TIDINGS OF THE FRA NKLIN EXPEDITION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6261, 10 December 1881, Page 7

TIDINGS OF THE FRA NKLIN EXPEDITION.

Tiiorr:ii the North Pole remains inaccessible the Arctic seas continue to be annually visited by fleets of whalers, which generally bring back oil in abundance and some news of older expeditions. The past season is re-"' ported to have been a very bad one for the whale ships ; but in revenge, Captain Adams of the Dundee whaler Arctic, has brought with him some tidings of the Franklin Expedition which are by no moans without interest. He found the monument and house erected on Beaehy Island in a bad state ; though this was but to be expected. He heard, however, from an intelligent Esquimaux a story which, if it is to be believed, sets at rest the question as to the fate of Lieutenant Crozierand his men. Seventeen had started from their ship, but only three survived their flight across the waste of ice to the hat of the Esquimaux. They were struggling to reach Hudson's Bay Territory, but all died in the shelter that the natives had given them, the "great captain" aud his two followers succumbing there to hardship and cold. There can bo little doubt that the Esquimaux'. , ? story is true, for it cxactlv fits what had been known or surmised bofore, and he is not likely to have imposed upon the Europeans who questioned him. Captain Adams, who is both a practical whaler and an enthusiastic geographer, has added another service to the many that he has rendered to the cause of Arctic discovery. The. difficulties which he had to face were untold, and his account of them throws light on the causes which may possibly have brought about the ruin of the Jeannette. He had no charts, his compasses were useless, fogs were very prevalent, and it was only by the greatest personal care in navigating that he was able to bring the vessel safe through, steering through the fog in such a manner as to avoid collision with an iceberg or grounding on the frozen shore. It is generally well to°receive the statements of Esquimaux, as of other people, with caution ; but Captain Adams, who ought to know, is strongly inclined to believe in what he was told cf the "great captain." Though so late as ISGS it was hoped by some that Lieutenant Crozier was still living, the report brought by Captain Adams seems to prove that that cannot hare been the case. Thus, we may say ends a chapter in the history of maritime euterprise in which the dominant motive has been a personal one—to find Franklin.