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THE 
 
 FRANKLIN EXPEDITION: 
 
 OK 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS ON MEASURES FOR THE DISCOVERY 
 
 AND RELIEF OF OUR ABSENT ADVENTURERS 
 
 IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 
 
 WITH MAPS. 
 
 T?Y THE 
 
 REV. W. SCORESBY, D.D. 
 
 FKM.OW OK TIIF. ROYAL SOCIETIKS OP LONDON AND EDINBTTRGH ; 
 
 MKMBKK OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANf'E: OF TriK 
 
 AMERICAN INSTITUTE, I'HILADEf.PHI A, 
 
 ETC. ETC. 
 
 i; 
 
 LONDON: 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 
 
 1850. 
 
LONDON : . 
 
 tniNTKD BY M. MASON, IVY LANE, rATKRNOSTKR HOW. 
 
 1 
 
 \o 1 -• 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 PoH'i'ioNs of the following pages ha\o already ap- 
 peared, in substance, in the columns of the Mornm<i 
 Herald, of the 1st, 14th, and 26th of December last. 
 At the solicitation of friends feeling deep interest 
 in the fate of the Franklin Expedition, the Author 
 has been induced to cast the principal parts of these 
 several communications, enlarged by a considerable 
 quantity of fresh materials, into a separate publica- 
 tion. Whilst so doing, he has deemed it important, 
 with the view of more completeness, and, it is 
 hoped, of greater utility, to introduce the variety of 
 new and additional matter — such, for instance, as 
 Chapter IV., on the Middle-ice, a subject not 
 hitherto to be found treated of in print, — which 
 has enlarged his publication to its present extent. 
 Having, however, carefully separated the various 
 matters under different Chapters, so as to enable 
 the reader to turn to any particular topic by itself, 
 he trusts the increase in magnitude will not be 
 found inconvenient for general reference. 
 
 Athen.eim, 
 
 London., Jan. 25, 18,50. 
 
 il 
 
 II 
 
 
 i ' 
 
 ii 
 
 J 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introductory Reniarkf' 
 
 5 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Tliu Public Duty, under still existing Grounds of Hope, 
 concerning our gallant Countrymen ..'.<) 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Historical Sketch of the Plan and Outset of the Missiuir 
 Expedition, and of Researches hitherto made for its 
 I^elicf 10 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Considerations as to present Measures for the Discovery 
 and Relief of the Franklin Expedition . .31 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Passage of the Middle Ice — or the Crossing of Baffin 
 Bay 5G 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 On Aids to the Furtherance of Research 
 
 80 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 I. On the Researches by the Herald and Plover, by 
 
 Behring Strait, in the Summer of 1 849 . . 90 
 
 U. Tabular Record of the Times of Passing the Middle Ice, 
 
 by the leading Ship, or Ships . . . .98 
 
i 
 
 T 
 
 HE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 
 
 Introductory Remarks. 
 
 The search for a "Nortli-wcst Passage," is an enter- 
 prise which may be decerned peculiarly British. 
 In its original suggestion, indeed, and in its earliest 
 trials, with a simjjly commercial object — as the 
 shortest way to China — the project may not be so 
 claimed: for the enterprises of the Cortereals, and 
 Cabots, imdertaken in the fifteenth century, were 
 anterior, for tlie most part, by almost a century, 
 to our own. 
 
 Since the latter part of the sixteenth century, 
 however, commencing with the first voyage of Davis 
 in 1585, the enterprise has become essentially 
 British, and has residted, it may be said, in all 
 the geographical determinations, before the A'orld, 
 extending, with slight exceptions, northward and 
 westward from Cape Farewell, the southern point 
 of Greenland, to Behring Strait. All the voyages 
 undertaken during the two centuries which elapsed 
 from the time of Baflfin, in 1616, to that of the 
 renewal of the enterprise under Captain Ross, 
 amounting to almost thirty, did little more than 
 confirm the researches of the three gallant and 
 daring commanders, Davis, Hudson, and Baffin, — 
 
 B 
 
 
 ■J 
 
 1^1 
 
H 
 
 THE FRANKLIN KXI'EDITION. 
 
 who, in vessels, for the most ])nit, of little move than 
 fifty tons bnrden, and somii of them mncli smaller, 
 discovered and explored the ice-encumbered straits 
 and bays which are properly distinguished by their 
 respective names. 
 
 The peculiar interest which has attached to the 
 question of a sea communication betwixt the At- 
 lantic and Pacific oceans b?/ the north, ever since it 
 was first suggested — a period amounting to nearly 
 four centuries of time — is fully pro^•(Hl by the facts, 
 that the speculation has never but once b(^en aban 
 doned by the nations of Europe for more than 
 twenty-five years togetlicr, and that there have been 
 only three or four intervals of more than fifteen 
 years in which no expedition was sent out in search 
 of one or other of the supposed passages ! 
 
 After nearly a hundred different voyages had 
 been undertaken, with a view of discovering the 
 desired communication with the Indian seas, all of 
 which failed, Britian, again, was the nation to 
 revive the project, and to pursue it with a degree 
 of energy, perseverance, and costliness of equip- 
 ment, which has rendered these modern enterprises 
 conspicucus in the eyes of all civilized nations 
 throughout the world. With the successes and 
 failures of these great, and somewhat, perhaps, 
 ostentatious enterprises, the public is sufficiently 
 acquainted. Thus far, our experience only goes to 
 verify the opinions set forth in 1820, in the "Account 
 of the Arctic Regions," — that the enterprise was 
 simply commendable, and worthy of appreciation, 
 as 07ie of geographical and scientific enquiry, for 
 
 
 .\ 
 
 
 
I 
 
 '4 
 
 ^1 
 ^-1 
 
 Kt'S 
 
 INTUODUCTOllY UEMAUKm. 7 
 
 '' as affording a navigation to the Pacific Ocean, 
 commercially, the discovery of a North-west Passage 
 wouhl be of no service." 
 
 Notwitlistanding, liowever, the repeated verifica- 
 tion of these views by the perpetnal faihires, as to 
 the main object, of the numerous modern expedi- 
 tions, — the explorations themselves have ever been 
 regarded by the British public with general, and, 
 not unfrequent, absorbing interest. Thus whilst the 
 return of the several expeditions has usually excited 
 the most lively interest with the British public; 
 the fate of long-absent voyagers — especially in the 
 case of the now anxiously contemplated adventurers 
 with Sir John Franklin — has called forth the public 
 solicitude and sympathy throughout the length and 
 breadth of the land. Yea more than this: — for 
 what we ourselves feel, we find to be also felt in 
 regions remote and severed from our territories, as 
 in the case more particularly of the United States 
 of America, where the most generous solicitude and 
 anxiety respecting the fate of Sir John Franklin, 
 and researches for his relief, are found to prevail. 
 And not only to America does this feeling extend, 
 but to Russia also, where we find a strong sympathy 
 on the part of the government, at least, prevailing, 
 with a generous disposition to aid, from their far- 
 west regions, attempts for succour. 
 
 In regard to this sympathy on the part of the 
 Americans, we have most gratifying evidences in 
 the variety of notices which have already appeared 
 in the public journals. And, in addition to these, 
 I have myself received information from other 
 
 
 I I 
 
 j.;-. 
 
 %. 
 
8 TFIE FRANKLIN EXrEDITION. 
 
 souiTos, indicating a (\c<rYoc of solicitude among 
 private ocntlcuicn, as well iis public otticcrs, scarcely 
 less fervent tlian witli ourselves. For the American 
 pul)lic, we find, throu^di tluMr siui^ularly (^xtensivc 
 press, has been axUhcssed both by (>(Utorial and 
 private appeals to their jrinierous sympathy; whilst 
 the <,'overnment has been ai)[)(Mded to, or is being 
 a[)pealed to, for some tangible act of symi)athising 
 recognition, both by mtelligent individuals, and by 
 association of men in influential bodies ! 
 
 The question of — AVhat can be done for the dis- 
 covery and relief of our absent ad\enturers in the 
 Arctic Regions? — involves several distinct consider- 
 ations on which I would venture, in series, to sub- 
 mit the results of much personal reflection. These 
 considerations may be conveniently comprised, per- 
 haps, under the arrangement adopted in the follow- 
 ing chapters. 
 
 ^■f 
 
 ■ i 
 
 U 
 
li 
 
 !) 
 
 I 
 
 ceAPTf:u I. 
 
 • • 
 
 THE PUBLIC DUTY, UNDER STILL EXISTING GROUNDS 
 OF HOPE, CONCERNING OUR GALLANT COUNTRY- 
 MEN. 
 
 The p^neral solicitudo and anxiety with ourselves, 
 it may bo remarked, is l)nt a just tribute of fe(>ling 
 and duty from the British nation. The honour of 
 success, if the great question were ans^vered, wouhl 
 be our honour; tlie glory of the enterprise, were 
 the north-west passage fairly made by oar voyagers, 
 would be ours. We have yielded our sympathy, 
 and that freely and generously as a people. It had 
 been due from us on the claims of right and justice, 
 had not a generous impulse of heart, anticipated 
 reflection. It is a simple principle of human and 
 relative obligations, — if we have shared m the 
 honour of an enterprise, there is claim on us as to 
 responsibilities ; if we were ready to appropriate to 
 ourselves, as a people, the glory, as it is deemed, of 
 an adventure successfully pursued, we are bound to 
 adopt its reverses, and to help, to the uttermost, the 
 adventurers in their difficulties— to succour them, 
 if it be possible, in their mortal perils! 
 
 Hence, in addition to the general claims of the 
 absent ones on our common humanity — claims 
 which we believe to be almost universally recognised; 
 we have the additional demands of plain and obvious 
 duty. The claim of humanity might have called 
 
 'I 
 
 H 
 
 I 
 
10 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 ' i 
 
 for serious thought, and active endeavours for yield- 
 ing help to the (perhaps) otherwise lost; the claims 
 of duty, however, go to the further extent of a 
 deep and responsible consideration of the question — 
 What can be done for them? — in order that mea- 
 sures may be taken for such researches being made, 
 as wisdom and experience may devise, and for such 
 relief being sent forth, as generous liberality, and 
 a due sense of relative duty, might stimulate. 
 
 Whilst the friends of the missing adventurers, 
 and those who sympathise with them throughout 
 the country generally, naturally look to the Govern- 
 ment to take the most prompt and liberal measures 
 for searching the track prescribed to Sir John 
 Franklin, — it is, no doubt, the wisdom of the Govern- 
 ment, whilst recognising the duty of doing what 
 human efforts may reasonably undertake for the 
 relief of our imperiled voyagers, 1st, not to pursue, 
 beyond all imaginable hope, researches decided upon 
 as no longer of any use; or, 2dly, not to risk other 
 valuable lives, after all chance of recovery of the 
 absent might be at an end. But the time for 
 neither of these conditions, I do firmly believe, has 
 yet arrived; and for the following reasons: — 
 
 1. That the period for the abandonment of all 
 hope of the recovery of our missing countrymen has 
 not yet arrived — the prevalent convictions of those 
 best capable of estimating the risks, and of judging 
 on the predominance of the grounds for hopes 
 and fears, might be sufficient for the guidance of 
 the public sympathies. But it is not a mere vague 
 impression by which the public duty is to be de- 
 
 ■■4 
 
 ■v. 
 
PUBLIC DUTY TO OUR COUNTRYMEN. 
 
 11 
 
 cided: we have certain reasons, estimable by every 
 mind, by which the recognised principle of duty 
 ought to be stimulated into action. 
 
 Greatly augmented, no doubt, the grounds for 
 apprehension are, now that, for the fifth time, the 
 season for Arctic navigation has been closed, whilst 
 the efforts, on the part of two anxiously looked-to 
 expeditions for search, have altogether failed of any 
 advantageous result. Shall we, therefore, allow our 
 increased anxieties to check further enterprise in 
 researches? or shall despair of success be allowed to 
 stultify the impulses of humanity? The grounds of 
 reasonable hope forbid. 
 
 (1). Sir John Ross, we cannot fail to remember, 
 was more than four years absent — and unheard of, 
 as well as absent; 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. AVhy, then, should we utterly despair 
 of those who, incomparably better provided, have 
 entered on another year of absence? If one body 
 of men lived out, whilst unheard of, more than four 
 years, why might not another body, better set out, 
 survive a fifth year? The good hand of a gracious 
 Providence 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. 
 
 (2). By the case of Sir John Ross, we may ac- 
 count for their not improbable detention, whilst yet 
 safe, through a period of four years; and if so, it 
 must be obvious that a variety of causes, even be- 
 
 
 ■ I 
 
 liJi 
 
12 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 ■■91. 
 
 I' I 
 
 cause the expedition was safe, might explain a still 
 further detention. It is natural to suppose, nideed, 
 that were the ships fixed in the ice, and hopelessly 
 fixed —the anxious voyagers would have left them 
 hefore this, and hence we have looked for the 
 appearance of some of them, by boats or sledges, 
 within the scope of research of our navigators or 
 wlialers, or overland explorers. We yet know not, 
 indeed, whether by the western outlet of Behring 
 Strait, that hope may not have been actually realized, 
 but if not, we cannot determine whether an un- 
 successful effort — perhaps too long protracted last 
 summer — may not have induced return to their ships 
 or to some residue of stores? Disappointment, a 
 lingering hope of the rescue of the ships, or some 
 other cause, utterly beyond our estimation, may have 
 extended their stay, whilst yet unheard of, without 
 a necessary destruction of hope. 
 
 (3). That the crews of the two ships could not 
 be summarily lost, is a circumstance highly favour- 
 able, in this instance, as a ground of hope. In the 
 case of the gaUant na\dgator. La Perouse, such a 
 catastrophe actually happened. The two vessels of 
 the expedition sailing close in company, were in- 
 volved, it ai^pears, during the perplexity of fog or 
 the obscurity of the night, in a common destruction 
 on the rocks of an unknown shore: the calamity 
 was so summary and universal that no one of the 
 unhappy adventurers remained to tell the sad tale. 
 But in Arctic explorations withm the confined seas 
 being navigated by our adventurous countrymen — 
 no such summary calamity could occur. There are 
 
 I 
 
 M 
 
 i; ! 
 
rUBLK DUTY TO OUR COUNTRYMEN. 
 
 18 
 
 no heavy seas which could prevent escape from a 
 shipwreck; nor could any imaginable catastrophe, 
 by the ice of these regions, suddenly overwhelm 
 two entire crews. For in this latter case, the very 
 ice which might destroy the discovery ships, would 
 yield a solid platform for refuge from the present 
 danger, so as to give time for ulterior measures for 
 improving, by deliberate consideration, the oppor- 
 tunity of escape. 
 
 And (4), we may add, the consoling consideration, 
 in the way of hope, that it is hardly to be supposed 
 that out of nearly 140 men, — surrounded by all the 
 appliances of modern science, all the experience of 
 repeated adventure, and all the endurance of prac- 
 tised hardihood, — some little party of the most 
 energetic or vigorous should not have been able to 
 make their way, by boats or sledges, a distance of 
 from one to two hundred leagues, — a distance, which 
 we should presume might suffice to have taken them 
 from any reasonably supposablc position, either 
 within range of our returned expeditions, of the 
 Baffin Bay whalers, or of some hunting-station, or 
 tribe of migratory Esquimaux, from whom we might 
 have had tidings concerning them ! 
 
 
 2. If the first admitted reason which might 
 justify the suspending or abridging philanthropic 
 eftbrts for the discovery of our missing countrymen 
 — that is, the termination of the period of rational 
 hope — does not, as yet, avail; neither, I will be 
 bold to say, does the second ; viz. the special risking 
 of other valuable lives, after all chance of recovery 
 of the absent might, perhaps, be at an end. 
 
14 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 Sir 
 
 t 
 
 If all chance of benefit to the absent, from addi- 
 tional search, had been clearly at an end ; or if such 
 additional search could not be made without a risk 
 of life equivalent to that encountered by the missing 
 party, — occasion might be offered, with strict pro- 
 priety, for the not very tenderly but quaintly ex- 
 pressed objection, — "Why spend good lives upon 
 bad ones'?" 
 
 But w^e are prepared to shew that very effective 
 operations for search may be carried on with singu- 
 larly moderate danger to the parties engaged therein. 
 For researches — as most abundant and elaborate 
 experiment has proved — may be made in these 
 frozen regions, of the most arduous and enterprising 
 kind, with but small comparative risk of human life. 
 For up to the present absent expedition — except, in 
 the indi\idual instance of the first land enterprise 
 to the Frozen Ocean, where neither experience nor 
 due preparation for safety were existing, with a 
 small loss of hands in the expedition recently re- 
 turned, which has been ascribed, and it is supposed 
 justly, to a defect in the quality of the provisions, 
 — w^e have scarcely, I believe, lost a man beyond 
 the ordinary contingencies of a seafaring life ; nay, 
 more, though I have not accurately investigated 
 the question, I will venture to assert the personal 
 persuasion that, taking the whole of our modern 
 Arctic expeditions, from 1818 downwards, a much 
 larger number of men have returned from these 
 enterprises in safety and health, than would have 
 been found alive after a corresponding period of 
 ordinary service in a tropical climate ! 
 
 ti 
 
PUBLIC DUTY TO OUR COUNTRYMEN. 
 
 15 
 
 1 
 
 % 
 
 If, in the public judgment, these considerations 
 and views find approval, su})port will, I trust, be 
 yielded by the public pliilanthropy for encouraging, 
 on the part of the Government, not only the re- 
 searches now in progress by the expedition to 
 Behring Strait, and the search overland to the Arc- 
 tic Ocean ; but still further researches after our 
 absent voyagers, and these of as ample and varied 
 a description as the nature of the case may reason- 
 ably admit, and the desperateness of the case may 
 fairly demand. For, though at the risk of some 
 repetition, I would respectfully submit to my 
 countrymen, that Sir John Franklin and his brave 
 associates are the legitimate objects of a national 
 duty and care. They are on the public service; 
 and though sent out technically under the orders 
 and origination of the Admiralty, it was so only as 
 to a department. And not only is this a Govern- 
 ment expedition, and therefore national, but by the 
 general interest given to its objects, and the uni- 
 versal sympathy yielded to its perils, by the British 
 public, ive^ as the people, have recognised it as our 
 oivn. Shall we not, then, in our respective places 
 and capacity, do what we may to encourage and 
 stimulate the most complete measures of research, 
 in humble trust, under the Divine favour, of their 
 proving, though at the last hour, measures of effec- 
 tive relief] 
 
 .1: 
 
l(i 
 
 
 1.3 
 
 i 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PLAN AND OUTSET OF 
 THE MISSING EXPEDITION, AND OF RESEARCHES, 
 HITHERTO MADE, FOR ITS RELIEF. 
 
 It may be a convenience to general readers, and 
 matter of information to some, to preface the sug- 
 gestions I have to submit, as to further measures of 
 search, with a few particulars respecting the plan 
 and history of Sir John Franklin's expedition, and 
 of the several searching expeditions to which the 
 public anxiety concerning the fate of our missing 
 adventurers, has hitherto given rise. 
 
 It was in the summer of 1845, that Her Majesty's 
 Government sent out this last exploring expedition 
 to the Arctic Regions, in further search of the long, 
 and heretofore vainly, sought navigable passage, by 
 the north-w^est, betwixt the Atlantic and Pacific 
 Oceans. 
 
 The expedition consisted of two ships, the Erebus 
 and the Terror^ commanded by Captain Sir John 
 Franklin and Captain Crozier, with a complement 
 of officers and men, altogether, of about 138. The 
 ships were victualled for three years. 
 
 They sailed from England on the 19tli of May, 
 1845, and were last seen on the 26th of July, of the 
 same year, in latitude 74° 48', longitude 66° 13' W. 
 (a position approaching the middle of Baffin Bay) 
 moored to an iceberg, w^aiting for the opening of 
 
 ' i 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF RESEARCHES FOR RELIEF. 17 
 
 the 'Middle Ice,' to cross into Lancaster Sound. 
 These ships have never since been heard of. 
 
 Their instructions were to proceed to Baffin Bay, 
 and as soon as the ice permitted to enter Lancaster 
 Sound, and proceed west^vard through Barrow Strait 
 in the latitude of about 7-4 j", until they reached the 
 longitude of Cape Walker, or about 98'' west. They 
 were then to use every effort to penetrate southward 
 and westward towards Behring Strait; audit wns 
 in this part that their greatest difficulties were ap- 
 prehended. If these were proved to be insurmount- 
 able they were next directed to return to Barrow 
 Strait, and proceed northwards, by the broad channel 
 between North Devon and Cornwallis' Island, com- 
 monly called Wellington Channel, provided it ap- 
 peared open and clear of ice. It is evident that 
 their ability to follow either of these courses must 
 have depended upon local circumstances of which 
 we have no cognizance. 
 
 In the year 1848, researches in three different 
 quarters, and by three separate expeditions, were 
 appointed to be undertaken by the Government. 
 
 By Behring Strait, the Plover^ Commander Moore, 
 was ordered on the search ; whilst Captain Kellett, 
 of the Herald^ surveying-vessel, then in the Pacific, 
 was instructed to take the Plover under his direc- 
 tion, for joint research after, and relief of, the expe- 
 dition under Sir John Franklin. 
 
 The Plover left England on the 31st of January, 
 1848, but, being a wretched sailer, made such slow 
 progress that siie did not reach Woahoo, in tlie 
 
 ii-i' i 
 
 I 
 
I 
 
 i 
 
 i\ 
 
 h 
 
 n. 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 18 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 Sandwich Islands, until the 22d of August— a period 
 of the year too late for any effective operations 
 within the Arctic circle.* 
 
 The Herald, meanwhile, went northward as far 
 as Cape Krusenstern, Kotzehue Sound, which she 
 left for the southward — not being prepared to win- 
 ter, nor for explorations among ice — on the 29th of 
 September. The Plover was not met with during 
 this progress of the Herald, nor any tidings heard 
 of the missing expedition of Sir John Franklin. 
 
 The second division, for search, was the overland 
 and boat expedition, under Sir John Hichardson, 
 for the exploration of the Arctic Sea betwixt the 
 Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers, east and west ; 
 and intermediate between the northern coast of the 
 American continent, and lands lying proximate 
 thereto, north and south ; — it being supposed that, 
 if Sir John Franklin's party had been compelled 
 to abandon their ships and take to their boats, they 
 might very probably make for this coast. 
 
 In preparation for this expedition, the men and 
 the stores, for the most part, designed for the enter- 
 prise, were embarked at Gravesend, on board of 
 ships of the Hudson's Bay Company, on the 4th of 
 June, 1847. The Commander of the expedition, 
 accompanied by Dr. Rae, left Liverpool on the 
 25th of March, 1848; and they succeeded in form- 
 ing a junction with Mr. Bell, in charge of the 
 boats and the men designed for the adventure, at 
 Methy Portage, on the 2()th of June. 
 
 * An abstract of the important researches of the summer of 1 849, 
 by and connected with the Plover, is reserved for the Appendix. 
 
 m 
 m 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF RESEARCHES FOR RELIEF. 19 
 
 '.; 
 
 ixtaching the last portage on Slave River, in the 
 middle of July, the sea-going party embarked in 
 their boats, and proceeded by that river, into Slave 
 Lake, and from thence, north-westward by the 
 Mackenzie, till they reached the sea, on the -Ith of 
 Augnst. Coasting eastward, after rounding Cape 
 Bathurst, they reached the gulf into which the 
 Coppermine River flows, by the end of the month. 
 Their boats were abandoned at the commencement 
 of their land journey, on their return by the line of 
 the Coppermine southward, — on which journey they 
 set out on the 3rd of September, and on the 13th 
 they reached their destined quarters at Fort Con- 
 fidence at the north-east corner of Great Bear liake. 
 
 In this enterprise, the coast line from the Mac- 
 kenzie to the Coppermine, was, according to Sir 
 John Richardson's instructions, carefully examined ; 
 whilst several hundreds of Esquimaux (comprising 
 numerous parties and various tribes) were communi- 
 cated with in respect of the object of their search, 
 but without any trace of the missing expedition 
 being met with, or any tidings of it being obtained. 
 The encumbrance of the navigation by ice, in the 
 latter part of their progress along the coast to the 
 eastward, prevented the carrying out of that portion 
 of the Admiralty Instructions which relates to the 
 examination of the western and southern shores of 
 Wollaston Land, — lying northward of the Copper- 
 mine. 
 
 Sir John Richardson, after wintering at Fort 
 Confidence, commenced, along with the Europeans 
 and some others of the party, their return homeward. 
 
 I 
 
 ; 
 
 4 
 
 m 
 

 20 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 h 
 
 1, ' 
 
 in the beginning of May, and arrived in England 
 on the Gth of November, 1849, — liaving left Dr. 
 Rae, with a small but cfFeetive party, who volun- 
 teered for the service, to make tlie unaceom])lisli(Hl 
 researches during the summ(M' of that ycNav. Tliese 
 searches were, if ])ossible, designed to extend to tlie 
 examination of the passages b(^t\v(MMi Wollaston, 
 and Banks, and Victoria Lands, — so as to cross tlie 
 routes of some of the dt^tached parties expected to 
 have been sent out by Sir James C. Ross. 
 
 The third, and most ex])(Misively ap])oint(^d, sec- 
 tion of the expeditions for search, was that under 
 Sir James Ross and Captain Bird — comprising two 
 ships, the Enterprlze and Investigator. These left 
 the Thames on the 12th of :May, 184S; entered 
 Baffin Bay early in July ; left the Danish settlement 
 of Upernavik on the 13th of that month; cleared 
 the IVIiddle Ice, August the 20th, and entered the 
 harbour of Port Leopold, where they wintered (and, 
 it may be added, summered too) on the 11th of 
 September. During the months of May and June, 
 1849, the north and west coasts of North Somerset 
 were explored, and some other journeys, of little 
 importance, made. It was not till August the 28tli, 
 that the ships succeeded in getting clear of their 
 harbour — having been there detained for a year, 
 lacking only a fortnight ! On the 1st of September 
 — the fourth day after their release — the ships got 
 unfortunately beset in a pack of floating ice, where, 
 helplessly detained, they were drifted along with it 
 fairly out of Lancaster Sound into Baffin Bay, and 
 did not obtain their release till the 24th or 25th of 
 
 I 
 
 :; 
 
\v^^ 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF RESEARCHES FOR RELIEF. 21 
 
 September, — a period deemed too late to attempt 
 any further enterprises in these fiigid regions. On 
 the 3rd of November they arrived off Scarborough. 
 
 The foregoing particulars, in respect of the differ- 
 ent expeditions for searcli after Sir John Franklin, 
 are, it might be presumed, sufficiently well known ; 
 but this abstract has been inserted here for con- 
 I venience of reference. 
 
 Finally, we have to notice, the sending out of the 
 North Star, store-ship, Mr. James Saunders, master 
 commanding, into Baffin B.iy, in the summer of 
 1849, — laden with supplies designed for the pre- 
 vious expedition. 
 
 The North Star sailed from the Thames on the 
 1 6th May, 1849, and was seen July 19th, in latitude 
 74" 3' N., longitude 59" 40' W., off Devil's Point, 
 waiting for a passage round, or through, the Middle 
 Ice of Baffin Bay, and has not since been heard of. 
 
 " The main object of the voyage," with the North 
 Star, " was, first, by replenishing the stock of pro- 
 visions in the ships of Sir James Ross, to prevent 
 the return of the Investigator, Captain Bird, to Eng- 
 land in the summer of 1849 ; in order that Captain 
 Bird with his ship might continue to co-operate 
 with Sir James Ross in prosecuting his search, 
 during the summer of 1850 ; and, secondly, in case 
 of not meeting with the Investigator, or her boats, to 
 land the necessary supplies at Possession Bay, Cape 
 Hay, Cape Crawford, and Cape York, or Whaler 
 Point," — all being places on the south side of lian- 
 caster Sound and Barrow Strait. But of these 
 several places, a decided preference was to be given 
 
 c 
 
 'ill 
 
■ I 
 
 22 
 
 lilt HIANKLIN KXrKDITlON 
 
 to Whaler Point, nt the cutiimce of Port FiCopold, 
 if attaiiiiible. And, in the event of tlie sliip not 
 bein^ iil)le to reach any of tliese phiees, I^ond's Bay, 
 or A^nes Monument, might be adopted for the de- 
 posit of stores. 
 
 Should time [)ermit — after the eompU'tion of her 
 primary services — the North Star mi<;iit run up, if 
 the ice were o{)en, to tlie head of Bafhn Bay, and 
 look into Smith's and Jones' Sound for anv traces 
 of Sir John Franklin's shi^)s. But it was ordered, 
 and the order was reiterated, that the conunander of 
 the North Star " should carefully avoid risking all 
 hazard of being detained throughout the winter." 
 
 In giving an abstract of these instructions, I cannot 
 refrain from quoting the concluding paragraph, as 
 peculiarly honourable to the framers of a document 
 of this kind, usually so formal, — '' and Me earnestly 
 hope that, by the care t)f a wise and merciful Pro- 
 vidence, you will be enabled to render important 
 assistance to the expeditions which have ])receded 
 you ; and that your endeavours, as well as theirs, 
 may be crowned with success." 
 
 The extreme lateness of the period to which the 
 JSorth Star must have been detained before she 
 succt^eded in getting across Baffin Bay — if she suc- 
 ceeded at all ? — must have prevented the possibility 
 of the accomplishment of the essential design of her 
 being sent out, and returning the same season. 
 Should she have crossed to the westward at the 
 close of the season for navigation — it is not impos- 
 sible but that the zeal of her commander for the 
 performance of his instructions, might lead him to 
 
 
;' 
 
 f 
 1 
 
 .1 
 
 HISTORICAL SKinCH OF Hi:sKAU( MKS 1 ()!{ KI.I.Ii:!'. '23 
 
 attempt to reach Lcojjold Island, or otlicr more 
 advaiic(Hl station in Harrow Strait, for the huidiii*; 
 of stores, so us to invohc tlie sliip in a constrained 
 winterin<jf by aceichMitul besetmciit. or bein^ arrested 
 by the formation of bay ice 
 
 Now wliat lias been piined it is important here 
 to cncpure, because of its essential bearing on the 
 subsequent suggestions— by these various expedi- 
 tions, as thus far, reported? 
 
 The expedition of 1848 and 1840, by Hehrhig 
 Strait, obtained strong assurance, that non(^ of the 
 Franklin i)arty had, as yet, passed that way, or 
 were then passing within a large extent, in longi- 
 tude, to the (^astward of Point Barrow. 
 
 In regard to the ex])editi()n of Sir John Richard- 
 son, a neyative^ as to th(» ]K)sition of the missing 
 expedition, has been clearly determined by actual 
 exandnation within certain coast linuts, which limits, 
 through the medium of numerous parties of Esqui- 
 maux, have, by reasonable inference and probability, 
 been considerably extended. 
 
 The researches of Sir James lloss have, in like 
 manncn*, determined a negative as to other positions 
 about the coast of North Somerset, and within certain 
 tracts in Regent Inlet and Barrow Strait. 
 
 Within Barrow Strait, however, little investiga- 
 tion, in any of the directions in which traces of the 
 missing ships might have been expected, was ac- 
 complished. The lateness of the time of ariival of 
 the ships in Lancaster Sound in 1848; the unror- 
 
 I' 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 %i^ 
 
;• 
 
 
 f. ( 
 
 [<' 
 
 It I 
 
 ri 
 
 !' f 
 
 24 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 timate selection of Port Leopold as a winter-harbour 
 for ships designed for active service at the earliest 
 possible period after the relaxation of the ice-bound 
 channels; and their subsequent besetment in, and 
 involuntary ejection from, Barrow Strait, — consti- 
 tuted, altogether, such a combination of untoward 
 circumstances as entirely to prevent any usefid 
 researches being made within the navigable spaces 
 of intended operations for the expedition, during 
 the two seasons of its absence. Had not Sir James 
 Ross, indeed, been so driven out of the sphere ap- 
 pointed for investigation, he would, no doubt, have 
 carried out his intentions, and have examined, dur- 
 ing the autumn of 18-19, or the spring of 1850, the 
 regions about Wellington Channel, and those about 
 and beyond the notified headland— Cape Walker. 
 
 As a circumstance of fact and experience, work- 
 ing, in the case of Sir James Ross' expedition, most 
 disadvantageously, — I have ventured to remark on 
 the adoption of Port Leopold as a winter harbour. 
 As a safe and commodious wintering- place, and as 
 a position easily to be approached on almost any 
 summer, Port Leopold seems to possess many ad- 
 vantages ; and is therefore well adapted for a grand 
 depot and station connected with a complete series 
 of searching operations; but its position is, un- 
 questionably, unfavourable for the early removal of 
 the usual impediments to navigation. For, it is a 
 very g(>neral and well-known fact, in connection 
 with Arctic navigation, that the ice is disposed to 
 separate earhest from the western sides of the 
 land, and to make heaviest and most continuous 
 
 t 
 
 k:' 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF RESEARCHES FOR RELIEF. 25 
 
 lodgments upon their eastern shores. The con- 
 verse is, of course, the general fact in respect to the 
 different sides of bays, straits, or other navigable 
 channels. Hence, Baffin Bay is the earliest clear 
 on the eastern side, and Regent Inlet is often quite 
 clear of ice, along a great extent of coast on the 
 east side, whilst from Port Leopold, inclusive, down- 
 ward to the bottom of this singular bight, the shore 
 is inaccessible to ships. 
 
 For sMps^ therefore, designed for active opera- 
 tions, a harbour should be sought on the eastern^ or 
 north-eastern? side of any bay, inlet, or channel 
 designed for wintering in ; in other words, on the 
 western or north-western coast of the proximate 
 lands. These well-known facts being, from pecu- 
 liar circumstances, perhaps, overlooked, or their 
 due importance overruled — occasioned the deten- 
 tion of the recent searching expedition in Port 
 Leopold, until the 28th of August ; whilst a whaler, 
 sailing from Aberdeen in the early spring, was free 
 in the western waters of Baffin Bay by the 13th 
 of June, and one or two others in Barrow Strait, 
 within sight of Leopold Island, in the beginning of 
 August ! It is but justice, however, to our late 
 searching expedition, to remark, that ships winter- 
 ing in any of the harbours within these severely 
 frozen regions, are always in a disadvantageous 
 position for early operations — a circumstance well 
 brought out by Sir John Barrow in his abstract of 
 one of Captain Parry's Voyages. 
 
 In urging now \.\\v necessity for further search for 
 
 H 
 
 
 V' 
 
 I 
 
 
 J I 
 
 J|!. 
 
 % 
 
1: 
 
 
 til 
 
 • ■ *. 
 
 if. 
 
 ri^ 
 
 
 •2() 
 
 THF, FRANKI,IN lAl'EDITION. 
 
 the Franklin expedition, equally by the direction 
 recently tried by Sir James Ross, as elsewhere,— it 
 may be proper to notice, that neither of the two 
 starting points of new discovery, where traces of the 
 missing ships were most reasonably expected to be 
 met with, — viz. the entrance of Wellington Channel 
 and Cape Walker — have been at all examined. For 
 neither the visit of a party of men to Cape Hurd, 
 lying much to the eastward of the entrance of this 
 inlet, nor the intercepted, and therefore imperfect, 
 examination with the ships, subsequently, yield us 
 any useful information, positive or negative, as to 
 the missing expedition having passed that way. 
 
 Nor are we yet better informed in respect of the 
 missing ships, or traces of the adventurers, being 
 to be met with near Cape Walker. For, as far 
 as the accounts yet published enable one to judge, 
 no nearer approximation was made to Cape Walker, 
 the headland towards w^hich Sir John Franklin 
 was, by his instructions, expressly directed to make 
 — than about forty geographical miles. How far 
 across this space the view obtained by Sir James 
 Ross would extend, no certain guide is before us, 
 as we do not know the height of " the high land in 
 the neighbourhood of Cape Bunny, ' from whence 
 the ice-covered region westward and northward 
 was observed. It is important, however, in form- 
 ing any judgment on the subject, to bear in mind, 
 that it would have required an elevation of 1000 
 feet to render, in the clearest state of the atmo- 
 sphere, and under the ordinary quantity of refrac- 
 tion, the mast-head of any discovery ship visible 
 
FHSTORK AL SKKTCH OF RESEARCHES FOR RELIEF. 21 
 
 1-- 
 
 above the horizon. The probability I suppose to 
 be that the height ascended was greatly less, and, 
 if so, the distance overlooked must have been pro- 
 portionally shorter. 
 
 Whilst referring to this particular, it may advan- 
 tageously, perhaps, be stated, that very much un- 
 certainty prevails as to judgments formed in regard 
 to the nature of the ice, or of its compactness, when 
 viewed at great distances ; so much so, that where 
 the ice, when in extensive bodies, might clearly 
 appear to the eye not greatly elevated, to be per- 
 fectly compact and unbroken, or of a peculiar 
 quality, such as hummocky or smooth, thei'e might 
 be wide channels of water, at tlie proper season, or 
 the quality of the ice, in the remoter part of the 
 region apparently within view, might be totally 
 different from that assumed. In my own experi- 
 ence, the fact of this exceeding deceptiveness of 
 vision, in judging of the condition of the ice be- 
 yond moderate limits, has been proved in almost 
 numberless cases ; so that I ha^ e found men of 
 very much experience sometimes greatly misled in 
 assuming the state of the ice actually to be what, 
 by clear and distinct vision and telescopic examina- 
 tion, it appeal's to be. 
 
 The object of the foregoing remarks will, it is 
 hoped, be clearly understood, not as having any 
 reference to the conduct of the expedition recently 
 returned, but simply to the establishment of this 
 important proposition, — viz. that, notwithstanding 
 what has been done, researches are yet as urgently 
 called for as at first, by the eastern inlet from Baffin 
 
 
 K- 
 
 I 
 
4, 
 
 ■ 
 
 it 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 i.i' 
 
 M, 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 28 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 Bay, through Lancaster Sound, and by the western 
 outlet through Behring Strait, as well as by the 
 extension of overland and boating researches north- 
 ward, if possible, beyond Wollaston and Victoria 
 Lands. For such further researches the public 
 sympathy and common humanity, yea, common 
 justice^ too, to those whom we have sent upon 
 the adventure, urgently call; and such further 
 researches these principles likewise claim to be 
 made — to the most liberal extent consistent with 
 reasonable practicability, remaining hope, and the 
 fair prospect of safety to new adventurers. 
 
 There remains only to be noticed, in connection 
 with these records of the results of the means for 
 search hitherto put into operation, the rewards 
 which have been offered, for the stimulating of 
 private, as well as public, enterprise in this cause 
 of humanity. 
 
 The devoted and persevering wife of the com- 
 mander of tl:c missing expedition, was the first to 
 endeavour, by her private means, to stimulate re- 
 search on the part of the whalers, by offering, in 
 1848, a reward of £2000, and in 1849, one of 
 £3000, "or a proportion thereof according to ser- 
 vices rendered, to any ship or ships, which, depart- 
 ing from the usual fishing grounds, might discover, 
 and, if needed, afford effectual relief to the missing 
 expedition, or any portion of it." The reward, if 
 claimable, it was most judiciously proposed, should 
 be distributed among the owners, captains, officers, 
 and seamen, in the same proportions as if similar 
 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF RESEARCHES FOR RELIEF. 29 
 
 value of produce from the fishenj had been obtained 
 — a plan, which was calculated (from the arrange- 
 ments made with the crews of the whalers in 
 rendering their wages in considerable measure de- 
 pendent on success) to reward every one rateably, 
 according to his equitable claims and position. 
 
 By Her Majesty's Government, another pecuniary 
 reward, £20,()0(), was offered in March, 1849, with 
 the view of a further stimulation of enterprise. 
 This sum was assured " to such private ship, or by 
 distribution among such private ships, or to any 
 exploring party or parties, of any country, as might, 
 in the judgment of the Board of Admiralty, have 
 rendered efficient assistance to Sir John Franklin, 
 his ships, or their crews, and might have contri- 
 buted directly to extricate them from the ice." 
 
 These rewards utterly failed in producing any 
 effective efforts for search on the part of the whalers, 
 — and for reasons easy to be understood. First, 
 the Government reward was too late in point of 
 time, in being offered, as it was not promulgated 
 until the 23rd of March, after most of the whalers 
 had sailed, and were therefore without order*, or 
 authority for departing from the usual fishing 
 ground. And, secondly, the reward was only claim- 
 able on the absolute condition of a successful search^ 
 — a contingency so great as by no means to justify, 
 in a commercial adventure, the sacrificing of the in- 
 terests of a voyage undertaken at so much cost and 
 risk. Had there been a provision for rewarding (as 
 Lady Franklin in her private offering judiciously 
 proposed) extraordinary efforts, or special researches 
 
 i .! 
 
 n 
 
 i 
 
 ■ V 
 
 _X7 
 
 I 
 

 f 
 
 
 it' 
 
 ■f . 
 
 1 
 
 ao 
 
 riri; franklin kxtkhition, 
 
 in quartei's I'emoto from tlie ordinary fishing grounds, 
 for the purpose designated, — something effective 
 would, no doubt, have been attempted. Encourage- 
 ments of this nature, — proportionate or reason- 
 able rewards for judicious and energetic efforts 
 beyond the line of whale-fishing operations — could 
 alone serve, where tlu? reward for success was, for 
 a Government reward, but moderate, to turn the 
 commercial enterprise of that region into aids for 
 more extensive search. The difhculty of remu- 
 nerating too many competitors, or of adjudicating 
 on the merits of different claims, might, perhaps, be 
 met, by requiring researches beyond specified limits, 
 or the discovery of any traces of the Franklin ex- 
 pedition, as a condition of any daim at all, and by 
 appointing a board of honorary adjudicators, (after 
 the manner proposed by Lady Franklin) for investi- 
 gating the several cases and apportioning rewards 
 to the efforts made and the services performeu. 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 1, 
 
 |.^;« 
 
 |;l 
 
 A. 
 
:U 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS AS TO PRESENT MEASURES FOR THE 
 DISCOVERY AND RELIEF OF THE FRANKLIN EXPE- 
 DITION. 
 
 Rational measures for relief must naturally have 
 relation to well-considered prohahility in respect of 
 the existing position of the absent ex]iedition. But 
 whilst certain limits may thus be set to the sphere 
 of desirable research, all assumptions of deciding on 
 any part of the extent lying betwixt Cape Walker, 
 on the east, and the range of the Plover's researches, 
 on the WTst, must be mere speculation. As to cer- 
 tain parts, Avhere the expedition under Sir John 
 Franklin assuredly is not^ the recent researches of 
 Sir James Ross and Sir John Richardson have, 
 within their very limited ranges, afforded ton- 
 elusive results. But as to the regions proximate 
 to Cape Walker, and from thence, westward, in 
 a parallel remote from the northern face of the 
 American continent, we yet have ascertained no- 
 thing ; and, therefore, even probahh determinations 
 can amount to no more than uncertain conjecture. 
 Within any part of this wide expanse — above 1000 
 geographical miles in width, east and west, reckoned 
 as far west as Point Barrow, and of three or four 
 degrees of latitude in extent, north and south, — the 
 expedition, if locked up in the ices remote from 
 tlie American coast, may be reasonably sought for. 
 
M I 
 
 I 
 
 p. 
 
 r 
 
 
 V 
 
 * 
 
 i!i 
 
 J 
 
 h 
 
 'i. 
 
 32 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 And even out of these limits — assuming the ad- 
 mitted possibility of the expedition failing in its 
 primary direction, having tried Wellington Channel, 
 or some other of the proximate inlets promising the 
 chance of a passage north about Parry Islands — 
 research might wisely be directed to more northern 
 positions, and, consequently, over a wider range. 
 
 The impression, indeed, seems to have gone 
 abroad, that the missing expedition must have 
 made such progress in the line of the Admiralty 
 instructions, as to render research for it now most 
 desirable by Behring Strait; and, moreover, that 
 in case of the ships being hopelessly hampered, 
 though safe, the adventurers most likely abandon- 
 ing their ships, would, before the present period, 
 be probably in progress of the endeavour to make 
 their way over the ice, or by boats, in the same 
 western direction. 
 
 To this direction, therefore, the minds of many 
 very naturally look with hope, as not unlikely to be 
 that in which successful research may yet be pur- 
 sued. It is, indeed, by no means beyond all hope 
 that our brave fellows may themselves, by boats, if 
 not with ships, still succeed in making the progress 
 which constituted the grand design of their bold 
 enterprise. And in this view, hope has been, in 
 some degree, revived, and that not unreasonably, 
 by the very failure of the recent efforts to find any 
 traces of their progress. The opinion is now hardly 
 to be resisted that, at an early period of theii* ad- 
 ventures, not improbably in the summer of 1845, 
 or at all events in that of 1846, Sir John Franklin's 
 
 I 
 
 1! 
 
CONSIDERATIONS FOR ITS DISCOVERY AND RELIEF. 33 
 
 
 
 ships entered upon new ground, near Cape Walker, 
 and penetrated beyond it into hitherto unknown 
 regions. If so, subsequent summers may hr ^ 
 stimulated their exertions and added to their pro- 
 gress westward, till hope, even if struggling against 
 apparent impossibilities, might urge the persever- 
 ance, summer after summer, to the present time, 
 for the chance of still accomplishing, by all means, 
 or by any means, by ship, by boats, or by sledges, 
 the grand adventure. But if such were their 
 encouragements, and such their aim, which would 
 account for the hanging together of all the party, 
 that all hands might unite in the general triumph, 
 it might be of vital importance to endeavour, by 
 most effective arrangement, to meet them from a 
 western position, so as to yield to them the earliest 
 possible succour. 
 
 Whilst these prevalent ideas seem to be so ex- 
 ceedingly well-founded, as urgently to call for the 
 prompt and efficient search already provided for by 
 the Government, by the way of the Pacific, they 
 can afford no satisfactory grounds, I conceive, for 
 the abridgment, much less for the abandonment, of 
 the most energetic pursuit of the Baffin Bay route ; 
 for should the fact be even so, that Sir John 
 Franklin had abandoned his ships and taken to the 
 ice on any direction of travel, yet, even in such case, 
 we conceive that the ships should be sought for. 
 
 If the adventurers, as a body, should have aban- 
 doned their ships, is it not still more than probable, 
 that, under the anxieties and severities which they 
 must have endured, there may be those among them 
 
 M" 
 
 I 
 
•■1 
 
 il' 
 
 »; 
 
 f 
 
 34 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXrEDITION. 
 
 wlio, ])aralyso(l by dcprixations and hardships, or 
 dcbilitut(>(l and Avastrd by disease, would be in- 
 capable of the like enterprise, and must, therefore, 
 by necessity, stick to the sliips to the last! Nay 
 more; jiainful as such an idea may be, we must 
 not, whilst considering the means of succour, shrink 
 from the contemplation of the sad jiossibility that 
 the whole party, undcn* the morbid influence of 
 cheerless despondency, might be reduced into a 
 like condition of personal helplessness, so as to be 
 incapable of rescuing themselves! Admitting, as 
 inevitably we must adnut, a possibility of this kind 
 — we find an additional claim on our common 
 humanity to provide not only some means, bi.i all 
 reasonable and available means, for meeting, so far 
 as Innnan judgment may, the various anxious con- 
 tingencies in e\'ery quarter at once. 
 
 
 r ' 
 
 • Iff'' 
 
 l <■ 
 
 t 
 1 
 
 iif< 
 
 In venturing to submit to the public a general 
 plan of search for the missing expe(lJ*ion, I cannot 
 but feel a shrinking from the supposition of any 
 assumption of superiority of judgment in a matter 
 in which there are so many, who, by positive ex- 
 perience in the icy-regions of the north-west, are 
 much better qualified for the task than myself. 
 But I have been urged to the undertaking by the 
 solicitation or encouragement of those whose posi- 
 tion and judgment are such as to claim my deepest 
 consideration ; whilst much attention to Arctic re- 
 searches, both by considerable experience and care- 
 ful investigation, have so far cleared my own mind, 
 on a A ariety of practical points, as to render it a 
 
 1. 
 
( ONSIDKUAI'IONS I'OU ITS 1)IS( OVKHV AM) Hl.l II'. i6 
 
 (luestion, wlicthcM', by the blessing of Pro l(»nce 
 on my Imniblc ('n(l(\'ivonr, I mi«^ht not he rnablcd, 
 in sonio small (logi(H^ at least, to aid in tlio cause 
 of philanthropy and lunnanity, with reference to 
 our gallant connniserated coiuitrymen I 
 
 A comprehensive scheme of research nuist, ob- 
 viously, (Mubrace, at least, all the lines or directions 
 of advance into the ice-bound regions, whicli occa- 
 sioned th(^ em])loyment of the several expeditions, 
 ])roject(ul and undertaken by the Government, in the 
 year 1848. These expeditions, the history of which 
 we have already sketched, advancing from wi(l(4y 
 separated quarters into the region of desirable in- 
 vestigation ; that is by Behring Strait, by the Mac- 
 kenzie River, and by Baffin Bay, — were designed to 
 combine into one grand and com])i'ehensive plan ; — 
 a plan wliicli, had not most untoward circumstances 
 defeated it, must, in all human probability, have 
 obtained, by this time, satisfactory information con- 
 cernhig our missing countrymen. 
 
 As a general plan, therefore, and one so well 
 digested and ably arranged, I have little to suggest 
 in the wixy of essential alteration. For what I 
 should deem it necessary and fitting to submit 
 relates rather to the manner of carrying out a great 
 and eftective scheme of search, to the details of 
 operations and aids to transglacial journeys, — 
 rather than to the general lines of search, or ta 
 points for special examination. 
 
 The original scheme of the Admiralty, as is well 
 known, consisted of a series of three distinct enter- 
 prises,— the renewal of the irhole of which, with 
 
 *> ' ' 
 
. f 
 
 |l , 
 ii 
 
 r 
 
 
 I! 
 
 m 
 
 THE FRANKLIN KXrEDITION. 
 
 Monio modilicationy, by the Government, this publi- 
 cation is desif^ned most strenuously to plead for 
 and urge. Takinjjf up the consideration of each 
 of these diverse directions in order, we shall be 
 enabled at once to describe tlu^ general ])lan, and to 
 embody the modifications by which, it is believed, 
 the entire scheme may be rendered statisfactory 
 and effective. 
 
 I. As to the direction of search by Dehring 
 Strait. 
 
 To this line of search, the attention of the Govern- 
 ment has been already directed so as to result in 
 the appointment of a well-fitted expedition, consist- 
 ing of the two ships returned from Baffin Bay. The 
 expedition, already on its way, proceeded to sea 
 from Greenhithe on the 12tli of the current month, 
 January; the Enterprize^ under the command of 
 Captain Collinson, C.B., and the Investigator^ under 
 Commander Maclure, who had served as first-lieu- 
 tenant of the Enterprize, in her preceding voyage. 
 
 These ships, somewhat unfortunately, are dull 
 sailers, — a deteriorating quality by reason of which 
 (in her extreme degree) the Plover s enterprise of 
 1848 was so sadly retarded. But in this case, there 
 w^as no choice, as no other ships at the command 
 of Government, fit for the special service, could be 
 got ready in time. Besides, it must be satisfac- 
 tory to the public generally to know, that measures 
 have judiciously been taken for the giving of these 
 ships the aid of steamers in more than one quarter 
 (it is hoped for the passage of the Magellan Strait), 
 so that we may confidently expect them, under the 
 
 ;ii 
 
 ■■iVA 
 
of 
 
 L'es 
 ;er 
 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS K<JK ITS UISCOVKUV AM) UEMEK. 87 
 
 blessing of Providcnco, to be on tli.- fj^ronnd of 
 commencing oixnutions snfficicntly early to hiivo 
 the best udvantage of the cnsning season for the 
 navigation of Heliring Strait, and for the renewal of 
 the searcli of, and Ix^yond, its eastern shores. 
 
 Notwithstanding what has been (U)ne by the 
 Plover, and her effective voluntary consort, in re- 
 searches by Heliring Strait ; it is by no nu^iiis to 
 be understood that the furtlu^r researchers, designed 
 for the Enterprizc and Invcstiyator, are no longer 
 necessary. For a continuance of search, it is sub- 
 mitted, is still dcMuanded by tlie voice of humanity 
 and justice, so long as we liave no conclusive result, 
 or as any possibility for hope may remain. And 
 for this maintaining of the philanthropic work by 
 the way of Behring Strait, it is understood that the 
 Admiralty designs to provide ; so that beyond tlie 
 time directly prescribed to Captain Collinson for his 
 contemplated operations, a point of succour should 
 be maintained in the western region, for a year 
 or two longer, if needful, both for the relief of 
 our missing countrymen, should they yet make 
 their way by that outlet, and for the renovating 
 of the instrumentality for exploration by Behring 
 Strait. 
 
 II. As to boating and travelling search, from the 
 Arctic face of the American continent^ northward. 
 
 The portion of the plan of search, appointed 
 for Sir John Richardson, which he was unable to 
 accomplish in the summer of 18-4:8, was left, as we 
 have seen, to the enterprise of Dr. Rae, and a small 
 
 D 
 
 It 
 
 m 
 Jl 
 
Jvl 
 
 :^8 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 I' 
 
 U 
 
 ' f 
 
 select party for the summer of 1849. His instruc- 
 tions directed him " to descend the Coppermine 
 River (about the middle of July, when the sea 
 generally begins to break up), and to cross, as soon 
 as possible, from Cape Krusenstern to Wollaston 
 Land, and to endeavour to penetrate to the north- 
 ward, towards, or up to. Banks' Land." 
 
 Further instructions, it is understood, have been 
 sent out to Dr. Rae, to continue his search in the 
 same direction, (if any essential part should have 
 been left unaccomplished) in the season of the pre- 
 sent year. And, it is fervently to be hoped, that 
 measures will be taken, of an anticipatory nature, 
 for retaining an explorer of so much tact and zeal, 
 as Dr. Rae, in the same region, so that his re- 
 searches may be extended, if unhappily found need- 
 ful, through the season also of 185 L 
 
 If, as the opinion of several of those most experi- 
 enced in Arctic adventure inclines, the Franklin 
 Expedition be " shut up in some of the passages 
 between Victoria, Banks', and Wollaston Lands," 
 the line of search proposed for Dr. Rae, is one of 
 much promise as to the meeting with some traces 
 of our missing adventurers. 
 
 But this line of search alone^ as a mere cursory 
 inspection of the Arctic Polar Map will shew, will 
 leave a large space to the westward, equally pro- 
 mising and equally easy of access, untouched. For 
 there is another line, capable of being traced by a 
 small party— if there were time for its due equip- 
 ment—proceeding, by the outlet of the Mackenzie, 
 from C.pe Bathurst, in the direction of Banks' 
 
i 
 
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 cry 
 
 Will 
 
 •o- 
 IFor 
 jy a 
 liip- 
 zie, 
 liks' 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS FOR ITS DISCOVERY AND RELIEF. '^9 
 
 Land, whicli fills an important cjap in any groat 
 and complete plan of searching operations. Be- 
 cause this line of search, as to me it appears, affords 
 as good a prospect of crossing the track of the 
 missing expedition, as almost any other in contem- 
 plation. It would not be a costly undertaking, as 
 it might be done by a very few liands ; whilst the 
 zeal of an enterprising young officer, who has long 
 been anxious to undertake this special service — 
 Lieutenant Osborne — would herein find most ad- 
 vantageous employment. 
 
 Surely, if the time be not absolutely past, and it 
 is believed that it is not, some arrangement might 
 be made with the Hudson's Bay Company, by the. 
 Admiralty, for the effectual furthering of such an 
 (niterprise to its ground of operations before the 
 end of next July? I cannot but believe it to be 
 of much encouragement, and therefore of much 
 importance. For why mar a grand chain of human 
 efforts by the omission of one little link, which 
 might happen to be the link of successful depend- 
 ence ■? 
 
 There is still another line, within the northern 
 face of the American continent, to which our atten- 
 tion has been directed, from whence researches, in 
 aid of other means, might, if thought desirable, be 
 easily made. That is from the River Colville, 
 having its outlet into the Arctic Ocean of magni- 
 ficent expanse (said to be two miles wide), in the 
 longitude of about 151° west. From Norton Sound, 
 just below Behring Strait, there is a line of forts or 
 trading posts established by the Russians, by means 
 
 I 
 
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 I 
 
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 ! i\ 
 
 ■\l 
 
 i i 
 
 
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 ) 
 
 ' 't 
 
 li: i; 
 
 J Kill 
 
 
 1' 
 
 1N 
 
 40 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 of which communication can be easily pushed into 
 the Colville, and from that outlet into the Arctic 
 Ocean northward and eastward. They have here, 
 too, a species of boat — the baidar — which is con- 
 sidered to be well adapted for the service required 
 in navigating the contiguous Arctic Seas, Should 
 the Russian Government, which has indicated a 
 kindly interest in the fate of our gallant country- 
 men, be disposed to aid in the search ; their friendly 
 zeal might, in a line of this kind, be usefully en- 
 gaged, by some arrangement for a look-out from 
 the mouth of the Colville, and for occasional in- 
 vestigations of the north-eastern regions accessible 
 from thence. 
 
 Til. As to the renewal of search in the direction 
 of Baffin Bay. 
 
 The renewal of search by this commencement 
 and direction, we have already urged. The recent 
 information received from the searching vessels in 
 the Behring Strait quarter, gives additional force to 
 the reasons on which the demand for a renewed 
 search by Baffin Bay has heretofore been grounded. 
 For whilst the extensive space already traversed 
 in this direction affords encouragement to Captain 
 CoUinson's expedition, that they may still find ac- 
 cess into positions of useful research : the failure of 
 the search, as to the discovery of any traces of the 
 Franklin Expedition, by the western route, gives 
 an increased encouragement to the endeavour to 
 find it by the way in which it originally penetrated. 
 Such search, obviously, I think, needs to be made, 
 
 
 I 
 
■ 
 
 ' i'l 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS FOR ITS DISCOVERY AND RELIEF. 41 
 
 and well made. It is t e impression of many, in 
 common with myself, that tliis enterprise is of 
 grand importance. Without it, it may not impro- 
 bably prove that, notwithstanding the pntting into 
 operation the other projects, nothing effective has 
 been done ; — with it, every reasonable mind will 
 yield the praise, that all that a paternal Govern- 
 ment, deeply solicitous for the safety and recovery 
 of its enterprising and imperilled sons, could do for 
 their recovery, has been done. 
 
 The plan of search, in this hopeful direction, 
 which I venture to submit, comprehends the em- 
 ployment of four vessels, together with one or two 
 boats, or steam-launches, for detached parties in the 
 proposed investigations. 
 
 One of the vessels, the principal in magnitude 
 and accommodations, I would propose for serving 
 as a general depot, receiving ship, or place of 
 retreat for parties, or crews, of the other vessels. 
 For it has appeared to me, after every consideration 
 which I could myself give to the subject, to be of 
 vast importance, in its bearing on this research of 
 humanity, to retain to the very last one effective 
 sliip, at leaSv, at some safe position within the 
 range of our former explorations to Melville Island. 
 Port Leopold, however unfavourable for an early 
 escape for vessels designed for acti^■e operations, 
 appears to present many advantages for the head- 
 quarters of exploring parties in this particular 
 region — " a position," as described by Sir James 
 Iloss, " of all others the most desirable, if any one 
 spot had to be selected, for the purpose of wintering." 
 
 :' 
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 i iH 
 
I I 
 
 : 
 I- 
 
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 :l^ 
 
 
 ■,'i 
 
 I:- 
 
 42 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 With such an arrangement for a point d'appui^ 
 vessels of an mferior class, two or three in number, 
 might be safely and advantageously employed for 
 pushing invesigation westward of Cape Walker, as 
 well as up the channels extending out of Barrow 
 Strait northward. Vessels of the class or descrip- 
 tion of the dockyard lighters^ being strongly built, 
 and of small tonnage, might conveniently serve 
 this purpose ; or vessels of a like class, at present 
 employed in the coasting trade, or in the trade with 
 the continent of Europe, being of a burden of 100 
 to 150 tons (or even below 100 tons might do), 
 and these y^s^ sailers, could easily be foimd for sale, 
 so as to be capable of being fortified and fitted up 
 for the navigating of the Arctic ices, and for an early 
 departure in th? ensuing spring. 
 
 Could a whaler or two be procured, either by 
 purchase or hire as transports, — as to which I 
 imagine there would, at the present time, be no 
 difficulty, — an advantage might be gained in eco- 
 nomy, as well as in the time that would otherwise 
 be requisite for strengthening ordinary vessels for 
 collision with the ice. A vessel of this class would 
 have abundant capacity for the one suggested as a 
 depot. A second vessel, as a depot, might advan- 
 tageously be planted at Melville Island, which would 
 serve as an additional security for the whole expe- 
 dition in this quarter, as well as being sufficiently 
 well placed for active operations. 
 
 Let us suppose this plan to be adopted ; that is, 
 an expedition to be arranged consisting of one or 
 two ships of the class or size of whalers, with two 
 
CONSIDERATIONS FOR ITS DISCOVERY AND RELIEF. 43 
 
 or three small vessels (four in all), and a well- 
 equipped boat. The arrangements into which these 
 would fall, on the plan contemplated, would be as 
 follows : — 
 
 The largest vessel of the series (which might be 
 a whaler) would be appointed to take position in, 
 or not remote from, Port Leopold ; another vessel — 
 say the next largest — might take up a position as 
 a second depot and place of refuge, at Melville 
 Island. A third — a small vessel — would be directed 
 to the west side of Cape Walker, for penetrating 
 from thence, as far as she conveniently might, to 
 the south-westward, should the position of the land 
 and the condition of the ice permit an advance in 
 that direction. The other small vessel would have 
 assigned to her tlie search of AVellington Channel, 
 and other inlets proceeding out of Barrow Strait 
 northward; whilst the boat, being dropped, after 
 the passage of the 'middle ice,' might undertake, 
 with great advantage, the researches which are still 
 requisite within the different indents of the upper 
 par^ of Baffin Bay (principally that of Jones Sound, 
 anc. secondarily that of Smith Sound, with any other 
 penetrable channels which might be discovered), 
 such indents seeming to promise additional outlets, 
 westward, after the manner of Lancaster Sound. 
 A project by Mr. R. M'Cormick, R.N., for a boat- 
 ing search of this region, is already before the 
 Admiralty — wliich, with some modification, per- 
 haps, would wt41 work in with the general plan 
 herein sketched. 
 
 The boat acting independently (according to the 
 
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 I'-* 
 
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 *< 
 
 ) 
 
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 J 
 
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 .i'i : 
 
 it 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 44 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 general method hereafter proposed) would be no 
 burden on, or encumbrance to, any of the exploring 
 vessels. AVhilst an endeavour might be made to pass 
 up Jones Sound to effect a jimction, in operations, 
 with the vessel proceeding up Wellington Channel, 
 — there need be no mutual dependency. The boat 
 would seek its own safety at the close of its opera- 
 tions, by going up to the r^'fuge-ship at Port 
 Leopold, or by endeavouring to join some one of 
 the whalers by which the boat's crew might obtain 
 a passage home. 
 
 Could the North Star, now on her adventure in 
 Baffin Bay, be confidently calculated on, for being 
 intercepted on her return, she might be made avail- 
 able for working into this plan,— as the ship, for 
 instance, proposed to take quarter at Port Leopold. 
 In such case, any of the officers or crew who might 
 volunteer for further service, and for whom useful 
 employment should be devised, might be retamed ; 
 but it would of course be requisite, according to 
 their just expectations, to provide, either by passage 
 in whalers, or otherwise, for the return of the resi- 
 due of the people to England. 
 
 An arrangement of this kind, for the renewal of 
 the search for Sir John Franklin by the way of 
 Baffin Bay, — it will be obvious, I think, if fully 
 carried out,— would embrace, and that with every 
 prospect of effective operation, all that was included 
 in the admirable plan, embodied in the Admiralty 
 Instructions for Sir James Boss, and considerably 
 more. 
 
 B\it whilst thcfse various vessels would, according 
 
 \i 
 
 1 
 

 CONSIDERATIONS FOR ITS DISCOVERY AND RELIEF. 45 
 
 to the scheme, constitute, in one respect, a system 
 of combined operations ; in another respect I would 
 earnestly recommend an essential deviation from 
 the plan of former expeditions, — by arranging for 
 the independent operation of each section of the expe- 
 dition. Let the combination, as to plan of opera- 
 tions, be made in England ; but let each Commander 
 be responsible only to Head-quarters for his con- 
 duct on the duty specially assigned to him. 
 
 Several advantages would be gained by this ar- 
 rangement. First, it would avoid the loss of time 
 produced by sailing under the orders of a principal 
 officer, generally commanding, which necessarily 
 reduces the progress of the expedition to the speed 
 of the slowest ship, and to the measure of activity or 
 tact of the least effective officer or crew. Secondly, 
 it would give each Commander the opportunity of 
 taking the independent advantage of every opening 
 of the ice, or other circumstance, by which his 
 owai progress might be flicilitated, and the season 
 for navigating the ice-encumbered seas of the 
 north-west, extended. And, thirdly, it would render 
 every section of the expedition, a principal ; every 
 Commander would feel himself in the highest and 
 most responsible position ; he, with his officers and 
 crew, would reap the undivided rewards of their 
 own enterprise; the credit, if any, which their 
 exertions and zeal might earn, would be secure to 
 themselves ; and none of the errors or failures of 
 others could involve them in either undeserved 
 censvu'es, or uselesss and onerous responsibilities. 
 
 Another deviation from the ordinary practice, is, 
 
 IL* ' 
 
 i 
 
 . I. 
 
 !■'. 
 
 (I 
 
 w 
 
 V 
 
 •I! 
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 46 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 as I conceive, strongly to be recommended ; that is, 
 the employment of men thoroughly fixmiliar with 
 Arctic navigation, such as Captains of whalers, in 
 an independent position, for a portion of the service 
 now suggested. For in respect to this proposition, 
 I would take occasion to express the strong personal 
 conviction, that it is time that the exclusiveness of 
 the National or Government departments should be 
 broken into when services are to be performed not 
 strictly departmental, in which others have had 
 more continuous training and experience; and so, 
 as in an object like that before us, that the mer- 
 chant navy and its more intelligent and talented 
 officers should receive more consideration, and have 
 a better position. Many naval officers, I believe, 
 there are, who would liberally concur in any reason- 
 able measure for improving the grade of a olass of 
 men to whom, as a commercial nation, Britain owes 
 so much, feeling assured that the British navy 
 could lose nothing by the occasional bringing into 
 joint operation the two maritime services, whilst a 
 deserving and skilful body of practical navigators 
 would be better appreciated. 
 
 The experiment, at least, is w^orth the trial when 
 so fwourable an opportunity presents itself as the 
 present; when the cause is not geographical re- 
 search, or astronomical and scientific observation, 
 but the researches of humanity. Among the present 
 Commanders of our northern whalers, there are men 
 who are well known to possess both the inclination 
 and the ability to take a share in an exploration of 
 this kind; and who, with crews selected out of 
 
 
CONSIDERATIONS FOR ITS DISCOVERY AND RELIEF. 47 
 
 their own service, would, I am persuaded, ably 
 perform such duty as might be entrusted to their 
 zeal and perseverance. 
 
 Hitlierto, I ma} add, the men of this class who 
 have b(^en (employed in our modern discovery-ships, 
 have had an inferior position assigned to them. 
 They have not, therefore, been fairly tried, nor th(>ir 
 class of men fairly searched for the most talented 
 and the best. As a general fact, indeed, whoever 
 among the whaling captains might volunteer 
 on such a service, no one, whose talent enabbnl 
 him to secure an unfailing command, under a good 
 and respectable mercantile firm, would have been 
 justified, personally, in undertaking so inferior a 
 position. But, for the position now suggested, the 
 best men, would, of course, be the readiest to offer ; 
 and one or more of this descri])tion, we happen to 
 know, have already offered, Avho, did the oppor- 
 tunity permit, would be able to do their country 
 good service. 
 
 Should it become an object with the Admiralty, 
 as we fervently trust it wdll, — for without it the 
 sympathizing country, I may venture to say, would 
 never be satisfied, — to pursue, in the vigorous and 
 comprehensive manner which are due to the im- 
 [)ortance of the research by Lancaster Sound, some 
 such plan as is here submitted ; it \vould be very 
 practicable, as to mo it appears, to explore, with 
 comparative safety^ a very large extent of those 
 regions, proximate to, and extending from, Barrow 
 Strait, on whicli the track of Sir John Franklin 
 might be supposed to lie. 
 
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 48 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXriiDITlON. 
 
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 Wore the principal ship, desi^i^ned as a depot 
 and refiij>e, as we liave assuuKMl, at Port Leopold, 
 where there arc ahundant resources ; or should she 
 proceed on any limited service during the residue 
 of open-navigation, being careful to return to tlie 
 specified quarters for the winter, — then the scout 
 ships (as we niiglit term them), might proceed, with 
 much confidence, as far as circiunstances would 
 enable them, on the lines of search previously as- 
 signed them respectively. 
 
 Experience has now indicated that, from what- 
 ever distance they might proceed beyond the port 
 or ports of refuge, within at least 800 to 400, if not 
 up to 500 miles, the crews, if necessitated, might 
 make their way back to their resources by means of 
 boats or sledges ; whilst from the extremity of the 
 positions respectively attained by the scout ships, 
 travelling parties m'ght proceed for some hundreds 
 of miles further in such directions as the trending 
 of the land, or the probable course of navigation, 
 towards the south-west and west, might suggest. 
 
 By arrangements of this nature, the various parties 
 would have ' undor their lee,' to speak in nautical 
 technicality, a place of succour and refuge, so that 
 no more danger woidd be incurred, except as to 
 repetitions of the stages, by those proceeding to the 
 greatest distance from the head-quarters, than by 
 the others. 
 
 No doubt a difficulty might exist as to the secur- 
 ing of the scout ships in safe winter-quarters ; but 
 my own impression is that, if they were unable to 
 liarbour within shelter of land, they would not be 
 
1 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS FOU ITS I)IS( OVERV AND Ri:i,IF,F. 49 
 
 ill very much dauj^cv if they were fVo/eii iij) in the 
 middle of the pack, or within a slieet of held ice, 
 so that they were sufhci(»ntly remote from tlie 
 shore. For, proximitij to land, it is, which is well 
 known to yield the most destructive influence to 
 the movement and pressure of the Arctic ices ; a 
 fact, indeed, which has had abundant verification in 
 the history of our modern expeditions for northern 
 research. But a furtlicr fact, accordin^^ at least, 
 to my strong personal impression, has come out of 
 the same experience — that the practice of seeking 
 proximity with, and clinging to, ice-bound shores, 
 either for the purpose of securing the progress made 
 or under the temptation of making better progress 
 by means of tidal or other freqiu^nt openings near 
 the land, has been very detrimental — that is, wher(> 
 the progress sought was immediately upon a western 
 sho-e — to the results obtained in more than one of 
 these expeditions. 
 
 For the further securing of the safety of the ad- 
 venturers in the vessels wdiicli might advance singly 
 into new, and, perhaps, dangerous rc^gions, or into 
 positions from whence, at the season designed for 
 their return, they might not be able to retreat— it 
 might be permitted them to abandon their vessels, 
 in such case, and malie for the nearest depot, or 
 refuge ship. The moderate value of these vessels, 
 by reason of their smallness, is a circumstance that 
 would be favourable for disposing the Government 
 to make a more hasty sacrifice of property for the 
 benefit of the adventurers, as to their personal saf(>ty, 
 ill the general enterprise. 
 
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 50 
 
 THE FRANKLIN KXrEDITION. 
 
 
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 In r(^<(ar<l to the {i(lfi])tati(m of vrssi^s of a nnuh 
 smaller class tlian those nTcntly ('ni[)loy(Ml in tli(^ 
 GovrrniiKMit oxprditions, for (^ftrctivo research in 
 ice-eneunihered seas, — it is satisfactory to find that 
 tli(» opinion of many experienced officers of tiie 
 navy now inclines to the views wliicli I always en- 
 tertain(Ml on th(^ suhject, and had s])ecially set fortli 
 in tlie " Account of the Arctic Rejijions, ' published 
 about tliirty years ago. For in that work (vol. i. 
 pp. 24 — 27), it is stated, in words or substance, as 
 follows : — 
 
 " The class of vessels best adapted for discovery 
 in the Polar Seas, seems to be that of 100 to 200 
 tons burden. All the* great discoveries which have 
 been made [that is prior to the year IHIH] have been 
 effc^cted, it may be observed, in vessels still smaller ; 
 which kind of ship, in sonic respects, possess(^s a 
 material advantage over that of larger dimensions. 
 They are stronger, more easily managed, in less 
 danger of being stove, or crushed by the ice, and 
 are less expensive," — and, from their smaller size, 
 they require, of course, fewer hands. A comparison 
 made betwixt what a small ship, wlien driven on a 
 sandy beach may endure, and yet be got off with- 
 out essential damage, with the destructive effect of 
 mere grounding in a line-of-battle ship, — shows the 
 immense difference in relative strength. The small 
 momentum, too, of vessels of a minor class, when 
 striking against masses of ice, and their more ready 
 yielding to a lifting tendency under pressure from 
 ice, — renders them much less liable to damage 
 or loss from the ordinary impediments to naviga- 
 
 ;< 
 
CONSIDERATIONS FOR ITS DISCOVKRY AND RKI.IKF. .') 1 
 
 tion in the icy soas. In actual oxporicMico of this 
 aclvantaf,'o, wo may alhulo to tho ])('rih)us and w- 
 tnarkahly disastrous voya^^o pcifonncd by Captain 
 James in WM — 2, when liis little vessel, " of only 
 seventy tons burden, endured six or seven such 
 beating's a^^ainst rocks and ice, as would (loubth>ss 
 have occasioned the destruction of almost any vessel 
 of such a siz(^ as those lately (Muidoyed for discovery 
 in the Polar Regions." The record of wluit she 
 encountered (of which a brief abstract is given in 
 the passage we now quote from) is perfectly won- 
 derful, especially when considered in connection 
 with the important fact, that, after all, " the little 
 bark took home its crew in safety !" 
 
 " Hence, it is evident (it is added), that a vessel 
 intended for discovery in the Polar Seas, should be 
 just largc^ enough for conveying tiu^ requisite stones 
 and i)rovisions, and for affonling comfortable ac- 
 commodation for the navigators, but no largcn-. 
 Perhaps a vessel of about loO tons burden would 
 be fully sufficient to answer every purpose." 
 
 Other views, possessing somewhat unusual ana- 
 logy with those herein submitted, considering the 
 great interval of time that has elapsed, and the 
 immense experience that has been obtained, since 
 the work on the Arctic Regions was written — are 
 comprised in some succeeding pages of tliat work, 
 which, however, we will not now delay to analyze. 
 
 It should not be overlooked, in connection with 
 the proposal for the employment of vessels of a 
 very small class in Arctic explorations, that some 
 importance is to be attached to the ny, or style of 
 
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 52 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 equipment in masts and sails, of these vessels. 
 A sloop-rig, for instance, comprising mainly and 
 most essentially, ' fore and aft sails,' would be very 
 inconvenient, and, among crowded ice, where it is 
 important to have the power of stopping the head- 
 way by backing the sails, very disadvantageous. A 
 schooner-rig would, in some respects, be much better, 
 because of the means of arresting the head-way by 
 backing the top-sails, and for being well adapted 
 for working to windward in intricate passages. But 
 the rig of the ketch might, for all objects, perhaps, 
 be the most desirable, — this species affording such 
 proportion of squai^e-saih, as would adapt the vessel 
 for all the requirements of ' backing and hlling,' 
 and of power for ' boring' in packed ice, before the 
 wind. But whatever the kind of rig might be, the 
 quality oi fast-sailing, too often overlooked, would 
 be of singular advantage. 
 
 Some allusion, too, perhaps, might here be pro- 
 perly made, to the subject of the employment of 
 steam, as an auxiliary propelling power, in Arctic 
 navigation. In calm weather, or light contrary 
 winds, generally, or in such wind and weather with 
 slack but encumbering ice — circumstances which 
 often go together, — the advantage of steam must 
 be obvious. But the encumbrance of space for 
 machinery, and for fuel for generating the requisite 
 steam, are serious drawbacks to the specified advan- 
 tages ; besides the risk of crippling the ship, by the 
 action of the ice on the external apparatus for 
 propulsion, to which, obviously, it must be more or 
 less exposed. In tlie case of the screw-propeller. 
 
 
 I. i 
 
 s 
 
CONSIDERATIONS FOR ITS DISCOVERY AND RELIEF. O 
 
 ^ 
 
 y 
 til 
 
 one serious objection strikes me very forcibly. The 
 screw itself, we know, can be easily detached and 
 raised up out of the way of damage ; but the ad- 
 ditional projecting stern-post (below) is left in a 
 condition of much exposure ; so that a very slight 
 nip below, or even the pressing of the ship heavily 
 against deeply immersed masses of ice under the 
 lee, in boring through a compact pack or stream, 
 would be very liable to twist or carry off the stern- 
 post, together with that essential machine appended 
 to it, the rudder! A plan proposed by Sir John 
 Ross, of so arranging the usual system of paddle- 
 wheels, that they could be easily raised up clear 
 of any impediments, might, if found feasible, avoid 
 this serious objection to the use of the screw. In 
 making this objection, it should also be mentioned — 
 as the ships under Sir John Franklin are provided 
 mth screw-propellers — that we should not appre- 
 hend, in the case of the missing expedition, any 
 disastrous consequences from such a cause ; since, 
 in the event of the worst result occurring, which 
 we have assumed to be not improbable, the safety 
 of the ships, as to their floating qualities, would not 
 necessarily be endangered. 
 
 1 I 
 
 r. 
 
 In the carrying out of researches under the views 
 above set forth, two points will strike the reflecting 
 and sympathising reader as of vital importance, 
 viz. — promptness in the setting forth of the expe- 
 dition yet to be provided, and liberality in the 
 provision of means for carrying out the requisite 
 researches. In regard to the importance of prompt- 
 
 E 
 

 ' ' ' ■ 
 
 ! ■ . 
 
 .1' 
 
 «:l 
 
 
 
 ' i 
 
 'I. d 
 
 
 54 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 NESS in DESPATCH, as to the measures designed, it 
 may be observed, that the capability of reaching 
 the scene of commencing operations, before the 
 time when the navigation becomes usually open, is 
 of vast importance, in order to the benefiting, in 
 full measure, by the brief season available for navi- 
 gation in these frigid regions. Promptness in 
 arranging for an expedition in the direction of 
 Baffin Bay, is essential for the providing of proper 
 vessels, and for their due and effective preparation 
 for their object. It is most important, likewise, for 
 the securing of the services of the men and officers 
 best experienced in the navigation of these peculiar 
 regions; for even those among the captains or sea- 
 men ordinarily engaged in the northern whale- 
 fishery, who might strongly be disposed to embark 
 on this enterprise of humanity, cannot be expected 
 to keep themselves disengaged much longer, now 
 that the time for fitting out the whalers is so near 
 at hand. 
 
 As to LIBERALITY iu thcsc mcasurcs, which have 
 become a national duty, need it be urged that it 
 would bo pitiful in a great nation — our stopping to 
 inquire ac what cost the work of public duty and 
 moral obligation can be effected ] Profuseness and 
 wastefulness are equally to be deprecated by good 
 sense, as now they prevalently are by public feeling ; 
 but a niggard contraction of means for the accom- 
 plishment of a national duty is still more to be de- 
 precated, and that both by common honesty and 
 Christian duty — for the abridgment of cost, so as to 
 leave anything undone which may or can reasonably 
 
 It! 
 
 
 
 i ', 
 
 ^1 
 
(ONSIDERATIONS FOR ITS DISCOVEUV AND RELIEF. 00 
 
 be done, is, in a case of this kind, an abandonment, 
 by leaving a part whicli might be the real part, of 
 the whole Christian duty ; whilst the contraction of 
 measures, so as to render them inefficacious, is but 
 a plausible cheat ! 
 
 
 Vi 
 
 \ ; 
 
 1 I 
 
 ■;' I 
 
 
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 I. i, 
 
 il 
 
5(; 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 u 
 
 :U 
 
 <> 
 
 
 \\ 
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE MIDDLE ICE — OR THE CROSSIN« 
 
 OF BAFFIN BAY. 
 
 A GRAND difficulty, in north-western adventure, lies 
 almost at the very entrance of the ice-encumbered 
 regions ; — the passage of the middle ice of Baffin 
 Bay. The eastern side of Davis Strait, at the ter- 
 mination of the spring of the year, may, perhaps, 
 be quite open to navigation ; and the northern and 
 north-western parts of Baffin Bay, with a consider- 
 able space within Lancaster Sound, may, at the 
 same time, be clear of ice, whilst a formidable, and 
 often an impenetrable, barrier — that of the middle 
 ice— lies between. The important bearing which 
 the accomplishment of the passage across Baffin 
 Bay, to the westward, has on the limited extent of 
 the season which may be subsequently devoted to 
 researches, or other operations, encourages me to 
 devote a chapter to this particular subject, with the 
 hope that the facts herein brought together may be 
 of some utility in regard to the navigation of this 
 formidably embarrassed region. 
 
 In consequence of this opposing barrier, the 
 western side of Baffin Bay is not known to be ac- 
 cessible to ships coming in from the southward and 
 eastward until after the spring of the year. The 
 body of ice referred to, generally occupies, during 
 the winter and spring seasons, the greater part, if 
 
 ll; 
 
THE PASSAGE OF THE MIDDLE ICE. 
 
 57 
 
 not thp entire, of this Bay and region, with the 
 channels, straits, sounds, bays, or other inlets, con- 
 nected therewith. The same body or continuity of 
 ice, too, extends to the southward into Davis Strait 
 — filling Hudson Bay, usually forming a packed 
 sea-board along the shores of Labrador, filling the 
 Strait of Belleisle, and partly embracing the island 
 of NcAvfoundland. 
 
 This ice consists of 'heavy' and 'light' packed- 
 ice, and floes, with bergs, and fragments of bergs, 
 interspersed throughout. The icebergs, supplied in 
 immense fragments, not unfrequently 400 to 600 
 feet in thickness or more, from the glaciers of the 
 north, may be considered, in respect to their periods 
 of growth, as millenial, or vastly more ancient still ; 
 the ' heavy ' packed-ice, must be derived from the 
 salt-water produce of several years duration, either 
 within the great basin of the Polar Seas, or within 
 sheltered inlets where the results of the icy forma- 
 tion are but seldom dislodged; whilst the main 
 body, which occupies, chiefly, the northern and 
 western parts of this extensive surface of sheltered 
 and inland seas, is but of perennial growth. 
 
 The grand produce in ict, of the several 
 prevailing species, as it may hence be inferred, is 
 commonly destroyed year by year, — being partly 
 dissolved, within the district of its origination, by 
 the w^armth of the sun, and partly aesiroyed by 
 the higher temperature and more disturbed seas of 
 the parallels, southward, into which it is emptied 
 out by the simple operation of the prevailing cur- 
 rents coming down from the north. Hence, it is, 
 
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 X 
 
 11 
 
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 V ■ :• 
 
 ■ll 
 
 58 
 
 TlIK FRANKLIN EXI'EUITION. 
 
 tliat the Banks of Newfoiindluiid, and the naviga- 
 tion of the Atlantic to a considerable extent south- 
 ward and westward from thence, are so often en- 
 cumbered by bodies of packed ice, or icebergs, com- 
 prising, in considerable part, the overflow of the 
 ice-harvest of the North. 
 
 The fact of this prevalent destruction of the 
 Baffin Bay ice is strikingly shown, by the astonish- 
 ing change which takes place in the navigation 
 during the autumn of the year. Ordinarily, this 
 change is such, that encumbrances of ice which may 
 have detained the navigators, pressing westward 
 across the Bay, until the very end of summer, 
 will often be found, a month or two later, to have 
 ceased to present difficulties, and sometimes to have 
 almost vanished. So that lands to the westward, 
 Avhich had been throughout ice-bound, to a width 
 of many degrees of longitude, in the months of June 
 and July, or even later, may, not unfrequently, be 
 coasted along, with little or no obstruction, in Sep- 
 tember or October, and sometimes in August, from 
 the head of Baffin Bay, down to the southward of 
 l^abrador, approaching the 50th parallel, or along 
 tlie whole extent of the previous encumbrance ! 
 
 In consequence of this annual destruction of ice, 
 tlie ice of Baffin Bay is found to be far lighter, for 
 the most part, than that of the Greenland Sea,- 
 the floes in Baffin Bay being, ordinarily, liardl) ji 
 fourth-part the thickness of those occupying the 
 seas westward of Spitzbergen, and, very prevalently, 
 indeed, of even a lower proportion. For the floes, 
 coming down from the northward and eastward, 
 
 k 
 
THE PASSAGE OF THE MIDDLE ICE. 
 
 M) 
 
 betwixt Spitzbergon and tlie east coast of Green- 
 land, are not unfrequently, in single sheets of solid 
 transparent ice, from twenty to thirty, or even 
 approaching forty feet in thickness. All persons 
 who have frequented the Greenland whale-fishery 
 must have met with, occasionally, large sheets and 
 floes presenting a wall of ice, and rising three, 
 four, if not five feet, in solid substance, above the 
 surface of the water in which the ice was afloat. 
 Now, from experiments which I • rmerly made on 
 the specific gravity and flotation of ice (described 
 in vol. i. of the Account of the Arctic Regions, 
 page 233, and in page (82) of the Appendix), I 
 found, that the proportion floating above to that 
 helow the surface, was, m fresh-water^ at a freezing 
 temperature, as 1 to 11*5, and in sea-water^ as 1 to 
 8-2; that is, for one part above the surface of the 
 sea, when near a freezing temperature, there would 
 be, in a square or evenly formed mass, above eight 
 parts below.* 
 
 The sheet-ice of Baffin Bay — speaking in contra- 
 distinction to the massive or lumpy ice of bergs — 
 docs not usually, unless it be overlaid, exceed, I 
 believe, five or six feet in thickness ; floes of eight 
 or ten feet thick, which are sometimes met with, 
 being of but rare occurrence, whilst hay-floes, of 
 the thickness of only a few inches, occur in all 
 parts of the middle-ice, occupying, more or less, 
 
 ' A cubic inch of compact ice, temperature 30", I found to 
 weij^h 231'5 grains; and a cubic inch of Greenland sea-water at 
 a freezing temperature, or 28" (specific gravity of tlie water, 
 taken at temperature 00", being 1*0204) was found to weigli 
 2,') 9 •58 grains. 
 
 „ i^' 
 
■I ■ 
 
 
 i Ik 
 
 
 } . I 
 
 
 60 
 
 THE FRAiNKLIN EXrEDlTlON. 
 
 the corners and interstices luniil the heavier masses. 
 Wo here speak of the nortliern ice, as it is met 
 with ill the spring and early part of the summer. 
 
 Tiie land-ice — that is the ice immediately attached 
 to the coast, and resting in the position in which it 
 has had its winter formation — varies considerably 
 in thickness according to the locality in which it is 
 generated,— being thickest in the most sheltered 
 situations and in the shallowest water. Measured 
 on one occasion in Melville Bay, on the 24th of 
 June, — the land-ice, at the distance of tliirty or 
 forty miles from the shore, was found to be three 
 feet five inches in thickness, where single and 
 undisturbed. The same general sheet of ice, how- 
 ever, was found, but three weeks later, to be 
 reduced by the summer heat to about two feet. 
 
 At the region in Davis Strait, called the south- 
 west by the whale fishers, comprising the ices below 
 the 65th or 66th parallel, as also in the interior of 
 the middle-ice, occasionally, for several degrees 
 northward, the diift or packed ice is often heavy — 
 approximating the character of that of ordinary 
 occui'rence in the south-western portions of the 
 Greenland Seas. But within Baffin Bay, generally, 
 these lighter perennial ices are mostly met with. 
 The separate masses do not so frequently extend 
 into the vast, and, apparently, interminable surface 
 of ^ fields^' as in the Greenland Sea, being com- 
 prised, as to single sheets, mainly of moderate sized 
 floes. Very large sheets, indeed, are liable to 
 be broken up in their drift down to the south- 
 ward, by their not unfrequent contact with the 
 
 I'S 
 
 
THE PASSAGE OF THE MIDDLE ICE. 
 
 01 
 
 icebergs which are clotted almost all over, though 
 more numerous in positions of shallow water. 
 Collision with bergs, and more especially with 
 grounded bergs, produces upon the drifting floes 
 a strange and tremendous work of disruption or 
 destruction. Their edges frequently bear witness 
 of the unequal contest of strength in which they 
 have been engaged; whilst the force with which 
 they have been compressed by wind or current 
 against the permanent shore, or equally unyielding 
 grounded icebergs, often runs sheet over sheet, or 
 piles edge upon edge, till the comparatively light 
 floe assumes, in portions of the surface, the heavi- 
 ness characteristic of Greenland ice, or, in the 
 ridges formed on the margins of compression, the 
 massiveness of miniature bergs. 
 
 Our national enterprise in the whale-fishery of 
 recent years, having been mauily carried on in the 
 sea beyond, or westward of the middle-ice of Baffin 
 Bay,— that barrier has become as familiar to our 
 fishermen, as to its character and varieties, as lone 
 ago was the ice-barrier, on the south-west of Spitz- 
 bergen, to the whale-fishers of Greenland. With 
 the experience, by our whalers, now extending 
 through a period of about thirty years, — I have 
 taken some pains to make myself acquainted, and, 
 with the results of my enquiries, the reader is here- 
 in presented.* 
 
 The passage of the middle-ice is usually accom- 
 
 • The sources from whence these results were drawn are fully 
 specified in connection with an article in the Appendix. 
 
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,11 
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 i 
 
 \f 
 
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 K 
 
 
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 ()2 
 
 I'm; ruANKMN iai'iidition. 
 
 plishcd, though at no inconsiderable risk to tlio 
 sliips engaging in that adventur(\ by rounding the 
 northern part of the barrier, after the main body 
 has become d(»tached and considerably r(»moved 
 from the top of the Bay. This was, in fact, the 
 course originally pursued with so much success, by 
 the adventurous and enterprising W. Baffin, when, 
 in the year 1616, he discovered this Bay, and cir- 
 cumnavigated it through its entire extent. 
 
 In this enterprise of passing the icy-barrier by 
 the north, the coast of Greenland is kept aboard 
 until the main body is doubled, or some narrow 
 isthmus of it may be intersected in a high parallel, 
 — usually about the latitude of 76°. But a passage 
 has occasionally been made, in some lower parallels 
 — such as the latitude of 70" to 74°, — where the 
 width of the barrier is about the greatest, and the 
 practicability of passing it, until late in the season, 
 is ordinarily very questionable. And, sometimes, 
 the passage has been made by entering a parallel 
 corresponding with, or even to the southward of 
 Cape Walsingham (a position in about G6^ 30' N., 
 constituting the narrowest part of Davis Strait), 
 and then persevering northward, if possible, along 
 the western side of Baffin Bay, betwixt the middle- 
 ice and the land. 
 
 Towards the north-about passage, the navigation, 
 us we have said, is open to a considerable extent 
 along the Greenland shore, forming the eastern 
 boundary of the Bay, in the early spring. In the 
 (>arly part of the season an interruption is not 
 uiifrequently met with near llolsteinborg, w]u>r(\ 
 
 li ■ :• 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 riiv. i'assa(;e of tuf, middlf k i;. 
 
 (>:} 
 
 liic strait being the narrowest, tlie descendinj;- body 
 of northern ice necessarily tends to produce a 
 block. Subsequent interruptions, after this position 
 is [)assed, are liable to be met with, where project- 
 uVfi; headlands, clusters of islands, or ranges of 
 grounded icebergs encroach on the usual direction 
 of drift of the eastern margin of ice. Thus, inter- 
 ruptions are commonly met with at, or immediately 
 b(7ond. Disco Island, Hare Island, Women Islands, 
 Baffin Islands, the Devil's Thumb or Point, as well 
 as in the rounding of Melville Bay, and especially, 
 and lastly, in getting sufficiently up towards ('ape 
 York, so as to be beyond the ordinary extension of 
 the main pack of the icy barrier. 
 
 The progress thus made, as to its latter and more 
 difficult portions, is in the channels of water — 
 from time to time produced by the wind and other 
 circumstances acting favourably, — betwixt the fixed 
 land-ice or land-floes, and the jioating body consti- 
 tuting the middle-ice. The land-ice, in particular 
 l)ositions, may extend, off shore, a distance of twenty 
 or thirty, or even fifty miles. As the fixedness of 
 its exterior edge shows the effect of the least slack- 
 ing or receding of the main-ice — the retention of 
 its continuity with the land, where the princi])al 
 sto|)])ages occur, is, ordinarily, deemed essential for 
 II rapid or successful progress northward. 
 
 The north-easterly winds, which most commonly 
 j)revail in the early spring, and continue, as in the 
 (ireenland Seas, to be the prevailing winds during 
 April and May —net, of course, fjivourably towards 
 the opening of the eastern navigation ; though it 
 
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 ) 
 
 I ', 
 
 I 
 
 ,j 
 
 
 
 
 i5. 
 
 G4 
 
 IHl, lUANKLIN EXI'EUmoN. 
 
 rarely liJippcns that any sliip niakos its way beyond 
 tlie middle-icr, northward, before the middle of 
 June. A passage, ind(HMl, accomplished at any time 
 in June, is dcvnied an (*arly one. 
 
 AVithin the jx^'iod from 1H17 to 1849 inclusive, 
 (lacking only 1820, 22, 24, 2(), 41 and 42), in which 
 I have records of the course taken by the leading 
 ships employed in the fishery, or otherwise, — I find 
 that, in twenty-three out of the twenty-seven years, 
 the northern passage was effected by some vessel, 
 and not unfrequently by the whole fleet of whalers. 
 The earliest passages into the western-water of 
 which I have records, were, as to the leading ship 
 of the year, effected by the St. Andrew, Captain 
 Dring, of Aberdeen, June 12th, 1849; by the 
 Neptune, Penny, of Aberdeen, June 13th, 1838; 
 by the Bon-accord, Lee, the Abram, Jackson, etc., 
 June 21st, 1833; and by the Abram, Coultray, June 
 22nd, 1845. Various other ships, on most occasions, 
 passed the barrier, at or near about the same time ; 
 the ship of Captain Parker was very early through 
 on an occasion in which my records fail ; and the 
 main fleet in 1834 passed across by the 28th of 
 June. The first ship ever known to have passed 
 this barrier, north-westward, since the time of 
 Baffin, was the Larkins, of Leith, in 1817; she 
 was followed by the Elizabeth, of Aberdeen. The 
 latest period to which I find the leading whaler 
 having persevered, by this course, to a successful 
 issue, was early in August. 
 
 The average period, as taken from my list of 
 twenty- three years, in which the first ships sue- 
 
 
 \<i>\ 
 
 III, 
 
I 
 
 IIIK PASNACiK OI Tin: MFDDI.i: I( I,. 
 
 <)5 
 
 ceodcd in passing the banicr by thr Mt'lvillo Bay 
 routes is July 13tli. Baffin, it is woitliy of remark, 
 was, notwithstanding tho (»ntirc nown(^ss of the 
 adventure, and t\w comparative insignificance of 
 his little vessel, in advance of th(^ period at whi(;h 
 the navigation is now ordinarily effected, under all 
 the advantages of familiarity with these regions and 
 strong and efiective ships! For the gallant little ' Dis- 
 covery,' as his vessel of fifty-five tons was named, 
 came "into an open sea," in latitude 75" 40' N., — 
 very near to the identical parallel in which the 
 passage across is now usually e^Tected, — on the 
 1st of July, or almost a fortniglit before the average 
 passage of the earliest ships of the present * lay ! 
 
 By the middle-parallel (latitude 70" to 74") 'ao 
 passage through the wide body of the f^ ^-barrier, 
 westward, is not very often accomplished v pur- 
 sued. In the disastrous year of 1830, to which we 
 refer further on, four ships took a more westerly 
 course than usual, and succeeded in making that 
 passage ; and, on some other occasions, the transit of 
 the middle-parallel appears to have been made. But, 
 unless under peculiarly favourable circumstances, 
 such as of strong and prevalent winds from the 
 south-eastward, tending to reL x the usual central 
 compactness, the attempt is atteiided with consider- 
 able risk, at least with the whalers, of the loss of 
 the fishery by a too-lengthoned detention in the ice. 
 Even when ships have attempted to cross too low 
 down in Melville Bay, though close upon the posi- 
 tion for doubling the pack by the north, they some- 
 
ir 
 
 
 ,1 :■;•■ 
 
 ! 1 
 
 i: ■ ^i 
 
 
 9 
 
 (Hi 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 times, by getting beset and being carried away with 
 the ice, have missed the passage altogether. 
 
 The Griper and Hecla, discovery ships, in the 
 expedition under Lieut. Parry, in the year 1819, 
 were remarkably successful in penetrating the mid- 
 dle-ice in latitude 73°,— reaching the western water, 
 by a route and progress then unexampled, on th(^ 
 '28th of July. But in attempting the like passag<> 
 with the Fury and Hecla, when the season ha])- 
 pened to be severe and unfavourable, in 1824, and 
 taking the ice, July 18th, hi latitude 71" 2',-- 
 Captain Parry was detained until the 8th of Sep- 
 tember, — a period of enormous labour extending 
 to nearly eight weeks, before he could attahi tlic 
 western water. In this case, a northward direction 
 was obliged to be pursued, after entering the ice. 
 so that the ships had ascended to the latitude of 
 7-1" 7', before the completion of the transit. 
 
 By the most southern route, however, that is 
 within and below the 7()th parallel of latitude, 
 \ery early passages across have been effected, and, 
 some of those adventuring upon this course, have 
 occasionally sue ceeded, by a tolerably easy progress, 
 in getting northward afterwards, betAvixt the middle- 
 ice, and the fixed land-ice on th(> western sliorc^ oi" 
 Davis Strait. 
 
 Thus, amongst other instances of which I liave 
 obtained records, it appears, that in 1889, several 
 ships crossed over in the 7()th parallel, partly 
 doubling the main body of the middle-ice to tlie 
 soutliward, and then succ(hmI(mI in getting to tlic 
 
 
 I I 
 
 
li- 
 
 THE PASSA(iK OF THE MIDDLE ICE. 
 
 () < 
 
 of 
 
 northward. Tlie Ellison, Lee, on that occasion, 
 reached the western water on the 21st of July; but 
 the principal part of the fleet, I believe, were much 
 later. In 18-i4, the Bon-accord, Lee, got through 
 the ice in latitude 67", on the 16th of June, and 
 succeeded (a rare occurrence) in reaching Pond Bay, 
 within five days afterwards! In 1846, the Prince of 
 Wales, Thomas Lee, crossed again in latitude ()7", 
 and got through on the 16th of July. 
 
 Though this direction of transit is annually prac- 
 ticable during some part of the summer or autumn, 
 because of the tendency of the barriei to separate > 
 or divide across within this southward region, and 
 though it has in several instances been successfully 
 pursued up to the whale-fishing stations about Pond 
 Bay and beyond; yet it is by no means a safe 
 course to the north-western fishery. A simple in- 
 spection of the position of Baffin Bay, in the Map, 
 will show that the luest land advances to the south- 
 eastward, all the way, in its general trending, from 
 Pond Bay to Cape Walsingham, and that Baffin 
 Bay gradually narrows down to the latter position. 
 TIence, not only does the ordinary southerly drift of 
 the ice tend to bring the middle-ice heavily against 
 the coast to the westward, but the contraction of 
 the space, as before alluded to, renders the clearing 
 of an early channel by the western shore extremity 
 uncertain. 
 
 For a considerable number of years — now about 
 thirty or more — the whale-fishery, formerly carricnl 
 on in Davis Strait, has, in considerable degree, been 
 transferred to the west(M'n side of Baffin Bav. Tiiui- 
 
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 ■t i. 
 
 K I 
 
 ■I 
 
 V 
 
 11. 
 
 r 
 
 
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 1 1 
 
 ()8 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXrEDITIOX, 
 
 caster Sound, and even to regions beyond. Hence 
 not only is Lancaster Sound a position prevalently 
 aimed at by the whalers, but Regent Inlet, to a 
 considerable extent downward by the eastern side 
 of it, is frequently visited. Whales, in extraordi- 
 nary abundance have been found in these regions, 
 and a new encouragement every now and then has 
 been given to the continuance of this enterprise. 
 Checked, however, by the risks and expenses of a 
 lengthened voyage, and the not unfrequent failures 
 — the whale-fishery has so declined, as to have be- 
 come, as a national commerce and adventure, almost 
 insignificant. 
 
 In the more favourable years, however, the op- 
 portunities for success, which were always well 
 improved, were extraordinary. I take, at a venture, 
 an instance or two from my notes. The Isabella, 
 Humphreys, in the summer of 1832, captured forty- 
 two whales, yielding 280 tons of oil ; — twenty-seven 
 were taken in Pond Bay and a little to the north- 
 ward, and fifteen in, or near to, Admiralty Inlet, in 
 Lancaster Sound. Hundreds of whales were to be 
 seen at once : quite a marvellous sight ! The crew 
 of the Isabella killed fourteen at one ' fall ' — that 
 is during one period of uninterrupted chase ! The 
 ice was very compact above this position, forming 
 so close a barrier, at the time, that the ' fish ' seem 
 to have been stopped in their progress westward. 
 
 In the followiL^' year, 1833, the same ship ad- 
 vanced westward, at difi"erent times in July and 
 August, within sight of Leopold Island, and on the 
 28tli of August picked up Captain Ross witli his 
 
 iij: ; 
 
 'i 
 
THE PASSAGE OF THE MIDDLE ICE. 
 
 69 
 
 long imperilled crew, near Navy Board Inlet. 
 Meanwhile another ship, the , Parker, cap- 
 tured twenty-eig>it whales, and lost fifteen others, 
 betwixt Cape Y ivk and Cape Kater, in Regent In- 
 let. On their arrival in Regent Inlet on the 8th 
 and up to the 15th of July, the sea was literally 
 swarming with life ! Of the larger kinds of Arctic 
 animals, the numbers seen were such, as to have 
 excited unmixed amazement. Whales, narwals, 
 walruses, seals, bears, etc. (but no ' tinners,* or 
 sword-fish); whilst birds innumerable, of various 
 species, almost covered the surface of the water ! 
 
 if 
 
 In adventures of this kind, — arduously, and some- 
 times almost desperately, pressing forward towards 
 the desired fishing-stations of the north-west, and 
 persevering in the fishery, as many of the whalers 
 have done, until the middle of October, or even 
 later, — great risks are necessarily run, and very 
 much loss in shipping, has, in consequence, ensued. 
 In any case, an early and persevering endeavour 
 to make the western passage by Melville Bay, is 
 attended with more or less risk. Here the Isabella, 
 in the first enterprise in our modern explorations 
 by Baffin Bay, got a heavy nip, such, as it was 
 assumed, must have crushed a common whaler to 
 atoms ! 
 
 To one most disastrous instance, however, of peril 
 and loss in the attempt to pass north-westward by 
 Melville Bay — that of the year 1830, — I am tempted 
 to refer more particularly, because of the illustration 
 
 F 
 

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 M 
 
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 : 
 
 
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 f 
 
 
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 Hi 
 
 ■ I' 
 
 1 1 , 
 
 
 70 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPKDITION. 
 
 it affords of the power of moving bodies of ice, as 
 well as because of the interest naturally pertaining 
 to a circumstance so strangely destructive. Not 
 very many lives, happily, were lost on the calamitous 
 occasion ; but no less than a third part of the whole 
 whale-fishing fleet were wrecked within the same 
 general region, w^hilst attempting, by a similar 
 course, to double the middle-ice bv the north. 
 
 An abstract of the journal of one of the more 
 favoured adventurers amid tliis extraordinary cala- 
 mity, may, perhaps, be of more interest and value, 
 than any attempt, w^ith defective materials, t give 
 a general record of the eventful occasion. 
 
 The Cumbrian, Captain ]\[unr()(\ — whose original 
 log-book has supplied tlie principal riaterials for 
 this abstract — sailed from PIull so early as to reacli 
 the ice, at the ' south-west,' near the beginning of 
 April. From this position, latitude 62" oO' N., 
 longitude 57" 25' W., they took the ice along, as 
 they were able, generally beating to windward, up 
 to May the 1st, when they were near to Holstein- 
 borg, where the navigable channel, betwixt the ic(> 
 and the land, became first a little embarrassed. 
 
 Persevering to the northward along sliore, meet- 
 ing with occasional bars of ice, tliey reached a com- 
 plete stoppage, nortliward, on the 31st of ^fay near 
 Baflin Islands. With but few exceptions, the wind 
 was from the north-eastward during the whole of 
 the months of April and May. 
 
 In the liability to rapid changes in the position 
 and compactness of the ice, in this region, they 
 were not altog(^thei' disappointed. ()])enini>:s occa- 
 
 I i 
 
4 ! 
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE MIDDLE HE. 
 
 71 
 
 sionally took place, iiiul now and then a iavourin<; 
 wind occurred, so that, taking advantage of every 
 opportunity for making progress, the Cumbrian had 
 advanced, by the 10th of June, as far as the southern 
 part of Melville Bay, — being in latitude 75" 40', 
 longitude 62° 10'. Here, when they had just been 
 anticipating a safe and early passage round the ice, 
 they were again stopped. A fleet of forty sail of 
 whahn's were then in sight, some making th(4r way 
 to the westward, others retiring among the loose 
 floes to the southward, the others, a considerable 
 |)roportion, remaining by the land-ice, — ex]ierience 
 liaving shown, that however adventurous and danger- 
 ous it might be to pursue a course of this kind over 
 against the western land, on this eastern side, it was 
 the most promising course to stick to the land, rather 
 than to trust to ]:)rogress in tlie loose and moveable 
 body of the middle-ice. 
 
 They here remained up to the 22nd of June, 
 and then, under variable light winds producing 
 occasional openings, were enabled to advance some 
 twenty miles ^o the w(stward along the land ic(\ 
 On the 24th, tlie ice began to close, and that jiretty 
 quickly. Aware of the risk of the position, how- 
 ever, in the e\'ent of the western body of ice 
 coming down heavily upon them. Captain Munroe 
 immediat(4y commenc(Ml operations for sawing a 
 dock into the land-ice, — no difficult undertaking 
 luM'e, where the ice, wIkmi not doubled, was only 
 three and a lialf feet in tliiekness. After six hours 
 of active labour, a canal of 200 fe(^t in IcMigth was 
 eom])let(Hl. In this and subsequent undertakings 
 
 i 
 
 \ 
 
1/ '- 
 
 rr 
 
 
 4 
 
 ■fi 
 
 
 r ( 
 
 ■ i 
 
 |.: 
 
 
 
 72 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 of a like kind, the crew of the Hanseatt of Bremen, 
 who were put under the orders of Captain ^lunroe, 
 assisted, on coiidition of their ship, which was not 
 provided with ice-saws, being pennittcd to parti- 
 cipate in the dock that was formed. This arrange- 
 ment, indeed, in its result, proved of great service 
 to all ; as one sliip's company could relieve the 
 other, in the laborious task, so as, when needful, 
 to keep the saws continually in operation. 
 
 On the 25th, a storm of no ordinary character 
 was evidently brewing to the southward and west- 
 ward. The sky, in that quarter, became dark 
 almost to blackness. The barometer had fallen 
 greatly. The ice was still pressing moderately on. 
 But, meanwhile, the two ships were opportunely 
 docked, — a strong piece of ice being placed across 
 the outlet as an additional defence. A section of 
 the general fleet, contiguous to the Cumbrian, — 
 being eight sail altogether, — ^had adopted a similar 
 course, and each one, to different measures in extent, 
 had assumed the hoped-for security of a dock. 
 
 In the afternoon of this day — the actual com- 
 mencement of the eventful period — the storm came 
 on from the south-westward ,.s anticipated. The 
 effect was immediately felt in its terrific results. 
 The body of ice, seaward, came on amain. Floes 
 now overrun floes ; or where two equal edges met, 
 they were mutually piled up in huge ridges. The 
 power of the crush soon obliterated the docks that 
 were the least deep or the most exposed. Signals 
 of distress waved in the storm in all directions ; but 
 the domands of solf-presorvatiou allowed no man to 
 
 :ii: I 
 
 '» 
 
 I ;t 
 
I 
 
 THE PASSAGE 01- THE MIDDLE HE. 
 
 73 
 
 help his neighbour. Tlie first ships of the little 
 group wliich ' suffered,' were the Princess of Wales 
 and the Letitia ; the ice ran through their broad- 
 sides ! At the same time, others among them, were 
 forced into alarming positions, — some thrown upon 
 their ' beam-ends,' some much raised by the pressure. 
 The intermediate ice, especially that immediately 
 within the ships, in relation to the shore, was ani- 
 mate with human beings, — about 300 men, appear- 
 ing scattered abroad in a state of distressful excite- 
 ment, engaged for the most part in carrying off into 
 a position of safety on the yet unbroken ice, their 
 chests and hammocks or beds, and other personal 
 possessions, constituting, as to the greater part, 
 ' their little all.' 
 
 Though the operation of sawing, with a view to 
 the deepening of the dock of the Cumbrian and her 
 consort, was, meanwhile, being energetically carried 
 on by 100 men, these, too, working for their pro- 
 perty and wages, and ][X)ssibly for their lives, — the 
 protecting ice broke away up to the very bows of 
 the Cumbrian before the first great ' run ' ceased. 
 
 The boisterous wind, from seaward, continuing 
 during the night, the off-ice renewed its destructive 
 progress early in the morning of the 2()th. At 
 6 A.M., the Resolution, of Peterhead, then lying 
 about a mile and a half distant from the Cumbrian, 
 was wrecked ; — the ice went through her ' counter' 
 abaft, and, as the ship filled, turned her over upon 
 the ffoe! The Commerce, a brig, was, about the 
 same time, lifted quite on the ice on her broad- 
 side, and had her stern-post greatly twisted. This 
 
 ■X 
 
Pl 
 
 r-' 
 
 t 
 
 n 
 
 li^' 
 
 
 r<j 
 
 '. -^ 
 
 ifr 
 
 .*; •* 
 
 i' » 
 
 
 !tl 
 
 i •■ 
 
 ii^ ii 
 
 74 
 
 1111. I'HANKI.IN [:xri:i)ITION. 
 
 vessel being near to tlie ('unibrian, imd, though au 
 striingely dealt with, being found not to be irre- 
 parably damaged, — Captain Munroe sent out thirty 
 men to assist in the endeavour to preserve lier. 
 Their services, lia[)pily, were not lost. 
 
 Towards noon of this second eventful day, tli(j 
 gale abated, and the ice stopped running. The 
 respite from immediate danger, however, was 
 actively im])rov(\l. A new dock was prepared for 
 the Cumbrian, cut in a zigzag manner, and extended 
 into a iirmer part of the land-ice. The ice fortu- 
 nately slacking off a little in the night, the oppor- 
 tunity was embraced for re-docking the ships, in 
 their improved position. The saitiy discomforted 
 sailors, so far as the ships remained fit for sheltering 
 them, returned to their respective quarters, wliilst 
 the shipwrecked portion obtained accommodatj.on 
 w ith their more favoured comrades. 
 
 From the 27th to the 3()th inclusive, the weather 
 was fine and moderate, with light N.E. winds 
 gc^nerally prevailing. The ice, in consequence, 
 slackened its pressure, and so far separated as to 
 leave small and occasional 'veins of water' in the 
 western quarters. But, of the forty ships in sight 
 on the 2otli, only about twenty-five were now 
 visible; some had, in fact, disappeared, but the 
 greater part of the residue had been driven by the 
 set of the ice, quite out of sight. The land-ice, here 
 too, was found to have broken off and moved west- 
 ward ; but was still retained in its relative posi- 
 tion by a chain of icebergs, forming a half circle, 
 corresponding with Melville Bay, off which they 
 
 11' 
 
 •I 
 
niii PAssAUK or the middlk hi;. 
 
 til 
 
 lay about fifty miles from the land. Had it not 
 been, indeed, for the int(M-ruption j^iven by these 
 bergs, the shi])s which suffered in this catastrophe 
 would probably have escaped. In this interval of 
 quiet, some men crossed the ice to considerable 
 distances, and news of further disasters, among 
 other sections of the fleet, was received. 
 
 On the 1st of July, the wind returned to its 
 former destructive quarter, and threatened another 
 storm. Captain Munroe, — having now at his com- 
 mand the crew of the Conmierce, which had been 
 got afloat, besides portions of wrecked crews, num- 
 bering altogether about 170 men, — was enabled to 
 get the Cumbrian, along with both the Hanseatt and 
 Commerce, deep into, what was considered, a secure 
 dock in the ice; — the dock itself being not only 
 rendered safer by its traverse-like form, but being 
 further sustained by being filled up, as far as 
 l)racticable, with floating masses of ice. 
 
 At niglit, the ice was seen to be running together 
 again in all directions. Orders were now given, as 
 a still more perillous crisis seemed at hand, to erect 
 tents, and secure stocks of provisions, with the 
 men's clothing and beds, half a mile distant on the 
 firmest of the land-ice. All this was promptly 
 done. The ships, too, were adjusted in one tier, 
 side by side, the Cumbrian in the middle. 
 
 The next day, the 2nd, increased the peril of 
 their position. The wind blew a gale from the 
 S.W., with heavy squalls and rain. The ice made 
 repeated starts in running together, sometimes with 
 fearful rapidity and tremendous force. Floe ran 
 
 
 I 
 

 i 
 
 
 .t 
 
 
 111 
 
 7() 
 
 Tilt FUANKLIN LXrtUlTION. 
 
 ( I 
 
 over fioe, and immense sheets or sections of sheets 
 of previously soHd ice, were turned into huge hum- 
 mocks or prodigious ridges. At or by 10 a.m., 
 the docks of this district were mostly broken up, 
 and the land-ice began to crack through its solid 
 portions in all directions. At noon, the Laurel 
 was squcezc^l flat, and thrown on her broadside. 
 The Hope followed in the great catastix)i>he, being 
 the last of this particular section, except those with 
 the Cumbrian. 
 
 Aided now with an accession of men from the 
 additional wrecks, the position of the Cumbrian 
 and her associates, which had become alarmingly 
 threatened, was improved by the extension of their 
 canal inward ; — the men, in general, not knowing 
 that any other refuge might be left, working, as for 
 their lives. Their efforts proved effective until 
 towards midnight, when a new and augmented 
 pressure came upon the land-ice from without, 
 thoroughly breaking up this last refuge, to which 
 an amount of some 400 men had trusted for their 
 preservation through the medium of the residue of 
 ships. The press now fell so heavily on the two 
 outside vessels, that the exposed broadside of each 
 partially gave way. But, the good hand of Provi- 
 dence being upon them, the three ships — the Cum- 
 brian with little or no damage — ultimately escaped. 
 The pressure after continuing in that direction 
 about two hours, then ceased. 
 
 By means of the whole body of men engaged in 
 the common object of self-preservation, — the ships, 
 after enormous labour in cutting through the broken 
 
 i < % 
 
 !li I 
 
 u> 
 
 '•\ i 
 
'I 
 1 
 
 •JUL PASSAGE OF THE MIDDLE RE. 
 
 77 
 
 ice into the luud-Hoe, were again placed in apparent 
 security. Provisions, too, were collected, as far as 
 practicable, from the various wrecks, and carried 
 still further along the land-ice as a depot, in the 
 event of idtimate disaster to the remaining ships. 
 
 The residue of this interesting story can h^re 
 only be conveniently sketched. No renewal of 
 pressure, after that described, took i)lace. I'he 
 weather becoming fine, and the position of the 
 ships more and more hopc^ful, the damages of the 
 Hanseatt and the Commerce were so far repaired, 
 as to render them sea-worthy, and all three were 
 again securely docked in the ice. The shipwrecked 
 men distributed themselves, as to the main body 
 of them, among more remote sections of the fleet 
 by travelling over the ice. The remnant left, only 
 about thirty, consisted chiefly of the wx^ak or the 
 timid. After a depressing detention here until the 
 1st of September, they observed a southern section 
 of the fleet make sail, and pass out of sight. Under 
 better hopes for themselves, the crews of the Cum- 
 brian and associates began to replace the stores on 
 board their respective ships. On the -Ith, a swell 
 w^as perceived coming in from the S.W. The next 
 day they began to move by warping through the 
 somewhat slackened ice. On the 6th, the three 
 ships were under sail, winding their way through 
 the devious openings, or forcing an occasional 
 passage by 'boring;' and on the 7th, making effective 
 progress, they were privileged to accomplish their 
 escape into cleai' water ! 
 
 The general rsult of this sad catastrophe — lui- 
 
 \< 
 
t 
 
 f ' 
 
 i\ 
 
 78 
 
 IMi; rUANKl-IN LXI'LUITIDN. 
 
 
 \ 
 
 '■ ' i> 
 
 n { 
 
 ■i« 
 
 I :■ 
 
 exum])l('d even in the ailvcntuious scrvicf" of the 
 wluil('-fisli(>iy — was the loss of twcnt) .i oh, uiur- 
 t('(Mi Hritish and one Foreign, in tlu iK'if.^ of 
 Melville Bay, and one more in a different rejj^io!^ ; 
 besides abont twenty otliers, more or less dama«,'ed. 
 The fishery, too, proved a gi'neral failure: only 
 about I third j)art of the fleet, 1 believe, succeeded 
 in obtaining any success. 
 
 The loss of life, on this sad occasion of hardship 
 and peril, was not very great. The rum-cask, as it 
 is wont wIkmi surr(>ptitiously resorted to in mari- 
 time calamities, did its usual disservice, — cheering 
 those, ind(>ed, who ventured on its temporary 
 stimulus for a short time, but ultimately reacting 
 on the incidentally acciidretl energy with a more 
 than corresponding dei)ression. The first to suffer 
 by ex])osiue and hardship were generally these 
 self-indulgeut, and those who perished in travelling 
 across the ice from the section of ships to which 
 our luirrative specially r<?lates, are described as 
 being chiefly the victims of intemperance ! 
 
 In taking one particular record of this extra- 
 ordinary event, and specifying only this particular 
 year, 18'30, as one of disaster among the whalers, — 
 I have been influenced by the consideration that, 
 whilst the description would, from its speciality, be 
 more interesting, the nature of the dangers of the 
 passage by Melville Bay would be more charac- 
 teristically de\eloped. But it may be naturally 
 inferred, that the extraordinary action of the ice, 
 in the locality to which our ruu-rative refers, was 
 
 ii % 
 
n 
 
 iiir. i'.\ssA(it: oi' IMK MiDDi.i; hi;. 
 
 7!) 
 
 bui tlu; ty|)f lA' its action cIscwIumc. Not only, 
 indeed, were tlie sliips in other ]K)sitions within 
 range of the coinmon cUsaster as sunmnuily wrecked; 
 but soin(* of them were still more strangely dealt 
 with than the section Avhich suffered near the 
 Cumhrian. One ship, for instance, was reared up 
 by the ice, almost in the position of a rearing liorse! 
 Others were thrown fairly over on their broadsides 
 by the ice, and upon the ice, and, then, as in other 
 cases mentioned, actually overrun by the advancing 
 lioe and totally buried by it ; so that, as to one 
 instance at least, within a few moments of time, 
 there was nothing whatever to be seen of the ill- 
 fated ship but tlie outer end of her mizen-boom ! 
 
 Again, as to similar calamities, though of minor 
 extent, the ])assage of IVIehille Bay had become so 
 famous as to obtain tlu; quaint designation of ' the 
 De\irs Nip!' One eye-witness of several of these 
 disasters to shipping, Cai)tain IVIanger, writing 
 liowever from memory only, iuentions the loss of 
 nine ships in the year 1819, about eleven sail within 
 a year or two aftcrw^ards, and again twelve or 
 thirteen sail in an immediately succeeding season ! 
 
i"i\ 
 
 
 bO 
 
 ». r 
 
 .'■■ 
 
 [■' 
 
 i 1i' 
 
 h 
 
 'i\ 
 
 - '/, 'I 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON AIDS TO THE FURTHERANCE OF RESEARCH. 
 
 The general scheme for the ordering of an expedition 
 by Baffin Bay — assumed to be composed of one or 
 two principal, and two or three secondary, or scout, 
 ships, or four altogether — has been pretty fully 
 sketched in a previous chapter. 
 
 It now remains to suggest some practical mea- 
 sures^ more in detail, for the furtherance of research 
 beyond the points which might be reached by the 
 several scout ships themselves ; for we have assumed 
 that, whilst the principal or largest ship should take 
 up a secure and generally accessible position, such 
 as that of Port Leopold, so as to be available as 
 a general place of refuge for any shipwrecked, or 
 otherwise endangered crews, the scout ships should 
 be sent forward to and beyond Cape Walker, to 
 Melville Island, and up Wellington Channel ; but 
 only so far, should the navigation permit, as the 
 crews might be supposed to be able, if necessitated, 
 to return over the ice to Port Leopold, or to the 
 more remote station at, or near to, Melville Island. 
 
 From the several points which might thus be 
 attained, travelling parties could then be sent out, 
 with all the advantages, in idtimate researches, of 
 their advanced position; and so as to afford the 
 reasonable probability of researches being extended, 
 slioidd the sea so extend, for perhaps fiUly one-half 
 
 1 ; . 
 
ON AIDS TO FURTHERANCE OF RESEARCH. 
 
 81 
 
 the distance (or 600 miles) from Port Leopold to 
 Point Barrow, the north-western headland of the 
 American continent. 
 
 Some apology perhaps may be due to those who 
 have had practical experience in ice-travelling, for 
 the offering of suggestions by one who, however 
 familiar with icy regions, has had but trifling 
 experience in this arduous service personally. But 
 in addressing himself to the public mind, having 
 no authority from, or responsibility with, depart- 
 ments of the service — he may safely venture on 
 suggestions, appreciable by the intelligent, though 
 (as to Arctic adventure) inexperienced, public ; — 
 well assuming that, if anything lie has to suggest 
 should be considered in higher quarters, those 
 experienced and practised navigators will, of course, 
 be consulted. 
 
 Under the general arrangement herein contem- 
 plated, the most important researches, as to their 
 probable efficiency, would devolve on the ice- 
 travelling parties to be sent out by the advanced 
 vessels of the Expedition. 
 
 Ice-travelling, as we have seen, was successfully 
 pursued by Sir James Ross in his recent voyage, to 
 an extent, in one instance, of a forty days' journey, 
 during which a space — inclusive of the examination 
 of the various indents of the coast of North Somer- 
 set — of near 500 miles is said to have been passed 
 over. 
 
 A progress of this extent — it can, I think, be 
 satisfixctorily shown — might, by more than one pro- 
 
 •it 
 
57 
 
 n 
 
 r 
 
 
 ■1 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 )' 
 
 '■ ', 
 
 ■ 
 
 ■r. 
 
 ■\'. 1 
 
 
 ty-i 
 
 \i „ 
 
 
 S-2 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXrEDlTlON, 
 
 cess, bo <?vratly rxcordod, and tliat with but Uttle, 
 if any, additional risk; and not improbably nndor 
 a sniidlcr nioasnro of personal labonr and cxhanstion 
 than were endnred by the party under Sir Jann^s 
 Ross. 
 
 Even on the same cjencral plan as that ado])ted 
 by Sir James lloss, the a(lventur(\ T eoneeive, mit>ht 
 be greatly fnrthered by the preliminary establisli- 
 ment of posts on the ice or ])roximate shores, as 
 depots of provisions, and as places for resting on 
 the line of direction proposed to be pnrsned. 
 
 In an ordinarily favourable summer, the scout 
 ship designed for this service, would be able ])ro- 
 l)ably to penetrate through Barrow Strait coir ' r- 
 ably beyond Cape "Walker. Having then pursued 
 a western and south-western direction, so far as tlie 
 ice might permit, until fairly arrested for the winter, 
 such vessel would constitute^ a starting point for ire- 
 travelling far beyond the reach, on plans hith(Mto 
 adopted, of the ultimate ex])loration, by setting out 
 from Port Leo[)old. 
 
 From the jiosition tlius attained, wlien the season 
 for travelling miglit be deenuvl sufficiently ]n'oxi- 
 mate, let provisions, with extra clothing and tcnits, 
 be sent forward in tlie lin(^ of S(>arch determined 
 upon, for a four oi' five days' distance — say fifty to 
 seventy miles. Instead of a mere mound of snow% 
 as a mark, a ])ole couhl ')e erected as a guide subse- 
 quently to the place. Poles made of reeds or bam- 
 boo might be tlie liglitest for carriage, which, being 
 st(>adied by guys or shrouds, would easily sustain a 
 flag, .1 ball, or, what would be still better, a cvlin- 
 
 ^i 
 
i)N AIDS TO Fl RTIIEKANCt OF RESKAH( 11. 
 
 h:\ 
 
 der of red or blue calico, stretched by cane hoops, 
 whicli would pack in as small a compass almost as 
 a flag, and be b(^tter seen in calm weather. 
 
 From this first post, a second preliminary party 
 could be pushed forward to another correspond in<^- 
 distance, depositinfif there also botli tents, provisions, 
 and clothinfi^, tog(>ther with the li<4hter sledfj^es and 
 other apparatus of the principal travelling ])arty. 
 
 From hence, assumed to be an advanced position 
 of 100 to loO miles, the travelling pnrty might still 
 be accompanied, if found advisable, by a fatigue 
 party for some days beyond, so as to enable the 
 men designed for distant service to commence more 
 fresh than when left to their unaid(Ml efforts and 
 resources. 
 
 Certain advantages, 1 conceive, woidd be derived 
 from a measure of this kind, for the establishment 
 of at least one prelinnn iry post, over the ])lan of 
 setting out witli fatigue parties and th(^ whole ex- 
 pedition at once. As to such advantages, may be 
 noted, — the pioneering of the track for the avoid- 
 ance of unnecessary detours ; t]w establishment of 
 a good post in anticipation of the best of the season 
 for travelling ; the practising of the men, with th(» 
 view of the best selection for the distant service, etc. 
 
 To me it appears, that, on some plan of this kind, 
 the party for the distant scM'vice, rcvsting at the 
 farthest post for a day or two, might set out from 
 their advanced position comparatively quit(* fresh. 
 Confident, too, of their having such advanccnl post 
 to fall back uj)on — with fresli r(\sources in juo- 
 visions, tents, and clotliing — the mm woidd travel 
 
'I ' 
 
 i 
 'I 
 
 H4 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 k 
 
 ■A 
 
 I II 
 
 
 l\ 
 
 with more elasticity of spirit, and, by consequence, 
 would be able to accomplish, should circumstances 
 otherwise prove favourable, a much greater distance. 
 
 In an arduous and cxhaustinp^ undertaking of 
 this nature, it would be very important, both from 
 religious and physical considerations, that strict re- 
 gard should be hau to the rest of the Sabbath. In 
 an undertaking where men go, as it were, w\t\\ 
 their lives in their hands, the due observance of 
 the liOrd's-day, religiously considered, would, in an 
 especial manner, be found productive of a holy con- 
 fidence in that gracious Being with whom are the 
 issues of life ; whilst physically considered, there 
 coTild be no doubt of a beneficial influence being 
 dcnived from the observance of an institution mani- 
 festly adapted to a general law in the constitution 
 of man, and, indeed, more extensively of nature, — 
 such observance being calcidated at once to restore 
 the exhaustion of the over-worked travellers, and, 
 by the Divine blessing, to further the enterprise in 
 which they were engaged. 
 
 If, as we have supposed, a travelling party, effi- 
 ciently provided and arranged, should commence^ 
 their journey from a position, which we conceive to 
 be ordinarily attainable^ far advanc 'd in the direc- 
 tion of Melville Island — say 100 ^o 150 miles to 
 the westward or south-westward of Cape Walker, — 
 their ultimate research, if the character and course 
 of the ice were favourable, might extend 300 to 
 400 miles further, which would b(» fully one-half 
 of the interval betwixt Port Leopold and Point 
 Barrow. 
 
 
 « ,) 
 
 * * 
 
f 
 
 ON AIDS TO FURTHERANCE OF RESEARCH. Ho 
 
 In assuming such an advanced position as being 
 ordinarily attainable, when the recent experience of 
 8ir James Ross might seem to indicate otherwise, it 
 may here be sufficient to refer back to our second 
 Chapter (pp. 28 — 25), merely adding, that even in 
 the two summers occupied in the recent voyage, 
 there is no proof against the supposition that the 
 navigation of a more western longitude was possibly 
 open, had the shij)? been in a position to avail 
 themselves of it. Hence, we have assumed, that 
 the vessel designed to take post at or near Melville 
 Island, might, hkewise, be able to accomplish this 
 extent of navigation. If so, the opportunity would 
 be afforded, by means similar to those already 
 suggested, of pushing researches by ice-travelling 
 parties down to Banks' Land, tracing the coast 
 Avestward, and, i)erhaps, eastward, besides sending 
 a small party, during the season for such researches, 
 to explore tlie sea round the western part of 
 IMelville Island towards the north, or rounding, if 
 practicable, the Parry Islands towards the east. 
 
 In all this contemplated progress by ice-travelling, 
 which, under ^ndinarily favourable circumstances of 
 season and ice, we deem to hv reasonably i)racti- 
 cabu , we have relied solelj on ihe unaided efforts 
 of the 7ncn employed in the enterprise. But we are 
 )('t, I am well persuaded, but beginning to learn 
 wliat may be done under other arrangements by 
 this mode of progress. My own conviction of the 
 applicability of it for research in ice-covered seas 
 has long been .such, as to have c^licited the ]»ro- 
 
r.. 
 
 <■ r, , 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 S(i 
 
 iHE lUANKLlN IvM'LDI riO.N 
 
 [)()siti()ii of the possibility of reach iiifij the Pole by 
 
 do 
 
 f^^"' 
 
 or 
 
 moans of sledge-boats drawn by reindcun* 
 even by mannal force, which was pnblished in the 
 second volnme of the " Memoirs of the Wcrnerian 
 Society of Edinburgh," from a j)aper read to tliat 
 Society in the year 1815. And althongh the 
 attempt made under the orders of our Government 
 some twelve years afterwards failed ; yet the failure, 
 being occasioned by circumstances which in the plan 
 originally proposed would have been avoided, Y)rovcd 
 nothing against the practicability of the scheme, as, 
 indeed, the gallant officer who commanded the cx- 
 pc^dition has, in a letter published ir: Sir John Bar- 
 row's abstract of recent voyages, himself admitted. * 
 But there arc other modes of focilitatin,<'; a pro- 
 gress in transglacial journeys of, perhaps, easier 
 applicability than in tlie use of reindeer or even 
 dogs. One of the simplest which has struck my 
 mind, — from the ciicumstancc of having once secMi 
 the surprising efficacy of the agency in drawing a 
 light carriage — is by the use of kites. In the in- 
 stance referrc^d to, the kite was guided in the direc- 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 J ■ 
 
 
 * As aicl( (I in the progress by leiiulecr or dogs, we find, as fin- 
 as the records collected can enable one to judge, that the most 
 rapid ?*iid considerable transgl; cial journeys, yet accomplished, 
 havp been made by the Russians. Instances of such journeys are 
 givcii in "The Account of the Arctic Regions," vol. i. c. 1, s. 4 ; 
 ;/ad also in the Edinburgh New Philosophical .Journal, for 182H, 
 vol. V. pp. 22 — 42 in " Remarks on the probability of reaching 
 th»j North Pole . ir < rdor to the enquiry of how far the expe- 
 dition under Capt. Parry afttct: (he probability of the enterprise." 
 — Another art.icu in the sanu ;. iirnal, vol. xx. (for \H'>i5 — (J) 
 pj). 93 — 100, '* On circumstancc^'i connected with the original 
 suj/f/estion of the Modern Arctic Expeditions," will be fotiiid to 
 have very close relation to the introductory portion of the present 
 publication, 
 
 1 ,' 
 
 i 
 
ft 
 
 ON MDS TO FlRTHKHANii; nV in:sK\|{(ll. S, 
 
 tion of i\\o road — being ()l)li([iie to tliat of the wind 
 
 -bv lateral 
 
 t)y lateral (/ui/s\ by moans ot whieh a range of 
 (linv^tion could b<» commanded of, I think, about 
 teu or twelve points of tlu; compass. Tlie c.peii- 
 m(Mit was made on the Downs at (^lifton, when, 
 happening to be present, I was allowed to take my 
 seat along with the originator of the scheme anrl 
 another person, during a very ra])id transit of the 
 carriage thus drawn along, over a limited extent of 
 road adopted for the trial ; and althor.gh no genc^id 
 use of this mode of locomotion could advantageously 
 b(^ made, wherc^ the several contingencies of favour- 
 able wind, a breeze blowing freshly, but not vio- 
 lently, and a road without undue turnings, must be 
 always requisite, yet it does seem that where the 
 time and circumstances of the outsetting of a shnlge 
 party could be selected, an im])ortant furtherance 
 might be yielded to the progress over favourable ice 
 at the commencement, as well as during any subs(». 
 (juent period in which tlu; rc^quisite circumstanc(vs. 
 as to the wind and quality of the ic(\ sliould prevail. 
 
 Among the variety of schemes and contrivanc(^s 
 which hav(^ been brought before the public, with 
 the view of furthering Arctic discovery, and of pro- 
 moting research after ovu' missing adventurers, ther<' 
 is one possessing decided capabilities which it might 
 not be well to pass over without notic(\ — I refer to 
 the us(» of balloons. 
 
 Balloons liave long been contemplated as cal- 
 culated for advantageous employment, (as indeed 
 actual experiment has justified), for the purpose of 
 observation froni an elevated position, in wait!U(^ ; 
 

 ,h 
 
 > 
 
 r t 
 
 i 
 
 »• 
 
 
 ^l 
 
 ^i: 
 
 li 
 
 ■' I'll' 
 i. 1 
 
 - » 
 
 
 tk 
 
 H 
 
 h 
 
 m 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 whilst a like rmploymcnt of balloons has been sug- 
 gested in aid of the means hitherto employed for 
 Arctic researches. 
 
 As a mode of attaining an elevated site for obser- 
 vation — whether for looking out for the anxiously- 
 sought expedition under Sir Jolni Franklin, or for 
 tlie more remote inspection of the nature of the 
 ices and lands in the direction contemplated for 
 travelling ])arties, or parties otherwise engaged in 
 researches, the balloon, it is obvious, might be very 
 advantageously made use of. With a perfectly 
 calm and clear atmos]ihere, a heiglit of perhaps half 
 a mile, or more, might be ascended with a small 
 balloon, attached by a light rope, or lead line, to 
 the ship ; whilst a practised aeronaut, proA ided with 
 sledge, provisions, and tent, might ascend, when 
 the air was pretty stagnant, very much higher — 
 trusting to the resources carried along with him, for 
 his return, within a limited distance, to the ship. 
 
 In respect to the nature and extent of vitnv com- 
 manded in aeronautics adventure, considerable mis- 
 take seems to prevail, which it may not be unuseful 
 to notice. It had been assumed by a document 
 which recently appeared in some of the public 
 journals, that an elevation of two miles would 
 command a panoramic view of at least 1200 miles 
 — an extent of vision, however, unless singularly 
 aided by a generally elevated region of country 
 beyond the ordinary horizon, greatly overrated. 
 The ordinary horizon — assuming a surface of ocean, 
 or ice-covered sva, or a country on which tlie posi- 
 tion ascended from should be an average one as to 
 
 ? i 
 
 
ON AIDS TO FX'RTIIERANCE OF RESEARCH. 
 
 89 
 
 <'lcvntion — would be visible (not ullowin'i; for re- 
 fraction), about eighty-three or eiglity-four mik's 
 from the elevation of one statute mile, or about 
 118 statute miles, equal to a panorama of about 
 740 miles, from the elevation of two miles. 
 
 Another prevalent mistake, too, is, tliat such a 
 body as one of the discovery sliips woidd necessarily 
 be discernible, if witliin view, from such a command- 
 ing position. My own impression is, guided by 
 some consideration of the angidar measure ordinarily 
 visible, that such a ship, even with all sails set, 
 woidd not be discernible by the naked eye (that is, 
 in ordinary states of the atmosphere as to refrac- 
 tion) above forty miles off, and a far less distance 
 if lying beset with sails furled. The telescope, 
 indeed, could reveal the otherwise invisible object 
 to the very extent of the visible horizon, or some- 
 what beyond, but the difficidty would be to catch 
 an object so small within so vast an area of vision. 
 Nevertheless, great advantage might result, thougli 
 not to the degree popidarly assumed, from balloon 
 obser>ation, wliilst such means of observation, I 
 appreliend, are abiuidantly practicable. 
 
 As the tilling of a balloon with liydrogen gas 
 would not be a matter of great difficulty, where 
 the length of time occupied by the process might 
 not be of importance ; and as a balloon so inflated 
 would have a greater ascending power than one 
 filled with the ordinary gas for burning, — it would 
 be quite possible, I conceive, and, it may be added, 
 sufficiently practicable, to set forth a balloon of 
 sueli capabilities, from an advanced vessel in our 
 
:>^. 
 
 
 1 
 
 ■ , r' 
 
 ■■h 
 
 .1 
 
 I I 
 
 
 
 
 !)() 
 
 TIIK rUVNKLlN KXI'KOITION. 
 
 proposed rxpcdition, as to cany u party of three 
 jnen, with provisions, sledge, tent, and apparatus, 
 tor a journey of a month or more. Were such a 
 medium of transit ado[)ted, and a favourable occa- 
 sion as to the direction and force of the wind hapi)ily 
 obtained, the outward journey, or the principal 
 part of it, niiju^ht be accomplished without fatif^ue, 
 so that the little party would start quite fresli in 
 strength and resources on their return to the ship. 
 
 In regard to the em])loyment of so small a party, 
 it may be submitted that, it has yet to be deter- 
 mined, w^hether very small [)arties would not be 
 almost as safe as large ones ; whilst no doubt coidd 
 exist as to their economy in means and resources, 
 and tlie ad\antage they woidd afford of researclies 
 being made at the same time on several lines of 
 direction. 
 
 'i'hen^ is another object connected with such re- 
 stnuches as we have been considering, of a viMy 
 im[)()rtant ui'lure, in wliich balloons might certainly 
 have very advantageous employment, — \iz., as 
 t/i(%sscH</<T balloons.* Tliese need obviously to b(* 
 only of very ^mall magnitude, and not neccessarily 
 made of costly materials, probably gutta percha, oi 
 
 * It was not until sonu weeks after this suggestion had been 
 written dowti and prepared for publication, that the Author be- 
 came aware, through the medium of a friend, of a similar idea 
 l)eing, in other form, before the public. But he feels it due to 
 himself to say, that the gre^t delay which took place in the pub- 
 lication of the letters originally, from whence this Chapter is 
 mainly copied, placed him both in this and other respects in a 
 disadvantageous position. Public attention, however, having 
 been greatly drawn to the (jucstion — of how the missi'ig expe- 
 dition might be the most ettectually soiight out? a correspondence 
 in suggestions for tli.it libjocl, by «iiflerent individuals, was vcr\ 
 ii.iturailv cliciloiL 
 
 { 
 
 
r 
 
 ON AIDS TO FlllTllKRANl i: OK lli;sKAH( II. 
 
 !)1 
 
 of three 
 )paratus, 
 fc! sucli a 
 )lf' occii- 
 
 happily 
 )riii('ipul 
 
 fatigue, 
 fresli in 
 e ship, 
 a party, 
 le (k'tci- 
 
 not be 
 bt could 
 'sources, 
 searches 
 lines of 
 
 such re- 
 a \VY\ 
 ertainly 
 viz., as 
 y to hr 
 .'cssarily 
 rcha, oi" 
 
 had been 
 uthor he- 
 nilar idea 
 it due to 
 
 the puh- 
 'hapter is 
 )ects in a 
 r, having 
 ing expe- 
 ipoiideiicH' 
 
 was vcr\ 
 
 a thickness not exceeding that of tissue paper, 
 might suffice. These balloons, — having only to carry 
 a d(^s])atch, (^nclosc^l in a watcM-^roof cover, to which 
 juight be api)ended, if there were ascending power 
 sufficient, a wide scpiare of thin coloured calico, 
 stretched on a light reed, to render the aerial 
 messenger more conspicuous, — could be sent off 
 from an exploring expedition whenever the wind 
 might blow fresli in a direction favourable for 
 reaching the regions of human habitation, and tlius 
 might be pretty liberally scattered over the continent 
 of North America, or the regions about Greenland. 
 
 It would be quite pract= Me, too, to make them, 
 in some degree, messengcis of distance, as well as 
 of direction, whenever the general body of the 
 lower atmosphere, might be moving swiftly in the 
 same li'ie. By nutans of a pilot balloon of paper, 
 elevated by burning spirit, a tolerable idea might 
 be obtained, both of the uniformity of the current 
 of air at a considc^rable altitude, and of the velocity 
 of the wind in the track ])ur8ued — the latter impor- 
 tant object being attainable by sending two or three 
 observers to some distance from the ship in the 
 direction of the wind, to determine the moment of 
 the passage of the zenith, with them, by the balloon. 
 
 But the adjustment of the balloon to a particular 
 altitude, so as to restrain it from a flight into a too 
 elevated region, would be a matter of no great 
 practical difficulty. It would only require the use 
 of an unelastic material for the balloon, capable of 
 bearing a moderate outward pressure, — for both of 
 which purposes gutta percha, would, 1 think, br 
 
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 92 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 h:n 
 
 1 Ml 
 
 well adapted. For a balloon completely filled up 
 with gas, and so secured against its escape that 
 its density could not materially change, could only 
 continue to ascend, it is obvious, until the weight 
 of the air displaced by its mass, should cease to be 
 greater than the weight of the balloon, with its 
 attachments and gaseous contents. Hence, if the 
 free-ascending power were but small, its upward 
 course would be soon arrested by the gradually 
 diminishing density of the atmosphere, and then, on 
 reaching the point of equilibrium, the balloon must 
 pursue only a horizontal flight. Knowing, there- 
 fore, as we very well do, the ratio of diminution of 
 density in the atmosphere by ascending ; and being 
 aware, to begin with, of the solid displacement of 
 air by the mass of the balloon when filled, we could 
 so adjust \hefree ascending power, by weighting the 
 buoyant vessel, as to cause it to travel at any deter- 
 minate altitude we might desire. 
 
 Thus provided with the elements of probable 
 direction and progress — elements, indeed, which 
 might vary, somewhat, in the difierent regions that 
 might be traversed, but not materially so, perhaps, 
 within a few hundreds of miles, — the fall of the 
 balloon might be effected at any required distance, 
 reck6ned in time, by the connecting of a small 
 time-piece (such as that of the common alarum) 
 with a sufficiently-weighted valve at the top, which 
 would secure the release of the valve and the escape 
 of the gas at any particular interval.* 
 
 * The use of slow-match, the combustion of which may be 
 tolerably well estimated, has, elsewhere, beeu suggested for the 
 

 ON AIDS TO FURTHERANCE OF RESEARCH. 93 
 
 Had our anxiously-sought adventurers been pro- 
 vided with apparatus of this kind, it is hardly 
 probable but that some message directly from them 
 would have reached us year by year, and so, not 
 only might any unnecessary anxiety have been pre- 
 vented, but the direction in which relief might have 
 been afforded clearly and certainly pointed out. 
 
 The foregoing considerations, as to measures for 
 searching after our missing countrymen in an 
 eastern direction by Baffin Bay, will of course apply 
 — so far as they relate to ice-travelling and the 
 employment of balloons, or other aids for obser- 
 vation and research — to the furtherance of the like 
 objects from any other quarters. But whilst they 
 may apply generally, they might be carried out 
 perhaps, in the present case, with the greatest effec- 
 tiveness by an expedition by Baffin Bay, where the 
 time for preparation, if promptly set about, is yet 
 sufficient. 
 
 Such are the considerations respecting Arctic 
 research, and practical measures for the discovery 
 and relief of our absent adventurers with the 
 Franklin Expedition, — which, amid the numerous 
 plans already set forth by others, I venture now, 
 with much diffidence, to submit to the public. 
 
 attainment of this object, which has the recommendation at least 
 of being unexpensive. But watch-work machinery, sufficient for 
 the purpose, could be had at a cost, I believe, of a few shillings 
 for each apparatus. 
 
#, 
 
 1 ! 
 
 J 
 
 fi. 
 
 i!;i- 
 
 hi, 
 
 PI 
 
 i 1 ' 'if 
 
 94 
 
 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 
 
 U ii 
 
 And it may not, I hope, be presumptuous to say, 
 that, were the various researches, contemplated by 
 the foregoing plan, fairly carried out, some satis- 
 factory or conclusive results might be reasonably 
 and confidently expected. For it is hardly within 
 ordinary probability to suppose that the track, with 
 its deviations, originally prescribed to the missing 
 expedition, could be so extensively pursued and 
 variously intersected, without traces of its progress 
 being met with, or the adventurers themselves dis- 
 covered and relieved. 
 
 The time for hope, though fast passing away, is, 
 we confidently believe, not yet extinct. For besides 
 the grounds of remaining hope already suggested, 
 there is yet one other to vhich the piously consi- 
 derate mind will hardly fail to dwell upon with 
 consoling impression to the last. Ordinarily, in- 
 deed, we have been encoui'aged by a happy expe- 
 rience hitherto, to look confidingly to the goodness 
 and mercy of the God of Providence, who, in the 
 case of all our other adventurers, has so graciously 
 preserved and returned them in safety. In the 
 instance which now so calls forth our earnest sym- 
 pathies, there are special reasons for looking, with 
 much hope, to this grand source of power, for the 
 preservation of the imperilled navigators. We all 
 — if our profession of religion be a reality — admit, 
 in the very fact of our public and private devotions, 
 a blessing derivable from Him who heareth and 
 answereth prayer. Now it is cause of much satis- 
 faction to know, that there are those amongst our 
 absent countrymen who are not only God-fearing 
 
ON AIDS TO FURTHERANCE OF RESEARCH. 95 
 
 men, but eminently men of prayer, among whom 
 the Commander of the Expedition himself is, I well 
 believe, a conspicuous example. And in addition 
 to what we might hope from the personal supplica- 
 tion of the parties in^/olved in perils, we have tlie 
 additional ground of trust in ' the effectual fervent 
 prayers of many righteous' in these realms, which, 
 we are scripturally told, ' availeth much.' And if 
 such prayers have been drawn out of the Christian 
 sympathies of many, more especially were they 
 drawn out on one occasion, within the preceding 
 year, when, urged by the wish of the most devoted, 
 persevering, and talented wife of the Commander 
 of the Expedition, — public prayers were offered in 
 sixty or seventy churches on the same day, and at 
 the corresponding service, when, perhaps, some 
 50,000 worshippers sent forth their combined suppli- 
 cations, before a Throne of Grace, " for the preser- 
 vation and safe return of the officers and seamen, 
 engaged in the Arctic explorations." For my own 
 part, I cannot but allude to this happy and pious 
 incident, not only with great consolation, but as a 
 ground of Christian hope for a blessing on the 
 researches yet to be made, and for an answer of 
 mercy ; so that yet we might have the privilege of 
 rejoicing over these our imperilled countrymen in 
 tlieir merciful preservation, and happy, happy 
 return. May our gracious Father in Heaven, yield 
 us this blessed result ! 
 
Jh 
 
 96 
 
 m 
 
 iJ 
 
 II". 
 
 * 
 
 
 APrENDIX. 
 
 I. — On the Researches by the Herald and Plover, 
 BY Behring Strait, in the Summer of 1849. 
 
 To complete the historical sketch of measures hitherto 
 undertaken in search of the Franklin Expedition, — the 
 abstract of the proceedings by Behring Strait during the 
 summer of 1849, has been reserved for this position, for 
 the benefit of the Admiralty Despatches, just arrived. 
 From hence we learn, that the Herald, 22, Captain Kellett, 
 C.B., sailed from Oahu, on the 19th of May, and arrived 
 at Petropaulski, on the 24th of June. Proceeding north- 
 ward, she passed Behring Strait, on the 14th of July, and 
 anchored at Chamisso Island, on the 15th, where the Plover 
 was found at anchor. 
 
 The Plover, as was expected, had been so delayed in 
 her progress the year before, that she was unable to reach 
 the position appointed for search. She had wintered at 
 Noovell, on the coast of Kamtchatka, — had cut out of her 
 winter harbour on the 30th of June, and had just suc- 
 ceeded in reaching the appointed rendezvous the day 
 before the arrival of the Herald. 
 
 The ships, joined by the Nancy Dawson, yacht, sailed 
 from Chamisso, on their voyage of research, on the 18th of 
 July. On the 20th, they were off Cape Lisburne, and, 
 passing Icy Cape, the boat expedition, under Lieut. PuUen, 
 — consisting of the Herald's Pinnace, decked over, and 
 three other boats, — was despatched on the 25th. These 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 97 
 
 K, 
 
 ;o 
 
 le 
 le 
 »r 
 1. 
 
 t, 
 d 
 
 1 
 r 
 
 1 
 1 
 t 
 
 boats, accompanied by the adventurous yacht, went round, 
 and for some little distance beyond. Point Barrow, together, 
 when, agreeable to instructions, two whale-boats, being 
 fully provisioned and equipped for separate service, pro- 
 ceeded on the search towards Mackenzie River, — it being 
 purposed, should that position be happily attained, of 
 which there was every prospect, that the men should ascend 
 the river to Fort Hope, and return by York Factory, in 
 Hudson Bay, in the summer of 1850. 
 
 The Herald, meanwhile, advanced northward, along the 
 edge of the pack, until finally stopped by ice, July 28th, 
 in latitude 72' 51' N. and longitude 163'= 48' W. From 
 that period until near the end of September, this ship was 
 engaged in active explorations of the region intermediate 
 betwixt the impenetrable Arctic ices, and the American 
 coast, discovering and landing on an island in 71*^ 20' N., 
 longitude, 175*^ 16' W. besides discovering other lands 
 inaccessible by reason of ice. But no traces of, or informa- 
 tion concerning, the Franklin Expedition, were anywhere 
 met with. 
 
 On returning to Cape Lisburne, the appointed ren- 
 dezvous, the two larger boats which had set out with Lieut. 
 PuUen's expedition, were met with, along with the yacht. 
 Having equipped the Plover, which was to winter in 
 Kotzebue Sound, and made some final researches, the 
 Herald left the Sound for the southward on the 29th of 
 September, and passing Behring Strait, on the 2nd of 
 October, reached Mazatlan, from whence her despatches 
 are dated, on the 14th of November last. 
 

 jii 
 
 98 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 m 
 
 ' 1 
 
 
 t, ;l I 
 
 )'■■<<! 
 
 <; 
 
 i^i: 
 
 
 II. Times of passing the Middle Ice by the leading 
 
 Ship or Ships. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Passaoh op Middle \r,v.. 
 
 Ye.ir. 
 
 SHIP. 
 
 CAPTAIN. 
 
 POUT. 
 
 
 1 
 
 Route 
 
 Latitude 
 
 Date. 
 
 1616 
 
 Discovery . . 
 
 W. Baffin . 
 
 • • * • 
 
 N. 
 
 75«40' 
 
 July 1 . 
 
 1817 
 
 Larkins . . 
 
 . ... 
 
 Leith . . 
 
 N. 
 
 76 
 
 Aug. 
 
 1818 
 
 Isabella . . 
 
 Ross . . 
 
 London . . 
 
 N. 
 
 76 12 
 
 Aug. 18. 
 
 1819 
 
 Hecla . . . 
 
 Parry . . 
 
 London . 
 
 M. 
 
 73 
 
 July 28. 
 
 1820 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1821 
 
 Albion . . . 
 
 • • • ■ 
 
 Hull . . . 
 
 N. 
 
 76 
 
 July 12.* 
 
 1822 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1823 
 
 Albion, L .bella, etc. . . 
 
 • • • • 
 
 N. 
 
 76 
 
 End June 
 
 1824 
 
 Hecla ... 1 Parry . . 
 Most of the Fleet of Whalers 
 
 London . 
 
 M. 
 
 74 7 
 
 Sept. 9. 
 July 20.* 
 
 1825 
 
 • . • • 
 
 N. 
 
 76 
 
 1826 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1827 
 
 Several Ships 
 
 • • 
 
 N. 
 
 76 
 
 July 1 » 
 
 1828 
 
 All the Fleet of Whalers . 
 
 • • t • 
 
 N. 
 
 76 
 
 July 1.* 
 
 1829 
 
 Eclipse, etc. . 
 
 Penny, sen. 
 
 Peterhead . 
 
 N. 
 
 75 50 
 
 July 12. 
 
 1830 
 
 • • • • • 
 
 Lee . . . 
 
 Hull . . . 
 
 N. 
 
 76 
 
 July 21. 
 
 1831 
 
 Eclipse . . . 
 
 Penny, sen. 
 
 Peterhead . 
 
 N. 
 
 75 40 
 
 July 17. 
 
 1832 
 
 All or most of 1 
 
 the Fleet, (the 
 
 earliest) . . 
 
 N. 
 
 76 
 
 June 26.* 
 
 1833 
 
 All or most of the Fleet, (the 
 
 earliest) . . 
 
 N. 
 
 76 
 
 June 21. 
 
 1834 
 
 All the Fleet, 
 
 (the earliest) 
 
 . • . • 
 
 N. 
 
 76 
 
 June 28. 
 
 1835 
 
 W. Torr . . 
 
 • ... 
 
 Hull . . 
 
 S. 
 
 69 20 
 
 Aug. 15. 
 
 1836 
 
 Neptune . . 
 
 Penny . . 
 
 Aberdeen . 
 
 N. 
 
 75 30 
 
 July 28. 
 
 1837 
 
 Hecla . . . 
 
 Stewart . . 
 
 Kirkcaldy . 
 
 N. 
 
 76 30 
 
 July 20. 
 
 1838 
 
 Neptune . . 
 
 Penny , . 
 
 Aberdeen . 
 
 N. 
 
 76 
 
 June 13. 
 
 1839 
 
 Ellison . . . 
 
 ■ « • • 
 
 • • • ■ 
 
 S. 
 
 69 54 
 
 July 21. 
 July 25. 
 
 1840 
 
 Hannible . . 
 
 Stewart . . 
 
 Peterhead . 
 
 N. 
 
 75 30 
 
 1841 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1842 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1843 
 
 Horn . . . 
 
 Sturrock 
 
 Dundee . . 
 
 N. 
 
 76 30 
 
 July 25. 
 
 1844 
 
 Bon-accord . 
 
 Lee . . . 
 
 Hull . . . 
 
 S. 
 
 66 32 
 
 June 16. 
 
 1845 
 
 Abram, etc. . 
 
 • • • • 
 
 Hull . . . 
 
 N. 
 
 76 
 
 June 22. 
 
 1846 
 
 Prince Wales 
 
 T. Lee . . 
 
 Hull. . . 
 
 S. 
 
 67 
 
 July 16. 
 
 1847 
 
 Prince Wales 
 
 T. Tee . . 
 
 Hull . . . 
 
 N. 
 
 76 
 
 July 18. 
 
 1848 
 
 Prince Wales 
 
 Lee . . . 
 
 Hull. . . 
 
 N. 
 
 75 
 
 Aug. 6. 
 
 1849 
 
 St. Andrew . 
 
 Dring . . 
 
 Aberdeen . 
 
 N. 
 
 75 30 
 
 June 12. 
 
 »; 'i 
 
 Note. — Route, N., North Passage by Melville Bay; M., Middle Passage; 
 S. Southern Passage. 
 
 * About or near the day specified. So latitudes, in degrees only, are to be 
 understood as near such latitude. 
 
AIM'KNDIX. 
 
 !)}) 
 
 The facts and dates of the annexed Table, together witli 
 the results given in Chapter IV. of this publication, wern 
 derived, as to the greater part of them, from personal 
 communications or correspondence with the Captains and 
 Owners of whalers. Among those with whom I had very 
 satisfactorary conferences, or replies to letters, I may men- 
 tion Thomas "Ward, Esq., merchant and whale-ship owner, 
 with other shipowners, particularly Mr. Abby, of Hull ; 
 Captains Parker, Lee, Lee, jun., Jackson, Munroe, Hum- 
 phrey, Manger, Graville, and Coultray, of the same port, 
 and Captain Penny, of Aberdeen. Besides these sources 
 of information in respect to the passage and nature of the 
 middle-ice, the published voyages of our Arctic Discovery 
 Ships, have of course been consulted. In regard to the 
 dates at which the leading ship, or ships of the year, 
 succeeded in passing the barrier, it may have happened 
 that the ship noted, as the leading ship, may have had 
 associates, equally in advance, along with her, if not before 
 her, in some instances, as to actual precedence in entering 
 the western water. But still, as a whole, the information 
 herein given, may, I hav<f; no doubt, be well relied on, and 
 be received, as to the par pose for which it is designed, 
 with unreserved confidence. 
 
It! 
 
 i 
 
 PUBLICATIONS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 LONGMAN AND CO. 
 
 
 if^ 
 
 V ii 
 
 It V 
 ^ <' 'I 
 
 M AGNETICAL INVESTIGATIONS :— 
 
 In Svo., with Plates: Part I. 5s. : Part II. 10«. Gd. 
 
 Comprising original researches on, — the magnetic capabilities of 
 various descriptions of steel and iron — the ratios of increase of power 
 by combination of bars and plates — the effects of hardness, quality, 
 form, and mass on the resulting magnetic p(^wer — the deter- 
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 for compasses, with original modes of testing the quality of iron 
 and steel, and greatly improving magnetical instruments in 
 general. 
 
 ZOISTIC MAGNETISM: 
 
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 Consisting of original researches in mesmeric phenomena, with the 
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 — and in wliich experiments are described eliciting striiting electric 
 or magneto-electric conditions, witii the intercepting of the mesmeric 
 influence by electrics, and the neutralizing of the effects of sub- 
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 MEMORIALS OF THE SEA: 
 
 Post 8vo. In the Press : Second Edition. 
 
 Comprising, I. Sabbaths in the Arctic Regions: II. Loss of the 
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 V. The Hurricane. 
 
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 And VOYAGE TO GREENLAND, with researches on its 
 eastern shores, in 1822, Svo. Out of print. 
 
 RfS' 
 
 
 London: Printed by M. Mason, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row. 
 

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