The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-10-11
THE FATE or SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.


Ihe Wrecked Vessels, &c, &c.
ne Arctic exploring steamer Fox, Captain
~ acciintock, which was fitted out by Lady
ana her friends, to go In search of
or 1onh Franklfn's lost expedition. returned
70 England ON the 21st uIt. The narrative bv
capt. meCiintock, Of his voyage and discov- /
cries. is very interesting. We make the fol-
lowing extracts from II.
on the "a of April, our Ionv.nro;ecfae,
sPling journeys We're commenced. I. I.jentsnan
.aousoh accompanied me as far As (yane Vic.
men aad " US mad sledge drawn by four
oogs. Ihis was all the force we couid ;nnsN
,r,a ptloie s.. separating, we saw two Esoui
mauA hn, families living out upon the Ice in snow
sbin n i -, ~. n mem m we learned that second
sni nad been seen off King Williams island
ana that she drifted ashore in the IN n - ,hl
same year. From this ship they had a,t,s ,.as
d vastdeal of wood and iron
soa rnn gave Lieut.; Hobson directions To
search for the wreck, and to follow nm anp
Ira ices ne might lind upon King Williams Is.
iahd Accompanied by my own uartv "a
~ .r; - nreIersen, marched along the east shore
OF hins William's Island occasionaIiv nass
ing deserted snow huts. but Whom p,es
nanyes till the Sth of May, when. off Cane
Norton, we arrived at a snow village copfaip
ing dns ABOUT tnirty inhabitants They gathered
apout us without the slightest appearanee Of
lear OF shyness, although none had avar go i
living White people before. They were most
Wii!hg to communicate all their knowIedg..
ara barter all their goods, but would have sto.
ien every thlng had they not been very closely
watched. Many more relics of our eonn1rx
men We're obtained; we could not carry awov
aIl we might have purchased They pointed
te,a sne iniet we had crossed the day before and
. .oiu us tnat one days march up it and thence
wreck. 'nehi 10 Tue
None OF these people had been there since
,oo:-e, at Whieh time they said but little re-
eu. roc ast.-,
away almost everything ~
host OF our Information was received from
an intelligent old woman {; she said II ,,,as =,
ons iali vi the year that the ship was forced
ashore many of the white men dronned hu
the way as they went towards the C3reat Pr
er out TINS was only known to them in the
winter following, when their bodies were dis.
covered. ~
They all assured us that we would fnd ~.
yves upon the south shore at the q reat River
ana some few at the wreck, but unfortunately
tnis was not the case. Only one family was
met with OIL Point Booth, and none at Mon
ed. VISIT
Point Ogle, Montreal Island. ard Barrow
island, We're searched without finding any
tllbg eXeepta a few scraps OF copper and iron
In an Esquimaux hiding place
Reerossing the Strait to KiLg Williams Isl.
ihe, we continued the examination of its
southern shore without success until the . nh
OF May, when about ten miles eastward of
around which lay fragments of Euronean
clothing. Upon carefully removing the snow
a small p0cket-bo was found coliiainiuC a
few letters. These, although much decayed.
may YET oe oeciphered judging from the
mains of his dress, this unfortunate Young
man was q steward or officers servant and
his position exactly verified the Esquimaux's
assertion, that they dropped as they walked
along.
On reaching Cape Herschell next day. he ex
amined Simpsons Cairn, or rather what re-
mains of it, which is only four feet high aud
the central stones have been removed as ii by
men seeking something within it. My impress
sion ut the time, and which l still retain is
that records We're deposited there by the re-
treating crews and subseq uently removed by
The natives.
After parting from me at Cape Victoria, on
the 2Sth of A pril L lieutenant Hobson made for
Cape Felix. Al Il short distance westward oi
it he found a very large cairn, and close TO il
three small tents, with blankets, old clothes,
and other relics OF a shooting or a magnet tic
station; but although the cairn was dug under.
and trench dug all round it at distance OF
1O feet, no record was discovered. A piece oi
blank paper folded up was found in the cairn.
and two broken bottles which may Derhaus
have contained records, lay beside it among
some stones which had fallen from off the top
The most interes ting of the articles discovered
here, including boats ensign. were brought
away by Mr. Hobson About two miles tnr.
ther to the southwesta a small cairn was found
three miles north of Point Victory a SECOND,
small cairn was examined, but only a broken
piekaAe AID empty canister found.
On the 9th of May Lieut.. Iiobson pitched
his tent beside a large cairn upon Point Vic.
tory. Lying among some loose stones which
had fallen from the top of this cairn. was
found a small tin case containing a record the
substa of which is briefly as follows: ssThis
cairn was built by the Franklin expedition
upon the assumed site of Sir james Ross pill
lar which had not been found. The Erebus
and Terror spent their first winter at Beeehy
Island, after having assembled Wellington
Channel to lat. ~ deg. n :, and returned by the
west side of CORVALLIS Island. On the i2th
OF September, le46, they were beset in lat 10 rs
N, and Ion. 9S % w. Sir j. Franklin died ON
the 1lth of June, 1877. On the 22d of April
isiS, the ships were abandoned five leagues 10
the N.N.W. of Point Victory, and the sur
yivors, le5 III number, landed here under the
command of Captain Crozier." This paper
was dated April 25, 1873, and upon the follow
ing 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 il here every article
was thrown away which could possibly be
spensed with; pickaxes, shovels, boats, cook
ing utensils, ironwork, rope, blocks, canvass,
a dip circle, sextant engraved "Frederic
Hornby, Il. NJ a small medicine chest, oars.
A few miles southwark, across Back Bay a
second record was found, having been de-
posted by Lieutenant Gore and NJ des Voux
in May, ls47. 1. afforded no additional infor-
nation.
Soon after leaving Cape Herschell the ira
ces of natives became less numerous and less
recent. and after rounding the west point of
the island they ceased altogether. This shore
is extremely low and almost utterly destitute
OF vegetation. Numerous banks of shingle
and low isleis lie off it. and beyond these Vic
toria Strait is covered with heavy and impen-
etrable packed ice.
When in latitude 50 deg. % N, and long. 99
deg 27 W., we came 10 large boat, discovered
by Lieutenant Hobson a few days previously.
as his notice informed me. 1t appears that
this boat had been intended for the ascent of
the Fish river, but was abapdonaed apparent
Iy upon return Journey 10 The ships, the
sIedge upon which she was mounted being
noin ted in that dree ton. She measured 2s feet
in Ieugth by 7b feet wide was NEST carefully
fitted and made as light possible, 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 OF the boat, un-
der pile of clothing; the other, which was
much more disturbed, probably by animals,
was found in the bow. Five pocket watches,
a Quantity of silver spoons and forks and
few religious books, were also found, but no
pocket books, or even names upon
any article of clothing. Two double-ba -barreiled
guns stood upright against the boats side
precisely us they had been placed eleven years
before Oae barrel III each was loaded and
cooked; there was ammunition in abundance
also 80 h. or 10 Id. of chocolate, some tea and
Fuel was not wanting: drift tree
Law within lu0 yards OF the boat.
Manyvery interesting relics were brought
away by Lit Hobson. and some few by myself.
On the 5th of June | reached Point Victory
without having found any thing further. The
clothing &e., was again examined for doeu-
ments. note books, dc, without success, re-
cord placed in the cairn, and another buried
10 feet true north of it.
The Explorers found agreat number OF relics
of the lost Expedition, including four boats,
/ half dozen silver spoons, the property Of
Sir John, blankets, clothing, provisions, snow
shoes, boats medicine chest, &c. On Prince