244 DISCOVERY OF GORE'S RECORD. Chap. XV. 



far more exposed part of the coast-line. We were approaching 

 a spot where a revelation of intense interest was awaiting me. 



About 12 miles from Cape Herschel I found a small 

 cairn built by Hobson's party, and containing a note for me. 

 He had reached this, his extreme point, six days previously, 

 without having seen anything of the wreck, or of natives, but 

 he had found a record 1 — The Record so ardently sought 

 for of the Franklin Expedition — at Point Victory, on the 

 N.W. coast of King William's Land. 



That record is indeed a sad and touching relic of our lost 

 friends, and, to simplify its contents, I will point out sepa- 

 rately the double story it so briefly tells. In the first place, 

 the record paper was one of the printed forms usually sup- 

 plied to discovery ships for the purpose of being enclosed in 

 bottles and thrown overboard at sea, in order to ascertain 

 the set of the currents, blanks being left for the date and 

 position ; any person finding one of these records is requested 

 to forward it to the Secretary of the Admiralty, with a note 

 of time and place ; and this request is printed upon it in six 

 different languages. Upon it was written as follows : — 



"28th of May, ( H. M. ships 'Erebus' and 'Terror' wintered in the 



1847. \ ice in lat. 70 05' N., long. 98 23' W. 



Having wintered in 1846-7 at Beechey Island, in lat. 74 43' 28" N., 

 long. 91 39' 15" W., after having ascended Wellington Channel to lat. 

 77°, and returned by the west side of Cornwallis Island. 



" Sir John Franklin commanding the expedition. 



" All well. 



" Party consisting of 2 officers and 6 men left the ships on Monday, 



24th May, 1847. 



"Gm. Gore, Lieut. 



" Chas. F. Des Vceux, Mate." 



There is an error in the above document, namely, that the 





1 The stains upon the record — as represented in the facsimile — were 

 caused by the rusting of the tin cylinder in which it was contained (see 

 p. 257): the original record, together with all the relics brought home in 

 the 'Fox,' have been deposited in the Museum of the United Service 

 Institution, Whitehall Yard. 



