6o Transactions iSgg-'oo 



They had no doubt consulted with Franklin, and had settled 

 what was to be done in the event of having to abandon their 

 vessels. We know that they were on King William Island and 

 that their destination was the Great Fish River. For the rest 

 there is little positive known. McClintock found proof that 

 some of them had perished along the shores of King William 

 Island. Other evidences indicate that the main body of them 

 had succeeded in reaching Montreal Island in the estuary of the 

 Great Fish River. 



In 1879 Lieut. Schwatka of the United States Army under- 

 took to find out definitely. He and three companions landed at 

 Chesterfield Inlet and proceeded overland from the mouth of the 

 Great Fish RJver and thence to Cape Herschell on King William 

 Island, whence he examined the west coast of the island to its 

 northernmost cape. Some graves were found and a medal belong- 

 ing to lyieut. Irvang of the Terror, with bones which were be- 

 lieved to be the remains of Irving. These latter were sent to 

 Edinburgh and re-interred there in January, 1881. 



One body had been found in a boat by Fieut. Hobson, and 

 some graves were discovered at different times on King William 

 Island. Indications of boat building were observed at Montreal 

 Island, showing that some members of the ill-fated expedition 

 had arrived at that point. It is all mere conjecture from that 

 stage. The only fact is that though more than fifty years have 

 passed since the noble 100 stood upon Point Victory with their 

 faces turned southward, nothing definite has been revealed. No 

 skeletons have been discovered. No cairns have been found. A 

 few traditions have been gathered from the Eskimo to the effect 

 that white men were seen toiling along and dying in their tracks, 

 apparently of starvation. Possibly some traveller may by ac- 

 cident find the gnawed bones of the men who left Montreal 

 Island on their weary march inland. It was fifty years before 

 the fate of the men on Marble Island was made known to the 

 world, and the chances of discovery in that case were much 

 greater than in the case of the Franklin men. 



The result of the several expeditions of the Franklin Relief 

 Expeditions was the exploration of a vast extent of before un- 



