RETURN OF FORSYTH AND ROSS. 539 



of all the scientific instruments and medicine chest." The same versatile 

 gentleman acted as " doctor " to the expedition, the medical man who had 

 been engaged for the service having at the last moment "declined the 

 honour." All preparations having been completed, the "Prince Albert" 

 put to sea from Aberdeen on the 5th June 1850. 



In less than four months — on the night of the 1st October — the vessel 

 was again in Aberdeen harbour, and Mr Parker Snow had now the con- 

 genial task before him of writing the story of the adventures and achieve- 

 ments of "the expedition." This he has done in a volume entitled the 

 "Voyage of the 'Prince Albert' in search of Sir John Franklin." The 

 cruize lasted four months, during which time no discovery was made ; the 

 volume runs to four hundred pages, in which no fact of importance is 

 recorded. It is enough to state that the " Prince Albert " reached Lancaster 

 Sound, sailed for some time in company with the other discovery ships, 

 then entering Regent Inlet, proceeded as far south as Fury Beach, where 

 she was stopped by ice. From this point the homeward voyage began. Mr 

 Snow tells once more the story of the discovery of Franklin's first winter 

 quarters, an episode in Arctic exploration which has already been suffi- 

 ciently dwelt upon. This writer speaks of the craft in which he sailed 

 as the " bonnie wee pet" and emphasises the expression by putting it in 

 italics. No more ! No more ! 



Sir John Ross in the " Felix." — While Government were fitting out 

 the expeditions under Penny and Austin, Sir John Koss, who had then 

 reached the great age of seventy-three, volunteered his services to proceed 

 again to the north and search for his old comrade, Franklin. Government 

 declined the offer, but the veteran navigator, persisting in his endeavours, 

 obtained the countenance of the Hudson's Bay Company, from which and 

 from the public, he obtained by subscription sufficient funds to purchase 

 and equip the small schooner " Felix," in which he set sail from the west of 

 Scotland on the 23d May 1850. On the 27th August he arrived at Beechey 

 Island, where he inspected the traces of Franklin's winter quarters. He 

 added nothing, however, to the discovery of Penny, with whom he spent the 

 winter in Assistance Harbour. During the winter, his first officer, Com- 

 mander Philips, made a futile and fruitless effort to cross Cornwallis Island. 

 On the 12th August 1851, the "Felix" with the other vessels was released 

 from the ice, and Eoss commenced his homeward voyage, and arrived off" the 

 west coast of Scotland, 25th September 1851. "This expedition," says 

 Seemann, " was attended with no results, either as to the missing vessels or 

 to geographical discovery." 



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