Polynesian., 1850-05-25
TIL POL Y N ESIAN.
HONOLULU, SATURDAY, MAY a5.

\ L, MAY 70.
| SIR JOHN Whatever depend
upon human zeal and ingenuity has no,
been attempted in order to convey asslstanc
to the missing expedition to the Arctic Seas
The Admiralty, acting in obedience to tn
general wish, has second time despatche,
the Enterprise and Investigator in quest o
Sir John Franklin and his companions Thi
time these exploring ships will take anothe
direction. and from westerly point enter tn,
lnhosPitab'e region in which Sir John Frank
I'm may be expecting the assistance of hi.
| cOuntrymen. In the sailing orders directed
from the Admiralty to Capt. Coliinson, hi.
path has been chalked out for him until ths
lst Of August, when, according to calcua
tion, he viii! have passed through Behring'
Straits, and struck the ice. A brief recapit
ulation of the precautions taken, may serve
to show that nothing has been neglected tc
secure favorable result The orders gver
to Capt. Collinson are to the effect, that he
shall take the command Of the Enterprise and
consider the Investigator under his orders
The ships are furnished with provisions fol
three years as well as with quantity of ex-
ira stores, and have been fortified in every
respect against the dangers and inclemencies
of the Arctic seas. Capt. Collinson is to
proceed to Cape Virgins, where he will
find a steamer in waiting TO tow him through
the Straits of Magellan and the Wellington
Channel. and so on to Valparaiso. From
this port the two ships are to proceed to the
Sandwich Islands, where they will receive
dispatches from home, and meanwhile, il
possible, effect junction with the Herald
and Plover. In case he should join company
with these vessels, Capt. Collinson is direct
ed to add Com Moore and the Plover to his
expedition, and make all despatch so as ,c
reach Behring's Straits in July, and actual
ly strike the ice by the lst of August.
The necessary limits to which we are con-
fined forbid US from enlarging upon the ma
ny precautions devised by the Admiralty to
carry their purpose to a successful cOnclu-
sion. But they appear in this respect to be
dictated by sound discretion, that they are all
directed to placing Capt. ColIinson in pos
operations; but what these operations shall
specifically be, is left mainly to his own judg-
ment as soon as he shall have reached the
scene of action. Once arrived at the ice, for
three years Capt. Collinson is left to himself,
subject only to some general directions as to
winter quarters. For three years he will be
sedulousy engaged in despatching parties OF
men in such directions as may seem the most
likely TO produce favorable results, in organ
izng boat expeditions to search every nook
and Granny of the Arctic shores, yet any
trace Of Franklin and his companions may
he found As we look at the map of the Po-
lar regions with that anxiety which all must
feel for the fate of our gallant countrymen,
we cannot but think that what has as yet been
done has been merely to arrive on the west
erly and easterly edges of the region in which
the crews Of the Erebus and Cerror may yet
be expecting relief in lingering misery. The
expedition of Sir James Ross was unfortunate
from the prematureand unwonted severity with
which the bad weather set in; and the west
erly course, by way of Melvile's Island, IN
to the heart of the Arctic region, was hope
lessIy blocked up So with regard to the
more recent advance of the boats of the Her
aid and Plover, steering east, which reached
the mouth of the Mackenzie River. Ii Is
scarcely possible that Sir John Franklin and
his party, iftheir ships be lost, as seems pro-
bable, should have arrived so far west Thus,
by an unfortunate conjunction of circumstan-
ces, the researches of the parties on either
side have Just stopped at those points where
they were likely to become most useiui-
With regard to the boat expedition from the
Hera'd and Plorer, il may fairly be suppo-
sed that had our missing countrymcn been
able at all to strike the northern coast OF
America, they would rather have made for
the interior than have directed their steps
along the shores in an easterly direction
The distance was too great, the impractical
bility of finding means TO exc out their own
failing stores too absolute, the risk OF not
meeting an expedition which probably might
be sent to their relief, too awful for SIrJohn
Franklin to take upon himself the response
bility of such a step. 1t is possible that our
countrvmen may have been imprisoned IN the
ice in the endeavor to pass westerly from
Bathurst and Melville's Islands, and may
still be there; it is possible they may have
struck some still more northerly land not
known to previous Arctic navigators. Either
of these suppositions would tally with what
we know of their position when last heard oi'
and With the reports we have received OF 'ne
great accumulation of ice IN those nieh ia''-
tudes during the las, three years IL Is pos
sible that Sir John Franklin may have been
hopelessIy involved in the ice in one or other
of these directions, and that he may be still
living where his course was stopped. But
when we take into account the enterprisIng
character and the Arctic experience OF that
officer. we cannes think that if life be yet
spared to him and to his companions, he would
be contented to wait inactive until relief
should reach him. The natural direction he
would take would be either for the whaling
ships by Barrow's Straits or for the northern
coast of America, in order to reach one OF
the settlements Of the Hudson's Bay Com
pany.
As we understand the matter, the reason
why the Enterprise and investigator are now
despatched by way of Behring's instead OF
Barrow's Straits, does not depend upon any
expectation of picking up the lost party near
the point where Capt. Collinson is directed
to enter upon his operations, but is contain
ed in the first paragraph Of the Admiraity's