the order to abandon the two ships in mid-April. The situation on board had reached the point that the decision was inevitable if the remaoinong men were to survive the situation in which the expedition found itself. It was now clear that they were trapped by the ice. The only escape was to sledge the ships’ small boats overland to open water and from there to make a final decision on escaping directly southwards up Back’s River, or heading westward towards Alaska. The day chosen to begin the move off the ships turned out to be one of brilliant sunshine during the last few days of April, 1848.
The move was done after much debate and arguing among the remaining officers. Sir John had been dead now for nearly ten months and after two winters locked in the ice in more or less the same spot. It was abunduntly clear to everyone that the ships were eventually going to be crushed by the grinding of the massive piles of sea ice long before they would make it to the open water to the south. The various exploratory and subsequent hunting trips made during the two summers had confirmed open water existed only a short distance to the south of some islands at the bottom of Victoria Strait.
The plan that had been finally decided upon was to establish a semi-permanent camp in Terror Bay on the south coast of King William Island and as soon as possible a group would go on to hunt and fish at the mouth of the Great Fish River, a place extolled for its fish and game by George Back on his visit there in 1834. Here fresh food could be obtained so the men could regain some of their lost morale and strength. The less able remaining men would stay with Captain Crozier either in Terror Bay if it proved adequate and the hunting was good, or failing that they would make for the Back River in several easy stages. If the ships remained frozen in he would send a party up the Great Fish River either before Autumn or, failing that, in the following summer with the hopes of travelling to the post at Fort Reliance and sending a relief party from there.
Another plan was hatched that as soon as the ice broke in Terror Bay, twenty of the most fit would make a dash westwards in two of the specially lightened ships’ launches with Commander Fitzjames in charge. If, by some good fortune the ships were freed by the ice during the coming summer season, they would be re-manned and sailed westward in pursuit of Fitzjames’ launches and by doing so complete the Northwest Passage. It was also agreed that Fitzjames would remain with the whalers at Hershel Island as long as possible into the Fall or until the ships arrived. He would also attempt to send a relief party eastwards at his first opportunity. If the ships failed to arrive, he would leave with the last of the whalers, the assumption being that the expedition had taken the Back River route southward to safety.
Francis Pocock’s suggestion of convincing the Inuit to take them to Repulse Bay was dismissed out of hand as being impractical given the distance and the already well known difficulty of overland travel in these climes. Besides there was no assurances that white people and ships could be found in Repulse Bay even if they could get there. Furthermore, it was unlikely that the local Inuit had the skills needed to make a trip to Repulse Bay. The best plan was clearly to relie on their own self-sufficiency and trust in their proven arctic skills.