how Franklin began, my friends; he was a cabin-boy like
Cook and Nelson; after having employed his youth in great maritime
expeditions, he resolved in 1845 to launch out in search of the
North-West passage; he commanded the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, two
vessels, already famous, that had just made an Antarctic campaign
under James Ross, in 1840. The _Erebus_, equipped by Franklin, carried
a crew of seventy men, officers and sailors, with Fitz-James as
captain; Gore and Le Vesconte, lieutenants; Des Voeux, Sargent, and
Couch, boatswains; and Stanley as surgeon. The _Terror_ had
sixty-eight men, Captain Crozier; Lieutenants Little, Hodgson, and
Irving; Horesby and Thomas were the boatswains, and Peddie the surgeon.
In the names on the map of the capes, straits, points, and channels,
you may read those of these unfortunate men, not one of whom was
destined ever again to see his native land. There were a hundred and
thirty-eight men in all! We know that Franklin's last letters were
addressed from Disko Island, and were dated July 12th, 1845. 'I hope,'
he said, 'to get under way to-night for Lancaster Strait.' What
happened after his departure from Disko Bay? The captains of two
whalers, the _Prince of Wales_ and the _Enterprise_, perceived the
two ships in Melville Bay for the last time, and after that day nothing
was heard of them. However, we can follow Franklin in his westerly
course: he passed through Lancaster and Barrow Straits, and arrived
at Beechey Island, where he passed the winter of 1845 and '46."

"But how do you know all this?" asked Bell, the carpenter.

"By three tombs which Austin discovered on that island in 1850. Three
of Franklin's sailors were buried there, and by a document which was
found by Lieutenant Hobson, of the _Fox_, which bears the date of
April 25th, 1848, we know that after their wintering the _Erebus_
and the _Terror_ went up Wellington Strait as far as the
seventy-seventh parallel; but instead of continuing their route
northwards, which was, probably, not practicable, they returned
south."

"And that was their ruin!" said a grave voice. "Safety lay to the
north."

Every one turned round. Hatteras, leaning on the rail of the poop,
had just uttered that terrible observation.

"There is not a doubt," continued the doctor, "that Franklin's
intention was to get back to the American coast; but tempests stopped
him, and on the 12th September, 1846, the two ships were seized by
the ice, at