AT BEECHEY ISLAND. 521 



and Dr Sutherland of the " Sophia," and these gentlemen were the first to 

 communicate to Captain Austin and Lieutenant Osborn the stirring intelli- 

 gence of the traces found on Cape Eiley and Beechey Island. 



"We have been hitherto following the fortunes of the commodore's ship 

 and tender. It is now necessary to revert for a moment to the " Assist- 

 ance" and "Intrepid." These vessels, after having visited Wolstenholme 

 Sound, entered Lancaster Sound on the 18th August, and passing Cape 

 Warrender, landed at, and named, Dundas Harbour. On the 23d, the 

 "Assistance" and "Intrepid" reached Cape Eiley. A boat's crew was 

 sent on shore to erect a cairn on the cape, " and," writes Clements R. Mark- 

 ham, midshipman under Ommanney in the " Assistance," " at this point the 

 first traces of Sir John Franklin were found. Pieces of rope, preserved 

 meat tins, and other remains were strewn upon the beach, while higher up 

 the clifi" was a cairn of stones and a few charges of shot strewn about. All 

 this created the greatest excitement, and conjecture was rife as to whence 

 these remains had come ; but at length the discovery of the name ' Goldner ' 

 marked upon the meat tins — ^the contractor who had supplied Sir John 

 Franklin with provisions — proved to a certainty that a party from the 

 ' Erebus ' and ' Terror ' had been at Cape Eiley." A cairn was afterwards 

 seen on Beechey Island, and a boat from the " Intrepid " was sent away to 

 examine it. It was soon torn down, every stone of it turned over, and the 

 ground in the neighbourhood dug up, but without result. No record or 

 document of any kind was found. A lead of water now opening up in the 

 direction of Wellington Channel, Captain Ommanney resolved to take advan- 

 tage of it and proceed westward. His discoveries on Cape Eiley were barren 

 as far as he or his officers were concerned. He regarded them as merely 

 the traces of a shipwrecked or retreating party from the "Erebus" and 

 " Terror." Meantime, the clue thus lightly picked up and as lightly let go 

 again was eagerly seized by Captain Penny, who exclaimed that he " would 

 take up the search from Cape Eiley like a bloodhound." With what success 

 he prosecuted this search has already been stated in our narrative of the gallant 

 captain's voyage in the " Lady Franklin " and " Sophia." He was, however, 

 materially assisted in his investigations by the officers of Captain Austin's ex- 

 pedition^with the achievements of which we are at present chiefly concerned. 

 After receiving from Captain Stewart the news of the discoveries on 

 Beechey Island, Lieutenant Osborn steered for Union Bay, where the 

 " Eesolute " and " Pioneer " arrived on the 28th August. On the following 

 day Osborn, with a searching party, went ashore to examine Franklin's first 

 winter quarters. He discovered the remains of a garden, oval in shape, and 

 with a border carefully formed of moss, Kchen, poppies, and anemones, and 

 afterwards came on the foundation of a storehouse. Still later, he noted an 

 old water-course, now frozen up, and knew from the tubs by its banks that this 

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