The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-02 00:00:00

PROPOSED FINAL ARCTIC SEARCH.

The following letter has been addressed to the Editor
of the Times :

Sir,—Having read, during a short absence from Lon-
don, the article in your journal of the 27th on the pro-
posal to make a final search for the relics of the Franklin
expedition, in which my name is mentioned, I beg to
call your attention to the real object of the persons with
whom I am associated in recommending this project to
the consideration of ber Majesty's Government.
As a full explanation of our views is given in the me-
morial presented last summer to the First Minister of
the Crown, I earnestly hope that you will do me the
favour to print that document, a copy of which is now
enclosed. If this request should be complied with, your
readers will then see the broad distinction between the
wished for restricted search and all former expeditions
sent in pursuit of our missing countrymen, in none of
which, however, it may be observed, did any loss of life
occur among the numerous officers employed, save in
the case of poor young Bellot.
In short, as we now know precisely where to go, and
also that the voyage along the coast of the mainland or
North America has been successfully made to and fro by
Capt. Collinson in a sailing ship (i.e., to within a short
distance of the circumscribed track to be examined by ex-
ploring parties), and further, as this distinguished Arctic
officer pledges his reputation that he can with much
greater facility take thither a large screw vessel and bring
her safely back, I trust that the public will be induced to
think that my friends and self have not advocated a
visionary scheme which might lead to indefinite re-
searches.—l remain, sir, your very obedient servant.
RODERICK I. MURCHISON.
Belgrave-square, Nov. 29.

"TO THE RIGHT HON. VISCOUNT PALMERSTON, G.C.E.
" London, June 5, 1856.
"Impressed with the belief that her Majesty's missing
ships, the Erebus and Terror, or their remains, are still
frozen up at no great distance from the spot whence
certain relics of Sir John Franklin and his crews were
obtained by Dr. Rae—we, whose names are undersigned,
whether men of science and others who have taken a deep
interest in Arctic discovery, or explorers who have been
employed in the search for our lost countrymen, beg ear
fleetly to impress upon your lordship the desirableness of
sending out an expedition to satisfy the honour of our
country, and clear up a mystery which has excited the
sympathy of the civilised world.
" This request is supported by many persons well versed
in arctic surveys, who, seeing that the proposed expedi-
tion is to be directed to one limited area only, are of
opinion that the object is attainable, and with little risk.
" We can scarcely believe that the British Government,
which to its great credit has made so many efforts in
various directions to discover even the route pursued by
Franklin, should cease to prosecute research now that the
locality has been clearly indicated where the vessels or
their remains must lie—including, as we hope, records
which will throw fresh light on Arctic geography, and
dispel the obscurity in which the voyage and fate of our
countrymen are still involved.
" Although most persons have arrived at the conclu
sion that there can now be no survivors of Franklin's
expedition, yet there are eminent men in our own coun-
try and in America who hold a contrary opinion. Dr.
Kane, of the United States, for example, who has dis-
tinguished himself by pushing further to the north in
search of Franklin than any other individual, and to
whom the Royal Geographical Society has recently
awarded its founders' gold medals, thus speaks (in a
letter to the benevolent Mr. Grinnell)—`l am really in
doubt as to the preservation of human life. I well know
how glad I would have been had my duty to others
permitted me to have taken refuge among the Esqui-
maux of Smith Strait and Etch Bay. Strange as it may
seem to you, we regarded the coarse life of these people
with eyes of envy, and did not doubt but that we could
have lived in comfort upon their resources. It required
all my powers, moral and physical, to prevent my men
from deserting to the Walrus settlements ; and it was my
final intention to have taken to Esquimaux life bad net,
Providence carried us through in our hazardous escape.
"But, passing from speculation, and confining our-
selves alone to the question of finding the missing ships
or their records, we would observe that no land expedi-
tion down the Back River like that which, with great,
difficulty, recently reached Montreal Island, can satis-
factorily accomplish the end we have in view. The frail
birch bark canoes in which Mr. Anderson conducted his
search with so much ability, the dangers of the river,
the sterile nature of the tract near its embouchure, and
the necessary failure of provisionv, prevented the com-
mencement, even, of such a search as can alone be
satisfactorily and thoroughly accomplished by the crew
of a man-of-war—to say nothing of the moral influence
of a strong armed party remaining in the vicinity of the
spot until the confidence of the natives be obtained.
" Many Arctic explorers, independent of thae whose
n mes are appended, and who are absent on service,
have expressed their belief that there are several routes
by which a screw vessel could s closely approach the
area in question as to clear up all doubt.
"In respect to one of these courses, or that by Bebring
Strait, along the coast of North America, we know that
a single sailing vessel passed to Cambridge lay within
150 miles of the mouth of the Back River, and returned
home unscathed, its commander having expressed his
conviction that the passage in question 4a so constantly
open that ships can navigate it without .1 fficulty in one
season. Other routes, whether by Rego: it Inlet, Peel
Sound, or across from Repulse Bay, ars preferred by
officers whose experience in Arctic matter 3 entitles them
to every consideration; while, in referei. ce to two of
these routes, it is right to state that vast quantities of
provisions have been left in their vicinity ,
" Without venturing to suggest whise of these plans
should be adopted, we earnestly beg your lordship to
sanction without delay such an expedition as, in the
judgment of a committee of Arctic voyagers and geo-
graphers, may be considered best adapted to secure the
object.
"We would ask your lordship to reflect upon the
great difference between a clearly-defined voyage to a
narrow and circumscribed area, within which the miss-
ing vessels or their remains must lie, and those former
necessarily tentative explorations in various direction,
the frequent allusions to the difficulty of which, in re-
gions far to the north of the voyage now contemplated,
have led persons unacquainted with geography to sup-
pose that such a modified and limited attempt as that
which we propose involves further risk, and may call for
future researches. The very nature of the former expe-
ditions exposed them, it is true, to risk, since regions
had to be traversed which were totally unknown, while
the search we ask for is to be directed to a circumscribed
area, the confines of which have already been reached
without difficulty by one of her Majesty's vessels.
" Now, inasmuch as France, after repeated fruiVess
efforts to ascertain the fate of La Perouss, no sooner
heard of the discovery of some relics of that eminent na-
vigator than she sent out a searching expedition to col-
lect every fragment pertaining to his vessels, so we trust
that those Arctic researches which have reflected much
honour upon our country may not be abandoned at the
very moment when an explanation of the wanderings and
fate of our lost navigators seems to be within our grasp.
" In conclusion, we further earnestly pray that it may
not be left to the efforts of individuals of another and
kindred nation, already so distinguished in this cause,
nor yet to the noble-minded widow of our late lamented
friend, to make an endeavour which can be so much
more effectively carried out by the British Government.
" We have the honour to be, &c.,
" E. Beaufort " L. Horner
R. I. Murchison W. H. Fitton
F. W. Beechy Lyon Play Lair
Wrottesley T. Thorp
E. Sabine C. Wheatstone
Egerton Ellesmere W. J. Hooky'.
W. Whewell J. D. Hooker
R. Collinson J. Arrowsrdith
W. H. Sykes P. La Trobe
C. Dauheney W. A. B. Hamilton
J. Fergus R. Stephenson
P. E. De Stzreleoki J. E. Portl ook
W. H. Smyth C. Piazzi E.4myth
A. Majendie O. W. Pa.sley
R. Fitzroy 4 Rennie
E. G. Fishbourne j, P. Gassiot
Robert Brown G. B. Air ey
G. Maoartney Johel F. Burgoyne
"The following officers of the Royal Is.ravy, who have
been employed in the searcliafter Freia. in, and who are
now absent from London, have previously expressed
themselves to be favourable to the final es 'arch above re-
commended :—Commodore Kellett ; Capta ins Sir James
Ross, Sir E. Belcher, Austin, Bird, Ommat 'nay, Sir Ro-
bert M'Clure, Sherard Osborn, Inglefieltl, Maguire,
`Clintock, and Richards ; Commanders Aldrich,
Mecham, Trollope, and Cresswell ; Lients. Hamilton
and Pim."