VOLUNTEER EXPEDITIONS. 535 



CHAPTEE VI. 



VOLUNTEER EXPEDITIONS IN 1850-51 LIEUTENANT DE HAVEN's AMERICAN 



EXPEDITION CAPTAIN FORSYTH's VOYAGE IN THE " PRINCE ALBERT " — 



Besides the Government expeditions sent out in 1850, under Penny and 

 Austin, to search for Franklin in Barrow Strait, and in the inlets running 

 north and south from that great channel, three private or volunteer expedi- 

 tions were fitted out to aid in the search, under the commands respectively 

 of Lieutenant de Haven of the American Navy, and of Captain Forsyth and 

 Sir John Ross. In the voyages under these commanders, however, no trace 

 of the missing ships was discovered. It is therefore only necessary here to 

 notice briefly the origin of these expeditions and the main incidents of each 

 voyage. 



The American Expedition. — Sympathy for the relatives of the men who 

 had set sail so hopefully in the " Erebus " and " Terror " in 1845, was almost 

 as keenly felt in America as in England ; and when, in 1849, Lady Franklin 

 appealed to the great American nation to aid England in her humane 

 endeavours to rescue the lost navigators, our kinsmen across the Atlantic 

 returned a ready and generous response, and the national feeling was ex- 

 pressed by Mr Henry Glrinnell, a merchant of New York, who, at his own 

 expense, bought, provisioned, and equipped two vessels to be despatched to 

 the Arctic seas. The two vessels — the "Advance," schooner, 140 tons, and 

 the " Rescue," schooner, 90 tons — were wisely placed at the disposal of the 

 American Government, in order that they might be commanded by naval 

 oflBcers, and be subject to the discipline of the regular service. The com- 

 mand of the expedition was given to Lieutenant De Haven, who hoisted his 

 pendant in the "Advance," and Mr Griffin was appointed to the " Rescue," 

 as second in command. De Haven, with instructions to prosecute the 

 search in Wellington Channel and in the region around Cape Walker, set 

 sail from New York on the 23d May 1850. He did not reach the pack of 

 Melville Bay till the 7th July, and it was late in August before he had 



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