210 BOOTHIA 



husband's expedition to the earliest discovery of the 

 passage, which, if Dr. Rae's report be true (and the 

 Government of our country has accepted and rewarded 

 it as such), these martyrs in a noble cause achieved at 

 their last extremity, after five long years of labour and 

 suffering, if not at an earlier period. 



" I am sure that you will do all that man can do for 

 the attainment of all these objects ; my only fear is 

 that you may spend yourselves too much in the effort ; 

 and you must therefore let me tell you how much 

 dearer to me even than any of them is the preservation 

 of the valuable lives of the little band of heroes who 

 are your companions and followers. 



"May God in His great mercy preserve you all from 

 harm amidst the labours and perils which await you, 

 and restore you to us in health and safety as well as 

 honour. As to the honour I can have no misgiving. 

 It will be yours as much if you fail (since you may fail 

 in spite of every effort) as if you succeed ; and be 

 assured that, under any and all circumstances whatever, 

 such is my unbounded confidence in you, you will 

 possess and be entitled to the enduring gratitude of 

 your sincere and attached friend, 



"JANE FRANKLIN." 



The men of the Fox were worthy of the confidence 

 placed in them. Leaving Aberdeen on the 1st of July, 

 M'Clintock reached Disco on the last day of the month, 

 and, proceeding northwards, was, by a perverse freak of 

 fortune, beset in Melville Bay on the 8th of August, 

 and kept imprisoned thence onwards all through the 

 winter, drifting south through Baffin Bay and Davis 

 Strait. On the 26th of April, 1858, after a drift of 

 1194 geographical miles, the Fox escaped from the 



