The next journey of exploration in this region was that of Thomas Simpson and Peter Warren Dease,[12] officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company. While the object of their expedition was to complete the survey of the Arctic coast so nearly completed by Franklin, Richardson and Back, they made some notes on the natural resources of the far northern country. Simpson left Fort Garry, the site of the present city of Winnipeg, on December 1, 1836, and, travelling on snowshoes, arrived at Chipewyan on June 1, and, descending Slave and Mackenzie rivers, explored the Arctic coast westward to Point Barrow. They then returned to the Mackenzie, ascended it and Great Bear river, and, crossing Great Bear lake, built a post near the mouth of Dease river, naming it Fort Confidence, and there spent the winter of 1837-38. They left here June 6, 1838, and, after ascending Dease river as far as was practicable, portaged to the Coppermine. They then descended that river to the sea and explored the coast to the eastward as far as Point Turnagain, the farthest point reached by Franklin in 1821. Being unable to proceed farther, they returned to Fort Confidence, where they arrived on September 14, and again wintered there. An expedition which was to mark the beginning of a most notable epoch in the explorations of the Arctic regions sailed from England, in 1845. Sir John Franklin, with two ships, the Erebus and the Terror, with crews numbering one hundred and twenty-nine persons, left England on May 26, to complete the survey of the north coast of America and to accomplish the northwest passage. The Erebus and the Terror were last seen by a whaling captain July 26, 1845, moored to an iceberg, waiting for an opening in the ice to cross to Lancaster sound. As time passed without any word of the missing expedition being received, the interest and sympathy of the world were powerfully aroused, and not only England, but France and the United States also despatched SEARCH EXPEDITIONS to the Arctic. From northwest Canada some historical expeditions made their way overland. In all thirty-five ships and five overland expeditions were engaged in this search. The entire northern coast line of America and the shores of the Arctic[13] were explored with minute care, and much scientific knowledge of value relating to magnetism, meteorology, the tides, geology, botany and zoology was accumulated. Several of the sea expeditions and all of the overland expeditions contributed to our store of knowledge as to the resources of far northern Canada.