When Sir James Ross returned from the Antarctic expedition, there were the two well-fortified bomb vessels, the Erebus and Terror, ready for Arctic work. Sir John Barrow was still Secretary of the Admiralty, and as eager as ever for the discovery of a North West Passage. There were the ships and he knew the best man in the navy to command them. James Fitzjames made the acquaintance of young John Barrow at the time when he was in the Excellent, passing out as a gunnery lieutenant, and he afterwards became acquainted with his father. Fitzjames was certainly an exceptionally fine character, and held a splendid record. He was in all the operations on the coast of Syria in 1840, and soon afterwards he and his friend Charlwood were specially selected to take out a steamer for Colonel Chesney’s expedition, transport her in pieces across the desert, and put her together for service on the Euphrates. He served for two years with Chesney in Mesopotamia, and was the gunnery lieutenant of the Cornwallis during the China War. He was in nearly all the actions, including the command of the rocket brigade at the taking of Nankin, when he was severely wounded. Fitzjames wrote a graphic and most amusing history of the war in verse, which was published. Promoted to the rank of Commander for his distinguished services, he received command of the Clio brig, and was very usefully employed in the Persian Gulf. It was at this time that John Barrow hinted to him the possibility of Arctic work, and he at once eagerly volunteered.

When he paid off the Clio in October, 1844, the proposal was further discussed with Sir John Barrow. Before long it was settled, so far as the Secretary of the Admiralty could settle it, that there should be an expedition with Fitzjames in command, and his friend Charlwood in the second ship.

Fitzjames was an orphan, an excellent sailor, full of zeal and devoted to his profession. He was exceedingly popular, and an officer of rare ability, with a talent for organisation and the management of men, the beau ideal, in short, of an Arctic leader. But Sir John Barrow reckoned without his Lords. They approved the scheme, but pronounced Fitzjames, who was 33, and four years older than Parry in his first voyage, to be much too young to have the command.

Sir John Franklin had just returned from Tasmania, where he had made an excellent Governor. But in the last year he had suffered much annoyance from the insubordinate and disloyal intrigues of the Colonial Secretary. Lord Stanley, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, took the part of the intriguer and not only treated Sir John Franklin with great injustice but with flagrant discourtesy. Franklin came home very sore at heart, and when he heard of the expedition he pressed for the command. But he was nearly 60, at least 20 years too old. Sir James Ross, fifteen years younger, had been offered it, but declined on the score of age. Lady Franklin wrote that “such an appointment would do more than anything else to counteract the effect of Lord Stanley’s tyranny and injustice.” “I dread exceedingly the effect on his mind of being without honourable and immediate employment.” Lord Haddington, the first Lord, then consulted Sir Edward Parry, who represented that the refusal of Sir John’s application would be a severe blow to him. He was appointed with some hesitation and misgiving. Sir John Barrow then assured Fitzjames that he would have the command of the second ship. But Captain Crozier, who was at Naples, came back and laid claim to the second ship as an experienced Arctic officer. He was appointed, though much too old. All this was a bitter disappointment to Fitzjames. But when Sir John Barrow told him he could go as commander under Franklin if he thought it worth his while, he at once accepted. He was delighted with Franklin and they worked together in perfect harmony.

Fitzjames naturally had a good deal to do with the appointment of officers. The First Lieutenant of the Erebus was Graham Gore, who was at the battle of Navarino, and with Sir George Back in the Terror. He served in the China war under Nias, who had been Parry’s midshipman in his first two voyages and was “a man of great stability of character, a very good officer, and the sweetest of tempers” wrote Fitzjames. The second Lieutenant was Le Vescomte, who was First Lieutenant with Fitzjames in the Clio; the third, Fairholme, had been through trying adventures in Africa. When in command of a prize slaver he was wrecked on the African coast and captured by the Moors, who carried him off as a prisoner, but he was ultimately rescued by some French negroes on the Senegal. He next served with Fitzjames in the Ganges in the Mediterranean, afterwards volunteering for Trotter’s Niger expedition. He went up the river as far as Egga, but was invalided. Afterwards he was in the Excellent and Superb until he joined the Erebus. He was a zealous, smart young officer, as also was Des Voeux, who was with Fitzjames in the Cornwallis. He was then “a most unexceptionable, light-hearted, obliging young fellow.” Of the two youngest officers, Sargent and Crouch, many good things were said. In the Terror were Hodgson, who was with Fitzjames in the Cornwallis, and Irving, a relation of Sir George Clerk of Penicuick125, who had had experience of roughing it in the Australian bush. Hornby—a good officer and messmate but a little disappointed at having so long to wait for his promotion—and young Thomas, were the mates in the Terror. Dr Goodsir, a man of considerable scientific attainments, was the naturalist in the Erebus, and Macdonald, the Assistant Surgeon of the Terror, had been for a cruise in a whaler, and had some knowledge of the Eskimo language.

Sir Edward Parry was often down at Woolwich when the ships were fitting out, giving Fitzjames the benefit of his experience. The Erebus was an old bomb vessel of 370 tons, very strongly built, and with a capacious hold. The Terror was also a bomb vessel, rather smaller, of 340 tons, repaired after Back’s voyage, and specially strengthened. Fitzjames was very anxious to have steam power. There was little time, but it was arranged that each ship should have a small auxiliary engine and screw, to propel them a few knots during calms. This was the first time a screw steamer was used in Arctic service.

Crowds of visitors came to see the ships before they left Woolwich. On the 18th of May Sir John Franklin performed divine service for the first time, off Greenhithe, and on the 19th the expedition started with the brightest prospects.

Franklin’s instructions were to make for the coast of North America by passing west of Cape Walker, high land seen by Parry at a distance, to the south of Barrow’s Strait. He was also authorized to try a route by Wellington Channel, if he found it free of ice.

At the Whale Fish Islands the observatory for magnetic observations was set up on the same little island where Parry had done similar work in his third voyage. From here they sailed away to battle with the ice. The Erebus and Terror were last seen by the Prince of Wales whaler, Captain Dannett, in 74° 48′ N., 66° 13′ W. All were well and in remarkable spirits.

The expedition reached Lancaster Sound. Wellington Channel was found to be clear of ice, and Sir John Franklin was persuaded to try that route. Passing Cape Riley, Fitzjames must have noticed the excellent winter quarters formed by Beechey Island. Reid, the Greenland pilot of the Erebus, and Blanky of the Terror, who had served with Ross, were in their respective crow’s nests, reporting “Water ahead! large water!” So the ships sailed gaily up the channel for a hundred miles, reaching 77° N. There they were stopped by impenetrable floes of heavy ice. The ships’ heads were accordingly turned to the south and they sailed down a strait which they discovered between Cornwallis and Bathurst Islands, finally taking up winter quarters in the snug harbour formed by Beechey Island. Great discoveries had been made, and no expedition had ever accomplished so much in a first season.

The winter at Beechey Island was no doubt passed happily. There was scientific work, and such a genial commander as Fitzjames would be sure to have provided plenty of amusement for officers and men. In the spring a workshop and an observatory were built on shore, and a garden was laid out with all the flora of North Devon. The naturalist had a station at Cape Riley. Shooting camps were formed at Cape Bowden to the north, and Caswall’s Tower to the east, sending in supplies of fresh food for the ships’ companies. But a cloud loomed upon their horizon, for the terrible discovery was made that the greater part of the tinned provisions were unfit for food. A third winter would be fatal.

Three men died during the winter, but on the whole the explorers must have emerged from their winter-quarters full of hope and bright anticipations. The water was making fast in the offing. A canal was cut to the edge of the ice, and at last the good ships were free. A record was certainly left in the cairn, but it was never found. We do not know whether any attempt was made to push westward from Cape Walker, in accordance with the instructions. If so, the impracticable character of the ice would soon have been discovered. Then the explorers would turn for a passage to the east of Cape Walker. Parry had seen this cape as a distant land to the south. Probably he saw a coast as well, which led him to call it a cape rather than an island. Nothing was known between the north coast of North Somerset and Cape Walker. It was evidently a very open season. The ships sailed on without hindrance, making discoveries of land on either side, all on board full of excitement and hope. At length they reached the latitude of Ross’s magnetic pole. Then the fatal choice was made.

It was all open to the south. If they had continued on their southerly course the two ships would have reached Bering Strait. There was the navigable passage before them. But alas! the chart-makers had drawn an isthmus (which only existed in their imagination) connecting Boothia with King William Land. So the explorers thought that the only way was round the western side of King William Land. They altered course to the west, and were lost. For they were soon beset in that mighty ice-pack which flows down from the great polar ocean and impinges on the north-west coast of King William Land. The ships were in a precarious position, yet they must still have been full of hope that they would reach the coast of North America in the next navigable season. They were drifting very slowly to the west.

In the spring of 1847 travelling parties were organised. Fitzjames provided them with records in tin cylinders to be deposited in cairns. The records were as follows:

One party, probably led by Fitzjames himself, went east for magnetic observations, passing Cape Felix of Ross. The other, under Graham Gore, advanced southwards to the Cape Herschel of Simpson, and thus discovered the North West Passage. Franklin’s party was thus the first to discover the connection of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

When the travelling parties returned they found that Sir John Franklin was dying. He heard of the discovery of the North West Passage, he was confident that the ships would get clear in the summer, and he was in comparative comfort. Doubtless he bade farewell to officers and men, sent messages to Lady Franklin, and died happy and full of hope. His funeral is admirably portrayed in the bas-relief below his statue, by one who knew the Arctic regions well. The beautiful epitaph in Westminster Abbey is by Franklin’s nephew-in-law, the poet Tennyson127—

The date of Sir John Franklin’s death was the 11th of June, 1847.

Lieut. Graham Gore, his warm-hearted and steadfast friend, soon followed his beloved commander. With the rest there was hope of release during the summer months, but, as the month of September came to a close, hope must have given way to something like despair. For the ships had been much knocked about in their slow drift from off Cape Felix to about fifteen miles from Cape Victory of Ross, a distance of about 30 miles. If they ever got free of the ice it was doubtful whether they would float. There was scarcely sufficient food for the third winter, and what remained was slow poison. Nine officers and thirteen men died during that fearful winter, and the rest were much reduced and very weak.

Crozier and Fitzjames must have known the danger only too well. There must be a retreat by Back’s Fish River, but only the strongest would be able to get so far and none were really strong. Fitzjames set to work to prepare two boats for the ascent of the river, taking as his model the boat described by Sir George Back and Dr King. The boats were originally carvel-built. For the seven upper strakes thin fir planks were substituted clinker-fashion, for the sake of lightness. Above the upper strake a weather-cloth, nine inches wide, was battened down round the gunwale, supported by 24 stanchions, so placed as to serve as thole pins for rowing. Six paddles were made for each boat, and they were provided with masts and sails, and sloping canvas awnings. The boats were 28 feet long and 7 feet 3 inches in beam. The sledges on which they were to be carried until they reached the open water required very careful consideration. There might be very rough ground, and it seems to have been thought that it would not be safe to sacrifice strength for lightness. The sledges, therefore, consisted of solid oak runners 23 feet 4 inches long, 8 inches high, and 2½ inches thick, with five oak cross-bars 4 feet long, bolted down to the runners, which were shod with iron. On the cross-bars there were supporting chocks for the boat, securely lashed. The drag ropes were 2¾-inch whale lines, the weight of the sledge 650 lb. Food and fuel for 103 men for 30 days would weigh 10,600 lb. If all hands dragged, the weight would even then be 200 lb. per man. It was indeed a forlorn hope. If succour came down the river in 1848 some might be saved. Crozier and Fitzjames did all for their people that was possible. The date of abandoning the ships was fixed at April 22nd, 1848. Boats’ cooking apparatus, pickaxes, spades, silver of the officers’ messes and other things of the sort for barter with the natives were taken and much clothing. There were also mementos of those who had passed away, taken for their relations, such as Sir John’s orders, a few books, and watches.

The travelling parties, with the two heavy boat sledges, started on their journey with a full knowledge of their condition, and that many must fall by the way. No more heroic band ever went forth to die. They had made great discoveries and had served their country right well.

They reached Cape Victory of Ross, on King William Island, and encamped. Lieut. Irving found the cairn erected by Graham Gore in the previous year, and brought the printed form, with the lines written on it, mentioned on p. 243, to Captain Fitzjames. Fitzjames had some ink thawed, and wrote round the margin:—

On the 26th, in the early morning, preparations were made for a start. The men had much less strength than they supposed. Much had to be left behind. The boat’s cooking apparatus, shovel, pickaxe, canvas, blankets, even Hornby’s sextant, a dip circle, the doctor’s medicine chest, and a pile of warm clothing were left, the latter making a heap four feet high.

Even thus lightened the boats were still much too heavy. Many of the men dropped and died; Crozier probably succumbed early at the cape which now bears his name, where a grave was found. A few reached Todd Island with one boat. The other had been left, full of a great variety of things, near Cape Crozier. The survivors crossed the strait and reached the bay formed by the long promontory ending at Cape Richardson. A few wandered inland. All perished. When the ice loosened the Erebus sank. The Terror was drifted on to the American coast, and ransacked by the Eskimos. Then a gale drove her off the rocks into deep water, and she too sank.

A veil should be drawn over the last struggles of brave men fighting cold, disease, and hunger. One likes to think that Captain Fitzjames, the chivalrous, the sympathetic, the dauntless leader, was perhaps the last,—that he tended them all and saw them all depart before him; and that then