Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen: The Expedition to Find Franklin

On Wednesday, May 23, the Forward began another adventurous voyage, zigzagging and agility between pack ice packs and icebergs, thanks to the engine, a tame power many polar navigators lack.It seemed to play among the moving reefs, as if it recognized the hand of an experienced master, like a horse under the lap of a nimble jockey, at the beck and call of its captain. The temperature has risen.The thermometer indicated -3°C at six o'clock in the morning, -2°C at six o'clock in the evening, and -4°C at midnight, and the southeasterly wind was blowing gently. At about three o'clock on Thursday morning, the "Advance" came to "Territory Bay" on the American coast at the entrance of Lancaster Channel, and Burnie Point soon came into view, and several Eskimos came to the ship , but Hatteras had no leisure to wait for them.

The Byam-Martin cliffs dominating the headland of Liverpool were thrown to the left, lost in the night mist, which was not conducive to rounding the headland, which was after all low and blended with the icebergs on the coast, This situation often makes hydrographic surveying in polar oceans extremely difficult. Petrels, mallards and white gulls began to appear in great numbers.The observed latitude is 74°01' and the longitude is 77°15' from the stopwatch. The two mountains, Catalina and Elizabeth, showed their snow caps on the clouds. At six o'clock on Friday, Cape Wallander was passed on the right coast of the strait, and Admiralty Bay on the left, a bay scarcely explored by voyagers eager to move westward.The sea became choppy, and waves often swept across the decks of ships, throwing pieces of ice.The land on the northern coast looks very strange, the high almost flat land platform reflects the sunlight.

Hatteras wanted to move towards the southern land, with the aim of passing Beecher Island and the entrance of Wellington Strait as soon as possible, but an ensuing iceberg greatly dismayed him, forcing him to go south. It is for this reason that, on May 26, the "Advance" rounded Cape York in fog and snow. A high, cliff-like mountain showed that this was Cape York. The sun rose for a while at noon, so that observations could be made better. At latitude 74°4' and longitude 84°23', the "Advance" came to the end of the Lancaster Channel. Hatteras showed the doctor on the map the roads already traveled and the roads to be taken.However, the position of the ship at this moment is quite interesting.

"I'd rather," he said, "be further north. But since that's impossible, nothing can help, and see, here's exactly where we are." The captain marked it on the map not far from Cape York. "We are in this windward crossing, formed by the entrances of the Lancaster, Barrow, Wellington, and Regent's Straits, through which the navigator of all these seas must pass. " "Well," answered the doctor, "this should give them a hard time, a real crossroads, where, as you say, four great roads meet, and I see no sign of the real road! Barry, How did people like Ross and Franklin do it?"

"They did nothing, Doctor, they left it to their fate, they had no choice, I assure you, one moment the Barrow Strait is closed to this man, and next year it is open to another, and the next moment the ship is inevitable was dragged into Regent's Sound. All this was possible, and these restless seas were first known to man by a foreign force." "What a strange country!" said the doctor, looking at the map. "Everything here is torn, shredded, smashed to pieces, without any order, without any logic! It seems that the land near the North Pole is so fragmented in order to make it more difficult to approach, and the end of the land in the other hemisphere is Calm, slender points, like Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope, and the Indian peninsula! It is the greater speed of the equator that changes things, while the lands at the poles did not, for want of a certain speed of rotation, in the primordial age of the world's formation. Congealed, piled on top of each other."

"It is possible, because there is logic to everything here, there is no motive. Nothing happens, and God sometimes allows scientists to discover such a motive. So, doctor, use this right." "Unfortunately I have to keep it secret, Captain. But what a dreadful wind blows in the Channel!" added the Doctor, pulling his hood tight. "Yes, especially with a strong northerly wind, we'll be off course." "It's supposed to push the ice floe southward, freeing the shipping lanes." "It really should, doctor, but the wind doesn't always do what it should. Look! This big pack of ice doesn't seem to get in. Anyway, we're going to try to get to Grievous Island, and then round Kornvarys The island came to Queens Strait in a week without going through the Wellington Strait. But I was determined to go to Bizi Island and replenish the coal reserves again."

"Why?" asked the doctor in surprise. "There is no doubt that, by order of the Admiralty, the island is well stocked with supplies for future voyages, and though Captain Clintock took some in August 1859, I assure you there are still for us to use." "Actually," said the doctor, "these seas have been visited by explorers for fifteen years, and the Admiralty always kept five or six ships in these waters until the definitive proof of Franklin's disappearance was obtained. If I If I am not mistaken, the Isle of Grievous, which I have seen on the map, is almost in the center of the crossroads, and has become the usual meeting place of voyagers."

"It is true, Doctor, that Franklin's ill-fated voyage has taught us these distant lands." "That's right, Captain, because there's been a lot more sailing since 1845. It's only in 1848 that people take the disappearance of Franklin's two ships, the Ertumpos and the Terror. And the Admiral General's old friend, 66-year-old Dr. Richardson, came to Canada and sailed along the Coppermain River to the polar ocean. On the side of James Ross, he was the commander of the 'Enterprise' and the 'Prospector', Sailed to Urbana Vik in 1818 to Cape York, where we are at this moment. Every day he threw a barrel into the sea with a piece of paper to let his location be known, and when it was foggy, he fired a cannon , at night, he lit fireworks and bonfires, always with a small sail, very discreetly, and finally he spent the winter in Port Leobore in 1848-1849, where he acquired a large number of silver foxes, Putting brass collars about their necks, engraved with the state of the ship and the stores of provisions, and let them run away, and in the spring he set out on sledges up the coast of North Somerset, It was dangerous, and living supplies were scarce, and almost all were sick or disabled, and they erected ice signposts, in which were buried copper rollers, with some necessary explanatory text, indicating that the voyage had failed, and after his disappearance, Mike Lieutenant Krull made fruitless surveys of the south coast of Barrow Strait. It is worth noting that the captain, James Ross, had two later very well-known officers, one being Mike Krull, who pioneered The Northwest Passage, and one was Mike Clintock, who found the remains of Franklin's fleet."

"Two fine, gallant captains today, two gallant Englishmen. Doctor, go on with these sea stories you are so familiar with, and there is always something to be learned in these tales of daring adventure." "Okay, speaking of what happened to James Ross, I should add that he tried to get to the west of Melville Island. But he nearly lost his ship, and he got caught in an ice floe and was taken involuntarily to Baffinsea." "Bringed!" said Hatteras, shrugging his shoulders. "Bringed involuntarily!" "He found nothing," went on the doctor. "Since 1850, British ships have been sailing to these waters. Anyone who finds the ships of the 'Etempos' and the 'Terror' will get 5 0 francs. As early as 1848, Captains Cayley and Moore commanded the Herald and the Plover in an attempt to enter through the Bering Strait. I would add that during 1850 and 1851 , Captain Austin spent the winter at Cornwallis, Captain Benny sailed the Rescue and Resolve to explore the Wellington Channel, John Ross Sr., hero of the poles, set out again in his yacht 'Felix' , looking for his friends, the 'Prince Albert' made its maiden voyage under the sponsorship of Ms. Franklin, and finally the two American ships commanded by Grinnell sent Haven were swept out of the Wellington Strait and thrown into Langka In that year, Mike Clindock, Lieutenant of Austin, advanced as far as Melville Island and Cape Dundas, as far as Barrie reached in 1819, at Beecher The island found signs of Franklin's 1845 winter."

"Yes," answered Hatteras, "three of his sailors are buried there, and those three are luckier than the rest!" "From 1851 to 1852," continued the doctor, who gestured in agreement with Hatteras' insight, "we know that the 'Prince Albert' made a second voyage under French lieutenant Belleau. He spent the winter at Betty Baie in the Prince Regent Sound, surveyed the southwest of Somerset, and determined the coast up to the Rambler's Headland. During this period, the 'Enterprise' and the 'Prospector' returned from England, Joined Kelley and Moore in the Bering Strait under the command of Collinson and Mike Cruel, and when Collinson returned to Hong Kong for the winter, Mike Crull continued through 1850-1851, 1851——1852, 1852——After three winters in 1853, the Northwest Route was discovered, but nothing was known about Franklin's fate. From 1852 to 1853, the three sailing ships 'Rescue', 'Resolution', ' The North Star and the two motor ships 'Pioneer' and 'Brave' set sail. Under the command of Sir Edward Bilcher, with Captain Cayley as first mate, Sir Edward explored the Wellington Strait, at Northumberland Overwintering in the bay, inspecting the coast, Cayley pushed all the way to Burrid Harbor on Melville Island, and explored the land in the north, but did not make much progress, but there were rumors in England that two The ship of the ship can be seen not far from the coast of New Scotland. Mrs. Franklin immediately equipped the small propeller steamer "Isabel", and the captain Eaglefield first went up Baffin Bay to Victoria Headland at 80° latitude. Then back to Beecher Island, with little success. In early 1855, the American Grinnell raised funds for a new expedition, and Dr. Kane attempted to reach the Pole...”

"But he didn't," cried Hatteras vehemently. "Praise be to God: what he didn't do, we will!" "I know, Captain," replied the doctor, "that I say this because the voyage was so closely connected with the search for Franklin. Besides, it came to nothing. I forgot to tell you just now that the Admiralty Admiral Beecher The island served as the general staging ground for the expedition, and in 1853 the steamer 'Felix' and Captain Eaglefield were tasked with delivering supplies there; the sailor went with Lieutenant Bello, but lost with the brave officer. The latter is serving the British service for the second time, and we are able to know more details of the accident, because our boatswain Johnson was a witness to the disaster." "Lieutenant Belleau was a brave Frenchman," Hatteras said, "and Britain will always remember him." "At that time," went on the doctor, "the ships of Bilcher's contingent began to retreat little by little. Not all of them retreated, for Sir Edward had to jettison the 'Rescue' in 1854, and Mike G. Ruhr's 'Prospector' was treated in the same way in 1853. At this time, Dr. Ray received a letter dated July 29, 1854, addressed to Repulsion Bay, and he went to America. passed this bay, and learned that the Eskimos in King Guillom's land had various items from the Erdupos and the Terror. The fate of the expedition was left in doubt. , the ships of the Flix, the North Star, and the Collinson returned to England, and there were no more British ships in the polar seas. But while the government seemed to have lost all hope, Mrs. Franklin still had Hope, she furnished the 'Fox' with the remainder of her property, which was commanded by Mike Clindock, who sailed in 1857, wintered where we appeared, and reached Beecher on August 11, 1858. Island, wintering for the second time in the Bello Strait, the search was resumed in February 1859, and inconclusive evidence of the fate of the 'Etembos' and the 'Terror' was found on May 6, and by the end of the year Back in the UK, this is what has happened in these miserable areas for the past 15 years. Not a single ship has ventured into these dangerous waters since the return of the Fox!" "Well, let's try our luck," Hatteras replied.