Show THE ARCTIC expeditions the northwest passage at last H highly important geographical and geological discoveries thrilling account of a meeting of english officers from the east and west on the 1 ice ac ac from the london times oct 3 important news was yesterday received at the admiralty with reference to the arctic expedition I 1 commander CoT amander inglefield Inglef Ingle fielt iele of her Maje ship PheD phoenix nix has arrived in town and announced to their lordships lord ships the gratifying fact of the safety a S her Maje ship investigators investigator capt mcclure about which great anxiety began to be felt commander inglefield also brings tidings of the discovery of the iwig sought for northwest passage he is the bearer of dispatches des patches from sir edward belcher captain mcclure and captain kel wn letl INK 1140 1100 cocu ot of wr sir john franklins expedition and capt inglefield announces the loss of the breadalbane Bread albane the consort ship hip of the phoenix and the death by drowning of ef a gallant officer of the french imperial navy dent bellot the dispatches des patches thus received are filled with long and highly interesting details connected with the expedition but some idea of the news contained in them may be gathered from the following extracts made from capt Ingle fielda fields official report HER MAJEST VS STEAM SLOOP off thurso oct 4 53 i sir sin I 1 have the honor to report to you for the information of my lords commissioners of the admiralty my arrival from the arctic regions bringing with me tiie the important intelligence of the safety of the investigator and the discovery of the northwest passage though unhappily without finding the slightest tram traces of the missing expedition either by this route or on the field of search bearch occupied by the squadron under sir edward belchers command I 1 am trie bearer of dispatches des patches from that officer and capt kellett and cresswell of the investigator whom I 1 appointed from the north star as supernumerary to this ship is charged with the lottery and journals of commander mcclure As his journal is of considerable length I 1 will endeavor to acquaint you with the substance of it that their lordships lord ships may thus be early informed of the leading features of the investigators dis coteries cohenes co venes veries oui ere i enter into this anis matter I 1 deem it to be my duty doty to acquaint their lordships lord ships with the result of die expedition I 1 have hare the honor to command and though I 1 have carried out oat their lordships lord ships instructions to the letter and I 1 trust to their entire satisfaction it has not been without great difficulty considerable peril to the safety of this vessel and the total loss of the breadalbane Bread albane transport without the loss of a single life this unfortunate event which oc occurred cited on the morning of the of august off beechy island no human haman power could have averted and my own vessel which at that time had the transport actually in tow hardly escaped a similar fate receiving a severe nip which raised the stern ster 1 several feet and arched the quarter deck de destroying s t i the rudder and screw one of the beams forward was sprung and the port bow partially stoves stove breaking one of the riders and forcing in the planking this latter damage there is some doubt may have been sustained in a heavy gale on the morning of the lath of august when the I hip was severely nipped off cape riley the ice ice I 1 1 master is of opinion it was received in mellville bay white while forcing a passage under full steam some heavy ice however this may be I 1 have little doubt but that for the solid nature of the towage stowage of our hold bold and the strengthen ings fitted in england we must have shared the same fate as the unfortunate breadalbane Bread albane commander inglefield then proceeds to give a narrative of the principal events connected with V the die expedition of the phoenix from the time of their arrival arriva tat at disco in this statement he makes the follo following whig mention of the death of M bellott a brave and enterprising frenchman who seems to have been beem attracted to these explorations in the arctic from the very dangers by which they are surrounded captain inglefield writing on the of august a moment of extreme peril to himself says while thus employed I 1 received by an official letter from capt pullen a copy of which I 1 enclose marked L 1 a report of the melancholy intelligence telli gence of the death of M N bellot who had been sent by capt pullen on his return during my absence to acquaint me of odthe the same name and to carry on the original des patches to bir edward belcher this unfortunate occurrence took place on the night of the gale when M bellot with two men was driven off from the shore on a floe and shortly after while reconnoitering reconnoiter ing from the top of a hummock he was blown off by a violent gust of wind into a deep crack in the ice and perished by drowning the two men were saved raved by a comparative miracle and after driving about thirty hours without food were enabled to land and rejoin their follow fellow travellers trav ellers who gave them provisions and then returned to the ship bringing back in safety the he dispatches des patches but three of them fit subjects only for invaliding invalid ing I 1 the despatch proceeds with the following illus I 1 of what arctic navigation is I 1 the ice closing again obliged us to quit cape riley before midnight and in endeavoring to push the ships into a bight in the land floe the phoenix phenix touched the ground but came off again without damage ama the e whole night was spent in struggling to get the ai ships into a place of security but tho the ice drove both bo vowels vessels fast to the westward when at am of the of august the ice closing all round both vessels were secured to a floe adloe edge but with steam ready to push through the instant the ice should loosen shortly however a rapid run of the outer floo floe to the westward placed the in the most perilous condition I 1 ordered the hands bands to be I 1 turned up not that aught could be done but to be ready in case of the worst to provide for their aa safety feta the ice however easing off having severely verel y nipped this vessel passed astern to the which ship either received the pressure less law favorably or was less equal to the emergency for it passed through her starboard bow and in less than fifteen minutes she sank in thirty fathoms of f water giving the people barely time to save themselves and leaving the wreck of abbat a boat only to mark the spot where the ice had closed over her anticipating such a catastrophe I 1 got ever the stern of the phenix as soon as the transport was struck and was beside her when she filled and can unhesitatingly state that no power could have saved her fortunately nearly the whole of the government stores had been landed having taken on board the shipwrecked crew every precaution was used with regard to the safety of her Maje steam vessel vend but it was not tn til the morning of the of august that we succeeded in getting her bar to a safe position in erebus erbus a and terror bay y where the ship was again secured to the land floe another example of the same kind occurs fur far ther on and is as follows we arrived at lieveld disco on the ath of september and immediately commenced coaling the barometer threatening a southerly u atherly gale induced me to pass through the i gat to escape it an and d in i the darkness of night running under fun full sail and steam we were nearly going gaoing stem on to an iceberg feet in height tar to avoid which we rounded to within half pistol shot of a rock at the entrance of the Moli gute and which I 1 tho not laid down in the charts we supposed the ship was well clear of A strong set through the channel to the northward must have caused the deception the following extract from the despatch may interest geologists at lieveld I 1 obtained information of a coal mine about twenty five miles from the harbor on the southern shore of the island and I 1 am told that the coal to be obtained here is ir in such quantities that a ship might take 1000 tons for burong in stoves it is preferred by the danes to english coal I 1 obtained a sufficient quantity of an inferior sort to mike trial in our boilers A copy of the he chief engineers report I 1 enclose marked L 7 aud and J have retained on board four casks of this fuel for their lordships lord ships disposal the latter part of captain Ingle fields despatch is chiefly occupied by a summary of the news from the searching squadrons and especially of the discoveries made by capt mcclure in the in he says and now sir I 1 beg to narrate in a summary manner the intelligence gleaned from the searching equations squad ions and first with reference to sir edward belcher I 1 have but little else to say but that he wintered in a spot he had named northumberland um berland sound in latitude N and longitude 97 W near the position now marked in the the charts of wellington channel as cape sir john franklin from capt rullen pullen I 1 learned hearnen ti noi t ii io 1 0 o of f tire the missing ex expedition tion had been met w with ith either by t this his is or g the a western branch of the searching squadron and that it was evidently the intention of sir edward belcher to return to beechy island as soon as possible for the rest sir edwards dispatches des patches will convoy convey all further farther details capt kellett wintered at dealy island melville island he had bad a narrow escape of losing his ship on the night of his departure from beechy island she grounded off cape colborn and was only got off after the ice had set down upon her casting her over on her broadside and with the loss of sixty feet of her false keel it was a party from his vessel that discovered the despatch of capt mcclure at winter harbor and was thus led to the investigators position a brief account of the voyage and discoveries of which vessel I 1 will now relate their lordships lord ships will remember that it was on the ath of august 1850 that the investigator was last seen running to the northeastward with att studding idding sails set they rounded point barrow wi with ith nine much difficulty at the river colville in deg W they were detained some days and then thick weather fogs and contrary winds set in the latter proving rather an advantage as it kept the ice fee open and the necessity of working t to 0 windward between the polar pack and the grad gradually sloping shore gave them the m means e a ng 0 of f avoiding dangers on the of au august gu s t th they ey reached the mouth of the mackenzie the pack at this point being upwards of ninety miles distant ou on the they were off bathurst when at cape parry open water to the north ward induced capt mcclure to push posh for banks land and when about 60 miles from this thia cape ape c they fell in with an unknown coast which was named baring island passing up a strait between this island and a coast that was called prince alberts laud land they reached the latitude of 73 d deg where ice impeded their further progress re the season suddenly changing the ship was beset and forced to winter on the pack drifting Dri fling to the southward they were ultimately frozen up in lat N long in ng W the traveling parties in the spring found no traces of the missing expedition hut but discovered and laid down much of the adjacent coasts on the of july 1851 the ice broke up and freeing the ship an endeavor was made to push to the northward no athward towards melville island but an impenetrable pack in lat N long W precluded their completing what their autumn traveling parti parties elit had proved to be the northwest passage an attempt was now made to round the southern shore of baring island and proceed up the west side and with great peril to the vessel they succeeded in reaching as far as lat and long w where here they were frozen in on the of september Sep r 1851 and have never been able to move the ship their record was deposited at winter harbor the year following mcclintockk McClin tocks visit while employed on capt aus tens expedition there then we are two remarkable discoveries mentioned in capt mcclures mcclunes McC lures journal viz some smoking hillocks aud and a petrified forest he also states that during his intercourse with the natives he only once met with any hostile demonstrations this occa occurred at point warren near the mackenzie where on attempting to land two natives with threatening threat ning g gestures t waved d them ot on it was not without ai much u difficulty that they were pacified and then they related that all their tribe but the chief and his sick nick son had fled on seeing the ship alleging as a reason that they feared the ship had bad come to revenge the death of a white man they had murdered some time ago they the interpreter related that some white men had come there in a boat and that they built themselves a house bouse and lived there at last las t the natives murdered one and the others escaped they know not where but the murdered man waa buried in a spot they pointed out A thick fog coming on prevented captain mcclare from examining this locality which is much tobe regretted as here is the probable position where a boat party endeavoring to return by the mackenzie would have encamped I 1 have now only to tar state farther for their lord ships information on this thin head that commodore I 1 mcclure had made arrangements for deserting abe ship hip to have been carried out a few days later than the opportune arrival of the officer fronk from the 1 1 resolute and that capt kellett sent his hi surgeon I 1 to report upon the health of the crew he also desired that should there not be among them twenty men who would volunteer to remain another winter capt mcclure was to desert his I 1 vessel the intrepid was expected at beechy Is in 1 land with the crew and sir edward belcher had ordered the north star to be prepared on her arrival to proceed to england sailing on the lat of septem september r and to leave the intrepid at beechy island in her stead I 1 have now in concluding the intelligence gained concerning the arctic searching squadrons to ac acquaint quint their lordships lord ships of the dangerous position in which the north star passed the winter shortly after I 1 left beechy island last year in my yacht the isabel babel a violent gale which I 1 encountered fa n the straits drove the north star on shore where she remained during the whole winter and was only got off this spring without much difficulty is in natural history we are an able to add a large collection of minerals to our museums nearly 1000 1000 specimens of ores and earthy substances have been obtained at different parts of the coast of greenland specimens also of the flower leaf and root plants of all kinds we have met with are carefully preserved and such crustaceous and other creatures from the animal kingdom as our limited means have allowed us to collects collect are prepared for the naturalists natura lists A careful meteorological journal has been kept a tide register at Hol steinburg and a great many observations made on the direction dip and force of the magnet these have been carried on by bv mr staunton and the late lamented M bellot bellai whose industry in this branch of science is well wed proved by the mass of valuable matter he has left behind him I 1 have only now to beg that their lordships lord ships will accent my ansti assurance ranee of the perfect satisfaction I 1 have received in the conduct of every officer and man in the expedition during a period of incessant labor continual hardships and frequently imminent peril each line done his duty with a zeal seal and alacrity that I 1 find it hard to individualize the following despatch gives a |