GETNNELL EXPEDITION. 



579 



Captain Ommaney, of the Assistance and Intrepid, landed 

 on Cape Riley, in Wellington Channel, late in August. 

 There he observed sledge-tracks and a pavement of small 

 stones which had evidently been the floor of a tent. Around 

 were a number of birds' bones and fragments of meat-tins. 

 Upon Beechey Island, three miles distant, were found a cairn 

 or mound constructed of layers of meat-tins filled with gravel, 

 the embankment of a house, the remains of a carpenter's 

 shop and an armorer's forge, with remnants of rope and 

 clothing ; a pair of gloves laid out to dry, with stones upon 

 them to prevent their blowing away. The oval outline of a 

 garden was still distinguishable. But the most interesting and 

 valuable result of these investigations was the finding of three 

 graves with inscriptions, one of which will show the tenor of 

 the whole : 



" Sacred to the memory of William Braine, R.M., of H.M.S. 

 Erebus, who died April 3, 1846, aged thirty-two years. 

 Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. — Josh. xxiv. 15." 



This and one of the other inscriptions, dated in January, 

 seemed to fix at this spot the first winter quarters of Franklin, 

 — for 1845-46. They also show that but three men died during 

 the winter ; and three out of one hundred and thirty-eight is 

 not a high proportion of mortality. The seven hundred empty 

 meat-tins seemed to show that the consumption of meat had 

 been moderate ; for the ships started with twenty-four thousand 

 canisters. This was the substance of the intelligence obtained 

 during this year of the fate of the wanderers ; and it was, as 

 will be noticed, already five years old. 



An expedition was also fitted out for the search in 1850, 

 under the combined auspices of Henry Grinnell, Esq., a mer- 

 chant of New York, and the United States Navy Department, 

 — the former furnishing the ships and the means, the latter the 

 men and the discipline. Two hermaphrodite brigs, — the Advance 

 and Rescue,— of one hundred and forty-four and ninety tons 



