“At a later day the same season, but previous to the disruption of the ice, the corpses of some thirty persons and some graves were discovered on the continent, and five dead bodies on an island near it, about a long day’s journey to the north-west of the mouth of a large stream, which can be no other than Back’s Great Fish River, as its description and that of the low shore in the neighbourhood of Point Ogle and Montreal Island agree exactly with that of Sir George Back. Some of the bodies were in a tent or tents, others were under the boat, which had been turned over to form a shelter, and some lay scattered about in different directions. Of those seen on the island, it was supposed that one was that of an officer (chief), as he had a telescope strapped over his shoulders, and his double-barrelled gun lay underneath him. From the mutilated state of many of the bodies, and the contents of the kettles, it is evident that our wretched countrymen had been driven to the last dread alternative—cannibalism—as a means of sustaining life. A few of the unfortunate men must have survived until the arrival of the wild fowl (say until the end of May), as shots were heard, and fresh bones and feathers of geese were noticed near the scene of the sad event.

“There appears to have been an abundant store of ammunition, as the gunpowder was emptied by the natives in a heap on the ground, and a quantity of shot and ball was found below high-water mark, having probably been left on the ice close to the beach before the spring thaw commenced. There must have been a number of telescopes, guns (some of them double-barrelled), watches, compasses, etc., all of which seem to have been broken up, as I saw pieces of these different articles with the natives, and I purchased as many as possible, together with some silver spoons and forks, an order of merit in the form of a star, and a small plate engraved ‘Sir John Franklin, K.C.B.’”

These spoons and forks, it may be mentioned, bore the crests and initials of some fifteen members of the expedition.

So far as Rae could discover, the natives had seen no traces whatever of the ships, and whenever they were questioned about them, they always reverted to the Victory, which was abandoned by Ross in the Gulf of Boothia in 1832. “My chief reason,” he writes, “for believing that none of the ships had been found was the fact that, in 1854, the Eskimos were so destitute of wood, that, although they had plenty of sealskins to make their small hunting canoes, they had no wood for the frames. Now, as 1846 was fourteen years after Ross’s vessel was abandoned, and as 1854 was only four years by Eskimo account—actually six years—after the Franklin ships were abandoned, the probability is that had these ships, or even one of them, been found, the natives would have had at least as much wood in 1854 as they had in 1847. The testimony of the Fox expedition of 1854 tends to support this idea, as no large wooden sledges were found, and no wood of a size larger than might have been got from the keel of a boat was seen.... I questioned the Repulse Bay Eskimos over and over again about whether any of the ships of the starved white men had been found, but they could tell me nothing, and always went back to the story of the Victory, stating that it was the only vessel from which wood had been obtained. I still believe that this was the ship to which the Eskimos referred when speaking to M’Clintock in 1859, and that they concealed the locality of the wreck lest he should wish to go there.... I may add that the white men when seen alive by the Eskimos made the latter understand by signs and a word or two of Eskimo, that they were going to the mainland (noo-nah) to shoot deer (took-took).... The Eskimos also remarked that it was curious that the sledges were seen with the party when travelling, but none were seen where the dead were, although the boat or boats remained. I pointed out to them that the white men having got close to the mouth of the Great Fish River, would require their boat to go up it, but as they did not require the sledges any more, they might have burned them for fuel. A look of intelligence immediately lit up their faces, and they said that they might have done so, for there had been fires.... They said also that feathers of geese had been seen, so they had probably shot some of these birds—an evidence that some of the party must have lived until the beginning of June, the date at which the geese arrive so far north.... What struck me at the time, as it does still, was the great mistake made by Franklin’s party in attempting to save themselves by retreating to the Hudson’s Bay territories. We should have thought that the fearful sufferings undergone by Franklin and his companions, Richardson and Back, on a former short journey through these barren grounds, would have deterred inexperienced men from attempting such a thing, when the well-known route to Fury Beach, certainly more accessible than any of the Hudson Bay Company’s settlements, and by which the Rosses escaped in 1832-33, was open to them. The distance from their ships to Fury Beach was very little greater than that from where Ross’s vessel was abandoned to the same place, and Franklin and his officers must have known that an immense stock of provisions still remained at the place where the Fury was wrecked, and where, even so late as 1859, an immense stock of preserved vegetables, soups, tobacco, sugar, flour, etc., still remained (a much larger supply than could be found at many of the Hudson’s Bay trading posts); besides, the people would have been in the direct road of searching parties or whalers. The distance to Fury Beach from where the ships were abandoned, roughly measured, is, as nearly as possible, the same as that between the ships and the true mouth of the Great Fish River, or about 210 geographical miles in a straight line. Had the retreat upon Fury Beach been resolved upon, the necessity for hauling heavy boats would have been avoided, for during the previous season (that of 1847) a small sledge party might have been despatched thither to ascertain whether the provisions and boats at the depot were safe and available. The successful performance of such a journey should not have been difficult for an expedition consisting of 130 men who, in the record found in 1859 by M’Clintock, were reported all well in the spring of 1847.”

These discoveries of Rae’s were, of course, mere side issues, and had no connection with the main object of his journey, which was the exploration of the western coast of Boothia. He accordingly resisted the strong temptation to inquire more closely into Franklin’s fate, and went on with the work which he had in hand. Unfortunately for him he had no sledges with him and no Eskimos to give him their assistance, for the natives who brought him the news already detailed soon left him; he was, in consequence, severely handicapped, and a naturally difficult journey was made all the more arduous. By dint of great exertions, however, he succeeded in reaching Simpson’s farthest on the Castor and Pollux River. Thence, in accordance with his instructions, he turned north, with the object of making his way to Bellot Strait, thus linking together the discoveries of Simpson and Kennedy. At Point de la Guiche, however, he was brought to a stop by fog and snow, and it soon became apparent that he could not attempt to reach the Strait without endangering the lives of his party. Accordingly, on May 7 he turned back, and finally reached Repulse Bay on May 26, after a brilliantly successful journey, during the course of which he had not merely added many miles of coast-line to the chart, but had also gained the first authoritative news of the fate of Franklin, for which he was awarded the £10,000 offered by the Government.

CHAPTER XVIII
M’CLINTOCK AND THE “FOX”

The news that Rae brought home naturally created the greatest stir in England, and it was felt that steps ought to be taken at once to discover whether any of the luckless explorers had succeeded in making their way to the territories of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Unfortunately the Crimean War was at that time occupying the full resources of the nation, and the Government accordingly appealed to the Hudson’s Bay Company to send out yet another expedition to search the neighbourhood of the Great Fish River. In response to this appeal, Mr James Anderson, chief factor of the Company, was detailed for the service, but, as he did not succeed in discovering any valuable clues, his journey need not detain us here.

After this failure the Government was indisposed to take any further steps in the matter, arguing—and it is not to be denied that they had a certain amount of reason on their side—that it was practically impossible that any member of the expedition should be still alive, seeing that eleven years had elapsed since they left England. Lady Franklin, however, was by no means disposed to let matters rest here, so, with the help of a number of friends, she fitted out the Fox, a steam yacht of 157 tons, and placed it under Commander M’Clintock, whose brilliant work in the Arctic Seas made him peculiarly fitted for such a mission. Lieutenant W. R. Hobson joined as second in command, Captain Allen Young consented to act as sailing-master, while many other members of the company had already seen Arctic service, among them being Dr Walker and Carl Petersen, the interpreter.

Fully provisioned for twenty-eight months, the Fox set sail from Aberdeen on July 1, 1857. M’Clintock found the ice in Melville Bay in a far from satisfactory condition, but, being determined to run any risks rather than linger on the journey, he entered the pack and attempted to make Lancaster Sound. For three weeks or so he pushed on in the face of great difficulties, but it soon became evident that he was not destined to cross the bay that year, and before the middle of September the Fox was firmly frozen into the pack with no prospect of release until the following spring.

After a somewhat exciting winter, during the course of which the voyage of the yacht was, on more than one occasion, nearly brought to an untimely end, she was at last released, and, after putting into Holsteinberg Bay for repairs, she made her second attempt to cross Melville Bay. On this occasion fate was kinder to her, and, on August 6, she steamed up Lancaster Sound, anchoring off Beechey Island on the 11th. Here M’Clintock landed a handsome tombstone sent out by Lady Franklin in memory of her husband and his companions, which was placed close to the monument erected to the memory of Bellot and those who had died on the previous search expeditions.