Rear Admiral Sir John Franklin; A Narrative of the Circumstances and Causes Which Led to the Failure of the Searching Expeditions Sent by Government a (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1855 Excerpt: ... leled, &c.; and the interest excited on that occasion had, as in all such cases, died away. Meanwhile, pains were taken by certain individuals belonging to the Royal Society, to throw some doubt on part of my narrative, while others were jealous of the honours that had been bestowed on me. The nation was at peace with all the world, and on the 12th December, 1844, another attempt for the discovery of the north-west passage was proposed by the Council of the Royal Society, and sanctioned in due time by the Admiralty. It was reported that my nephew, Sir James Clark Ross, was to have the command, but if that was the case, he declined it, when a volunteer was soon iound in the gallant franklin, then fifty-eight years of age, and two ships, the Erebus and Terror, that had returned from the Antarctic expedition, were selected, and were nearly ready for sea when I returned from Stockholm, in February, 1845. I have now to show that Franklin laboured under great disadvantages; in the first place, his ships were too large, the addition of steammachinery, in such a class of vessel, took up much of her stowage, and brought the ships deeper in their draught of water; but worst of all, they were supplied with Goldner's canisters of meat, which were (as subsequently proved to be) putrid and unfit for human food. It was not long before I had communication with my old and valued friend, when I informed him that the winter of 1844-5 had been very severe, that I came from Helsingborg to Elsinore in a carriage with four horses, that when I passed Hamburg they were roasting an ox on' the Elbe, and that I had to come by Rotterdam to get to England, and that consequently he could not expect to get farther this season than Cornwallis Island. At a subsequent meeting he told me, tha...