THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

Otago Witness, Issue 42, 6 March 1852, Page 4

THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

The "Illustrated News" says,-—" A ray of hope has broken in upon the darkness which has so long surrounded the fate of the gallant Sir John Franklin and his companions. Expedition after expedition has returned, bringing no news of the wanderers, or only such scanty and indefinite information as served to defer hope and make the heart sick. But more positive intelligence has at length been gained. The brave mariners have not been found ; but it has been proved almost beyond i the possibility of a doubt, that the great Arctic Ocean has been discovered, that Sir John

Franklin his sailed into it, that, in confirpjar tion of a supposition entertained logg since, this- vast Polar Sea enjoys a milder temperature than the Arctic regions previously known, and that it abounds with animal life. Under them circumstances, despair for the safety of thefle gallant men is clearly premature.

"The information on -which this hope is founded was brought by Capt. Penny, of Capt; Austin's expedition ; and that our readers may fully comprehend the importance of the intellir gence, we shall recapitulate, as succinctly as we; can, the efforts hitherto made, and the course taken by the last expeditions which were sent to the rescue. When he left England on this memorable, and let us earnestly hope, not altogether fatal enterprize, Sir John Franklin, received from the Admiralty instructions as to the course he should pursue. In the first instance he was to proceed through Barrow's Straits as far as Cape Walker, at the western extremity of that channel, and from thence endeavour, by sailing in a south-westerly direction, to reach Behring's Straits. It seems reasonable to believe that the gallant officer met with no casualty which could have swept him and his expedition away without leaving a trace behind, at so early a point of his attempt as the entrance to Barrow's Straits. Presuming that he sailed in safety so far, and that he carried his instructions into effect. Barrow's Straits was thoroughly searched by the English, and if not, by the American expedition — though on this latter point we are not over confident and no traces whatever were discovered. Not only as far westward as Cape Walker, the point named, but to Bank's Land, a considerable distance beyond it was examined, and the result was, that no opening could be discovered by which Sir John Franklin could have sailed to the south-west. The country is justified in believing, therefore, that, having proceeded as far as he could in that direction, he retraced his course, as instructed ; and that the southwesterly passage having proved to be impracticable' he tried the north-westerly one. If there could be any doubt on this point, it is set at rest by the discovery of palpable traces of the expedition at a place called Cape Riley, at the entrance of Wellington Channel, which branches off to the north-west at the very point mentioned in Sir John Franklin's instructions. It is known that Sir John and his crew passed the winter of 1845-46 at this place, and it is supposed,— and Capt. Penny's researches go far to strengthen the supposition, — that immediately on the break up of the ice in 1846, Sir John proceeded in the second route indicated and reached the great Arctic Ocean, of which Capt. Penny is now able to affirm the existence.

j " Capt. Penny started northward from the | neighbourhood of Cape Itiley last winter, or more properly speaking, in the early spring and travelled in sledges over the ice for a distance of nearly two hundred miles. Some other parties, despatched by Capt. Austin, travelled still further by the same means. Capt. Penny ascertained that Wellington Channel, not very far from its entrance, bends suddenly to the north-west, the very route supposed to exist, and which Sir John, failing in his first effort was expressly ordered to take ; and pursuing his course for 108 miles from the junction of the channel with Barrow's Straits, he found the ice soft and unsafe, and as we are informed by a daily contemporary, " discovered an open sea, with innumerable flocks of birds, Asiatic animals, drift wood, and various other signs of a more clement nature." He also saw for sixty miles beyond him " a clear, unobstructed expanse of water," which he named the Queen Victoria Channel. Long and ardently we must suppose the hardy sailor gazed upon the prospect before him, but as his further progress along the shores of this tempting sea was impossible, from the state of the sea, he was reluctantly compelled to return as he came. But, with the characteristic vigour of his profession and his country he was still undaunted. He travelled 180 miles back to his ship, and procured a boat, which he conveyed by sledges, after much difficulty, to the shores of that northern sea which seemed to invite his researches. But his gallant effort was doomed to be disappointed. When he reached the spot where the prospect had first opened out before him, he found large masses, of ice drifting into the shores from the north-west, with a strong wind and a heavy sea. It would have been madness to have risked such a passage in a small boat, and with only a week's provisions. Captain Penny therefore turned back a second time, perhaps with a heavy, certainly with a hopeful heart, for he is now in London urging upon the Government, withall the eloquence and zeal of which he is master, the duty of immediately dispatching a powerful steamer to the new point thus indicated."