Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-10-22
capt. Halls Journey.

The narrative of Captain 9. L. Hall.
though it adds nothing to orr knowledge
of arctic geography. is replete with deeper
interest than we had any reason to antici-
pate. In some respects his has been the
most remarkable journey ever undertaken
in the polar regions. He WAS not an ex-
perienced explorer; he was not even Il
sailor. but plain citizen OF Cincinnati,
when he conceived the idea OF prosecuting
upon plan hitherto untried a more min
ute search after the relics OF the Franklin
expedition than any previous traveller had
been able to make. He put no trust in
ships, but depended entirely upon sledge
journeys, living with the Esquimaux.
their customs and diet. This involved
greater hardships and required more
heroic patience than even the memorable
voyage of Dr. Kane; but Captain Hall has
passed in his two expeditions no less than
seven or eight years among the rightfu
Arctic SHOWS, and has got thereby the
knowledge which he went to seek.
The problem of Sir John Franklin's
fate was already SO nearly solved that
there could be no reasonable hope that
any one survived out of that gallant com
mander's party. It was known that with
his two ships-the Erebus and Terror-he
had discovered the long-sought, useless
northwest passage which had cost the
world so many lives, and just at the goal
of his voyage had been; hopelessly locked
i'll tie grasp of the ice. It was known that
Franklin died during the next years cap
tivity; that after the ships had remained
motionless for nineteen months the sur
vivors, lO5 in number, under command of
Captain Crozier, set out afoot across the
frozen straight which separates King Will
iam's Island from the Northern line Of the
American continent in thu hope of reach
ing the frontier stations of the Hudson 8
Bay company; and that many, and proba-
BILE all, of the party died On tho way
Their relics were found by McClintock all
along the coast of King Williams Island,
and the natives assured him that every
one of the party had persisted Still Nc
Cintock's discoveries left room for faint
hope that one or two might have escaped
the fate OF the rest. Anderson in 1855
had heard of some of the missing adven-
turers as far south a Montreal Island, at
the mouth Of the Great Fish river and a
faint rumor reached Hall in his first voy-
age of three white men who, as recently as
1854 or 1866, had been wandering among
distant Esquimaux tribes seeking in vain
for deliverance. It was to clear up this
last mystery and complete the investiga-
tions of McClintock that Hall sailed from
New London in 1864.
For the story of his explorations we re-
fer our readers to the letter addressed to
Mr.. Henry Grinnell, who bore a large
share of the expenses Of the expedition
1t is sad, tragical narrative. There is
no longer even shadow of hope that any
one survives out of Franklins company,
1t is ascertaiped, according to this report,
that none of them reached even as far as
Montreal Island, and their bones lie scat
tered along the coast of King William q
camping ground where they fell and died
in companies. The melancholy history
has its GROWING horror in the knowledge
that they died of starvation through the
base behavior of the Esquimaux, and that
in learning their fate Captain Hall WAS re-
duced to the awful necessity of taking the
life of one of his own mutinous men.
If he could have persuaded any one to
remain with him long enough for sum
mer exploration of the island, Captain
Hall is convinced that he would have
found the complete manuscript records of
the expedition, which the last of the un-
fortunate crew twenty years ago undoubt-
eddy deposited somwhere on their line of
march. Except as memorials of heroic
adventure, or as personal relics, such
records, however, can have no great value
now, and it will not be worth the risk of
another life to 60 in search of them. The
problem which Franklin lost his life in
solving has been solved by others since
his death, and has proved of no use to
mankind
If there is any practicable water passage
through the arctic regions which it will be
worth while for any ship to attempt, that
passage will be found Ear to the North
through Kone's Open Sea, and how to
reach it We dare say will turn out to be a
question rather of navigation than of geog-
raphy; that is, We shall get it rather by
ocean currents than by tracing
the contiguration ofice-bound coasts. For
what secrets the hospitable regions of the
northwest passage of Franklin, Mcclure
and McOintoek may yet inelose, We must