﻿1847. VARIOUS OPINIOKS. 11 



early a period of Sir John Franklin's absence to 

 give rise to well founded apprehensions for his 

 safety, lost no time in calling for the opinions of 

 several naval officers who were well acquainted 

 with arctic navigation, and in concerting plans of 

 relief, to be carried out when the proper time 

 should arrive. 



A brief review of the replies most worthy of 

 notice may help the reader to form a judgment of 

 tlie plans that were eventually adopted by the 

 Admiralty for the discovery and relief of the 

 absent voyagers. It is convenient to consider 

 first the notions of those who believe that Sir 

 John Franklin never entered Lancaster Sound, 

 either because the ships met with some fatal dis- 

 aster in Baffin's Bay, and went down w^ith the 

 entire loss of both crews, or that Sir John endea- 

 voured to fulfil the purposes of the expedition by 

 taking some other route than the one exclusively 

 marked out for him by his instructions. That the 

 ships were not suddenly wrecked by a storm, or 

 overwhelmed by the pressure of the ice, may be 

 concluded from facts gathered from the records of 

 the Davis's Straits whale-fishery, by which we learn 

 that of the many vessels which have been crushed 

 in the ice, in the course of several centuries, the 

 whole or greater part of the crews have almost 

 always escaped with their boats. It is, therefore, 



