Apr. 1S57. NOMINATION OF COMMANDER. 3 



Sir Charles Wood then stated " that the members of Her 

 Majesty's Government, having come, with great regret, to 

 the conclusion that there was no prospect of saving life, 

 would not be justified, for any objects which in their opinion 

 could be obtained by an expedition to the arctic seas, in 

 exposing the lives of officers and men to the risk inseparable 

 from such an enterprise." 



Lady Franklin, upon this final disappointment of her 

 hopes, had no hesitation in immediately preparing to send 

 out a searching expedition, equipped and stored at her own 

 cost But she was not without ardent supporters. Many 

 friends of the cause — including some of the most distin- 

 guished scientific men in England, and especially Sir Roderick 

 Murchison, whose zeal was as practical as it was enlightened 

 — hastened to tender their aid, and soon a very considerable 

 sum was raised in furtherance of so truly noble an effort. 



On the 1 8th April, 1857, Lady Franklin offered me the 

 command of the proposed expedition, — it was of course 

 most cheerfully accepted. As a post of honour and of some 

 difficulty it possessed quite sufficient charms for a naval 

 officer who had already served in three consecutive expe- 

 ditions from 184S to 1854. I was thoroughly conversant 

 with all the details of this peculiar service ; and I confess, 

 moreover, that my whole heart was in the cause. How 

 could I do otherwise than devote myself to save at least 

 the record of faithful service, even unto death, of my brother 

 officers and seamen? and being one of those by whose 

 united efforts not only the Franklin search, but the geo- 

 graphy of arctic America, had been brought so nearly to 

 completion, I could not willingly resign to posterity, the 

 honour of filling up even the small remaining blanks upon 

 our maps. 



To leave these discoveries incomplete, more especially in 

 a quarter through which the tidal stream actually demon- 



b 2 



