of the Admiralty resolve upon another expedition by sea in search of the North West Passage, and appoint Sir John Franklin to the command.
20th Feb., 1845. A distinguished Arctic traveller and eminent physician, Dr. King, of Savile Row, who, so far back as 1835, had acquired renown as medical officer and second in command of an overland journey in search of Sir John Ross,—hearing of the proposed expedition by sea, and regarding it, to use his own phrase, as a “forlorn hope,”—addresses to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Stanley, now the Earl of Derby, a proposal for a land journey by the Great Fish River, to aid the Franklin expedition in its geographical survey.
5th May, 1845. “My Lords” issue their instructions to Sir John Franklin, who sails with the Erebus and Terror.
26th July, 1845. The ships are seen in Baffin Bay, for the last time.
10th June, 1847. Dr. King writes to Earl Grey, Secretary of State for the Colonies, “My Lord, one hundred and thirty-eight men are at this moment in imminent danger of perishing by famine;” he regrets that Lord Stanley does not entertain the proposition for a land journey by the Great Fish River, renews his proposal, shows how it can be carried out, assigns the western land of North Somerset as the position of the lost expedition, points out that if Sir John Franklin is to be relieved, it must be in the summer of 1848, and implores permission to render him “the only succour which has the probability of success.”
25th Nov., 1847. Dr. King again addresses Earl Grey, Lord Stanley’s successor in the administration of the Colonial Department: “The last ray of hope has passed that Sir John Franklin by his own exertions can save himself and his one hundred and thirty-seven followers from the death of starvation. I trust, therefore, your Lordship will excuse my calling your attention to my letter of 10th June last, which is acknowledged, but which remains unanswered.” Dr. King argues most ably the geographical question, and once more begs to be allowed a place in “the great effort which must be made for the rescue of the one hundred and thirty-eight men who compose the lost expedition.”
8th Dec., 1847. Dr. King, for the third time, addresses Earl Grey on the subject of a new expedition, proposed by the Admiralty, to search the coast of North America for Franklin, from the Mackenzie to the Coppermine rivers, with Wollaston land, opposite that coast, in 1848, and Victoria land in the summer of 1849. He also offers to go at once by the Great Fish River to Victoria land, as well as to the Western land of North Somerset.
16th Dec., 1847. Dr. King acknowledges the receipt of a reply from Lord Grey, desiring him to address any application he may desire to make, to “My Lords” of the Admiralty. Dr. King regrets that Earl Grey should have delayed his answer from June to December, because, if anything is to be done, it must be in progress by February. He explains that he is not “soliciting employment,” but “endeavouring to induce Earl Grey to take the necessary measures for saving the lives of one hundred and thirty-eight fellow-creatures;” adding that he does not ask Earl Grey to make good the loss he would sustain by giving up his private practice and five appointments of honour and emolument—a loss which cannot be measured by a money standard, but that he “comes forward again only for the sake of humanity.”
16th Feb., 1848. Dr. King writes to “My Lords” repeating fully his arguments as to the western land of North Somerset, and undertaking to do in one summer what has not before been done under two; he also explains how he can do it, and again volunteers to go by the Great Fish River.
3rd March, 1848. Dr. King complains to Mr. H. G. Ward, Secretary to “My Lords,” that he has received no reply to his letter of February 16th; states that March 15th is the latest period at which he should feel justified in starting on this expedition, and requests early information of their Lordships’ decision, as he will have to make arrangements to vacate his professional appointments.
3rd March, 1848. Mr. H. G. Ward is commanded by “My Lords” to acquaint Dr. King, that “they have no intention of altering their present arrangements, or of making any others that will require his assistance, or force him to make the sacrifices he appears to contemplate.”
18th Feb., 1850. Dr. King again urges on “My Lords” the overland expedition by the Great Fish River, and is strengthened in his convictions by the unsuccessful results of the various attempts to relieve Franklin by sea.
28th Feb., 1850. “My Lords” must decline the offer of Dr. King’s services.
19th July, 1854. Dr. Rae, a Chief Factor in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company, engaged in completing a survey of the west coast of Boothia, writing from Repulse Bay, reports to “My Lords” that on the 17th April he has met with Esquimaux in Pelly Bay, from whom he gathered, “that in the spring, four winters past (spring, 1850), a party of forty white men were seen travelling southward over the ice. * * * At a later date in the same season, the bodies of thirty were discovered on the continent, and five on an island near it, about a long day’s journey N.W. of the Oot-ko-hi-ca-lik.” The land is, as Dr. Rae states, Point Ogle, and the island Montreal Island, in the Great Fish River.
20th June, 1855. Mr. James Anderson, a Chief Factor in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company, started for the Great Fish River, and returned on 17th September. He found on Montreal Island absolute proofs of the truth of the Esquimaux story, as related to Dr. Rae.
So lately as 1850, some of Sir John Franklin’s party were absolutely alive upon the Great Fish River.
We cannot venture to do more than offer the above facts to our readers. We dare not trust ourselves to comment on them. Englishmen must decide between Dr. King and the successive Secretaries of State and Admiralty Boards, who disregarded a proposal, by which it is now clear that this remnant might have been saved.
“My Lords” were too official to entertain the right proposal; can they now be touched by the