l899-'oo TRANSACTIONS 55 



It was on his return from this expedition that Franklin 

 visited Ottawa, and on Col. By's invitation, laid well and truly 

 the Foundation Stone of the first lock of the Rideau Canal be- 

 tween Parliament Hill and Nepean Point. 



In 1837-8-9, Dease and Simpson completed the examination 

 of the coast, connecting Franklin's furthest west with Beechy's 

 Point Barrow, and Franklin's and Richardson's furthest east 

 with the Isthmus of the Peninsula of Boothia, establishing for 

 the first time, be^'Ond question, that there is a water passage all 

 the way from Behring Strait to Boothia. Dr. Rae made a land 

 journey in 1846 and 1847 and connected Dease and Simpson's 

 work with the work of Parry.* 



A year or two before Rae, with his companions, in the 

 accomplishment of this work, wintered in Repulse Bay without 

 fuel, subsisting for twelve months by hook, gun and spear, 

 tramping on foot for 700 miles, and making the first long sledge 

 journey of nearly 1,300 miles made in that part of our district of 

 Franklin; Franklin himself had left England (1845) with the 

 " Erebus" and the "Terror" on that memorable "westerlj^ sail- 

 ing' ' from which he never returned — neither he nor his seven 

 score of companions, nor their vessels. 



When he had been gone for three years and no tidings of 

 him had been wafted by favouring breezes to waiting, expectant 

 England, great anxiety began to be felt there. In 1848, Sir 

 James Ross was sent to search for the missing expedition. He 

 went to Lancaster Sound and wintered near north Devon, making 

 in the spring of 1849 a long .sledge journey with lyieut.' McClin- 

 tock for his companion. Being unsuccessful he returned to 

 England with the sad news. All England was aroused. More 

 than I -^o British seamen were lost and their fate must be as- 



*In 1853-4 Rae, by a sledg-e journey of over i,ooo miles, connected the 

 work of Dease and Simpson with that of Ross. 



