The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-11-20
From the Frozen North Report Of DR..
Hall. the Arctic Explorer.

research within the North Polar circle, furnishes
the following narrative of his investigations and
discoveries in that region
REFUSE BAY, June 20, 1869
Henry Grinnell-Dear Sir: This day have
returned from n sledge Journey Of 90 days to and
from King Williams Land. Ii was my purpose,
and every preparation was made 10 make this
journey last season, but my attention then having
been called to Melville Peninsula, in the vicinity
Of Fury and Hecla Straits, where native report
had il that white men had been seen, l directed
my expedition there, by way of Amistoke, Oog-
Xix Isle, Ig-lOo-lik, with the ardent hope and ex-
pectation of rescuing alive some OF sir John
Franklin's lost companions The result OF this
Journey was the finding of a tenting place Of n
few white men and a stone pillar they had erected
close by it at the bottom of Parry Bay, which is
some so miles south of the western outlet of Fury
and Hecla Straits, and the visiting of several
places where white men and their traces had Been
seen by natives of Ig-loo-lik and vicinity in or
about the years 1861. 1 also gained much
information from the natives of Ig-loo-lik, North
Og-lik Isle, and whereabouts, that confirmed the
report I heard in the Winter of l567-S, which i
have already stated. And still further proofs of
this report have been also obtained on my late
visit TO King Williams Land. My sledge journey
to the Straits of Fury and Hecla, and thence down
to Parry Bay and back to Repulse Bay by the
route already defined, consumed 90 days.
The result of my sledgc journey to King Will
iam's Land may be summed up thus None of
Sir John Franklin's companions ever died on or
reached Montreal Island. Ii was late in July,
1S4S, that Crozier and his party-about 40 or 10
passed down the west coast Of King William 8
Land, in tie vicinity of Cape Herschel. The
party was dragging two sledges on the sea ice,
which was nearly in the last stage Of dissolution /;
one sledge laden with an a~wning-covered boat,
and the other, a small one, laden with provisions
and camp material. Just before Crozier and
party arrived ut Camp Herschel they were met by
four families of natives, and both parties went
into camp near each other. Two Esquimaux men,
who were of the native party, gave me much sad
but deeply interesting information. Some of il
stirred my heart with sadness intermingled with
rage, for il was n confession that they with their
COMPANIONS did secretly and hastily abandon Gro
zier and his party to suffer and die for need of
fresh provisions, when, In truth, il was in the
power Of the natives To save every man alive. The
next trace OF Crozicr and his party is to be found
in the skeleton which McClintock discovered a lit
tie below to the southwark and eastward of Cape
Hcrschcl. This was never found by the natives.
The next trace is n camping place ON the seashorc
Of King Williams Land, about three miles east
ward from Pfeffer river, where two men died and
received Christian burial. At this place fish
bones were found by the natives, which showed
that Crozier and party caught while there u spe-
cies Of fish excellent for food with which the sea
there abOunds. The next trace Of this party oc-
ours some FIVE or six miles eastward on a long,
low point of King Williams Land, where one
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southeast, two and a half miles further, the next
trace OCCURS, ON Todd's Inlet. where five men lie.
The next certain trace of this party Is on the
west side Of the inlet west Of Point Richardson,
on some low land that is an island or a part Of
the main land. as the tide may be. Here the
awning-covered boat and the remains Of about 30
or 35 of Crozicr's men were found by the native
Pooyet-ta, of whom Sir John Ross has given n
description in the account of his voyage in the
Victory, 1924.
In the Spring of 1S49 a large tent was found
by some of the natives whom | saw, the floor OF
which was completely covered with the remains OF
white men. Close by were two graves. This
tent was a little way inland from the head Of
Terror Bay.
In the Spring of 1861, when the snow was
nearly all gone, an Esquimaux party, conducted
by a native well known throughout the Northern
regions, found two boats, with many skeletons in
and about them. One of these had been previ-
ously found by McClintock the other was lying
from one-auarter to one-half mile distant, and
must have been completely entombed in snow at
the time McClinton's parties were there, or they
most assuredly would have seen it.
The same year that the FL e6us and Terror
were abandoned one of them nsumma the
great Northwest Passage, having five men aboard.
The evidence of the exact number is circumstan-
tial. Everything about this Northwest Passage
ship OF Sir John Franklin's expedition was in
complete order four boats were Hanging high up
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deck the vessel was in its Winter housing of sail
or tent cloth. This vessel was found by the Ook.
joO-lik natives near O'Reilly Island, lat. 6S deg.
Som. N, Ion. 80 deg. SIN. W., early in the Spring
oflS49, it being frozen in in the midst of a smooth
and unbroken foe of ice OF only winter formation.
To complete the history of Sir John Franklin's
lest expedition, one must spend a Summer ON
King Williams Land, with a considerable party.
whose only business it should be to make searches
for records which beyond doubt lie buried on that
- II - - -
natives say, and from what l saw myself, that lit
tie or nothing more can be gained by making
searches there when the land is clothed in Its
Winter garb, for the Esquimaux have made
search over all the coast of King Williams Land
on either side, from Its southern extreme up to
everything that belonged to the companions oi
Sir John Franklin, and these searches have been
made when the snow had nearly disappeared
from the land.
My sledge company from Repulsc Bay to King
Williams Land consisted of eleven souls, all E.
%quimaux. Although they are as untamable as
eagles by nature, yet by their aid | was enabled
to reach points otherwise inaccessible, and when
there to gain much important Information relative
To the fate of Sir John Franklin's expedition. |
tried hard to accomplish far more than l did,
but not one of the company would on any account
whatever consent to remain with me i'm that coun-
try and make u Summer search over that island
which, from information 1 had gained of the M
tives, | had reason To suppose would be rewarded
by the discovery OF the whole of the manuscript
records that had accumulated in that great expe-
dition, and had been deposited in n vault a little
way inland or eastward of Cape Victory. Know
ing, as | now do, the character of the Esquimaux
in that part of the country in which King Will
Jams Land is situated, l cannot wonder at MOI
blame the Repulse Bay natives for their refusal
to remain there az l desired. 1t is quite proba-
bic that had we remained as l wished, no one Of
us would ever have got out of the country alive.
How could We expect, if We had got into straitened
circumstances, that We should have received bet
ter treatment from the Esquimaux of that country
than the los souls who were under the command
of the heroic Crozier, some time after the landing
of his party on King Williams Land.
Could | and my company, with reasonable
safety, have remained to make a Summer search
on King Williams Land, it is not only probable
that we should have recovered the logs and
journals of Sir John Franklin's expedition,
but have gathered up and entombed the re.