FRANKLIN, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 
 
 r - 
 
 BY P. L. SIMMONS. 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & CO., 
 
 1853. 
 
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN 
 
 AND 
 
 THE ARCTIC REGIONS: 
 
 A NAKKATIVE, 
 
 SHOWING 
 
 SCfje $r0tes0 of British ^Enterprise 
 
 FOE THE 
 
 DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE DURING 
 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY : 
 
 WITH 
 
 NOTICES OF ALL THE EXPEDITIONS SENT IN SEARCH 
 
 OF THE MISSING VESSELS UNDER CAPTAIN 
 
 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. 
 
 BY P. L. SIMMONDS, 
 
 MANY YEARS EDITOR OF THE COLONIAL MAGAZINE, ETC. ETC. 
 
 THIRD EDITION, 
 
 INCLUDING THE MOST RECENT INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 Who here entang 
 Take their last lo 
 
 LON ON: 
 G. ROUTLEDGE & CO., FARRINGDON STREET. 
 
 MDCCCLIII. 
 
 //) ' 
 
D 
 
 o 7 
 Bancroft Ubraiy 
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 THE desire for information felt all over this country, and, in- 
 deed, I may almost say throughout the civilized world, re- 
 specting the fate of the missing expedition under Capt. Sir 
 John Franklin, is very great, and continues to become more 
 and more intense, as the lapse of time lessens the probability 
 of their return in safety. The large number of individuals 
 now engaged in prosecuting the search for them in the 
 Arctic regions, and the deep anxiety manifested by the 
 friends and relatives whom these fresh explorers have left 
 behind, has turned the attention of thousands to this in- 
 hospitable and comparatively little known quarter of the 
 globe, serving to lend an added interest to every book 
 descriptive of the Polar seas and shores. 
 
 Among the publications which have from time to time 
 appeared, there seems to have been no popular narra- 
 tive, especially treating of the voyages and journeys of 
 discovery and research prosecuted in the nineteenth cen- 
 tury towards the North Pole, embracing accounts of all 
 the recent public and private searching expeditions after 
 the lost ships, and adapted in price to the bulk of tho 
 community who so eagerly seek Mprmation. 
 
 To meet this want I have been induced, at the solicita- 
 tion of my publishers, to undertake the compilation of 
 the following work, in which I have brought into one view 
 all that is really important to be known by those who 
 
IV PKEFACE. 
 
 desire to form a correct opinion of the present state of 
 the case, and to make themselves acquainted with what 
 has really been done in the progress of discovery for 
 a north-west passage, and what measures have been 
 adopted for the relief of our imprisoned seamen. Much 
 of the material thus condensed is to be found scattered 
 through a variety of publications, huge and expensive 
 quarto volumes of voyages, now scarce or out of print, 
 parliamentary papers and returns, foreign journals, &c., 
 but the largest portion of this information is entirely new. 
 In condensing from HLG voluminous Blue books on this 
 subject that have been published during the last few 
 years, my chief object has been, avoiding rash and 
 speculative opinion, to direct the reader's attention as 
 much as possible to matters of fact ; to place before him 
 all that is really practical, important, and interesting, and 
 especially to put him in possession of what is known of 
 the result of the recent voyages, and the latest position 
 and intended plan of operations of the numerous vessels 
 at present out on the search for the Erebus and Terror. 
 
 In putting myself in communication with all those best 
 informed on the subject of which this volume treats, I 
 have to acknowledge myself deeply indebted for much 
 polite attention and valuable information to Lady Franklin 
 and her niece Miss Cracroft, to John Barrow, Esq., of 
 the Admiralty, to Capt. Becher, R.N., the talented editor 
 of the Nautical Magazine, to Commander C. C. Forsyth, 
 R.N., and to Dr. Shaw, the Secretary of the Eoyal 
 Geographical Society of London. 
 
 In conclusion, I may state, that as the son and grand- 
 son of very old Lieutenants in the Eoyal Navy, having 
 been originally in the service myself, having five brothers 
 afloat, and a large number of other relatives holding Her 
 Majesty's commission, I feel a deep professional, as well 
 as philanthropic interest, in hearing tidings of the safety of 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 Sir John Franklin and his gallant comrades, and am but 
 too happy to aid in satisfying the public desire for informa- 
 tion, by contributing my mite in the publication of the 
 following narrative of voyages and travels in the Arctic 
 Regions, with the appended suggestions and opinions of 
 experienced officers and competent parties. 
 
 To theintrepid veteran and navigator, whose name figures 
 so frequently and so honourably in these pages, I hope 
 we may yet be able to apply, with the few slight verbal 
 alterations I have made, the following lines, which were 
 originally addressed to Dr. Leichardt, who after two years' 
 absence on a journey through the unexplored regions of 
 Australia, returned to Sydney, when all hopes of his 
 safety had been given up, and his dirge had been sung 
 by his friends. That bold traveller is again absent on a 
 second journey in the interior of that vast continent, and 
 has not been heard of for more than two years. May 
 Heaven grant to each and all of our care-worn travel- 
 lers by sea and land a speedy deliverance from the perils 
 which environ them, and a safe return to their friends 
 and native country, a wish to which all my readers will, 
 I am sure, most heartily respond " So mote it be !" 
 
 " Thy footsteps have returned again, thou wanderer of the wild, 
 Where Nature from her Northern throne in silent beauty smiled, 
 Pilgrim of mighty wastes, untrod by human foot before, 
 Triumphant o'er Frost's wilderness, thy weary journey's o'er. 
 
 " Thou hast battled with the dangers of the iceberg and the flood, 
 And amid the crystal desert a conqueror hast stood ; 
 Thou hast triumphed o'er the perils of the glacier and the main, 
 And a nation's smiling welcome is thy greeting home again. 
 
 " Long had we mourn'd with sorrowing, and plaintive dirges sung. 
 For fate a wild mysterious veil around thy name had flung ; 
 And hope's declining energies with feeble effort strove 
 Against the boding voice of fear that haunts the heart of love. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 " And Rumour, with her hundred tongues, her vague and blighting 
 
 breath, 
 
 Had whispered tidings sad and drear, dark tales of blood and death 
 Till tortured fancy ceased to hope, and all despairing gave 
 Thy name a hallowed memory thy bones a Polar grave. 
 
 " But, no ! that proud intrepid heart still held its purpose high, 
 Like Afric's martyr traveller, resolved to do or die ; 
 Like him, to find a lonely grave, in desert lands of flame, 
 Or win a bright eternity of high and glorious fame ! 
 
 " Oft amid famine, danger, death, when meaner spirits quail'd, 
 Have thy unfailing energies to cheer and soothe prevail'd ; 
 For well thy hope-inspiring voice could speak of perils past, 
 And bid each coming one appear less painful than the last. 
 
 " And oft e'en that brave heart of thine has sadden'd to despair, 
 When o'er some wild and ice-clad scene, the sunlight shining fair, 
 Hath bid thy softened spirit feel, how lonely were thy lot, 
 To die, thy mission unfulfill'd, unknown, unwept, forgot. 
 
 " Proud man! in after ages the story shall be told, 
 Of that advent'rous voyager, the generous, the bold, 
 Who scorning hope of selfish gain, disdaining soft repose, 
 Went forth to trace a pathway through unyielding ice and snows." 
 
 P. L. SlMMONDS. 
 
 5, Barge-yard, City, 
 March, 1851. 
 
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 Two years have elapsed since this work was first sent to 
 press, yet the mystery attending the fate of Sir John 
 Franklin and his followers remains undetermined, and still 
 the search is energetically prosecuted by public and 
 private enterprise. The rapid sale of two editions, and the 
 call for a third, has induced the publishers to reproduce 
 the book at even a more moderate cost than the very 
 low price at which it was originally issued, that it may be 
 placed within the reach of all classes, and its contents be 
 studied alike at the cottage fireside, or by those who will 
 be able more fully to appreciate the hardships and powers 
 of endurance recorded therein ; the hardy seamen of our 
 E-oyal navy, and of the British and American mercantile 
 marine. The circumstance of the book having been repub- 
 lished by an American firm, in a very costly form, and ten 
 thousand copies sold within a few days, at the high price 
 of one pound, is an evidence of the wide-spread interest 
 awakened for Arctic discovery and intelligence of the long- 
 lost voyagers ; coupled, too, with the commendatory notices 
 of the work which I have received from all the Arctic 
 voyagers, who are so well able to judge of the fidelity and 
 honesty of the narrative ; these facts may be taken as 
 proofs that I have acquitted myself fairly and faithfully 
 as a chronicler. Many valuable and elaborated journals 
 of the land journeys and searching voyages of the past 
 
Vlll PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 few years have recently appeared, which may be con- 
 sulted with advantage by those interested in following 
 minutely the discoveries and route of each separate expe- 
 dition. My purpose having been merely to enable the 
 reader to keep pace with the general progress of research 
 up to the present time, I have in the present edition 
 re- written and condensed the account of all the private 
 and public expeditions sent in search of Sir John 
 Franklin's ships, so as to bring the details within a rea- 
 sonable compass. 
 
 I have been blamed by many, and among others even 
 by naval officers, for still enunciating the hope that any 
 of the party, who have now been absent from England 
 eight years, can possibly be still in existence. It is at 
 least satisfactory to know that I am not singular in these 
 views, remote as the probability becomes day by day. 
 Many who have carefully studied the matter, and have 
 had great personal experience in the Arctic regions, 
 have not yet abandoned the idea of the probable safety 
 of some at least of the large missing party. Dr. Rae 
 Dr. Scoresby, Lieut. Kane, of the American navy, Mr. 
 Penny, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Peterman , and others, en. 
 tertain ideas in accordance with my own. If I am too 
 sanguine, it is at least an excusable fault on the side of 
 humanity. I have also a firm reliance upon the national 
 honour, and British duty, in behalf of their zealous and 
 deserving servants, and glad am I to find that the Govern 
 ment, nothing daunted, still nobly pursues the search. It 
 might, it is true, have been carried on more continuously 
 and perseveringly, than by cooping up the energies of about 
 300 men and ten vessels in one locality for a twelvemonth, 
 instead of employing them by different routes, but this is 
 not the place to criticize the course of operations that has 
 been followed ; and the multitude of councillors, each with 
 varying suggestions and conflicting opinions, may well 
 have embarrassed any Admiralty Board. 
 
 I have endeavoured, from time to time, to diffuse 
 
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. IX 
 
 authentic information, and to correct many prevalent mis- 
 conceptions regarding the animal life of the Arctic regions f 
 and the assumed destruction of the missing vessels, by 
 lectures and papers delivered, during the past year, before 
 the members of the Hoyal Geographical Society and the 
 United Service Institution of London, the Mechanics' 
 Institutes of Manchester, Liverpool, and other places, 
 in which I hope I have succeeded. Too delighted shall I 
 be to hail the return of any of the gallant absentees, 
 should Providence have preserved them, and our bold 
 explorers, now on the track, be able to discover and 
 liberate them. But if they are no more, I, in common 
 with a mourning nation, must bow with submission to 
 Heaven's wise but inscrutable decrees. At least the dis- 
 grace will never attach to the country which sent them 
 forth on its public duty, of having left their fate unde- 
 termined. 
 
 April, 1853. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introductory Remarks 1 
 
 Little known of the Arctic Regions. Notice of Captain Phipps? 
 voyage. Parry's and Franklin's opinions on a North-west 
 passage. Abstract of Sir ,John Barrow's works on Arctic 
 Discovery. England's neglect of her nautical heroes. 
 
 Captain John Ross's Voyage in the Isabella and Alexander 
 
 to Hudson's Bay in 1818 11 
 
 Names of officers and men. Ships visited by the natives of 
 Greenland. Abundance of birds on this coast. Gale of wind. 
 Red snow. Lancaster Sound. The fabulous Croker Moun- 
 tains. Agnes monument. Large bear shot. Return home. 
 
 Voyage of Buchan and Franklin in the Dorothea and Trent 
 
 to Spitzbergen, &c., 1818 17 
 
 Names of officers, and complement, &c. Fanciful appearance of 
 icebergs. Ships arrive at Spitzbergen. Anchor in Magdalene 
 bay. Hanging icebergs. Immense flocks of birds. Dangerous 
 ascent of Rotge Hill. Attack of walruses. Surprised by 
 unlooked-for visitors. Devout feeling of recluses. Expedition 
 puts to sea again. Party lose themselves on the ice. Ships 
 damaged by pressure of the floes. Dangerous position of the 
 ships. They take refuge in the main pack of icebergs. 
 Vessels put into Fair Haven to stop leaks and refit. Return 
 home. 
 
 Franklin's First Land Expedition, 1819-21 31 
 
 Party leave England in the Prince of Wales. Reach Hudson's Bay 
 factory by the end of August. Proceed by the rivers and 
 lakes to Cumberland House. Arrive at Fort Chipewyan after 
 a winter journey of 857 miles. Engage voyageurs and guides. 
 Make the acquaintance of Akaitcho, the Indian chief. Push 
 on lor Fort Enterprise, which is made their winter resi- 
 dence after a voyage of 553 miles. Exploring excursions 
 carried on during the winter. " Green Stockings," the Indian 
 beauty. Stores and Esquimaux interpreters arrive. Severity 
 of the winter. Suffering of the Indians. Party set out for the 
 Polar Sea. Examine the coast westward to Point Turnagain. 
 Dreadful hardships and sufferings endured on their return, 
 journey from famine and fatigue. Death of several of ths 
 party. Mr. Hood is murdered by Michel the Iroquois, who for 
 their mutual safety is killed by Dr. Richardson. Hunger and 
 famine endured by the party. Their ultimate relief. 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Parry's First Voyage in the Ilecla and Griper, 1819-20 . . 50 
 
 Names of officers serving, &c. Enter Lancaster Sound. The 
 Croker mountains proved to be fallacious. Parry discovers 
 and enters Regent Inlet. Also discovers and names various 
 islands, capes, and channels. Reaches Melville Island. Expe- 
 dition cross the meridian of 110 deg. W., and become entitled 
 to the Parliamentary reward of 5000/. Drop anchor for the 
 first time. Land on the island. Abundance of animals 
 found. An exploring party lose themselves for three days. 
 But are recovered and brought back. Vessels get into winter 
 quarters. A MS. newspaper published. Amateur plays 
 performed. Observatory destroyed by fire. Scurvy makes 
 its appearance. Crews put on short allowance. An excur- 
 sion of a fortnight made to examine the island. Ships get clear 
 of the ice. But are unable .to make further progress to the 
 westward, and their return to England is determined on. 
 
 Parry's Second Voyage in the Fury and Ilecla, 1821-23 . . 63 
 
 His'opinion as to a North-west passage. Names of officers, &c., 
 of the expedition. Make Resolution Island at the entrance of 
 Hudson Strait. Dangers of the ice. Fall in with Hudson's Bay 
 Company's ships, and emigrant vessel, with Dutch colonists 
 proceeding to Red River. Two immense bears killed. Descrip- 
 tion of the Esquimaux. Surveys made of all the indentations 
 and coasts Tof this locality. Ships driven back by the current 
 and drift-ice. Take up their winter quarters. And resort 
 to theatrical amusements again. Schools established. Great 
 severity of the winter. Surveying operations resumed. 
 Intelligent Esquimaux female affords valuable hydrogra- 
 phical information. Perilous position of the Hecla. Her 
 miraculous release. Ships pass their second winter at Igloolik. 
 The Fury and Hecla Strait examined. Ice breaks up. Ships 
 driven about by the current for thirty-five days. At last 
 gain the Atlantic, and make for England. 
 
 Clavering's Voyage to Spitzbergen and Greenland in the 
 
 Griper, 1823 84 
 
 Conveys 'out Captain SabSne to make observations. Reach Spitz- 
 bergcii. Proceed thence to Pendulum Islands. North-eastern 
 coast of Greenland surveyed. Captain Clavering and a party 
 of nineteen men carry on an exploring expedition for a fort- 
 night. Meet with a tribe of Esquimaux. Ship puts to s?a. 
 Make for the coast of Norway. Anchor in Drontheim Fiord. 
 Observations being completed, ship returns to England. 
 
 Lyon's Voyage in the Griper, 1824 85 
 
 Is sent to survey and examine the straits and shores of Arctic 
 America. Arrives in the Channel known as Roe's Welcome. 
 Encounters a terrific gale. Is in imminent danger in the 
 Bay of God's Mercy. Suffers from another fearful storm. 
 The ship being quite crippled, and having lost all her anchors, 
 &c., is obliged to return home. 
 
CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Parry's Third Voyage in the Heda and Fury, 1824-25 . . 87 
 
 Names and number of officers, &c. Jlecla laid on her broadside 
 by the ice. Ships reach Lancaster Sound. Enter Regent Inlet, 
 and winter at Port Bowen. Dreary character of the Arctic 
 Winter. Former amusements worn threadbare. Polar Bal 
 Masqut got up. Exploring parties sent out inland and along 
 the coasts. Ships are released, but beset by the ice, and 
 carried by the pack down the inlet. Fury driven on shore and 
 abandoned. Return voyage necessarily determined on. 
 Scarcity of animal food in this locality. Hecla arrives at 
 Peterhead. Parry's opinions of the North-west passage. 
 
 Franklin's Second Land Expedition, 1825-26 ..... 93 
 
 Names of officers accompanying him. Arrive in New York and 
 proceed through the Hudson's Bay Company's territories. 
 Winter at Fort Franklin on Great Bear Lake. A pioneer party 
 proceeds to examine the state of the Polar Sea. Return and 
 pass the long winter. Descend the Mackenzie in the spring. 
 Party divide ; Franklin and Back proceeding to the westward, 
 whilst Dr. Richardson and Mr. Kendal, &c., follow the Copper- 
 mine River. Franklin encounters a fierce tribe of Esquimaux 
 at the sea. After a month's survey to the eastward, Franklin 
 and his party retrace their steps. Find Richardson and Kendal 
 had returned before them, after reaching and exploring 
 Dolphin and Union Strait. Another winter spent at Fort 
 Franklin. Intensity of the cold. Large collection of objects 
 of natural history made by Mr. Drummond. Franklin's 
 struggle between affection and duty. Party return to Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Captain Beechey's Voyage to Behring Strait in the Blossom, 
 
 1826-28 ................ 95 
 
 Anchors off Petropaulowski. Receives intelligence of Parry's 
 return. Interview with the natives. Correct hydrographical 
 descriptions given by the Esquimaux. Ship's boat pushes on to 
 the eastward as far as Point Barrow, to communicate with 
 Franklin. Crew in danger from the natives. Obliged to return 
 to their ships. The Blossom proceeds to the Pacific to replenish 
 her provisions. Returns to Kotzebue Sound in the summer. 
 Ship grounds on a sandbank, but is got off. Boat sent out to learn 
 tidings of Franklin, is wrecked. Crew come into collision with 
 hostile natives, and are wounded : picked up by the ship. Des- 
 patches left for Franklin, and the ship returns to England. 
 
 Carry's Fourth or Polar Voyage in the Hecla, 1827 ... 98 
 
 Plans and suggestions of Scoresby, Beaufoy, and Franklin for tra- 
 velling in sledges over the ice. Names of officers employed. 
 Ship embai'ks reindeer on the Norway coast Experiences a tre- 
 mendous gale. Beset by ice for a month. Anchors at Spitz- 
 bergen. Sledge-boats prepared for the icejourney. Description 
 of them. Night turned into day. Slow progress. Occupations 
 of the party. Lose ground by the southward drift of the ice. 
 Bear shot. Notices of animals seen. Reach northernmost 
 known land. The islet named after Ross. Return to the 
 ship. Parry's subsequent suggestions on this mode of travelling. 
 Sir John Barrow's comments thereon. Opinions of this perilous 
 ice journey. Review of Parry's Arctic services. 
 
X1T CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Captain John Ross's Second Voyage in the Victory, 1829-33 107 
 
 Ross seeks official employment from the Admiralty on another 
 Arctic voyage. Is refused. Funds are furnished by Mr. Felix 
 Booth. The Victory steamer purchased. Engages his nephew, 
 Commander James Ross, as his second in command. List of other 
 officers. Ship encounters a gale, and is obliged to put in to Hol- 
 steinborg to refit. Proceed on their voyage. Enter Lancaster 
 Sound and Regent Inlet. Reach Fury Beach. Find abundance 
 of stores there and preserved provisions in excellent condition. 
 Replenish their stock. Proceed down the inlet. Perils of the 
 ice. Vessel secured in Felix Haroour for the winter. Esqui- 
 maux visit the ship. Furnish very correct sketches of the coast. 
 Commander James Ross makes many excursions inland and 
 along the bays and inlets. Explores Ross's Strait, and pushes on 
 to King William's Land. Difficulty of distinguishing land from 
 sea. Reaches Point Victory, and turns back- Ship gets clear of 
 the ice, after eleven months' imprisonment, but in a week is again 
 frozen in, and the party are detained during another severe 
 winter. Further discoveries made, and Commander Ross plants 
 the British flag on the North magnetic pole. In August, 1831, 
 the ship is warped out, and makes sail, but after beating about 
 for a month, is again frozen in, and rather than spend a fourth 
 winter, there being no prospect of releasing the ship, she is 
 abandoned, and the crew make for Fury Beach. Provisions and 
 boats taken on with great labour. Party erect a canvas hut, 
 which they name Somerset House. In a month, the boats being 
 prepared for the voyage, the party embark and reach the mouth 
 of the inlet. Barrow's Strait is found one compact mass of ice. 
 They are obliged to fall back on the stores at Fury Beach to 
 spend their fourth winter. Placed on short allowance. In the 
 spring they again embark in their boats, and succeed in reaching 
 Lancaster Sound. Fall in with whalers. Are received on board 
 the Isabella, Captain Ross's old ship. Arrive home. Public 
 rejoicings for their safety. Rewards granted. Resume of Cap- 
 tain John Ross's services. 
 
 Captain Back's Land Journey in search of Ross, 1833-35 . 118 
 
 Attention called to the missing expedition by Dr. Richardson. 
 Plans of relief suggested. Public meeting held to consider on 
 bestmeasures. Ample funds raised. Captain Back volunteers. 
 Leaves England in company with Dr. King. Voyageurs and 
 guides, &c. engaged in Canada. Party push through the north- 
 west country. Dreadful sufferings from insect pests. Reach 
 Fort Resolution, on Great 8laveLake. Motley description of the 
 travellers and their encampment. Arrangements are completed, 
 and the journey in search of the Great Fish River is com- 
 menced. Frightful nature of the precipices, rapids, falls, ravines, 
 &c. Meet with old acquaintances. Obliged to return to their 
 winter quarters. Dreadful sufferings of the Indians. Famine 
 and intense cold. Noble conduct of Akaitcho the Indian chief. 
 News received of Captain Ross's safe return to England. Frank- 
 lin's faithful Esquimaux interpreter, Augustus, endeavouring to 
 join Back, is frozen to death. A fresh journey towards the sea 
 resolved on. Provisions for three months taken. Indian en- 
 campment. Green Stockings, the beauty. Interview with the 
 chief, Akaitcho. Arduous and perilous progress towards the 
 sea. Pilfering propensities of the Indians. Meet with a large 
 friendly tribe of Esquimaux. Reach the sea, and proceed along 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 the coast to the eastward, unable to arrive at the Point Turn- 
 again of Franklin. Privations of the party on their return jour- 
 ney. Difficulties encountered in reascending the river. Reach 
 Fort Reliance after four months' absence. Pass the winter 
 there. Captain Back arrives in England in September, after 
 two years and a half absence. Dr. King follows him in the Hud- 
 son's Bay spring ships. 
 
 Back's Voyage in the Terror up Hudson's Strait, 1836 . .132 
 
 Ship arrives at Salisbury Island Proceeds up Frozen Strait. Is 
 blocked up in the ice, and driven about powerless for more than 
 six months. Cast on her beam ends for three days. From the 
 crippled state of the ship and the insurmountable difficulties of 
 the navigation, the return to England is determined on. Sum- 
 mary of Captain Back's Arctic services. 
 
 Messrs. Dease and Simpson's Discoveries on the Coast of 
 
 Arctic America, 1836-39 133 
 
 Descend the Mackenzie to the sea. Survey the western part of the 
 shores of Northern America from Return Reef to Cape Barrow. 
 Discover two new rivers, the Garry and Colville. After reach- 
 ing Elson Bay, return to winter at Fort Confidence, on Great 
 Jear Lake. Survey resumed in the ensuing spring. Dangerous 
 rapids on the Coppermine River. 'Encamp at its mouth. Copyer 
 ore found here. Victoria Land discovered, and 140 miles of new- 
 coast traced. Reascent of the Coppermine commenced. Boats 
 abandoned, and the Barren grounds traversed on foot. Spend 
 another winter at Fort Confidence. The following season a third 
 voyage commenced. Richardson's River examined. Coronation 
 Gulf found clear of ice. Coast survey to the eastward prose- 
 cuted. Simpson's Strait discovered. Back's estuary reached. 
 Deposit of provisions made by Back five years previous found. 
 Aberdeen Island, the extreme point reached. Parts of the coasts 
 of Boothia and Victoria Land traced. One of the boats aban- 
 doned. Descent of the Coppermine, and safe arrival at Fort 
 Confidence. 
 
 Dr. John Rae's Land Expedition, 1846-47 137 
 
 Hudson's Bay Company despatch Rae and a party of thirteen men to 
 complete the survey between Dease and Simpson's furthest, and 
 the Fury and Hecla Strait. Expedition leaves Fort Churchill. 
 Reaches Wager River. Boats taken across Rae's Isthmus. 
 Winter residence constructed. Short commons. West shore of 
 Melville Peninsula, &c., examined. Party return to their en- 
 campment, and proceed to Fort Churchill. Gratuity of 400/. 
 awarded to Dr. Rae. 
 
 Captain Sir John Franklin's Last Expedition in the Erebus 
 
 and Terror, 1845-51 140 
 
 Probability of the safety of the Expedition. Montgomery's lines on 
 ice-imprisoned vessels. Lady Franklin's devotion and enthu- 
 siasm. Verses. Her appeal to the North. Sir E. Parry's 
 opinion. Outfit and despatch of Franklin's expedition. Names 
 of the officers employed. Outline of Franklin's services. Notices 
 of the services of other of the officers. Searching Expeditions 
 sent out in 1848. Different volunteers offer. Absence of intelli- 
 gence of Franklin. His latest despatches and letters. Copper 
 cylinders. Franklin's views and intentions. Letters of Captain 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 PACE 
 
 Fitzjames. General opinions of the most experienced Arctic 
 officers as to Franklin's safety. Offer of services and suggestions 
 by Dr. King. Opinions of Captains Parry and James Ross 
 thereon. Consultation of officers at the Admiralty. Report of 
 the Hydrographer. Advice tendered by those consulted. Views 
 of Mr. Snow and Mr. McLean. Public and private rewards 
 offered for discovery and assistance to be rendered. Second 
 Report of Admiral Beaufort to the Lords Commissioners of the 
 Admiralty. Various private and official letters and despatches, j 
 pointing out, or commenting on, plans and modes of relief. 
 Abundance of animal food found in the Arctic Kegions. A ballad 
 of Sir John Franklin. 
 
 The Government and Private Searching Expeditions . . .211 
 
 List of the vessels and commandei's, &c.,' now employed on the 
 search in the Arctic Regions. Notices of those returned home. 
 Enterprise and Investigator having returned unsuccessful from 
 Barrow's Strait, are refitted and sent under the command of 
 Captain Collinson to Behring's Strait. Captain Austin, with 
 six ships, sent out to Wellington Channel. Lady Franklin 
 despatches the Prince Albert under Captain Forsyth. Two 
 vessels sent by private enterprise from the United States. Re- 
 ports of their several proceedings and discoveries. Remarkable 
 drift in the ice of the American vessels. Dr. Rae employed by the 
 Hudson's Bay Company to examine the shores of Arctic America. 
 Plover depot ship in Behring's Strait, shifted 500 miles farther 
 north. Her preserved provisions, to the extent of 10,570 Ibs., 
 condemned as unfit for food. Captain Inglefield's voyage in the 
 Isabel to Baffin's Bay, and important geographical discoveries. 
 Reasons for discrediting the opinions that Sir John Franklin's 
 two vessels can be utterly lost. List of the ships now in the 
 Arctic Regions. 
 
 Hopes and Fears Present Course of Operations for conclud- 
 ing the Search 220 
 
 Lady Franklin's enduring faith. Her letter to the American Pre- 
 sident. New American expedition under Lieutenant Kane, sent 
 out by Mr. Grinnell. Heartless fabrications and unfounded 
 reports promulgated Deserted ships alleged to have been seen 
 on an iceberg off Newfoundland. Contradictory opinionsthereon. 
 Franklin's expressed intentions. Last letters from his ships. 
 List of provisions supplied to the expedition. Provident care 
 of Sir John to provision his ships. Incentives to perseverance. 
 Franklin's observations on Parry applicable to his own case. 
 Mr. Hilton suggests a new plan of search by Spitzbergen. Mr. 
 Petermann subsequently advises a similar plan of operation. 
 Exploration over the ice by sledges, &c., found the most effective. 
 Reasonings as to their probable safety. Dr. Rae's personal 
 experience of supporting a large party. Important geographical 
 discoveries of the past three years. Indigenous resources of the 
 Polar Eegions. Hopes and fears. Animal life, and means of 
 sustenance plentiful. The mystery of the North Pole. 
 
THE PEOGRESS 
 
 OP 
 
 ARCTIC DISCOVERY 
 
 Iff THE 
 
 NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 IT? "we examine a map of Northern, or Arctic, America, 
 showing what was known of the countries around the North 
 Pole in the commencement of the present century, we 
 shali find that all within the Arctic circle was a complete 
 blank. Mr. Hearne had, indeed, seen the Arctic Sea in 
 4he year 1771 ; and Mr. Mackenzie had traced the river 
 which now bears his name to its junction with the sea ; 
 but not a single line of the coast from Icy Cape to Baffin's 
 Bay was known. The eastern and western shores of 
 Greenland, to about 75 latitude, were tolerably well 
 defined, from the visits of whaling vessels ; Hudson's 
 Bay and Strait were partially known ; but Baffin's Bay, 
 according to the statement of Mr. Baffin, in 1616, was 
 bounded by land on the west, running parallel with the 
 90th meridian of longitude, or across what is now known 
 to us as Barrow's Strait, and probably this relation led to 
 the subsequently formed hasty opinion of Captain Sir 
 John Hoss, as to his visionary Croker Mountains, of 
 which I shall have occasion to speak hereafter. 
 
 As early as the year 1527, the idea of a passage to the 
 East Indies by the North Pole was suggested by a Bristol 
 merchant to Henry VIII., but no voyage seems to have 
 been undertaken for the purpose of navigating the Polar 
 seas, till the commencement of the following century, 
 when an expedition was fitted out at the expense of certain 
 merchants of London. To this attempt several others 
 .succeeded at different periods, and all of them were pro- 
 jected and carried into execution by private individuals. 
 The adventurers did not indeed accomplish the object they 
 exclusively sought, that of reaching India by a nearer 
 route than doubling the Cape of Good Hope, but though 
 they failed in that respect, the fortitude, perseverance, 
 
 B 
 
2 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 and still winch they manifested, exhibited the most irre- 
 fragable proofs of the early existence of that superiority in 
 naval affairs, which has elevated this country to her present 
 eminence among the nations of Europe. 
 
 At length, after the lapse of above a century and a half, 
 this interesting question became an object of Hoy al patron- 
 age, and the expedition which was commanded by Captain 
 Phipps (afterwards Lord Mulgrave), in 1773, was fitted 
 out at the charge of Government. The first proposer of 
 this voyage was the Hon. Daines Barrington, F.E.S., who, 
 with indefatigable assiduity, began to collect every fact 
 tending to establish the practicability of circumnavigating 
 the Pole, and as he accumulated his materials he read them 
 to the Royal Society, who, in consequence of these repre- 
 sentations, made that application to Lord Sandwich, then 
 First Lord of the Admiralty, which led to the appointment 
 of this first official voyage. Captain Phipps, however, 
 found it impossible to penetrate the wall of ice which 
 extended for many degrees between the latitude of 80 
 and 81, to the north of Spitzbergen. His vessels were 
 the Racehorse and Carcass ; Captain Lutwidge being his 
 second in command, in the latter vessel, and having with 
 him, then a mere boy, Nelson, the future hero of England. 
 
 From the year 1648, when the famous [Russian navi- 
 gator, Senor Deshnew, penetrated from the river Kolyma 
 through the Polar into the Pacific Ocean, the Eussians 
 have been as arduous in their attempts to discover a north- 
 east passage to the north of Cape Shelatskoi, as the 
 English have been to sail to the north-west of the Ame- 
 rican continent, through Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound. 
 On the side of the Pacific many efforts have, within the 
 last century, been made to further this object. In 1741, 
 the celebrated Captain Behring discovered the straits 
 which bear his name, as we are informed by Muller, the 
 chronicler of Russian discoveries, and several subsequent 
 commanders of that nation seconded his endeavours to 
 penetrate from the American continent to the north-east. 
 From the period when Deshnew sailed on his expedition, to 
 the year 1764, when Admiral Tchitschagof, an indefatigable 
 and active officer, endeavoured to force a passage round 
 Spitzbergen, (which, although he attempted with a resolu- 
 tion and skill which fall to the lot of few, he was unable to 
 effect,) and thence to the present times, including the 
 arduous efforts of Captains Billings and Vancouver, and 
 the more recent one of M. Von Wrangell, the Eussians 
 kave been untiring in their attempts to discover a passage 
 eastwards, to the north of Cape Taimur and Cape Shelat- 
 
2 
 
 INTRODUCTION. O 
 
 skoi. And certainly, if skill, perseverance, and courage, 
 could have opened this passage, it would have been 
 accomplished. 
 
 Soon after the general peace of Europe, when war's 
 alarms had given way to the high pursuits of science, the 
 government recommenced the long-suspended work of 
 prosecuting discoveries within the Arctic circle. 
 
 AB expedition was despatched under the command of 
 Sir Jiv&n Ross, in order to explore the scene of the former 
 labours of Frobisher and Baffin. Still haunted with the 
 olden dreams of a north-west passage, which Barrmgton 
 ,nd Beaufoy had in the last age so enthusiastically advo- 
 ated, our nautical adventurers by no means relinquished 
 
 e long-cherished chimera. 
 
 It must be admitted, however, that the testimony of 
 Parry and Franklin pass for much on the other side of the 
 uestion. Both these officers, whose researches in the 
 ause of scientific discovery entitle them to very high 
 respect, have declared it as their opinion that such a pas- 
 sage does still exist to the north of the 75th degree of lati- 
 tude. 
 
 Captain Parry, in the concluding remarks of his first 
 voyage (vol. ii. p. 241) says, " Of the existence of a north- 
 west passage to the Pacific, it is now scarcely possible to 
 doubt, and from the success which attended our efforts 
 in 1819, after passing through Sir James Lancaster's 
 Sound, we were not unreasonable in anticipating its 
 complete accomplishment," &c. And Franklin, in the 
 eleventh chapter of his work, is of the same opinion, 
 as to the practicability of such a passage. (See Appen- 
 dix A.) 
 
 But in no subsequent attempt, either by themselves or 
 others, has this long sought desideratum been accomplished; 
 impediments and barriers seem as thickly thrown in its 
 way as ever. (Col. Mag., vol. xiii, p. 340.) 
 
 An expedition was at length undertaken for the sole 
 purpose of reaching the North Pole, with a view to the 
 ascertainment of philosophical questions. It was planned 
 and placed under the command of Sir Edward Parry, 
 and here first the elucidation of phenomena connected 
 with this imaginary axis of our planet formed the primary 
 object of investigation. 
 
 My space and purposes in this work will not permit me 
 to go into detail, by examining what Barrow justly terms 
 *' those brilliant periods of early English enterprise, so con- 
 spicuously displayed in every quarter of the globe, but in 
 none, probably, to greater advantage than in those bold 
 
 B2 
 
4 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 and persevering efforts to pierce through frozen seas, in 
 their little slender barks, of the most miserable description, 
 ill provided with the means either of comfort or safety, 
 without charts or instruments, or any previous knowledge 
 of the cold and inhospitable region through which they 
 Lad to force and to feel their wav ; their vessels oft beset 
 amidst endless fields of ice, and threatened to be over- 
 whelmed with instant destruction from the rapid whirling 
 and bursting of those h*uge floating masses, known by t&s 
 name of icebergs. Yet so powerfully infused into the 
 minds of Britons was the spirit of enterprise, that some of 
 the ablest, the most learned, and most respectable men of 
 the times, not only lent their countenance and support to 
 expeditions fitted out for the discovery of new lands, but 
 Strove eagerly, in their own persons, to share in the glory 
 and the danger of every daring adventure." 
 
 To the late Sir John Barrow, F.R.S., for so long a 
 period secretary of the Admiralty, and who, in early life, 
 himself visited the Spitzbergen seas, as high as the 80th 
 parallel, we are mainly indebted for the advocacy and pro- 
 motion of the several expeditions, and the investigations 
 and inquiries set on foot in the present century, and to 
 the voyages which have been hitherto so successfully car- 
 ried out as regards the interests of science and of our 
 knowledge of the Polar regions. 
 
 Although it is absurd to impute the direct responsibility 
 for these expeditions to any other quarter than the several 
 administrations during which they were undertaken, there 
 can be no question but that these enterprises originated in 
 Sir John Barrow's able and zealous exhibition, to our 
 naval authorities, of the several facts and arguments upon 
 which they might best be justified and prosecuted as 
 national objects. The general anxiety now prevailing 
 respecting the fate of Sir John Franklin and his gallant 
 companions, throws at this moment somewhat of a gloom 
 on the subject, but it ought to be remembered that, up to 
 the present period, our successive Polar voyages have, 
 without exception, given occupation to the energies and 
 gallantry of British seamen, and have extended the realms 
 of magnetic and general science, at an expense of lives and 
 money quite insignificant, compared with the ordinary 
 dangers and casualties of such expeditions, and that^ it 
 must be a very narrow spirit and view of the subject which 
 can raise the cry of " Cui bono," and counsel us to relin- 
 quish the honour and peril of such enterprises to Russia 
 and the United States of America ! (See Appendix B.) 
 
 It can scarcely be deemed out of place to give here a 
 
INTRODUCTION. 6 
 
 short notice of tlie literary labours of tliis excellent and 
 talented man, as I am not aware that such an outline has 
 appeared before. 
 
 Sir John Barrow was one of the chief writers for 
 the Quarterly Review, and his articles in that journal 
 amount to nearly 200 in number, forming, when bound 
 up, twelve separate volumes. All those relating to the 
 Arctic Expeditions, &c., which created the greatest interest 
 at the period they were published, were from his pen, and 
 consist chiefly of the following papers, commencing from 
 the 18th volume : On Polar Ice ; OnBehring's Straits and 
 the Polar Basin ; On Ross's Voyage to Baffin's Bay ; On 
 Parry's First Voyage; Kotzebue's Voyage; Franklin's 
 First Expedition ; Parry's Second and Third Vpyages, 
 and Attempt to Reach the Pole ; Franklin's Second Expe- 
 dition ; Lyon's Voyage to Repulse Bay ; Back's Arctic 
 Land Expedition, and his Voyage of the Terror. Besides 
 these he published " A Chronological History of Voyages 
 to the Arctic Seas," and afterwards a second volume, " On 
 the Voyages of Discovery and Research within the Arctic 
 Regions." 
 
 He also wrote lives of Lord Macartney, 2 vols. 
 4to ; of Lord Anson and Howe, each 1 vol. 8vo ; of 
 Peter the Great ; and an Account of the Mutiny of the 
 Bounty, (in the " Family Library ;") " Travels in 
 Southern Africa," 2 vols. 4to ; and " Travels in China and 
 Cochin China," each 1 vol. 4to. 
 
 In the " Encyclopaedia Britannica " are ten or twelve of 
 his articles, and he wrote one in the Edinburgh JRevieio by 
 special request. 
 
 In addition to these Sir John Barrow prepared for the 
 press innumerable MSS. of travellers in all parts of the 
 globe, the study of geography being his great delight, as 
 is evidenced by his having founded the Royal Geographical 
 Society of London, which now holds so high and influen- 
 tial a position in the learned and scientific world, and 
 has advanced so materially the progress of discovery and 
 research in all parts of the globe. Lastly, Sir John 
 Barrow, not long before his death, published his own 
 autobiography, in which he records the labours, the toil, 
 and adventure, of a long and honourable public life. 
 
 Sir John Barrow has described, with voluminous care 
 and minute research, the arduous services of all the chief 
 Arctic voyagers by sea and land, and to his volume I must 
 refer those who wish to obtain more extensive details and 
 particulars of the voyages of preceding centuries. He has 
 also graphically set forth, to use his own words, ''their 
 
6 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 several characters and conduct, so uniformly displayed in 
 their unflinching perseverance in difficulties of no ordinary 
 description, their patient endurance of extreme suffering, 
 borne without murmuring, and with an equanimity and 
 fortitude of mind under the most appalling distress, rarely, 
 if ever, equalled, and such as could only be supported by 
 a superior degree of moral courage and resignation to the 
 Divine will displaying virtues like those of no ordinary 
 caste, and such as will not fail to excite the sympathy, and 
 challenge the admiration, of every right-feeling reader." 
 
 Hakluyt, in his " Chronicle of Voyages," justly ob- 
 serves, that we should use much care in preserving the 
 memories of the worthy acts of our nation. 
 
 The different sea voyages and land journeys of the pre- 
 sent century towards the North Pole have redounded to 
 the honour of our country, as well as reflected credit on 
 the characters and reputation of the officers engaged in 
 them ; and it is to these I confine my observations. 
 
 The progress of discovery in the Arctic regions has 
 been slow but progressive, and much still within the limits 
 of practical navigation remains yet unexplored. As 
 Englishmen, we must naturally wish that discoveries 
 which were first attempted by the adventurous spirit and 
 maritime skill of our countrymen, should be finally 
 achieved by the same means. 
 
 "Wil it not," says the worthy "preacher," Hakluyt, 
 " in all posteritie be as great a renown vnto our English 
 natione, to have beene the first discouerers of a sea beyond 
 the North Cape ; (neuer certainely knowen before,) and of 
 a conuenient passage into the huge empire of Russia, by 
 the Baie of St. Nicholas and of the Biuer of Duma, as for 
 the Portugales, to have found a sea beyond the Cape of 
 Buona Esperanza, and so consequently a passage by sea 
 into the East Indies ?" 
 
 I cordially agree with the Quarterly Review, that 
 "neither the country nor the naval service will ever believe 
 they have any cause to regret voyages which, in the eyes 
 of foreigners and posterity, must confer lasting honour 
 upon both." 
 
 The cost of these voyages has not been great, while the 
 consequences will be permanent ; for it has been well re- 
 marked, by a late writer, that " the record of enterprising 
 hardihood, physical endurance, and steady perseverance, 
 displayed in overcoming elements the most adverse, will 
 long remain among the worthiest memorials of human 
 enterprise." 
 " How shall I admire," says Purchas, "your heroic 
 
INTRODUCTION". V 
 
 courage, ye marine worthies, beyond all names of wor- 
 thiness ! that neyther dread so long eyther the presence or 
 absence of the sunne ; nor those foggy mysts, tempes- 
 tuous winds, cold blasts, snowe and hayle in the ayre ; 
 nor the unequall seas, which might amaze the hearer, and 
 amate the beholder, when the Tritons and Neptune's 
 selfe would quake with chilling feare to behold such mon- 
 strous icie Hands, renting themselves with terrour of then? 
 own massines, and disdayning otherwise both the sea's 
 sovereigntie and the sunne's hottest violence, mustering 
 themselves in those watery plaines where they hold a con- 
 tinual civill warre, and rushing one upon another, make 
 windes and waves give backe ; seeming to rent the eares 
 of others, while they rent themselves with crashing and 
 splitting their congealed armours/' 
 
 So thickly are the polar seas of the northern hemisphere 
 clustered with lands, that the long winter months serve to 
 accumulate Held ice to a prodigious extent, so as to form 
 an almost impenetrable barrier of hyperborean frost 
 
 "A crystal pavement by the breath of Heaven 
 Cemented firm." 
 
 Although there are now no new continents left to dis- 
 cover, our intrepid British adventurers are but too eager 
 to achieve the bubble reputation, to hand down their 
 names to future ages for patient endurance, zeal, and en- 
 terprise, by explorations of the hidden mysteries of 
 
 " the frigid zone, 
 
 Where, for relentless months, continual night 
 Holds o'er the glittering waste her starry light ;" 
 
 y undergoing perils, and enduring privations and 
 dangers, which the mind in its reflective moments 
 shudders to contemplate. 
 
 It is fair to conjecture that, so intense is the cold, and 
 so limited the summer, and consequently so short the 
 time allowed for a transit within the Arctic circle, from 
 Baffin's Bay to Behring's Straits, that a passage, even if 
 discovered, will never be of any use as a channel. It 
 is not likely that these expeditions would ever have been 
 persevered in with so much obstinacy, had the prospects 
 now opening on the world of more practicable connexions 
 with the East been known forty years ago. Hereafter, 
 when the sacred demands of humanity have been 
 answered, very little more will be heard about the north- 
 west passage to Asia; which, if ever found, must be 
 always hazardous and protracted, when a short and quick 
 
 
8 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 one can be accomplished by railroads through America, or 
 canals across the Isthmus. 
 
 A thorough knowledge of the relative boundaries of 
 land and ocean on this our globe has in all ages, and bj 
 all countries, been considered one of the most important 
 desiderata, and one of the chief features of popular infor- 
 mation. 
 
 But to no country is this knowledge of such practical 
 utility and of such essential importance as to a maritimef 
 nation like Great Britain, whose mercantile marine visits 
 every port, whose insular position renders her completely 
 dependent upon distant quarters for half the necessary 
 supplies, whether of food or luxury, which her native 
 population consume, or which the arts and manufactures, 
 of which she is the emporium, require. 
 
 With a vast and yearly increasing dominion, covering 
 almost every region of the habitable globe, the chart 
 of our colonies being a chart of the world in outline, for we 
 sweep the globe and touch every shore, it becomes neces- 
 sary that we should keep pace with the progress of 
 Colonization, by enlarging wherever possible our maritime 
 discoveries, completing and verifying our nautical surveys, 
 improving our meteorological researches, opening up 
 new and speedier periodical pathways over the oceans 
 which were formerly traversed with so much danger, 
 doubt, and difficulty, and maintaining our superiority as 
 the greatest of maritime nations, by sustaining that high 
 and distinguished rank for naval eminence which has ever 
 attached to the British name. 
 
 The arduous achievements, however, of our nautical 
 discoverers have seldom been appreciated or rewarded as 
 they deserved. We load our naval and military heroes 
 the men who guard our wooden walls and successfully 
 fight our battles with titles and pensions ; we heap 
 upon these, and deservedly so, princely remuneration and 
 all manner of distinctions ; but for the heroes whose 
 patient toil and protracted endurance far surpass the tur- 
 moil of war, who peril their lives in the cause of science, 
 many of whom fall victims to pestilential climates, famine, 
 and the host of dangers which environ the voyager and 
 traveller in unexplored lands and unknown seas, we have 
 onlya place in the niche of Fame. 
 
 What honours did England as a maritime nation 
 confer on Cook, the foremost of her naval heroes, a man 
 whose life was sacrificed for his country ? His widow 
 had an annuity of 200Z., and his surviving children 
 25 . each per annum. And this is the reward paid to the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 most eminent of our naval discoverers, before whom 
 Cabot, Drake, Frobisher, Magellan, Anson, and the arctic, 
 adventurers, Hudson and Baffin, although all eminent for 
 their discoveries and the important services they rendered, 
 to the cause of nautical science, sink into insignificance ! 
 If we glance at the results of Cook's voyages we find that 
 to him we are indebted for the innumerable discoveries of 
 islands and colonies planted in the Pacific ; that he deter- 
 mined the conformation, and surveyed the numerous bays 
 and inlets, of New Holland; established the geogra- 
 phical position of the north-western shores of America ;. 
 ascertained the trending of the ice and frozen shores to- 
 the north of Behring's Straits ; approached nearer the 
 South Pole, and made more discoveries in the Australian, 
 regions, than all the navigators who had preceded him. 
 On the very shores of their vast empire, at the ex- 
 tremity of Kamtschatka, his active genius first taught 
 the Russians to examine the devious trendings of the 
 lands which border the Frozen Ocean, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the Arctic circle. He explored both the 
 eastern and western coasts above Behring's Straits to so 
 high a latitude as to decide beyond doubt the question as. 
 to the existence of a passage round the two continents. 
 He showed the [Russians how to navigate the dangerous 
 seas between the old and the new world ; for, as Coxe has 
 remarked, "before his time, everything was uncertain 
 and confused, and though they had undoubtedly reached 
 the continent of America, yet they had not ascertained 
 the line of coast, nor the separation or vicinity of the two- 
 continents of Asia and America." Coxe, certainly, does 
 no more than justice to his illustrious countryman when, 
 lie adds, " the solution of this important problem was re- 
 served for our great navigator, and every Englishman, 
 must exult that the discoveries of Cook were extended 
 further in a single expedition, and at the distance of 
 half the globe, than the Russians accomplished in a long 
 series of years, and in a region contiguous to their own 
 
 empire." 
 
 Look at Weddell, again, a private trader in seal-skins, 
 who, in a frail bark of 160 tons, made important dis- 
 coveries in the Antarctic circle, and a voyage of greater 
 length and peril, through a thousand miles of ice, than had 
 previously been performed by any navigator, paving the? 
 way for the more expensively fitted expedition under 
 Sir James Eoss. Was Weddell remunerated on a scale 
 commensurate with his important services ? 
 
 Half a century ago the celebrated Bruce of Kinnaird* 
 
10 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 by a series of soundings and observations taken in the 
 Bed Sea, now the great highway of overland eastern 
 traffic, rendered its navigation more secure and punctual. 
 How was he rewarded by the then existing ministry P 
 
 Take a more recent instance in the indefatigable energy of 
 Lieutenant Waghorn, BJNT., the enterprising pioneer of 'the 
 overland route to India. What does not the commerce, the 
 character, the reputation, of this country owe to his inde- 
 fatigable exertions, in bringing the metropolis into closer 
 connexion with our vast and important Indian empire ? 
 And what was the reward he received for the sacrifices he 
 made of time, money, health, and life ? A paltry annuity to 
 himself of 10QL, and a pension to his widow of 25Z. per 
 
 annum ! 
 
 Is it creditable to us, as the first naval power of the 
 world, that we should thus dole out miserable pittances, 
 or entirely overlook the successful patriotic exertions and 
 scientific enterprises and discoveries of private adven- 
 turers, or public commanders P 
 
 The attractions of a summer voyage along the bays and 
 seas where the sun shines for four months at a time, ex- 
 ploring the bare rocks and everlasting ice, with no com- 
 panion but the white bear or the Arctic fox, may be all 
 very romantic at a distance ; but the mere thought of a 
 winter residence there, frozen fast in some solid ocean, 
 with snow a dozen feet deep, the thermometer ranging 
 from 40 to 50 below zero, and not a glimpse of the 
 blessed sun from November to February, is enough to 
 give a chill to all adventurous notions. But the officers 
 and men engaged in the searching expeditions after Sir 
 John Franklin have calmly weighed all these difficulties, 
 and boldly gone forth to encounter the perils and dangers 
 of these icy seas for the sake of their noble fellow-sailor, 
 whose fate has been so long a painful mystery to the 
 world. 
 
 It has been truly observed, that " this is a service for 
 which all officers, however brave and intelligent they may 
 be, are not equally qualified ; it requires a peculiar tact, 
 an inquisitive and persevering pursuit after details of fact, 
 not always interesting, a contempt of danger, and an 
 enthusiasm not to be damped by ordinary difficulties." 
 
 The records which I shall have to give in these pages of 
 voyages and travels, unparalleled in their perils, their 
 duration, and the protracted sufferings which many of 
 them entailed on the adventurers, will bring out in bold 
 relief the prominent characters who have figured in Arctic 
 Discovery, and whose names will descend to posterity, em- 
 
FIRST VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN BOSS. 11 
 
 azoned on the scroll of Fame, for their bravery, their 
 patient endurance, their skill, and, above all, their firm trust 
 and reliance on that Almighty Being who, although He may 
 have tried them sorely, has never utterly forsaken them. 
 
 CAPT. JOHN Boss's VOYAGE, 1818. 
 
 1818, His Boyal Highness the Prince Eegent having 
 signified his pleasure that an attempt should be made to 
 find a passage by sea between the Atlantic and Pacific 
 Oceans, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty 
 were pleased to fit out four vessels to proceed towards 
 the North Pole, under the command of Captain John 
 Boss. No former expedition had been fitted out on 
 so extensive a scale, or so completely equipped in every 
 respect as this one. The circumstance which mainly led 
 to the sending out of these vessels, was the open character 
 of the bays and seas in those regions, it having been ob- 
 served for the previous three years that very unusual 
 quantities of the Polar ice had floated down into the 
 Atlantic. In the year 1817, Sir John Barrow relates that 
 the eastern coast of Greenland, which had been shut up 
 with ice for four centuries, was found to be accessible from 
 the 70th to the 80th degree of latitude, and the inter- 
 mediate sea between it and Spitzbergen was so entirely 
 open in the latter parallel, that a Hamburgh ship had 
 actually sailed along this track. 
 
 On the 15th of January, 1818, the four ships were put in 
 commission the Isabella, 385 tons, and the Alexander, 
 252 tons under Captain Boss, to proceed up the middle 
 of Davis's Strait, to a high northern latitude, and then to 
 stretch across to the westward, in the hope of being able 
 to pass the northern extremity of America, and reach 
 Behring's Strait by that route. Those destined for the 
 Polar sea were, the Dorothea, 382 tons, and the Trent, 249 
 tons, which were ordered to proceed between Greenland 
 and Spitzbergen, and seek a passage through an open 
 Polar sea, if such should be found in that direction. 
 
 I shall take these voyages in the order of their publica- 
 
 on, Boss having given to the world the account of his 
 voyage -shortly after his return in 1819 ; while the narra- 
 tive of the voyage of the Dorothea and Trent was only 
 published in 1843, by Captain Beechey, who served as 
 Lieutenant of the Trent, during the voyage. 
 
 The following were the officers &c. of the ships under 
 Captain Boss : 
 
12 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 Isabella. 
 
 Captain John Boss. 
 
 Lieutenant W. Eobertson. 
 
 Purser W. Thom. 
 
 Surgeon John Edwards. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon C. J* Beverley. 
 
 Admiralty Midshipmen A. M. Skene and James Clark 
 
 Boss. 
 
 Midshipman and Clerk J. Bushnan. 
 Greenland Pilots B. Lewis, master j T. Wilcox, mate* 
 Captain (now Colonel) Sabine, H.A. 
 John Sacheuse, an Esquimaux interpreter* 
 45 petty officers, seamen, and marines. 
 
 Whole complement, 57. 
 
 Alexander. 
 
 Lieutenant and Commander William Edward Parry, 
 
 (now Captain Sir Edward.) 
 Lieutenant H. H. Hoppner (a first-rate artist.) 
 Purser W. H. Hooper. 
 
 Greenland Pilots J. Allison, master ; J. Philips, mate. 
 Admiralty Midshipmen P. Bisson and J. JN ius. 
 Assistant Surgeon A. Fisher. 
 Clerk J. Halse. 
 28 petty officers, seamen, &c. 
 
 Whole complement, 37. 
 
 On the 2nd of May, the four vessels being reported fit 
 for sea, rendezvoused in Brassa Sound, Shetland, and 
 the two expeditions parted company on the following day 
 for their respective destinations. 
 
 On the 26th, the Isabella fell in with the first iceberg, 
 which appeared to be about forty feet high and a thousand 
 feet long. It is hardly possible to imagine anything more 
 exquisite than the variety of tints which these icebergs 
 display ; by night as well as by day they glitter with a 
 vividness of colour beyond the power of art to represent. 
 While the white portions have the brilliancy of silver, 
 their colours are as various and splendid as those of the 
 rainbow ; their ever-changing disposition producing effects 
 as singular as they are new and interesting to those who 
 have not seen them before. 
 
 On the 17th of June, they reached Waygatt Sound, 
 beyond Disco Island, where they found forty-five whalers 
 detained by the ice. Waygatt Island, from observations 
 taken on shore, was found to be 5 longitude and 30 
 
FIRST VOYAGE OF CAPTAIX ROSS. 13 
 
 miles of latitude from tlie situation as laid down in the 
 Admiralty Charts. 
 
 They were not able to get away from here till the 20th, 
 rhen the ice began to break. By cutting passages through 
 bhe ice, and by dint of towing and warping, a slow progress 
 was made with the ships until the 17th of July, when two 
 ice-floes closing in upon them, threatened inevitable de- 
 struction, and it was only by the greatest exertions that 
 they hove through into open water. The labours of 
 warping, towing, and tracking were subsequently very 
 severe. This tracking, although hard work, afforded 
 great amusement to the men, giving frequent occasion for 
 the exercise of their wit, when some of the men occasion- 
 ally fell in through holes covered with snow or weak parts 
 of the ice. 
 
 Yery high mountains of land and ice were seen to the 
 north side of the bay, which he named Melville's Bay, 
 forming an impassable barrier, the precipices next the sea 
 being from 1000 to 2000 feet high. 
 
 On the 29th of June, the Esquimaux, John Sacheuse, 
 who had accompanied the expedition from England as 
 interpreter, was sent on shore to communicate with the 
 natives. About a dozen came off to visit the ship, and, 
 after being treated with coffee and biscuit in the cabin, 
 and having their portraits taken, they set to dancing Scotch 
 reels on the deck of the Isabella with the sailors. 
 
 Captain Ross gives a pleasant description of this scene 
 " Sacheuse's mirth and joy exceeded all bounds ; and 
 with a good-humoured officiousness, justified by the 
 important distinction which his superior knowledge now 
 gave him, he performed the office of master of the cere- 
 monies. An Esquimaux M.C. to a ball on the deck of 
 one of H.M. ships in the icy seas of Greenland, was an 
 office somewhat new, but 1ST ash himself could not have 
 performed his functions in a manner more appropriate. It 
 did not belong even to Nash to combine in his own person, 
 like Jack, the discordant qualifications of seaman, inter- 
 preter, draughtsman, and master of ceremonies to a ball, 
 with those of an. active fisher of seals and a hunter of 
 white bears. A daughter of the Danish resident (by an 
 Esquimaux woman), about eighteen years of age, and by 
 far the best-looking of the half-caste group, was the object 
 of Jack's particular attentions ; which being observed by 
 one of our officers, he gave him a lady's shawl, ornamented 
 with spangles, as an offering for her acceptance. He 
 presented it in a most respectful, and not ungraceful, 
 manner to the damsel, who bashfully took a pewter ring 
 
14 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 from her finger and gave it to him in return, rewarding 
 him, at the same time, with an eloquent smile, which 
 could leave no doubt on our Esquimaux's mind that he 
 had made an impression on her heart." (Vol. 1, p. 67-8.) 
 On the 5th of August the little auks (Mergulfus alle,) 
 were exceedingly abundant, and many were shot for food, 
 as was also a large gull, two feet five inches in length, 
 which, when killed, disgorged one of these little birds 
 entire. 
 
 A fortnight later, on two boats being sent from the 
 Isabella to procure as many of these birds as possible, 
 for the purpose of preserving them in ice, they returned 
 at midnight with a boat-load of about 1500, having, on an 
 average, killed fifteen at each shot. The boats of the 
 Alexander were nearly as successful. These birds were 
 afterwards served daily to each man, and, among other 
 ways of dressing them, they were found to make excellent 
 soup not inferior to hare soup. Not less than two 
 hundred auks were shot on the 6th of. August, and served 
 out to the ships' companies, among whose victuals they 
 proved an agreeable variety, not having the fishy flavour 
 that might be expected from their food, which consists of 
 Crustacea, small fishes, mollusca, or marine vegetables. 
 
 On the 7th of August the ships were placed in a most 
 critical situation by a gale of wind. The Isabella was 
 lifted by the pressure of ice floes on each side of her, and 
 it was doubted whether the vessel could long withstand 
 the grips and concussions she sustained ; " every support 
 threatened to give way, the beams in the hold began to 
 bend, and the iron water-tanks settled together. The two 
 vessels were thrown with violent concussion against each 
 other, the ice-anchors and cables broke one after the other, 
 a boat at the stern was smashed in the collision, and the 
 masts were hourly expected to go by the board ; but at 
 this juncture, when certain destruction was momentarily 
 looked for, by the merciful interposition of Providence 
 the fields of ice suddenly opened and formed a clear passage 
 for the ships." 
 
 A singular physical feature was noticed on the part 
 of the coast near Cape Dudley Digges : " We have 
 discovered (says Boss) that the snow on the face of the 
 cliffs presents an appearance both novel and interesting, 
 being apparently stained or covered by some substance 
 which gave it a deep crimson colour. This snow was 
 penetrated in many places to a depth of ten or twelve feet 
 by the colouring matter." There is nothing new, however, 
 
FIRST VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN ROSS. 15 
 
 according to Barrow, in the discovery of red snow. Pliny, 
 and other writers of his time, mention it. Saussure found 
 it in various parts of the Alps ; Martin found it in Spitz- 
 bergen, and no doubt it is to be met with in most alpine 
 regions. 
 
 In the course of this tedious, and often laborious, pro- 
 gress through the ice, it became necessary to keep the 
 whole of the crew at the most fatiguing work, sometimes 
 for several days and nights without intermission. Whea 
 this was the case, an extra meal was served to them at 
 midnight, generally of preserved meat ; and it was found 
 that this nourishment, when the mind and body were both 
 occupied, and the sun continually present, rendered them 
 capable of remaining without sleep, so that they often 
 passed three days in this manner without any visible 
 inconvenience, returning after a meal to their labour on 
 the ice or in the boats quite refreshed, and continuing 
 at it without a murmur. 
 
 K After making hasty and very cursory examinations of 
 mith's and Jones' Sounds, Ross arrived on the 30th of 
 August off the extensive inlet, named by Baffin Lancaster 
 Sound. The entrance was perfectly clear, and the sound- 
 ings ranged from 650 to 3000 fathoms. I shall now quote 
 Ross's own observations on this subject, because from 
 is unfortunate report of a range called the Croker moun- 
 ains, stretching across this Strait, has resulted much of 
 he ridicule and discredit which has attached to his 
 accounts, and clouded his early reputation "On the 31st 
 (he says) we discovered, for the first time, that the land 
 extended from the south two-thirds across this apparent 
 Strait; but the fog which continually occupied that 
 quarter, obscured its real figure. During the day, much 
 interest was excited on board by the appearance of this 
 Strait. The general opinion, however, was, that it was 
 only an inlet. The land was partially seen extending 
 across ; the yellow sky was perceptible. At a little before 
 4 o'clock a.m., the land was seen at the bottom of the 
 inlet by the officers of the watch, but before I got on 
 deck a space of about seven degrees of the compass was 
 obscured by the fog. The land which I then saw was a 
 high ridge of mountains extending directly across the 
 bottom of the inlet. This chain appeared extremely high 
 in the centre. Although a passage in this direction 
 appeared hopeless, I was determined to explore it com- 
 pletely. I therefore continued all sail. Mr. Beverley, the 
 Burgeon, who was the most sanguine, went up to the crow's 
 
16 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCO VER. 
 
 nest, and at twelve reported to me that before it became' 
 thick he had seen the land across the bay, except for a 
 very short space. 
 
 " At three, I went on deck ; it completely cleared for ten 
 minutes, when I distinctly saw the land round the bottom 
 of the bay, forming a chain of mountains connected with 
 those which extended along the north and south side. 
 This land appeared to be at the distance of eight leagues, 
 and Mr. Lewis, the master, and James Haig, leading man, 
 being sent for, they took its bearings, which were inserted 
 in the log. At this moment, I also saw a continuity of 
 ice at the distance of seven miles, extending from one 
 side of the bay to the other, between the nearest cape to 
 the north, which I named after Sir George Warrender, 
 and that to the south, which was named after Viscount 
 Castlereagh. The mountains, which occupied the centre, 
 in a north and south direction, were named Croker's 
 Mountains, after the Secretary to the Admiralty." (Vol. 1, 
 p. 241-46, 8vo edit.) 
 
 They next proceeded to Possession Bay, at the entrance 
 of the Strait, where a great many animals were observed. 
 Deer, fox, ermine, bears, and hares, were either seen, or 
 proved to be, in abundance by their tracks, and the 
 skeleton of a whale was found stranded about 500 yards 
 beyond high water mark. Finding, as Ross supposed, no 
 outlet through Lancaster Strait, the vessels continued 
 their progress to the southward, exploring the western 
 coast of Baffin's Bay to Pond's Bay, and Booth's Inlet, 
 discovering the trending of the land, which he named North 
 Galloway, and North Ayr to Cape Adair, and Scott's 
 Bay. 
 
 On September the 10th, they landed on an island near 
 Cape Eglington, which was named Agnes' Monument. A 
 flag-staff and a bottle, with an account of their proceedings, 
 were set up. The remains of a temporary habitation of 
 some of the Esquimaux were here observed, with a fire- 
 place, part of a human skull, a broken stone vessel, some 
 bones of a seal, burnt wood, part of a sledge, and tracks 
 of dogs, &c. 
 
 While the boat was absent, two large bears swam off 
 to the ships, which were at the distance of six miles from 
 the land. They reached the Alexander, and were imme- 
 diately attackel by the boats of that ship, and killed,. 
 One, which was shot through the head, unfortunately 
 sank ; the other, on being wounded, attacked the boats,, 
 jind showed considerable play, but was at length secured' 
 and towed to the Isabella by the boats of both ships. The 
 
VOYAGE OF BUCHAN AND FRANKLIN. 17 
 
 animal weighed 1131Jlbs., besides the blood it had lost, 
 which was estimated at 30lbs. more. 
 
 On the following day, Lieut. Parry was sent on shore to 
 examine an iceberg, which was found to be 4169 yards 
 long, 3869 yards broad, and 51 feet high, being aground in 
 61 fathoms. When they had ascended to the top, which 
 was perfectly flat, they found a huge white bear in, quiet 
 possession of the mass, who, much to their mortification. 
 and astonishment, plunged without hesitation into tho 
 sea from the edge of the precipice, which was fifty feet 
 
 rom careful observation it was found that there was 
 no such land in the centre of Davis Strait as James's 
 Island, which was laid down in most of the charts. 
 Nothing deserving of notice occurred in the subsequent 
 course of the vessels past Cape Walsingham to Cumber- 
 land Strait. 
 
 The 1st of October having arrived, the limit to which 
 his instructions permitted him to remain out, Boss shaped 
 his course homewards, and after encountering a severe 
 gale off Cape Farewell, arrived in Grimsby Roads on the 
 14th of November. As respects the purposes of Arctic 
 discovery, this voyage may be considered almost a blank, 
 none of the important inlets and sounds of Baffin's Bay 
 having been explored, and all that was done was to define 
 more clearly the land-bounds of Davis Strait and Baffin's 
 Bay, if we except the valuable magnetic and other obser- 
 vations made by Capt. Sabine. The commander of the 
 expedition was promoted to the rank of captain on paying 
 off the ships in December, 1818. 
 
 The account of his voyage, published by Capt. Boss, is 
 of the most meagre and uninteresting description, and more 
 than half filled with dry details of the outfit, copies of his 
 instructions, of his routine letters and orders to his officers, 
 
 BUCHAN AND FRANKLIN. 
 
 BorotJtea and Trent to Pole, 1818. 
 
 IN conjunction with the expedition of Capt. John Boss, 
 was that sent out to the coast of Spitzbergen, and of which 
 Capt. Beechey has published a most interesting account, 
 embellished with some very elegant illustrations from his 
 pencil. The charge of it was given to Capt. D. Buchan, 
 who had a few years previously conducted a very interest- 
 ing expedition into the interior of Newfoundland. The 
 first and most important object of this expedition was the 
 
18 PKOGKESS OF AECTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 discovery of a passage over or as near the Pole, as might 
 be possible, and through Behring's Straits into the Pacific. 
 But it was also hoped that it might at the same time 
 be the means of improving the geography and hydro- 
 graphy of the Arctic regions, of which so little was at that 
 time known, and contribute to the advancement of science 
 and natural knowledge. The objects to which attention 
 was specially pointed in the Admiralty instructions, were 
 the variation and inclination of the magnetic needle, 
 the intensity of the magnetic force, and how far it is 
 affected by atmospherical electricity ; the temperature of 
 the air, the dip of the horizon, refraction, height of the 
 tides, set and velocity of the currents, depths and sound- 
 ings of the sea. Collections of specimens to illustrate the 
 animal, mineral, and vegetable, kingdoms, were also 
 directed to be made. 
 
 The officers and crew appointed to these vessels 
 were : 
 
 Dorothea, 382 tons. 
 
 Captain David Buchan. 
 
 Lieutenant A. Morell. 
 
 Surgeon John Duke. 
 
 Assistant- Surgeon W. G. Borland. 
 
 Purser John Jermain. 
 
 Astronomer George Fisher. 
 
 Admiralty- Mates C. Palmer and "W. J. Dealy. 
 
 Greenland Pilots P. Bruce, master ; G. Crawford, mate. 
 
 45 Petty Officers, Seamen, &c. 
 
 Total complement, 55. 
 
 Trent, 249 tons. 
 
 Lieutenant and Commander John Franklin. 
 
 Lieutenant Fred. W. Beechey (artist). 
 
 Purser W. Barrett. 
 
 Assistant- Surgeon A. Gilfillan. 
 
 Admiralty Mates A. Eeid and George Back. 
 
 Greenland Pilots G. Fife, master, and G. Earby, mate. 
 
 30 Petty Officers and Seamen. 
 
 Total complement, 38. 
 
 Having been properly fitted for the service and taken 
 on board two years* provisions, the ships sailed on the 
 25th of April. The Trent had hardly got clear of the 
 river before she sprang a leak, and was detained _ in the 
 port of Lerwick nearly a fortnight undergoing repairs. 
 
 On the 18th of May, the? snips encountered a severe 
 
VOYAGE OF BUCHAN AND FBANKLlN. 19 
 
 gale, and under even storm staysails were buried gunwale 
 deep in the waves. On the 24th they sighted Cherie 
 Island, situated in lat. 74 33' N., and long. 17 40' E., 
 Formerly so noted for its fishery, being much frequented 
 by walruses, and for many years the Muscovy Company 
 carried on a lucrative trade by sending ships to the island 
 for oil, as many as a thousand animals being often cap- 
 tured by the crew of a single ship in the course of six or 
 seven hours. 
 
 The progress of the discovery ships through the small 
 floes and huge masses of ice which floated in succession 
 >ast, was slow, and these from their novelty were regarded 
 tith peculiar attention from the grotesque shapes they 
 assumed. The progress of a vessel through such a laby- 
 rinth of frozen masses is one of the most interesting sights 
 that offer in the Arctic seas, and kept the officers and crew 
 mt of their beds till a late hour watching the scene. 
 3apt. Beechey, the graphic narrator of the voyage, thus 
 describes the general impression created: "There was 
 besides, on this occasion, an additional motive for remain- 
 ig up ; very few of us had ever seen* the sun at midnight, 
 and this night happening to be particularly clear, his broad 
 red disc, curiously distorted by refraction, and sweeping 
 majestically along the northern horizon, was an object of 
 imposing grandeur, which riveted to the deck some of our 
 crew, who would perhaps have beheld with indifference 
 the less imposing effect of the icebergs ; or it might have 
 been a combination of both these phenomena ; for it 
 cannot be denied that the novelty, occasioned by the 
 loating masses, was materially heightened by the singular 
 effect produced by the very low altitude at which the sun. 
 cast his fiery beams over the icy surface of the sea. The 
 'ays were too oblique to illuminate more than the inequa- 
 lities of the floes, and falling thus partially on the grotesque 
 shapes, either really assumed by the ice or distorted by 
 the unequal refraction of the atmosphere, so betrayed the 
 
 lagination that it required no great exertion of fancy to 
 trace in various directions architectural edifices, grottos 
 and caves here and there glittering as if with precious 
 netals. So generally, indeed, was the deception admitted, 
 ;hat, in directing the route of the vessel from aloft, we for 
 iwhile deviated from our nautical phraseology, and shaped 
 )ur course for a church, a tower, a bridge, or some similar 
 structure, instead of for lumps of ice, which were usually 
 lesignated by less elegant appellations." 
 
 The increasing difficulties of this ice navigation soon, 
 lowever, directed their attention from romance to the 
 
 c2 
 
20 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 reality of tlicir position, the perils of which soon became 
 alarmingly apparent. 
 
 *' The streams of ice, between which we at first pursued 
 our serpentine course with comparative ease, gradually 
 became more narrow, and at length so impeded the navi- 
 gation, that it became necessary to run the ships against 
 some of these imaginary edifices, in order to turn them 
 aside. Even this did not always succeed, as some were 
 so substantial and immovable, that the vessels glanced off 
 to the opposite bank of the channel, and then became for 
 a time embedded in the ice. Thus circumstanced, a vessel 
 has no other resource than that of patiently awaiting the 
 change of position in the ice, of which she must take 
 every advantage, or she will settle bodily to leeward, and 
 become completely entangled." 
 
 On the 26th the ships sighted the southern promontory 
 of Spitzbergen, and on the 28th, while plying to wind- 
 ward on the western side, were overtaken by a violent 
 gale at south-west, in which they parted company. 
 The weather was very severe. "The snow fell in heavy 
 showers, and several tons weight of ice accumulated about 
 the sides of the brig (the Trent), and formed a complete 
 casing to the planks, W 7 hich received an additional layer at 
 each plunge of the vessel. So great, indeed, was the ac- 
 cumulation about the bows, that we were obliged to 
 cut it away repeatedly with axes to relieve the bowsprit 
 from the enormous weight that was attached to it ; and 
 the ropes were so thickly covered with ice, that it was 
 necessary to beat them w T ith large sticks to keep them in a 
 state of readiness for any evolution that might be ren- 
 dered necessary, either by the appearance of ice to lee- 
 ward, or by a change of wind." 
 
 On the gale abating, Lieutenant Franklin found himself 
 surrounded by the main body of ice in lat. 80 JN"., 
 and had much difficulty in extricating the vessel. Had 
 this formidable body been encountered in thick weather, 
 whilst scudding before a gale of wind, there would have 
 been very little chance of saving either the vessels or the 
 crews. The Trent fortunately fell in with her consort, the 
 Dorothea, previous to entering the appointed rendezvous 
 at Magdalena Bay, on the 3rd of June. This commodious 
 inlet being the first port they had anchored at in the Polar 
 regions, possessed many objects to engage attention. 
 What particularly struck them was the brilliancy of the 
 atmosphere, the peaceful novelty of the scene, and the 
 grandeur of the various objects with which Nature has 
 stored these unfrequented regions. The anchorage is 
 
VOYAGE OP EUCIIAN AND FRANKLIN. 21 
 
 formed by rugged mountains, which rise precipitously to 
 the height of about 3000 feet. Deep valleys and glens 
 occur between the ranges, the greater part of which are 
 either filled with immense beds of snow, or with glaciers, 
 sloping from the summits of the mountainous margin to 
 the very edge of the sea. 
 
 The bay is rendered conspicuous by four huge glaciers, 
 of which the most remarkable, though the smallest in 
 size, is situated 200 feet above the sea, on the slope of a 
 mountain. From its peculiar appearance thi^ glacier has 
 been termed the Hanging Iceberg. 
 
 / ^ ^ 
 
 Its position is such that it seems as if a very small 
 matter would detach it from the mountain, and precipitate 
 it into the sea. And, indeed, large portions of its front do 
 occasionally break away and fall with headlong impetuosity 
 upon the beach, to the great hazard of any boat that may 
 chance to be near. The largest of these glaciers occupies the 
 headof thebay, and, according toCaptain Beechey's account, 
 extends from two to three miles inland. Numerous large 
 rents in its upper surface have caused it to bear a resem- 
 blance to the ruts left by a wagon, hence it was named 
 by the voyagers the " Wagon Way." The frontage of 
 this glacier presents a perpendicular surface of 300 feet 
 in height, by 7000 feet in length. Mountain masses 
 
 * Whose blocks of sapphire seem to mortal eye 
 Hewn from cerulean quarries in the sky, 
 "With glacier battlements that crowd the spheres, 
 The slow creation of six thousand years. 
 Amidst immensity they tower sublime, 
 Winter's eternal palace, built by Time." 
 
 At the head of the bay there is a high pyramidal 
 mountain of granite, termed Eotge Hill, from the myriads 
 of small birds of that name which frequent its base, 
 and appear to prefer its environs to every other part of 
 the harbour. " They are so numerous that we have 
 frequently seen an uninterrupted line of them extending 
 full half way over the bay, or to a distance of more than 
 three miles, and so close together that thirty have fallen 
 at one shot. This living column, on an average, might 
 have been about six yards broad, and as many deep ; so 
 that, allowing sixteen birds to a cubic yard, there must have 
 been nearly four millions of birds on the wing at one time. 
 The number I have given certainly seems large ; yet \v r hen 
 it is told that the little rotges rise in such numbers as 
 completely to darken the air, and that their chorus is dis- 
 tinctly audible at a distance of four miles, the estimate 
 will not be thought to bear any reduction." 
 
22 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 One of their earliest excursions in this bay was an 
 attempt to ascend the peak of Rotge Hill, '* upon which," 
 says Captain Beechey, "may now, perhaps, be seen at the 
 height of about 2000 feet, a staff that once carried a red 
 flag, which was planted there to mark the greatest height 
 we were able to attain, partly in consequence of the steep- 
 ness of the ascent, but mainly on account of the detached 
 masses of rock which a very slight matter would displace 
 and hurl down the precipitous declivity, to the utter 
 destruction of him who depended upon their support, or 
 who might happen to be in their path below. The latter 
 part of our ascent was, indeed, much against our inclina- 
 tion ; but we found it impossible to descend by the way 
 we had come up, and were compelled to gain a ledge, 
 which promised the only secure resting-place we could 
 find at that height. This we were able to effect by 
 sticking the tomahawks with which we were provided into 
 crevices in the rock, as a support for our feet ; and some 
 of these instruments we were obliged to leave where they 
 were driven, in consequence of the danger that attended 
 their recovery." During the vessel's detention in this 
 harbour, the bay and anchorage were completely sur- 
 veyed. 
 
 When the first party rowed into this bay, it was 
 in quiet possession of herds of walruses, who were so un- 
 accustomed to the sight of a boat that they assembled 
 about her, apparently highly incensed at the intrusion, and 
 swam towards her as though they would have torn 
 the planks asunder with their tusks. Their hides were so 
 tough that nothing but a bayonet would pierce them. 
 The wounds that were inflicted only served to increase 
 their rage, and it was with much difficulty they were kept 
 off with fire-arms. Subsequently the boats went better 
 prepared and more strongly supported, and many of these 
 monsters were killed; some were fourteen feet in length 
 and nine feet girth, and of such prodigious weight 
 that the boat's crew could scarcely turn them. 
 
 The ships had not been many days at their anchorage 
 when they were truly astonished at the sight of a strange 
 boat pulling towards the ships, which was found to belong 
 to some Russian adventurers, who were engaged in the 
 collection of peltry and morse' teeth. This is the last re- 
 maining establishment at Spitzbergen still upheld by the 
 merchants of Archangel. 
 
 Although equally surprised at the sight of the vessels, 
 the boat's crew took courage, and after a careful scrutiny, 
 went on board the Dorothea ; Captain Buchan gave them a 
 

 VOYAGE OF BUCHAN AND FRANKLIN". 23 
 
 kind reception, and supplied them with whatever they 
 wanted ; in return for which they sent on board the 
 following day a side of venison in excellent condition. 
 Wishing to gain some further information of these people, 
 an officer accompanied them to their dwelling at the head 
 of a small cove, about four miles distant from the bay, 
 where he found a comfortable wooden hut, well lined with 
 moss and stored with venison, wild ducks, &c. 
 
 It is related by Captain Beechey that it was with, 
 extreme pleasure they noticed in this retired spot, pro- 
 bably the most northern and most desolate habitation of 
 our globe, a spirit of gratitude and devotion to the Al- 
 mighty rarely exercised in civilized countries. " On land- 
 ing from the boat and approaching their residence, these 
 people knelt upon its threshold, and offered up a prayer 
 with fervour and evident sincerity. The exact nature of 
 the prayer we did not learn, but it was no doubt one of 
 thanksgiving, and we concluded it was a custom which 
 these recluses were in the habit of observing on their safe 
 return to their habitation. It may, at all events, be 
 regarded as an instance of the beneficial effects which 
 seclusion from the busy . world, and a contemplation of 
 the works of Nature, almost invariably produce upon, 
 the hearts of even the most uneducated part of man- 
 ' ind." 
 
 On the 7th of June the expedition left the anchorage to 
 enew the examination of the ice, and after steering a few 
 eagues to the northward, found it precisely in the same 
 state as it had been left on the 2nd. In spite of all their 
 ndeavours, by towing and otherwise, the vessels were 
 driven in a calm by the heavy swell into the packed Ice, 
 and the increasing peril of their situation may be ima- 
 gined from the following graphic description : 
 
 " The pieces at the edge of the pack were at one time 
 wholly immersed in the sea, and at the next raised far 
 bove their natural line of flotation, while those further 
 in, being more extensive, were alternately depressed 
 or elevated at either extremity as the advancing wave 
 "orced its way along. 
 
 " The see-saw motion which was thus produced was 
 alarming, not merely in appearance, but in fact, and must 
 have proved fatal to any vessel that had encountered it ; 
 as floes of ice, several yards in thickness, were continually 
 crashing and breaking in pieces, and the sea for miles was 
 covered with fragments ground so small that they actually 
 formed a thick, pasty substance in nautical language 
 termed * Irask ice' which extended to the depth of five 
 
24 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 feet. ^ Amidst this giddy element, our whole attention was 
 occupied in endeavouring to place the bow of the vessel, 
 the strongest part of her frame, in the direction of the 
 most formidable pieces of ice a manoeuvre which, though 
 likely to be attended with the loss of the bowsprit, was 
 yet ^referable to encountering the still greater risk of 
 having the broadside of the vessel in contact with it ; for 
 this would have subjected her to the chance of dipping 
 her gunwale under the floes as she rolled, an accident 
 which, had it occurred, would either have laid open her 
 side, or have overset the vessel at once. In either case, 
 the event would probably have proved fatal to all on 
 board, as it would have been next to impossible to rescue 
 any person from the confused moving mass of brash ice 
 which covered the sea in every direction." 
 
 The attention of the seamen was in some degree diverted 
 from the contemplation of this scene of difficulty by the 
 necessity of employing all hands at the pump, the leak 
 having gained upon them. But, fortunately, towards 
 morning, they got quite clear of the ice. 
 
 Steering to the westward to reconnoitre, they fell in, 
 in longitude 4 30' E., with several whale ships, and were 
 informed by them that the ice was quite compact to the 
 westward, and that fifteen vessels were beset in it. Pro- 
 ceeding to the northward, the ships passed, on the llth of 
 June, Cloven Cliff, a remarkable isolated rock, which 
 marks the north-western boundary of Spitzbergen, and 
 steered along an intricate channel between the land and ice ; 
 but, next morning, their further advance was stopped, and 
 the channel by which the vessels had entered became so 
 completely closed up as to preclude the possibility also of 
 retreating. Lieut. Beechey proceeds to state 
 
 "The ice soon began to press heavily upon us, and, to 
 add to our difficulties, we found the water so shallow that 
 the rocks were plainly discovered under the bottoms of the 
 ships. It was impossible, however, by any exertion on 
 our part, to improve the situations of the vessels. They 
 were as firmly fixed in the ice as if they had formed part 
 of the pack, and we could only hope that the current would 
 not drift them into still shallower water, and damage them 
 against the ground." 
 
 The ships were here hemmed in in almost the same 
 position where Baffin, Hudson, Poole, Captain Phipps, and 
 all the early voyagers to this quarter had been stopped. 
 
 As the tide turned, the pieces of ice immediately around 
 the ships began to separate, and 'some of them to twist 
 
VOYAGE OF BUCHAN AND FRANKLIN. 25 
 
 round with, a loud grinding noise, urging the vessels, 
 which were less than a mile from the land, still nearer and 
 nearer to the beach. 
 
 By great exertions, the ships were hauled in to small 
 bays in the floe, and secured there by ropes fixed to the 
 ice by means of large iron hooks, called ice anchors. 
 Shifting the ships from one part of this floe to the other, 
 they remained attached to the ice thirteen days. As this 
 change of position could^ only be effected by main force, 
 the crew were so constantly engaged in this harassing 
 duty, that their time was divided almost entirely between 
 the windlass and the pump, until the men at length became 
 so fatigued that the sick-list was seriously augmented. 
 During this period, however, the situation of the leak was 
 fortunately discovered, and the damage repaired. 
 
 An officer and a party of men who left the Dorothea to 
 
 Eay a visit to the shore, about three or four miles distant, 
 )st themselves in the fog and snow, and wandered about 
 for sixteen hours, until, quite overcome with wet, cold, and 
 fatigue, they sat down in a state of despondency upon a 
 piece of ice. determined to submit their fate to Providence. 
 Their troubles are thus told 
 
 "To travel over ragged pieces of ice, upon which there 
 were two feet of snow, and often more, springing from 
 one slippery piece to the other, or, when the channels 
 between them were too wide for this purpose, ferrying 
 themselves upon detached fragments, was a work which 
 it required no ordinary exertion to execute, 
 
 " Some fell into the water, and were with difficulty pre- 
 served from drowning by their companions ; w r hile others, 
 afraid to make any hazardous attempt whatever, were left 
 upon pieces of ice, and drifted about at the mercy of the 
 winds and tides. Foreseeing the probability of a separa- 
 tion, they took the first opportunity of dividing, in equal 
 shares, the small quantity of provision which they had 
 remaining, as also their stock of powder and ammunition. 
 They also took it in turns to fire muskets, in the hope of 
 being heard from the ships." 
 
 The reports of the fire-arms were heard by their ship- 
 mates, and Messrs. Fife and Kirby, the Greenland ice- 
 masters, ventured out with poles and lines to their assist- 
 ance, and had the good fortune to fall in with the party, 
 and bring them safely on board, after eighteen hours' 
 absence. They determined in future to rest satisfied 
 with the view of the shore which was afforded them from the 
 ship, having not the slightest desire to attempt to approach 
 it again by means of the ice. 
 
26 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY, 
 
 The pressure of the ice against the vessels now became 
 very great. 
 
 " At one time, when the Trent appeared to be so closely 
 wedged up that it did not seem possible for her to be 
 moved, she was suddenly lifted four feet by an enormous 
 mass of ice getting under her keel ; at another, the frag- 
 ments of the crumbling floe were piled up under the bows, 
 to the great danger of the bowsprit. 
 
 " The Dorothea was in no less imminent danger, especially 
 from the point of a floe, which came in contact with her 
 side, where it remained a short time, and then glanced off, 
 and became checked by the field to which she was moored. 
 The enormous pressure to which the ship had been sub- 
 jected was now apparent by the field being rent, and its 
 point broken into fragments, which were speedily heaped 
 up in a pyramid, thirty-five feet in height, upon the very 
 summit of which there appeared a huge mass, bearing the 
 impression of the planks and bolts of the vessel's bottom." 
 
 Availing themselves of a break in the ice, the ships were 
 moved to an anchorage between the islands contiguous to 
 the Cloven Cliff; and on the 28th of June, anchored in 
 fifteen fathoms water, near Yogel Sang. On the islands 
 they found plenty of game, and eider ducks. 
 
 The island of Yogel Sang alone supplied the crews with 
 forty rein-deer, which were in such high condition that 
 the fat upon the loins of some measured from four to six 
 inches, and a carcass, ready for being dressed, weighed 
 285 Ibs. Later in the season, the deer were, however, so 
 lean that it was rare to meet with any fat upon them at 
 all. 
 
 On the 6th of July, finding the ice had been driven, to 
 the northward, the ships again put to sea, and Captain 
 Buchan determined to prove, by a desperate effort, what 
 advance it was possible to make by dragging the vessels 
 through the ice whenever the smallest opening occurred. 
 This laborious experiment was performed by fixing large 
 ropes to iron hooks driven into the ice, and by heaving 
 upon them with the windlass, a party removing obstructions 
 in the channel with saws. But in spite of all their exertions, 
 the most northerly position attained was 80 37' N. 
 Although fastened 'to the ice, the ships were now drifted 
 bodily to the southward by the prevailing current. They 
 were also much injured by the pressure of hummocks 
 and fields of ice. 
 
 On the 10th of July, Captain Beechey tells us, the 
 Trent sustained a squeeze which made her rise four feet, 
 and heel over five streaks ; and on the 15th and 16th, both 
 
VOYAGE OF BUCHAN AND FKANKLIff. 27 
 
 vessels suffered considerable damage. " On that occasion," 
 he says, "we observed a field fifteen feet in thickness 
 break* up, and the pieces pile itpon each other to a great 
 height, until they upset, when they rolled over with a 
 tremendous crash. The ice near the ships was piled up 
 above their bulwarks. Fortunately, the vessels rose to the 
 pressure, or they must have had their sides forced in. 
 The Trent received her greatest damage upon the quarters, 
 and was so twisted that the doors of all the cabins flew 
 open, and the panels of some started in the frames, while 
 her false sternpost was moved three inches, and her tim- 
 bers cracked to a most serious extent. The Dorothea 
 suffered still more : some of her beams were sprung, and 
 two planks on the lower deck were split fore and aft, and 
 doubled up, and she otherwise sustained serious injury in 
 her hull. It was in vain that we attempted any relief; our 
 puny efforts were not even felt, though continued for 
 eight hours with unabated zeal ; and it was not until the 
 tide changed that the smallest effect was produced. When, 
 however, that occurred, the vessels righted and settled in 
 the water to their proper draught." 
 
 From the 12th to the 19th, they were closely beset with 
 ice. For nine successive days following this the crews 
 were occupied, night and day, in endeavouring to extricate 
 the ships, and regain the open sea. Thinking he had given, 
 the ice a fair trial here, the commander determined upon 
 examining its condition towards the eastern coast of Green- 
 land, and in the event of finding it equally impenetrable 
 there, to proceed round the south cape of Spitzbergen, and 
 make an attempt between that island and Nova Zembla. 
 
 On the 30th of July, a sudden gale came on, and brought 
 down the main body of the ice upon them, so that the 
 ships were in such imminent danger that their only means 
 of safety was to take refuge amongst it a practice which 
 has been resorted to by whalers in extreme cases as their 
 only chance of escaping destruction. 
 
 The following is a description of the preparation made 
 to withstand the terrible encounter, and the hair-breadth 
 escape from the dangers : 
 
 " In order to avert the effects of this as much as pos- 
 sible, a cable was cut up into thirty-feet lengths, and these, 
 with plates of iron four feet square, which had been sup- 
 plied to us as fenders, together with some walrus's hides, 
 were hung round the vessels, especially about the bows. 
 The masts, at the same time, were secured with additional 
 ropes, and the hatches were battened and nailed down, 
 By the time these precautions had been, taken, our ap 
 
28 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 proacli to tlie breakers only left us tlie alternative of either 
 permitting the ships to be drifted broadside against the 
 ice, and so to take their chance, or of endeavouring to 
 force fairty into it by putting before the wind. At length, 
 the hopeless state of a vessel placed broadside against so 
 formidable a body became apparent to all, and we resolved 
 to attempt the latter expedient." 
 
 Eagerly, but in vain, was the general line of the pack 
 scanned, to find one place more open than the other. All 
 parts appeared to be equally impenetrable, and to present 
 one unbroken, line of furious breakers, in which immense 
 pieces of ice were heaving and subsiding with the waves, 
 and dashing together with a violence which nothing ap- 
 parently but a solid body could withstand, occasioning 
 such a noise that it was with the greatest difficulty the 
 officers could make their orders heard by the crew. 
 
 The fearful aspect of this appalling scene is thus sketched 
 off by Captain Beechey : 
 
 " B"o language, I am convinced, can convey an adequate 
 idea of the terrific grandeur of the effect now produced by 
 the collision of the ice and the tempestuous ocean. The 
 sea, violently agitated and rolling its mountainous waves 
 against an opposing body, is at all times a sublime and 
 awful sight ; but when, in addition, it encounters immense 
 masses, which it has set in motion with a violence equal to 
 its own, its effect is prodigiously increased. At one mo- 
 ment it bursts upon these icy fragments and buries them 
 many feet beneath its wave, and the next, as the buoyancy 
 of the depressed body struggles for reascendancy, the 
 water rushes in foaming cataracts over its edges ; whilst 
 every individual mass, rocking and labouring in its bed, 
 grinds against and contends with its opponent, until one is 
 either split with the shock or upheaved upon the surface 
 of the other. Nor is this collision confined to any par- 
 ticular spot : it is going on as far as the sight can reach ; and 
 when from this convulsive scene below, the eye is turned 
 to the extraordinary appearance of the blink in the sky 
 above, where the unnatural clearness of a cahn and silvery 
 atmosphere presents itself, bounded by a dark hard line of 
 stormy clouds, such as at this moment lowered over our 
 masts, as if to mark the confines within which the efforts 
 of man would be of no avail. The reader may imagine the 
 sensation of awe which must accompany that of grandeur 
 in the mind of the beholder." 
 
 " If ever," continues the narrator, " the fortitude of 
 seamen was fairly tried, it w r as assuredly not less so on this 
 occasion j and I will not conceal the pride I felt in wit- 
 
VOYAGE OF BUCIIAN AND FRANKLIN. 29 
 
 nessing tlie bold and decisive tone in which the orders 
 were issued by the commander (the present Captain Sir 
 John Franklin) of our little vessel, and the promptitude 
 and steadiness with which they were executed by the 
 
 crew." 
 
 As the labouring vessel flew before the gale, sho soon 
 neared the scene of danger. 
 
 ''Each person instinctively secured his own hold, and 
 with his eyes fixed upon the masts, awaited in breathless 
 anxiety the moment of concussion. 
 
 " It soon arrived, the brig (Trent) cutting her way 
 through the light ice, came in violent contact with the 
 main body. In an instant we all lost our footing; the 
 masts bent with the impetus, and the cracking timbers 
 from below bespoke a pressure which was calculated to 
 awaken our serious apprehensions. The vessel staggered 
 under the shock, and for a moment seemed to recoil ; but 
 the next wave, curling up under her counter, drove her 
 about her own length within the margin of the ice, where 
 she gave one roll, and was immediately thrown broadside 
 to the wind by the succeeding wave, which beat furiously 
 against her stern, and brought her lee-side in contact witli 
 the main body, leaving her weather-side exposed at the 
 same time to a piece of ice about twice her own dimensions. 
 This unfortunate occurrence prevented the vessel pene- 
 trating sufficiently far into the ice to escape the effect of 
 the gale, and placed her in a situation where she was 
 assailed on all sidfc by battering-rams, if I may use the 
 expression, every one of which contested the small space 
 which she occupied, and dealt such unrelenting blows, that 
 there appeared to be scarcely any possibility of saving her 
 from foundering. Literally tossed from piece to piece, we 
 had nothing left but patiently to abide the issue ; for we 
 could scarcely keep our feet, much less render any assist- 
 ance to the vessel. The motion, indeed, was so great, that 
 the ship's bell, which in the heaviest gale of wind had never 
 struck of itself, now tolled so continually, that it was ordered 
 to be muffled, for the purpose of escaping the unpleasant 
 association it was calculated to produce. 
 
 " In anticipation of the worst, we determined to attempt 
 placing the launch upon the ice under the lee, and hurried 
 into her such provisions and stores as could at the moment 
 be got at. Seri6"us doubts were reasonably entertained of 
 the boat being able to live amongst the confused mass by 
 which we were encompassed ; yet as this appeared to be 
 our only refuge, we clung to it with all the eagerness of a 
 last resource." 
 
30 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 From the injury the vessel repeatedly received, it 
 became very evident that if subjected to this concussion 
 for any time, she could not hold together long; the 
 only chance of escape, therefore, appeared to depend upon 
 getting before the wind, and penetrating further into the 
 ice. 
 
 To effect this with any probability of success, it became 
 necessary to set more head-sail, though at the risk of the 
 masts, already tottering with the pressure of that which 
 was spread. By the expertness of the seamen, more sail 
 was spread, and under this additional pressure of can- 
 vass, the ship came into the desired position, and with the 
 aid of an enormous mass under the stern, she split a small 
 field of ice, fourteen feet in thickness, which had hitherto 
 impeded her progress, and effected a passage for herself 
 between the pieces. 
 
 In this improved position, by carefully placing the pro- 
 tecting fenders between the ice and the ship's sides, the 
 strokes were much diminished, and she managed to weather 
 out the gale, but lost sight of her consort in the clouds of 
 spray which were tossed about, and the huge intervening 
 masses of ice among which they were embayed. On the 
 gale moderating, the ships were fortunately got once more 
 into an open sea, although both disabled, and one at least, 
 the Dorothea, which had sustained the heavy shocks, in a 
 foundering condition. For the main object of the expedi- 
 tion they were now useless, and, both being in a leaky state, 
 they bore up for Fair Haven, in Spitzbargen. In approach- 
 ing the anchorage in South Gat, the Trent bounded over a 
 sunken rock, and struck hard, but this, after their recent 
 danger, was thought comparatively light of. 
 
 On examining the hulls of the vessels, it was found they 
 had sustained frightful injuries. The intermediate lining 
 of felt between the timbers and planks seems to have 
 aided greatly in enabling the vessels to sustain the repeated 
 powerful shocks they had encountered. Upon consulting 
 with his officers, Captain Buchan came to the opinion that 
 the most prudent course was to patch up the vessels for 
 their return voyage. Lieutenant Franklin preferred an. 
 urgent request that he might be allowed to proceed in his 
 own vessel upon the interesting service still unexecuted; 
 but this could not be complied with, in consequence of the 
 hazard to the crew of proceeding home smgly in a vessel 
 so shattered and unsafe as the Dorothea. After refitting, 
 they put to sea at the end of August, and reached England 
 by the middle of October. 
 
31 
 
 [FRANKLIN'S FIEST LAND EXPEDITION, 1819-21. 
 
 IN 1819, on tlie recommendation of the Lords of the 
 Admiralty, Capt. Franklin was appointed to command an 
 overland expedition from Hudson's Bay to the northern 
 shores of America, for the purpose of determining the 
 latitudes and longitudes, and exploring the coast of the 
 continent eastward from the Coppermine River. Dr. John 
 Richardson, RJN\, and two Admiralty midshipmen, Mr. 
 George Back, (who had been out on the Polar expedition 
 in the previous year in H. M. S. Trent,) and Mr. Robert 
 Hood, were placed under his orders. Previous to his de- 
 parture from London, Capt. Franklin obtained all the 
 information and advice possible from Sir Alex. Mackenzie, 
 one of the only two persons who had yet explored those 
 shores. On the 23rd of May, the party embarked at 
 Gravesend, in the Prince of Wales, belonging to the Hud- 
 son's Bay Company, which immediately got under weigh 
 in company with her consorts, the lEddystone and Wear. 
 Mr. Back, who was left on shore by accident in Yarmouth, 
 succeeded in catching the ship at Stromness. On the 4th 
 of August, in lat. 59 58' K, and long. 59 53' W., they 
 first fell in with large icebergs. On the following day, the 
 height of one was ascertained to be 149 feet. After a 
 stormy and perilous voyage they reached the anchorage at 
 York Flats on the 30th of August. 
 
 On the 9th of September, Capt. Franklin and his party 
 left York Factory in a boat by the way of the rivers and 
 lakes for Cumberland House, another of the Company's 
 posts, which they reached on the 22nd of October. 
 
 On the 19th of January, Franklin set out in company 
 with Mr. Back, and a seaman named Hepburn, with pro- 
 visions for fifteen days stowed in two sledges, on their 
 journey to Fort Chipewyan. Dr. Richardson, Mr. Hood, 
 and Mr. Connolly, accompanied them a short distance. 
 After touching at different posts of the Company, they 
 reached their destination safely on the 26th of March, after 
 a winter's journey of 857 miles. The greatest difficulty 
 experienced by the travellers was the labour of walking in 
 snow shoes, a weight of between two and three pounds 
 being constantly attached to galled feet and swelled 
 ankles. 
 
 On the 13th of July, they were joined by Dr. Richardson 
 and Mr. Hood, who had made a very expeditious journey 
 from Cumberland House ; they had only one day's pro- 
 visions left, the pemmican they had received at the posts 
 
32 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 being so mouldy that they were obliged to leave it behind. 
 Arrangements were now made for their journey north- 
 ward. Sixteen Canadian voy^ageurs were engaged, and a 
 Chipewyan woman and two interpreters were to be taken 
 on from Great Slave Lake. The whole stock of provision 
 they could obtain before starting was only sufficient for 
 one day's supply, exclusive of two barrels of flour, three 
 cases of preserved meats, some chocolate, arrow-root, and 
 portable soup, which had been brought from England, and 
 were kept as a reserve for the journey to the coast in the 
 following season ; seventy pounds of deer's flesh and a 
 little barley were all that the Company's officers could give 
 them. The provisions were distributed among three canoes, 
 and the party set off in good spirits on the 18th of July. 
 They had to make an inroad very soon on their preserved 
 meats, for they were unfortunate in their fishing. On the 
 24th of July, however, they were successful in shooting a 
 buffalo in the Salt River, after giving him fourteen balls. 
 At Moose Deer Island they got supplies from the Hud- 
 son's Bay and JN"orthWest Companies' officers, and on the 
 27th set out again on their journey, reaching Fort Provi- 
 dence by the 29th. 
 
 Shortly after they had an interview with a celebrated and 
 influential Indian chief, named Akaitcho, who was to furnish 
 them with guides. Another Canadian voyageur was here 
 engaged, and the party now consisted of the officers 
 already named, Mr. Fred. "Wentzel, clerk of the N. W. 
 Fur Company, who joined them here, John Hepburn the 
 English seaman, seventeen Canadian voyageurs, (one of 
 whom, named Michel, was an Iroquois,) and three Indian 
 interpreters, besides the wives of three of the voyageurs 
 who had been brought on for the purpose of making 
 clothes and shoes for the men at the winter establish- 
 ment. The whole number were twenty-nine, exclusive 
 of three children. I give the list of those whose names 
 occur most frequently in the narrative : J. B. Belanger, 
 Peltier, Solomon Belanger, Samandre, Benoit, Perrault, 
 Antonio Fontano, Beauparlant, Vaillant, Credit, Adam 
 St. Germain, interpreter ; Augustus, and Junius, Esqui- 
 maux interpreters. They had provisions for ten days' con- 
 sumption, besides a little chocolate and tea, viz., two casks 
 of flour, 200 dried rein-deer tongues, some dried moose 
 meat, portable soup, and a little arrow-root. A small extra 
 canoe was provided for the women, and the journey for the 
 Coppermine Ptivcr was commenced on the 2nd of August. 
 The party met with many hardships were placed on 
 short diet and some of the Canadians broke out into open 
 
FKANKLINS FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 33 
 
 rebellion, refusing to proceed further. However, they 
 were at last calmed, and arrived on the 20fch of August at 
 Fort Enterprise on Winter Lake, which, by the advice of 
 their Indian guides, they determined on making their 
 winter quarters. The total length of the voyage from 
 Chipewyan was 553 miles : and after leaving Fort Provi- 
 dence they had 2Lj miles of portage to pass over. As the 
 men had to traverse each portage four times with a load 
 of 180 Ibs., and return three times light, they walked in 
 the whole upwards of 150 miles. 
 
 In consequence of the refusal of Akaitcho and his party 
 of Indians to guide and accompany them to the sea, 
 because, as they alleged, of the approach of winter, 
 and the imminent danger, Capt. Franklin was obliged 
 to abandon proceeding that season down the river, and 
 contented himself with despatching, on the 29th, Mr. 
 Back and Mr. Hood, in a light canoe, with St. Germain as 
 interpreter, eight Canadians, and one Indian, furnished 
 with eight days' provisions all that could be spared. 
 
 They returned on the 10th of September, after having 
 reached and coasted Point Lake. In the meantime, 
 Franklin and Richardson, accompanied by J. Hepburn and 
 two Indians, also made a pedestrian excursion towards the 
 same quarter, leaving on the 9th of September, and re- 
 turning on the 14th. The whole party spent a long 
 winter of ten months at Fort Enterprise, depending upon 
 the fish they could catch, and the success of their Indian 
 hunters, for food. 
 
 On the 6th of October, the officers quitted their tents 
 for a good log house which had been built. The clay with 
 which the walls and roof were plastered had to be tem- 
 pered before the fire with water, and froze as it was 
 daubed on ; but afterwards cracked in such a manner as to 
 admit the wind from every quarter. Still the new abode, 
 with a good fire of fagots in the capacious clay-built 
 chimney, was considered quite comfortable when compared 
 with the chilly tents. 
 
 The rein-deer are found on the banks of the Coppermine 
 River early in May, as they then go to the sea coast to 
 bring forth their young. They usually retire from the 
 coast in July and August, rut in October, and sheltoy 
 themselves in the woods during winter. Before the middle 
 of October, the carcases of 100 deer had been secured in 
 their store-house, together with 1000 Ibs. of suet, and some 
 dried meat ; and eighty deer were stowed away at various 
 distances from their house, en cache. This placing provi- 
 sions " en cache," is merely burying and protecting it from 
 
 D 
 
34 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 wolves and other depredators by heavy loads of wood or 
 stone. 
 
 On the 18th of October, Mr. Back and Mr. Wentzel, 
 accompanied by two Canadian voyageurs, two Indians and 
 their wives, set out for Fort Providence to make the neces- 
 sary arrangements for transporting the stores they expected 
 from Cumberland House, and to see if some further 
 supplies might not be obtained from the establishments on 
 Slave Lake. Despatches for England were also forwarded 
 by them, detailing the progress of the expedition up to this 
 date. By the end of the month the men had also com- 
 pleted a house for themselves, 34 feet by 18. On the 
 26th of October, Akaitcho, and his Indian party of hunters, 
 amounting with women and children to forty souls, came 
 in, owing to the deer having migrated southwards. This 
 added to the daily number to be provided for, and by this 
 time their ammunition was nearly expended. 
 
 The fishing failed as the weather became more severe, 
 and was given up on the 5th of November. About 1200 
 white fish, of from two to three Ibs., had been procured 
 during the season. The fish froze as they were taken from 
 the nets, becoming in a short time a solid mass of ice, so 
 that a blow or two of the hatchet would easily split them 
 open, when the intestines might be removed in one lump. 
 If thawed before the fire, even after being frozen for nearly 
 two days, the fish would recover their animation. 
 
 On the 23rd of November, they were gratified by the 
 appearance of one of the Canadian voyageurs who had set 
 out with Mr. Back. His locks were matted with snow, 
 and he was so incrusted with ice from head to foot, that 
 they could scarcely recognise him. He reported that they 
 had had a tedious and fatiguing journey to Fort Provi- 
 dence, and for some days were destitute of provisions. 
 Letters were brought from England to the preceding 
 April, and quickly was the packet thawed to get at the 
 contents. The newspapers conveyed the intelligence of 
 the death of George III. The advices as to the ex- 
 pected stores were disheartening ; of ten bales of 90 Ibs. 
 each, five had been left by some mismanagement at the 
 Grand Rapid on the Sattkatchawan. On the 28th of 
 November, St. Germain the interpreter, with eight Cana- 
 dian voyageurs, and four Indian hunters, were sent off to 
 bring up the stores from Fort Providence. 
 
 On the 10th of December, Franklin managed to get rid of 
 Akaitcho and his Indian party, by representing to them the 
 impossibility of maintaining them. The leader, however, 
 
FRANKLIN'S FIKST LAND EXPEDITION. 35 
 
 left them his aged mother and two female attendants ; and 
 old Keskarrah, the guide, with his wife and daughter, 
 remained behind. This daughter, who was designated 
 *' Green Stockings" from her dress, was considered a great 
 beauty by her tribe, and, although but sixteen, had 
 belonged successively to two husbands, and would pro- 
 bably have been the wife of many more, if her mother had 
 not required her services as a nurse. 
 
 Mr. Hood took a good likeness of the young lady, but 
 her mother was somewhat averse to her sitting for it, 
 fearing that "her daughter's likeness would induce the 
 Great Chief who resided in England to send for the 
 original ! 
 
 The diet of the party in their winter abode consisted 
 almost entirely of rein-deer meat, varied twice a week by 
 fish, and occasionally by a little flour, but they had no 
 vegetables of any kind. On Sunday morning they had a 
 cup of chocolate ; but their greatest luxury was tea, which 
 they regularly had twice a day, although without sugar. 
 Candles were formed of rein-deer fat and strips of cotton 
 shirts ; and Hepburn acquired considerable skill in the 
 manufacture of soap from the wood-ashes, fat, and salt. 
 The stores were anxiously looked for, and it was hoped 
 they would have arrived by New Year's Day (1821), so as 
 to have kept the festival. As it was, they could only 
 receive a little flour and fat, both of which were considered 
 great luxuries. 
 
 On the 15th, seven of the men arrived with two kegs of 
 rum, one barrel of powder, sixty pounds of ball, two rolls 
 of tobacco, and some clothing. 
 
 " They had been twenty-one days on their march from 
 Slave Lake, and the labour they underwent was sufficiently 
 evinced by their sledge collars having worn out the 
 shoulders of their coats. Their loads weighed from sixty 
 to ninety pounds each, exclusive of their bedding and 
 provisions, which at starting must have been at least as 
 much more. We were much rejoiced at their arrival, and 
 proceeded forthwith to pierce the spirit cask, and issue to 
 each of the household the portion of rum which had been 
 promised on the first day of the year. The spirits, which 
 were proof, were frozen ; but after standing at the fire for 
 some time they flowed out, of the consistence of honey. 
 The temperature of the liquid, even in this state, was so 
 low as instantly to convert into ice the moisture which 
 condensed on the surface of the dram-glass. The fingers also 
 adhered to the glass, and would doubtless have been speedily 
 
 D2 
 
3G PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 frozen liad they been kept in contact with, it ; yet each of 
 the voyagers swallowed his dram without experiencing 
 the slightest inconvenience, or complaining of tooth-ache." 
 
 It appeared that the Canadians had tapped the rum- 
 cask on their journey, and helped themselves rather 
 freely. 
 
 On the 27th, Mr. Wentzel and St. Germain arrived, 
 with two Esquimaux interpreters who had been engaged, 
 possessed of euphonious names, representing the belly and 
 the ear, but which had been Anglicised into Augustus and 
 Junius, being the months they had respectively arrived at 
 Port Churchill. The former spoke English. They brought 
 four dogs with them, which proved of great use during 
 the season in drawing in wood for fuel. 
 
 Mr. Back, at this time, the 24th of December, had gone 
 on to Chipewyan to procure stores. On the 12th of 
 February, another party of six men was sent to Fort 
 Providence to bring up the remaining supplies, and 
 these returned on the 5th of March. Many of the caches 
 of meat which had been buried early in the winter were 
 found destroyed by the wolves, and some of these animals 
 prowled nightly about the dwellings, even venturing upon 
 the roof of their kitchen. The rations were reduced from, 
 eight to the short allowance of five ounces of animal food 
 per day. 
 
 On the 17th of March, Mr. Back returned from Fort 
 Chipewyan, after an absence of nearly five months, 
 during which he had performed a journey on foot of more 
 than eleven hundred miles on snow shoes, with only the 
 slight shelter at night of a blanket and deer skin, with the 
 thermometer frequently at 40 and once at 57, and very 
 often passing several days without food. 
 
 Some very interesting traits of generosity on the part 
 of the Indians are recorded by Mr. Back. Often they 
 gave up and would not taste of fish or birds which they 
 caught with the touching remark, " We are accustomed to 
 starvation, and you are not." 
 
 Such passages as the following often occur in his nar- 
 rative "One of our men caught a fish, which, with the 
 assistance of some weed scraped from the rocks (tripe de 
 rocJie) which forms a glutinous substance, made us a tole- 
 rable supper ; it was not of the most choice kind, yet good 
 enough for hungry men. While we were eating it, I 
 perceived one of the women busily employed scraping an 
 old skin, the contents of which her husband presented us 
 with. They consisted of pounded meat, fat, and a greater 
 proportion of Indian's and deer's hair than either, and, 
 
FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 37 
 
 though suck a mixture may not appear very alluring to an 
 English stomach, it was thought a great luxury after three 
 days' privation in these cheerless regions of America." 
 
 To return to the proceedings at Fort Enterprise. . On 
 the 23rd of March, the last of the winter's stock of deer's 
 meat was expended, and the party were compelled to 
 consume a little pounded meat, which had boon saved for 
 making pemmican. The nets scarcely produced any fish, 
 and their meals, which had hitherto been scanty enough, 
 were now restricted to one in the day. 
 
 The poor Indian families about the house, consisting 
 principally of sick and infirm women and children, suffered 
 even more privation. They cleared away the snow on the 
 site of the Autumn encampments to look for bones, deer's 
 feet, bits of hide, and other offal. " When (says Frank- 
 lin) we beheld them gnawing the pieces of hide, and 
 pounding the bones for the purpose of extracting some 
 nourishment from them by boiling, we regretted our 
 inability to relieve them, but little thought that we should 
 ourselves be afterwards driven to the necessity of eagerly 
 collecting these same bones a second time from the dung- 
 kill." 
 
 On the 4tk of June, 1821, a first party set off from tke 
 winter quarters for Point Lake and tke Coppermine River, 
 under tke charge of Dr. Hickardson, consisting, in all, 
 voyageurs and Indians, of twenty -three, exclusive of 
 children. Each of the men carried about 80 Ibs., besides 
 his own personal baggage, weigking nearly as muck more. 
 Some of tke party dragged tkeir loads on sledges, otkers 
 preferred carrying tkeir burden on tkeir backs. On tke 
 I3tk, Dr. llickardson sent back most of tke men ; and on 
 tke 14tk Franklin despatcked Mr. Wentzel and a party 
 witk tke canoes, wkick kad been repaired. Following tke 
 water-course as far as practicable to Winter Lake, Frank- 
 lin followed kimself witk Hepburn, tkree Canadians, two 
 Indian kunters, and tke two Esquimaux, and joined Dr. 
 Kickardson on tke 22nd. On tke 25tk tkey all resumed 
 tkeir journey, and, as tkey proceeded down tke river, 
 were fortunate in killing occasionally several musk oxen. 
 
 On tke 15tk tkey got a distinct view of tke sea from tko 
 summit of a kill ; it appeared ckoked witk ice and full of 
 islands. About tkis time tkey fell in with small parties of 
 Esquimaux. 
 
 On the 19th Mr. Wentzel departed on his return for 
 Slave Lake, taking witk kim four Canadians, wko kad 
 been disckarged for tke purpose of reducing tke expendi- 
 ture of provision as muck as possible, and despatches to 
 
38 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 be forwarded to England. He was also instructed to 
 cause the Indians to deposit a relay of provisions at Fort 
 Enterprise, ready for the party should they return that 
 way. The remainder of the party, including officers, 
 amounted to twenty persons. The distance that had been 
 traversed from Fort Enterprise to the mouth of the river 
 was about 334 miles, and the canoes had to be dragged 
 nearly 120 miles of this. 
 
 Two conspicuous capes were named by Franklin after 
 Hearne and Mackenzie ; and a river which falls into the 
 sea, to the westward of the Coppermine, he called after 
 his companion, Richardson. 
 
 On the 21st of July, Franklin and his party embarked 
 in their two canoes to navigate the Polar Sea to the east- 
 ward, having with them provisions for fifteen days. 
 
 On the 25th they doubled a bluff cape, which was named 
 after Mr. Barrow, of the Admiralty. An opening on its 
 eastern side received the appellation of Inman Harbour, 
 and a group of islands were called after Professor Jameson. 
 Within the next fortnight, additions were made to their 
 stock of food by a few deer and one or two bears, which 
 were shot. Being less fortunate afterwards, and with no 
 prospect of increasing their supply of provision, the daily 
 allowance to each man was limited to a handful of pem- 
 mican and a small portion of portable soup. 
 
 On the morning of the 5th of August they came to the 
 mouth of a river blocked up with shoals, which Franklin 
 named after his friend and companion Back. 
 
 The time spent in exploring Arctic and Melville Sounds 
 and Bathurst Inlet, and the failure of meeting with Esqui- 
 maux from whom provisions could be obtained, precluded 
 any possibility of reaching Repulse Bay, and therefore hav- 
 ing but a day or two's provision left, Franklin considered 
 it prudent to turn back after reaching Point Turnagain, 
 having sailed nearly 600 geographical miles in tracing 
 the deeply indented coast of Coronation Gulf from the 
 Coppermine River. On the 22d Aug. the return voyage was 
 commenced, the boats making for Hood's River by the 
 way of the Arctic Sound, and being taken as far up the 
 stream as possible. On the 31st it was found impossible 
 to proceed with them farther, and smaller canoes were 
 made, suitable for crossing any of the rivers that might 
 obstruct their progress. The weight carried by each man 
 was about 90 Ibs., and with this they progressed at the 
 rate of a mile an hour, including rests. 
 
 On the 5th of September, having nothing to eat, the 
 last piece of pemmican and a little arrow-root having 
 
FRANKLIN S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 39 
 
 formed a scanty supper, and being without the means of 
 making a fire, they remained in bed all day. A severe 
 snow-storm lasted two days, and the snow even drifted 
 into their tents, covering their blankets several inches. 
 " Our suffering (says Franklin) from cold, in a comfort- 
 less canvass tent in such weather, with the temperature at 
 20, and without fire, will easily be imagined; it was, 
 however, less than that which we felt from hunger." 
 
 Weak from fasting and their garments stiffened with the 
 frost, after packing their frozen tents and bedclothes the 
 poor travellers again set out on the 7th. 
 
 After feeding almost exclusively on several species of 
 Gyrophora, a lichen known as tripe de roche, which 
 scarcely allayed the pangs of hunger, on the 10th " they 
 got a good meal by killing a musk ox. To skin and 
 cut up the animal was the work of a few minutes. The 
 contents of its stomach were devoured upon the spot, and 
 the raw intestines, which were next attacked, were pro- 
 nounced by the most delicate amongst us to be excellent." 
 
 Wearied and worn out with toil and suffering, many of 
 the party got careless and indifferent. One of the canoes 
 was broken and abandoned. With an improvidence 
 scarcely to be credited, three of the fishing-nets were 
 also thrown away, and the floats burnt. 
 
 On the 17th they managed to allay the pangs of hunger 
 by eating pieces of singed hide, and a little tripe de 
 roclie. This and some mosses, with an occasional soli- 
 tary partridge, formed their invariable food ; on very 
 many days even this scanty supply could not be obtained, 
 and their appetites became ravenous. 
 
 Occasionally they picked up pieces of skin, and a 
 few bones of deer which had been devoured by the wolves 
 in the previous spring. The bones were rendered friable 
 by burning, and now and then their old shoes were added 
 to the repast. 
 
 On the 26th they reached a bend of the Coppermine, 
 which terminated in Point Lake. The second canoe had 
 been demolished and abandoned by the bearers on the 
 23rd, and they were thus left without any means of water 
 transport across the lakes and river. 
 
 On this day the carcass of a deer was discovered in the 
 cleft of a rock, into which it had fallen in the spring. It 
 was putrid, but little less acceptable to the poor starving 
 travellers on that account ; and a fire being kindled a large 
 portion was devoured on the spot, affording an unexpected 
 breakfast. 
 
 On the 1st of October one of the party, who had been 
 
40 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 out hunting, brought in the antlers and backbone of 
 another deer, which had been killed in the summer. The 
 wolves and birds of prey had picked them clean, but 
 there still remained a quantity of the spinal marrow, 
 which they had not been able to extract. This, although 
 putrid, was esteemed a valuable prize, and the spine being 
 divided into portions was distributed equally. " After 
 eating the marrow (says Franklin), which was so acrid as 
 to excoriate the lips, we rendered the bones friable by 
 burning, and ate them also." 
 
 The strength of the whole party now began to 
 fail, from the privation and fatigue which they endured. 
 Franklin was in a dreadfully debilitated state. Mr. Hood 
 was also reduced to a perfect shadow, from the severe 
 bowel-complaints which the tripe de roclte never failed to 
 give him. Back was so feeble as to require the support of 
 a stick in walking, and Dr. Richardson had lameness 
 superadded to weakness. 
 
 A rude canoe was constructed of willows, covered with 
 canvass, in which the party, one by one, managed to reach 
 in safety the southern bank of the river on the 4th 
 of October, and went supperless to bed. On the follow- 
 ing morning, previous to setting out, the whole party ate 
 the remains of their old shoes, and whatever scraps of 
 leather they had, to strengthen their stomachs for tho 
 fatigue of the day's journey. 
 
 Mr. Hood now broke down, as did two or three more of 
 the party, and Dr. Richardson kindly volunteered to 
 remain with them, while the rest pushed on to Fort 
 Enterprise for succour. Not being able to find any tripe 
 de roche, they drank an infusion of the Labrador tea- 
 plant (Lcdrum palusire, var. decumbens), and ate a few 
 morsels of burnt leather for supper. This continued to 
 be a frequent occurrence. 
 
 Others of the party continued to drop down with 
 fatigue and weakness, until they were reduced to five per- 
 sons, besides Franklin. When they had no food or 
 nourishment of any kind, they crept under their blankets, 
 to drown, if possible, the gnawing pangs of hunger and 
 fatigue by sleep. At length they reached Fort Enter- 
 prise, and to their disappointment and grief found it a 
 perfectly desolate habitation. There was no deposit of 
 provision, no trace of the Indians, no letter from Mr. 
 Wentzel to point out where the Indians might be found. 
 " It would be impossible (sa} T s Franklin) to describe our 
 sensations after entering this miserable abode, and dis- 
 covering how we had been neglected : the whole party 
 
FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 41 
 
 slied tears, not so much for our own fate as for that of our 
 friends in the rear, whose lives depended entirely on our 
 sending immediate relief from this place." A note, how- 
 ever, was found here from Mr. Back, stating that he had 
 reached the house by another route two days before, and 
 was going in search of the Indians. If he was unsuccess- 
 ful in finding them, he purposed walking to Fort Provi- 
 dence, and sending succour from thence, but he doubted 
 whether either he or his party could perform the journey 
 to that place in their present debilitated state. Franklin 
 and his small party now looked round for some means of 
 present subsistence, and fortunately discovered several 
 deer skins, which had been thrown away during their 
 former residence here. The bones were gathered _ from 
 the heap of ashes ; these, with the skins and the addition of 
 tripe de roclie, they considered would support life tolerably 
 well for a short time. The bones were quite acrid, and 
 the soup extracted from them, quite putrid, excoriated the 
 mouth if taken alone, but it was somewhat milder when 
 boiled with the lichen, and the mixture was even deemed 
 palatable with a little salt, of which a cask had been left 
 here in the spring. They procured fuel by pulling up the 
 flooring of the rooms, and water for cooking by melting 
 the snow. 
 
 Augustus arrived safe after them, just as they were 
 sitting round the fire eating their supper of singed skin. 
 
 Late on the 13th, Belanger also reached the house, with 
 a note from Mr. Back, stating that he had yet found no 
 trace of the Indians. The poor messenger was almost 
 speechless, being covered with ice and nearly frozen to 
 death, having fallen into a rapid, and for the third time 
 since the party left the coast narrowly escaped drowning. 
 After being well rubbed, having had his dress changed, 
 and some warm soup given him, he recovered sufficiently 
 to answer the questions put to him. 
 
 Under the impression that the Indians must be on their 
 way to Fort Providence, and that it would be possible to 
 overtake them, as they usually travelled slowly with ftieir 
 families, and there being likewise a prospect of killing 
 deer about Reindeer Lake, where they had been usually 
 found abundant, Franklin determined to take the route 
 for that post, and sent word to Mr. Back by Belanger to 
 that effect on the 18th. 
 
 On the 20th Oct. Franklin set out in company with Benoit 
 and Augustus to seek relief, having patched three pairs of 
 snow shoes, and taken some singed skin for their support. 
 Peltier and Samandre had volunteered to remain at the 
 
42 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 house with Adam, who was too ill to proceed. They were 
 so feeble as scarcely to be able to move. Augustus, the 
 Esquimaux, tried for fish, without success, so that their 
 only fare was skin and tea. At night, composing them- 
 selves to rest, they lay close to each other for warmth, but 
 found the night bitterly cold, and the wind pierced through 
 their famished frames. 
 
 On resuming the journey next morning, Franklin had 
 the misfortune to break his snow-shoes, by falling between 
 two rocks. This accident prevented him from keeping 
 pace with the others, and in the attempt he became quite 
 exhausted ; unwilling to delay their progress, as the 
 safety of all behind depended on their obtaining early 
 assistance and immediate supplies, Franklin resolved to 
 turn back, while the others pushed on to meet Mr. Back, 
 or, missing him, they were directed to proceed to Fort Pro- 
 vidence. Franklin found the two Canadians he had left at 
 the house dreadfully weak and reduced, and so low-spirited 
 that he had great difficulty in rallying them to any exertion. 
 As the insides of their mouths had become sore from 
 eating the bone-soup, they now relinquished the use of it, 
 and boiled the skin, which mode of dressing was found 
 more palatable than frying it. They had pulled down 
 nearly all their dwelling for fuel, to warm themselves and 
 cook their scanty meals. The tripe de roche, on which 
 they had depended, now became entirely frozen ; and 
 what was more tantalizing to their perishing frames, was 
 the sight of food within reach, which they could not pro- 
 cure. " We saw (says Franklin) a herd of rein-deer 
 sporting on the river, about half a mile from the house ; 
 they remained there a long time, but none of the party 
 felt themselves strong enough to go after them, nor was 
 
 there one of us who could have fired a gun without rest- 
 
 i 
 ing it. 
 
 Whilst they were seated round the fire this evening, 
 discoursing about the anticipated relief, the sound of voices 
 was heard, which was thought with joy to be that of the 
 Indians, but, to their bitter disappointment, the debilitated 
 frames and emaciated countenances of Dr. Richardson and 
 Hepburn presented themselves at the door. They were 
 of course gladly received, although each marked the 
 ravages which famine, care, and fatigue had made on the 
 other. The Doctor particularly remarked the sepulchral 
 tone of the voices of his friends, which he requested them 
 to make more cheerful if possible, unconscious that his 
 own partook of the same key. 
 
 Hepburn having shot a partridge, which was brought to 
 
FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION 43 
 
 the house, Dr. Bichardson tore out the feathers, and 
 having held it to the fire a few minutes, divided it into six 
 portions. Franklin and his three companions ravenously 
 devoured their shares, as it was the first morsel of flesh any 
 of them had tasted for thirty-one days, unless, indeed, 
 the small gristly particles which they found adhering to 
 the pounded bones may be termed flesh. Their spirits 
 were revived by this small supply, and the Doctor endea- 
 voured to raise them still higher by the prospect of Hep- 
 burn's being able to kill a deer next day, as they had seen, 
 and even fired at, several near the house. He endeavoured, 
 too, to rouse them into some attention to the comfort of 
 their apartment. Having brought his Prayer-book and 
 Testament, some prayers, psalms, and portions of scrip- 
 ture, appropriate to their situation, were read out by Dr. 
 Richardson, and they retired to their blankets. 
 
 Early next morning, the Doctor and Hepburn went 
 out in search of game ; but though they saw several 
 herds of deer, and fired some shots, they were not so for- 
 tunate as to kill any, being too weak to hold their guns 
 steadily. The cold compelled the former to return soon, 
 but Hepburn perseveringly persisted until late in the 
 evening. 
 
 " My occupation (continues Franklin) was to search for 
 skins under the snow, it being now our object immediately 
 to get all that we could ; but I had not strength to drag in 
 more than two of those which were within twenty yards of 
 the house, until the Doctor came and assisted me. We 
 made up our stock to twenty-six; but several of them 
 were putrid, and scarcely eatable, even by men suffering 
 the extremity of famine. Peltier and Samandre continued 
 very weak and dispirited, and they were unable to cut 
 firewood. Hepburn had, in consequence, that laborious 
 task to perform after he came back late from hunting." 
 To the exertions, honesty, kindness, and consideration of 
 this worthy man, the safety of most of the party is to be 
 attributed. And I may here mention that Sir John, 
 Franklin, when he became governor of Van Diemen's Land, 
 obtained for him a good civil appointment. This deserv- 
 ing man, I am informed by Mr. Barrow, is now in Eng- 
 land, having lost his office, which, I believe, has been 
 abolished. It is to be hoped something will be done for 
 him by the government. 
 
 After their usual supper of singed skin and bone soup, 
 Dr. Bichardson acquainted Franklin with the events that 
 had transpired since their parting, particularly with the 
 afflicting circumstances attending the death of Mr. Hood, 
 
44 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 and Michel, the Iroquois ; the particulars of which I shall 
 now proceed to condense from his narrative. 
 
 After Captain Franklin had bidden them farewell, having 
 no tripe de rocJie they drank an infusion of the country 
 tea plant, which was grateful from its warmth, although it 
 afforded no sustenance. They then retired to bed, and 
 kept to their blankets all next day, as the snow drift 
 was so heavy as to prevent their lighting a fire with the 
 green and frozen willows, which were their only fuel. 
 
 Through the extreme kindness and forethought of a 
 lady, the party, previous to leaving London, had been 
 furnished witli a small collection of religious books, of 
 which (says Richardson) we still retained two or three of 
 the most portable, and they proved of incalculable benefit 
 to us. 
 
 We read portions of them to each other as we lay in 
 bed, in addition to the morning and evening service, and 
 found that they inspired us on each perusal with so strong 
 a sense of the Omnipresence of a beneficent God, that our 
 situation, even in these wilds, appeared no longer destitute; 
 and we conversed not only with calmness, but with cheer- 
 fulness, detailing with unrestrained confidence the past 
 events of our lives, and dwelling with hope on our future 
 prospects." How beautiful a picture have we here repre- 
 sented, of true piety and resignation to the Divine Will 
 inducing patience and submission under an unexampled 
 load of misery and privation. 
 
 Michel the Iroquois joined them on the 9th Oct., having, 
 there is strong reason to believe, murdered two of the 
 Canadians who were with him, Jean Eaptiste Belanger and 
 Perrault, as they were never seen afterwards, and he gave 
 so many rambling and contradictory statements of his 
 proceedings, that no credit could be attached to his story. 
 
 The travellers proceeded on their tedious journey by 
 slow stages. Mr. Hood was much affected with dimness 
 of sight, giddiness, and other symptoms of extreme debi- 
 lity, which caused them to move slowly and to make fre- 
 quent halts. Michel absented himself all day of the 10th, 
 and only arrived at their encampment near the pines late 
 on the llth. 
 
 He reported that he had been in chase of some deer 
 which passed near his sleeping place in the morning, and 
 although he did not come up with them, yet that he found 
 a wolf which had been killed by the stroke of a deer's 
 horn, and had brought a part of it. 
 
 Eichardson adds "We implicitly believed this story 
 then, but afterwards became aware from circumstances, 
 
FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 45 
 
 the details of which may be spared that it must have 
 been a portion of the body of Belanger or Perrault. A 
 question of moment here presents itself namely, whether 
 he actually murdered these men, or either of them, or 
 whether he found the bodies in the snow. Captain 
 Franklin, who is the best able to judge of this matter, 
 from knowing their situation when he parted from them, 
 suggested the former idea, and that both these men had 
 been sacrificed; that Michel, having already destroyed 
 Belanger, completed his crime by Perrault's death, in 
 order to screen himself from detection." 
 
 Although this opinion is founded only on circumstances, 
 and is unsupported by direct evidence, it has been judged 
 proper to mention it, especially as the subsequent conduct 
 of the man showed that he was capable of committing such 
 a deed. It is not easy to assign any other adequate mo- 
 tive for his concealing from Richardson that Perrault had 
 turned back; while his request, over-night, that they would 
 leave him the hatchet, and his cumbering himself with it 
 when he went out in the morning, unlike a hunter, who 
 makes use only of his knife when he kills a deer, seem to 
 indicate that he took it for the purpose of cutting up some- 
 thing that he knew to be frozen. 
 
 Michel left them early next day, refusing Dr. Richard- 
 son's offer to accompany him, and remained out all day. 
 He would not sleep in the tent with the other two at night. 
 On the 13th, there being a heavy gale, they passed the day 
 by their fire, without food. Next day, at noon, Michel 
 set out, as he said, to hunt, but returned unexpectedly in 
 a short time. This conduct surprised his companions, and 
 his contradictory and evasive answers to their questions 
 excited their suspicions still further. He subsequently re- 
 fused either to hunt or cut wood, spoke in a very surly 
 manner, and threatened to leave them. When reasoned 
 with by Mr. Hood, his anger was excited, and he replied 
 it was no use hunting there were no animals, and they had 
 better kill and eat him. 
 
 " At this period," observes Dr. Richardson, " we avoided 
 as much as possible conversing upon the hopelessness of 
 our situation, and generally endeavoured to lead the con- 
 versation towards our future prospects in life. The fact is, 
 that with the decay of our strength, our minds decayed, 
 and we were no longer able to bear the contemplation of 
 the horrors that surrounded us. Yet we were cairn and 
 resigned to our fate; not a murmur escaped us, and we 
 were punctual and fervent in our addresses to the Supremo 
 Being." 
 
46 PROGEESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERT. 
 
 On tlie morning of the 20th, they again urged Michel 
 to go a-hunting, that he might, if possible, leave them 
 some provision, as he intended quitting them next day, 
 but he showed great unwillingness to go out, and lingered 
 about the fire under the pretence of cleaning his gun. 
 After the morning service had been read, Dr. Eichardson 
 went out to gather some tripe de rocke, leaving Mr. 
 Hood sitting before the tent at the fireside, arguing with 
 Michel; Hepburn was employed cutting fire-wood. While 
 they were thus engaged, the treacherous Iroquois took the 
 opportunity to place his gun close to Mr. Hood, and shoot 
 him through the head. He represented to his companions 
 that the deceased had killed himself. On examination of 
 the body, it was found that the shot had entered the back 
 part of the head and passed out at the forehead, and that 
 the muzzle of the gun had been applied so close as to set 
 fire to the nightcap behind. Michel protested his inno- 
 cence of the crime, and Hepburn and Dr. Eichardson 
 dared not openly to evince their suspicion of his guilt. 
 
 Next day, Dr. Eichardson determined on going straight 
 to the Port. They singed the hair off a part of the buffalo 
 robe that belonged to their ill-fated companion, and boiled 
 and ate it. In the course of their march, Michel alarmed 
 them much by his gestures and conduct, was constantly 
 muttering to himself, expressed an unwillingness to go 
 to the Fort, and tried to persuade them to go south- 
 ward to the woods, where he said he could maintain 
 himself all the winter by killing deer. " In consequence of 
 this behaviour, and the expression of his countenance, I 
 requested him (says Eichardson) to leave us, and to go to 
 the southward by himself. This proposal increased his ill- 
 nature ; he threw out some obscure hints of freeing him- 
 self from all restraint on the morrow ; and I overheard 
 him muttering threats against Hepburn, whom he openly 
 accused of having told stories against him. He also, for 
 the first time, assumed such a tone of superiority in 
 addressing me, as evinced that he considered us to be 
 completely in his power ; and he gave vent to several ex- 
 pressions of hatred towards the white people, some of 
 whom, he said, had killed and eaten his uncle and two of 
 his relations. In short, taking every circumstance of his 
 conduct into consideration, I came to the conclusion that 
 he would attempt to destroy us on the first opportunity 
 that offered, and that he had hitherto abstained from doing 
 so from his ignorance of his way to the Fort, but that he 
 would never suffer us to go thither in company with him. 
 Hepburn and I were not in a condition to resist even an 
 
FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 47 
 
 open attack, nor could we by any device escape from him 
 our united strength, was far inferior to his; and, beside 
 his gun, he was armed with two pistols, an Indian bayonet, 
 and a knife. 
 
 " In the afternoon, coming to a rock on which there was 
 some tripe de roche, he halted, and said he would gather it 
 whilst we went on, and that he would soon overtake us. 
 
 "Hepburn and I were now left together for the first time 
 since Mr. Hood's death, and he acquainted me with several 
 material circumstances, which he had observed of Michel's 
 behaviour, and which confirmed me in the opinion that 
 there was no safety for us except in his death, and he 
 offered to be the instrument of it. I determined, how- 
 ever, as I was thoroughly convinced of the necessity of 
 such a dreadful act, to take the whole responsibility upon 
 myself; and immediately upon Michel's coming up, I put 
 an end to his life by shooting him through the head with 
 a pistol. Had my own life alone been threatened (observes 
 [Richardson, in conclusion), I would not have purchased it 
 by such a measure, but I considered myself as entrusted 
 also with the protection of Hepburn's, a man who, by his 
 humane attentions and devotedness, had so endeared 
 himself to me, that I felt more anxiety for his safety than 
 for my own. 
 
 " Michel had gathered no tripe de roclie, and it was evi- 
 dent to us that he had halted for the purpose of putting 
 his gun in order with the intention of attacking us perhaps 
 whilst we were in the act of encamping." 
 
 Persevering onward in their journey as well as the snow- 
 storms and their feeble limbs would permit, they saw several 
 herds of deer, but Hepburn, who used to be a good marks- 
 man, was now unable to hold the gun straight. Following 
 the track of a wolverine which had been dragging something, 
 he however found the spine of a deer which it had dropped. 
 It was clean picked, and at least one season old, but they 
 extracted the spinal marrow from it. 
 
 A species of cornicularia, a kind of lichen, was also met 
 with, that was found good to eat when moistened and 
 toasted over the fire. They had still some pieces of 
 singed buffalo-hide remaining, and Hepburn, on one 
 occasion, killed a partridge, after firing several times at a 
 flock. About dusk of the 29th they reached the Fort. 
 
 " Upon entering the desolate dwelling, we had the satis- 
 faction of embracing Captain Franklin, but no words can 
 convey an idea of the filth and wretchedness that met our 
 eyes on looking around. Our own misery had stolen upon 
 us by degrees, and we were accustomed to the contempla- 
 
48 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 tion of each, other's emaciated figures ; but the ghastly 
 countenances, dilated eye-balls, and sepulchral voices of 
 Captain Franklin and those with him were more than wo 
 could at first bear." 
 
 Thus ends the narrative of Richardson's journey. 
 
 To resume the detail of proceedings at the Fort. On 
 the 1st of November two of the Canadians, Peltier and 
 Samandre, died from sheer exhaustion. 
 
 On the 7th of November they were relieved from their 
 privations and sufferings by the arrival of three Indians, 
 bringing a supply of dried meat, some fat, and a few 
 tongues, which had been sent off by Back with all haste 
 from Akaitcho's encampment on the 5th. These Indians 
 nursed and attended them with the greatest care, cleansed 
 the house, collected fire-wood, and studied every means 
 for their general comfort. Their sufferings were now at an 
 end. On the 26th of November they arrived at the 
 encampment of the Indian chief, Akaitcho. On the 6th. 
 of December, Belanger and another Canadian arrived, 
 bringing further supplies, and letters from England, from 
 Mr. Back, and their former companion, Mr. Wentzel. 
 
 The despatches from England announced the successful 
 termination of Captain Parry's voyage, and the promotion 
 of Captain Franklin, Mr. Back, and of poor Mr. Hood. 
 
 On the 18th they reached the Hudson's Bay Company's 
 establishment at Moose Deer Island, where they joined 
 their friend Mr. Back. They remained at Fort Chipewyan. 
 until June of the following year. 
 
 It is now necessary to relate the story of Mr. Back's 
 journey, which, like the rest, is a sad tale of suffering and 
 privation. 
 
 Having been directed on the 4th of October, 1821, to 
 proceed with St. Germain, Belanger, and Beauparlant to 
 Fort Enterprise, in the hopes of obtaining relief for the 
 party, he set out. Up to the 7th they met with a little 
 tripe dc roche, but this failing them they were compelled 
 to satisfy, or rather allay, the cravings of hunger, by eating 
 a gun-cover and a pair of old shoes. The grievous dis- 
 appointment experienced on arriving at the house, and 
 finding it a deserted ruin, cannot be told. 
 
 "Without the assistance of the Indians, bereft of every 
 resource, we felt ourselves (says Mr. Back) reduced to 
 the most miserable state, which was rendered still worse 
 from the recollection that our friends in the rear were as 
 miserable as ourselves. For the moment, however, 
 hunger prevailed, and each began to gnaw the scraps of 
 putrid and frozen meat and skin that were lying about, 
 without waiting to prepare them." A fire was, however, 
 
FRANKLINS FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 49 
 
 afterwards made, and the neck and bones of a deer 
 found in the house were boiled and devoured. 
 
 After resting a day at the house, Mr. Back pushed on 
 with his companions in search of the Indians, leaving a 
 note for Captain Franklin, informing him if he failed in 
 meeting with the Indians, he intended to push on for the 
 first trading establishment distant about 130 miles and 
 send us succour from thence. On the llth he set out on 
 the journey, a few old skins having been first collected to 
 serve as food. 
 
 On the 13th and 14th of October they had nothing what- 
 ever to eat. Belanger was sent off with a note to Franklin. 
 On the 15th they were fortunate enough to fall in with a 
 partridge, the bones of which were eaten, and the remain- 
 der reserved for bait to fish with. Enough tripe de roche 
 was, however, gathered to make a meal. Beauparlant 
 now lingered behind, worn out by extreme weakness. On 
 the 17th a number of crows, perched on some high pines, 
 led them to believe that some carrion was near ; and 
 on searching, several heads of deer, half buried in the 
 snow and ice, without eyes or tongues, were found. An 
 expression of " Oh, merciful God, we are saved," broke 
 from them both, and with feelings more easily imagined 
 than described, they shook hands, not knowing what to 
 say for joy. 
 
 St. Germain was sent back to bring up Beauparlant, 
 for whose safety Back became very anxious, but he found 
 the poor fellow frozen to death. 
 
 The night of the 17th was cold and clear, but they 
 could get no sleep. " From the pains of having eaten, 
 we suffered (observes Back) the most excruciating tor- 
 ments, though I in particular did not eat a quarter of 
 what would have satisfied me ; it might have been from 
 having eaten a quantity of raw or frozen sinews of the legs of 
 deer, which neither of us could avoid doing, so great was 
 our hunger." 
 
 On the following day Belanger returned famishing with 
 hunger, and told of the pitiable state of Franklin and his 
 reduced party. Back, both this day and the next, tried to 
 urge on his companions towards the object of their 
 journey, but he could not conquer their stubborn deter- 
 minations. They said they were unable to proceed from 
 weakness; knew not the way; that Back wanted to expose 
 them again to death, and in fact loitered greedily about 
 the remnants of the deer till the end of the month. " It 
 was not without the greatest difficulty that I could restrain 
 the men from eating every scrap they found: though they 
 
 E 
 
50 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 were well aware of the necessity there was of being eco- 
 nomical in our present situation, and to save whatever 
 they could for our journey, yet they could not resist the 
 temptation; and whenever my back was turned they seldom 
 failed to snatch at the nearest piece to them, whether cooked 
 or raw. Having collected with great care, and by self- 
 denial, two small packets of dried meat or sinews sufficient 
 (for men who knew what it was to fast) to last for eight 
 days, at the rate of one indifferent meal per day, they set 
 out on the 30th. On the 3rd of November they came on 
 the track of Indians, and soon reached the tents of 
 Akaitcho and his followers, when food was obtained, and 
 assistance sent off to Franklin. 
 
 In July they reached York Factory, from whence they 
 had startedthree yearsbefore,and thus terminated a journey 
 of 5550 miles, during which human courage and patience 
 were exposed to trials such as few can bear with fortitude, 
 unless, as is seen in Franklin's interesting narrative, arising 
 out of reliance on the ever- sustaining care of an Almighty 
 Providence. 
 
 PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE, 18191820. 
 
 THE Admiralty having determined to continue the pro- 
 gress of discovery in the Arctic seas, Lieut. W. E. Parry, 
 who had been second in command under Capt. Boss, in 
 the voyage of the previous year, was selected to take 
 charge of" a new expedition, consisting of the Hecla and 
 Griper. The chief object of this voyage was to pursue 
 the survey of Lancaster Sound, and decide on the proba- 
 bility of a north-west passage in that direction; failing in 
 which, Smith's and Jones's Sounds were to be explored, 
 with the same purpose in view. 
 
 The respective officers appointed to the ships, were 
 
 Hecla, 375 tons : 
 
 Lieut, and Commander W. E. Parry. 
 
 Lieutenant Fred. W. Beechey. 
 
 Captain E. Sabine, R.A., Astronomer. 
 
 Purser W. H. Hooper. 
 
 Surgeon John Edwards. 
 
 Assistant- Surgeon Alexander Fisher. 
 
 Midshipmen James Clarke Ross, J. Nias, W. J. Dealy, 
 
 Charles Palmer, John Bushnan. 
 Greenland Pilots J. Allison, master; G. Crawfurd, 
 
 mate. 
 44 Petty Officers, Seamen, &c. 
 
 Total complement, 58. 
 
PAERY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 51 
 
 Griper, 180 tons : 
 
 Lieut, and Commander Matthew Liddon. 
 
 Lieutenant H. P. Hoppner. 
 
 Assistant- Surgeon C. J. Beverley. 
 
 Midshipmen A. Eeid, A. M. Skene, W. N. Griffiths. 
 
 Greenland Pilots George Fyfe, master; A. Elder, 
 
 mate. 
 28 Petty Officers, Seamen, &c. 
 
 Total complement, 36. 
 
 The ships were raised upon, strengthened, and well 
 found in stores and provisions for two years. On the 
 llth of May, 1819, they got away from the Thames, and 
 after a fair passage fell in with a considerable quantity of 
 ice in the middle of Davis Straits about the 20th of June ; 
 it consisted chiefly of fragments of icebergs, on the out- 
 skirts of the glaciers that form along the shore. After a 
 tedious passage through the floes of ice, effected chiefly by 
 heaving and warping, they arrived at Possession Bay on 
 the morning of the 31st of July, being just a month earlier 
 than they were here on the previous year. As many as fifty 
 whales were seen here in the course of a few hours. On 
 landing, they were not a little astonished to find their own 
 footprints of the previous year still distinctly visible in 
 the snow. During an excursion of three or four miles into 
 the interior, a fox, a raven, several ring-plovers and snow- 
 buntings, were seen, as also a bee, from which it may be 
 inferred that honey is to be procured even in these wild 
 regions. Vegetation flourishes remarkably well here, con- 
 sidering the high latitude, for wherever there was moisture 
 tufts and various ground plants grew in considerable 
 abundance. 
 
 Proceeding on from hence into the Sound, they verified 
 the opinion which had previously been entertained by 
 many of the officers, that the Croker Mountains had no 
 existence, for on the 4th of August the ships were in 
 long. 86 56' W., three degrees to the westward of where 
 land had been laid down by Eoss in the previous year. 
 The strait was named after Sir John Barrow, and was 
 found to be pretty clear ; but on reaching Leopold Island, 
 the ice extended in a compact body to the north, through 
 which it was impossible to penetrate. Eather than remain 
 inactive, waiting for the dissolution of the ice, Parry- 
 determined to try what could be done by shaping his 
 course to the southward, through the magnificent inlet 
 now named Eegent Inlet. About the 6th of August, in 
 
 K 9, 
 
52 PEOGKESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVEIlY. 
 
 consequence of the local attraction, the ordinary com- 
 passes became useless from their great variation, and the 
 binnacles were removed from tho deck to the carpenter's 
 store-room as useless lumber, the azimuth compasses 
 alone remaining ; and these became so sluggish in their 
 motions, that they required to be very nicely levelled, 
 and frequently tapped before the card traversed. The 
 local attraction was very great, and a mass of iron-stone 
 found on shore attracted the magnet powerfully. The 
 ships proceeded 120 miles from the entrance. 
 
 On the 8fch^ of August, in lat. 72 13' K, and long. 
 90 29' W., (his extreme point of view Parry named Capo 
 Kater), the Hccla came to a compact barrier of ice extend- 
 ing across the inlet, which rendered one of two alternatives 
 necessary, either to remain here until an opening took 
 place, or to return again to the 'northward. The latter 
 course was determined on. Making, therefore, for the 
 northern shore of Barrow's Strait, on the 20th a narrow 
 channel was discovered between the ice and the land. On tho 
 22nd, proceeding due west, after passing several bays and 
 headlands, they noticed two large openings or passages, 
 the first of which, more than eight leagues in width, he 
 named Wellington Channel. To various capes, inlets, and 
 groups of islands passed, Parry assigned the names of 
 Hotham, Barlow, Cornwallis, Bowen, Byam Martin, 
 Griffith, Lowther, Bathurst, &c. On the 28th a boat was 
 sent on shore at Byam Martin Island with Capt. Sabine, 
 Mr. J. C. Koss, and the surgeons, to make observations, 
 and collect specimens of natural history. The vegetation 
 was rather luxuriant for these regions; moss in particular 
 grew in abundance in the moist valleys and along the 
 banks of the streams that flowed from the hills. The 
 ruins of six Esquimaux huts were observed. Tracks of 
 rein-deer, bears, and musk oxen were noticed, and the 
 skeletons, skulls, and horns of some of these animals were 
 found. 
 
 On the 1st of September, they discovered the large and 
 fine island, to which Parry has given the name of Melville 
 Island after the First Lord of the Admiralty of that day. 
 On the following day, two boats with a party of officers 
 were despatched to examine its shores. Some rein-deer 
 a,nd musk oxen were seen on landing, but being startled 
 by the sight of a dog, it was found impossible to get near 
 them. There seemed here to be a great quantity of the 
 animal tribe, for the tracks of bears, oxen, and deer were 
 numerous, and the horns, skin, and skulls were also found. 
 
PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 53 
 
 The burrows of foxes and field-mice were observed ; 
 several ptarmigan were snot, and flocks of snow-bunting, 
 geese, and ducks, were noticed, probably commencing 
 their migration to a milder climate. Along the beach 
 there was an immense number of small shrimps, and 
 various kinds of shells. 
 
 On the 4th of September, Parry had the satisfaction of 
 crossing the meridian of 110 W. in the latitude of 74 
 44' 20", by which the expedition became entitled to the 
 reward of 5000Z., granted by an order in Council upon the 
 Act 58 Geo. III., cap. 20, entitled " An Act for more 
 effectually discovering the longitude at sea, and encou- 
 raging attempts to find a northern passage between the 
 Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and to approach the North 
 Pole." This fact was not announced to the crews until 
 the following day ; to celebrate the event they gave to 
 a bold cape of the island then in sight the name of 
 [Bounty Cape ; and so anxious were they now to press for- 
 wardjthat they began to calculate the time when they should 
 reach the longitude of 130 W., the second place specified 
 by the order in Council for reward. On the afternoon of 
 the 5th, the compactness of the ice stopped them, and 
 therefore, for the first time since leaving England, the 
 anchor was let go, and that in 110 "W. longitude. 
 
 A boat was sent on shore on the 6th to procure turf or 
 peat for fuel, and, strangely enough, some small pieces of 
 tolerably good coal were found in various places scattered 
 over the surface. A party of officers that went on shore 
 on the 8th killed several grouse on the island, and a 
 white hare ; a fox, some field mice, several snow-bunting, a 
 snowy owl, and four musk oxen were seen. Ducks, in 
 small flocks, were seen along the shore, as well as several 
 glaucous gulls and tern ; and a solitary seal was observed. 
 
 As the ships were coasting along on the 7th, two herds 
 of musk oxen were seen grazing, at the distance of about 
 three-quarters of a mile from the beach : one herd con- 
 sisted of nine, and the other of five of these cattle. They 
 had also a distant view of two rein-deer. 
 
 The average weight of the hares here is about eight 
 pounds. Mr. Fisher the surgeon, from whose interesting 
 journal I quote, states that it is very evident that this 
 island must be frequented, if not constantly inhabited, by 
 musk oxen in great numbers, for their bones and horns 
 are found scattered about in all directions, and the greatest 
 part of the carcase of one was discovered on one occasion. 
 The skulls of two carnivorous animals, a wolf and a lynx, 
 
54 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 were also picked up here. A party sent to gather coals 
 brought on board about half a bushel all they could 
 obtain. 
 
 On the morning of the 10th, Mr. George Fyfe, the master 
 pilot, with a party of six men belonging to the Griper, 
 landed with a view of making an exploring trip of some 
 fifteen or twenty miles into the interior. They only took 
 provisions for a day with them. Great uneasiness was 
 felt that they did not return ; and when two days elapsed, 
 fears began to be entertained for their safety, and it was 
 thought they must have lost their way. 
 
 Messrs. Reid (midshipman), Beverley (assistant-sur- 
 geon), and Wakeham (clerk), volunteered to go in search 
 of their missing messmates, but themselves lost their 
 ^ray ; guided by the rockets, fires, and lights exhibited, 
 they returned by ten at night, almost exhausted with cold 
 and fatigue, but without intelligence of their friends. 
 Four relief parties were therefore organized, and sent out 
 on the morning of the 13th to prosecute the search, and 
 one of them fell in with and brought back four of the wan- 
 derers, and another the remaining three- before nightfall. 
 
 The feet of most of them were much frost-bitten, and 
 they were all wearied and worn out with their wanderings. 
 It appears they had lost their way the evening of the day 
 they went out. With regard to food, they were by no 
 means badly off, for they managed to kill as many grouse 
 as they could eat. 
 
 They found fertile valleys and level plains in the interior, 
 abounding with grass and moss ; also a lake of fresh water, 
 about two miles long by one broad, in which were several 
 species of trout. They saw several herds of rein-deer on 
 the plains, and two elk; also many hares, but no musk 
 oxen. Some of those, however, who had been in search 
 of the stray party, noticed herds of these cattle. 
 
 The winter now began to set in, and the packed ice was 
 so thick, that fears were entertained of being locked up in 
 an exposed position on the coast ; it was, therefore, thought 
 most prudent to put back, and endeavour to recsh tho 
 harbour which had been passed some days before. The 
 vessels now got seriously buffeted among the floes and 
 hummocks of ice. The Griper was forced aground on the 
 beach, and for some time was in a very critical position. 
 Lieutenant Liddon having been confined to his cabin by 
 a rheumatic complaint, was pressed at this juncture by 
 Commander Parry to allow himself to be removed to the 
 Hecla, but he nobly refused, stating that he should be the 
 
PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 55 
 
 last to leave the ship, and continued giving orders. The 
 beach being sand, the Griper was got off without injury. 
 
 On the 23rd of September they anchored off the mouth 
 of the harbour, and the thermometer now fell to 1. The 
 crew were set to work to cut a channel through the ice to 
 the shore, and in the course of three days, a canal, two and a 
 half miles in length, was completed, through which the vessel 
 was tracked. The ice was eight or nine inches thick. An 
 extra allowance of preserved meat was served out to the 
 men, in consideration of their hard labour. The vessels 
 were unrigged, and everything made snug and secure for 
 passing the winter. Captain Parry gave the name of the 
 North Georgian Islands to this group, after his Majesty, 
 King George III., but this has since been changed to the 
 Parry Islands. 
 
 Two reindeer were killed on the 1st of October, and 
 several white bears were seen. On the 6th a deer was 
 killed, which weighed 170 pounds. Seven were seen on 
 the 10th, one of which was killed, and another severely 
 wounded. Following after this animal, night overtook 
 several of the sportsmen, and the usual signals of rockets, 
 lights, &c. were exhibited, to guide them back. One, John 
 Pearson, a marine, had his hands so frost-bitten that he 
 was obliged, on the 2nd of November, to have the four 
 fingers of his left hand amputated. A wolf and four rein- 
 deer were seen on the 14th. A herd of fifteen deer were 
 seen on the 15th ; but those who saw them could not bring 
 down any, as their fowling-pieces missed fire, from the 
 moisture freezing on the locks. On the 17th and 18th 
 herds of eleven and twenty respectively, were seen, and a 
 small one was shot. A fox was caught on the 29th, which 
 is described as equally cunning with his brethren of the 
 temperate regions. 
 
 To make the long winter pass as cheerfully as possible, 
 plays were acted, a school established, and a newspaper 
 set on foot, certainly the first periodical publication that 
 had ever issued from the Arctic regions. The title of this 
 journal, the editorial duties of which were undertaken by 
 Captain Sabine, was " The Winter Chronicle, or New 
 Georgia Gazette." The first number appeared on the 1st 
 of November. 
 
 On the evening of the 5th of November the farce of 
 " Miss in her Teens" was brought out, to the great 
 amusement of the ships' companies, and, considering the 
 local difficulties and disadvantages under which the per- 
 formers laboured, their first essay, according to the officers' 
 
56 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 report, did them infinite credit. Two hours were spent 
 very happily in their theatre on the quarter-deck, notwith- 
 standing the thermometer outside the ship stood at zero, 
 and within as low as the freezing point, except close to 
 the stoves, where it was a little higher. Another play was 
 performed on the 24th, and so on every fortnight. The 
 men were employed during the day in banking up the 
 ships with sn6w. 
 
 On the 23rd of December, the officers performed " The 
 Mayor of Garratt," which was followed by an after-piece, 
 written by Captain Parry, entitled the " North- West Pas- 
 sage, or the Voyage Finished." The sun having long 
 since departed, the twilight at noon was so clear that 
 books in the smallest print could be distinctly read. 
 
 On the 6th of January, the farce of " Bon Ton" was 
 performed, with the thermometer at 27 below zero. The 
 cold became more and more intense. On the 12th it was 
 51 below zero, in the open air; brandy froze to the 
 consistency of honey ; when tasted in this state it .left 
 a smarting on the tongue. The greatest cold experienced 
 was on the 14th January, when the thermometer fell to 
 54 below zero. On the 3rd of February, the sun was first 
 visible above the horizon, after eighty-lour days' absence. 
 It was seen from the maintop of the ships, a height of 
 about fifty-one feet above the sea. 
 
 On the forenoon of the 24th a fire broke out at the 
 storehouse, which was used as an observatory. All 
 hands proceeded to the spot to endeavour to subdue the 
 flames, but having only snow to throw on it, and the mats 
 with which the interior was lined being very dry, it was 
 found impossible to extinguish it. The snow, however, 
 covered the astronomical instruments and secured them 
 from the fire, and when the roof had been pulled down 
 the fire had burned itself out. Considerable as the fire 
 was, its influence or heat extended but a very short 
 distance, for several of the officers and men were 
 frost-bitten, and confined from their efforts for several 
 weeks. John Smith, of the Artillery, who was Captain 
 Sabine's servant, and who, together with Sergeant 
 Martin, happened to be in the house at the time the fire 
 broke out, suffered much more severely. In their anxiety 
 to save the dipping needle, which was standing close to 
 the stove, and of which they knew the value, they imme- 
 diately ran out with it ; and Smith not having time to put 
 on his gloves, had his fingers in half an hour so benumbed, 
 and the animation so completely suspended, that on his 
 being taken 011 board by Mr. Edwards, and having his 
 
PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE, 57 
 
 Land?, plunged into a basin of cold water, tlie surface of 
 the water was immediately frozen by the intense cold 
 thus suddenly communicated to it ; and notwithstanding 
 the most humane and unremitting attention paid him. 
 by the medical gentlemen, it was found necessary, some 
 time after, to resort to the amputation of a part of four 
 finders on one hand, and three on the other. 
 
 Parry adds, " the appearance which our faces presented 
 at the fire was a curious one ; almost every nose and cheek 
 having become quite white with frost bites, in five minutes 
 after being exposed to the weather, so that it was deemed 
 necessary for the medical gentlemen, together with some 
 others appointed to assist them, to go constantly round 
 while the men were working at the fire, and to rub with 
 snow the parts affected, in order to restore animation." 
 
 The weather got considerably milder in March ; on the 
 6th the thermometer got up to zero for the first time since 
 the 17th of December. The observatory house on shore 
 was now rebuilt. 
 
 The vapour, which had been in a solid state on the 
 ship's sides, now thawed below, and the crew, scraping 
 off the coating of ice, removed on the 8th of March 
 above a hundred bucketsfull each, containing from five to 
 six gallons, which had accumulated in less than a month, 
 occasioned principally from the men's breath, and the 
 steani of victuals at meals. 
 
 The scurvy now broke out among the crew, and prompt 
 measures were taken to remedy it. Captain Parry took 
 great pains to raise mustard and cress in his cabin for the 
 men's use. 
 
 On the 30th of April the thermometer stood at the 
 freezing point, which it had not done since the 12th of 
 September last. On the 1st of May the sun was seen at 
 midnight for the first time that season. 
 
 A survey was now taken of the provisions, fuel, and 
 stores ; much of the lemon juice was found destroyed 
 from the bursting of the bottles by the frost. Having 
 been only victualled for two years, and half that period 
 having expired, Captain Parry, as a matter of prudence, 
 reduced all hands to two-thirds allowance of all sorts of 
 provisions, except meat and sugar. 
 
 The crew were now set to work in cutting away the ice 
 round the ships : the average thickness was found to be 
 seven feet. Many of the men who had been out on 
 excursions began to suffer much from snow blindness. 
 The sensation when first experienced, is described as like 
 that felt when dust or sand gets into the eyes. They 
 
58 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 were, however, cured in the course of two or three days 
 by keeping the eyes covered, and bathing them occasion- 
 ally with sugar of lead, or some other cooling lotion. 
 
 To prevent the recurrence of the complaint, the men 
 were ordered to wear a piece of crape or some substitute 
 for it over the eyes. 
 
 The channel round the ships was completed by the 17th 
 of May, and they rose nearly two feet, having been kept 
 down by the pressure of the ice round them, although 
 lightened during the winter by the consumption of food 
 and fuel. On the 24th they were astonished by two 
 showers of rain, a most extraordinary phenomenon in 
 these regions. Symptoms of scurvy again appeared 
 among the crew ; one of the seamen who had been 
 recently cured, having imprudently been in the habit 
 of eating the fat skimmings, or " slush," in which salt 
 meat had been boiled, and which was served out for their 
 lamps. As the hills in many places now became exposed 
 and vegetation commenced, two or three pieces of ground 
 were dug up and sown with seeds of radishes, onions, 
 and other vegetables. Captain Parry determined before 
 leaving to make an' excursion across the island for the 
 purpose of examining its size, boundaries, productions, 
 &c. Accordingly on the 1st of June an expedition was 
 organized, consisting of the commander, Captain Sabine, 
 Mr. Fisher, the assistant- surgeon, Mr. John Nias, mid- 
 shipman of the Hecla, and Mr. Reid, midshipman of the 
 Griper, with two sergeants, and five seamen and marines. 
 Three weeks' provisions were taken, which together with 
 two tents, wood for fuel, and other articles, weighing in 
 all about 800 Ibs., was drawn on a cart prepared for the 
 purpose by the men. 
 
 Each of the officers carried a knapsack with his own 
 private baggage, weighing from 18 to 24 Ibs., also his 
 gun and ammunition. The party started in high glee, 
 under three hearty cheers from their comrades, sixteen of 
 whom accompanied them for five miles, carrying their 
 knapsacks and drawing the cart for them. 
 
 They travelled by night, taking rest by day, as it was 
 found to be warmer for sleep, and they had only a covering 
 of a single blanket each, besides the clothes they had on. 
 
 On the 2nd they came to a small lake, about half a mile 
 long, and met with eider ducks and ptarmigan ; seven 
 of the latter were shot. From the top of a range of hills 
 at which they now arrived, they could see the masts of the 
 ships in "Winter Harbour with 'the naked eye, at about 
 
PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 59 
 
 ten or eleven miles distant. A vast plain was also seen 
 extending to the northward and westward. 
 
 The party breakfasted on biscuit and a pint of gruel 
 each, made of salep powder, which was found to be a very 
 palatable diet. Reindeer with their fawns were met 
 with. 
 
 They derived great assistance in dragging their cart by 
 rigging upon it one of the tent blankets as a sail, a truly 
 nautical contrivance, and the wind favouring them, they 
 made great progress in this way. Captain Sabine being 
 taken ill with a bowel complaint, had to be conveyed 
 on this novel sail carriage. They, however, had some 
 ugly ravines to pass, the crossings of which were very 
 tedious and troublesome. On the 7th the party came to a 
 large bay, which was named after their ships, Hecla and 
 Griper Bay. The blue ice was cut through by hard work 
 with boarding pikes, the only instruments they had, and 
 after diggingfourteen and a half feet the water rushed up ; it 
 was not very salt, but sufficient to satisfy them that it was 
 the ocean. An island seen in the distance was named after 
 Captain Sabine ; some of the various points and capes 
 were also named after others of the party. Although this 
 shore was found blocked up with such heavy ice, there 
 appear to be times when there is open water here, for 
 a piece of fir wood seven and a half feet long, and about 
 the thickness of a man's arm, was found about eighty 
 yards inland from the hummocks of the beach, and about 
 thirty feet above the level of the sea. Before leaving 
 the shore, a monument of stones twelve feet high was 
 erected, in which were deposited, in a tin cylinder, an 
 account of their proceedings, a few coins, and several 
 naval buttons. The expedition now turned back, shaping 
 its course in a more westerly direction, towards some 
 high blue hills, which had long been in sight. On many 
 days several ptarmigans were shot. The horns and tracks 
 of deer were very numerous. 
 
 On the llth they came insight of a deep gulf, to which 
 Lieutenant Liddon's name was given; the two capes at 
 its entrance being called after Beechey and Hoppner. In 
 the centre was an island about three-quarters of a mile in 
 length, rising abruptly to the height of 700 feet. The 
 shores of the gulf were very rugged and precipitant, and 
 in descending a steep hill, the axle-tree of their cart 
 broke, and they had to leave it behind, taking the body 
 with them, however, for fuel. The wheels, which were 
 left on the spot, may astonish some future adventurer 
 
GO PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 who discovers them. The stores, &c., were divided among 
 the officers and men. 
 
 Making their way on the ice in the gulf, the island in 
 the centre was explored, and named after Mr. Hooper, the 
 purser of the Hecla. It was found to be of sandstone, and 
 very barren, rising perpendicularly from the sea on the 
 west side. Four fat geese were killed here, and a great 
 many animals were seen around the gulf; some attention 
 being paid to examining its shores, &c., a fine open 
 valley was discovered, and the tracks of oxen and deer 
 were very numerous ; the pasturage appeared to be ex- 
 cellent. 
 
 On the 13th, a few ptarmigan and a golden plover were 
 killed. No less than thirteen deer in one herd were seen, 
 and a musk ox for the first time this season. 
 
 The remains of six Esquimaux huts were discovered 
 about 300 yards from the beach. Vegetation now began 
 to flourish, the sorrel was found far advanced, and a 
 species of saxifrage was met with in blossom. They 
 reached the ships on the evening of the 15th, after a 
 journey of about 180 miles. 
 
 The ships' crews, during their absence, had been, occu- 
 pied in getting ballast in and re-stowing the hold. 
 
 Shooting parties were now sent out in various directions 
 to procure game. Dr. Fisher gives an interesting account 
 of his ten days' excursion with a couple of men. The deer 
 ware not so numerous as they expected to find them. 
 About thirty were seen, of which his party killed but 
 two, which were very lean, weighing only, when skinned 
 and cleaned, 50 to 60 Ibs. A couple of wolves were seen, and 
 some foxes, with a great many hares, four of which were 
 killed, weighing from 7 to 8 Ibs. The aquatic birds seen 
 were brent geese, king ducks, long-tailed ducks, and arctic 
 and glaucous gulls. The land birds were ptarmigans, 
 plovers, sanderlings, and snow buntings. The geese were 
 pretty numerous for the first few days, but got wild and 
 wary on being disturbed, keeping in the middle of lakes out 
 of gun-shot. About a dozen were, however, killed, and fif- 
 teen ptarmigans. These birds are represented to be so 
 stupid that all seen may be shot. Dr. Fisher was surprised 
 on his return on the 29th of June, after his ten days' 
 absence, to find how much vegetation had advanced; 
 the land being now completely clear of snow, was covered 
 with the purple-coloured saxifrage in blossom, with mosses, 
 and with sorrel, and the grass was two to three inches long. 
 The men were sent out twice a week to collect the sorrel, 
 and in a few minutes enough could be procured to make a 
 
PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 61 
 
 salad for dinner. After being mixed with vinegar it was 
 regularly served out to the men. The English garden, 
 seeds that had been sown got on but slowly, and did not 
 yield any produce in time to be used. 
 
 On the 31st of June Wra. Scott, a boatswain's mate, 
 who had been afflicted with scurvy, diarrhoea, &c., died, 
 and was buried on the 2nd of July a slab of sandstone 
 bearing an inscription, carved by Dr. Fisher, being erected 
 over his grave. 
 
 Prom observations made on the tide during two months, 
 it appears that the greatest rise and fall here is four feet four 
 inches. A large pile of stones was erected on the 14th of 
 July, upon the most conspicuous hill, containing the usual 
 notices, coins, &c., and on a large stone an inscription was 
 left notifying the wintering of the ships here. 
 
 On the 1st of August the ships, which had been pre- 
 viously warped out, got clear of the harbour, and found 
 a channel, both eastward and westward, clear of ice, about 
 three or four miles in breadth along the land. 
 
 On the 6th they landed on the island, and in the course 
 of the night killed fourteen hares and a number of glau- 
 cous gulls, which were found with their young on the top 
 of a precipitous insulated rock. 
 
 On the 9th the voyagers had an opportunity of observ- 
 ing an instance of the violent pressure that takes place 
 occasionally by the collision of heavy ice. " Two pieces 
 (says Dr. Fisher) that happened to come in contact close 
 to us pressed so forcibly against one another that one of 
 them, although forty-two ieet thick, and at least three 
 times that in length and breadth, was forced up on its edge 
 on the top of another picco of ice. But even this is 
 nothing when compared with the pressure that must have 
 existed to produce the effects that we see along the shore, 
 for, not only heaps of earth and stones several tons weight 
 are forced up, but hummocks of ice, from fifty to sixty feet 
 thick, are piled up on the beach. It is unnecessary to 
 remark that a ship, although fortified as well as wood and 
 iron could make her, would have but little chance of with- 
 standing such overwhelming force." 
 
 This day a musk ox was shot, which weighed more than 
 700 Ibs. ; the carcass, when skinned and cleaned, yielding 
 421 Ibs. of meat. The flesh did not taste so very strong of 
 musk as had been represented. 
 
 The ships made but slow progress, being still thickly 
 beset with floes of ice, 40 or 50 feet thick, and had to make 
 fast for security to hummocks of ice on the beach. 
 
 On the 15th and 16th they were off the south-west 
 
62 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 point of tlie island, but a survey of the locality from 
 precipitous cliff of Cape Dundas, presented the same 
 interminable barrier of ice as far as the eye could reach. 
 A bold high coast was sighted to the south-west, to which 
 the name of Bank's Land was given. 
 
 Captain Parry states that on the 23rd the ships received 
 by far the heaviest shocks they had experienced during the 
 voyage, and performed six miles of the most difficult navi- 
 gation he had ever known among ice. 
 
 Two musk bulls were shot on the 24th by parties who 
 landed, out of a herd of seven which were seen. They 
 were lighter than the first one shot weighing only about 
 360 Ibs. From the number of skulls and skeletons of these 
 animals met with, and their capabilities of enduring the 
 rigour of the climate, it seems probable that they do not 
 migrate southward, but winter on this island. 
 
 Attempts were still made to work to the eastward, but 
 on the 25th, from want of wind, and the closeness of the 
 ice, the ships were obliged to make fast again, without 
 having gained above a mile after several hours labour. A 
 fresh breeze springing up on the 2fith opened a passage 
 along shore, and the ships made sail to the eastward, and 
 in the evening were off their old quarters in Winter Har- 
 bour. On the following evening, after a fine run, they 
 were off the east end of Melville Island. Lieut. Parry, 
 this day, announced to the officers and crew that after due 
 consideration and consultation, it had been found useless 
 to prosecute their researches farther westward, and there- 
 fore endeavours would be made in a more southerly direc- 
 tion, failing in which, the expedition would return to 
 England. .Regent Inlet and the southern shores generally, 
 were found so blocked up with ice, that the return to 
 England was on the 30th of August publicly announced. 
 This day, Navy Board and Admiralty Inlets were passed, 
 and on the 1st of September the vessels got clear of Bar- 
 row Strait, and reached Baffin's Bay on the 5th. They 
 fell in with a whaler belonging to Hull, from whom they 
 learnt the news of the death of George the Third and the 
 Duke of Kent, and that eleven vessels having been lost 
 in the ice last year, fears were entertained for their safety. 
 The Friendship, another Hull whaler, informed them that 
 in company with the Truelove she had looked into Smith's 
 Sound that summer. The Alexander, of Aberdeen, one 
 of the ships employed on the former voyage of discovery 
 to these seas, had also entered Lancaster Sound. After 
 touching at Clyde's Hiver, where they met a good-natured 
 tribe of Esquimaux, the ships made the best of their way 
 
CARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 63 
 
 across the Atlantic, and after a somewhat boisterous pas- 
 sage, Commodore Parry landed at Peterhead on the 30th 
 of October, and, accompanied by Captain Sabine and Mr. 
 Hooper, posted to London. 
 
 PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE, 18211823. 
 
 THE experience which Capt. Parry had formed in his 
 previous voyage, led him to entertain the opinion that a 
 communication might be found between Regent Inlet 
 and Roe's Welcome, or through Repulse Bay, and thence to 
 the north-western shores. The following are his remarks : 
 " On an inspection of the charts I think it will also appear 
 probable that a communication will one day be found to 
 exist between this inlet (Prince Regent's) and Hud- 
 son's Bay, either through the broad and unexplored 
 channel called Sir Thomas Roe's Welcome, or through 
 Repulse Bay, which has not yet been satisfactorily 
 examined. It is also probable that a channel will be found 
 to exist between the western land and the northern coast 
 of America." Again, in another place, he says, k ' Of the 
 existence of a North- West Passage to the Pacific it is now 
 scarcely possible to doubt, and from the success which 
 attended our efforts in 1819, after passing through Sir 
 James Lancaster's Sound, we were not unreasonable in. 
 anticipating its complete accomplishment. But the season 
 in which it is practicable to navigate the Polar Seas does 
 not exceed seven weeks. Prom all that we observed it 
 seems desirable that ships endeavouring to reach the 
 Pacific Ocean by this route should keep if possible on the 
 coast of America, and the lower in latitude that coast 
 may be found, the more favourable will it prove for the 
 purpose; hence Cumberland Strait, Sir Thomas Roe's 
 Welcome, and Repulse Bay appear to be the points most 
 worthy of attention. I cannot therefore but consider that 
 any expedition equipped by Great Britain with this view 
 ought to employ its best energies in attempting to pene- 
 trate from the eastern coast of America along its northern 
 shore. In consequence of the partial success which has 
 hitherto attended our attempts, the whalers have already 
 extended their views, and a new field has been opened 
 for one of the most lucrative branches of our commerce, 
 and what is scarcely of less importance, one of the most 
 valuable nurseries for seamen which Great Britain pos- 
 sesses." Parry s First Voyage, vol. ii. p. 240. 
 
 Pleased with his former zeal and enterprise, and in 
 order to give him an opportunity of testing the truth of 
 
66 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 soon beset. Fifty-four icebergs were counted from the 
 mast-head. 
 
 On the 3rd they made some progress through very heavy 
 floes ; but on the tide turning, the loose ice flew together 
 with such rapidity and noise, that there was barely time 
 to secure the ships in a natural dock, before the two streams 
 met, and even then they received some heavy shocks. 
 Water was procured for use from the pools in the floe to 
 which the ships were made fast ; and this being the first 
 time of doing so, afforded great amusement to the novices, 
 who, even when it was their period of rest, preferred pelt- 
 ing each other with snow-balls, to going to bed. Buffeting 
 with eddies, strong currents, and dangerous bergs, they 
 were kept in a state of anxiety and danger, for a week or 
 ten days. On one occasion, with the prospect of being 
 driven on shore, the pressure they experienced was so 
 great, that five hawsers, six inches thick, were carried 
 away, and the best bower anchor of the Hecla was wrenched 
 from the bows, and broke off at the head of the shank, with 
 as much ease as if, instead of weighing upwards of a ton, 
 it had been of crockery ware. For a week they were 
 embayed by the ice, and during this period they saw three 
 strange ships, also beset, under Resolution Island, which, 
 they contrived to join on the 16th of July, making fast to a 
 floe near them. They proved to be the Hudson's Bay 
 Company's traders, Prince of Wales and Eddystone, with 
 the Lord Wellington, chartered to convey 160 natives of 
 Holland, who were proceeding to settle on Lord Selkirk's 
 estate, at the Hed Biver. " Whilst nearing these vessels 
 (says Lyon), we observed the settlers waltzing on deck, for 
 above two hours, the men in old-fashioned grey jackets, 
 and the women wearing long-eared mob caps, like those used 
 by the Swiss peasants. As we were surrounded by ice, 
 and the thermometer was at the freezing point, it may be 
 supposed that this ball, al vero fresco, afforded us much 
 amusement." The Hudson's Bay ships had left England 
 twenty days after the expedition. 
 
 The emigrant ship had been hampered nineteen days 
 amongst the ice, before she joined the others ; and as this 
 navigation was new to her captain and crew, they almost 
 despaired of ever getting to their journey's end, so varied 
 and constant had been their impediments. The Dutch- 
 men had, however, behaved very philosophically during 
 this period, and seemed determined on being merry, in 
 spite of the weather and the- dangers. Several marriages 
 had taken place, (the surgeon, who was accompanying 
 them to the colony, officiating as clergyman,) and many 
 
PARHY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 65 
 
 received liis promotion as Captain, when the expedition 
 returned. 
 
 The ships were accompanied as far as the ice by the 
 Nautilus transport, freighted with provisions and stores, 
 which were to be transhipped as soon as room was found 
 for them. 
 
 The vessels got away from the little Nore early on the 
 8th of May, 1821, but meeting with strong gales off the 
 Greenland coast, and a boisterous passage, did not fall in 
 with the ice until the middle of June. 
 
 On the 17th of June, in a heavy gale from the south- 
 ward, the sea stove and carried away one of the quarter 
 boats of the Hecla. On the following day, in lat. 60 
 53' K, long. 61 39' W., they made the pack or main 
 body of ice, having many large bergs in and near it. On 
 the 19th, Resolution Island, at the entrance of Hudson 
 Strait, was seen distant sixty-four miles. Capt. Lyon 
 states, that during one of the watches, a large fragment 
 was observed to fall from an iceberg near the Hecla, 
 which threw up the water to a great height, sending 
 forth at the same time a noise like the report of a great 
 gun. Prom this period to the 1st of July, the ships 
 were occupied in clearing the Nautilus of her stores pre- 
 paratory to her return home, occasionally made fast to a 
 berg, or driven out to sea by gales. On the 2nd, after 
 running through heavy ice, they again made Resolution 
 Island, and shaping their course for the Strait, were soon 
 introduced to the company of some unusually large ice- 
 bergs. The altitude of one was 258 feet above the surface 
 of the sea; its total height, therefore, allowing one-seventh 
 only to be visible, must have been about 1806 feet ! This 
 however is supposing the base under water not to spread 
 beyond the mass above water. The vessels had scarcely 
 drifted past this floating mountain, when the eddy tide 
 carried them with great rapidity amongst a cluster 
 of eleven bergs of huge size, and having a beautiful 
 diversity of form. The largest of these was 210 feet 
 above the water. The floe ice was running wildly at the 
 rate of three miles an hour, sweeping the vessels past the 
 bergs, against any one of which they might have received 
 incalculable injury. An endeavour was made to make 
 the ships fast to one of them, (for all of them were aground), 
 in order to ride out the tide, but it proved unsuccessful, 
 and the Fury had much difficulty in sending a boat for 
 some men who were on a small berg, making holes for 
 her ice anchors. They were therefore swept past and 
 
 F 
 
66 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 soon beset. Fifty-four icebergs were counted from the 
 mast-head. 
 
 On the 3rd they made some progress through very heavy 
 floes ; but on the tide turning, the loose ice flew together 
 with such rapidity and noise, that there was barely time 
 to secure the ships in a natural dock, before the two streams 
 met, and even then they received some heavy shocks. 
 "Water was procured for use from the pools in the floe to 
 which the ships were made fast ; and this being the first 
 time of doing so, afforded great amusement to the novices, 
 who, even when it was their period of rest, preferred pelt- 
 ing each other with snow-balls, to going to bed. Buffeting- 
 with eddies, strong currents, and dangerous bergs, they 
 were kept in a state of anxiety and danger, for a week or 
 ten days. On one occasion, with the prospect of being 
 driven on shore, the pressure they experienced was so 
 great, that five hawsers, six inches thick, were carried 
 away, and the best bower anchor of the Hecla was wrenched 
 from the bows, and broke off at the head of the shank, with 
 as much ease as if, instead of weighing upwards of a ton, 
 it had been of crockery ware. For a week they were 
 embayed by the ice, and during this period they saw three 
 strange ships, also beset, under Resolution Island, which, 
 they contrived to join on the 16th of July, making fast to a 
 floe near them. They proved to be the Hudson's Bay 
 Company's traders, Prince of Wales and Eddystone, with 
 the Lord Wellington, chartered to convey 160 natives of 
 Holland, who were proceeding to settle on Lord Selkirk's 
 estate, at the Red Eiver. " Whilst nearing these vessels 
 (says Lyon), we observed the settlers waltzing on deck, for 
 above two hours, the men in old-fashioned grey jackets, 
 and the women wearing long-eared mob caps, like those used 
 by the Swiss peasants. As we were surrounded by ice, 
 and the thermometer was at the freezing point, it may be 
 supposed that this ball, al vero fresco, afforded us much 
 amusement." The Hudson's Bay ships had left England 
 twenty days after the expedition. 
 
 The emigrant ship had been hampered nineteen days 
 amongst the ice, before she joined the others ; and as this 
 navigation was new to her captain and crew, they almost 
 despaired of ever getting to their journey's end, so varied 
 and constant had been their impediments. The Dutch- 
 men had, however, behaved very philosophically during 
 this period, and seemed determined on being merry, in 
 spite of the weather and the- dangers. Several marriages 
 had taken place, (the surgeon, who was accompanying 1 
 them to the colony, officiating as clergyman,) and many 
 
PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 67 
 
 more were in agitation; each happy couple always deferring 
 the ceremony until a fine day allowed of an evening ball, 
 which was only terminated by a fresh breeze, or a fall of 
 snow. (Lyons Private Journal, p. 11.) On the 17th the 
 ships were separated by the ice, and they saw no more of 
 their visitors. On the 21st they were only off the Lower 
 Savage Islands. In the evening they saw a very l^ore 
 bear lying on a piece of ice, and two boats were instantly 
 sent off m chase. They approached very close before 
 he took to the water, when he swam rapidly, and made 
 long springs, turning boldly to face his pursuers. It was 
 with difficulty he was captured. As these animals, although 
 very fat and bulky, sink the instant they die, he was 
 lashed to a boat, and brought alongside the ship. On 
 hoisting him in, they were astonished to find that his 
 weight exceeded sixteen hundred pounds, being one of the 
 largest ever killed. Two instances, only, of larger bears 
 being shot are recorded, and these were by Barentz's crew, 
 in his third voyage, at Cherie Island, to which they gave 
 the name of Bear Island. The two bears killed then 
 measured twelve and thirteen feet, while this one only 
 measured eight feet eight inches, from the snout to the 
 insertion of the tail. The seamen ate the flesh without 
 experiencing any of those baneful effects which old navi- 
 gators attribute to it, and which are stated to have made 
 three of Barentz's people " so sick that we expected they 
 would have died, and their skins peeled off from head to 
 foot." Bruin was very fat, and having procured a tub of 
 blubber from the carcass, it was thrown overboard, and 
 the smell soon attracted a couple of walruses, the first that 
 had been yet seen. 
 
 They here fell in with a numerous body of the Esqui- 
 maux, who visited them from the shore. In less than an 
 hour the ships were beset with thirty " kayaks," or men's 
 canoes, and five of the women's large boats, or" oomiaks." 
 Some of the latter held upwards of twenty women. A 
 most noisy but merry barter instantly took place, the crew 
 being as anxious to purchase Esquimaux curiosities, as the 
 natives were to procure iron and European toys. 
 
 "It is quite out of my power (observes Captain Lyon) 
 to describe the shouts, yells, and laughter of the savages, 
 or the confusion which existed for two or three hours. 
 The females were at first very shy, and unwilling to come 
 on the ice, but bartered everything from their boats. This 
 timidity, however, soon wore off, and they, in the end, 
 became as noisy and boisterous as the men." "It is 
 scarcely possible (he adds) to conceive anything more 
 
 * 9. 
 
68 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 ugly or disgusting than the countenances of the old 
 women, who had inflamed eyes, wrinkled skin, black teeth, 
 and, in fact, such a forbidding set of features as scarcely 
 could be called human ; to which might be added their 
 dress, which was such as gave them the appearance of 
 aged ourang-outangs. Frobisher's crew may be pardoned 
 for having, in such superstitious times as A.D. 1576.. taken 
 one of these ladies for a witch, of whom it is said, *' The 
 old wretch whom our sailors supposed to be a witch, had 
 her buskins pulled off, to see if she was cloven-footed ; and 
 being very ugly and deformed, we let her go.' 
 
 In bartering they have a singular custom of ratifying 
 the bargain, by licking the article all over before it is put 
 away in security. Captain Lyon says he frequently shud- 
 dered at seeing the children draw a razor over their tongue, 
 as unconcernedly as if it had been an ivory paper-knife. 
 I cannot forbear quoting here some humorous passages 
 from his journal, which stand out in relief to the scientific 
 and nautical parts of the narrative. 
 
 " The strangers were so well pleased in our society, 
 that they showed no wish to leave us, and when the 
 market had quite ceased, they began dancing and playing 
 with our people, on the ice alongside. This exercise set 
 many of their noses bleeding, and discovered to us a most 
 nasty custom, which accounted for their gory faces, and 
 which was, that as fast as the blood ran down, they scraped 
 it with the fingers into their mouths, appearing to con- 
 sider it as a refreshment, or dainty, if we might judge by 
 the zest with which they smacked their lips at each 
 supply." 
 
 " In order to amuse our new acquaintances as much as 
 possible, the fiddler was sent on the ice, where he instantly 
 found a most delightful set of dancers, of whom some of 
 the women kept pretty good time. Their only figure con- 
 sisted in stamping and jumping with all their might. Our 
 musician, who was a lively fellow, soon caught the infec- 
 tion, and began cutting capers also. In a short time every 
 one on the floe, officers, men, and savages, were dancing 
 together, and exhibited one of the most extraordinary 
 sights I ever witnessed. One of our seamen, of a fresh, 
 ruddy complexion, excited the admiration of all the young 
 females, who patted his face, and danced around him 
 wherever he went. 
 
 " The exertion of dancing so exhilarated the Esquimaux, 
 that they had the appearance of being boisterously drunk, 
 and played many extraordinary pranks. Amongst others, 
 it was a favourite joke to run. slily behind the seamen, and 
 
PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 69 
 
 shouting loudly in one ear, to give them at the same time 
 a very smart slap on the other. While looking on, I was 
 sharply saluted in this manner, and, of course, was quite 
 startled, to the great amusement of the bystanders : our 
 cook, who was a most active and unwearied jumper, 
 became so great a favourite, that every one boxed his ears 
 so soundly, as to oblige the poor man to retire from 
 such boisterous marks of approbation. Amongst other 
 sports, some of the Esquimaux rather roughly, but with 
 great good humour, challenged our people to wrestle. 
 One man, in particular, who had thrown several of his 
 countrymen, attacked an officer of a very strong make, 
 but the poor savage was instantly thrown, and with no 
 very easy fall ; yet, although every one was laughing 
 at him, he bore it with exemplary good humour. The 
 same officer afforded us much diversion by teaching a 
 large party of women to bow, curtsey, shake hands, turn 
 their toes out, and perform sundry other polite accom- 
 plishments; the whole party, master and pupils, pre- 
 serving the strictest gravity. 
 
 " Towards midnight all our men, except the watch on 
 eck, turned in to their beds, and the fatigued and hungry 
 Esquimaux returned to their boats to take their supper, 
 which consisted of lumps of raw flesh and blubber 
 of seals, birds, entrails, &c. ; licking their fingers with 
 great zest, and with knives or fingers scraping the blood 
 and grease which ran down their chins into their 
 mouths." 
 
 Many other parties of the natives were fallen in with 
 during the slow progress of the ships, between Salisbury 
 and Nottingham Islands, who were equally as eager 
 to beg, barter, or thieve ; and the mouth was the gene- 
 ral repository of most of the treasures they received ; 
 needles, pins, nails, buttons, beads, and other small et- 
 ceteras, being indiscriminately stowed away there, but 
 detracting in nowise from their volubility of speech. On 
 the 13th of August the weather being calm and fine, 
 narwhals or sea-unicorns were very numerous about the 
 ships, and boats were sent, but without success, to strike 
 one. There were sometimes as many as twenty of these 
 beautiful fish in a shoal, lifting at times their immense 
 horn above the water, and at others showing their glossy 
 backs, which were spotted in the manner of coach dogs in 
 England. The length of these fish is about fifteen feet, 
 exclusive of the horn, which averages five or six more. 
 
 Captain Parry landed and slept on Southampton Island. 
 His boat's crew eaught in holes on the beach sufficient 
 
70 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 sillocks, or young coal-fish, to serve for two meals for tho 
 whole ship's company. During the night white whales 
 were seen lying in hundreds close to the rocks, probably 
 feeding on the sillocks. After carefully examining Duke 
 of York Bay, the ships got into the Frozen Strait of 
 Middle ton on the morning of the . 20th, and an anxious 
 day was closed by passing an opening to the southward, 
 which was found to be Sir Thomas Roe's Welcome, and 
 heaving to for the night off a bay to the north-west. 
 The ships got well in to Repulse Bay on the 22nd, and a 
 careful examination of its shores was made by the boats. 
 
 Captains Parry and Lyon, with several officers from 
 each ship, landed and explored the northern shores, while 
 a boat examined the head of the bay. The waters of 
 a long cove are described by Captain Lyon as being abso- 
 lutely hidden by the quantities of young eider ducks, 
 which, under the direction of their mothers, were making 
 their first essays in swimming. 
 
 Captain Lyon with a boat's crew made a trip of a 
 couple of days along some of the indents of the bay, 
 and discovered an inlet, which, however, on being entered 
 subsequently by the ships, proved only to be the dividing 
 channel between an island and the mainland, about six 
 miles in length by one in breadth. Proceeding to the north- 
 ward by Hurd's channel, they experienced a long rolling 
 ground swell setting against them. On the 28th, ascend- 
 ing a steep mountain, Captain Lyon discovered a noble 
 bay, subsequently named Gore Bay, in which lay a few 
 islands, and towards this they directed their course. 
 
 Captain Parry, who had been two days absent with 
 boats exploring the channel and shores of the strait, 
 returned on the 29th, but set off again on the same day 
 with six boats to sound and examine more minutely. 
 When Parry returned at night, Mr. Griffiths, of the 
 Heda, brought on board a large doe, which he .had killed 
 while swimming (amongst large masses of ice) from isle 
 to isle ; two others and a fawn were procured on shore by 
 the Fury's people. The game laws, as they were laid 
 down on the former voyage while wintering at Melville 
 Island, were once more put in force. These "enacted 
 that for the purpose of economizing the ship's provisions, 
 all deer or musk-oxen killed should be served out in lieu 
 of the usual allowance of meat. Hares, ducks, and other 
 birds were not at this time to be included. As an encou- 
 ragement to sportsmen, the head, legs, and offal of the 
 .larger animals were to be the perquisites of those who 
 procured the carcases for the general good." "In the 
 
PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 71 
 
 animals of this day (observes Lyon) we were convinced 
 iliat our sportsmen had not forgotten the latitude to which 
 their perquisites might legally extend, for the necks were 
 made so long as to encroach considerably on the vertebrse 
 of the back ; a manner of amputating the heads which 
 had been learnt during the former voyage, and, no doubt, 
 would be strictly acted up to in the present one." 
 
 Whilst the ships on the 30th were proceeding through 
 this strait, having to contend with heavy wind and wild 
 ice, which with an impetuous tide ran against the rocks 
 with loud crashes, at the rate of five knots in the centre^ 
 stream; four boats towing astern were torn away by the 
 ice, and, with the men in them, were for some time in 
 great danger. The vessels anchored for the night in a 
 small nook, and weighing at daylight on the 31st they 
 stood to the eastward, but Gore Bay was found closely 
 packed with ice, and most of the inlets they passed were 
 also beset. 
 
 A prevalence of fog, northerly wind, and heavy ice in floes 
 of some miles in circumference, now carried the ships, in spite 
 of constant labour and exertions, in three days back to the 
 very spot in Fox's Channel, where a month ago they had 
 commenced their operations. It was not till the 5th of 
 September that they could again get forward, and then by 
 one of the usual changes in the navigation of these seas, 
 the ships ran well to the north-east unimpeded, at the rate 
 of six knots an hour, anchoring for the night at the mouth 
 of a large opening, which was named Lyon Inlet. The 
 next day they proceeded about twenty-five miles up this 
 inlet, which appeared to be about eight miles broad. 
 Captain Parry pushed on with two boats to examine the 
 head of the inlet, taking provisions for a week. He 
 returned on the 14th, having failed in finding any outlet to 
 the place he had been examining, which was very extensive, 
 full of fiords and rapid overfalls of the tide. He had 
 procured a sufficiency of game to afford his people a hot 
 supper every evening, which, after the constant labour of 
 the day, was highly acceptable. He fell in also with a 
 small party of .natives who displayed the usual thieving 
 propensities. 
 
 Animal food of all kinds was found to be very plentiful 
 in this locality. A fine salmon trout was brought down by 
 one of the officers from a lake in the mountains. The crew 
 of the Hecla killed in a fortnight four deer, forty hares, 
 eighty-two ptarmigan, fifty ducks, three divers, three foxes, 
 three ravens, four seals, ermines, marmottes, mice, &c. 
 Two of the seals killed were immense animals of the 
 
72 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 bearded species (PJwca barlata), very fat, weighing about 
 eight or nine cwt., the others were the common species 
 (P. vitulina.) 
 
 Captain Parry again left in boats on the 15th to examine 
 more carefully the land that had been passed so rapidly on 
 the 5th and 6th. Not finding him return on the 24th, 
 Captain Lyon ran down the coast to meet him, and by 
 burning blue lights fell in with him at ten that night. 
 It appeared he had been frozen up for two days on tho 
 second evening after leaving. When he got clear he ran 
 down to, and sailed round. Gore Bay, at that time per- 
 fectly clear of ice, but by the next morning it was quite 
 filled with heavy pieces, which much impeded his return. 
 Once more he was frozen up in a small bay, where he was 
 detained three days ; when finding there was no chance 
 of getting out, in consequence of the rapid formation of 
 young ice, by ten hours' severe labour, the boats were 
 carried over a low point of land, a mile and a half wide, 
 and once more launched. 
 
 On the 6th of October the impediments of ice continuing 
 to increase, being met with in all its formations of sludge 
 or young ice, pancake ice and bay ice, a small open bay 
 within a little cape of land, forming the S.E. extremity of 
 an island off Lyon Inlet, was sounded, and being found 
 to be safe anchorage the ships were brought in, and, from 
 the indications which were setting in, it was finally deter- 
 mined to secure them there for the winter ; by means of 
 a canal half a mile long, which was cut, they were taken 
 further into the bay. The island was named Winter Isle. 
 
 Preparations were now made for occupation and amuse- 
 ment, so as to pass away pleasantly the period of detention. 
 A good stock of theatrical dresses and properties having 
 been laid in by the officers before leaving England, 
 arrangements were made for performing plays fortnightly, 
 as on their last winter residence, as a means of amusing 
 the seamen, and in some degree to break the tedious 
 monotony of their confinement. As there could be no 
 desire, or hope of excelling, every officer's name was 
 readily entered on the list of dramatis persons, Captain 
 Lyon kindly undertaking the difficult office of manager. 
 Those ladies (says Lyon) who had cherished the growth 
 of their beards and whiskers, as a defence against the 
 inclemency of the climate, now generously agreed to _ do 
 away with such unfeminine ornaments, and everything 
 bade fair for a most stylish theatre. 
 
 As a curiosity, I may here put on record the play -bill for 
 
PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 73 
 
 the evening. I have added the ship to which each officer- 
 belonged. 
 
 THEATEE EOYAL, 
 
 WINTER ISLE. 
 
 The Public are respectfully informed that this little, yet 
 elegant, Theatre will open for the season on Friday 
 next, the 9th of November, 1821, when will be per- 
 formed Sheridan's celebrated Comedy of 
 
 THE EIVALS. 
 
 Sir Anthony Absolute . Captain Parry (Fury). 
 
 Captain Absolute . . Captain Lyon (Hecld). 
 
 Sir Lucius O' Trigger . Mr. Crozier (Fury). 
 
 FaulJcland .... Mr. J.Edwards (Fury). 
 
 Acres Mr. J. Henderson (Fury). 
 
 Fag Lieut. Hoppner (Hecla). 
 
 David Lieut. Eeid (Fury). 
 
 JM~rs. Malaprop . . . Mr. C. Eichards (Hecla). 
 
 Julia . Mr. W. H. Hooper (Fury). 
 
 Lydia Languish . . Mr. J. Sherer (Hecla). 
 
 Lucy Mr. W. Mogg (clerk of Hecla). 
 
 Songs by Messrs. C. Palmer (Hecla) and J. Henderson 
 will be introduced in the course of the evening. 
 
 On the 17th of December a shivering set of actors per- 
 formed to a great-coated, yet very cold audience the 
 comedy of the "Poor Gentleman." A burst of true Eng- 
 lish feeling was exhibited during the performance of this 
 play. In the scene where Lieut. Worthington and Corporal 
 Foss recount in so animated a manner their former achieve- 
 ments, advancing at the same time, and huzzaing for 
 " Old England," the whole audience, with one accord, rose 
 and gave three most hearty cheers. They then sat down, 
 and the play continued uninterrupted. 
 
 On Christmas Eve, in order to keep the people quiet 
 and sober, two farces were performed, and the phantasma- 
 goria (which had been kindly presented anon} r mously to 
 the ships before leaving by a lady) exhibited, so that the 
 night passed merrily away. 
 
 The coldness of the weather proved no bar to the per- 
 formance of a play at the appointed time. If it amused 
 
74 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 the seamen the purpose was answered, but it was a cruel 
 task for the performers. " In our green-room (says Lyon), 
 which was as much warmed as any other part of the 
 Theatre, the thermometer stood at 16, and on a table 
 which was placed over a stove, and about six inches above 
 it, the coffee froze in the cups. For my skis, I was obliged 
 to be dressed in the height of the fashion, as Dick Dow- 
 las, in the " Heir at Law," and went through the last 
 scene of the play with two of my fingers frost-bitten ! Let 
 those who have witnessed and admired the performances 
 of a Young, answer if he could possibly have stood so 
 cold a reception." 
 
 Captain Parry also states in his Journal, " Among the 
 recreations which afforded the highest gratification to 
 several among us, I may mention the musical parties we 
 were enabled to muster, and which assembled on stated 
 evenings throughout the winter, alternately in Commander 
 Lyon's cabin and in my own. More skilful amateurs in 
 music might well have smiled at these, our humble con- 
 certs, but it will not incline them to think less of the 
 science they admire, to be assured that, in these remote and 
 desolate regions of the globe, it has often furnished us with 
 the most pleasurable sensations which our situation was 
 capable of affording; for, independently of the mere grati- 
 fication afforded to the ear by music, there is, perhaps, 
 scarcely a person in the world really fond of it, in whose 
 mind its sound is not more or less connected with ' his far 
 distant home.' There are always some remembrances 
 which render them inseparable, and those associations are 
 not to be despised, which, while we are engaged in the 
 performance of our duty, can still occasionally transport 
 us into the social circle of our friends at home, in spite of 
 the oceans that roll between us." But their attention was 
 not confined to mere amusements. Much to the credit of 
 the seamen, an application was made in each ship for per- 
 mission to open an evening school, which was willingly 
 acceded to. Almost every man could read and some 
 could write a little, but several found that, from long 
 disuse, it was requisite to begin again. 
 
 Mr. Halse volunteered to superintend the classes in the 
 Fury; while Benjamin White, a seaman, who had been 
 educated at Christ's Hospital, officiated as schoolmaster in 
 the Hecla, and thoss best qualified to assist aided in the 
 instruction of their shipmates, who made rapid progress 
 under their tuition. On Christmas Day. Captain Lyon 
 states that he received sixteen copies from men, who two 
 
PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 75 
 
 months before scarcely knew their letters. These little 
 specimens were all well written, and sent with as much 
 pride as if the writers had been good little schoolboys, 
 instead of stout and excellent seamen. 
 
 An observatory was erected on shore, for carrying on 
 magnetical, astronomical, and other scientific operations. 
 Foxes were very plentiful about the ships ; fifteen were 
 caught in one trap in four hours on the night of the 25th 
 of October, and above one hundred were either trapped or 
 killed in the course of three months, and yet there seemed 
 but little diminution in their numbers. Captain Lyon 
 says he found them not bad eating, the flesh much 
 resembling that of kid. A pack of thirteen wolves came 
 occasionally to have a look at the ships, and on one occa- 
 sion broke into a snow-house alongside, and walked off 
 with a couple of Esquimaux dogs confined there. Bears 
 now and then also made their appearance. 
 
 A very beautiful ermine walked on board the Hecla one 
 day, and was caught in a small trap placed on the deck, 
 certainly the first of these animals which was ever taken 
 alive on board a ship 400 yards from the land. The 
 ravenous propensities of even some of the smallest 
 members of the animal kingdom are exemplified by the 
 following extract: 
 
 " We had for some time observed that in the fire-hole, 
 which was kept open in the ice alongside, a countless mul- 
 titude of small shrimps were constantly rising near the 
 surface, and we soon found that in twenty-four hours they 
 would clean, in the most beautiful manner, the skeletons." 
 
 After attending Divine service on Christmas Day, the 
 officers and crews sat down to the luxury of joints of 
 English roast beef, which had been kept untainted by 
 being frozen, and the outside rubbed with salt. Cranberry 
 pies and puddings, of every shape and size, with a full 
 allowance of spirits, followed, and, probably the natural 
 attendance of headaches succeeded, for the next morning 
 it was deemed expedient to send all the people for a run on 
 the ice, in order to put them to rights ; but thick weather 
 coming on it became necessary to recal them, and, post- 
 poning the dinner hour, they were all danced sober by 
 one o clock, the fiddler being, fortunately, quite as he 
 should be. During this curious ball, a witty fellow 
 attended as an old cake woman, with lumps of frozen 
 snow in a bucket ; and such was the demand for his pies 
 on this occasion, that he was obliged to replenish pretty 
 frequently. The year had now drawn to a close, and all 
 
76 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 enjoyed excellent health, and were blessed with good 
 spirits, and zeal for the renewal of their arduous exertions 
 in the summer. 
 
 No signs of scurvy, the usual plague of such voyages, 
 had occurred, and by the plans of Captain Parry, as 
 carried out on the former voyage, a sufficiency of mustard 
 and cress was raised between decks to afford all hands a 
 salad once, and sometimes twice a week. The cold now 
 became intense. Wine froze in the bottles. Port was 
 congealed into thin pink laminse, which lay loosely, and 
 occupied the whole length of the bottle. White wine, on 
 the contrary, froze into a solid and perfectly transparent 
 mass, resembling amber. 
 
 On the 1 st of February the monotony of their life was 
 varied by the arrival of a large party of Esquimaux, and an 
 interchange of visits thenceforward took place with this 
 tribe, which, singularly enough, were proverbial for their 
 honesty. Ultimately, however, they began to display 
 some thievish propensities, for on one evening in March a 
 most shocking theft was committed, which was no less 
 than the last piece of English corned beef from the mid- 
 shipmen's mess. Had it been an 181b. carronade, or 
 even one of the anchors, the thieves would have been 
 welcome to it; but to purloin English beef in such 
 a country was unpardonable. 
 
 On the 15th of March Captain Lyon, Lieutenant 
 Palmer, and a party of men, left the ship, with provisions, 
 tents, c., in a large sledge, for an excursion of three or 
 four days, to examine the land in the neighbourhood of 
 the ships. 
 
 The first night's encampment was anything but com- 
 fortable. Their tent they found so cold, that it was 
 determined to make a cavern in the snow to sleep in ; and 
 digging this afforded so good an opportunity of warming 
 themselves, that the only shovel was lent from one to the 
 other as a particular favour. After digging it of sufficient 
 size to contain them all in a sitting posture, by means of 
 the smoke of a fire they managed to raise the temperature 
 to 20, and, closing the entrance with blocks of snow, crept 
 into their blanket bags and tried to sleep, with the plea- 
 sant reflection that their roof might fall in and bury them 
 all, and that their one spade was the only means of 
 liberation after a night's drift of snow. 
 
 They woke next morning to encounter a heavy gale and 
 drift, and found their sledge so embedded in the snow 
 that they could not get at it, and in the attempt their 
 faces and extremities were most painfully frost-bitten. 
 
PAKRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 77 
 
 The thermometer was at 32 below zero : they could not, 
 moreover, see a yard of the road ; yet to remain appeared 
 worse than to go forward the last plan was, therefore, 
 decided on. The tent, sledge, and luggage were lefc 
 behind, and with only a few pounds of bread, a little rum, 
 and a spade, the party again set out ; and in order to depict 
 their sufferings, I must take up the narrative as related by 
 the commander himself. 
 
 " Not knowing where to go, we wandered amongst the 
 heavy hummocks of ice, and suffering from cold, fatigue, 
 and anxiety, were soon completely bewildered. Several of 
 our party now began to exhibit symptoms of that horrid 
 kind of insensibility which is the prelude to sleep. They 
 all professed extreme willingness to do what they were 
 told in order to keep in exercise, but none obeyed ; on 
 the contrary, they reeled about like drunken men. The 
 faces of several were severely frost-bitten, and some had 
 for a considerable time lost sensation in their fingers and 
 toes ; yet they made not the slightest exertion to rub the 
 parts affected, and even discontinued their general 
 custom of warming each other on observing a discolora- 
 tion of the skin. Mr. Palmer employed the people in 
 building a snow wall, ostensibly as a shelter from the 
 wind, but in fact to give them exercies, when standing 
 still must have proved fatal to men in our circumstances. 
 My attention was exclusively directed to Sergeant Speck- 
 man, who, having been repeatedly warned that his nose 
 was frozen, had paid no attention to it, owing to the state 
 of stupefaction into which he had fallen. The frost-bite 
 had now extended over one side of his face, which was 
 frozen as hard as a mask ; the eyelids were stiff, and one 
 corner of the upper lip so drawn up as to expose the teeth 
 and gums. My hands being still warm, I had the happi- 
 ness of restoring the circulation, after which I used all my 
 endeavours to keep the poor fellow in motion ; but he 
 complained sadly of giddiness and dimness of sight, and 
 was so weak as to be unable to walk without assistance. 
 His case was so alarming, that I expected every moment 
 he would lie down, never to rise again. 
 
 " Our prospect now became every moment more gloomy, 
 and it was but too probable that four of our party would 
 be unable to survive another hour. Mr. Palmer, however, 
 endeavoured, as well as myself, to cheer the people up, but 
 it was a faint attempt, as we had not a single hope to give 
 them. Every piece of ice, or even of small rock or stone, 
 was now supposed to be the ships, and we had great diffi- 
 culty in preventing the men from running to the different 
 
78 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 objects which attracted them, and consequently losing 
 themselves in the drift. In this state, while Mr. Palmer 
 was running round us to warm himself, he suddenly pitched 
 on a new beaten track, and as exercise was indispensable, 
 we determined on following it, wherever it might lead us. 
 Having taken the sergeant under my coat, he recovered a 
 little, and we moved onwards, when to our infinite joy we 
 found that the path led to the ships." 
 
 As the result of this exposure, one man had two of his 
 fingers so badly frost-bitten as to lose a good deal of the 
 flesh of the upper ends, and for many days it was feared 
 that he would be obliged to have them amputated. Quar- 
 ter-master Carr, ono of those who had been the most 
 hardy while in the air, fainted twice on getting below, and 
 every one had severe frost-bites in different parts of the 
 body, which recovered after the usual loss of skin in these 
 cases. 
 
 One of the Esquimaux females, by name Igloolik, who 
 plays a conspicuous part in the narrative, was a general 
 favourite, being possessed of a large fund of useful informa- 
 tion, having a good voice and ear for music, being an 
 excellent sempstress, and having such a good idea of the 
 hydrography and bearings of the neighbouring sea-coasts, 
 as to draw charts which guided Parry much in his future- 
 operations, for he found her sketches to be in the main cor- 
 rect. She connected the land from their winter-quarters to 
 the north-west sea, rounding and terminating the northern 
 extremity of this part of America, by a large island, and a 
 strait of sufficient magnitude to afford a safe passage for 
 the ships. This little north-west passage, observes Lyon, 
 set us all castle-building, and we already fancied the worst 
 part of our voyage over ; or, at all events, that before half 
 the ensuing summer was past, we should arrive at Akkoolee, 
 the Esquimaux settlement on the western shore. Half- 
 way between that coast and Hepulse Bay, Igloolik drew 
 on her chart a lake of considerable size, having small 
 streams running from it to the sea, on each side ; and the 
 correctness of this information was fully proved by Rae 
 in his recent expedition in 1846. 
 
 On the 13th of April their Esquimaux friends took their 
 departure for other quarters ; towards the end of the 
 month the crews completed the cutting of trenches round 
 the vessels, in order that they might rise to their proper 
 bearings previous to working in the holds, and the ships 
 floated like corks on their native element, after their long 
 imprisonment of 191 days. As the season appeared to be 
 improving, another land expedition was determined on, 
 
PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 79 
 
 
 
 and Captain Lyon and Lieutenant Palmer, attended by 
 a party of eight men, set off on the 8th of May, taking 
 with them twenty days' provisions. Each man drew on a 
 sledge 126 Ibs., and t'he officers 95 Ibs. a-piece. 
 
 "Loaded as we were (says the leader), it was with the 
 greatest difficulty we made our way amongst and over the 
 hummocks, ourselves and sledges taking some very un- 
 pleasant tumbles. It required two hoiirs and a half to 
 cross the ice, although the distance was not two miles, and 
 we then landed on a small island, where we passed the 
 night." 
 
 Several islands and shoals in the strait were named 
 Bird's Isles. At noon on the llth, they camped at the 
 head of a fine bay, to which the name of Blake was given. 
 In spite of all the care which had been taken by using 
 crape shades, and other coverings for the eyes, five of the 
 party became severely afflicted with snow blindness. Before 
 evening two of the sufferers were quite blinded by the 
 inflammation. Their faces, eyes, and even heads, being 
 much swollen, and very red. Bathing would have afforded 
 relief, but the sun did not produce a drop of water, and 
 their stock of fuel being limited, they could only spare 
 enough wood to thaw snow for their mid-day draught. 
 
 As the morning of the 12th brought no change in the 
 invalids, another day was lost. Towards evening, by 
 breaking pieces of ice, and placing them in the full glare 
 of the sun, sufficient water was obtained, both for drink- 
 ing and for the sick to bathe their faces, which afforded 
 them amazing relief, and on the morrow they were enabled 
 to resume their journey. At noon the sun was sufficiently 
 powerful to afford the travellers a draught of water with- 
 out having to thaw it, as had hitherto been the case. 
 
 For nearly three days after this, they were imprisoned 
 in their low tent by a snow-storm, but on the morning of 
 the 18th, they were enabled to sally out to stretch their 
 legs, and catch a glimpse of the sun. After examining 
 many bays and indentations of the coast, the party returned 
 to the ships on the evening of the 21st. A canal was now 
 cut through the ice, to get the ships to the open water, in 
 length 2400 feet, and varying in breadth from CO to 197 
 feet. The average thickness of the ice was four feet, but 
 in some places it was as much as twelve feet. This truly 
 arduous task had occupied the crews for fifteen days, from 
 six in the morning to eight in the evening; but they 
 laboured at it with the greatest spirit and good humour, 
 and it was concluded on the 18th of June, when the officers 
 and men began to take leave of their several haunts and 
 
80 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 promenades, particularly the " garden" of each ship, which 
 had become favourite lounges during their nine months' 
 detention. A few ill-fated bunting came near enough to 
 be shot, and were instantly roasted for a farewell supper, 
 and bright visions of active exertions on the water on the 
 morrow were universally entertained. But the night dis- 
 pelled all these airy castles, for with the morning's dawn 
 they found that the whole body of ice astern of the ships 
 had broke adrift, filled up the hard-wrought canal, and 
 imprisoned them as firm as ever. 
 
 Death now for the first time visited the crews. James 
 Pringle, a seaman of the Hecla, fell from the mast-head to 
 the deck, and was killed on the 18th of May. Win. Souter, 
 quarter-master, and John Reid, carpenter's mate, belong- 
 ing to the Fury, died on the 26th and 27th, of natural 
 vcauses. Towards the end of June, the sea began to clear 
 rapidly to the eastward, and the bay ice soon gave way as 
 far as where the ships were lying, and on the 2nd of July 
 they put to sea with a fresh breeze, after having been 
 frozen in for 267 days. 
 
 In making their way to the northward, they were fre- 
 quently in much danger. On the 3rd, the ice came down 
 on the Hecla with such force as to carry her on board the 
 Fury, by which the Hecla broke her best bower anchor, 
 ,and cut her waist-boat in two. On the 4th, the pressure 
 of the ice was so great as to break the Hecla adrift from 
 three hawsers. Four or five men were each on separate 
 pieces of ice, parted from the ships in the endeavour to 
 TUU out a hawser. A heavy pressure closing the loose ice, 
 unexpectedly gave them a road on board again, or they 
 must have been carried away by the stream to certain 
 destruction. On the 8th, the Hecla had got her stream- 
 cable out, in addition to the other hawsers, and made fast 
 to the land ice, when a very heavy and extensive floe took 
 the ship on her broadside, and being backed by another 
 large body of ice, gradually lifted her stem as if by the 
 action of a wedge. 
 
 " The weight every moment increasing, obliged us," 
 .says Captain Lyon, " to veer on the hawsers, whose fric- 
 tion was so great as nearly to cut through the bitt-heads, 
 .and ultimately to set them on fire, so that it became requi- 
 site for people to attend with buckets of water. The pres- 
 sure was at length too powerful for resistance, and the 
 Stream-cable, with two six and one five-inch hawsers, all 
 gave way at the same moment, three others soon follow- 
 ing them. The sea was too full of ice to allow the ship to 
 
PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 81 
 
 drive, and tlie only way in which she could yield to the 
 enormous weight which oppressed her, was by leaning 
 over on the land ice, while her stem at the same time was 
 entirely lifted to above the height of five feet out of the 
 water. The lower deck beams now complained very much, 
 and the whole frame of the ship underwent a trial which 
 would have proved fatal to any less strengthened vessel. 
 At the same moment, the rudder was unhung with a sudden 
 jerk, which broke up the rudder-case, and struck the 
 ariver-boom with great force." 
 
 From this perilous position she was released almost by 
 a miracle, and the rudder re-hung. 
 
 The ships at last reached the island which had been so 
 accurately described to them by the Esquimaux lady 
 lorloolik, where they came upon an encampment of 120 
 Esquimaux, in tents. Captains Parry and Lyon and 
 other officers made frequent exploring excursions along 
 the shores of the Fury and Hecla strait, and inland. On 
 the 26th of August the ships entered this strait, which 
 was found blocked up with flat ice. The season had also 
 now assumed so wintry an aspect that there seemed but 
 little probability of getting much farther west : knowing of 
 no harbour to protect the ships, unless a favourable change 
 took place, they had the gloomy prospect before them of 
 wintering in or near this frozen strait. Boating and land 
 parties were dispatched in several directions, to report upon 
 the different localities. 
 
 On the 4th of September, Captain Lyon landed on an 
 island of slate formation, about six miles to the westward 
 of the ships, which he named Amherst Island. The result 
 of these expeditions proved that it was impracticable, 
 either by boats or water conveyance, to examine any part 
 of the land south-west of Igloolik, in consequence of the 
 ice. 
 
 Mr. Reid and a boat-party travelled about sixty miles 
 to the westward of Amherst Island, and ascertained the 
 termination of the strait. On a consultation with the 
 officers, Captain Parry determined to seek a berth near 
 to Igloolik, in which to secure the ships for the winter. 
 They had now been sixty-five days struggling to get for- 
 ward, but had only in that time reached forty miles to the 
 westward of Igloolik. The vessels made the best of their 
 way to the natural channel between this island and the 
 land, but were for some time drifted with the ice, losing 
 several anchors, and it was only by hard work in cutting 
 channels that they were brought into safer quarters near 
 
82 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERT. 
 
 the land. Some fine teams of dogs were here purchased 
 from the Esquimaux, which were found very serviceable 
 in making excursions on sledges. 
 
 Their second Christmas Day in this region had now 
 arrived, and Lyon informs us 
 
 " Captain Parry dined with me, and was treated with a 
 superb display of mustard and cress, with about fifty 
 onions, rivalling a fine needle in size, which I had reared 
 in boxes round my cabin stove. All our messes in either 
 ship were supplied with an extra pound of real English 
 fresh beef, which had been hanging at our quarter for 
 eighteen months. We could not afford to leave it for a 
 farther trial of keeping, but I have no doubt that double 
 the period would not have quite spoiled its flavour." 
 
 This winter proved much more severe than the former. 
 Additional clothing was found necessary. The stove-fun- 
 nels collected a quantity of ice within them, notwithstand- 
 ing fires were kept up night and day, so that it was 
 frequently requisite to take them down in order to break 
 and melt the ice out of them. 
 
 Nothing was seen of the sun for forty-two days. 
 
 On the 15th of April, Mr. A. Elder, Greenland mate of 
 the Ilecla, died of dropsy : he had been leading man with 
 Parry on Boss's voyage, and for his good conduct was 
 made mate of the Gbiper, on the last expedition. 
 
 On the 6th of September, 1823, Mr. Geo. Fife, the pilot, 
 also died of scurvy. 
 
 After taking a review of their provisions, and the proba- 
 bility of having to pass a third winter here, Captain Parry 
 determined to send the Ilecla home, taking from her all 
 the provision that could be spared. Little or no hopes 
 could be entertained of any passage being found to the 
 westward, otherwise than by the strait now so firmly 
 closed with ice; but Parry trusted that some interesting 
 additions might be made to the geography of these dreary 
 regions, by attempting a passage to the northward or cast- 
 ward, in hopes of finding an outlet to Lancaster Sound or 
 Prince [Regent's Inlet. 
 
 On the 21st of April, 1823, they began transshipping the 
 provisions ; the teams of dogs being found most useful for 
 this purpose. Even two anchors of 22 cwt. each, were 
 drawn by these noble animals at a quick trot. 
 
 Upon admitting daylight at the stern windows of 
 the Ilecla, on the 22nd, the gloomy, sooty cabin 
 showed to no great advantage, no less than ten buckets of 
 ice were taken from the sashes and out of the stern lockers, 
 from which latter some spare flannels and instruments 
 were only liberated by chopping. 
 
PAKRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 83 
 
 On tlie 7th of June, Captain Lyon, with a party of men, 
 set off across the Melville Peninsula, to endeavour to get 
 a sight of the western sea, of which they had received de- 
 scriptive accounts from the natives, but owing to the diffi- 
 culties of travelling, and the ranges of mountains they met 
 with, they returned unsuccessful, after being out twenty 
 days. Another inland trip of a fortnight followed. 
 
 On the 1st of August, the Hecla was reported ready for 
 sea. Some symptoms of scurvy having again made their 
 appearance in the ships, and the surgeons reporting that 
 it would not be prudent to continue longer, Captain Parry 
 reluctantly determined to proceed home with both ships. 
 After being 319 days in their winter quarters, the ships 
 got away on the 9th of August. 
 
 A conspicuous landmark, with despatches, was set up 
 on the mainland for the information of Franklin, should 
 lie reach this quarter. 
 
 On reaching Winter Island, and visiting their last year's 
 garden, radishes, mustard and cress, and onions were 
 brought off, which had survived the winter and were still 
 alive, seventeen months from the time they were planted, 
 a very remarkable proof of their having been preserved by 
 the warm covering of snow. 
 
 The ships, during the whole of this passage, were driven 
 by the current more than three degrees, entirely at the 
 mercy of the ice, being carried into every bight, and 
 swept over each point, without the power of helping them- 
 selves. 
 
 On the 1st of September, they were driven up Lyon 
 Inlet, where they were confined high up till the 6th, 
 when a breeze sprung up, which took them down to 
 within three miles of Winter Island ; still it was not until 
 the 12th that they got thoroughly clear of the indraught. 
 The danger and suspense of these twelve days were 
 Horrible, and Lyon justly observes that he would prefer 
 being frozen up during another eleven months' winter, to 
 again passing so anxious a period of time. 
 
 " Ten of the twelve nights were passed on deck, in 
 expectation, each tide, of some decided change in our 
 affairs, either by being left on the rocks, or grounding in 
 such shoal water, that the whole body of the ice must 
 have slid over us. But, as that good old seaman Baffin 
 expresses himself, ' God, who is greater than either ice 
 or tide, always delivered us !' 
 
 For thirty-five days the ships had been beset, and in that 
 period had driven with the ice above 300 miles without 
 any exertion on their part, and also without a possibility 
 
84 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 of extricating themselves. On the 23rd of September 
 they once more got into the swell of the Atlantic, and on 
 the 10th of October arrived at Lerwick, in Shetland. 
 
 CLAVEEING'S VOYAGE TO SPITZBEEGEN AND 
 
 LAND, 1823. 
 
 i 1823, Capt. Sabine, R.A., who had been for some 
 time engaged in magnetic observations, and also in experi- 
 ments to determine the configuration of the earth, by 
 means of pendulum vibrations in different latitudes, having 
 perfected his observations at different points, from the 
 Equator to the Arctic Circle, suggested to the Hoyal Society, 
 through Sir Humphry Davy, the importance 01 extending 
 similar experiments into higher latitudes towards the Pole. 
 Accordingly, the Government placed at his disposal H.M.S. 
 Griper, 120 tons, Commander Clavering, which was to 
 convey him to Spitsbergen, and thence to the east coast of 
 Greenland. 
 
 The Griper sailed from the JS~ore on the llth of May, 
 and proceeded to Hammerfest, or Whale Island, near the 
 North Cape in Norway, which she reached on the 4th of 
 June, and Capt. Sabine having finished his shore observa- 
 tions by the 23rd, the vessel set sail for Spitzbergen. She 
 fell in with ice off Cherry Island, in lat. 75 5', on the 
 27th, and on the 30th disembarked the tents and instru- 
 ments on one of the small islands round Hakluyt's Head- 
 land, near the eightieth parallel. Capt. Clavering, mean- 
 while, sailed in the Griper due north, and reached the 
 latitude of 80 20', where being stopped by close packed 
 ice, he was obliged to return. 
 
 On the 24th of July they again put to sea, directing 
 their course for the highest known point of the eastern 
 coast of Greenland. They met with many fields of ice, 
 and made the land, which had a most miserable desolate 
 appearance, at a point which was named Cape Borlase 
 "Warren. Two islands were discovered, and as Capt. 
 Sabine here landed and carried on his observations, they 
 were called Pendulum Islands. From an island situate in 
 lat. 75 12', to which he gave the name of Shannon Island, 
 Clavering saw high land, stretching due north as far as 
 lat. 76. 
 
 On the 16th of August, Clavering landed with a party of 
 three officers and sixteen men on the mainland, to examine 
 the shores. The temperature did not sink below 23, and 
 they slept for nearly a fortnight they were on shore with 
 only a boat-cloak and blanket for a covering, without feel- 
 
LYON'S VOYAGE IN THE GRIPER. 85 
 
 ing any inconvenience from the cold. A tribe of twelve 
 Esquimaux was met with here. They reached in their 
 journey a magnificent inlet, about fifty miles in circum- 
 ference, which was supposed to be the same which Gale 
 Hamkes discovered in 1654, and which bears his name. 
 The mountains round its sides were 4000 to 5000 feet high. 
 On the 29th of August, they returned on board, and 
 having embarked the tents and instruments, the ship again, 
 set sail on the 31st, keeping the coast in view to Cape 
 Parry, lat. 72-|. The cliffs were observed to be several 
 thousand feet high. On the 13th of September, as the 
 ice in shore began to get very troublesome, the ship 
 stood out to sea, and after encountering a very heavy 
 gale, which drove them with great fury to the southward, 
 and it not being thought prudent to make for Iceland, a 
 station in about the same latitude on the Norway coast 
 was chosen instead by Capt. Sabine. They made the 
 land about the latitude cf Christiansound. On the 1st of 
 October the Griper struck hard on a sunken rock, but 
 got off undamaged. 
 
 On the 6th they anchored in Drontheim Fiord, where 
 they were received with much kindness and hospitality, 
 and after the necessary observations had been completed 
 the ship proceeded homewards, and reached Deptford on 
 the 19th of December, 1823. 
 
 ETON'S VOYAGE IN THE GEIPEE. 
 
 IN 1824 three expeditions were ordered out, to carry on 
 simultaneous operations in Arctic discovery. To Capt. 
 Lyon was committed the task of examining and complet- 
 ing the survey of the Melville Peninsula, the adjoining 
 straits, and the shores of Arctic America, if possible as far 
 as Franklin's turning point. Capt. Lyon was therefore 
 gazetted to the Griper gun-brig, which had taken out 
 Capt. Sabine to Spitzbergen in the previous year. The fol- 
 lowing officers and crew were also appointed to her : 
 
 Griper. 
 
 Captain G. F. Lyon. 
 Lieutenants P. Manico and F. Harding. 
 Assistant- Surveyor E. IN". Kendal. 
 Purser J. Evans. 
 Assistant-Surgeon W. Leyson. 
 Midshipman J. Tom. 
 34 Petty officers, seamen, &c. 
 Total complement, 41. 
 
86 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 It was not till tlie 20th. of June that the Griper got 
 away from England, being a full month later than the 
 usual period of departure, and the vessel was at the best 
 but an old tub in her sailing properties. A small tender, 
 called the Snap, was ordered to accompany her with stores 
 as far as the ice, and having been relieved of her supplies, 
 she was sent home on reaching Hudson's Straits. 
 
 The Griper made but slow progress in her deeply laden 
 state, her crowded decks being continually swept by heavy 
 seas, and it was not until the end of August that she 
 rounded the southern head of Southampton Island, and 
 stood up towards Sir Thomas Eoe's Welcome. On reach- 
 ing the entrance of this channel they encountered a terrific 
 gale, which for a long time threatened the destruction of 
 both ship and crew. Drifting with this, they brought up 
 the ship with four anchors, in a bay with five fathoms and 
 a half water, in the momentary expectation that with 
 the ebb tide the ship would take the ground, as the 
 sea broke fearfully on a low sandy beach just astern, 
 and had the anchors parted nothing could have saved 
 the vessel. Neither commander nor crew had been in bed 
 for three nights, and although little hope was entertained 
 of surviving the gale, and no boat could live in snch a sea, 
 the officers and crew performed their several duties with 
 their accustomed coolness. Each man was ordered to put 
 on his warmest clothing, and to take charge of some use- 
 ful instrument. The scene is best described in the words 
 of the gallant commander : 
 
 " Each, therefore, brought his bag on deck, and dressed 
 himself; and in the fine athletic forms which stood exposed 
 before me, I did not see one muscle quiver, nor the 
 slightest sign of alarm. Prayers were read, and they then 
 all sat down in groups, sheltered from the wash of the sea 
 by whatever they could find, and some endeavoured to 
 obtain a little sleep. Never perhaps was witnessed a finer 
 scene than on the deck of my little ship, when all hope of 
 life had left us. Noble as the character of the British 
 sailor is always allowed to be in cases of danger, yet I did 
 not believe it' to be possible that among forty-one persons 
 not one repining word should have been uttered. Each 
 was at peace with his neighbour and all the world ; and I 
 am firmly persuaded that the resignation which was then 
 shown to the will of the Almighty, was the means of 
 obtaining His mercy. God was merciful to us, and the 
 tide, almost miraculously, fell no lower." The appropriate 
 name of the Bay of God's Mercy has been given to this 
 spot on the charts by Capt, Lyon. 
 
PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 87 
 
 Proceeding onward up the Welcome, they encountered, 
 about a fortnight later, another fearful storm. On the 
 12th of September, when off the entrance of Wager Inlet, 
 it blew so hard for two days, that on the 13th the ship 
 was driven from her anchors, and carried away by the 
 fury of the gale, with every prospect of being momentarily 
 dashed to pieces against any hidden rock ; but the same 
 good Providence which had so recently befriended them, 
 again stood their protector. On consulting with his 
 officers, it was unanimously resolved, that in the crippled 
 state of the ship, without any anchor, and with her com- 
 passes worse than useless, it would be madness to continue 
 the voyage, and the ship's course was therefore shaped for 
 England. 
 
 I may observe, that the old Griper is now laid up as a 
 hulk in Chichester Harbour, furnishing a residence and 
 depot for the coast guard station. 
 
 PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 
 
 IN the spring of 1824 the Admiralty determined to give 
 Capt. Parry another opportunity of carrying out the great 
 problem which had so long been sought after, of a north- 
 west passage to the Pacific, and so generally esteemed 
 was this gallant commander that he had but to hoist his 
 pennant, when fearless of all danger, and in a noble spirit 
 of emulation, his former associates rallied around him. 
 
 The same two ships were employed as before, but Parry 
 now selected the Hecla for his pennant. The staff of 
 officers and men was as follows : 
 
 Hecla. 
 
 Captain W. E. Parry. 
 
 Lieutenants J. L. Wynn, Joseph Sherer, and Henry 
 Foster. 
 
 Surgeon Samuel Neill, M.D. 
 
 Purser W. H. Hooper. 
 
 Assistant- Surgeon W". Eowland. 
 
 Midshipmen J. Brunton, F. E. M.Crozier, C. Eichards, 
 and H. N". Head. 
 
 Greenland Pilots J. Allison, master; and G. Cham- 
 pion, mate. 
 
 49 Petty Officers, Seamen, and Marines. 
 
 Total complement, 62. 
 
88 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 Fury. 
 
 Commander H. P. Hoppner. 
 
 Lieutenants H. T. Austin and J. C. Eoss. 
 
 Surgeon A. M'Laren. 
 
 Purser J. Halse. 
 
 Assistant- Surgeon T. Bell. 
 
 Midshipmen B. Westropp, C. C. Waller, and E. Bird. 
 
 Clerk W. Mogg. 
 
 Greenland Pilots G. Crawford, master ; T. Donaldson, 
 
 mate. 
 
 48 Petty Officers, Seamen, and Marines. 
 Total complement, 60. 
 
 The William Harris, transport, was commissioned to 
 accompany the ships to the ice with provisions. Among 
 the promotions made, it will be seen, were Lieut. Hoppner 
 to the rank of Commander, and second in command of the 
 expedition. Messrs. J. Sherer and J. C. Ross to be Lieu- 
 tenants, and J. Halse to be Purser. The attempt on this 
 occasion was to be made by Lancaster Sound through 
 Barrow's Strait to Prince Regent Inlet. The ships 
 sailed on the 19th of May, 1824, and a month afterwards 
 fell in with the body of the ice in lat. 60f . After trans- 
 shipping the stores to the two vessels, and sending home 
 the transport, about the middle of July they were close 
 beset with the ice in Baffin's Bay, and " from this time 
 (says Parry) the obstructions from the quantity, magni- 
 tude, and closeness of the ice, were such as to keep our 
 people almost constantly employed in heaving, warping, 
 or sawing through it ; and yet with so little success that, 
 at the close of July, we had only penetrated seventy miles 
 to the westward." After encountering a severe gale on 
 the 1st of August, by which masses of overlaying ice were 
 driven one upon the other, the Ilecla was laid on her 
 broadside by a strain, which Parry says must inevitably 
 have crushed a vessel of ordinary strength ; they got clear 
 of the chief obstructions by the first week in September. 
 During the whole of August they had not one clay suffi- 
 ciently free from rain, snow, or sleet, to be able to air the 
 bedding of the ship's company. 
 
 They entered Lancaster Sound on the 10th of Sep- 
 tember, and with the exception of a solitary berg or two 
 found it clear of ice. A few days after they, however, fell 
 in with the young ice, which increasing daily in thickness, 
 the ships became beset, and by the current which set to 
 the east at the rate of three miles an hour, the^ were soon 
 
PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 89 
 
 i 
 
 drifted back to the eastward of Admiralty Inlet, and on 
 the 23rd they found themselves again off Wollaston 
 Island, at the entrance of Navy Board Inlet. By perse- 
 verance, however, and the aid of a strong easterly breeze, 
 they once more managed to recover their lost ground, and 
 on the 27th reached the entrance of Port Boweri on the 
 eastern shore of Prince Regent Inlet, and here Parry 
 resolved upon wintering ; this making the fourth winter 
 this enterprising commander had passed in these inhos- 
 pitable seas. 
 
 The usual laborious process of cutting canals had to be 
 resorted to, in order to get the ships near to the shore in 
 secure and sheltered situations. Parry thus describes the 
 dreary monotonous character of an Arctic winter : 
 
 " It is hard to conceive anyone thing more like another 
 than two winters passed in the higher latitudes of the 
 Polar regions, except when variety happens to be afforded 
 by intercourse with some other branch of the whole family 
 of man. Winter after winter, nature here assumes an 
 aspect so much alike, that cursory observation can scarcely 
 detect a single feature of variety. The winter of more 
 temperate climates, and even in some of no slight severity, 
 is occasionally diversified by a thaw, which at once gives 
 variety and comparative cheerfulness to the prospect. But 
 here, when once the earth is covered, all is drearv mono- 
 
 A/ 
 
 tonous whiteness, not merely for days or weeks, but for 
 more than half a year together. Whichever way the eye 
 is turned, it meets a picture calculated to impress upon 
 the mind an idea of inanimate stillness, of that motionless 
 torpor with which our feelings have nothing congenial ; of 
 anything, in short, but life. In. the very silence there is 
 a deadness with which a human spectator appears out of 
 "keeping. The presence of man seems an intrusion on the 
 dreary solitude of this wintry desert, which even its native 
 animals have for awhile forsaken." 
 
 During this year Parry tells us the thermometer re- 
 mained below zero 131 days, and did not rise above that 
 point till the llth of April. The sun, which had been 
 absent from their view 121 days, again blessed the crews 
 with his rays on the 22nd of February. During this 
 long imprisonment, schools, scientific observations, walk- 
 ing parties, &c., were resorted to, but " our former 
 amusements," says Parry, " being almost worn threadbare, 
 it required some ingenuity to devise any plan that should 
 possess the charm of novelty to recommend it." A happy 
 idea was, however, hit upon by Commander Hoppner, at 
 whose suggestion a monthly bal masque was held, to the 
 
90 PROG HESS OP AUCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 great diversion of both officers and men, to the number of 
 120. The popular commander entered gaily into 
 their recreations, and thus speaks of these Polar mas- 
 querades : 
 
 " It is impossible that any idea could have proved more 
 happy, or more exactly suited to our situation. Admirably 
 dressed characters of various descriptions readily took 
 their parts, and many of these were supported with a 
 degree of spirit and genuine good humour which would 
 not have disgraced a more refined assembly ; while the 
 latter might not have been disgraced by copying the good 
 order, decorum, and inoffensive cheerfulness which our 
 'humble masquerades presented. It does especial credit 
 to the dispositions and good sense of our men, that though 
 all the officers entered fully into the spirit of these amuse- 
 ments, which took place once a month alternately on board 
 of each ship, no instance occurred of anything that could 
 interfere with the regular discipline, or at all weaken the 
 respect of the men towards their superiors. Ours were 
 masquerades without licentiousness carnivals without 
 excess." 
 
 Exploring parties were sent out in several directions. 
 Commander Hoppner and his party went inland, and after 
 a fortnight's fatiguing journey over a mountainous, barren, 
 and desolate country, where precipitous ravines 500 feet 
 deep obstructed their passage, travelled a degree and three- 
 quarters to the latitude of 73 19' but saw no appear- 
 ance of sea from thence. 
 
 Lieutenant Sherer with four men proceeded to the 
 southward, and made a careful survey of the coast as far 
 as 72^, but had not provisions sufficient to go round Cape 
 Kater, the southernmost point observed in their former 
 voyage. 
 
 Lieutenant J. C. Eoss, with a similar party, travelled to 
 the northward, along the coast of the Inlet, and from the 
 hills about Cape York, observed that the sea was perfectly 
 open and free from ice at the distance of twenty-two miles 
 from the ships. 
 
 After an imprisonment of about ten months, by great 
 exertions the ships were got clear from the iee, and on the 
 20th of July, 1825, upon the separation of the floe across 
 the harbour, towed out to sea. Parry then made for the 
 western shore of the Inlet, being desirous of examining 
 the coast of North Somerset for any channel that might 
 occur, a probability which later discoveries in that quarter 
 have proved to be without foundation. On the 28th, when 
 well in with the western shore, the Hecla, in spite of every 
 
PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 91 
 
 exertion, was beset by floating ice, and after breaking two 
 large ice anchors in endeavouring to heave in shore, was 
 obliged to give np the effort and drift with the ice until 
 the 30th. On the following day, a heavy gale came on, 
 in which the Hecla carried away three hawsers, while 
 the Fury was driven on shore, but was hove off at high 
 water. Both ships were now drifted by the body of the 
 ice down the Inlet, and took the ground, the Fury being so 
 nipped and strained that she leaked a great deal, and four 
 pumps kept constantly at work did not keep her clear of 
 water. They were floated off at high water, but, late on 
 the 2nd of August, the huge masses of ice once more forced 
 the Fury on shore, and the Hecla narrowly escaped. On 
 examining her and getting her off, it was found that she 
 must be hove down and repaired ; a basin was therefore 
 formed for her reception and completed by the 16th, a 
 mile further to the southward, within three icebergs 
 grounded, where there were three or four fathoms of 
 water. Into this basin she was taken on the 18th, and her 
 stores and provisions being removed, she was hove down, 
 but a gale of wind coming on and destroying the masses 
 of ice which sheltered her, it became necessary to re-em- 
 bark the stores, &c., and once more put to sea ; but the 
 unfortunate vessel had hardly got out of her harbour 
 before, on the 21st, she was again driven on shore. After 
 a careful survey and examination, it was found necessary 
 to abandon her : Parry's opinion being thus expressed 
 " Every endeavour of ours to get her off, or if got off, to 
 float her to any known place of safety, would be at once 
 utterly hopeless in itself, and productive of extreme risk to 
 our remaining ship." 
 
 The loss of this ship, and the crowded state of the 
 remaining vessel, made it impossible to think of continuing 
 the voyage for the purposes of discovery. 
 
 " The incessant labour, the constant state of anxiety, 
 and the frequent and imminent danger into which the sur- 
 viving ship was thrown, in the attempts to save her com- 
 rade, which were continued for twenty-five days, destroyed 
 every reasonable expectation hitherto cherished of the 
 ultimate accomplishment of this object." 
 
 Taking advantage of a northerly wind, on the 27th the 
 Hecla stretched across the Inlet for the eastern coast, 
 meeting with little obstruction from the ice, and anchored 
 in JN"eiITs Harbour, a short distance to the southward of 
 their winter quarters, Port Bowen, where the ship was 
 got ready for crossing the Atlantic. 
 
 The Hecla put to sea on the 31st of August, and enter- 
 
92 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 ing Barrow's Strait on the 1st of September, found it 
 perfectly clear of ice. In Lancaster Sound a very large 
 number of bergs were seen ; but they found an open sea 
 in Baffin's Bay, till, on the 7th of September, when in lati- 
 tude 72 30', they came to the margin of the ice, and soon 
 entered a clear channel on its eastern side. From thirty 
 to forty large icebergs, not less than 200 feet in height, 
 were sighted. 
 
 On the 12th of October, Captain Parry landed at Peter- 
 head, and the Hecla arrived at Sheerness on the 20th. 
 But one man died during this voyage John Page, a sea- 
 man of the Fury who cued of scurvy, in JN"eill's Harbour, 
 on the 29th of August. 
 
 This voyage cannot but be considered the most unsuc- 
 cessful of the three made by Parry, whether as regards 
 the information gleaned on the subject of a north-west 
 passage or the extension of our store of geographical or 
 scientific knowledge. The shores of this Inlet were more 
 naked, barren, and desolate than even Melville Island. 
 With the exception of some hundreds of white whales, 
 seen sporting about the most southernmost part of the Inlet 
 that was visited, few other species of animals were seen. 
 
 " We have scarcely," says Parry, " ever visited a coast 
 on which so little of animal life occurs. For days to- 
 gether only one or two seals, a single sea-horse, ana now 
 and then a flock of ducks were seen." 
 
 He still clings to the accomplishment of the great 
 object of a north-west passage. At page 184 of his official 
 narrative, he says 
 
 " I feel confident that the undertaking, if it be deemed 
 advisable at any future time to pursue it, will one day or 
 other be accomplished ; for setting aside the accidents to 
 which, from their very nature, such attempts must be 
 liable, as well as other unfavourable circumstances which 
 human foresight can never guard against, or human power 
 control I cannot but believe it to be an enterprise well 
 within the reasonable limits of practicability. It may be 
 tried often and fail, for several favourable and fortunate 
 circumstances must be combined for its accomplishment ; 
 but I believe, nevertheless, that it will ultimately be 
 accomplished." 
 
 " I am much mistaken, indeed," he adds, "if the north- 
 west passage ever becomes the business of a single summer; 
 nay, I believe that nothing but a concurrence of very 
 favourable circumstances is likely ever to make a single 
 winter in the ice sufficient for its accomplishment. Bat 
 there is no argument against the possibility of final success : 
 
JFKANKLIN'S SECOND EXPEDITION. 93 
 
 for wo now know that a winter in the ice may be passed 
 not only in safety but in health and comfort." 
 
 JN"ot one winter alone, but two and three have been 
 passed with health and safety in these seas, under a wise 
 and careful commander. 
 
 FBANKLIN'S SECOND EXPEDITION, 1825-26. 
 
 UNDAUNTED by the hardships and sufferings he had 
 encountered in his previous travels, with a noble spirit of 
 ardour and enthusiasm, Captain Franklin determined to 
 prosecute the chain of his former discoveries from the 
 Coppermine river to the most western point of the 
 Arctic regions. A sea expedition, under the command of 
 Captain Beechey, was at the same time sent round Cape 
 Horn to Behring'g Straits, to co-operate with Parry and 
 [Franklin, so as to furnish provisions to the former, and 
 a conveyance home to the latter. 
 
 Captain Franklin's offer was therefore accepted by the 
 government, and leaving Liverpool in February, 1 825, he 
 arrived at JN"ew York about the middle of March. The 
 officers under his orders were his old and tried companions 
 and fellow sufferers in the former journey Dr. Ki chard- 
 son and Lieutenant Back, with Mr. E. 1ST. Kendal, a mate 
 in the navy, w r ho had been out in the Griper with Capt. 
 Lyon, and Mr. T. Drummond, a naturalist. Four boats, 
 specially prepared for the purposes of the expedition, were 
 sent out by the Hudson's Bay Company's ship. 
 
 In July, 1825, the party arrived at Fort Chipewyan. 
 It is unnecessary t6 go over the ground and follow them 
 in their northern journey ; suffice it to say, they reached 
 Great Bear Lake in safety, and erected a winter dwelling 
 on its western shore, to which the name of Fort Franklin 
 was given. To Back and Mr. Dease, an officer in the 
 Hudson's Bay Company's service, were entrusted the 
 arrangements for their winter quarters. 
 
 From here a small party set out with Franklin down the 
 Mackenzie to examine the state of the Polar Sea. On the 
 5th of September they got back to their companions, and 
 prepared to pass the long winter of seven or eight months. 
 
 On the 28th of June, 1826, the season being sufficiently 
 advanced, and all their preparations completed, the whole 
 party got away in four boats to descend the Mackenzie to 
 the Polar Sea. Where the river branches off into several 
 channels, the party separated on the 3rd of July, Captain 
 Franklin and Lieutenant Back, with two boats and fourteen 
 men, haying with them the faithful Esquimaux interpreter, 
 
94 PROGKESS OF AECTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 Augustus, who had been with them on the former expedi- 
 tion, proceeded to the westward, while Dr. Eichardson 
 and Mr. Kendal in the other two boats, having ten men 
 tinder their command, set out in an easterly direction to 
 search the Coppermine river. 
 
 Franklin arrived at the mouth of the Mackenzie on the 
 7th of July, where he encountered a large tribe of fierce 
 Esquimaux, who pillaged his boats, and it was only by 
 great caution, prudence, and forbearance, that the whole 
 party were not massacred. After getting the boats afloat, 
 and clear of these unpleasant visitors, Franklin pursued 
 his survey, a most tedious and difficult one, for more than 
 a month ; he was only able to reach a point in latitude 
 70 24' N. longitude 149 37' W., to which Back's name 
 was given ; and here prudence obliged him to return, 
 although, strangely enough, a boat from the Blossom was 
 waiting not 160 miles west of his position to meet with 
 him. The extent of coast surveyed was 374 miles. The 
 return journey to Fort Franklin was safely accomplished, 
 and they arrived at their house on the 21st of September, 
 when they found Eichardson and Kendal had returned on 
 the first of the month, having accomplished a voyage of 
 about 500 miles, or 902 by the coast line, between the 
 4th of July and the 8th of August. They had pushed 
 forward beyond the strait named after their boats the 
 Dolphin and Union. 
 
 In ascending the Coppermine, they had to abandon 
 their boats and carry their provisions and baggage. 
 
 Having passed another winter at Fort Franklin, as soon 
 as the season broke up the Canadians were dismissed, and 
 the party returned to England. 
 
 The cold experienced in the last winter was intense, 
 the thermometer standing at one time at 58 below 
 zero, but having now plenty of food, a weather-tight 
 dwelling, and good health, they passed it cheerfully. 
 Dr. Eichardson gave a course of lectures on practical 
 geology, and Mr. Drummond furnished information on 
 natural history. During the winter, in a solitary hut on 
 the Eocky Mountains, he managed to collect 200 specimens 
 of birds, animals, &c., and more than 1500 of plants. 
 
 When Captain Franklin left England to proceed on 
 this expedition he had to undergo a severe struggle 
 between the feelings of affection and a sense of duty. 
 His wife (he has been married twice) was then lying at 
 the point of death, and indeed died the day after he left 
 England. But with heroic fortitude she urged his depar- 
 ture at the very day appointed, entreating him, as he 
 
BEECHEY'S VOYAGE. 95 
 
 valued her peace and his own glory, not to delay a 
 moment on her account. His feelings, therefore, may be 
 inferred, but not described, when he had to elevate on 
 Garry Island a silk flag which she had made and given 
 him as a parting gift, with the instruction that he was 
 only to hoist it on reaching the Polar Sea. 
 
 BEECHEY'S YOYAGE. 1826-28. 
 
 H.M. SLOOP Blossom, 26, Captain F. W. Beechey, sailed 
 from Spithead on the 19th of May, 1825, and her instructions 
 directed her, after surveying some of the islands in the 
 Pacific, to be in Behring's Straits by the summer or 
 autumn of 1826, and contingently in that of 1827. 
 
 It is foreign to my purpose here to allude to those 
 parts of her voyage anterior to her arrival in the Straits. 
 
 On the 28th of June the Blossom came to an anchor off 
 the town of Petropolowski, where she fell in with the 
 [Russian ship of war Modeste, under the command of 
 Baron Wrangel, so well known for his enterprise in the 
 hazardous expedition by sledges over the ice to the north- 
 ward of Cape Shelatskoi, or Errinos. 
 
 Captain Beechey here found despatches informing him 
 of the return of Parry's expedition. Being beset by 
 currents and other difficulties, it was not till the 5th of 
 July that the Blossom got clear of the harbour, and made 
 the best of her way to Kotzebue Sound, reaching the 
 appointed rendezvous at Chamiso Island on the 25th. 
 After landing and burying a barrel of flour upon Puffin. 
 Hock, the most unfrequented spot about the island, the 
 Blossom occupied the time in surveying and examining 
 the neighbouring coasts to the north east. On the 30th 
 she took her departure from the island, erecting posts or 
 land-marks, and burying despatches at Cape Krusenstern, 
 near a cape which he named after Franklin, near Icy Cape. 
 
 The ship returned to the rendezvous on the evening of 
 the 28th of August. The barrel of flour had been dug 
 up, and appropriated by the natives. 
 
 On the first visit of one of these parties, they con- 
 structed a chart of the coast upon the sand, of which, 
 however, Captain Beechey at first took very little notice. 
 "They, however, renewed their labour, and performed 
 their work upon the sandy beach in a very ingenious and 
 intelligible manner. The coast line was first marked out 
 with a stick, and the distances regulated by the day's 
 journey. The hills and ranges of mountains were next 
 shown by elevations of sand or stone, and the islands 
 
9G PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 represented by Leaps of pebbles, their proportions being 
 duly attended to. As the work proceeded some of the 
 bystanders occasionally suggested alterations, and Cap- 
 tain Beechey moved one of the Diornede Islands, which 
 was misplaced. This was at first objected to by the 
 hydrographer, but one of the party recollecting that the 
 islands were seen in one from Cape Prince of Wales, 
 confirmed its new position and made the mistake quite 
 evident to the others, who were much surprised that 
 Captain Beechey should have any knowledge of the 
 subject. When the mountains and islands were erected, 
 the villages and fishing-stations were marked by a number 
 of sticks placed upright, in imitation of those which are 
 put up on the coast wherever these people fix their abode. 
 In time, a complete hydrographical plan was drawn from 
 Cape Derby to Cape Krusenstern. 
 
 This ingenuity and accuracy of description on the part 
 of the Esquimaux is worthy of particular remark, and has 
 been verified by almost all the Arctic explorers. 
 
 The barge which had been despatched to the eastward, 
 tinder charge of Mr. Elson, reached to lat. 71 23' 31" IN"., 
 and long. 156 21' 30" W., when she was stopped by the 
 ice which was attached to the shore. The farthest tongue 
 of land they reached, was named Point Barrow, and is 
 about 126 miles north-east of Icy Cape, being only about 
 150 or 160 miles from Franklin's discoveries west of the 
 Mackenzie river. 
 
 The wind suddenly changing to south-west, the compact 
 body of ice began to drift with the current to the north- 
 east at the rate of 3 J miles an hour, and Mr. Elson, finding 
 it difficult to avoid large floating masses of ice, was obliged 
 to come to an anchor to prevent being driven back. "It was 
 not long before he was so closely beset in the ice,thatno clear 
 water could be seen in any direction from the hills, and the 
 ice continuing to press against the shore, his vessel was driven 
 upon the beach, and there left upon her broadside in a 
 most helpless condition ; and to acid to his cheerless pros- 
 pect, the disposition of the natives, whom he found to 
 increase in numbers as he advanced to the northward, was 
 of a very doubtful character. At Point Barrow, where 
 they were very numerous, their overbearing behaviour, 
 and the thefts they openly practised, left no doubt of what 
 would be the fate of his little crew, in the event of their 
 falling into their power. They were in this dilemma 
 several days, during which every endeavour was made to 
 extricate the vessel but without effect, and Mr. Elson con- 
 templated sinking her secretly in a lake that was near, to 
 
EEECHEY'S VOYAGE* 97 
 
 prevent her falling into the hands of the Esquimaux, and 
 then making his way along the coast in a baidar, which he 
 had no doubt he should be able to purchase from the 
 natives. At length, however, a change of wind loosened 
 the ice, and after considerable labour and trial, in which 
 the personal strength of the officers was united to that of 
 the seamen, Mr. Elson, with his shipmates, fortunately 
 succeeded in effecting their escape. 
 
 Captain Beechey was very anxious to remain in Kotzebue 
 Sound until the end of October, the period named in his 
 instructions, but the rapid approach of winter, the danger 
 of being locked up, having only five weeks' provisions 
 left, and the nearest point at which he could replenish being 
 some 2000 miles distant, induced his officers to concur with 
 him in the necessity of leaving at once. A barrel of flour 
 and other articles were buried on the sandy point of 
 Chamiso, for Franklin, which it was hoped would escape 
 the prying eyes of the natives. 
 
 After a cruise to California, the Sandwich Islands, Loo- 
 choo, the Bonin Islands, &c., the Blossom returned to 
 Chamiso Island on the 5th of July, 1827. They found 
 the flour and despatches they had left the previous year 
 unmolested. Lieut. Belcher was despatched in the barge 
 to explore the coast to the northward, and the ship fol- 
 lowed her as soon as the wind permitted. On the 9th of 
 September, when standing in for the northern shore of 
 Kotzebue Sound, the ship drifting with the current took 
 the ground on a sand-bank near Hotham Inlet, but the 
 wind moderating, as the tide rose she went off the shoal 
 apparently without injury. 
 
 After this narrow escape from shipwreck they beat up 
 to Chamiso Island, which they reached on the 10th of 
 September. Not finding the barge returned as expected, 
 the coast was scanned, and a signal of distress found 
 flying on the south-west point of Choris Peninsula, and 
 two men waving a white cloth to attract notice. On land- 
 ing, it was found that this party were the crew of the 
 barge, which had been wrecked in Kotzebue Sound, and 
 three of the men were also lost. 
 
 On the 29th a collision took place with the natives, 
 which resulted in three of the seamen and four of the 
 marines being wounded by arrows, and one of the natives 
 killed by the return fire. 
 
 After leaving advices for Pranklin as before, the Blossom 
 finally left Chamiso on the 6th of October. In a haze and 
 strong wind she ran between the land and a shoal, and a 
 passage had to be forced through breaker? at the imminent 
 
98 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 danger of the ship's striking. The Blossom then made the 
 best of her way home, reaching England in the first week 
 of October, 1828. 
 
 PAEEY'S FOUETH, OE POLAE VOYAGE, 1827. 
 
 IN 1 826, Capt. Parry, who had only returned from his 
 last voyage in the close of the preceding year, was much 
 struck by the suggestions of Mr. Scoresby, in a paper read 
 before the Wernerian Society, in which he sketched out 
 a plan for reaching the higher latitudes of the Polar Sea, 
 north of Spitzbergen, by means of sledge boats drawn 
 over the smooth fields of ice which were known to prevail 
 in those regions. Col. Beaufoy, F.E.S., had also suggested 
 this idea some years previously. Comparing these with a 
 similar plan originally proposed by Capt. Franklin, and 
 which was placed in his hands by Mr. Barrow, the Secre- 
 tary of the Admiralty, Capt. Parry laid his modified views 
 of the feasibility of the project, and his willingness to 
 undertake it, before Lord Melville, the First Lord of the 
 Admiralty, who after consulting with the President and 
 Council of the Royal Society, was pleased to sanction the 
 attempt ; accordingly, his old ship, the ITecla, was fitted 
 out for the voyage to Spitzbergen, the following officers (all 
 of whom had been with Parry before,) and crew being 
 appointed to her : 
 
 Hecla. 
 
 Captain W. E. Parry. 
 
 Lieutenants J. C. " Eoss, Henry Foster, 
 
 E. J. Bird. F. E. M. Crozier. 
 Purser James Halse. 
 Surgeon C, J. Beverley. 
 
 On the 4th of April, 1827, the outfit and preparations 
 being completed, the Ifecla left the Nore for the coast 
 of Norway, touching at Hammerfest, to embark eight 
 reindeer, and some moss (Cenomyce rangiferiha) sufficient 
 for their support, the consumption being about 4 Ibs. per 
 day, but they can go without food several days. A 
 tremendous gale of wind, experienced off Hakluyt's 
 Headland, and the quantity of ice with which the ship 
 was in consequence beset, detained the voyagers for 
 nearly a month, but on the 18th of June, a southerly wind 
 dispersing the ice, they dropped anchor in a cove, on the 
 northern coast of Spitzbergen, which appeared to offer a 
 secure haven, and to w&ch the name of the ship was 
 
PARRY'S FOURTH VOYAGE. 99 
 
 given. On the 20th, the boats, which had been specially 
 prepared in England for this kind of journey, were got out 
 and made ready, and they left the ship on the 22nd of June. 
 A description of these boats may not here be out of place. 
 
 They were twenty feet long and seven broad, flat floored, 
 like ferry boats, strengthened and made elastic by sheets 
 of felt between the planking, covered with waterproof 
 canvass. A runner attached to each side of the keel, 
 adapted them for easy draught on the ice after the manner 
 of a sledge. They were also fitted with wheels, to be used 
 if deemed expedient and useful. Two officers and twelve 
 men were attached to each boat, and they were named 
 the Enterprise and the Endeavour. The weight of each 
 boat, including provisions and every requisite, was about 
 3780 Ibs. Lieuts. Crozier and Foster were left on board, 
 and Capt. Parry took with him in his boat Mr. Beverley, 
 Surgeon, while Lieut, (now Capt. Sir James) [Ross, and 
 Lieut, (now Commander) Bird, had charge of the other. 
 
 The reindeer and the wheels were given up as useless, 
 owing to the rough nature of the ice. Provisions for 7 1 da} r s 
 were taken the daily allowance per man on the journey 
 being 10 ozs. biscuit, 9 ozs. pemmican, 1 oz. sweetened 
 cocoa powder (being enough to make a pint), and one gill 
 of rum ; but scanty provision in such a climate for men em- 
 ployed on severe labour ; three ounces of tobacco were 
 also served out to each per week. 
 
 As fuel was too bulky to transport, spirits of wine were 
 consumed, which answered all the purposes required, a pint 
 twice a day being found sufficient to warm each vessel, 
 when applied to an iron boiler by a shallow lamp with 
 seven wicks. After floating the boats for about eighty 
 miles, they came to an unpleasant mixed surface of ice and 
 water, here their toilsome journey commenced, the boats 
 having to be laden and unladen several times accord- 
 ing as they came to floes of ice or lanes of water, and they 
 were drifted to the southward by the ice at the rate of four 
 or five miles a day. Parry found it more advantageous 
 to travel by night, the snow being then harder, and the 
 inconvenience of snow blindness being avoided, while the 
 party enjoyed greater warmth during the period of rest, 
 and had better opportunities of drying their clothes by 
 the sun. 
 
 I cannot do better than quote Parry's graphic descrip- 
 tion of this novel course of proceeding: "Travelling by 
 night, and sleeping by clay, so completely inverted the 
 natural order of things that it was difficult to persuade 
 ourselves of the reality. Even the officers and myself. 
 
100 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 who were all furnislied with pocket chronometers, could 
 not always bear in mind at what part of the twenty-four 
 hours we had arrived ; and there were several of the men 
 who declared, and I believe truly, that they never knew 
 night from day during the whole excursion. 
 
 " When we rose in the evening, we commenced our day 
 by prayers, after which we took off our fur sleeping- 
 dresses and put on clothes for travelling; the former being 
 made of camlet lined with racoon skin, and the latter of 
 strong blue cloth. We made a point of always putting on 
 the same stockings and boots for travelling in, whether 
 they had been dried during the day or not, and I believe 
 it was only in five or six instances at the most that they 
 were not either still wet or hard frozen. This indeed was 
 of no consequence, beyond the discomfort of first patting 
 them on in this state, as they were sure to be thoroughly 
 wet in a quarter of an hour after commencing our 
 journey; while, on the other hand, it was of vital 
 importance to keep dry things for sleeping in. Being 
 * rigged' for travelling, we breakfasted upon warm cocoa 
 and biscuit, and after stowing the things in the boats, and 
 on the sledges, so as to secure them as much as possible 
 from wet, we set off on our day's journey, and usually 
 travelled four, five, or even six hours, according to cir- 
 cumstances." 
 
 In five days, notwithstanding their perseverance and 
 continued journeys, they found, by observation at noon, 
 on the 30th, that they had only made eight miles of direct 
 northing. 
 
 At Walden Island, one of the Seven islands, and Little 
 Table Island, reserve supplies of provisions were deposited 
 to fall back upon in case of necessity. 
 
 In halting early in the morning for the purposes of 
 rest, the boats were hauled up on the largest piece of ice. 
 that offered the least chance of breaking through, or 
 of coming in contact with other masses, the snow or wet 
 was cleaned out and the sails rigged as awnings. " Every 
 man then immediately put on dry stockings and fur 
 boots, after which we set about the necessary repairs of 
 boats, sledges, or clothes, and after serving the provisions 
 for the succeeding clay, we went to supper. Most of the 
 officers and men then smoked their pipes, which served to 
 dry the boats and awnings very much, and usually raised 
 the temperature of our lodgings 10 or 15. This part 
 of the twenty-four hours was often a time, and the only 
 one, of real enjoyment to us ; the men told their stories, 
 
PARRY'S FOURTH VOYAGE. 101 
 
 and fouglit all their battles o'er again, and the labours of 
 the day, unsuccessful as they too often, were, were for- 
 gotten. A regular watch was set during our resting time 
 to look out for bears, or for the ice breaking up round 
 us, as well as to attend to the drying of the clothes, each 
 man alternately taking this duty for one hour. We then, 
 concluded our day with prayers, and having put on our 
 fur dresses, lay down, to sleep with a degree of comfort 
 which perhaps few persons would imagine possible under 
 such circumstances, our chief inconvenience being, that 
 we were somewhat pinched for room, and therefore 
 obliged to stow rather closer than was quite agreeable." 
 
 This close stowage may be imagined when it is remem- 
 bered that thirteen persons had to sleep in a boat seven 
 feet broad. After sleeping about seven hours, they were 
 roused from their slumbers by the sound of a bugle from 
 the cook and watchman, which announced that their cocoa 
 was smoking hot, and invited them to breakfast. 
 
 Their progress was of the most tedious and toilsome 
 character, heavy showers of rain rendering the ice on many 
 occasions a mass of " slush ;" on others there was from six 
 to eighteen inches of snow lying on the surface. Frequently 
 the crew had to proceed on their hands and knees to 
 secure a footing, and on one occasion they made such a 
 snail-like progress that in two hours they only accom- 
 plished 150 yards. On the 12th of July they had reached 
 the latitude of 82 14' 28". After five hours' unceasing 
 labour on the 14th, the progress was but a mile and a half 
 due north, though from three to four miles had been 
 traversed, and ten at least walked, having made three 
 journeys a great part of the way ; launched and hauled 
 up the boats four times, and dragged them over twenty- 
 five separate pieces of ice. On the 18th, after eleven 
 hours of actual labour, requiring for the most part the 
 exertion of the whole strength of the party, they had 
 travelled over a space not exceeding four miles, of which 
 only two were made good. 
 
 But on halting on the morning of the 20th, having 
 by his reckoning accomplished six and a half miles 
 in a N.N.W. direction, the distance traversed being ten 
 miles and a half, Parry found to his mortification from 
 observation at noon, that they were not Jive miles to the 
 northward of their place at noon on the 17th, although 
 they had certainly travelled twelve miles in that direction 
 since then. 
 
 On the 21st a floe of ice on which they had lodged the 
 
102 PROGRESS OF AECTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 boats and sledges, broke with their weight, and all went 
 through with several of the crew, who with the sledges 
 were providentially saved. 
 
 On the 23rd the farthest northerly point was reached, 
 which was about 82 45'. 
 
 At noon on the 26th, the weather being clear, the 
 meridian altitude of the sun was obtained, "by which," 
 saj^s Parry, " we found ourselves in latitude 82 40' 23", 
 so that since our last observation (at midnight on the 
 22nd) we had lost by drift no less than thirteen and a half 
 miles, for we were now more than three miles to the 
 southward of that observation, though we had certainly 
 travelled between ten and eleven due north in this 
 interval ! Again, we were but one mile to the north of 
 our place at noon on the 21st, though we had estimated 
 our distance made good at twenty-three miles." After 
 encountering every species of fatigue and disheartening 
 obstacles, in peril of their lives almost every hour, Parry 
 now became convinced that it was hopeless to pursue the 
 journey any further, and he could not even reach the 
 eighty-third parallel ; for after thirty-five days of con- 
 tinuous and most fatiguing drudgery, with half their 
 resources expended, and the middle of the season arrived, 
 he found that the distance gained in their laborious 
 travelling was lost by the drift and set of the ice with the 
 southerly current, during the period of rest. After 
 planting their ensigns and pennants on the 26th, and 
 making it a day of rest, on the 27th the return to the 
 southward was commenced. Nothing particular occurred. 
 Lieutenant Hoss managed to bring down with his gun a 
 fat she bear, which came to have a look at the boats, and 
 after gormandizing on its flesh, an excess which may be 
 excused considering it was the first fresh meat they had 
 tasted for many a day, some symptoms of indigestion 
 manifested themselves among the party. 
 
 On the outward journey very little of animal life 
 was seen. A passing gull, a solitary rotge, two seals, 
 and a couple of flies, were all that their eager eyes could 
 detect. But on their return these became more numerous. 
 On the 8th of August seven or eight narwhals were seen, 
 and not less than 200 rotges, a flock of these little birds 
 occurring in every hole of water. On the llth, in latitude 
 81 30', the sea was found crowded with shrimps and 
 other sea insects, on which numerous birds were feeding. 
 On this day they took their last meal on the ice, being 
 fifty miles distant from Table Island, having accomplished 
 in fifteen days what had taken them thirty-three to effect 
 
PABRY'S FOUETH VOYAGE. 103 
 
 on their outward journey. On the 12th they arrived at 
 this island. The bears had walked off with the relay of 
 bread which had been deposited there. To an islet lying 
 off Table Island, and the most northern known land 
 ipon the globe, Parry gave the name of Ross, for " no 
 individual," he observes, "could have exerted himself 
 more strenuously to rob it of this distinction." 
 
 Putting to sea again, a storm obliged the boats to bear 
 up for Walden Island. "Everything belonging to us 
 (says Captain Parry) was now completely drenched by the 
 spray and snow ; we had been fifty-six hours without rest, 
 and forty-eight at work in the boats, so that by the time 
 they were unloaded we had barely strength left to haul 
 them up on the rocks. However, by dint of great exer- 
 tion, we managed to get the boats above the surf; after 
 which a hot supper, a blazing fire of drift wood, and a 
 few hours quiet rest, restored us." 
 
 They finally reached the ship on the 21st of August, 
 after sixty-one days' absence. 
 
 " The distance traversed during this excursion was 569 
 geographical miles ; but allowing for the times we had to 
 return for our baggage during the greater part of the 
 journey over the ice, we estimated our actual travelling 
 at 978 geographical, or 1127 statute miles. Considering 
 our constant exposure to wet, cold, and fatigue, our 
 stockings having generally been drenched in snow-water 
 for twelve hours out of every twenty-four, I had great 
 reason to be thankful for the excellent health in which, 
 upon the whole, we reached the ship. There is little 
 doubt that we had all become in a certain degree gradually 
 weaker for some time past ; but only three men of our 
 party now required medical care two of them with badly 
 swelled legs and general debility, and the other from a 
 bruise, but even these three returned to their duty in a 
 short time." 
 
 In a letter from Sir W. E. Parry to Sir John Barrow, 
 dated November 25, 1845, he thus suggests some improve- 
 ments on his old plan of proceedings : 
 
 " It is evident (he says) that the causes of failure in our 
 former attempt, in the year 1827, were principally two : 
 first, and chiefly, the broken, rugged, and soft state of the 
 ice over which we travelled ; and secondly, the drifting of 
 the whole body of ice in a southerly direction. 
 
 " My amended plan is, to go out with a single ship to 
 Spitzbergen, just as we did in the Hecla, but not so early 
 in the season ; the object for that year being merely to 
 find secure winter quarters as far north as possible. For 
 
104 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 tliis purpose it would only be necessary to reach Halduyt's 
 Headland by the end of June, which would afford ample 
 leisure for examining the more northern lands, especially 
 about the Seven Islands, where, in all probability, a secure 
 nook might be found for the ship, and a starting point for 
 the proposed expedition, some forty or fifty miles in advance 
 of the point where the Hecla was before laid up. The 
 winter might be usefully employed in various preparations 
 for the journey, as well as in magnetic, astronomical, and 
 meteorological observations, of high interest in that lati- 
 tude. I propose that the expedition should leave the ship 
 in the course of the month of April, when the ice would 
 present one hard and unbroken surface, over which, as I 
 confidently believe, it would not be difficult to make good 
 thirty miles per day, without any exposure to wet, and 
 probably without snow blindness. At this season, too, 
 the ice would probably be stationary, and thus the two 
 great difficulties which we formerly had to encounter 
 would be entirely obviated. It might form a part of the 
 plan to push out supplies previously, to the distance of 
 100 miles, to be taken up on the way, so as to commence 
 the journey comparatively light ; and as the intention 
 would be to complete the enterprise in the course of the 
 month of May, before any disruption of the ice, or any 
 material softening of the surface had taken place, similar 
 supplies might be sent out to the same distance, to meet 
 the party on their return." 
 
 The late Sir John Barrow, in his last work, commenting 
 on this, says, " With all deference to so distinguished a 
 sea-officer, in possession of so much experience as Sir 
 Edward Parry, there are others who express dislike of 
 such a plan ; and it is not improbable that many will be 
 disposed to come to the conclusion, that so long as the 
 Greenland Seas are hampered with ice, so long as floes, 
 and hummocks, and heavy masses, continue to be formed, 
 so long as a determined southerly current prevails, so long 
 will any attempt to carry out the plan in question, in like 
 manner fail. No laborious drudgery will ever be able to 
 conquer the opposing progress of the current and the ice. 
 Besides, it can hardly be doubted, this gallant officer will 
 admit, on further consideration, that this unusual kind of 
 disgusting and unseamanlike labour, is not precisely such 
 as would be relished by the men ; and it may be said, is 
 not exactly fitted for a British man-of-war's-man ; more- 
 over, that it required his own all-powerful example to 
 make it even tolerable." Sir John therefore suggested 
 a somewhat different plan. He recommended that two 
 
PARRY'S FOURTH VOYAGE. 105 
 
 Bmall ships should be sent in the early spring along the 
 western coast of Spitzbergen, where usually no impedi- 
 ment exists, as far up as 80. They should take every oppor- 
 tunity of proceeding directly to the north, wherein about 
 82 Parry has told us the large floes had disappeared, and 
 the sea was found to be loaded only with loose, discon- 
 nected, small masses of ice, through which ships would 
 find no difficulty in sailing, though totally unfit for boats 
 dragging ; and as this loose ice was drifting to the south- 
 ward, he further says, that before the middle of August a 
 ship might have sailed up to the latitude of 82, almost 
 without touching a piece of ice. It is not then unreason- 
 able to expect that beyond that parallel, even as far as the 
 Pole itself, the sea would be free of ice, during the six 
 summer months of perpetual sun, through each of the 
 twenty-four hours ; which, with the aid of the current, 
 would, in all probability, destroy and dissipate the Polar 
 ice. 
 
 The distance from Hakluyt's Headland to the Pole is 
 600 geographical miles. Granting the ships to make only 
 twenty miles in twenty-four hours, (on the supposition of 
 much sailing ice to go through,) even in that case it would 
 require but a month to enable the explorer to put his foot 
 on the pivot or point of the axis on which the globe of the 
 earth turns, remain there a month, if necessary, to obtain 
 the sought- for information, and then, with a southerly cur- 
 rent, a fortnight, probably less, would bring him back to 
 Spitzbergen. Barrow's Voyages of Discovery, p. 316. 
 
 In a notice in the Quarterly Review of this, one of the 
 most singular and perilous journeys of its kind ever under- 
 taken, except perhaps that of Baron Wrangell upon a 
 similar enterprise to the northward of Behring's Straits, it 
 is observed, " Let but any one conceive for a moment 
 the situation of two open boats, laden with seventy days' 
 provisions and clothing for twenty-eight men, in the midst 
 of a sea covered nearly with detached masses and floes of 
 ice, over which these boats were to be dragged, sometimes 
 up one side of a rugged mass, and down the other, some- 
 times across the lanes of water that separate them, fre- 
 quently over a surface covered with deep snow, or through 
 pools of water. Let him bear in mind, that the men had little 
 or no chance of any other supply of provisions than that 
 which they carried with them, calculated as just sufficient 
 to sustain life, and consider what their situation would 
 have been in the event, by no means an improbable one, 
 of losing any part of their scanty stock. Let any one try 
 to imagine to himself a situation of this kind, and he will 
 
106 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 still have but a faint idea of the exertions which the men 
 under Capt. Parry had to make, and the sufferings and 
 privations they had to undergo." 
 
 Capt. Parry having thus completed his fifth voyage into 
 the Arctic regions, in four of which he commanded, and 
 was second in the other, it may here be desirable to give 
 a recapitulation of his services. 
 
 In 1818 he was appointed Lieutenant, commanding the 
 Alexander, hired ship, as second officer with his uncle, 
 Commander John Ross. In 1819, still as Lieutenant, he 
 was appointed to command the Hecla, and to take charge 
 of the second Arctic expedition, on which service he was 
 employed two years. On the 14th of November, 1820, he 
 was promoted to the rank of Commander. 
 
 On the 19th of December, 1820, the Bedfordean Gold 
 Medal of the Bath and West of England Society for the 
 Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, 
 was unanimously voted to him. On the 30th of December 
 of that year, he was appointed to the Fury, with orders to 
 take command of the expedition to the Arctic Sea. With 
 the sum of 500 guineas subscribed for the purpose, " the 
 Explorer of the Polar Sea ' was afterwards presented 
 with a silver vase, highly embellished with devices emble- 
 matic of the Arctic voyages. And on the 24th of March, 
 1821, the city of Bath presented its freedom to Captain 
 Parry, in a box of oak highly and appropriately orna- 
 mented. On the 8th of November, 1821, he obtained his 
 post-captain's rank. On the 22nd of November, 1823, he 
 was presented with the freedom of the city of Winchester ; 
 and, on the 1st of December, was appointed acting- 
 hydrographer to the Admiralty in the place of Capt. Hind, 
 deceased. In 1824 he was appointed to the Seola, to 
 proceed on another exploring voyage. 
 
 On the 22nd of November, 1825, Capt. Parry was for- 
 mally appointed hydrographer to the Admiralty, which 
 office he continued to hold until the 10th of November, 
 1826. 
 
 In December, 1825, he was voted the freedom of the 
 borough of Lynn, in testimony of the high sense enter- 
 tained by the corporation of his meritorious and enter- 
 prising conduct. 
 
 In April, 1827, he once more took the command of his 
 old ship, the Hecla, for another voyage of discovery 
 towards the North Pole. On his return in the close of 
 the year, having paid off the Hecla at Deptford, he re- 
 sumed on the 2nd of November his duties as hydrographer 
 to the Admiralty, which office he held until the 13th of 
 

 CAPTAIN ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 107 
 
 May, 1829. Having received the honour of knighthood, 
 he then resigned in favour of the present Admiral Beau- 
 fort, and, obtaining permission from the Admiralty, pro- 
 ceeded to New South Wales as Resident Commissioner 
 to the Australian Agricultural Company, taking charge 
 of their recently acquired large territory in the neighbour- 
 hood of Port Stephen. He returned from Australia in 
 1834. From the 7th of March, 1835, to the 3rd of Feb- 
 ruary, 1836, he acted as Poor Law Commissioner in Nor- 
 folk. Early in 1837, he was appointed to organize the 
 Mail Packet Service then transferred to the Admiralty, 
 and afterwards, in April, was appointed Comptroller of 
 Steam Machinery to the Navy, which office he continued 
 to hold up to December, 1846. From that period to 
 the present time he has filled the post of Captain Superin- 
 tendent of the Royal Naval Hospital at Haslar. 
 
 CAPTAIN JOHN Ross's SECOND VOYAGE, 1829-33. 
 
 IN the year 1829, Capt. Ross, the pioneer of Arctic explora- 
 tion in the 19th century, being anxious once more to display 
 his zeal and enterprise as well as to retrieve his nautical repu- 
 tation from those unfortunate blunders and mistakes which 
 had attached to his first voyage, and thus remove the 
 cloud which had for nearly ten years hung over his pro- 
 fessional character, endeavoured witnout effect to induce 
 the Government to send him out to the Polar Seas in 
 charge of another expedition. The Board of Admiralty of 
 that day, in the spirit of retrenchment which pervaded their 
 councils, were, however, not disposed to recommend any 
 further grant for research, even the Board of Longitude 
 .was abolished, and the boon of 20,000. offered by Act of 
 Parliament for the promotion of Arctic discovery, also 
 withdrawn by a repeal of the act. 
 
 Captain Ross, however, undaunted by the chilling indif- 
 ference thus manifested towards his proposals by the Ad- 
 miralty, still persevered, having devoted 3000. out of 
 his own funds towards the prosecution of the object 
 he had in view. He was fortunate enough to meet with 
 a public-spirited and affluent coadjutor and supporter 
 in the late Sir Felix Booth, the eminent distiller, and 
 that gentleman nobly contributed 17,OOOZ. towards the 
 expenses. Captain Ross thereupon set to work, and 
 purchased a small Liverpool steamer named the Victory, 
 whose tonnage he increased to 150 tons. She was pro- 
 visioned for three years. Capt. Ross chose for his second 
 in command his nephew, Commander James Ross, who had 
 
108 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 been with Mm 011 Ms first Arctic expedition, and had sub- 
 sequently accompanied Parry m all his voyages. The 
 other officers of the vessel were Mr. Win. Thorn, purser ; 
 Mr. George M'Diarmid, surgeon; Thomas Blanky, Thos. 
 Abernethy, and George Taylor, as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd mates; 
 Alexander Brunton and Allan Macinnes as 1st and 2nd 
 engineers ; and nineteen petty officers and seamen ; making 
 a complement in all of 28 men. 
 
 The Admiralty furnished towards the purposes of the 
 expedition a decked boat of sixteen tons, called the Kru- 
 senstern, and two boats which had been used by Franklin, 
 with a stock of books and instruments. 
 
 The vessel being reported ready for sea was visited and 
 examined by the late King of the French, the Lords of 
 the Admiralty, and other parties taking an interest in the 
 expedition, and set sail from Woolwich on the 23rd of 
 May, 1829. For all practical purposes the steam machinery, 
 on which the commander had greatly relied, was found 
 on trial utterly useless. 
 
 Having received much damage to her spars, in a severe 
 gale, the ship put in to the Danish settlement of Holstein- 
 berg, on the Greenland coast, to refit, and sailed again to the 
 northward on the 26th of June. They found a clear sea, 
 and even in the middle of Lancaster Sound and Barrow's 
 Strait perceived no traces of ice or snow, except what ap- 
 peared on the lofty summits of some of the mountains. 
 The thermometer stood at 40, and the weather was so 
 mild that the officers dined in the cabin without a fire, 
 with the skylight partially open. On the 10th of August 
 they passed Cape York, and thence crossed over into Ee- 
 gent Inlet, mating the western coast between Seppings' 
 and Elwin Bay on the 16th. 
 
 They here fell in with those formidable streams, 
 packs, and floating bergs of ice which had offered 
 such obstructions to Parry's ships. From their proxi- 
 mity to the magnetic pole, their compasses became 
 useless as they proceeded southward. On the 13th 
 they reached the spot where the Fury was abandoned, 
 but no remnants of the vessel were to be seen. All 
 her sails, stores, and provisions, on land, were, however, 
 found ; the hermetically-sealed tin canisters having kept 
 the provisions from the attacks of bears ; and the flour, 
 bread, wine, spirits, sugar, &c., proved as good, after 
 being here four years, as on the first day they were 
 packed. This store formed a very seasonable addition, 
 which was freely made available, and after increasing their 
 stock to two years and ten months' supply, they still left 
 
CAPTAIN KOSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 109 
 
 a large quantity for the wants of any future explorers. On 
 the 15th, crossing Cresswell Bay, they reached Ca r e 
 Garry, the farthest point which had been seen by Parry. 
 They were here much inconvenienced and delayed by fogs 
 and floating ice. While mountains of ice were tossing 
 around them on every side, they were often forced to seek 
 safety by mooring themselves to these formidable masses, 
 and drifting with them, sometimes forward, sometimes 
 backward. In this manner on one occasion no less than 
 nineteen miles were lost in a few hours ; at other times 
 they underwent frequent and severe shocks, yet escaped 
 any serious damage. 
 
 Captain Ross draws a lively picture of what a vessel en- 
 dures in sailing among these moving hills. He reminds 
 the reader that ice is stone, as solid as if it were granite ; 
 and he bids him " imagine these mountains hurled through 
 a narrow strait by a rapid tide, meeting with the noise of 
 thunder, breaking from each other's precipices huge frag- 
 ments, or rending each other asunder, till, losing their 
 former equilibrium, they fall over headlong, lifting the sea 
 around in breakers, arid whirling it in eddies. There is 
 not a moment in which it can be conjectured what will 
 happen in the next; there is not one which may not be 
 the last. The attention is troubled to fix on anything 
 amid such confusion ; still must it be alive, that it may 
 seize on the single moment of help or escape which may 
 occur. Yet with all this, and it is the hardest task of all, 
 there is nothing to be acted, no effort to be made, he 
 must be patient, as if he were unconcerned or careless, 
 waiting, as he best can, for the fate, be it what it may, 
 which he cannot influence or avoid." 
 
 Proceeding southward, Hoss found Brentford Bay, about 
 thirty miles beyond Cape Garry, to be of considerable 
 extent, with some fine harbours. Landing here, the 
 British colours were unfurled, and the coast, named after 
 the promoter of the expedition, was taken possession of in 
 the name of the king. Extensive and commodious har- 
 bours, named Ports Logan, Elizabeth, and Eclipse, were 
 discovered, and a large bay, which was called Mary Jones 
 Bay. By the end of September, the ship had examined 
 300 miles of undiscovered coast. The winter now set in 
 with severity, huge masses of ice began to close around 
 them, the thermometer sank many degrees below freezing 
 point, and snow fell very thick. By sawing through the 
 ice, the vessel was got into a secure position to pass the 
 winter, in a station which is now named on the maps Felix 
 Harbour, The machinery of the steam-engine was done 
 
110 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 away with, the vessel housed, and every measure that could 
 add to the comfort of the crew adopted. They had abun- 
 dance of fuel, and provisions that might easily be extended 
 to three years. 
 
 On the 9th of January, 1831, they were visited by a 
 large tribe of Esquimaux, who were better dressed and 
 cleaner than those more to the northward. They dis- 
 played an intimate acquaintance with the situation and 
 bearings of the country over which they had travelled, 
 and two of them drew a very fair sketch of the neigh- 
 bouring coasts, with which they were familiar ; this 
 was revised and corrected by a learned lady named 
 Teriksin, the females seeming, from this and former in- 
 stances, to have a clear knowledge of the hydrography and 
 geography of the continent, bays, straits, and rivers 
 which they had once traversed. 
 
 On the 5th of April, Commander Boss, with Mr. Blanky, 
 the chief mate, and two Esquimaux guides, set out to ex- 
 plore a strait which was reported as lying to the westward, 
 and which it was hoped might lead to the western sea. 
 After a tedious and arduous journey, they arrived, on the 
 third day, at a bay facing to the westward, and discovered, 
 further inland, an extensive lake, called by the natives 
 INle-tyel-le, whence a broad river flowed into the bay. 
 Their guides informed them, however, there was no 
 prospect of a water communication south of their present 
 position. Capt. Boss then traced the coast fifty or sixty 
 miles further south. 
 
 Several journeys were also made by Commander Boss, 
 both inland and along the bays and inlets. On the 1st of 
 May, from the top of a high hill, he observed a large inlet 
 which seemed to lead to the western sea. In order to 
 satisfy himself on this point, he set out again on the 17th 
 of May, with provisions for three weeks, eight dogs, and 
 three companions. Having crossed the great middle lake 
 of the isthmus, he reached his former station, and thence 
 traced an inlet which was found to be the mouth of a 
 river named by them Garry. From the high hill they 
 observed a chain of lakes leading almost to Thorn's Bay, 
 the Victory s station in Felix Harbour. Proceeding north- 
 west along the coast, they crossed the frozen surface of 
 the strait which has since been named after Sir James 
 Boss, and came to a large island which was called Matty; 
 keeping along its northern shore, and passing over a 
 narrow strait, which they named after Wellington, they 
 found themselves on what was considered to be the main- 
 
CAPTAIN ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. Ill 
 
 land, but which the more recent discoveries of Simpson have 
 shown to be an island, and which now bears the name of King 
 William's Land. Still journeying onward, with difficulties 
 continually increasing, from heavy toil and severe priva- 
 tion, the dogs became exhausted with fatigue, and a burden 
 rather than an aid to the travellers. 
 
 One of their greatest embarrassments was how to dis- 
 tinguish between land and sea. " When all is ice, and all 
 one dazzling mass of white when the surface of the sea 
 itself is tossed up and fixed into rocks, while the land is on 
 the contrary very often flat, it is not always so easy a 
 problem as it might seem on a superficial view, to deter- 
 mine a fact which appears in words to be extremely 
 simple." Although their provisions began to fall short, and 
 the party were nearly worn out, Commander Boss was most 
 desirous of making as much western discovery as possible ; 
 therefore, depositing everything that could be dispensed 
 with, he pushed on, on the 28th, with only four days' pro- 
 visions, and reached Cape Felix, the most northern 
 point of this island, on the following day. The coast here 
 took a south-west direction, and there was an unbounded 
 expanse of ocean in view. The next morning, after having 
 travelled twenty miles farther, they reached a point, which 
 Boss called Point Victory, situated in lat. 64 46' 19" long. 
 98 32' 49", while to the most distant one in view, estimated 
 to be in long. 99 17' 58", he gave the name of Cape 
 Franklin. However loath to turn back, yet prudence com- 
 pelled them to do so, for as they had only ten days' short 
 allowance of food, and more than 200 miles to traverse, 
 there could not be a moment's hesitation in adopting this 
 step. A high cairn of stones was erected before leaving, 
 in which was deposited a narrative of their proceedings. 
 
 The party endured much fatigue and suffering on their 
 return journey ; of the eight dogs only two survived, and the 
 travellers in a most exhausted state arrived in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the large lakes on the 8th of June, where 
 they fortunately fell in with a tribe of natives, who 
 received them hospitably, and supplied them plentifully 
 with fish, so that after a day's rest they resumed their 
 journey, and reached the ship on the 13th. Capt. Ross in 
 the meanwhile had made a partial survey of the Isthmus, 
 and discovered another large lake, which he named after 
 Lady Melville. 
 
 After eleven months' imprisonment, their little ship 
 once more floated buoyant on the waves, having been 
 released from her icy barrier on the 17th of September, 
 
112 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC "DISCOVERY. 
 
 but for the next few days made but little progress, being 
 beaten about among the icebergs, and driven hither and 
 thither by the currents. 
 
 A change in the weather, however, took place, and on 
 the 23rd they were once more frozen in, the sea in a week 
 after exhibiting one clear unbroken surface. All October 
 was passed in cutting through the ice into a more secure 
 locality, and another dreary winter having set in, it became 
 necessary to reduce the allowance of provisions. This 
 winter was one of unparalleled severity, the thermometer 
 falling 92 below freezing point. During the ensuing 
 spring a variety of exploratory journeys were carried on, 
 and in one of these Commander Ross succeeded in planting 
 the British flag on the North Magnetic Pole. The position 
 which had been usually assigned to this interesting spot 
 by the learned of Europe, was lat. 70 N., and long. 98 
 3 )' W. ; but Ross, by careful observations, determined it 
 to lie in lat. 70 5' 17" K, and long. 96 46' 45" W., to the 
 southward of Cape Nikolai, on the western shore of 
 Boothia. But it has since been found that the centre of 
 magnetic intensity is a moveable point revolving within 
 the frigid zone. 
 
 "The place of the observatory," Ross remarks, "was 
 as near to the magnetic pole as the limited means which I 
 possessed enabled me to determine. The amount of the 
 dip, as indicated by my dipping-needle, was 89 59', being 
 thus within one minute of the vertical ; while the prox- 
 imity at least of this pole, if not its actual existence where 
 we stood, was further confirmed by the action, or rather 
 by the total inaction, of the several horizontal needles then 
 in my possession." 
 
 Parry's observations placed it eleven minutes distant 
 only from the site determined by Ross. 
 
 'As soon," continues Ross, "as I had satisfied my own 
 mind on the subject, I made known to the party this 
 gratifying result of all our joint labours ; and it was then 
 that, amidst mutual congratulations, we fixed the British 
 flag on the spot, and took possession of the North Mag- 
 netic Pole and its adjoining territory in the name of Great 
 Britain and King William IV. We had abundance of 
 materials for building in the fragments of limestone that 
 covered the beach, and we therefore erected a cairn of 
 some magnitude, under which we buried a canister con- 
 taining a record of the interesting fact, only regretting 
 that we had not the means of constructing a pyramid 
 of more importance, and of strength sufficient to with- 
 stand the assaults of timo and of the Esquimaux. Had 
 
CAPTAIN EOSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 113 
 
 it been a pyramid as large as tliat of Cheops, I am not 
 quite sure that it -would have done more than satisfy our 
 ambition under the feelings of that exciting day." 
 
 On the 28th of August, 1831, they contrived to warp 
 the Victory out into the open sea, and made sail on the 
 following morning, but were soon beset with ice as on the 
 former occasion, being once more completely frozen in 
 by the 27th of September. 
 
 On the previous occasion their navigation had been 
 three miles ; this year it extended to four. This pro- 
 tracted detention in the ice made their present position 
 one of great danger and peril. As there seemed no pro- 
 spect of extricating their vessel, the resolution was come to 
 of abandoning her, and making the best of their way up 
 the inlet to Fury Beach, there to avail themselves of the 
 boats, provisions, and stores, which would assist them in 
 reaching Davis Straits, where they might expect to fall in 
 with one of the whale ships. 
 
 On the 23rd of April, 1832, having collected all that 
 was useful and necessary, the expedition sel out, drag- 
 ging their provisions and boats over a vast expanse of 
 rugged ice. " The loads being too heavy to be carried at 
 once, made it necessary to go backward and forward twice, 
 and even oftener, the same day. They had to encounter 
 dreadful tempests of snow and drift, and to make several cir- 
 cuitsinorder toavoid impassable barriers. The general result 
 was, that by the 12th of May they had travelled 329 miles 
 to gain thirty in a direct line, having in this labour ex- 
 pended a month." After this preliminary movement, they 
 bade a farewell to their little vessel, nailing her colours to 
 the mast. Capt. Uoss describes himself as deeply affected; 
 this being the first vessel he had been obliged to abandon 
 of thirty- six in which he had served during the course of 
 forty-two years. On the 9th of June, Commander Hoss 
 and two others, with a fortnight's provisions, left the 
 main body, who were more heavily loaded, to ascertain the 
 state of the boats and supplies at Fury Beach. Returning 
 they met their comrades on the 25th of June, re- 
 porting that they had found three of the boats washed 
 away, but enough still left for their purpose, and all 
 the provisions were in good condition. The remainder 
 of the journey was accomplished by the whole party in a 
 week, and on the 1st of July they reared a canvas man- 
 sion, to which they gave the name of Somerset House, and 
 enjoyed a hearty meal. 
 
 By the 1st of August the boats were rendered service- 
 able, and a considerable extent of open sea being visible, 
 
 i 
 
114 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 they set out, and after much buffeting among the ice in 
 their frail shallops, reached the mouth of the inlet by 
 the end of August. After several fruitless attempts to 
 run along Barrow's Strait, the obstructions of the ice 
 obliged them to haul the boats on shore, and pitch their 
 tents. Barrow's Strait was found, from repeated surveys, 
 to be one impenetrable mass of ice. After lingering here 
 till the third week in September, it was unanimously agreed 
 that their only resource was to fall back again on the stores 
 at Fury Beach, and there spend their fourth winter. They 
 were only able to get half the distance in the boats, 
 which were hauled on shore in Batty Bay on the 24th of 
 September, and the rest of their journey continued on foot, 
 the provisions being dragged on sledges. On the 7th of 
 October they once more reached their home at the scene 
 of the wreck. They now managed to shelter their canvas 
 tent by a wall of snow, and, setting up an extra stove, made 
 themselves tolerably comfortable until the increasing 
 severity of the winter, and the rigour of the cold, added to 
 the tempestuous weather, made them perfect prisoners, 
 and sorely tried their patience. Scurvy now began to 
 attack several of the party, and on the 16th of February, 
 1833, Thomas, the carpenter, fell a victim to it, and two 
 others died. " Their situation was becoming truly awful, 
 since if they were not liberated in the ensuing summer, 
 little prospect appeared of their surviving another year. 
 It was necessary to make a reduction in the allowance 
 of preserved meats ; bread was somewhat deficient, and 
 the stock of wine and spirits was entirely exhausted. 
 However, as they had caught a few foxes, which were 
 considered a delicacy, and there was plenty of flour, 
 sugar, soups, and vegetables, a diet could be easily ar- 
 ranged sufficient to support the party." 
 
 While the ice remained firm, advantage was taken of 
 the spring to carry forward a stock of provisions to Batty 
 Bay, and this, though only thirty-two miles, occupied 
 them a whole month, owing to their reduced numbers 
 from sickness and heavy loads, with the journeyings to 
 and fro, having to go over the ground eight times. 
 
 On the 8th of July they finally abandoned this depot, 
 and encamped on the 12th at their boat station in Batty 
 Bay, where the aspect of the sea was watched with 
 intense anxiety for more than a month. On the 15th of 
 August, taking advantage of a lane of water which led to 
 the northward, the party embarked, and on the following 
 morning had got as far as the turning point of their last 
 

 CAPTAIN ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 115 
 
 year's expedition. Making their way slowly among the 
 masses of ice with which the inlet was encumbered, on 
 the 17th they found the wide expanse of Barrow's Strait 
 open before them, and navigable, and reached to within 
 twelve miles of Cape York. Pushing on with renewed 
 spirits, alternately rowing and sailing, on the night of the 
 25th they rested in a good harbour on the eastern 
 shore of Navy Board Inlet. At four on the following 
 morning they were roused from their slumbers by the 
 joyful intelligence of a ship being in sight, and never did 
 men more hurriedly and energetically set out ; but the 
 elements conspiring against them, after being baffled by 
 calms and currents, they had the misery to see the ship 
 leave them with a fair breeze, and found it impossible to 
 overtake her, or make themselves seen. A few hours 
 later, however, their despair was relieved by the sight of 
 another vessel which was lying to in a calm. By dint of 
 hard rowing they were this time more fortunate, and 
 soon came up with her ; she proved to be the Isabella, 
 of Hull, the very ship in which Boss had made his first 
 voyage to these seas. Captain Boss was told circumstan- 
 tially of his own death, &c., two years previously, and he 
 had some difficulty in convincing them that it was really 
 lie and his party who now stood before them. So great 
 was the joy with which they were received, that the 
 Isabella manned her yards, and her former commander 
 and his gallant band of adventurers were saluted with 
 three hearty cheers. The scene on board can scarcely 
 be described ; each of the crew vied with the other in 
 assisting and comforting the party, and it cannot better 
 "be told than in Ross's own words : 
 
 " The ludicrous soon took place of all other feelings ; 
 in such a crowd, and such confusion, all serious thought 
 was impossible, while the new buoyancy of our spirits 
 made us abundantly willing to be amused by the scene 
 which now opened. Every man was hungry, and was to 
 be fed ; all were ragged, and were to be clothed ; there 
 was not one to whom washing was not indispensable, nor 
 one whom his beard did not deprive of all human sem- 
 blance. All, everything too, was to be done at once : it 
 was washing, dressing, shaving, eating, all intermingled ; 
 it was all the materials of each jumbled together, while 
 in the midst of all there were interminable questions to 
 be asked and answered on both sides ; the adventures of 
 the Victory, our own escapes, the politics of England, and 
 the news which was now four years old. 
 
 i 2 
 
116 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 " But all subsided into peace at last. The sick were 
 accommodated, the seamen disposed of, and all was done 
 for us which care and kindness could perform. 
 
 " Night at length brought quiet and serious thoughts, 
 and I trust there was not a man among us who did not 
 then express, where it was due, his gratitude for that 
 interposition which had raised us all from a despair which 
 none could now forget, and had brought us from the very 
 borders of a most distant grave, to life and friends and 
 civilization. Long accustomed, however, to a cold bed on 
 the hard snow or the bare rock, few could sleep amid the 
 comfort of our new accommodations. I was myself com- 
 pelled to leave the bed which had been kindly assigned 
 me, and take my abode in a chair for the night, nor did 
 it fare much better with the rest. It was for time to 
 reconcile us to this sudden and violent change, to break 
 through what had become habit, and to inure us once 
 more to the usages of our former days." 
 
 The Isabella remained some time longer to prosecute 
 the fishery, and left Davis Strait on her homeward 
 passage on the 30th of September. On the 12th of 
 October they made the Orkney Islands, and arrived at 
 Hull on the 18th. The bold explorers, who had long been 
 given up as lost, were looked upon as men risen from the 
 grave, and met and escorted by crowds of sympathizers. 
 A public entertainment was given to them by the towns- 
 people, at which the freedom of the town was presented 
 to Captain Eoss, and next day he left for London, to 
 report his arrival to the Admiralty, and was honoured by 
 a presentation to the king at Windsor. 
 
 The Admiralty liberally rewarded all the parties, except 
 indeed Captain lioss. Commander J. C. Ross w^as appointed 
 to the guardship at Portsmouth to complete his period 
 of service, and then received his post rank. Mr. Thorn, 
 the purser, Mr. M'Diarmid, the surgeon, and the petty 
 officers, were appointed to good situations in the navy. 
 The seamen received the usual double pay given to Arctic 
 explorers, up to the time of leaving their ship, and full 
 pay from that date until their arrival in England. 
 
 A committee of the House of Commons took up the case 
 of Captain Iloss early in the session of 1834, and 011 their 
 recommendation 5000. was granted him as a remuneration 
 for his pecuniary outlay and privations. 
 
 A baronetcy, on the recommendation of the same com- 
 mittee, was also conferred by his Majesty William IV. 
 on Mr. Felix Booth. 
 
 In looking back on the results of this voyage, no impar- 
 
CAPTAIN ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 117 
 
 tial inquirer can deny to Captain Ross the merit of having 
 effected much good by tracing and surveying the whole 
 of the long western coast of Regent Inlet, proving 
 Boothia to be a peninsula, and setting at rest the proba- 
 bility of any navigable outlet being discovered from this 
 inlet to the Polar Sea. The lakes, rivers, and islands 
 which were examined, proved with sufficient accuracy the 
 correctness of the information furnished to Parry by the 
 Esquimaux. 
 
 To Commander James Ross is due the credit of resolv- 
 ing many important scientific questions, such as the 
 combination of light with magnetism, fixing the exact 
 position of the magnetic pole. He was also the only 
 person in the expedition competent to make observations 
 in geology, natural history, and botany. Out of about 
 700 miles of new land explored, Commander Ross, in the 
 expeditions which he planned and conducted, discovered 
 nearly 500. He had up to this time passed fourteen 
 summers and eight winters in these seas. 
 
 The late Sir John Barrow, in his " Narrative of Voyages 
 of Discovery and Research," p. 518, in opposition to Ross's* 
 opinion, asserted that Boothia was not joined to the Con- 
 tinent, but that they were " completely divided by a navi- 
 gable strait, ten miles wide and upwards, leading past 
 Back's Estuary, and into the Gulf (of Boothia), of which 
 the proper name is Akkolee, not Boothia ; and moreover, 
 that the two seas flow as freely into each other, as Lancaster 
 Sound does into the Polar Sea." This assumption has 
 been since shown to be incorrect. Capt. Ross asserts there 
 is a difference in the level of these two seas. 
 
 I may here fitly take a review of Capt. Ross's services. 
 He entered the navy in 1790 ; served fifteen years as a 
 midshipman, seven as a lieutenant, and seven as a com- 
 mander, and was posted on the 7th of December, 1818, 
 and appointed to the command of the first Arctic expedi- 
 tion of this century. On his return he received many 
 marks of favour from continental sovereigns, was knighted, 
 and made a Companion of the Bath on the 24th of Decem- 
 ber, 1834 ; made a Commander of the Sword of Sweden, 
 a Knight of the Second Class of St. Anne of Prussia (in 
 diamonds). Second Class of the Legion of Honour, and of 
 the Red Eagle of Prussia, and of Leopold of Belgium. 
 Received the royal premium from the Geographical Society 
 of London, in 1833, for his discoveries in the Arctic regions; 
 also gold medals from the Geographical Society of Paris, 
 and the Royal Societies of Sweden, Austria, and Denmark. 
 The freedom of the cities of London, Liverpool, and 
 
118 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 Bristol ; six gold snuff-boxes from Russia, Holland, Den- 
 mark, Austria, London, and Baden ; a sword valued at 100 
 guineas from the Patriotic Fund, for his sufferings, having 
 been wounded thirteen times in three different actions 
 during the war ; and one of the value of 2001. from the 
 King of Sweden, for service in the Baltic and the White 
 Sea. On the 8th of March, 1839, he was appointed to the 
 lucrative post of British consul at Stockholm, which he 
 held for six years. 
 
 CAPTAIN BACK'S LAND JOUENEY, 1833 1835. 
 
 FOUE years having elapsed without any tidings being 
 received of Capt. Ross and his crew, it began to be generally 
 feared in England that they had been added to the number 
 of former sufferers, in the prosecution of their arduous un- 
 dertaking. 
 
 Dr. Richardson, who had himself undergone such fright- 
 ful perils in the Arctic regions with Franklin, was the first 
 to call public attention to the subject, in a letter to the 
 Geographical Society, in which he suggested a project for 
 relieving them, if still alive and to be found ; and at the 
 same time volunteered his services to the Colonial Secre- 
 tary of the day, to conduct an exploring party. 
 
 Although the expedition of Captain Ross was not under- 
 taken under the auspices of the Government, it became a 
 national concern to ascertain the ultimate fate of it, and to 
 make some effort for the relief of the party, whose home 
 at that time might be the boisterous sea, or whose shelter 
 the snow hut. or the floating iceberg. Dr. Richardson 
 proposed to proceed from Hudson's Bay, in a north-west 
 direction to Coronation Gulf, where he was to commence 
 his search in an easterly direction. Passing to the north, 
 along the eastern side of this gulf, he would arrive at 
 Point Turnagain, the eastern point of his own former dis- 
 covery. Having accomplished this, he would continue 
 his search towards the eastward until he reached Melville 
 Island, thus perfecting geographical discovery in that 
 quarter, and a continued coast line might be laid down 
 from the Fury and Hecla Strait to Beechey Point, leaving 
 only the small space between Franklin's discovery and 
 that of the Blossom unexplored. The proposal was favour- 
 ably received; but owing to the political state of the 
 country at that time, the offer was not accepted. 
 
 A meeting was held in November, 1832, at the rooms of 
 the Horticultural Society, in Regent-street, to obtain funds, 
 
CAPTAIN BACK'S LAND JOURNEY. 119 
 
 and arrange for fitting out a private relief expedition, as the 
 Admiralty and the Government were unable to do this 
 officially, in consequence of Capt. Ross's expedition not 
 being a public one. Sir George Cockburn took the chair, 
 and justly observed that those officers who devoted their 
 time to the service of science, and braved in its pursuit the 
 dangers of unknown and ungenial climates, demanded the 
 sympathy and assistance of all. Great Britain had taken, 
 the lead in geographical discovery, and there was not one 
 in this country who did not feel pride and honour in the 
 fame she had attained by the expeditions of Parry and 
 Franklin ; but if we 'wished to create future Parrys and 
 Franklins, if we wished to encourage British enterprise 
 and courage, we must prove that the officer who is out of 
 sight of his countrymen is not forgotten; that there is 
 consideration for his sufferings, and appreciation of his 
 spirit. This reflection will cheer him in the hour of trial, 
 and will permit him, when surrounded by dangers and pri- 
 vations, to indulge in hope, the greatest blessing of man. 
 Capt. George Back, H.N., who was in Italy when the sub- 
 ject was first mooted, hastened to England, and offered ttf 
 lead the party, and his services were accepted. A sub- 
 scription was entered into to defray the necessary expenses, 
 and upwards of 6000/. was raised ; of this sum, at the recom- 
 mendation of Lord Goderich, the then secretary of state, 
 the Treasury contributed 2000Z. 
 
 After an interview with the king at Brighton, to which 
 he was specially summoned, Capt. Back made preparations 
 for his journey, and laid down his plan of operations. In 
 order to facilitate his views, and to give him greater control 
 over his men, special instructions and authority were issued 
 by the Colonial Office, and the Hudson's Bay Company 
 granted him a commission in their service, and placed every 
 assistance at his disposal throughout their territory in 
 North America. 
 
 Everything being definitively arranged, Capt. Back, 
 accompanied by Dr. Richard lling as surgeon and natu- 
 ralist, with three men who had been on the expedition with 
 Franklin, left Liverpool on the 17th of Feb. 1833, in one 
 of the New York packet ships, and arrived in America 
 after a stormy passage of thirty-five days. He proceeded 
 on to Montreal, where he had great difficulty in prevent- 
 ing two of the men from leaving him, as their hearts began 
 to fail them at the prospect of the severe journey, with its 
 attendant difficulties, which they had to encounter. 
 
 Four volunteers from the Royal Artillery corps here 
 
120 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERT. 
 
 joined him, and some voyageurs having been engaged, the 
 party left, in two canoes, on the 25th of April. Two of 
 his party deserted from him in the Ottawa river. 
 
 On the 28th of June, having obtained his complement 
 of men, he may be said to have commenced his journey. 
 They suffered dreadfully from myriads of sand-flies and 
 musquitoes, being so disfigured by their attacks that 
 their features could be scarcely recognised. Horse-flies, 
 appropriately styled "bull dogs," were another dreadful 
 pest, which pertinaciously gorged themselves like the leech, 
 until they seemed ready to burst. 
 
 "It is in vain to attempt to defend yourself against 
 these puny bloodsuckers ; though you crush thousands of 
 them, tens of thousands arise to revenge the death of their 
 companions, and you very soon discover that the conflict 
 which you are waging is one in which you are sure to be 
 defeated. So great at last are the pains and fatigue in 
 buffeting away this attacking force, that in despair you 
 throw yourself, half suffocated, in a blanket, with your 
 face upon the ground, and snatch a few minutes of sleep- 
 less rest." Captain Back adds that the vigorous and unin- 
 termitting assaults of these tormenting pests conveyed the 
 moral lesson of man's helplessness, since, with all our 
 boasted strength, we are unable to repel these feeble atoms 
 of creation. " How," he says, " can I possibly give an 
 idea of the torment we endured from the sand-flies ? As 
 we dived into the confined and suffocating chasms, or 
 waded through the close swamps, they rose in clouds, 
 actually darkening the air ; to see or to speak was 
 equally difficult, for they rushed at every undefended 
 part, and fixed their poisonous fangs in an instant. Our 
 faces streamed with blood, as if leeches had been applied, 
 and there was a burning and irritating pain, followed by 
 immediate inflammation, and producing giddiness, which 
 almost drove us mad, and caused us to moan with pain 
 and agony." 
 
 At the 'Pine portage Captain Back engaged the services 
 of A. E. McLeod, in the employ of the Hudson's Bay 
 Company, and who had been fixed upon by Governor 
 Simpson, to aid the expedition. He was accompanied by 
 his wife, three children, and a servant; and had just 
 returned from the Mackenzie Eiver, with a large cargo of 
 furs. The whole family were attached to _the party, and 
 after some detentions of a general and unimportant cha- 
 racter, they arrived at Fort Chipewyan on the 29th of 
 July. Fort Resolution, on Great Slave Lake, was reached 
 on the 8th of August. 
 
CAPTAIN BACK'S LAND JOURNEY. 121 
 
 The odd assemblage of goods and voyageurs in their en- 
 campment are thus graphically described by the traveller, 
 as he glanced arortnd him. 
 
 " At my feet was a rolled bundle in oil- cloth, containing 
 gome three blankets, called a bed ; near it a piece of dried 
 buffalo, fancifully ornamented with long black hairs, which 
 no art, alas ! can prevent from insinuating themselves be- 
 tween the teeth, as you laboriously masticate the tough, 
 hard flesh ; then a tolerably clean napkin, spread by way 
 of table-cloth, on a red piece of canvas, and supporting a 
 tea-pot, some biscuits, and a salt-cellar ; near this a tin 
 plate, close by a square kind of box or safe of the same 
 material, rich with a pale, greasy hair, the produce of the 
 colony at Red River ; and the last the far-renowned pem- 
 mican, unquestionably the best food of the country for 
 expeditions such as ours. Behind me were two boxes 
 containing astronomical instruments, and a sextant lying 
 on the ground, whilst the different corners of the tent 
 were occupied by a washing apparatus, a gun, an Indian 
 shot-pouch, bags, basins, and an unhappy-looking japanned 
 pot, whose melancholy bumps and hollows seemed to 
 reproach me for many a bruise endured upon the rocks 
 and portages between Montreal and Lake Winnipeck. Nor 
 were my crew less motley than the furniture of the tent. 
 It consisted of an Englishman, a man from Stornaway, 
 two Canadians, two Metifs or half-breds, and three Iro- 
 quois Indians. Babel could not have produced a worse 
 confusion of unharmonious sounds than was the conversa- 
 tion they kept up." 
 
 Having obtained at Fort Resolution all possible infor- 
 ation, from the Indians and others, relative to the course 
 of the northern rivers of which he was in search, he 
 divided his crew into two parties, five of whom were left 
 s an escort for Mr. McLeod, and four were to accompany 
 imself in search of the Great Fish River, since appro- 
 priately named after Back himself. 
 
 On the 19th of August they began the ascent of the Hoar 
 Frost River, whose course was a series of the most fearful 
 cascades and rapids. The woods here were so thick as 
 o render them almost impervious, consisting chiefly of 
 tunted firs, which occasioned infinite trouble to the party 
 o force their way through ; added to which, they had to 
 ilamber over fallen trees, through rivulets, and over bogs 
 and swamps, until the difficulties appeared so appalling as 
 almost to dishearten the party from prosecuting their 
 journey. The heart of Captain Back was, however, of too 
 stern a cast to be dispirited by difficulties, at which less 
 
122 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 persevering explorers would have turned away discom- 
 fited, and cheering on his men, like a bold and gallant 
 leader, the first in the advance of danger, they arrived at 
 length in an open space, where they rested for awhile to 
 recruit their exhausted strength. The place was, indeed, 
 one of barrenness and desolation ; crag was piled upon crag 
 to the height of 2000 feet from the base, and the course of 
 the river here, in a state of contraction, was marked by an 
 uninterrupted line of foam. 
 
 However great the beauty of the scenery may be, and 
 however resolute may be the will, severe toil will at length 
 relax the spirits, and bring a kind of despondency upon a 
 heart naturally bold and undaunted. This was found 
 particularly the case now with the interpreter, who became 
 a dead weight upon the party. E-apid now succeeded 
 rapid ; scarcely had they surmounted one fall than an- 
 other presented itself, rising like an amphitheatre before 
 them to the height of fifty feet. They, however, gained 
 at length the ascent of this turbulent and unfriendly river, 
 the romantic beauty and wild scenery of which were 
 strikingly grand, and after passing successively a series 
 of portages, rapids, falls, lakes, and rivers, on the 27th 
 Back observed from the summit of a high hill a 
 very large lake full of deep bays and islands, and 
 which has been named Aylmer Lake, after the Governor- 
 General of Canada at that time. The boat was sent out 
 with three men to search for the lake, or outlet of the 
 river, which they discovered on the second day, and 
 Captain Back himself, during their absence, also accident- 
 ally discovered its source in the Sand Hill Lake, not far 
 from his encampment. Not prouder was Bruce when he 
 stood on the green sod which covers the source of the 
 Nile, than was Captain Back when he found that he was 
 standing at the source of a river, the existence of which 
 was known, but the course of which was a problem 
 no traveller had yet ventured to solve. Yielding to that 
 pleasurable emotion which discoverers, in the first bound 
 of their transport, may be pardoned for indulging, Back 
 tells us he threw himself down on the bank and drank a 
 hearty draught of the limpid water. 
 
 "For this occasion," he adds, "I had reserved a 
 little grog, and need hardly say with what cheerfulness 
 it was shared amongst the crew, whose welcome tidings 
 had verified the notion of Dr. Richardson and myself, and 
 thus placed beyond doubt the existence of the Thlew-ee- 
 choh, or Great Fish River." 
 
 On the 30th of August they began to move towards the 
 
CAPTAIN BACK'S LAND JOUENEY. 123 
 
 river, but on reaching Musk-ox Lake it was found impos- 
 sible to stand the force of the rapids in their frail canoe, 
 and as winter was approaching their return to the rendez- 
 vous on Slave Lake was determined on. 
 
 At Clinton Golden Lake, some Indians visited them 
 from the Chief Akaitcho, who it will be remembered was 
 the guide of Sir John Franklin. Two of these Indians 
 remembered Captain Back, one having accompanied him 
 to the Coppermine River on Franklin's first expedition. 
 
 At the Cat or Artillery Lake they had to abandon their 
 canoe, and perform the rest of the journey on foot over 
 precipitous rocks, through frightful gorges and ravines, 
 heaped with masses of granite, and along narrow ledges, 
 where a false step would have been fatal. 
 
 At Fort Reliance the party found Mr.McLeodhad, during 
 their absence, erected the frame-work of a comfortable 
 residence for them, and all hands set to work to com- 
 plete it. After many obstacles and difficulties, it was 
 finished. 
 
 Dr. King joined them on the 16th of September with 
 two laden bateaux. 
 
 On the 5th of November they exchanged their cold 
 tents for the new house, which was fifty feet long by 
 thirty broad, and contained four rooms, besides a spacious 
 hall in the centre, for the reception and accommodation 
 of the Indians, to which a sort of rude kitchen was 
 attached. 
 
 As the winter advanced bands of starving Indians con- 
 tinued to arrive, in the hope of obtaining some relief, as 
 little or nothing was to be procured by hunting. They 
 would stand around while the men were taking their 
 meals, watching every mouthful with the most longing, 
 imploring look, but yet never uttering a complaint. 
 
 At other times they would, seated round the fire, occupy 
 themselves in roasting and devouring small bits of their 
 reindeer garments, which, even when entire, afforded 
 them a very insufficient protection against a temperature 
 of 102 below freezing point. 
 
 The sufferings of the poor Indians at this period are 
 described as frightful. "Famine with her gaunt and 
 bony arm," says Back, "pursued them at every turn, 
 withered their energies, and strewed them lifeless on the 
 cold bosom of the snow." It was impossible to afford 
 relief out of their scanty store to all, but even small 
 portions of the mouldy pemmican intended for the dogs, 
 unpalatable as it was, was gladly received, and saved many 
 from perishing. " Often," adds Back, " did I share my own 
 
124 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 plate with the children, whose helpless state and piteous 
 cries were peculiarly distressing ; compassion for the full 
 grown may, or may not, be felt, but that heart must be 
 cased in steel which is insensible to the cry of a child for 
 food." 
 
 At this critical juncture, Akaitcho made his appearance 
 with an opportune supply of a little meat, which in some 
 measure enabled Captain Back to relieve the sufferers 
 around him, many of whom, to his great delight, went 
 away with Akaitcho. The stock of meat was soon 
 exhausted, and they had to open their pemmican. The 
 officers contented themselves with the short supply of 
 half a pound a day, but the labouring men could not do 
 with less than a pound and three quarters. The cold now 
 set in with an intensity which Captain Back had never 
 before experienced, the thermometer on the 17th of 
 January being 70 below zero. " Such indeed, (he says,) 
 was the abstraction of heat, that with eight large logs of 
 dry wood on the fire I could not get the thermometer 
 higher than 12 below zero. Ink and paint froze. The 
 sextant cases and boxes of seasoned wood, principally fir, 
 all split. The skin of the hands became dry, cracked and 
 opened into unsightly and smarting gashes, which we 
 v, ere obliged to anoint with grease. Oil one occasion, 
 after washing my face within three feet of the fire, my 
 hair was actually clotted with ice before I had time to 
 dry it." 
 
 The hunters suffered severely from the intensity of the 
 cold, and compared the sensation of handling their guns to 
 that of touching red-hot iron, and so excessive was the 
 pain, that they were obliged to wrap thongs of leather 
 round the triggers to keep their fingers from coming into 
 contact with the steel. 
 
 The sufferings which the party now endured were great, 
 and had it not been for the exemplary conduct of Akaitcho 
 in procuring them game, it is to be doubted whether any 
 would have survived to tell the misery they had en- 
 dured. The sentiments of this worthy savage were nobly 
 expressed " The great chief trusts in us, and it is better 
 that ten Indians perish than that one white man should 
 perish through our negligence and breach of faith." 
 
 On the 14th of February Mr. McLeod and his family 
 removed to , place half-way between the fort and the 
 Indians, in order to facilitate their own support, and assist 
 in procuring food by hunting. His situation, however, 
 became soon one of the greatest embarrassment, he and 
 his family being surrounded by difficulties, privations, and 
 
CAPTAIN" BACK'S LAND JOURNEY. 
 
 deaths. Six of the natives near him sank under the horrors 
 of starvation, and Akaitcho and his hunters were twelve 
 days' march distant. 
 
 Towards the end of April Capt. Back began to mate 
 rrangements for constructing boats for prosecuting the 
 xpedition once more, and while so employed, on the 25th 
 a messenger arrived with the gratifying intelligence that 
 
 apt. Boss had arrived safely in England, confirmation of 
 
 hich was afforded in extracts from the Times and Herald, 
 and letters from the long-lost adventurers themselves. 
 Their feelings at these glad tidings are thus described : 
 " In the fulness of our hearts we assembled together, and 
 humbly offered up our thanks to that merciful Providence, 
 who in the beautiful language of scripture hath said, 
 Mine own will I bring again, as I did sometime from the 
 deeps of the sea.' The thought of so wonderful a preserva- 
 tion overpowered for a time the common occurrences of 
 life. We had just sat down to breakfast ; but our appetito 
 was gone, and the day was passed in a feverish state of 
 excitement, Seldom, indeed, did my friend Mr. King or 
 I indulge in a libation, but on this joyful occasion 
 economy was forgotten ; a treat was given to the men, 
 and for ourselves the social sympathies were quickened by 
 a generous bowl of punch." Capt. Back's former inter- 
 preter, Augustus, hearing that he was in the country, set 
 out on foot from Hudson's Bay to join him, but getting 
 separated from his two companions, the gallant little fellow 
 was either exhausted by suffering and privations, or, caught 
 in the midst of an open traverse in one of those terrible 
 snow storms which may be said to blow almost through 
 the frame, he had sunk to rise no more, his bleached 
 remains being discovered not far from the Biviere a Jean. 
 " Such," says Capt. Back, " was the miserable end of poor 
 Augustus, a faithful, disinterested, kind-hearted creature, 
 who had won the regard, not of myself only, but I 
 may add, of Sir J. Franklin and Dr. Richardson also, by 
 qualities which, wherever found, in the lowest as in the 
 highest forms of social life, are the ornament and charm of 
 humanity." 
 
 On the 7th of June, all the preparations being com- 
 pleted, McLeod having been previously sent on to hunt, 
 and deposit casks of meat at various stages, Back set out 
 with Mr. King, accompanied by four voyageurs and an 
 Indian guide. The stores not required were buried, and 
 the doors and windows of the house blocked up. 
 
 At Artillery Lake, Back picked up the remainder of hia 
 party, with the carpenters who had been employed pre 
 
123 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 paring boats. The lightest and best was chosen and 
 placed on runners plated with iron, and in this manner she 
 was drawn over the ice by two men and six fine dogs. 
 The eastern shore of the lake was followed, as it was found 
 less rocky and precipitous than the opposite one. The 
 march was prosecuted by night, the air being more 
 fresh and pleasant, and the party took rest in the day. 
 The glare of the ice, the difficulty encountered in getting 
 the boat along, the ice being so bad that the spikes of 
 the runners cut through instead of sliding over it, and 
 the thick snow which fell in June, greatly increased 
 the labour of getting along. The cold raw wind pierced 
 through them in spite of cloaks and blankets. After 
 being caulked, the boat was launched on the 14th of 
 June, the lake being sufficiently unobstructed to admit of 
 her being towed along shore. The weather now became 
 exceedingly unpleasant hail, snow, and rain pelted them 
 one after the other for some time without respite, and then 
 only yielded to squalls that overturned the boat. With 
 alternate spells and haltings to rest, they however gradually 
 advanced on the traverse, and were really making consi- 
 derable progress when pelting showers of sleet and drift 
 so dimmed and confused the sight, darkening the atmo- 
 sphere, and limiting their view to only a few paces before 
 them, as to render it an extremely perplexing task to keep 
 their course. 
 
 On the 23rd of June they fortunately fell in with a caclie 
 made for them by their av ante-courier, Mr. McLeod, in 
 which was a seasonable supply of deer and musk-ox flesh, the 
 latter, however, so impregnated with the odour from which 
 it takes its name, that the men declared they would rather 
 starve three days than swallow a mouthful of it. To 
 remove this unfavourable impression Capt. Back ordered 
 the daily rations to be served from it for his own mess as 
 well as theirs, taking occasion at the same time to impress 
 on their minds the injurious consequences of voluntary 
 abstinence, and the necessity of accommodating their 
 tastes to such food as the country might supply. Soon 
 after another caclie was met with, thus making eleven 
 animals in all that had been thus obtained and secured for 
 them by the kind care of Mr. McLeod. 
 
 On the 27th they reached Sand Hill Bay, where they 
 found Mr. McLeod encamped. On the 28th the boat being 
 too frail to be dragged over the portage, about a quarter 
 of a mile in length, was carried bodily by the crew, and 
 launched safely in the Thlew-ee-choh or Fish River. After 
 crossing the portage beyond Musk-ox Eapid, about four 
 
CAPTAIN BACK'S LAND JOURNEY. 127 
 
 miles in length, and having all his party together, Captain 
 Back took a survey of his provisions for the three months 
 of operations, which he found to consist of two boxes of 
 maccaroni, a case of cocoa, twenty-seven bags of pem- 
 mican of about SOlbs. each, and a keg with two gallons of 
 rum. This he considered an adequate supply if all turned 
 out sound and good. The difficulty, however, of trans- 
 
 I porting a weight of SOOOlbs. over ice and rocks by a cir- 
 cuitous route of full 200 miles may be easily conceived, 
 not to mention the pain endured in walking on some parts 
 where the ice formed innumerable spikes that pierced like 
 needles, and in other places where it was so black and 
 decayed, that it threatened at every step to engulf the 
 adventurous traveller. These and similar difficulties could 
 only be overcome by the most steady perseverance, and 
 the most determined resolution. 
 
 Among the group of dark figures huddled together in 
 the Indian encampment around them, Capt. Back found 
 his old acquaintance, the Indian beauty of whom mention 
 is made in Sir John Franklin's narrative under the name 
 of Green Stockings. Although surrounded with a family, 
 with one urchin in her cloak clinging to her back, and 
 several other maternal accompaniments, Capt. Back imme- 
 diately recognised her, and called her by her name, at 
 which she laughed, and said she was an old woman now, 
 and begged that she might be relieved by the " medicine 
 man," for she was very much out of health. However, 
 notwithstanding all this, she was still the beauty of the 
 tribe, and with that consciousness which belongs to all 
 belles, savage or polite, she seemed by no means displeased 
 
 Bwhen Back sketched her portrait. (p. 307.) 
 Mr. McLeod was now sent back, taking with him ten 
 persons and fourteen dogs. His instructions were to pro- 
 ceed to Fort [Resolution for the stores expected to be sent 
 there by the Hudson's Bay Company, to build a house in 
 some good locality, for a permanent fishing station, and to 
 be again on the banks of the Fish River by the middle of 
 September, to afford Back and his party any assistance or 
 relief they might require. 
 
 The old Indian chief Akaitcho, hearing from the inter- 
 preter that Capt. Back was in his immediate neighbourhood, 
 said, " I have known the chief a long time, and I am afraid 
 I shall never see him again ; I will go to him." On his 
 arrival he cautioned Back against the dangers of a river 
 which he distinctly told him the present race of Indians 
 knew nothing of. He also warned him against the treachery 
 of the Esquimaux, which he said was always masked under 
 
128 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 the guise of friendship, observing they would attack him. 
 when he least expected it. " I am afraid," continued the 
 good old chief, " that I shall never see you again; but 
 should you escape from the great water, take care you are 
 not caught by the winter, and thrown into a situation like 
 that in which you were on your return from the Copper- 
 mine, for you are alone, and the Indians cannot assist you." 
 
 The carpenters, with an Iroquois, not being further 
 required, were dismissed to join Mr. McLeod, and on the 
 8th of July they proceeded down the river. The boat was 
 now launched and laden with her cargo, which, together 
 with ten persons, she stowed well enough for a smooth 
 river, but not for a lake or sea way. The weight was cal- 
 culated at 3360 Ibs., exclusive of the awning, poles, sails, 
 &c., and the crew. 
 
 Their progress to the sea was now one continued succes- 
 sion of dangerous and formidable falls, rapids, and cataracts, 
 which frequently made Back hold his breath, expecting to 
 see the boat dashed to shivers against some protruding 
 rocks amidst the foam and fury at the foot of a rapid. The 
 only wonder is how in their frail leaky boat they ever shot 
 one of the rapids. Bapid after rapid, and fall after fall, 
 were passed, each accompanied with more or less danger ; 
 and in one instance the boat was only saved by all hands 
 jumping into the breakers, and keeping her stern up the 
 stream, until she was cleared from a rock that had brought 
 
 ~ 
 
 her up. They had hardly time to get into their places 
 again, when they were carried with considerable velocity 
 past a river which joined from the westward. After pass- 
 ing no less than five rapids within the distance of three 
 miles, they came to one long and appalling one, full of 
 rocks and large boulders ; the sides hemmed in by a wall 
 of ice, and the current flying with the velocity and force of 
 a torrent. The boat was lightened of her cargo, and Capt. 
 Back placed himself on a high rock, with an anxious desire 
 to see her run the rapid. He had every hope which con- 
 fidence in the judgment and dexterity of his principal men 
 could inspire, but it was impossible not to feel that one 
 crash would be fatal to the expedition. Away they went 
 with the speed of an arrow, and in a moment the foam and 
 rocks hid them from view. Back at last heard what 
 sounded in his ear like a wild shriek, and he saw Dr. King, 
 who was a hundred yards before him, make a sign with 
 his gun, and then run forward. Back followed with an 
 agitation which may easily be conceived, when to his inex- 
 pressible joy he found that the shriek was the triumphant 
 whoop of 'the crew, who had landed safely in a small bay 
 
CAPTAIN BACK'S LAND JOURNEY. 129 
 
 below. For nearly 100 miles of tlie distance they were 
 impeded by these frightful whirlpools, and strong and 
 heavy rapids. 
 
 On opening one of their bags of pemmican, the ingenuity 
 of the Indians at pilfering was discovered, successive 
 layers of mixed sand, stones, and green meat having been 
 artfully and cleverly substituted for the dry meat. Fearful 
 that they might be carrying heaps of stone instead of pro- 
 vision, Back had to examine carefully the remainder, which 
 were all found sound and well-tasted. He began to fear, 
 from the inclination of the river at one time towards the 
 south, that it would be found to discharge itself in Ches- 
 terfield Inlet, in Hudson's Bay, but subsequently, to his 
 great joy, it took a direct course towards the north, and 
 his hopes of reaching the Polar Sea were revived. The 
 river now led into several large lakes, some studded with 
 islands, which were named successively after Sir H. Pelly, 
 and Mr. Garry, of the Hudson's Bay Company ; two others 
 were named Lake Macdougall and Lake Franklin. 
 
 On the 28th of July they fell in with a tribe of about 
 thirty-five very friendly Esquimaux, who aided them in 
 transporting their boat over the last long and steep portage, 
 to which his men were utterly unequal, and Back justly 
 remarks, to their kind assistance he is mainly indebted for 
 getting to the sea at all. 
 
 It was late when they got away, and while threading 
 their course between some sand-banks with a strong cur- 
 rent, they first caught sight of a majestic headland in the 
 extreme distance to the north, which had a coast-like 
 appearance. This important promontory Back subsequently 
 named after our gracious Queen, then Princess Victoria. 
 
 " This then," observes Back, "may be considered as the 
 mouth of the Thlew-ee-choh, which after a violent and 
 tortuous course of 530 geographical miles, running through 
 an iron-ribbed country, without a single tree on the whole 
 line of its banks, expanding into five large lakes, with clear 
 horizon, most embarrassing to the navigator, and broken 
 into falls, cascades, and rapids, to the number of eighty- 
 three in the whole, pours its water into the Polar Sea, in 
 lat. 67 11' N., and long. 94 30' W., that is to say, about 
 thirty-seven miles more south than the Coppermine Biver, 
 and nineteen miles more south than that of Back's Biver 
 (of Franklin) at the lower extremity of Bathurst's Inlet. ' 
 (p. 390.) 
 
 For several days Back was able to make but slow pro- 
 gress along the eastern shore, in consequence of the solid 
 Body of drift-ice. A barren, rocky elevation of 800 feet 
 
 K 
 
130 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 high was named Cape Beaufort, after the present hydro- 
 grapher to the Admiralty. A bluff point 011 the eastern side 
 of the estuary, which he considered to be the northern 
 extreme, he named Cape Hay. Dean and Simpson, how- 
 ever, in 1839, traced the shore much beyond this. The 
 difficulties met with here began to dispirit the men. 
 For a week or ten days they had a continuation of wet, 
 chilly, foggy weather, and the only vegetation, fern and 
 moss, was so wet that it would not burn ; being thus 
 without fuel, during this time they had but one hot meal. 
 Almost without water, without any means of warmth, or 
 any kind of warm or comforting food, sinking knee-deep, 
 as they proceeded on land, in the soft slush and snow, no 
 wonder that some of the best men, benumbed in their 
 limbs and dispirited by the dreary and unpromising pro- 
 spect before them, broke out for a moment, in low mur- 
 murings, that theirs was a hard and painful duty. 
 
 Captain Back found it utterly impossible to proceed, as 
 he had intended, to the Point Tuf nagain of Franklin ; and 
 after vainly essaying a land expedition by three of the best 
 walkers, and these having returned, after making but 
 fifteen miles' way, in consequence of the heavy rains and 
 the swampy nature of the ground, he came to the resolu- 
 tion of returning. [Reflecting, he says, on the long and 
 dangerous stream they hacf to ascend, combining all the 
 bad features of the worst rivers in the country, the hazard 
 of the falls and rapids, and the slender hope which re- 
 mained of their attaining even a single mile further, he 
 felt he had no choice. Assembling, therefore, the men 
 around him, and unfurling the British flag, which was 
 saluted with three cheers, he announced to them this 
 determination. The latitude of this place was 68 13' 57" JN"., 
 and longitude 94 58' I" W. The extreme point seen to 
 the northward on the western side of the estuary, in lati- 
 tude 68 46' K, longitude 96 20' W., Back named Cape 
 Richardson. The spirits of many of the men, whose health 
 had suffered greatly for want of warm and nourishing 
 food, now brightened, and they set to work with alacrity to 
 prepare for their return journey. The boat being dragged 
 across, was* brought to the place of their former station, 
 after which the crew went back four miles for their 
 baggage. The whole was safely conveyed over before the 
 evening, when the water-casks were broken up to make a 
 fire to warm a kettle of cocoa, the second hot meal they 
 had had for nine days. 
 
 On the 15th of August, they managed to make their 
 way about twenty miles, on their return to the southward, 
 
CAPTAIN BACK'S LAND JOURNEY. 
 
 131 
 
 through a breach in the ice, till they came to open water. 
 The difficulties of the river were doubled in the ascent, 
 from having to proceed against the stream. All the ob- 
 stacles of rocks, rapids, sandbanks, and long portages had 
 to be faced. In some days as many as sixteen or twenty 
 rapids were ascended. They found, as they proceeded, 
 that many of the deposits of provisions, on which they 
 relied, had been discovered and destroyed by wolves. 
 On the 16th of September they met Mr. McLeod and his 
 party, who had been several days at Sand Hill Bay, wait- 
 ing for them. On the 24th they reached the Ah-hel-dessy, 
 where they met with some Indians. They were ultimately 
 stopped by one most formidable perpendicular fall, and as 
 it was found impossible to convey the boat further over so 
 rugged and mountainous a country, most of the declivities 
 of which were coated with thin ice, and the whole 
 hidden by snow, it was here abandoned, and the party 
 proceeded the rest of the journey on foot, each laden with 
 a pack of about 75lbs. weight. 
 
 Late on the 27th of September they arrived at their old 
 habitation, Fort Eeliance, after being absent nearly four 
 months, wearied indeed, but " truly grateful for the mani- 
 fold mercies they had experienced in the course of their 
 long and perilous journey." Arrangements were now 
 made to pass the winter as 4 comfortably as their means 
 would permit, and as there was no probability that there 
 would be sufficient food in the house for the consumption 
 of the whole party, all except six were sent with Mr. 
 McLeod to the fisheries. The Indians brought them pro- 
 visions from time to time, and their friend Akaitcho, with 
 his followers, though not very successful in hunting, 
 was not wanting in his contributions. This old chieftain 
 was, however, no longer the same active and important 
 personage he had been in the days when he rendered such 
 good service to Sir John Franklin. Old age and infirmities 
 were creeping on him and rendering him peevish and 
 fickle. 
 
 On the 2lst of March following, having left directions 
 with Dr. King to proceed, at the proper season, to the 
 Company's factory at Hudson's Bay, to embark for Eng- 
 land in their spring ships, Captain Back set out on his 
 return through Canada, calling at the Fisheries to bid 
 farewell to his esteemed friend, Mr. McLeod, and arriving 
 at Norway House on the 24th of June, where he settled 
 and arranged the accounts due for stores, &c., to the 
 Hudson's Bay Company. He proceeded thence to "New 
 York, embarked for England and arrived at Liverpool 
 
 it 2 
 
132 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERT. 
 
 on the 8th of September, after an absence of two yesrs 
 and a half. Back was honoured with an audience of his 
 Majesty, who expressed his approbation of his efforts 
 first in the cause of humanity, and next in that of geo- 
 graphical and scientific research. He has since been 
 knighted ; and in 1835, the Royal Geographical Society 
 awarded him their gold medal (the Royal premium) for 
 his discovery of the Great Fish River and navigating it to 
 the sea on the Arctic coast. 
 
 Dr. King, with the remainder of the party, (eight men,) 
 reached England, in the Hudson's Bay Company's ship, in 
 the following month, October. 
 
 Of Captain Back's travels it has been justly observed 
 that it is impossible to rise from the perusal of them 
 without being struck with astonishment at the extent of 
 sufferings which the human frame can endure, and at the 
 same time the wondrous display of fortitude which was 
 exhibited under circumstances of so appalling a nature, 
 as to invest the narrative with the character of a ro- 
 mantic fiction, rather than an unexaggerated tale of actual 
 reality. He, however, suffered not despair nor despon- ' 
 dency to overcome him, but gallantly and undauntedly 
 pursued his course, until he returned to his native land 
 to add to the number of those noble spirits whose names 
 will be carried to posterity as the brightest ornaments to 
 the country which gave them birth. 
 
 CAPTAIN BACK'S VOYAGE OF THE TERROR. 
 
 IN the year 1836 Captain Back, who had only returned 
 the previous autumn, at the recommendation of the Geo- 
 graphical Society, undertook a voyage in the Terror up 
 Hudson's Strait. 
 
 He was to reach Wager River, or Repulse Bay, and to 
 make an overland journey to examine the bottom of 
 Prince Regent Inlet, sending other parties to the north 
 and west to examine the Strait of the Fury and Hecla, 
 and to reach, if possible, Franklin's Point Turnagain. 
 
 Leaving England on the 14th of June, he arrived on 
 the 14th of August, at Salisbury Island, and proceeded up 
 the Frozen Strait ; off Cape Comfort the ship got frozen 
 in, and on the breaking up of the ice by one of those frequent 
 convulsions, the vessel was drifted right up the Frozen 
 Channel, grinding large heaps that opposed her progress 
 to powder. 
 
 From December to March she was driven about by the 
 fury of the storms and ice, all attempts to release her 
 
MESSRS. DEASE AND SIMPSON'S DISCOVERIES. 133 
 
 being utterly powerless. She thus floated till the 10th. 
 of July, and for three days was on her beam-ends ; but 
 on the 14th suddenly righted. The crazy vessel with her 
 gaping wounds was scarcely able to transport the crew 
 across the stormy waters of the Atlantic, but the return 
 voyage, which was rendered absolutely necessary, was 
 fortunately accomplished safely. 
 
 I shall now give a concise summary of Captain Sir 
 George Back's Arctic services, so as to present it more 
 readily to the reader. 
 
 In '1818 he was Admiralty Mate on board the Trent, 
 under Franklin. In 1819 he again accompanied him on 
 his first overland journey, and was with him in all those 
 perilous sufferings which are elsewhere narrated. He 
 was also as a Lieutenant with Franklin on his second 
 journey in 1825. Having been in the interval promoted 
 to the rank of Commander, he proceeded, in 1833, accom- 
 panied by Dr. King and a party, through Northern Ame- 
 rica to the Polar Sea, in search of Captain John Boss. 
 He was posted on the 30th of September, 1835, and 
 appointed in the following year to the command of the 
 Terror, for a voyage of discovery in Hudson's 33ay. 
 
 MESSRS. DEASE AND SIMPSON'S DISCOVERIES. 
 
 In 1836 the Hudson's Bay Company resolved upon 
 undertaking the completion of the survey of the northern 
 coast of their territories, forming the shores of Arctic 
 America, and small portions of which were left unde- 
 termined between the discoveries of Captains Back and 
 Franklin. 
 
 They commissioned to this task two of their officers, 
 Mr. Thomas Simpson and Mr. Peter Warren Dease, who 
 were sent out with a party of twelve men from the 
 companv's chief fort, with proper aids and appliances. 
 Descending the Mackenzie to the sea, they reached and 
 surveyed in July, 1837, the remainder of the western 
 part of the coast left unexammed by Franklin in 1825, 
 from his Return Reef to Cape Barrow, where the 
 Blossoms boats turned back. 
 
 Proceeding on from Return Reef two new rivers were 
 discovered the Garry and the Colville ; the latter more 
 than a thousand miles in length. Although it was the 
 height of summer, the ground was found frozen several 
 . inches below the surface, the spray froze on the oars 
 and rigging of their boats, and the ice lay smooth and 
 solid in the bays, as in the depth of winter. 
 
134 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 On the 4tli of August, having left the boats and pro- 
 ceeded on by land, Mr. Simpson arrived at Elson Bay, 
 which point Lieutenant Elson had reached in the Blossoms 
 barge in 1826. 
 
 The party now returned to winter at Eort Confidence, 
 on Great Bear Lake, whence they were instructed to 
 prosecute their search to the eastward next season, and 
 to communicate if possible with Sir George Back's expe- 
 dition. 
 
 They left their winter quarters on the 6th of June, 1838, 
 and descended Dease's River. They found the Copper- 
 mine River much swollen by floods, and encumbered with 
 masses of floating ice. The rapids they had to pass were 
 very perilous, as may be inferred from the following 
 graphic description : 
 
 " We had to pull for our lives to keep out of the suction 
 of the precipices, along whose base the breakers raged and 
 foamed with overwhelming fury. Shortly before noon, we 
 came in sight of Escape Rapid of Eranklin ; and a glance at 
 the overhanging cliffs told us that there was no alternative 
 but to run down with full cargo. In an instant," continues 
 Mr. Simpson, "we were in the vortex; and before we 
 were aware, my boat was borne towards an isolated rock, 
 which the boiling surge almost concealed. To clear it 
 on the outside was no longer possible ; our only chance 
 of safety was to run between it and the lofty eastern cliff. 
 The word was passed, and every breath was hushed. A 
 stream which dashed down upon us over the brow of 
 the precipice more than 100 feet in height, mingled 
 with the spray that whirled upwards from the rapid, 
 forming a terrific shower-bath. The pass was about eight 
 feet wide, and the error of a single foot on either side 
 would have been instant destruction. As, guided by 
 Sinclair's consummate skill, the boat shot safely through 
 those jaws of death, an involuntary cheer arose. Our next 
 impulse was to turn round to view the fate of our com- 
 rades behind. They had profited by the peril we incurred, 
 and kept without the treacherous rock in time." 
 
 On the 1st of July they reached the sea, and encamped 
 at the mouth of the river, where they waited for the 
 opening of the ice till the 17th. They doubled Cape 
 Barrow, one of the northern points of Bathurst's Inlet, on 
 the 29th, but were prevented crossing the inlet by the 
 continuity of the ice, and obliged to make a circuit of 
 nearly 150 miles by Arctic Sound. 
 
 Some very pure specimens of copper ofe were found on 
 one of the JBarry Islands. After doubling Cape Elinders 
 
MESSES. DBASE AND SIMPSON'S DISCOVERIES. 135 
 
 on the 9th of August, the boats were arrested by the ice 
 in a little bay to which the name of Boat-haven was given, 
 situate about three miles from Franklin's farthest. Here 
 the boats lingered for the best part of a month in utter 
 hopelessness. Mr. Simpson pushed on therefore on the 
 20th, with an exploring party of seven men, provisioned 
 for ten days. On the first day they passed Point Turn- 
 again, the limit of Franklin's survey in 1821. On the 23rd 
 they had reached an elevated cape, with land apparently 
 closing all round to the northward, so that it was feared 
 they had only been traversing the coast of a huge bay. 
 But the perseverance of the adventurous explorer was fully 
 rewarded. 
 
 "With bitter disappointment," writes Mr. Simpson, "I 
 ascended the height, from whence a vast and splendid 
 prospect burst suddenly upon me. The sea, as if trans- 
 formed by enchantment, rolled its free waves at my feet, 
 and beyond the reach of vision to the eastward. Islands 
 of various shape and size overspread its surface ; and the 
 northern land terminated to the eye in a bold and lofty 
 cape, bearing east-north-east, thirty or forty miles distant, 
 while the continental coast trended away south-east. I 
 stood, in fact, on a remarkable headland, at the eastern 
 outlet of an ice-obstructed strait. On the extensive land 
 to the northward I bestowed the name of our most 
 gracious sovereign Queen Victoria. Its eastern visible 
 extremity I called Cape Pelly, in compliment to the 
 governor of the Hudson's Bay Company." 
 
 Having reached the limits which prudence dictated in 
 the face of the long journey back to the boats, many of 
 his men too being lame, Mr. Simpson retraced his steps, 
 and the party reached Boat-haven on the 29th of August, 
 having traced nearly 140 miles of new coast. The boats 
 were cut out of their icy prison, and commenced their 
 re-ascent of the Coppermine on the 3rd of September. 
 At its junction with the Kendal River they left their boats, 
 and, shouldering their packs, traversed the Barren 
 Grounds, and arrived at their residence on the lake by 
 the 14th of September. 
 
 The following season these persevering explorers com- 
 menced their third voyage. They reached the Bloody 
 Fall on the 22nd of June, 1839, and occupied themselves 
 for a week in carefully examining [Richardson's Hiver, 
 which was discovered in the previous year, and discharges 
 itself in the head of Back's Inlet. On the 3rd of July 
 they reached Cape Barrow, and from its rocky heights 
 were surprised to observe Coronation Gulf almost clear 
 
136 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 of ice, while on their former visit it could have been 
 crossed on foot. 
 
 They were at Cape Franklin a month earlier than Mr. 
 Simpson reached it on foot the previous year, and doubled 
 Cape Alexander, the northernmost cape in this quarter, 
 on the 28th of July, after encountering a violent gale. 
 They coasted the huge bay extending for about nine 
 degrees eastward from this point, being favoured with 
 clear weather, and protected by the various islands they 
 met from the crushing state of the ice drifted from 
 seaward. 
 
 On the 10th of August they opened a strait about ten 
 miles wide at each extremity, but narrowing to four or 
 five miles in the centre. This strait, which divides the 
 main land from Boothia, has been called Simpson's Strait. 
 
 On the 13th of August they had passed Eichardson's 
 Point and doubled Point Ogle, the furthest point of 
 Back's journey in 1834. 
 
 By the 16th they had reached Montreal Island in Back's 
 Estuary, where they found a deposit of provisions which 
 Captain Back had left there that day five years. The 
 pemmican was unfit for use, but out of several pounds 
 of chocolate half decayed the men contrived to pick 
 sufficient to make a kettleful of acceptable drink in honour 
 of the occasion. There were also a tin case and a few 
 fish-hooks, of which, observes Mr. Simpson, "Mr. Dease 
 and I took possession, as memorials of our having break- 
 fasted on the very spot where the tent of our gallant, 
 though less successful precursor stood that very day five 
 years before." 
 
 By the 20th of August they had reached as far as Aber- 
 deen Island to the eastward, from which they had a* view 
 of an apparently large gulf, corresponding with that 
 which had been so correctly described to Parry by the 
 intelligent Esquimaux female as Akkolee. 
 
 From a mountainous ridge about three miles inland a 
 view of land in the north-east was obtained, supposed to be 
 one of the southern promontories of Boothia. High 
 and distant islands stretching from E. to E.JST .E. (probably 
 some in Committee Bay) were seen, and two considerable 
 ones were noted far out in the offing. [Remembering 
 the length and difficulty of their return route, the 
 explorers now retraced their steps. On their return 
 voyage they traced sixty miles of the south coast of 
 Boothia, where at one time they were not more than 
 ninety miles from the site of the magnetic pole, as deter- 
 
DE. JOHN RAE'S LAND EXPEDITION. 1ST 
 
 mined by Captain Sir James C. Eoss. On the 25th of 
 August they erected a high cairn at their farthest point* 
 near Cape Herschel. 
 
 About 150 miles of the high, bold shores of Victoria 
 Land, as far as Cape Parry, were also examined ; Wel- 
 lington, Cambridge, and Byron Bays being surveyed and 
 accurately laid down. They then stretched across Coro- 
 nation Gulf, and re-entered the Coppermine Eiver on the 
 16th of September. 
 
 Abandoning here one of their boats, with the remains 
 of their useless stores and other articles not required,, 
 they ascended the river and reached Fort Confidence on. 
 the 24th of September, after one of the longest and most, 
 successful boat voyages ever performed on the Polar Sea, 
 having traversed more than 1600 miles of sea. 
 
 In 1838, before the intelligence of this last trip had 
 been received, Mr. Simpson was presented by the .Royal 
 Geographical Society of London with the Founder's Gold 
 Medal, for discovering and tracing in 1837 and 1838 about 
 300 miles of the Arctic shores ; but the voyage which X 
 have just recorded has added greatly to the laurels which 
 he and his bold companions have achieved. 
 
 DE. JOHN EAE'S LAND EXPEDITION, 1846 1847. 
 
 ALTHOUGH a little out of its chronological order, I give 
 Dr. Eae's exploring trip before I proceed to notice Frank- 
 lin's last voyage, and the different relief expeditions that 
 have been sent out during the past two years. 
 
 In 1846 the Hudson's Company despatched an expe- 
 dition of thirteen persons, under the command of Dr. 
 John Eae, for the purpose of surveying the unexplored 
 portion of the Arctic coast at the north-eastern angle of 
 the American continent between Dease and Simpson's 
 farthest, and the Strait of the Fury and Hecla. 
 
 The expedition left Fort Churchill, in Hudson's Bay, 
 on the 5th of July, 1846, and returned in safety to York 
 Factory on the 6th of September in the following year, 
 after having, by travelling over the ice and snow in the 
 spring, traced the coast all the way from the Lord Mayor's 
 Bay of Sir John Eoss to within eight or ten miles of the 
 Fury and Hecla Strait, thus proving that eminent navi- 
 gator to have been correct in stating Boothia to be a 
 peninsula. 
 
 On the 15th of July the boats first fell in with the 
 ice, about ten miles north of Cape Fullerton, and it was 
 
138 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 so heavy and closely packed that they were obliged to 
 take shelter in. a deep and narrow inlet that opportunely 
 presented itself, where they were closed up two days. 
 
 On the 22nd the party reached the most southerly 
 opening of Wager River or Bay, but were detained the 
 whole day by the immense quantities of heavy ice driving 
 in and out with the flood and ebb of the tide, which ran at 
 the rate of eight miles an hour, forcing up the ice and 
 grinding it against the rocks with a noise like thunder. 
 On the night of the 24th the boats anchored at the head 
 of Repulse Bay. The following day they anchored in 
 Gibson's Cove, on the banks of which they met with a 
 small party of Esquimaux ; several of the women wore 
 beads round their wrists, which they had obtained from 
 Captain Parry's ships when at Igloolik and Winter 
 Island. But they had neither heard nor seen anything 
 of Sir John Franklin. 
 
 Learning from a chart drawn by one of the natives, 
 that the isthmus of Melville Peninsula was only about 
 forty miles across, and that of this, owing to a number of 
 large lakes, but five miles of land would have to be 
 passed over, Dr. E/ae determined to make his way over 
 this neck in preference to proceeding by Fox's Channel 
 through the Fury and Hecla Strait. 
 
 One boat was therefore laid up with her cargo in security, 
 and with the other the party set out, assisted by three 
 Esquimaux. After traversing several large lakes, and 
 crossing over six " portages," on the 2nd of August they got 
 into the salt water, in Committee Bay, but being able to 
 make but little progress to the north-west, in consequence 
 of heavy gales and closely packed ice, he returned to his 
 starting point, and made preparations for wintering, it being 
 found impossible to proceed with the survey at that time. 
 The other boat was brought across the isthmus, and all 
 hands were set to work in making preparations for a long 
 and cold winter. 
 
 As no wood was to be had, stones were collected to 
 build a house, which was finished by the 2nd of September. 
 Its dimensions were twenty feet by fourteen, and about 
 eight feet high. The roof was formed of oil-cloths and 
 morse-skin coverings, the masts and oars of the boats 
 serving as rafters, while the door was made of parchment 
 skins stretched over a wooden frame. 
 
 The deer had already commenced migrating southward, 
 but whenever he had leisure, Dr. Eae shouldered his rifle, 
 and had frequently good success, shooting on one day 
 seven deer within two miles of their encampment. 
 
DR. JOHN RAE'S LAND EXPEDITION, 139 
 
 On the 16th of October, the thermometer fell to zero, 
 and the greater part of the reindeer had passed ; but the 
 party had by this time shot 130, and during the remainder 
 of October, and in November, thirty- two more were killed, 
 so that with 200 partridges and a few salmon, their snow- 
 built larder was pretty well stocked. 
 
 Sufficient fuel had been collected to last, with economy, 
 for cooking, until the spring ; and a couple of seals which 
 had been shot produced oil enough for their lamps. By 
 nets set in the lakes under the ice, a few salmon were 
 also caught. 
 
 After passing a very stormy winter, with the temperature 
 occasionally 47 below freezing point, and often an allow- 
 ance of but one meal a day, towards the end of February 
 preparations for resuming their surveys in the spring 
 were made. Sleds, similar to those used by the natives, were 
 constructed. In the beginning of March the reindeer began 
 to migrate northward, but were very shy. One was shot on 
 the llth. Dr. Rae set out on the 5th of April, in company 
 with three men and two Esquimaux as interpreters, their 
 provisions and bedding being drawn on sleds by four dogs, 
 Nothing worthy of notice occurs in this exploratory trip, 
 till on the 18th Rae came in sight of Lord Mayor's Bay, and 
 the group of islands with which it is studded. The isthmus 
 which connects the land to the northward with Boothia, 
 he found to be only about a mile broad. On their return 
 the party fortunately fell in with four Esquimaux, from, 
 whom they obtained a quantity of seal's blubber for fuel and 
 dogs' food, and some of the flesh and blood for their own 
 use, enough to maintain them for six days on half allowance. 
 
 All the party were more or less affected with snow 
 blindness, but arrived at their winter quarters in Repulse 
 Bay on the 5th of May, all safe and well, but as black as 
 negroes, from the combined effects of frost-bites and oil 
 smoke. 
 
 On the evening of the 13th May, Dr. Hae again started 
 with a chosen party of four men, to trace the west shore 
 of Melville Peninsula. Each of the men carried about 
 70 Ibs. weight. 
 
 Being unable to obtain a drop of water of nature's thaw- 
 ing, and fuel being rather a scarce article, they were 
 obliged to take small kettles of snow under the blankets 
 with them, to thaw by the heat of the body. 
 
 Having reached to about 69 42' 1ST. lat., and 85 8' 
 long., and their provisions being nearly exhausted, they 
 were obliged, much to their disappointment, to turn back, 
 
140 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY, 
 
 when only within a few miles of the Hecla and Fury Strait. 
 Early on the morning of the 30th of May, the party arrived 
 at their snow hut on Cape Thomas Simpson. The men 
 they had left there were well, but very thin, as they had 
 neither caught nor shot anything eatable, except two 
 marmots, and they were preparing to cook a piece of parch- 
 ment skin for their supper. 
 
 " Our journey," says Dr. Eae, " hitherto had been the 
 most fatiguing I had ever experienced ; the severe exercise, 
 with a limited allowance of food, had reduced the whole 
 party very much. However, we marched merrily on, 
 tightening our belts, mine came in six inches, the men 
 vowing that when they got on full allowance, they would 
 make up for lost time." 
 
 On the morning of the 9th of June, they arrived at their 
 encampment in Repulse Bay, after being absent twenty- 
 seven days. The whole party then set actively to work 
 procuring food, collecting fuel, and preparing the boats 
 for sea ; and the ice in the bay having broken up on the 
 llth of August, on the 12th they left their dreary winter 
 quarters, and after encountering head winds and stormy 
 weather, reached Churchill River on the 31st of August. 
 
 A gratuity of 400?. was awarded to Mr. Bae, by the 
 Hudson's Bay Company, for the important services he had 
 thus rendered to the cause of science. 
 
 CAPTAIN SIR JOHN FRANKLIN'S LAST EXPEDITION, 
 
 18451851. 
 
 THAT Sir John Franklin, now nearly six years absent, is alive, 
 we dare not affirm; but that his ships should be so utterly 
 annihilated that no trace of them can be discovered, or if 
 they have been so entirely lost, that not a single life should 
 have been saved to relate the disaster, and that no traces 
 of the crew or vessels should have been met with by the 
 Esquimaux, or the exploring parties who have visited and 
 investigated those coasts, and bays, and inlets to so con- 
 siderable an extent, is a most extraordinary circumstance. 
 It is the general belief of those officers who have served in 
 the former Arctic expeditions, that whatever accident may 
 have befallen the Erebus and Terror, they cannot wholly 
 have disappeared from those seas, and that some traces of 
 their fate, if not some living remnant of their crews, must 
 eventually reward the search of the diligent investigator. 
 It is possible that they may be found in quarters the 
 least expected. There is still reason, then, for hope, and 
 
CAPT. SIR JOHN FRANKLIN S tJiST EXPEDITION. 141 
 
 for the great and honourable exertions which that divine 
 spark in the soul has prompted and still keeps alive. 
 
 " There is something," says the Athenaum, "intensely 
 interesting in the picture of those dreary seas amid whose 
 strange and unspeakable solitudes our lost countrymen are, 
 or have been, somewhere imprisoned for so many years, 
 swarming with the human life that is risked to set them 
 free. No hunt was ever so exciting so full of a wild 
 grandeur and a profound pathos as that which has just 
 aroused the Arctic echoes ; that wherein their brothers 
 and companions have been beating for the track by which 
 they may rescue the lost mariners from the icy grasp of 
 the Genius of the North. Fancy these men in their ada- 
 mantine prison, wherever it may be, chained up by the 
 Polar Spirit whom they had dared, lingering through 
 years of cold and darkness on the stinted ration that 
 scarcely feeds the blood, and the feeble hope that scarcely 
 sustains the heart, and then imagine the rush of emo- 
 tions to greet the first cry from that wild hunting-ground 
 which should reach their ears ! Through many summers 
 has that cry been listened for, no doubt. Something like 
 an expectation of the rescue which it should announce has 
 revived with each returning season of comparative light, to 
 die of its own baffled intensity as the long dark months 
 once more settled down upon their dreary prisonhouse. 
 There is scarcely a doubt that the track being now struck, 
 these long pining hearts may be traced to their lair. But 
 what to the anxious questioning which has year by year 
 gone forth in search of their fate, will be the answer now 
 revealed? The trail is found, but what of the weary 
 feet that made it? We are not willing needlessly to 
 alarm the public sympathies, which have been so gene- 
 rously stirred on behalf of the missing men, but we are 
 bound, to warn our readers against too sanguine an enter- 
 tainment of the hope which the first tidings of the recent 
 discovery is calculated to suggest. It is scarcely possible 
 that the provisions which were sufficient for three years, 
 and adaptable for four, can by any economy which im- 
 plies less than starvation have been spread over five, and 
 scarcely probable that they can have been made to do so 
 by the help of any accidents which the place of confine- 
 ment supplied. We cannot hear of this sudden discovery 
 of traces of the vanished crews as living men, without a 
 wish which comes like a pang that it had been two years 
 ago or even last year. It makes the heart sore to think 
 how close relief may have been to their hiding-place in 
 
142 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 former years when it turned away. There is scarcely 
 reason to doubt that had the present circumstances of the 
 search occurred two years ago last year perhaps the 
 wanderers would have been restored. Another year 
 makes a frightful difference in the odds : and we do not 
 think the public will ever feel satisfied with what has been 
 done in this matter if the oracle so long questioned, and 
 silent so long, shall speak at last and the answer shall be, 
 * It is too late.' : 
 
 In the prosecution of the noble enterprise on which all 
 eyes are now turned, it is not merely scientific research 
 and geographical discovery that are at present occupying 
 the attention of the commanders of vessels sent out ; the 
 lives of human beings are at stake, and above all, the lives 
 of men who have nobly perilled everything in the cause of 
 national nay, of universal progress and knowledge; of 
 men who have evinced on this and other expeditions the 
 most dauntless bravery that any men can evince, Who 
 can think of the probakle fate of these gallant adventurers 
 without a shudder ? 
 
 Alas! how truthfully has Montgomery depicted the 
 fatal imprisonment of vessels in these regions : 
 
 There lies a vessel in that realm of frost, 
 Not wrecked, not stranded, yet for ever lost ; 
 Its keel embedded in the solid mass ; 
 Its glistening sails appear expanded glass ; 
 The transverse ropes with pearls enormous strung, 
 The yards with icicles grotesquely hung. 
 Wrapt in the topmast shrouds there rests a boy, 
 His old sea-faring father's only joy ; 
 Sprung from a race of rovers, ocean born, 
 Nursed at the helm, he trod dry land with scorn ; 
 Through fourscore years from port to port he veer'd, 
 Quicksand, nor rock, nor foe, nor tempest fear'd; 
 Now cast ashore, though like a hulk he lie, 
 His son at sea is ever in his eye. 
 He ne'er shall know in his Northumbrian cot, 
 How brief that son's career, how strange his lot 
 Writhed round the mast, and sepulchred in air, 
 Him shall no worm devour, no vulture tear, 
 Congeal'd to adamant his frame shall last, 
 Though empires change, till time and tide be past. 
 Morn shall return, and noon, and eve, and night 
 Meet here with interchanging shade and light ; 
 But from that barque no timber shall decay, 
 Of these cold forms no feature pass avray ; 
 Perennial ice around th' encrusted bow, 
 The peopled-deck, and full-rigg'd masts shall grow 
 Till from the sun himself the whole be hid, 
 Or spied beneath a crystal pyramid ; 
 
CAPT. SIK JOHN FKANKLISTS LAST EXPEDITION. 143 
 
 As in pure amber with divergent lines, 
 A rugged shell embossed with sea-weed, shines. 
 From age to age increased with annual snow, 
 This new Mont Blanc among the clouds may glow, 
 Whose conic peak that earliest greets the dawn, 
 And latest from the sun's shut eye withdrawn, 
 Shall from the Zenith, through incumbent gloom, 
 Burn like a lamp upon this naval tomb. 
 But when th' archangel's trumpet sounds on high, 
 The pile shall burst to atoms through the sky, 
 And leave its dead, upstarting at the call, 
 Naked and pale, before the Judge of all. 
 
 All who read these pages will, I am sure, feel the deepest 
 sympathy and admiration of the zeal, perseverance, and 
 conjugal affection displayed in the noble and untiring 
 efforts of Lady Franklin to relieve or to discover the fate 
 of her distinguished husband and the gallant party under 
 his command, despite the difficulties, disappointments, and 
 heart-sickening "hope deferred" with which these efforts 
 have been attended. All men must feel a lively interest in 
 the fate of these bold men, and be most desirous to con- 
 tribute towards their restoration to their country and their 
 homes. The name of the present Lady Franklin is as 
 " familiar as a household word" in every bosom in England ; 
 she is alike the object of our admiration, our sympathy, 
 our hopes, and our prayers. Nay, her name and that of 
 her husband is breathed in prayer in many lands and, 
 oh ! how earnest, how zealous, how courageous, have been 
 her efforts to find and relieve her husband, for, like Des- 
 demona, 
 
 " She loved him for the dangers he had passed, 
 And he loved her that she did pity them." 
 
 How has she traversed from port to port, bidding " God 
 speed their mission " to each public and private ship going 
 forth on the noble errand of mercy how freely and 
 promptly has she contributed to their comforts. How 
 has she watched each arrival from the north, scanned each 
 stray paragraph of news, hurried to the Admiralty on each 
 rumour, and kept up with unremitting labour a volumi- 
 nous correspondence with all the quarters of the globe, 
 fondly wishing that she had the wings of the dove, that 
 she might flee away, and be with him from whom Heaven 
 has seen fit to separate her so long. 
 
 An American poet well depicts her sentiments in the 
 following lines : 
 
144 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 LADY FRANKLIN'S APPEAL TO THE NOBTH. 
 
 Oh, where, my long lost-one ! art thou, 
 
 'Mid Arctic seas and wintry skies ? 
 Deep, Polar night is on me now, 
 
 And Hope, long wrecked, but mocks my cries. 
 I am like thee ! from frozen plains 
 
 In the drear zone arid sunless air, 
 My dying, lonely heart complains, 
 
 And chills in sorrow and despair. 
 
 Tell me, ye Northern winds ! that sweep 
 
 Down from the rayless, dusky day 
 Where ye have borne, and Avhere ye k 
 
 My well-beloved within your sway ; 
 Tell me, when next ye wildly bear 
 
 The icy message in your breath, 
 Of my beloved ! Oh, tell me where 
 
 Ye keep him on the shores of death. 
 
 Tell me, ye Polar seas ! that roll 
 
 From ice-bound shore to sunny isle 
 Tell me, when next ye leave the Pole, 
 
 AVhere ye have chained my lord the while! 
 On the bleak Northern cliff I wait 
 
 With tear-pained eyes to see ye come ! 
 Will ye not tell me, ere too late ? 
 
 Or will ye mock while I am dumb ? 
 
 Tell me, oh tell me, mountain waves ! 
 
 Whence have ye leaped and sprung to-day? 
 Have ye passed o'er their sleeping graves 
 
 That ye rush wildly on your way ? 
 Will ye sweep on and bear me too 
 
 Down to the caves within the deep ? 
 Oh, bring some token to my view 
 
 That ye my loved one safe will keep ! 
 
 Canst thou not tell me, Polar Star ! 
 
 Where in the frozen waste he kneels? 
 And on the icy plains afar 
 
 His love to God and me reveals ? 
 Wilt thou not send one brighter ray 
 
 To my lone heart and aching eye ? 
 Wilt thou not turn my night to day, 
 
 And wake my spirit ere I die ? 
 
 Tell me, oh dreary North I for now 
 
 My soul is like thine Arctic zone ; 
 Beneath the darkened skies I bow, 
 
 C)r ride the stormy sea alone ! 
 Tell me of my beloved ! for I 
 
 Know not a ray my lord without t 
 Oh, tell me, that I may not die 
 
 A sorrower on the sea of doubt I 
 
CAPT. sin JOHN FRANKLIN'S LAST EXPEDITION. 145 
 
 In the early part of 1849 Sir E. Parry stated, that 
 in offering his opinions, he did so under a deep sense of 
 the anxious and even painful responsibility, both as re- 
 garded the risk of life, as well as the inferior consideration 
 of expense involved in further attempts to rescue our gal- 
 lant countrymen, or at least the surviving portion of them, 
 from their perilous position. 
 
 But it was his deliberate conviction that the time had 
 not yet arrived when the attempt ought to be given up as 
 hopeless : the further efforts making might also be the 
 means of determining their fate, and whether it pleased 
 God to give success to those efforts or not, the Lords of 
 the Admiralty, and the country at large, would hereafter 
 be better satisfied to have followed up the noble attempts 
 already made, so long as the most distant hope remains of 
 ultimate success. 
 
 In the absence of authentic information of the fate of 
 the gallant band of adventurers, it has been well observed, 
 the terra incognita of the northern coast of Arctic America 
 will not only be traced, but minutely surveyed, and the 
 solution of the problem of centuries will engage the marked 
 attention of the House of Commons and the legislative 
 assemblies of other parts of the. world. The problem is 
 very safe in their hands, so safe indeed that two years 
 will not elapse before it is solved. 
 
 The intense anxiety and apprehension now so generally 
 entertained for the safety of Sir John Franklin, and the 
 crews of the Erebus and Terror under his command, who, 
 if still in existence, are now passing through the severe 
 ordeal of a fifth winter in those inclement regions, impe- 
 ratively call for every available effort to be made for their 
 rescue from a position so perilous ; and as long as one 
 possible avenue to that position remains unsearched, the 
 country will not feel satisfied that everything has been 
 done which perseverance and experience can accomplish, to 
 dispel the mystery which at present surrounds their fate. 
 
 Capt. Sir James Koss having returned successful from 
 his Antarctic expedition in the close of the preceding year, 
 in the spring of 1845, the Lords Commissioners of the 
 Admiralty, upon the recommendation of Sir John Barrow, 
 determined on sending out another expedition to the 
 North Pole. 
 
 Accordingly the command was given to Sir John 
 Franklin, who re-commissioned the Erebus and Terror, the 
 two vessels which had just returned from the South Polar 
 Seas. The expedition sailed from Sheerness on the 26th 
 of May, 1845. The following are the officers belonging to 
 
 L 
 
146 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 these vessels, and for wliose safety so deep an interest is 
 now felt : 
 
 Erebus. 
 
 Captain Sir John Franklin, K.C.H. 
 
 Commander James Fitzjames (Capt.) 
 
 Lieutenants Graham Gore (Commander), Henry T. D. 
 
 Le Vesconte, James William Fairholme. 
 Mates Chas. F. des Vaux (Lieut.), Robert O'Sargent 
 
 (Lieut.) 
 
 Second Master Henry F. Collins. 
 Surgeon Stephen S. Stanley. 
 Assistant-Surgeon Harry D. S. Goodsir (acting). 
 Paymaster and Parser Chas. H. Osmer. 
 Ice-master James Heid, acting. 
 58 Petty Officers, Seamen, &c. 
 
 Full complement, 70. 
 
 Terror. 
 
 Captain Fras. E.. M. Crozier. 
 
 Lieutenants Edward Little (Commander), Geo. H. 
 
 Hodgson, John Irving. 
 Mates Frederick J. Hornby (Lieut.), Hobert Thomas 
 
 (Lieut.) 
 
 Ice-master T. Blanky (acting). 
 Second Master G. A. Maclean. 
 Surgeon John S. Peddie. 
 Assistant- Surgeon Alexander McDonald. 
 Clerk in Charge Edwin J. H. Helpman. 
 57 Petty Officers, Seamen, &c. 
 
 Full complement, 68. 
 
 Those officers whose rank is within parenthesis have 
 been promoted during their absence. 
 
 The following is an outline of Capt. Franklin's services 
 as recorded in () 'Byrne's Naval Biography: 
 
 Sir John Franklin, Kt., K.R.G., .CJL, D.C.L., 
 F.R.S., was born in 1786 at Spilsby, in Lincolnshire, and 
 is brother of the late Sir W. Franklin, Kt., Chief Justice 
 of Madras. He entered the navy in October, 1800, as a 
 boy on board the Polyphemus, 64, Captain John Lawford, 
 under whom he served as midshipman in the action off 
 Copenhagen, 2nd of April, 1801. He then sailed with 
 Captain Flinders in H.M. sloop Investigator on a voyage 
 of discovery to JSTew Holland, joining there the armed 
 store-ship Porpoise ; he was wrecked on a coral reef near 
 Cato Bank on the 17th of August, 1803. I shall not 
 
CAPT, SIR JOHN" FRANKLIN'S LAST EXPEDITION 1 . 147 
 
 follow him through all his subsequent period of active 
 naval service, in which he displayed conspicuous zeal and 
 activity. But we find him taking part at the battle of 
 Trafalgar, on the 21st of October, 1805, on board the 
 Bellerophon, where he was signal midshipman. He was 
 confirmed as Lieutenant on board the Bedford, 74, llth 
 of February, 1808, and he then escorted the royal family 
 of Portugal from Lisbon to South America. He was 
 engaged in very arduous services during the expedition 
 against New Orleans in the close of 1814, and was slightly 
 wounded in boat service, and for his brilliant services on 
 this occasion was warmly and officially recommended for 
 promotion. On the 14th of January, 1818, he assumed 
 command of the hired brig Trent, in which he accompanied 
 Captain D. Buchan, of the Dorothea, on the perilous 
 voyage of discovery to the neighbourhood of Spitzbergen, 
 which I have fully recorded elsewhere. In April, 1819, 
 having paid off the Trent in the preceding November, he 
 was invested with the conduct of an expedition destined 
 to proceed overland from the shores of Hudson's Bay, for 
 the purpose more particularly of ascertaining the actual 
 position of the mouth of the Coppermine River, and the 
 exact trending of the shores of the Polar Sea to the east- 
 ward of that river. 
 
 The details of this fearful undertaking, which endured 
 until the summer of 1822, and in the course of which he 
 reached as far as Point Turnagain, in latitude 68 19' N. 
 and longitude 109 25' W., and effected a journey alto- 
 gether of 5550 miles, Captain Franklin has ably set forth 
 in his " Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar 
 Sea in the Years 1819-22," and which I have abridged in 
 preceding pages. He was promoted to the rank of Com- 
 mander on the 1st of January, 1821, and reached his post 
 rank on the 20th of November, 1822. On the 16th of 
 February, 1825, this energetic officer again left England 
 on another expedition to the Frozen Regions, having for 
 its object a co-operation with Captains F. W. Beechey 
 and W. E. Parry, in ascertaining from opposite quarters 
 the existence of a north-west passage. The results of this 
 mission will be found in detail in Captain Franklin's 
 " Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the 
 Polar Sea in 1825-7. ! 
 
 On his return to England, where he arrived on the 26th 
 of Sept., 1827, Franklin was presented by the Geographical 
 Society of Paris with a gold medal valued at 1200 francs, 
 for having made the most important acquisitions to geo- 
 graphical knowledge during the preceding year, and on 
 
148 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY, 
 
 the 29 tli of April, 1829, he received the honour of knight- 
 hood, besides being awarded in July following the Oxford 
 degree of a D.C.L. 
 
 Prom 1830 to 1834 he was in active service in command 
 of H.M.S. Rainbow on the Mediterranean station, and 
 for his exertions during that period as connected with the 
 troubles in Greece, was presented with the order of the 
 [Redeemer of Greece. Sir John was created a 3LC.H. on 
 the 25th of January, 1836, and was for some time Governor 
 of Yan Piemen's Land. He married, on the 16th of 
 August, 1823, Eleanor Anne, youngest daughter of W. 
 Porden, Esq., architect, of Berners Street, London, and 
 secondly, on the 5th of November, 1828, Jane, second 
 daughter of John Griffin, Esq., of Bedford Place. 
 
 Captain Crozier was in all Parry's expeditions, having 
 "been midshipman in the Fury in 1821, in the Hecla in 
 1824, went out as a Lieutenant in the Hecla with Parry 
 on his boat expedition to the Pole in 1827, volunteered in 
 1836 to go out in search of the missing whalers and their 
 crews to Davis Straits, was made a Captain in 1841, and 
 was second in command of the Antarctic expedition under 
 Sir James Ross, and on his return appointed to the Terror 
 as second in command under Eranklin. 
 
 Lieutenant Gore served as a mate in the last fearful 
 voyage of the Terror, under Back, and was also w r ith 
 Iloss in the Antarctic expedition. He has attained his 
 commander's rank during his absence. 
 
 Lieutenant Fairholme was in the Niger expedition. 
 
 Lieutenant Little has also been promoted during his 
 absence, and so have all the mates. 
 
 Commander Eitzjames is a brave and gallant officer who 
 has seen much service in the East, and has attained to his 
 post rank since his departure. 
 
 The Terror, it may be remembered, is the vessel in 
 which Captain Sir G. Back made his perilous attempt to 
 reach Hepulse Bay in 1836. 
 
 The Erelus and Terror were not expected home unless 
 success had early rewarded their efforts, or some casualty 
 hastened their return, before the close of 1847, nor were any 
 tidings anticipated from them in the interval ; but when the 
 autumn of 1847 arrived without any intelligence of the ships,, 
 the attention of H.M. Government was directed to the ne- 
 cessity of searching for, and conveying relief to them, in 
 case of their being imprisoned in the ice, or wrecked, and 
 in want of provisions and means of transport. 
 
 Eor this purpose a searching expedition in three divisions 
 was fitted out by the Government in the early part of 
 
CAPT. SIK JOHN FKANKLIN'S LAST EXPEDITION. 149 
 
 1848. The investigation was directed to three different 
 quarters simultaneously, viz. : 1st, to that by which in 
 case of success the ships would come out of the Polar 
 Sea, to the westward, or Behring's Strait. This consisted 
 of a single ship, the Plover, commanded by Captain 
 Moore, which left England in the latter end of January 
 for the purpose of entering Behring's Strait. It was 
 intended that she should arrive there in the month of July, 
 and having looked out for a winter harbour, she might send 
 out her boats northward and eastward, in which directions 
 the discovery ships, if successful, would be met with. 
 The Plover, however, in her first season, never even 
 approached the place of her destination, owing to her 
 Betting off too late, and to her bad sailing properties. 
 
 Her subsequent proceedings, and those of her boats 
 along the coast, will be found narrated in after pages. 
 
 The second division of the expedition was one of boats, 
 to explore the coast of the Arctic Sea between the Mac- 
 kenzie and Coppermine Rivers, or from the 135th to the 
 115th degree of W. longitude, together with the south 
 coast of Wollaston Land, it being supposed, that if Sir 
 John Franklin's party had been compelled to leave the 
 ships and take to their boats, they would make for this 
 coast, whence they could reach the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany's posts. This party was placed under the command 
 of the faithful friend of Franklin and the companion of 
 his former travels, Dr. Sir John Richardson, who landed 
 at New York in April, 1848, and hastened to join his men 
 and boats, which were already in advance towards the 
 
 i/ 
 
 Arctic shore. He was, however, unsuccessful in his 
 search. 
 
 The remaining and most important portion of this 
 searching expedition consisted of two ships under the 
 command of Sir James Boss, which sailed in May, 1848, 
 for the locality in which Franklin's ships entered on their 
 course of discovery, viz., the eastern side of Davis Straits. 
 These did not, however, succeed, owing to the state of the 
 ice, in getting into Lancaster Sound until the season for 
 operations had nearly closed. These ships wintered in the 
 neighbourhood of Leopold Island, Regent Inlet, and 
 missing the store-ship sent out with provisions and fuel, 
 to enable them to stop out another year, were driven 
 out through the Strait by the pack of ice, and returned 
 home unsuccessful. The subsequent expeditions conse- 
 quent upon the failure of the foregoing will be found fully 
 detailed and narrated in their proper order. 
 
 Among the number of volunteers fer the service o ex- 
 
PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERT. 
 
 ploration, in the different searching expeditions, were the 
 following : Mr. Chas. Reid, lately commanding the whal- 
 ing ship Pacific, and brother to the ice-master on board 
 the Erebus, a man of great experience and respectability. 
 
 The Rev. Joseph Wolff, who went to Bokhara in search 
 of Capt. Conolly and Col. Stoddart. 
 
 Mr. John McLean, who had passed twenty-five years as 
 an officer and partner of the Hudson's Bay Company, and 
 who has recently published an interesting narrative of his 
 experience in the north-west regions. 
 
 Dr. Richard King, who accompanied Capt. Back in his 
 land journey to the mouth of the Great Fish River. 
 
 Lieut. Sherard Osborn, R.W., who has recently gone 
 out in the Pioneer, tender to the Resolute. 
 
 Commander Forsyth, R.JN"., who volunteered for all 
 the expeditions, and was at last sent out by Lady Franklin 
 in the Prince Albert. 
 
 Dr. McCormick, R.N., who served under Capt. Sir E. 
 Parry, in the attempt to reach the North Pole, in 1827, 
 who twice previously volunteered his services in 1847. 
 
 Capt. Sir John Ross, who has gone out in the Fehx, 
 fitted out by the Hudson's Bay Company, and by private 
 subscriptions ; and many others. 
 
 Up to the present time no intelligence of any kind hag 
 been received respecting the expedition, and its fate is now 
 exciting the most intense anxiety, not only on the part 
 of the British government and public, but of the whole 
 civilized world. The maritime powers of Europe and the 
 United States are vying with each other as to who 
 shall be the first to discover some trace of the missing 
 navigators, and if they be still alive, to render them assist- 
 ance. The Hudson's Bay Company have, with a noble 
 liberality, placed all their available resources of men, pro- 
 visions, and the services of their chief and most experienced 
 traders, at the disposal of Government. The Russian autho- 
 rities have also given every facility for diffusing informa- 
 tion and affording assistance in their territories. 
 
 In a letter from Sir John Franklin to Col. Sabine, dated 
 from the Whale-Fish Islands, 9th of July, 1845, after 
 noticing that, including what they had received from the 
 transport, which had accompanied them so far, the Erebus 
 and Terror had on board provisions, fuel, clothing, and 
 stores, for three years complete from that date, i. e. to 
 July, 1848 ; he continues as follows : " I hope my dear 
 wife and daughter will not be over-anxious if we should 
 not return by the time they have fixed upon ; and I must 
 beg of you to give them the benefit of your advice and ex- 
 
CAPT. SIR JOHN FKANKLIN'S LAST EXPEDITION. 151 
 
 perience wlien that arrives, for you know well, tliat even 
 after the second winter, without success in our object, we 
 should wish to try some other channel, if the state of our 
 provisions, and the health of the crews, justify it." 
 
 Capt. Dannett, of the whaler, Prince of Wales, whilst in 
 Melville Bay, last saw the vessels of the, expedition, moored 
 to an iceberg, on the 26th of July, in lat. 74 48' "N., long. 
 66 13' W., waiting for a favourable opening through the 
 middle ice from Baffin's Bay to Lancaster Sound. Capt. 
 Dannett states that during three weeks, after parting com- 
 pany with the ships, he experienced very fine weather, and 
 thinks they would have made good progress. 
 
 Lieut. Griffith, in command of the transport which ac- 
 companied them out with provisions to Baffin's Bay, reports 
 that he left all hands well and in high spirits. They were 
 then furnished, he adds, with every species of provisions 
 for three entire years, independently of five bullocks, and 
 stores of every description for the same period, with abund- 
 ance of fuel. 
 
 The following is Sir John Franklin's official letter sent 
 home by the transport : 
 
 " Her Majesty's Skip ' JZrebus,' 
 " Whale-Fish Islands, IWi of July, 1845. 
 
 " I have the honour to acquaint you, for the informa- 
 tion of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that 
 her Majesty's ships Erebus and Terror, with the transport, 
 arrived at this anchorage on the 4th instant, having had a 
 passage of one month from Stromness : the transport was 
 immediately taken alongside this ship, that she might be 
 the more readily cleared ; and we have been constantly 
 employed at that operation till last evening, the delay 
 having been caused not so much in getting the stores 
 transferred to either of the ships, as in making the best 
 stowage of them below, as well as on the upper deck : the 
 ships are now complete with supplies of every kind for 
 three years ; they are therefore very deep ; but, happily, 
 we have no reason to expect much sea as we proceed 
 farther. 
 
 " The magnetic instruments were landed the same morn- 
 ing ; so also were the other instruments requisite for as- 
 certaining the position of the observatory ; and it is satis- 
 factory to find that the results of the observations for 
 latitude and longitude accord very nearly with those 
 assigned to the same place by Sir Edward Parry : those 
 for the dip and variation are equally satisfactory, which 
 were made by Captain Crozier with the instruments 
 
152 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 belonging to the Terror, and by Commander Eitzjapies 
 with those of the Erebus. 
 
 " The ships are now being swung, for the purpose of 
 ascertaining the dip and deviation of the needle on board, 
 as was done at Greenhithe, which, I trust, will be com- 
 pleted this afternoon, and I hope to be able to sail in the 
 night. 
 
 "The governor and principal persons are at this time 
 absent from Disco, so that I have not been able to receive 
 any communication from head quarters as to the state oi 
 the ice to the north ; I have, however, learnt from a Danish 
 carpenter in charge of the Esquimaux at these islands, 
 that though the winter was severe, the spring was not 
 later than usual, nor was the ice later in breaking away 
 hereabout ; he supposes also that it is now loose as far as 
 74 latitude, and that our prospect is favourable of getting 
 across the barrier, and as far as Lancaster Sound, without 
 much obstruction. 
 
 " The transport will sail for England this day. I shall 
 instruct the agent, Lieutenant Griffiths, to proceed to 
 Deptford, and report his arrival to the Secretary of the 
 Admiralty. I have much satisfaction in bearing my testi- 
 mony to the careful and zealous manner in which Lieut. 
 Griffiths has performed the service entrusted to him, and 
 would beg to recommend him, as an officer who appears to 
 have seen much service, to the favourable consideration of 
 their lordships. 
 
 " It is unnecessary for me to assure their lordships of 
 the energy and zeal of Captain Crozier, Commander Eitz- ' 
 names, and of the officers and men with whom I have the 
 liappiness of being employed on this service. 
 
 " I have, &c., 
 (Signed) " JOHN ERANKLIN, Captain. 
 
 " The Eight Hon. H. L. Corry, M.P." 
 
 It has often been a matter of surprise that but one of 
 the copper cylinders which Sir John Franklin was in- 
 structed to throw overboard at stated intervals, to record 
 his progress, has ever come to hand, but a recent sight of the 
 solitary one which has been received proves to me that they 
 are utterly useless for the purpose. A small tube, about 
 the size of an ordinary rocket-case, is hardly ever likely 
 to be observed among huge masses of ice, and the waves 
 of the Atlantic and Pacific, unless drifted by accident on 
 shore, or near some boat. The Admiralty have wisely 
 ordered them to be rendered more conspicuous by being 
 headed up in some cask or barrel, instructions being issued 
 
CAPT. SIR JOHN- FRANKLIN'S LAST EXPEDITION. 153 
 
 to Captain Collinson and otlier officers of the different ex- 
 peditions to that effect. 
 
 According to Sir John .Richardson, who was on intimate 
 terms with Sir John Franklin, his plans were to shape his 
 course in the first instance for the neighbourhood of Cape 
 Walker, and to push to the westward in that parallel, or, 
 if that could not be accomplished, to make his way south- 
 wards, to the channel discovered on the north coast of the 
 continent, and so on to Behring's Straits ; failing success 
 in that quarter, he meant to retrace his course to "Wel- 
 lington Sound, and attempt a passage northwards of 
 Parry's Islands, and if foiled there also, to descend 
 Regent Inlet, and seek the passage along the coast dis- 
 covered by Messrs. Dease and Simpson. 
 
 Captain Fitzjames, the second in command under Sir 
 John Franklin, was much inclined to try the passage 
 northward of Parry's Islands, and he would 110 doubt en- 
 deavour to persuade Sir John to pursue this course if they 
 failed to the southward. 
 
 In a private letter of Captain Fitzjames to Sir John . 
 Barrow, dated January, 1845, he writes as follows : 
 
 " It does not appear clear to me what led Parry down 
 Prince Regent Inlet, after having got as far as Melville 
 Island before. The north-west passage is certainly to be 
 gone through by Barrow's Strait, but whether south or 
 north of Parry's Group, remains to be proved. I am for 
 going north, edging north-west till in longitude 140, if 
 possible." 
 
 I shall now proceed to trace, in chronological order and 
 succession, the opinions and proceedings of the chief 
 Arctic explorers and public authorities, with the private 
 suggestions offered, and notice in detail the relief expe- 
 ditions resulting therefrom. 
 
 In February, 1847, the Lords of the Admiralty state, 
 that having unlimited confidence in the skill and resources 
 of Sir John Franklin, they " have as yet felt no apprehen- 
 sions about his safety ; but on the other hand, it is obvious, 
 that if no accounts of him should arrive by the end of this 
 year, or, as Sir John Ross expects, at an earlier period, 
 active steps must then be taken." 
 
 Captain Sir Edward Parry fully concurred in these 
 views, observing, " Former experience has clearly shown, 
 that with the resources taken from this country, two 
 winters may be passed in the Polar regions, not only in 
 safety, but with comfort; and if any inference can be 
 drawn from the absence of all intelligence of the expedi- 
 tion up to this time, I am disposed to consider it rather in 
 
154 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 favour than otherwise of the success which has attended 
 their efforts." 
 
 Captain Sir Gr. Back, in a letter to the Secretary of the 
 Admiralty, under date 27th of January, 1848, says, " I 
 cannot bring myself to entertain more than ordinary 
 anxiety for the safety and return of Sir John Franklin 
 and his gallant companions." 
 
 Captain Sir John Ross records, in February, 1847, his 
 opinion that the expedition was frozen up beyond Mel- 
 ville Island, from the known intentions of Sir John 
 Franklin to put his ships into the drift ice at the western 
 end of Melville Island, a risk which was deemed in the 
 highest degree imprudent by Lieutenant Parry and the 
 officers of the expedition of 1819-20, with ships of a less 
 draught of water, and in every respect better calculated to 
 sustain the pressure of the ice, and other dangers to which 
 they must be exposed ; and as it is now well known that 
 the expedition has not succeeded in passing Behring's 
 Strait, and if not totally lost, must have been carried by 
 the ice that is known to drift to the southward on land 
 seen at a great distance in that direction, and from which 
 the accumulation of ice behind them will, as in Hoss's own 
 case, for ever prevent the return of the ships ; conse- 
 quently they must be abandoned. When we remember 
 with what extreme difficulty Hoss's party travelled 300 
 miles over much smoother ice after they abandoned their 
 vessel, it appears very doubtful whether Franklin and his 
 men, 138 in number, could possibly travel 600 miles. 
 
 In the contingency of the ships having penetrated some 
 considerable distance to the south-west of Cape Walker, 
 and having been hampered and crushed in the narrow 
 channels of the Archipelago, which there are reasons for 
 believing occupies the space between Victoria, Wollaston, 
 and Banks' Lands, it is well remarked by Sir John Bichard- 
 son, that such accidents among ice are seldom so sudden 
 but that the boats of one or of both ships, with provisions, 
 can be saved ; and in such an event the survivors would 
 either return to Lancaster Strait, or make for the con- 
 tinent, according to their nearness. 
 
 Colonel Sabine remarks, in a letter dated Woolwich, 
 5th of May, 1847, " It was Sir John Franklin's intention, 
 if foiled at one point, to try in succession all the probable 
 openings into a more navigable part of the Polar Sea : the 
 range of coast is considerable in which memorials of the 
 ships' progress would have to be sought for, extending 
 from Melville Island, in the west, to the great Sound at 
 the head of Baffin's Bay, in the east." 
 
CAPT. SIR JOHN FRANKLIN'S LAST EXPEDITION. 155 
 
 Sir John Eichardson, when appealed to by the Admiralty 
 in the spring of 1847, as regarded the very strong appre- 
 hensions expressed at that time for the safety of the 
 expedition, considered they were premature, as the ships 
 were specially equipped to pass two winters in the Arctic 
 Sea, and until the close of that year he saw no well- 
 grounded cause for more anxiety than was naturally felt 
 when the expedition sailed from this country on an enter- 
 prise of peril, though not greater than that which had 
 repeatedly been encountered by others, and on one occasion 
 by Sir John Eoss for two winters also, but who returned 
 in safety. 
 
 Captain Sir James C. Eoss, in March, 1847, writes, " I 
 do not think there is the smallest reason for apprehension 
 or anxiety for the safety and success of the expedition ; 
 no one acquainted with the nature of the navigation of the 
 Polar Sea would have expected they would have been 
 able to get through to Behring's Strait without spending 
 at least two winters in those regions, except under unusually 
 favourable circumstances, which all the accounts from the 
 whalers concur in proving they have not experienced, and 
 I am quite sure neither Sir John Franklin nor Captain 
 Crozier expected to do so. 
 
 " Their last letters to me from Whale-Fish Islands, the 
 day previous to their departure from them, inform me 
 that they had taken on board provisions for three years 
 on full allowance, which they could extend to four years 
 without any serious inconvenience ; so that we may feel 
 assured they cannot want from that cause until after the 
 middle of July, 1849 ; it therefore does not appear to me 
 at all desirable to send after them until the spring of the 
 next year" (1848). 
 
 In the plan submitted by Captain F. W. Beechey, E.N., 
 in April, 1847, after premising " that there does not at 
 present appear to be any reasonable apprehension for the 
 safety of the expedition," he suggested that it would 
 perhaps be prudent that a relief expedition should be sent 
 out that season to Cape Walker, where information of an 
 important nature would most likely be found. From this 
 vicinity one vessel could proceed to examine the various 
 points and headlands in Eegent Inlet, and also those to 
 the northward, while the other watched the passage, so 
 that Franklin and his party might not pass unseen, should 
 lie be on his return. At the end of the season the ships 
 could winter at Port Bowen, or any other port in the 
 vicinity of Leopold Island. 
 
 " In the spring of 1848," he adds, " a party should be 
 
156 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 directed to explore the coast, down to Hecla and Fury 
 Strait, and to endeavour to communicate with the party 
 despatched by the Hudson's Bay Company in that direc- 
 tion ; and in connexion with this part of the arrangement, 
 it would render the plan complete if a boat could be 
 sent down Back's River to range the coast to the east- 
 ward of its mouth, to meet the above-mentioned party ; 
 and thus, whilst it would complete the geography of that 
 part of the American coast, it would at the same time 
 complete the line of information as to the extensive mea- 
 sures of relief which their lordships have set on foot, and 
 the precise spot where assistance and depots of provisions 
 are to be found. This part of the plan has suggested itself 
 to me from a conversation I had with Sir John Franklin 
 as to his first effort being made to the westward and 
 south-westward of Cape "Walker. It is possible that, after 
 passing the Cape, he may have been successful in getting 
 down upon Victoria Land, and have passed his first winter 
 (1845) thereabout, and that he may have spent his second 
 winter at a still more advanced station, and even endured 
 a third, without either a prospect of success, or of an 
 extrication of his vessels within a given period of time. 
 
 " If, in this condition, which I trust may not be the 
 case, Sir John Franklin should resolve upon taking to his 
 boats, he would prefer attempting a boat navigation through 
 Sir James Ross's Strait, and up Regent Inlet, to a long 
 land journey across the continent to the Hudson's Bay 
 Settlements, to which the greater part of his crew would 
 be wholly unequal." 
 
 Sir John Richardson remarks upon the above sugges- 
 tions, on the 5th of May, 1847, "With respect to a party 
 to be sent down Back's River to the bottom of Regent 
 Inlet, its size and outfit would require to be equal with 
 that of the one now preparing to descend the Mackenzie 
 River, and it could scarcely with the utmost exertions be 
 organized so as to start this summer. The present scarcity of 
 provisions in the Hudson's Bay country precludes the hope 
 of assistance from the Company's southern posts, and it is 
 now too late to provide the means of transport through 
 the interior of supplies from this country, which require 
 to be embarked on board the Hudson's Bay ships by the 
 2nd of June at the latest. 
 
 " Moreover there is no Company's post on the line of 
 Back's River nearer than the junction of Slave River 
 with Great Slave Lake, and I do not think that under 
 any circumstances Sir John Franklin would attempt that 
 route. 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 157 
 
 " In the summer of 1849, if the resources of the party I 
 am to conduct remain unimpaired, as I have every reason 
 to believe they will, much of what Captain Beechey sug- 
 gests in regard to exploring Victoria Land may be done 
 by it, and indeed forms part of the original scheme. The 
 extent of the examination of any part of the coast in 
 1848 depends, as I formerly stated, very much on the 
 seasons of this autumn and ndxt spring, which influence 
 the advance of the boats through a long course of river 
 navigation. As Governor Simpson will most likely succeed 
 in procuring an Esquimaux to accompany my party, I 
 hope by his means to obtain such information from parties 
 of that nation as may greatly facilitate our finding the 
 ships, should they be detained in that quarter. 
 
 " Were Sir John Franklin thrown upon the north coast 
 of the continent with his boats, and all his crew, I do 
 not think that he would attempt the ascent of any river, 
 except the Mackenzie. It is navigable for boats of large 
 draught, without a portage, for 1300 miles from the sea, 
 or within forty miles of Fort Chipewyan, one of the 
 Company's principal depots, and there are five other posts 
 in that distance. Though these posts could not furnish 
 provisions to such a party, they could, by providing them 
 with nets, and distributing the men to various fishing 
 stations, do much towards procuring food for them. 
 
 " I concur generally in what Captain Beechey has said 
 with regard to Behring's Straits, a locality with which he 
 is so intimately acquainted, but beg leave to add one 
 remark, viz., that in high northern latitudes the ordinary 
 allowance of animal food is insufficient in the winter 
 season to maintain a labouring man in health ; and as Sir 
 John Franklin would deem it prudent when detained a 
 second winter to shorten the allowance, symptoms of 
 scurvy may show themselves among the men, as was the 
 
 case when Sir Edward Parry wintered two years in Fox's 
 
 /~n i 
 
 Channel. 
 
 " A vessel, therefore, meeting the Erebus and Terror 
 this season in Behring's Straits, might render great ser- 
 vice." Parl. Paper y No. 264, Session 1848. 
 
 The late Sir John Barrow, Bart., in a memorandum 
 dated July, 1847, says : 
 
 " The anxiety that prevails regarding Sir John Franklin, 
 and the brave fellows who compose the crews of the two 
 ships, is very natural, but somewhat premature ; it arises 
 chiefly from nothing having been received from them since 
 fixed in the ice of Baffin's Bay, where the last whaling 
 ship of the season of 1845 left them, opposite to the 
 
158 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 opening into Lancaster Sound. Hitherto no difficulty 
 has been found to the entrance into that Sound. If dis- 
 appointed, rather than return to the southward, with the 
 view of wintering at or about Disco, I should be inclined 
 to think that they would endeavour to enter Smith's 
 Sound, so highly spoken of by Baffin; and which just now 
 that gallant and adventurous Russian, Admiral Count 
 Wrangel, has pointed oul in a paper addressed to the 
 Geographical Society as the starting place for an attempt 
 to reach the North Pole ; it would appear to be an inlet 
 that runs up high to the northward, as an officer in one 
 of Parry's ships states that he saw in the line of direction 
 along that inlet, the sun at midnight skimming the 
 horizon. 
 
 " From Lancaster Sound Franklin's instructions directed 
 him to proceed through Barrow's Strait, as far as the 
 islands on its southern side extended, which is short of 
 Melville Island, which was to be avoided, not only on 
 account of its dangerous coast, but also as being out of 
 the direction of the course to the intended object. 
 Having, therefore, reached the last known land on the 
 southern side of Barrow's Strait, they were to shape a 
 direct course to Behring's Strait, without any deviation, 
 except what obstruction might be met with from ice, or 
 from islands, in the midst of the Polar Sea, of which no 
 knowledge had at that time been procured; but if any 
 such existed, it would of course be left to their judgment, 
 on the spot, how to get rid of such obstructions, by taking 
 
 a northerly or a southerly course. 
 
 , ' * # * * * 
 
 "The only chance of bringing them upon this (the Ameri- 
 can) coast is the possibility of some obstruction having 
 tempted them to explore an immense inlet on the northern 
 shore of Barrow's Strait (short of Melville Island), called 
 Wellington Channel, which Parry felt an inclination to ex- 
 plore ; and more than one of the presentparty betrayed to me 
 a similar inclination, which I discouraged, no one venturing 
 to conjecture even to what extent it might go, or into 
 what difficulties it might lead. 
 
 " Under all these circumstances, it would be an act of 
 folly to pronounce any opinion of the state, condition, or 
 position of those two ships ; they are well suited for their 
 purpose, and the only doubt I have is that of their being 
 hampered by the screws among the ice." 
 
 Sir James C. lloss, in his outline of a plan for affording 
 relief, submitted to the Admiralty in December, 1847, 
 suggested that two ships should be sent out to examine 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 159 
 
 Wellington Channel, alluded to in the foregoing me- 
 morandum of Sir John Barrow, and the coast between 
 Capes Clarence and Walker. A convenient winter 
 harbour might be found for one of the ships near 
 Gamier Bay or Cape Eennell. From this position the 
 coast line could be explored as far as it extended to the 
 westward, by detached parties, early in the spring, as well 
 as the western coast of Boothia, a considerable distance 
 to the southward ; and at a more advanced period of the 
 season the whole distance to Cape Mcolai might be 
 completed. 
 
 The other ship should then proceed alone to the west- 
 ward, endeavouring to reach Winter Harbour, in Melville 
 Island, or some convenient port in Banks' Land, in which 
 to pass the winter. 
 
 From these points parties might be sent out early in 
 the spring. 
 
 The first party, should be directed to trace the western 
 coast of Banks' Land, and proceed direct to Cape Bathurst 
 or Cape Parry, on each of which Sir John Kichardson 
 proposes to leave depots of provisions for its use, and then, 
 to reach the Hudson's Bay Company's settlement at Fort 
 Good Hope, on the Mackenzie, whence they might travel 
 by the usual route of the traders to the principal settle- 
 ment, and thence to England. 
 
 The second party should explore the eastern shore of 
 Banks' Land, and make for Cape Krusenstern, where, or 
 at Cape Hearne, they will find a cache of provision 
 left by Sir John Richardson, with whom this party may 
 communicate, and whom it may assist in completing the 
 examination of Wollaston and Victoria Lands, or return 
 to England by the route he shall deem most advisable. 
 
 Sir James Ross was entrusted with the carrying out of 
 this search, in the Enterprise and Investigator, and an 
 account of the voyage and proceedings of these vessels 
 will be found recorded in its chronological order. 
 
 The following letter from Dr. Richard King to the Lords 
 of the Admiralty contains some useful suggestions, although 
 it is mixed up with a good deal of egotistical remark : 
 
 " 17, Saville Row, February, 1848. 
 
 " ' The old route of Parry, through Lancaster Sound and 
 Barrow's Strait, as far as to the last land on its southern 
 shore, and thenco in a direct line to Behring's Straits, is 
 the route ordered to be pursued by Franklin.' (Barrow's 
 Arctic Voyages, p. 11.) 
 
 " The gallant officer has thus been despatched to push 
 
160 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 his a Iventurous way between Melville Island and Banks' 
 Land t which Sir E. Parry attempted for two years unsuc- 
 cessfully. After much toil and hardship, and the best 
 consideration that great man could give to the subject, he 
 recoi ded, at the moment of retreat, in indelible characters 
 thest impressive thoughts : ' We have been lying near our 
 prese at station, with an easterly wind blowing fresh, for 
 thirt) -six hours together, and although this was consider- 
 ably off the land, the ice had not during the whole of that 
 time moved a single yard from the shore, affording a proof 
 that there was no space in which the ice was at liberty to 
 mo\> to the westward. The navigation of this part of 
 the Polar Sea is only to be performed by watching the 
 occasional opening between the ice and the shore, and 
 therefore, a continuity of land is essential for this purpose; 
 such a continuity of land, which was here about to fail, as 
 mast necessarily be furnished by the northern coast of 
 America, in whatsoever latitude it may be found.' As- 
 suming, therefore, Sir John Franklin has been arrested 
 between Melville Island and Banks' Land, where Sir E. 
 Parry was arrested by difficulties which he considered in- 
 surmountable, and he has followed the ad' vice of that gal- 
 lant officer, and made for the continuity of America, he 
 will have turned the prows of his vessels south and west, 
 according as Banks' Land tends for Victoria or Wollaston 
 Lands. It is here, therefore, that we may expect to find 
 the expedition wrecked, whence they will make in their 
 boats for the western land of JN"orth Somerset, if that land 
 should not be too far distant. 
 
 " In order to save the party from the ordeal of a fourth 
 winter, when starvation must be their lot, I propose to 
 undertake the boldest journey that has ever been attempted 
 in the northern regions of America, one which was justifi- 
 able only from the circumstances. I propose to attempt 
 to reach the western land of North Somerset, or the 
 eastern portion of Victoria Land, as may be deemed ad- 
 visable, by the close of the approaching summer; to 
 accomplish, in fact, in one summer that which has not been 
 done under two. 
 
 " I rest my hope of success in the performance of this 
 Herculean task upon the fact that I possess an intimate 
 knowledge of the country and the people through which I 
 shall have to pass, the health to stand the rigour of the 
 climate, and the strength to undergo the fatigue of mind 
 and body to which I must be subjected. A glance at the 
 map of North America, directed to Behring's Strait in the 
 Pacific, Barrow's Strait in the Atlantic, and the land of 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 161 
 
 North Somerset between them, will make it apparent that, 
 to render assistance to a party situated on that coast, there 
 are two ways by sea and one by land. Of the two sea- 
 ways, the route by the Pacific is altogether out of the 
 question ; it is an idea of by-gone days ; while that by the 
 Atlantic is so doubtful of success, that it is merely neces- 
 gary, to put this assistance aside as far from certain, to 
 mention that Sir John Ross found Barrow's Strait closed 
 in the summer of 1832. To a land journey, then, alone we 
 can look for success ; for the failure of a land journey 
 would be the exception to the rule, while the sea expedi- 
 tion would be the rule itself. To the western land of 
 North Somerset, where Sir John Franklin is likely to be 
 found, the Great Fish Hiver is the direct and only route ; 
 and although the approach to it is through a country too 
 poor and too difficult of access to admit of the transport of 
 provisions, it may be made the medium of communication 
 between the lost expedition and the civilized world, and 
 guides be thus placed at their disposal to convey them to 
 the hunting grounds of the Indians. Without such guides 
 it is impossible that they can reach these hunting grounds. 
 It was by the Great Fish Hiver that I reached the Polar 
 Sea while acting as second officer in search of Sir John 
 Hoss. I feel it my duty, therefore, as one of two officers 
 so peculiarly circumstanced, at the present moment to 
 place my views on record as an earnest of my sincerity. 
 Even if it should be determined to try and force provision 
 vessels through Barrow's Strait, and scour the vicinity in 
 boats for the lost expedition, and should it succeed, it will 
 be satisfactory to know that such a mission as I have pro- 
 posed should be adopted ; while, if these attempts should 
 fail, and the service under consideration be put aside, it 
 will be a source of regret that not only the nation at large 
 will feel, but the whole civilized world. When this regret 
 is felt, and every soul has perished, such a mission as I 
 have proposed will be urged again and again for adoption ; 
 for it is impossible that the country will rest satisfied until 
 a search be made for the remains of the lost expedition. 
 
 " The fact that all lands which have a western aspect 
 are generally ice-free, which I dwelt largely upon when 
 Sir John Franklin sailed, must have had weight with the 
 gallant officer ; he will therefore, on finding himself in a 
 serious difficulty, while pushing along the eastern side of 
 Victoria Land, at once fall upon the western land of North 
 Somerset, as a refuge ground, if he have the opportunity. 
 The effort by Behring's Strait and Banks' Land is praise- 
 worthy in attempt, but forlorn in hope. In the former 
 
 M 
 
162 PROGRESS OF AECTIG DISCOVERY. 
 
 effort, it is assumed that Sir John Franklin lias made the 
 passage, and that his arrest is between the Mackenzie 
 Biver and Icy Cape ; in the latter, that Sir James Boss 
 will reach Banks' Land, and trace its continuity to Vic- 
 toria and Wollaston Land, and thus make the * passage/ 
 First, We have no reason to believe that Sir John Franklin 
 and Sir James Boss will be more fortunate than their pre- 
 decessors, and we cannot trust to their success. Secondly, 
 We are unable to assume that 'Sir James Boss will reach 
 Banks' Land; Sir E. Parry was unable to reach it, and 
 only viewed it from a distance ; much less are we able to 
 assume that the gallant officer will find a high road to 
 Victoria Land, which is altogether a terra incognita. 
 
 " Mr. T. Simpson, who surveyed the Arctic coast com- 
 prised between the Coppermine and Castor and Pollux 
 Bivers, has set that question at rest, and" is the only autho- 
 rity upon the subject. t A further exploration,' remarks 
 Mr. Simpson, from the most eastern limit of his journey, 
 ' would necessarily demand the whole time and energies of 
 another expedition, having some point of retreat much 
 nearer to the scene of operations than Great Bear Lake, 
 and Great Bear Lake is to be the retreat of Sir John 
 Bichardson. 
 
 "What retreat could Mr. Simpson have meant but 
 Great Slave Lake, the retreat of the land party in search 
 of Sir John Boss ? and what other road to the unexplored 
 ground, the western land of North Somerset, could that 
 traveller have meant than Great Fish Biver, that stream 
 which I have pointed out as the ice-free and high road to 
 the land where the lost expedition is likely to be found, to 
 be the boundary of that passage which for three-and-a-half 
 centuries we have been in vain endeavouring to reach in 
 ships ?" 
 
 Captain Sir W. E. Parry, to whom Dr. King's proposal 
 was submitted by the Admiralty, thus comments on it : 
 
 " My former opinion, quoted by Dr. King, as to the 
 difficulty of ships penetrating to the westward beyond 
 Cape Dundas (the south-western extremity of Melville 
 Island), remains unaltered ; and I should expect that Sir 
 John Franklin, being aware of this difficulty, would use 
 his utmost efforts to get to the southward and westward 
 before he approached that point, that is, between the 100th 
 and 110th degree of longitude. The more I have con- 
 sidered this subject (which has naturally occupied much of 
 my attention lately), the more difficult I find it to conjec- 
 ture where the expedition may have stopped, either with 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 163 
 
 or without any serious accident to the ships ; but as no 
 information has reached us up to this time, I conceive that 
 there is some considerable probability of their being situated 
 somewhere between the longitude I have just named ; 
 how far they may have penetrated to the southward, 
 between those meridians, must be a matter of speculation, 
 depending on the state of the ice, and the existence of land 
 in a space hitherto blank on our maps. 
 
 " Be this as it may, I consider it not improbable, as 
 suggested by Dr. King, that an attempt will be made by 
 them to fall back on the western coast of North Somerset, 
 wherever that may be found, as being the nearest point 
 affording a hope of communication, either with whalers or 
 with ships sent expressly in search of the expedition. 
 
 " Agreeing thus far with Dr. King, I am compelled 
 to differ with him entirely as to the readiest mode of 
 reaching that coast, because I feel satisfied that, with 
 the resources of the expedition now equipping under 
 Sir James Ross, the energy, skill, and intelligence of that 
 officer will render it a matter of no very difficult enterprise 
 to examine the coast in question, either with his ships, 
 boats, or travelling parties ; whereas an attempt to reach 
 that coast by an expedition from the continent of America 
 must, as it appears to me, be extremely hazardous and 
 uncertain. And as I understand it to be their lordships* 
 intention to direct Sir James Ross to station one of his 
 ships somewhere about Cape Walker, while the other pro- 
 ceeds on the search, and likewise to equip his boats spe- 
 cially for the purpose of examining the various coasts and 
 inlets, I am decidedly of opinion, that, as regards the 
 western coast of North Somerset, this plan will be much 
 more likely to answer the proposed object, than any over* 
 land expedition. This object will, of course, be the mo^ 
 easily accomplished in case of Sir James Ross finding th6 
 western coast of North Somerset navigable for his ships. 
 
 " In regard to Dr. King's suggestion respecting Vic- 
 toria Land and Wollaston Land, supposing Sir John 
 Franklin's ships to have been arrested between the meri- 
 dians to which I have already alluded, it does seem, by am 
 inspection of the map, not improbable that parties may 
 attempt to penetrate to the continent in that direction ; 
 but not being well acquainted with the facilities for reach- 
 ing the coast of America opposite those lands in the manner 
 proposed by Dr. King, I am not competent to judge of its 
 practicability." 
 
 Nearly the whole of the west coast of North Somerset 
 
164 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 and Boothia was (it will be found hereafter) explored by 
 parties in boats detached from Sir James Ross's ships in 
 1849. 
 
 I append, also, the most important portions of Sir James 
 Hoss's remarks on Dr. King's plan. 
 
 " Dr. King begins by assuming that Sir John Franklin 
 has attempted to push the ships through to the westward, 
 between Melville Island and Banks' Land (although 
 directly contrary to his instructions) ; that having been 
 arrested by insurmountable difficulties, he would have 
 ' turned the prows of his vessels to the south and west, 
 according as Banks' Land tends for Victoria or Wollaston 
 Land ;' and having been wrecked, or from any other 
 cause obliged to abandon their ships, their crews would 
 take to the boats, and make for the west coast of North 
 Somerset. 
 
 " If the expedition had failed to penetrate to the west- 
 ward between Banks' Land and Melville Island, it is very 
 probable it would have next attempted to gain the con- 
 tinent by a more southerly course ; and supposing that, 
 after making only small progress (say 100 miles) to the 
 S. W., it should have been then finally stopped or 
 wrecked, the calamity will have occurred in about latitude 
 72| N. and longitude 115 W. This point is only 280 
 miles from the Coppermine River, and 420 miles from the 
 Mackenzie, either of which would, therefore, be easily 
 attainable, and at each of which abundance of provision 
 might be procured by them, and their return to England 
 a measure of no great difficulty. 
 
 " At the point above mentioned, the distance from the 
 west coast of North Somerset is probably about 360 miles, 
 and the mouth of the Great Fish River full 500 ; at neither 
 of these places could they hope to obtain a single day's 
 provisions for so large a party ; and Sir John Franklin's 
 intimate knowledge of the impossibility of ascending that 
 river, or obtaining any food for his party in passing 
 through the Barren grounds, would concur in deterring 
 -him from attempting to gain either of these points. 
 
 " I think it most probable that, from the situation 
 pointed out, he would, when compelled to abandon his 
 ehips, endeavour in the boats to retrace his steps, and 
 passing through the channel by which he had advanced, 
 -ind which we have always found of easy navigation, seek 
 i,ne whale ships which annually visit the west coast of 
 Baffin's Bay. 
 
 " It is far more probable, however, that Sir John Frank- 
 lin, in obedience to his instructions, would endeavour to 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 165 
 
 push tlie ships to the south and west as soon as they passed 
 Cape "Walker, and the consequence of such a measure, 
 owing to the known prevalence of westerly wind, and the 
 drift of the main body of the ice, would be (in my opinion) 
 their inevitable embarrassment, and if he persevered in 
 that direction, which he probably would do, I have no 
 hesitation in stating my conviction he would never be able 
 to extricate his ships, and would ultimately be obliged to 
 abandon them. It is therefore in latitude 73 N. and 
 longitude 105 W. that we may expect to find them 
 involved in the ice, or shut up in some harbour. This is 
 almost the only point in which it is likely they would be 
 detained, or from which it would not be possible to convey 
 information of their situation to the Hudson's Bay Settle- 
 ments. 
 
 " If, then, we suppose the crews of the ships should be 
 compelled, either this autumn or next spring, to abandon 
 their vessels at or near this point, they would most 
 assuredly endeavour, in their boats, to reach Lancaster 
 Sound; but I cannot conceive any position in which they 
 could be placed from which they would make for the 
 Great Fish Eiver, or at which any party descending that 
 river would be likely to overtake them ; and even if it 
 did, of what advantage could it be to them ? 
 
 " If Dr. King and his party, in their single canoe, did 
 fall in with Sir John Franklin and his party on the west 
 coast of North Somerset, how does he propose to assist 
 them ? he would barely have sufficient provision for his 
 own party, and would more probably be in a condition to 
 require rather than afford relief. He could only tell them 
 what Sir John Franklin already knows, from former 
 experience, far better than Dr. King, that it would be 
 impossible for so large a party, or indeed any party not 
 previously provided, to travel across the Barren grounds to 
 any of the Hudson's Bay Settlements." 
 
 " All that has been done by the way of search since 
 February, 1848, tends," persists Dr. King, "to draw 
 attention closer and closer to the w r estern land of North 
 Somerset, as the position of Sir John Franklin, and to the 
 Great Fish (or Back) River, as the high road to reach 
 it." 
 
 Dr. King has twice proposed to the Admiralty to proceed 
 on the search by this route. " It would," he states, " be 
 the happiest moment of my life (and my delight at being 
 selected from a long list of volunteers, for the relief of 
 Sir John Ross, was very great) if their lordships would 
 allow me to go by my old route, the Great Fish Eiver, to 
 
166 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 attempt to save human life a second time on the shores 
 of the Polar Sea. What I did in search of Sir John 
 Hoss is the best earnest of what I could do in search of 
 Sir John Franklin." 
 
 A meeting of those officers and gentlemen most con- 
 versant with Arctic voyages was convened by the Lords 
 Commissioners of the Admiralty on the 17th of January, 
 1849, at which the following were present : Bear- Admiral 
 Sir Francis Beaufort, E.C.B., Captain Sir W. E. Parry, 
 H.N., Captain Sir George Back, BJN\, Captain Sir E. 
 Belcher, R.N., Colonel Sabine, R.A., and the Hev. Dr. 
 Scoresby. 
 
 A very pretty painting, containing portraits of all the 
 principal Arctic voyagers in consultation on these momen- 
 tous matters, has been made by Mr. Pearse, artist, 
 
 j-L * f 
 
 of 53, Berners Street, Oxford Street, which is well 
 worthy of a visit. The beautiful Arctic Panorama of 
 Mr. Burford, in Leicester Square, will also give a graphic 
 idea of the scenery and appearance of the icy regions ; 
 the whole being designed from authentic sketches by Lieut. 
 Browne, now of the Resolute, and who was out in the 
 Enterprise in her trip in 1848, and also with Sir James 
 Koss in his Antarctic voyage. 
 
 T8u expedition under Sir James Boss having returned 
 'Unsuccessful, other measures of relief were now deter- 
 2iined on, and the opinions of the leading officers again 
 Jaken. 
 
 Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, in his report to the 
 Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, on November 24, 
 1849, observes : 
 
 " There are four ways only in which it is likely that the 
 lErelus and Terror would have been lost by fire, by 
 sunken rocks, by storm, or by being crushed between two 
 fields of ice. Both vessels would scarcely have taken fire 
 together ; if one of them had struck on a rock, the other 
 would have avoided the danger. Storms in those narrow 
 seas, encumbered with ice, raise no swell, and could pro- 
 duce no such disaster ; and, therefore, by the fourth cause 
 alone could the two vessels have been at once destroyed ; 
 and even in that case the crews would have escaped upon 
 the ice (as happens every year to the whalers) ; they 
 would have saved their loose boats, and reached some 
 part of the American shores. As no traces of any such, 
 event have been found on any part of those shores, it may 
 therefore be safely affirmed that one ship at least, and 
 both the crews, are still in existence ; and therefore the 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 167 
 
 point where they now are is the great matter for con- 
 sideration. 
 
 " Their orders would have carried them towards Mel- 
 ville Island, and then out to the westward, where it is 
 therefore probable that they are entangled amongst islands 
 and ice. For should they have been arrested at some 
 intermediate place, for instance, Cape Walker, or at one 
 of the northern chain of islands, they would undoubtedly, 
 in the course of the three following years, have contrived 
 some method of sending notices of their position to the 
 shores of North Somerset or to Barrow's Strait. 
 
 "If they had reached much to the southward of Banks* 
 Land, they would surely have communicated with the 
 tribes on Mackenzie River : and if, failing to get to the 
 westward or southward, they had returned with the inten- 
 tion of penetrating through Wellington Channel, they 
 would have detached parties on the ice towards Barrow's 
 Strait, in order to have deposited statements of their 
 intentions. 
 
 " The general conclusion, therefore, remains, that they 
 are still locked up in the Archipelago to the westward of 
 Melville Island. Now, it is well known that the state of 
 the weather alternates between the opposite sides of 
 Northern America, being mild on the one when rigorous 
 on the other ; and accordingly, during the two last years, 
 which have been unusually severe in Baffin's Bay, the 
 United States whalers were successfully traversing the 
 Polar Sea to the northward of Behring's Straits. The 
 same severe weather may possibly prevail on the eastern, 
 side during the summer of 1850, and if so, it is obvious 
 that an attempt should be now made by the western, 
 opening, and not merely to receive the two ships, if they 
 should be met coming out (as formerly), but to advance in 
 the direction of Melville Island, resolutely entering the 
 ice, and employing every possible expedient by sledging 
 parties, by reconnoitring balloons, and by blasting the ice, 
 to communicate with them. 
 
 " These vessels should be intrepidly commanded, effec- 
 tively manned, and supplied with the best means for 
 travelling across the ice to the English or to the Russian, 
 settlements, as it will be of the greatest importance to be 
 informed of what progress the expedition has made ; and 
 for this purpose likewise the Plover will be of material 
 service, lying at some advanced point near Icy Cape, and 
 ready to receive intelligence, and to convey it to Petro- 
 paulouski or to Panama. 
 
170 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 anticipate any greater difficulties in this navigation than 
 those encountered in other parts of the North Polar Sea ; 
 and, even in the event of not succeeding in reaching Banks* 
 Land in the summer of the present year, it may be pos- 
 sible to make such progress as to afford a reasonable hope 
 of effecting that object in the following season (1851). 
 Indeed it is possible that, from the well-known fact of the 
 climate being more temperate in a given parallel of lati- 
 tude, in going westward from the Mackenzie Biver, some 
 comparative advantage may be derived in the navigation 
 of this part of the Polar Sea. 
 
 " It is of importance to the security of the ships and of 
 their crews that they should winter in some harbour or 
 bay not at a distance from land, where the ice might be in 
 motion during the winter ; and it will be desirable, should 
 no land be discovered fit for this purpose, in the space at 
 present unexplored between Point Barrow and Banks' 
 Land, that endeavours should be made to reach the conti- 
 nent about the mouth of the Mackenzie River, or further 
 eastward, towards Liverpool Bay, where there is reason to 
 suppose sufficient shelter may be found, and in which 
 neighbourhood, it appears, there is generally no ice to be 
 seen from the shore for about six weeks in the months of 
 August and September. Sir John Franklin's Narrative of 
 his Second Journey, that of Messrs. Dease and Simpson, 
 and the Admiralty Charts, will furnish the requisite hydro- 
 graphical information relative to this line of coast, so far 
 as it has been attained. 
 
 " The utmost economy should be exercised in the use of 
 provisions and fuel during the time the ships are in winter 
 quarters ; and if they should winter on or near the conti- 
 nent, there would probably be an opportunity of increasing 
 their stock of provisions by means of game or fish, and 
 likewise of fuel, by drift or other wood, to some consider- 
 able amount. 
 
 " If the progress of the ships in 1850 have been con- 
 siderable for instance, as far as the meridian of 120 W. 
 the probability is, that the most practicable way of return- 
 ing to England will be, still to push on in the same 
 direction during the whole season of 1851, with a view to 
 reach Barrow's Strait, and take advantage, if necessary, 
 of the resources left by Captain Sir James Eoss at Whaler 
 Point, near Leopold Harbour; if not the same season, at 
 least after a second winter. If, on the other hand, small 
 progress should have been made to the eastward at the 
 close of the present summer, it might be prudent that 
 when half the navigable season of 1851 shall have expired, 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 169 
 
 very little more information than before he left England, 
 and I cannot contemplate, without serious apprehension, 
 leaving that opening without still further search in the 
 ensuing spring, in ease of the missing crews having fallen 
 back to the eastern coast of North Somerset, where they 
 would naturally look for supplies to be deposited for them, 
 in addition to the chance of finding some of those left by 
 the Fury. For the purpose of further pursuing the search 
 by way of Barrow's Strait, perhaps two small vessels of 
 150 or 200 tons might suffice, but they must be square 
 rigged for the navigation among the ice. Of course the 
 object of such vessels would be nearly that which Sir 
 James Boss's endeavours have failed to accomplish ; and 
 the provisions, &c., left by that officer at Whaler Point, 
 as well as any which may be deposited in that neighbour- 
 hood by the North Star, would greatly add to the resources, 
 facilitate the operations, and lessen the risk of any attempt 
 made in that direction. 
 
 " If, however, there be time to get ships to Behring's 
 Strait by the first week in August, 1850, which would 
 perhaps require the aid of steam-vessels to accomplish 
 with any degree of certainty, I recommend that the 
 Enterprise and Investigator be forthwith equipped and 
 despatched there, with instructions to push through the 
 ice to the E.N.E. as far as possible in the ensuing season, 
 with the hope of meeting with at least one of the ships, 
 or any of the parties which may have been detached from 
 them. This attempt has never yet been made by any 
 ships, and I cling very strongly to the belief that such an 
 effort might be attended with success in rescuing at least 
 a portion of our people. 
 
 " My reason for urging this upon their Lordships is, 
 that the admirable instructions under which the Plover, 
 assisted by the Herald, is acting, embraces only the search 
 of the coast line eastward from Icy Cape ; since the 
 boats and baidars cannot effect anything except by creep- 
 ing along, as opportunities offer, between the ice and the 
 land, so that this plan of operations meets only the con- 
 tingency of parties reaching, or nearly reaching, the land; 
 whereas the chance of rescue would, as it appears to me, 
 be immensely increased by ships pushing on, clear of the 
 coast, towards Banks' Land and Melville Island, as far at 
 least as might be practicable in the best five or six weeks 
 of the season of 1850." 
 
 Captain Parry says " Although this is the first attempt 
 ever made to enter the ice in this direction, with ships 
 properly equipped for the purpose, there is no reason to 
 
170 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 anticipate any greater difficulties in this navigation than 
 those encountered in other parts of the North Polar Sea ; 
 and, even in the event of not succeeding in reaching Banks' 
 Land in the summer of the present year, it may be pos- 
 sible to make such progress as to afford a reasonable hope 
 of effecting that object in the following season (1851). 
 Indeed it is possible that, from the well-known fact of the 
 climate being more temperate in a given parallel of lati- 
 tude, in going westward from the Mackenzie River, some 
 comparative advantage may be derived in the navigation 
 of this part of the Polar Sea. 
 
 " It is of importance to the security of the ships and of 
 their crews that they should winter in some harbour or 
 bay not at a distance from land, where the ice might be in 
 motion during the winter ; and it will be desirable, should 
 no land be discovered fit for this purpose, in the space at 
 present unexplored between Point Barrow and Banks' 
 Land, that endeavours should be made to reach the conti- 
 nent about the mouth of the Mackenzie River, or further 
 eastward, towards Liverpool Bay, where there is reason to 
 suppose sufficient shelter may be found, and in which 
 neighbourhood, it appears, there is generally no ice to be 
 seen from the shore for about six weeks in the months of 
 August and September. Sir John Franklin's Narrative of 
 his Second Journey, that of Messrs. Dease and Simpson, 
 and the Admiralty Charts, will furnish the requisite hydro- 
 graphical information relative to this line of coast, so far 
 as it has been attained. 
 
 " The utmost economy should be exercised in the use of 
 provisions and fuel during the time the ships are in winter 
 quarters ; and if they should winter on or near the conti- 
 nent, there would probably be an opportunity of increasing 
 their stock of provisions by means of game or fish, and 
 likewise of fuel, by drift or other wood, to some consider- 
 able amount. 
 
 " If the progress of the ships in 1850 have been con- 
 siderable for instance, as far as the meridian of 120 W. 
 the probability is, that the most practicable way of return- 
 ing to England will be, still to push on in the same 
 direction during the whole season of 1851, with a view to 
 reach Barrow's Strait, and take advantage, if necessary, 
 of the resources left by Captain Sir James Ross at Whaler 
 Point, near Leopold Harbour; if not the same season, at 
 least after a second winter. If, on the other hand, small 
 progress should have been made to the eastward at the 
 close of the present summer, it might be prudent that 
 when half the navigable season of 1851 shall have expired, 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 171 
 
 no further attempts should be made in proceeding to the 
 eastward, and that the remaining half of that season 
 should be occupied in returning to the westward, with a 
 view to escape from the ice by way of Behring's Strait 
 after the winter of 1851-52, so as not to incur the risk of 
 passing a third winter in the ice. 
 
 " During the summer season, the most vigilant look-out 
 should be kept from the mast-heads of both ships night 
 and day, not only" for the missing ships, but for any 
 detached parties belonging to them ; and during the few 
 hours of darkness which prevail towards the close of each 
 season's navigation, and also when in winter quarters, 
 signals, by fires, blue lights, rockets, or guns, should be 
 made as the means of pointing out the position of the ships 
 to any detached parties belonging to the missing Expedi- 
 tion. And in the spring, before the ships can be released 
 from the ice, searching parties might be sent out in various 
 directions, either in boats or by land, to examine the 
 neighbouring coasts and inlets for any trace of the missing 
 
 crews.' 
 
 Captain Sir George Back also comments, (1st of Decem- 
 ber, 1849,) on these intentions, in a letter to the Secretary 
 of the Admiralty : 
 
 " You will be pleased, Sir, to impress on my Lords Com- 
 missioners, that I wholly reject aU and every idea of any 
 attempts on the part of Sir John Franklin to send boats 
 or detachments over the ice to any point of the mainland 
 eastward of the Mackenzie Biver, because I can say from 
 experience, that no toil-worn and exhausted party could 
 have the least chance of existence by going there. 
 
 " On the other hand, from my knowledge of Sir John 
 Franklin (having been three times on discovery together), 
 I much doubt if he would quit his ship at all, except in a 
 boat ; for any attempt to cross the ice a long distance on 
 foot would be tempting death ; and it is too laborious a 
 task to sledge far over such an uneven surface as those 
 regions generally present. That great mortality must 
 have occurred, and that one ship, as Sir F. Beaufort hints 
 at, may be lost, are greatly to be feared ; and, as on all 
 former expeditions, if the survivors are paralysed by the 
 depressing attacks of scurvy, it would then be impossible 
 for them, however desirous they might be, to leave the 
 ship, which must thus become their last most anxious 
 abode. 
 
 " If, however, open water should have allowed Sir John 
 Franklin to have resorted to his boats, then I am persuaded 
 lie would make for either the Mackenzie Biver, or, which 
 
172 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 is far more likely, from tlie almost certainty he must have 
 felt of finding provision, Cape Clarence and Fury Point. 
 
 " I am aware that the whole chances of life in this 
 painful case depend on food; but when I reflect on Sir 
 John Franklin's former extraordinary preservation under 
 miseries and trials of the most severe description, living 
 often on scraps of old leather and other refuse. I cannot 
 despair of his finding the means to prolong existence till 
 aid be happily sent him." 
 
 Dr. Sir John Richardson on the same day also sends in 
 his opinion, as requested, on the proposed despatch of the 
 Enterprise and Investigator to Behring's Strait: 
 
 " It seems to me to be very desirable that the western 
 shores of the Archipelago of Parry's Islands should be 
 searched in a high latitude in the manner proposed by the 
 hydrographer. 
 
 " If the proposed expedition succeeds in establishing its 
 winter quarters among these islands, parties detached over 
 the ice may travel to the eastward and south-eastward, so 
 as to cross the line of search which it lis hoped Mr. Rae 
 has been able to pursue in the present summer, and thus 
 to determine whether any traces of the missing ships exist 
 in localities the most remote from Behring's Strait and 
 Lancaster Sound, and from whence shipwrecked crews 
 would find the greatest difficulty in travelling to any place 
 where they could hope to find relief. 
 
 " The climate of Arctic America improves in a sen- 
 sible manner with an increase of western longitude. On 
 the Mackenzie, on the 135th meridian, the summer is 
 warmer than in any district of the continent in the same 
 parallel, and it is still finer, and the vegetation more 
 luxuriant, on the banks of the Yucon, on the 150th meri- 
 dian. This superiority of climate leads me to infer, that 
 ships well fortified against drift-ice, will find the naviga- 
 tion of the Arctic Seas more practicable in its western por- 
 tion than it has been found to the eastward. This infer- 
 ence is supported by my own personal experience, as far 
 as it goes. I met with no ice in the month of August, on 
 my late voyage, till I attained the 123rd meridian, and 
 which I was led, from that circumstance, to suppose coin- 
 cided with the western limits of Parry's Archipelago. 
 
 " The greater facility of navigating from the west has 
 been powerfully advocated by others on former occasions ; 
 and the chief, perhaps the only reason why the attempt to 
 penetrate the Polar Sea from that quarter has not been 
 resumed since the time of Cook is, that the length of the 
 previous voyage to Behring's Strait would considerably 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 173 
 
 diminish the store of provisions; but the facilities of obtain- 
 ing supplies in the Pacific are now so augmented, that this 
 objection has no longer the same force." 
 
 Captain F. W. Beechey, writing from Cheltenham, on 
 the 1st of December, 1849, says : 
 
 " I quite agree with Sir Francis Beaufort in what he 
 has stated with regard to any casualties which Sir J. 
 Franklin's ships may have sustained, and entirely agree 
 with him and Sir Edward Parry, that the expedition is 
 probably hampered amongst the ice somewhere to the 
 south-westward of Melville Island; but there is yet a pos- 
 sibility which does not appear to have been contemplated, 
 which is, that of the scurvy having spread among the crew, 
 and incapacitated a large proportion of them from making 
 any exertion towards their release, or that the whole, in a 
 debilitated state, may yet be clinging by their vessels, 
 existing sparingly upon the provision which a large mor- 
 tality may have spun out, in the hope of relief. 
 
 " In the first case, that of the ships being hampered and 
 the crews in good health, I think it certain that, as the 
 resources of the ships would be expended in May last, Sir 
 John Franklin and his crew have abandoned the ships, 
 and pushed forward for the nearest point where they 
 might reasonably expect assistance, and which they could 
 reasonably reach. 
 
 " There are consequently three points to which it would 
 be proper to direct attention, and as the case is urgent, 
 every possible method of relief should be energetically 
 pushed forward at as early a period as possible, and directed 
 to those points, which, I need scarcely say, are Barrow's 
 Strait, Behring's Strait, and the northern coast of 
 America. 
 
 " Of the measures which can be resorted to on the 
 northern coast of America, the officers who have had expe- 
 rience there, and the Hudson's Bay Company, will be able 
 to judge ; but I am of opinion that nothing should be 
 neglected in that quarter ; for it seems to me almost certain 
 that Sir John Franklin and his crew, if able to travel, have 
 abandoned their ships and made for the continent; and if 
 they have not succeeded in gaining the Hudson's Bay out- 
 posts, they have been overtaken by winter before they 
 could accomplish their purpose. 
 
 " Lastly, as to the opinion which naturally forces itself 
 upon us, as to the utility of the sending relief to persons 
 whose means of subsistence will have failed them more than 
 a year by the time the relief could reach them, I would 
 observe, that a prudent reduction of the allowance may 
 
174 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 have been timely made to meet an emergency, or great 
 mortality may have enabled the survivors to subsist up to 
 the time required, or it mav be that the crews have just 
 missed reaching the points visited by our parties last year 
 before they quitted them, and in the one case may now be 
 subsisting on the supplies at Leopold Island, or be housed 
 in eastward of Point Barrow, sustained by depots which 
 have been fallen in with, or by the native supplies ; so 
 that, under all the circumstances, I do not consider their 
 condition so utterly hopeless that we should give up the 
 expectation of yet being able to render them a timely 
 assistance. 
 
 " The endeavours to push forward might be continued 
 until the 30th of August at latest, at which time, if the 
 ships be not near some land where they can conveniently 
 pass a winter, they must direct their course for the main- 
 land, and seek a secure harbour in which they could 
 remain. And on no account should they risk a winter in 
 the pack, in consequence of the tides and shallow r water 
 lying off the coast. 
 
 " Should the expedition reach Herschel Island, or any 
 other place of refuge on the coast near the mouth of the 
 Mackenzie or Colville Bivers, endeavours should be made 
 to communicate information of the ships' position and 
 summer's proceedings through the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany or Russian settlements, and by means of interpreters ; 
 and no opportunity should be omitted of gaining from the 
 natives information of the missing vessels, as well as of 
 any boat expeditions that may have gone forward, as well 
 as of the party under Dr. Kae. 
 
 " If nothing should be heard of Sir John Franklin in 
 1850, parties of observation should be sent forward in the 
 spring to intercept the route the ship would have pursued, 
 and in other useful directions between winter quarters and 
 Melville Island ; taking especial care that they return to 
 the ship before the time of liberation of the ships arrive, 
 which greatly depends upon their locality. 
 
 " Then, on the breaking up of the ice, should any 
 favourable appearance of the ice present itself, the expe- 
 dition might be left free to take advantage of such a 
 prospect, or to return round Point Barrow ; making it 
 imperative, however, either' to ensure their return, so far 
 as human foresight may be exercised, or the certainty of 
 their reaching Melville Island at the close of that season, 
 and so securing their return to England in 1852. 
 
 " If, after all, any unforeseen event should detain the 
 ships beyond the period contemplated above, every exer- 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 175 
 
 tion should be used, by means of boats and interpreters, 
 to communicate with the Mackenzie ; and should any 
 casualty render it necessary to abandon the vessels, it 
 should be borne in mind that the reserve-ship will remain, 
 at her quarters until the autumn of 1853, unless she 
 hears of the safety of the ships and boats in other direc- 
 tions ; while in the other quarter, Fort Macpherson, at the 
 entrance of the Mackenzie, may be relied upon as an asylum. 
 
 " The Plover, or reserve-ship, should be provided with 
 three years' provisions for her own crew, and for con- 
 tingencies besides. She should be placed as near as pos- 
 sible to Point Barrow, and provided with interpreters, 
 and the means of offering rewards for information ; and 
 she should remain at her quarters so long as there can be 
 any occasion for her presence in the Arctic Seas ; or, if 
 she does not hear anything of the expedition under Cap- 
 tain Collinson, as long as her provisions will last." 
 
 Sir John Bichardson offers the following advice for this 
 expedition : " If," he says, " it should winter near the 
 mouth of the Yucan or Colville, that river may be 
 ascended in a boat in the month of June, before the sea 
 ice begins to give way. The river varies in width from 
 a mile and a half to two miles, and flows through a rich, 
 well-wooded valley, abounding in moose deer, and having 
 a comparatively mild climate. A Russian trading post 
 has been built on it, at the distance of three or four days' 
 voyage from the sea, with the current ; but as the current 
 is strong, from nine to twelve days must be allowed for its 
 ascent, with the tracking line. It would be unsafe to rely 
 upon receiving a supply of provisions at the Russian post, 
 as it is not likely that any stock beyond what is necessary 
 for their own use is laid up by the traders ; and the moose 
 deer being a very shy animal, is not easily shot by an 
 unpractised hunter ; but the reindeer abound on the neigh- 
 bouring hills, and are much more approachable. The 
 white-fronted goose also breeds in vast flocks in that 
 district of the country, and may be killed in numbers, 
 without difficulty, in the month' of June. 
 
 " If the expedition should winter within a reasonable 
 distance of the Mackenzie, Captain Collinson may have 
 it in his power to send despatches to England by that 
 route. 
 
 " The river opens in June, and as soon as the ice .ceases 
 to drive, may be ascended in a boat, with a fair wind, 
 under sail, or with a tracking line. 
 
 " The lowest post at present occupied by the Hudson's 
 Bay Company oa this river is Fort Good Hope. The 
 
176 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC 'DISCOVERY. 
 
 site of tliis post lias been changed several times, but it 
 is at this time on the right bank of the river, in latitude 
 66 16' IN"., and is ten or eleven days' voyage from the sea. 
 At Point Separation, opposite to the middle channel of 
 the delta of the river, and on the promontory which 
 separates the Peel and the Mackenzie, there is a case of 
 pemmican (80 Ibs.) buried, ten feet distant from a tree, 
 which has its middle branches lopped off. and is marked 
 on the trunk with a broad arrow in black paint. A fire 
 was made over the pit in which the case is concealed, and 
 the remains of the charcoal will point out the exact spot. 
 This hoard was visited last year by a party from Fort 
 Macpherson, Peel's River, when all was safe. 
 
 " Eight bags of pemmican, weighing 90lbs. each, were 
 deposited at Fort Good Hope in 1848, and would remain 
 there last summer for the use of any boat parties that 
 might ascend the river in 1849 ; but it is probable that 
 part, or the whole, may have been used by the Company 
 by next year. 
 
 " A boat party should be furnished with a small seine 
 and a short herring net, by the use of which a good supply 
 of fish may often be procured in the eddies or sandy bays 
 of the Mackenzie. They should also be provided with a 
 good supply of buck-shot, swan-shot, duck-shot, and gun- 
 powder. The Loucheux and Hare Indians will readily 
 give such provisions as they may happen to have, in ex- 
 change for ammunition. They will expect to receive 
 tobacco gratuitously, as they are accustomed to do from 
 the traders. 
 
 " The Mackenzie is the only water-way by which any of 
 the Hudson's Bay Company's posts can be reached from 
 the Arctic Sea. There is a post on the Peel River, which 
 enters the delta of the Mackenzie, but no supplies can be 
 procured there. To the eastward of the Mackenzie no 
 ship-party would have a chance of reaching a trading post, 
 the nearest to the sea being Fort Resolution, on Great 
 Slave Lake, situated on the 61st parallel of latitude, and 
 the intervening hilly country, intersected by numerous 
 lakes and rapid rivers, could not be crossed by such a 
 party in less than an entire summer, even could they depend 
 on their guns for a supply of food. Neither would it be 
 advisable for a party from the ships to attempt to reach 
 the posts on the Mackenzie by way of the Coppermine 
 River and Fort Confidence ; as, in the absence of means of 
 transport across Great Bear Lake, the journey round that 
 irregular sheet of water would be long and hazardous. 
 Bear Lake River is more than fifty miles long, and Fort 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 177 
 
 Korman, the nearest post on the Mackenzie, is. thirty 
 miles above its mouth. Mr. Rae was instructed to engage 
 an Indian family or two to hunt on the tract of country 
 between the Coppermine and Great Bear Lake in the 
 summer of 1850 ; but no great reliance can be placed on 
 these Indians remaining long there, as they desert their 
 hunting quarters on very slight alarms, being in continual 
 dread of enemies, real or imaginary. 
 
 " A case of pemmican was buried on the summit of the 
 bank, about four or five miles from the summit of Cape 
 Bathurst, the spot being marked by a pole planted in the 
 earth, and the exact locality of the deposit by a fire of 
 driftwood, much of which would remain unconsumed. 
 
 " Another case was deposited in the cleft of a rock on a 
 small battlemented cliff', which forms the extreme part of 
 Cape Parry. The case was covered with loose stones ; and 
 a pile of stones, painted red and white, was erected imme- 
 diately in front of it. This cliff' resembles a cocked-hat in 
 some points of view, and projects like a tongue from the 
 base of a rounded hill, which is 500 or 600 feet high. 
 
 " Several cases of pemmican were left exposed on a ledge 
 of rocks in latitude 68 35' N. f opposite Lambert Island, 
 in Dolphin and Union Strait, and in a bay to the west- 
 ward of Cape Krusenstern, a small boat and ten pieces of 
 pemmican were deposited under a high cliff above high- 
 water mark, without concealment. The Esquimaux on 
 this part of the coast are not numerous, and from the posi- 
 tion of this hoard, it may escape discovery by them ; but I 
 have every reason to believe that the locality has been 
 visited by Mr. Eae in the past summer. A deposit of 
 larger size, near Cape Kendall, has been more certainly 
 visited by Mr. Eae." 
 
 Capt. Sir J. C. Ross, writes from Haslar, llth February, 
 1850 : 
 
 " With respect to the probable position of the Erebus 
 and Terror, I consider that it is hardly possible they can 
 be anywhere to the eastward of Melville Island, or within 
 300 miles of Leopold Island, for if that were the case, they 
 would assuredly, during the last spring, have made their 
 way to that point, with the hope of receiving assistance 
 from the whale-ships which for several years previous to 
 the departure of that expedition from England had been 
 in the habit of visiting Prince Regent Inlet in pursuit of 
 whales; and in that case they must have been met with, or 
 marks of their encampments have been found by some of 
 the numerous parties detached from the Enterprise and 
 Investigator along the shores of that vicinity during the 
 
178 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 only period of the season in which travelling is practicable 
 in those regions. 
 
 " It is probable, therefore, that during their first sum- 
 mer, which was remarkably favourable for the navigation 
 of those seas, they have been enabled (in obedience to 
 their orders) to push the ships to the westward of Banks' 
 Land, and have there become involved in the heavy pack 
 of ice which was observed from Melville Island always to 
 be setting past its westernmost point in a south-east direc- 
 tion, and from which pack they may not have been able to 
 extricate their ships. 
 
 " From such a position retreat to the eastward would be 
 next to impossible, whilst the journey to the Mackenzie 
 Biver, of comparatively easy accomplishment, together 
 with Sir John Franklin's knowledge of the resources in 
 the way and of its practicability, would strengthen the 
 belief that this measure will have been adopted by them 
 during the last spring. 
 
 " If this be assumed as the present position of the Erebus 
 and Terror, it would manifestly be far more easy and safe 
 to afford them relief by means of an expedition entering 
 Behring's Strait, than from any other direction, as it 
 would not be necessary for the ships to depart so far from 
 the coast of North America as to preclude their keeping 
 up a regular communication with the Russian settlements 
 on the River Colville, or those of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany near the mouth of the Mackenzie, whilst the whole 
 space between any position in which the ships might 
 winter, and Banks' Land could be thoroughly examined by 
 travelling parties early in the spring, or by boats or steam 
 launches at a more advanced period of the following season.'* 
 
 Mr. W. Snow, in a letter from New York, dated 7th of 
 January, 1850, suggests a plan for a well-organized expe- 
 dition of as many men as could be fitted out from private 
 funds. " For instance, let a party of 100 picked men, well 
 disciplined and officered, as on board a ship, and accom- 
 panied with all the necessary food, scientific instruments, 
 and everything usual on such expeditions, proceed imme- 
 diately, by the shortest and most available routes, to the 
 lands in the neighbourhood of the unexplored regions. If 
 possible, I would suggest that they should proceed first to 
 Moose Fort, on the southern part of Hudson's Bay, and 
 thence by small craft to Chesterfield Inlet, or otherwise by 
 land reach that quarter, so as to arrive there at the open- 
 ing of summer. From this neighbourhood let the party, 
 minus ten men, be divided into three separate detach- 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 179 
 
 xnents, each with specific instructions to extend their 
 researches in a northerly and north-westerly direction. 
 The westernmost party to proceed as near as possible in a 
 direct course to the easternmost limits of discovery yet 
 made from Behring's Strait, and on no account to deviate 
 from that course on the western side of it, but, if neces- 
 sary, to the eastward. Let the central party shape a 
 course as near as possible to the position of the Magnetic 
 Pole ; and the easternmost division direct to Prince Re- 
 gent Inlet, or the westernmost point of discovery from 
 the east, and not to deviate from that course easterly. 
 Let each of these detachments be formed again into three 
 divisions, each division thus - consisting of ten men. Let 
 the first division of each detachment pioneer the way, fol- 
 lowed on the same track by the second and the third at 
 stated intervals of time. On the route let the pioneers, at 
 every spot necessary, leave distinguishing marks to denote 
 the way, and also to give information to either of the other 
 two principal detachments as may by chance fall into their 
 track. To second the efforts of the three detachments, let 
 constant succours and other assistance be forwarded by 
 way of Moose Fort, and through the ten men left at Ches- 
 terfield Inlet; and should the object for which such an 
 expedition was framed be happily accomplished by the 
 return of the lost voyagers, let messengers be forwarded 
 with the news, as was done with Captain Back, in the case 
 of Captain Ross. Let each of the extreme detachments, 
 upon arriving at their respective destinations, and upon 
 being joined by the whole of their body, proceed to form 
 plans for uniting with the central party, and ascertaining 
 the results already obtained by each by sending parties in 
 that direction. Also, let a chosen number be sent out 
 from each detachment as exploring parties, wherever 
 deemed requisite ; and let no effort be wanted to make a 
 search in every direction where there is a possibility of its 
 proving successful. 
 
 " If a public and more extensive expedition be set on 
 foot, I would most respectfully draw attention to the fol- 
 lowing suggestions : Let a Land Expedition be formed 
 upon a similar plan, and with the same number of men, 
 say 300 or more, as those fitted out for sea. Let this ex- 
 pedition be formed into three great divisions : the one 
 proceeding by the Athabasca to the Great Slave Lake, 
 and following out Captain Back's discoveries ; the second, 
 through the Churchill district ; or, with the third, accord- 
 ing to the plan laid out for a private expedition alone j only 
 
 3*2 
 
180 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 keeping the whole of their forces as much as possible 
 bearing upon the points where success may be most likely 
 attainable. 
 
 " Each of these three great divisions to be subdivided 
 and arranged also as in the former case. The expense of 
 an expedition of this kind, with all the necessary outlay 
 for provisions, &c., I do not think would be more than 
 half what the same would cost if sent by sea ; but of this I 
 am not a competent judge, having no definite means to 
 make a comparison. But there is yet another, and, I 
 cannot help conceiving, a more easy way of obviating all 
 difficulty on this point, and of reducing the expense con- 
 siderably. 
 
 " It must be evident that the present position of the 
 Arctic voyagers is not very accessible, either by land or 
 sea, else the distinguished leader at the head of the expe- 
 dition would long ere this have tracked a route whereby 
 the whole party, or at least some of them, could return. 
 
 " In such a case, therefore, the only way to reach them 
 is by, if I may use the expression, forcing an expedition 
 on towards them; I mean, by keeping it constantly upheld 
 and pushing onward. There may be, and indeed there 
 are, very great difficulties, and difficulties of such a nature 
 that, I believe, they would themselves cause another great 
 difficulty in the procuring of men. But, if I might make 
 another bold suggestion, I would respectfully ask our 
 government at home, why not employ picked men from 
 convicted criminals, as is done in exploring expeditions in 
 Australia ? Inducements might be held out to them ; 
 and by proper care they would be made most serviceable 
 auxiliaries. Generally speaking, men convicted of offences 
 are men possessed of almost inexhaustible mental resources; 
 and such men are the men who, with physical powers of 
 endurance, are precisely those required. But this I speak 
 of, merely, if sufficient free men could not be found, and if 
 economy is studied." 
 
 Mr. John McLean, who has been twenty-five years a 
 partner and officer of the Hudson's Bay Company, and has 
 published an interesting narrative of his adventures and 
 experience, writing to Lady Franklin from Canada West, 
 in January, 1850, suggests the following very excellent plan 
 as likely to produce some intelligence, if not to lead to a 
 discovery of the party. 
 
 " Let a small schooner of some thirty or forty tons bur- 
 den, built with a view to draw as little water as possible, 
 and as strong as wood and iron could make her, be de- 
 spatched from England in company with the Hudson's 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 181 
 
 "Bay ships. This vessel would, immediately on arriving at 
 York Factory, proceed to the Strait termed Sir Thomas 
 Hoe's Welcome, which divides Southampton Island from 
 the mainland ; then direct her course to Wager River, 
 and proceed onward until interrupted by insurmountable 
 obstacles. The party being safely landed, I would recom- 
 mend their remaining stationary until winter travelling 
 became practicable, when they should set out for the 
 shores of the Arctic Sea, which by a reference to Arrow- 
 smith's map appears to be only some sixty or seventy miles 
 distant ; then dividing in two parties or divisions, the one 
 would proceed east, the other west; and I think means 
 could be devised of exploring 250 or 300 miles in either 
 direction; and here a very important question presents 
 itself, how and by what means is this enterprise to be 
 accomplished ? 
 
 " In the first place, the services of Esquimaux would be 
 indispensable, for the twofold reason, that no reliable 
 information can be obtained from the natives without their 
 aid, and that they alone properly understand the art of 
 preparing snow-houses, or ' igloes,' for winter encamp- 
 ment, the only lodging which the desolate wastes of the 
 Arctic regions afford. Esquimaux understanding the Eng- 
 lish language sufficiently well to answer our purpose, fre- 
 quent the Hudson's Bay Company's post in Labrador, 
 some of whom might be induced (I should fain hope) to 
 engage for the expedition; or probably the ' half-breed' 
 natives might do so more readily than the aborigines. 
 They should, if possible, be strong, active men, and good 
 marksmen, and not less than four in number. Failing in 
 the attempt to procure the natives of Labrador, then I 
 should think Esquimaux might be obtained at Churchill, 
 in Hudson's Bay; the two who accompanied Sir John in 
 his first land expedition were from this quarter." 
 
 An expedition of this kind is to be sent out by Lady Frank- 
 lin this spring under the charge of Mr. Kennedy. There are 
 variousways of accomplishing this object, the choice of which 
 must mainly depend on theviews andwishe's of the officerwhou 
 nay undertake the command. Besides the northern route, 
 or that by Regent Inlet, it is possible to reach Sir James 
 Ross and Simpson's Straits from the south, entering Hud" 
 son's Bay, and passing up the Welcome to Rae Isthmus, 
 or again by entering Chesterfield or Wager Inlet, and 
 gaining the coast by Back's or the Great Fish River. 
 
 By either of these routes a great part of the exploration 
 must be made in boats or on foot. In every case the main 
 points to be searched are James Ross's Strait and Simp. 
 
182 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 son's Strait, if indeed there be a passage in that direction, 
 as laid down in Sir John Franklin's charts, though contra- 
 dicted by Mr. Bae, and considered still doubtful by some 
 Arctic navigators. 
 
 The following extract from the GeograpJiical Journal 
 shows the opinion of Franklin upon the search of this 
 quarter. Dr. Bichardson says (Journal of Geographical 
 Society, vol. vi. p. 40), " No better plan can be proposed 
 than the one suggested by Sir John Franklin, of sending 
 a vessel to Wager Biver, and carrying on the survey from 
 thence in boats." 
 
 Sir John Franklin observes (ibid. p. 43), " The Doctor 
 alludes in his letter to some propositions which he knew I 
 had made in the year 1828, at the command of his present 
 Majesty (William IV.) on the same subject, and particu- 
 larly to the suggestion as to proceeding from Bepulse OP 
 Wager Bay. * * * A recent careful reading of all the 
 narratives connected with the surveys of the Wager and 
 Bepulse Bays, and of Sir Edward Parry's Yoyage, together 
 with the information obtained from the Esquimaux by Sir 
 Edward Parry, Sir John B-oss, and Captain Back, confirm 
 me in the opinion that a successful delineation of the coast 
 east of Point Turnagain to the Strait of the Fury and 
 Hecla, would be best attained by an expedition proceeding 
 from Wager Bay, the northern parts of which cannot, I 
 think, be farther distant than forty miles from the sea, if 
 the information received by the above-mentioned officers 
 can be depended on." 
 
 Dr. McCormick particularly draws attention to Jones' 
 and Smith's Sounds, recommending a careful examination 
 of these to their probable termination in the Polar Sea : 
 " Jones' Sound, with the Wellington Channel on the 
 west, may be found to form an island of the land called 
 ' North Devon.' All prominent positions on both sides of 
 these Sounds should be searched for flag staves and piles 
 of stones, under which copper cylinders or bottles may 
 iiave been deposited, containing accounts of the proceed- 
 ings of the missing expedition ; and if successful in getting 
 upon its track, a clue would be obtained to the fate of our 
 gallant countrymen." 
 
 The Wellington Channel he considers affords one of the 
 best chances of crossing the track of the missing expedi- 
 tion. 
 
 To carry out this plan efficiently, he recommended that 
 a boat should be dropped, by the ship conveying the search- 
 ing party out, at the entrance to the Wellington Channel 
 in Barrow's Strait ; from this point one or both sides of 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 183 
 
 that channel and the northern shores of the Parry Islands 
 might be explored as far west as the season would permit 
 of. But should the ship be enabled to look into Jones' 
 Sound, on her way to Lancaster Sound, and find that 
 opening free from ice, an attempt might be made by the 
 Boat Expedition to push through it into the Wellington 
 Channel. In the event, however, of its proving to be 
 merely an inlet, which a short delay would be sufficient to 
 decide, the ship might perhaps be in readiness to pick up 
 the boat on its return, for conveyance to its ultimate des- 
 tination through Lancaster Sound; or as a precaution 
 against any unforeseen separation from the ship, a depot 
 of provisions should be left at the entrance to Jones' Sound 
 for the boat to complete its supplies from, after accom- 
 plishing the exploration of this inlet, and to afford the 
 means, if compelled from an advanced period of the season 
 or other adverse circumstances, of reaching some place of 
 refuge, either on board a whaler or some one of the depots 
 of provisions on the southern shores of Barrow's Strait. 
 
 Mr. Penny, in charge of the Lady Franklin, before 
 sailing, observed : 
 
 "If an early passage be obtained, I would examine 
 Jones' Sound, as I have generally found in all my early 
 voyages clear water at the mouth of that sound, and there 
 is a probability that an earlier passage by this route might 
 be found into Wellington Strait, which outlet ought by all 
 means tobe thoroughly examined at the earliest opportunity, 
 since, if Sir J. Franklin has taken that route, with the hope 
 of finding a passage westward, to the north of the Parry 
 and Melville Islands, he may be beyond the power of 
 helping himself. No trace of the expedition, or practical 
 communication with Wellington Strait, being obtained in 
 this quarter, I would proceed in time to take advantage of 
 the first opening of the ice in Lancaster Sound, with the 
 view of proceeding to the west and entering Wellington 
 Strait, or, if this should not be practicable, of proceeding 
 farther westward to Cape Walker, and beyond, on one or 
 other of which places Sir John Franklin will probably have 
 left some notices of his course." 
 
 The Government has seen the urgent necessity of 
 causing the Wellington Channel to be carefully examined ; 
 imperative orders were sent to Sir James Boss to search 
 it, but he was drifted out of Barrow's Strait against his will, 
 before he received those orders by the North Star. 
 
 I have already stated that Sir John Franklin's instructions 
 directed him to try the first favourable opening to the 
 soutb-west after passing Cape Walker ; and failing in that, 
 
J84 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 to try the Wellington Channel. Every officer in the 
 British service, as a matter of course, follows his instruc- 
 tions, as far as they are compatible with the exigencies of 
 the case, be it what it may, nor ever deviates from them 
 without good and justifiable cause. If, then, Sir John 
 Franklin failed in finding an opening to the south-west of 
 Cape Walker, it is reasonable to suppose he obeyed his 
 instructions, and tried the Wellington Channel. The 
 second probability in favour of this locality is, that Sir 
 John Franklin expressed to many of his friends a favour- 
 able opinion of the Wellington Channel, and, which is of 
 far more consequence, intimated his opinion officially, and 
 before the expedition was determined upon, that this strait 
 seemed to offer the best chance of success. 
 
 Moreover, Capt. Eitzjames, his immediate second in 
 command in the Erebus, was strongly in favour of the 
 Wellington Channel, and always so expressed himself. 
 See his letter, before quoted, to Sir John Barrow, p. 203. 
 
 Who can doubt that the opinion of Capt. Fitzjames, a 
 man of superior mind, beloved by all who knew him, and 
 in the service " the observed of all observers," would Lave 
 great weight with Sir John Franklin, even if Sir John had 
 not been himself predisposed to listen to him. What adds 
 confirmation to these views is, that in 1840, a few years 
 prior to the starting of the expedition, Col. Sabine pub- 
 lished the deeply interesting " Narrative of Baron Wran- 
 gel's Expedition to the Polar Sea, undertaken between the 
 years 18*20 and 1823," and that in his preface the translator 
 points to the Wellington Channel as the most likely course 
 for the successful accomplishment of the north-west pas- 
 sage. "Setting aside," he says, "the possibility of the 
 existence of unknown land, the probability of an open sea 
 existing to the north of the Parry Islands, and communi- 
 cating with Behrmg Strait, appears to rest on strict 
 analogical reasoning." And again he adds, "all the attempts 
 to effect the north-west passage, since Barrow's Strait was 
 first passed in 1819, have consisted in an endeavour to 
 force a vessel by one route or another through this land- 
 locked and ice-encumbered portion of the Polar Ocean." 
 
 No examination has made known what may be the state 
 of the sea to the north of the Parry Islands ; whether 
 similar impediments may there present themselves ^ to 
 navigation, or whether a sea may not there exist offering 
 no difficulties whatever of the kind, as M. Von Wrangel 
 has shown to be the case to the north of the Siberian 
 Islands, and as by strict analogy we should be justified in 
 expecting. 
 
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE REWARDS OFFERED. 185 
 
 Colonel Sabine is an officer of great scientific experience, 
 and from having made several Polar voyages, he has 
 devoted great attention to all that relates to that quarter. 
 He was in constant communication with Sir John Frank- 
 lin when the expedition was fitting out, and it is but 
 reasonable to suppose that he would be somewhat guided 
 by his opinion. 
 
 "We have, then, the opinions of Franklin himself, Colonel 
 Sabine, and Captain Fitzjames, all bearing on this point, 
 and we must remember that Parry, who discovered and 
 named this channel, saw nothing when passing and re- 
 passing it, but a clear open sea to the northward. 
 
 Lieut. S. Osborn, in a paper dated the 4th of January, 
 1850, makes the following suggestions : 
 
 " General opinion places the lost expedition to the west 
 of Cape Walker, and south of the latitude of Melville 
 Island. The distance from Cape Bathurst to Banks 
 Land is only 301 miles, and on reference to a chart it will 
 be seen that nowhere else does the American continent 
 approach so near to the supposed position of Franklin's 
 expedition. 
 
 "Banks' Land bears from Cape Bathurst IS". 41 49' 
 E. 302 miles, and there is reason to believe that in the 
 summer season a portion of this distance may be tra- 
 versed in boats. 
 
 " Dr. Biehardson confirms previous reports of the ice 
 being light on the coast east of the Mackenzie Biver to 
 Cape Bathurst, and informs us that the Esquimaux had 
 seen ' no ice to seaward for two moons.' 
 
 " Every mile traversed northward by a party from Cape 
 Bathurst would be over that unknown space in which traces 
 of Franklin may be expected. It is advisable that such 
 a second party be despatched from Cape Bathurst, in order 
 that the prosecution of Dr. Rae's examination of the sup- 
 posed channel between Wollaston and Victoria Lands 
 may in no way be interfered with, by his attention being 
 called to the westward." 
 
 In March, 1848, the Admiralty announced their intention 
 of rewarding the crews of any whaling ships that brought 
 accurate information of the missing expedition, with the 
 sum of 100 guineas or more, according to circumstances. 
 Lady Franklin also about the same time offered rewards 
 of 2000?. and 3000^., to be distributed among the owner, 
 officers, and crew discovering and affording relief to her 
 husband, or making extraordinary exertions for the above 
 object, and, if required, bringing Sir John Franklin and 
 his party to England, 
 
186 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 In March, 1850, the following further rewards were 
 offered by the British Government to persons of any 
 country: 
 
 1st. To any party or person who, in the judgment of 
 the Board of Admiralty, shall discover and effectually 
 relieve the crews of H.M. ships Erelus and Terror, the 
 sum of 20,OOOZ., or, 
 
 2nd. To any party, or parties, &c., who shall discover 
 and effectually relieve any portion of the crews, or shall, 
 convey such intelligence as shall lead to the relief of any 
 of the crew, the sum of 10,000. 
 
 3rd. To any party or parties who shall by virtue of his 
 or their efforts, first succeed in ascertaining their fate, 
 10,OOOZ. 
 
 In a despatch from Sir George Simpson to Mr. Eae, 
 dated Lachine, the 21st of January, 1850, he says : 
 
 " If they be still alive, I feel satisfied that every effort 
 it may be in the power of man to make to succour them 
 will be exerted by yourself and the Company's officers in 
 Mackenzie Biver ; but should your late search have unfor- 
 tunately ended in disappointment, it is the desire of the 
 Company that you renew your explorations next summer, 
 if possible. 
 
 " By the annexed correspondence you will observe that 
 the opinion in England appears to be that our explorations 
 ought to be more particularly directed to that portion of 
 the Northern Sea lying between Cape Walker on the 
 east, Melville Island and Banks' Land to the north, and 
 the continental shore or the Victoria Islands to the south. 
 
 " As these limits are believed to embrace the course 
 that would have been pursued by Sir John Franklin, 
 Cape Walker being one of the points he was particularly 
 instructed to make for, you will therefore be pleased, 
 immediately on the receipt of this letter, to fit out another 
 exploring party to proceed in the direction above indicated, 
 but varying the route that may have been followed last 
 summer, which party, besides their own examination of 
 the coast and islands, should be instructed to offer liberal 
 rewards to the Esquimaux to search for some vestiges of 
 the missing expedition, and similar rewards should be 
 offered to the Indians inhabiting near the coast and Peel's 
 River, and the half-bred hunters of Mackenzie River, the 
 latter being, perhaps, more energetic than the former; 
 assuring them that whoever may procure authentic intel- 
 ligence will be largely rewarded. 
 
 " Simultaneously with the expedition to proceed towards 
 Cape Walker, one or two small parties should be despatched 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 187 
 
 to the westward of the Mackenzie, in the direction of 
 Point Barrow, one of which might pass over to the Youcon 
 Biver, and descending that stream to the sea, carry on 
 their explorations in that quarter, while the other going 
 down the Mackenzie might trace the coast thence towards 
 the Youcon. And these parties must also be instructed 
 to offer rewards to the natives to prosecute the search in 
 all directions. 
 
 " By these means there is reason to believe that in the 
 course of one year so minute a search may be made of the 
 coast and the islands, that in the event of the expedition 
 having passed in that direction, some trace of their pro- 
 gress would certainly be discovered. 
 
 " From your experience in Arctic discovery, and peculiar 
 qualifications for such an undertaking, I am in hopes you 
 maybe enabled yourself to assume the command of the party 
 to proceed to the northward ; and, as leaders of the two 
 parties to explore the coast to the westward of the Macken- 
 zie, you will have to select such officers of the Company's 
 service within the district as may appear best qualified for 
 the duty : Mr. Murray, I think, would be a very fit man 
 for one of the leaders, and if one party be sent by way of 
 the Youcon, he might take charge of it. In the event of 
 your going on this expedition, you will be pleased to make 
 over the charge of the district to Chief Trader Bell during 
 your absence. 
 
 " In case you may be short-handed, I have by this con- 
 veyance instructed Chief Factor Ballenden to engage in 
 [Red Biver ten choice men, accustomed to boating, and 
 well fitted for such a duty as will be required of them ; 
 and if there be a chance of their reaching Mackenzie 
 Biver, or even Athabasca, before the breaking up of the 
 ice, to forward them immediately. 
 
 " Should the season, however, be too far advanced to 
 enable them to accomplish the journey by winter travel- 
 ling, Mr. Ballenden is directed to increase the party to 
 fourteen men, with a guide to be despatched from feed 
 Biver immediately after the opening of the navigation, in. 
 two boats, laden with provisions and flour, and a few 
 bales of clothing, in order to meet, in some degree, the 
 heavy drain that will be occasioned on our resources in 
 provisions and necessary supplies in Mackenzie Biver. 
 The leader of this party from Bed Biver may, perhaps, 
 be qualified to act as the conductor of one of the parties 
 to examine the coast to the westward." 
 
 On the 5th of February, 1850, another consultation 
 took place at the Admiralty among those officers most ex- 
 
188 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 perienced in these matters, and their opinions in writing 
 were solicited. It is important, therefore, to submit these 
 as fully as possible to the consideration of the reader. 
 
 The first is the report of the hydrographer of the 
 Admiralty, dated the 29th of January, 1850 : 
 
 " Memorandum by Rear- Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, 
 
 K.C.B. 
 
 "The Behring's Strait expedition being at length 
 fairly off, it appears to me to be a duty to submit to their 
 Lordships that no time should now be lost in equipping 
 another set of vessels to renew the search on the opposite 
 side, through Baffin's Bay; and this being the fifth year 
 that the Erebus and Terror have been absent, and pro- 
 bably reduced to only casual supplies of food and fuel, it 
 may be assumed that this search should be so complete 
 and effectual as to leave unexamined no place in which, by 
 any of the suppositions that have been put forward, it is 
 at all likely they may be found. 
 
 " Sir John franklin is not a man to treat his orders 
 with levity, and therefore his first attempt was undoubt- 
 edly made in the direction of Melville Island, and not to 
 the westward. If foiled in that attempt, he naturally 
 hauled to the southward, and using Banks' Land as a 
 barrier against the northern ice, he would try to make 
 westing under its lee. Thirdly, if both of these roads 
 were found closed against his advance, he perhaps availed 
 himself of one of the four passages between the Parry 
 Islands, including the Wellington Channel. Or, lastly, 
 he may have returned to Baffin's Bay, and taken the 
 inviting opening of Jones' Sound. 
 
 " All those lour tracks must therefore be diligently ex- 
 amined before the search can be called complete, and the 
 only method of rendering that examination prompt and 
 efficient will be through the medium of steam ; while only 
 useless expense and reiterated disappointment will attend 
 the best efforts of sailing vessels, leaving the lingering 
 survivors of the lost ships, as well as their relatives in 
 England, in equal despair. Had Sir James [Ross been in 
 a steam vessel, he would not have been surrounded by ice 
 and swept out of the Strait, but by shooting under the 
 protection of Leopold Island, he would have waited there 
 till that fatal field had passed to the eastward, and he 
 then would have found a perfectly open sea up to Melville 
 Island. 
 
 "The best application of steam to ice-going vessels would 
 be Ericson's screw; but the screw or paddles of any of 
 
OFFICIAL REPORT OF ADMIKAL BEAUFORT. 189 
 
 our moderate-sized vessels might be made to elevate with, 
 facility. Vessels so fitted would not require to be fortified 
 in an extraordinary degree, not more than common whalers. 
 Prom the log-like quiescence with which a sailing vessel 
 must await the crush of two approaching floes, they must 
 be as strong as wood and iron can make them ; but the 
 steamer slips out of the reach of the collision, waits till 
 the shock is past, and then profiting by their mutual 
 recoil, darts at once through the transient opening. 
 
 " Two such vessels, and each of them attended by two 
 tenders laden with coals and provisions, would be sufficient 
 for the main lines of search. Every prominent point of 
 land where notices might have been left would be visited, 
 details of their own proceedings would be deposited, and 
 each of the tenders would be left in proper positions 
 as points of rendezvous on which to fall back. 
 
 "Besides these two branches of the expedition, it would 
 be well to allow the whaling captain (Penny) to carry out 
 Jiis proposed undertaking. His local knowledge, his 
 thorough acquaintance with all the mysteries of the ice 
 navigation, and his well-known skill and resources, seem 
 to point him out as a most valuable auxiliary. 
 
 " But whatever vessels may be chosen for this service, 
 I would beseech their lordships to expedite them ; all our 
 attempts have been deferred too long; and there is now 
 reason to believe that very early in the season, in May or 
 even in April, Baffin's Bay may oe crossed before the accu- 
 mulated ice of winter spreads over its surface. If they 
 arrive rather too soon, they may very advantageously 
 await the proper moment in some of the Greenland har- 
 bours, preparing themselves for the coming efforts and 
 struggles, and procuring Esquimaux interpreters. 
 
 " In order to press every resource into the service of 
 this noble enterprise, the vessels should be extensively" 
 furnished with means for blasting and splitting the ice ; 
 perhaps circular saws might be adapted to the steamers, a 
 launch to each party, with a small rotary engine, sledges 
 for the shore, and light boats with sledge bearings for 
 broken ice fields ; balloons for the distribution of adver- 
 tisements, and kites for the explosion of lofty fire-balls. 
 And, lastly, they should have vigorous and numerous 
 crews, so that when detachments are away, other opera- 
 tions should not be intermitted for want of physical 
 strength. 
 
 " As the council of the Royal Society, some time ago, 
 thought proper to remind their lordships of the propriety 
 of instituting this search, it would be lair now to call ou 
 
190 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 that learned body for all the advice and suggestions that 
 science and philosophy can contribute towards the accom- 
 plishment of the great object on which the eyes of all 
 England, and indeed of all the world, are now entirely 
 fixed." 
 
 Captain Beechey, writing to the Secretary of the Admi- 
 ralty, 7th of February, 1850, says : 
 
 " The urgent nature of the case alone can justify the 
 use of ordinary steamers in an icy sea, and great prudence 
 and judgment will be required on the part of their com- 
 manders, to avoid being disabled by collision and pressure. 
 
 " I would also add, as an exception, that I think Leopold 
 Island and Cape Walker, if possible, should both be exa- 
 mined prior to any attempt being made to penetrate in other 
 directions from Barrow's Strait, and that the bottom of 
 Hegent Inlet, about the Pelly Islands, should not be left 
 unexamined. In the memorandum submitted to their 
 lordships on 17th January, 1849, this quarter was con- 
 sidered of importance ; and I am still of opinion, that, had 
 Sir John Franklin abandoned his vessels near the coast of 
 America, and much short of the Mackenzie River, he 
 would have preferred the probability of retaining the use 
 of his boats until he found relief in Barrow's Strait, to 
 risking an overland journey vid the before-mentioned 
 river; it must be remembered, that at the time he sailed, 
 Sir George Back's discovery had rendered it very probable 
 that Boothia was an island. 
 
 " An objection to the necessity of this search seems to 
 be, that had Sir John Franklin taken that route, he would 
 have reached Fury Beach already. However, I cannot 
 but think there will yet be found some good grounds for 
 the Esquimaux sketch, and that their meaning has been 
 misunderstood ; and as Mr. M'Corrnick is an enterprising 
 person, whose name has already been before their lord- 
 ships, I would submit whether a boat expedition from 
 Leopold Depot, under his direction, would not satisfac- 
 torily set at rest all inquiry upon this, now the only 
 quarter unprovided for." 
 
 Captain Sir W. E. Parry states: 
 
 " I am decidedly of opinion that the main search should 
 be renewed in the direction of Melville Island and Banks' 
 Land, including as a part of the plan the thorough exami- 
 nation of Wellington Strait and of the other similar open- 
 ings between the islands of the group bearing my name. 
 I entertain a growing conviction of the probability of the 
 missing ships, or at least a considerable portion of the 
 
OPINIONS OF ARCTIC VOYAGERS. 
 
 crews, being shut up at Melville Island, Banks' Land, or 
 in that neighbourhood, agreeing as I do with Rear-Admiral 
 Sir Francis Beaufort, in his report read yesterday to the 
 Board, that ' Sir John Franklin is not a man to treat his 
 orders with levity,' which he would be justly chargeable 
 with doing if he attached greater weight to any notions 
 he might personally entertain than to the Admiralty 
 instructions, which he well knew to be founded on the 
 experience of former attempts, and on the best information 
 which could then be obtained on the subject. For these 
 reasons I can scarcely doubt that he would employ at least 
 two seasons, those of 1845 and 1846, in an unremitting 
 attempt to penetrate directly westward or south-westward 
 towards Behring's Strait. 
 
 " Supposing this conjecture to be correct, nothing can 
 be more likely than that Sir John Franklin's ships, having 
 penetrated in seasons of ordinary temperature a consider- 
 able distance in that direction, have been locked up by 
 successive seasons of extraordinary rigour, thus baffling 
 the efforts of their weakened crews to escape from the ice 
 in either of the two directions by Behring's or Barrow's 
 Straits. 
 
 " And here I cannot but add, that my own conviction of 
 this probability for it is only with probabilities that we 
 have to deal has been greatly strengthened by a letter I 
 have lately received from Colonel Sabine, of the Royal 
 Artillery, of which I had the honour to submit a copy to 
 Sir Francis Baring. Colonel Sabine having accompanied 
 two successive expeditions to Baffin's Bay, including that 
 tinder my command which reached Melville Island, I con- 
 sider his views to be well worthy of their lordships' atten- 
 tion on this part of the subject. 
 
 " It must be admitted, however, that considerable weight 
 is due to the conjecture which has been offered by persons 
 capable of forming a sound judgment, that having failed, 
 as I did, in the attempt to penetrate westward, Sir John 
 Franklin might deem it prudent to retrace his steps, and 
 was enabled to do so, in order to try a more northern 
 route, either through Wellington Strait or some other of 
 those openings between the Parry Islands to which I have 
 already referred. And this idea receives no small import- 
 ance from the fact (said to be beyond a doubt) of Sir John. 
 Franklin having before his departure expressed such an. 
 intention in case of failing to the westward. 
 
 *' I cannot, therefore, consider the intended search to 
 be complete without making the examination of Welling- 
 
192 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 ton Strait and its adjacent openings a distinct part of the 
 plan, to be performed by one portion of the vessels which 
 I shall presently propose for the main expedition. 
 
 " Much stress has likewise been laid, and I think not 
 altogether without reason, on the propriety of searching 
 Jones' and Smith's Sounds in the north-western part of 
 Baffin's Bay. Considerable interest has lately been 
 attached to Jones' Sound, from the fact of its having been 
 recently navigated by at least one enterprising whaler, 
 and found to be of great width, free from ice, with a swell 
 from the westward, and having no land visible from the 
 mast-head in that direction. It seems more than probable, 
 therefore, that it may be found to communicate with Wel- 
 lington Strait ; so that if Sir John Franklin's ships have 
 been detained anywhere to the northward of the Parry 
 Islands, it would be by Jones' Sound that he would pro- 
 bably endeavour to effect his escape, rather than by the 
 less direct route of Barrow's Strait. I do not myself 
 attach much importance to the idea of Sir John Franklin 
 having so far retraced his steps as to come back through 
 Lancaster Sound, and recommence his enterprise by enter- 
 ing Jones ' Sound ; but the possibility of his attempting 
 bis escape through this fine opening, and the report (though 
 somewhat vague) of a cairn of stones seen by one of the 
 whalers on a headland within it, seems to me to render 
 it highly expedient to set this question at rest by a search 
 in this direction, including the examination of Smith's 
 Sound also." 
 
 I beg to cite next an extract from the letter of Dr. Sir 
 John Sichardson to the Secretary of the Admiralty : 
 
 " Haslar Hospital, Gosport, Itli of February, 1850. 
 
 " With respect to the direction in which a successful 
 search may be predicated with the most confidence, very 
 various opinions have been put forth ; some have supposed 
 either that the ships were lost before reaching Lancaster 
 Sound, or that Sir John Franklin, finding an impassable 
 barrier of ice in the entrance of Lancaster Sound, may 
 have sought for a passage through Jones' Sound. I do 
 not feel inclined to give much weight to either conjecture. 
 When we consider the strength of the Erebus and Terror, 
 calculated to resist the strongest pressure to which ships 
 navigating Baffin's Bay have been known to be subject, in 
 conjunction with the fact that, of the many whalers which 
 have been crushed or abandoned since the commencement 
 of the fishery, the crews, or at least the greater part of 
 them, have, in almost every case, succeeded in reaching 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 193 
 
 other ships, or the Danish settlements, we cannot believe 
 that the two discovery ships, which were seen on the edge 
 of the middle ice so early as the 26th of July, can have 
 been so suddenly and totally overwhelmed as to preclude 
 some one of the intelligent officers, whose minds were pre- 
 pared for every emergency, with their select crews of men, 
 experienced in the ice, from placing a boat on the ice or 
 water, and thus carrying intelligence of the disaster to one 
 of the many whalers which remained for two months 
 after that date in those seas, and this in the absence of 
 any unusual catastrophe among the fishing vessels that 
 season. 
 
 " With respect to Jones' Sound, it is admitted by all 
 who are intimately acquainted with Sir John Franklin, 
 that his first endeavour would be to act up to the letter of 
 his instructions, and that therefore he would not lightly 
 abandon the attempt to pass Lancaster Sound. From 
 the logs of the whalers year after year, we learn that 
 when once they have succeeded in rounding the middle 
 ice, they enter Lancaster Sound with facility : had Sir 
 John Franklin, then, gained that Sound, and from the 
 premises we appear to be fully justified in concluding that 
 he did so, and had he afterwards encountered a compact 
 field of ice, barring Barrow's Strait and Wellington Sound, 
 he would then, after being convinced that he would lose 
 the season in attempting to bore through it, have borne 
 up for Jones' Sound, but not until he had erected a 
 conspicuous landmark, and lodged a memorandum of his 
 reason for deviating from his instructions. 
 
 " The absence of such a signal-post in Lancaster Sound 
 is an argument against the expedition having turned back 
 from thence, and is, on the other hand, a strong support 
 to the supposition that Barrow's Strait was as open in 1845 
 as when Sir W. E. Parry first passed it in 1819 ; that, 
 such being the case, Sir John Franklin, without delay and 
 without landing, pushed on to Cape Walker, and that, 
 subsequently, in endeavouring to penetrate to the south- 
 west, he became involved in the drift ice, which, there is 
 reason to believe, urged by the prevailing winds and the 
 set of the flood tides, is carried towards Coronation Gulf, 
 through channels more or less intricate. Should he have 
 found no opening at Cape Walker, he would, of course, 
 have sought one further to the west; or, finding the 
 southerly and westerly opening blocked by ice, he might 
 have tried a northern passage. 
 
 " In either case, the plan of search propounded by Sir 
 Francis BeaTifort seems to provide against every contin- 
 
 o 
 
194 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 gency, especially when taken in conjunction with Captain 
 Collinson's expedition, via Behring's Strait, and the boat 
 parties from the Mackenzie. 
 
 " I do not venture to offer an opinion on the strength or 
 equipment of the vessels to be employed, or other merely 
 nautical questions, further than by remarking, that the 
 use of the small vessels, which forms part of Sir Francis 
 Beaufort's scheme, is supported by the success of the 
 early navigators with their very small craft, and the late 
 gallant exploit of Mr. Shedden, in rounding Icy Cape and 
 .Point Barrow, in the Nancy Dawson yacht. 
 
 " And further, with respect to the comparative merits 
 of the paddles and screw in the Arctic seas, I beg leave 
 merely to observe, that as long as the screw is immersed 
 in water it will continue to act, irrespective of the tempe- 
 rature of the air ; but when, as occurs late in the autumn, 
 the atmosphere is suddenly cooled below the freezing 
 point of sea water, by a northerly gale, while the sea 
 itself remains warmer, the paddles will be speedily clogged 
 by ice accumulating on the floats as they rise through the 
 air in every revolution. An incident recorded by Sir 
 James C. Ross furnishes a striking illustration of the 
 powerful action of a cold wind ; I allude to a fish having 
 been thrown up by the spray against the bows of the 
 Terror, and firmly frozen there, during a gale in a high 
 southerly latitude. Moreover, even with the aid of a 
 ready contrivance for topping the paddles, the flatness or 
 hollowness of the sides of a pacldle steamer renders her 
 less fit for sustaining pressure ; the machinery is more in 
 the way of oblique beams for strengthening, and she is 
 less efficient as a sailing vessel when the steam is let off." 
 
 Memorandum enclosed in Dr. M ( Cormick's Letter 
 of the 1st of January, 1850. 
 
 " In the month of April last, I laid before my Lords 
 Commissioners of the Admiralty a plan of search for the 
 missing expedition under the command of Captain Sir 
 John Franklin, by means of a boat expedition up Jones' 
 and Smith's Sounds, volunteering myself to conduct it. 
 
 " In that plan I stated the reasons which had induced 
 me to direct my attention more especially to the openings 
 at the head of Baffin's Bay, which at the time were not 
 included within the general scheme of search. 
 
 " Wellington Channel, however, of all the probable open- 
 ings into the Polar Sea, possesses the highest degree of in- 
 terest, and the exploration of it is of such paramount imporr fc- 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 195 
 
 ance, that I should most unquestionably have comprised it 
 within my plan of search, had not Her Majesty's ships 
 Enterprise and Investigator been employed at the time in 
 Barrow's Strait for the express purpose of examining 
 this inlet and Cape Walker, two of the most essential 
 points of search in the whole track of the Erebus and 
 Terror to the westward; being those points at the very 
 threshold of his enterprise, from which Sir John Franklin 
 would take his departure from the known to the unknown, 
 whether he shaped a south-westerly course from the 
 latter, or attempted the passage in a higher latitude from 
 the former point. 
 
 " The return of the sea expedition from Port Leopold, 
 and the overland one from the Mackenzie River, both 
 alike unsuccessful in their search, leaves the fate of the 
 gallant Franklin and his companions as problematical as 
 ever ; in fact, the case stands precisely as it did two years 
 ago ; the work is yet to be begun ; everything remains to 
 be accomplished. 
 
 " In renewal of the search in the ensuing spring, more 
 would be accomplished in boats than in any other way, 
 not only by Behring's Strait, but from the eastward. 
 For the difficulties attendant on icy navigation, which 
 form so insuperable a barrier to the progress of ships, 
 would be readily surmounted by boats; by means of 
 which the coast line may be closely examined for cairns of 
 stones, under which Sir John Franklin would most indu- 
 bitably deposit memorials of his progress in all prominent 
 positions, as opportunities might offer. 
 
 " The discovery of one of these mementos would, in 
 all probability, afford a clue that might lead to the rescue 
 of our enterprising cduntrynien, ere another and sixth 
 winter close in upon them, should they be still in existence; 
 and the time has not yet arrived for abandoning hope. 
 
 ** In renewing once more the offer of my services, which 
 I do most cheerfully, I see no reason for changing the 
 opinions I entertained last spring; subsequent events 
 have only tended to confirm them. I then believed, and 
 I do so still, after a long and mature consideration of the 
 subject, that Sir John Franklin's ships have been arrested 
 in a high latitude, and beset in the heavy polar ice north- 
 ward of the Parry Islands, and that their probable course 
 thither has been through the Wellington Channel, or one 
 of the Sounds at the northern extremity of Baffin's Bay. 
 
 " This appears to rrfe to be the only view of the case 
 that can in any way account for the entire absence of all 
 
 o2 
 
196 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 tidings of them throughout so protracted a period of time 
 (unless all have perished by some sudden and overwhelm- 
 ing catastrophe). 
 
 "Isolated as their position would be under such cir- 
 cumstances, any attempt to reach the continent of 
 America at sucn a distance would be hopeless in the 
 extreme : and the mere chance of any party from the 
 ships reaching the top of Baffin's Bay at the very moment 
 of a whaler's brief and uncertain visit would be attended 
 with by far too great a risk to justify the attempt, for 
 failure would ensure inevitable destruction to the whole 
 party ; therefore their only alternative would be to keep 
 together in their ships, should no disaster have happened 
 to them, and by husbanding their remaining resources, 
 eke them out with whatever wild animals may come 
 within their reach. 
 
 " Had Sir John Franklin been able to shape a south- 
 westerly course from Cape Walker, as directed by his 
 instructions, the probability is, some intelligence of him 
 would have reached this country ere this (nearly five years 
 having already elapsed since his departure from it). 
 Parties would have been sent out from his ships, either 
 in the direction of the coast of America or Barrow's 
 Strait, whichever happened to be the most accessible. 
 Esquimaux would have been fallen in with, and tidings of 
 the long-absent expedition have been obtained. 
 
 " Failing in penetrating beyond Cape Walker, Sir John 
 Franklin would have left some notice of his future inten- 
 tions on that spot, or the nearest accessible one to it ; 
 and should lie then retrace his course for the Wellington 
 Channel, the most probable conjecture, he would not 
 pass up that inlet without depositing a further account 
 of his proceedings, either on the western or eastern point 
 of the entrance to it. 
 
 " Therefore, should my proposal meet with their Lord- 
 ships' approbation, I would most respectfully submit, that 
 the party I have volunteered to conduct should be landed 
 at the entrance to the Wellington Channel, or the nearest 
 point attainable by any ship that their Lordships may 
 deem lit to employ in a future search, consistently with 
 any other services that ship may have to perform ; and 
 should a landing be effected on the eastern side, I would 
 propose commencing the search from Cape Hiley or 
 Beechey Island in a northerly direction, carefully ex- 
 amining every remarkable headlAnd and indentation of 
 the western coast of I>Torth Devon for memorials of the 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 197 
 
 missing expedition ; I would then cross over the Welling. 
 ton Channel, and continue the search along the northern 
 shore of Cornwallis Island, extending the exploration to 
 the westward as far as the remaining portion of the season 
 would permit, so as to secure the retreat of the party 
 before the winter set in, returning either by the eastern 
 or western side of Cornwallis Island, as circumstances 
 might indicate to be the most desirable at the time, after 
 ascertaining the general extent and trending of the shores 
 of that island. 
 
 "As, however, it would be highly desirable that Jones' 
 Sound should not be omitted in the search, more especially 
 as a whaler, last season, reached its entrance and reported 
 it open, I would further propose, that the ship conveying 
 the exploring party out should look into this opening on 
 her way to Lancaster Sound, if circumstances permitted 
 of her doing so early in the season; and, if found to be 
 free from ice, the attempt might be made by the boat 
 expedition to push through it to the westward in this 
 latitude; and should it prove to be an opening into the 
 Polar Sea, of which I think there can be little doubt, a 
 great saving of time and distance would be accomplished. 
 Sailing in this, the ship should be secured in some central 
 position in the vicinity of the Wellington Channel, as a 
 point d'appui to fall back upon in the search from that 
 quarter. 
 
 (Signed) E. M'COBMICK, E.N. 
 
 " Twickenham, 1st of January, 1850." 
 
 Outline of a Plan of an Overland Journey to the Polar 
 Sea, by the Way of the Coppermine River, in Search of 
 Sir John Franklin's Expedition, suggested in 1847. 
 
 " If Sir John Franklin, guided by his instructions, has 
 passed through Barrow's Strait, and shaped a south- 
 westerly course, from the meridian of Cape Walker, with 
 the intention of gaining the northern coast of the con- 
 tinent of America, and so passing through the Dolphin 
 and Union Strait, along the shore of that continent, to 
 Behring's Strait; 
 
 " His greatest risk of detention by the ice throughout 
 this course would be found between the parallels of 74 
 and 69 north latitude, and the meridians of 100 and 110 
 west longitude, or, in other words, that portion of the 
 north-west passage which yet remains unexplored, occupy- 
 
198 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 ing the space between the western coast of Boothia on the 
 one side, and the island or islands forming Banks' and 
 Yictoria Lands on the other. 
 
 ' Should the Erebus and Terror have been beset in the 
 heavy drift ice, or wrecked amongst it and the broken 
 land, which in all probability exists there, whilst contend- 
 ing with the prevalent westerly winds in this quarter ; 
 ^ " The Coppermine Eiver would decidedly offer the most 
 direct route and nearest approach to that portion of the 
 Polar Sea, and, after crossing Coronation Gulf, the average 
 breadth of the Strait between the Continent and Victoria 
 Land is only about twenty- two miles. 
 
 " From this point a careful search should be commenced 
 in the direction of Banks' Land; the intervening space 
 between it and Victoria Land, occupying about five degrees, 
 or little more than 300 miles, could, I think, be accom- 
 plished in one season, and a retreat to winter quarters 
 effected before the winter set in. As the ice in the Cop- 
 permine River breaks up in June, the searching party 
 ought to reach the sea by the beginning of August, which 
 would leave two of the best months of the year for 
 exploring the Polar Sea, viz., August and September. 
 
 "As it would be highly desirable that every available 
 day. to the latest period of the season, should be devoted 
 to the search, I should propose wintering on the coast in 
 the vicinity of the mouth of the Coppermine River, which 
 would also afford a favourable position from which to re- 
 commence the search in the following spring, should the 
 first season prove unsuccessful. 
 
 " Of course the object of such an expedition as I have 
 proposed is not with the view of taking supplies to such 
 a numerous party as Sir John Franklin has under his 
 command; but to find out his position, and acquaint him. 
 where a depot of provisions would be stored up for 
 himself and crews at my proposed winter quarters, where 
 a party should be left to build a house, establish a fishery, 
 and hunt for game, during the absence of the searching 
 party. 
 
 "To carry out this plan efficiently, the Hudson's Bay 
 Company should be requested to lend their powerful 
 co-operation in furnishing guides, supplies of pemmican, 
 &c., for the party on their route and at winter quarters. 
 Without entering into details here, I may observe, that I 
 should consider one boat, combining the necessary requi- 
 sites in 'her construction to fit her for either the river 
 navigation or that of the shores of the Polar Sea, would 
 be quite sufficient, with a crew one-half sailors, and the 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 199 
 
 other half Canadian boatmen; the latter to be engaged at 
 Montreal, for which place I would propose leaving Eng- 
 land in the month of February. 
 
 " Should such an expedition even fail in its main object 
 the discovery of the position of the missing ships and 
 their crews, the long-sought-for Polar passage may be 
 accomplished. 
 
 (Signed) R. M'CoBMiCK, R.N. 
 
 " Woolwich, 1847." 
 
 Copy of a letter from Lieutenant Sherard Osborn to the 
 Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 
 
 " Baling, Middlesex, &th January, 1850. 
 
 "MY LORDS, A second attempt to reach Sir John 
 Franklin's expedition being about to be tried during the 
 present year, I take the liberty of calling your attention to 
 the enclosed proposition for an overland party to be des- 
 patched to the shores of the Polar Sea, with a view to 
 their traversing the short distance between Cape Bathurst 
 and Banks' Land. My reasons for thus trespassing on 
 your attention are as follows : 
 
 " 1st. General opinion places the lost expedition to the 
 west of Cape Walker, and south of the latitude of Melville 
 Island. 
 
 ' The distance from Cape Bathurst to Banks' Land is 
 only 301 miles, and on reference to a chart it will be seen 
 that nowhere else does the American continent approach 
 so near to the supposed position of Franklin's expedition. 
 
 " 2nd. As a starting point, Cape Bathurst offers great 
 advantages ; the arrival of a party sent there from England 
 may be calculated upon to a day ; whereas the arrival of 
 Captain Collinson in the longitude of Cape Barrow, or 
 that of an eastern expedition in Lancaster Sound, will 
 depend upon many uncontrollable contingencies. The 
 distance to be performed is comparatively little, and the 
 certainty of being able to fall back upon supplies offers 
 great advantages. Captain Collinson will have 680 miles 
 of longitude to traverse between Cape Barrow and Banks' 
 Land. An Eastern Expedition, if opposed by the ice (as 
 Sir James Boss has been), and unable to proceed in their 
 vessels farther than Leopold Harbour, will have to journey 
 on foot 330 miles to reach the longitude of Banks' Land, 
 and if any accident occur to their vessels they will be in 
 as critical a position as those they go to seek. 
 
 " 3rd. Banka' Land bears from Cape Bathurst JN". 41 4^ 
 
200 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 E. 302 miles, and there is reason to believe that in the 
 summer season a portion of this distance may be traversed 
 in boats. 
 
 " 4th and 5th. Dr. Richardson confirms previous re- 
 ports of the ice being light on the coast east of the Mac- 
 kenzie Biver to Cape Bathurst, and informs us that the 
 Esquimaux had seen no ice to seaward for two moons. 
 
 " 6th. Every mile traversed northward by a party from 
 Cape Bathurst would be over that unknown space in which 
 traces of Eranklin may be expected. 
 
 " 7th. It is advisable that such a second party be des- 
 patched from Cape Bathurst, in order that the prosecution 
 of Dr. Bae's examination of the supposed channel between. 
 Wollaston and Victoria Lands may in no way be inter- 
 fered with by his attention being called to the westward. 
 
 " 8th. The caches of provisions made at different points 
 of the Mackenzie and at Cape Bathurst, would enable a 
 party to push down to their starting point with great cele- 
 rity directly the Biver Mackenzie opens, which may be as 
 early as May. 
 
 "I would also remind your Lordships that the proposed 
 expedition would carry into execution a very important 
 clause in the instructions given to Sir James Boss ; viz., 
 that of sending exploring parties from Banks' Land in a 
 south-westerly direction towards Cape Bathurst or Cape 
 Parry. 
 
 " In conclusion, I beg to offer my willing services 
 towards the execution of the proposed plan ; and seeking 
 it from no selfish motives, but thoroughly impressed with 
 its feasibility, you may rest assured, my lords, should I 
 have the honour of being sent upon this service, that I 
 shall not disappoint your expectations. 
 
 "I have, &c., 
 (Signed) " SHEEAKD OSBOKN, Lieut., E.N." 
 
 Copy of a letter from Colonel Saline, R.A., to Captain 
 
 Sir W. JBdward Parry. 
 
 " Castle- down Terrace, Hastings, 
 " 15^ of January, 1850. 
 
 " There can be little doubt, I imagine, in the mind of 
 any one who has read attentively Eranklin's instructions, 
 and (in reference to them) your description of the state of 
 the ice and of the navigable water in 1819 and 1820, in the 
 route which he was ordered to pursue ; still less, I think, 
 can there be a doubt in the mind of any one who had the 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 201 
 
 advantage of being with, you in those years, that Franklin 
 (always supposing no previous disaster) must have made 
 his way to the south-west part of Melville Island either in 
 1845 or 1846. It has been said that 1845 was an unfavour- 
 able season, and as the navigation of Davis' Strait and 
 Baffin's Bay was new to Franklin, we may regard it as 
 more probable that it may have taken him two seasons to 
 accomplish what we accomplished in one. So far, I think, 
 guided by his instructions and by the experience gained in 
 1819 and 1820, we may reckon pretty confidently on the 
 first stage of his proceedings, and, doubtless, in his pro- 
 gress he would have left memorials in the usual manner at 
 places where he may have landed, some of which would be 
 likely to fall in the way of a vessel following in his track. 
 From the west end of Melville Island our inferences as to 
 his further proceedings must become more conjectural, 
 being contingent on the state of the ice and the existence 
 of navigable water in the particular season. If he found 
 the ocean, as we did, covered to the west and south, as far 
 as the eye could reach from the summit of the highest 
 Mils, with ice of a thickness unparalleled in any other part 
 of the Polar Sea, he would, after probably waiting through 
 one whole season in the hope of some favourable change, 
 have retraced his steps, in obedience to the second part of 
 his instructions, in order to seek an opening to the north 
 which might conduct to a more open sea. In this case 
 some memorial of the season passed by him at the south- 
 west end of Melville Island, and also of his purpose of 
 retracing his steps, would doubtless have been left by him ; 
 and should he subsequently have found an opening to the 
 north, presenting a favourable appearance, there also, 
 should circumstances have permitted, would a memorial 
 have been left. 
 
 " He may, however, have found a more favourable state 
 of things at the south-west end of Melville Island than we 
 did, and may have been led thereby to attempt to force a 
 passage for his ships in the direct line of Behring's Strait, 
 or perhaps, in the first instance, to the south of that direc- 
 tion, namely, to Banks' Land. In such case two contin- 
 gencies present themselves : first, that in the season of 
 navigation of 1847 he may have made so much progress, 
 that in 1848 he may have preferred the endeavour to push 
 through to Behring's Strait, or to some western part of 
 the continent, to an attempt to return by the way of Bar- 
 row Strait; the mission of the Plover, the Enterprise, 
 and the Investigator, together with Dr. Eae's expedition, 
 supply, I presume (for I am but partially acquainted with 
 
202 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 their instructions), the most judicious means of affording 
 relief in this direction. There is, however, a second con- 
 tingency ; and it is the one which the impression left on 
 my mind by the nature and general aspect of the ice in the 
 twelve months which we ourselves passed at the south- 
 west end of Melville Island, compels me, in spite of my 
 wishes, to regard as the more probable, viz., that his 
 advance from Melville Island in the season of 1847 may 
 have been limited to a distance of 50, or perhaps 100 miles 
 at farthest, and that in 1848 he may have endeavoured to 
 retrace his steps, but only with partial success. It is, I 
 apprehend, quite a conceivable case, that under these cir- 
 cumstances, incapable of extricating the ships from the 
 ice, the crews may have been, at length, obliged to quit 
 them, and attempt a retreat, not towards the continent, 
 because too distant^ but to Melville Island, where certainly 
 food, and probably fuel (seals), might be obtained, and 
 where they would naturally suppose that vessels despatched 
 from England for their relief would, in the first instance, 
 seek them. It is quite conceivable also, I apprehend, that 
 the circumstances might be such that their retreat may 
 have been made without their boats, and probably in the 
 April or May of 1849. 
 
 " Where the Esquimaux have lived, there Englishmen, 
 may live, and no valid argument against the attempt to 
 relieve can, I think, be founded on the improbability of 
 finding Englishmen alive in 1850, who may have made a 
 retreat to Melville Island in the spring of 1849 ; nor would 
 the view of the case be altered in any material degree, if 
 we suppose their retreat to have been made in 1848 or 
 1849 to Banks' Land, which may afford facilities of food 
 and fuel equal or superior to Melville Island, and a further 
 retreat in the following year to the latter island as the point 
 at which they would more probably look out for succour. 
 
 " Without disparagement, therefore, to the attempts 
 made in other directions, I retain my original opinion, 
 which seems also to have been the opinion of the Board of 
 Admiralty, by which Ross's Instructions were drawn up, 
 that the most promising direction for research would be 
 taken by a vessel which should follow them to the south- 
 west point of Melville Island, be prepared to winter there, 
 and, if necessary, to send a party across the ice in April 
 or May to examine Banks' Land, a distance (there and 
 back) less than recently accomplished by Ross in his land 
 j ourney. 
 
 "I learn from Boss's despatches, that almost immediately 
 after he got out of Port Leopold (1849), he was entangled in 
 
OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS, 203 
 
 arently interminable fields and floes of ice, with which, 
 in 'the course of the summer, he was drifted down through 
 Barrow Strait and Baffin's Bay nearly to Davis' Strait. 
 It is reasonable to presume, therefore, that the localities 
 from whence this ice drifted are likely to be less encum- 
 bered than usual by accumulated ice in 1850. It is, of 
 course, of the highest importance to reach Barrow Strait 
 at the earliest possible period of the season ; and, connected 
 with this point, I learnt from Captain Bird, whom I had 
 the pleasure of seeing here a few days ago, a very remark- 
 able fact, that the ice which prevented their crossing 
 Baffin's Bay in 72 or 73 of latitude (as we did in 1819, 
 arriving in Barrow Strait a month earlier than we had 
 done the preceding year, when we went round by Mel- 
 ville Bay, and nearly a month earlier than Ross did 
 last year) was young ice, which had formed in the remark- 
 ably calm summer of last year, and which the absence ot 
 wind prevented their forcing a passage through, on the 
 one hand, whilst, on the other, the ice was not heavy 
 enough for ice anchors. It was, he said, not more than 
 two or two-and-a-half feet thick, and obviously of very 
 recent formation. There must, therefore, have been an 
 earlier period of the season when this part of the sea must 
 have been free from ice; and this comes in confirmation of 
 a circumstance of which I was informed by Mr. Petersen 
 (a Danish gentleman sent to England some months ago 
 by the Northern Society of Antiquaries of Copenhagen, to 
 make extracts from books and manuscripts in the British 
 Museum), that the Northmen, who had settlements some 
 centuries ago on the west coast of Greenland, were in the 
 habit of crossing Baffin's Bay in the latitude of Upernavic 
 in the spring of the year, for the purpose of fishing in 
 Barrow Strait, from whence they returned in August; 
 and that in the early months they generally found the 
 passage across free from ice. 
 
 " In the preceding remarks, I have left one contingency 
 tmconsidered ; it is that which would have followed in 
 pursuance of his instructions, if Franklin should have 
 found the aspect of the ice too unfavourable to the west 
 and south of Melville Island to attempt to force a passage 
 through it, and should have retraced his steps in hopes of 
 finding a more open sea to the northward, either in Wel- 
 lington Strait or elsewhere. It is quite conceivable that 
 here alsa the expedition may have encountered, at no very 
 great distance, insuperable difficulties to their advance, 
 and may have failed in accomplishing a return with their 
 ships. In this case, the retreat of the crews, supposing it 
 
204 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 to have been made across land or ice, would most probably 
 be directed to some part of the coast on the route to Mel- 
 ville Island, on which route they would, without doubt, 
 expect that succour would be attempted." 
 
 Mr. Robert A. Goodsir, a brother of Mr. H. D. Gooclsir, 
 the assistant-surgeon of Sir John Franklin's ship, the 
 Erebus, left Stromness, as surgeon of the Advice, whaler, 
 Capt. Penny, on the 17th of March, 1849, in the hopes of 
 gaining some tidings of his brother ; but returned unsuc- 
 cessful after an eight months' voyage. He has, however, 
 published a very interesting little narrative of the icy 
 regions and of his Arctic voyage. 
 
 In a letter to Lady Franklin, dated Edinburgh, 18th of 
 January, 1850, he says : " I trust you are not allowing 
 yourself to become over-anxious. I know that, although 
 there is much cause to be so, there is still not the slightest 
 reason that we should despair. It may be presumptuous 
 in me to say so, but I have never for a moment doubted 
 as to their ultimate safe return, having always had a sort 
 of presentiment that I would meet my brother and his 
 companions somewhere in the regions in which their adven- 
 tures are taking place. This hope I have not yet given 
 up, and I trust that by next summer it may be fulfilled, 
 when an end will be put to the suspense which has lasted 
 so long, and which must have tried you so much." 
 
 The Arctic regions, far from being so destitute of animal 
 life as might be supposed from the bleak and inhospitable 
 character of the climate, are proverbial for the boundless 
 profusion of various species of the animal kingdom, which 
 are to be met with in different localities during a great 
 part of the year. 
 
 The air is often darkened by innumerable flocks of 
 Arctic and blue gulls (Lestris Parasiticus, and Larus 
 glaucus), the ivory gull or snow bird (Larus eburneus), the 
 kittiwake, the fulmar or petrel, snow geese, terns, coons, 
 dovekies, &c. The cetaceous animals comprise the great 
 Greenland whale (Balcena mysticetus], the sea unicorn, or 
 narwhal (Monodon monoceros), the white whale or beluga 
 (Delphinus Icucos), the morse or walrus (Trichecus ros- 
 marus), and the seal. There are also plenty of porpoises 
 occasionally to be met with, and although these animals 
 may not be the best of food, yet they can be eaten. Of 
 the land animals I may instance the Polar bear, the musk- 
 ox, the reindeer, the Arctic fox, and wolves. 
 
 Parry obtained nearly 4000lbs. weight of animal food 
 during his winter residence at Melville Island; Hoss 
 
ABUNDANCE OF ANIMAL FOOD MET WITH. 205 
 
 nearly the same quantity from birds alone, when wintering 
 at Port Leopold. 
 
 In 1719, the crews of two Hudson's Bay vessels, the 
 Albany and 'Discovery, a ship and sloop, under the com- 
 mand of Mr. Barlow and Mr. Knight, were cast on shore 
 on Marble Island, and it was subsequently ascertained 
 that some of the party supported life for nearly three 
 years. Mr. Hearne learnt the particulars from some of 
 the Esquimaux in 1729. The ship it appeared went on 
 shore in the fall of 1719 ; the party, being then in number 
 about fifty, began to build their house for the winter. As 
 soon as the ice permitted in the following summer the Es- 
 quimaux paid them another visit, and found the number 
 of sailors much reduced, and very unhealthy. 
 
 Sickness and famine occasioned such havoc among them 
 that by the setting in of the second winter, their number was 
 reduced to twenty. Some of the Esquimaux took up their 
 abode at this period on the opposite side of the harbour, 
 and supplied them with what provisions they could spare 
 in the shape of blubber, seal's flesh, and train oil. 
 
 The Esquimaux left for their wanderings in the spring, 
 and on revisiting the island in the summer of 1721, only 
 five of the crews were found alive, and these were so 
 ravenous for food, that they devoured the blubber and seal's 
 flesh raw as they purchased it of the natives, which proved 
 so injurious in their weak state that three of them died in 
 a few days. The two survivors, though very weak, 
 managed to bury their comrades, and protracted their 
 existence for some days longer. 
 
 " They frequently," in the words of the narrative, " went 
 to the top of an adjacent rock, and earnestly looked to the 
 south and east, as if in expectation of some vessels coming 
 to their relief. After continuing there a considerable 
 time, and nothing appearing in sight, they sat down close 
 together and wept bitterly. At length one of the two 
 died, and the other's strength was so far exhausted, that 
 he fell down and died also in attempting to dig a grave for 
 his companion. The skulls and other large bones of these 
 two men are now lying above ground close to the house.'* 
 
 Sir John Richardson, speaking of the amount of food to 
 be obtained in the Polar region, says, "Deer migrate over 
 the ice in the spring from the main shore to Victoria and 
 "Wollaston Lands in large herds, and return in the autumn. 
 These lands are also the breeding places of vast flocks of 
 snow geese ; so that with ordinary skill in hunting, a large 
 supply of food might be procured on their shores, in the 
 months of June, July, and August. Seals are also nume- 
 
206 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 rous in those seas, and are easily shot, their curiosity ren- 
 dering them a ready prey to a boat party." In these ways 
 and by fishing, the stock of provisions might be greatly 
 augmented and we have the recent example of Mr. Rae, 
 who passed a severe winter on the very barren shores of 
 [Repulse Bay, with no other fuel than the withered tufts of 
 & herbaceous andromada, and maintained a numerous 
 party on the spoils of the chase alone for a whole year. 
 Such instances forbid us to lose hope. Should Sir John 
 [Franklin's provisions become so far inadequate to a win- 
 ter's consumption, it is not likely that he would remain 
 longer by his ships, but rather tnat in one body, or in 
 several, the officers and crews, with boats cut down so as 
 to be light enough to drag over the ice, or built expressly 
 for that purpose, would endeavour to make their way east- 
 ward to Lancaster Sound, or southward to the main land, 
 according to the longitude in which the ships were ar- 
 rested. 
 
 We ought not to judge of the supplies of food that can 
 be procured in the Arctic regions by diligent hunting, 
 from the quantities that have been actually obtained on 
 the several expeditions that have returned, and conse- 
 quentty of the means of preserving life there. When 
 there was abundance in the ships, the address and energy 
 of the hunting parties was not likely to be called forth, as 
 they would inevitably be when the existence of the crews 
 depended solely on their personal efforts, and formed 
 their chief or only object in their march towards quarters 
 where relief might be looked for. This remark has 
 reference to the supposition that on the failure of the 
 stock of provisions in the ships, the crews would in separate 
 parties under their officers seek for succour in several 
 directions. 
 
 With an empty stomach the power of resisting external 
 cold is greatly impaired; but when the process of digestion 
 is going on vigorously, even with comparatively scanty 
 clothing, the heat of the body is preserved. There is in 
 the winter time, in high latitudes, a craving for fat or 
 oleaginous food, and for such occasions the flesh of seals, 
 walrusses, or bears, forms a useful article of diet. Cap- 
 tain Cook says that the walrus is a sweet and wholesome 
 article of food. Whales and seals would also furnish light 
 and fuel. The necessity for increased food in very cold 
 weather, is not so great when the people do not work. 
 
 Mr. Gilpin, in his Narrative in the Nautical Magazine 
 for March, 1850, writes thus ; 
 
ABUNDANCE OF ANIMAL FOOD MET WITH. 207 
 
 " About the 20th of June a small water bird, called the 
 doveky, had become so numerous, and so many were 
 daily shot by those who troubled themselves to go after 
 them, that shooting parties from each ship, consisting of 
 an officer and marine, were established at Whaler Point, 
 where they remained the whole week, returning on board 
 on Saturday night. In a week or so after this the coon, 
 a much heavier bird, became more plentiful than the little 
 doveky, and from this time to the middle of August, so 
 successful and untiring were our sportsmen, that the crew 
 received each a bird per man a day. 
 
 " The account kept on board the Investigator showed the 
 number of birds killed to have amounted to about 4000, 
 and yielding near 2500lbs. of meat. But more than this 
 was obtained, as many were shot by individuals for amuse- 
 ment, and not always noted." 
 
 Mr. G-oodsir, surgeon, when in the Advice whaler, on 
 her voyage up Lancaster Sound, in the summer of 1849, 
 speaking of landing on one of the Wollaston Islands, on 
 the west side of ISTavy Board Inlet, says he disturbed 
 about half a dozen pairs of the eider duck (Somateria 
 moUissima). Their eggs he found to be within a few 
 hours of maturity. There were besides numerous nests, 
 the occupants of which had probably winged their way 
 southwards. Two brent geese (Anser bernicla), and a 
 single pair of arctic terns (Sterna arctica), were most 
 vociferous and courageous in defence of their downy 
 offspring wherever he approached. These were the only 
 birds he saw, with the exception of a solitary raven 
 (Corvus corax) not very high overhead, whose sharp and 
 yet musically bell-like croak came startling upon the ear. 
 
 Mr. Snow, in his account of the voyage of the Prince 
 Albert, p. 162, says (speaking of Melville Bay, at the 
 northern head of Baffin's Bay), " Innumerable quantities 
 of birds, especially the little auk (Alca alle) and the 
 doveky (Colyinbus grylle), were now seen (August 6th) in 
 every direction, ^they were to be observed in thousands, 
 on the wing and in the water, and often on pieces of ice, 
 where they were clustered together so thick that scores 
 might have been shot at a time by two or three fowling 
 pieces." 
 
 In passing up Lancaster Sound a fortnight later several 
 shoals of eider ducks and large quantities of other birds 
 were also seen. See ante, p, 49, et seq. 
 
208 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 A BALLAD OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. 
 
 "The ice was here, the ice was there, 
 The ice was all around." Coleridge. 
 
 WHITHER sail you, Sir John Franklin ? 
 
 Cried a whaler in Baffin's Bay ; 
 To know if between the land and the Pole, 
 
 I may find a broad sea-way. 
 
 I charge you back, Sir John Franklin, 
 
 As you would live and thrive, 
 For between the land and the frozen Pole 
 
 No man may sail alive. 
 
 But lightly laughed the stout Sir John, 
 
 And spoke unto his men ; 
 Half England is wrong, if he is right; 
 
 Bear off to westward then. 
 
 O, whither sail you, brave Englishman? 
 
 Cried the little Esquimaux. 
 Between your land and the polar star 
 
 My goodly vessels go. 
 
 Come down, if you would journey there, 
 
 The little Indian said ; 
 And change your cloth for fur clothing, 
 
 Your vessel for a sled. 
 
 But lightly laughed the stout Sir John, 
 And the crew laughed with him too; 
 
 A sailor to change from ship to sled, 
 I ween, were something new 1 
 
 All through the long, long polar day, 
 
 The vessels westward sped ; 
 And wherever the sail of Sir John was blown, 
 
 The ice gave way and fled. 
 
 Gave way with many a hollow groan, 
 
 And with many a surly roar ; 
 But it murmured and threatened on every si 
 
 And closed where he sailed before. 
 
 Ho ! see ye not, my merry men, 
 
 The broad and open sea ? 
 Bethink ye what the whaler said, 
 Bethink ye of the little Indian's sled ! 
 
 The crew laughed out in glee. 
 
 Sir John, Sir John, 'tis bitter cold, 
 
 The scud drives on the breeze, 
 The ice comes looming from the North, 
 
 The very sunbeams freeze. 
 
 Bright Summer goes, dark Winter comes 
 
 We cannot rule the year; 
 But long ere Summer's sun goes down, 
 
 On yonder sea we'll steer. 
 
A BALLAD OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. 209 
 
 The dripping icebergs dipped and rose, 
 
 And floundered down the gale ; 
 The ships were staid, the yards were manned, 
 
 And furled the useless sail. 
 
 The Summer's gone, the Winter's come, 
 
 We sail not on yonder sea ; 
 Why sail we not, Sir John Franklin? 
 
 A silent man was he. 
 
 The Winter goes, the Summer conies, 
 
 We cannot rule the year ; 
 I ween, we cannot rule the ways, 
 
 Sir John, wherein we'd steer. 
 
 The cruel ice came floating on, 
 
 And closed beneath the lee, 
 Till the thickening waters dashed no more, 
 'Twas ice around, behind, before 
 
 My God ! there is no sea 1 
 
 What think you of the whaler now ! 
 
 What of the Esquimaux ? 
 A sled were better than a ship, 
 
 To cruise through ice and snow. 
 
 Down sank the baleful crimson sun ; 
 
 The northern-light came out, 
 And glared upon the ice-bound ships, 
 
 And shook its spears about. 
 
 The snow came down, storm breeding stormv 
 
 And on the decks was laid ; 
 Till the weary sailor, sick at heart, 
 
 Sank down beside his spade. 
 
 Sir John, the night is black and long, 
 
 The hissing wind is bleak; 
 The hard, green ice is strong as death : 
 
 I prithee, captain, speak. 
 
 The night is neither bright nor short, 
 
 The singing breeze is cold, 
 The ice is not so strong as hope, 
 
 The heart of man is bold ! 
 
 What hope can scale this icy wall, 
 
 High over the main flag-stan"? 
 Above the ridges the wolf and bear 
 Look down with a patient, settled stare,- ; 
 
 Look down on us and laugh. 
 
 The Summer went, the Winter came ' V 
 
 We could not rule the year ; 
 But Summer will melt the ice again, 
 And open a path to the sunny main, 
 
 Whereon our ships shall steer. 
 
210 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 The "Winter went, the Summer went, 
 
 The Winter came around ; 
 But the hard, green ice was strong as death, 
 And the voice of hope sank to a breath, 
 
 Yet caught at every sound. 
 
 Hark ! heard you not the sound of guns? 
 
 And there, and there again ? 
 'Tis some uneasy iceberg's roar, 
 
 As he turns in the frozen main. 
 
 Hurra ! hurra I the Esquimaux 
 
 Across the ice-fields steal : 
 God give them grace for their charity 1 
 
 Ye pray for the silly seal. 
 
 Sir John, where are the English fields, 
 And where the English trees, 
 
 And where are the little English flowers, 
 That open in the breeze ? 
 
 Be still, be still, my brave sailors ! 
 
 You shall see the fields again, 
 And pmell the scent of the opening flowers, 
 
 The grass, and the waving grain. 
 
 Oh ! when shall I see my orphan child ? 
 
 My Mary waits for me ; 
 Oh ! when shall I see my old mother, 
 
 And pray at her trembling knee ? 
 
 Be still, be still, my brave sailors I 
 Think not such thoughts again ! 
 
 But a tear froze slowly on his cheek- 
 He thought of Lady Jane. 
 
 Ah ! bitter, bitter grows the cold, 
 The ice grows more and more ; 
 
 More settled stare the wolf and bear, 
 More patient than before. 
 
 Oh ! think you, good Sir John Franklin, 
 
 We'll ever see the land ? 
 'Twas cruel to send us here to starve, 
 
 Without a helping hand. 
 
 *Twas cruel, Sir John, to send us here, 
 
 So far from help or home ; 
 To starve and freeze on this lonely sea; 
 I ween, the Lords of the Admiralty 
 
 Had rather send than come. 
 
 Oh 1 whether we starve to death alone, 
 
 Or sail to our own country, 
 We have done what man has never done-*' 
 The open ocean danced in the sun 
 
 We passed the Northern Sea I 
 
VOYAGES OF VARIOUS VESSELS. 211 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS 
 AFTER SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. 
 
 I sliall now proceed to furnish, an account of the prin- 
 cipal researches which have been made for Franklin's 
 vessels, merely premising that it will be as brief as is con- 
 sistent with intelligibleness. 
 
 Early in January, 1850, the Enterprise, Captain Col- 
 linson, and the Investigator, Captain M'Clure, again started 
 to pursue the search. They passed through the Strait of 
 Magellan in April, and made for the Sandwich Islands, 
 which the Enterprise left on the 30th of June. The 
 Investigator arrived there three days after, and pur- 
 sued her course to Behring's Strait, reaching Cape Lis- 
 burne, within the Strait after an unparalleled passage of 
 only twenty-six days. The Enterprise pushed to seventy 
 miles eastward of Point Barrow, when she was stopped by 
 the ice ; and the difficulty of finding a harbour induced 
 Captain Collinson to return, and winter at Hong Kong ; 
 which he again left in April, 1851, to prosecute the search. 
 Meantime, the Investigator, after having quitted Cape 
 Lisburne, was seen both by the Herald and Plover, for 
 the last time, on the 5th August, 1850, under press of 
 canvass, with a strong south-west wind. To a signal of 
 recall, she is reported to have replied " Important duty ;" 
 "Own responsibility." As regards the Investigator, all is 
 conjecture. But who can say that, a few days after 
 Lieutenant M'Clintock left Melville Island, some of the 
 officers and men of Captain M'Clure's ship may not have 
 arrived at that rendezvous ? There it was that the ships 
 from the east and from the west hoped to exchange num- 
 bers. The ships from the east never reached the ren- 
 dezvous ; but as a detached party did, probably the Inves- 
 tigator, or a detachment, may have reached, ere this, 
 Melville Island from the west. 
 
 The efforts begun thus early in 1850 were vigorously 
 followed up in the spring of the same year ; several vessels 
 started to renew the search by way of Lancaster Sound. 
 Captain Austin, in the Resolute, and Captain Ommanney, 
 in the Assistance, attended by two screw steamers, the 
 Intrepid, Lieutenant Cator, and the Pioneer, Lieutenant 
 Osborne. The veteran, Sir John Eoss, volunteered, aided 
 by the Hudson's Bay Company, to join the search in his 
 yacht, the Felix. Captain Penny, an experienced com- 
 mander in the whaling service, received orders from the 
 Admiralty to equip two vessels, the Lady Franklin, and 
 
 P 9. 
 
212 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 a tender, the Sophia, in charge of Captain Stewart. And 
 that no portion of the polar regions might be left un- 
 searched, Lady Franklin herself, by her private means, 
 sent a small schooner, the Prince Albert, in command of 
 Captain Forsyth, E.N., to examine Regent Inlet, for 
 which the other vessels had not provided ; so that, in the 
 summer of 1850, not less than eight British vessels 
 were assembled within Lancaster Sound, besides the two 
 American schooners, the Advance, Lieutenant de Haven, 
 and the Rescue, Lieutenant Griffin ; which the munificent 
 liberality of Mr. Grinnel, of New 5Tork, had contributed 
 to this noble object ; upon which at least fourteen vessels 
 were thus employed in the Arctic seas. 
 
 In the autumn, Captain Forsyth having found [Regent 
 Inlet blocked up with ice, returned to England, bringing 
 tidings of some traces of Franklin's expedition having 
 been discovered at Point Biley, at the mouth of Wel- 
 lington Channel ; and also a rumour picked up by Sir John 
 Hoss's Esquimaux interpreter, respecting an attack of 
 treacherous natives on certain ships at one of the many 
 places called Ommanak, to which little or no credence 
 nas been given. 
 
 The various searching vessels got into winter quarters 
 in the bays of Cornwallis Land, and Griffith Island, at 
 the southern extremity of Wellington Channel, excepting 
 the American ones, which being caught in the pack ice, 
 were drifting helplessly during the whole winter ; and 
 carried a linear distance of more than 1000 miles, not 
 being liberated till they were south of Cape Walsingham, 
 in Baffin's Bay, in the month of June, 1851. Captain 
 Austin's ships were locked in the ice for nearly a year. 
 
 In the early spring, the travelling parties from the ships 
 began their operations over the ice, and thoroughly 
 searched the shores north and south of Barrow's Strait, 
 to the amount, in the aggregate, of over 2000 miles. 
 Captain Ommanney visited Cape Walker, and the land 
 trending west, up to 100 42' W., and was gone from his 
 vessel sixty days. During some of this time the thermo- 
 meter indicated a temperature of 71 below the freezing 
 point. Captain Ommanney gives his decided opinion, that 
 vessels would be unable to navigate along the coast he 
 explored, from the appearance of fixed ice and shoals, and 
 from the southerly trending of the land where it was sup- 
 posed to lie in a westerly direction. Another sledge party 
 travelled along the eastern shore of the land, explored on 
 the west side by Captain Ommanney's party. The mercury 
 in the thermometer carried by this party was frequently 
 
CAPTAIN AUSTIN'S EXPEDITION. 213 
 
 frozen : and their chronometer was stopped from exces- 
 sive cold. In this travelling sails were occasionally 
 hoisted on the sledges, and large kites were also attached. 
 When the wind was high, these aids propelled the sledge 
 very rapidly, and the whole of the party then rode; but when 
 the wind fell, the sledges, with their provisions and stores, 
 had to be dragged by main force over the ice by the men 
 harnessed to them. 
 
 Another party examined Cornwallis Island, which lies 
 on the western side of Wellington Channel, Bathurst 
 Island, Byam Martin Island and Straits, and the coast 
 north-west of Bathurst Island, to the 76 lat. 
 
 Lieutenant Osborne reached in the same direction to 
 100 25'. Lieutenant M'Clintock visited Winter Harbour, 
 in Melville Island, and rounded Cape Dundas into Liddon 
 Gulf, as far as Bushnan Cove, returning across the island 
 to Winter Harbour, bringing back as a trophy part of the 
 broken cart-wheel left by Sir E. Parry, in 1820. This 
 extraordinary journey, which occupied eighty days, and 
 involved a distance of 760 miles, gave no traces of the 
 missing navigators, but produced unmistakable evidence 
 of the great abundance of animal life on the Parry Islands, 
 for the travellers fell in with a great number of hares, 
 deer, and musk oxen, bears and foxes, as well as birds in 
 great abundance. They travelled when the cold was so 
 intense that bottles of water, carried by the men in their 
 breasts, froze after an hour or so ; salt pork broke like suet, 
 and rum thickened. 
 
 Other parties examined the islands lying east of Mel- 
 ville Island, with the like ill success. 
 
 Sledge parties from Captain Penny's vessels proceeded 
 up Wellington Channel, to examine both its sides. On 
 the 30th May, Captain Stewart, commanding one of these 
 parties, arrived at a northern dividing channel, which 
 leads from Wellington into Queen Victoria's Channel. 
 Here, to his great astonishment, he found an open sea; 
 but unfortunately, the want of a boat stopped his further 
 progress. Ducks and sea-fowl, of various kinds, were 
 swimming on the water, and snipe were flying about the 
 beach. The entrance to Wellington Strait was barred 
 against the entrance of vessels by a firm and impassable 
 barrier of ice, the evident accumulation of several seasons. 
 Captain Penny's party discovered and explored Queen'3 
 Channel, which is, without doubt, a prolongation of Wel- 
 lington Strait into the great Polar Basin. In this new 
 channel Penny met with wood and other foreign sub- 
 stances adrift, and polar bears, deer, walruses, and whales 
 
214 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 
 
 in great numbers. It is highly probable that Franklin 
 has parsed north through this passage. 
 
 Some jealousies and petty differences having taken 
 place between the naval commander of the expedition, 
 Captain Austin, and the civilian, Mr. Penny, the latter 
 was induced to return home in the autumn of 1851. Sir 
 John Ho.s followed shortly after; and Captain Austin 
 and his ships arrived on the 7th October, after an absence 
 from England of about eighteen months. 
 
 The American expedition consisted of two brigantines, 
 the Advance, of 144 tons, and the Rescue, of 91 tons. 
 They left New York on the 25th May, 1850. The un- 
 fortunate result of their ice-drift I have already alluded 
 to. With the exceptions of Captain Back and Sir James 
 Hoss, there is no other like record of a Polar drift, and 
 this is without parallel as to distance and exposure. 
 
 On Sept. 13, 1851, Griffith's Island, the greatest westing, 
 was observed by the Advance and the Rescue, when they 
 attempted to return, but were frozen in opposite Welling- 
 ton Channel. Then commenced the northern drift, and 
 the vessels were carried to 75 30' the greatest northing 
 ever yet attained in that meridian of latitude. After- 
 wards, about the latter end of November, they re-entered 
 Lancaster Sound, under the influence of the drift. 
 
 The ice then closed upon them, and they were amid' all 
 the horrors of a Polar winter, but it was subject to re- 
 peated disruptions effected by wind, storm, or drift. 
 During the months of November, December, January, and 
 February, the darkness was perpetual (a Polar night) and 
 the discomfort of such a home, thus ice-bound, can be 
 better imagined than described. 
 
 The men were then prepared with knapsacks for any 
 immediate emergency, no one knowing when the fearful 
 pressure of the ice would crush the little barks. Previous 
 to this, however, and preparatory for it, the Rescue was 
 deserted, about November 5, to save fuel, &c., the ther- 
 mometer being 40 below zero. 
 
 Meantime constant exposure to wet and cold here in- 
 troduced scurvy, and in a short time, notwithstanding tho 
 usual preventives, the disease assumed in some cases an 
 alarming form. Lieut, de Haven became severely afflicted, 
 but by pouring hot water on dried apples, with some sea- 
 soning of lemon juice, a preparation for a drink was 
 made, which soon restored the health of the officers and 
 crew. 
 
 Lieut, de Haven's was the most severe attack, and 
 afforded a singular illustration of one of the peculiar fea- 
 
THE AMERICAN EXPEDITION. 215 
 
 tures of the disease. A small wound on his finger, made 
 when a school-boy, and many years ago healed and for- 
 gotten, was reopened by the disease. 
 
 In the spring (May) the Rescue was recovered with the 
 loss of bowsprit and cutwater. Both vessels had with* 
 stood the crushing of the ice wonderfully well. Their 
 small size enabled them to rise when the crushing began,, 
 and their prodigious strength saved them from being de- 
 stroyed by the pressure. 
 
 On the 13th of January, 1851, they entered Baffin's 
 Bay (the Rescue then invisible), and drifted out of sight of 
 land, being about 90 miles off. 
 
 June 10. They emerged from the ice, after over nine 
 months drifting in it, (about 300 days,) during all which 
 time they had been imprisoned, without the power to get 
 out. During this time they calculated they had drifted 
 full 1060 miles. 
 
 Lieut, de Haven determined to proceed north after he 
 had emerged from the ice, in June, as before stated ; but 
 in his effort to pass through the Melville Bay barrier he 
 was, July 25, again beset with ice, and frozen up. 
 
 The icebergs were more numerous than ever known 
 before at that time, and he became enveloped in them. 
 He was in the midst of a grand, magnificent circus of ice- 
 bergs, the amphitheatre of which was 200 feet high. 
 
 From this imprisonment he escaped August 19, when 
 the north winds blew him out. Then, after refreshing at 
 the Greenland ports, he set sail for the United States. 
 
 Mr. Kane, the surgeon to this expedition, and one of 
 the most intelligent of the various recent Arctic explorers, 
 is very sanguine still that Franklin may be found. 
 
 " I should say (he observes, in a letter to Mr. Grinnell) 
 that he is now to be sought for north and west of Corn- 
 wallis Island. As to the chance of the destruction of the 
 party by the casualties of ice, the return of our own party, 
 after something more than the usual share of them, is the 
 only fact that I can add to what we knew when we set out. 
 The snow hut, the fire and light from the "moss lamp fed 
 with blubber, the seal, the narwhal, the white whale, 
 and occasionally abundant stores of migratory birds, would 
 sustain vigorous life. The scurvy, the worst visitation of 
 explorers, deprived of permanent quarters, is more rare 
 .in the depths of a Polar winter than in the milder weather 
 of the moist summer, and our two little vessels encoun- 
 tered both seasons without losing a man." 
 
 During the months of June, July, August, and Sep- 
 tember, 1852, Dr. John Rae was engaged, under orders 
 
216 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 from tho Hudson's Bay Company, in examining the coasts 
 of Victoria and Wollaston Islands and Dease and Simp- 
 son's Straits. During the three months he was absent, he 
 supported his party of seventeen men almost entirely on the 
 animal food they obtained, which was abundant ; the dry 
 meat they had with them being principally given to their 
 dogs. They fell in with bears, deer in high condition, 
 large flocks of geese, golden plovers, and quantities of 
 salmon. 
 
 Twenty-one deer were shot on the coast, and many more 
 could have been killed, if necessary. 
 
 A distance of nearly 1100 miles was surveyed. 
 
 In October, 1852, the Prince Albert arrived at Aber- 
 deen from a voyage of seventeen months duration in the 
 Arctic regions. This little vessel had been fitted out a second 
 time, for that quarter, principally at the expense of Lady 
 Franklin; and, although some geographical discoveries 
 were made, nothing was accomplished towards the main 
 objects of the voyage. A sledge party from this vessel 
 traversed a distance of nearly 1200 miles, during which they 
 visited Cape Walker, and the north coast of Somerset 
 Land. 
 
 By the last accounts from Behring's Strait, up to 
 August, 1852, Commander Maguire had taken the Plover 
 up safely into a harbour at Cape Barrow, which he 
 named Moore Harbour ; being situate further north, it 
 was better adapted for watching and communicating with, 
 the exploring vessels, or parties from them. After a 
 minute examination of about 1000 Ibs. of the preserved 
 meats on board this vessel, supplied by Mr. Goldner, it 
 was found in a pulpy, decayed, and putrid state, and to- 
 tally unfit for men's food, and 10,570 Ibs. were, therefore, 
 thrown overboard into the sea, as a nuisance, in July 
 last. 
 
 It is satisfactory, however, to find animal life equally 
 abundant in this sea as in other parts of the Arctic regions; 
 and the commander states, that after entering the ice, on 
 their approach to Point Barrow, they found the sea lite- 
 rally covered with birds, most of them excellent eating, and 
 the crews were nearly supplied with them from two guns in 
 each boat ; about 100 loons being obtained daily. When 
 skinned they eat very well, and one for each man made a 
 good mess for the day. Further to the southward the 
 walrus was numerous, and, to the northward, seals were 
 found in great abundance. Driftwood was met with, 
 although not so plentiful as at Port Clarence and some 
 other places. 
 
VOYAGE OF THE ISABEL. 217 
 
 Moore Harbour is about 500 miles in advance of the 
 Plovers old winter quarters; Point Barrow lies about 
 156 W. long, the westernmost extremity of Melville 
 Island ; the farthest point yet reached by the expeditions 
 working through Lancaster Sound, is in about 115 long. 
 W. ; consequently there yet lies between the advanced 
 posts of expeditions working west, and those working east, 
 about 40 degrees of longitude unexplored. Banks' Land 
 remains unexplored between the 110th and 120th degrees 
 longitude ; but all the coasts in the vicinity of the common 
 course of Arctic navigators, that is, through Baffin's Bay, 
 Lancaster Sound, Barrow's Strait, thence westerly as far 
 as Melville Island, the shores of Boothia Gulf and Eegent 
 Inlet, Peel Sound, and the coasts of Prince of Wales' 
 Land, Russell Island, of which Cape Walker forms the 
 north eastern promontory, and all the Arctic coasts of 
 the continent of North America, have been thoroughly 
 searched. 
 
 The Isabel screw schooner of 170 tons and 30-horse 
 power, fitted and provisioned for a five years' cruise, 
 having in June, 1852, through the failure of Captain 
 Beatson's intended expedition to Behring's Strait, oeen 
 thrown upon the hands of Lady Franklin, that lady 
 offered the vessel to Commander Inglefield, R.N., for 
 service, in any route he might consider most judicious. 
 Captain Inglefield left England in July, to explore the 
 head of Baffin's Bay, and examine its large sounds and 
 straits, and accomplished in four months more than any 
 other arctic navigator had done. By this voyage Whale 
 Sound was pretty clearly ascertained to be an entrance 
 into the Polar Sea; and the commander of the Isabel 
 believes he had actually entered the Great Basin, and 
 was checked in his course towards Behring's Strait by 
 continued heavy gales, which drove him back into Whale 
 Sound. This sound lies in the north-east part of Baffin's 
 Bay. The Isabel then penetrated Jones' Sound on the west 
 side of Baffin's Bay as far west as the 84th degree of longi- 
 tude ; but meeting with no traces of Franklin, the vessel 
 was then steered to communicate with Sir E. Belcher's 
 squadron at Beechey Island, and returned home. 
 
 On the 25th of August, after having been blown back 
 three times, Captain Inglefield entered Whale Sound. 
 Twenty-five miles inside this opening in the coast he 
 found a settlement of natives, who were strong, healthy, 
 and vigorous, having an ample store of blubber and flesh 
 laid by in their winter underground hovels. They had 
 numerous dogs and sledges. Ascending an eminence of 
 
218 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 nearly 1,000 feet, lie found that the north side of the 
 Sound was composed of a group of islinds, some of con- 
 siderable dimensions. Two small openings, so marked at 
 least on the charts, were discovered to be extensive inlets 
 stretching away to the northward and north eastward. 
 Far as the eye could reach an unbroken horizon met the 
 gaze, and no sign of ice or obstruction into an open strait 
 or inland sea could be detected. These two inlets were 
 named after Sir Roderick Murchison and Sir Francis 
 Beaufort. Taking advantage of the open state of the ice, 
 Captain Inglefield dashed boldly on to the northward, 
 in the direction of Smith's Sound, making Cape Alexander 
 on the 26th. 
 
 "We had no sooner," says the commander, "fairly 
 opened the Sound, than I involuntarily exclaimed, this 
 must lead into the great Polynia of the Russians ; and as 
 the eye strained forward into the clear expanse of appa- 
 rently open water, which now occupied from seven to eight 
 points of the compass due north of our position, I could 
 not but admit to my own mind that a great sea was 
 beyond. 
 
 " This strait marked so narrow on our charts, by mea- 
 surementl found to be about thirty-six miles across, and now 
 I pushed eagerly on to a further view of this noble inlet." 
 
 The natural snow-clad aspect of the bleak cliffs that 
 surround the head of the bay, seemed changed by the 
 presence of a more genial clime, the side of Cape Alex- 
 ander itself being streaked with bright green grasses and 
 moss, and the neighbouring hills to the northward were 
 black instead of snow-capped, evidently of secondary for- 
 mation. The discoveries made by Captain Inglefield com- 
 prise 600 miles of new coast line. He also remained 
 within the arctic circle two months later than the Govern- 
 ment expedition under Captain Austin the previous year, 
 having reached it three months later ; and yet accom- 
 plished (independent of sailing) 1,474 miles under steam, 
 bringing home with him still sixty-six tons of fuel. 
 
 Sir Francis Beaufort, the hyclrographer to the Ad- 
 miralty, in his report, speaking of these important surveys 
 performed, says of Smith's Sound, " This may well be 
 called a valuable discovery, for Baffin merely saw a break 
 in the coast, and Boss and Parry could only just perceive 
 the looming of the mountains at the distance of ninety 
 miles. 
 
 "Murchison Strait was likewise another important 
 geographical discovery, for Whale Sound, with which it is 
 connected, was supposed to be only a deep fiord, whereas 
 
DEDUCTIONS FROM THIS VOYAGE. 219 
 
 it now appears to be a wide passage, and to be the limits 
 of the continent of Greenland. 
 
 " In the third place, the ice having prevented Captain 
 Anstin from entering Jones' Sound, but which seemed to 
 him to be only a deep bay, now turns out to be another 
 channel to the northward, through the great cluster of 
 Parry Islands." 
 
 The results of this interesting voyage have furnished 
 many facts possessing an important bearing on the present 
 and future searching expeditions ; and confirm the follow- 
 ing opinions thrown out by Mr. Petermann. 
 
 1. That Sir John Franklin has not been wrecked, and 
 has not perished in the northern part of Baffin's Bay, and 
 along its western shore. 
 
 2. That the Polar Seas even in very high latitudes, are 
 perfectly navigable during a certain period of the year. 
 
 3. That this period of navigableness in the comparatively 
 high latitudes is not in the middle of summer, (when the 
 seas through which access is to be had are usually encum- 
 bered with ice,) but at the end of the summer season, 
 or at its beginning, before the great ice masses are 
 dislodged from the coast and drifted southward. 
 
 4. That certain animals, fit for food, are more or less 
 abundant even in the highest latitudes. 
 
 Bearing the preceding points in mind, and assuming 
 that Sir J. Franklin has gone up Wellington Channel, and 
 there found before him a sea of considerable extent, and 
 navigable like that to the north of Baffin's Bay, the ques- 
 tion arises, how is it possible that nearly eight years have 
 now passed without Sir John Franklin's having been able 
 to pass out of that sea into the sea situated to the north 
 of Behring's Strait, in the direction of either the American 
 or the Siberian shores? The most feasible solution of 
 this question that suggests itself to me, is that a tract of 
 land may have hitherto prevented his progress in that 
 region. There are reasons for conjecturing that such a 
 tract of land may extend from the land seen by Captain 
 Kellett, to the north of Behring's Straits, as far as the 
 eastern coasts of Greenland, without a single opening. 
 At all events it admits of scarcely any doubt that the sea 
 to the north of Baffin's Bay can have no connexion with 
 the Polar Basin, nor even with the sea beyond. 
 
 All this has been done, an immense line of coast inves- 
 tigated, and yet the question is not set at rest, though the 
 desired object appears to be nearer attainment than ever. 
 This spring opens with the fact, that of the many vessels 
 employed in the search, there can be but eight in the 
 
220 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 Arctic regions, namely, Sir Edward "Belcher's fleet of four 
 vessels, with the depot-ship at Beechey Island. The Inves- 
 tigator, which has passed three winters in the ice, and should 
 Captain McClure have succeeded in fulfilling his intentions, 
 now probably somewhere to the north of Melville Island. 
 The Enterprise, whose whereabouts is uncertain, with the 
 depot-ship, Plover, Captain Maguire, which has been 
 moved farther north to Moore Harbour, Point Barrow ; 
 the Rattlesnake and Phoenix steamers are on their way 
 to Behring's Strait; while the American expedition has 
 just quitted to aid in the eastern search. Lady Franklin 
 has also fitted out and despatched once more the Isabel, 
 under the command of Mr. Kennedy, to proceed north- 
 ward and eastward of Behring's Strait. 
 
 . HOPES AND FEARS, AND PRESENT COURSE OF OPERATIONS 
 
 FOR CONCLUDING THE SEARCH. 
 
 In an ably written and interesting letter from Lady 
 Franklin to the President of the United States, expressing 
 her sincere and profound gratitude for the service which 
 lias already been rendered to the Arctic cause by the 
 L^nited States Government, she sa}^s, " The result of the 
 late operations of the allied squadrons, though falling short 
 of our hopes and expectations, are neither insignificant nor 
 devoid of great encouragement for the future. They prove, 
 in the first place, that the missing ships escaped all the 
 catastrophes which the faint-hearted and despairing had 
 predicted of them in their outward voyage, and arrived in 
 safety at the first winter quarters, where were the graves 
 of those men belonging to the discovery ships, and buried, 
 apparently with great care and decorum ; attesting that 
 the ships' companies were not only in life, but, as other 
 "unmistakeable signs combine to prove, in circumstances of 
 security, comfort, and plenty, and full of vigour. Again, 
 the future field of search has been narrowed, and the ex- 
 ploration of Captain Austin's officers over the ice, carried 
 on with a spirit and perseverance which makes me proud 
 that they are my countrymen, having shown that our ships 
 could not have pursued a south-west course ; while thd 
 discoveries of Captain Penny, conducted with equal energy 
 and spirit, in a north-west direction, leave no room to 
 doubt that the clear water he there came upon was the first 
 opened by my husband's ships, and that they pursued their 
 way towards Behring's Strait in a high northern latitude. 
 Thus our future efforts have a more confined and definite 
 aim. It may be affirmed that the lost navigators are now 
 
LADY FRANKLIN'S ENDURING FAITH. 221 
 
 to be looked for with every hope of success, in the space 
 lying between 100 and 180 of west longitude and any 
 parallel of latitude north of 75. It would appear, therefore, 
 that to secure the completeness of the search, it should be 
 commenced simultaneously at both ends, and that no single 
 expedition going up Wellington Channel should be con- 
 sidered to have exhausted its work till it emerged in 
 Behring's Strait, or, in other words, accomplished a north- 
 west passage ; nor any expedition starting from Behring's 
 Strait deem its object attained till it comes out in Wel- 
 lington Channel or Baffin's Bay ; or, in other words, per- 
 formed the north-west passage. We derive infinite com- 
 fort from the proofs which the late expeditions have given 
 us, that considerable resources exist in those northern 
 portions of the Arctic regions which have now been ap- 
 proached, for the support of human life, and very satisfac- 
 tory, also, is the additional experience gained in confirma- 
 tion of all former evidence, that the Arctic climate is in 
 itself favourable to health, and that the loss of life attend- 
 ing the expeditions is, in spite of the risks and accidents 
 incidental to them, far less than the average in any other 
 quarter of the globe. With these facts before us, and with 
 no proof or even sign of any sudden calamity having over- 
 taken them and cut short their progress, it seems not pre- 
 sumptuous, but within the bounds of a reasonable and 
 modest calculation of probabilities, to conclude the lost 
 navigators have only not been found because they were 
 already beyond the reach of the efforts which have been 
 made to come upon their track, limited as their efforts have 
 hitherto been to the duration of a single season. The 
 discovery ships were years ahead of all their pursuers, 
 and, while the latter had advanced hardly beyond the 
 starting post, they were struggling towards the goal. If 
 misfortune has indeed overwhelmed them, and how shall 
 I dare refuse to believe in such a possibility ? it has been 
 in the strenuous ardent pursuit of their duty, and not in 
 the early and timid abandonment of it, as they would 
 seem to imply who gratuitously suppose that our brave 
 countrymen turned back at the end of a single winter, and 
 perished on their way home. It was the known determi- 
 nation of my husband, and is recorded by him in his last 
 letter from the borders of the ice, to renew his attempts 
 year after year, and if foiled in one direction to try an- 
 other. * * I cannot but regard the rescue of my 
 husband and his companions, and the accomplishment of 
 the new passage, as nearly identical objects. Had tho 
 researches which have hitherto been made in vain been 
 
222 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 subjected to no other restrictions than the accomplishment 
 of the one object or the other, so long as the lives of those 
 employed were not necessarily sacrificed, we might not per- 
 haps have had to mourn over a series of bitter disappoint- 
 ments. It is only by having the same objects in view as the 
 original expedition, and pursuing it with the same steadfast 
 perseverance, that we can hope to solve the mystery." 
 
 Another searching expedition, consisting of the same 
 vessels as before, fitted out again by Mr. Grinnell, has just 
 left the American shores, (April, 1853.) 
 
 The former surgeon, now Lieutenant Kane, is in charge 
 of it. A more judicious selection could not have been 
 made. Though before serving in but a subordinate capa- 
 city, he signally distinguished himself for his intelligence 
 and energy. In one essential qualification he stands 
 especially pre-eminent; that qualification is faith. He 
 firmly believes that Sir John is yet a living man, and that 
 he can be rescued from his place of confinement by human, 
 means. His heart is thoroughly in the enterprise, and 
 his zeal, I am sure, will not fail so long as a vestige of 
 hope remains. 
 
 Unsuccessful as the previous expeditions have been, 
 there is yet strong reason for continued efforts . The dis- 
 coveries which have been thus far made have rendered it 
 absolutely certain that Sir John Franklin wintered in 
 1845-6 on Eeechey Island, at the mouth of Wellington 
 Channel. It is doubted whether he proceeded in the 
 spring westward, or northward up the channel. His in- 
 structions expressly enjoined the former course, but an 
 extensive search by means of sledges, in that direction, 
 extending to 103 25' along the south shore, and to 114 
 20' along the north shore, has afforded no indication that 
 such was the course actually pursued ; still, it is very pos- 
 sible that the two missing ships may be blocked up in some 
 of the passages or inlets which have not been explored. 
 But the opinion entertained generally by the officers of 
 both the English and American expeditions is, that Sir 
 John prosecuted his course by the open sea north-west of 
 the "Wellington and Victoria Channels, and is shut up in 
 the almost boundless region of water, ice, and land that 
 extends between Victoria Channel and the high and ex- 
 tensive lands north of West Georgia, considered by some 
 to be a continuation of the range of mountains seen off 
 Cape Jakan on the coast of Asia. That there is a great 
 polar basin with a higher temperature than that of the 
 Arctic zone, abounding with animal life, and ample means 
 for human subsistence, was plainly set forth by Captain 
 
PROBABILITIES OF FRANKLIN'S SAFETY. 223 
 
 Penny, two years ago, as his decided conviction. This 
 opinion is substantiated by Captain Inglefield, who lately 
 returned from a short steamer cruise in the Arctic Ocean, 
 and has presented a report of his observations to the Royal 
 Geographical Society of London. That gallant navigator 
 attained the latitude of 78 35', about 120 miles farther 
 north than the highest point ever before reached. He 
 passed through a channel some thirty-five miles in width, 
 and found an immense extent of open water before him ; 
 but was prevented from proceeding forward by a tremen- 
 dous gale which his little steamer was poorly adapted to 
 encounter. It is Captain Inglefield's opinion that Baffin's 
 Bay is misnamed, and is in fact an arm of communication 
 between the Atlantic and the Arctic Oceans. 
 
 The probabilities of the safety of Sir John Franklin's 
 expedition then are rather strengthened than weakened by 
 the past explorations. If it was at the outset improbable 
 that the two ships should have simultaneously perished, it is 
 still more improbable that they could have been so utterly 
 lost as not to leave some remnant of wreck behind that 
 would disclose their fate. 
 
 No such remnant has been discovered either by the 
 vessels in search, or by the sledging parties which have 
 examined the coasts for hundreds of miles. The disap- 
 pearance of the Erebus and Terror cannot be satisfactorily 
 accounted for either by storm or starvation. I rejoice 
 that this humane search has not yet been abandoned ; and 
 especially that our countrymen are least of all disheart- 
 ened. The liberality of Messrs. Henry Grinnell and George 
 Peabody in fitting out a second American expedition 
 reflects honour upon the American name. The present 
 administration also deserves credit for its interest and co- 
 operation in the undertaking. May the enterprise be as 
 successful in its result as it has been noble in its aim ! 
 
 We have conclusive evidence, from the marks of the 
 encampment at Cape Riley and Beechey Island, that this 
 was the winter quarters of Franklin's ships in 1845-46, 
 and from the inscription on one of three graves found on 
 the island, the vessels were here as late as April, 1846 ; 
 indeed, Sir John Hoss and others say to September, 
 1846, but no subsequent traces have been found of their 
 course, and what is singular, after a diligent search 
 made in all the quarters that it has yet been possible to 
 reach, no records of their track have been discovered, 
 although it was strictly enjoined on them by the Ad- 
 miralty that sudh should be left at every depot, or pro- 
 minent position. 
 
224 PEOGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 I shall not allude here to the many idle stories that 
 have been set afloat from time to time, now of the reported 
 safety of the party, then of their murder by Esquimaux ; 
 of clairvoyant discoveries, pigeon expresses, fictitious bal- 
 loon despatches, and other imaginary accounts, all of 
 which have been mischievous fabrications, or, what is 
 worse, unpardonable and cruel hoaxes. I envy not the 
 feelings ot those who can promulgate such statements, and 
 trifle with the nearest and dearest feelings of the many 
 relatives of nearly 140 men, who are so eagerly on the 
 look out for intelligence. May such unprincipled conduct 
 never at least recoil upon themselves may they be spared 
 the harrowing feelings of disappointment resulting from 
 such false alarms. 
 
 There is a later and more important circumstance, 
 which has, however, been brought very prominently for- 
 ward by the Admiralty, and a fresh impulse thus given 
 to the intense interest felt by the public in the fate of 
 the missing expedition, by the strange mariner's tale of 
 two ships seen on an iceberg, in the spring of 1851, off the 
 coast of Newfoundland. Of the truth of the tale, as far 
 as the veracity of the relators is concerned, there seems to 
 be no reason to doubt. But the question suggests itself, 
 was, what they saw, a reality or an optical delusion ? and 
 if the former, were the two ships BO strangely situated the 
 Erebus and Tewor ? 
 
 Lastly, even if, on this point, a satisfactory conclusion 
 can be arrived at, another string of questions follows : 
 Were the navigators onboard the ships, or were the ships 
 forsaken ? In either supposition, what has become of the 
 ships ? In the latter hypothesis, in what direction, from the 
 indication afforded by their appearance, ought further 
 search to be made for the missing crews ? 
 
 The following is Captain Penny's opinion on the subject 
 of these ships said to have been seen on the ice : 
 
 " You ask me what I think of the two ships seen upon 
 the iceberg. I think they were ' country ships,' as we 
 whalers call them formations upon an iceberg which 
 deceive even practised eyes. 
 
 " To place ships in such a position, by the process of 
 freezing into an iceberg, would require thirty to forty 
 years, and floe ice would have been broken up with the 
 western ocean swell before ifr had even reached Cape 
 Farewell. Not a piece of sufficient size would be found 
 to contain even one ship, much less two. No iceberg of 
 one-fourth of a mile would reach such a position ; it must 
 have been two pieces of icebergs, and the vessel being five 
 
OPTICAL DELUSIONS. 225 
 
 miles distant, could not observe the water over the de- 
 tached ice. 
 
 " We have the experience of the eleven whalers wintered 
 on the ice ; they all broke from their icebergs long before 
 they reached Cape Farewell." 
 
 In confirmation of this opinion of Captain Penny, re- 
 garding the effect of optical illusions in the regions of ice, 
 we may recur (says the AtJienceum) to an interesting cir- 
 cumstance which occurred to Mr. Goodsir, showing that 
 the phenomena of refraction in the Arctic regions exceed 
 the marvellous deception of the mirage. When that 
 gentleman was on his first voyage in search of his brother, 
 who accompanied Sir John Franklin as surgeon, and 
 when his ship was running along the south shores of 
 Lancaster Sound, he was standing on the forecastle, ex- 
 amining with a telescope every part of the coast most 
 anxiously, when with a thrill of joy he recognised a flag- 
 staff and ensign. He gazed earnestly at it, and so dis- 
 tinctly did it show itself that he could even make out the 
 waving of the flag. Unwilling, however, to trust to his 
 own vision only, without saying a word he put the tele- 
 scope into the hands of a man who was standing near him, 
 that he might look at the point a-head. The man did so, 
 and, with a start, exclaimed that a flag was flying. Over- 
 Joyed, Mr. Goodsir snatched the glass back, and applied 
 it again to his eye. For an instant for an instant only- 
 he saw the wished-for signal; then it faded, then re- 
 appeared ; now distorted into a broken and disjointed 
 column now into an upturned and inverted pyramid till 
 at last the image became resolved into its real form that 
 of a hummocky piece of ice. Many other instances might 
 be adduced to show how constantly the Arctic explorer is 
 perplexed by meteorological phenomena which thus de- 
 ceive the vision. 
 
 Before Sir John Franklin left England, he gave a dinner 
 to a few friends at the Admiral ICeppel Hotel, at Green- 
 hithe ; and he then stated, that he must not be looked for 
 in England for seven years. This can be confirmed by 
 the worthy landlord, and some of the officers then present 
 on the occasion. Couple the before-mentioned remark 
 with Franklin's parting words to Sir John Eoss, that he 
 (Franklin) did not intend to seek a winter quarters, but 
 push on, and throw his vessels in the drift pack, and then 
 abandon them, and attempt the passage over land, lends 
 additional support to the tale of the two vessels seen 
 on the iceberg. 
 
 JN"ow, those who have been in the polar regions can 
 
 Q 
 
226 rROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERT. 
 
 readily account to the size and formation of the berg in 
 question, describee as about five miles long by about 
 thirty feet in the highest part. The fantastic appearance 
 of a berg is mostly occasioned by the drift blowing over 
 the ice to the shore, and there meeting with obstruction 
 from the high land on the sea- coast. In the course of 
 time the snow-drift forms a gentle slope from the surface 
 of the level ice to the top of the headland. When the 
 disruption takes place, the ice carries with it the accumu- 
 lated drift ; and when it is detached from the shore, it 
 bears the impress of the part from which it has been 
 broken ; and this snow-drift, by condensation, or the 
 washing of the sea, becomes solidified. It may be remem- 
 bered, that the two ships were described as being on a 
 shelving part of the ice, and that the berg appeared much 
 higher beyond them. If the ships had been frozen in a 
 short distance from the shore, the ice beyond them inland 
 would be elevated. It is a pity that Captain Coward, of 
 the Revolution, did not endeavour to board them, which 
 would not have been difficult. 
 
 On the 31st of May, 1845, we have a pleasant account 
 of the expedition and its commander, in a letter from 
 Captain Fitzjames to Mr. Barrow, of the Admiralty. 
 
 He writes thus : 
 
 " Sir John Franklin is delightful, active, energetic, and 
 evidently even now persevering. What he has been we 
 all know. I think it will turn out that he is nowise 
 altered. He is full of conversation and interesting anec- 
 dotes of his former voyages. I would not lose him for 
 the command of the expedition, for I have a real regard 
 I may say, affection for him, and believe this is felt by 
 all of us. I have not seen much of Crozier yet, but what 
 I have seen 1 like, and I think he is just made for a second 
 to Sir John Franklin. In our mess we are all very happy; 
 we have a most agreeable set of men, and I could suggest 
 no change, except that I wish you were with us." 
 
 Again, on the 1st of July : "The only difficulty I had 
 was to get Sir John to shorten sail when it was wanted. 
 He is full of life and energy, with good judgment and a 
 capital memory, one of the best I know. His conversa- 
 tion is delightful, and most instructive ; and of all men he 
 is the most fitted for the command of an enterprise re- 
 quiring sound sense and great perseverance. I have 
 learnt much from him, and consider myself most fortunate 
 in being with such a man; and he is full of benevolence 
 and kindness withal." 
 
 The following extract of a letter from Lieutenant Fair- 
 
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN'S EXPEDITION. 227 
 
 holme, of the Erelus, will also serve to show the pleasant 
 anticipations of success which prevailed throughout the 
 party; and the happy terms on which they were with 
 each other:- 
 
 " On board, we are as comfortable as it is possible to be. 
 I need hardly tell you how much we are all delighted with 
 our captain. He has, I am sure, won not only the respect 
 but the love of every person on board, by his amiable 
 manner and kindness to all ; and his influence is always 
 employed for some good purpose, both among the officers 
 and men. He has been most successful in his selec- 
 tion of officers, and a more agreeable set could hardly be 
 found. 
 
 " Sir John is in much better health than when we left 
 England, and really looks ten years younger. He takes an 
 active part in everything that goes on; and his long 
 experience in such services as this makes him a most 
 valuable adviser. July 10th. The transport is just re- 
 ported clear ; so I hope that we may be able to swing the 
 ships to-morrow, and get away on Saturday. We are 
 very much crowded ; in fact, not an inch of stowage has 
 been lost, and the decks are still covered with casks, &c. 
 Our supply of coals has encroached seriously on the ship's 
 stowage ; but as we consume both this and provisions as 
 we go, the evil will be continually lessening." 
 
 It may be interesting to know the official account of 
 the fresh provisions supplied by the Admiralty to these 
 ships; it was as follows :-*- Preserved meat, in tins, 
 32,018lbs. ; soup, pints, 17,416; gravy, pints, 2176; 
 vegetables, 80761bs. ; potatoes, 26321bs. This is besides 
 the usual naval rations of salt provisions for three years. 
 
 The annexed account of their additional resources is so 
 important, as being the .latest intelligence, that I cannot 
 abridge it : 
 
 " Bobert Martin, now master and commander of the 
 whale ship Intrepid, of Peterhead, solemnly and sincerely 
 declares, that on the 22nd day of July, 1845, when in 
 command of the whale ship Enterprise, of Peterhead, in 
 lat. 75 10' long. 66 W., calm weather, and towing, the 
 Erebus and Terror were in company. These ships were 
 alongside the Enterprise for about fifteen minutes. The 
 declarant conversed with Sir John Franklin and Mr. Beid, 
 his ice master. The conversation lasted all the time the 
 ships were close. That Sir John, in answer to a question by 
 the declarant, if he had a good supply of provisions, and 
 how longj he expected them to last, stated that he had pro- 
 visions tor five years, and if it were necessary he could 
 
228 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 'make them spin out seven years ;' and he said further, 
 that he would lose no opportunity of killing birds, and 
 whatever else was useful that came in the way, to keep 
 up their stock, and that he had plenty of powder and shot 
 for the purpose. That Sir John also stated that he had 
 already got several casks of birds salted, and had then two 
 shooting parties out one from each ship. The birds were 
 very numerous ; many would fall at a single shot ; and 
 the declarant has himself killed forty at a shot with white 
 peas. That the birds are very agreeable food, are in taste 
 and size somewhat like young pigeons, and are called by 
 the sailors ' roches.* 
 
 " That on the 26th or 28th of the said month of July two 
 parties of Sir John's officers, who had been out shooting, 
 dined with the declarant, on board the Enterprise. There 
 was a boat with six from each ship. Their conversation 
 was to the same effect as Sir John's. They spoke of 
 expecting to be absent four, or five, or perhaps six years. 
 These officers also said that the ships would winter where 
 they could find a convenient place, and in spring push on 
 as far as possible, and so on year after year, as the deter- 
 mination was to push on as far as practicable. 
 
 " That on the following day an invitation was brought 
 to the declarant, verbally, to dine with Sir John, but the 
 wind shifted, and the Enterprise having cut through the 
 ice about a mile and a half, the declarant was obliged to 
 decline the invitation. That he saw the Erebus and Terror 
 for two days longer ; they were still lying at an iceberg, 
 and the Enterprise was moving slowlv down the country. 
 That so numerous were the birds mentioned, and so favour- 
 able was the weather for shooting them, that a very large 
 number must have been secured during the time the 
 declarant was in sight of the two ships. That from the 
 state of the wind and weather for a period of ten days, 
 during part of which declarant was not in sight of the two 
 ships, the best opportunity was afforded for securing the 
 birds. That the birds described are not to be found at 
 all places on the fishing ground during the whaling season, 
 but are met with in vast numbers every season on certain 
 feeding banks and places for breeding ; and it was consi- 
 dered at the time by the declarant a most fortunate cir- 
 cumstance that the Erebus and Terror had fallen in with 
 so many birds, and that the state of the weather was so 
 favourable for securing large numbers of them. The 
 declarant has himself had a supply of the same description 
 of birds, which kept fresh and good during three mouths, 
 
THE LATEST ACCOUNTS. 229 
 
 at Davis's Straits, and the last were as good as tlie first 
 of them." 
 
 In a letter published in the Times, in January of last 
 year, from Mr. Sutherland, surgeon of the Sophia, the 
 tender to the Lady Franklin, Captain Penny, he states, 
 " had Sir John Franklin any wish to increase his stock of 
 provisions by the use of the birds called ' roches,' he 
 could obtain them in thousands where the Enterprise of 
 Peterhead parted with him ; and as to stowage, the daily 
 allowance of 138 men would soon make room for a few 
 casks of salted birds. Moreover, he would also learn 
 that sea-fowl will keep in the Arctic regions during the 
 three short months of summer, if they be exposed to the 
 cold and a free current of air. And there is no doubt his 
 ingenuity would suggest to him what the Esquimaux have 
 practised for thousands of years to wit, preserving 
 masses of animal substances, such as whale's flesh, by 
 means of ice, during the summer months, when it may 
 be easily obtained, for their use during winter." 
 
 There is probably more danger to be apprehended from 
 the well-known energy and zeal of the explorers than 
 from any other cause. Franklin left our shores feeling- 
 that the eyes of the civilized world were on him, and that 
 it was hoped and expected he would accomplish what our 
 most learned hydrographers regard as feasible ; although 
 failure has characterized so many attempts to pass from 
 the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, round the north coast 
 of America. Franklin is well aware that if he succeed 
 his fame will be heralded abroad ; and he will not abandon 
 his enterprise as long as strength remains. 
 
 * Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise, 
 To scorn delights and live laborious days." 
 
 He will not give up the struggle with mighty icebergs and 
 thick-ribbed ice as long as the smallest chance of obtaining 
 the much-desired prize remains. It is recorded that when 
 attempts were made to dissuade Sir Martin Frobisher 
 from engaging in the discovery of a north-west passage, 
 he answered, "It is the only thing in the world that is 
 left yet undone, whereby a notable mind might be made 
 famous and fortunate." 
 
 Sir John Franklin, in the narrative of his first Arctic 
 journey, writing then of Sir Edward Parry, uses obser- 
 vations which may be applied with equal force, and but 
 slight alteration, to his own case now : 
 
 " His task," he observes, " is doubtless an arduous one, 
 
230 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 and if ultimately successful, may occupy two, and perhaps 
 three seasons ; but confiding, as I do, from personal know- 
 ledge, in his perseverance and talent for surmounting 
 difficulties, the strength of his ships, and the abundance 
 of provisions with which they are stored, I have very little 
 apprehension of his safety. As I understand his object 
 was to keep the coast of America close on board, he will 
 find in the spring of the year, before the breaking up of 
 the ice can permit him to pursue his voyage, herds of deer 
 flocking in abundance to all parts of the coast, which may 
 be procured without difficulty; and even later in the 
 season, additions to his stock of provisions may be ob- 
 tained on many parts of the coast, should circumstances 
 give him leisure to send out hunting parties. With the 
 trawl, or seine-nets, also, he may almost everywhere get 
 abundance of fish, even without retarding his progress. 
 Under these circumstances, I do not conceive that he 
 runs any hazard of wanting provisions, should his voyage 
 be prolonged even beyond the latest period of time 
 which is calculated upon. Drift-wood may be gathered 
 at many places in considerable quantities ; and there is a 
 fair prospect of his opening a communication with the 
 Esquimaux, who come down to the coast to kill seals in 
 the spring, previous to the ice breaking up ; and from 
 whom, if he succeeds in conciliating then* good-will, he 
 may obtain provision, and much useful assistance." 
 
 In June, 1851, Mr. John Hilton, in an interesting letter, 
 published in the Manchester Guardian, suggested the 
 desirability of trying the route between Spitzbergen and 
 Nova Zembla ; and the following are extracts from his com- 
 munication : 
 
 " Upon an inspection of the globe, and bearing in inind 
 the foregoing remarks, I think your readers will agree 
 with me in stating that the most favourable route for as- 
 certaining the fate of our missing countrymen is for the 
 ships proceeding north, say between Spitzbergen and 
 IN ova Zembla, and then, as the ice permits, so as to come 
 down towards the southward again in about long. 130 W., 
 sending out boats daily east and west, and finally making 
 their egress by Lancaster Sound or Behring's Straits. It 
 appears, in my opinion, to be an erroneous idea the public 
 entertain of the North Polar Sea being an impenetrable 
 barrier of ice. Perhaps the following statement may as- 
 eist in removing much prejudice and doubt of the practi- 
 cability of a North Polar passage. The idea of a North 
 Polar passage to the East Indies was first suggested 
 in the year 1527, by Eobert Thome, a merchant of Bristol, 
 
SEARCHING BY SPITZBERGEN RECOMMENDED. 231 
 
 who, in a letter addressed to Dr. Ley, states : f It is as 
 probable that the cosmographers should be mistaken in 
 the opinion of the Polar regions being impassable from 
 extreme cold, as it has been found they were in supposing 
 the countries under the line to be uninhabitable from ex- 
 cessive heat. 5 In the year 1609, Jonas Poole, in the 
 Amity, made an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate to the 
 North Pole, and, in concluding the account of his voyage, 
 states * I assure myself a passage may be attained this 
 way by the Pole, as any unknown way whatsoever, by 
 reason the sun doth give a great heat in this climate, and 
 the ice is nothing so huge as I have seen in lat. 73 N.' 
 In 1615, Fotherby, upon the termination of his voyage, 
 says : s Although I have not attained my desire, yet, for- 
 asmuch as it appears not yet to the contrary, but that 
 there is a spacious sea betwixt Groinland and Spitzbergen, 
 although much pestered with ice;' and, with perseverance, 
 he believed a passage might be attained. In the year 1773, 
 the Koyal Society made application, through the Earl of 
 Sandwich, to his Majesty King George the Third, for an 
 expedition to try how far navigation was practicable to- 
 wards the North Pole, and which his Majesty was pleased 
 to direct should be undertaken. Captain C. J. Phipps, 
 afterwards Earl of Mulgrave, had the honour of being en- 
 trusted with the conduct of this expedition. Like previous 
 voyagers, they did not attain their object. In 1606, Baffin 
 advanced as high as lat. 81 N. In 1751, Captain M* Cull am 
 attained the lat. 83 30' N., where he found an open sea 
 and fair weather. In 1754, Captain Wilson, in the month 
 of June, advanced to lat. 83 N., and as high as 81 
 found the sea clear of ice as far as he could see. At the 
 same time, Captain Guy, after four days of foggy weather, 
 was carried to the same spot; and Mr. Stevens, a most accu- 
 rate observer, was driven off Spitzbergen by a southerly wind 
 which blew for several days, and until he reached the lati- 
 tude 84 30' N. during the whole of which time he met 
 with very little ice, and did not find the cold excessive. 
 Captain Sir W. E. Parry, in his attempt to reach the 
 North Pole in 1827, found the ice more broken up to the 
 northward than to the southward, and which caused him 
 to abandon the attempt of reaching the Pole by travelling 
 over the ice. 
 
 " I was informed personally, by a sailor who sailed with 
 Captain Scoresby, senior, that he well remembered their 
 being North of 83, and at that time there was no ice in sight, 
 and a very heavy swell on. A very distinguished Arctic 
 writer of the present day, relates the case of a whale, har- 
 
232 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 pooned by a Greenland ship, getting away, and being 
 afterwards taken on the east coast of America with the 
 Greenlander's harpoon in her. Sir John Franklin, during 
 his overland route from the Coppermine Eiver towards 
 the eastward, and when in lat. 68 N. and long. 110 W., 
 saw great quantities of driftwood ; and the fact of such 
 being found about Spitzbergen and the Greenland coast, 
 not only proves the existence of a North Polar passage, 
 but the certainty of there being an open communication 
 every season, or thereabouts, or how could the wood flow 
 with the current ? Would not its progress be staid, sup- 
 posing the North Polar sea to be an impenetrable barrier 
 of ice P Again, where must the whale abovementioned 
 have obtained fresh air during her passage across, if this 
 impenetrable barrier existed? Captain Sir W. E. Parry 
 states the drift of the ice to be about the rate of four miles 
 per diem towards the southward, is it reasonable to sup- 
 pose that sufficient ice can form during the summer months 
 to supply the drift? 
 
 " Taking the above facts into consideration, it cannot be 
 denied that the North Polar route offers the most favour- 
 able plan for ascertaining the fate of our unfortunate 
 countrymen; and from personal observations made in 
 1849, 1 can assert that, in Davis Straits, we found less ice 
 to the northward than we met towards the southward. 
 This is easily accounted for from the fact of the current in 
 the Greenland sea setting to the S.W., and in Behring's 
 Strait it flows N.E., again proving the existence of a com- 
 munication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by a 
 North Polar passage." 
 
 In January, 1852, Mr. Augustus Petermann, an emi- 
 nent geographer, published in the Athenaeum his en- 
 larged views on the same subject, which, with some valu- 
 able data on the abundance of animal life in the Arctic 
 regions, he has since published in a separate form.* In 
 this pamphlet he states, that a line drawn from Melville 
 Island to the Herald and Plover Islands (north of Behrmg's 
 Strait) and another from Melville Island to Spitzbergen 
 on the American side, would, with the Siberian coasts and 
 islands on the Asiatic side, include the space in which 
 Franklin must have been arrested, a space of fearful ex- 
 tent, when it is considered that the whole of the regions 
 hitherto explored by tho various expeditions sent in search 
 of him, are scarcely one-third of those which remain un- 
 explored. 
 
 The very fact that no suitable expedition has been sent 
 
 * " The Search for Franklin." Longmans and Co. 1852. 
 
AN UNEXPLORED KOUTE CONSIDERED. 233 
 
 out in that direction, and that never a fair attempt has 
 been made in any vessel, or by any nation, to proceed 
 northwards in that sea, ought to have stimulated to such 
 an expedition. If only one of the eleven vessels engaged 
 in the search for Sir John Franklin, in the summer of 1 850, 
 in Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound alone, had been 
 despatched in that direction, it would probably have 
 eclipsed, in geographical discovery alone, all Polar expedi- 
 tions as yet undertaken ; for the possibility of reaching 
 the North Pole through the Spitzbergen sea, will not now 
 long remain a matter of doubt, or a desideratum. 
 
 When it is considered that no ice whatever in that 
 region is met with till Bear Island is reached, a distance of 
 1500 miles from Woolwich, and that thence to the 80th 
 parallel there is another distance of only 500 miles, and 
 that such a distance could be performed by a steamer in 
 less than a fortnight, and at a most trifling cost, if com- 
 pared with the millions which have been spent in Arctic 
 and Antarctic undertakings ; and if, at such trifling risk, 
 a problem can be solved, which, irrespectively of Frank- 
 lin's expedition, is of the highest geographical interest, 
 and discoveries would probably be made of great import- 
 ance to the whale fishery ; then, indeed, it must be looked 
 on as a disgrace in the history of Arctic navigation that 
 such a small undertaking has not long since been accom- 
 plished beyond Wellington Channel, but that it forms the 
 true head of Baffin's Bay, and is, in fact, a mere cul de sac 
 for those who would enter it in the hope of getting into the 
 Polar basin. 
 
 Fatal errors (observes Captain Charles Wilkes of the 
 United States Navy) have been made in attempting the 
 search in vessels, it being quite evident to the simplest 
 mind, that if ships can track Sir John, he certainly would 
 be enabled to get out. Therefore, it always has appeared 
 to me absurd nonsense and a waste both of time, energy, 
 and money to keep vessels, the scene of whose operations 
 must be limited to the line of the fast ice. 
 
 The futile attempts of search around the icy bays is no 
 less so. The only and true course is a thorough explora- 
 tion over the ice by sledges or boats, making the advance, in 
 all directions, under a well organized plan and on a regular 
 base of operations, but particularly to the westward from 
 Wellington Channel, where his trail was struck. The end 
 in view of a future search ought to be to examine narrowly 
 the Arctic region, which must and will result in the discovery 
 of some tidings, either affirmative or negative, of the fate 
 of this gallant man and his companions. It behoves the 
 
234 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 government of Great Britain to consider the search as 
 now but begun, and it ought and must be continued as 
 becomes a great nation, under whose flag and in whose 
 service Sir John and his companions have risked, and are 
 if alive enduring, great privations. The cost is nothing 
 compared with the glory of effecting their rescue, worth 
 tenfold the efforts hitherto made to find and effect a 
 north-west passage. 
 
 No one who has not had personal communication with 
 the brave men who have been engaged in this work of 
 mercy, can perhaps appreciate the immense exertion of 
 their labours in that severe climate ; yet the responsibility 
 of sending forth more good lives is certainly relieved by 
 this fact, that out of the ten vessels engaged the last three 
 years on the eastern side, including the Americans, but 
 one man died, nor did any casualty occur either to the ships 
 themselves, or to the various boating and sledge parties. 
 Indeed not more than twelve deaths have occurred during 
 all the Arctic voyages of discovery of the present century, 
 out of some 1500 men employed, and scarcely half of these 
 are fairly attributable to the severity of the climate, or the 
 perils and dangers encountered. 
 
 The disappearance of the Erebus and Terror cannot be 
 satisfactorily accounted for, either by storm or starvation. 
 
 The following extract from a letter, dated Hong- Kong, 
 March 28, 1852,bears upon this subject: "There have been 
 here no less than thirty-seven whalers from the Arctic Seas. 
 It may interest you to know, that they almost all believe 
 that Sir John Franklin is safe, and that he has got through 
 the ice barriers into inner waters, where he will not be 
 reached until a mild season arrives, which they assert the 
 present will be. They say Franklin will not suffer for 
 want of food, and give strange accounts of the Esqui- 
 maux vibrating from the Asiatic to the American conti- 
 nent, and back again, carrying their boats, made of skins 
 and whalebone, over the ice, and launching them when 
 they meet with open water. They all confirm the fact, 
 that the whales found in Behring's Strait, and in Baffin's 
 Bay are the same species ; proving the existence of a pas- 
 sage ; for a whale of the Arctic species has never been 
 seen to the south of the 22nd degree of latitude ; so they 
 cannot have doubled either of the Capes (of Good Hope 
 or Cape Horn), and the whale is under the necessity of 
 making his presence known, by coming to the surface 
 to blow." 
 
 With the copious and valuable materials before us in 
 
PROBABILITIES OF SAFETY. 235 
 
 the many important works published last year on this 
 subject, the Admiralty papers, and the reports of the 
 commanders and officers of the various searching expe- 
 ditions, we may come to some reasonable conclusion 
 respecting the course followed by Sir John Franklin, and 
 the probability of his being discovered, if he and his 
 party are still alive. 
 
 It appears to be the belief of almost all the distin- 
 guished naval officers, that Sir John did not follow a 
 western course past Melville Island, or a south-western 
 one by any of the inlets that lead to the American 
 shore. This opinion is confirmed by the extensive _ and 
 unavailing search which has been made in these directions. 
 The existence of his first winter quarters, in 1845-6, at 
 Beechey Island, at the entrance of Wellington Strait, 
 renders it highly probable that his course was along that 
 Channel ; and if it was, that he would either emerge into 
 the Polar basin if one does exist, or would push his way 
 westward to Behring's Strait, or eastward round Green- 
 land, if it is an island, and does not reach the Pole. 
 
 It may be supposed, says Dr. Rae, by many, that to 
 continue the search for Sir John Franklin would be a 
 useless waste of time, labour, and money, but with this 
 supposition I cannot agree, and my opinion is founded on 
 a personal experience, which few persons have had an 
 opportunity of acquiring, and which leads me to believe 
 that a part or all of Sir John's party may still exist. In 
 1846-7, I wintered- at Repulse Bay, with a party of twelve 
 men, only two of whom, before arriving there, had ever 
 practised deer shooting, and two others were fishermen. 
 We had little or no fuel, that could be properly so called ; 
 the mud with which our storehouse was plastered never 
 dried, bub only froze, and it was so cold inside that a man, 
 one night, got his knee frost-bitten, although he had one 
 of his companions under the blankets with him. Yet we 
 suffered no privation as regarded food, except that during 
 the shortest days, we took only one meal per diem, as a pre- 
 cautionary measure, not knowing how late it might be in 
 the spring before the reindeer migrated northward. 
 
 That we were not much the worse for our exposure to 
 cold and low diet may be inferred from the fact, that, in 
 the spring, we traced about 500 miles of new coast, form- 
 ing the shores- of Committee Bay, in doing which I and 
 one of my men travelled on foot upwards of 1000 miles, 
 and were, on our return (although rather low in flesh), as 
 sound and well as when we started. 
 
236 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 When leaving York Factory, Hudson's Bay, in June, 
 1846, we bad not more than four months' provisions with 
 us ; when we returned to that place, after an absence of 
 fourteen months and twenty-three days, we had still a 
 third of our original stock of provisions on hand, showing 
 that we had by our own exertions, in a country previously 
 totally unknown to us, obtained the means of subsistence for 
 twelve months. Why may not Sir John Franklin's party 
 do the same? If he has been providentially thrown on or 
 near a part of the coast where reindeer and fish are at all 
 numerous, surely out of so many officers and men, sports- 
 men may be found, after some practice, expert enough to 
 shoot the former, and fishermen to seize or net the latter, 
 or take them with hook and line set under the ice. 
 
 Dr. Rae and his party, when in Hepulse Bay, shot 162 
 deer, which, with 200 partridges and a few salmon, were 
 stored in their snow-built larder for their winter stock. 
 A couple of seals, which had been shot, produced oil 
 enough for their lamps, and by nets set in the lake, under 
 the ice, a few more salmon were now and then caught. 
 In the beginning of March the reindeer began to 
 migrate northward, and although they were very shy one 
 was shot. 
 
 From all these circumstances of improved food and fuel, 
 it is impossible to doubt that Sir John Franklin's party 
 may still be living in this northern region. They may, it 
 is true, have ere this perished, but our hope is that they 
 still exist in some narrow sea, imprisoned by walls of 
 ice, where succour may yet reach them. But whether our 
 hopes are fallacious or not, the public feeling the feeling 
 of humanity is, that the fate of Sir John Franklin should 
 be ascertained, and as soon as possible. The public mind 
 will never be satisfied till an expedition from this or from 
 some other country, shall throw light upon their fate. 
 
 The expeditions by land and sea, of the past three years, 
 have at least been attended with these beneficial results 
 exclusive of the very important geographical discoveries 
 made of land to the north of Benring's Strait, of exten- 
 sive open waters and available channels in Wellington 
 Strait and Jones' and Smith's Sounds, Regent Inlet, and 
 the discovery of an outlet westward, thence to Victoria 
 Strait (making North Somerset an island) ; Baffin's Bay, 
 all the southern shores of the Parry Islands, Victoria 
 Land, and the coasts of Arctic America ; proving beyond 
 a doubt that Franklin and his party have not been cast 
 on any of these shores. The inference is, therefore, 
 
KESULTS OF THE EXPEDITIONS. 237 
 
 stronger than ever, that the ships have penetrated far into 
 the Arctic Seas, through the Victoria Channel and some of 
 the subsidiary straits communicating with the Polar Sea. 
 
 Capt. Penny, in a letter to the Admiralty, on his return 
 from the Arctic Seas in the autumn of 1851, stated that the 
 high northern latitude once reached, comparative open 
 water would be found. The climate improved, and in proof 
 of this he states, that within Victoria Channel, at Point 
 Surprise, lat. 76 2', long. 95 55', he found ducks on the 
 17th of May, full a month earlier than in the lower lati- 
 tude ; while the sea was even then so free from ice, that 
 the water washed their very feet as they stood on the 
 point. The quantity of drift-wood was comparatively 
 large, and among this was found a piece of English elm. 
 Walruses and seals were also seen and killed by Capt. 
 Penny's party. 
 
 From all the information we have received, there can 
 no longer be a question that Franklin has passed up Wel- 
 lington Strait, and, in all probability, penetrated so far to 
 the westward as to be beyond the reach of any means of 
 rescue that we have hitherto been able to supply. 
 
 The important inquiry arises, therefore, In what man- 
 ner could so large a party have found the means of sub- 
 sistence for so long a period ? It would be folly to dog- 
 matise on a subject over which so much uncertainty must 
 necessarily hang, and perhaps idle to expect that the whole 
 party can be still in life ; but to infer, from the calculated 
 duration of the stores supplied to them on leaving Eng- 
 land, that by this time they must all necessarily have 
 perished, and thereon to base the inhuman counsel of 
 abandoning all further concern in their fate, is, I do not 
 hesitate to say, a conclusion wholly unwarranted by our 
 experience of the resources of these Arctic latitudes, 
 scanty and precarious as they undoubtedly are. 
 
 Let us not forget that the existence which our missing 
 friends may now be supposed to be leading in the unknown 
 recesses of the Arctic Seas, involves, after all, and at the 
 worst, hardly any greater danger or privation perhaps 
 even less than that of the many hundreds of their fellow- 
 countrymen scattered over the famishing territories of the 
 Hudson's Bay Company. 
 
 To meet the desponding feelings with which some are 
 too apt to regard the fate of the missing expedition, the 
 following facts may be brought forward : 
 
 1st. That Sir John Franklin's party would not wait to 
 increase their stock of provisions until the approach of 
 
238 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 want, but would avail themselves from tlie very first of 
 the resources of the country, in fish, animals, and birds, 
 and thus husband their own stores. 
 
 These resources are well known to be in certain quarters 
 abundant; and I may add the obvious argument that 
 where Esquimaux live, other men may exist also. 
 
 2nd. As to the want of fuel, if even the sacrifice of one 
 of the ships was not resorted to, this might be met by the 
 chance supply of drift-wood and of blubber, the usual fuel 
 of the Esquimaux. 
 
 In his second journey to the westward, Franklin found 
 at Garry's Island, off the mouth of the Mackenzie, num- 
 bers of moose, and rein-deer, and foxes ; several kinds of 
 gulls, dotterel, geese, cranes, and swans, were flocking 
 around its shores. 
 
 During the autumn, their fishing was so successful, that 
 the nets yielded daily from 300 to 800 fish of the kind 
 called herring- salmon, and occasionally trout, carp, and 
 other fish. 
 
 Sir John Eichardson, speaking from the experience of 
 his boat voyages, on this occasion, says : " There is such 
 an abundance of drift timber on almost every part of the 
 coast, that a sufficient supply of fuel for a ship might easily 
 be collected." And he adds, " should the course of events 
 ever introduce a steam vessel into those seas, it may be 
 important to know that, in coasting the shores between 
 Cape Bathurst and the Mackenzie, firewood sufficient for 
 her daily consumption may be gathered." 
 
 The Parry group of islands seem to abound in animals : 
 when Sir E. Parry wintered here, at Melville Island, in 
 1819-20, they were most numerous, and the visit of Lieut. 
 M'Clintock and his party last year, proves that they are 
 still as plentiful, and as easily to be procured. 
 
 Parry's party, in a few hunting excursions, obtained 3 
 musk oxen, 24 deer, 63 hares, 53 geese, 59 ducks, 144 
 ptarmigan, many gulls and other birds, amounting in 
 weight to nearly 4000 Ibs. of meat, or about 3J Ibs. per 
 month to each man. One of the musk oxen he killed 
 weighed 700 Ibs. Several bears and foxes were also 
 seen. 
 
 Lieut. M'Clintock, in his long and unparalleled sledge- 
 journey, found that musk oxen, rein-deer, hares, and ptar- 
 migan, still abound on Melville Island. His party killed 
 four oxen out of about fifty seen, one rein-deer out of 
 thirty-four seen, two bears and a wolf, seven hares out of 
 eighty or ninety seen. The hares, he observes, were as 
 tame as any one most anxious to procure game could wish. 
 
ANIMALS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 239 
 
 Twenty ptarmigan were shot. Had it been Ms object, he 
 remarks, he could easily have shot two- thirds of all the 
 oxen he saw. The hares were often met with in flocks of 
 twenty or thirty. The deer approached them within 
 100 yards, with more of curiosity than fear, and even 
 after one was shot, the herd trotted round the party two 
 or three times, before they finally deserted their fallen 
 companion. 
 
 All the other islands about this quarter are equally well 
 supplied. In perusing, as I have done most carefully, 
 the several Arctic Blue Books, just published by Parlia- 
 ment, giving detailed accounts of the various exploring 
 sledge parties, I have been particularly struck with the 
 quantity of game which was fallen in with in all directions. 
 
 Austin Island, and the shores southward and westward 
 of Cape Walker, have also numerous animals, and are fre- 
 quented by birds. So are Beaufort, Bathurst, and Corn- 
 wallis Lands. In Wellington and Victoria Channels 
 animal life is even more abundant, and there is little doubt 
 Sir John Franklin took every opportunity of replenishing 
 his stock while wintering at the entrance in 1845-46. 
 
 Captain Penny and his officers found bears, seals, rein- 
 deer, walruses, and hares, plentiful on these shores. Thou- 
 sands of ducks and sea-fowl of all sorts were seen. They 
 killed, during their short journey three ptarmigan, four 
 bears out of thirty-five seen, three seals, a walrus, and 
 fourteen hares, and one reindeer; a herd of twenty or 
 thirty deer was seen. 
 
 The following is a list of the animals killed by H.M.S. 
 Assistance, and her tender, the Intrepid, between the date 
 of their arrival at Whalefish Islands, June 15, 1850, and 
 the time of leaving Baffin's Bay, on their return home, in 
 August, 1851, or a little more than a year. Animals 
 thirteen bears, which were seen in great numbers in all 
 directions ; twenty-two foxes, mostly taken in traps about 
 the winter quarters of the ships. Ihey were both nume- 
 rous and well fed, and seen by all the travelling parties 
 about the Parry group. Nine hares these were in good 
 condition, weighing upwards of ten pounds. They were 
 found at Cornwallis Land, Griffith's Island, at Cape Walker, 
 the shores of Wellington Channel, and Wolstenholme 
 Sound, in Baffin's Bay. Four musk oxen, and one deer, 
 on Melville Island. Three lemmings, a seal, and two 
 narwhals, or sea-unicorns. 
 
 Of birds, the number was very great being, iu all, 
 3174 birds. 
 
 Now, if we average these birds at one pound weight 
 
24:0 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 each., and suppose the animals procured to yield another 
 3000 Ibs., we have about 17 Ibs of animal food for division 
 daily amongst the crews. 
 
 Captain Beechey, in his account of the voyage of Captain 
 Buchan, tells us of the immense flocks of birds found on 
 the shores and bays of Spitsbergen, where millions are on 
 the wing at a time, and so close together, that thirty have 
 fallen at a single shot. The explorers of the rich mines 
 of fossil ivory who go forth annually from Siberia to the 
 northern islands, maintain themselves solely by hunting 
 and fishing. 
 
 In the recently published work of Dr. Sir John Richard- 
 son, the old companion of Franklin, he repudiates the 
 idea of the vessels being so utterly lost that no traces can 
 be discovered of them. 
 
 " That the ships were not suddenly wrecked by a storm, 
 or overwhelmed by the pressure of the ice, may be con- 
 cluded from facts gathered from the records of the Davis's 
 Strait Whale Fishery, by which we learn, that of the 
 many vessels which have been crushed by the ice, in the 
 course of several centuries, the whole or greater part of 
 the crews have almost always escaped with their boats. 
 It is, therefore, scarcely possible to believe, that two 
 vessels, so strongly fortified as the JErebus and Terror, 
 and found by previous trials to be capable of sustaining so 
 enormous a pressure, should both of them have been so 
 suddenly crushed as to allow no time for active officers 
 and men, disciplined and prepared for emergencies of the 
 kind, to get out their boats. And having done so, they 
 would have had little difficulty in reaching one of the 
 many whaling vessels out there, or some of the searching 
 ships that have been employed for several years past. 
 Moreover, had the ships Ibeen wrecked, some fragments 
 of their spars or hulls would have been found floating by 
 the whalers, or being cast on the shores which have been 
 searched, would have been met with by either Europeans 
 or natives. Neither are any severe storms recorded as 
 having occurred then or there, nor did any unusual cala- 
 mity befal the fishing vessels that years. 
 
 " The present Admiral Sir John Ross, was more than 
 four years absent and unheard of in the Arctic regions, 
 yet he returned safe, with as many of his people as would 
 probably have survived the ordinary contingencies of life 
 had they suffered no severity. Why then, should we 
 utterly despair of those who, incomparably better pro- 
 vided, have entered on another year of absence P If a 
 body of men lived out, whilst unheard of, more than four 
 
CHANCES OF SAFETY. 241 
 
 years, why might not another body better set out, survive 
 a fifth or a sixth year ? The good hand of a gracious pro- 
 vidence being with them, they may survive this further 
 trial, and Britain may yet be privileged to welcome back 
 her all but lost sons to the land of their fathers." Scorcsly, 
 
 In the early part of the 17th century, Barentz, who had 
 been sent out by the Dutch to discover the north-west pas- 
 sage, was wrecked, and with his companions, fifteen nmum- 
 ber, passed the entire winter in the 76th parallel of latitude, 
 deriving a subsistence by eating foxes, which were ^ abun- 
 dant. They left their winter quarters on the breaking up 
 of the ice in two open boats ; and after the most desperate 
 exertions, continued during two months, they reached 
 Bjlduin, in Lapland, a distance of upwards of 1000 miles, 
 with the loss of only two men. 
 
 Such instances as these are full of cheering hope with 
 regard to our missing navigators. 
 
 The shores of Wolstenholme Sound are frequented 
 by deer, bears, seals, walruses, foxes, hares, lemmings, 
 wolverine, and all the varieties of sea fowl. At the Gary 
 Islands about 1000 loons were obtained in a couple of 
 days by the boats of the Assistance to preserve for the 
 ship's company. Dovekies and rotges were also in abun- 
 dance. 
 
 In Lancaster Sound and its inlets, shoals of eider duck, 
 brent geese, and large quantities of other birds, are con- 
 tinually met with. 
 
 In Jiegent Inlet and Boothia Peninsula, Sir John Ross, 
 when wintering in 1829-33, obtained vast quantities of 
 food from animals indigenous to the country, and this 
 almost through the entire year. Whales, seals, and nar- 
 whals were numerous. The Esquimaux in the vicinity 
 of their winter quarters, caught eighteen or twenty seals 
 in a couple of days ; two musk oxen and very many bears 
 of a large size were killed. Hares and foxes were ex- 
 ceedingly common, and formed an every-day dish on their 
 table. Grouse, ducks, and various water birds, were 
 obtained without the least difficulty, and a tolerable sports- 
 man was always able to bring home two or three brace of 
 grouse and a leash of hares. 
 
 Salmon of one or two pounds weight were taken in the 
 lakes by thousands, and 4000 or 5000 were frequently 
 netted at a draught. At all points of the inlet which 
 they visited Felix and Victoria Harbours, Batty and 
 Garry Bays, Finny Point, Cascade Beach, &c., animals 
 were equally plentiful. 
 
 When the Enterprise and Investigator wintered, at Port 
 
242 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 Leopold, in 1848-9, shooting parties of two men from each 
 ship were stationed at Whaler Point ; and so, plentiful 
 were the dovekies and loon, that a bird per man was 
 served out regularly to the ships' crews. From a record 
 kept on board the Investigator, it appears that 4000 birds 
 were killed, yielding 2500lbs. of meat; but many were 
 shot by individuals, of which no register was kept. More 
 than one hundred foxes were caught, and liberated again, 
 after copper collars had been fixed round their necks. 
 
 Dr. Scoresby states, that Captain Parker, in the True- 
 love, in 1833, captured twenty-eight whales, and lost 
 fifteen others, between Cape York and Cape Kater, in 
 Regent inlet ; and they found the sea there in the month of 
 July literally swarming with life. The numbers of the 
 larger kind of arctic animals seen, as whales, narwhals, 
 walruses, seals, bears, &c., were such as to have excited 
 unmixed amazement, whilst birds innumerable of various 
 species, almost covered the water. 
 
 Sir John Richardson, in his recently published account 
 of his searching journey, adduces statistics to show the 
 abundance of game which rewarded the efforts of his hunt- 
 ing parties in the winter of 1848-49. To the middle of 
 April in the latter year, there were received into the 
 storehouse attached to their winter quarters, 5191 fish, 
 13,810 Ibs. of fresh venison, 9220 Ibs. of half-dry venison, 
 360 Ibs. of pounded meat, 353 Ibs. of rein-deer fat, and 625 
 rein-deer tongues. 
 
 Mr. Isbister tells us that one of the last winters he 
 passed in the Hudson's Bay Company territories was on 
 the borders of the Arctic Sea, near the mouth of the 
 Mackenzie ; and from their fisheries alone they found no 
 difficulty in maintaining a large party of Europeans and 
 natives, whom the novelty of the event had attracted 
 around him. 
 
 Sir John Franklin, in his account of his first journey to 
 the shores of the Polar Sea, gives ample details and par- 
 ticulars of the numerous birds and animals which he met 
 with in the Hudson's Bay Company's territories, and 
 along the northern shores and islands of Arctic America. 
 He speaks, too, of Mr. Isbister's making light of a long 
 and fatiguing solitary journey, in search of a party of 
 trading Indians, when at one time he was four days 
 without food of any kind for himself or his dogs; and 
 when, on the point of killing one of the dogs to satisfy 
 his hunger, he happily met with a beaten track, which led 
 him to some Indian lodges, where he was supplied with 
 food, 
 
ABUNDANCE OF ANIMAL LIFE. 243 
 
 In the barren grounds between Fort Enterprise and 
 the mouth of the Coppermine, more than two hundred 
 deer were shot in a very short time, and large flocks of 
 waveys (Anas hyperborea) were met with, many of which 
 fell to their guns. 
 
 Their fishery at Fort Enterprise yielded 1200 white fish, 
 weighing from two to three pounds each. Geese and 
 ducks they also found abundant indeed, too plentiful 
 for it is made a subject of complaint that the hunters were 
 apt to waste upon them their ammunition given for killing 
 deer. 
 
 About two dozen musk oxen were slain at various times, 
 and a bear or two. The hunters could often even beat 
 down young geese with their sticks; forty excellent salmon 
 and white fish were taken at a draught near the Bloody 
 Falls. 
 
 They learnt from the Esquimaux, as well as from their 
 own experience, that reindeer frequent the coast during 
 summer, that fish are plentiful at the mouths of the rivers, 
 and seals abundant, whilst drift-wood was found all along 
 the shores. 
 
 In Bathurst Inlet, and Austin and Melville Sounds, 
 they shot many deer ; and bears and seals were plentiful, 
 if they had required to take them. The shallows were 
 covered with shoals of capelin ; and their nets produced, 
 from time to time, a great variety of fish, particularly 
 salmon-trout, round fish, herrings, and so forth. They also 
 killed several swans, cranes, and gray geese. 
 
 Sir John Richardson, speaking of the amount of food to 
 be obtained in these regions, says : 
 
 " Deer migrate over the ice in the spring, from the 
 main shore to Victoria and Wollaston lands, in large 
 herds, and return in the autumn. These lands are also 
 the breeding-places of vast flocks of snow geese ; so that, 
 with ordinary skill in hunting, a large supply of food 
 might be procured on their shores, in the months of June, 
 July, and August. Seals are also numerous in those seas, 
 and are easily shot, their curiosity rendering them a ready 
 prey to a boat party." 
 
 Dr. Eae, in searching Wollaston Land, in May, last 
 year, found abundance of drift wood about the shores. 
 Many partridges were seen, but, as they were shy, only 
 eleven were shot by himself and his two men : these birds 
 were very large, and fine eating. Deer were very nume- 
 rous, and several hares were seen ; but as they had abun- 
 dance of provisions with them, no attempt was made to 
 approach them 
 
244 PROGRESS OP ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 The inhabitants of thirteen Esquimaux lodges, whom 
 they met with at Cape Hamilton, were all very fat, having 
 abundance of seal's flesh and fat, large quantities of which, 
 were carefully deposited in seal-skin bags under the 
 snow. 
 
 The Esquimaux, according to Dr. Bichardson, assemble 
 on the various headlands, from the Mackenzie eastward, 
 to chase the black and white whales. 
 
 Whales are found in great numbers on all the coasts in 
 the vicinity of Behring's Strait, and the whalers have 
 captured them in high north latitudes. 
 
 On the Herald Islands and newly-discovered lands to 
 the northward, innumerable black and white divers 
 (common to this sea) deposit their eggs, and bring up 
 their young. 
 
 Of the resources of the northern shores of Siberia, we 
 have unfortunately very scanty materials for forming an 
 accurate judgment. From the scattered notices occurring 
 tinder this head, in the valuable work of Professor Bauer, 
 of St. Petersburgh, drawn chiefly from official sources, 
 sufficient information may, however, be gathered, to 
 warrant us in inferring that they are little if at all inferior 
 to those of the corresponding Arctic coast of America. 
 This much at least, we know, that every summer sends 
 forth parties of adventurous explorers from Siberia, main- 
 taining themselves as only they can maintain themselves 
 in these latitudes by hunting and fishing, for the purpose 
 of working the rich mines of fossil ivory, found in such 
 abundance in the neighbouring islands, which have been 
 described as one vast deposit of the remains of the mam- 
 moth. 
 
 A writer in a professional paper concludes an excellent 
 letter on the subject with these words: "Starving I 
 consider out of the question having plenty of ammuni- 
 tion ; fuel could not fail, as one of the ships could have 
 been sacrificed to its necessity. And had they both been 
 wrecked which I consider highly improbable some 
 remnant would have turned up to indicate the sad calamity. 
 Scurvy, and diseases incident to long voyages, may have 
 rendered his sick numerous, and difficult to transport; 
 but weighing all these contingencies, I cannot help ex- 
 pressing a strong conviction, even at this late moment, 
 that many, indeed most of this gallant band, are still in 
 existence, and will live to receive the hearty congratula- 
 tions of their friends and countrymen." 
 
 IE conclusion, then, I may adopt the sentiments beau- 
 
HOPE OP FRANKLIN'S SAFETY. 245 
 
 tifully expressed by a recent writer in one of the quar- 
 terlies, who has dealt with the whole subject in a masterly 
 manner : 
 
 " Such are the hopes which we fondly cherish, that our 
 distinguished exile, and his gallant crew, are still pre- 
 served to their friends and their country ; yet it is but a 
 hope a faint hope, too to which we cling with failing 
 grasp and with bitter tears. Time has worn it to a 
 shadow, evanescent to the eye of Keason, yet looming 
 brightly on the horizon of Fancy. Still we must not 
 depair. When Hope quits the earth, she often alights 
 again, embalmed and invigorated, amid the prayers of the 
 faithful. In the chronicles of the ocean, when the 
 wrecked mariner has been cast among its raging billows, 
 an unseen hand has often guided him to a happy shore ; 
 and in the annals of mortal suffering, when hearts have 
 sunk, and hands have failed, a meteor ray has often 
 flashed upon the soul, and an arm of strength been com- 
 missioned to deliver. 
 
 " In asking, then, with the poet where are the friends 
 whom we mourn ? let us accept of the consolation which 
 he offers, when it shall appear that God has not aided the 
 efforts of the resolute : 
 
 " Where is he ? where ? Silence and darkness dwell 
 About him ; as a soul cut off from men : 
 Shall we behold him yet a citizen 
 Of mortal life ? Will he return to tell 
 (Prisoner from Winter's very citadel 
 Broken forth) what he before has told, again 
 How to the hearts and hands of resolute men, 
 God aiding, nothing is impossible ? 
 
 Alas ! the enclosure of the stony wave 
 Is strong, and dark the depths of polar night ; 
 
 Yet One there is omnipotent to save, 
 
 And this we know, if comfort still we crave, 
 Into that dark he took with him a light 
 
 The lamp that can illuminate the grave" 
 
 " Still, then, the question is asked, does Franklin now 
 survive ? Captains Ommanney and Austin, experienced 
 Arctic navigators, are clearly of opinion that neither he 
 nor any portion of the crews are now living ; and they 
 ground such opinion upon two considerations first, that 
 even a second year's residence in the Arctic circle impairs 
 the mind and debilitates the body of Europeans ; and 
 secondly, that it must have been impossible for the crews 
 to procure sufficiency of food after their stock was ex- 
 
24:6 PROGRESS OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 hausted. Captain Penny is of a contrary opinion, but 
 the weight of evidence appears to be against him. 
 
 " To expect, therefore, a favourable result now seems like 
 hoping against hope. A mystery like that which rests 
 upon the fate of the President, but a mystery, alas I in 
 which reasonable conjecture supplies the place of facts, 
 rests also upon the lot of our gallant countrymen. To 
 them, if no more, may be applied in spirit, if not literally, 
 the words of Collins's beautiful hymn 
 
 ' How sleep the brave who sink to rest 
 By all their country's wishes blest ! 
 When Spring, vrith dewy fingers cold, 
 Returns to deck their hallowed mould, 
 She there shall dress a sweeter sod 
 Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. 
 By fairy hands their knell is rung, 
 By forms unseen their dirge is sung ; 
 There Honour comes, a pilgrim grey, 
 To bless the turf that wraps their clay"; 
 And Science shall awhile repair 
 To dwell a weeping hermit there.* 
 
 " But whether they return or not return, whether they 
 remain in their prison of ice, from which there is no escape, 
 or have perished amid the storms and rigours of a polar 
 winter whether they have reached a more genial climate, 
 where the remnant of life can be spent without pain, or 
 are doomed to drag out a weary existence under the 
 united pressure of hunger and cold, ever looking for 
 deliverance, and never finding it whatever be their con- 
 dition, their adventures, chronicled as they may yet be 
 by themselves, or painted by others, in the lights and 
 shadows of fancy, will ever be a subject of romantic 
 interest, and their fate a source of unmingled joy or of 
 deep lamentation. 
 
 " Nor will it be in England alone that this interest will 
 be felt, and this sympathy awakened. Nations whom 
 political differences have estranged, and parties who, on 
 every other subject, are at variance, have, with united 
 hearts, striven to discover the adventurous exiles j and as 
 hope languished, and despair succeeded, the general 
 anxiety for their safety and return increased in the same 
 proportion. He who sacrifices his life for his country, has 
 but his countrymen to mourn his loss. He who makes the 
 sacrifice for science and philanthropy, is lamented through- 
 out a wider sphere. The tears of the Old World and the 
 New are shed over his tomb, and universal humanity 
 bewail the departed sage. The fate of the Arctic traveller 
 
CONCLUSION. 247 
 
 has, therefore, excited an interest coextensive with civi- 
 lization. Though the territory of ice and snow would 
 have belonged to England, the problem of a North- West 
 passage would have been solved for humanity ; and though 
 the glory of the deed would have illustrated but a British 
 name, the mysteries of the Polar regions would have been 
 unveiled for the instruction of the world." 
 
LONDON- : 
 
 AND EDWABDS, PEINTEHS, 4, CHANDOS-SIBIET, 
 COYBNT GARDEN. 
 
BANCROFT LIBRARY