Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1851-10-08
SEARCH FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

SEARCH FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.
The Albion of Saturday last, has a letter
from DIR. John Rae, in relation to his efforts for
the discovery of Sir John Frankin's wherea-
bouts, dated at Fort Confidence, Northeast
end of Great Bear Lake, October ID, 1861
The Hudson Bay Company, desrous of aiding
in the search, ordered two or three boat expe-
ditions to ascend the Mckenzie River and trace
the coast, east and west from its mouth as far
as practicable. DIR. Rae had command of one
Of these expeditions. He goes on to say 1T
being the belief Of those on whose judgment
most reliance can be placed, that the vessels are
shut up somewhere between the lon of l03
deg and ll5 deg. west, and lat. II and IA deg.
north It is evident that the most direct route
thither from the southwark is by the Copper
mine River, and that is the route intend to fol-
low next summer, if | receive no intelligence
that the searching parties of this season have
been successful. To carry out my intentions,
| started from Fort Simpson with two boats,
Mr. II. Mckenzie Gan assistant) and fourteen
men, on the 23d August; but owing to head
winds and stormy weather on this large lake,
did not arrive here until the 10th ult. This is
to be our winter quarters.
What feared would be the most difficult
matter to accomplish was the building of two
boats, light enough to be transported across to
the Coppermine, as it was very generally tho't
that the wood in this neighborhood was not
suitable for that purpose, and the late Mr.. Simp-
son mentions in his narrative that his carpenter
had much trouble in finding boards sufficiently
good to repair his boats. am happy to say that
we have succeeded much better than was anti
cipated, one of the boats being more than half
finished, and boards enough sawed to complete
both. They are to be % feet keel, 6 feet in
ches beam, and feet 3 inches deep amidships,
exclusive of keel, and each rugged with two lug
sails. 1t may be supposed by many that to con-
tinue the search for Sir John Franklin beyond
the summer of 1850, if not then found, would
be useless waste of time, labor and money /;
but with this supposition cannot agree, and
my opinion is founded on personal experience
which few persons have had an opportunity Of
acquiring, and which leads me to believe that
part or all of Sir Johns party may still exist in
1851. In 1867 | wintered at Repulse Bay
with party of II men, only two of whom be-
fore arriving therehad ever practiced deer.shoot-
ing, and two others were fishermen. We had
little or no fuel that could be properly so call
ed, the mud with which our stone house was
plastered never dried, but only froze, and il was
so cold inside that a man, one night, got his
companions under the blankets with him. Yet
we suffered no privation as far as regarded food
except that during the shortest days we took
only one meal per diem as a precautionary
measure, not knowing how late it might be in
the spring before the reindeer migrated north
ward That we were not much the worse for
exposure to cold, and low diet may be inferred
from the fact that in the spring we traced about
five hundred miles of new coast, forming the
shores of Committee Bay, in doing which | and
one of my men travelled on foot upward of
thousand miles, and were on our return (altho'
rather low in f1esh) as sound and we'll as when
we started.
When leaving York Factory, in June, 1916,
we had not more than four months provisions
with us when we returned to that place, after
an absence of fourteen months and twenty
three days, we had still a third of our original
stock of provisions on hand-showing that we
had by our exertions, in a country previously
totally unknown to us, obtained the means of
subsistence for twelve months. Why may not
Sir John Franklin's party do the same? If he
has been providentially thrown on or near q
part of the coast where reindeer are at all nu-
merous, surely out Of so many officers and
men, sportsmen may be found, after some prac-
tice, expert enough to shoot the former, and
fishermen to seine or net the latter-or take
them with hook and line set under the ice.
In spring. should our stock Of provisions ad-
NIT Of it, propose proceeding with couple of
companions and sled of three dogs, in the be-
ginning of May, fifteen or twenty days march
to the northward, between Victoria and Woll-
aston lands-during which trip hope to travel
or 600 miles ii. e. $50 or 800 miles out and
the same distance homeward,) should we meet
with no very serious obstacle. In the mean
time, provisions for the summers voyage will
be hauled on sleds and deposited at the Kendall
River, to which place the boats are to be bro't
over as soon as the Dease River breaks up,
which may be about the 9th or 18th of June,
when | shall be at the Kendall to meet them,
and prepare to descend the Coppermine as soon
as it becomes clear of ice. The direction to
be afterward followed will depend much upon
the state of the sea ice and the appearance and
treading of the lands that l had visited in my
previous journey.
SALE OF THE YATcH AMERIcA.-After the
celebrated triumph of our New York Yacht
over all those in Old Albion, Commodore Ste-
vens has sold her for $4,000 to Captain De
Blaquier of the Indian Army; she will be used
as model Yacht, and this shows much wisdom
in uncle John, but although she carries the
broom in old England she was beat here before
she went away; so in a few wears we will send