MODERN EXPEDITIONS. 4T 



bravest and boldest of the Arctic explorers, is well known : 

 how, in 1845, when nearly sixty years of age, he started on 

 his last and fatal voyage to the frozen regions, with the 

 ships "Erebus" and '-Terror." The vessels were seen three 

 months afterwards, but for eleven years their fate remained 

 a mystery, although twenty expeditions were sent, at the 

 cost of a million sterling, to discover traces of the missing 

 crews. In 1857 the '*Fox," commanded by the gallant 

 M'Clintock, was fitted out, at the expense of Lady Franklin, 

 on the same mission ; and in 1859, the sad end of Franklin 

 and his associates was ascertained. The " Erebus" and 

 " Terror" had been beset by ice and abandoned in 1848 ; the 

 commander himself had died the year previously (11th of 

 June), and was thus spared the agony of witnessing and 

 sharing the sufferings of his crews, all of whom had, it is 

 presumed, perished on those fearful shores. Many sad and 

 interesting relics of the Franklin expedition were recovered 

 and brought home. The discoverers obtained their infor- 

 mation in a remarkable manner : lying amongst some stones, 

 which had evidently fallen off from the top of a pillar, was 

 a small tin case, deposited on this spot by the crews of the 

 abandoned vessels and containing a record of the long-lost 

 expedition. 



It was in one of the attempts in search of Franklin and 

 his companions that the discovery of the North-west Passage 

 was effected in 1850, by the successful though perilous ex- 

 ertions of Captain M'Clure, who had shared in the Arctic 

 expedition of Captain Back in 1836, and in the voyage of 

 James Ross in 1848. Captains M^Clure and Collinson 

 were sent out in the "Investigator" and the "Enterprise." 

 The course of the latter vessel was chiefly in open waters, 

 close to our shores ; but M'Clure steered in a more northern 

 route, and encountered fearful perils from the ice in those 

 storm-bound regions. During four years he underwent 

 trials and exposures, which would have daunted many a 



