The abandonment of these five vessels created much unpleasant feeling in the country. Not only did it entail a serious financial loss, apparently unnecessarily, but it also discouraged the Government from taking any further steps towards the discovery of the fate of Franklin and his expedition. In the middle of October, a court martial was held with a view to sifting the matter thoroughly. M’Clure and Kellett were first tried on the charge of abandoning the _Investigator_ and the _Resolute_, but they were naturally enough acquitted, as they were able to show that they were acting under the orders of their superior officer. Their swords were returned to them with sundry graceful compliments by Admiral Gordon, the president of the court. Sir Edward Belcher was also acquitted, but with an implied rebuke, a rebuke which was pointed by the return of his sword in dead silence. Most of the ships were never seen again. The _Resolute_, however, drifted 1000 miles through Barrow Strait, Lancaster Sound and Baffin Bay, and was eventually found off Cape Dyer by Captain J. M. Buddington, an American whaler. Buddington brought the ship safely to the United States’ port of New London, where she was promptly purchased by the American Government for $40,000. She was then refitted, the ship’s stores, flags, officer’s libraries and her other appointments were restored to their original positions and she was presented to the Queen and the people of Great Britain as a token of goodwill on the part of the American nation. CHAPTER XVII RAE’S JOURNEYS OF 1851-53 Rae had displayed such ability when acting in conjunction with Sir John Richardson that the Government felt that they could not do better than entrust the conduct of the next expedition to him, so they asked Sir George Simpson for the loan of his services and commissioned him to continue the Franklin search in 1851 in whatever manner he thought best, only stipulating that the voyage should be made by boat.