PREFACE. xi 



At the same time, the public should fully understand the 

 motive which prompted the supporters of Lady Franklin in 

 advocating this last search. Putting aside the hope which 

 some of us entertained, that a few of the younger men of 

 the missing expedition might still be found to be living 

 among the Esquimaux, we had every reason to expect that, 

 if the ships were discovered, the scientific documents of the 

 voyage, including valuable magnetic observations, would be 

 recovered. 



In the absence of such good fortune, we may, however, 

 well be gladdened by the discovery of that one precious 

 document which gives us a true outline of the voyage of the 

 ' Erebus ' and ' Terror.' 



That the reader may comprehend the vast extent of sea 

 traversed by Franklin in the two summers before his ships 

 were beset, a small map (No. 2) is introduced, represent- 

 ing all the lands and seas of the arctic regions to the 

 west of Lancaster Sound which were known and laid down 

 when he sailed. The dotted lines and arrows, which extend 

 from the then known seas and lands into the unknown 

 waters or blank spaces on this old map indicate Franklin's 

 route, the novelty, range, rapidity, and boldness of which, as 

 thus delineated, may well surprise the geographer, and even 

 the most enterprising arctic sailor. 1 For, those who have 



of Mr. John Brown, entitled ' The North-West Passage and Search 

 after Sir John Franklin,' 1858. In an Appendix to this work we learn 

 that from the earliest polar researches by John Cabot, at the end of the 

 15th century, to the voyage of M'Clintock, there have been about 130 

 expeditions, illusti-ated by 250 books and printed documents, of which 

 1 50 have been issued in England. Amidst the various recent publica- 

 tions, it is but rendering justice to Dr. King, the former companion of 

 Sir George Back, to state that he suggested and always maintained the 

 necessity of a search for the missing navigators at or near the mouth of 

 the Back River. 



1 The letter A in Baffin Bay (Map No. 2) indicates the spot where 



