[3] The primary importance of concerted and co-operative action in explorations covering such a broad field was strikingly illustrated by the situation at this time. While Franklin and his men were facing disaster and death in their ice-bound ships to the west of Boothia Felix Land, that distinguished arctic traveller, John Rae, was exploring Boothia Peninsula. On April 18, 1847, he was less than one hundred and fifty miles from his sorely distressed countrymen. [4] The full text of this record will be found in the sketch entitled "The Devotion of Lady Jane Franklin." [5] For full text, see sketch "The Heroic Devotion of Lady Jane Franklin." [6] Many of these details are from Gilder's "Schwatka's Search," a remarkable expedition by these young Americans. THE TIMELY SLEDGE JOURNEY OF BEDFORD PIM "Huddled on deck, one-half that hardy crew Lie shrunk and withered in the biting sky, With filmy stare and lips of livid hue, And sapless limbs that stiffen as they lie; While the dire pest-scourge of the frozen zone Rots through the vein and gnaws the knotted bone." --BULWER. For more than three centuries England made frequent and fruitless attempts by sea and by land to discover the northwest passage, and in 1818 the British Parliament offered a reward of twenty thousand pounds sterling for its passage by explorers. Although it is now known that the ill-fated expedition under Sir John Franklin first discovered the passage in 1846-7, the first persons to make the journey over a new and more northerly route, between 1849 and 1853, were the crew of her Majesty's ship _Investigator_, commanded by Captain Robert Le Mesurier M'Clure, R.N. It is a curious and notable fact that the making of the passage was, as one may say, a matter of luck or of accident. There occurred in connection with this journey a series of adventures that had marvellous results, not only in the saving of the lives of the crew of the _Investigator_, but also in raising them to the pinnacle of fame and some of them to a state of fortune. M'Clure's ship was not sent forth on a voyage of geographic exploration, but on a mission of mercy for the discovery and relief of the Franklin arctic squadron which had been missing since 1845. The Pacific searching squadron for this purpose, commanded by Captain Robert Collinson, R.N., consisted of the two ships _Enterprise_ and _Investigator_, which parted company in Magellan Strait under orders to meet at Cape Lisburne, Bering Strait. Captain M'Clure arrived first, and after a very brief delay pushed on without waiting for his commander. The two ships never met again.