The Russellville Democrat., 1881-12-01
SIR yoHx FRAxKEIx's FATE.
Return of an Arctic Foyaxer with Tn<or-
 m&tfcn of rmposfxncs.

London Tines.
 Capt. Adams. of the Dundee whaIer Arctic. who has inst returned from the Davis Straits fishing, furnishes sorze in texesfing information in regard to hiE voyage In the polar seas. He states that in the course of his search for whales he went up Wellington channel as far as the water has eTeT been peEekrated by any expedition. and his further progress was only checked by enc0unteriag the heavy ice of the polar barrier. This oc- cured in August last No whales were seen in that quarter, and the Arctic steamed up Barrow Straits till the polar barrier was encountered s second time. \ course was then taken down Peel Sound to within a few miles of where the Erebus and Terror were lost. Beachy Island vas visited, and there Capt Adar1s szw Gae monument erected to Sir John Franklin and five Of his crew. He found the house erected in the vicsn- ity in 8 Ererched condition, and the provisions Ieft by former explorers not st all .servieeable. Accompanied by & few of his men he made some search in the locality, and just as the party were coming away they were confronted bg polar bear, which Capt Adams shot with in few yards of the graves. The skin of the bear he intends 10 present to some of the relatives of SIT J ghn Franklin. No whales were seen in this direction. and accordingly the Arcsic proceeded ID to ward the Gulf of B0ofhia- An attempt was made to reach this sea earlier in the year, but no advance was posi- ible, owing to the heavy ice About the end Of August. however, the ice was in a totally different condition, and the Arctic got gp as far as Cape Fordenskjold. on the west side of Boathis. Here several whales were got. Before coming away the Captaln tried to get to the other side A heavy fog was experienced and when 1t cleared away the ship wd Hund with in fifteen miles Of Fury anr. ecia Straits and in very shallow wateoar In this dis trict the Captain got on bE d very in telligent Esquimau, from hich be ob- tained 2 good deal of in eresting and yaIGs Dle information The native stated that when he was young Kan in his father's hut three men cane over the land toward Repulse Bay, and that one of them WIS 8 great captain when he died. The other two were in sore dis tress and cried very much, stating that he was the s'Aniguk," or great captain These two lived some little time ID his fathers es. and be showed Capt Adams the spot on q chart were the were buried. The Esouimau. c2rtinuing his narrs i've, said that seventeen persons sta ted from two vessels which had been lost far to the westward, but only three were able to survive the journey to his fathers hut
 From all information furnished by the Esquiman, Capt. Adams has no doubt that the vessels referred to were those of the Franklin Expedition, and that the great captain mentioned was Lieut. Cro- rier. Assuming that what the Esquimau stated was correct. 1t is beyond doubt that the members of the Franklin Ex- petition were attempting to reach Hud- son Bay Territory. Judging from the present age of the native, Capt. Adams is of opini on that his allusion to having seen the men when he was young man must refer to period some thirty-fye years ago. Ifwzs Capt Adams intention to bring home the native. but circun- stances occurred which prevented this resolution being carried ont, but he is in a position to furnish information of 3 very detailed nature and calculated to throw considerable light on the move ments and ultimate fate of the members of the Franklin Expedition. Capt. Adams also brings home few papers found in the vicinity of Fury and Hecla Straits, and these have been forwarded to the Admiralty.
 While in those high lafitudes Capt Adams had the greatest possible difficult ty in navigating ehis vessel. He was without charts, and his eompasses were practically Of no use and did not indi- cate the course steered. He was only able to guide his ship through these wa fers by the use Of the lead and the keep. ing of sharp lookout. and when the fogs, which were exceedingly prevalent, cleared away, he always took the oppor- tunity of ascertaining the position of his ship by the sun. Capt. Adams has given frequent proof of his devotion 10 Arctic discovery, and ii will be remembered that snme years ago Capt. Markham of the Royal Navy, who had command in Sir George Mares expedition, zccempan- jed him to the polar seas. He was also fortunate in being able to render assist ance to the members of the unfortunate American expedition under Capt. Hall, and brought to Dundee some Twenty-Five members of it.