cumbered with ice to the distance of four or land, and ascended the hill, and then saw five miles all round them, while the strait that the ice in Barrow's Strait was all adrift was generally as clear and navigable as any and broken up, to the utmost limits of vision part of the Atlantic." Before the last Com-assisted by a telescope.' On the 10th of mittee, M'Clintock stated that there was no July, as we learn from Oshornappearance of the sea being navigable west of Melville Island — and then followed some questions by Parry: - the whole of the ice to the southward of Melville Sir E. Parry. Does that remark apply to Purry. State whereabouts in your opinion it was likely to be navigable to the south of Melville Island. M'Clintock. I think to the east of Winter Harbor. Parry. — Then you think a ship could probably get to the southward and westward more easily to the eastward of Winter Harbor, than by going on to the west part of Melville Island? M'Clintock. Yes. When Parry himself was off the east end of Melville Island, he found his soundings uniformly increase as he went to the south. In standing to the southward, we had gradually deepened the soundings to 105 fathoms." Here is proof of deep water in the direction Franklin was ordered to take; nor is there any evidence to show that there may not be, at certain seasons, a navigable sea to the south, which may lead, as M'Clintock supposes, far to the west of the Parry group. Of Penny's parties one followed the western and the other the eastern side of Wel lington Channel, until both were stopped by reaching open water. Captain Stewart, on the east, or rather north side of the channel, reached Cape Becher 30th May; from hence he could see water washing the land all along, with much broke-up ice in the offing. Mr. Goodsir, on the opposite shore, first saw open water from Disappointment Bay on the 20th of May. To the west an open channel appeared. Penny himself, traversing the channel from south to north, reached the islands which divide the strait into three narrow channels. From Point Surprise, on the north of Baillie Hamilton island, he beheld a vast expanse of open water, and here, he tells us, "the expression that escaped me was, 'No one will ever reach Sir John Franklin; here we are, and no traces are to be found;' so we returned to the sledges very much disappointed." (Suth. ii. 132.) Determining to prosecute the search further in a boat, he returned to the ships with all speed, and succeeded in getting a boat to the edge of the water by the 17th of June, but a succession of contrary gales prevented him after all from getting further than Baring Island-though there was open water to the north-west. He got back to his ships on the 25th of July. Towards the close of June the ice in Barrow's Strait broke up. Mr. Stewart, under date of the 27th, writes: "I went to the west in Barrow's Strait, except between GrifNot a particle of ice was to be seen east or fith's Island and Cape Martyr, where, some ten where else a clear sea spread itself, sparkling and miles from the water, and in the centre of a fixed floe, our unlucky squadron was jammed. Everybreaking under a fresh southerly breeze. Surely this must have taught our young lieutenant that it was very possible for a naviga ble sea to exist, at some miles' distance from an ice-bound coast. It was August before the ships were free. Captain Austin then addressed an official note to Penny, distinctly asking "whether you consider that the search of Wellington Strait, made by the expedition under your charge, is so far satisfactory as to render a further prosecution in that direction, if practicable, unnecessary?" The reply When I saw Sir John Ross taken in tow by Captain Austin, from this moment I was deter mined I should go home before him, and had great cause to be satisfied with the decision, for I had every reason to suppose that disrepute would be thrown upon what we had done, and I told this to my officers. Penny's Evidence. Pushing forward with all speed, Penny arrived in London on the 12th of September. Austin's ships explored the entrances of Jones' Sound and Smith's Sound, and did not reach home for a fortnight or three weeks later. In the mean time Mr. Penny addressed a letter to the Admiralty, asserting his conviction that the missing expedition had gone up Wellington Channel, and that "its course should be therein followed with the utmost energy, determination, and despatch." This suggestion was so contrary to the spirit of his note to Austin on the 11th of August, that he was called on by the Admiralty to transmit a copy of his official correspondence. In place of doing so, he made statements to the effect that he had entreated Captain Austin to give him a steamer to make an effort to get up Wellington Channel, and | Fitzjames there is, under date of June 6, that his last words to Austin were, "Go up 1845, one very remarkable passage :Wellington Channel, sir, and you will do good service to the cause.' As the result of these, and other statements of a like kind, a committee of Arctic officers was appointed to inquire into the circumstances. They properly came to the conclusion that Captain Austin could put only one construction on Mr. Penny's letters, and would not have been justified in commencing a fresh search in a direction concerning which he naturally considered himself to have received the most authentic information. At the time when open water was discovered high up Wellington Channel the sea in every other direction was covered with solid ice. The fact is remarkable, whatever conclusion may be drawn from it. The prevalent opinion seems to be that Franklin, having learnt at his winter-quarters the existence of this open water, thenceforth directed all his energies to meet it, and succeeded in the attempt. There are, however, not inconsiderable difficulties in the way of this supposition. Be it conceded that in the summer of 1846 Franklin found the entrance of the channel open, and knew of the sea beyond it, does it follow, as matter of certainty, that he would take that course? The mere fact of a prospect of open water to the north might not appear to him of much importance, as it is commonly found throughout the winter at the head of Baffin's Bay and in gulfs on the coast of Greenland, where the tide, as in Wellington Channel, runs high and sets strongly. We know that Sir John Barrow warned Franklin and his officers against attempting Wellington Channelnot because it night be closed, but because, as far as experience went, it was always entirely free from ice-no one venturing to conjecture to what extent it might go, or into what difficulties it might lead. — Mangles, 37, 38. We have seen what his Instructions were; and Richardson observes : It is admitted by all who are intimately acquainted with Sir John Franklin, that his first endeavor would be to act up to the letter of his Instructions. At dinner to-day Sir John gave us a pleasant account of his expectations of being able to get disbelief in the idea that there is open sea to the through the ice on the coast of America, and his northward. He also said he believed it possible to reach the pole over the ice by wintering at Spitzbergen, and going in the spring, before the ice broke up and drifted to the south, as it did with Parry on it. — Mangles, 78. To our mind these words are conclusive as to Franklin's hopes and intentions. In his second journey to the Mackenzie river, 1825-6, he himself writes that from the summit of Garry Island the sea appeared in all its majesty, entirely free from ice, and without any visible obstruction to its navigation; and never was a prospect more gratifying than that which lay open to us. Then he had ardently wished for a ship in which he could leave that shallow shore, and steer direct for Behring's Strait. It was this sea which he was instructed to reach, and which there seemed every probability of his reaching by pushing to the south-west between 100° and 110 W. long. It was greatly in favor of his attempting this passage that, even should he meet with obstructions, he might reasonably hope to reach the North American shore by boats, or by a journey across the ice, and thus connect the discoveries of Parry with his own. Fairly stated the case stands thus: - On the supposition that he ascended the Channel, we must suppose either that he disobeyed the Admiralty orders (which all who know him agree he would not do), or that he tried to penetrate to the south-west before he entered his winter harbor or immediately on quitting it. Could he have made the attempt in 1815? He left Disco Island on the 12th July, and at the close of that month was struggling with the middle ice in Baffin's Bay. He had himself, as we learn from Fitzjames, a perfect knowledge of the difficulty there would be in getting to Lancaster Sound: Parry was fortunate enough, in his first voyage, to sail right across in nine or ten days - a thing unheard of before or since. In his through fields of ice, and did not get in till Sepnext voyage he was fifty-four days toiling yet Lancaster Sound is the point we look to as the beginning of our work. tember Now, progress from Disco Island to Lancaster Sound took Ross (Sir John) in his first voyage from 17th June to 30th August. Sir James Ross, in 1848, was from 20th July to 20th August, struggling through the middle ice, and did not reach Cape Yorke till 1st September. Penny's ships were at Disco Island May 3rd, 1850, and did not reach Beechey Island | make more than imperfectly known. Franktill 26th August. To make the same distance lin's ships may have been, as the Fury was, took Mr. Kennedy, in 1851, from the com- forced ashore in some narrow, ice-choked mencement of July till the 4th September, and Sir E. Belcher, in the remarkably open season of 1852, from June 12th to August 11th. It is not probable that Franklin could have reached Barrow's Strait until the end of August or beginning of September; and it is hardly conceivable that he could that season have satisfied himself that there was no passage to the south-westmore especially as he must have taken up his station early, and before young ice began to form. channel far to the west, or they may have been caught in the bottom of some gulf from which they have been unable to escape. Between him and the American continent there may be mountainous land, and immense fields of that peculiar sharp-pointed ice which Kellett says it would be impossible to traverse by any exertion or contrivance. He describes it as very much broken, or rough, with pinnacles of considerable height. Travelling over it for any distance is, I should say, impossible; many of the floes are nearly covered with water, the mirage from which distorted objects in the most extraordinary way. Shall we suppose, then, that, on getting out of harbor, he advanced to the south-west, and, baffled in his efforts, returned to Wellington Channel? The absence of any signals on the shore either way must go far to negative the idea; and it is more than doubtful In the same way Pullen gives it as his whether the two months of an Arctic summer opinion that there would be no possibility of would suffice for such an exploration. Wel-reaching the North American coast across the lington Channel is intricate, and, for ships of the size of the Erebus and Terror, would require great caution. Penny states that The experienced Abernethy says: Wellington Strait is a dangerous navigable passage, the ice flowing about with the tide. It would not be safe for a ship to go up there. Lieut. Aldrich conceived there must be "vast difficulty in navigating the Strait;" and Captain Austin observes that the navigation of the Channel must be "very critical, as all narrow straits in icy seas are." We do not quote these statements as evidence that the Strait cannot be navigated, for Sir E. Belcher has settled that question; but to prove how uulikely it is that the Channel could be passed through rapidly. On the supposition that Franklin went up it, how are we to account for the absence of cairns or flagstaffs, which would show he had visited, or taken possession of, the newly-found land? - for no shores have been so minutely explored as these. In our total ignorance of the geography of that region which Franklin was directed to examine, it would be rash to speculate on the difficulties into which an opening to the south-west might lead. Before Lancaster Sound was explored no one could have supposed that it would open out so many intricate channels, or display that intermingling of land and sea on either side north and south, which the skill of our best navigators for the last thirty years has failed to heavy hummocky ice he saw to the north. We are constrained, indeed, to admit that the fact of no trace of Franklin having as yet been found furnishes a strong presumption that he is no longer in existence; but we say that that fact alone is not stronger against his having taken a south-west than a north-west course, as the one might have led him into as great peril as the other, and as completely have deprived him of the possibility of communicating with any point where he might hope for assistance. We are not ignorant of what may be urged on the other side; that the most experienced Arctic navigators hug the northern shore; that-in spite of the evidence of Dr. Sutherland and others as to the usually later breaking up of the ice in Wellington Channel Franklin might have met with an impenetrable barrier of ice to the west, while the entrance of that channel was open;* and that Parry in his first voyage in vain attempted to find an opening in the ice to the south. Our argument is not that Franklin must have taken any one particular course, but only that, so long as the space between 104° and 116 W. long is unexplored, it cannot be said that Franklin has been fairly sought in the direction he was ordered to pursue. The search was maintained by one vessel only in the following year. The Prince Albert, which returned home in 1850, after her unsuccessful cruise, was refitted, and sailed early in 1851, under command of Mr. William Kennedy, who has published a short and sensible narrative of his voyage. M. Bellot, a lieutenant in the French navy, Dr. Sutherland, when asked by Sir E. Parry whether it was his opinion that the ice broke up sooner in the direction of Cape Walker than at the entrance of Wellington Channel, replied, "Yes; two months sooner." 66 joined as a volunteer, and his generous ardor house is as air-tight as an egg. Narrative, and lively spirits seem to have contributed 78, 79. greatly to the efficiency of the expedition. As respects their provision, they were Kennedy wintered at Batty Bay, on the west side of Regent's Inlet. In his spring journey materially indebted to the old treasures of the of 1852 he showed what it was in the power Fury, which they found "not only in the best of a really intrepid traveller to accomplish. preservation, but much superior in quality, after thirty years of exposure to the weather, Following the coast to the south, he found a channel in Brentford Bay leading westward. to some of our own stores and those supplied While Traversing this channel he came again upon travelling they had a cup of hot tea night and to the other Arctic expeditions." the sea, thus proving North Somerset to be a morninglarge island. On his right, to the north, a luxury they would not have the land appeared continuous. By Lieut. exchanged for the mines of Ophir." A gill Browne's examination of Peel's Sound (or and a half of spirits of wine boiled a pint of Ommaney Inlet) from Barrow's Strait, we had but one meal daily, and took ice with water. When detained by bad weather they were led to suppose that it was only a gulf, their biscuit and pemmican to save fuel. On which would so far correspond with Mr. Kennedy's observation. As an open sea appeared and here stopped a week to recruit; all sufthe 15th of May they reached Whaler Point, to the south, it is not unreasonably conjectured At this early that it may be continued to the Victoria fering much from scurvy. Strait of Rae; in that case the narrow chan- period Regent's Inlet and Barrow's Strait nel of Brentford Bay would prove that at were free from ice as far as the eye could reach. In a notice left at Whaler Point it least one south-west passage existed. Continuing his course nearly west, until he passed was said "Cape Walker was carefully ex100° west long., he turned to the north, amined, but bore no evidence whatever of its struck the sea at that point reached by Capt. having been visited by Europeans." Now, as Ommaney in exploring the bay which bears the large cairns, formed by the parties of his name, then turned to the east and to the Ommaney and Osborn the previous spring, north till he reached Cape Walker, returning could thus be overlooked, might not signals to his ship by the north shore of North Som-erected by Franklin have been equally undiserset, having successfully performed a journey tinguishable amid the deep snow which enof eleven hundred miles, and been absent from veloped this bleak and rugged coast? the ship for ninety-seven days! During the By the 30th of May the travellers were back whole time they knew no other shelter than at Batty Bay, where all had gone on well; the snow-houses they threw up at each rest- but it was not until the 6th of August that ing-place. the ship, by sawing and blasting, could be In his modest narrative Mr. Kennedy de-got clear of the ice. On the 19th of August scribes the general order of his arrangements. Kennedy reached Beechey Island, where he His party, including M. Bellot and himself, had the satisfaction of finding the North consisted of six persons. Their luggage and Star engaged in sawing into winter-quarters. stores were borne on sleighs made after the The expedition of Sir E. Belcher - consisting Indian fashion, five Esquimaux dogs very of the two brigs and their attendant steamers materially assisting in their draught. With previously commanded by Austin, with the out the aid, indeed, of these much-enduring North Star as a depôt-ship - had left the animals so long a journey could scarcely have Thames on the 21st of April, and arrived at been performed; and, as nothing came amiss Beechey Island on the 10th of August. to them in the way of food, it being found season was remarkably open; Wellington that they throve wonderfully on old leather Channel and Barrow Strait were equally clear shoes and fag-ends of buffalo-robes," the of ice; on the 14th of August Sir E. Belcher sleighs were not much burdened by care for (with a ship and a steamer) stood up the their provision. With a little practice all Channel, and the following day Captain Kelhands became expert in the erection of snow-lett (with the other brig and steamer) sailed houses, which presented in open water for Melville Island. From the North Star Mr. Kennedy received despatches a dome-shaped structure, out of which you have for England. He would gladly have remained only to cut a small hole for a door, to find your-out another season, but, as his men were self within a very light, comfortable-looking beehive on a large scale, in which you can bid defiance to wind and weather. Any chinks between of the preserved meats, 10,570 lbs., in tin canis* On a strict and careful survey, made last July, the blocks are filled up with loose snow with the ters, supplied to the Plover, they were found "in hand from the outside; as these are best de-a pulpy, decayed, and putrid state, totally unfit. tected from within, a man is usually sent in to for men's food." The whole were thrown into the drive a thin rod through the spot where he dis-sea, as a nuisance. It is much to be feared that covers a chink, which is immediately plastered Franklin's preserved meats may have been of no over by some one from without, till the whole better quality. 66 The bent on returning, he was compelled to relinquish his design, and bring his ship home. will be provisioned for four years. Mr. Kennedy hopes he shall be able to pass the strait this year, and take up a position for the winter somewhere near Point Barrow, whence in the winter and spring he might explore to the north and east, in the direction of Melville Island and Banks' Land. Captain Inglefield, in the Phoenix steam-sloop, will start this spring for Beechey Island, accompanied by a store-ship containing an ample supply of provisions. A new expedition is also, we observe, to be fitted out by the beneficent Mr. Grinnell, of New York. A fortnight after his departure, Captain Inglefield, in the Isabel screw-steamer, communicated with the North Star. The Isabel had been purchased by Lady Franklin, with assistance from the Geographical Society and others. In her Captain Inglefield quitted England on the 6th of July last; coasted the northern shores of Baffin's Bay; advanced much further up Whale Sound than any previous navigator, finding as he proceeded an immense expanse of open water; ran a con- The present state of the search then is siderable distance up Smith's Sound and this:Sir E. Belcher is engaged in a survey Jones' Sound without discovering any op- of Wellington, while Captain Kellett is prob posing land; and then made for Beechey ably safely anchored in Winter Harbor, the old Island, which he reached on the 7th of Sep-quarters of Parry. Each has a well-stored tember. It is the opinion of this skilful observer that all the three great sounds at the head of Baffin's Bay are channels leading into the Polar Ocean. It is to be regretted that, in so favorable a season, he had not the opportunity of determining this question, with regard to one of them at least. But, on the whole, considering the limited time at his disposal his whole voyage lasting but four months he must be allowed to have exerted himself very laudably. The last parliamentary paper prints the intelligence received from Behring's Strait to the end of August, 1852. Commander Maguire, who was sent out to relieve Captain Moore in the Plover, arrived at Port Clarence on the 30th of June. The crew, with the exception of some frost-bites, were well, and had behaved admirably. Constant intercourse had been kept up with the natives, but no tidings had been heard as to any subject of anxiety. The Plover, under her new commander, put to sea on the 12th of July, and arrived at Icy Cape on the 19th, whence Maguire proceeded in a boat to Point Barrow to take soundings for anchorage. In his last despatch, 20th of August, he intimates his expectation that he shall be able to place the Plover in winter-quarters there about the beginning of September. He much advises that a steamer should be sent out to open a communication with him; and, considering how strongly a vessel of this kind has been recommended for the service by Admiral Beaufort and other high authorities, we are quite at a loss to understand why one was not sent out in place of the Rattlesnake recently despatched. Mr. Kennedy is about to depart in the Isabel for Behring's Sea. Lady Franklin, aided by 10007. subscribed by some generous friends in Van Diemen's Land, who gratefully remember Sir John's rule, will again be at the charge of the expedition. The Isabell ship with an attendant steamer; while the North Star, within reach no doubt of parties from either vessel, remains in Franklin's harborage at Beechey Island. On the Pacific side, the Plover, we may presume, is advanced to Point Barrow. We have no intelligence of M'Clure since, under a press of canvas, he stood for the pack-ice off Icy Cape, in August, 1850; nor from Collinson since he passed Behring's Strait in July of the following year. Our consul at Panama indeed writes that Collinson had been spoken by whalers, but, without details, we know not what credit is to be attached to the report. M'Clure supposed he should be able to reach England by way of Barrow's Strait some time in this year, either by navigating his vessel through the unknown sea which stretches north of the American continent, or by quitting his ship and making for Melville Island, or some point nearer home. Stirring tidings of some kind will most likely reach us in the course of a few months. The search, so long and so ardently prosecuted, continues not only to interest the scientific and enterprising, but to carry with it the sympathies of the whole nation. The public mind is made up that the fate of the missing ships shall be determined, if human energy can determine it—and the resolve is as wise as generous. To our navy, under God, we owe our greatness and safety; and, in sending forth our gallant seamen on hazardous enterprises, we are bound by every possible obligation to inspire them with a full confidence that they are under the eye and guardianship of their country, and that its resources will be exerted to the utmost in their behalf. The pecuniary cost of the search is not to be regarded in comparison with its object; and it is better for a thousand lives to be perilled in the discharge of duty than for one to be sacrificed through neglect. |