The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-03
FOUR YEARS WITH EsoUIMos.

George H. Benedict. the Survivor oi Party That Visited Their Country,
 George H. Benedict, who lives at No | IS Talcott street, this city, is believed | to be the sole survivor of the expedi-
 ton which left New London on June 70, 1860, on the whaler Georgiana in ! search of Sir John Franklin, who left 1 England in 1S47 in the hope of locating a northwest passage. The English gov
 ernment and the widow of Sir John
 Franklin offered large sums of money to the persons finding him or his re-
 mains, and MT. Benedict was one of { the party going out with pr. J. H. Hall
 in the hope of obtaining the rewards l offered.
 There were thirty in the party that left New London, but nineteen of thesa , went out on a whaling expedition Ten men with Dr. Hall of whom MT Bene- diet was one, went out to search for
 the bodies of Franklin and his party 1 They did not return until December 10, 1865, During the absence of the party
 a thorough search was made of the
 territory in British North America and the men had ample opportunity for ob
 serving the country and the natives.
 All of the party that went out re-
 turned with the exception of a man
 named Porter who shot himself by ac-
 cident
 In speaking of the expedition the
 other day MT Benedict said that they
 were satisfied that they found the body
 of Franklin or some of the members of the expedition. The highest point which
 his party reached was SS degrees 20 minutes and 40 seconds. In Fox Chan
 nel or Frozen Strait, 66 degrees north latitude and S5 degrees west longitude they came across three boats that be- longed to the Franklin expedition. The boats were overturned and the skee tons of five men were found under them. There was no flesh upon the bones and all that remained was a mass of bones covered with seal and bearskin clothing, This discovery was made in 1862 after searching for nearly two years. Later the Resolute and the Alert, the boats In which Franklin's party made the trip north, were dis covered and the English government gave the boats to pr. Hall to be sold for the benefit of the men who went cut with him. The two boats were brought back to New London and there sold to Williams & Ravens. Both yes sells were afterwards used for whale fishing. The Alert was renamed the Eamarte and the Resolute kept the same name. About five years after the Eamarte was sold to Williams & Hav- ems she was dismasted in storm about 800 miles north of Newfoundland and all on board were lost.
 MT. Benedict said that the summers in the country where he was were warm but In winter the thermometer dropped from 64 to 76 degrees below zero. The, snows in winter were from fifteen to twenty feet deep. The people dresesd in fur clothing and although the weather was very cold they man aged to keep warm. The Esquimo people were short in stature and he said they were very intelligent people. They would quickly resent insult. They were honest and would not tolerate In the winter they lived in snow huts. They would make a hut from a snow bank about the size of Hartford's city hall in circumference | and from fifteen to twenty feet i'm l height. They would have apart ! nents within this huge pile of snow md for windows they would take cakes . 'f ice and shave them down thin so . hat light would pass through, and hese sheets of ice would be fastened in he snow walls of the hut.
 MT, Benedict said that his party car fed a quantity of provisions with it. . )ut the men lived largely on the meat ! If animals killed in that sect on. The party returned to New London in th- park George and Henry. which was ID in the whaling grounds. pr, Hall, vho was in charge of the expedition, lied in Jamaica, British West Indies, { few years ago. and Mir Benedict be- ieves that the others of the expedition Ire dead. Hartford Courant