CHAPTER XV. 



TBS PRINCE ALBERT REFITTED BY LADY FRANKLIN. MR. KENNEDY THE 

 COMMANDER. DEPARTURE OF THE VESSEL. TJPERNAVIK. TRIAL OF 



CARRIER-PIGEONS. DISASTROUS SEPARATION. RELIEF AND REUNION. 



PREPARATIONS FOR WINTERING. WINTER JOURNEYS. VISIT TO 



FURY BEACH. THE GRAND JOURNEY. SEVERE GALE. THE FURY'S 



STORES. DOGS, CAIRNS NOT ALWAYS SEEN. CAPE WALKER. 



RETURN TO BATTY BAY. HOMEWARD BOUND, BELLOT. UAE'S LAND 



JOURNEY IN 1851. 



THE discovery of the traces of Franklin's visit to 

 Point Riley, the account of which was brought home by 

 the Prince Albert, gave encouragement for a renewal of 

 the search. On the 3d of June, 1851, the Prince Albert, 

 which had been refitted by Lady Franklin for the pur- 

 pose of exploring the shores of Prince Regent's Inlet, 

 set sail from Stromness. She was under the command 

 of Mr. William Kennedy, formerly in the service of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company, and who has published an 

 interesting narrative of his adventures. 



The Prince Albert had been well strengthened for 

 encounters with ponderous masses of ice. Along her 

 sides, from the keel to about two feet above the water- 

 line, there was a doubling of elm planking of fully two 

 and a half inches thick, intended not only to fortify the 

 hull of the little vessel, but to preserve her sides from 

 the tear and wear of sailing through, and rubbing 

 against, sharp, rasping pieces of ice. The bow and 

 stern-post were sheathed with wrought iron a quarter 

 of an inch thick, and a broad strip of thick sheet-iroi? 



