The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1854-10-28
Remains Of Sir John franklin.

Remains Of Sir John franklin.
The curiosity and anxiety of the world has
been much exercised for the last five or six
years in reference to the fate Of Sir John
Franklin and his companions, who, some
eight years ago, left England on an cxplor.
ing expedition in the Northern seas in search
ola Northwest passage to the Pacific. Nu-
mcrous expeditions, by land and sea, have
from time to time been despatched to tlp
Lor,hern regions in search of the explorers,
but after suffering incredible hardships have
in each case returned without discovering
any traces of the missing expedition, and ut.
ter hopelcssnrs has prevailed as to their safe
ty or even learning their fate.
At length, however, definite traces have
been found Of the expedition and tidings Of
their fate. DR.. Rae, who was connected with
an expedition that left England in 1850, in
search Of Sir John Franklin, after years of
patient search, has at length been rewarded
with proofs which, while they demonstrate
the presence, at some date, Of the great Elk.
plorer, demonstrate with equal certainty that
the opinion of mankind, in ranking him am.
ong the lost, is mournfully correct,
DR.. Rae returned from the northern region
to York factory on the 2Sth Of August last,
whence he sent dispatches by exp css to 81,
Geo Simpson, government Secretary of New
Brunswick, giving details of his discoveries.
The substance of these dispatches is thus gi.
ven in a Geographic despatch to the New
York Herald:
After briefly noticing the report Of the re.
suit of his own expedition and its difficulties,
DIR. X. proceeds to state that, from the Es.
qumauX he had obtained certain il formation
of the fate of Sir John Franklin, who had
been starved to death after the loss of his
ship, which was crushed in the ice and while
working their way south to the great Fish
River Of Back, near the outlet of which
party Of whites died, leaving evidences of
their suffering in the mutilated corpscs of
that had furnished food for their unfortunate
companions. This information, although de-
rived from the Esquimaux, who had commu-
nicatcd with the whites, and who had found
their remains, was communicated by another
band, who had obtained their information
from them.
No doubt is left of the truth Of the report,
as the natives had in their possession various
articles Of European manufacture, which had
been in possession of the whites. Among
these are silver spoons, forks, &C., on one of
which is engraved "Sir John Franklin, X. G..
b., while others have crcsts on them, which
| identify the owners as having belonged to the
| Inflated expedition. Drawings of them have
been sent down. This fearful tragedy must
have occurred rs long ago as the spring of
| 1850
/ The same reports from DR.. Rae have come
also by way of Lake Superior and Mime.
Sofa
From subsequent details received, it ap.
pears that the remains were found on the
banks of Fish river, otherwise called Backs
river which flows northward into one of the
inlets OF the Arctic Ocean. Conjecture places
the point where the unfortunate men persisted
at about the intersection Of line o. deg
longitude with line 81 deg n latitude /,
will be remembered Sir John Franllin's ships
were last seen in Barrows Straits, in July
1915. We can now infer that either in tina,
or subsequent winter they persisted in "tht
pack" and that their crews or portion o
them escaped over the ice. The survivors mus
have attempted to 90 southwark, in the hop,
of reaching one ofthe conpany's settlement.
on the Hudson Bay they had accomplished
more than three fourths of their Journey
when they succumbed. Their suffcrings mus
have been dreadful in the extreme