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' 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^ i n 3^ A BEAVE MAN AND HIS BELONGINGS : BEING SOME PAK.JAGES IN THE LIFE OP Sm JOM FRANKLIN, M., F.R.S., K.C.H., Ac. &c., FIRST DISCOVERER OF THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE. LONDON: TRISTED BY S. TAYLOR. GRAYSTOKE PLACE, FETTER LANE, IIOLBORN, E.C. 187 4. I I i I 'i'jf^*?«m'w^ SI THIS FRAGMENTARY RECORD Js M^tixomUl^ iebirat^ir to (At IT WAS «.-oiirii4KD roR) SIR JOHN FRANKLIN'S GRANDCHILDREN AND HIS GREAT NEPHEvVS AND NIECES. ' I 1 c 1 I "\ (I a li t t r c c t( A BRAVE MAN AND HIS BELONGINGS. " In battle fearless, and in danger brave, " Bearing his country's red -cross flag aloft, " Triumphant over foes and elements, — " No peril stopp'd him !" Some time since I was asked by a young lady to lend her a " good Biography of Sir •'John Franklin." I was unable to comply with her request, and I was obliged moreover to tell her that no such Work existed. The regret which I felt made me ask myself, *'Why has **not Franklin's Life been written?" His was a memorable, a picturesque, and an interesting life, from its stirring and adventurous beginning to its tragic and hidden close ; and it appeared to me that the story of it ought to be told. I reflected, however, that it is very doubtful if it can ever be well and truly told now, — for those who could have supplied the materials for the first, and not the least interesting part of his career, have passed, or are rapidly passing away to another world. For the sake then of the young generation of B 2 A BRAVE MAN hi3 direct and collateral descendants, who have been taii(>;ht to revere his name, wliile they have very little information about his character and history, I undertook to write down such par- ticulars of Franklin's life as I could collect or remember. The materials at my command consisted chiefly of letters and papers in the possession of the relatives of his first wife, who was ray mother's sister, and tliis circumstance explains why, in the following pages, the brief romance of Franklin's first marriage is dwelt on with more detail than that of any other part of his career. But the letters, alas, are few in number. ]\Iany have been destroyed, which belonged to elder merabeis of the family (now no longer living) with whom Sir John was in constant and familiar correspondence, and from those which remain, and from some other sources, I have only been able to compile a meagre, though I trust an accurate, account and picture of his 1 I address thiir. account specially to you, m V ^ o^ung cousins, ar.d to my own children ; you will find here none, or but few, of the thrilling incidents of Arctic adventure. Those you can read for yourselves in the published accounts of Franklin's Voyages and Travels, and my object has been to set before you the man himself, rather than the perils and dangers he under- went in the cause of science and in the service of his country. I have a short paper before me, in the writing of one of Franklin's nieces, which I found tied in with a bundle of letters, and which seems to have been drawn up — though in very laconic fashion — with a view to forming a sketch of AND HIS BELONQINQS. 3 Franldin's life; but, unfortunately, it goes no further than the year 1822 I It has this heading. " Iq battle fearless, and in danger brare, " Bearing his country's red-cross flag aloft, " Triumphant over foea and elemeutS| " No peril stopp'd him." I think, probably, the paper was dictated by- Franklin's first wife, and that the lines are her own composing. I follow this paper in my succeeding pages, p^nd also a brief memoir of Franklin, written some years since by his faithful friend Sir John Richardson, in the "Encyclo- paedia Britannica." John Franklin was born in 1786 at Spilsby, in Lincolnshire, and was the youngest of foiu: brothers, who all proved themselves to be men of talent and energy. The eldest raised a Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry, and was given the colonelcy of it by the Lord Lieutenant of his county. One, Sir Willingham Franklin, be- came judge at Madras, and another — Major James Franklin, of the Bengal Service — was highly distinguished for his scientific acquire- ments, which procured him the Fellowship of the Royal Society; he would doubtless have risen in fame, had not death early cut short a career of dawning brilliancy. Of this numerous family there remains only one male descendant of the name of Franklin, who is now a gaUant young midshipman in her Majesty's navy. John, the youngest son, was destined for the Church by his father, and received the first rudiments of education at St. Ives; he after- wards went to Louth Grammar School, where he remained two years; but having employed b2 lABaJ^' i W iiiiiHMiHiiiiHiiiiii lUte^sssr 4 A BRAVE MAN a holiday in walking twelve miles with a com- panion to look at the eea, which he had never seen np to that time, his imagination was so impressed by the grandeur of the sight that some former predilections for a sea-life were confirmed, and he determined to be a sailor. His father, hoping to dispel what he considered a boyish fancy, sent him in a small merchant- ship to Lisbon, knowing there would be many discomforts on the voyage. A totally dijBferent effect was produced ; he was made much of by the captain, feasted upon Portugal oranges and grapes, and returned home by no means dis- gusted with the experiment made. His father, finding that he was still bent on the naval pro- fession, entered him on bof^.r'' the Polyphe^'jus 74, Vice-Admiral Lawford, at the age of four- teen. Young Franklin soon had a taste of the perils and the glories of the life he had chosen ; the Polyphemus led the line at the battle of Copenhagen — Nelson's hardest fought battle — in 1801 ; the boy escaped without a wound, while a brother midshipman was killed at his side. Two months after the battle of Copenhagen, John Franklin joined the Investigator, discovery ship, commanded by his relative Capt. Flinders, and under the training of that able scientific officer, the lad repaired any disadvantages which the early close of his school days might have entailed. The Investigator bore him to the then almost unknown coasts of Australia; during the expedition young Franklin had abundant opportunities, which were not neglected, of ac- quiring both practical seiimanship and the more difficult branches of nautical surveying. It is I K Kt AND HIS BELONGINGS. 9 recorded that on account of his steadiness he was ahrays one of the midshipmen selected to attend the captain, when he made excnrsiona on shore, for surveying or other scientific pur- poses, and he used to tell of the greeting of the then Governor of New South Wales (father of the well-known Captain Philip Parker King) ** Well, Mr. Tycho Brahe, and how are you?" The widow of Governor King delighted in her later years to dwell upon her recollections of the young midshipman, who was an especial favorite with her. In 1803, the Investigator having been pro- nounced unfit for service, Captai/r Flinders and young Franklin embarked on board the Porpoise in order to return to England to (solicit another ship for the completion of the survey. A new experience awaited Franklin, for the Porpoise (an armed storeship commanded by Captain Fowler) and the Cato, which accompanied her, were wrecked in the night of the 18th August on a coral reef on the East Coast of Australia, and the crews of the two vessels, 94 persons in number, remained for eight weeks on a narrow sand-bank not more than 150 fathoms long, and rising only four feet above the water. They were only rescued thi ough the heroic exertions of Captain Flinders, who, having made a voyage to Port Jackson of 250 leagues in an open boat along a savage coast, returned to their relief with a ship and two schooners. Truly those were days when a boy bent on going to sea might reckon on a full share of adventures ! Franklin was now parted from his relative Capt. Flinders, and accompanying Lieut. Fowler A BRAVE MAN to Canton, they obtained a passage to England in the Hon. East India Company's Earl Camden, the ship of Sir Nathaniel Dance, Commodore of the China fleet. In this ship Franklin took part in his second naval battle, for Sir Nathaniel, on the homeward-bound pRSsage, had the honour of repulsing a strong French squadron, under Admiral Linois. Fowler assisted the Commo- dore with his professional advice in the action, and young Frankhn performed the important duty of signal midshipman. On reaching England he joined the Belle- rophon, and one is not surprised to find that he was again entrusted with the signals, and executed the duty with his accustomed coolness and intrepidity at the great battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Sir John Ricliardson relates that those stationed around young Franklin on the poop fell fast under the fire of the enemy, and were all, with four or five exceptions, killed or wounded. The commander of the Bellerophon, Captain Cooke, also fell in the action. Franklin escaped unhurt ! How I should like to see the letters he wrote to his brothers and sisters after the en- gagement, and I should like, too, to see those in •which he related the trials of his shipwreck, and his eight weeks' imprisonment on that coral reef — if, indeed he did relate them. He was not more than eighteen at the battle of Trafalgar, and during the five years he had been in the navy he had taken an active part in three im- portant battles, and had endured a tedious ship- wreck. Did he during those eiglit weeks, when death was staring him in the lace, regret his choice of a sea life ? I wonder if any of his /. AND HIS BELONGINGS. » letters, when a middy, have been preserved? He now served for two years in the Channel fleet, and then joined the Bedford, in which ship he served for more than seven years, and gained the rank of Lieutenant. Ho was still fighting — in the blockade of Flushing — on the coast of Portugal — and in other parts of the world. At the attack on New Orleans, in 1814, he greatly dis- tinguished himself when, as first Lieutenant, he commanded the engagement with the enemy's gunboats, and took the first gunboat captured. In this action he received a slight vvound — so far as I know, the only one he had recei^'ed in the numerous engagements in which he had taken part. Hitherto we have seen him a daring but trusted Midshipman, a gallant and active Lieu- tenant, "in battle fearless, and in danger ** brave;" but from th^.s time a change came over his manner of life, and he was now to face dangers not less formidable indeed, but of a dif- ferent character. Whether he had ever revisited his Lincolnshire home during the years which had passed since the attainment of his boyish wiah to go to sea, I cannot tell. But we will hope so ; and that at some brief intervals he had brightened the family circle with his presence, and astonished it by his stirring tales of battle and shipwreck, though the modesty of his nature would have prevented his ' Vilingly making him- self the hero of his narratives. For the first time, the brief record I am fol- lowing mentions that he *' remamed on shore " till 1818," probably from the time that peace was proclaimed in England ; for Sir John Rich- ■nmpmppmnMiiMVM 8 A BRA.VE MAN ardson says of the same epoch, that "peace " being established, Franklin turned his atten- " tion to the scientific branch of his profession, " as affording scope for his talents." And now began his connection with that series of voyages of Arctic discovery through which his name has become so well and so honour- ably known to his countrymen and throughout the civilised world. "There is yet one thing "left undone whereby a greatjmind may be- " come notable," wrote worthy Master Purchas more than two centuries ago. That one deed was the discovery of the North- West Passage to the Indies. Many long years afterwards the words of the good Dean of St. Paul's sounded like a trumpet-call to his countrymen, and many an aspiring spirit essayed to do that deed whereby bright honours and immortality were to be won.* The discovery of the North- West Passage was at this time occupying the attention of the English Government, and Franklin, in common with the then leading men of science, was soon eager in the cause. Sir Joseph Banks, then President of the Royal Society, recommended him to the Admiralty as a proper .officer to be employed in Arctic discovery, and accordingly he was given the command of the Trent, the second ship under Captain Buchan, who himself commanded the Dorothea. This latter vessel received so much injury in the endeavour to penetrate beyond the ice-bound coast of Spitz- bergen, that the voyage had be given up, ♦ From a paper in " Once a Week," by Captain Sherrard Osborne, B.N. .tl AND HIS BELONGINQS. 9 « Franklin'8 earnest entreaty to be allowed to go on alone being naturally refused by his chief. Thus was Franklin one of the four Arctic navi- gators in the first ship expeditions of the pre- sent century for reaching the North Pole, and for the discovery of the North- West Passage. The others were Buchan, John Ross, and Parry, each commanding his own ship. Ross and Parry, in command of the Isabella and the Alexander, took a different route from Buchan and Franklin. Having, in the expedition under Buchan, fully proved his calmness in danger and fertility of resource, Franklin was, with full confidence in his ability and exertion, placed, in 1819, in com- mand of another expedition appointed to travel through Rupert's Land to the shores of the Arctic Sea. I should not wonder if some of my youngor readers should here mentally ask themselves a question which has often been asked of me, and which is sometimes asked scornfully, viz., *' What is the use of the North- West Passage?" and ** Why should so many brave and good men have endured such intense hardship and toil, even many of them sacrificing their lives in order to discover a route which if proved to be passable, could never, fi-om the great diffi- culties it presents, become practically useful ? " I confess I have often been puzzled to answer the question; but my difficulty only resulted from my own ignorance and that of my ques- tioners. Scientific men would never doubt the value of the discovery of the North- West Pas- sage, i.e., the actual existence of a water com- 10 A BRAVE MAN munication between the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. It is of the utmost importance to science that every portion of our glol^e should be sur- veyed and mapped, and it is impossible to esti- mate the loss, while any part remains unexplored, BO significant are the bearings which every por- tion of scientific knowledge has on every other portion. By the discovery of the North-West Passage, then, is to be understood not so much the planning a particular route, as the fur- nishing of missing links in the great chain of scientific investigation, the absence of which is an incalculable loss to the scientific world. To return to Lieutenant Franklin, whom we left (in 1819) about for the first time to command an Arctic Expedition. Sir John Richardson remarks, after mentioning his friend's peculiar qualifications for such a command (which I have already specified), that to these he added an ardent desire to promote science for its own sake, and not merely for the distinction which eminence in it confers. ** Added to this," he continues, *' Franklin had a cheerful buoyancy *' of mind, which, sustained by religious principle ** of a dppth known only to his most intimate ** friends, was not depressed in the most gloomy '» times." At this period, so little was known in England of the country through which Franklin was to travel, that the route he was to pursue was left pretty much to his own judgment, guided by the information he might be able to collect from the Hudson's Bay Company's servants. The Expedition was called an "Overland Expedi- tion," Le.y instead of sailing northward in well AND HIS BELONGINGS. 11 ^. found ships which would afford them warmth and shelter in tlie winter, these brave men embarked in one of the Company^s ships, which on their arrival at Hudson's Bay they quitted, and trusted entirely to the boats with which they were provided, and which for the greater portion of their journeyings they carried for considerable distances overland, together with all their ammunition, provisions, and other stores. This added enormously to their hardships, wliich in any case must have been tremendous. Large acquisitions were gained for science in geographical and other knowledge as the fruit of this expedition, but the adventurous ex- plorers underwent frightful privations and trials. Franklin on his returu to England in 1 822 wrote an account of their travels, and the history of their hardships, as told in his own manly and unaffected language, undoubtedly presents a noble picture of heroic exertion and patient endurance, and excited universal interest and commiseration. To quote the glowing words of 8ir L. M'Clintock, *'It was a tale of suffering "and endeavour which flushes the cheek and '*dims the eye of the most phlegmatic of " readers." During his absence Franklin had been pro- moted to be a Commander in the Navy, and on his return he was raised to the rank of Post- Captain, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. And now, I think, he must have reposed on his laurels for three years ; the first lengthened period of real rest which he had taken, so far as I can find, since he first went to sea 23 years eoK^ 12 A BRAVE MAN before. He was now 36 years of age, and about this time dates my first recollection of him. I was a very little girl in 1822-3, but I per- fectly remember Captain Franklin at the time he married my aunt Eleanor Porden. I remem- ber sitting on his knee and playing with his epaulettes, for naval officers at that time wore their uniforms habitually; and it seems to me that I cannot recollect Captain Franklin in any dress but his uniform. You would, perhaps, be interested in knowing my recollection of his personal appearance ? I have not the art of word-painting enough at command to give it you. A portrait which was painted of him about this time by Phillips, the Koyal Academician, has been photographed, and copies of this photograph might be procured by any of you, Franklin's young descendants. This photograph, which I possess, quite confirms my remembrance of him as he looked in middle life in 1825-30; and he was not much altered when I said farewell to him in 1845 (he was then in his 60th year), a few days before he sailed on that last fatal voyage. His features and expres- sion were grave and mild, and very benignant; his build thoroughly that of a sailor ; his stature rather below the middle height; his look very kind and his manner very quiet, though not without a certain dignity, as of one accustomed to command others. You can, however, judge for yourselves what manner of man he was out- wardly, from the statue which has been placed opposite the United Service Club in Waterloo Place, which gives a tolerably faithful repre- sentation of him. I wish I were competent to 'U AND HIS BELONGINGS. 13 offer you a ** mental photograph " of Sir John Franklin, but I think even the few extracts I shall be able to give from his letters will show that he had a kind, affectionate disposition, and was a thoroughly upright man. Of his courage, energy, and ability there is no need to speak ; and of his sincerely religious tone of mind I have already told you what is said by his friend, {Sir John Richardson. I may add that I have heard those of Captain Franklin's nieces, who knew him most intimately, gratefully tell how much they owed to him in the deepening of the inner life to their own consciousness ; showing them, in a manner they had not realised until they knew him, what it is to have the daily life and conversation under the influence of direct Christian principle. Among the memoranda they lent me I have found a *' phrenological character " of Captain Franklin, by the once celebrated Spurzheim. It was probably drawn up about the year 1825, as at that time Spurzheim was lecturing in London, and the world of fashion was crowding to hear him, and to submit their heads to his manipula- tion, that they might learn what ** bumps *' they had ; some even going so far as to say that the choice of a career in life ought to be regu- lated by the opinion of the phrenologist as to the conformation of the skull and the charac- teristics indicated thereby. However this may be, the " Phrenological Character of Captain •' Franklin " is a correct one in its more salient points, and as ifc_ is not long, I have copied it for your amusement. u A BRAVE MAN Phrenological Character given by Spurzheim, Captain Fra nklin . •' Fond of children. " Attachment to persons and native home very strong. ** Somewhat violent, but speedily reclaimed by benevo- ** lence and justice. " Indignant at any act of injustice to others ; so much " so as to appear officious to some. " Powers of an author, mechanic, or artist. " Not disregarding property. ** Disposed to good humour and cheerfulness, bordering *' upon wit." " Not at a loss to contrive. ** Memory for locality. " Fondness for first principles. " Fond of mathematics. " Great fondness for travelling, assisted by hope. He " always looks to the bri<;htest side of the question. " No despondency. Great benevolence, and disposition " to give to others around him. " Want of supernaturaiity very strong. " He likes books of natural history and books of voyages " and travels ; in short, he likes facts, not fiction. " Fondness for music, but not a critic ; if he plays, not a " professor. "No hesitation in answering questions, though suflSi- "ciently cautious. " Love of approbation very large. " Does not care about things being in order." I have said that Captain Franklin married in 1823, and you must forgive me if 1 digress fiomewhat from my subject to give you a little sketch of his first wife, Eleanor Porden, the grandmother and great aunt of those to whom I am chiefly addressing myself, for she was a very remarkable person. Her father, an architect of fiome eminence, opened his house habitually to . all the literary and other " lions " of his day. AND HIS BELONGINGS. 15 ^.} Eleanor was the youngest of his ten children, all of whom died in infancy, except two. Those two were daughters, and, singidarly enough, they were the eldest and the youngest of the family. There were, consequently, many years between them, and the elder sister married when Eleanor was quite a child. She thus grew up as the only daughter in her parents* house, and, having developed at a very early age uncommon intellectual and poetic talent, found herself while yet a girl the centre of a literary circle, who rendered to her genius a homage which they had per- haps better have withheld, while they gave to her amiability a love which it deserved and commanded. Posterity has not endorsed the verdict which admiring friends accorded to Miss Porden's poems; but they undoubtedly had great merit, and were, indeed, remarkable productions for a young girl. She wrote an epic poem in two volumes, called "Cceur de Lion," which I have read more than once with great interest, and a clever scientific poem (allegorising the Rosicrucian system) called " The Veils." For this latter poem she received the honour of being made a member of the far- famed "Institut" of Paris. I have by me an interesting letter written by her to the lady who bad been her governess, in which she describes with much modesty and ingenuousness how, when she was visiting Paris with her lather, in 1816, she being then a girl of nineteen, she had " a gratification that has been enjoyed by very '* few ladies - besides myself, that of being '* present at a seance of the Institut. I felt a 16 A BRAVE MAN ** little uncomfortable at first, but am now ** pleased to have been, to have seen and been '* introduced to some of the greatest men in *' France, particularly Laplace and Cuvier, and, ** above all, to have heard the latter, who is " reckoned the most eloquent man in the king- ** dom, read a long memoir on a new species of ** cuttlefish," &c. &c. So, although as I have said, the name of Eleanor Porden is not inscribed on the roll of English poetesses who have achieved an enduring reputation, we may take pleasure in the thought that her talent and intel- lect procured her much legitimate enjoyment during her short lifetime. I find a note addressed to her by the elder D' Israeli, who was one of Mr. Porden's circle of acquaintance, which is couched in terms of almost dangerous praise for a young aspirant for fame, and many of the literary men who frequented Mr. Porden's house indulged themselves in a similar strain, when perhaps a little friendly criticism would have been more wholesome ; but Eleanor's sweetness and modesty never forsook her, and she never allowed her bookish tastes to interfere with her domestic duties or her devotion to her parents. I have heard that as she was about one day to attend a scientific lecture at the Royal Society in company with a young lady friend — I think the young lady was Flaxman's sister-in-law — a man, I will not say a gentleman, who was behind them, and evidently not an advocate for the '* higher education of women," remarked in a loud tone, " how foolish of those young women " to be squeezing in here to hear a scientific " lecture, they had far better stay at home and AND HIS BELONOi^GS. 17 make a pudding.'* One of the young ladies (I think it was Miss Porden) turned round and said to him good-humouredly, *' We did that before we came out," which was literally true. Mr. Porden and his friends had a sort of club for ventilating their literary productions, which was called the '* Attic Chest;'' to this his daughter was, of course, a frequent contributor. You will find at the end of this little volume two short pieces by Miss Porden, not written, how- ever, for the '* Attic Chest," which, I think, will please you. One is a valentine addressed to her little niece, which may contrast not unfavourably with many children's valentines of the present day; the other little poem is a jeu d' esprit in which she assumes the character of an Esqui- maux girl, whom she supposes to have given her heart to Captain Franklin, and to be ardently longing for his return. This Arctic damsel, whom the officers of the *' Overland Expedition" had for some reason or other named " Green'* *' stockings," had evidently been a topic of con- versation between Eleanor Porden and her admirer Captain Franklin. Miss Porden's poetic talent was in fact the immediate cause of her making Franklin's ac- quaintance. A poem she had written on the subject of Arctic Exploration, which was then engrossing a large share of public attention, met his eye, and he was so pleased with her enthusiasm that he begged her to do him the honour of visiting his ships, then newly returned from the Arctic shores. A party was formed for the purpose, and the acquaintance thus begun n m i TK 'sttaa-'vmtr.** 18 A T^RAVE MAN ripened into intimacy, and eventually led to an engagement of marriage. Mr. Porden died in 1822 ; his wife had died the previous year. Eleanor had nursed them both tenderly and devotedly— her mother espe- cially — through a long period of decaying health and painful sickness, and had materially enfee- bled her own health by her zeal in these sacred duties. A severe illness followed her release from them; but at length, on the 19th August, 1823, she became the wife of Captain Franklin. One stipulation was made by the sailor-bride- groom. His country was his first love, his pro- fession was his first duty, and his bride was to hold herself ready to give him up whensoever and on what service soever that country and that profession might require. And his bride made him a solemn promise never^ under any circum- stances, to try to turn him aside from the duty he owed to his country and his profession, though she knew that it was to the imminent peril of Arctic research that he had pledged himself. She ratified this promise with the patriotic words, *' I am an Englishwoman," and nobly she kept her vow. Their brief married life was a very happy one, till Mrs. Franklin's health began to decline. They had a house in Devonshire-street, Port- land-place, and Mrs. Franklin's playful wit and genuine amiability rendered the house charming to their many friends and acquaintances. Crabb Robinson was one of their intimates, as you may see by his entertaining diary. Mrs. Frank- lin's young nieces were frequent visitors; one of them was not so very far removed in age i AMD HIS BELONQINQS. 19 from the young aunt. Their intercourse was like that of sisters, and I have two or three letters before me belonging to this period which give evidence of the enthusiasm with which she regarded the gallant Captain who had now be- come so near a relative. " I do not know," she writes to her aunt, " when I have been so happy •' as the few days I was with you, and Green- ** wich will be endeared to me by thinking of ** you." And after indulging in some girlish fun, wishing she were a boy that she might have gone to sea, and so on, she adds : " I am afraid " you will think this a scrambling, mad sort of ** letter, but it is all you and the Captain. I " never knew any one improve so much on ** acquaintance." A little later on, some pre- sents are made to these young nieces, I sup- pose of jewellery, for their mother writes : — ** Indeed Eleanor, I fear you and the Captain " have bestowed too much expense on them ; " simpler things would have been equally valued " by the girls as their uncle's gift." And she adds, as many mothers of our own day might, with perhaps greater reason : '* How one's ideas " have expanded on subjects of dress, espe- " cially since you and 1 were at the same ages. " We should not — at least, I should not —have *• thought it would be consistent to have worn ** anything so magnificent." On the 3rd June, 1824, Captain Franklin's only child was born — a daughter — who received her mother's name of Eleanor. I think soon after the birth of this daughter Mrs. Franklin's health began to give way, but no particular ap- prehension was felt about her till tho following C2 20 A BRAVE MAN winter, when severe cough greatly reduced her strength. I have beside me a sweet little note addressed to her by Miss Flaxman — for the gentle-hearted sculptor and. his family had always been intimate friends of Eleanor and her sister — lamenting that "prudence would *' forbid" — Captain Franklin said — her joining their circle on New Year's Day, 1825 ; but, adds she, "We must trust entirely to the Captain " in this case ; we know how precious your " health must be to him." The note is signed *' Moth," the pseudonym by which Miss Flax- man had been wont to sign her contributions to the " Attic Chest." Precious indeed must the health of his young wife have now been to Franklin's heart, for he was about to leave her for those perilous Arctic regions ; and when winter should next bring family gatherings, and make anxious friends bestow double care on tender invalids, who would be near to watch over his fragile Eleanor ? He would be shut up with his brave companions in that dismal frozen darkness whose horrors he knew so well. But he never wavered in his purpose, nor did she ever attempt to dissuade him from what they both considered the path of duty and honour. After that New Year's Day Mrs. Franklin never improved materially in strength, and I doubt if the hospitable wish expressed in Miss Flaxman's note, "that another day may soon " come when we may have you in our chimney- " corner without the fear of your suffering in " consequence," was ever realised. Captain Franklin sailed in command of another AND HIS BELONGINGS. 21 Arctic Expedition on the IGth February, 1825. He left England with the knowledge that his wife was in a most precarious state of health, and that they might in all probability never meet again in this world. Decline was talked of by her doctors, but they appear not to have apprehended immediate danger, aud Franklins sanguine disposition led him to the most hopeful view of her state. Mrs. Franklin knew the danger she was in, but would not speak of it, lest she should damp her husband's energy when he had need of so much ; nor would she allow him to delay his departure by a day. Her bright cheerfulness never forsook her. Propped up on her sofa by pillows, on account of her great weakness, she made with her own hands the flag which he was to bear aloft to the scene of his battle with the elements.* But the strain and the excitement and the deep grief of parting must have had an injurious effect on her feeble frame. Six days after her husband had sailed she breathed her last, at the age of twenty-nine. Her sister watched over her with devoted affection, and the warm-hearted voung niece was with her too, and had a place m the prayer with which the dying mother commended her infant to the love and care of the Father in heaven. "For you two," she Baid (speaking of her niece and her infant daugh- ter), "1 feel no anxiety. Would that my heart *' were as calm when I think of my husband!" or words to that effect. I have heard, too, that * See the reference to this flag in FraDklin's letters from America. ..iSj^ 22 A BRAVE MAN fihe said to her sister, " I hope that neither oi " your girls will become an authoress. I do not " think that such pursuits conduce to the happi- " ness of women." Yet she had been as an authoress singularly free from the heartburnings and jealousy which the search after fame is said to engender, and had been dearly loved by all who knew her. I think we do not often meet with a more touching "romance of real life " than Franklin's short-lived happiness in his first marriage and the heroic self-abnegation of the wife who loved him so devotedly, I have found a most in- teresting series of letters belonging to this period, and extending from March, 1825, to September, 1826. It was to me most affecting to read four letters — the four, of course, earliest in the series — addressed to the wife who had breathed her last six days before the first letter was begun. This first letter, written at sea at intervals between the 1st and the 15th March, contains a lively description of what Franklin calls a " very pleasant and favourable passage " to New York, with sketches of his travelling companions, the officers who were to accompany him in his Arctic Expedition. The party were at that time performing what must have been to them quite a holiday trip — they were sailing in the Columbia, American packet-ship for New York, and were thence to proceed across the continent of North America to Great Bear Lake, where would be their first winter quarters; after leaving which the more imminent perils and toils of the Expedition would begin. I extract the following passage. AND HIS BELONGINGS. 23 '^ as it shews us Captain Franklin in a new character : — "On Sunday morning I was ag'-oeably sur- prised by the captain's requesting me to read our service, which I did most willingly, taking care to alter or omit the parts in which £ thought the American part of the congrega- tion could not be expected to join.* We really felt happy in the opportunity of uniting our praise and thanksgiving with theirs, and of offering up our fervent prayers that ' the inhabitants of our respective countries may, in peace and quietness, serve Thee our God, and that we may return in safety to enjoy the blessings of the land with a thankful re- membrance of Thy mercies, and to praise and glorify Thy Holy Name,' which is the con- clusion of the beautiful prayer (modified for the occasion) directed to be used daily at sea." The writer continues : — " I need scarcely add, my earnest supplica- tions were then and have ever been since our separation oflFered on your*s and our dear baby's behalf. I have every hope that it will please God to restore you to health, and that we shall meet after the lapse of a few short years to unite in thanksgiving and prayer to the Almighty, and to enjoy each other's and our dear child's society. I shall cherish this hope as a spur to my exertion, and as the beacon to which I wish to attain," and there if (( t< tt «t <( i( i( i( (i 4i, 50 A BRAVE MAN as the discoverers ot the South Polar land, and its two gigantic volcanoes. In the very same ships, which had made this wonderful voyage fthe Erebus and the Terror J, did Franklin and Crozier four years later sail for the North Polar regions, never to return ! I had a special interest in the Terror, as my brother, then a lieutenant in the navy, had sailed in her under Captain Crozier. He only performed the first part of the voyage, however, for being of a scientific turn, Sir James Ross, the superior officer of the expedition, left him at Hobarton in charge of the Magnetic Obser- vatory there, to carry on a series of Antarctic observations in connection with the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Of course his hours of relaxation from veiy hard work, were chiefly passed with the Franklins at Government House. In the missionary spirit which Dr. Arnold (no mean judge of character), in the lei:ter I have quoted, ascribed to Sir John Franklin, did he, while Governor, found the College in Hobar- ton and largely endow it from hie private means, anxious that it should eventually prove the channel of affording to all, religious and secular instruction of the highest kind. To Dr. Arnold did Franklin apply, to recom- m' d for his College a head master, who should be a *' Christian, a gentleman, and ** a scholar — a member of one of our Uni- ** versities — a man of ability and vigour of " character — to become the father of the ** education of a whole quarter of the globe.'* Thus writes Dr. Arnold to one of his favourite i I AND HIS BELONGINGS. 51 te 'i pupils, John Philip Gell, whom he rightly judged to possess as fair a title to the necessary qualifications as he could hope to find in any man, and to whom he proposes to undertake the great work: — "It is a most noble field," con- tinues Arnold, "and in Franklin himself you " will have a fellow labourer, and a Governor " with and under whom it would do one's heart ** good to work." Mr. Gell was not backward in responding to this appeal, and he laboured diligently and conscientiously amid many diffi- culties, for a considerable period of time, to build up the College according to the intentions of its founder, both in concert with Sir John and after he had left the colony. Franklin's Governorship lasted for seven years. To the people of Tasmania he endeared him- self greatly, and when he departed from among them, he was attended to the place of embark- ation by the most numerous assemblage of all NoTB. — While I have been engaged in drawing up these memoranda, a letter has beer ut me to read, written by a lady visiting Tasmania, dateu February, 1873, and I have been allowed to make this extract from it." We are ver ** much struck here by the way in whi<'> everyone se*'ms to " look back to Sir John Franklin's days he^^e, its the ^ Iden " days of Tasmania, and he certainly seems in a very " remarkable manner to have been the Governor who di I " nearly everything that ever was done for th colony. " Both he and Lady Franklin are spoken of vith the " greatest veneration. There is an old man who drives " the Sandy Bay car in and out of Hobarton, who was "once a faitbful servant of Lady Franklin's, and -'' iks " with great affection of her and of Sir John. He ' ^ two " cars, which he has in fond memory named ^Sir John " Fianklio,' and ' Lady Franklin.' I am sorry to say they " are both very jolty and uncomfortable !" e2 i 52 A BRAVE MAX ^ I classes of people which had ever been seen on those shores, the recently consecrated Bishop of Tasmania walking at their head. (The erection of Tasmamia into a See had been greatly promoted ty Sir John's exertions and repre- sentations.) A local paper, after describing the scene in much detail, adds, "thus departed from ** among us, as true and upright a Governor as " ever the destinies of a British colony were *' entrusted to." Years afterwards, the colonists testified to their remembrance of his virtues by subscribing £1,700, which they transmitted to Lady Franklin, as their contribution to the ex- pense of the search then going on in the unfathomable Arctic regions, for their late beloved Governor. Sir John and his family returned to England in 1844. That year found England with a surplus revenue, and a vast body of naval officers begging for employment, and eager for any opportunity of winning honours and dis- tinction. The ships, Erebus and Terror, safe and sound from the perils of Sir James Ross' late successful Antarctic expedition, were riding at anchor off Woolwich. All was most propitious for carrying out the darling object of the then venerable Secretary of the Admiralty, Sir John Barrow, the achievement of the greatest problem man ever undertook to solve (so says Captain Sherard Osborne), the Disco w ry of the North- west Passage. The summer of 1844 saw many an eager face poring over the Arctic Chart, still in an unsatisfactory condition. Many an en- thusiastic officer strove hard, by zeal and interest, to insure being one of those selected H BHUf"i p lJ i a wr tM^ Hr> t T^^. i AND HIS BELONGINGS. 53 for the glorious work. Then it was that Fitz- james, and such men as Graham Gore, Fairholme, Hodgson, and Des Voeux succeeded in enrolling themselves on the list of the chosen few who were to sail for the far North-west. Two of the persons I loved best in the world, at that period of my life, would certainly have been on that list had they not been forcibly prevented — my sailor brother, who had served under Sir John in the simny Mediterranean, and would willingly have served under him in the icy North, had he not been detained by duty in his charge of the Magnetic Observatory at the Antipodes ; and my sailor brother-in-law, who had fought many battles against ice and snow under Franklin, and would have fought in this last campaign under him, had God so willed it — but he was summoned by sudden illness into the presence of the Great Commander of all, a few months before the expedition sailed, and one of Franklin's last offices of mercy in England was the task of consoling his widowed niece, and of following the remains of her brave husband to their last resting place. It was that niece to whom reference has so often been made in these pages. Captain Fitzjames, a young and rising naval officer, distinguished for talent and energy, was marked out at one time, by public opinion, as likely to be appointed to the command of this new Arctic expedition, had not 8ir John Franklin, recently returned from the Governor- ship of Tasmania, been heard to say that he considered the post to be his birthright, as the senior Arctic explorer in England. Sanguine of 54 A BRAVE MAN success, forgetful of past suifering, he claimed his right to command the latest, as he had led the earliest, of modern Arctic expeditions. Directly it was known that he would go if asked, the Admiralty were of course only too glad to avail themselves of his experience, but Lord Haddington, then First Lord, with that kindness which ever distinguished him, sug- gested that Franklin might well rest at home on his laurels. ** I might find a good excuse for ** not letting you go, Sir John," said he, " in the " tell-tale record, which informs me that you are ** 60 years of age." ** No, no, my lord," was Franklin's rejoinder, "I am only 59!'' Before such earnestness, all scruples yielded — the offer was officially made and accepted — to Sir John Franklin was confided the Arctic Expedition, consisting of H.M.S. Erebus, in which he hoisted his pendant, and H.M.S. Terror, commanded by Captain Crozier, who had recently accompanied Sir James Ross in his wonderful voyage to the Antarctic Seas. Fitzjames was second in com- mand to Franklin in the Erebus. How well I remember that month of May, 1845 ! It would be strange if I did not, for it is the month in which I was married, and my last recollection of dear Sir John Franklin is asso- ciated with that important epoch of my life. Two days previously, at a social gathering which Lady Franklii^ had assembled, in order that his more intimate friends might have the oppor- tunity of exchanging a few words with Sir John before he sailed into the far North, he took me aside, and in the kindest manner expressed his regret that he should not be able, as he had iu- AND HIS BELONGINGS 55 ' tended, to be present at my marriage, where his daughter was to officiate as bridesmaid, as some important business connected with the Erebus and Terror was fixed for the same day, and his presence on board was indispensable. How little I thought that this was the last time I should ever hear his kind voice ! How long did we hope, even against hope, for tidings from him ! How often have I dreamt that he was again among us in England ! On the 19th May, 1845, the gallant ships weighed anchor, and, full of hope, the Arctic Expedition sailed on the ill-fated voyage. A month they sailed across the Atlantic before they reached their first halting place. Disco, or the Whale-fish Islands, on the west coast of Greenland. Thither a store-ship had accompanied them from England, in order that the Expedition might be completed with every necessary up to the latest moment before enter- ing the Polar ice. That voyage of 30 days had served to make the officers and men thoroughly acquainted with their chief, and with each other. Of him, the warm-hearted Fitzjames writes, ** That Sir John was delightful, that all had be- ** come very fond of him, and that he appeared " remarkable for ennrgetic decision in an emer- ** gency. The officers were remarkable for good *' teeling, good humour, and great talents, whilst ** the men were tine hearty sailors, mostly from " the northern sea-ports." The Erebus and Terror were last seen by a whaler, on the 2Gth July, in Baffin's Bay, two months after they had left England. All was then proceeding prosperously, and for two yeard 56 A BRAVE MAN I more, tidings were not expected. In tlie autumn of 1847, however, public anxiety began to be manifested for the fate of the discoverers, and presently as months and years rolled on without bringing news of them, expeditions were des- patched in search of them. Not till 1850 were any traces of the missing ships discovered, when, on Beechey Island, were found vestiges which showed that there had their first winter (1845-( ) been passed. The ruins and traces of an observatory, of shooting-galleries, and a cairn or pyramid 8 feet high, elaborately constructed of old meat-tins filled with gravel, all tell the tale of manful anxiety for physical employment to distract the mind from solitude and privations. The three months' darkness and twilight of an Arctic winter need all the relief which can be afforded by the slender resources available for amusement and employment ; and the officers of an Arctic expedition have to exert themselves in giving lectures, acting plays, R ISABELLA, WIFE or TUB REV. JOHN PHILIP OELL. (Incumbent of St. John\ XottiixQ Hill, in the County of MiddUsex.) lu Fititli, and Oharity, and Holine^is she adorne