XVI 
INTRODUCTION. 
season to his former winter quarters, he will, in the above-mentioned 
meridian, erect a signal, and bury a bottle containing the information of 
his having done so for Captain Beechey’s guidance. 
“JOHN FRANKLIN, Captain. 
F. W. BEECHEY, Commander, His 
Majesty’s Sloop Blossom. 
(Signed) 
“ Woolwich, \Qth February, 1825 .” 
After the receipt of these instructions, I took an early opportunity 
of communicating to the officers under my command the sentiments 
of their lordships, contained in the twelfth paragraph. How satisfac- 
torily these expectations were fulfilled, must appear from the manner 
in which their lordships have marked their approbation of their con- 
duct. As commander of the expedition, however, I am happy of an 
opportunity of again bearing testimony to their diligence, and of ex- 
pressing my thanks for the assistance I derived during the voyage from 
their exertions. They are especially due to my first lieutenant, Mr. 
Peard, upon whom much additional duty devolved, in consequence of 
my attention being in some measure devoted to other objects of the 
expedition . to Pieutenant Belcher and M^r. Elson, the master, for their 
indefatigable attention to the minor branches of surveving ; and to 
the former, again, for his assistance in geological researches : to Pieu- 
tenant Wainwright, for his astronomical observations : to Mr. Collie, 
for his unremitting attention to natural history, metereology, and geo- 
logy: to Mr. James Wolfe, for his attendance at the observatory and 
the construction of charts : and, lastly, to Messrs. Smyth and Kichard 
Beechey, for the devotion of their leisure time to drawing. 
On the return of the expedition to England, the journals and 
papers of the officers were placed in my hands by the Admiralty, 
with directions to publish an account of the voyage. I found those of 
Messrs. Collie and Belcher to contain much useful information on the 
above-mentioned branches of science, and in other respects I have de- 
rived much assistance from their remarks, and also from those in the 
journals of Messrs. Evans, Smyth, and Beechey. I have in general 
