Chap. X. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON'S JOURNEY. 333 



Appendix (upwards of two hundred and eighty 

 pages) is mostly his own." Doctor Richardson 

 volunteered to accompany Captain Franklin on 

 his second expedition to the shores of the Polar 

 Sea ; also Mr. George Back and Mr. Robert Hood, 

 Admiralty midshipmen, to make observations, draw- 

 ings of the land, of the natives, and objects of 

 natural history; the former of whom is now Cap- 

 tain Sir George Back, and the latter was the victim 

 (above alluded to) of an assassin. The fifth was 

 John Hepburn, a true, faithful, and affectionate 

 English seaman, and their only attendant, who, on 

 the conclusion of the expedition, was deservedly 

 rewarded with a permanent situation in one of the 

 dockyards. Of this seaman, the testimony of Sir 

 John Franklin is too valuable to be omitted. " And 

 here/' he says, " I must be permitted to pay the 

 tribute due to the fidelity, exertion, and uniform 

 good conduct, in the most trying situations, of John 

 Hepburn, an English seaman, and our only attend- 

 ant, to whom, in the latter part of our journey, we 

 owe, under Divine Providence, the preservation of 

 the lives of some of the party." # 



The instructions which Franklin received from 

 Earl Bathurst, by whom he was appointed, on the 

 recommendation of the Lords Commissioners of the 

 Admiralty, informed him that the main object of 

 the expedition was to explore the northern coast of 



* Introduction. 



