present at the battle of Trafalgar, where he was
signal midshipman, and behaved splendidly.

For several years he served in the _Bedford_, and was engaged and
wounded at New Orleans. In 1818 he was put in command of the _Trent_ to
find an Arctic passage to India, and in this Captain Buchan, in the
_Dorothea_, took command. But the latter vessel being damaged, the
expedition returned to England, though Franklin wished to proceed alone.

After this, his reputation having been well established, not only as a
thorough seaman but as a man of science, he was appointed to the
expedition to cross the continent from Hudson's Bay to the Coppermine,
and explore the coast eastward.

We will now, as briefly as possible, give the interesting narrative of
Franklin's Arctic expeditions.

While Sir Edward Parry, whose expedition we have already detailed, was
endeavouring to cross the Polar Sea westwards, Lieutenant John Franklin
was commissioned by the Admiralty to ascertain the sources of the
Coppermine River. At the same time Doctor Richardson and Messrs. Hood
and Back were also nominated, with two English sailors, to accompany
him. This small party embarked on board the Hudson Bay Company's vessel
_Prince of Wales_ on the 23rd of May, 1819, and after some perils they
arrived off York Factory, on the Hudson Bay shore, in August of the same
year.

On the 9th of September the party commenced their exploration, and
reached Cumberland House on the 22nd of October. Franklin,
notwithstanding the advanced period of the year, determined to push on,
and after a delay he set out, accompanied only by Lieutenant Back, on
the 18th of January, 1820. Doctor (afterwards Sir John) Richardson and
Mr Hood were to bring up the baggage and more stores in the early
spring. The enterprising pair then journeyed more than eight hundred
miles in the terrible Arctic winter, and reached Fort Chepeywan on the
26th of March following.

Meanwhile Doctor Richardson and Mr Hood remained at Cumberland House
engaged in congenial pursuits and studying the Cree Indians, with other
natural history subjects. The notes they give concerning the manners
and customs of the Indians are extremely interesting, but are by this
time pretty well known. Their dexterity in hunting and hawking are
particularly commended, and much useful information concerning the fauna
of the district was collected by Doctor Richardson and his companion.

When spring began to appear D