458 THEOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN 



continually maintained that a necessity existed ior the des- 

 patch of a party to the neighbourhood of King William Land 

 'hy way of that river. It would take too much time to 

 enumerate all the various projects of service for Arctic dis- 

 covery and Franklin search exploration submitted to the 

 Admiralty by Dr. King in course of the twenty years (1834- 

 1854) succeeding his return to England. Suffice it for me 

 to state that subsequent knowledge and experience have 

 shown that he was right in nearly all of his views and 

 recommendations in respect to both matters. It is remark- 

 able that Dr. King, even more than Lady Franklin, had 

 beforehand correctly indicated the precise locality for search, 

 and the after^cene of the great tragedy. Unfortunately, 

 however, for all concerned, the doughty doctor was persona 

 non grata with the naval authorities of the time, and he had 

 also made himself somewhat obnoxious to the Hudson's Bay 

 Company, and his persistent suggestions and persistent prof- 

 fers of service consequently failed to obtain that attention, 

 and consideration which they certainly merited. 



There can be no doubt, however, that a well organized and 

 equipped overland expedition, such as that sent out in the 

 spring of 1848 under Sir John Richardson and Dr. John 

 Eae, and which descended the Mackenzie Eiver, might — had 

 it then gone down the Great Fish Eiver towards King Wil- 

 liam Land — have succeeded in rescuing any survivors (and, 

 there must have been some at that time living on shipboard 

 of those of the original one hundred and five who had in all 

 probability gone back), but also have secured all or most of 

 the highly valuable and interesting records of the Franklin 

 explorers. Even to the last Dr. King firmly believed that 

 his " King cache " on Montreal Island, examined by Thomas- 

 Simpson in 1839, and whose exact position was known to 

 Franklin, would probably (before the end came) be chosen 

 by the retreating party who perished in that quarter as a 

 safe receptacle for all records in their possession. When 

 McClintock visited the island, in the spring of 1859, the- 



