FRANKLIN’S EXPEDITION

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 May 1930, Page 9

FRANKLIN’S EXPEDITION

WRAPPED IN MYSTERY. For over three-quarters of a century the fate of Sir John Franklin, and of the 128 officers and men of his expedition, has been wrapped in mystery, says a Canadian publication. Events ii the past few months have given •.•iss to the hope, that additional light "nay be shed upon the dt-taiis of that heroic adventure, by the bid "t documents and sketches which the Hon. Charles Stewart, Minister of the Interior, has acquired for the use of the Department after an investigation by Mr O. S. Finnic, Director of the North-West Territories and Yukon Branch. Sir John Franklin’s expedition sailed into the Arctic in LB4;> in the two ships, Erebus and Terror, fihe ships were seen by a whaler near the entrance to Lancaster Sound on July 26 in that year and from that time neither the ships nor any members of their crews were seen again by white men. In 1854 Doctor John Rae, an officer of the Hudson’s Bay Company, found a band of Eskimos who said they had seen white men travelling painfully southward along the shore of King William Island and that these men had all died. In 1859 Captain Leopold M'Clintock found in a cairn at Victory Point, near the northwest angle of King William Island, a printed Admiralty form on the margin of which was written, over the signatures of Captain Crozier .and Fitzjames, the commanders of the two ships, a few terse but very expressive sentences. These conveyed the information that Sir John Franklin had passed away on June 11, 1847, that eight other officers and fifteen men had died, that the ships had been abandoned, and that the remainder of the expedition, 105 persons in all, would start the following morning (April 26, 1848) for Back River on the mainland. Although many other expeditionshave sought for Franklin this is the only record that has been found of the illfated party. RECORDS BURIED. It has always been held by authorities on exploration that important records of the e: pedition must have been deposited by the survivors before the effovt to reach civilisation by way of BaUK River was begun, ami that the most probable place was in. the grave of the leader. The Deparinma? of the It- 1 prior would not at this late date, be justified in equipping and sending out an expedition to search for the grave of Sir John Franklin, but with the development of Canada’s nothland,' departmental officers concerned with the care of the native population, are continually patrolling through that portion of the Arctic ami it would be an inexpensive matter for them to devote J little time to sear.iking for records which would be of «he gretaest value to Canada and to the Empire. Therefore, vrhen a short time ago, the Hon Charles Stewart

was appraised that documents were in existence which purported to give the location of Franklin’s grave, he directed that the matter be carefully investigated, and as a result the papers and maps have been purchased for the Department. These papers consist of a lengthy manuscript accompanied by maps prepared, many years ago, from the statements of a member of the expedition headed by the United States explorer, Charles F. Hall. This expedition spent the period from 1864 to 1869 in the North engaged in the search for Franklin. According to tho statement, Hall’s expedition broke up in disorder owing to internal troubles and on that account this valuable information was lost to the head of the expedition.

Explorers of the Department of the Interior have frequently visited King Wililam Island in the course of their regular duties but in practically every case they have been there in winter when everything is covered with ice and snow and, besides, the documents indicate that the graves are in a locality which is not ordinarily traversed by deparmental officers, or others.

The study of these documents is being continued, and at the first opportunity when an explorer of the North-West Territories and Yukon Branch is in that part of the Arctic he will be instructed to make a. search for the grave of the famous explorer.