522 THE FRANKLIN SEARCH— 1848-51. 



was the washing-place of Franklin's men. He picked up a pair of cashmere 

 gloves lying on a patch of level ground, with a small stone upon the palm of 

 each to prevent its being blown away. They had been put out to dry, 

 and had remained as they had been placed for four years. He afterwards 

 inspected the three graves already mentioned, and, walking to the east 

 extremity of the island, he came to where " a very neatly-paved piece of 

 ground denoted a tent place." In a gully near it " a shooting-gallery had 

 been established, the ranges marked off by stones placed at proper distances, 

 and a large tin marked ' Soup and Bouilli,' perforated with balls, had served 

 for a target." He walked out with Captain Penny to examine some sledge 

 marks that had been reported, and found that some ran towards Cape Kiley, 

 others swept northward through a ravine towards the interior, "whilst the 

 remainder pointed to Caswell's Tower, a remarkable mass of limestone, 

 which, isolated at the bottom of Radstock Bay, forms a conspicuous object 

 to a vessel approaching this neighbourhood from the eastward or westward." 

 The vicinity of this rocky monument was subsequently examined; but 

 though several cairns had been erected here, no document was discovered. 

 It was agreed that this spot had been one of the stations for shooting wild- 

 fowl and hares. After mentioning these reliquary localities, Osborn says : 

 " I have now enumerated all the important traces left by Sir John Franklin's 

 squadron in its first wintering place. To them at all hours of the day and 

 night parties from the eight vessels in our company were constantly wending 

 their way. Every one felt that there was something so inexplicable in the 

 non-discovery of any record, some written evidence of the intentions of 

 Franklin and Crozier on leaving this spot, that each of us kept on retiu-ning 

 to again search over the ground, in the hope that it had been merely over- 

 looked in the feverish haste of the first discovery of the cairns by Captain 

 Ommanney and Captain Penny. One great good, however, resulted from 

 the discovery of these traces — the safe passage of Franklin across the dangers 

 of Baffin Bay was no longer a question. This was a certainty, and it only re- 

 mained for us to ascertain which route he had taken, and then to follow him." 

 At this stage of the search, many of the officers of the different expedi- 

 tions regarded Wellington Channel as being the passage into which Sir 

 John carried his ships after leaving Erebus and Terror Bay, •between 

 Beechey Island and the mainland, in which they had undoubtedly been 

 moored during the winter of 1845-46. We have seen that Captain Ommanney 

 had already steered for this channel in the " Assistance " and " Intrepid," 

 and had left the search at Beechey Island to be prosecuted by Penny and 

 Austin. It was in the beginning of September that Ommanney left Cape 

 Eiley, and commenced to push westward for the mouth of the channel, at 

 the middle of which he soon arrived, only, however, to be hemmed in by ice. 

 There was every likelihood of the " Assistance " being here crushed to pieces. 



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