A USTIN'S EXPEDITION. 51 7 



CHAPTEE IV. 



SEARCH EXPEDITION UNDER CAPTAINS AUSTIN AND OMMANNEY IN THE 

 "resolute" and "ASSISTANCE," 



Though the Government in 1850 wisely resolved to enlist the knowledge 

 and experience of the chief of the whaling captains of the period in the 

 search for Franklin, Penny's expedition in the "Lady Franklin" and 

 " Sophia " was regarded as merely supplementary to the great naval expedi- 

 tion sent out under Captains Austin and Ommanney in the same season. 

 Horatio Thomas Austin entered the navy in 1813, served in the American 

 war under Hardy, and gained fruitful experience of Arctic navigation when 

 serving as first "lieutenant in the " Fury " (Commander Hoppner) in Parry's 

 third Arctic voyage in 1824-25. Recommended for Arctic service by his 

 old captain. Sir Edward Parry, Austin was appointed to the command of 

 the great expedition of 1850, consisting of four vessels — the " Resolute " and 

 " Assistance," with their tenders, the " Pioneer " and " Intrepid," both screw 

 steamers. The " Resolute " and " Assistance " were sailing ships rigged as 

 barques, the former 410 tons and the latter 430 tons burthen, and each car- 

 rying sixty officers and men. The steamers " Pioneer " and " Intrepid " were 

 sister vessels of 400 tons, with screw propellers of 60 horse -power, and 

 rigged as three-masted schooners. Captain Austin, the commander of the 

 expedition, hoisted his flag in the " Resolute," and was supported by Captain 

 Erasmus Ommanney in the " Assistance ; " the " Pioneer " was commanded 

 by Lieutenant Sherard Osbom, and the "Intrepid" by Lieutenant J. B. 

 Cator. This expedition, the most complete and effective that had ever left 

 the British shores for the Arctic seas, was fully provisioned for three years. 

 The ships sailed from England on the 3d May 1850, passed Cape Wrath on 

 the 15th, and after a prosperous voyage across the Atlantic, reached the 

 Whalefish Islands, to the south of Disco, on the 16th June. Resuming the 

 voyage on the 25th, the ships proceeded northward past Disco and Upper- 

 navik. Writing on the following day, the 26th, Sherard Osborn, com- 

 mander of the " Pioneer," thus reports progress : " In the first watch, the 

 ' Lady Franklin ' and ' Sophia ' were seen by us fast between loose flat pieces. 



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