Poor Bellot—too brave—too young to die—beloved by comrades, mourned by the simple Eskimos he had befriended—cherished in tender memory by the nation that gave him birth and by Great Britain for whom he gave his life,—his honoured name is linked in immortality with those brave heroes of the Arctic, whose sepulchre is the frozen deep, whose monuments are the eternal snows of the Great White North. [Illustration] CHAPTER X Sledging parties of Sir Edward Belcher’s squadron.—Desertion of the ships.—Return to England.—Story of the _Resolute_.—Traces of Sir John Franklin discovered by Dr. Rae.—Anderson’s journey.—The voyage of the _Fox_ under Commander M’Clintock.—Sledge journeys.—Record and relics of Franklin’s expedition.—_Fox_ returns to England. [Sidenote: _CAPTAIN COLLINSON_] The sledge parties sent out by Sir Edward Belcher’s squadron, though numerous and extended, had succeeded in finding no trace of Franklin or his crews; thus the winter of 1853-1854 passed. The following April, Lieutenant Mecham found in Prince of Wales Strait and, later on, Ramsay Island, records bearing the date of August 27, 1852, giving full intelligence of Captain Collinson, since his separation from the _Investigator_. All that Collinson knew of the position of M’Clure after parting with him in 1850 in the Pacific Ocean, was a report from the _Plover_ that the _Investigator_ had been seen, steering northward, off Wainwright Inlet. To verify certain rumours connected with this report, Captain Collinson ordered a young officer, Lieutenant Barnard, and certain members of the crew to land at a Russian settlement in northwest America. The result was a sad tragedy; Barnard was brutally murdered by Indians in February, 1851, at a post called Darabin, near Norton Sound. By the last of July, 1851, Collinson had rounded Point Barrow, and had steered up Prince of Wales Strait. On Princess Royal Island, he discovered a depot deposited by M’Clure and a cairn containing information of the _Investigator’s_ movements up until June 15, 1851. Collinson proceeded in exactly the course taken by the _Investigator_, and to his surprise found at Cape Kellett, on September 3, another record of M’Clure placed there on August 18. Collinson now found it necessary to seek winter quarters. These he secured toward the eastern side of the entrance to Prince of Wales Strait. As conditions would allow, he pursued his explorations in the vicinity of Banks Land, Albert Land, Wollaston Land, and Victoria Land, gaining much valuable geographical information, but no trace of Franklin, except for the finding in the possession of the Eskimos a piece of an iron doorway or hatch frame which might have belonged to the _Erebus_ or _Terror_. This was found at Cambridge Bay, in Wollaston Land, where Collinson wintered in 1852-1853.