page_title: McClintock Arctic expedition
section_title: Final communications
hierarchical_section_title: McClintock Arctic expedition / Discoveries / Final communications
context_page_description: The McClintock Arctic expedition of 1857 was a British effort to locate the last remains of Franklin's lost expedition. Led by Francis Leopold McClintock aboard the steam yacht Fox, the expedition spent two years in the region and ultimately returned with the only written message recovered from the doomed expedition. McClintock and crew were awarded the Arctic medal in recognition of their achievements.
context_section_description: Meanwhile, near Cape Jane Franklin, the sledge party led by Lieutenant Hobson located the first written communication recovered from Franklin's Expedition inside a message cairn (note that the date of wintering at Beechey has been attributed to error):
  H. M. ships 'Erebus' and 'Terror' wintered in the ice in
  28 of May, 1847 lat. 70° 05' N. long. 98° 23' W.
  Having wintered in 1846–7 at Beechey Island in lat. 74° 43' 28" N.;
  long. 91° 39' 15" W., after having ascended Wellington Channel to lat.
  77° and returned by the west side of Cornwallis Island.
  Sir John Franklin commanding the expedition.
  All well.
  Party consisting of 2 officers and 6 men left the ships on Monday,
  24 May 1847.
  Gm. Gore, Lieut.
  Chas. F. Des Voeus, Mate.
  Handwritten around the margin of this communication was the following:
  25th April 1848
  HMShips Terror and Erebus were deserted on the 22nd April 5 leagues NNW of this having been beset since 12th Sept 1846.
  The officers and crews consisting of 105 souls under the command of Captain F. R. M. Crozier landed here — in Lat. 69°37’42’’ Long. 98°41’
  This paper was found by Lt. Irving under the cairn supposed to have been built by Sir James Ross in 1831 — 4 miles to the Northward — where it had been deposited by the late Commander Gore in May June 1847.
  Sir James Ross’ pillar has not however been found and the paper has been transferred to this position which is that in which Sir J. Ross’ pillar was erected.
  Sir John Franklin died on the 11th of June 1847 and the total loss by deaths in the Expedition has been to this date 9 officers and 15 men.
  [signed] F. R. M. Crozier Captain & Senior Offr
  And start on tomorrow 26th for Backs Fish River
  
  [signed] James Fitzjames Captain HMS Erebus
  Signed by Captains Crozier and Fitzjames, it also states "and start (on) to-morrow, 26th, for Back's Fish River," and documents the position of original placement at Sir James Ross's pillar. At this point, Franklin's crews were likely retreating for their lives. McClintock, a few days behind Hobson, continued searching the area for additional clues, which included the discovery of a large boat that had been prepared for river use, fastened to a large sledge. The boat contained the skeletal remains of two men and an extensive collection of objects that would have little value in an Arctic crossing. In exploring Back Bay into June, Hobson also found a cairn with a second note left by Lieutenant Gore in May 1847, its content similar to the first. More abandoned equipment surrounded the cairn, the most interesting of which were taken. These sites appear to have been untouched by the natives, and no part of a ship was seen.
  Amid melting ice, McClintock reached the Fox on 19 June. Hobson had arrived five days earlier, unable to walk from his ordeal, but recovered on ship. Young had also returned earlier, similarly impaired by the harsh conditions, but had set out again. A few members of the crew had developed signs of scurvy, and Thomas Blackwell, the man who first contracted the disease, had perished of it before McClintock's return. Young returned again on 27 June, having mapped Peel Sound, but finding no traces of Franklin.
  Preparations for departure were made in July, and a cairn containing detailed records of their efforts was constructed. On 9 August, the ice allowed them to begin steaming out, and despite the loss of their two engineers and dangerous ice, open seas were soon reached. The port of Godhavn on the west coast of Greenland was reached on 29 July, where their Inuit guides were paid and discharged. The Fox made port in London on 21 September 1859, having lost three members of her crew.
caption: The final Franklin communication
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