Captain John Franklin received instructions to explore the northern coast of America, from the mouth of Copper Mine River to the eastward. He sailed on 22nd May, 1819, in a ship of the Hudson’s Bay Company. They arrived at York Factory, in Hudson’s Bay, on 30th August. Their route was to be by Cumberland House, and through a chain of posts to the Great Slave Lake. At Cumberland House, it was arranged that Franklin and others should proceed at once on to the Athobasca department, to the northward of the Great Slave Lake, and that the rest of the party should follow in the spring. The place of meeting was Fort Chepewyan, eight hundred and fifty-seven miles from Cumberland House; and, by the 20th August, they had advanced to Fort Enterprise, five hundred and fifty miles from Chepewyan. Here they wintered, and were exposed to awful hardships; but, on the arrival of the spring, they prosecuted their journey down the Copper Mine River, reaching the Polar Sea on the 18th July. They then navigated the coast to the eastward, in their canoes, exploring Coronation Gulf. They attempted to return by Hood’s River, and across the land to Point Lake. After being exposed to the most dreadful sufferings, they regained their winter-stations, at Fort Enterprise, and returned to England. Notwithstanding the perils and hardships which had already befallen them, captain Franklin and his companions, Dr. Richardson and lieutenant Back, undertook a second expedition over the same country, and left Liverpool 16th February, 1825, arriving at Fort Chepewyan as early as 15th July. They then descended Mackenzie River to the sea. Dividing themselves into two parties, they explored the coast east and west, and the expedition returned home 24th September, 1827. Other voyages are those of Ross, of Back, first and second, and of Dease and Simpson, two officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who surveyed, in 1839, the remainder of the western coast which had been left by Franklin. Dr. John Rae was dispatched by the Hudson’s Bay Company in July, 1846, to survey the unexplored portion of the Arctic coast at the north-eastern angle of the American continent, and returned successfully in October, 1847.