Show A the northwest passage massage i A i I 1 i since ethe the period when 1 aver three cent centuries u i ries rles and anda a ha hait halt I 1 ago Christopher 1 columbus wa wandered from V country c oun try to country cot lutry endeavoring to convert the courts of europe to the belief beilek that a western passage was possible from the old world to the indies the minds of navigators have never ceased at to be agitated by the same question under differ ent forms and of after ter cape horn had been dou bled the icebound ice bound problems of the magnetic pole and communication by water with aia agia remained reum renu ined unsolved and continued so until the expeditions connected with the search for sir john frinklin fraaklin enabled geographers to lay ay down positive positively lyon on their thein chares charts what had bad previously been mere matter of theory and conjecture we have received a pamphlet printed by order of the house of commons which contains the report of the select committee op appointed pointed to inquire into lato the circumstances of the expedition tf the fhe arctic seas commanded by capt mcclnne mcclune of the british navy with a view view to ascertain the il nature or ot the services er vices rendered to science by him self and his crew and it appears beyond a doubt that he and those under his command were the first human beings of whom a record ia is to be found in history who penetrated from ocean to ocean in irk the arctic zone and ani as maury bijas hag has remarked put a girdle round the great continent of america mcclure the investigator command commanded pd by capt mcclure mcclare passed northwards from bearings deit Beh rings rings straits in the month of july silly 1850 with the object of arching searching sp for sir john franklin from the western ih eide aide of the american coni eaf euf euf eat as other vessels IP had bad already looked for idiart from th the e eastern within a few days clays of oie oile ole month from the time c when she passed caplis gisburne burne I 1 the investigator had reached cope cape Bat bathurst hurst burst having baying in ill the interval threaded her course amidst sand banks and heavy masses of ice a great portion of the timp time enveloped in thick fog where the lead was the only guide in september she ulde made baring 11 or banka island and thed then went up a strait to which capt mcclure gave the nam name of the prince of wales which he be explored for the first time although t the fie same service was soon apon after still till more effectually i bally performed and to a greater distance by capt aap t collinson on the of october cap f AT me clure ciure made expedition to point russel hussel on the same longitude and sixty unies miles south of the tho place reached by sir E parro from the east in 1820 from which at an elevation of six hundred feet lie he was enabled to see stretching hing bing out in tha th distance tance the vast frozen waters of parry ormell or mell meil ville sound confirming con confirming firmin to his mind that in that t direction a northwest north west pas passage age from the pacific to the atlantic ocean 0 cean certainly certain 1 y existed e 11 and that he was near to where parry had formerly come before him hierom mom pom from rom another direction ile he was not destined however to penetrate to the east at that nime nume time nearly two tivo year years of su frering suffering and inactivity were to elapse e apse before he be should accomplish accompli h I 1 th the task and then not by his own will but in consequence of the chan chart ane ame yie yle lie exertions of if capt 1 kellett who sent relief to him from the east arld and enabled him to pass through to be beechy achy island the investigator was frozen in i n at the upper end of prince of wales strait where she remained until july of the following year 1851 capt me clure ciure then returned southward and resolved to dersie persie ners pers ie the hardy and aal unprecedented course of sailing round baring island into parry sound it is this part of his expedition which most re bounds to his honor rounding bounding nelsons belsons Nel sons head had he be battled his hh way towards the north dorth around the western coast of baring island making for the first time what he calls in his despatch the teni terii ble passage cf of that terrible polar sea until after many nany providential escapes he succeeded in bring bringing 3 I 1 his ship into a bay never visited before 0 on n the tire northern coast which in thankfulness for his ill reservation eser be appropriately called the bay of mercy here he be was destined to remain for nineteen month months and might have perished but for a fortunate inspiration in april 1852 which induced him to cross over to winter harbor on mellville island in a sledge and there to depolite dep osite a cahn dr dei containing a summary of his proceedings this cylinder was found by capt kellett the ue next at october and to it capt dic sic mcclure clure olure probably owed his preservation on tite the tiie ath of april 1855 one year after his I 1 expedition to mellville island he received a communication muni mani cation catlon brought by pim pirn who had been dispatched by capt kellett wh wb ch induced him lo 10 start on the very next day for dealy island a small island civille island which he be reached on the oa on the aj of june following lie he determined ter mined to leave the invests investigator gator y 11 in the bay of mercy on the of august he quitted dealy island with his crew in capt kellette Kel letts ship resolute remained near cape care cockburn whet e they were were frozen in until the loth of april 1854 proceeded thence by sledge one hundred and eighty miles to join the north star at beechy island sailed saied down barrow straits strait and was transferred to the phoenix early in sep september ember and ar or lived at cork oi oa the of or the same month hav bay ing been four years and eight months in acquiring the hi high 6 11 honor of having effected for the first time II 11 the passage between the great atlantic and pacific oceans the testimony of the physician of the resolute dr domville is clear upon the point that the state of capt McC mcclures mcclunes lures lunes crew crent was such when pira pun arrived that they never could bave ave reached the east and would probably not have been able to reg ret retrace trace frace their stepa steps westward if aid had hill not arrived and the committee of the house of commons have therefore awarded high pilles prizes to cap kellett as well as to capt collinson for the services i ces which they also rendered the committee closes its report by saying that whatever may haie been the extent of services ret tet rendered dered derad by others it may litte rally raily be said that it was I 1 he spirit of sir john franklin which pointed out the way it never can be forgotten that it kwas iwas inthe in the attempt lo 10 trace race his steps thattie that the path of 0 f mcclure e was successfully pursued and only because men worthy to be his bis followers went w aare here they hoped alil arid bellev ear that h be e it had ad already gone before it appears earl eari s indeed f from ro ra the ahe evidence gge ence received by t the Wc e ommittee bat that there exist two passages from th thi atlantic to the pacific the birst first pursued by mc mcclun 0 ure n which is nearly hearly ilear lylon on a s straight line be between t een 74 4 do dee deg and 75 de latitude and which is practicably useless for purposes of navigation and the second down peel sound and victoria strait into dease Str hits and thence into prince albert sound which separates the continent from bading baring island no ode one has ever made this second passage from ocean to ocean but aut the mouth of back river where the remains of sir john franklin were found constitutes a central point to which it is ls is 19 proved that be penetrated n through barrow strait arid arld peel X pound t i n Z from the east while capt collinson reached neatly the same spot in 1833 1853 from the west by way of dease straits capt collinson positively establishes the fact that this latter chatiner clia cha Tinel tinei expands into the great outlet of peel sound and states that but for the want of f fuel it el it he a should have gone that way into barrow strait and so homeland home and it is the declared opinion n ion lon of sir james ross sir jolli join richardson oli captain tain kellett mr rae mr air sir roderick R erick murchison capt washington and other ers that no doubt can exist of the fact tact that sir john franklins franklin ships a fragment of one of which was found by captain calinson Co linson in dress strait probably drifted down peel sound at least as far as the northern Noi nol thern coast of kin nin king ning william island there are about ninety miles of victo victoria ria strait of which it must be said that no rio record as yet exists that it hag has been explored but hut of which id s known that sir john franklin left atone and was found at a the other and this short hort distance is all that is now required to establish the fact on the maps oti of the precise course of the whole oe of tife the two water passages from the east to lo the west across the arctic zorie zone what practical results may be attained b by the recent discoveries which have cost so mili much expense of time lime money and life it is 13 not easy eavy to foretell tile tiie passage discovered by mcclune mcclure was declared by those who were examined before the committee of the house of commons all chiq hi own testimony was equally strong with that of others to be ile impracticable for any ay useful end sir roderick murchison however believed that a really navi navigable zabie zable track for vessels may be found down peel sound in tie tiie tle direction pursued by franklin and that the route capt collinson took is likely to become the course which whalers chalers and other ships will follow for mercantile purposes 2 the committee in their report and several of the gentlemen from whom evidence was taken paid a biall compliment to those in america especially I 1 ally mr grinnell Grm nell neil who have sent expedition expeditions I 1 to the north worth we could wish that while doing I 1 so they had not fallen into the old error of denoi denom 1 grinnel land albert landas land aa hey they I 1 have done in the valuable chart which illustrates their thor labors the british admiralty conceded last year that to american enter I 1 prise belongs the priority of discovery at th the e 1 northern outlet of wellington channel and the promise was niven given iven that the name bestowed by our navigators upon the frozen pro promontory montor should be henceforth given to it in the admiralty maps N Y journal of commerce |