CHAPTER XI. 



FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON. 

 1825, 1826, 1827. 



Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar 

 Sea. By John Franklin, Capt. R.N., Commander of 

 the Expedition. 



The mental and physical constitution of a thorough- 

 bred English seaman is rarely found to give way 

 to, or succumb under, misfortunes. He may suffer 

 repeated shipwrecks, may be wounded in fight with 

 the enemy, captured and thrown into prison, all 

 or any of which will not deter him from, but rather 

 increase his anxiety for, following up his profession, 

 under the hope of more favourable auspices. Thus, 

 in the true spirit of a seaman, Captain Franklin, in 

 spite of the almost unheard-of sufferings he en- 

 dured for a long continuance, mental and physical, 

 brought on by extreme cold, debility, and famine, 

 even to death's door — yet, with the full recollection 

 of all these, could not resist the temptation of 

 offering a plan, and also himself for the execution 

 of it, to the Government, of a second expedition of 

 the same kind, for the same purpose, and over the 

 same country, as the one from which he had just 



