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among the ice is conducted by vessels that are in company; carefully 

 avoiding, as far as practicable, a joint exposure to the same perils; 

 aiding each other in difficulties, and rescuing each others' crews in 

 case of wreck; and he argues the double improbability of both ships 

 having encountered the same calamity at the same moment. But 

 even supposing this, he shows that the chances are great of their 

 crews escaping upon the ice, and reclaiming their stores from the 

 wreck afterwards: the Arctic ocean is rarely tempestuous; and 

 when it has been so, the loss of life has been small, in conse- 

 quence of this resort. In the great storm of 1830, which destroyed 

 more than thirty ships and maimed twelve others, their crews, num- 

 bering nearly a thousand souls, escaped temporarily upon the ice, 

 and reached succour at last with the loss of only six lives. 



That Sir John Franklin has not been heard of since 1845, is 

 scarcely to be wondered at. The Arctic sea was unusually open in 

 the summer of that year, and has been closed since, until the present 

 season, by ice of unusual extent and density. It is a remarkable 

 fad, that of all the expeditions which have attempted the rescue of 

 his party, not a single one has succeeded in reaching either Cape 

 Walker, the first point indicated in his instructions, or Wellington chan- 

 nel, which he intended to explore. Of the three expeditions fitted out 

 in 1848, and since heard from; one, the Herald and Plover, entered 

 by Behring's straits, penetrated to 178° west, and returned: another, 

 under Sir John Richardson, reached the Arctic sea by the Macken- 

 zie river, but failed to get further : and the third, under Sir James 

 Ross, the Enterprize and Endeavour, was beset by peculiar misfor- 

 tunes, and returned without attaining the first point of inquiry. Yet 

 Cape Walker and Wellington channel were both of them passed four 

 several times by Captain Parry, in earlier years, and they are almost 

 on the verge of the daily route of the Lancaster sound whalers. 



When last seen, the party was not more than some 430 miles from 

 Cape Walker, and it had about six weeks of the summer before it. 

 If it was not destroyed before reaching that point, there are memo- 

 rials there of its progress and purposes, perhaps of its fate; for it is 

 the practice of all Arctic explorers, and one that was specially en- 

 joined on Capt. Franklin's party, to mark their way by cairns and 

 signal poles, burying full memoranda at their bases ; and these would 

 be imperishable in that region, and little liable to be disturbed. 



The expeditions now afloat, are two noble vessels, on the Behring's 

 straits side, with a permanent depot of provisions established for their 

 use at Kotzebue inlet; two steamers with their tenders, to follow the 



