FORSYTE'S EXPEDITION 305 



Sophia, The larger vessel was fitted up at Aberdeen, 

 and the smaller one at Dundee both with great celer- 

 ity, and in a style of the best possible adaptation to an 

 Arctic voyage ; and they also sailed in the spring of 

 1850. Their proposed plan of procedure was somewhat 

 coincident with that of the government expedition ; yet 

 entirely independent, except in the way of cooperation 

 or mutual aid, and liable to be much controlled or mod- 

 ified by circumstances. 



Another expedition, supplementary to the preceding, 

 was equipped at the instance of Lady Franklin. She 

 herself defrayed about two thirds of the cost of it, by 

 means of selling out of the funds all the money which 

 she could legally touch ; and her friends defrayed the 

 rest. The only vessel was the Prince Albert, a 

 schooner-rigged craft of ninety tons, but as fine a little 

 structure as ever "walked the waters/ 7 and strength- 

 ened and fitted in the most artistic way for buffeting 

 the perils of the Arctic seas. She was commanded by 

 Commander Charles C. Forsyth, of the Royal Navy ; and 

 was served in a variety of capacities, most laboriously 

 and dexterously, by Mr. W. P. Snow, both volunteers, 

 who wished no compensation but the honor of the en- 

 terprise. The object was to examine the shores of 

 Prince Regent's Inlet and the Gulf of Boothia, and to 

 send out travelling parties to explore the west side of 

 the land of Boothia down to Dease and Simpson's 

 Strait. At the time when Sir John Franklin sailed, a 

 belief was general that Boothia was an island, and that 

 Prince Regent's Inlet communicated with the Polar Sea 

 through Dease and Simpson's Strait ; so that, in the 

 event of his being baffled in finding a north-west pas- 

 sage by way of Cape Walker, or up Wellington Chan- 

 nel, he would very probably enter Prince Regent's Inlet, 

 with the view of passing round the south of Boothia 



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