Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1854-11-08
From the Montreal Herald, 21st ult.


Discovery ofthe Actual and Wretched Fate Of The
long lost Sir John Franklin, and his Compar,-
ions in Misfortune.
We are indebted to Sir George Simpson, Gov.
ernor of the Hudson Bay Territory, for the
privilege of first publishing to the civilized
world the, at length, ascertained fate of the
noble, but ill-starred, Sir John Franklin and
gallant company. Alas that that fate should
have been so sal; ; and that the problem which
has so long occupied the thoughts and engaged
the energies of the great navigator's countless
friends and admirers, in Europe and America,
should be solved by so painful, so distressing n
narrative as is contained in the following letter,
which only reached Sir George Simpson yes
terday afternoon-ith having been forwarded from
York Factory, via Red River. Our own hopes
of Sir John Franklin's restoration to the world,
had, we confess, long ceased but who could
have been prepared for the fearful reaity-a
miserable and lingering death, from literal
starvation-possbly, as DR.. Rea conjectures,
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 intensely interest
ing narative-we shall merely mention that
York Factory is situated at the mouth of Hayes
River, in Hudson Bay, in about 65 deg. N. L.,
SO deg w. l..
DIR. RAE's LETTER TO SIR GEO. SIMPSON.
YORK Factory, 4th Aug, 1854.
My Dear Sir George Your several letters,
public and private, of dates 18th June, and lst
Dec. 1853 and 18th and 10th June, 1854, were
handed me on the 2Sth utimo, on my reaching
Churchill and DICED to learn that your health
had benefited SO much by your visit to the
north.
Let me now allude to the expedition affairs.
arrived here on the Slst ult., with my small
party, in excellent health, but am sorry to say,
without having effected our object. At the
same time, information has been obtained, and ar
ticles purchased from the natives, which places
the fate, of portion if not all, of the then sur.
vvors of Sir John Franklin's miserable party
beyond doubt-a fate the most deplorable
death from starvation, after having had re-
course to cannibalism as a means of prolongng
life.
reached my old quarters at Repulse Bay on
the 18th August, and preparations were imme-
dately commenced for wintering. On the lst
September explained to the men our position,
the stock of provisions, we had on hand, (not
more than three months rations,) aad the pros
poets we had of getting more, etc., etc., pointing
out all the dangers and difficulty Of our position.
All readily volunteered to remain, and our ex-
ertions to collect food and fuel went on with
unabated energy. BY the end of September,
100 deer, musk OK, So brace of Ptarmigan, and
one seal had been shot, and the nets produced
100 salmon.
Of the larger animals above enumerated, 49
deer and the musk OK were shot by myself, 81
deer by Mystegan 0he deer hunter,), Ia by one
of the men, 9 by Ouligbuck, and l6 by the other
a men. The migration of the deer terminated
about the middle of Oct, and 25 more animals
were added to our stock.
On the 2Sth October, the snow being suffi-
cienty hard for building, we were happy to ex-
change our cold tents for the more comfortable
shelter Of the snow house. The winter was
very severe, but the temperature in our snow
buts was never so low as in my winter quarters
of lS46-7. Up to the 18th January we had
nets set under the ice in the lakes, the nets
were taken up on that date as they produced
nothing
On the 3lst March my spring journey COM
menced, but in consequence of gales of wind
deep and soft snow, and foggy weather, we made
but very little progress. We did not enter
Pely Bay, until the 18th. At this place we
met with Esquimaux; one of whom, on being