The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-26 00:00:00

THE FATE OF TETE FRANKLIN

EXPEDITION.

CORRESPONDENCE OF DR. KING WITH THE
COLONIAL AND ADMIRALTY BOARDS.
(Continued from our edition of yesterday.)
TO THE RIGHT HON. EARL GRIM
17, Sarile-row, 25th November, 1847.
The last ray of hope has passed when Sir John Franklin by
his own exertions can save himself and his one hundred and
thirty-six followers from the death of starvatio'. I trust,
therefore, your Lordship will excuse my calling you' attention
to my letterof the 10th of June last, which is acknowledged,
but remains unanswered. I should not have intruded myself
again on your Loriship's notice were I able to believe that
your Lordship is fully sensible of the heavy responsibility
which the calamity has placed upon you. The Admiralty may
send assistance by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans—they may
set in motion every mariner who has assisted in ploughing the
northern seas—yet it will not relieve you from responsibility
,is the principal Secretary of State for the Colonies. The ser.
vice which I have proposed, as a matter of precedent, should
emanate from the Colonial Board. It was from that Board
that assistance was despatched in search of Sir John Ross;
and from that Board the polar laud journeys, so fruitful in

result, were one and all set on foot.
I have already called your lordship's attention to the evi-
dence which Sir Edward Parry, on his retirement from active
service, has laid before the Admiralty, in confirmation of his
opinion that the most serious consequences to his crew would
be the result of passing a third winter in the Polar regions—
and a third winter, it is now too evident, the lost expedition
must pass in the inclement North. In order, howevei, to
save our fellow-creatures from all the horrors of starvation and
its awful consequences, I have offered to your lordship to un-
dertake the boldest journey which has ever been proposed—
and ono which is justifiable only from the circumstances. I
have offered to attempt to reach the western land of North

Somerset before the close of the summer of 18=18—to.accom-
plish, in fact, in one summer that which has never been ac-
complished under two summers :—by which means I incur
the risk of having to winter with the Esquimaux, or of making
the journey along the barren ground to winter quarters on snow
shoes. How, your lordship may inquire, is this Herculean
task to be performed ? Upon what grounds do I rest my
hope of success ? I would state, in answer, that it is neces-
sary the leader of such a journey should have an intimate
knowledge of the country and the people through which he
has to pa's—the health to stand the rigour of the climate,
and the strength to undergo the fatigue of mind and body to
which ho will be subjected. It is because I have these requi-

cites, which I conscientiously believe are not to be found in
another, that I hope to effect my purpose. The uncivilised
man—and upon the service under consideration we must
have large dealings with him—in choosing his subject looks
for physical, not mental, qualifications; and if these are not
apparent, he is cautious and undecided ; and the more
you hurry him, the less certain you are of making
him answer your purpose. Time, the most im-
portant element in Polar travelling, will in this way
bo lost to the stranger iu the land, and the journey
rendered unavailing ; while my great activity, power of en-
durance, and success as a physician, during my journey in
search of Sir John Ross, must be fresh in the recollection of
nine-tenths of the Indian population through which such a
mission as I have proposed will have to pass—and cannot fail
to secure to me every co-operation. It is a well ascertained
fact that the medical traveller succeeds where all others fail.
If your Lordship will take a glance at the map of North
America, and direct your attention to but three places :
Behring Strait on the Pacific, Barrow Strait on the Atlantic,
and the land of North Somerset between them, you will
perceive that to render assistance to a party situated
on that land there aro two ways by sea and one by land. Of
the two sea ways, the route by the Pacific is altogether out
of the question. It is an idea of by-gono days; while that
by the Atlantic is so doubtful of success that it is merely neces-
sary, in order to put this assistance aside as far from certain,
to mention that Sir John Ross found Barrow Strait closed in
the summer of 1832; and as the Strait has been visited only
six times, it may be far from an unusual circumstance. To a
land journey, then, alone rwe can look for success; for the
failure of a laud journey would bo the exception to the rule,
while the failure of a sea expedition would be the rule itself.
To the western land of North Somerset, where, I maintain,
Sir John Franklin will be found, the Great Fish River is the
direct and only route ; and although the approach to it is
through a country too poor and too difficult of access to admit

of the transport of provision, it may be made the medium
of communication between the lost expedition and the
civilised world ; and Indian guides be thus placed at
their disposal to convey them to the hunting grounds of
the Red Men. Without such guides it is impossible that
they can roach these hunting grounds. It was by that intri-
cate and dangerous river that I reached the Polar Sea whilo
acting as second officer in search of Sir John Ross ; and as

there were but two officers on that honourable service, your
lordship can but look on thoso officers for the elements of
success, if a mission by that river is resolved upon. All that
I can do, as one of those officers so peculiarly circumstanced,
is to place my views on record as an earnest of my sincerity.
Even if the Admiralty should determine to try to force pro-

vision-vessels through Bohring and Barrow Straits, and scour

the vicinity in boats for the lost expedition,—and try they
must, and succeed, it will .be satisfactory to know
that such a mission as I have proposed was adopted ;
while if they should fail in their attempts—and I am
sorry to say that I fully believe they will fail—and the ser-
vice under consideration is put aside, it will be a source of
regret that not only the nation at large will feel, but the
whole civilised world. When this regret is felt, and every
soul has perished, such a mission as I have proposed will be
urged again and again for adoption ; for it is impossible that
the country will rest satisfied until a search be made for the
remains of the lost expedition by a person in whom the coun-
try has confidence. No inexperienced person can go upon
such an errand. The efforts of the Danish Government for
the lost colonies of Greenland, the efforts of the Portuguese
Government for the brothers Cotcreal, and the efforts of the
French Government for the unfortunate La Perouse, cannot
fail to raise our national pride when placed in similar circum-

stances.
It has been stated in the periodical literature of the day
that a party of sappers and miners sailed last Juno in charge
of provisions destined for the Mackenzie River, as supplies for
the lost expedition ; and that Sir John Richardson is to leave
England in February next to head this party. I hope this
may be mere report. Such an expedition would be one of
relief from a difficulty which, to be successful, anticipates the
difficulty to be overcome ; for if the lost expedition can reach
the Mackenzie River, or even the Great Bear Lake by the
Coppermine River, to benefit by these supplies, they have
solved the problem of more than three* centuries—they have
discovered the North-west Passage : a dream wo can scarcely
expect to be realised.
The recent survey of Dr. Rae is satisfactory only so far as
it confirms the Esquimaux chart furnished to Sir John Ross ;
and as it supports my views, that the western shore of the
Great Fish River estuary is continuous with the western land
of North Somerset—or, to use my own words of 1836, " that
from Gape Hay the land trends N.N.E., when it dips the
horizon, where a small space intervenes—in all probability a
deep bay—to a land gradually rising into boldness, following a
north-westerly course, the extremes of which are named Points
Ross and Booth."* If the survey of Dr. Rae could be depended
upon, the view I have taken is the correct one, but at pre_
sent it is valueless in a geographical point of view. Tho pe-
ninsularity of North Somerset is still a problem ; for it is far
from evident that Dr. Rae reached Lord Mayor Bay of Sir
John Ross. He not only neglected to search for the wreck
of the Victory steam-ship or some token of Sir John Ross's
footing, but he commenced his journey without providing
himself with the means to correct his longitude,—which he
calculated entirely by dead reckoning. Further, he not only
made his survey when all nature was clothed in ice and snow
—which placed it out of his power at all times to recognise
land from water, much more to distinguish that water which
was salt from that which was fresh—but ho made short cuts
to save a journey round capes and bays, and thus lost sight of
the continuity of laud, which an experienced traveller won"
not have done.
lEven under the most favourable circumstances, it is impos

* King's 4( Arctic Ocean," vol. ii„ p. 26.