His soul to him who gave it rose God led it to its long repose Its glorious rest. And though Fitzjames’s sun has set Its light shall linger round us yet Bright, radiant, blest. CHAPTER XXVII THE SEARCH FOR FRANKLIN. I. The sad fate of Sir John Franklin and his gallant companions is rendered still more melancholy by the reflection that some at least of them might have been saved. When no news arrived in 1846 prompt measures should have been taken, but the Admiralty asked advice and did nothing. Dr King, who accompanied Sir George Back down the Great Fish River in 1833, made earnest and repeated appeals to the Admiralty and to the Colonial Office in 1847 to send a relief party down that river, and he pointed out quite correctly the position where the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ had been beset. His letters were not even answered. For Sir James Ross told them there was not any reason for anxiety and gave a strongly expressed opinion that the crews of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ would never under any circumstances make for the Great Fish River. Other authorities concurred. This sealed their fate. Admiral Beechey alone thought that a boat should be sent down that river. The year 1848 arrived, but no news reached England. Sir John Richardson was accordingly sent out to examine the coast between the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers, but not to extend his voyage to the mouth of the Fish River, where even then he might have saved a few. Two ships, the _Enterprise_ and _Investigator_, were also fitted out to go to the relief of the lost expedition, and Sir James Ross received the command. He was on board the _Enterprise_, and his old Antarctic first lieutenant Bird, who had been his companion in three of Parry’s voyages, was Captain of the _Investigator_. But Sir James went in the full conviction that he would meet the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, or that they would pass him and that he would find them in the Thames on his return. In his ship were M’Clure, who had been with Back in the _Terror_, and M’Clintock, greatest of sledge travellers, who was then entering upon his glorious Arctic career. M’Clintock found a good friend in Sir James, who took a great liking for the young lieutenant. Sir James was then forty-eight, with an experience of polar work unrivalled by that of any living man, but he was somewhat shaken by Antarctic work, and lacked elasticity and the qualities of his youth, when he was foremost in keeping his shipmates in high spirits and good health. In person he was short but powerfully built, and was remarkable for his aquiline nose and very piercing black eyes. The expedition was unfortunate. It was stopped by closely-packed floes across Barrow Strait and across Prince Regent’s Inlet. There was nothing for it but to take refuge for the winter in Port Leopold, at the north-east end of North Somerset.