The land then trended to the north-eastward, and about twenty miles from Cape Crozier, M‘Clintock found a boat, which had only a few days previously been examined by Hobson from the north, and in it a note left by Hobson to say that he had discovered the records of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, and after travelling nearly to Cape Herschel without finding further traces, had returned towards the _Fox_. Captain M‘Clintock, from the south, had now connected his discoveries with those of Lieutenant Hobson, to whose very successful journey we will now turn. Parting from the Captain at Cape Victoria, Hobson crossed to Cape Felix, and near that point he found a cairn, around which were quantities of clothing, blankets, and other indications of Franklin’s people having visited that spot, and probably formed a depôt there, in the event of their abandoning their ships. Anxiously searching among these interesting relics without finding any record, Hobson continued along the shore to Cape Victoria, where, on May 6, he discovered a large cairn, and in it the first authentic account ever obtained of the history of the lost expedition. It was to the following effect:--That the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ had ascended Wellington Channel to latitude 77° north, and had returned west of Cornwallis Island to Beechey Island, where they spent their first winter, 1845-46. Sailing thence in the following season, they were beset, on September 12, 1846, in latitude 70° 5′ north, longitude 98° 23′ west. _Sir John Franklin died on June 11, 1847_; and on the 22nd of April, 1848, having, up to that date, lost by death nine officers and fifteen men, both ships were abandoned in the ice, five leagues north north-west of Point Victory. The survivors, 106 in number, had landed, under the command of Captain Crozier, on the 25th April, at Point Victory, and would start on the morrow (April 26) for the Great Fish River. Another record was also found, stating that previously, on the 24th May, 1847, Lieutenant Grahame Gore and Mr. Charles DesVœux, mate, had landed from the ship, with a party of six men. The record did not state for what reason they had landed; but from the number who finally abandoned the ships, this party must have returned on board, and it is probable that they merely landed to examine the coast.