Demoine courier., 1854-11-16


From the Montreal Herald of 21st.
Discovery Of the Actual and Wretched
Fate Of the Long Lost Sir John
Franklin and his Companions In
Misfortune.
W. are indebted to Sir John Simpson,
Governor of the Hudson Bay territory.
Tor the privilege of first publishing to the
civilized world the at length ascertained
fate OF the noble but i'll starred Sir John
franklin and his gallan. company
Alas. that their fate should have been so
sad; and tina, the problem, which has 40
long occupied the thoughts and engaged
tue great navigaior's countless friends AID
admirers in Europe and America, should
be solved by so painful and so distressing
a narrative as is contained in the follow.
ing letter, which only reached Sir Geo.
Simpson yesterday afternooh, it having
been forwarded from York Factory, via
Red river. Our hopes of Sir Johns
restoration to the world, had. we confess,
long ceased; but who could have prepar-
ed for the fearful realiiy!-a miserable
and fearful death from literal starvation
possibly. as DR.. Rea c~onjectures. worse
than starvation-on The frozen and desc
late shores of the Arctic Ocean. But
we shall not detain the reader by any
reflections Of ours from the perusal of
DR.. Rea's intensei" interesting narrative
we shall merely mention that York
Factory is situated a, the mouth of the
HAYES river. in HuGson's Bay, in abou,
So deg. n. L., 90 deg. w. L.. aa.
DIR. E sLETTER TO SIR GEO. SIMPSON.
York Factory, Aug. 4. 1854.
My Dear Sir George:-Your several
letters, public and private. of dates 10Th
June and LIST December, 1853, and l3lh
and l6:k OF June, 1854. were handed
me on the 2S,h ut. on my reaching
Churchill, and | rejoiced to learn that
your health had benefited SO much b,
your visit 10 the north.
let me now allude to the expedition
affairs. | arrived here on the Bis, uit..
with my small party in excellent health.
but | am sorry to say without having eft
fecteG our object. At the san e time. in
formation had been obtained and articles
purchased from the natives which place
the fate OF a portion, If not all, of the
survivors of Sir John Franklin's miser
able party beyond a doubi-a fate most
deplorabie-death from starvation after
eannlbalisn as a means of p%rolonging
life. at1 #-
l reached my old quarters al Repulse
Bay on The 10 h of August. ard pre- par.
atoms were i'm nedlateiy commenced for
wintering. On the LIST Of September ]
explained to The men our position. the
stock of provisions we had on hand, mot
more than three months ratioGs.) and
the prospects we had of getting more,
&c, &c, pointing GU, all the danger and
difficulty of oui position. All readily
volunteered TO remain. and our exertions
10 collect food and fuel went on with un-
abated energy. BY the end Of Seplem
Der, lO9 deer, 4 musk OK, sd brace Of
~Ptarmigan, and | seal had been shot, and
the neis produced 100 salmon.
VI the larger animals above enumera.
ted, 40 Geer and the musk OK were shot
by myself, 81 deer By Mistegan, {thc
deer hunter Ia by one Of the men, Q
by Ouiibuck. aid l6 by the other four
men. The migration of The deer Ter.
minated ABOUT the middle of October, and
25 more animals were added To our
stock. -.tfs ,w
- 49, ..#.# .. -
On the 9Th OF October, the snow being
sufficiently hard for building. we were
happy TO exchange our cold tents Tor the
more comfortable shelter of the snow
house. he winter was very severe, bur
the temperature in our snow huts was
never SO low as in the winter quarters of
1867. Up to the l2ih of January we
had nets SET under the ice in the lakes
the nets were taken up on that date, as
they produced nothing. a taba
On the 3ist of March my spring iou,
ney commenced. but in consequence of
gales Of wind, deep and soft snow and
toggy weather, we made but very little
progress. We did not enter Pelly Bay
until the l7.h. AT this place we met
with Esquimaux, one Of whom, on be.
ing asked if he ever saw white people,
replied in the negative, but said lha, a
large party. lat leas. 40 persons,) had
persisted from want Of food some 10 o.
IL days journey 10 the westward. The
substance of the information, obtained
at various times from various SOURCES was
as follows: 4 uaE.t
In the spring four winters past, (,he
spring Of 1880 a party Of white men,
amounting TO about 40, were seen travel
ing southwark over the ice, and dragging
a. boat with them, by some Esquimaux
who were killing seals on the north sile
of King Williams Land. which is a large
Island named ke-ik-tak by the Esqul
maux. None of tho parry could speak
the native language inlelligibly, bu. by
signs were made to understand that their
ships or ship had been crushed by ice,
and that the 'swhites" were now going
to where they expected to find deer / 0
Shoes. From the appearance Of the men,
all OF whom, excepl one officer, (chief,)