509 
annum; and this low rate, with other reasons, has rendered 
Arctic service extremely popular both with officers and men. 
“<7. It will not be necessary, for the complete exploration 
of the area in question, to penetrate so far north as to encoun- 
ter the greatest danger incident to Arctic navigation, namely, 
the detention of the ships by ice. And in the event of such 
detention, or any serious accident, such as crushing of the 
vessels by the ice, the crews can easily escape with sledges 
and boats, either to the whalers, or to one of the three great 
depots of provisions at Port Leopold, Beechey Island, and 
Melville Island, as was done by the crews under the command 
of Sir Edward Belcher, when, in obedience to his instruc- 
tions, he was obliged to abandon his ships. ‘'There is now no 
known position, however remote’ (we quote the words of 
Captain M‘Clintock, in a communication recently made by 
him to the Royal Dublin Society), ‘from which a well- 
equipped crew could not effect their escape by their own un- 
aided efforts. We felt this; and by our experience, gained in 
a cause more glorious than ever men embarked in, have se- 
cured to all future Arctic explorers a plan by which they 
may rejoin their fellow-men.’ 
‘In conclusion, we would earnestly entreat your Lord- 
ship not to permit this opportunity to be lost. Many circum- 
stances, tosome of which we have adverted, combine to create 
reasonable grounds of hope that the expedition now projected 
by Lady Franklin, if it should receive the assistance of her 
Majesty’s Government, will be productive of important re- 
sults. Itis now well ascertained that all former expeditions 
sent out in search of Sir John Franklin had taken a direction 
too northerly, and that a single year may now suffice to ex- 
plore the region in which the missing ships must lie. Captain 
M‘Clintock, to whom Lady Franklin, with permission of the 
Admiralty, has intrusted the command of her schooner, pro- 
poses to make his way down Prince Regent’s Inlet, and 
thence, through Bellot’s Strait, to pass at once into the field 
