The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-26 00:00:00

•
‘,-
:
-.-
_ ...
i --..,. / •
. _ ~.4. ..Z.: ;e. •
~/
. .
. ~ , .
1.,.e2. de eick 3.,....
‘ --k,- ~,,_*...., k: .
~,,,,r,-
„pt,,,,,,,x0t.„/ THE ARCTIC EXP ITION.
--- - - - .-.7:;.14.:,-;:57.0721:9' ' •*,
ik
..'" . 4 '.
0, = i - 13-'1:3.4 ,e--5
...,..„, A 1 ty-- op
' - 7-'7AP-e.eK 3' ---P t ~,,,„... . ' i 4: , . __.
~.._,, , ~. .0 • , k!' , r
•
//if .
~,' j ow ,A. . N....,-, -4! -,c-'-N.--,--.., ~„ ~? ~.
~:.y4",970; oN• .:, 1 ,W.,?; jr-rs'l.,/
~ ;r7-i ---) ~.‘,, , , , . ---_____ _.__ __ . ~.0, sl,
-----.00.--
"4:ir7.1.1 ef'g' --1 P t• 4,•• \
L.,-,, pr.., ot,
6 \
i I -i ~,,./ _, ;,,,,;, \\ . • -.: - ,i,
r.„ , ~cy , • y,, . , F.,.W_, • 4t.4 Ag k.
._. : ''' ''''''. ' 1 • :A.,
'...-:-.,-41 &e, ---- -; ' -*Ai, ' .wt,'.....—F;F3 ''''...,' /7-*-- ',;', •
. '.:›i- , ,- ,
• , .
' ":'
' / ..,1),. pel .
i .
,„. _
,itii,4,7r.tH• ,s. )Ty , , -,,,--?----",,irip:-----7-. vii ~ .:.-1,4 • 1•1 'T, tii 1,,.._ ~,,,-------_____. \
-,.
_...._...:0' , v 1.1- '" , ..,....... '/' 4 • • 4.0 .. ir,-,../4 23.7 t 7„...6.016, ' '
~...-5,----:---- k, , ~D.., - ~...-4, ~ , , .7.--,,, v ,:,...4 ~„,,,------ Of 1 1 fP, ..,4,

The Moniteur publishes the following letter, ad-
dressed to the Minister of Marine by M. Bellot, the
French naval officer who accompanied the expedition
to the Arctic Seas in search of Sir John Franklin:—
" London Oct. 13, 1852.
_ _ ,

" Monsieur le Ministre,—l have the honour to in-
form you of the arrival at Aberdeen of the schooner
Prince Albert, with 18 men, which was sent last year
in search of Sir John Franklin. Our exertions have
been fruitless, as might be foreseen from the result of
the expeditions undertaken in 1850 and 1851 by ni
vessels deepetched from England and the United
States. The circumstances of our navigation through
the ice did not permit us until recently to ascertain
in what direction and how far our predecessors had
advanced. If we have not found the solution of a
search so replete with interest, we are enabled "at
least to give a satisfactory account of those we have
left behind us engaged in so perilous en enterprie
" Having encountered the ice on the 23d of June,
1851, we reached on the 10th of July the Danish es-
tablishment of Uppernavick, on the western coast of
Greenland, where we procured a sledge drawn by
Esquimaur dogs. The whalers we met ore the Bth
dhb
ie nl
blowing
piecesi sail
ng
12th informed us that three tombs, bearing names
and dates, and other unequivocal proofs of perma-
nent residency, indicated that Beechy Island, in Bar-
row's Straits, had been one of the winter efuarters of
tShiarnJ2o 110 ndFayrsanwkelinenfdreoamvoluBr4eds, tionlcBo44u.
notut it
During nwgmh
theore
American ships of war, to ascend northward along the
eastern coast of Baffin's Bay, opening for ourselves a
"On several occasions the vessel was hemmed in
by immense fields of ice several leagues in extent, but
our light schooner, rising above it, escaped without
open
pnfa
esdisncaeg a directing e a
n passaget hd roaut g
thehowt
others
vesselht
eher s ice,s
y t
B sometimesaawi
ng
gunpowder.wedge
theb be
tywi crowding r oe
no wr t
injury. Everything beside was ready, and provisions
constantly stored on the deck, in the event of the
vessel being broken to pieces by the ice. The wind,
which no doubt had not blown from the north as much

as usual, had left the extremity of Baffin's Bay en-
tirely blocked up. Numerous icebergs, or mountains
of ice, from 100 to 150 feet in height, surrounded
us on all sides, and it was with difficulty we extri-

cated ourselves from that dangerous neighbourhood.
Having left, the Zit deg. 41.5! N. lat,, we succeeded at
lasi in crossing the principal mass. More to the
south, on the 2d of September, we reached the
entrance of Barrow's Straits, endeavouring to pene-
trate westward where we expected to meet the Eng:
lish squadron. Fresh obstacles obstructed our passage,
and the interval was employed in visiting the eastern
coast of Prince Regent's Inlet. It was also of the
highest importance to call in at Leopold's Harbour,
where we might obtain the information we required.
"In the evening of the Bth Mr. Kennedy, with a
boat and four men, left the vessel, then distant a few
miles from the coast. During the night northern
winds and the current drove us southward, and at

break of day we found ourselves 20 miles further,
forced along by the ice, which thus separated us
from the boat we had entirely lost sight of. We
were accordingly obliged to take refuge in Batty's
Bay. The next day I endeavoured to repair by land
with three men to Leopold Harbour, not knowing
whether Mr. Kennedy had been able to reach it ; but
the quantity of snow compelled us to return on board
after three days' painful exertions, sometimes with

,
snow up to our knees, and having once employed
fourteen hours in walking five miles. It was quite
impossible to proceed thither by sea. The ice formed

every day a -crust sufficiently.' thick to stop us, but
not strong enough to allow us to quit our boats. The
fate of our commander, moreover, was then decided,
for we knew that if he had reached Leopold Harbour
he had there found shelter, and an ample supply of
provisions, left by Sir James Ross in 1849. In the
first days of October I made a second attempt with a
sledge, but our impatience directed us more than our
prudence, and the ice giving way again baffled our
hopes. A third attempt was made with a boat, which
we drew 50 or 60 miles on the ice along the coast,
and on the 17th of October we had the good fortune
of again meeting our travelling companions in good
health, and having only suffered on our account, for
they did not know what had become of us.
" The rest of the year was employed in securing
the vessel in her winter quarters, surrounding it with
a thick snow wall, building on the ice with snow
workshops and stores for our provisions, and prepar-
ing for our winter excursions sledges, mocassins,
clothes, and snow shoes.
" A detachment of four men, of whom I was one,
under the orders of Zelr.liennedy, repaired on the sth
of January to the spot where the Fury was wrecked
in 1825. The sun disappeared from the 30th of

October to the 15th of February, and it wasprinci-

pally by moonlight that our short excursion was
accomplished. The result of the visit was the dis-
covery of a great quantity of provisions, carefully
landed there by Sir Edward Parry amid the perils of
a shipwreck. We also ascertained that nobody had
visited those shores since 1849: Towards the end
of February we £gain left the vessel for the same
coast, carrying► cur provisions by small quantities in
the direction we intended to traverse, and amidst
the incidents inseparable from n temperature whicb,
on the 14th of March, fell to 44 deg. (centigrade)

below the freezing point.
‘b The interminable delays of a journey along a coast
lined with ice, end where we were often obliged to open
a passage for our sledges with axes through the snow,
prevented us reaching Brentford Bay before the 6th
of April. Eight men, commanded by an officer, then
returned to the vessel, while Mr. Kennedy, four men,
and myself continued our journey in two Indian
sledges drawn by five horses. Having found a pas.
sage to the west at the bottom of that bay, we pro-
ceeded in the same direction to the 100th degree of
western longitude (from Greenwich), travelling over
plains of snow so uniform that it was only by digging
holes we knew that we were on land, and not on the
ice of the Polar Sea. We ascended then to the north
and east, in the direction of Cape Walker, to which
we attached the greater importance as we considered
it to have been the point of departure of Sir John
Franklin for the unknown regions of the north. It
had been for some time found impossible to travel by
day, on account of the reverberation of the light on
thcsa eternal snows. After each of our marches
we built a hut with snow, which offers the surest
and most comfortable shelter against the rigour of
the climate. On the 24th of April, the thermome-
ter rose to the freezing point, and we were then
sufficiently inured to cold to sleep in the open
air, which we repeated as often as possible, in order
to save time. On the 15th of May, we at last
reached Leopold Harbour, having crossed Cape
Walker to the east. Scurvy had for some time
shown
itself among us, and we stopped there tol avail our.
selves of the means of combating the
examined Cresswell
ductor had, during our absence,
Bay ; and, on our return to the vessel, on the 31st of
May, we found that the scurvy bad also attacked the
tof our men. The doctor himself, and the noble
Hepburn, former companionres of Sir John Franklin,
ma ady. The
were among the sick.
" Thanks to the intelligent care of our surgeon, we
quickly recovered, and at the end of July we com-
menced sawing a passage through the ice for our vessel,
cuar
remained
aavinaieldab lfeor
On the 6th of August she was at last released from her
prison, not having had an inch of water under her keel
during the winter. On the 18th of the same month
we met, in the Bay of the Erebus, the North Star, one
of the fine vessels sent by the English Government at
the beginning of this year. The commodore, Sir Ed-
ward Belcher, with a steamer, bad four days before
ascended northwards to Wellington Channel, while two
others were proceeeing westward in the direction_
P ehraa have
le
whichpra i a
eit
of Melville Island. The superior fitting out of that
the
to the north and
summit of Beechy Island, the road
The winter was comparatively
west appeared free.
which prevent
the forma-
mild, with continual gale,
coast.
_he
ice
newan d
nenx expedition ti2o3nd rendered
w ethssailedit our
must
o England.
' tion of ice along the .
Baffin s
Bay we encountered
sivnertyhethinnugm, einrousshoirntl,etsseefmrosm
in Lancaster Sound and in Ballin 8 shows, by its
unusual thickness,
to
brilliant success to that squadron which reckons
names so celebrated for energy andability -
m the
English navy.
6, I shall have the honour, Monsieur le Ministre,
you desire, to address to you a • if
more detailed account
of our journey. the moment I have
the notes I took during put in order
occupa-
tions. tMr. Kennedy was- ml y incessant p
eased, in the dispatch
to the Lords of the
Admiralty,
which has been pub-
lished in the English journals, to mention in the most
eseh3vaehraaltsar
flattering terms the part I
.took in the expedition in
the name of our navy.
It is impossible not to per-
ceive in the act the same feeling of kindness which
actuated him, as well as the officers and crew of the
Prince Albert, d •
during the entire journey. May Ibe
permitted, M Its Ministre, to direct your attention to
that fact ? 1 could have easily forgotten that I WWI
the first and only representative of the French
nation in an arctic vtin,er, but for the unremitting
attention, and the marked respect of my shipmates,
which I must attribute to my quality of French
officer.
" The reception I experienced from Lady Franklin,
and from the Lords of the Admiralty, will render me
ever proud of that period of nos career ; and may I
add to those testimonials the certainty of having re-
sponded to your exp td
sctations M. le Ministre, and
becomingly upheld by my con uct the honour of our
navy ?

" BELLOT,
( signed)
Lieutenant de Velum."

marriedchapv l int
a Spanish gentleman at
THE DAUGHTER OF GENERAL ROSAS, ex-dictator of
Southampton on Saturday
last.
theßu Rn oosto
ny reel: liwo al
isc