On April 8, M’Clure, accompanied by an officer and six men, set out on the return journey to the Resolute leaving orders for the two sledge parties to follow him. By some unaccountable oversight, however, he omitted to put the men who remained behind on full rations, and two more lives were lost in consequence.
Even now M’Clure’s excessive optimism had not deserted him, and, on reaching the Resolute, he told Kellett that the twenty men still on board the Investigator were quite well able to bring her home or to endure another winter in the ice if necessary. Kellett, however, had seen the condition of the men who composed the sledge-parties, and was altogether disinclined to agree with the gallant captain on this point. He accordingly arranged that his own surgeon, Dr Domville, should proceed to the Investigator, and, after joining Dr Armstrong in a medical survey of the crew, should make an unbiassed report thereon. There could only be one result. The two doctors found that none of the men were entirely free from scurvy, while many of them were very seriously ill. M’Clure, however, was by no means disposed to yield without a struggle. Accordingly he called the men on deck, and asked if any of them were prepared to volunteer for further service. Only four of them stood forward, so he had to yield to the inevitable.
The ship was cleaned and put in thorough order, and, after M’Clure had examined her for the last time, and had addressed a few words to the men, which according to Armstrong, were not particularly complimentary, the Investigator was abandoned on June 3. Lieutenant Cresswell and several members of the expedition joined the North Star at Beechey Island, and were finally conveyed to England by H.M.S. Phœnix during the summer of 1853. Those who remained on board the Resolute and Intrepid were destined to spend yet another winter in the ice, but they eventually reached home in safety during the autumn of 1854. The ships themselves, however, had to be abandoned, the crews being taken on board the North Star, which was still in the neighbourhood.
It is worthy of mention that in May, 1854, a party was sent from the Resolute to report on the condition of the Investigator in Mercy Bay. It appeared, from the condition of the ice, that she had not been released during the summer, and that M’Clure and his men would have perished had they remained on board.
The expedition, though it resulted in the discovery of the North-West Passage, cannot be regarded as an entire success. It must be remembered that it was sent out to take part in the Franklin Search and not to add to the world’s store of geographical knowledge. The coast of Bank’s Land was examined, it is true, but had not M’Clure been so possessed of a desire to complete the passage himself, he would probably have accomplished a great deal more.
Collinson’s voyage in the Enterprise, if less sensational than M’Clure’s, was really far more remarkable, not only for the brilliant manner in which he conducted it, but also for the fact that, though he did not know it, he was the first of the search parties to approach the spot where the Erebus and Terror had been lost.
Passing Cape Lisburne a fortnight later than M’Clure, and not knowing whither the Investigator had gone, he examined the pack for a short distance and then sailed south to Hong-Kong, where he spent the winter. As soon as the conditions permitted he returned to the scene of his labours and rounded Point Barrow on the last day of July. Entering Prince of Wales’ Strait, he succeeded in following it almost to its mouth, but, as he had already learnt from a record left by M’Clure that his junior officer had discovered the North-West Passage, and that there was, in consequence, no object in his proceeding further in that direction, he turned south again and found winter quarters in Walker Bay.
Sledging expeditions were sent out during the autumn and spring to look for the Investigators and to try to discover traces of Franklin, but in neither object did they meet with any success. The Enterprise was released in August, 1852, and, having explored Prince Albert Sound, Collinson set his course eastward along the coast of America, and eventually reached the east end of Dease Strait, where he spent the next winter.
It was during a sledging expedition in the following spring that he came nearest to the discovery of the remains of the Franklin expedition, for on May 10 he stood on Gateshead Island and looked across the strait to King William Land, where lay the skeletons of the lost sailors. Had M’Clure only seen fit to remain with his leader more might have been accomplished, for it would have been possible to send out stronger sledging parties and to examine that part of the coast more thoroughly. Moreover, on board the Investigator was the only interpreter which the party possessed, and Collinson was, in consequence, unable to learn the origin of an engine rod which he obtained from the natives. It is practically certain, of course, that this was a relic of one of the ill-fated ships, as also was a hatch-way which was found on Finlayson Island.
On being released from his winter quarters, Collinson turned westward again and spent his last winter in the Arctic regions off Flaxman’s Island, whence he returned to England in the following year.