130 kispoht— 1877. 



Island ; then, pressing on to the eastward, at the close of the navigation season, the ship 

 found safety on the 24th of Septemher, 1851, in Mercy Bay, lat. 74° 6' N., long. 

 1 18° 15' W . That night the ' Investigator ' was firmly frozen in, never to be re- 

 leased. 



The winter passed. In April 1852 McClure crossed the straits, sledging over to 

 Melville Island ; at Winter Harbour he deposited a record of his position at the 

 sandstone bearing the inscription of Pan-y's visit; he here found the record of 

 McClintock left by him in 1851, on his journey from the ' Assistance.' 



The summer of 1852 passed away, keeping the ' Investigator ' in her ice-bound 

 prison ; a second winter was to be passed in Mercy Bay, on short allowance of pro- 

 visions; mean temperature of January 1853 was —44°. Arrangements were made 

 for abandoning the ship, when, early in April, a party from Kellett's ship at Mel- 

 ville Island electrified their vision; the means of succour were at hand. The sequel 

 was, the ' Investigator ' was abandoned ; McClure and his gallant band were trans- 

 ferred to the ' Resolute,' Captain Kellett, and under his command they reached 

 England, in 1854, via Barrow Straits. 



During the spring and summer of 1853, great work was accomplished by the 

 crews of Belcher's division and Kellett's under McClintock, Richards, Osborn, 

 Hamilton, &c, under whose leadership the configuration of the northern shores of 

 the Parry Islands was completed, and large geographical discoveries were added to 

 the North Polar regions — McClintock's explorations of Prince Patrick's Islands, 

 and Sir Edward Belcher's discovery of Belcher Straits connected with Jones Sound, 

 leading to Baffin's Bay, accompanied by valuable scientific and hydrographical in- 

 formation. I will not prolong the account of the proceedings of those gallant ex- 

 plorers any further. By Sir Edward Belcher's orders his ships were all abandoned 

 in 1854, the officers and crews fell back to Erebus and Terror Bay, and finally reached 

 England with the heroes of the North-west Passage. And here ended the Govern- 

 ment search for Franklin's ships. But where could they be ? Beyond my dis- 

 covery of the first traces in 1850, nothing authentic of their whereabouts had been 

 found — their fate remained shrouded in mystery. 



The services which Dr. John Rae, the eminent Arctic traveller, rendered to this 

 cause in the search for Franklin added a considerable extent of new coast-line in 

 connexion with the North-west Passage. In 1851 he descended the Coppermine 

 River, and crossed the strait over to Wollaston Band, near Cape Franklin ; then 

 explored the coast in a north-west route up to Cape Baring, in 70° N. lat. and 117° 

 17' W. long., and returned to Port Confidence early in June. After a few days' 

 rest he set off again on a boat expedition, and explored a continuous coast-line along 

 Wollaston Land to Victoria Land on to a position in lat. 70° 2' N., long. 101° 25' W., 

 on the 15th August, which was the extreme limit of his journey, where his naviga- 

 tion was stopped by ice. Victoria Straits separated him from King William Island. 

 Could Rae have then advanced 50 miles due east he must have struck on the site 

 of Franklin's disaster. Rae retraced his course along the shores of Victoria and 

 Wollaston Land, returning to Fort Confidence by 10th September. In these two 

 ably conducted journeys he travelled along 400 miles of new-discovered coast. He 

 met with Esquimaux who knew nothing of Franklin's ships, but picked up some 

 pieces of wood and line bearing the Government mark. Amongst other contribu- 

 tions to Geography was the spirited summer voyage of Commander Inglefield in a 

 small schooner in 1852, when he entered Smith's Sound to a higher latitude than 

 was ever attempted before. Some extent of coast-line was added to on this route 

 into the Polar Sea. 



In October, 1854, important intelligence was received from Dr. Rae, who had been 

 sent to the North in 1853 to complete certain surveys on the west coast of Boothia. 

 After wintering at Repulse Bay, during his spring journey he met with Esquimaux, 

 in whose possession he found several articles, including pieces of plate, on one of 

 which Sir John Franklin's crest was engraved, which were identified as belonging 

 to the officers of the ' Erebus ' and ' Terror,' and was told that a party of white men 

 had perished some four years gone by. The recovery of these precious relics, the 

 only ones found since those discovered by me at Cape Riley and Beechey Island, 

 together with the statements made by the Esquimaux, was conclusive as to the fact 

 that the ships must have been abandoned near the neighbouring coast. This painful 



