“Besides penetrating one hundred and forty miles further than previous navigators, and finding an open sea stretching northwards, from Baffin’s Bay, to at least the latitude of 80°, Captain Inglefield discovered a strait in about 77½°, which he named Murchison Strait, and which he supposed to form the northern boundary to Greenland.” His careful survey of the eastern side of Baffin Bay, from Carey Islands to Cape Alexander, and his approach to Jones Sound, all contributed interesting data to geographical knowledge, but though the natives with whom he met were carefully interrogated, no light was thrown on the fate of Sir John Franklin or his men, and the utter falsity of the story told by Sir John Ross’s interpreter was satisfactorily established. Early in the year 1853, three expeditions were fitted out, to assist Sir Edward Belcher’s squadron already in the field, and to continue the search for Sir John Franklin. The _Rattlesnake_, under Commander Trollope, and the _Isabel_—again refitted by Lady Franklin, and put in command of Mr. Kennedy—set out with instructions to sail for Behring Strait and carry supplies to Captains Collinson and M’Clure. Dr. Rae set out again for the further examination of the coast of Boothia, and Captain Inglefield was sent to Barrow Strait in command of the _Phœnix_ and _Lady Franklin_, for the purpose of reënforcing Sir Edward Belcher. In America the second Grinnell expedition was fitted out about the same time for the purpose of exploring the passages leading out of Baffin Bay into the unknown oceans around the Pole, and was placed under the command of Dr. E. K. Kane, U. S. N., who had sailed under Lieutenant De Haven in the first Grinnell expedition. [Sidenote: _CAPTAIN M’CLURE_] In the autumn of 1853, the deep interest of the British nation was aroused by the return of Captain Inglefield of the _Phœnix_ with despatches from the Arctic regions, containing the news that the Northwest Passage had at length been successfully accomplished by Captain M’Clure of the _Investigator_, who had passed through Behring Strait and sailed within a few miles of the most westerly discoveries made from the eastern side of America, at which point he had been frozen up for more than two years. Parties from the _Investigator_ had walked over the frozen ocean; and Lieutenant Cresswell, the bearer of the despatches from Captain M’Clure, had sailed to England, by the Atlantic Ocean, having thus passed through the far-famed, much-sought-after, and, at length, discovered Northwest Passage. It will be remembered that Captains Collinson and M’Clure sailed for Behring Strait in 1850, through which, in company with the _Plover_ and _Herald_, they endeavoured to pass. The _Investigator_, Captain M’Clure, was last seen on August 4, 1850, bearing gallantly into the heart of the “Polar Pack.”