government having waived all claim to the abandoned vessel, she was purchased by the United States government, refitted at the Brooklyn navy yard, and sent to England as a present to the queen. She reached Spithead on the 12th of December, 1856, and on the 30th of December was formally delivered to the British government. Only a few months after the return of the Grinnell expedition, its surgeon, Dr. Kane, began to mature plans for a renewed search, and to interest individuals and organized bodies in the subject. Mr. Grinnell again offered the use of the "Advance," and other persons made important contributions to secure her efficient equipment, while as before the commander acted under orders from the government. The "Advance" sailed from New York on the 30th of May, 1853, having on board eighteen persons in all. Kane's plan was to ascend Baffin's Bay as far as practicable, and then to search for the missing ships in a region hitherto wholly unexamined. In the prosecution of this design he penetrated nearly to the seventy-ninth degree of latitude, the farthest point at which any vessel had hitherto wintered. Here his progress was finally arrested on the 29th of August. "During the winter which followed," says Dr. Kane, "the sun was one hundred and twenty days below the horizon; owing to a range of hills toward our southern meridian, the maximum darkness was not relieved by apparent twilight even at noonday." Here the "Advance" remained. 1 Arctic Explorations, vol. ii. p. 304. From a reproduction of a photograph in Nourse's Hall's Second Expedition (Washington, 1879). until the 17th of May, 1855, when it became necessary to abandon her, on account of the enfeebled condition of the crew and the insufficient quantity of stores remaining. The whole crew, with the exception of one man who died on the way, were then transported by boats mounted on sledges to Upernavik, which was reached on the 6th of August, eighty-three days after leaving the "Advance." During their long imprisonment nothing was found to throw light on the fate of Sir John Franklin; but Kane and his companions were not idle, and in their sledge journeys they examined a wide extent of coast and made some important discoveries. To sum up as briefly as possible what had been accomplished, it may be said that the coast of Greenland was examined as far as the great Humboldt Glacier, beyond which land was discovered and named Washington. Still farther north, it was believed, an open sea was seen; but later discoveries have shown that this was a mistake. On the opposite shore of Smith Sound and Kennedy Channel, the name given to its northern extension, the coast of Grinnell Land was carefully examined and laid down on the chart. The aggregate distance travelled by the various exploring parties was nearly three thousand miles, and about half of this distance was performed by Kane in person. As nothing had been heard from him after his arrival at Upernavik in July, 1853, much anxiety was felt for his safety, and in February, 1855, Congress passed a resolve authorizing the dispatch of one or more vessels for his relief. Two suitable vessels, the bark "Rescue" and the steamer "Arctic," were procured, specially fitted for the work, and placed under the command of Lieutenant Henry J. Hartstein, of the United States navy, who sailed from New York about the first of June. Reaching Disco on the 5th of July, he forced an entrance into the north water about the middle of August, and after pushing as far north as seventy-eight and a half degrees, found traces of Dr. Kane's expedition. He also learned from some Eskimos whom he met that the vessel had been abandoned somewhere to the north, and that Kane and his companions had gone to Upernavik. Thereupon he turned south, and at Disco had the good fortune to meet the whole party, who had engaged passage for the Shetland Isles in a Danish brig. They were at once taken on board of the relief vessels, and reached New York on the 11th of October. While these various expeditions were engaged in the search for Franklin in waters which he had not visited, or had left safely behind him, the Hudson Bay Company again sent Rae to Repulse Bay, which he reached the middle of August, 1853, and where he passed the winter. At the end of March he resumed his journey, and on the 17th of April, at Pelly Bay, fell in with the Eskimos, from whom he obtained various articles which were at once recognized as having belonged to Sir John Franklin or to officers under his command.1 The stories told by the Eskimos were no doubt false 1 Among these relics were a small silver plate, on which was engraved in full the name of Sir John Franklin, and also a considerable number of silver forks and spoons, marked with the initials of officers in the expedition. in some particulars, but a clew had been found to the fate of the lost expedition. According to these stories, while some Eskimos were killing seals, in the winter of 1850, near King William's Land, they saw a large party of white men travelling south, and dragging a boat and sledges with them. Subsequently they saw dead bodies and graves on the main land, and dead bodies on an island easily identified as Montreal Island, near the mouth of Back's Great Fish River. Unfortunately Rae could not make an immediate investigation of the truth of these stories on the spot; but a subsequent expedition, undertaken in the summer of 1855 by Mr. James Anderson, under orders from the Hudson Bay Company, obtained confirmation of the more important part of the story told to Rae, and left no doubt as to the fate of the lost crews. This expedition, however, was equally unable to examine the shores of King William's Land. The last, and in several respects the most remarkable, of the voyages undertaken in the search for Sir John Franklin was that of the "Fox," under the command of Captain F. L. McClintock. This vessel was a steam yacht of only one hundred and seventy-seven tons, purchased for the purpose by Lady Franklin, and equipped partly at her own cost and partly by a public subscription, on the refusal of the British government to prosecute the search any longer. The "Fox" began her voyage on the 1st of July, 1857, and before the end of August was beset with ice in Melville Bay. Then began one of the most remarkable drifts in the long history of Arctic navigation. For eight months the vessel was firmly fixed in the ice, and during that period she drifted nearly twelve hundred miles, carrying her toward the southern coast of Greenland through twelve degrees of latitude. At the end of April, 1858, she was released by the breaking up of the pack, and at once proceeded to one of the Greenland ports to refit. Early in May she again set sail, and after encountering numerous perils arrived at Beechey Island early in August. It was already known that Sir John Franklin had passed his first winter here, and here his countrymen now erected a marble tablet to his memory and to the memory of his companions, prepared under the direction of Lady Franklin, and left in Greenland several years before. Failing to pass through Barrow Strait, Captain McClintock turned his course southward into Prince Regent's Inlet, and after several unsuccessful attempts to force his way through Bellot Strait, he determined to winter near its eastern opening. On the 28th of September he began his preparations for wintering, having already made his plans for a systematic search, in the spring, of the western coast of Boothia, of King William's Land, and of that part of Prince of Wales Land which had not been previously examined. The winter was passed in the same dreary routine which has characterized almost every Arctic winter, but McClintock was able to begin his sledge journeys a month earlier than he had anticipated. On the 17th of February he set out on a preliminary exploration toward King William's Land, with a temperature ranging between 31 and 42 degrees below zero, falling the next. day to 48 degrees below zero. On this journey he was absent twenty-five days, and from conversations with the Eskimos some important information was obtained. From their reports it appeared probable that one of Franklin's vessels had been crushed in the ice west of King William's Land, and that the crew landed in safety; and this story derived some confirmation from the possession by the natives of not a few relics of the lost expedition. After obtaining this clew, McClintock returned to the "Fox." On the 2d of April he started again for a further search; and at or about the same time two other parties, commanded by his two chief officers, were dispatched on the same errand. Two of the expeditions were successful, — the expedition commanded by McClintock in person, and that under Lieutenant Hobson. The former prosecuted his search as far as Montreal Island and the Great Fish River, and then carefully examined the whole southern and western coasts of King William's Land. At various points traces of Sir John Franklin and his companions were found, all tending to confirm the stories told by the natives. On Montreal Island very little, if any, positive evidence remained that Europeans had been there; but on King William's Land the evidence was abundant and conclusive. On the 24th of May McClintock came upon the skeleton of a young man, apparently a steward or an officer's servant, lying face down, just where he had fallen in his weary walk; and a few days later he encamped by the side of a large boat, mounted on a sledge, and "evidently equipped with the utmost care for the ascent of the Great Fish River." The boat contained two skeletons and numerous relics, and had already been examined by Lieutenant Hobson. This officer had previously discovered an account of the lost expedition, written by three of its officers, and giving the most important facts in its history down to April 26, 1848. From this it appears that after Franklin was last seen, while crossing Baffin's Bay, he had pursued a western course, and ascended Wellington Channel to latitude 77°, returning by the west side of Cornwallis Island. His next course is not stated in the record, and has been matter of dispute; but he probably went into Peel Sound, and we know that he was beset in the ice September 12, 1846. Sir John Franklin died on the 11th of June, 1847; and, after having been frozen in for more than a year and a half, the ships were deserted on the 22d of April, 1848, five leagues from Point Victory, on the northwest coast of King William's Land. The survivors, to the number of one hundred and five souls, - so the record stated, - intended to proceed to the Great Fish River. Their ultimate fate is involved in obscurity; but it seems probable that the story told by an old Eskimo woman, that "they fell down and died as they walked along," is true, and that, already weakened by disease and the want of food, they perished from starvation. Having thus settled the question of the fate of Franklin and his companions beyond reasonable doubt, McClintock started on his homeward voyage as soon as the ice would allow, and on the 21st of September, 1859, landed at Plymouth, England. With the definite solution of the problem as to the existence of a north es of 1847 Lat. d the total Forday 2017 Largo's N love grizs m Having wintered in 1846 -7 at Beechey Island in Lat 74° 43.28′′ N Lony 91:39.15 m after having ascended Wellington Channel to Lust 77 and returned by the West side of Cornwallis Foland. Phir John Franklin commanding the Expedition D5858. Amis hijos Terror and Eve the were deserted on the 22^^ April 5 leagues NNW of this 105 Louls -under the ཧཿ all well WHOEVER finds this paper is requested to forward it to the Secretary of the Admiralty, London, with a note of the time and place at which it was found: or, if more convenient, to deliver it for that purpose to the British Consul at the nearest Port. QUINCONQUE trouvera ce papier est prié d'y marquer le tems et lieu ou il l'aura trouve, et de le faire parvenir au plutot au Secretaire de l'Amirauté Britannique à Londres. CUALQUIERA que hallare este Papel, se le suplica de enviarlo al Secretario del Almirantazgo, en Londrés, con una nota del tiempo y del lugar en donde se halló. in 1831. where it had been desparted The Northward Tu James Rop nofereed to Franklin died on this poor EEN ieder die dit Papier mogt vinden, wordt hiermede verzogt, om het zelve, ten spoedigste, te willen zenden aan den Heer Minister van de Marine der Nederlanden in 's Gravenhage, of wel aan den Secretaris der S. Britsche Admiraliteit, te London, en daar by te voegen eene Nota, inhoudende de tyd en de plaats alwaar dit Papier is gevonden geworden. FINDEREN af dette Papiir ombedes, naar Leilighed gives, at sende samme til Admiralitets Secretairen i London, eller nærmeste Embedsmand i Danmark, Norge, eller Sverrig. Tiden og Stædit hvor dette er fundet önskes venskabeligt paategnet. WER diesen Zettel findet, wird hier-durch ersucht denselben an den Panty consisting of 2 Offices and 6 min on Monday 24th May 184723 Chow I Des Voeux mate. THE DISCOVERED RECORD. (1859.)* T that-in * [Reproduced from Richardson's Arctic Regions. It is given full size in McClintock's narrative. - ED.] |