At Cape Herschel a cairn was found all but demolished by the natives, and greatly to the disappointment of M’Clintock no record of any kind was discovered.
“I noticed with great care,” he writes, “the appearance of the stones, and came to the conclusion that the cairn itself was of old date, and had been erected many years ago, and that it was reduced to the state in which we found it by people having broken down one side of it; the displaced stones, from being turned over, looking far more fresh than those in that portion of the cairn which had been left standing. It was with a feeling of deep regret and much disappointment that I left this spot without finding some certain record of those martyrs to their country’s fame. Perhaps in all the wide world there will be few spots more hallowed in the recollection of English seamen than this cairn on Cape Herschel.
“A few miles beyond Cape Herschel the land becomes very low; many islets and shingle-ridges lie far off the coast; and as we advanced we met with hummocks of unusually heavy ice, showing plainly that we were now travelling upon a far more exposed part of the coast-line. We were approaching a spot where a revelation of intense interest was awaiting me.
“About twelve miles from Cape Herschel I found a small cairn built by Hobson’s party, containing a note for me. He had reached this his extreme point, six days previously, without having seen anything of the wreck, or of natives, but he had found a record—the record so ardently sought for—of the Franklin expedition—at Point Victory, on the northwest coast of King William Land. That record is indeed a sad and touching relic of our lost friends, and, to simplify its contents, I will point out separately the double story it so briefly tells.
“In the first place, the record paper was one of the printed forms usually supplied to discovery ships for the purpose of being enclosed in bottles and thrown overboard at sea, in order to ascertain the set of the currents, blanks being left for the date and position; any person finding one of these records is requested to forward it to the Secretary of the Admiralty, with a note of time and place; and this request is printed upon it in six different languages. Upon it was written, apparently by Lieutenant Gore, as follows:—
“‘28 of May, 1847
“‘H. M. ships Erebus and Terror wintered in the ice in lat. 70° 05´ N.; long. 98° 23´ W.
“‘Having wintered in 1846-7, at Beechey Island, in lat. 74° 43´ 28´´ N., long. 91° 39´ 15´´ W., after having ascended Wellington Channel to lat. 77° and returned by the west side of Cornwallis Island.
“‘Sir John Franklin commanding the expedition.
“‘All well.