TRACES OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. ARCTIC SEARCHING EXPEDITION.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 678, 31 January 1852, Page 4

TRACES OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. ARCTIC SEARCHING EXPEDITION.

(From the London Times, Sept. 10.) [Memorandum from Capt. Parker, of the Truelove.']

1. On the 26th of August, 1850, traces were found to the northward of Port Innis, Wellington Channel, confirming those previously found at Cape Riley, by Captain Ommanney. These consisted of fragments of clothing, preserved meat tins, and scraps of paper, one of these bearing the name of M'Donald, medical officer in the expedition.

2. On the 27th, Captain Penny’s parties reported graves. These were at once visited by Captain de Haven, Mr. Penny, and Dr. Kane. They bore respectively the names of W. Braine, R.M., and John Hartnell, of the Erebus, and John Torrington, of the Terror, the date of the latest death being the 3rd of April, 1846.. Added to these sad but unmistakable evidences, were the remains of tho observatory, carpenters’ shop and armourers’ forge, Upon the hill side and beach were fragments of wood, metal, and clothing, with stacks of empty meat tins. Everything indicated permanency and organization. There can be no doubt that the cove between Cape Riley and Beechy Island, facing Lancaster Sound, was the first winter station of the missing vessels. On the 31st September, the impervious ice of Wellington Channel underwent a complete disruption, and by the 6th Sept, several vessels penetrated to the Cornwallis side. Such, however, was the impenetrable character of the pack in Lancaster Sound, that by the 10th the entire searching squadron were again concentrated about eight miles south of Griffiths’ Island.

This was the furthest westing attained by the American expedition. The latest dates from Commodore Austin , are of the 13th of September. They were then in momentary expectation of making winter quarters, and it is probable that a small harbour discovered by Captain Ommanney, about three miles east of Cape Martyrs, will be the haven selected.

Thence the American vessels, while proceeding homeward, were frozen in opposite Wellington Channel, di ifting during the ensuing winter from a latitude of 75° 25’ throughout the channel and sound into Baffin’s Bay. Their liberation, after much exposure and trial, took place on the 10th of June, 1851, at a point south of Cape Walsingham, 65° 30’ —a linear drift exceeding 1050 miles.

The commotion of the ice, with its attendant uncertainty, was their chief source of trial. Every officer and man had marked scorbutic disease, but no deaths have occurred. The crews are now refreshed, and the expedition is endeavouring to regain the seat of search.—l have, &c., E. K. Kane, Surgeon to the Expedition. [From the London News, September 10.] The intelligence of traces of Sir John Franklin and his companions has been scanned with eagerness by the veteran Arctic explorers now reposing on their laurels at Woolwich, and many of them are sanguine in the expectation that they may yet have the pleasure of welcoming at least the surviving portion of the noble crews who left Woolwich in May, 1845, with the Erebus and Terror. It may be interesting to know that the royal marine whose grave was found was Sergeant William Braine, of the Woolwich division, who volunteered to proceed to the Arctic regions with the exploring party, although he had but recently returned from service in China,