The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-10-13
FROM TIE FROZEN SEAS.

| L =
Report of Captain @. F. Hal1
/ 10 Mr.. Henry Grinneli-what
was Discovered COncerning
! Sir Jehn Franklin,s Party.
REPULsE BAY. June 20, 1859. ;,
| DEAR SIR: This day I have return
ed from a sledge journey of ninety
days to and from King Williams Land.
1t was my purpose, and every prepa-
ration was made, to make this journey
last season; but my intention then
having been called to Melville PENN
sula, in the vicinity of Fury and Hec-
la Straits, where native report had it
that white men had been seen, I. di-
rected my expedition there by way OF
Ami toke, Oog-lit-isle, Ig-loo-lik, with
the ardent hope and expecta-iorf nf
rescuing alive some of Sir John Frank
tlin's last companions. The result of
this Journey was the finding OF tent
ing place of few white men and a
stone pillar they had erected close by
it at the bottom of Parry Bay, which
is some fifty miles south of the west
ern 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 vi
cinity about the years, 1861. 1 al
SO gained much information from the
natives of Ig-loo- llk, north Oog-lit-i
Isle, and thereabout, that confirmed
the report I heard in the winter of
IS67-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 nine
ty-six days.
The result of my sledge journey to
King Williams Land may be summed
up thus: None of Sir John Frank
Inns companions ever reached or died
on Montreal Island. 1t was late in
July, 1S4S, that Crozier and his party
of about forty or forty five, passed down
the west coast of King Williams Land
in the vicinity of Cape Herschell.-
The party was dragging two sledges on
the sea-ice, which was nearly in its last
stage of dissolution-one, large sled
laden with an awning-covered boat,
and the other, small one, laden with
provisions and camp material Just
before Crozier and party arrived at
Cape Herschell, they were met by four
families of natives. and both parties
went into camp near each other. Two
Esquimaux men, who were of the ma
tive party, gave me much sad, but
deeply interesting information. Some
of it stirred my heart with sadness, in
termingled with rage for it was con
fession that they, with their compan
ions, did secretly and hastily abandon
Crozier and his party to suffer and die
for need of fresh provisions, when il
truth, it was in the power of the ma
tives to save every man alive. Th'
next trace of Crozier and his party Is
to be found in the skeleton which Nc
Clintock discovered little below, to
the southwark and eastward of Cape
Herschell. This was never found By
the natives. The next trace is camp
| ng-place on the seashore of King VIII
liams' Land, about three miles east
, ward of Pfefer River. where two mel
died and received Christian burial.
At this place fish bones were found b,
the natives, which showed them tina
Crozier and his party had caught Will
) there species of fish excellent for food
with which the sea there abounds.
The next trace of this party occur
| IXrn n1-s ,
long, low point of King William
Land, where one man died and wa
buried. Then about s. S. E., two an,
a half miles further, the next trace OF
ours, on Todd's Islet, where the re
mains of five men lie. The next Ger
tain trace of this party is on the Yves
side of the inlet with Point Richard
son, on some low land that is an islam
or part of the main land, as the It'd
may be. Here the awning-covere
boat and the remains of about thirt
or thirty-ive of Crozier's party wer
/ found by the native Poo-yet-ta, G
whom Sir John Ross has given de
!, scription in the account of his voyag
IN the Victory, l829-34.
: Iu the spring of 1919, q large ten
: was found bysome of the natives whor
| 1 saw, the floor of which was csmplete
!, ly covered with the remains of whit
men,. Close by were two graves
This tent was little way inland fror
, the head of Terror Bay.
In the spring of 1861, when th
snow was nearly sll gone, an Esqu
! maux party, conducted by a nativ
well known throughout the norther
regions, found two boats with man
skeletons i'll and about them. One {
these boats had been previously foun
: by McClintock; the other was fonn
lying from one-quarter to one-ha
mile distant, and must have been con
pletely entombed in snow at the tim
McClintock's parties We're there, Q
| they most assuredly would have see
it. In and about this boat, beside
l the many skeletons alluded to-, wer
5 found many relics, most of them sim
| liar in character to those McClintoc
| has enumerated as having been foun
in the boat he discovered. The n;
tive who conducted this native part
in its search over King Williams Ian
, is the same individual who gave D.
l Rae the first information about whit
men having died to the westward c
where he (Dr. Rae) then was (Pell