When Captain Austin’s expedition returned the people of England were as determined as ever that the search should continue. But the advisers of the Admiralty in Committee were quite convinced that Franklin’s ships were not where they had passed two winters and were lost, and that the region where our lost countrymen had suffered and died need not be visited. A majority of them held to the fatuous notion that Franklin had gone up Wellington Channel, and was far to the north. Under these circumstances it was, they considered, really quite useless to continue the search. But the father of Lieut. Cresswell pointed out that the Enterprise and Investigator had not been heard of, that there was cause for anxiety, and that one or both might need succour.

It will be remembered that the Enterprise and Investigator, accompanied by the Plover, had been sent to attack the problem from the western side. Captain Collinson took the Enterprise through Bering Strait and made his first winter quarters in Prince Albert Sound on the west coast of Victoria Island, the Plover being stationed permanently as a depôt ship near Cape Barrow. In the spring Collinson himself explored the east coast of the long and narrow Prince of Wales’s Strait, being absent from the ship for 51 days. Murray Parkes, a mate of the Enterprise, reached the northern mouth of the strait, crossed the channel, and leaving the sledge owing to heavy ice, arrived at Melville Island on foot and thus discovered a second North-West Passage. His remarkable journey had occupied 74 days. Collinson’s second winter was in Cambridge Bay in Dease Strait. He thence made a journey of 49 days to Gateshead Island, where he was almost in sight of the Erebus and Terror off Cape Victory.

The Investigator had parted company. Captain M’Clure, who on October 20th had sighted Melville Island, wintered off the Princess Royal Isles in Prince of Wales Strait in 1850–51. The following summer the ship passed round the south of Banks Island, worked her way with great difficulty up the west coast, and wintered in a harbour on the north coast which M’Clure named the Bay of God’s Mercy. From this haven she was destined never to move, the winters of 1851–2, 1852–3, being passed there. Banks Land had only been sighted by Parry at a great distance. M’Clure’s discovery of the great island was an achievement of the first rank. These proceedings of Collinson and M’Clure were of course unknown in England when it was resolved to despatch the four ships again, the Assistance and Pioneer to go up Wellington Channel, the Resolute and Intrepid to press onwards to Melville Island. The Franklin search could in no way be furthered by sending in directions he could never have taken, but the relief of the Investigator proved to be a service of the utmost importance.

Common sense pointed to M’Clintock and Sherard Osborn as the proper leaders for the two divisions. Both possessed unequalled recent Arctic experience, both were men of tried ability, liked and respected by all who had served under them. The Admiralty, however, preferred an old officer with bad health, no Arctic experience, and the reputation of being the most unpopular man in the navy, Sir Edward Belcher. It would have been enough that he should bring misery, disaster, and failure on his own division, but both were under his orders. Sherard Osborn was with him in command of the Pioneer. The officer to command the second division, Captain Kellett, was also old and inexperienced, but fortunately very unlike Belcher. He had been a distinguished surveying officer in his time, and now he wisely left things to his staff. Hearty, joyous, with a charming manner, Captain Kellett gave pleasure wherever he went. M’Clintock commanded the Intrepid, Mecham was Kellett’s first lieutenant, Vesey Hamilton was Mecham’s friend and supporter—the very cream of the rising Arctic generation.

The expedition left the Thames April 15, 1852, and M’Clintock acquired great skill in handling the Intrepid in the ice of Melville Bay, where the Resolute received a very severe nip, and was raised 8 feet out of the water, being for some time in great danger. The squadron reached Beechey Island August 14th, where the North Star was to remain as a depôt ship. Next day the two divisions parted company. The Assistance and Pioneer proceeded up Wellington Channel to winter in a harbour in 77° 52′ N., while the Resolute and Intrepid went on to Melville Island with little difficulty, where they found winter quarters in a bay sheltered by Dealy Isle, so named after a midshipman of the Hecla, in 74° 56′ N.

We must pause here for a moment to record a modest but successful expedition carried out in the same season of 1852 by Captain Inglefield, who in the little Isabel, piloted by wonderful old Abernethy, went for a summer cruise up Baffin’s Bay. He reached the entrance of Smith Sound and saw that it was an important channel leading to the polar ocean—really Smith Channel. To the land on the west side, which was discovered by Baffin but not named by him, he gave the name of Ellesmere Island.

M’Clintock decided upon a system of autumn travelling for laying out depôts on a much larger scale than in the previous expedition. This time he was absent 40 days, and went over 260 miles. Four other autumn travelling parties laid out depôts, Mecham doing 212 miles in 25 days, Vesey Hamilton 84 miles in 16 days. Mecham made a very important discovery. He found a record left by Captain M’Clure of the Investigator on Parry’s sandstone rock, in the spring of 1852. M’Clure gave the position of the ship in the Bay of Mercy, and added that if the Investigator was not again heard of, she would probably have been carried into the polar pack west of Melville Island, in which case any attempt to succour him would be useless—a very noble thing for a man in his position to have written.

The plan for sledge travelling in the spring was that M’Clintock was to explore as far as possible to the north and west, Mecham to the west, and Vesey Hamilton to the north. On March 10th a sledge was sent to communicate with the Investigator in the Bay of Mercy, a distance of 160 miles.

M’Clintock’s two large sledges, when loaded, weighed 2000 lb., or 228 lb. per man on starting. Of the sledge crew of 1851 Salmon was still well and hearty. George Green, ice quartermaster, was captain of the sledge, an excellent man; Henry Giddy, boatswain’s mate, was almost equally good. May 4th, 1853, was a day to be remembered, the beginning of the greatest sledge journey but one on record. The sledges were drawn up in two lines with their banners displayed, and started. M’Clintock and his depôt sledge advanced over the land to Cape Nias. Mecham and Nares went away under sail to the westward, with a fair wind.

M’Clintock and De Bray, a young French naval officer lent to the expedition, proceeded with the depôt sledge along the north coast to Cape Fisher, the extreme point seen by Parry. Here De Bray and the depôt sledge returned, while M’Clintock turned south to make sure of connecting his work with that of Mecham. He travelled along the west coast of Melville Island and considered that it presented the most beautiful Arctic scenery he had ever seen. A great unknown land had long been in sight to the westward to which he gave the name of Prince Patrick Island. It was on May 14th, 1853, that M’Clintock landed on his new discovery at Point Wilkie, named after his old sledge captain, and geologically a place of great importance, as exhibiting a patch of has formation with fossils. The north end of Prince Patrick Island was reached on the 11th June, and M’Clintock went on to some islands which he named the Polynia Isles. In the offing there was a line of very heavy pack ice, with hummocks 35 ft. high. The most northern point reached was 77° 43′, and here, sending back the sledge to the depôt, the explorer proceeded down the western coast with a satellite sledge over flat sand-banks, with a continuous line of stupendous hummocks in the offing. They rejoined the parent sledge on the 25th June. M’Clintock’s next discovery was named Emerald Isle, most of the usual Arctic plants and abundant moss being found on it. The return journey entailed terrible work owing to the water on the floes.

M’Clintock had been away 105 days and the sledge had gone over 1030 geographical miles in 99 marches, at a rate of 10½ miles a day.

The examination of bays and inlets with the satellite sledge amounted to 62½ miles, making the whole distance 1210 geographical or 1408 statute miles. The lowest temperature was -24° Fahr.; the number of positions fixed was 22. This journey was by far the greatest Arctic effort with sledges that has ever been made by men alone.

Mecham did splendid work to the eastward. Nares132 commanded the depôt sledge, and Mecham’s sledge captain was James Tullett, a capital sailor, who was in the Assistance. Travelling over the south-west part of Melville Island Mecham crossed a strait, and discovered an island which received the name of Eglinton, where Nares left the depôt and returned. Another journey across a strait brought Mecham to the south-west point of Prince Patrick Island. He then explored its southern and western coasts until he reached a point within 16 miles of M’Clintock’s furthest, coming from the north. Mecham’s principal discovery was the remains of trees. At Cape Manning, on the south coast, there were a considerable number of stems of trees with the bark on, 90 feet above the sea. Returning, Mecham crossed the land during the three last days of May and found, in a ravine, a tree protruding 8 feet, and several others with a circumference of 4 feet.

The young explorer then connected his work with that of M’Clintock on the east side of Prince Patrick Island, thus making these vast discoveries complete. He got plenty of fresh food for his people, killing four musk oxen, seven reindeer, sixteen hares, forty ptarmigan, twelve ducks and geese, and two plover. He was absent 91 days, and went over 1006 geographical or 1173 statute miles, thus averaging 12½ miles a day. His discoveries amounted to 785 miles of new country.

Vesey Hamilton explored the northern extremity of Melville Island, called the Sabine Peninsula, starting on the 27th April with a seven-man sledge and a satellite sledge. The captain of his sledge was Ice-Quartermaster George Murray, who had served in both the expeditions of Ross and Austin. He was a seaman of long experience and great ability, with literary talent of no mean order, as his contributions to the Aurora Borealis show. Having explored the whole eastern side of Melville Island, Hamilton crossed the channel with his satellite and two men to Bathurst Island, where he met Sherard Osborn, who had explored the northern side of this island with its two deep inlets, and sighted another large island to the north which was named after Mr Findlay, the cartographer. Hamilton then returned to his main sledge, and reaching the extreme northern point of the Sabine Peninsula, discovered two islands which were named Vesey Hamilton and Markham after his old messmates in the Assistance. He returned to the ship after an absence of 54 days, having covered 663 statute miles, and made some interesting discoveries. This completed the extensive explorations of 1853, comprising 1800 miles of coast line.

The officers and crew of the Investigator had been rescued from the fate of Franklin and his people by Mecham’s discovery of M’Clure’s record. On the arrival of the sledge with the good news at the Bay of Mercy, Captain M’Clure travelled to the Resolute to discuss arrangements with Captain Kellett. It was determined to abandon the Investigator, officers and crew being housed on board the Resolute and Intrepid. Thus was a third North West Passage discovered.

Lieut. Cresswell of the Investigator with 26 officers and men were despatched to the North Star at Beechey Island to be sent home at the first opportunity. The Admiralty had sent out the Phoenix, commanded by Captain Inglefield, and the Breadalbane transport, under Mr Fawckner, Master R.N., to communicate. The Breadalbane was crushed by the ice off Beechey Island and sank. Captain Inglefield had brought out with him Lieut. Bellot, the young French officer who had been with Kennedy. Most unfortunately the ice floe on which he was, with some men, got adrift. It was never known exactly what happened, but he must have slipped off the ice and was drowned. Lieut. Cresswell and his party went home in the Phoenix.

Mindful of the possibility that Captain Collinson might reach Melville Island in the Enterprise, Captain Kellett built a large house, 40 feet by 14, of stone with a wooden roof covered with painted canvas, in which a depôt was placed of seven months’ provisions for sixty men, and a cairn was built on Dealy Island, 42 tons of stone being used in its construction.

In August, 1853, the Resolute and Intrepid broke out of winter quarters, but it was an ice-encumbered season, and by November 11th the two vessels were again fixed in winter quarters 26 miles S.W. of Cape Cockburn on Bathurst Island. The Assistance and Pioneer had also left their winter quarters at the west end of Grinnell Land (a prolongation of North Devon) and had attempted to come down Wellington Channel. They too, however, had been stopped by the ice, and had to winter 52 miles north of Beechey Island.

The winter passed happily enough on board the Resolute and Intrepid, but it was necessary to report to Sir Edward Belcher, and Hamilton was accordingly despatched with two men and a team of nine dogs. He brought back an order to abandon the ships. It was not explicit, however, and it assumed that Captain Kellett was of the same mind. M’Clintock then returned and tried to persuade Sir Edward Belcher not to commit what amounted to a crime. He told the intending perpetrator that there was every reason to expect that the ships would get clear, but the only result was an explicit order to abandon them!

It was mainly during these journeys that M’Clintock gained his experience in the use of dogs. He covered the distance from the Resolute to the North Star in five days, and the 52 miles thence to the Assistance in 24 hours. The whole distance there and back was 460 miles, occupying 15 days, an average of 31 miles per day. Wrangell, on the coast of Siberia, made an average of 29 miles a day for 22 days. M’Clintock had one man with him, and a team of twelve dogs. He found that two dogs require the same weight of food as one man, and when properly fed and not overworked, a dog can draw a man’s full load for a distance about one-fourth greater than a man would. If both man and dog are lightly laden, a dog will double the distance which the man could do. The final conclusion was that for a very long period and a very long distance men are superior to dogs. At their best, dogs should be well fed and well treated, and should not be overworked. Then they are invaluable for keeping up communications to distances not exceeding 300 miles.

Belcher’s disgraceful order had to be obeyed. He intended to crowd all four crews on board the North Star, but luckily Captain Inglefield arrived in the Phoenix with the old frigate Talbot, so that there was little crowding. The court martial was obliged to acquit Belcher because his instructions gave him such wide discretion, but his sword was returned in a silence more damning than words. Sherard Osborn, whom Belcher had placed under arrest, and Lieut. May, against whom he had reported, were both immediately promoted.

The ships would almost certainly have got free later in the season. The Resolute actually did drift out, was picked up by an American vessel in Davis Strait, and courteously restored by the United States to our Admiralty.

These three search expeditions effected an enormous increase in the knowledge of the Arctic regions. Thousands of miles of unknown lands were brought to light, and the diligent collecting and observations of officers enabled a good general idea to be formed of the geology of the newly-discovered region and of the tidal phenomena. The discoveries also opened a new area for exploration to the westward quite distinct from the region of the Parry Islands. Like all great discoveries Prince Patrick Island pointed to further research. It is the complete examination of the area now known as the Beaufort Sea which M’Clintock’s discoveries indicate. Meanwhile the great sledge journeys stand alone and unapproached.

Mecham’s final sledge journey was perhaps the most brilliant achievement. Accompanied by Krabbé, Master of the Intrepid, he started with two good sledge crews on April 3rd, 1854. Advancing to Cape Providence they entered the first range of heavy hummocks, and forced their way through it for five miles. As they approached Banks Island they were constantly entangled during dense fogs among intricate hummocks and deep snow. On reaching the land Krabbé parted company for the Bay of Mercy, in order to report on the condition of the Investigator. He found her heeling over and with her orlops full of ice, and she no doubt sank soon afterwards. He was five days landing all her stores and provisions. Mecham proceeded down Prince of Wales Strait, and arrived at Princess Royal Island on May 4th. There he found a document stating that further information would be found on an island in 72° 36′ N., and pushing on, found this second document. He then began his return journey, heard of the abandonment of the vessels, and went on to Beechey Island. In 70 days Mecham had travelled 1157 geographical, or 1336 statute miles, the average rate outwards being 18½ miles, and homewards 23½ miles a day. M’Clintock wrote—“Mecham’s journey is a most splendid feat, topping all previous ones in speed as well as distance.”

Frederick Mecham was promoted to the rank of Commander on the 21st October, 1854. A thorough seaman and navigator, a good officer, and an excellent messmate, he was endowed with indomitable pluck and the gift of communicating his enthusiasm to those who served under him. Musical, an actor, a good artist, and well informed, he was foremost in the work of keeping the men amused during the winter. His consideration for others and his charming manners endeared him alike to officers and men, and his sledge crews were devoted to him. Mecham was appointed to the Vixen on the Pacific station, and died at Honolulu on February 16th, 1858, at the early age of twenty-nine, a great loss to the navy and to his country. His Arctic achievements still remain unapproached.