254 ABOTIO SEA8. 



previously unexplored waters, how confident must they 

 then have felt that that forthcoming navigable season of 

 1847 would see their ships pass over so short an inter- 

 vening space 1 It was ruled otherwise. Within a month 

 after Lieutenant Gore placed the record on Point Victory, 

 the much-loved leader of the expedition, Sir John 

 Franklin, was dead ; and the following spring found Cap- 

 tain Crozier, upon whom the command had devolved, at 

 King William's Land, endeavouring to save his starving 

 men, 105 souls in all, from a terrible death, by retreating 

 to the Hudson Bay territories up the Back or Great Fish 

 River. 



" A sad tale was never told in fewer words. There is 

 something deeply touching in their extreme simplicity, 

 and they show in the strongest manner that both the 

 leaders of this retreating party were actuated by the 

 loftiest sense of duty, and met with calmness and decision 

 the fearful alternative of a last bold struggle for life, 

 rather than perish without effort on board their ships ; for 

 we well know that the Erebus and Terror were only 

 provisioned up to July, 1848 



" Lieutenant Hobson's note told me that he found 

 quantities of clothing and articles of all kinds lying about 

 the cairn, as if these men, aware that they were retreating 

 for their lives, had there abandoned everything which they 

 considered superfluous." 



But there was yet a third, and not the least affecting, 

 discovery to be made by the returning band. As they 

 reached the western extremity of the island, they came 



