The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-17 00:00:00

PROMOTIONS.

Acting- Gunners George Parsons, in,the Virago steam-
sloop, on the Pacifie station; Vbitis Monkey, in -the
Grecian, 12, sloop, on the Cape orsGroetl Hope landau;
Henry Blythe, in the Antelope, on the Mediterranean
station; W. S. Deere, in the Banshee, on the Mediter,_
ranean station; and John Shaw, in the Excellent gun-_
nery ship, at Portsmouth,- have all been confirmed to the
rank of gunner. -
Lieutenant Richard V. Hamilton, of the Resolute,
proeeedk d to Greenwich yesterday to .receive the chro-
twit:mere for Captain Sir Edward Belhheil Arctic expe-
dition, and take charge of' them at Greenhithe.
Mr, Suepperd, engineer, Supplied about 1-50 of
his balloons to-day for the expedition, by order of the
Lords of the ,-Admiralty..
Several lighters will proceed down the river 'to the,
Nore 10-morrow with extra stores to be put ;on board the
Babilisk and Desperate steamers, which these vessels
will convey to the edge of the ice, and t.4e!2.put theni on-
board of the vessels of the Expeditiori.' '
- -
The North Star,, Commander Pullen, was taken to the
middle of the stream to-day to be in readiness to be
towed down to Gretnhithe to-morrow by the Adder and
Monkey steam-vessels. The North Star is very deeply
loaded, and her decks piled with split logs, to be used
for firewood.

SIR JOHN FRANKLIN'S EXPEDITION.
On the eve of the departure of Sir E. Belcher, s Arctic
expedition, every circumstance connected in any degree
with the fate of 'Sir John Franklin's expedition—now
absent within one month of seveti years from this-coun-
try—is earnestly criticised by all' classes,, and mere etipe-
cially Since the report published in the tistly part of the
present week, of two ships having been seen raised on
field ice, and adjoining a large iceberg, on the coast of
Newfoundland, in April, 1851. It may tend in some
degree to allay the tears which have existed of the fatal
termination of Sir John Fs anklin's expedition to recall
to mind the principal reports which have been promul-
gated since the.departure of the expo-dition in Kay, 1845.
The flr.t was the absurd and exploded statement of
Adam Beck, the Danish interpreter, to Rear-Admiral 1
Sir John Ross. Which is implicitly lielieved ,by the
gallant officer, that the Erebus and Terror discovery
sbips had been wrecked and sunk in Baffin's Batin the
latter part of 1846, and that the 'Pertion of the
crew who had been saved from the perils of the ocean
had been murdered by the natives,. , The next te.
port was from a mysterious letter inserted first in one
of the Dundee newspapers, narrating, in a circumstantial
manner, the discovery of four graves, stating„ that
the bodies found in them bad died of starvation. The
greatest exertion to trace the foundation of that report
has hitherto failed to discover the author of it. The
next report, of the truth ot which there can be no doubt,
was the discovery of three graves—one of a: sergeant of
the Royal Marines, 'and two of the seamen who 'were
known to have forthed a portion of Sir John Franklin's
expedition—en 13eechy Island, and other relics to prove
that the expedition bad actually been on that island .in
1846, Although 'great exertions had been made, and
rewards, first of 10,0001, and subsequently of 20.0001,
were offered by the Admiralty for the discovery of-the
missing navigators, no other information has bean .ohe
-Wiled to trace the expedition farther down than 1846,
until the recent report of the discovery of. :two ships on
an iceberg on the colistef Newtoundlantf.' The eight af
chips alOngside of icebergs on the coast of Newfotthdlaid
is often witnessed at a certain period of the year; and
when it is stated that the Dee steamer once. ran for up-
wards of twenty-tour hours alongside a large iceberg
with field ice floating in the adjacent sea, before, she
could extricate herself; sailing vessels might have been
weeks in accomplishing the escape. -