SEABCn FOB FRANKLIN. 223 



almighty Power may guide and protect us, and that the 

 blessing of his Holy Spirit may rest upon us. Our 

 prayers, I trust, will be offered up with equal fervour for 

 those inestimable blessings to be vouchsafed to them, and 

 to all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and truth. 

 I humbly pray that God's best blessing may attend your- 

 self, Lady Parry, and your family." 



The vessels were seen by a whaler in Baffin's Bay on 

 the 26th of June, 1845, waiting for an opening in the ice 

 to permit them to enter Lancaster Sound. They were 

 never seen again. 



In 1847, public anxiety began to be shown for the 

 safety of the explorers, and in the following year two 

 expeditions were despatched in search ; the one, consist- 

 ing of two vessels, to Behring Strait ; the other, under 

 the command of Sir John Richardson, overland, to the 

 north-eastern shores of America, which in that and the 

 following year were traced from the extreme west to 

 the estuary of the Coppermine. 



In 1849, Sir James Boss, also with two vessels, 

 examined the shores of Barrow's Strait, and in a sledge 

 excursion, traced the western coast of North Somerset 

 to the latitude of 72 38', or within a short distance of 

 the spot where, as we shall see, Captain M'Clintock 

 wintered on his last voyage, and in the direct track, as 

 it has since proved, of the missing ships. But next year 

 on leaving his winter quarters, he was surrounded by the 

 drift-ice, and carried helplessly eastward through the 

 whole length of Lancaster Sound, into Davis' Strait, 



