The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1859-10-20

~was received from an intelligent wo-
man; she said it was on the fall of the year
that a ship was forced ashore; many
of the white men dropped by the way
- they went towards the Great River,
but this was only known to them in the
winter following, when their bodies
were discovered" The natives direct
cd them Point Ogle and Montreal Is
land at the estuary of Great Fish River
which they explored without any sat
isfactory results. They then re-
crossed Simpsons strait to King Will
liam's Island, where on the oath OF
May they found a bleached skeleton
with some fragments of European
clothing and pocket-book containing
some letters very much decayed. The
position of the skeleton verified the
assertion of the natives that they
dropped as they went along.
The narrative now turns to Lleuten-
ant Hobson's expedition. This party
proceeded along the coast of Boothia
to Cape Felix, the eastermost point OF
land in Boothia Gulf, where they found
a very large cairn, and close to it three
small tents, with blankets, old clothes,
and other relics of shooting or a
magnetic station; but although the
cairn was dug under, and trench dug
all around it at distance of ten feet,
no record was discovered. A piece of
blank paper folded up was found in the
cairn, and two broken bottles, which
may, perhaps, have contained records,
lay beside it among some stones which
had fallen from off the top. On the
9Th of May, Lieutenat Hobson pitched
his tent beside large cairn upon
Mount Victory, the northernmost point
of King Williams Island. Lying
among some loose stones which had
fallen from the top of this cairn, was
found a small tin case containing a
record, the substance of which is briefly
as follows:-This cairn was built by the
Franklin expedition, upon the assumed
site of Sir Jane Ross's pillar, which
had not been found. The Erebus and
Terrorspent their first winter at Beechy
Island, after having assembled Yelling
ton Channel to lat. ~ deg. n, and re-
turned by the west side of CORVALLIS
Island. On the 18th of September,
1916, they were beset in lat. so O5 n,
and long. es 20 w. Sir j. Franklin
died on the 18th of June, 1s47. On
the 22d of April, 1s4s, the ships were
abandoned FIVE leagues to the N.N.W.
Of Point Victory, and the survivors,
los in number, landed here under the
command Of Captain Crozier. This
paper was dated April 25, 1s4s, and
upon the following day they intended
to start for the Great Fish River. The
total loss by deaths in the expedition,
up to this date, was nine officers and
fifteen men. A vast quantity of clothing
and stores of all sorts lay strewed
about, as if here every article was
thrown away which could possibly be
dispensed with: pickaxes, shovels boats
cooking utensils, ironwork, rope, blocks
canvas, dip circle, a sextant engraved
Frederic Horribly, r. M" a small
medicine chest, oars, &c. -.
1t should be observed that the point
specified IN the record as having been
reached on the 10Th of September
1916, is a region wholly unknown d
the civilized world. No navigator evel
before penetrated to that latitude north
of CORVALLIS Island and Grinnell Land
though Kane, Parry, and Franklin
himself went nearer the pole on Other
,neridians. Lieut.. Hobson, after hi:
important discovery, returned to the
general rendezvous.
McClintock and Hobson then started
out together. In latitude SO deg.
min., longitude 80 deg. ~ min., they
discovered a large boat, which it ap
peared had been intended for the as
cent of the Fish River, but was aban
doned apparently upon return journey
to the ships, the sledge upon which SHE
was mounted being pointed in thai
direction. She measured % feet in
length, by u feet wide, was most care
fully fitted, and made as light as posi-
Bile, but the sledge was of solid oak
and almost as heavy as the boat. A
large quantity of clothing was found
within her, also two human skeletons
One of these lay in the after part o.
the boat, under pile of clothing; the
other, which was much more disturbed
probably by animals, was found in the
bow. Five pocket watches, quantity
of silver spoons and forks, and few
religious books were also found, but ne
journals, pocket-books, or even names
upon any articles of clothing. Two
doubls-barreled guns stood uprigh
against the boats side precisely as the,
had been placed eleven years before
One barrel in each was loaded ant
cooked; there was ammunition in abun
dance, also thirty or forty pound
of chocolate, some tea and Tobacco
Fuel was not wanting drift
tree lay within one hundred yards Q
the boat.
"From all that can be CLEANED fror
the record paper, and the evidenc
afforded by the boat, and various art
cles of clothing and equipment dis
covered" adds Capt. McClintock, 'i
appears that the abandonment of tn
Erebus and Terror had been delibers
tely arranged, and every effort exerte
during the third Winter to render tn
travelling equipments complete. 1t
much to be apprehended that diseas
had greatly reduced the strength of a