41 
From 1829 to 1833 Captain Eoss and his nephew James Clark Eoss were 
shut up in Prince Eegent's Inlet. Leaving their little vessel hopelessly 
fixed in the ice, they made their way by slow degrees along the shore to the 
northward, living upon the provisions left by Parry frem the wreck of the 
Fury. The expedition eventually escaped in an open boat into Barrow's Strait 
where the crew were picked up by a whaler. In this expedition the shores 
of Boothia were explored, the Isthmus crossed to the Western Sea, and the 
position of one of the magnetic poles ascertained. This grand discovery 
was made by Sir James Clark (then Commander) Eoss, The journeys and 
voyages of Captain Back and of Messrs. Dease and Simpson added much to 
our knowledge of the northern parts of the American Continent. These 
explorations and those of Dr. Eae left but a small portion of these coasts 
undetermined, and paved the way for the great expedition under Sir J ohn 
Franklin, by demonstrating that the passage between the two oceans must 
be sought for farther north. The last voyage of this great commander 
commenced under the brightest auspices but ended in the most calamitous 
manner possible. Little indeed is known of the details of the voyage 
or of the movements of the large company of 129 persons who entered the 
Arctic regions with such high hopes, since not a soul ever returned to tell 
the tale of their adventures. Such information as we have has been 
obtained in the course of years from the researches of some of the 
numerous expeditions which have gone out expressly to endeavour to solve 
the problem of the fate of the lost ones. Entering Lancaster Sound the 
Frebus and Terror passed up "Wellington Channel and returned by Crozier 
Channel to Barrow Strait. Passing their first winter that of 1845-6 at 
Beechey Island and on the mainland adjoining (where many relics of the 
missing expedition, including the grave of three seamen were found in 1850) 
their probable route as ascertained by Sir F. L. McClintock was down a 
newly-discovered channel between North Somerset and Prince of Wales 
Island, since named Franklin Channel. This Channel leads directly to the 
western shores of Boothia, reached previously by Eoss, and to the northern 
and western shores of King William Island, the southern coast of which 
was reached by Dease and Simpson from the west, and thus the honour of 
the first discovery of the long-sought-f or north-west passage must be assigned 
to Sir John Franklin's expedition, although in ignorance of the fact it was 
subsequently bestowed upon Captain McClure, the undoubted discoverer of 
another of those north-west passages, many of which are now known to exist 
between the numerous large islands which occupy this part of the Arctic 
Zone ; and the first Arctic explorer who actually passed over the Polar Sea 
