A dreadfully sad tale of an expedition that was lost in the arctic regions, because the north-west passage had not yet be found.
“Sir John Franklin’s Arctic Expedition – The following is an abstract of a letter addressed by Dr. King to Earl Grey:- ‘The last whaler has arrived, and Sir John Franklin and his 125 followers are shut up in the Arctic regions for a third winter, which the medical officer who served with Sir Edward Parry in all his expeditions thinks will, in all probability, be attended with the most serious consequences. For this there is no help. To save them, however, from a fourth winter, when, in addition to disease, they will have to contend with starvation and all its horrors. Dr. King has been constantly urging the Government, since last June, to take the most active steps for their rescue. He directs attention to the western land of North Somerset, as the spot where the lost expedition is most likely to be found, and he offers his services to Earl Grey to journey to that spot by the smae route he travelled in search of Sir John Ross. He is not satisfied with the effort the Admiralty have resolved to make in search of the missing party. After entering minutely into the subject, he states – ‘To sum up in a few words, the Board of Admiralty in their effort virtually declare the lost expedition cannot be relieved except the north-west passage is discovered; we must first discover the passage, and then seek out the lost expedition.’ to this declaration, I cannot assent, for, by following out my plan, I can search all that is known of the western land of North Somerset, and be sure that every footstep I make is so much good work for the safety of the lost expedition, and for the furtherance of geographical and natural historical knowledge; while sir James Clarke Ross, before he gets a single footing on that land, must have solved the problem which has baffled all our ingenuity in ships for 3 1/2 centuries. The facts speak for themselves.
1 Barrow’s Strait was impassable iin 1838; it may be impassable in 1848.
2 Sir James Clarke Ross is using the same means to relieve the lost ecpedition which have brought them into their difficulty; the relief party may, therefore, become a party in distress.
3 The land that is expected to be made will be of doubtful character; the searching parties at the end of the summer, with the close of which every sould of the lost expecition will have perished, may find that they have been tracing an island many miles distant from the western land of North Somerset, or navigating a deep bay, as Kotzebue navigated the Sound named after him, and as Franklin navigated the sea called Melville Sound.
The plan which I have proposed is to reach the Polar Sea across the continent of America, and thus to proceed on my search from the land known to be continent, where every footing, I repeat, is so much work done for the safety of the lost expedition, and for the furtherance of geographical and natural historical knowledge; and if the plan is laid aside, the lives of our lost countrymen will depend upon a single throw in the face of almost certain failure, if the difficulty in which they are involved is the same which, not to go further back than 1818, has driven away every officer, including even Parry himself, who has made the attempt in ships.”
The Stamford Mercury, 17th December, 1847.