K(). I. APPENDIX. 353 



I venture also to allude to a letter of my own 

 addressed to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty 

 in April last, and a copy of which accompanied, I 

 believe, the Memorial to your Lordship, wherein I 

 earnestly deprecated any premature adjudication of the 

 reward claimed by Dr. Eae, on the ground that the fate 

 of my husband's expedition was not yet ascertained, and 

 that it was due both to the living and the dead to com- 

 plete a search which had been hitherto pursued under 

 the greatest disadvantage, for want of the clue which 

 was now for the first time in our hands. 



The Memorial above alluded to, and my own letter 

 of earher date, had not yet received any reply, when, 

 in the month of July, the Lords of the Admiralty 

 caused prompt inquiries to be made as to the possibility 

 of equipping a ship at that advanced season, in time for 

 effective operations in the field of search. The result 

 was that it was pronounced to be too late, and the sub- 

 ject was dismissed for that season. 



Upon this I addressed a letter to the Board (of which 

 I take the liberty to enclose a copy), respectfully show- 

 ing that by this unfortunate delay the opportunity had 

 also been taken from me of sending out a vessel at my 

 own cost, a measure which I had previously felt myself 

 obliged to state to their Lordships would be the alter- 

 native of any adverse decision on their part. I pleaded 

 therefore, as the only remedy for the loss of an entire 

 summer season, that the route by Behring Straits was 

 by some of the most competent Arctic officers considered 

 preferable to the eastern route, and that the equipment 

 of a vessel for this direction need not take place before 

 the close of the year. 



In reply, their Lordships caused me to be informed 

 that " they had come to the decision not to send any 

 expedition to the Arctic regions in the present year." 



This communication, however, was in answer merely 

 to my own letter. The Memorialists had as yet received 



2 A 



