CHAPTER XXIX
DISCOVERY OF THE FATE OF FRANKLIN
The Crimean War broke out in 1854, and public attention was absorbed by it. On March 23rd of that year the names of Sir John Franklin and his officers were removed from the Navy list, but not without a protest from Lady Franklin. Suddenly, only four months later, some startling news arrived. Dr Rae of the Hudson’s Bay Company reported on July 19th that, during a journey to survey the west coast of Boothia, he met some Eskimos in Pelly Bay who said that, some years before, they had seen about thirty men dragging a boat southward over the ice, and that later the bodies of several men were found on an island near the mouth of a great river. They had several articles belonging to officers of the Franklin Expedition, including nine pieces of plate and Sir John’s Guelphic Order.
Public attention being occupied elsewhere, the Admiralty considered it enough to ask the Hudson’s Bay Company to send someone down the Great Fish River to Montreal Island, which lies at its mouth. Mr Anderson was sent, without an Eskimo interpreter, reached Montreal Island, found some fragments of a boat and various articles, and then returned. The Admiralty thought that sufficient had been done.
Lady Franklin petitioned the Prime Minister, urging that 135 officers and men of the British Navy had laid down their lives after sufferings of unexampled severity in the service of their country, as truly as if they had fallen in action. “Surely,” she added, “I may plead for such men that the bones of the dead be sought for, that their records be unearthed, that their last written words be saved from destruction. It is a sacred mission, and this final search is all I ask.” The reply was a cold refusal, and Lady Franklin realised that, if anything was to be done, she must depend upon her own resources. She did not hesitate, but at once came forward herself to fulfil the duty, and M’Clintock entered upon the completion of his long and zealous efforts by accepting the mission which was to crown his Arctic achievements.
Lady Franklin had unbounded confidence in Captain M’Clintock, and gave him a perfectly free hand. She set aside £20,000 of her own fortune for the voyage, and there were subscriptions to the amount of £3000, with which she purchased the Fox, a steam yacht of 177 tons. The expedition was fitted out at Aberdeen, and the public departments were allowed to give some help. Lieut. W. R. Hobson, who had served in the Plover, got leave to go as senior executive. Captain Allen Young of the mercantile marine, young, active, energetic, and full of zeal, entered as Master and contributed £500. Dr David Walker went as surgeon, and a very great acquisition was Carl Petersen, the Dane who was Penny’s dog-driver and who knew Greenland and its seas so well. The whole number of souls on board the Fox was twenty-four, and fifteen had served in former search expeditions. William Harvey, the chief petty officer, was Captain Austin’s boatswain’s mate in the Resolute, and afterwards in the North Star, a thorough seaman and a first-rate sledge traveller. One great advantage to M’Clintock was that Captain Austin was at Deptford and could give him much assistance.
On July 1st, 1857, the Fox was well on her way to Greenland. Ten dogs were obtained at Lievely, and two young Eskimos were engaged as seal hunters and dog-drivers. M’Clintock had already been through Melville Bay three times, but 1857 was the worst ice year on record. Constant south-east winds kept the ice closely packed.
The Fox had made 110 out of the 170 miles required to cross the bay, and there was hope if only a northerly wind would spring up. September came, however, and M’Clintock soon realised that their fate was inevitable—a winter in the drifting pack. It was a perilous position. The vessel drifted southwards for 1194 geographical miles in 242 days, and was liberated in April, 1858, under appalling circumstances. On the 24th the approach to the edge of the ice became evident from the swell. The ice fragments dashed against each other and against the ship. Sail was made and the Fox slowly bored her way through. Next day the swell had become a heavy sea, the waves thirteen feet high, dashing huge fragments of ice against the ship. Pieces of iceberg 60 or 70 feet high were dispersed through the pack, and one blow from any of them would have been instant destruction. At length, towards night, the brave little vessel ran through straggling pieces into an open sea.
After eight months of perilous drifting, finished off by two such days and nights, most people would have sought rest in a port. No one who knew M’Clintock would doubt what he would do. Without a moment’s hesitation he turned the ship’s head northward again. The year 1858 was much more favourable, and by August 11th the Fox was off Cape Riley. M’Clintock ran down Peel Sound for 25 miles, when he was stopped by unbroken ice extending from shore to shore. He therefore took the alternative route by Prince Regent’s Inlet, and by the 21st the Fox was half-way through Bellot Strait. A few miles of pack ice barred the way, but early in September she passed right through the strait, but again there was a barrier, and finally she was obliged to be placed in winter quarters in a bay at the eastern entrance of the strait, which was named Port Kennedy. However, she was well within reach of the deeply interesting region to be examined.
It was arranged that in the spring there were to be three expeditions, each with a four-man sledge with weights reduced to 200 lb. at starting, and one dog sledge with driver and a team of seven, dragging 100 lb. per dog at starting. The small number of men made the dogs necessary. Hobson was to examine the north coast of King William Island, cross to Gateshead Island, and connect Collinson’s with Wynniatt’s furthest, thus completing the outline of Victoria Island. Allen Young was to discover the southern side of Prince of Wales Island. M’Clintock himself with Petersen was to search the estuary of Back’s Fish River and the whole coast of King William Island.
Depôts were laid out during the autumn, and by Allen Young in the depth of winter. M’Clintock undertook a winter journey with temperature -33° to -48° Fahr., intending to build snow huts instead of taking a tent; but it took two hours to build them. His object was to fall in with Eskimos and obtain information, which he did; nearly all having some plunder from the Erebus or Terror. One of them stated that a ship had been crushed by the ice out at sea. The journey of 26 days in the depth of winter embraced 360 miles and completed the discovery of the coast line of North America. It also revealed the only north-west passage for ships between Boothia and King William Island.