h more pleasant journey than
Franklin's. In the account of the expedition are many interesting
details of Esquimaux life. Doctor Richardson and his companions reached
winter quarters in safety on the Great Bear Lake. In 1827 Captain
Beachey again made his way up to Kotzebue Sound, in the expectation of
encountering Franklin, but, of course, did not meet him. These three
parties traced the coast down to Return Reef westward, from the
Mackenzie eastward to Cape Kensurstern, and circumnavigated the Great
Bear Lake, this, "if continued eastward, would have solved the
North-West Passage."

Before considering the several Arctic expeditions which made attempts to
discover the desired North-West Passage, we will speak of Sir John
Franklin's third and last expedition to the Icy Regions. In the year
1829, Captain Franklin had been created a Knight, and received the
degree of D.C.L. at Oxford. In 1830 he commanded the _Rainbow_ in the
Mediterranean, which ship was known as "Franklin's Paradise," so well
did he treat his crew. In the year 1836, he was appointed Governor of
Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania), and in that colony he remained until 1843,
where he was, and is still, gratefully remembered. He returned to
England in consequence, it is said, of some misunderstanding with the
Colonial Office, and in 1845 he claimed the command of the new
expedition.

THE LAST VOYAGE OF FRANKLIN.

In 1844 public attention was again directed to the discovery of the
North-West Passage. The expedition under Sir James Ross, in the
_Erebus_ and _Terror_, to the South Polar regions had reopened the
Arctic question. The vessels had been proved sound; they were available
for a new advance. Sir John Franklin had returned from Tasmania, and
when the Admiralty had decided to send out an expedition, he laid claim
to the post of commander of it.

It was not until May, 1845, that the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, fitted with
auxiliary screws, were ready to go. A store-vessel accompanied them as
far as Disco, on the Greenland coast, and there the two ships entered
Baffin's Bay. Along the coast and into the ice they go, meeting it as
it is making its slow way to the south. At length the ships are
completely surrounded, and anchored to the snowy floes which extend in
all directions.

By the end of July they have managed to press on out of the track of all
the whaling vessels, and make for Lancaster Sound, westward. The
desolate coast of North Devon