344 THE POLAR WOULD. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 



AKCTIC VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY, FROM BAFFIN TO M'CLINTOCK. 



Bnchan and Franklin. — Ross and PaiTv 1818). — Discovery of I^Ielville Island. — Winter Harbor (1819- 

 1820). — Franklin's first land Journey. — Dreadfid Suflorings. — Parrj-'s second Yoyajrc (1821-lS-2.'^). 

 — Ilii^liiik. — Lyon (1824). — Parry's tliird Voyage (1824). — Franklin's second land Jonrnej' to llie 

 Shores of the Polar Sea. — Becchey. — Parry's sledge Journey towards the Pole. — Sir Jolin Ross's 

 second Journey. — Five Years in the Arctic Ocean. — Back's Discovery of Great Fish Kiver. — Dease 

 and Simpson (1837-1839). — Franklin and Crozier's last Voyage (1845). — Searching Expeditions. — 

 Richardson and Rae. — Sir James Ross. — Austin. — Pennj'. — De Haven. — Franklin's first Winter- 

 quarters discovered by Ommaney. — Kenned}' and Bcllot. — Inglefield. — Sir E. I'elcher. — Kellett. — 

 M'Clurc's Di.-covery of the North-west Passage. — Collinson. — Bellot's Death. — Dr. Rae learns the 

 Death of the Crews of the " Erebus" and " Terror." — Sir Leopold M'Clintock. 



THE failure of Captain Phipps (afterwards Lord MulgraA'e) in the Spitzhcr- 

 gen seas (1773), and that of the ilhistrious Cook (1776), in his attempt to 

 circumntivigate the northern shores of America or Asia by way of the Straits of 

 Bering, entirely damped, for the next forty years, the spirit of Arctic discov- 

 ery ; but hope revived when it became known that Captain Scoresby, on a wind- 

 ing expedition in the Greenland seas (1806), had attained 81° 30' N. lat., and 

 thus approached the pole to within 540 miles. No previous navigator had 

 ever reached so far to the north ; an open sea lay temptingly before him, and 

 the absence of the ice-blink proved that for miles beyond the visible horizon no 

 ice-field or snow-covered land opposed his onward course; but as the object of 

 Scoresby's voyage was strictly commercial, and he himself answerable to the 

 owners of his vessel, he felt obliged to sacrifice his inclinations to his duty, and 

 to steer again to the soiith. 



During the Continental war, indeed, England had but little leisure to prose- 

 cute discoveries in the Arctic Ocean ; but not long after the conclusion of peace, 

 four stout vessels (1818) were sent out on that mission by Government. Two 

 of these, the " Dorothea," Captain Buchan, and tlie " Trent," Commander Lieu- 

 tenant John Franklin, Avere destined to proceed northward by Avay of Sjiitzber- 

 gen, and to endeavor to cross the Polar Sea. After nnnumbered difficulties, the 

 expedition was battling Avith the ice to the north-west of that wintry archipela- 

 go, when, on July 30, a sudden gale compelled the commander, as the only 

 chance of safety, to "take the ice" — that is, to thrust the ships into an ojjening 

 among tlie moving masses that could be perceived. In this very hazardous op- 

 eration, the "Dorothea" — having received so much injury that she was in dan- 

 eer of sinkinsf — was therefore turned homeward as soon as the storm subsided, 

 and the "Trent" of necessity accom])anied her. 



The other two ships, which sailed in tlie same year, the " Isabella," command- 

 ed by Captain John Koss, and the "Alexander," by Lieutenant William Ed- 

 ward Parry, had been ordered to proceed up the middle of Davis's Strait to a 



