SUMMARY OF ARCTIC EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS. 



747 



ever unknown on earth. All that we can know is that he died on his ship, locked 

 fast in the ice^ having never reached farther to the west than the place which had 

 been' set down as the real starting-point of the expedition. 



Back's Great Fish River, on the continent, whither the 105 survivors bent their 

 way, falls into a great estuary about 200 miles south of the spot where the Erebus and 

 Terror were abandoned. Scattered indications were gathered from time to time from 

 1854 to 1859, of the fate of a portion of this party, of whom a considerable part suc- 

 ceeded in traversing Prince William's Island or along its coast, and crossing the nar- 

 row Simpson's Strait which separates it from the continent. In the interval from 1854 

 to 1859, scraps of information were picked up by different searching expeditions, all 

 tending to the same point : That many years before a ship had been crushed by the 

 ice in the deep channel lying off the north-west coast of King William's Island, and 

 another had been driven ashore ; that the people had gone away toward a great river, 

 and that they had all died of starvation. Every indication showed that they had not suf- 

 fered from any violence from the few natives of the region ; and there was some reason 

 to suppose that a portion survived until the spring of 1851. It took years to gain even 

 this much information. How and by whom it was acquired will best be shown in the 

 accounts which follow of these various searching expeditions. 



When the year 1847 had passed, and no tidings came back from Franklin, appre- 

 hension began to be excited, and in 1848 the British government sent out three ex- 

 peditions for his succor. The Plover, Commodore Moore and Herald, Captain Kel- 

 lett, were to enter Bering's Strait, going at least as far up as Kotzebue Sound, just 

 within the Arctic circle, and thence in boats examine the shore eastward. They were 

 joined by the pleasure yacht Nancy Dawson, owned by Mr. Robert Dawson, who took 

 an active part in all their operations. The vessels went beyond the point assigned, 

 which they passed July 14, 1849, and stood on until they reached latitude 72° 5P, 

 longtitude IGS*^ 48', when they were stopped by impassable ice. Boat expeditions 

 had meanwhile been sent onward to search the coast as far as the mouth of Mackenzie 

 River, about longtitude 135°, up which they were to make their way, and return over- 

 land, A part of these boat expeditions went on, and a part returned to the ships, 

 August 24, having explored the coast as far as Dease Inlet, about longitude 155°, 

 without, of course, finding any trace of Franklin's party, who were then dying on the 

 other side of the continent. In the following summer, 1850, the two vessels explored 

 the same ground, with a like want of success, and the Herald returned to England, 

 Kellett, in the Plover, remaining, and wintering in Grantley Harbor, half way down 

 Bering's Straits. Of Kellett we shall hear again. 



Meantime a land party under Sir John Richardson and Dr. Rae had reached the 

 Polar Sea in August, 1850, by way of Mackenzie River, whence they explored the 

 coast for 800 miles eastward as far as the mouth of the Coppermine River about lon- 

 gitude 116°. Richardson returned overland to England, Rae remained behind, and in 

 1850 explored the shores of Wollaston Sound ; but still the icy desert told no tale of 

 the lost navigators.-^ All these expeditions were confined to the region far to the 

 west of any point reached by Franklin. 



Meanwhile Sir James Ross had sailed from England, May 12, 1848, entered Lan- 

 caster Sound, and explored its south side, and in the spring of 1849 searched along 



1 P. 357. 



