In June of the following year a daughter was born to them, but the mother never regained her health; a few months later, putting in John Franklin’s hand a silken flag to be carried north to victory, the work of her dying fingers, she courageously bade him God-speed, and he started, amid the applause of an enthusiastic nation, upon that second journey—little guessing she, too, was about to embark upon the great unknown. “My instructions, in substance,” writes Franklin of the first land expedition of 1819-1821, “informed me that the main object of the expedition was that of determining the latitude and longitude of the northern coast of North America, and the trending of that coast from the mouth of the Coppermine River to the eastern extremity of that continent.” He was authorized to take counsel with the Hudson Bay officials, and plan his course accordingly. In fact, much was left to his own discretion, and before leaving England he was fortunate enough to go over the details of the proposed journey with Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the only living English explorer who had visited that coast. Accompanied by Dr. Richardson, surgeon and naturalist (later Sir John Richardson), Admiralty Midshipman George Back (later Sir George Back), Robert Hood, and another Englishman, John Hepburn, Franklin sailed from Gravesend in the _Prince of Wales_, May 23, 1819. On reaching York Factory, the principal depot of the Hudson Bay Company, he found an unfortunate state of affairs existing between them and the Northwest Company. A bitter rivalry had resulted in the detention at York Factory of certain partners of the other company, and the result of this unfortunate quarrel had serious results upon his own future. [Sidenote: _JOURNEY TO CUMBERLAND HOUSE_] He was advised to make for Cumberland House, and later through a chain of posts to the shores of Great Slave Lake. With only one steersman and a boat so small that many of the provisions were in consequence left behind, Franklin made his start up the Hayes River, September 9. Sailing was frequently varied by the arduous labour of tracking, and not unfrequently a portage was found necessary, which added to the fatigues and discouragements of the day. At one of the outposts of the Hudson Bay Company, they were again obliged to leave some of their stores under promise that these would be forwarded in the spring, and later, at Swampy Lake, the tenants of the depot gave them a supply of mouldy pemmican, which of course had to be thrown away later. Thus from the outset the expedition laboured under the fatal handicap of insufficient stores.