280 ARCTIC SEAS. 



rews, and a number of additional articles purchase^ 

 from the Eskimos, but not a scrap of paper or record 

 of any kind. The absence, too, of any graves, or cairns, 

 or human bones, led many to the inference that the 

 actnal spot referred to by the natives, in their common!* 

 cation with Eae, had not yet been reached. 



Under these circumstances, an earnest appeal was 

 made to Lord Palmerston, in June, 1856, by a number of 

 men of science, and others who had taken a deep interest 

 in Arctic discovery, and repeated, in an admirable letter 

 addressed to him by Lady Franklin, in the December of 

 the same year, to despatch a final expedition to the 

 narrow and circumscribed area now known as that within 

 which the missing vessels or their remains must lie, and 

 the access to which appeared to be free from many of the 

 difficulties and dangers which had hitherto attended the 

 search. The Prime Minister, it is understood, had 

 personally every desire to carry out the wishes of his 

 memorialists, but was precluded from acceding to their 

 petition. 



Lady Franklin, however, had resolved that, if the 

 Government declined, she should herself exhaust her 

 fortune in this last effort ; and, aided by the contributions 

 of many tried friends, she purchased the little screw 

 yacht, the Fox, of 177 tons, and placed her, in April 1857, 

 under the command of Captain M'Clintock, who had 

 earned a distinguished name in the Arctic Seas, under 

 Sir James Ross and Austin and Kellett. 



The refitting of the vessel was pressed forward with 



