l899-'oO TRANSACTIONS 59 



sledging expedition, the thermometer 48 degrees below zero. As 

 a result he obtained clews from the Eskimo, which led him to 

 return to his ship and to despatch three expeditions, by which 

 evidence, abundant and conclusive, was secured on King William 

 Land, establishing beyond doubt the fate of the "Erebus" and 

 the "Terror." lyieut Hobson, in command of one of these 

 parties, found in a cairn on Point Victory, where John Ross had 

 been on 30th May, 1830, on the north east point of King 

 William I^and, a record which read : 



"April 28th, 1848, H. M. Ships "Terror" and "Erebus" 

 were deserted on the 22nd. April (1848), five leagues N.N.W. of 

 this, having been bCvSet (b^^ ice) since 12th Sept. 1846. The 

 officers and crew consisting of 105 souls landed here in latitude 

 69° 37' 42", longitude 98° 41' west. Sir John Franklin died 

 on the nth June, 1847, and the total loss has been to this date 

 9 officers and 15 men." 



The hand-writing was that of Capt. Fitzjames, to whose 

 signature was appended that of Capt. Crozier, who added, "start 

 to-morrow (29th April, 1848) for Back's Fish River." 



From all that can be gathered one of Franklin's vessels must 

 have been crushed in the ice and the other stranded and carried 

 off, bit by bit, by the Eskimo. 



The point Sir John Franklin had reached brought him a 

 comparatively short distance from the point he had reached in 

 1 82 1. He had all but traversed by water the distance between 

 Baffin Bay and Franklin's Turn Again Reef, 160 miles west of 

 McKenzie River. 



To Franklin it was plain sailing after he reached (had fate 

 so willed it) the southern extremity of King William Island. 

 Dease and Simpson's, Dr. Richardson's and his own explorations 

 had proved that the water-way between the main land and 

 Victoria and Wollaston lands was navigable in the season. He 

 could have traversed it as easily as Collinson did a few years 

 later. He stood on the verge of the promised land. He saw it 

 but the reward went to others. 



What became of the survivors ? 



There were 105 persons who looked out upon the ice-packed 

 strait on that 29th April, and saw for the last time the ship 

 which had sheltered them for many months. 



