The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-10 00:00:00

DR. KING ON THE FRANKLIN

EXPEDITION:

(From the Brighton Chronicle.)

A particularly interesting lecture was delivered
in the Music Hall at the Royal Pavilion, on Monday
evening, on " The Search for the Franklin Expedi-
tion, by Land and by Sea," by Dr. King, of Sir
George Back's expedition to the great Fish River.
The room was excessively crowded, and hundreds
were unable to obtain admission. The lecturer
spoke with great fluency, and the audience fre-
quently rewarded his endeavours with great ap-
plause. W. Coningham, Esq., M.P., occupied the
chair, and on the platform were several of the Town
Council and others. A large chart of the North
Polar Seas was suspended behind the lecturer, to
which he frequently referred. Some crayon por-
traits of the Esquimaux, in different dresses, were
upon the platform, to which, however, the lecturer
did not refer. On Mr. Coningham and Dr. King
entering the room they were greeted with tremen-
dous cheering.
The CHAIRMAN said that, about fourteen years
ago, at Woolwich dockyard, two vessels were fitted
out for another expedition to the Pola: regions—
the Erebus and the Terror. The Erebus was com-
manded by Sir John Franklin, and the Terror by
Captain Crozier. Their destination was to explore
the remaining portions of the north-west passage,
which had so long occupied the attention of our
navigators. They went' out full' of hope—their
only fear was that they might pass through the
straits too easily, and emerge on the other side
before their magnetic observations had been com-
pleted. He need not remind them how cruelly
their anticipations had been fulfilled. They started
in 1845, and in 1817 the greatest public anxiety
was manifested about them ; and, after a great deal
of urging, the Admiralty were induced to offer a
reward for information of their whereabouts. The
reward offered was--he was informed by a person
of whose veracity he could entertain no doubt, and
of whose knowledge he was equally certain—the
sum of 125 !—for information of an expedition com-
posed of the finest and bravest officers and crews
which could be found in her Majesty's service !
Various private expeditions had been subsequently
sent forth, and lately Captain M'Clintock had
brought home but meagre informatiol of their ulti-
mate destiny. There was a gentleman, however,
who seemed to have had an extraordinary predic-
tion of what would happen to these unfortunate
expeditions, and urged upon the Colonial Office,
and upon the Admiralty, the necessity of sending
expeditions to the Fish River, where, if a ship had
been lost, the crews must inevitably make their
way. The very spot which he pointed out was that
to which the two vessels directed their efforts, as
they could read in Dr. Ray's interesting narrative.
The hon. gentleman then declared his firm convie-

tion that the story of cannibalism was a pure fiction.
He knew not only Fitz James, but many of the
other officers who composed that expedition, and he
believed they were incapable of resorting to such
a practice. He concluded by introducing to the
audience the lecturer, to whom he tad alluded, as
having pointed out the Fish River as the place
where a land and summer expedition should be
directed. (Cheers.)
Dr. KING, wbo on rasing was loudly cheered,
began by briefly alluding to the commencement of
those various expeditions which had been sent iu
search of the " North-west Passage," which had led
to the conclusion that there was a Polar sea. Upon
the scientific and geographical data given to them
from Baffin's Bay and Behring's Straits by various
navigators, the Government determined to despatch
expeditions for the purpose of discovering this pas-
sage.- To all those who were always crying out "Gui
bono ?"—let him say it was of the utmost import-
ance in a commercial point of view, because at that
time they had not used steam power as a propeller
for ships, and this passage it was supposed wauld
be almost a direct route from England to our Indian
possessions. Subsequently it became a scientific
question ; and the results they had had from these
various expeditions were something enormous. In
consequence of the discoveries of Ross, Simpson,
Back, and others, the Government determined, of
their own accord, to send out an expedition. It
was not an expedition of Sir J. Franklin, in which
he came forward and said, " Gentlemen, I am
anxious for service; I want to be employed, and
will you give me service ?" No such thing. It
was the Board of Admiralty themselves—the Go-
vernment themselves concocted the plan. They
called Upon the Royal Society to accord to them the
fact that it was desirable in a scientific point of
view ; and Sir J. Franklin anl his officers and
crew did no more to that great expedition than
every officer would do—volunteer when their
Queen and their country called upon them to go
on a great errand. (Cheers.) If Franklin did go
to form the nucleus of an iceberg, was he to
blame ? Who was to blame but the parties who
sent him? If he went to accomplish great points,
and great services, then he (the lecturer) maintained
that every effort that could possibly be made should
be made to recover whatever records there might
happen to be of that expedition. (Hear, bear.)
Franklin's instructions were, that he was to pro-
ceed up Baffin's Bay, enter Behring's Strait, and
when he passed through the Strait he was to take
no notice of the inlet, but to make a direct course
north-west, towards the continent of America. It
was a matter of secrecy ; but he (Dr. King) chal-
lenged the Government, and at last drew from them
the fact of the route which they had been ordered
to take. He never could have been so impudent as
he had been in asserting certain points and things
if they lied not been founded upon the best know-
ledge that it was possible for a man to possess on
the subject. (Cheers.) The points he urged were
—first, lands having an eastern aspect are ice-
bound; and, secondly, those having a western aspect
are ice-free. It was a remarkable fact that nearly
all the failures arose from not properly studying
that fact. The lecturer then spoke of the efforts
made in the search for Franklin. The first great
effort that the Government made he always felt was
the right, only it was not sufficiently comprehensive.
ft was supposed at that time that Franklin had gone
up Wellington Inlet, and there was an expedition
started with the intention of going across Russia,
thinking that Franklin had gone so high up the Polar
Sea that he had been thrown upon the Asiatic coast.
The lecturer then asserted that he considered Dr.
Ray's account of cannibalism was a most unwarrant-
able assertion. He (the lecturer) did not say Dr.
Ray did not have it from an Esquimaux, but he
ought to have known what it was worth, and had
better not have mentioned the subject at all. Ray
went within 40 miles of where he could have veri-
fied the account of the Esquimaux ; but he turned
from it, and wend 90 miles in another direction, and
then returned back, but never went the 40 miles to
verify the account! The- lecturer did not think Dr.
Ray was able to clear up precisely how he did ac-
count for the Esquimaux tale. He then, after
speaking of the discoveries made by Capt. M'Clin-
tock, contended that the Esquimaux had positively
pointed out the spot where the ships were wrecked ;
and said if they referred to Ray's account in 1850,
" that there were 40 white men travelling over the
ice, and dragging a boat," they had positive evi-
dence that between 1849 and 1850 the 105 who
were alive in the year 1847 were reduced to 40,
excepting they divided themselves, and went in dif-
ferent directions. Then there was a boat found, in
which were two skeletons and a large quantity of
clothing, watches, and other articles, the prin-
cipal feature of which he believed to be the
amount of clothing, and it was evident that there
were two men left to watch the boat, the main
party having gone to the Fish River, leaving their
winter clothing behind in the boat. But then what
became of the 40 ? The Esquimaux had said that
they died; but Mr. Anderson had been down to
the place indicated, and he did not find the bodies.
They must have gone to Point Ogle, and to Mon-
treal Island. People talked of carnivera, the
wolves, &c., but he knew carnivera did not eat
skulls, and therefore he maintained that at the
present moment it is a great mystery what became
of these 40. He believed that the boat was left
with the two men in it, and that the 40 men made
was
not,
and
hoante
for the Fish River, and never retuned to the boat.
and that, in all
probability,
His opinion was that these two men died of cold,
but the other wa
one was in the bow of the boat and the other in the
wass the a reason s ick
nwahn;
stern. M'Clintock's expedition showed what the
lecturer had contended for for the last 12 years—
that they could do nothing in these seas
and when Captain M'Clintock had t
go to a certain
point he could go no further, even with the wreck
before him, which made men more eager than ever
for a limited search precisely to the spot where these
people had died, or perhaps where a small remnant