May, i 859. INFORMATION DERIVED FROM IT. 245 



' Erebus ' and ' Terror ' wintered at Beechey Island in 1846-7, 

 — the correct dates should have been 1845-6 ; a glance at 

 the date at the top and bottom of the record proves this, but 

 in all other respects the tale is told in as few words as pos- 

 sible of their wonderful success up to that date, May, 1847. 

 We now know that, after the last intelligence of Sir John 

 Franklin was received (bearing date 26th July, 1845) from 

 the whalers in Melville Bay, his Expedition passed on to 

 Lancaster Sound, and entered Wellington Channel, of which 

 the southern entrance had been discovered by Sir Edward 

 Parry in 181 9. The 'Erebus 'and 'Terror' sailed up that 

 strait for one hundred and fifty miles, and reached in the 

 autumn of 1845 the same latitude as was attained seven 

 years subsequently by H.M.S. 'Assistance 'and 'Pioneer.' 

 Whether Franklin intended to pursue this northern course, 

 and was only stopped by ice in that latitude of 77 north, or 

 purposely relinquished a route which seemed to lead away 

 from the known seas orT the coast of America, must be a 

 matter of conjecture ; but the document assures us of one 

 thing, that Sir John Franklin's Expedition, having accom- 

 plished this examination, returned southward from latitude 

 77 north, which is at the head of Wellington Channel, 

 and re-entered Barrow's Strait by a new channel between 

 Bathurst and Cornwallis Islands. 



Seldom has such an amount of success been accorded to 

 an arctic navigator in a single season, and when the 'Erebus' 

 and ' Terror ' were secured at Beechey Island for the coming 

 winter of 1 845-6, the results of their first year's labour must 

 have been most cheering. These results were the exploration 

 of Wellington and Queen's Channel, and the addition to our 

 charts of the extensive lands on either hand. In 1846 they 

 proceeded to the south-west, and eventually reached within 

 twelve miles of the north extreme of King William's Land, 

 when their progress was arrested by the approaching winter of 



