POLAR EXPLORATION 



277 



number of search-parties which it occasioned. His 

 object was to penetrate to Behring Strait from 

 Lancaster Sound (see FRANKLIN, SIR JOHN). In 

 70 N. lat., 98 30' W. long., on the west side of 

 King William's Land, the ships were beset, and 

 Franklin died June 1847. The survivors abandoned 

 the ships, and all perished. Many search-expedi- 

 tions were sent out. One of these, under Collinson 

 and M'Clure, sailed from Plymouth to Behring 

 Strait in 18.~>0. Fixed in the ice on its eastward 

 voyage, M'Clure's ship was rescued next spring 



1 80 



\ 



by Sir Edward Belcher, about 60 miles west of 

 Barrow Strait. Belcher now returned towards the 

 Atlantic, and thus M'Clure with his crew reached 

 England in 1854 after actually traversing the 

 North-west Passage from ocean to ocean. He 

 therefore received the honour of knighthood, and 

 a sum of 10,000 was voted by parliament to him 

 and the crew. One of the last search-expeditions 

 was that in the Fox, under Captain (now Sir) 

 Leopold M'Clintock, sent out by Lady Franklin in 

 1857. M'Clintock obtained many relics from the 



SOUTH 

 POLAR CHART. 



Eskimo of Boothia, and in a cairn in Point Victory- 

 found the record which told the story of the expedi- 

 tion. Perhaps we should here note the fact that 

 afterwards, 1879-80, one of the United States 

 March-expeditions, under Lieutenant Schwatka, 

 found evidence that Franklin had really completed 

 tin- .iixcovery of the North-west Passage. Owing 

 to the different Franklin expeditions from Great 

 Britain and the United States the whole Arctic 

 coast of North America was explored almost ex- 



haustively, so that several routes are now com- 

 pletely mapped between Davis Strait and Behring 

 Strait, tor commercial purposes, however, the 

 North-west Passage is of no value whatever. 



And now to return to the North-east Passage. 

 In 1827 Parry sailed to Spitzbergen, and after 

 much toilsome effort reached 82 40' N. After that 

 little was done in this region till Sweden began to 

 take an active interest in the exploration, under 

 the active guidance of Professor (afterwards Baron.) 



