with
Captain Austin's squadron till the 28th of June, off Berry Island, on
the west coast of Greenland.

About the same time that the above-named ships left England, three other
expeditions were despatched; one in the _Prince Albert_, under Commander
Forsyth, chiefly at Lady Franklin's expense. She had a crew of twenty
men. Her mates were W. Kay and W. Wilson, and Mr W.P. Snow acted as
clerk. She sailed from Aberdeen on the 5th of June, and was thus the
last vessel which left England that year. Another in the _Felix_ yacht,
with a tender--the _Mary_--under the veteran Captain Sir John Ross, at
his own charge. The Americans likewise showed a generous sympathy in
the fate of the missing expedition, and sent out one to aid in the
search, under Lieutenant de Haven, in the U.S. brig _Advance_, and the
U.S. vessel _Rescue_, commanded by Mr S.P. Griffen.

These various expeditions were to examine the different channels up
which it was supposed Sir John Franklin might have endeavoured to work
his way. The result of their examinations proved beyond almost all
doubt that he proceeded up Wellington Channel.

Without following the ships step by step through their laborious
progress across Baffin's Bay, down Lancaster Sound and Barrow's Straits,
we will carry them at once to Beechey Island, which lies at the
south-eastern extremity of Wellington Channel, just at its entrance into
Barrow's Straits. Here, on the 27th of August, Mr Penny discovered
undoubted traces of Sir John Franklin. Here, accordingly, the ships
assembled to prosecute the examination. Dr Sutherland, who went out in
the _Lady Franklin_, gives the following account of the interesting
event:--

"Traces," he observes, "were found to a great extent of the missing
ships: tin canisters in hundreds, pieces of cloth, rope, wood--in large
fragments and in chips; iron in numerous fragments, where the anvil had
stood, and the block which supported it; paper, both written and
printed, with the dates 1844 and 1845; sledge marks in abundance;
depressions in the gravel, resembling wells which they had been digging;
and the graves of three men who had died on board the missing ships in
January and April 1846. One of the shore party was despatched with this
intelligence to Mr Penny, who immediately came on shore, accompanied by
Sir John Ross, Commander Phillips of the _Felix_, Sir John's vessel,
Commander De Haven and Lieutenant Griffiths of the American expedition,