TRACES OF FRANKLIN. 319 



Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways. 

 Haggai 1 : 7." 



"Sacred to the memory of Wm. Braine, R.M., of 

 H. M. S. Erebus, died April 3d, 1846, aged 32 years. 

 Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. Josh. 24 : 15." 



Lieut. De Haven, of the Advance, landed on Cape 

 Riley on the morning of the 25th August, where he 

 examined the traces of Sir John Franklin, before de- 

 scribed, and erected a second signal-post. On the same 

 day the Prince Albert visited the place, and by her, as 

 we have seen, the first intelligence of the discovery was 

 carried to England. Afterwards Captain Penny and 

 his officers examined Beechey Island and the whole 

 neighborhood very carefully and minutely. But the 

 thorough search made by all these parties failed to 

 discover any memorandum or record to indicate Frank- 

 lin's past efforts or future intentions. 



All that could be learned from the traces discovered 

 was, that Franklin's ships wintered, in 1845-6, on the 

 south side of Beechey Island, and that three of his men 

 died at that point. The mortality does not exceed that of 

 previous expeditions ; and we may therefore conclude 

 that the expedition wa3 in highly effective order when 

 it left that anchorage, with only a moderate inroad into 

 its stock of preserved, meats, the seven hundred empty 

 tins found on the island forming but a small proportion 

 of the twenty-four thousand canisters with which the 

 ships were supplied. 



How long Franklin's ships remained at Beechey Island, 

 when and under what circumstances they left, and what 

 course theypersued, were mere matters of conjecture, as 

 to which various opinions have been formed. Some ex- 

 perienced officers believed that the expedition did not 

 leave its winter anchorage till the end of August or 

 beginning of September, 1846. It was also inferred, from 



