CAPTAIN SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, K. H. C.
Accordingly, on the 16th of February, 1825, he embarked at Liverpool, having undergone ‘a severe struggle between the feelings of affection and a sense of duty,’ in taking leave of his wife, whose death, then hourly expected, took place six days after his departure. On the 29th of June, he arrived at the Methye River, and, in the following August, at the left bank of the Mackenzie, whence he proceeded to the mouth of that river, and, shortly after, found salt water; in commemoration of which, he landed on an island which he had discovered, and hoisted on a pole a silk union-jack, sewed and given him by his wife, ‘under the express injunction that it was not to be unfurled before the expedition reached the sea.’ On leaving this island, which he called Garry’s, and where he had deposited, beneath a signal-pole, a letter for Captain Parry, he commenced his ascent of the Great Bear Lake River, on the banks of which he remained till the summer of 1826, when, in spite of many dangers and obstacles, he proceeded to about half-way between Mackenzie River and Icy Cape, in latitude 70 deg. 26 min. N., and longitude 148 deg. 52 min. W.; at which point he calculated he could not with safety proceed further. His feelings at being compelled to return, he thus expresses in his journal: ‘It was with no ordinary pain that I could now bring myself even to think of relinquishing the great object of my ambition, and of disappointing the flattering confidence that had been reposed in my exertions. But I had higher duties to perform than the gratification of my own feelings; and a mature consideration of all things, forced me to the conclusion that we had reached that point, beyond which perseverance would be rashness, and the best efforts must be fruitless.’
CAPTAIN CROZIER. (“TERROR.”)
COMMANDER FITZJAMES. (CAPTAIN—“EREBUS.”)
LIEUT. GRAHAM GORE. (COMMANDER.)
