ational recognition of his services was shortly afterwards
confirmed by the honour of knighthood. One might think that after the
perils which he had braved and the horrors which he had experienced,
Sir John would have {109} been content to retire upon his laurels. But
it was not so. There is something in the snow-covered land of the
Arctic, its isolation from the world and the long silence of its winter
darkness, that exercises a strange fascination upon those who have the
hardihood to brave its perils. It was a moment too when interest in
Arctic discovery and the advancement thereby of scientific knowledge
had reached the highest point yet known. During Franklin's absence
Captain Ross and Lieutenant Parry had been sent by sea into the Arctic
waters. Parry had met with wonderful success, striking from Baffin Bay
through the northern archipelago and reaching half-way to Bering Strait.

Franklin was eager to be off again. The year 1825 saw him start once
more to resume the survey of the polar coast of America. The plan now
was to learn something of the western half of the North American coast,
so as to connect the discoveries of Sir Alexander Mackenzie with those
made by Cook and others through Bering Strait. Franklin was again
accompanied by his gallant friend, Dr Richardson. They passed again
overland through the fur country, where the recent union of the rival
companies had brought about a new era. They descended the Mackenzie
river, {110} wintered on Great Bear Lake, and descended thence to the
sea. Franklin struck out westward, his party surveying the coast in
open boats. Their journey from their winter quarters to the sea and
along the coast covered a thousand miles, and extended to within one
hundred and sixty miles of the point that had then been reached by
explorers from Bering Strait. At the same time Richardson, going
eastward from the Mackenzie, surveyed the coast as far as the
Coppermine river. Their discoveries thus connected the Pacific waters
with the Atlantic, with the exception of one hundred and sixty miles on
the north-west, where water was known to exist and only ice blocked the
way, and of a line north and south which should bring the discoveries
of Parry into connection with those of Franklin. These two were the
missing links now needed in the chain of the North-West Passage.

But more than twenty years were to elapse before the discoveries thus
made were carried to their completion.