750 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



Meantime following out Kane's Wellington Channel theory, Sir Edward Belcher 

 was sent out in April, 1852, in the command of five vessels, the Assistance, Resolute, 

 North Star, Pioneer, and Intrepid, the last two being steamers. The North Star was 

 the store ship. The Assistance and Pioneer were to steer up Wellington Channel ; 

 while the Intrepid and the Resolute, the latter commanded by Captain Kellett, were 

 to push westward in search of McClure and Collinson, who had not been heard from 

 since they had sailed eastward from Bering's Straits in 1850. The Resolute had a 

 singular fate. After an unusually favorable voyage she reached Melville Island in 

 September, 1852, and went into winter quarters, whence parties were sent out to 

 explore the coast in various directions, one of which found a dispatch showing that 

 McClure had been, and probably now was, at Mercy Bay, on the opposite side of 

 Bank's Strait. Sledge parties were sent in that direction ; but before they returned 

 they were anticipated. McClure had heard of the proximity of the Resolute, and one 

 day a party of worn men were seen making their way over the uneven ice. It was 

 McClure and his men. They were taken on board, and the Resolute set out upon her 

 return voyage. She got as far as Beechey Island, when it was decided to abandon 

 her, May 15, 1854, all on board being taken off by the other vessels of Belcher's 

 expedition, and brought safely to England. Sixteen months after, September 15, 

 1855, the American whaler George Henry, Captain Buddington, vessel and captain 

 thereafter known in connection with Charles Francis Hall's expeditions, while sailing 

 in Baffin's Bay came across an abandoned vessel. She was encumbered by ice but 

 perfectly tight and sea-worthy. It was the Resolute. Without human guidance she 

 had drifted 1200 miles through those dangerous seas. Buddington brought his prize 

 home to New London, Connecticut ; she was purchased by the American government, 

 thoroughly refitted, and by order of Congress presented to Queen Victoria. The 

 British government had her stripped and laid up in ordinary in the navy yard at 

 Woolwich. 



In April, 1853, the new American Grinnell expedition, the Advance, commanded 

 by Dr. Kane, sailed from New York. The story of this expedition has already been 

 fully told in this volume,^ and will not here be repeated. No account of any Arctic 

 expedition equals in interest this as detailed by Kane himself. Although fruitless as far 

 as its main object of finding Franklin or the remains of his expedition, was concerned, 

 it made valuable contributions to geographical knowledge. These may be thus 

 summed up: 1. The survey and delineation of the north coast of Greenland to its 

 apparent termination by a great glacier. 2. The survey of this glacier and its exten- 

 sion northward. 3. The discovery of a large channel to the north-west, free of ice 

 and apparently leading into an open sea. 4. The discovery and delineation of a large 

 tract of land forming the northward extension of the American continent, or rather of 

 Greenland. 5. The completed survey of the coast as far south and west as Cape 

 Sabine in Smith's Strait, connecting with the previous surveys of Captain Inglefield, 

 and completing the circuit of the straits and bays opening from Davis' Straits, and 

 leading into the Polar Sea. 



In the meantime a land expedition under charge of Dr. Rae, had been exploring on 

 the American mainland. In April, 1854, near Pelly Bay, on the Gulf of Boothia, he 

 found Esquimaux who had in their possession various articles which had evidently 



IP. 3G5 et seq. 



