FRANKLIN
710
FRAUNHOPER
thick and fast upon him—a knighthood
and then, for seven years, the governorship of Tasmania. In May, 1845, as an admiral, he sailed again, with the Erebus and Terror, to discover the northwest passage. Calmness in time of danger, resourcefulness, the highest order of seamanship, a sanguine temperament, the capacity for inspiring trust and loyalty in the men of his command and scientific ardor had long marked Sir John as the one man in England most likely to succeed in so hazardous an undertaking where so many had failed.
He discovered the northwest passage, but at so terrible a cost that the 2oth century was six years old before anyone ventured to force a way through it. (See AMUNDSEN, ROALD).
The Erebus and Terror were last hailed by whalers in Baffin's Bay in July of 1845. Franklin died on King William's Island, Boothia, at the eastern end of the passage that had been sought since the days of Sebastian Cabot, in June of 1847. The survivors all perished in the attempt to reach the main land. Details of the disaster were recovered piecemeal, along with relics from the abandoned ships, from Esquimaux and from a packet of buried papers. Fifteen expeditions were fitted out first to relieve, then to find trace of, the lost explorers. Two of these were led by Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, the American scientist. It was not until 1857 that the yacht Fox, sent out by Lady Franklin, brought back the story of Franklin's tragic end. His resting place in that vast tomb of ice has never been located, for the ships vanished. Lady Franklin spent her entire fortune and 15 years in efforts to recover his body. The monument raised in Westminster Abbey pays tribute to her as well as to her hero. For the cenotaph Tennyson, the laureate, wrote these words:
"Not here! The white north holds thy bones; and thou,
Heroic sailor-soul, Art sailing on another voyage now,
Toward no earthly pole."
See Life by Beesly.
Franklin, William Buel, American general, was born at York, Pa., on Feb. 27,
1823, and graduated at West Point in 1843. Early in his career he served in the War with Mexico, and on the outbreak of the Civil War he was appointed colonel of the i 21 h infantry, subsequently rising to the rank of major-general. He commanded
the sixth corps through the peninsular campaign, fought at South Mountain and Antietam, and was in command of the left grand division of the United States army at Fredericksburg at the close of 1862. In 1864 he was given command of the 19th army corps, which took part in the Red River expedition, but was wounded and obliged to retire from active service. After the war he became vice-president of the Colt Firearms Company at Hartford, Conn. In 1880 he was president of the board of managers of the National Soldiers' Home, and in 1889 was United States commissioner to the Paris exposition of that year, which wen him the insignia of grand officer of the Legion of Honor from the French government. He died on March 8, 1903.
Franks, a name applied in the 3d cen* tury to a number of German tribes living on the middle and the lower Rhine. They were a stalwart race of warriors, distinguished by long hair, blue eyes and large* ness of limb. They lived in villages, and had gardens and vineyards. To the Salian Franks is due the celebrated Salic law.
Franz, Robert (1815-1892), was one o| the most important of German song-writers, ranking with Schubert and Schumann in consummate artistry. Besides 257 songs for single voice, he composed sacred and secular choral works and made masterly arrangements of Bach, Handel and other great composers.
Fra'ser, Hon. Duncan C., was born in Nova Scotia, and graduated from Dal-housie University. He held important public positions in his own province; was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1891; and was appointed a judge of the supreme court of Nova Scotia in 1904. He was appointed lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia in 1906. An able platform-speaker, he is an ardent free-trader.
Fraser, William A., was born in Nova Scotia in 1859. By profession at first a mining engineer, he became a frequent contributor to magazines, devoting himself especially to animal stories. Among his books are The Outcast, Thirteen Men, Thorough-' breds, Mooswa ana The Lone Furrow.
Fraser (frd'ser) River, the principal stream of British Columbia, is formed by two branches, the more important of which rises in the Rocky Mountains. The river is 800 miles long, and flows into the Georgian Gulf. Salmon-fishing is one of the great industries along its banks. Steamboats can navigate it for 100 miles, when the river passes by a series of swirling rapids through the Cascade Range, the grand canon of the Fraser.
Fraunhofer (froun'ho-fer), Joseph, a German optician and physicist, was born near Munich on March 6, 1787^ and died there
GEN. WILLIAM B. FRANKLIN
