It appears that Hobson found on the south side of Back Bay, King William Land, a record deposited by Lieutenant Graham Gore in May, 1847. It was in a thin tin soldered-up cylinder, and proved to be a duplicate of the record also found by Hobson at Point Victory. The latter record was in an unsoldered cylinder which had fallen from the top of the cairn where it was originally placed. It was written on one of the printed blanks usually furnished to surveying and to discovery ships to be thrown overboard in a sealed bottle, with a request to return it to the admiralty. This written record, in full, ran as follows:
"H. M. Ships Erebus and Terror 28th of May 1847. Wintered in the ice in Lat. 70° 5′ N., Long. 98° 23′ W. Having wintered in 1846-7 [should read 1845-6] at Beechey Island, in Lat. 74° 43′ N., Long. 91° 39′ 15′′ W. After having ascended Wellington Channel to Lat. 77°, and returning by the west coast of Cornwallis Island. Sir John Franklin commanding the Expedition. All well. Party consisting of 2 officers and 6 men left the ships on Monday 24th May 1847.
"Gm [Graham] Gore Lieut.
"Chas F Des Voeux Mate."
On the margin of the above record was written the following:
"April 25, 1848, H. M. Ships Terror and Erebus were deserted on the 22nd of April, 5 leagues N.N.W. of this, having been beset since 12 September, 1846. The officers and crew, consisting of 105 souls, under the command of Capt. F. R. M. Crozier, landed in Lat. 69° 37′ 42′′, Long. 93° 41′ W. This paper was found by Lieut. Irving, under the cairn supposed to have been built by Sir James Ross in 1831, 4 miles to the northward, where it had been deposited by the late commander Gore in [May, erased and therefor substituted] June, 1847. Sir James Ross' pillar has not however been found and the paper has been transferred to this position, which is that in which Sir J. Ross' pillar was erected. Sir John Franklin died on the 11th of June, 1847, and the total loss by death in the Expedition has been to date 9 officers and 15 men.
"F. R. M. Crozier, Captain and senior officer.
"James Fitzjames, Captain H. M. S. Erebus."And start to-morrow, 26th, for Back's Fish River."
These are the only records that have ever been found, and the thorough search made by Hall, Schwatka, and Gilder make it most improbable that any other will ever be discovered.
The heroic persistency of Hobson in locating these precious papers is akin to that shown by the steward who fell down and died as he walked. When ten days out from the ship Hobson found that he was suffering from scurvy, but he went on and in a month walked lame. Near the end of his journey of seventy-four days he was not able to walk more than a few yards at a time, and so had to allow himself to be dragged on the sledge. When he arrived at the ship he was neither able to walk nor even to stand without assistance. Worthy comrades were Sir Allen Young and Dr. Walker, whose strenuous and co-operating labors made this success possible, for which they also paid the price in physical suffering and in impaired health.
McClintock himself played many parts, for with his two engineers dead he stood at a critical time twenty-four consecutive hours at the engine, while Young from the crow's nest piloted the Fox out of the ice-pack on her homeward voyage, in August, 1859.
With characteristic modesty McClintock dwells lightly on his own work, and ends his story with a merited tribute to "those heroic men who perished in the path of duty, but not until they had achieved the grand object of their voyage—the discovery of the northwest passage."
While the self-sacrificing heroism of McClintock and of his loyal companions solved the mystery of the English sailor dead, which their powerful government had been unable to reveal, yet the initiation and in part the prosecution of this work were due to the wifely and patriotic devotion of Lady Jane Franklin.