THE ROMANCE OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3877, 3 July 1928, Page 18

THE ROMANCE OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY.

1. Late in May, 1845, two fine barques, H.M.S. Erebus and Terror, left Greenhythe, bound on a. polar expedition. The ships were under the command of Sir John Franklin, one of Nelson’s heroes, who had seen mueh service in many parts of the world. But the men who sailed away with such high hopes that May day never returned home. In July, 1845, the ships were heard of in Melville Bay, but from that time r direct tidings were received from them.

By

GEORGE E. HOPCROFT.

(Special tor the Otago Witness.)

IX—SIR JOHN FRANKLIN’S LAST VOYAGE.

2. In the autumn of 1845 they went into winter quarters, and it has been ascertained that in 1847 they wintered at Beechey Island. B/ 1849 the public were anxious, having received no tidings of Sir John and his men, and a relief expedition was sent out.

3. From that time until about 1857 expedition after expedition left our shores in search of Franklin, but it was not until Captain M’Lintock returned home in the Fox (1859) that the sad truth was fully known. Messages were found which proved that Franklin and his men abandoned their ships on June 8, 1847, and three days later Sir John died.

4. Captain M’Lintock and his officers discovered a boat and many traces of the unfortunate expedition, but none of the brave men who set out to travel over the ice to the Great Fish River were ever found alive.