Mat, 1859. FKOM GORE'S RECORD. 285 



intended to pursue this nortliern course, and was 

 only stopped by ice in that latitude of 77° north, 

 or purposely relinquished a route which seemed 

 to lead away from the known seas off the coast 

 of America, must be a matter of opinion ; but 

 this the document assures us of, that Sir John 

 Franklin's Expedition, having accomplished this 

 examination, returned southward from latitude 

 77° north, which is at the head of Wellington 

 Channel, and re-entered Barrow's Strait by a 

 new channel between Bathurst and Cornwallis 

 Islands. 



Seldom has such an amount of success been 

 accorded to an Arctic navigator in a single 

 season, and when the ' Erebus ' and ' Terror ' 

 were secured at Beechey Island for the coming 

 winter of 1845-6, the results of their first year's 

 labour must have been most cheering. These 

 results were the exploration of Wellington and 

 Queen's Channel, and the addition to our charts 

 of the extensive lands on either hand. In 1846 

 they proceeded to the south-west, and eventually 

 reached within twelve miles of the north ex- 

 treme of King William's Land, when their pro- 

 gress was arrested by the approaching winter of 

 1846-7. That winter appears to have passed 

 without any serious loss of life ; and when in the 

 spring Lieutenant Gore leaves with a party for 



