268 FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 



ice and spy out the prospects ahead. Lieutenant Graham Gore, of 

 the "Erebus," commanded the party, which consisted of Charles des 

 Voeux, ship's mate, and six seamen. They carried only enough 

 stores to last them on their journey, and each one had to contribute 

 his share to the labor of hauling the hand-sledges over the jagged 

 ridges of broken ice. Skirting along the coast of King William's 

 Land, they arrived at a point from the top of which they were able 

 to discern the mainland coast trending away to the horizon, with a 

 sea of ice in front. 



To commemorate the fact the little party built a cairn upon the 

 summit of the point, which they named Point Victory, and enclosed 

 in a tin canister they deposited, under the cairn, a record of their 

 trip and its result. Twelve years later this record was found, and 

 by it the honor due to Franklin for the discovery of the passage was 

 confirmed. But the manner of its finding must be told later on. 



The record left by them stated that all the crews were then well 

 and Sir John Franklin in command. They returned to find that he 

 was sick unto death, their gallant leader dying shortly after, on 

 June n, 1847. Death served him well in one particular, it saved 

 him from the terrible experience of those he left behind. 



Captain Crozier, of the "Terror," assumed command, but it 

 was as the leader of an almost hopeless enterprise. The ice did not 

 break up, as was hoped, and the two vessels, with their inadequate 

 supplies, were held fast for another winter, the winter of 1847-8, 

 during which no fewer than nine officers and fifteen men died. 

 On the 22d of A'pril, the survivors came to the resolution of aban- 

 doning the doomed ships ; and, one hundred and five in number, and 

 led by Captains Crozier and Fitzjames, they started for Great Fish 

 River. The great quantity of articles left at the point of departure 

 is a significant evidence of their enfeebled condition. We can only 

 conjecture the events of their journey. From this spot to a point 

 about half-way between Point Victory and Point Herschel nothing 

 important concerning them has been discovered; and the skeletons 



