Show THE successful FRANKLIN expedition it will be remembered that the fox effected het her escape out of the main pack in davies straits in 63 12 1 2 de deg N on april 1858 after a winters ice drift of 1194 geographical miles the small settlement of Hol was reached rached re on the and such very scanty supplies obtained as the place afforded on may 8 our voyage was wag recommenced God haven and upernavik visited melville bay entered early in june and crossed to cape york by the here some natives were communicated with they immediately recognized n i zed mr peterson our interpreter formerly k known to them in the grinnell expedition under dr kane in reply to our inquiries inqui ingui ries rles for the Esqui maux dog driver hans left behind from the advance in 18 1858 8 they told us that he was residing at wha whale ae sound had he been teen there I 1 woul would most gladly have em barked him as his I 1 longing on unabated n 0 to return to south greenland continues unabated on july communicated with the cape carender Wa render natives near cape horsburgh they had not seen any ships since the visit of the phoenix nix in 1854 1354 nor have any wrecks ever drifted upon their shores it was not until 1 july that we reached ponds inlet owing to a most unusual prevalence of ice in the northern portion of baffino Baff ins bay and which rendered our progress since leaving Hol one of increasing struggle without steam power we could have done nothing here only one old woman and a boy were found but they served to pilot us up the inlet for 25 miles when we arrived at their village for about a week we were in cr constant instant and most interesting communication with these friendly people eople briefly the information T obtained from them was that nothing whatever respecting the franklin expedition had come to their knowledge nor had any wrecks within the last 20 0 or r 30 years reach reached edth their ir shores the remains of three wrecked ships are known to them two of these appear to have been the chalers whalers dexterity and aurora wrecked in angust august ajie wust must 1821 seventy or eighty miles southward of ponds inlet the third vessel now almost buried in the sand lies a few miles east of 0 cape hay this people communicate every winter with the tribes at igloos they all knew of parrys ships having wintered there in 1822 3 and had heard of late years of dr raes visit to repulse bay describing his boats as similar to our whaleboat and his hia party as living in tents within snow enow houses smoking pipes shooting reindeer ein eln deer ar none died aney remained er there r e only one winter no rumor of the lost elpe has reached them within ponds inlet the natives told us the ice decays away every year but so long as any remains whales abound several large whales were seen b by us and we found among the natives a consil considerable lerable quantity of whalebone and many hals horns which they were anxious to barter for knives files saws rifles and wool they drew us some rude charts of the inlet showing that it expands into an e extensive channel bookin looking r westward into prince re regents 0 inlet we coald could not but regret that none of our own awn whaling friends from whom we had recently received so much kindness were here to profit by so favorable an opportunity leaving ponds inlet on the tile august we reached beechy island on the lith and landed a handsome marble tablet sent on board for this purpose by lady franklin bearing an appropriate prop inscription to the memory of our lost countryman in the erebus and terror the provisions and stores seemed in perfect atter ardiee but bat a small boat was much dain damaged aged from havin been turned over and rolled along the beach by y a storm the roof of the house received some necessary repairs having embarked some some coal and stores we sto odan need of ane touched at cape Hot Ho thamon bamon the cwb 16 b we ive sailed down peel strait for 25 miles on in the but finding finding the remainder of this 4 iannel covered by bynn une ung broken ice I 1 determined ta make for bellot strait anthe on the of Augus aogus examined into supplies remaining at port leo leopold and left there a whaleboat whale boat which we brought away from ca cape p e hotham for the purpose so as us in our retreat should we be obliged eventually to abandon the fox foxa the steam launch had been forced higher up oa on the beach and somewhat damaged by the ie I 1 e prince regents inlet was unusually free from ice but very little was seen during our run down to brentford bay which we reached an on the august oar our wintering position was at the east cast cn en cramme to baijot strait in a snug harbor which I 1 hart liaa named port kennedy after my predecessor th h these waters the commander for tor one nf tf lady franklina Franklins former searching eppedi eions vegetation was tolerably toler loler ably bun dant and our two Esqui maux hunters mr peterson and several sportsmen constantly on the tha alert yet the resources of the country during eleven months and a half only yielded us eight reindeer two bears eighteen seals and a few water fowl and ptarmigan the winter was unusually cold and stormy arrangements were completed during daring the win ter for carrying out our intended plan of search I 1 felt it to be my duty personally to visit marshal island and in so doing proposed to complete the circuit of king william island I 1 to hobson holson I 1 allott allotted ed the search of the western shore bhore of boothia to the magnetic pole and from gateshead Gate shead island jesward to furthest capt allen alien young our sailing master was to trace the shore of prince of wales land from brownes furthest and also to examine the coast from bellot strait northward to sir james grosss furthest early spring journeys were commenced on the of february 1859 by Cap and myself capt young carrying his depot across aaros i to prince of Wal wai wales esland land while I 1 went southward toward the magnetic pole in the hope of communicating with wll wil the Esqui maux and obtaining such information as might lead us at once to the object of our search I 1 was accompanied by mr peterson our in interpreter ter preter and alexander thompson quartermaster we had with us two sledges drawn by dogs oa on feb 28 when near cape victoria mie vie ve had the good fortune to meet a small arty party of natives native sand and were subsequently visited by ey about forty five individuals for four days we remained in communication with them obtain obtaining g many relics relies and the information that sever several a Y years yearb m s ago a ship was I 1 crushed by the ice off t F the north shore off king king william island but that all her people landed canted safely and went away to the great fish river where they died this tribe was well supplied with wood obtained they said from a boat left by the white men on the great river we reached our vessel after 26 days ab sence in good health but somewhat reduced by sharp marching and the unusually severe weather to which we had been exposed for several days after starting the mercury continued frozen on the ad of april our ion lon long iong projected spring journeys were commenced hobson ac companied companies compa nied me as far as cape victoria each of 0 us had a sledge drawn by four men andar and an auxiliary sledge draw jay six dogs this was all the force ve vie could muster before separating we saw two Esqui mau maux families living out upon the ice in snow huts from them we learned that a second ship had been seen oll oil king william island and that she drifted ashore on the fall of the same year from this ship they had obtained olita ined a vast dal deal of wood and iron I 1 now gave lieutenant lieu Liea tenant hobson directions to search for the toe wreck and follow up any traces he mi might it find U upon on kin ein king 0 Wil william liani island accompanied accompanied by my own party and mr peterson I 1 marched along the east cast shore of king william island occasionally passing deserted snow enow huts but without meeting natives till the etli of 0 may when oft off cape norton we arrived at a snow village containing about abou 30 inhabitants they gathered about us without the slightest appearance of fear or shyness although none noue had ever been seen jiving white people before they were most willing to communicate muni cate all their knowledge and barter all their goods moods but would have stolen everything hadtke had they ti not been very closely watched many more relics re ics acs of our countrymen were obtained we could coald not carry away all we might have purchased they pointed to the 1 inlet we had crossed the day before and told us that one days march up it and from thence four days overland brought them to the wreck none of these people had been there since 1857 8 at which time they said but little re bained their countrymen having 1 carried away almost everything most alost of our information was received from an intelligent old woman she said it was in the fall of the year that the ship was forced ashore many of the white men dropped by the way as they went toward the great river M lver iver but this was only known to th them p m in the winter following when there bodies were discovered they all assured us that we would find natives upon the boath south shore at the great river and some few at the wreck but unfortunately this was not the case only one family was met with ot oil point booth and none at montreal island or any place subsequently visited point ogle montreal island and barrow borrow island were searched without find finding ing anything e except a few scraps of copper and iron irow in an Es hiding place Re crossing the strait to kig king william island we continued the examination of it its iti 3 southern shore without success Buc suc cess ceas until th of bf may alay whan when about ten miles mues eastward of cape herschell Her Iler bleached skeleton was wag found around which lay fragments of european cl clothing othin upon carefully removing the snow enow a small pocketbook pocket book was found containing a few lett iett letters s much decayed decay edmay ipa y yet be deciphered judging from the remains of his hia dress this unfortunate young man was a steward or officers servant and his position exactly verified the Es au marxs assertion that they dropped as they walked along on in reaching cape herschel next day we examined S im ns cairn or rather what remains of it ulises is only four feet high and the central stones have been rem reno ved ived as if by men beekin seeking beeking something within it my impression at the time and which I 1 still retain is 13 tb at were posted deposited de there by there the re treating treating crews and subsequently removed by the natives after parting from me at victoria on the april hobson made for cape fel ix at a short distance westward of ithe found a very large cairn and close to it three small tents with blankets old clothes and other relics of a shooting or a magnetic station but although the cairn was dug derand un a trench dug all round it at a distance of ten feet no record was discovered A piece of blank pa per eer er folded up was found in the cairn and two broken bottles which may perhaps have contained records lay beside it among some stones which had fallen frohoff the top the most interesting of the articles discovered here including a boats ensign were brought away by mr robson hobson hob rob son SOD about two miles further farther to the southwest a small cairn was found but neither records nor relics obtained about three miles north of point victory a second sma small smail 11 cairn was examined but on only I 1 y a broken pickax and empty canister found on ath may blay leut aleut hobson pitched his tent beside a large cairn upon point victory ly ing among some loose stones which had fallen from the top of this cairn was found a small tin case containing a record the substance of which is briefly aa as follows this cairn was I 1 i built by the franklin expedition upon the asi burned site of james janes roses pillar which had not been found the erebus and terror spent their first winter at beechy island Islan dafter after having ascended wellington channel to lat 7 deg N and returned b by y lath lith the ie west side of cornwallis island on the september 1840 1846 they were beset in lat 70 deg 05 min N and ion 93 08 de deg 23 min IV sirk sirl sir J franklin died on the lith june 1847 on the april 1848 the ships were abandoned five leagues to the of 0 point victory and the survivors in number i landed here under the command of ier this paper was dated april 1848 and upon the following day they intended to start for the great fish river the total loss by deaths in the expedition up to this date was nine officers and fifteen men A vast ty of clothing and stores of all botts lay strewed about as if here ever every arti artl articie article c le j was thrown away which could possibly pos poa sibly be d dispensed with pickaxes pick axes sh shovels oveis boats cookin cooking 0 utensils iron work rope blocks canvas a dip circle a sextant engraved fredric hornby R N a small smail medicine che ac A few miles sou across back bay a second record was found having been depos cited by gore and af des vaux in may alay 1847 it afforded no additional information continued his search until within a few days march of cape herschel without finding any trace of the wreck or of natives ile he left full information of his important discoveries for me therefore when returning northward by the west shore of king william island I 1 had the advantage ge of know in what had already been found soon oon aft after er leaving cape herschel the traces of natives became less numerous and lessee cent and after rounding the west point of the island they ceased alt ait altogether 0 ether this shore is extremely low and abst almost utterly destitute of vegetation numerous banks of shinie shingle and low islets lie off it and beyond these I 1 victoria ictoria strait is covered with heavy and impenetrable packed ice when in lat 00 0 deg 09 min N and long iong 99 deg 27 min IV we came cams to a large boat boa t discovered by hobson a few days previously sly as his notice informed me it ap pears blat that this boat had been intended for the ascenc the fish river but was abandoned apparently upon a return journey to the ships the sledge upon which she was mounted being be in pointed 1 in that direction sae siye measured 21 28 feet in length by 75 75 feet wid ewas most carefully fitte fitted Tand and made as light as possible but the sledge was of sold oak and almost as heavy a as the boal boat A large quantity of clothing lothing was found within her also two human ake skeletons legons le tons one of i these lay in the after part of the boat under a pile of clothing the other which was much i more disturbed probably by animals wast was 11 found in in the bow five pocket watched a quantity of silver spoons and forks and a few religious books were also found but n no 0 journals pocket books or even names naine i u dpn 1 m an any artic articles jes of the clothing two daubl double e barret barrel barrei j ed guns stood upright against the boub boua side core more precisely as they had iad been placed eleven years before one barrei barrel in each via wag dd and cocked thre vas was mas ammunition in also 30 or 40 pounds of ta and tobacco fuel wag was not wana want wanting ting a drift tree 7 lay within yards of the boat many very inte resin rebin relics were brought away by hobson and some fe few by myself on the ath of june I 1 rach reached pd point victory without having found anything further the clothing ai was again examined for documents notebooks note books ac 1 success a record placed in the cairn ams an 11 aether mother ae ther then buried ten feet true north of it 11 nothing worthy of remark mccurr KI |