On the 1st of August, however, they had reached familiar waters. Two days later a cry was heard, ending in a “hullo.” Men were coming, in a small boat. “It is the Upernavik oil-boat,” said Petersen. He was right. From the men they learned the news of the Crimean War, and the discovery of the remains of Franklin’s party a thousand miles south of the places they had explored.
Next day they gained Upernavik in safety, after eighty-four days’ travelling; in the open air all the time. In Upernavik they remained until the 6th of September, and then embarked for the Shetland Isles. On the way they fell in with some American vessels which had been dispatched to search for them, and they were soon welcomed in New York.
From a scientific point of view Doctor Kane’s expedition had most important results in the discovery of a large channel to the north-west, and in many other discoveries and surveys of the American and Greenland coasts.
Chapter Thirty One.
The “Fox” Expedition.
Expeditions in search of Franklin—The Fox commissioned by Sir L. McClintock—The search by Hobson—Relics found—The fate of Sir John Franklin’s expedition—The North-West Passage discovered.
While Doctor Kane was away in 1853 the North-West Passage had been demonstrated by Captains McClure and Collinson, who it may be remembered went on in 1850 in the Investigator and Resolute to carry out the “Behring Strait Expedition.” In 1853 Lady Franklin sent out the Rattlesnake and Isabel to find McClure. Captain Inglefield also went out, as already stated, to aid Sir E. Belcher in Barrow Strait. It was on this voyage that Lieutenant Bellot was lost (August, 1853). Belcher found no traces of Franklin, but they found McClure and his ships’ company, who had been in the ice for three years. They had gone in by Behring’s Strait and returned by Baffin’s Bay, which established the fact of the so long doubted passage parallel with the American coast between these pieces of water. In 1854 the ships Assistance, Resolute, Pioneer, Intrepid, and the Investigator were all abandoned. The crews were taken on board the Talbot, Phoenix, and North Star, and reached England in 1854 without having found any true trace of Franklin, though it had been ascertained that he wintered upon Beachey Island in 1845-6.