that the Parry Islands afforded no trace of his presence there; but all these are insufficient to prove that he did not get to the westward, and attempt that "road to destruction" by Melville Sound; indeed, it may have proved such; but, for aught that Sir John Ross knew at the time, it presented every favourable prospect for the solution of the great question of a North-West Passage.

no

But to conclude: from Adam Beck's first report at Cape York, and the fact of finding this piece of elm (?) and not finding the tin plate with the inscription (the whole of both reports pronounced fabrications), yet, says Sir John Ross, "In my opinion this fact accounts for no documentary notices having been found in the cairns”* at Beechey Island; and "Sir John Franklin having remained at their winter quarters. .. until September, 1846, and seeing possibility of advancing further during that season (after which they would have only one year's provisions), that they had on their return home round the north end of the pack been wrecked on the east coast of Baffin's Bay." Is it on such conclusions that 135 gallant, enterprising spirits are to be left to die off unsuccoured from the face of the earth? For aught that was known, they might have been still alive, and prosecuting the object upon which they were sent in the area to which they were ordered.

* Blue Book, "Arctic Expedition, Further Correspondence," &c., pp. 8 and 9.

214

CHAPTER XI.

SIR JAMES ROSS'S SUGGESTIONS-LIEUT. PIM'S PLAN-GLOUCESTER BALLOON-RETURN OF AMERICAN EXPEDITION-DR. RAE'S NEW DISCOVERIES-LIEUT. HOOPER'S PLAN-DR. M'CORMICK'S PLAN -MR. ROOME LIEUT. MACQUIRE'S PLAN -COMMANDER PULLEN'S PLAN-BEHRING'S STRAIT EXPEDITION-CLOSE OF YEAR.

SIR JAMES ROSs, in a letter addressed to the Admiralty, dated September 26th, 1851, inquires, in allusion to the "two posts bearing a hand pointing in a certain direction, .. did Captain Penny cause a careful search to be made in the direction indicated by the hand ?" as he "cannot doubt that if a search had been made, by digging to a short distance from the posts, the cylinders containing the despatches from Sir John Franklin would most assuredly have been found." He adds, "When the report of the wreck of the Erebus and Terror, and the massacre of their crews by the Esquimaux, reached England, one chief reason for disbelieving it was, that it was said to have occurred in the winter of 1846, a year after the sailing of the Expedition, and therefore the calamity could not have occurred on their outward voyage. It is well known that the season of 1846 was the most severe that has been known for many years; none of the whale ships attained a higher latitude than 74° on the east, and 68° on the west side of Baffin's Bay, which was completely choked with heavy ice. Sir John Franklin's Expedition had made but a small advance to the westward during the more favourable season of 1845. Taking into consideration the character of the following season, it appears to me by no means improbable that the ships were not released from their winter quarters until too late a period for them to make any farther progress to the westward, the barrier of ice in that direction, as well as across the Wellington Channel, probably not breaking up at all that season, as they assuredly did not either in 1848 or 1849. To have wintered again in the same vicinity would have been a waste of the resources of the Expedition, and if," as "assumed, they were unable to advance, they

* Blue Book," Arctic Expedition, 1852, Further Correspondence," &c., p. 130.

.

would be compelled to return to England." Under these circumstances, they would have endeavoured to round the north end of what is called the middle ice, and effect a passage to the southward, between it and the east coast of Baffin's Bay. In such a season as that of 1846, it is probable their attempt would have been frustrated, and that the ships would have been frozen in in a high latitude, and not far from the east land, a position of great peril." In the absence of further traces of the missing Expedition being found, Sir James Ross submits "a more rigid inquiry be made of the natives of Cape York and Melville Bay, from whom the report of the loss of the two ships was obtained; for although I cannot believe them capable of murdering the crews, they might have been spectators of the last sad catastrophe, without being able to afford them any assistance." Here is resuscitated the essence of two improbable reports,-loss of the ships in the "middle ice," and the destruction of them and their crews about Cape York; but now they come under a more probable form, still equally without positive evidence. How rumour shifts and changes! First, the ships were said to have been lost in the "middle ice," going out. The vestiges at Beechey Island set that at rest. Now, it is returning home. As to the Cape York catastrophe, we thought that had been cleared up too; so, at least, the officers concluded who were detached to inquire into it on the spot. Alas for the relatives and friends at home! What anxiety, what torture, has been inflicted on them. Now Charybdis, now Scylla; nothing but destruction follows this ill-starred Expedition. But on what evidence? There is none; and yet the ships and crews are lost, leaving "not a wreck behind." By this letter we are led to the belief that Franklin was unable to penetrate to the north by the Wellington Channel. This at least relieves, for the moment, the pressure of that monstrous opinion which, notwithstanding the fruitless examination of Penny, still is in the ascendant, and dragging us from the examination of Melville Sound to a direction at variance with the original plan of the voyage, to end in loss and farther bitterly painful disappointment.

Lieutenant B. C. T. Pim, R.N., recently of the Herald, Captain Kellett, offered a plan (27th September, 1851),* and his services to conduct an expedition through Siberia to the mouth of the River Kolyma, and to explore the Arctic shore, from Cape Sievero Vosto

p. 94.

See Blue Books, "Arctic Expedition, 1852, Further Correspondence," &c.,

tchini Nos to the North Cape of Captain Cook. The plan may be thus briefly given :—

"All the plans hitherto adopted for the relief of Sir John Franklin have been based on the supposition that the Expedition has not penetrated to the northward of the Parry Islands; there are, however, various reasons to strengthen the opinion that Sir John Franklin has succeeded in forcing a passage through Wellington Channel into the Polymei, or open water. In this clear sea the progress of the ships towards the west would be unimpeded until re-entering the ice in the meridian of Behring's Strait, where the difficulty of the navigation renders it problematical which continent the vessels would ultimately reach. I am impressed with the idea they are upon the coast of Asia. The prevalent winds lead to this supposition. Vide Appendix of Baron Von Wrangell's Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea.' My own researches (a Journey from Kotzebue Sound across the mountains to a Russian settlement in Norton Sound) serve to strengthen my conviction that the missing ships have attained the meridian of the Colville River, thence despatched the two boats (of which reports were in circulation during the winter, 1849-50) to reach the shore, which it is likely the winds above mentioned, as well as the shoalness of the water, prevented the larger vessels from approaching.. The coast of America and the .. that of Siberia

adjacent countries have been well searched; has been totally overlooked; and yet an attentive perusal of Baron Von Wrangell's book forces upon us the opinion that ships have been wrecked on the Siberian shores. He quotes, 'On the western declivity of the hills there is a large quantity of driftwood, among which the Tungusians had found fragments of a vessel, which, from the iron nails adhering to it, appeared to be of a different construction from the simple ones in use here. Lat. about 70° North; long. 159° 30' East, &c.'t

"I therefore propose to go in search of Sir John Franklin on the coast of Siberia," leaving in proper time to arrive at the Kolyma River the beginning of spring. "I would, in that and the succeeding one, completely explore every approachable part of the Arctic shore (from Cape Sievero Vostotchini to the Cape North of Cook, a distance of about 1,300 miles), and thus finally set the question at rest, whether the missing ships, or traces of them, are to be found.

*Nos is the Russian name for "cape."

"Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea, 1820-23, by Admiral F. Von Wrangell," edited by Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Sabine, 1844, p. 208.

"It will be obvious that the accomplishment of this task completes the researches; and all that human efforts can effect will have been exerted in their behalf. ... Should the plan I have proposed be adopted, it will be found inexpensive in comparison with the Expeditions now absent, which (I say it with deference), with the utmost exertion of talent and bravery, can only follow in the path, and consequently incur a similar risk as Sir John Franklin.”

In offering some remarks on this plan of Lieutenant Pim's, we must beg to correct that officer when he says, "The plans hitherto adopted have been based on the supposition that the Expedition has not penetrated to the northward of the Parry Islands." Has he forgotten Austin's northern divisions, Penny's Expedition, and Collinson's? The great error has been that too much attention has been given to the north, and too little to the south-west; and that, too, without a particle of evidence to prove the Expedition adopted a northern route. All that could be urged was, that Sir John Franklin expressed "intentions to try in succession all the probable openings into the Polar Sea ;" but these intentions were to be acted upon only in case of failure to the south and west. What "the various reasons are to strengthen the opinion that Sir John Franklin has succeeded in forcing a passage through Wellington Channel," Mr. Pim does not specify. We are not aware that any positive reason can be given, and yet we have endeavoured to acquaint ourselves with the subject. We do not believe the Wellington Channel was ever attempted by Sir John Franklin, or he would have left notices, giving his reasons for departing from his Instructions, at Beechey Island, Point Riley, or elsewhere.

Lieutenant Pim writes evidently under the mystic influences of the north, attracted by that "wide and immeasurable ocean, . . fearful and magnificent; . . melancholy, but still fascinating, because to appearance navigable." It was to this Polynia the Wellington Channel and the new sea discovered by Penny led; and Sir John Franklin having a discretionary power to adopt this channel, therefore it is assumed that he did adopt it. But this train of reasoning we cannot admit: we prefer Arctic facts to Arctic opinions. Again, even though the Asiatic shore should have been searched within the space he mentions, still that would not have completed "the researches," or "all that human endeavours in their behalf" could accomplish; there was yet the space, Melville Sound, to be com

* See Wrangell's "Journey to the Polar Sea," p. 333.