May 28, I860.] LADY FRANKLIN— KOYAL AWARDS. ' 113 



But all the devotion of a Lady Franklin and the efforts of the 

 British nation might well have failed in unravelling the fate of the 

 Erebus and Terror, had not such a commander been selected for the 

 Fox as Captain Sir F. L. M'Clintock. 



Inured by previous explorations to the risks and dangers of 

 Arctic life, this brave officer has so modestly and clearly told his 

 stirring tale of how in a yacht of 170 tons he successfully worked 

 out his great mission that he has already enlisted the sympathies of 

 Europe and America. 



He has also imperishably chronicled in the exploits of the expe- 

 dition the names of his worthy associates Hobson, Young, Walker, 

 and Petersen, in a work which will doubtless endure as long as 

 men shall continue to revere the deeds of such persevering and 

 skilful explorers. 



Of the events in this narrative there is no one which has drawn 

 forth more commendation than the calm resolve with which the 

 gallant commander, after having been driven back 1200 miles in the 

 " pack," and carried out into the Atlantic, returned to combat with 

 the obstacles of frozen seas, and, nothing disheartened, steered 

 back his little yacht once more into Baffin Bay. 



Marking the judgment and sagacity he showed throughout the 

 whole of an expedition which terminated in making known the 

 extent of the discoveries of Franklin, as well as the place and date 

 of his death and^,the almost certain fate of those gallant companions, 

 Crozier, Fitzjames, and others who survived him, the Council have 

 the satisfaction of recording that the commander and officers of the 

 Fox have also added vastly to geographical knowledge. 



In proving that Bellot Strait is navigable, they have demonstrated 

 that its southern shore really constitutes the most northern pro- 

 montory of North America, in rounding which and in sledging 

 along the western shores of Boothia M'Clintock has given us reason 

 to believe that, in some favourable season, the passage, even by a 

 ship, may possibly be effected from Baffin Bay into the long and 

 tortuous channel which Collinson so recently navigated. 



Again, while the researches of Lieutenant, now Commander, 

 Hobson not only delineated for the first time the western shores of 

 King William Island, but were signalised by the detection of the 

 precious " Record " of the discoveries and last days of Franklin, 

 with many relics, the indefatigable journeys of the gallant and 

 generous volunteer Captain Allen Young have not only determined 

 the outlines of a large portion of Prince of Wales Island, hitherto 



