The ships sailed from England on May 19, 1845. The men were in good spirits and hopeful. They sailed north toward Lancaster sound, and on the 26th of July, 1845, a whaling vessel, called the Prince of Wales, sighted them in Melville bay, stuck fast in the ice. The captain of the whaler received a visit from some of the exploring party, and was invited to dine with Franklin, but a breeze sprang up suddenly, and the ships parted company.
That was the last time the Erebus and the Terror, or any of the men aboard those vessels, were ever seen. They appeared to have dropped off the face of the earth.
When the Erebus and Terror had been absent two years, and no news of them had been heard, many expeditions were sent out to hunt for them. Some traces of the ships were discovered, and it is believed that the vessels sailed northward through Lancaster sound to Beechey island, where they wintered (1845–1846). On this island were found the graves of two seamen marked with headboards showing the date of their death.
In Winter Quarters.
It is thought that when spring came, the ships were released from the ice and proceeded southward toward King William’s Land. While near to King William’s Land the vessels were probably again caught in the pack. The second winter, with its long, dark night, bitter cold, and absence of proper food, must have been a gloomy one for these poor men.
If they were still alive when spring came, how they must have hoped each day for the freeing of the ships! As the days passed and spring grew to summer, summer to autumn, yet with no prospect of release from the cruel pack, the situation became hopeless and intolerable.
All this misery came upon them with greater force because success was so near. Franklin knew that a distance of but one hundred miles separated him from the object of his search. Almost within reach of the goal, here he was, locked in!