The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-06 00:00:00

there was no other ship within the Arctic circle than
our own, and relying as we were entirely on our own
resources. the joy and delight which this arrival pro.
duced baffles aa attempts at description. The circum-
stances which brought about this happy result may be
briefly told. On the arrival of H.M. ships Resolute and
Intrepid at Dealy Island, in the autumn of the previous
year, 1852, from England, and while employed in lay.
ing out provision depots to facilitate the spring travel-
ling, in the prosecution of the.. search for ourselites, or
Sir J. Prankltn's eraedition ; they found at Winter
Harbour the record which Captain WC:lure had de-
posited there in April, 1852, an event as unlooked for
by them as the arrival of their party was unexpected by
us. On receipt of the record Captain Kellett determined
to send a party in search of us at the earliest period of
the spring, and accordAgly, on the 10th of March, de-
spatched that enterprising and intrepid officer (Lieut.
Pim) and his associates in search of us. The party,
which was originally intended to proceed via Prince of
Wales Strait to the Mackenzie River, was now united
to that intended to go to Cape Spencer, both proceed.
lag direct to the Resolute, the Mackenzie River route
being abandoned."
*** * . *

-
"After one day's res,, Lieut-nant Pim and party left
us on their return to the Resolute, carrying with him
all our beat thanks and wishes for the strenuous exer-
tions he had made to reach us. It affords me unalloyed
pleasure here to record the debt of gratitude, I must, in
common with all the Investigators, ever feel towards this
officer. He was a volunteer for the duty of searching
for tv, and undertook the iniroey at an unprecedented
early period of the year, (10th of Marcb,) at a tempera-
ture of 50 below zero—nor is it this alone which entitles
him to our gratitude, as nothing could exceed the kind-
ness and warmth of feeling he showed towards. us, parti-
cularly when pressing on our acceptance many little
things of which we stood in need. But when he saw us
sitting down with a half-starved aspect, on the morning
after his arrival, to what was denoinlnated breakfast, (a
cup of weak cocoa with sugar, and a moiety of bread)
his feelings overcame him ; he rushed to his sledge, then
out on the ice, brought a large piece of bacon, !laced it
before us, and gave us the only breakfast we bad known
for many a long day. The remembrance of this, and his
other acts of kindness to us then, .will I hope, never be
effaced from our rarollection. Nor did the two gallant
fellows who accompanied him, and who aided in our re-
lief, (Thomas Bidgood arid nbert Hoyle) feel less for
our condition ; for they had just arrived, as- our men
were about to draw lots for their evening meal (a panni-
kin of tea and a little biscuit)—a novel sight to Om who
had come from a land-of plenty ; but so overcame well)
they at the sight of our haggard crew, that their manly
cheeks became moistened with tears. Captain M'Clure,
with an officer and six men, equipped with sledga and
provi,ions, left also, the same day, the Btb, to put him-
self
in personal communication with the senior Officer at
Melville Island."

The adventurers bad yet to pass anothet year in
the ice, though under happier circumstauces. The
Investigator was finally abandoned in June, 1853,
and her gallant officers and crew joined her Ma-
jesty's ships. Resolute and Intrepid at Dealy Island,
returning to England towards the close of the next
year in her Majesty's ship North Star, having per-
formed one of the most perilous and remarkable
voyages ever made in the Arctic Sea. Dr. Arm-
strong does not possess great powers of description,
or much original force of style, but the narrative
of an eyewitness must always have much to recom-
mend it, and his style is clear and sensible. He
has also sr me pretensions as a naturalist, and his
observations on the natural history of those re-
gions will be useful to the scientific. His collec-
was unfortunately left in the vessel. The.discovery
of petrified wood in' those frozen regions will be
extremely interesting to the geologist. The trunks
and branches of trees, some of them in a state of
semi carbonisation, were discovered in the north
of Baring Island, proving, as our anther remarks,
that "there existed at one period various and
luxurious forms of arboresceut growth in regions
where nothing now is to be seen but desolate lands
and trackless ice wastes."

The chart which is prefixed to the work will be
of the greatest ser7ice in enabling the reader to
trace the course of the adventurers. Perhaps no
eloquence of description, no exertion of the ima-
gination can enable those who have never quitted
a more temperate zone to realise the wonders of
the pathless ice wastes. It may well be a matter
of surprise to less daring and enterprising nations
that so many Englishmen should have sought a
grave among those pitiless icebergs, verifying the
words of the poet,

"The warlike of the isles,
The men of field and wave,
Are not the rocks their funeral piles,
The seas and shores their grave."

It might well be a matter of. rejoicing to the
voyagers of the Investigator that after so many
struggles and failures one solitary English ship
should have been the first to make known to the
world the North West passage.. The hardships
and privations of that voyage are now but a me-
mory, but a memory that adds another to the
glories of the British name. The frost-bound
wilderness which the savage Esquimaux desert,
the miles of floating ice, scarce the pathway of
the reindeer or the polar bear, have aeon human
nature display qualities as great and as enduring
as the most favoured age or clime ; the courage
that faced sudden danger unflinch;ng, the fortitude
that maintained a long period of anxiety with
firmness, the cheerfulness that baffled care, the
ready obedience to discipline, the resignation that
met pain and death unshrinking, the fa,th that
trusted in God. These are among the virtues that
softened those rugged regions adorned by the
achievements of so many of our countrymen, and
consecrated, we must, alas ! believe by the suffer-
ings of Franklin and his companions.