On August 19th they fell in with two of the British vessels,--and now begins the interesting part of Kane's narrative: the discovery of the site of Franklin's first winter encampment, then of three head-stones marking the graves of men belonging to his expedition, and finally the separation of the American squadron from their English allies, the freezing-in of the two ships, and their drifting helplessly in the ice pack, month after month, through the long Arctic night, where no vessel ever had wintered before--drifting "toward God knows where!" The following pages comprise chapters XX to XLVI of Dr. Kane's work "The U. S. Grinnell Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin: a Personal Narrative" (London and New York, 1854), omitting nothing but some scientific observations that do not add to the interest of the book as a record of heroic adventure. In this narrative Dr. Kane tells of the first discovery of traces of the Franklin expedition--the winter encampment on Beechey Island, and the three graves. No more was learned of the ill-starred navigators until 1854, when Dr. Rae, of the Hudson's Bay Company heard that a party of white men had been seen, four winters before, on King William's Land, and that their bodies had been afterwards found on the mainland. From the Eskimos who gave him this report he obtained various relics of the Franklin expedition that were unquestionably authentic. In 1859 numerous other relics were found, including a paper on which was the following memorandum.-- "25 April, 1848.--H. M. ships _Terror_ and _Erebus_ were deserted on 22 April, 5 leagues N.N.W. of this, having been beset since 12 Sept., 1846. The officers and crews, consisting of 105 souls, under the command of Captain F. R. M. Crozier, landed here in lat. 69° 37' 42" N., long. 98° 41' W. Sir John Franklin died on 11 June, 1847, and the total loss by deaths in the expedition has been to this date 9 officers and 15 men. "And start on to-morrow, 26th, for Back's Fish River." Nothing further has ever been heard of the discoverers of the northwest passage. They vanished in the great white silence. Horace Kephart. ADRIFT IN THE ARCTIC ICE PACK CHAPTER I