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[To /ace (Ac Til/epase] rs NARRATIVE V. * . y.. OF A. BOAT EXPEDITION w THE ■WELLINGTOJS' OttAJSTNEL In the Year 1852, moon «ag COMMAND OF R. .d-CORMICK, R.N., F.R.C.S., itr H.M.B. " FORLORN HOPE," SEARCH OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN; WITH CHART, ILLUSTRATIONS, AND PLANS OF SEARCH. hyia'jc. 1*. LONDON: PRINTED BY GEORGE EDWARD EYRE AND WILLIAJI SPOTTISWOODE, PRINTEBS TO THE QUEENS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. 1854. lltoO (c% Dr, m'cormick's boat expedition UP THE WELLINGTON CHANNEL, 1852. Kabrative of a Boat and Sledge Expedition up Wellington Channel and round Baring Bav, ill search of Sir John Franklin and the crews of the discovery ahipa " Erebus " and " Terror." On Thursday, 19th August 1852, at 11 a.m., I SUCCEEDED in embarking upon my long-sought and long-cherished enterprise, in a whale boat equipped for a month, and manned by half-a-dozen volunteers from Her Majesty's ship '•North Star," lying off Beechey island. Although, it could not be othcr\,ise than a source of the deepest regret to rac, that the short season for boating operations in these regions was now fast drawing to a close, and with it the more sanguine hopes I had entertained of accomplishing the extended exploration I had con- templated ere the long polar night set in, yet, even in this, the eleventh heur, I was not without a hope of at least setting at rest one question relative to the search, viz., as to the existence of any available communication between Baring Bay and Jones Sound, either by means of an opening or narrow isthmus of land, in the direction of the position laid down in the Admiralty chart, as the spot where a cairn, cooking place, and footprints, are said to have been visited by a whaler ; and have been thought by some, most deeply interested in the fate of our lost countrymen, to have been traces of their wanderings. This object I fully determined to accomplish, if possible, either by sea or land, even should the formation of " young ice " (so much to be apprehended at this advanced period of tlic season,) form such an impediment as to leave me no other alternative than to abandon my boat, and make my way l)ack to the ship by an overland journey. At the very moment I was about taking my departure, a sail hove in sight, coming round Cape Riley, which proved to be no less interesting an arrival than Ladv Eranklin's own little brigantinc, the " Prince Albert," on her return from Batty Bay, in Prince Regent's Inlet, where she had wintered, without finding any traces of the missing expedition. I met her commander A2 !i 4 Kennedy, and Monsieur Bcllot, on the floe as they landed, but so anxious was I to make the most of every moment of the brief remnant of the season still remaining, that I had little time to inquire what they had accomplished. After despatching a few hastily written lines home by them, I struck across the ice for the tloe edge, where my boat was awaiting me; and hoisting the sail with a strong brfezc from the S.W., ran alongside of the " Prince Albert," standing off and on between Cape Riley and liecchey Island. Hepburn, the faithful follower and companion of the gallant Franklin in his evcr-mcmorablc journey along the shores of the Polar Sea, was on board tliia little vessel, I bad not ;;cen hiiu since our first meeting in Tasmania, on my arrival there,— in the very same " Erebus " of which I am now in search,— whilst engaged in the Antarctic Expedition, At the time Sir John Franklin was governor of the colony. In passing so close I could not resin the impulse to jump on board, and congratulate this spirited old veteran with a hearty shake of the hand on his safe return, thus far, from so arduous an undertaking in search of his old com- mander. „ A sudden change in the weather having taken place yesterday, accompanied by a heavy fii'n of snow, covering all the hills with one uniform mantle of white, too plainly heralding the setting in of winter, rendered my visit a very brief one ; and shoving off again, we rounded Beechey Island in a snowstorm, and were compelled to lower the sail and pull through some loo^c streara ice (coming out of the Wellington Channel,) to Cape Spencer, where we had our dinner of cold bacon and biscuit, at 2 p.m. On doubling Innes Point, we fell in with a large quantity of drift ice, setting with the strong current, which runs here from the N.W., rapidly down channel, and apparently extending across to the opposite shore of Cornwallis Land, leaving a narrow passage of open water along the North Devon side, whicli 1 availed myself of, pushing onwards between the ice and the land. The shingle beach, between Innes and LovcU Points, is margined by a low glacial formation, giving the latter point a white berg-like termination. At P.M. I landed to examine a remarkable conical heap of shingle, not unlike a cairn, as it peered above the snow. It seemed to have been thrown up at the outlet of a water-course to the sea, the bed of which was now dry ; but the cleft in the ridge of rocks through which it passed was roofed over with ice and snow, forming a cavern beneath. On entering, a beautiful grotto disclosed itself, the floor glittering with countless globular masses of frozen drops of water, and the roof with pendant icicles clear as rock crystal. The interior of the cave, which extended to a greater distance than I had leisure to follow it up, was so encrusted over Avith these aqueous stalactites and stalagmites, that the whole surface sparkled through the faint gleam of light admitted, as brilliantly as if studded with huge diamonds. The weather suddenly cleared up fine, but the wind shifting round to N.N.W. dead against us, hemmed us in between the ice and the land, within a bight, leaving open water in mid- channel, from which we were cut off by a belt of heavy floe-pieces, margined by much sludge, and about half a mile in breadth. Our further progress being thus arrested, we landed at 7 p.m. to take our tea, in the hope that by the time that we had finished this refreshing repast, a passage might have opened out for us. At 8 p.m., however, the ice was jamming us into the curve in the coast closer than ever. I therefore determined on making an attempt to force tlie boat through it, by poling her along with the oars and boarding pikes. In this way wc suc- ceeded in getting about half way through, when th.c swell increased so much as wc neared the c ,e c (I is I le te si >f 1- .Ik Ig y ax Id ig ss le d. f>f it to it ar he us ed ISt d- M. , a he he ic- he 8!ieto>U)d by R. .VCornuoli, EJf, Gape Spencer, bearing W.N.W.,* diatnnt Two Miles. * All the bearings are magnetic. [ To/ace page 4. ] I Sketclieit by S. HTCormiek, R.K. Launching of the Boat over the Drift Ice from Lovell Point Enc-ampment. [To face paye 5.] ■■:mm»T.»XMM.WnBJ.,SSJVSSi^^ inai'giij, and the heavy pi-essuie b) wbicU the boat was siibjf-cted between the Iwger floe- piecea became so great, that we had to haul her up on the ice, atUir takini^ sveryUiing out of her, to preserve her from being stove in. Wc then endeavoured to drjug her over tlie larger pieces, with the intention of embarking the provisions and other thingw, as t^oon ns she was luuiielied into the loose sludge outside. Whilst thus laboriously etTjploye.d, the making of the. flood tide augn:iente.d the swell and cominotiou amongst the floe-pioc*s so much, prtasing thcin together with Rue.b violencft, that one of the largest and thickest piecen ou which we hud deposited our provisions suddenly parted in the centre, threateoing destruction to every- thing upon it.* In this critical position 1 was reluctantly conipelled to relinquifih the attempt for the present, anc'. after landing everything in salety by means of the sledgv, we dragge.d the boat over the iloe-picces and landed her upon the bench. It was naidnight before we pitched the tent for tilic night on a ridge of sliiugle, after four hourn of unceasing, mo»t harassing, and dangerous vfork, •^hieh fairly put to the test the culpabilities of every one of my small party, and 1'ul.ly satisfied uie that 1 could not have selected a liner boatVcrew for a perilous service, had I had the whole Arctic s(]undron to have picked thorn from. After sapper, having set a watch for the night as a precaution against a surprise from the bears, whosie tracks were rather numerous upon tlie. snow on the beach, the biifTalo robes were spread, and all turned into their felt-bags to enjoy that sound and refreshing sleep, which seldom faib to attend on the wearied and toilworn, however bard may be. the conch or iaclcraent the clime. * It wfts in a econe- like. tUis, *ridl not fit.r froro tlia awac i»p«t> that tiia uafoctunntc BftUOt wjs cirifwd «\vi»y on « ioe piece of ice, nod lost Ijia life, for wtiot of » bo»t. Friday, 20th August. Tup, spot on wliic'Ii wc cncai.iped last ni.^'lit is a little to the northward of Lovcll Toint, ulll around a snowy waste, save and except the narrow shingle ridge on which the tent stood, anc that was hare. The northern sky looked black and threatening, not that peculiar dark horizon indicating the presence of open water, and hence technically called a water-sky, but the lurid appearance preceding bad weather; the thermometer during the day rose no higher than ;jr ruhrenheit. We saw four large flocks of geese all flying at a considerable height in their usual angular-shaped phalanx, shaping their course tor the south, a sure sign of winter's near approach. Saw also many dovekies and kittiwakes, and two seals. On emerging from our felt-bags this morning at six o'clock, in which, chrysalis-like, we had been incased during the night, and quitting the confines of the tent, wc found that but little change had taken jilace in the scene around us : both ice and weather bore much the same aspect. On tlie outer cdg: of the ice a heavy surf was still breaking, and large tloe-pieccs had been stranded on the beach by the heavy pressure in the night. The atmosphere looked gloomy, overcast, and threatening ; the thermometer had fallen below ..^9°, and young ice formed to the thickness of an inch. After our breakfast of cold bacon and biscuit, with chocolate, I took a rough sketch of the encampment, and ^valked for about a mile along the beach to the northward, in search of a more promising part in the belt of ice for embarkation, but found none, even so practicable for the purpose as the place of our encampment. On my return, therefore, the boat was once more launched upon the floe-pieces, which, from the wind drawing round more to the westward, ha', been packed closer together in shore % and at 10 A.M., by dint of great exertion, wc at last succccued in gaining the outer margin : but it was noon before everything was got into the boat, having to make three sledge trips from the shore with the provisions and other things. We now launched her into the sludgy surf, •svhcrc, from her being so deep in the water» although with only a month's provisions on board, and this !-hc could barely stow, her situation was fjr a few minutes a very critical one, from the risk of being swamped, till by a ft w lusty strokes of the oars, we were swept fairly out of this vorte.\ of sludge and water into the open channel, and made sail with a fresh breeze for Cape Bowden, going at the rate of about five knots an hour. In doubling Cape Bowden wc had to make a considerable detour, to avoid a long stream of ic-e extending from it to the distance of several miles ; and in running through the heavy swell and sludge which skirted it, carried away our rudder, through one of tlie pintles giving way, which, on examination, was found to have been defective, and the rudder altogether badly fitted. In short, the boat was an old one, which had been knocked about in the late expeditions, and not well adapted for such an enterprise as this. This accident, together with a freshening breeze accompanied by thick weather, snow, and sleet, compelled us to lower the sail, at 5 p.m. I now looked out for a spot to beach the boat, under Cape Bowden, a perpendicular cliff, rising to the height of upwards of five hundred feet above the level of the ^ea ; but the extremely narrow strip of shingle beach at its bisc was so thickly studded with stranded hummocks and berg-pieces of m\ Sketched »» B. M'CarmUk, U. y. Cape Bowden, from the summit of Cape M'Bsin, W.N.W. ITuface iMige 6.] ShlchedlyE. JTCormick, BJf. ^'^■' Cape M'Bain, bearing W.S.W. \Tu face pays 7.] ice, on wiiich a heavy surf was breaking, as to render it alike impracticable cither to haul up the boat or find room to pitch the tent afterwards. On the north side of Cape Bowdcn we opened a pretty little bay, of semicircular form, most synmietrically so, about a mile in breadth at its entrance, and much about the same in depth ; bounded on the north by a low, narrow peninsula, suddenly rising into, {i'\d terminating in a tabular-topped cape, about two hundred feet in height, separating it from Gritlin Bay. We pulled all round the little bay with the intention of encamping there for the night, but found the beach everywhere so hemmed in with a fringe of grounded luunmocks nf ice lashed by the surf, that not a single opening offered, even for running the boat's bow in between them. A flock of geese, a number of gulls, and several ravens, which we had disturbed in their solitary retreat, took wing on our approach. I gave it the name of Clark Bay ; and the headland bounding it to the north, I called Cape M'Buin, after two esteemed friends ; the former being one of the few remaining survivors who shared in the glorious battle of Trafalgar, and the latter an old voyager to these regions. On rounding Cape IM'Bain into Griffin Bay, the weather became so thick as nearly to conceal the land, and wc had some difficulty m finding a spot where the boat could be beached. Af\cr coasting the south side of the bay for nearly a mile within the Cape, wc at last sucr:ded in hauling her up into a little nook between the grounded hum.mocks with which the wliole line of coa:t was thickly strewed. At 6.15 p.m. we pitched the tent for the night, between two small shingle ridges, lighted a fire, and had tea, with some cold bacon and biscuit. Griffin Bay presented a most wild -looking scene of desolation; the surrounding hills were all covered with snow ;huge masses of old ice which had been stranded by some enormous pressure, lay thickly strewed along its shores, in places piled up in chaotic confusion ; and the upper part of the bay was full of loose ice, the winter's floe having very recently broken up. The streams of ice which wc met with on our way up channel doubtless came out of this and the adjacent bays. When about turning into my felt-bag for the night, 1 found it saturated with water, and preferred taking my rest on the buflalo robe, without any other covering than what the tent afforded, having a black tarpaulin bag containing my change of clothes (all thoroughly drenched by the seas the boat shipped over her bows) for my pillow. Hi I f^ Saturday, 21st August. Rose at 5 a.m., break last cc], and started at six o'clock for the Biiiiimit of Ci;pc M'Baiii, ou ^vllich I found a cairn, containing a small gutta pcrcha case, enclosing a circular printed in red ink on yellow tinted paper, dated Tuesda}', May 1 3th 1851, and stating that a searching party from the " Lady Franklin" and " Sophia" brigs had left, for emergencies, on the nortli point of the bay, a cache of sixty pounds of bread and forty pounds of pcmmican. From the spot on which the cairn stands, I took sketches of Capes Bowden and Grinnell, and descended on the south side into Clark Bay, and whilst examining its shores, I saw an Arctic gull and three line large white hares (Lupus glacialis), which, however, were far too shy and wary to allow me to approach within ball range of them : both barrels of my gun being loaded with ball, I discharged one after them, which sent them running off at a tremendous rate. Returning to our encampment, wc struck the tent, and after re-embarking everything, made sail with a fair wind from the westward at 9-15 a.m., but still the same overcast and gloomy aspect of the sky. Aflcr wc had proceeded for some distance, I discovered that a fine musk ox { Ovibos moschatus) skull and horns, (evidently a bull's from the bases of the horns meeting over the forehead,) found by two of the boat's crew, on one of tlic ridges above the bay, in a ramble they took last night, — had been left behind on the beach. This was much to be regretted, as the specimen furnished pretty decisive evidence that these animals must once have existed here, and the probability is, that they do so still. It bore evident marks of long exposure to the weather, bleached white, porous, and time-M-orn. Standing over for Cape Grinnell, wc encountered another heavy stream of ice, which crossed our course as it drifted rapidly out of Griffm Bay, cutting us off from the shore, and wc had to get out the or.rs and pull round it. Our rudder, which we had made an attempt at repairing, again gave way. Wc passed a shoal of white whales [Beluga borcalis), and saw the cairn ou the point where the depot of provisions was left. After taking a sketch of the latter, I landed about noon upou a narrow shingle l)cach, on which wc lighted a fire and cooked a warm mess, made of preserved mutton, soup and potatoes, for our dinner. On walking up the ridge to the cairn, through a heavy fall of snow, we found tuc provisions gone; and as there were recent ^oot-prints up the side of the ridge heading to it, v.here the inciting of the snow had left the soil sufficiently soft and plastic to take impressions, I came to the conclusion that the " Assistance" and "Pioneer" had taken them on their way up channel. Returning to the boat, we shoved oft' at 3 P.M., the sun glancing forth a noiv.cntary ray through the surrounding murky atmosphere, as wc receded from the shore. On rouuding the cairn point, wc opened another small semicircular bay, strikingly resembling Clark Bay both in size and form ; and to which I gave the name of M'Clintock, after my friend, the distinguished Polar traveller, now commander of Her Majesty's ship " Intrepid." The coast, along which wc had now to pull against a fresh northerly breeze, presented a very bold and striking aspect. Bluff headlands, rising precipitously from the water's edge to the height of six hundred feet and upwards, and skirted at the base by a narrow belt of shingly beach, profusely studded with strauded hummocks of ice. From the steep fronts of these mag- r 1, on , 1 red )arty It of it on the I - ; line le to rgx'd nade k ox over mble d, as here, o the ■ ' 3ssed id to ring, 1 the i- LDOUt de of :airn, \ )rint8 ently * and )ff at c, as ' cular ne of - Sketched by R. HTCornicl, R.S Cape Daniell, tearing N.W. ITo fact page i.'^ Sketched hi/ It, M'Cormick, Jl..y. '^^ Encampment in Emery Bay. f_Tn fiwc page 9.] ■ nificcnt cliffs of the mountain limestone projected three or more horizontal tiers of biittr-.'sses lu strong relief, the effect of which was much heightened by the tiers being bare of snow, mid black — ?o contrasted with their white sides as to give them the appearance of some frowning and impregnable fortress, or imposing battery presented by the broadside of a stately three-decker. Between two of these remarkable headlands, another very synnnetrical bay opened out, bounded on the north by a wild, romantic-looking cape, towering upwards with smooth and swelling sides to near its summit, and then abruptly breaking up into angular-shaped rocky fragments, forming a rugged, picturesque looking crest, seven or eight hundred ieet above the level of tlie sea. To this pretty bay I gave the name of Emery, after an old and much valued friend ; and to the south headland Cape Daniell, after another esteemed friend ; both of whom have their names already enrolled in the annals of African discovery. I taw the tracks of bears and ibxes upon the snow along the beach. Cornwallis Land, forming the opposite shore of Wellington Channel, piebald with snow, loomed dark and wildly through the mist, at the distance oT between t^venty and thirty mik-s, yet I could distinctly make out the point forming its north-eastern extremity. Passed several white whales, a seal or two, and several large flocks of geese, the whole migrating to the south, a few dovekies {Uriajrrylle), fulmar petrel (Procellaria irlncialis), glaucous and kittiwake gulls. At G. P.M., observing a cairn on a low ridge of shingle, I ran the boat in between the groimded hummocks of ice on the point. Landed and found a tin cylinder containing a notice that the " Assistance" and " Pioneer" had passed on Sunday morning las? at 10 o'clock, bound to Ijaillie Hamilton Island—" all well." From this we had a very prolonged and fatiguing pull along a most dreary line of coast, closely packed with grounded hummocks. The breeze increased to a fresh gale, accompanied by sleet and snow ; the thern-:ometer 28' ; air cold and pincliinr'-, and the whole of the land more deeply covered with snow than any that we had yet passed. Tlie horizon to the north loola'd black and threatening, and a faint pinkish streak of light seemed to give an additional air of wildness to lU aspect. The night, too, was fast closing in, with no prospect before us of the smallest nook where we could haul up the boat in safety till the morning. A long way ahead of us three bold cape;i appeared in the distance ; the nearest, a remarkably black-loaking one, prominenily jutting out from the snow-clad ridges flanking it on either side. Aground off it was a large mass of ice of fantastic shape, rising from the sea by a narrow neck and then expanding out into the form of an urn, appearing as if filled with white foam rising above the brim in a convex form. A long stream of ice was seen extending out from the Black Cape, which led me to hope that we should find a bay on the other side of it out of which the ice had drifted, and a place of refuge for the night, for my boat's crew were fairly worn out by pulling for so many hours against a head-sea and strong current (running here, at times, five or six knots an hour,) and exposed to such inclement weather. In passing a low shingle ridge, before we reached the black headland, a cairn upon it caught mv eve through the dark gloom in which it was enveloped, and althougli an ice-girt lee shore upon which a heavy surf was setting, I felt that it was my duty to attempt a landing to examine it. The boat's head was therefore at once directed for the shore, and run in between two heavy grounded masses of ice, leaving just room enough for her bows to enter; the ridge of shingle was too steep to haul her up, or I should gladly have encamped there for the niglit, unfavour- able as was the spot for pitching our tent. We Iiad to walk along the ri.lgc over snow, in some B m places very deep, before wc reached the cairn, ami, to our great disappointment, after pulliiii,' it down and carefully examining the ground beneath and around it, found no record whatever. It was a small pile of rocks resembling a surveying mark, but when and by wliom erected no clue was left upon which to form a conjecture. Wc saw here recent tracks of bears and foxes on the snow. Returning to our boat, after some diffic 'ty in embarking in the swell, the crew, to whom I had give.: a little brandy each, pulled under its temporary inllucncc with renewed vigour fur the Black Cape. That harbinger of the storm, the stormy petrel or Mother Carey's chicken ( Proccllaria pelogica), the first 1 have seen during this voyage to the .\rctic regions, flew past the boat, and I fired at it but missed it, the boat rolling at the moment too heavily in the swell for taking anything like an aim. Wc at last rounded the urn of ice and pulled through the stream, passing between and very close to several huge hard-washed blue masses of ice aground, on which a foaming surf was breaking, and the boat pitched and rolled so nuich in the ground swell as to ship a good deal of water, compelling us to bail her out. On rounding the black headland we entered, as I had anticipated, a fine bay, between three and four miles deep ; but after pulling for some distance along its wild-looking inaccessil)le southern shore withouL finding a nook where wc could hope to get the boat's head in, being a lee shore, ice-girt, on which a dangerous surf was breaking, wc had to pull across to the opposite side, a distance of two miles, tlie shore of which appeared in the form of low shingle ridges, giving promise of a beach on which wc might haul up the boat in safety, as well as a dry ridge, free from snow, for pitching the tent. At first we rowed over a very shallow bottom, upon which the pebbles were distinctly seen, in a heavy ground-swell, but as we neared the nortli side got into deeper water. It was half an hour past midnight when we at last succeeded in hauling up the boat on the beach between some berg-pieces, which had been forced up by some vast pressure above the ordinary high-water mark. Whilst some of the crew were employed in getting the things out of the boat, and securing her for the night, and others pitching the tent on the shingle-ridge above the beach, which on landing I had selected for the site, the cook for the day lighted the fire, and prepared sujjper. I strolled with my gun along the ridge round the north point, where huge berg-pieces were piled up one upon another in chaotic confusion to the height of from twenty to thirty feet by some tremendous pressure, occasioned, doubtless, by high spring-tides and heavy north-westerly gales. The strong broeze we had been pulling against, had now increased to a hard gale of wind from the same quarter, accompanied by an overwhelming snow drift. Thermometer 28°, and piercingly cold, — altogether a dismal night. So that we had encamped none too soon, for our frail boat could not possibly have lived in the sea that was now running outside. Therefore I called the inlet the Bay of Refuge, the black headland I named Cape King, and to the north point I gave the name of Pim, after two enterprising Polar fiiends, both well known for their enthusiasm in Arctic discovery, and their plans for the rescue of our missing countryman,— in the search for whom. Lieutenant Pim, like myself, is embarked in the present expedition. On my return to the place of our encampment, I " spliced the main brace," that is, served out extra rations, in the present instance, of bacon and Burton ale, to the boat's crew for their supper, after their long day of toil and exposure. It was 2.30 a.m. before wc turned into our felt-bags for the night; mine was, however, still wet, and I lay down on the buffalo rug as on the preceding night. Sketched by B. IVCormick, BJ>: Pim Point, S.W. Bay of Refuge. Cape King, S.W. by W. [To/iice M'Conuick I3ay, between pages 10 oho U.] ""^ Sketched by R. M'Cormick, Jf..V M'Cormiek Bay. {Named by the Hydrographer of the Admiralty.) [ To face Bay of Refuge.] Skttehed bu R. U'Cormitk, RJ/. Uogier Head, South. [Tu/uce paye 11.] It Sunday, 226. August. IIwiNci rttirL-il to rcsi late last ni^lit, or rather early tliis morniiiir, wc did not rise until 10.150 A.M. It was still blowing- a hard north-westerly gale, with snow-drill; and overcast thick weather; so bitingly cold was the air within the tent, that sleeping, ns I always do, at the weather end, where the wind blows in under the canvas, my hands lelt quite bennnd)ed through- out the night, iVoui their having been exposed, in the absence of my felt-bag covering. I shaved for the first time since leaving the ship, and made my toilet under the lec of the boat. Afler our cu;:tomary breakfast of chocolate, cold bacon, and biscuit, I took from my pocket a little prayer book, which had been my companion years gone by to both the I'oles, North and South, and round the world, from which I read to my boat's crew part of the morning service, finishing with a short extemporary prayer, which suggested itself at the moment, as best fitting the occasion. At 12 30 1 left the tent, accompanied by three of my men, for the summit of llogier Head, — which I named afler an old friend who had been engaged in African discovery, — a bold craggy promontory, above five hundred feet in height, overhanging the sea, and about three miles distant from our encampment. Our course lay over some snow-clad ridges up a gradual ascent. At 1.45 P.M. we reached the summit, from which a wide and wild scene of desolation met the gaze ; whichever way the eye was directed a grand and sublime spectacle presented itself, to which the fury of the tempest lent an awful interest. Beneath the precipitous face of tlic overhanging crag on which I was seated, the surf was furiously lashing the narrow strip of black shingle beach at its base, margined by a belt of shallow water, the limits of which were well defined by a turbid greenish appearance, contrasting stro""ly Mith the dark, very dark, blue colour of the water beyond. Aloiig the edge of this zone of shoal water, countless white whales were swimming down channel, literally speaking, in a continuous stream. Amongst them, here and there, one of a pie-bald colour ; and sometimes the back of a straggler or two appearing in the discoloured water itself; all, doubtless, migrating to less rigorous seas, whilst open w.iter afibrded them a passage to the southward. Over head, a solitary kittiwake {Larus tridactijlus) hovered with uplifted wing, as it breasted the violent gusts of wind that at intervals swept past, driving along dense volumes of mist from the mysterious nortli, which came rolling over the dark surface of the channel, on the opposite side of which the bleak and barren snow-streaked cliffs of Cornwallis Land bounded the horizon to the westward, terminating in a black point forming its north eastern extremity, about the position of Cape Dc Haven, half concealed in gloom and mist. To the north westward Baillic Hamilton Island loomed like a dark bank of clouds above the horizon : three or four glistening patches of white light, reflected upon the surface of the dark water through some hidden aperture in the clouds, shone with the brightness of molten silver, amid the surrounding lurid atmosphere; rendering, the whole scene altogether a fit subject for the pencil of a Claude. We comnunced our descent of the mountain at 2.30 p.m., and having taken as careful a survey of the vicinity of our encamp- ment as the thick and unfavourable state of the weather would permit of, reached the tent at 3.30 P.M., without finding any cairn or traces of any one having landed here before us. Only the B2 li tracks of a bear and fox on the snow were seen. This momhig, on starting, u small piece of drift wood was picked up al)ove the present high-water mark ; and last night another musk ox j-kiill was fi)und by some of the boat's crew. It was the skull of a cow, the horns being small, and a space between their bases on the forehead, and not in such a good state of preservation as the last. This gives me sanguine hopes that I may yet fiill in with the living animal itself, before the winter drives us back to the ship. Discouraging as there is no denying our present prospects certainly arc, we must at all hazards solve the Baring Bay problem first. On reaching the tent we found dinner all ready, and a warm mess of preserved muttan very acceptable. A dismal night — thermometer 25°. ",*iiwm ii y ld headland of rounded form, white with snow, excepting where a dark blotch appeared just below its summit, formed by the bare rock of the projecting buttresses. This cape may be considered the northernmost boundary of Wellington Strait, which here expands out into the broader Queen's Cliannel. At 1.-15 p.m. wo passed a very remarka!)Ie isolated mass of rock, rising abruptly Irom the steep face of this ridge about one third from tlie summit. It bore a striking resemblance to the bust of a human figure of burly form, and habited in a cloak and cap ; the horizontal layers of limestone rock, of which it is composed, being so arranged as to give the cloak a caped appearance ; a slab of the limestone in front of the figure, fancy might liken to a book. This singular specimen of sculpture from tlie hands of natiue, ■worked out of the rock by the united chisels of time and weather removing the softer portions and leaving the harder standing forth in strong relief,— I transferred a fac-similc of it to my sketchbook under the name of " Franklin's Beacon," whose attention it could not fiiil to attract, pointing as it does to those unknown and unex])lored regions which lie beyond, around tlie Northern Pole, untrodden by the foot of man since ci cation's dawn, and in the deep recesses ot 14 whicli, doubtless lies hidden his mysterious fate, of which our search, thus far, unhappily has failed to elicit the slightest trace. At 4 I'.M. we doubled Cape Osborii, on the north side of which a hut,^' pile of diity yellow- looking old berg-pieces of ice lay aground iu the turbid greenish shoafwater which s^^irts the coast all the way to Baring IJay, extending out from the hummock-fringed beach to the distance of a nule or two and upwards, and along which a heavy ground swell sets upon the shore in a succession of long rollers, through which it would ha\-e been utterly hopeless for any !)oat to have attempted reaching the land in safety. The coast from Cape Osborn trending round to the N.E. brought the wind more aft, enabling us to make sail, and for some time we made considerable progress, dasiiing through the heavy cross sea that was running at the rate of five or six knots an hour. Having the breeze with us now, the only chance hi\ us was to run the gauntlet for Barnig Bay, in the hope of finding there some haven of shelter after rounding Point Ldcn, which still appeared at a fl-arful distance ahead of us ; and the long line of foaming crests sweeping over the broad expanse of troubled waters whicli lie between, threatening to ingulf our small fniil bark ere we reached it. When we had got about midway between Cape Osb'orn and this point our situation became a truly perilous one; the boat was taking in water faster than we could bale it out, and she was settling down so much as not to leave a streak free ; labouring and rising heavily and sluggishly to each successive sea, so that all expected every moment that she would fill and go down the first sea that struck her, from which only the most careful and watchful attention to the helm preserved her. Fortunately fjr us, at this critical moment, two small bergs aground providentially appeared on the port-bow, and 1 innnediately ran for them, in the hope of finding the water smooth enough under their lee to enable us, by lowering the sail and lying on our oars, to thoroughly bale out all the water from the boat, which was now nearly full ; in this we happily succeeded whilst lying only a few feet from the bergs in comparatively quiet water, protected by their blue hard washed sides from the seas which broke over them to windward, rebounding upwards in foaming columns of surf and spray, which dashed high above their summits from forty to fifty feet in height, presenting a wild scene, at once grand, sublime, and awful. On again making sail our small over-laden skiff, no longer water-logged, bounded onwards over every sea more freely and buoyantly than before ; but as wc opened^ Baring Bay, the great body of water which was setting into it from the broad expanse of the Queen's Channel, with the wind and current both from the N.W., caused such heavy rolling seas to tumble in upon the shore, that our crippled rudder was entirely swept away, and we had great difKculty in steering with an oar a boat so deep in such a sea ; and had to get one out on each quarter to keep her head to the sea and prevent her broaching to, when nothing could have saved her from foundering instanter. The shores all round this bay presented a perfectly flat surface, level with the floe,— which still, though broken up, filled the upper part of it,— and extending to a considerable distance inland, bounded by a slightly undulating ridge of hills in the horizon, averaging, perhaps, a hundred and fifty feet in height. But one point in these inhospitable shores seemed to ofltr the faintest hope of a place of shelter. This was a black mount on the south side, of somewhat conical form, having a truncated sunmiit, with shingle ridges in front ; and from its marked and conspicuous appearance amid the wide surrounding waste of snow, had particidarly attracted my attention from our first opening the bay, as it appeared to me the only spot accessible for ice. SketcluU bii li. iVLvrmick, U.S. Cape Osborn, bearing X. \^To face page 14.] I ■SraBS^^ SMchcd liij R. irCormU'k. K.X. Mdiiiit I'lovidciR'c. Raring' Bay. Roaring West. [Tiijaci' jmijv !.'). 15 I It was flanked on the west by an inlet, still covered by the winter's floe. On tins spot I had from the first centred all my hopes of finding a harbour of refuge. Putting the boat, therefore, right before the wind.. I ran for it through a turbulent ground swell, over a long extent of several miles of shoal water of a dirty green colour, showing the fragments of rock and pebbles at the bottom on ncaring the shore, when two points for beaching the boat ollered ; one on the port bow, forming a curious natural basin of quadrangular shape, enclosed on all sides by a narrow ledge of black rocks and shingle, excepting in front, where an opening was left just large enough to admit the boat. Into this, being the nearest, my boat's crew were very anxious to take her, thoroughly worn out as they were by a day of unceasing toil and danger, amid which their cool and manly conduct was beyond all praise. And on losing the rudder and tiller, with which 1 always myself steered the boat, the ice quarter-master especially proved himself an expert hand at the ftcer oar at a moment when we were obliged to have one out on each quarter to keep the boat's head to tlic heavy cross sea that was running, to prevent her from broaching to. I objected, however, to the little land-locked harbour for the boat, on the ground of the chance of being entrapped within it by a change (jf wind bringing the ice down upon it, and thus preventing us from so readily getting out again ; and also from the low, boggy ground, exposed on all sides to the weather, being unflivourablc for pitching the tent. I, therefore, stood on for the Black Mount, ahead, and was fortunate enough to find at its base a sloping beach for hauling up the boat between some grounded hunnnocks of ice, backed by a shingle ridge, dry and free from snow, on which we pitched the tent at 8 p.m., sheltered by another ridge still higher, above which rose the Black Mount. I ascended this eminence, whilst the boaf s crew were lighting the fire and getting supper ready. From its sununit I saw the ice closely packed all round the bay by the wind now blowing uj) it, and that this was the only spot where a boat could possibly have found a place of shelter along the whole line of coast, from the bay we left this morning to as far as the eye could reach beyond us to the northward, rendering the navigation of the Wellington Channel extremely dangerous for boats at a late and boisterous season of the year. I saw a Hock of geese on the passage here, and another arose from a lake on our arrival. A small frag- ment of drift wood was picked up on the hill. After spreading all our wet clothes on the shingle to dry, everything in the boat having been drenched with sea water ; we had tea and preserved beef for supper, and turned in at midnight, truly thaidd'ul to (Jod for our providential escape. Therm. 27". li Tuesday, 24th August. BnKAKFASTED at S.30 AM. As it was still blowing a north-westerly gale, preventing our attempt-' ing anything further with tlic boat, I started at 11.30 a.m., accompanied by one of the boat's crew, on an excursion along shore, with the view of ascertaining the state of the ice, and selecting the best route for sledging round the top of the bay should a continuance of the present boisterou'^ weather render boating operations wholly impracticable. On passing a small lake about a quarter of a mile from the encampment, we saw two eider ducks (Anas mollissima) witii eight young ones swimming on it. I shot the whole of the broods and one of the old ducks, the other made its escape. Our course at first lay over flat, swampy, boggy ground covered with snow, through which a f^vf straggling tufts of moss, lichens, saxi- frages, poppies, and a small species of juncus made their appearance at intervals ; the whole intersected by very low narrow ridges of shingle, and a chain of small lakes. The winter's floe had all the appearance of having been recently broken up by the late gales setting a heavy swell into the bay, which had ground it into fragments and hummocks mixed with sludge. A thick fog coming on, accompanied by snow drift sweeping over the bay from the northward, and con- cealing the outline of its shores, I struck across the low land for Mie ridge of hills which bounds It inland, passing several isolated masses of rock which, as they appeared through the snow at a distance, so much resembled piles of stones artificially heaped up, that dwelling, as our thoughts constantly did, on cairns and memorials, we were frequently— until the eye became familiar with these deceptions- -induced to diverge from our course to examine them. On ascending the ridge we followed it back to the head of the inlet (south of our encampment), which is nearlv two miles deep, and narro"/ at its entrance, being not more than about a quarter of a mile in breadth, but expanding out to double that width. We walked round several lakes on the ridge of hills, and heard the monotonous mournful cry of the red-throated divers ( Colymbus sepfen- fnonahs) in the vicinity, but the fog had become so thick as to conceal them from view. On descending from the ridge down a terminal black cliff inland of the tent, we had to make head against the gale, which drove the cutting snow-drift in our faces, with tiie thermometer at 29°. We reached the encampment at 5 p.m., having only had a shot at a tern, and seen the track of a tox. The ice quarter-master and another of the boat's crew returned soon after us from a ramble round the other side of the inlet, having found the skeleton of a bear. 1 17 Wednesday, 25th August. Rose at 6 a.m. ; no improvement in the wcalhcr ; a quantity of sludge ice (Irivcn in shore, whieh was fust beiriuMino. to be cemented together by the formation of young .ee, formu.g an inn.assable belt fo.- our boat, in front of the eneampment. Still too tlnek and bo.sterons lor boatin- or sledging. After breakfast I vi.ited the small lake agam, and sliot three dueks out of a flcKk of eight voung pintails {Auas cnndncuta). After n,y return to the tent wth hen. one of the boat's ercw killed the remaining five. Wc had some of them for dmner, and found them excellent eating. Saw two or three sandpipers, and wounded an Arc .c gull {Lestn.^ pnrosUkns), but notsvithstanding that the thumb, or tip of the wing, was broken, it succeeded "' f !aiifed Srwanls to the top of the west inlet, accompanied by two of my party, in search .,f the remains of the skeleton of the bear, they having, on first finding it, brought back with them th. skull and pelvis. Alter a long search we at last hit upon the spot, where a r. l, was pm- ieJting from the snow, beneath which we found most of the vertebnv, deeply nnbedded m he richest bed of moss wc had yet seen, the result, doubtless, of the munure ansnig from the- decomposition of the animal's carcase; although from the bleached appearance and hcmcN - combed state of the bones, a long series of winter snows would seem to 1-ve man ed over he. since Bruin dragged his huge unwieldy frame a few yards above the head of the mlet to bicatlu hi last on terra^lrma, whether in sickness or old age, to become food for he foxes, .^o luu r ndered the skeleton incomplete by walking off with most of the rd)s and long bones to feast ofJ- at their leisure. All thai remained I collected, and wc returned to the ten t^irough a heavy hail-storm and densely overcast sky, with thick mist, and the thcnnometer at 2o -^^^ red-throated divers on one of the largest lakes, two tern, and the track of a fox. In the afte • noon, the wind shifting round to the westward, and the weather somewhat moderatmg, though sUU erv squally, I set about making preparations for our sledging journey, the wmd now settu>g d ict 7uP the I ay, packing the ice so close as to render any atte.npt w.th the boat utterly hope- ie s Having stowed the dedge with four days' provisions, we dug a trench and made a cache of the remainder of our provisions, filling it up with shingle as a protecUon aga.ns U^^ ban. durin- our absence. The boat was hauled up on the second ndge on which the tent stood, and turned bottom up, with the gear and spare clothes stowed underneath, as a precaution again.t Wgh tides, which might probably rise higher than usual under the influence of heavy westeily gales. i r la Thursday, 26tli August. I WAS stirring at 3 a.m. Morning gloomy and overcast, with snow. Wind round to the cast- ward and moderated. Thermometer 24°. Walked down to the lukes where I shot the ducks ; it had frozen over during the night ; took a sketch of the encampment from it. Three or four snow buntings {Emberiza nivalis) were flitting about on the ridge above the teut, saluting us with their lively cheerful note. Yesterday a red-throated diver was shot on one of the lakes by one of our party. At 5 a.m., I roused out the boat's crew, and we had our chocolate, biscuit, and bacou breakfast. The progressive fall in the tcmpcriiture, with the rapid formation of young ice, together with the boisterous north-westerly gales, which had packed the broken up winter's floe upon the shore in front of our tent, forming a belt of hummocks and sludge half a mile in breadth, and daily increasing in extent, cutting us off from the open water, and requiring only a few calm days to cement it altogether, and render the present position of the boat inextricable, were unmistake- able signs that the season for boating operations was past ; and so soon as a southerly wind from off the land should drive the ice out, no time was to be lost in getting her into the open channel. All, therefore, that now remained to be done was to complete the exploration of this bay by an overland journey. To face paf/c 18.] Sketeluil hy ». M'O'rmick, BjV. Owen Point, distant Five Milfs. bnaring E.S.E. \_To face page 19.] ^ 19 SLEDGE EXCURSION ROUND BARING BAY. V Havinj struck the tent, and stjwctl it on tlie sledge, with our felt bugs, buliiiio robe?, four days' provisions, and an " Etna" with Rj)irits of wine lor fuel, we started ut 8 a.m.; reached the first low rocky point in the curve of the bay, two miles distant, at 9 a.m. Our course lay over the low snow-clad ridges of shingle. From this our encampment hill and boat bore N. (niag- neiic), but here the variation is so great, as almost to reverse the points of the compass. ^ At 9.30 A.M. we struck off more inland, in the direction of the ridge of hills, to avoid a curve of the bay, crossing over a level tract of marshy bog, covered with snow ; on which one of the party picked up a°small spider. At 10.1.3 a.m. crossed a rivulet over a pebbly bed, from which some animal was seen on one of the shingle ridges ; but at too great a distance to make out whether it was a bear or reindeer, as it disappeared behind the ridge, before I could get my telescope to bear upon it. Crossed another running stream, rapidly llowing over its pebbly channel, (towards the bay,) across which the sledge was carried. I made a considerable detour here in pursuit of the stranger, without seeing anything more of him, and overtook the sledge upon a broad, smooth, snow-clad plain, the monotonous whiteness of which was only broken by the narrow bare ridges and spits of shingle, which in'orscctcd its surface like shaded lines, scarcely rising above it. At II a.m., my party being somewhat flitigued with this, to them, novel work, (and draf'gino- a sledge over the inequalities of land, covered with snow though it be, is a far more laborlou°s task than over floe ice,) they had a spell often minutes to rest, and take their allow- ance of rum, mixed with the pure water from an adjacent lake. Saw two sandpipers here, and the track of a reindeer {Ccrvus tarandus), probably that of the animal we lately had a glance of. At 11.30 A.M. reached the head of the curve of the bay we had been steering for ; it con- tained a large patch of loose ice, a low point jutting out from it to the S.E. Point Eden bore N. from this. Passed two small lakes, and heard the cry of the red-throated diver. About noon the b'-eeze died away to nearly a calm, and the men were so heated by their exertions that they took i spell for a few minutes. I saw the land on the opposite side of the Queen's Channel, bearing E.S.E. At 1 i'.m. a portion of the spine of some animal was picked up; saw two more sandpipers, and passed another lake. The breeze springing up again, in less than a hour, had freshened to a gale, accompanied by a sharp snow-drift, which swept like volumes of smoke over the wide waste around us to the sea, which was scattered over with streams of hummocky ice. We rested for an hour to dine, on the side of a low shingle ridge, havino- the bay in front, a lake on either side, and another in the rear, from which we drank delicious water, with our cold bacon and biscuit meal. Started again at .3 r m. ; I shot a tcni {Sterna arctica) near a small gap or pass, in an embankment here, skirting the bay. At 4,15 P.M. Point Eden bore N.N.W., and a peak of the land on t!ic oppo.Mle side of Wellington Channel S.E. C2 so V At 5"30 P.M. filled our kettle witl- ^vater from ii neighbouring lake, and having boiled it over the spirit lamp of the " Etna," made tea under the lee of the sledge, in the midst of this wilderness of snow. Cape Osborn with Kden I'oint bore N.N.W. At ().3() p.m. started again, and at 7 I'-m. when some distanee ahead of the sledge, pioneering the w;iy, as was my eustom, I came sud- denly upon the track of the musk ox, close to one of those numerous running streams, by which the chain of lakelets studding these marshy flats, empty themselves into the bay. The nnimul appo;u\s to have attempted crossing oyer the frozen surface of the stream, but finding that the ice, which was bro'iC", by his two fore feet, would not bear his weight, retreated, crossing his own track in the direction of the hills, bounding the horizon to the S(mthward. From the appearance of the foot-prints (which measured five inches, both in length and in breadth) it nuist have l)assed very recently, as there was ii driving snow-drift at the time, which would soon have efTaced the impressions. These foot prints, when taken in coimexion with the two skulls recently (bund, afford, I think, indisputable evidence that the musk ox is an inhabitant of North Devon, at least, during the summer months; and is, probably, now migrating to the southward for the winter. lUit their course thitherward, and how they get across [{arrow Strait, is not so easily explained ; they must, at all events, wait till the Strait is frozen over. The black point, with its rounded snowy top, in which the ridge of hill.^ environing the bay, terminates to the northward, and which we have had in sight so many hours, as the goal to be reached before we pitched the tent for the night, has for several miles appeared at the same dis- tance, or, as the sledge's crow would have it, receding, as mile after mile, with weary and jaded steps, they toiled along, dragging aller them the cumbrous sledge, and still the dark point ap- peared no nearer. Fairly exhausted, they were compelled to take more frequent spells to rest lor u few minutes. The night, however, looked so threatening, the northern sky intensely black and lowering,— premonitory signs of the wind going back to its old stormy quarter, — that I was very anxious to secure the shelter of the point ahead for pitching the tent under> as in the exposed, wide, and bleak waste around us, the canvass and poles supporting it would scarcely have with- stood the violence of the strong gusts of wind. The dark sky was preceded by a very remarkably-tinted horizon in the north, in which streaks of a fine olive green, alternating with bands of an amber coloiu-, and a rich chestnut brown zone, intersected horizontally ; the side of the hills about Prince Alfred Bay, crested by a dark neutral tint, vanishing into a leek green. When, within about a mile of the point, to encourage my sledge-crew, and convince them that we were, in reality, now drav.ing near it, I walked on ahead at a quickened pace and ascended to the summit ; and, on descending again to the extreme rugged point, I found them pitching the tent on the shingle-ridge beneath. Il was exactly mid- night, and thick weather with fine snow. A fire was soon lighted, tea prepared, and bacon and biscuit served out for supper. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning before we turned in, all thoroughly knocked up with the day's exertions. V It I Skelched by H. HfCormich, A.JV. Owen Point Encampment, North Point of Baring Bay, bearing E.S.E. \^To/ace pmje 20.] SrSSuSSSaSSa Sketched by R. M'Cormick, R.N. Westernmost Bluffs of Alfred Bay, bearing E. by S., and Peak E.S.E., aa seen from the summit of Owen Point. yTo face page 21.] ^l Friday, 27th August. MouNiNG overcast;! left the tent at 8 a.m., and whilst breakfast was preparing, ascended the nigged point above our encampment to p;ct a view of our position. At first scrambling over a confused pile of rocky fragments, swelling out above into a broad, smooth, and round-backed hill about three hundred feet in height, commanding a view of the shores of the curve of the coast to the northward of it, laid down in the chart as Prince Alfred Bay ; an isolated peak, apparently some little distance inland, just showing itself over the highest range of hills on the north side; this ridge terminating in two black table-topped bluff headlands, running flvr out to the west- ward, but the horizon was too hazy for making out distant objects sufKciently clear for getting the difl^ercnt bearings correctly, which, as this spot promised to be the extreme limit of our jour- nev, I was the more anxious to obtain before I commenced my return, more especially as the suri had been hid from our view by fogs, mists, and cons<^^antly overcast skies, accompanying the tein- pcstuous weather which has attended us in all our movements since we left the ship ; so that no opportunity has oflered for getting observations for the latitude and longitude, and consequently my little pocket sextant has remained idle in its case. In the hope that the weather might clear up about noon, I returned to the tent to breakfast, having seen only about half a dozen snow-buntings flitting about the hill-top. My party were glad to take a siesta in the tent to-day, so knocked up were they after their laborious and toil- some forced march of yesterday, dragging a heavily laden sledge over a distance of about thirty miles, having actually travelled this within the space of sixteen hours, at the -iverage rate of rather more than two miles in an hour, resting for dinner and tea an hour at each meal ; the longest sledging journey by far, I believe, that has yet been accomplished in one day without the aid of dogs. At 1.30 P.M., during a temporary clearing away of the mist, I again ascended the hill above our tent, bounding thelow shores of Baring Bay on the north, which I have named Owen Point, in honour of my friend Professor Owen, the distinguished naturalist and Cuvier of our own country, who has evinced a lively interest in the Franklin search and Polar discovery. Baling Bay, indeed, scarcely deserves the name of a bay; it is little more than a broad sweep in of the coast, and is so shoal on entering it from the southward, that I could sec the pebbles at the bottom for several miles off shore ; and had good reason to remember the heavy ground swell that rolled over it in surges threatening destruction to the boat every minute, in the gale which drove us before it, to seek the oidy place of shelter which the whole length and breadth of its shores afforded under the Black Mount, A I i'rck table-topped bluff, bearing E. by S. by compass, forms the western most extremity of Alfred Bay, on the north side ; and a little to the eastward of tli's, peering just above the high ridge of land, is a peak bearing E.S.E., and being the only apparent peak, would therefore seem to be Mount Franklin, as there is no hill whatever representing it in the position in which it is laid down in the chart inland of Baring Bay. A line of huiumocks of ice as if aground, appears in Baring Bay, about two leagues from shore, which may possibly cover a shoal or very low islet. Distant land in the Queen's Channel, apparently Baillie Hamilton Island, &c., bore from 22 N. by E. toN.E. by E. Cape Osborn bore N.N.W., and the Black Mount above our boat N.W. by N. Whilst taking a sketch of the bays and distant points, the ice quatermaster and some of the boat's crew meantime erected a cairn on the north side of the hill, Mie others being employed cooking dinner, &c., preparatory to our departure. We finished the cairn at 3.30, P.M., and placed beneath it a tin cylinder, containing a record of our proceedings thus far. On descending the hill we discovered an ancient Esquimaux encampment on its acclivity, consisting of a pile of fissile rocks of semicircular form in front of a natural wall of the stratiticd rock which jutted out from the side of the hill. We dug beneath it, but found nothing. The rock, a dark brown coloured limestone, highly crystalline, and the surface embossed with the elegant scarlet lichen (Lecanora elegans). On our return we had our usual meal of cold bacon and biscuit, with some tea. At 5 P.M. wc struck the tent to commence our return to the boat, the state of the ^\e'ather unfortunately precluding any astronomical observations being taken for fixing the positions of the land, which have evidently been laid down nuuii in error in the chart. Passing one of the largest lakes I had several shots at a pair of red-throated divers; they had a young one on tiie lake, which 1 shot, and started again at 6.20. p.m. We encamped for the night in the midst ot the unsheltered waste of snow, nearly half-way back to our boat at 10.30. p.m. Sketched by R. .VComtick, JiJf. Mount Providence, with Eden Point and Capo Osboru, N.N.W., as seen from the si'nimit of Owen Point. [ Tujdce page 22.] S3 Saturday, 28tli August. At 8 A.M., liicakfastcil, ^.truck the tent, raid started ngnin at D-"jO A.:.r. This was about the most uncomfortable night we liad yet passed, blowing a iiard gale of wind, accompanied bv a fall of snow, and clouds of drift, and so cold that we could not get warm all night. The wind finding its way under the tcut, shaking i: so violently, that we expected every moment the poles would give way, and the canvass come down upon us for a coverlet. Tlie thermometer stood at 29°. The watch during the night heard a distant sound, like the bellowing of cattle. Probably the musk ox, whose foot prints I fell in with yesterday, but concealed from view by the ridge of hills inland of us ; for sounds may be heard at a great distance, in the highly raritied state of the air, in the still solitudes of these regions. This snowy desert was here and there dotted over with boulders of rock, richly ornamented with the beautiful and briulit scarlet lichen, and intersected by numerous rivulets and lakelets, some of the largest of which were now half frozen over ; and the ice en the less rapid fresh water courses permitted tlie sledge being tpiickly drawn over by the whole parly without breaking. At 11 a.m. we rounded a deep curvature in the shores of the bay, the wind edging round to its old quarter in the N.W., snowing with :? strong drift. Saw three or four tern, whose vociferous clamour over our heads proclaimed their anxiety for the safety of their young, evidently not flvr off. At intervals we heard the wild deep toned and mournful cry of the red-throated diver rising fiom some adjacent lake, music to the cars of us lone wanderers, in the dearth of life and sound around us. Wc saw one large flock of ducks only, going south. At 1 1 .30 a.m. crossed an elbow of the low shores, forunng a con- siderable convexity in the bay, from which a deep curve ran up beyond it ; bounded on the west by a low black point, covered with broken up fragments of limestone, faced with the scarlet lichen, and abundantly fossilifcrous, more especially in corallines, of which I collected some specimens. Here wc became enveloped in a thick fog, which, with snow, continued till wo reached our old encampment. At 2 p.m. crossed a patch of loose dark sand, and the sledge party rested for a few minutes near a rapid stream, af\er crossing which the sledge soon came upon its outward track of yesterday. Saw three or four sandpipers, and wounded an Arctic gull ; which, falling somewhere in a dark shingle watercourse, about a quarter of a n\ile from where I shot it, I lost, after making a considerable detour from the sledge's course in search of it, for I have not yet been able to obtain a specimen of this solitary bird, mostl\- met with singly or in pairs, and of which we have seen only three or four individuals throughout our journey, all very shy and wary. On coming up with the sledge, we were drawing near the Black Meant, and I proceeded on ahead of my party to see if all was right. Reached the boat and cache at 4 p.m. in the midst of a snow storm, with the wind at N.^\'. Found everything as we left them, with the exception of the gratifying sight of open water in the cove ; all the ice having been driven out during our absence, by the southerly winds, which blew for a few hours, leaving only a narrow belt of loose sludge near the beach, and no impediment in the way of getting to sea in the boat. It was just low water, and the large urn-shaped masses of ice were left high and dry in hollows in the bed of shingle which they had made for themselves in the ebb and flow of the tides, and to the repeated action of which they owe their hourglass form. On the arrival of the sledge, wc pitched the tent on the old spot. A large flock of ducks alighted in the bay this evening. I- ■:li ft 24 Sunday, 29tli August. We did not rise until 8 a.m. This is the finest morning that wc have experienced since leaving the ship ; and all our clothing and bedding being so saturated with moisture as to prevent any of us from sleeping last night, I took advantage of the favourable change in the weather to have everything spread outside the tent to dry. Being Sunday, I determined to make it a day of rest to recruit the exhausted energies of my men before we commenced our homeward voyage. All still feeling more or less the effects of the fatigue attending their unremitting exertions for the last two days ; one evincing a slight disposition to snow blindness, and another some dental irritation. After they had all had the great comfort of an ablution and shave, I read part of the morning Bcrvicc to them in the tent. Our dinner, as yesterday, consisted of a warm mess of preserved mutton, soup, and potatoes, with Burton ale. Wind round to the westward, breaking up the winterV floe in the inlet west of the encampment, and which was rapidly drifting out past us. The rise and fall of tide here is considerable, some six feet, probably. The wind this evening shifled to the N.W., with a fall of snow in large flakes. Night overcast and misty, with a black looking horizon to the northward. We turned in at 9 p.m. 5r, 25 since as to Lje ill nined ■\ our their lncs.«, 3rved 3 the 5t us. jning black Monday, 30th August. I WAS lip this morning and outside the tent as carl^ as four o'clock to look around, and, having well weighed both our present position and future prospects, to determine on the best course to be adopted ; when, taking into consideration the advanced period of the season and unpromising appearance of t!ie weather, that nothing further could be accomplished in the search northward and eastward of this bay, I very reluctantly decided on returning to the ship, and wc commenced stowing the boat and making preparations for our return. At 9.30 A.M., wc erected a cairn on the summit of the Black Mount, which I called Mount Providence, in commemoration of our providential deliverance from as perilous a position us a boat could possibly have escaped from,— placing beneath the cairn a tin cylinder, enclosing a record of our proceedings, of which the following is a ^'opy : Memoiiandum.— A boat expedition from Her Majesty's Ship " North Star," at Erebus and Terror Bay, Bcechy Island, in search of Sir John Franklin, arrived liere on Monday August 23d, at midnight, during a gale of wind and heavy sea, which carried away the rudder of°the boat and nearly swamped her. On Thursday last, sledged on the snow over the low lands round the head of the bay, without finding any opening to the eastward or traces of the missing expedition ; returning to the boat on Saturday afternoon. Weather during the preceding week has been most unfavourable, blowing, snowing, and foggy, with the thermometer constantly below the freezing point. The lakes frozen over, and every appearance of winter rapidly setting in. Launched the boat this morning on the making of the tide, to return down Wellington Strait and examine the bays along its eastern shores. A memorandum of our sledge journey has been deposited under a cairn erected on the siimmit of the northern point of the bay. R. M'COHMICK, Monday, August 30th, 1852. Officer Commanding Party. To the inlet running up on the west side of Mount Providence, from S.S.W. to N.N.E. I gave the name of Dragleybeck, in commemoration of the birthplace of Sir John Barrow, Bart., and in compliment to his son, John Barrow, Esq., of the Admiralty, F.R.S., who, following)- up his father's career, has earned for himself a distinguished position in the history of Arctic (lisco- very by his noble and unceasing cfibrts in furthering the search for the brave but ill-fated Franklin and the rest of our long-lost countrymen. The chain of lakelets on the moorland I named, after two near relatives, the Louisa and Marianne Lakes. Descending to the ridge, which is about fifty feet above the beach, and from thence to the lower one on which the tent stands, wc struck it and erected another cairn on the spot where it stood. The rocks here are sparingly fossil iferous. It was a very low tide this morning, being out a hundred feet from the last high-water mark. After a luncheon of cold bacon and ale, to fortify the boat's crew for their long pull they had before them to the next bay, against a head wind and pincbinglv cold uir, we about uoon launched D •26 the boat between the heavy liummoeks of ice aground, live or six feet in height when high and dry. Had snow, fog, and mist, with a short head-sea to bufT'ct witli ; the drops of water froze on the blades of the oars as they rose from the sea after each stroke, and accumulating till the lower edges became fringed with pendant icicles ; the water shipped over the bows soon froze at the bottom of the boat, so that had there been much sea on we should soon have had a very dangerous kind of immoveable glacier-like ballast. We saw a seal or two, a flock of ducks, a few dovckics, fulmar petrel, and the nrctic gull. At 6.45 P.M., on rounding Ed -n Point, the trending of the coast in a S.W. direction enabled us to make sail. Wc carried awi\y a temporary rudder which we had constructed just before we started out of the head of a cask from the wreck of the " M'Lelian," American whaler, lost by the unfortunate but enterprising seaman, Captain Quayle. At 7.30 P.M. wc doubled Cape Osborn, and, a quarter of an hour afterwards, Franklin's Beacon standing forth through the mist in strong relief from the side of the ridge. At 9-30 p.m. reached our old place of encampment in Refuge Bay. Found much more snow here than when Tce left it last, being very deep in places. Pitched the tent close to our cairn, snowing all the time, and pinching work to the mens' fingers. Thermometer 27". The state of the tide prevented us from hauling up the boat on the shingle ridge, which for greater security [ always get done if possible ; wc were therefore obliged to let her ride in the cove, with an anchor out on shore. V f/ Sietthed by B, HfCormick, JJ.iV. Franklin's Reacon, S.S.E. [To/ace page 26.] ^ o r Tu face fiaije : 87 Tuesday, 31st August. 'riiK inoniin/^'h dawn brouglit willi it the saiiiL" kind of wratlitT as yesterday— snow, mist, and log. Rose at (J.;}() A.M. 'I'lic rir.st fox (Guiis /nfrnpns) was sl-l-u by the watcli last night 'near the boat ; represented to have been of a brown and wliite colour. I found my aneroid barometer this morning quite useless, having sustained t;omo injm-v from l)eing thrown on the beach in the clothes-bag in clearing the boat, and into whieh it had b'een aeeidentaliy put. This was a serious loss to me, as I had intended measuring all the heights with it in returning down channel. I'rom the I'oint I took sketches of the two Capes south of the bay, together with the opposite coast of Cornwallis Land. At 2.45 P.M. having embarked everything, we pulled all round the bav, closely examining Its shores, and landing at all remarkable points. At about half a mile from the top got soundings in thntccn fathoms, and within less than a cable's length of the shore the soundings gave four fathoms very regularly. The winter's floe had not yet broken up in a creek at its south-western extremity, and young ice had formed here to the thickness of foa/ inches. This is the onlv safe and well-sheltered bay along the whole of this coast for anchoring a ship. Saw several seals, gulls, and dovckics, and shot one of the latter. Landed at a little cove lor a lew minutes to examine the rocks, and sounded again, still getting four fathoms. At r, 3U P.M. landed near a black cli.Tin a thick snow storm, and examined a remarkable-lookiiK- ravine runnmg up from it ~"' 6.m P.M.— Had to pull through a quantity of sludge ice round the outer point in elearin-r the bay. Took a sketch of the headlands and entrance to the bay from the southward. Shot at and struck a seal, but he escaped us. Saw four or five ducks. At 8.30 P.M. doubled the next cape, to which I gave the name of Toms, aOcr mv friend the Assistant Surgeon of the " North Star," an enterprising young officer. At d:M) v.m. passed the Pomt where the cylinder and memoranda were found coming up channel, whieh I called Domvillc lomt, after my liiend and brother-ofliccr the Surgeon of the "Resolute." About 10.3U p m entered Emery Bay, and encamped on a flue hard shingle ridge. D2 90 Wednesday, 1st September. I WAS awoke hftwceii 3 and I o'clock tliis morning hy the ice (inaitei'-mastcr, wlio had the watch, running into the tent, and reporting tliat our boat was swamping in the Mirf l)y a sudden squall coming on with the flood tide. On hastening down to the beach I found her l)roadside o'l, and half full of water and sand. On getting her round, head to sea and stern in-shorc, we succeeded, nfVer some labour and a thorough drenching, in getting everything out of lier, and hauling her up alK)vc the shingle ridge ; capsizing her as soon as she was suHiciently clear of the breaker-*, to empty out the water nnd sand. It now blew a hard north-westerly gale ; the sky was densely overcast, and the air pinchingly cold : thermometer 2!)°. Breakfasted at 8 a.m. The boisterous state of the weather not afibrding tlie slightest prospect of our being able to make a move to-day, with such a sea running outside ; therefore, aflcr drying the things, and repairing the damages sustained by the morning's disaster — fortunately nothing of a more serious nature to our provisions than the soaking of an ullage of biscuit in salt water — I planned an excursion round the inland ridges of hills ; and to spread the search more widely, separated our party into three divisions of two men in each, taking our guns in the hope of meeting with some game, such at least as these desolate shores have to oH'er. We started at 5 P.M., leaving oidy the cook for the day in charge of the encampment, and a gun to defend himself from bruin, shoidd it be needed. I directed one division to ascend the ridges south of the bay, another directly inland, whilst myself, accompanied by one of the boat's crew, proceeded up the hill to the north ; first, passing through a romantic-looking, deep, and narrow ravine, with steep precipices on either side formed of limestone rock, banded horizontally in places with veins of gypsum three or four inches in thickness. I entered this ravine last night, whilst supper was getting ready, and traced the foot-prints of a fox to his domicile in the rocks ; but saw nothing of him this morning. Following a zig-zag course for about a mile ; the black crags breaking through the white mantle of snow which now deeply covers the land, gave it a very picturesque appearance, terminating in an open space between the hills. On emerging, we ascended tlie hill bounding it on the right, and shaped a south- easterly course, so as to fall into the track of the other divisions of our party on the central ridge. On sighting them we descended to the shores of the bay, examining the beach all round to the encampment, without meeting with the slightest traces or indication of any one having preceded us here, and not a living thing to break the death- like stillness and utter desolation of the scene. We reached the tent at 7 pm-, and the other parties returned soon afterwards, with the same results. When on the highest ridges, I carefully observed the appearances of the land in an easterly direction within the extent of vision for any apparent break of continuity that might aflbrd an indication of water beyond, never losing sight of the possibility of Jones's Sound sweeping round in its course near the heads of some of the deeper inlets of the Wellington Channel, taking a westerly course fi-om Baffin's Bay in the direction of Baring Bay, as Jones's Sound is represented to do in the chart. But neither Baring Bay nor the two other bays that I have since closely examined afford any indication of the vicinity of open water. An intermediate series of ridges of hills, one just rising above the other', and for the most part running parallel with the coast, bound the tops of all the bays ; and I have never seen the gulls or other sea-fowl flying inland to the eastward, although I have at all times watched them narrowly in their flight. Sketched by R. M'Cormick, B.!f. Doraville Point, N, [ To face Cape Tonis, bctiimi /laijes '28 aod 29.] Sketclmd by B. M'Cormick, BJf. Cape Toms, bearing S.W. [ To/ace Domville Point, between payet 28 and 29.] ■II • i m aww—mwiMHWiP 29 Thursday, 2d September. Breakfasted at " a.m. The violent gusts of wind, accompanied l)y heavy snow-drift, during the night, nearly blew down our tent, and the air was excessively cold. Anxiously waiting for the gale to abate, to proceed on our voyage. After sketching the encampment and the adjacent hills, I walked up the ravine, and filled a haversack with specimens fi'oni the gypsum vein. Dined at 1.30 P.M., and built a cairn near the tent, under which I deposited a tin cylinder, enclosing the usual record of our proceedings. The gale abating during the day, as soon as the sea liad suOiciently subsided 1 took advantage of the temporary lull to start at 4 p.m., notwithstanding a dark threatening horizon, with the hope of reaching our old quarters in Gritfin Bay before wc should encounter a second edition of the gale, whicli it was but too evident was brewing up in the north. On starting, saw a solitary snow-bunting on the beach. We sounded in crossing the bay with a line of twcuty-threc fathoms, and no bottom at this depth. Tlic ridges round the top of the bay have a mean height of about two hundred feet. I sailed round the next semicircular bay, which I called " Fitton Bay," after an old friend and distinguished geologist. Dr. Fitton (who was tlic first to direct my attention to the structure of that highly interesting and remarkable island, Kcrguelen's Land — Desolation Isle of Captain Cook — in the southern seas). Closely and carefully examined its shores and ridges, and got soundings in from four to five fathoms at a hundred yards from the beach. There is no shoal water in cither of these bays, both being deep. The boat got into heavy rollers outside of the headlands; one or two of which struck her, filling us with more water than we needed, having had enough of that element already. A black threatening squall rising to windward, we exerted every efibct to reach Griffin Bay before it overtook us. At 5.30 p.m. we rounded Cape Grinnell, in a snow storm, into smooth water. Saw the provision cairn on the point, and two seals swimming. Sailed close in shore round the bay, which is margined by shingly beach with luunmocks of ice aground all round (as usual on all these shores), backed by a ridge of hills from 100 to 200 feet in height, receding inland in the form of an amphitheatre. On first rounding the north point, an arm of the bay runs into the X.E.; here we passed a snug little creek enclosed in the shingle banks, leaving an opening just sufficient for admitting a boat, secure from ice and weather ; but having a fair wind, I was anxious to make the most of it, inauspicious as was the aspect of the heavens. We reached the top of the bay, which is about six miles in depth, at 7 p.m., and found a low shingle and mud flat, backed by boggy ground, and extending inland to the base of the amphi- theatre of hills, interspersed near the beach by pools of water, which appeared to be full of small fish, as the gulls were far more numerous here than at any other spot we have yet visited. A large group of kittiwakes and fulmar petrel, with an ivory gull or two amongst them, were evidently making a good harvest, repeatedly rising with a fish about the size of a pilchard in their beaks afler each rapid downward plunge in the water. A solitary Arctic gull was actively carrying on at the same time his buccaniering depredations amongst them whenever an oppor- tunity offered for robbing an unlucky gull of its prey, by compelling it to drop the fish with a scream, which, WMth great tact, was caught by this sea rover before it dropped into the water. \> 30 I ran the boat's licad in, but the water was so shoal that she grounded at too great a distance from the beach to afl'eet a hmding; and just as I was about stepping out at a more favourable spot, a little further on, with the intention of shooting some of the birds and obtaining specimens of the fish they had swallowed, a bear was discovered on the floe which filled up the inlet at the S.W. corner of the bay. Bruin being considered by all hands, and certainly not the least so by myself, higher game than the gulls, the sail was hoisted instantcr, and the boat's head in a few minutes was dashing through the swell (which was now setting into the more exposed part of the bay) before the wind in the direction bruin was leisurely pacing along the ice, on the look out for a seal, several of which were swimming about the bay. Before we reached the fioe, which was of young ice already six inches in thickness, he had, however, taken alarm, and made off for the land, disappearing behind a point jutting out from the inlet. Finding that the squall which had been threatening for some time was now coming in good earnest upon us, I brought the boat's head round for the south headland of the bay, the site of our former encampment upon the way up channel, in a sheltered cove a little within the head- land ; but as we became more and more exposed to the sea setting into the bay, in a boat so deep in the water, and so leaky from one of her planks having been stove in by the ice in t!ie bad weather we had been incessantly exposed to, the water from the leak, together with the occasional shipping of a sea, so gained upon us, notwithstanding that a hand was kept unceas- ingly baling her out, and having no rudder, we had to bear up lor the nearest land to us, distant nearly two miles, although unfortunately a lee shore, on which a heavy surf was bi-eaking. We got soundings in twelve fathoms, and saw a second bear. Selecting the most flivourable spot that offered for beaching the boat, in a curve of the coast somewhat protected from the rollers by a low point, we backed her in stern foremost, letting go the anchor over the bows, and running a line out astern to the shore so as to keep her head to the sea till everything was got out of her, and fbrtunatcl}' landed without sustaining any damage from the surf, which was breaking heavily against the boat's quarter, save and except a drenching to ourselves. Before we had hauled her up between the masses of ice into a place of security for the night on the shingle beach, the thermometer fell as low as 25°. The air was bitingly cold, and snow- ing all the time. After pitching the tent on a fine hard shingle ridge, clear of snow, the fire lighted, and supper, with a cup of warm tea, under cover of the canvas, we turned into our felt-bags for the night, and soon forgot our toils in a sound sleep. "% 31 Friday, 3d September. Passkd the most comtbrtablc night that \vc have yet had, the ground being hard dry shingle on which our buffalo robes were spread. Wc were confined within tlic tent all day by stress ol' weather, which has been most winterly. Blowing, as usual, a hard north-westerly gale, with heavy snow drift, half burying the tent, the sky overcast with a dense mist, and continuous fall of fine snow. Thermometer throughout the day standing as low as 26", and the air piercingly cold. The fire outside of the tent took double the usual time in boiling the kettle ; and the pemmican which we had for dinner to-day, for the first time since we left the ship, was hard frozen when taken out of the case. I had a shot at an eider duck v\hich alighted in the bay. A few glaucus gulls (Larus glaucus') flew past the little inlet, which I named Sophia Cove. I occupied myself this evening with my plans of search. Had the last of our Burton ale to-day, and turned into our sleeping- bags at about 10 p.m. .32 Saturday, 4th September. Weather much the same as yesterday, prevented iis from putting to sea ; but, as tlie wind and snowdrift had sorajwhat abated, I fjnntjd a party for a bear-hunting excursion to the top of the bay, when just as we were getting our guns ready for starting, bruin himself anticipated our purpose by suddcnlv making his appearance, and thus saved us a day's bufTetting with this inclement weather. One of the boat's crew having reported him in sight, on going outside of the tent I saw a fine full-grown bear ( Ursus vuiriiimus) sauntering leisurely along the beach, about midway between us and a point towards the entrance to the bay, to which I gave the name of Bear I'oint. As his course was direct for the encampment, I ordered my party within the tent, to avoid alarming him, whilst I watched his movements from the door. Bruin, however, evidently suspecting that all was not right, suddenly altered his course to pass inland of the tent, at the back of the shingle ridge above it. The instant he disappeared behind the ridge, I made direct for it, to intercept him, desiring my party to be ready with their rifles to cut od'his retreat should he happen to escape the fire from my ohl double-barrel, which had, a quarter of a century before, been fatal to bruin's race in the Island of Spitzbergen. On my rising the ridge, bruiu turned his head inland, when, afler firing both barrels, the ball from the second one brought him on his haunches, at the distance of sixty yards from me. It was only for an iivstant, however, for he gathered himself up again, and retreated towards the beach, evid(;ntly mortally wounded ; and after running the gauntlet of a whole volley of balls trora the liiles and muskets of the boat's crew, who, being too eager and excited, I suppose, fired so hurriedly tiiat not a ball took effect ; and under their fire he took to the water, swimming out into the bay for the u tance of two or three hundred yards, when he wore round with his head in shore, unable any longer to make head against the wind, which was blowing dead on shore. His last cSbrts to struggle against it must have been desperate, for he had no sooner borne up than his huge form floated on the water a hfeless mass, just as I was about launching the boat to go in pursuit of him. After a short interval the wind drifted him on shore about two hundred yards from our encamp- ment, to which we bore him on the sledge ; and, cold as it was, set about skinning him imme- diately ; when, strange enough, we found on examination that my second ball was the only one that had struck him, entering about a foot above the insertion of the tail, and an inch on the left side of the spine, literally drilling him through, and making its exit by the mouth, splintering two of the canine teeth as it passed out. As a proof of the extreme tenacity of life in these hardy creatures, this animal had one of the largest internal arteries divided by the ball in its course, which poured out so much blood that it was streaming from his mouth and nostrils iu such a torrent as to dye the suif around him of a deep crimson colour as we haidcd him up on the beach, and on opening the body a deluge of the crimson fluid flowed out. Yet with this deadly wound he managed to run at his usual speed about two hundred yards to the beach, and then swim against a head sea for at the least as great a distance further, making fearful struggles until the moment of his last gasp for breath. He measured seven and a half feet in length, was finely moulded, and in excellent condition. Wc had a rump steak oti" him, as an addition to our pemmican dinner, and found it infinitely better eating than some of tlie beef I have tasted Mhich had been supplied the ship. At midnight the wind veered round more to the north, with a dark horizon iu that quarter. Ther- mometer 26° Fahr. \1 Shlduil by It. M'Cormkk. 11.X Encampment in Griffin Bay. [_To face page 32, j I i': 33 Sunday, 5th September. No change iri tlic wrathcr, boisterous as ever, and thermometer at 26°. Had bear steaks for breakfast. Head part of the Morning Service to my party in the tent. Saw several seals swimming about the bay, and another bear on the floe at its upper end, but not within our reach: I could just make him out with the aid of my telescope. An ivory gull (Larus eburrteus), showing great confidence, hovered about the remains of bruin during the greater part of the day, apparently enjoying a most sumptuous feast. Several glaucus gulls shyly hovered over in passing by, but did not venture to alight : saw also a solitary snow bunting. Night threatening, with a black and lurid sky, still blowing hard, with much surf in the bay. Wind shifted round to its old quarter in the N.W. again, with the thertnometer down to 2i°, and bitterlv cold. E 34 Monday, 6th September. RosB at G A.M. Wind more olT the land and somcAvhat moderated, with less sea on outside ; the young ice at the upper inlet of the bay which had been broken up by the swell setting on it during the gale, was drifting out past us in considerable quantity, forming a belt along shore. Commenced preparations for shifting our enacmpmcnt into the next bay, as soon as the swell ak)ng shore subsided sudieiently to enable us to get the boat afloat, and round the headland, the vicinity of which, and sununit of Cape Bowdcn, I was anxiously desirous of more tiioroughly examining than my time permitted of when outward bound. Erected a cairn upon the rTdgc where we had encamped, and deposited beneath it a cylinder containing a record of our proceedings. At 10.30 AM., on the wind and sea going down, we launched the boat, and had to row through sludge and brash, intermixed with hard floe pieces of the b:iy or young ice, which so impeded the progress of the boat that the crew had a most laborious hour's pull in gcttin i tarmigan Greenland Finch Sandpiper Little Auk Dovekic Loom llcd-throatcd Diver Tern Fulmar Petrel Ivory Gull Silvery Gull Glaucous Gull Eider Duck Pintail Duck King Duck 39 List of Game killed by 11. M'Cokmick, R.N. * Namrs. - Ursiis maritimas - Qmis /agopus - _ _ - Lepus borcalis - - _ - Geoi-T/chus lemmus - Corvus covnx - _ - - Tetrao lagnpus - _ - Fringilla Trirign mrtritima Alca alle Un'a grjjlle Un'a brunnichii Columbus sepfentriona is (young) Sterna arctica - - . Procellaria glacialis Larus ehurneus Lams argentatus Larus glaucus Anas mollissima Anas caudacuta Anas spectubills Total No. - 1 - 2 - 6 - 1 - 4 - 2 - 2 - 4 - 4 - 10 - 2 - I - 1 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 1 - 9 - 3 - 1 - 60 Dimensions of the Polah Bear (Male) shot September 4th, 1852, in Griflin Bay, Wellington Channel. Feel. Inelicj Length - . - - 7 6 Greatest circumference of body - 5 6 Do. do. head - 2 8 ©0* do. neck - 3 3 Length of head . - I 6 Do. of fore-leg (from shoulder-joint) - 3 2 Circumference of do. - _ - 2 Length of hind-leg (from hip-joint) - 3 Circumference of t'o. . - 2 Length of fore paw - _ - - 1 Circumference of do. _ - - - 1 9 Length of hind paw . - 1 9 Circumference of do. ... . 1 9 Estimated weight - - - - 1,000 lbs. 40 ; :1 CONCLUDING REMARKS ON' THE SEARCH FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, THE PROBADLF, POSITION OF THE " EREBUS " AND " TEUUOB," AND FAT2 OF THEIR CUEW5, My experience daring the late voyage and winter, passed on the very same spot where Frank- lin spent his, and where all traces of him cease, have most decidedly confirmed me in the opinion I had ventured to express in my plans of search some five years ago, — viz., that the missing expedition passed up the Wellington Channel into the Polar Sea, and was to be sought amongst the archipelago of islands and drifting packs of ice with Mhich that sea is most unquestionably en- cumbered, and where the search should be made with eflficicnt well-equipped boats, adapted for encountering the packs of ice, strong currents, and dangerous intricacies, inseparable from such a navigation, promising nought else but destruction to ships. From boats alone could any hope be entertained of a rescue of our gallant countrymen, ere they fell victims to the combined effects of frost and famine, — for in these two expressive words all their privations may probably be summed up, — and, if too late to save them, of discovering any traces they may have left behind thcin. At that early period of the search I believe I stood alone in this opinion. The general im- pression was that the ships had been arrested in the ice to the southward and westward of Melville Island ; consequently, the main efforts for carrying on the search took that direction. There are few perhaps who will now dispute my views, or their originality, which the Parlia- mentary records have secured. My reasons for coming to the conclusion I then did need not be recapitulated here, they having been fully explained in my plans submitted at the time, and, subsequently, in the year 1850-52, accompanied by the first proposal made for attempting the search in so high a latitude in an open boat, which I volunteered to conduct. This plan obtained the warm support of the Hydrographcr, Rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, and of Rear Admiral Sir Edward Parry, (with whom I made my first voyage towards the North Pole,) who recommended my employ- ment in very favourable terms in their reports of approval annexed to my j)lans laid before Parliament. I was at last sent out in the " North Star," but the position I was necessarily placed in in that ship was not such as to enable me to act in the noble cause in the way I had hoped, and, being somewhat anomalous, renders it incumbent on me to be careful that my share in the search is not left opon to misconception. Here I may, therefore, be peiTnitted to draw attention to the fact that, could I at once have proceeded up ...c Wellington Channel on the first arrival of the " North Star" at Bccchcy Island, on the 8th of August 1852, with my boat's crew of volunteers, instead ■rnrnm of being detained until the 19tli of the same month, — by wliicb delay \vc lost the last eleven fine (lays of the season, and best portion of it in which boating operations can be carried on in those seas, Wellington Channel being as open as the Atlantic, as far as the eye could reach Irom the sunmiit of Bcechcy Island, which, with Cape Riley, I ascended on the day of my arrival ; the season an unusually open one, with little or no ice, and the wind l)lowing froni the southward and eastward, fresh and fair,— there was nothing to have prevented us from doubling Cape Sir John Franklin, and proceeding round by Jones Sound into Batlin Bay, betbrc the north-westerly gales set in, which at a later period wc met with ; these winds would have proved fair for our return down Jo. es Sound, sheltered under the lee of the land, round by Lancaster Sound and Barrow Strait to Beechey Island, tlius completing the cicunmavigation of North Devon, and an entire examination of its shores. Subsequent events have proved that all this might have been accomplished in the season. When wc were enabled to get away from the ship winter had already, the day before, set in. After an absence of three weeks exposure to a succession of north-westerly gales, and, altogether, the most boisterous weather that I ever before experienced, as described in the preceding narra- tive ; I, however, had the satisfaction of setting the Baring Bay question at rest; viz., that there is no communication whatever between that bay and Jones Sound. After my return I wrote a letter to the commander of the expedition early in the spring, offering to explore Smith Sound into the Polar Ocean as flu- as the season would permit of, if I was given the command of the " Mary " yacht, a decked boat of twelve tons, cutter-rigged, and well adapted for such a service ; as, in addition to the greater quantity of provisions and stores which she would stow for a prolonged search, she would also possess the advantage of greater safety in a sea that might endanger an open boat, more especially if deeply laden, as the "Forlorn Hope " was. J\Iv former boat's crew having volunteered to accompany me again, and cheerfully expressed their willingness to follow me wherever I kdthem, it was my intention to have brought the "Mary" across the Atlantic home, after completing provisions and fuel at some one of the depots at Bond's Bay, or the southern shores of Lancaster Sound, instead of risking her getting beset for the winter in the heavy packs with which Barrow Strait was filled this season. My object in the voyage up Smith's Sound was to have made as near an approach to the Pole as the state of the ice would have permitted. I believe that if ever the North Pole is reached, it will be on the meridian of Sniit.x Sound. I may here ofler a few suggestions on the probable flite of the missing ships and their crews ; having myself entertained sanguine hope? of discovering some traces of them in the higher lati- tudes, which it was my intention, if possible, to have reached had the command of the " Mary " been given me. This, however, was declined by the Commodore, and in the answer which I received from him to my offer, dated on board the "Assistance," 26th July 18.-j3, the reason assigned was, that "Nothing now remains undone in that vicinity." Every hope of makmg myself further useful in the cause being now at an end, I had no other alternative left me than to return home in the " Phoenix," having done all that it was in my power to do. There are several wa3S by which a ship may be destroyed— by fire, by foundering, by collision with ice, or by being driven on shore. Either of the first two casualties might easily enough happen to a single ship ; but as it is in the highest degree improbable that^ two ships should together share the same fate, these two modes of accounting for the loss of the Polar ships may at once be disposed of. The third, by collision with ice, carries with it a F greater amount of probability. Even this, however, in the case of the " Erebus " and " Terror" seems to uic a very unlikely catastrophe to have happened to two ships so strongly built, and so well additionally fortified by the stoutest doubling, as those ships were, rendering them capable of resisting an amount of pressure from ice truly astonishing, as I can, from my own personal observation, vouch for. Having seen them beset in the immense packs of ice in the Antarctic seas, consisting of floes, mostly of great thickness and density, the latter quality being greatly increased from the temperature never rising above the freezing point withui the Antarctic circle even at midsummer, consequently exerting no thawing influence on those vast fields of ice, which, when put in motion during the agitation of the great southern ocean by heavy gales, I have often seen the strength of the "Erebus "most severely tested between huge dense masses of blue ice, violently grinding past her sides, tearing and rolling up her stout copper sheathing like so much ladies' curl-paper, whilst every beam and timber in her have been creaking and groaning, and the rudder almost wrung from its fastenings. Ice with which the floes and packs within the bays and straits of the Arctic circle can no more be compared, than the ice on the surface of the Serpentine can with the floes of iMelville Bay. The only ice I have ever seen in the north at all to be compared with the southern packs occurs in the Spitzbergen seas. I have entered more fully upon the effects of ice than I should otherwise have done, in consequence of having frequently heard the loss of the " Breadalbane " hired transport cited as an example of the loss of Sir John Franklin's ships, man)' persons jumping at once to the conclusion that the latter must have been crushed and ingulfed in the same summary way as the unlucky transport M-as. The two cases, however, are widely diflcrent. The " Breadalbane" was known to be an old vessel, which the owners had not sutlicicntly doubled or strengthened to enable her to resist even a moderate degree of pressure from two contcuflin.T floes ; the consequence was, they went through her bottom, and she disappeared beneath them within a quarter of an hour from the time she was first caught in the " nip," as I was a witness to myself from the deck of the " Phoenix," which ship was in the same "nip." The American whaler " M'Lcllen" lost in iMelville Bay in the season of 1852, is another instance brought forward in support of this opinion ; but she, also, was an old worn-out ship, and her timbers very defective where the floc-edge caught her side and stove her in. This I saw myself, as I went on board of her at the time, she having become a wreck inmiediately under the bows of the " North Star," carrying away that vessel's cathead. But to draw any comparison between those two vessels and the " Erebus " and "Terror," would be like com- paring the cracking a hollow filbert with the hardest ivory nut. Much has been said about the ships having been forced out of Erebus and Terror Bay, and of their having left indications behind them of a hurried departure. On M'hat giounds these surmises have been founded it woiUd be somewhat difficult to divine. I passed a whole year in that bay, and whatever may be said to the contrary, I believe it to be utterly impossible that any vessel could be driven out of it a ccr having once been frozen in ; a more safe bay for wintering in does not exist along the whole line of coast. Its very fault lies in its securitv, the difficulty in getting out again when once within it, as the bayfloe rarely breaks up before the end of August or begitming of September. The " North Star" getting on shore there bad nothing whate\er to do with the bay, and was an event in no way calculated to compromise its character for safety. The spot where the " Erebus " and " Terror " laid was evidently near its western extremity, in the curve of '.he bay formed by the shingle ridge, extending out from 43 Bccchcy Island on which "the graves" are situated; tb.e close viciuity of the magnetic ob- servatory, the armourer's forge, the washing place at the watercourse, and the sjnall garden not much farther off, with the cairn above it — all coml)incd to point out this as the winter quarters of the ships, and a more secure one could not well have been fixed upon. In fact it was the only position in this bay in which a ship would be altogether secure from being driven <"n shore by any sudden ingress of ice in the autumn, before the winter's floe was firmly formed ; and, as such, could not fail to have been selected by one of Sir John Franklin's judgment and experience. I saw nothing whatever in support of the notion that the departure of the ships was a hurried one, but much to convince mc that Franklin and tliose with him had not idly passed their winter here, to which the sites of tents in various directions, sledge-tracks, and everything else bore ample testimony. Further, I am cf opinion that sledging-partics from his ships had been up the Wellington Channel, and reasoning upon what I know may be accomplished, even in mid-winter, Avherc energy exists, as in such men as Franklin and my lamented friend, that soul of enterprise, the noble- minded Bcllot, these sledge journeys were very ])rol)ably extended beyond Cape Lady Franklin — even to the portal of tlie Polar Ocean. Their tracks round Cape Spencer in the direction of Caps Bo\Yd-^n, clearly point out the course they had in view ; here no inducement could be held out to the sportsman to tarry, there is not even sufficient game for a single gun, far less to render it an eligible spot for pitching a tent as a mere shooting station. The swampy flat, intersec'icd by small lakes and watercourses, in the vicinity of Caswall '^I'ower, is the only spot where the very few straggling wild fowd that alight in this barren lime- stone region, on their way north, arc to be met with ; and here I have followed Franklin's sledge tracks over the low shingle ridges in tlie direction of the tower, which was doubtless their shoot- ing station. 'I'hc sledges must have pasied in the summer season when the soil was plastic enough to leave impressions of their tracks behind them. Caswall Tower is an isolated precipitous mount between three and four hundred feet in height, rising from a plain at the head of Radstock Bay and Gascoigne Cove, which I ascended, but found nothing whatever on its bare flat top, save a solitary lemming, which I captured. At its base are several circular ancient I'^squimaux encamp- ments, within which the wild flowers flourish more luxuriantly than in any other spot I met with. The distance is about ten miles from the ship. The greatest mystery of all is, that of no record having been left of their sojourn or departure; so sanguine was I for a time, that something might turn up to reward a diligent and persevering search, that I did not rest until I had closel}^ examined every foot of ground for miles around; ascending and descending every hill and ravine around the bay, and ramblin;^ over the mountain limestone table land, far inland, till there was not a rock or ravine on the land, or hummock of ice on the floe, within a circuit of many miles, that v.'as not as f uniliar to me as " household words." From my own experience, throughout a somewhat more severe winter, perhaps, than ordinary, I believe that sledge travelling may be continued during an Arctic winter, without much risk or danger being incurred from the lowest temperature ; provided care is taken to erect a snow hut, or, in cases of emergency when no time is to be lost, to cut a deep trench in the snow in time to secure shelter from an approaching gale and snow drift. It must be kept in mind, that the same degree of cold which can be borne without inconvenience in a calm caimot be faced without se\ere frost bitc.^ in a strong breeze of wind. 44 In thus recording niy opinion of the practicability of t^lcdge travelling in the winter season, I have the testimony of those enterprising Arctic travellers Kennedy and Bellot, in my favour, who, during the " Prince Albert's" voyage, practised it must successfully in mid-winter, I also have had opportunities of fairly testing the efleets of a \ery low temperature on my own person on more than one occasion. My customary walk throughout the winter, whatever the state of the weather might be, was round Beechcy Island, a distance of about six miles. This I accom- plished once when the thermometer was 54° below zero on the floe, and to that low temperature I was exposed for two hours, without feeling any inconvenience from it, but there was little or no wind at the time. On another occasion I passed a whole day and night without food, or shelter, beyond what the snow-drift afforded, about sc\cn miles from the ship, having been overtaken by a dense fog on the open plain when rctuniing from an excursion to Caswall Tower, accompanied by my friend Dr. Toms, of the " North Star," and "Erebus" and "Terror," my two Esquimaux "dogs. When overwhelmed by the darkness of night blending with the fog, and a gale approaching, we cut with a hunting knife a trench in the snow-clad plain, about two feet deep, and in this truly- Arctic bivouac (at all times to be found) we, with our canine friends, passed the night, without a tent or other clothing than our usual walking dress. The gale which swept over us soon forming a white coverlet of snow-drift, protected us from the blast, less than an hour's cxposiu-e to the inclemency and intensity of cold of which would inevitably have ended in our destruction ; not even the dogs would have survived it. The ther. mometcr that night fell to 32" below zero, or 64" below the freezing point. The fog clearing off sufficiently to make out the land, about four o'clock in the morning we started again, and reached the ship between six and seven a.m., without having incurred even a frostbite, and after an ablu- tion and breakfast, felt as fresh as ever. I am, therefore, led to the conclusion, that Sir John Franklin's travelling parties may have commenced their journeys up the Wellington Channel, with the first appearance of the sun above the horizon early in the month of February, and after the discovery that the strait between the Franklin Capes in the Queen's Channel opened into a Polar ocean, started with his ships as soon as the bay ice broke up, most probably about the first week in September; and if he had an open season would, with the aid of his screw-propellers, run up the Wellington Channel within the space of eight-and-forty hours. Then, probably tempted by the broad expanse of open water to the northward, or at any rate absence of land to obstruct his progress in that direction, he might reach a very high latitude, and gain a good offing of the Parry Islands, before he shaped a south- westerly course for Behring's Strait. As the season for navigation remained after the first of September, would be, however, necessarily a very short one, he was probably overtaken by winter, perhaps soTue six or seven hundred miles from Cape Lady Franklin, in a high latitude, and possibly well to the w cstward. Having thus attempted to follow up the track of the unfortunate ship so far, by something like inductive reasoning, founded on inferences drawn from a knowledge of the object they had in view, and the most probable events and incidents likely t<. beset them in their path to mnr its attainment, we now enter upon a field of speculation, wide enough indeed to fill a volume of itself. Having already extended these remarks to a greater length than I had intended, I will wind them up with a few words on the conclusion I have come to in my own mind, as to the £a\(-. of our gallant countrymen. Speculative as any opinion upon this subject, I am aware, must ne- BE9B wc AheMied bij H. jrConnick, J?..V. Caswall Tower, from Beechey Island. [To face page 44.] ir-^''*'^'""-" 45 ccssarily be, I have not arrived at mine either prep.iaturely or liastily. No one but those who may have near relatives in the expedition, can possibly have felt deeper interest in tiiis hapless search from first to last than I have, unless it is my friend Mr. Barrow, whose untiring exertions and devotion in this noble cause stand unecjualled. Various associations combined to enlist my own sympathies in this search. They were my old ships, and engaged in a field of discovery to which I have Ions been ardently devoted, and in which my thoughts have been centred fioni my earliest youth, in addition to which there were those on board of both ships who were well known to me. My own impression is, that on the closing in of their second winter, the ships were either driven into some inlet, where they may have been blocked upever since by the Polar pack, as happened to the "Investigator" in Mercy Bay ; or that they have been driven on shore by the strong cur- rents which set from the north-westward, when helplessly beset in the pack, drifting about in the narrow straits which separate one island from another in this Arctic archipelago. They may, possibly, have reached even as far west as that large tract of land whose moun- tainous and lofty granitic peaks were seen by the " Herald," thus barring tiieir further progress westward. But, under any of these circumstances, it does not follow that the lives of those on board would be necessarily invoh'cd in immediate destruction, even were the ships stranded on some shore. They would, in all probability, be able to save the greater part of their provisions and stores (as Sir Edward Parry did in the loss of the " Pury," on Fury Beach ; and which, ytars afterwards, proved the happy means of preserving the lives of Sir John Ross and his party). They might build huts and supply themselves with fuel from the wreck, and linger out an existence as long as their resources lasted, But here, however reluctantly, I must at the same time acknowledge that there would be but little prospect of adding much to these in the region in which their disaster Avould be likely to happen. In proof of this, I have only to add that had I lost my boat and the provisions when up rhe Wellington Channel, my boat's crew and myself could not have existed — although numbering only seven — on the produce of our guns, for one month ; and I had two or three good shots in my party, besides being myself an old sportsman, and rarely threw away a shot witiiout obtaining something for it. Wild i()wl, doubtless, migrate to the very Pole itself to rear their young, but this occupies only a short period of the season ; and the supplies to be obtained from such an uncertain source would be inadequate even for present wants, far less so to form a winter's store for a ship's company. Sad as the reflection must be, it is in vain to deny that the time has arrived when, indeed, it is " hoping against hope," and which suggested to me the name of " Forlorn Hope " for my boat. Nearly nine years have now elapsed since our countrymen lefl these shores ; and although I have been to the last one of the most sanguine in my hopes, I cannot help fc<'ling now that traces of their flitc, is all, unhappily, I have too much reason to fear, that remains to be discovered of them. But even this, in my opinion, will never be accomplished by ships. Nought else than the disastrous fate of the gallant Franklin and his followers can be possibly anticipated as the result of any attempt made by ships. R. M'CouMicK, R.N. Wi*.* 4(i SUGGESTIONS roR THE PRESERVATION OP HEALTH IN POLAR CLIMES. Havinq had under consideration the best means of escaping scurvy, and preserving health in the Arctic regions, I deem it my duty to submit the following brief remarks for the use of future voyagers. In so doing, I shall confine myself wholly to the results of my own experience during a period of some years passed in the higher latitudes, feeling confident that attention to the precepts here inculcated will secure for those who may follow me as successful an exemption from scurvy and sickness as have crowned my own efforts, by a rigid adherence to them. In the first place, I would unhesitatingly recommend the entire exclusion of all kinds of salted meats from the diet, convinced as I am, from long experience and close attention to the effects of such food, that it proves, through its indigestibility and deficient nutrient properties, injurious to the system, and deteriorating the condition of the circulating fluids and secretions generally,— inducing a debilitated habit of body, favourable to the production of scurvy, under circumstances of privation and exponirc, and other exciting influences, calculated to call it into action. In fact. It IS my belief that the origin of every case of scurvy may be fairly traced to the use of salted meats. In the present age of inventions and improvements, there can be no lack of substitutes, and excellent ones too, for the hard salt beef and pork, and the whole category of dried tongues, hams, &c., which constituted the sea stock of bygo-ie years, when every ship in a long voyage! as m Anson's time, lost great numbers of the crew. Now, we have preserved meats, poultry, soups, peramican, and fresh bacon of all kinds. The latter article, which was supplied for the first time to the expedition now out, especially that preserved m tins for the use of travelling parties, proved the most valuable addition of all to the scale of Arctic victualling, its freshness and mildness rendering it easy of digestion, and its fatty quality rendering it highly nutritious by affording a large supply of carbonaceous material to make up for the constant waste occasioned by the increased exhalation of carbon which accom- panies the activity of the respiration in very low temperatures of the atmosphere. The various kinds of vegetables, when carefully selected and preserved, arc quite equal to the fresh ones ; more especially the preserved potato, carrot, parsnip, turnip, and peas ; and I cannot speak too highly of those bottled fruits, as the damson, greengage, currant and raspberry gooseberry, and that perhaps best of all antiscorbutic fruit, the cranberry, which is quite equal to the hme-juicc in its valuable properties : all these fruits are quite as good as when first gathered. Dried fruits— apples, figs, prunes, raisins, and almonds, &c., are all objectionable. 47 The best diluents arc tea, cofl'ee, ami chocolate, more especially tlic patent chocolate which the travelling parties were supplied with in the last expedition. Of spirits and wines, the less taken the bctfer ; good sound malt liquors are preferable in uU respects, combining, as they do, a nutritive with a stimulating property. On the subject of clothing, I have only to observe that I found the Government pilot-cloth suit, with a " sou'-wester," the most generally useful in summer or winter ; but lor boating or sledging, in severe weather, I know of nothing etjual to the Exquimtuix seal-^kin dress and fur boots.* A common blanket bag I have always found far njorc comfortable than a felt one for sleeping in, when away travelling, with a bufl'alo robe beneath it. Of medical treatment, little is required. The bracing efiects of a low, dry temperature, and the absence of all moisture in the atmosphere for a large portion of the year, so that not a cloud can form in the clear blue sky, render catarrhal and other aflections resulting from atmo- spheric transitions of rare occurrence. During the dark and monotonous season of winter, active exercise in the open air, on the iloc or on the land, is the very best preservative of health, aided by proper attention to diet ; the mind ';eing at the same time engaged in rational occupations, reading, writing, sketching, or whatever may be the bent of individual taste. When sufficient exercise is not taken, and the diet has been too fidl and liberal, a congestive state of the internal organs is often the result, attended with a drowsiness during the day and broken rest at niglit. The best remedy I have found in such cases is a six-grain dose of calomel, and, to allay the disposition to watchfulness, about a scruple of the compound ipecacuanha or Dover's powder, given at bed-time. Loss of appetite, from want of lone and energy in the digestive organs, sometimes follows the cfTccts of a Umg and tedious winter in some constitutions. A wincglassful of quinine wine, given twice a day, is the most ellieacious remedy in these cases; it is best prepared by dissolving about a scruple of quinine, with the same quantity of citric acid, in a wincglassful of water, and then adding it to a bottle of wine, either port or sherry, as may best suit the occasion. In conclusion, I have only to add, in confirmation of these views, that in three voyages which I have made to the Polar regions — two to the north and one to the south, the latter of four years' duration, — embracing every possible transition of climate and exposure, I have never lost a single life, or even had a case of serious sickness or scurvy throughout a period of Polar service falling little short of seven years. R. M'CoRMicK, R.N. • Those supplied to the expedition by Mr. Richard Jeffs, of No. I, Ilanway Street, Oxford Street, I believe gave much Batisfaction. G 2 48 Dr. M'ConMicK to Captain Sir E. Beixiier, C.B., H.M.S. " Assistance." Her Majesty's Ship " North Star," Erebus and Terror Bay, Sin. 3d March 1853. I iiAvi: the honour to transmit to you a narrative of my boat expedition up Wellington Channel, and sledge journey round Baring Bay, in search of Sir John Franklin, Having left the ship on the morning of the 19th of August, and returned on board again on the night of the Htii of September last, after an absence of three weeks, during the whole of which time the weather was most unfavourable for boat service, having been tempestuous and overcast in the extreme, — a succession of north-westerly gales, which, with strong currents, rendered the navigation of this channel a very dangerous one for boats, and not a place of shelter between the last bay and Baring Bay. After a week passed in a most careful search of Baring Bay all round, and ascending the inland ridges of hills, I neither found an opening to the eastward or a surfiicc practicable for sledging over inland ; the whole forming a succession of steep ridges, with intervening rav'ties filled with snow, and running parallel with the top of the bay. There was no indication whatever of open water in the vicinity ; the gulls and other sea-fowl never shaped their course to the eastward. Therefore in all probability Jones Sound, instead of continuing its course to the westward from Baffin Bay, soon trends round to the north-west. On my return down channel I carefully examined every headland and bay, unhappily without finding the slightest trace of the missing ships. Five of these bays, and several of the most prominent headlands between Point Bowden and Cape Osborn, not laid down in the charts, I have availed myself of the usual privilege of ex- plorers, and given names to them. My party returned on board in good health ; and I have great satisfaction in bearing testimony to their exceeding good conduct, and they having volunteered to accompany me again in the spring search, I have hercAvith to submit for your consideration my purposed plan for carrying out that search. In your letter of the 1.3th of August last I was told that the " Assistance '" and " Pioneer " would complete the search of the Wellington Channel, and that my course must be to the eastward of this meridian. Sledging, therefore, will be entirely out of the question, as Lancaster's Sound opens too early to permit of travelling over the ice to any distance and back again. The boat, however, which I had last (and we have none better adapted on board) is whollj^ inadequate for so long a voyage as the one contemplated, viz., the exploration of Jones and Smith Sounds, more especially as since your departure Commander Inglefield, in the " Isabel," has been so far up both these sounds as to render it very improbable that a boat, stowing barely a month's provisions, could remain out sufBciently long to enable her to accomplish anything beyond what he has already done. 49 The plan, therefore, I have *o pro; ' », that the " Mary " yacht, led by A.liiMial Sii .luhn Iloss, and now lying here useless, shonia l)c placed at my disposal, with two ailditional hands and provisioned lor tlirce mouths, w/li a gutta pcrcha boat (leli here by the " Prime Albert ") for hauling over the ice, should tm llocs in the sounds not have broken up. To start Muniediatcly after the return of the party, conveying your authority so to do, and by which time the naviga- tion in Barrow Strait will most probably be open. I nra, &c. R. M'CollMKK, U.N. P.S. The departure of the sledge parties for the rendezvous depots, being a month earlier than anticipated, a series of sketches, comprising the headlands and bays between Ikechey Island and Point Hogarth, Baring Bay (which I had taken for the purpose of dlustratmg a track-chart on which they arc laid down from compass bearings), not bcmg finished, I must reserve for a future opportunity. — U. M'C. m The Secrktauy op the Admiralty to Dr. M'Cobmick, R.N. ®®* Admiralty, 13th October 1853. I AM commaaded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to acknowledge the receipt of your narrative of an expedition under your orders in a boat of H.M. Discovery Ship " North Star, up the eastern shore of Wellington Channel and round Baring Bay, for the purpose of discovering traces of Sir John Franklin's expedition. My Lords approve of your exertions on this occasion, and of the conduct of your boat's crew on a service incui-rmg both risk and hardship, and are satisfied with the efforts you made in determinmg the important question as to there being any connexion between Barin- Bav and Jones Sound. o j " '" I am, &c. (Signed) W. A. B. Hamilton. 853. receipt North osc of s crew ado in ly and roN. APPENDIX. sxasm APPENDIX. No. 1. 8in, K. M'CORMICK Esq, to the SeCEETAUV TO THE AmilllALTV Apsloy Cottages, Twickenlmm Green, 27tli Noveinbcr, 1831. ]May I rei|ucst that you willbc pleased to acquaint my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty that I am ready and willinj^ as ever to conduct a "boat and slcdj^e expedition " in search of Her Majesty's ships " Krcbus and Terror," under the connnand of Captain Sir Jolm Fraidilin? Having been the Jirst to projjose the mode of search hy " twat awl .s/w/yc'' as well as tlie first to point out the IVelhuytoH Channel as the course taken hy the missing expedition in the attempt to accomplish the " North- west passage," now placed almost bey(md a doubt by tiie traces found at Cape lliley and I'.ecchey Island,— the very spots^named in the plan I liad tlie honour of submitting to their Lordships on the 1st of January 1850 as the' first to be searched for memorials, and the most likely places for striking upoii the track of the missing gIiij,?,_affo!-ds the surest guarantee for the successful cxecuticm of a project so auspiciously planned. I have, iS:c. E. M'COUMICK, Surgeon, R.X. No. 2. Tla N of SeauCiI, by Boat and Sledge, fen- tlie Rescue of Captain Her ]Majesty's Ships " Erebus " and " Terror," or the discover Sir John Fuanklik ami the Crews of y of their Fate. Expedition after expedition, both by sea and land, have b-^en sent forth by England and liy America, by pi^blic and by private enterprise, In search of our lost countryr.cn, and returned again and again, leaving tlicir late as Inexplicable a mystery as ever. Yet, strange enough, not one of those expeditions have explored Smith Sou uU at the hea 1 of Baffin's ISay, lo M. « ell protee ted by Bcechey Islan.l, which formed a natural fender Ibr ke ipin- off the h.avy floes'and pack '^''''^'^^^^^^'-r^^^^^'^^^f^-^-^^?^^or^., ships at the ver/ tln-eshold of their «..«"£ and .,. d not fad on glancing over the chart, to rivet tl>e attention of an experienced and practised eve Vg.- .ma subsequent letter to the Board, dated 20th February 1850 1 stated, "The route wi'icii I am ' 'I'ti m XTrr/v "l"'"' 'V':'*^^', " ''^''''^ Wellington C ha4ol, so strongly'impressed an. 1 .ith Z ...etion that it affords o;ie ot the best chances of crossing the track of the missin-r expedition for the reasons already stated m my plan now under their Lordshins' «.nsideration. " c.xpcuitio.i, Tl nMn'?lV''''' • *r f!*'-'^'T ^.'"^'V'''-"'"'^ ^'' *''° '"''■'^'"S c-^PeJition I believe I at the time stood alone. The generally received opinum havmg been that Sir dohn Franklin's ships had been arrested in the iee to tlS r ve or r". ""■' "' S"''" ^^ t"" '" ^^'^''^^' ^^^'^'"'^- Tl.e results of the late searching parties la e! morrj'rr P ' iT^I^ *'"^ correctness of my own views, even to the finding of traces, if no .' .nen oual, winch, however, I bebeve, yet remains to be discovered,) at Cape Riley and IJcech.y I.lu, d. ra, V o;if!Jtl"""%''" ^'-'y^^'^lT'' ^'?^r ''""^ ^ '^'"^ '''° 'l-"l>P0intmeut in not l.tNing been permitted to 1 nc eithelcss, even now, am as sanguine as ever that it is not yet too late to save some gallant fellows if no all from a lingering fate, too tearful to dwell upon,-from a livin- tomb. ° ' My own pergonal knowledge of the resources available for sustaining life within the arot!<; rc-ioM-^ furbuls ilr'.T^lV ; \ "';'^^'-'''''''"'^-*''-'" '" »'"^ ^"'1 ^-^Scn-r^of manhood Im-e alrc.uly succ nb under the effects oi cold, fannrie, or disease, without cio individual being left to tell tlie sad ancf melancholy The "snow hut " would airorJ ihom sbeKcr from ilie weather, the skin of the seal protection from the cold Its blubber light and fuel. Ihc "Andromeda tctragona," a plant of the heath tribe, widely sore J ov ' aretic lands and which I have myself gathered in the northcrmnost known land, Spitzbergen, whc e it c,,w .n con.Mderable abundance, oilers an<,thcr source from which fuel may be obtained.^ Vast" lodes of w- el'fo • wh-.cl annually migrate to their breeding-places in the very depths of the aretic solitudes, where tie- on wf wars"?hrrS fV'^' ^r VT' ''\f'^' ""■P'"'"' '^^■°" ''''■ ^--^"^^^ ^' ^''^^^ -^^1-- wanderer ^fC Miovj wastes, the ai c tic fox,-thesc birds would be easily captured whilst moulting and unable to fly and uith their eggs furnish a wholesome supply of food for each succeeding winter's store? Scurvy is he foe^ aft r all, the most 10 be dreaded, and progressively so with the Lipse of time, and gradual dccHn' ot the v • en^^ciie """ """■'"' "''^'^ '' '''''^'' °^ *'" '^^^1'°"^'="' -'^' inaolcntrof^sparcs the bu;;Lt and niSt'^exlSf isfonlriT"'' ''''™^' '^^ ^°'"1'^, '''° ''Erebus "and "Terror," or a remnant of them, are s 1 1 in existence, is founded on some years personal experience in frozen climes, both Arctic- and Antarctic and my ooservations as a naturalist on the habits and instincts of animals, with their ueo.-raphical d -t il ,t mi' not be u anting Lnder this conMction, my enthusiasm in this noble cause will never cease to promM ne to come forward to their rescue on every occasion that may oficr for carrying' out mv plan of 'rel cr' t U t! c problem has been solved that shall decide their fate, and not till then. ' ' miSrerrf lhrtdlni;''V'''T *''^ '■""••"l 1""^'. I '""y 1^0 allowed to call the a.tention of my Lords Com- misMonois ot the A.hmral-y U a n.-eonsulcralion of my plan, and if above four years of nnccr-n.' ard nnvcaned application to lu^ employed in the Franklin search be any proof of zxal iLre nee^ an . evotedness o purpose, and these qualities, when backed by experience, considered fitti m^n.aliH " mVf" :Swnnntt;h;:ol.;ug:pS:S/'^^'^ '-'''''' -''' -^^^^ '- ^^ "- — ^"- - l...cai.eh'onh: All I ask tor is a whale bont and slcdgc, manned by six hands, with the requisite equipment of stoics, fuel, S5 provision-', dotliing, &c., nntl tlic coinniatKl of tlio party, with wliicli it was my orij^iiial intontion to liavc proposed prococdinir direct to Siniiii Simiul, and devoting; the ciir'uinji; autumn to the exploration ot'llmt inlet as far up a? the .-Mson would admit of, winteriu!j; there in a h)g hut taken out for the purpose, h) as to l.c enabled in the followina; spring to ext.iid the !- The return of the Sea Expedition from Port Leopold, and the overland one from ilie Mackenzie Uivcr. both alike unsuccessful in their search, leaves the ^ite of the gallant Franklin and his companions as problem- atical a^ ever; in fact, the case stands precisely as it did two years ago; the work is yet to be begun; every- thing remains to be accomplished. scne mo-t indubitably deposit memorials of his progress in all prominent positions, as opportunities might ofler. The discovery of one of these mementos would, in .all probability, attbrd a clue that might lead to the resc of our enterprising countrymen, ere another and sixthwiuter close in upon them, should they be still n existence ; and the time has not yet arrived for abandoning liopc. 66 In renewing once raore the offer of my services, which I do most clicerfully, I sec no reason for chan-inrr the opinions 1 cntortiuned lust sprmg; subsequent events have only tended to confirm them. I then believed" and i (loso still after a on- ami mature consideration of the subject, that Sir John Franklin's shins have been arrestea in a higli atituce, and beset in the heavy polar ice northward of the I'arry Islands, and that their ^xSSv r^H S' •'' n ''" ''''" ""■""^'' '^'' >V<-'"i"gton Channel, or one of the Sounds a; the northm". exireniiiy ot lialtin s IJay. This appears to me to bo the only view of the ease that can in any way account for the entire absence of all X"lmini caH^tro !lS '° I'rotiacted a period of time (unless all have perished by sonic sudden and over- Isolated as their position would bo under such circumstances, any attempt to reach the continent of America at SUCH a distance wo.dd be hopeless in the extreme; and the mere chance of any party from the '•bios rcadunff the top of IJaflin's Bay at the very moment of a whaler's brief and uncertain visit /ould be attended AMI 1 by tar too great a risk to justify the attempt, for fiiilure wouUl ensure inevitable destruction to the whole nnn^V/r/l "" *''V'',""V alternative would be to keep together in their ships, should no .lisaster l.^ue hap- Lrcome whh\;"theirta:.;f""'"° ''"" "'"""'"° '■""""'^^^' ''''' ^•'^'" °"' ^"''^ ^^'"'^^-^^ ^^^^ -"'-''^ Had Sir John Franklin been able to shape a south-westerly course from Cape Walker, as directed by his nstruct.ons, the proba nhty is, somointelligencc of him would have reached this country c'rc this (nearl/ five ye rs luvmg already elapsed since his departure from it). Parties would have been sent out from hi shin " cither ,n the direction ot the coast of America or Barrow's Straits, whiehever happened to be he no:/ oSaini ^'""1"""""^ ^™"^^' ^'''''^ ^^c" *""«" »' ^"th, and tidings of the long absent Exi.edition have been ]-\.iling in penetrating beyond Cape Walker, Sir John Franklin would have left some notice of his future W. nrV- "rll"' "'° ^'^^'r}.'''''''^^' ^^^^ '"^ ■^' ""'^ ^^^""1^1 1"^ *'«=" '••^♦'••■^«« 1"« course fie A e hngton Channel, the most probable conjecture, he would not pass up that inlet without depositin " a iuHl er account of his proceedings, either on the western or eastern point of the entrance to it. " 1 heref ore should iny proposal meet with their Lordships' approbation, I would most respcetfullv submit hat the party I have volunteered to conduct should be landed at the entrance to the Wellin'rSiC ■,«"'; the nearest pomt attainable by any ship that their Lordships ma, deem lit to employ in a litur "e'rc ca, ern side, I would propose commencing the search from Cape Eiley or Beechey Island in a nonliVrlv d cction, caret,, ly examining every remarkable headland and indentation of the westeni coast of Xortli Devon tor n emorials of the missing Expedition ; I would then cross over the AVellington Channel, and cont aue he search along the northern shore of Cornwallis Island, extending the exploration to the westward as i a' 1 e eniainiivg portion ot the season would permit, so as to secure Ihe ret,4t of the party before the w iters t n, ret rning either by the eastern or western side of Cornwallis Island, a. circumstances mi^d.t inlicat. Llaml. ' "' * ' '"""• *^^'' '^^certaining the general extent and trending of the slu^rcs of that ,.,!'•' \\°^^'"''' it 7«"1J be highly desirable that Jones' Sound should not be omitted in the search, more c> ecally as a whaler, last season, reached its entrance and reported it open, I would further proposer laUlie ship eonyey.ng the exploring party out should look into this opening on her way to LancLtcnl Sound if m[.d;'t", e"n''l ^TTi "^ \^'' ^^^ ^=" '''^^' '" '^' ^^'^^'"^ ' ""^'' ^^ f°""'^ '" ^e^rec fromte the u em, nnght be made by the Boat Expedition to pu.h through it to the westwanl in this latitude; and 'ho ,1^1 Fovc to be an opening into the Polar Sea, of which llhink there can be little doubt, a grea saving of t^ne tiie uciuity of the A\ clbngton Channel, as a point dapjmi to fall back upon in the search from that Quarter. Twickenham, 1st January 18.50. (Signed) 11. M-Coi:MrcK, R. X. '.4 No. 4. .k Copy of a LETTER from Dr. M'Cormick to the Secretary of tlic Admiralty. 11, Apslcy Ci)tt!ij;eti, Twickenham Green, {,. 20 Feliruary 18J0. I heJ leave to transmit l.crewith, for the approval of my Lor.ls Comml..lnn,.rs ot" the A.hniralty . list of the crew, 1 haxc ;i^uS-(;:i to eonduct in search of Her Majesty's ships "Erebus" ami "Terror.' under the command ot ^"^£\^ I shoInS f;.r this service would be one si,nihtr, in ,hc materials of i;^.;ir"^;--;;;;"'/;;|:^ boat used by Sir Edward Parr v, in his attempt to roaeh the North Pole m the year 18J. ; but tl < 1 mi st leTve to the^uperior judgment of their Lordshii-s. The timbers in that boat were ol touph ash and lucknrj vkh MackL os^.'s wa erm-oof canvas, and oak a.id (ir plankinj? over all. and havmg a runner ..u eaeh sale ot e k 'h od with smooth steel. The boat I would propose sho.dd be built after the njod.l ol a ^vha e-boa 25 tWt in length and 5 fe.tbemuin the extreme breadth; tae crew to consist ot a petty otheer, a carpenter, and *"TlJt;ute'Xh I an. the tnost desirous and anxious to Wlow is by the Wellington Ci.annel; ^o stron^y impre-ed am I with the oonvietion that it affords one of the best eha.iees ot erossu>- the track ot the nu^.m- FxDeditiou, for the reasons ah-eadv stated in my plan, now under their Lnrd^l^ps ennsuleratK)n. "to trry out this plan etlieie.uiy, the boat shcadd be droppe.l by the slop convey.n^^ the -'-<=1':"S l-J «' at the e.itmnce to tho Weliinuton Channel in Harrow Straits; !rom tins po.nt one or both su es ot that eh.u nd the ,r h«-n shores of the I'arrv islands u.ight be explored as far west as the seaso.j wo.ild penmt of. l.ut ;C. t r 1 i be emd,led to look into Jones' Sound, on her way to Lancaster's Sound, atul hnd tha openmg frtoie an tempt ttti^ht be made by the lloat Expedition to push through it tnto the ^^ ^' '"'J- Channel In the event, however, of its proving to be merely an inlet, which a short delay would be sti hc.ei^t U d e de the s£ n.Hi perhaps be in readiuesr to pick up the boat on its return, for conveyance to , s tiltm.ate i'st na L thr. oh Lancaster's Sound, or as a preeauti,.n against any uufore.een sepanUion ir.an he ship, a kS S ll So„: should be left at the entrance to Jones' Sound for the boat to complete tts supplies iron, a e Sompli 1 in- the exploration of this inlet, and to aiVord the means, if compe led trom an a.lvanced period of the season°or other adverse circumstances of reaching some place of refuge, either on board a whaler or some one of the depots of provisions ou the southern shores oi Barrow Straits. '■ '■ i liavc, cvc. (Signed) 11. M'CouMiCK, 11. X. Equipment for the Boat. Boat's gear, awnins, tarpaulings, &c. Carpenter's tools aud vulcanised Indian rubber for rejialrs. Six fowling-pieces and ammunition. Arm chest and magazine. Harpoons and net. Compass, chronometer, and rpiadrant. Thermometers and aneroid barometer. Box of stationery. Tent and Smitli's Orion belts. Halkett's boats (large and small sizes). Two of Sir Edward Parry's sledges. Cooking apparatus, and knives, forks, and spoons. Gutta pcreha cups aud plates. Weighing dial aud measures. Procisions. (Rations for each man per diem.) Pemmic.an . . - - - Preserved meats, soups, and vegetables 12 or. 12 „ Ptoi-w/oh«— continue J. Biscuit - - - Cocoa powder, sweetened Chocolate - - - " Tea Si:gar - - - - - Rum - - - - * Tobacco . - - Spirits of wine for fuel - Clothing. Eur caps .and south-westers, of each - Eur dresses for sleeping in - - Suits of ])ilot cloth - - - Cloth boots and nioccassins - lllittens and stout stockings Guernsey frocks and flannel shirts Flannel drawers and comforters Blanket bags for sleeping in - (Signed) 1 /'a 1 oz. 1 „ 1 1 M 1 j/tn(. 7 no. t j» 7 )^ 14 pairs 14 »> 14 •» 14 >> 7 R. M'C. I ^ 58 No. 5. MEMonAXDL'M by the lly.lrogriiphcr of the Admiralty on Dr. AI'ConMiCK's proposed Boat Exj)cditiou. J)i(. JI-CoK.Miciv lias hIiowii laeej to_ find those ships, yet in the fifth year of their iihsuneo every place should be searched, and I therclure siihniit that th!-" iilan would coat but little, as a rider upon some other Expedition by the eastern route. If their [^(jrdships slmuld consent to Captain refuiy's offer of proecedinp to Lancaster Sound in his whalir!!:; vessel, i^'rhaps the doctor nii;rht be despatched with him, according to the position they niinht find occupied by tlie ice: they would be able to deiennine at which point of bis proposed circuit it Avould be most prudent for him to laud, and they would arrange at what place he should be picia'd up. (Signed) F. B. Xo. 6. Outline of a Plan of a Boat ENjicdition in Search of Sir John Fit.vxici.iN's E.xpcdltion. IIi;i£_ Majesty's slii]) " North Star," recently commissioned for tlic purpose of taking out an additional su]i]ily of ]irovisions to Latiea-tcr Sound, for the use of the arctic shij)s now absent, oH'crs-so favourable an opportunity for niaking another ellort to ascertain the fate of Sir John Fnmklin's Exi)edition, and that, too, without in any way imi>eding the particidnr s-rviee in which the " North Star " is to be employed, or even involving tlie iicecssily of that shi])"s wintering in the ice. I feel it my duty, as an oflicer avIio has been em])loycd in former Expeditions, and devoted many years past to the subject of Polar di.-covcry, to suggest, that .lones' and Smith's Sounds, at the head of Baffin's Bay, should be carefully examined by a Boat b^xpedition ; but more especially the former, it being the first opening north of the entrance to Laiica.-tor Sound. These openings to the I'olar Sea, although most important ones, still remain unexplored, not cominn- vithin the sphere of search of any of the Expeditions at jiresent employed in those seas. That they are important ones, I need only quote the ojilnion entertained by Colonel Sabine, one of the best authorities on this subject, who states, in a letter to the Admiralty, that " it was Sir John Franklin's intention, if foiled at one point, tu try in succession all the probable openings into a more navigable part of the Polar Sea. The ran^e of coast is eonsiderable in which nien.oiials of the slii|>s' progress world have to be sought for, cxtendiiifr from Melville Island, in the we.-t, to the ( ireat Sound, at the head of Baffin's Bay, in the east." The same' authority told Lady Fra'aklin, that Sir John Franklin mentioned to liini, that if he were baffled in every thing else, he miirht perhaps look into the Sounds norih of Baffin's Bay before lie returned home. The intense anxiety and apprehension now so generally entertained for the safety of Sir John Franklin, and the erews of the " Erebus '' and " Terror " under his command, who, if still in existence, are now passing through the severe ordeal of a foi-.rth winter in those inclement regions, imperatively calls for every available effort to be made for their rtfcuc from a position so perilous , and .".s long as one possible avenue to that position remaiiis unsearchcd, the country will not feel satisfied that every thing has been done which perseverance and experience can accomplish to d^;,.;.! xlic mystery which at present surrounds their fate. The plan I ]iro[K!se is neither ('■flienlt or exjiensive in the aeeomplishment. Jones' Sound is within the short distance of about 100 miles of Lancaster's Sound ; and Smith's Sound is scarcely as much farther north of Jones' Sound. The " North Star " ought to arrive there about the beginning of August, which month, with part of September, would leave nearly two of the best months of the year for the examination of one or lioth these Sounds to their probable termination in the Polar Sea. Jones' Sound, with the Wellington Channel, on the west, may be found to form an island of the land called " North Devon." All prominent positions on both sides of these Sounds should be searched for flag staves and piles of stones, under which copper cylinders or bottles may have been deposited, containing accounts of the proceedings of the missing Expedition ; and if Buccessful in getting upon its track, a elue would be obtained to the fate of our gallant countrymen. The searching jiarty should eommenco its return in time to reach the entrance of Jones' Sound at an appointed time and place, at which the " North Star " should be directed to call, after she had delivered her 69 store, for the bIui-s in Lancaster's Soun,l. Tl>c later part of September wouhl I.o curly enough for her fii.ul departure (so as to secure her fmni luiiig beset lor the winter), as that n.onti. is well known to be the bcM tipridil of the vnir lor navli'iitin'i IJalHn's l>av. , , , ^ Having alreS twice v,Suntc" ro,l nu- .ervicea to the Admiralty as long ago a. the year IS-IT to be ejuployc. in the general search for the lo.t Kxpc.lilion, I need scarcely add how happy I shall he to cmJuct such a Uoa Expcdftion as the one 1 have proposed. All that I should reriuire fnr the pe.ionn u.cc ol .M.ch aserv.ce would be an open boat- a whale boat would, perhaps, be the best, wuh a tent and stove, and the re.iuu.ite ciu.pnicni for hcrcrew, six in niMuIier. , . , ,. n ■ t . i .. ,■.;,>♦,.,■ And further, should it De found necessary to continue the search m the fnllowin- year, I urn. cad. to A\inta on the coast, in a log hut, supplied with sutlicent fuel provinons and clotlnns l.-r the ^■'''■^'^rV' l-jy;";;: party throunh a polar winter, or on board the " xXorth Star," should it ultuuately bo deemed de-.rable that vessel should remain out. , r • i i . -i i -. .t^,,,^,,* Should this outline of my plan meet witli approval, I am prepared to furnish a "^"'■^'^''^.i^'f '"'"*• 11, Craven Street, 21 Aprlll8-19, Surgeon, R.X. V\'al'>ole Lvnn, Norfolk, „ ,pp ■ , 18 April 1849. I NnJ^ ^'^X'^^ that I -reatly admire the zeal which has prompted >o:i to propose an additional phm for obh .in in n-matlon respecting Sir John Franklin's Expedition, and that 1 consider any proposition conii'Ilm onf so well ac,,u!intcd with the polar regions as yourself well worthy ol uttentum, .nore ^i-ecially when von offer vour own services in putting It into execution. ,. , , i .„., i ,.,;,,. ,1 I wlUnow giVe you my deliberate opinion as to the utility and practicability ol the plan you have submitted '"Th;rccanbc no doubt as to the importance, "->"'ri'^"easiiig anxiety jxs^^^^ Franklin, I could a'most s.y the necessity, of examining the various Sounds and Inlets betneen Lancaster s Sound and the head of BaiHn's Bay. , . i, i i ,.. o„ i f,,„n,1 f.w.vtmd i More especially, as Jones' Sound is saiv'^ll-C'i''il'l'e-1 beat th.an in "any other way ; both as regards eevtamty ot TO'ess jind aetu safety, more is to be done in close examination in a boat than in a sh-.p, as I h.ivo more ilian once louud bj experience. Two questions then arise — ,. ,. . * ,,,, ;.- d,,, n Vnrih 1st, What time would you have for ciTeeting this object, supposing yon went out la the >orili Star"? ''d What nrosnect of securing vour retreat, or of wintering in safety? I amtcidLliiy l,f o .inion that the •-' North Star'' cannot for one .m.inent e Fn-'t^l' ^ go ou oH, course ( I. <-, to be diverted from her main ob ect of delivering provisions to the • ln^e^t.ga,' , '» "' ^ «" hud any resources for von at the mouth of Lancaster's S.und, much less at any place \-,ll"v'""' "^^''-'l",' > I am mo;e and morJ confident that the " North Star " will have little or no time le!t nij^ ''^--; f ,. J^j stores (which is no easy job), and if slic has, we have proposed that she s.adl be <="n'l".v'='^ "■';'^. f^l U' ^ to carry on the search; so that cither in the case of her coming home this year or not, y°"„^'''-'''.^/^ „''.'=' ' from her; none, I me'an, indcpcndontly of her delivering of stores to the " }^^^^^^^;^^.^^ '^'^^^ '^^^" place as circumstances may render necessary as the gcncnd depot for bir James Lo.-s. ;M^2' r^'^.j^^.r must ^ It is therefore perfectly clear to my mind, that your prospect of being provided ^"F .^^> "? * ' . V" , , .Id o depend upon youJ reaching the " Invcstig.ator," or some known depot ot l''7'1'""^^'.f ^ "l "^^j^, /^j ;''• • ;,^ some point on the south shore of Lancaster's Sound, before the winter set^ in. I feel conlidait tliat it y,u trn>it to anv other resource, you will be disappointed. ^ • c ,„ i '^}:£^sXn, in mv ^d^w, that yon JL leave t^:e '; North Star" at the -France of^Lancast^^s^Sinrnd with what vour boat will stow, and that you must return m, t.;ne_ to sojv.e known depo of P '.?■"«' ^^ J pendcntly of anything to be specially deposited for you, for it is impossible for t.ie Noith btar to execnto a third object this season. 60 If, tlicrcforc, tlic " Xditli Star" sliould aupoccd in rcacliin^' Lancaster's Sound (as I once did) in the early itart of Aiijrnat, you niight do a cfreat deal in the six weckn Coliowinj^, and secure your own retreat; if much later, you cou'd do ho nineh the lcs^, and pcriiaps incur so much the greater risk. These arc my ftencnd views, and I do not entertain them lightly. Ujpon the whole, I do think it would iie worth while to let you have a hoat to make the attempt ; this would cost little, in any way, even it fiiiled, and I shoidd be glad to sec so much ardour ii3 you pudsesd employed in thi.s humane and nibble cause. R. M'Cormick, Esq. I have, &c. (Signed) W. K. Pauuv. h Ka 8. • OUTMNE of a Plan of an Overland Journey to the Polar Sr i, by tlie Way of the Coppcnnlnc Kiver, in Search of Sir Juiin Fi!anklin's Exjiedition, 1847. If Sir John Franklin, guided by ]m instructions, has ])assed through Harrow's Straits, and s-baped a south- westerly course, from the meridian ..f Cape Walker, with tiie intention of gaining the northern coast of the continent of Ainerica, and so passing through the Dolphin and Union Straits, along the shore f)f that con- tinent, to ISehring's Straits ; His greatest risk of detention by the ice throughout this course woidd be found between the parallels of 74' and fiij" north latitude, and the meridians of 100" and 110" west longitude, or, in other words, that portion of th(^_ \ortIi-we>t passage which yet rcn-ains unexplored, occupying the sjjaco between the western coast of Doothia on the one side, and the island or islands forming Banks' and Victoria Lands on the other. Should the " Krebus " and " Terror " have been beset in the heavy drift ice, or wrecked amcmgst it and the broken land, which in all probability exists there, whilst contending with the prevalent wcstcrly"viuds in this quarter ; The Coppermine IJivcr would decidedly offer the most direct route and nearest approach to that portion of the Polar Sea, and, after crossing Coronation Gulf, the average breadth of the Strait between the Continent and Victoria Land is only about 22 miles. From this pi/mt a careful search should bo commenced in the direction of Banks' Land ; the intervening space between it and Victoria Land, occiqiying about 5 degrees, or little more than ,'5(l() miles, could, I think", be accomplished in one season, and a retrea't to winter quarters effected before the winter set in. As the ice in the Copfiermine Biver breaks up in June, the searching party ought to reach the sea by the bcgiiming of August, which would leave two of the best months of the year for exploring the Polar Sea, viz. Au"ust"and September. ° As it would bo highly desirable that every available d.iy, to the latest period of the season, should be devoted to the search, 1 should ])ropose wintering on the coast in the vicinity of the mouth of the Coppermine Kiver, which would also afford a favourable position frouj which to re-coinmence the search in the followin"- sprin", should the first season ])rove unsuccessful. " ° Of course the object of such an Expedition as I h.ave proposed is not with the view of taking supplies to such a numerous party as Sir ,Iohn Franklin has under his command ; but to find out his position, and acquaint him where a depot of jirovisions would be stored up for himself and crews at my proposed winter ([uarters, where a l)arty should be left to build a house, establish a fishery, and hunt for game, during the absence of the searehin" party. To carry out this plan efficiently, the Hudson's Bay Comjiany should be requested to lend their powerful co-opcration in furnishing guides, supplies of pcmmican, kc, for the party on their route and at winter quarters. AVithout entering into details hero, 1 may observe, that I should consider one boat, combining the necessary requisites in her construction to fit her for either the river navigation or that of the shores of the Polar Sea, would be quite sufficient, with a crew one half sailors, and the other half Canadian boatmen ; the latter to be engaged at Montreal, for which place I would propose leaving ICngland in the month of February. Should such an Expedition even fail in its main object, the discovery of the position of the missing ships and their crews, the long sought-for Polar Passage might be accomplished. Woolwich, 1847. (Signed) R. M'Cormick, R.N. 7li S5 'M J ^ N I II A ■• N i; 1, 'X/ y f^' 7li '■^l*.,! IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) \ ^ // :/. y. y^ ^ 1.0 I.I 1.25 1^ IIM 112.5 1^ l^ 12.2 I ■- Ilia U ill 1.6 P> ^ % *V-!»* ^ %^> ^ Photographic Corporation iV 4^ ^.^' 7H \^" >\ r' B * i t L I E HAM 1 LTCNT' I S U -" N D t'fiilriix /xviUi'n cf till -ii. \\m\ Mniiit I'liVHlmce l)l\isllt'vl)tvk hilol l!((lier HnHl ■ I'lni l'iint\(M (ii/ii Jiiiifi \MV toTiuifk Bav + inp/: /■><■ Hiivm IMkr (iipi DmiieU- 'hiraull (J^ r»vl\,iiii' U:iy C 1 , N W A L L i S I S L A N D ui(H M' Bmtt Li^ Capr Ikmxlen i| W K I. I. I X G r () N I' 11 A .\ N K L . Cape- Speiu»- Iff lliltuim i 1 >^ % \ Qu-n. ./ Mt/n ' lei't EcaU TracJc- f£*di CoatV exflcrul by t^-e'.Bru-'n' h'cpe Skie Jl/X-ordino wAdnjtrxky Ckarl 'Black,, [Spot m- which- d'VL^ho »■'*•' va<:ie"'' htl^w 7-e.v. m- an ( excur^ioru to QuwaZl Tjwer ,^ M^'Cbrrriuik^ Bxj vi hc'wuf yf the.- yMil/l I.M^iur eftkeD.ctar hwhom ictvm duoavn ed. durt>'.^' this Pfrr.loti6 J^aoe ,, ,- , , J- lieaxaorO. V ao ^■^ Nw^S*<:853. .1 () N K S iOr N i> Posaiow dthe- Prwre 7fWaJ^ Au^guft^II* 1 84!^ accerduig Ui Gxptean .'ise kann.^ (_.r,ms up Jonej Sound uid I'l-rxed- oyCaj/nQohiiuj / 1^'- Ji footr-prvU^ ----- NORTH DEVON THACK C'HAUT of tie East Coast of WELLINGTON CHANNEL, and the SHORES OF BAR I N G BAY, Exploied b;' R. M? CORMICK.F.R.C.S, R.N. Comiiiviiiding H. M. BOAT "FOR LORi! HOPE", In Search ol SIR M)H^f FRAXRI.IN. 18 52. J s '' M .1 X rt «. i i *^\w.*^ fJi "> li ,1 V ^*^ H '/hit tirvJuiin :i(i I 7.". HI) I*^ .si tl If. I ufi • M I. r 61 LAST PLAN OF SEARCH FOR THE DISCOVERY OF THE FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN'S EXPEDITION. LAID BEFOEE THE LORDS COMMISSIONEUS OF THE ADMIBAMY AND THB BOTAL GEOGBAPHICAl BOCIBTY, BY ROBERT MCCORMICK, F.R.C.S., ft.N., JANUABY 6, 1857. Reasons for a renewal of the search for further trace, of the Franklin Expedition, and the various routes by which that search may be carried out, consulered m reference to the most eligible plan for reaching the area to be explored, corapris^ King William's Land and the coasts adjacent. The accidental discovc-y of the relics left In the hands of the f ^17-^;^^^^^^^^^ H.er,Wthat..la.tWdortoU...a^ t::rT:lt:;:::^J^^^^-^ e.ons; a .. ..ch. . — . ana ^a^clous, routed :;!.- fail to Jd to the discovery of the Tate .hleh ^^^^^ ^-^^^^Z^Z. and woe, .ay not the What a startling narrative of adventures and discovery ;;-^'^ ;;;"^^;f;,t; ".^d he hands tLt buried it, recovery of a record of their wanderings unfold ; though ^'^ f"^^^;^^£ ^^iTa lie concealed an,ld the be long ago cold and inanimate as the cairn of stones '^-^'^.^^^^J. '^^J ^1 ^^^ the bar.k:-: of the Great fr,zen,'snow.clad cliffs overhanging the ice-bound ^^^^^^l""-'^^'^^^^^ of a further Fish River ? The probability of finding such a ^^.^^-^^J^f^tnt cH^ hlw 1 it Inot be said to be the .arch, were there no other reasons or conunu^ngt^l^^^^^^^^^ J^^ .^ ^,,^^ ^.^,^, only one. The relatives and friends of the lost one , st U po.s v ^ ^^^^ ^^^^ posLn of suspense and anxiety, worse than the dread real, y Itself, cl^g,"^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ Lw be considered delusive hope that survivors wil be ^^^'^J^P ;, ~,7^^„^ ,„,, ..eight to inexperienced and unrefleccing alone, but by those whose posiUc.na^ dg.ent give ^^ ^^ ^^« their opinions, and whose sanguino temperaments make the.n reluctant to resign p remains, albeit the twelfth year of this sad mystery is drawing to a |='°^«- ,^, , ^„„,i,,i,„ In again pressing for another search, I need scarcely say that do ^" ^^'^'^ "^^'^^^^^ ^, ,,,, ^^ ever, i. my^own^nind of the necessity for it, ere this much ^^^^^Z^^^:^^:^^, --'"H «•- As a Surgeon in the Royal Navy, I presume no selfish or '"^«^«^ f'* ">" ^^^„ \^ j;i,,,„„y be.towed on I belong to a class hitherto excluded from sharing in the T-o^^.^'^'^^ -^^ Z^^ Surgeon, no matter officers of every other grade, on the return of each successive ^^^^^^^^^ '^tel of a Pola Passage, a whether he conducted a successful expedition himself, or was one of the discoverers Surgeon he remains. . ,„„„ •i,„j Umii? and mav be comprised iL area to be searched for records is now reduced to within very -~f ^^^'^^^^^^^^^^ .Within this within the parallels of 67° and 74* of laiitude, and the meridians of 94 and 100 ol lo g t 1 Cy2 ppnce lie Peel's Sound, King William's Land, tlie western coast of Boothia, and the estuary of the Great Fish Uiver, Kinj; William's Land itself occupying about 4 degrees of longitude, and U degrees of latitude. This area of search may 1)0 approached from each of the four cardinal points of the compass. Trom the west, by IJehring's Strait; from the east, by Hudson's Bay; from the north, by Barrow's Strait; and from the south, by the Great Fish River. The first route, by Behring's Strait, may be at once discarded, as it is now too late in the sensnn for any attempt in that direction. The vast distance also to the sphere of action is, of ilKclf a groat objection to this route ; for, under the most favourable circumstances, not less than nine or ten montlis must be sacrificed on tlie passage out ; and although a ship's readiing even King William's Land in tlie same season comes within tiie range of possibilitj, it needs no very profound knowledge or experience in ice-navigation to foresee that ibis mu^t greatly depend upon a favourable season. Nothing in nature is more capricious than the movements of ice, under tlie influence, at all times, of winds and currents. Strange fatality ! that the " Enterpri.-e's" sledge parties should have been within the short distance of forhj-Jlve miles of King William's Land witiiout reacliing its sliores,— shores now .so replete with interest. Yet in the vicinity of Cambridge Bay, their winter quarters, niilij 1"2() miles oil; a door-hatch and a piece of iron, supposed to have belonged to the « Erebus" and " Terror," appear to have been found. The second route, by Hudson's Bay, presents three openings; two of them, Chesterfield Inlet and Wager lliver, run up in the direction of the Great Fish River, but the intervening space, though of no great extent, which separates them from the latter river, is said to be rough ground, unfavourable for travelling. The third, Repulse Bay, involves a long overland journey for the transit of a boat of a size recpiircd for tlie navigation of the western sea, first, across the isthmus into Committee Bay, and from thence over Franklin Isthmus to Castor and Pollux lliver. The third route, by Barrow's Strait, oilers 'die choice of three avenues to King William's Land and the Great I'isii River— bv IVIelville Sound, Peel's Sound, and Regent's Inlet. Melville Sound, situate to llie we:,tward of Cape Walker, in the longitude of \()a^ west, is, from the report of the sledging party that explored it, not. navii/oLle for ships at any period of the year, being beset by tremendous ice, frozen to the bottom, and rising in hummocks from fifteen to twenty-five feet in height, the land low, witli oil-lying shoals at the bottom of tiie Sound, about fifty miles of which was not explored, but supposed to be rontlnmm.i. Peel's Sound, lying between North Somerset and Cape Walker, in the longitude of 96o, was also examined by sledging parlies, down to tlie latitude of 7:3'^ (ISO miles beyond this remain unexplored), holds out little better prospect for tlie passage of a ship, from the character given in the report—that it is filled with undisturbed, .mooth lloe-iee, i.giouud, exhibiting no appearance of pressure or tide marks along its flat shores, and rarely, if ever, open to navigation. The smooth ice, however, would be favourable for sledging over, with a ship secured in one cf the inle:s of the coast of Korth Somerset, for the pai-ty to fall back upon. Regent's Inlet, in the longitude of 90'^ West, appears to me the most promising of all the avenues of approach to the area of search. We know that this inlet is rcalh/ navigable for ships, Sir Edward Parry having, in the month of August, in the year Lsl9, passed as far down it, with the «IIeda"aiid « Griper," as Cape Kater, about the latitude of Brentford Bay and Bellot Strait ; and the " ^■ictory, in the autumn of the year 18"2i), reached Felix Harbour, at the bottom of the Gulf of Boothia. I would, therefore, suggest that a small vessel, of some 50 tons burthen, fore and aft rigged, with a crew of a dozen Greenland seamen, and two mates, besides the officer in comnumd, stored and provisioned for eighteen nuniths, should leave this country about Midsummer day, proceed down Prince Regent's Inlet as far as Brentford Bay, and, on the vessel being secured there, a boat and sledge expedition pass at once through the Strait of Beilot into the Western Sea, explore the coast of Boothia down to the magnetic pole, from thence crossing over to Cape Felix, circumnavigate the shores of King William's Laud by boat or sledge, as the presence of water 03 or ice may indicate ; and if successful in discovering a record or otluM- traces of tiio lost expedition, and tin' season an open and favourable one, might jmssihly return fo England the same year. The vessel I have proposed may appear small for such an enterprise. IJatlin, however, in the old "Discovery," a vessel of not greater tonnage, made the circuit of tlio bay which bears his name, and accom- plished more in a few months than have been done since by more ostentatious expeditions. 'I'lic advantages of a small vessel over a large one are manifohl ; — her smaller draught of water, her less liability to injury in a nip, the facility with which she may be worked in narrow leads amongst ice, or beached to repair damages, a smaller crew to provide for, great saving of expense in the general equipment, and lastly, in the event of any disaster to the ship, the smaller the part), the better the chance of escape. Within the area to be searched for records, I do not for one moment expL-ct to find eitlier the " Erebus" or "Terror;" I should just as soon think of looking for them at the Soutii I'ole, as at King William's La.id. I am, nevertheless, fully aware tha^ this is by no means the general impression, and that I am making a bold assertion. I would ask, however, how these ships got there, if Peel and Melville Sounds are nn-cr niiviijahk at any season of the year? for such is the report of the ollioers who e.\[)lored these openings. Through what channel, then, could the ships have passed, unless they had anticipated the discovery of the North-west I'assage by penetrating Prince of Wales' Strait ? AVIiat were they doing during the long interval of fiur vears, unac- counted for, from their departure from winter (piai ^ers, at Beechey Lland, to the discovery of the relics at the mouth of the Great Fish Hiver? Is it probal^le tliat in any position these ship's could have been placed in, siiutli of Barrow's Straits, — the distance is not so groat, — four years would have been allowed to elapse witiiout an attempt to comnmnicato widi the Hudson's Bay settlements? and if such an attempt had been made, can we reasonably suppose that out of the two fine ships' companies, numbering 1.'38 men, for years inured to hardship and exposure, not one should have succeeded in the undertaking? It is more, I think, than ever probable that Sir John Franklin, after making every eiTort to carry out his Instructions, which he most assuredly would do, as long as there was a chance of doing so, finally, fin