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;m'^'

such time, after the expiration of which no claim will be entertained.

(Enclosure).
From the Gazette of January 22, 1856.

The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty having, by a Proclamation of the
7th March, 1850, offered—

1st. A reward of £20,000 to any party or parties who, in the judgment of the
Board of Admiralty, should discover and effectually relieve the crews of her Majesty's
ships Erebus and Terror ; and

2nd. The siun of £10,000 to any party or parties who, in the judgment of the
Board of Admiralty, should discover and effectually relieve any of the crews of her
Majesty's ships Erebus and Terror ; or should convey such intelligence as should
lead to the relief of such crews or any of them ; and

3rd. The sum of £10,000 to any party or parties who, in the judgment of the
Board of Admiralty, should, by virtue of his or their efforts, first succeed in ascer- / /<, u^r^„ ^ .i,
taining their fate — /i^-^^t,.-i't.,./,<A;^

Hereby give notice that Dr. Rae having claimed to be entitled to the reward of ''"'V*'«.,./.:a)^.>v, -^.^
£10,000, imder the terms of the third paragrapli of such Proclamation, they will pro- ''^'«-' -^ H^ '^
ceed within three months from the date hereof to adjudicate on such claim; andl /- ,„^ ...^. .,,
that all such jiersons who, by virtue of such Proclamation, deem thei-r »lves entitled -'-.'.. •', >.^^4 /^
to the whole or any part of the r' ward in question, must prefer their claims within M'^ .^^ ,^/ ,a^ /

CO, PaU Mall, April 12, 1856. ' ''/''- ^' f '^ -^J:.
My I OKDS, V' "^^ "y-^'-'^'

I have the honour of laying before your Lordships a copy of the notice published ''^-■>^'' n^^y /''^'l
by your orders in the GazHte of the 22nd of January last, and of soliciting your ''-^-" /./*.A;U-,/i'f
consideration of the motives which compel mn respectfully to enter a protest against /uy**~ju.
the early adjudication therein proposed. I should not have delayed until this late
moment the execution of an intention formed soon after the publication of the notice
and communicated many weeks since to Dr. Rae, but that I have been incapacJtati. '
from wTiting by serious illness, from which I am indeed but partially recovered.

The grounds upon which I venture to appeal to you against the present adjudi-
cation of the reward are the following : —

1. Because it cannot truly be affirm(>(l of the crews of the Erebus and Terror
that their fate has been ascertained, and therefor') to adjudicate on suc.'h an assumj)-
tion seems to Ix? premature.

2. Bwause Dr. Rae has not by his eilbrts ascertained their fate.

3. Because it may yet happen that their fate will be positively and fully ascer-
tained, and if so, those who by their (efforts succeed in ascertaining it, will, sliould a
premature adjudication take j)laci', bo deprived of their legitimate rewrrd.

i. Because the adjudication, by allinuing that there is nothing more to be dis-
closed, opposes a check to any further efforts for ascertaining tlie late of the expe-
dition, and appears to ('ount(!rnet the humane intention of the House of Commons in
voting a large sum of money for that purpose.

I trust that in making some observations in explanation of these points, I shall
not fail in the respect due to your Lordships, and that you will accord me that in-
duli^enee which the subject and my own deep personal interest in it may appear to
claim.

1. It is not my intention, under the first of these iieads to throw doubt upon
the rejiorts brought h(mie by Dr. Bae, confirmed as they are, in some points, by the
indisputable relics procured IVom the l-jsipiimaux, but only to point out that they iu-e
convincing within certain limits only; and that much that has hitherto been con-
sidered as established, is only conjectural, and should lead to a suspension of judg-
ment, rather than to a hasty enunciation of it.

"'M'

♦ /

It is not proved, by any facts wc arc in possession of, that the party of white
men who arrived witli their large boat (the remains of which, with many articles be-
longing to it have been found) within the estuary of the Great Fish river, and who
are said to have perished there, were the only survivors of the crews of the Erebus
and Terror, and that no other remnant of the original ships' companies, amounting
to about 135 men, took a diflPerent route.

And even as to this (known) boat party, it has not been traced back to the ships
or to the wrecks from which it was cquipjjed ; nor have the ships been sought for at
all, though there is much reason to conclud(! from the nature of the objects brought
home by Dr. B-ae, and of others sf n by Mr. Anderson on Montreal Island and the
adjacent shore, that they had been pillaged by the Esquimaux and were not far
distant. What secrets may be hidden within those wrecked or stranded ships we
know not — what may be buried in the graves of our unhappy coimtrymen or in
caches not yet discovered wc have yet to loam. The bodies and the graves which we
were told of have not been found ; the books (journals) said to be in the hands of
the Esquimaux have not been recovered, and thus left in ignorance and darkness
Avith so little obtained and so much yet to learn, can it be said and is it fitting to
pronounce that the fate of the expedition is ascertained ?

That your Lordships did not consider that this question was resolved by Dr.
Rae's reports at the close of 1854, and by the relics which to a certain extent authen-
ticated them, is shewn by your own proceedings Avhen that tragic intelligence
arrived, for it was immediately decided that steps must be taken to verify the truth
of these reports which could not be accepted as conclusive, and that further intelli-
gence must be sought for. There Avas but one feeling in the country on this sad
occasion. No amount of expense Avould have been grudged to make a final expe-
dition of search complete, for it was felt that after six long years of failure and dis-
appointment, the clue Avhich we had asked and prayed for Avas now in our hands,
and that England's honour and credit M'cre concerned in holding it fast and following
it up till it led to the solution of the mystery.

My Lords, I shrink from recalling the pain and woful disappointment I felt, and
which many others felt with me, when the response to this generous excitement in
the public mind, and the sole result of your deliberations, was no more than a birch
bark canoe expedition down the Great Fish River, confided to the Hudson Bay
Company, but unsustained by any naval resources. In vain was it pleaded that a
vessel might be sent to co-operate with this river party, who, if they ever reached the
sea, could not venture to embark upon it in their frail canoes ; and, if this were
not granted, that at least a naval officer might accompany and direct the expedition,
since it was well known that the Hudson's Bay Company, ^vitli all their zeal to ac-
complish the objects required of them in the most elFectuai manner, would not be
able to supply to it an oflicer competent to make the indispensable observations
for latitude and longitude. To the credit of Dr. Ilae and of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany's officers about to be employed, I may observe that be made a similar recom-
mendation, being persuaded that those bi-avc and right minded servants of the
company would not hesitate to place themselves under the leadership of an officer in
Her Majesty's Navy, provided he Mere one already tried and distinguished in
Arctic service. To add to the original deficiencies of this over-land or river expedition,
it failed to secure an interpreter, so that all the information it has brought back from
the Esquimaux, and that derived chiefly Irom a few women, Mas transmitted only
by signs.

Every praise is due to the exertions of the tM'O zealous officers, who, under all
these disadvantages, Avere able to accomplish anything : but it is scarcely to be
Avondered at if, after a rapid survey of 9 days only, aa itliin a very limited district,
Avhich did not extend even to King William Island M'hore our fugitive countrymen
Avere first seen, they Avere compelled by the state of the damaged boats hastily to
return, and have thrown no ncAV light upon the history of those A\hose fate they
Avent to ascertain. Mr. Anderson has been able to confirm the evidences of a large
party from the Erebus and Terror having arrived from the sea within the estuary of
the Great Fish lliver; but his negative testimony on other matters, such as the
l)odies and the graves Avhieh were not to be found, tends rather to thi-ow doubt upon
than to confirm them.

J-

■4

I may hero, perhaps, he allowed to add, without prejudice to tfiat excellent
servant of the Hudson Bay Company, Mr. Anderson, that /le is so I'ar from con-
sidering the fate of the expedition has heen fully ascertained hy the results of liis
late survey, or that there is nothing more to he done, that he has felt it to he
.1 duty to express to me sinv.o his return, as ho had done before he started,
his decided opinion that a vessel should he ent out to the vicinity of King William's
Land to pursue the search. With about tw(Viity men, well armed, and two interpreters,
he considers that two parties might he despatclu!d from it to explore the east and
west sides of Victoria Strait, as well as the lower part of Regent Inlet, his own
opinion being that the wrecks of the vessels are to be found in Victoria Strait, on the
west coast of Boothia, between Bellot Strait and King William's Land. On the 15th
of Septend)er last, Mr. A. writes to me, that he had himself made prepr.i-ations for a
second season of search ; but, 1 presume that, having no instructions on this head,
they have not been turned to any account. It is evident he considers, that the Esqui-
maux tribes on the shores of the strait hold the secret we arc in search of, and that
something more t!ian a flying visit of a few days must bo elfectcd, before their,
perhaps guilty, fears can be allayed, and their confidence won.

The view I have thus ventured to submit, that there is much more conclusive
evidence to be yet obtained as to the fate of the expedition, and that the means of
obtaining it have not been used, but are within our reach, is not confined to myself
alone, in which case I might, notwithstanding my deep personal interest in the
matter, lujsitatc to advance it. It would be in my power to adduce the most positive
cvidimce that the sentiments and views I have taken tlie liberty ot expressing, are
shared by some of the higliest authorities to whom your Lordships have been
aecustomc'd to refer in Arctic matters, as also by those brave and oxpc^ricneed officers
Avho have most distinguished themselves in Arctic service ; and I would eiitreat of
you, ])efore you place an extinguisher upon the light whicii has arisen in that dark
corner of the earth, whither we have been directed as by tlie finger of God, that you
will, as you ha .e don(! before, call together those Ai'ctic officers, and obtain their
individual and collective judgment in this emergency.

2. It seems almost superfluous to observe, if the fate of the crews of the Erebus
and T; rror has not been ascertained, that Dr. llae has not succeeded in ascertaining
it. And thus I might be spared the ungrateful task of considering whether or not he
made the elforts implied in your Lordsliips' proclamation as a condition of reward,
were it not that, by passing over this clause, I seem to admit an assumption that
endangers the main truth I wish to establish. It is with great reluctance that I
fiiul myself obliged to contest Dr. Rae's claim to having, by virtue of his efforts,
ascertained the fate of my husband and his com[)anious, for we are indebted to
him (short of this), for such valuable information, supported by such tangible proofs
of a few facts, as might have enabled us, had ampler means been employed, to set
the question at rest, and as enables us still to do so. Had Dr. Rae verified some of
the reports he received at second or third hand from the Esquimaux, by personal in-
vestigation, and made use of the facts thus attained to gel at further truths, or even,
had lie hastened home with no other object than to provoke the organisation of a
much moi'e complete and effective search than any he could himself accomplish on
the spot, his claims would bear a dilferent aspect. But he did not go out of his way
to test the startling facts communicated to him, and he returned home, as he ex-
pressly tells your Loi-dships in his official letter, to stop further expeditions (in other
parts) — a praiseworthy object, perhaps, but one widely different from that for which
the reward was offered. It is but due, however, to Dr. Ilac, to add that, w hen the
Eish River Expedition was resolved upon, he gav(! his ready advice for its organisa-
tion, though he declined the conmiand of it, which was proposed to him. He also
declares himself favourable at this moment, to farther search, were it only, as lie
has assured m(>, to secure for his statements that conlh-ination which he anticipates.
IMuch more gladly would I plead, did I not feel that it is beyond my province, that
Dr. Rjuj should receive an adequate reward for his late and former services, than op-
pose his right to that which is put forth in the tliii'd clause of the Gazelle notice, to
which it appears to me he has not made good his title.

3. For the sake of those who may yet advance a stronger claim to it, I am again
compelled respectfully to protest against the premature adjudication contemplated in

the Gazette notice. When in tli(! oarly part of the Session of 18dl), the House of
Commons unanimously voted £20,000 for the encouragement of private enterprise
and of private entcu'prise alone, in the search of the lost ohjects of national solicitude,
they placed no resti-ietions as to the period during which the reward was to be held
out. It could never have been contemplated that whih; the community was divided
in opinion as to the evidence of facts, and while a great majority of those best
informed on the subject and others the most deeply interested iu it, were dissatisfied
with that cv idcnce, and demanded bc^tter, an arbitrary edict such as that involved
in the premature adjudication of the reward, should, in favour of any one candidate
of doubtful pretensions, shut out all future ones. I would fain submit to your
Lordships that so long as private funds are embarked in the same cause, and that
active measures are in progress or in contemplation, to clear up the mystery as to
the fate of the crews of the Erebuc* and Terror, it would bo unjust to place an
arbitrary limit to the operation of an act designed expressly for that object, and so
proclaimed at the tune, " Uy Her IMajesty's Government."

And here I feel compelled to state that, though it is my humble hope and
fervent prayer that the Government of my country will themselves complete the
work they have begun, and not leave it to a weak and helpless woman to attempt the?
doing that imi)erfectly which they themselves can do so easily and well, yet, if need
be, such is my painful resolve, God helping me.

In the name then d" those brave men who will devote themselves to this labour
of love and duty, I feci called upon to claim that they should not be shut out, by a
premature adjudication, from the reward which may become their due. It may yet
fall to their lot to ascertain all, or much of what we ivant to know, and to bring back
some journal, or some precious fragment, otherwise lost to us for ever.

Should these last of the explorers accomplish any of these things, will you ignore
their services and claims, because, in the spring of 1850, you had deemed that the
fate of the expedition was ascertained, and luul given away the reward ? I have n,
right to use this argument, thougii in carrying it into its consequences I feel it may
be doing injustice to your Lordships, as well as to the devoted volunteers who will
undertake what they have to do iu a higher spirit than any hope of pecuniary
recompense can put into them.

But I may illustrate the argument by a more inmiediate example — that of the
zealous and enterprising ("aptain Penny. It may not be known to your Lordships
that Captain Penny, before his departure from England last year, in command of two
A\'haling ships, informed me that the reports brought home by Dr. Rae i-emindcd him
of some vague rumours of a fight between whites and Esquimaux, which had reached
him in Northumberland Sound the preceding season, from a great distance, travelling
through successive tribes of natives. And Ca])tain Penny addt^d, that in spite of all
the dilficulties he foresaw in the execution of his project, it was his intention to
engage some of the most intelligent and trustworthy natives, domesticated at his
Avhaling station, to trace back these rumours to their source, whether that source
were the catastrophe at the Great Eish lliver, or any other which may have overtaken
a sei)arate portion of the crews of the Erebus and Terror, in some other locality.
Now, tliough I have no gr<'at liojxi (considering the distance to be traversed and
other obstacles), that much success will attend Captain Penny's laudable efforts, and
am sure that no thought of qualiyiug hiuistnf for the Government reward entered
into his speculations, yet, w^ould it be fair to adjudicate that reward at this moment,
in the face of such a fact ?

I have spoken reluctantly of a private expedition, at my own cost, which, in
despitir of your Lordships completing the work you have begun, and not till then,
1 may be forced to undertake. And it may not be suiK'rtluous, though I trust it is
so, that I should state; I can have no pi'rsonal interest in desiring that the adjuili-
cation of the reward sliould be delayed till the result of that expedition or of any
other be known. Even in the event of the ro\\ ard being adjudged in whole or in part
to those engaged in my private ex])edition, this could in no degree relieve me from
any portion of my own pecuniary obligations to them, or from any expenditure wliat-
evi-r. ^[y funds since the settlement of my late husband's affairs, are ecjual to the
ample equipment of the Isabel schooner, wliieh is now lying iu dock, waiting, at a
ousidfT.ibii' cuiTint expense to nie, her possible destination ; and unless these my

indcpondont funds should become exhausted, which I do not foresee, I shall not even
ask your Lordships for the ordinary pension of a roiir-adniiral's uidow, to wiiich I
presume I am entitled. My request to your Lordships will he limited to such assist-
ance as is entirely independent of inoney, and indeed, to such as I have been assured,
on the hi<>;hest authority, Avill not he denied.

4. And this leads mc to add, as my hist gi'ound for remonstrating aj^ainst tho
immediate decision which Dr. llae's claims have given you occasion to announce, that
its greatest evil, and that of which I should have tlumiost reason to complain, would
he the discouragement it gives to many a noble-minded nu»n, who, in volunteering for
this service, d'.^sires to do so with tlu; conlideuct! that he has your Lordships' appro-
bation as well as permission. Your pn^stmt adjudication would bo to tell the public
and the navy in particular that, in your Lordships' opinion, all has been done that
can or need be done ; that there is nothing more to learn or nothing worth knowing,
or nothing conunensurato with the cost and risk incurred (little as that cost and risk
would be) to obtain it ; and it is to brand with infatuation and obstinacy tho feelings
and convictions that prompt a different course. ]{ut if indeed the object of so many
years' labour and anxiety spent, but not wasted, in wrong directions, is to be aban-
doned at the very momc^nt when we know where and how to grasp it — if that which
has hitherto be(!n a nation's duty, bo now dwindled to a private concern — at least let
rae entreat that you Avill not strive to stifle those last private elforts by any act of
yours.

Permit me to add one concluding observation : —

It may be surmised that, at the present moment, I have a new incentive to
fartlier search, inasmuch as justice has hitherto been withheld from my husband and
his companions as the tirst discoverers of a north-west passage, and withheld on the
ground that future investigation was necessary, in order to determine the extent to
which it might be found that they had carried those discoveries to which they had
sacrificed their lives.

Such was the barren, though kindly-expressed result of an appeal, which, believing
my motives must be above suspicion, I took courage to make to a Select Commi'^teo
of the House of Commons, appointed to incpaire into the claims of Sir llobert Maclure
to reward, when I found that the right of n\y husband's expedition— not to reward,
hut — to the distinction of prior discovery was ignored, or not understood, or forgotten.
And yet one would have sujjposed that the full examination of any conflicting claims
lay at the very root of a just judgment, and that those wiio could not plead their own
cause because their voices were hushed i"^|^ grave, would have found an advocate
in every man in that assembly, as they difpi gratefully acknowledge, in some.

But this painful remembrance does not enter, or enters but little into the feelings
which ]rompt my efforts tor farther search, which I should not desire the less, even
did I aiiticipate that its consequences might be to dissipate the convictions I now
have, inst<'ad of to confirm them. Nor, perhaps, should I have touched upon this
subject at all, except as leading me with less appearance of presumption to express
my o[)inion, thi'.t it is due to a set of men \\\\o have solved the problem of centuries
by the sacrifice of their lives and in the very act of dying, that their remains should
be sought for in the place where they perished, and that, as they assuredly devised
some means of preserving from destruction the last words they dictated to those they
loved and the records of their five long years of adventure and suffering, the recovery
of these precious documents should be the aim of persevering exertion and held out
as a fitting object for reward.

The best tribute that could be paid to the first and only martyrs to the great
Arctic discoveries of the present century, would be a national and final expedition for
this holy purpose. The objections against a useless repetition of the attem2)t will be
imanswerable, when once an adequate effort for the attainment of these oJrjects has
been made in vain ; and then may England feel that she is relieved of her responsi-
bilities, and can close with honour one of the noblest episodes in her naval history.

I have trespassed long on your Lordships' patience, for which I beg to apologise,
while renewing my respectful protest against the impending adjudication of the
re^vard, and my earnest request that it n;ay be delayed till such time as the result of
the last expedition be known.

I have, &c., &c.,

Jane Frankltn.
to 'cue lokds commissionkus
of the aumikai/j'v.

MHU

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Extract of a letter from Dr. Kane to Mr. Orinnell.

My dear rillEND,

I write with my liourt full of my sulycct to say that I have boon studying
critically the question of tiie misslii<^ vessels, and the more my judgment matures
the facts, the more I incline to the views taken by Oshorn in his remarkable letter.
I have sympathies with him, which convinces me that he is a rare union oi tin;
gentleman and the conscientious man.

In my opinion the vessels caimot have been suddenly destroyed, or at least, so
destroyed that provisions and stores could not have been established in a safe and
commodious dep6t. "With this view, wiiich all my experience in ice sustains, comiis
the collateral question as to the safety of the documents of the expedition, lint tliis
my friend, is not all, — I am really in doubt as to the preservation of human life. I
well know how glad I would have been, had my duties to others permitted me, to
have taken refuge among the Esquimaux of Smith's Strait and Etali Hay. Strang<?
as it may seem to you, we regarded the coarse life of these people with eyes of envy,
and did not doubt but that we could have lived in comfort upon their resources. It
required all my powers, moral and physical, to prevent my men from deserting to the
Walrus Settlements, and it was my ttnal intention, to have taken to Esquimaux life,
had Providence not carried us through in our hazardous escape.

Now, if the natives reached the seat of the missing ships of Franklin, and tluu'e
became possessed, by pilfer or by barter, of the articles sent home by llae and
Anderson, this very fact would exjjlain the ability of some of the party to sustain
life among them. If, on the other hand, tiie natives have never reached tiie ships or
the seat of their stores, and the relics were obtained from the descending boat, then
the central stores or ships iwo unmolested, and some may have been able by th(;se
and the iiunt even yet to sustain life. All my men and ofTicers agree with nu; that
even in the desert ot Kensala(!r Rny we could have descended to the hunting seats,
and sustained life by our guns, or the craft of the natives. Sad, and perhaps useless,
as is this reilection, I give it to you as the first conscientious outpouring of my
opinions.

Now for the question as to the probable position of the lost ships, or their remains.
Tills question is no longer a vague one. The lines of retreat by boat, as determined
by llae and Anderson, when eombhied Avith the information of Collinson at Gates-
head Island, in 1802 ; Osborn, AV'inniat, and Ommanney, in 1851 ; and Ross and
Kennedy on tlie North Somerset coasts, seem to point to a narrow and circumscribed
area, within which must be the missing vessels or their remains. The thing to !i
practical mind is not to be mistaken. How else came a party from the northwavd
at ^lontreal Island? Whence else could they have issued ? Their locality is abso-
lutely surrounded by searchers, yet, by some inscrutable fatality, the scene of the
tragedy has never been reached.

As to the direct question of how to reach and examine this nnsearchcd centre,
I am more in doubt. Peel's Sound is unknown to our actual observation, south of
Bellot Strait. Of llae's incomi)rehensible journey to Cape Porter, I can learn nothing
beyond his report ; and of the iee around King "William Land, nothing is really
known. I have written to Osborn for his opinions. I fear that he cannot add to
my facts.

By dogs — the great blessing of arctic travel— this whole area could be scoured ;
and we must remember that llae had these animals at Repulse Bay, and, I)iit for his
return, could, in a single month, liavo cleared up the mystery.

Prom the probable point attainable by a steamer through Peel Sound to

seat of Captain CoUinson's fartiiest
would intervene ! * *

lat.

70°, not

the
more than 175 miles of travel

With true regard.

Your friend,

E. K. Kane.