IN THE
ARCTIC SEAS.

A NARRATIVE

OF THE

DISCOVERY OF THE FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN
AND HIS COMPANIONS.

BY

CAPTAIN M'CLINTOCK, R.N., LL.D.

WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

PHILADELPHIA:
PORTER & COATES,
822 Chestnut Street.

AUTHOR'S EDITION

CAXTON PRESS OF SHERMAN & CO.,
PHILADELPHIA.

DEDICATION.

My dear Lady Franklin,

There is no one to whom I could with so much propriety or willingness dedicate my Journal as to you. For you it was originally written, and to please you it now appears in print.

To our mutual friend, Sherard Osborn, I am greatly obliged for his kindness in seeing it through the press—a labor I could not have settled down to so soon after my return; and also for pointing out some omissions and technicalities which would have rendered parts of it unintelligible to an ordinary reader. These kind hints have been but partially attended to, and, as time presses, it appears with the mass of its original imperfections, as when you read it in manuscript. Such as it is, however, it affords me this valued opportunity of assuring you of the real gratification I feel in having been instrumental in accomplishing an object so dear to you. To your devotion and self-sacrifice the world is indebted for the deeply interesting revelation unfolded by the voyage of the 'Fox.'

Believe me to be,

With sincere respect, most faithfully yours,

F. L. M'CLINTOCK.

London, 24th Nov., 1859.

LIST OF OFFICERS AND SHIP'S COMPANY OF THE 'FOX.'

OFFICIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE SERVICES OF THE YACHT 'FOX.'

Admiralty, London,
24th Oct. 1859.

Sir,

I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to acquaint you, that, in consideration of the important services performed by you in bringing home the only authentic intelligence of the death of the late Sir John Franklin, and of the fate of the crews of the 'Erebus' and 'Terror,' Her Majesty has been pleased, by her order in Council of the 22nd instant, to sanction the time during which you were absent on these discoveries in the Arctic Regions, viz., from the 30th June, 1857, to the 21st September, 1859, to reckon as time served by a captain in command of one of Her Majesty's ships, and my Lords have given the necessary directions accordingly.

I am, Sir,
Your very humble servant,

W. G. ROMAINE,
Secretary to the Admiralty.

Captain Francis L. M'Clintock, R.N.

PREFACE.

The following narrative of the bold adventure which has successfully revealed the last discoveries and the fate of Franklin, is published at the request of the friends of that illustrious navigator. The gallant M'Clintock, when he penned his journal amid the Arctic ices, had no idea whatever of publishing it; and yet there can be no doubt that the reader will peruse with the deepest interest the simple tale of how, in a little vessel of 170 tons burthen, he and his well-chosen companions have cleared up this great mystery.

To the honor of the British nation, and also let it be said to that of the United States of America, many have been the efforts made to discover the route followed by our missing explorers. The highly deserving men who have so zealously searched the Arctic seas and lands in this cause must now rejoice, that after all their anxious toils, the merit of rescuing from the frozen North the record of the last days of Franklin, has fallen to the share of his noble-minded widow.

Lady Franklin has, indeed, well shown what a devoted and true-hearted English woman can accomplish. The moment that relics of the expedition commanded by her husband were brought home (in 1854) by Rae, and that she heard of the account given to him by the Esquimaux of a large party of Englishmen having been seen struggling with difficulties on the ice near the mouth of the Back or Great Fish River, she resolved to expend all her available means (already much exhausted in four other independent expeditions) in an exploration of the limited area to which the search must thenceforward be necessarily restricted.

Whilst the supporters of Lady Franklin's efforts were of