Sir John Franklin.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 156, 4 July 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

Sir John Franklin.

In 1845 Sir John Franklin was senb oub in search of the northwest passage. Two vessels, the Erebus and the Terror, long tried in arctic explorations, were chosen for the voyage. Each was fitted with an engine and screw propeller. Sir John Franklin commanded the Erebns, Captain Richard Crozior the Terror. The vessels, manned by 134 officers and men, sailed May 19tb, 1845, in company with a tender with addibional stores, Thin tender was relieved and sent home in Davis Strait, where the vessels were fully provisioned and equipped for a three years' stay. On Ju!y26th, 1845, they wereseenbyawhaleßhip : about fche centre of Baffin Bay, moored to 'an iceberg and awaiting .in opening into Lancaster Sound. This' 14 the last lima' the vofsels were ever seen. 'Toward the close of 1847 nothing having been heard of the expKli-.ion, alarm began to be felt us to its' Safety, and early the following your (1848) three different expeditions for succor wero' despatched by the British Government. These were all unsucceeeful. I During the year 1850 five other expeditions were Bent out, but with no further success. In 1851, by the expedition of McClure, the great fact) was established at last that, there is a continuous passage by water from Baffin's Bay to Behring Strait along the coast of the American continent. In 1854 Dr. Rae. the explorer, met near the Gulf of Boothia Eskimos who had in their possession various articles of silverware and other things belonging to the officer* of both tbe Erebua and Terror. It is now known from records that have been found that Franklin sailed through Lancaster Sound and ascended Wellington Channel to latitude 77 degrees, and then, returning southward, crossed Barrow Strait and sailed down the channel (now called Franklin Channel) which separates Boothia Felix from Prince of Wales Island. There, latitude 70 degrees, longitude 98 degrees 30 minutes west, his chips became fast in the ico September 12, 1846, and Franklin died June 11, 1847. During the summer of 1847 the vessels drifted bvrenty miles to the'eoufeh-wests, and were then'abandoned by fclie survivors, who all perished in the attempt to reach the mainland. Itelic3 of these unfortunates were found from time to \,ima by explorers, thus giving the world a fairly accurate record of their la6t wanderings through icefields., Lieutenant Schwatko, who conducted an expedition on sledges in 187980 along the north coast of Alaska, found the bones of one of the officers of the Franklin expedition and other relics that; seemed to show conclusively that !.tbe ndrth-wost passage had .been actually discovered by Franklin, but its results were losb by the unfortunate attempt of the expedition to return by way of Baffin's Bay.