Franklin Monument at Beechey Island.
On the next terrace, a few yards in rear of the house, a wooden cenotaph surmounted by a round ball and set in a small platform of cemented limestone was erected to the memory of Franklin and his heroic associates by one of the subsequent expeditions, and to-day stands in a fair state of repair. Resting face-downward on the platform, alongside of the cenotaph, was a large marble slab, inscribed, as a tribute to the memory of Franklin and the crews of the Erebus and Terror, by citizens of the United States. A brass plate, affixed to the lower part of the slab, records that it had been brought from Disko to its present resting place by McClintock in the Fox, when he obtained final proof of the total destruction of Franklin’s ill-fated party. The slab was raised and photographed, and then replaced on the ground to avoid the danger of its being broken by the winds. If another expedition visits this place the material for a suitable foundation for the slab should be taken, so that it may be erected as originally intended.
On the barren plain, a few hundred yards from the house, are four graves marked by small wooden crosses, the last resting place of two of Franklin’s crews and two belonging to the search parties.
A sealed tin case was found attached to the cenotaph, and on opening it a record of the Norwegian Magnetic Pole Expedition was found. The record stated that the Gjoa, with the expedition on board, had arrived here in the latter part of August, 1903, after having picked up the provisions left for them at Dalrymple island by one of the Scotch whalers, and were proceeding immediately down Peel sound in order to get their ship as near as possible to the magnetic pole before the sound became frozen over. As this was the last tidings from this expedition the record was taken away, and since our return has been forwarded to the Norwegian government. The Gjoa in which the expedition sailed is a small but stout sloop, with auxiliary power supplied by a gasolene engine. The only danger to the party is in event of the Gjoa being unable to free herself from the ice when the time comes for a return. As the expedition is aware of the whaling and police establishments in the northwestern part of Hudson bay a retreat there may be made without great difficulty, if accompanied by natives.
We were forced to leave Beechey island hurriedly, owing to a large quantity of ice being driven rapidly out of the harbour by a fresh breeze and a falling tide, which threatened to separate us from the ship.
From the island no ice could be seen to the westward or northward in Wellington channel and Barrow strait. Our instructions limited the cruise westward in Lancaster sound to our present position, and the damaged condition of the ship, together with a supply of provisions insufficient for another winter in the ice, all militated against the desire to attempt the Northwest Passage, which under favourable conditions seemed possible in our staunch powerful steamship.
We left Erebus harbour at half-past two in the afternoon, standing southward across Lancaster sound for North Somerset island. At five o’clock some loose stringers of ice were met, and the course was changed to the eastward to avoid them. The north wind freshened to a gale accompanied by fog, and trouble was experienced in making the channel between Leopold island and Cape Clarence, at the mouth of Prince Regent inlet. The cape was passed at ten o’clock. The ship then steamed south, along the high cliffs of limestone, for Port Leopold, where we arrived at midnight. These cliffs rise 1,000 feet perpendicularly, being formed of nearly horizontal beds of limestone of different thicknesses and various shades of yellow, so that the cliff has a marked horizontal banding. The rocks appear to have long been submitted to the action of the weather and of small streams, each of which has cut a more or less marked gully into the face of the cliff, and the whole, taken together, give the appearance of vertical fluting, while the weathered tops have a castellated finish like that of some gigantic fortress. The cliffs fall away abruptly into a long low point of shingle which partly closes the mouth of the spacious and safe harbour of Port Leopold.
Provisions Left for the ‘Gjoa’ at Port Leopold.
As we steamed into the harbour what appeared to be an overturned boat with a wooden ‘lean-to’ built against it was seen at the end of the low point, with a small Danish flag flying. The whistle was blown, but no sign of life appeared about the place, and thinking that the Magnetic Pole expedition might perhaps have met with some disaster and that the survivors might be in want, a boat was lowered and the doctor was sent ashore with stimulants and warm blankets. Happily his services were not required; the supposed boat proved to be the boiler of a steam launch, left here by one of the Franklin search parties. Against it were piled a number of cases of provisions left a few days previously by the whaler Windward for the Gjoa, and marked by a small flag flying above them.