May 25, 1857.] FINAL ARCTIC SEARCH. 475 



netrable wilds from the nearest parts of North America, in which food can he 

 obtained, that hy no exertion could any survivors of the Erebus and Terror 

 he saved except by sending out a well-found ship or ships to the points nearest 

 to such insulated Esquimaux quarters * 



As you are all acquainted with, that appeal already mentioned, 

 which my friends and myself thought it our duty to make to 

 our countrymen on this exciting topic, I am sure you will rejoice 

 with me, that the charge of the expedition, which Lady Franklin 

 has resolved to send out, should have been undertaken by the emi- 

 nently distinguished Arctic explorer, Captain M'Clintock. Com- 

 manding a thoroughly adapted screw yacht, the Fox, assisted by 

 a well-qualified Polar associate, Lieut. W. E. liobson, with Dr. D. 

 Walker as the surgeon, and provided with a picked crew, this 

 gallant officer will realize all that a firm resolve, a clear bead, and 

 skilful calculations can effect. 



Let it also be recorded in our volumes, that amid the many 

 generous Englishmen who have responded to the call, the name of 

 Captain Allen Young, of the Merchant Service, stands pre-eminently 

 forward; since this meritorious young seaman, who has already 

 commanded large sbips in various seas, has not only volunteered his 



* Proposals were made by Lieutenant Bedford Pirn and Dr. King to combine a 

 land or i-iver journey with maritime exploration ; the former having, indeed, com- 

 municated previously a long memoir on the subject to the Geographical Society. 

 Applauding those experienced men for their laudable endeavours to rouse public 

 sympathy to continue the search, and reminding my associates that Dr. King ac- 

 companied Franklin in a former voyage, and that Lieut. Pirn was highly com- 

 mended by myself and others, not only for his Arctic researches, but also for his 

 devotion to the cause in proposing to reach the supposed scene of disaster, by tra- 

 versing Siberia, followed as it was by his march across the ice of Banks Sound 

 to rescue M'Clure, — still, looking to the slender results of the recent land-expe- 

 dition down the Back lliver, though carried out with all possible energy by Mr. 

 Anderson, 1 cannot bring myself to believe that the renewal of any such enterprise 

 can have a satisfactory issue. In fact, as we now know it to be impracticable that 

 an exploring land and river party can convey more food in their canoes than will 

 just enable them to make a hasty and wholly ineffectual search near the mouth 

 of the river, all efforts to explore the adjacent northern tracts where those Esqui- 

 maux are chiefly living, among whom some of the missing navigators were heard 

 of, must cease just at the moment and on the ground where they ought to be pur- 

 sued. No exertions, in short, save those which can be made upon the ice by 

 vigorous men proceeding from a well-supplied ship, can succeed in really ascer- 

 taining the fate of the crews of the Erebus and Terror. Other memoirs, sug- 

 gestive of different plans for the most effective search after the relics of the 

 Erebus and Terror, have been recently sent to the Society ; thus evincing the 

 great interest still taken by the public in the settlement of this question. These 

 memoirs are : ' On the Discovery-ship Resolute and the Arctic Currents,' by 

 M. Turnbull ; ' On the Search for Sir J. Franklin,' by Chief-factor Anderson, com- 

 municated by Sir John Kichardson ; ' Plan of a Search for Franklin Expedition,' 

 by Dr. R. M'Cormack ; * Plan of a future Search for the lost Franklin Expedi- 

 tion,' by James Parsons. 



