The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-25 00:00:00

TIIE FATE OF THE FRANKLIN
EXPEDITION.

CORRESPONDENCE OF DR. KING WITH THE
COLONIAL AND ADMIRALTY BOARDS.
TO THE BIGHT HON. EARL GREY.
17, Saville Row, 10th June, 1847.
Mr LORD,—One hundred and thirty-six men are at this
moment in imminent danger of perishing from famine. Sir
John Franklin's Expedition to the North Pole in 1845, as far
as we know, has never been heard of from the moment it
sailed. An attempt to save our countrymen, if not by the
all-powerful efforts of Government, by the ever-watchful
British public will be made. The exploring party were well
aware of this when they started ; for they knew that Sir
John Ross was not allowed to die the death of famine, nor
Colonel Conolly and Captain Stoddart that of the sword,
without an effort being made for their relief. I trust, my
Lord, the British Government aro now fully aware of the
wishes of the public in regard to the lives of their men of
travel and of war. If the course adopted since Queen
Elizabeth's time iu regard to Polar Discorery Expedi-
tions has hitherto been one of profound secrecy, scarcely
worthy the honourable service iu which they have been
engaged- and no one knows whither the one hundred and
thirty-six lost men were intended to wander, for all is at
this moment conjecture beyond the walls of the Admiralty—
in future let the service be one of public competition ; and let
the attempt that is to be made to save Sir John Franklin from
his hard fate, in Christian charity, be made fully public, that
the proposed plans—for there will doubtless be several—may
be discussed, and therein be raised a praise-worthy competi-
tion, which will, at all events, have the semblance of au
endeavour to follow the right course. It is greatly to be re-
gretted that Lord Stanley dial not entertain the plan which I
proposed for acting by laud in concert with Sir John Frank-
lin's expedition by sea. It is scarcely possible that the two
services could have missed each other: therefore there would
not have been that anxiety for the fate of Sir John Franklin
which now exists, nor the necessity which is now paramount
for the most active and energetic exertions for his rescue.
My proposal was couched in the following terms :-
17, Saville-row, 20th February, 1815.
My Lo:•d,—As it is determined to prosecute the discovery
of the North-west Passage by sea from East to West, I can
fairly approa -h your Lordship to propose for adoption the
following plan for a land party :
I propose that a party of two officers, one of the medical
profession, a boat carpenter, and thirteen men fu'ly equipped
for the sorviee, should leave Montreal in Canada, sufficiently
early to reach the Athabasca Lake in July. Here half the
baggage should be left, and the boat carpenter and two men
should remain, in order to build a boat 28 feet long—an
occupation of three weeks. The explorers should then
proceed to the. head waters of the Fish River to fix upon
an eligible position to Mute-. The route to the Fish
River from the Athbasca Lake is well known to the
Indians and fur traders, and is minutely described in '° King's
Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Arctic Ocean."
The winter establishment fixed, one officer and five men,
with an Indian guide, should return to the Athabasca
Lake; and having despatched the boat carpenter with
the Indian guide and the two men to the Fish River
party, there to build a second boat, proceed in the newly-
built boat via the Slave and Mackenzie Rivers to the Great
Bear Lake, the wintering post of two of the overland jour-
neys. The parties—which, for convenience, it will bo as well
to call the eastern and western party—having securely housed
themselves, should at once adapt their means to their ends in
getting through the winter and providing for the future.
To collect and hoard provisions, and to pave the way to the
Polar Sea, so as to be on its shores as early as the navigation will
permit,-and to observe everything in the vast field before them,
are the main features of an Arctic winter with a land party. The
western party will be further occupied in transporting—as,
the traveller Simpson—their boat to the Coppermine River,
and the eastern party their boat to the Groat Fish River. A■
soon as these rivers are open the expedition must be in pro-
gress : the ono detachment for Cape Britannia or Ripon
Island, as it was once called, and the other for, Victoria Land
—the one to ascertain the connection of the mainland with
that of North Somerset or of Melville Peninsula, and if the
former, the character of its western land ; and the other to
trace Victoria Land westerly, with the view of testing its
value relatively to the North-West Passage. To enter further
into detail is unnecessary until the service is determined upon ;
but in order that my ability to supply the minutest detail may
not bo questioned, I take leave to state that I led the mission
in search of Sir John Ross wet only into, but out of, the Polar

regions.
In two instances overland journeys have been set in motion
to aid expeditions sent by sea; and it cannot be questioned
that the knowledge of such a journey as I propose being in
progress from west to east; under a determined leader, would
mainly assist in raising that moral courage which is re-
quisite in pushing an adventurous way through an un-
known sea. As it now stands, Sir John Franklin
will have to "take the ice"—as the pushing through an ice-
blocked sea is termed in utter ignorance of the extent of his
labours ; and, in case of difficulty, with certainly no better
prospect before him than that which bJel Sir John
Rise ; whose cseapo from a perilous position of four years'
standing is admitted by all to have been almost miraculous.
I have contended against the present attempt by sea from an
honest conviction of its impracticability iu the present state
of our knowledge of Arctic lands ; and, except the journey
which 'I propose is undertaken, it is no difficult matter
to foresee that the grand problem will actually bo in
abeyance. My position now is very different to that Of
1836. I was then unknown, and from the simplicity
and economy of my views considered a visionary. Nine
years have altered the state of things. The views
put forward by me in 1835 in favour of a land journey have
been verified : the Government Expedition in the Terror has
failed ; And the little band of adventurers, led by the most
successful of the Polar travellers, the intrepid Simpson—
after my own economical fashion—have astonished the most
sanguine geographers of the day. Well pleased should I have
been if that intelligent traveller had lived to complete his
task, so ably begun; and then he who is now addressing
your lordship would not have iutrude.l himself upon your notice.
It cannot bo denied that I was mainly instrumental in directing
the spirit of enterprise again to the North, at a period when
the surveys of Sir J.Ross and Sir G. Back were fresh before the
Government—supported by their powerful testimony, " that
there were fewer temptations than ever for making any fresh
attempts at solving the great geographical problem of three
centuries ;" and my restless activity on this subject con.
tinned until the " ill-starred voyage in the Terror," in com-
mand of Sir George Back, and the successful overland journey
in command of Mr. Simpson, were determined upon. My
last effort in regard to. the Expedition in the Terror closed
with the words :—" That those who were sanguine as to the
success of that enterprise would be grievously mistaken ;
and should that insane portion of the instructions, the cross-
ing the isthmus dividing the waters of Wager B ty from Regent
Inlet, be attempted, the most disastrous results might be
:eneettd." Mawr tar: I was corral' the Government
has sad, proof.: Although I do not cherish the most distant
idea ofagain haying an opportunity of pleading in favour of
a Polar• journey, under my own charge—seeing that. I have
pleaded nine years in vain—l am as aliie as ever to the pro-
gress of arctic discovery; and I do hope that your lordship
will entertain the plan here submitted. Your lordship will
ha •o no difficulty in finding volunteers for such a service ;
but in order to meet any difficulty of this nature, I am ready
to volunteer the whole command, or part of the command,
with any officer your lordship may appoint, provided that ho
is of my own ago and in possession of the same amount of
physical capability.—l have the honour to be, die."
RICHARD KIN%

To the Right Hon. Lord Stanley.
With these few words of introduction I take leave to
address your lordship under three heads. The probable posi-
tion of the Polar Expedition; the condition of the Polar lands
about it; and the best means of saving it.
In the outset I have a difficulty, owing to the route of Sir
John Franklin not having been officially announced. Sir John
Barrow, in his private capacity, has, however, stated in his
" History of Arctic Voyages," that it is by Barrow Strait and
the Sea washing North Somerset on the one side, and Banks
and Wollaston Land on the other, which may be presumed to
be correct, as he was the official who drew up the orders
given to Sir John Franklin on his departure.
The position, then, that I should assign to the Expe-
dition is the western land of North Somerset—the midway
between the settlements of the Hudson's Bay Company on
the Mackenzie and the fishing ground of the whalers in Bar-
row Strait. If Sir John Franklin • has attempted to make a
short cut westward, instead of sailing southward along the
western land of North Somerset, and wrecked himself on
Banks and Wollaston Land, he has run headlong into that
danger of which I expressly warned him in the following
words :—" If we direct our attention to the movements of
the variety; Polar Sea Expeditions which have been set afloat
since 1818, we find that in every instance the difficulties
arose from the • same cause—the clinging to lauds having
an eastern aspect. Sir Edward Parry, in his Second
Expedition, made attempts for two successive summers
to penetrate the eastern entrance of the Fury and. Heels
Strait, and failed; and in his third Expedition he lost the
Fury while pushing his way along the eastern land of North
Somerset. Sir John Ross, in his second Expedition, was
four years advancing four mi!es along the same eastern land ;
and was at last obliged to abandon his vessel. Captains
Lyon and Back made, separately, unsuccessful attempts to
reach Repulse Bay, which has an eastern aspect. How, it
may be inquired, is this general difficulty to be avoided I By
taking the road which is fairly open to us—the lands that
have a western aspect."
If, however, Banks and Wollaston Land should form the
resting place of the Erebus and Terror, it will not be that of
the Expedition. If the party have kept together (and woe
be to them if they have not !) they will take to their boats
and make for the western laud of North Somerset, for the
double purpose of reaching Barrow Strait in search of the
northern whalers, as Sir John Ross did successfully, and the
Great Fish River in search of Esqnimaux for provision,—or
for letter conveyance to the Copper Indians, with whom the
Esquimaux are now in friendly relation. It is to the western
laud of North Somerset that wo must direct our attention—
to that spot we must bond our course.
North Somerset is a peninsula, forming the north-eastern
corner of North America, the western shore of Regent Inlet,
and the eastern shore of the Great
Jo Fish
hn esßoss, tuary. At least I
,
such it is represented to us by Sir —and leas
I
believe it to be; for the evid.enee in favour of it is very con-
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