April 2nd was the appointed day for starting on the long journeys. Petersen was to drive M’Clintock’s dog sledge. M’Clintock and Hobson travelled together as far as Cape Victoria, when the latter crossed to Cape Felix, M’Clintock pressing onwards to the Great Fish River. On meeting his Eskimo friends again he was told—what was concealed before—-that a second ship had been driven on shore. Many more relics were seen in their possession.
Hobson landed at Cape Felix on King William Island and found the remains of an encampment which had been hastily abandoned, for tents and clothes were left behind. Marching onwards he came to the large cairn with a quantity of gear strewn round it, and a tin cylinder containing the famous document written by Fitzjames, which announced the fate of Franklin and the expedition. Hobson, stricken with scurvy, felt unable to carry out the rest of his instructions, but two of his men went on and discovered a large boat. The return journey was then commenced and the Fox was reached on June 14th after an absence of 74 days. Latterly Hobson had to be carried on the sledge. He left in a cairn for M’Clintock a report and lists of all the articles seen.
M’Clintock continued his advance to the south, obtaining from the natives several spoons and articles of plate belonging to officers, and other relics. They said that many white men had dropped by the way as they marched, and that some had been buried and others not. On the 15th May M’Clintock reached Montreal Island. It was thoroughly searched, but nothing of importance was found. On the 24th M’Clintock again crossed the frozen sea to King William Island and followed the shore along which the retreating crews must have marched. On the 25th a human skeleton, with some fragments of clothing which were those of an officer’s steward, was found on a gravel ridge. The pockets had contained a brush, a comb, and a pocket-book. The shroud of snow no doubt concealed many other skeletons. On reaching Cape Herschel M’Clintock was full of hope that Simpson’s cairn might contain a record, but there was nothing. On May 29th he reached the extreme western point of King William Island (69° 8′ N. and 100° 8′ W.) which he named Cape Crozier.
M’Clintock had now arrived on Hobson’s tracks. The coast was a series of limestone ridges, and to seaward there was a rugged surface of crushed-up pack. On the 30th May the camp was formed alongside the boat found by Hobson about 50 miles from Point Victory. M’Clintock has given a most interesting account of it and its contents. It contained two skeletons and was full of relics of all kinds[133]. On June 2nd M’Clintock reached the cairn at Point Victory, and realised the whole sad story. “All the coast-line,” he wrote, “along which the retreating crews performed their fearful march must be sacred to their names alone.”
M’Clintock had completed his immortal work. For ten years he had devoted all his energies and all the powers of his mind, first to the rescue of the lost explorers, then to ascertain their fate. Success had now crowned his efforts and the mystery of the sad fate of Franklin’s expedition was at last made clear to the world. M’Clintock and his party had marched round King William Island. They returned to the ship on June 19th after an absence of 76 days, having travelled over 920 miles and discovered 800 miles of new coast line, and the only navigable North West Passage.
Allen Young commenced his journey on April 7th, with old Harvey as captain of his sledge, Hobday and Haselton seamen, and Florance, a stoker, as crew. He also took a dog-sledge. Crossing the Franklin Channel, so named by M’Clintock, he landed at Cape Eyre on Prince of Wales Island and proceeded to explore the low and desolate southern coast. Finding that he had not sufficient provisions to reach Osborn’s furthest and so complete the exploration of the great island with all his men, he sent back the rest with the sledge, in charge of Harvey, to Cape Eyre. He and Hobday went on with the dog-sledge, and on May 7th reached the table-topped hills seen by Sherard Osborn in 1851, and so completed the discovery. Young then made a gallant attempt to cross the channel to Victoria Island, but this was impossible, it being a mass of stupendous hummocks with deep fissures between them, and a retreat was therefore made to the sledge at Cape Eyre. He then completed the discovery of the eastern shore of Prince of Wales Island as far as Browne’s furthest in 1851. Next he crossed the channel to Ross’s furthest, and completed the discovery of the west side of North Somerset thence to Bellot Strait, taking frequent observations for latitude and longitude. He and his men were nearly worn out by the long period of hardships when they were met by M’Clintock on June 27th. It was a splendid journey, rich in geographical discovery.
The Fox was now got ready to return. The engines had been taken to pieces for the winter, the engineer had died, and the stokers knew nothing about the machinery. So M’Clintock tucked up his sleeves, went down into the engine room, and got the engines into working order with his own hands. There was no one else on board who could have done it. On August 10th, 1859, the Fox was freed from winter quarters, M’Clintock working the engines himself for several days, until the vessel was got under sail. She arrived in the Thames and was taken into the dock at Blackwall on September 23rd.
The whole nation was full of admiration at the way in which this great and memorable success had been achieved. Lady Franklin was more than satisfied at the result of the expedition, and felt unable to express her admiration and gratitude for its Commander. His officers and men were devoted to him, and presented him with a gold chronometer, “reminding him of that perfect harmony, that mutual esteem and good will, which made our ship’s company a happy little community, and contributed materially to the success of the expedition.”
The Queen conferred upon M’Clintock the honour of knighthood, but the great explorer could not even then be spared from Arctic work. The Admiralty undertook to run a line of deep sea soundings from the Faroes, by Iceland and Greenland, to Labrador. This important duty was entrusted to Sir Leopold M’Clintock in command of the Bulldog, and was thoroughly well done, during the severe Arctic summer of 1860.
At last Sir Leopold returned to the regular naval service, hoisting his flag twice, and after his retirement became a very active Elder Brother of the Trinity House. After serving his country for an unbroken active period of seventy-seven years, he died in harness on November 17th, 1907, at the age of 89, one of the best and greatest of Arctic explorers.