SEARCH FOR FRANKLIN. 227 



cause of humanity, all but touched the spot where, as we 

 now know, the abandoned vessels were lying in the ice ; 

 Oollinson and M'Clure forced their way along the 

 northern coasts of America, the one to complete in 

 safety the longest voyage ever known in the Arctic seas, 

 the other after two winters spent in the ice, and at last 

 abandoning the vessel in despair to effect, on foot, the 

 escape of himself and his crew to another of the ships 

 engaged in the search, and win the proud distinction 

 of being the first to pass from west to east across these 

 dreary wastes. 



Many other attempts were also made, fifteen vessels in 

 all being engaged in the search between 1850 and 1853, 

 but all hi vain. The stanchion of a ship's ice-plank, 

 picked up by Dr. Rae, and the fragment of an iron bolt 

 and of a hutch frame, seen by Captain Collinson in the 

 possession of the Eskimos, were the only indications 

 that could be connected with Franklin, and even these 

 were susceptible of other explanations. 



But in 1854 the veil was lifted at last, and the traces 

 of a terrible tragedy dimly disclosed to the startled 

 seekers. In that year Dr. Rae, who, with indefatigable 

 perseverance, had returned a third time to the search in 

 the vicinity of King William's Land, encountered, in the 

 course of his explorations between Pelly and Inglis Bays, 

 a party of Eskimos, in whose possession were found a 

 great variety of articles, and many pieces of silver plate, 

 known to have belonged to officers both of the Erebu* 

 and Terror. 



