482 THE FRANKLIN SEARCH— lS^S-51. 



John Eichardson had left Fort Confidence on the 7th May, proceeded south- 

 eastward through Canada by the lake route, entered the States, and, taking 

 ship at Boston, arrived in England, 6th November 1849. 



Expedition to Barrow Strait under Sir J. 0. Ross— 1848-49.— It has 



already been stated that during the third year of Franklin's absence the 

 British Government resolved upon sending out three search expeditions. 

 Two of these, the Behring Strait expedition, embracing the voyages of 

 Kellett and Moore in the " Herald " and " Plover," including PuUen's boat 

 expedition, and the river and coast journeys of Eichardson and Eae, have 

 already been treated. We now come to add a short account of the expedi- 

 tion of Sir James Clark Eoss as a pendant to the expedition of Eichardson 

 and Eae. For thus treating Eoss's voyage to Barrow Strait, there seems to 

 be two sufficient reasons. First, the two searching parties were expected 

 to act in concert, and each was instructed to connect their work with that 

 of the other ; and, second, the actual results of Sir J. C. Eoss's labours were 

 unfortunately so inconsiderable that it seems scarcely expedient to treat 

 them in a separate chapter. 



The first Barrow Strait searching expedition, organised to discover and 

 follow up the track of Franklin in the " Erebus " and " Terror," consisted of 

 the " Enterprise," a vessel of 530 tons, and carrying sixty-three officers and 

 men ; and the " Investigator," of 538 tons, and carrying sixty officers and 

 men. Sir James Clark Eoss, who sailed in the " Enterprise," commanded 

 the expedition, and was supported by Captain Edward Bird in the " Investi- 

 gator." The expedition did not leave England till the 12th June (1848), 

 and, as might be expected after such a late departure — late, at least, for 

 sailing vessels — ^they had not their sorrows to seek. Eoss experienced many 

 difficulties in Baffin's Bay, and was imable to cross the " Middle Ice " before 

 the 20th August, on which day he reached open water in lat. 75^° N., long. 

 68° W. On the 26th he reached Possession Bay (near the south side of the 

 entrance to Lancaster Sound) and was lucky enough to find there a memor- 

 andum left by Parry in 1819, though he saw nothing to prove whether 

 Franklin had visited the bay. Entering Lancaster Sound, and pushing west, 

 he reached Cape York on the 1st September, and caused a prominent land- 

 mark to be there erected. He then crossed over to the north coast of Bar- 

 row Strait, and examined Maxwell Bay and other indentations. Still holding 

 on a westward course, he was stopped by a formidable barrier of ice, which 

 extended from the mouth of Wellington Channel to Leopold Island, at the 

 west side of the entrance into Eegent Inlet. On the 11th September the 

 ships were taken into Port Leopold, in which they were effectually sealed 

 up for the winter on the following day by the main pack closing in upon 

 the land. Eoss had carried out a steam launch with him, in which he ex- 



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