P 11 E F A C E 



The following series of reduced meteorological observations have been prepared 

 from the records kept on board the yacht "Fox," in 1857, '58, ';">!>, during tin- 

 expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, under the command of Captain 

 M'Clintock, 1 R. N. 



The records of these observations were presented by the commander of the 

 expedition to the Institution, to be used in such manner as might be deemed 

 best suited to advance the science of meteorology. They were accordingly placed 

 in the hands of Mr. Charles A. Schott, of the U. S. Coast Survey, to be discussed 

 in accordance with the plan proposed by Sir John Herschel in his work on .meteor- 

 ology, and which was adopted in regard to the records made during the voyage of 

 Dr. Kane in the Arctic regions. These reductions form a part of a scries of articles 

 on the climatology of the Arctic portions of the North American continent, which 

 are in the course of preparation and publication by the Smithsonian Institution. 

 Of these the investigations relative to the winds of the Northern Hemisphere, by 

 Prof. Coffin, the observations by Dr. Kane, and those by Dr. Hayes, form portions. 

 It is to be hoped that an opportunity will be afforded for a thorough discussion of 

 all the observations which have been made by the different Arctic explorers on a 

 similar plan, since such a work would not only throw much light on the climatology 

 of the continent of North America, but also on the meteorology of the globe. 



The following brief account of the expedition of " the Fox," compiled from the 

 narrative of the commander, and other sources, will perhaps be of service in ren- 

 dering the observations more easily understood, as well as of interest to those who 

 may not have ready access to the works from which the compilation has been 

 made : — 



Sir John Franklin was appointed in 1845 to the command of an expedition 

 consisting of two ships, the Erebus and Terror, fitted out for a further attempt to 

 discover a northwest passage. The expedition sailed from England on the 26th of 

 May, 1845, and was last seen by a whaler in Baffin's Bay on the 26th of July fol- 

 lowing. In the autumn of 1847 public anxiety began to be manifest for the safety 

 of the explorers, from whom nothing more had been heard, and several expedi- 

 tions were sent from 1848 to 1854 in search of them. In these active exertions 



Now Sir Francis Leopold McClintock. 



