276 FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 



Several expeditions were sent out from the "Resolute" in the 

 spring, one of which, under Mecham, made a most remarkable 

 journey, in the hope of discovering the locality of Captain Collinson. 

 In sixty-one and a half days of travel he journeyed 1,336 miles, his 

 average speed on his return trip being 23^ miles a day, a record 

 of interest in view of the recent controversy concerning the possible 

 speed of Arctic travel. During that year Collinson got out of the 

 ice and brought the "Enterprise" back to England. 



McClure and his men returned on the "Resolute" by way of 

 Baffin Bay. They had thus not only found, but traversed, the 

 Northwest Passage, though not in the same ship, and partly by 

 traveling over the ice. The carrying of a ship through this passage 

 was reserved for Amundsen, fifty years later. For his great feat 

 McClure received the honor of knighthood, while Parliament voted 

 him and his officers and men a reward of 10,000. He had suc- 

 ceeded in a quest which began with Frobisher, nearly three cen- 

 turies before. 



