The Great White North: The story of polar exploration from the earliest times to the discovery of the poleWright, Helen S. (Helen Saunders)
History
The Great White North: The story of polar exploration from the earliest times to the discovery of the pole
Wright, Helen S. (Helen Saunders)
Arctic regions; North Pole
“The result of my sledge journey to King William’s Land may be summed
up thus: None of Sir John Franklin’s companions ever reached or died on
Montreal Island. It was late in July, 1848, that Crozier and his party of
about forty or forty-five passed down the west coast of King William’s
Land in the vicinity of Cape Herschel. The party was dragging two sledges
on the sea-ice, which was nearly in its last stage of dissolution; one a
large sledge laden with an awning-covered boat, and the other a small one
laden with provisions and camp material. Just before Crozier and party
arrived at Cape Herschel, they were met by four families of natives, and
both parties went into camp near each other. Two Eskimo men, who were of
the native party, gave me much sad, but deeply interesting, information.
Some of it stirred my heart with sadness, intermingled with rage, for
it was a confession that they, with their companions, did secretly and
hastily abandon Crozier and his party to suffer and die for need of
fresh provisions, when in truth it was in the power of the natives to
save every man alive. The next trace of Crozier and his party is to be
found in the skeleton which M’Clintock discovered a little below, to
the southward and eastward of Cape Herschel. This was never found by
the natives. The next trace is a camping place on the sea-shore of King
William’s Land, about three miles eastward of Pfeffer River, where two
men died and received Christian (?) burial. At this place fish-bones
were found by the natives, which showed them that Crozier and his party
had caught while there a species of fish excellent for food, with which
the sea there abounds. The next trace of this party occurs about five or
six miles eastward, on a long point of King William’s Land, where one
man died and was buried. Then about south-southeast two and a half miles
further, the next trace occurs on Todd’s Islet, where the remains of five
men lie. The next certain trace of this party is on the west side of
the islet, west of Point Richardson, on some low land that is an island
or part of the mainland, as the tide may be. Here the awning-covered
boat and the remains of about thirty or thirty-five of Crozier’s party
were found by the native Poo-yet-ta, of whom Sir John Ross has given a
description in the account of his voyage in the _Victory_ in 1829-’34. In
the spring of 1849, a large tent was found by the natives whom I saw, the
floor of which was completely covered with the remains of white men.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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