454 THEOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASHST 



On their way to Lancaster '■Soutid they were beset in the 

 pack ice in the middle of Melville Bay for eight months, 

 and the Fox during that time drifted therewith nearly four- 

 teen hundred statute miles before she could be extricated 

 from her dangerous position, in latitude 63° north. After 

 this terrible experience Captain McClintock was obliged to 

 refit in the Greenland ports of Disco and TJpemavik, and 

 then set out on his memorable voyage of discovery. 



"In the aratumn of 1859, McClintock returned to Eng- 

 land, and his report of operations not only confirmed the 

 truth of Dr. Eae's principal statements, but he also furnished 

 numerous additional relics and details respecting the death 

 of Sir John Eranklin and many of his officers and men, as 

 well as the sad fate which befell Captains Crozier and Eitz- 

 james and their one hundred and three associates. He, how- 

 ever, failed to find any of the important records of the last 

 expedition, save and except one of the printed forms usually 

 supplied to British exploring ships for the purpose of being 

 enclosed in bottles and then thrown overboard at sea. Upon 

 this first one (the only direct information that has ever come 

 from the Eranklin party), found in a cairn of stones at Point 

 Victory, on the north-west coast of King William's Land 

 (Island), was written, apparently by Lieutenant Graham 

 Gore, as follows: '28th May, 1847. H. M. ships Erebus 

 and Terror wintered in the ice in latitude 70° north, longi- 

 tude 98° 23' west, having wintered in 1846-7 at Beechey 

 Island, in latitude 74° 48' 28" north, longitude 91° 31' 

 15" west, after having ascended Wellington Channel, in lati- 

 tude 77° north, by the west side of Cornwall's Island. Sir 

 John Eranklin commanding the expedition. All well. Party 

 consisting of two officers and six men left ships on 24th May, 

 1847. Gm. Gore, Lieutenant; Charles E. des Voeux, Mate.' 



" There is an error in the above document, namely, that 

 the Erebus and Terror wintered at Beechey Island in 1846-7. 

 The correct date should have been 1845-6. A glance at the 



