“In the short space of twelve months, how mournful had become the history of Franklin’s expedition; how changed from the cheerful ‘All well’ of Graham Gore! The spring of 1847 found them within 90 miles of the known sea off the coast of America; and to men who had already in two seasons sailed over 500 miles of previously unexplored waters, how confident must they have felt that that forthcoming navigable season of 1847 would see their ships pass over so short an intervening space! It was ruled otherwise. Within a month after Lieutenant Gore placed the record on Point Victory, the much-loved leader of the expedition, Sir John Franklin, was dead; and the following spring found Captain Crozier, upon whom the command had devolved at King William Land, endeavoring to save his starving men, 105 souls in all, from a terrible death by retreating to Hudson Bay territories up the Back or Great Fish River. “A sadder tale was never told in fewer words. There is something deeply touching in their extreme simplicity, and they show in the strongest manner that both the leaders in this retreating party were actuated by the loftiest sense of duty and met with calmness and decision the fearful alternative of a last bold struggle for life, rather than perish without effort on board their ships; for we well know that the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ were only provisioned up to July, 1848.” M’Clintock’s party were now running short of provisions, but the finding of such important relics determined the leader to pursue the search to the uttermost limits of his powers. On May 30 he writes: “We encamped alongside a large boat—another melancholy relic which Hobson had found and examined a few days before, as his note left here informed me; but he had failed to discover record, journal, pocket-book, or memorandum of any description. A vast quantity of tattered clothing was lying in her, and this we first examined. Not a single article bore the name of its former owner. The boat was cleared out and carefully swept that nothing might escape us. The snow was then removed from about her, but nothing whatever was found.” [Sidenote: _SLEDGE JOURNEYS_] After a detailed description of this boat, its weight, construction, and marks, etc., M’Clintock continues:—