THE ESCAPE OF ROSS AND HIS COMPANIONS.
Captain Ross's account of his abandonment of the "Victory," the steam-vessel employed in his first expedition, and of the final rescue of himself and his crew by the "Isabella" whaler, after five years' wanderings in the Polar regions, during which they had been altogether cut off from communication with the world, is, perhaps, the most interesting portion of his narrative of suffering and privation.
It was on the 29th of May, 1832—just four years after his departure from England—that Capt. Ross and his party finally determined to abandon their vessel, and to endeavour to escape from their dreary imprisonment by long journeys over the ice, and by such aid as they could obtain by boats. Having secured everything ashore which could be of use in case of their return, or which might be useful to others, the colours were hoisted and nailed to the mast. They then drank a parting glass to their unfortunate ship, and having seen every man out in the evening, the gallant Ross bade farewell to the "Victory," which had been his home so long. "It was the first vessel," he says, "that I had ever been obliged to abandon, after having served in thirty-six, during a period of forty-two years. It was like the last parting with an old friend." He did not pass the last part where his vessel ceased to be visible without pausing to take a sketch of the dreary waste, rendered still more dreary by its central object—their now abandoned home of the last four years, immovably fixed in
