Beachey was at that time actually expecting Captain Franklin. Only one hundred and forty-six miles intervened between them, and the brave explorer afterwards declared that had he known of the Blossom being so near he would have risked the meeting. But he had no reason to think that Beachey had got nearer than Kotzebue Sound, whereas a party from the Blossom had even ventured round Icy Cape in the search for Franklin.
The result was that Franklin returned, encountering severe weather, and on the 21st of September again gained the shelter of Fort Franklin. Beachey, meanwhile, waited in Kotzebue Sound as long as he dared, and then retreated to Petropavlovok. The extent of Franklin’s survey had extended over three hundred and seventy-four miles of dreary coast without discovering a single harbour for vessels. He penetrated as far as latitude 70 degrees 24 minutes, and longitude 149 degrees 37 minutes West.
Doctor Richardson’s party made some very valuable observations in his survey of five hundred miles—a much more pleasant journey than Franklin’s. In the account of the expedition are many interesting details of Esquimaux life. Doctor Richardson and his companions reached winter quarters in safety on the Great Bear Lake. In 1827 Captain Beachey again made his way up to Kotzebue Sound, in the expectation of encountering Franklin, but, of course, did not meet him. These three parties traced the coast down to Return Reef westward, from the Mackenzie eastward to Cape Kensurstern, and circumnavigated the Great Bear Lake, this, “if continued eastward, would have solved the North-West Passage.”
Before considering the several Arctic expeditions which made attempts to discover the desired North-West Passage, we will speak of Sir John Franklin’s third and last expedition to the Icy Regions. In the year 1829, Captain Franklin had been created a Knight, and received the degree of D.C.L. at Oxford. In 1830 he commanded the Rainbow in the Mediterranean, which ship was known as “Franklin’s Paradise,” so well did he treat his crew. In the year 1836, he was appointed Governor of Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania), and
in that colony he remained until 1843, where he was, and is still, gratefully remembered. He returned to England in consequence, it is said, of some misunderstanding with the Colonial Office, and in 1845 he claimed the command of the new expedition.
The Last Voyage of Franklin.
In 1844 public attention was again directed to the discovery of the North-West Passage. The expedition under Sir James Ross, in the Erebus and Terror, to the South Polar regions had reopened the Arctic question. The vessels had been proved sound; they were available for a new advance. Sir John Franklin had returned from Tasmania, and when the Admiralty had decided to send out an expedition, he laid claim to the post of commander of it.
It was not until May, 1845, that the Erebus and Terror, fitted with auxiliary screws, were ready to go. A store-vessel accompanied them as far as Disco, on the Greenland coast, and there the two ships entered Baffin’s Bay. Along the coast and into the ice they go, meeting it as it is making its slow way to the south. At length the ships are completely surrounded, and anchored to the snowy floes which extend in all directions.
By the end of July they have managed to press on out of the track of all the whaling vessels, and make for Lancaster Sound, westward. The desolate coast of North Devon is skirted, and subsequently Beachey Island is reached. From hence they move northward again, and to Wellington Channel, only to be turned back again by the ice.