THE ARGUMENT. 
179 
the expedition and our sick comrades, and to do all 
that we can, as true men, to advance the objects in 
view. 
IIenry Brooks, 
James McGary, 
George Riley, 
J. Wall Wilson, 
Amos Bonsall, 
I. I. Hayes, 
August Sontag, 
William Morton, 
C. Oiilsen, 
&c. &c.” 
I had prepared a brief memorial of the considerations 
which justified our abandonment of the vessel, and 
had read it as part of my address. I now fixed it to 
a stanchion near the gangway, where it must attract 
the notice of any who might seek us hereafter, and 
stand with them as my vindication for the step, in 
case we should be overtaken by disaster. It closed 
with these words :— 
“ I regard the abandonment of the brig as inevitable. 
We have by actual inspection but thirty-six days’ pro¬ 
visions, and a careful survey shows that we cannot cut 
more firewood without rendering our craft unseaworthy. 
A third winter would force us, as the only means of 
escaping starvation, to resort to Esquimaux habits and 
give up all hope of remaining by the vessel and her 
resources. It would therefore in no manner advance 
the search after Sir John Franklin. 
“Under any circumstances, to remain longer would 
be destructive to those of our little party who have 
already suffered from the extreme severity of the 
climate and its tendencies to disease. Scurvy has 
