etailed together from the various scraps of information that
have been collected by those who sailed in search of the lost expedition
year by year.

In 1848, Sir James Ross had sailed off in search of his missing friend,
and had reached a spot within three hundred miles of the _Erebus_ and
_Terror_ four months after they had been abandoned, but he returned
with no news of Franklin.

Then Sir John Richardson started off, but found no trace! Others
followed. The Government offered 20,000 pounds, to which Lady Franklin
added 3000 pounds, to any one who should bring news of Franklin. By
the autumn of 1850 there were fifteen ships engaged in the search.
A few traces were found. It was discovered that Sir John Franklin had
spent his first winter (1845-46) at Beechey Island. Captain McClure
sailed along the north coast of America and made his way from the
Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean--thus showing the existence of a
north-west passage, for which he and his men were highly rewarded,
for at this time no one knew that Franklin had already found a passage
though he had not lived to tell the story of triumph and success. But
it was not till after years of silence that the story of the missing
expedition was cleared up. Lady Franklin purchased and fitted out a
little steam yacht, the _Fox_, of one hundred and seventy-seven tons.
The command was given to Captain McClintock, known to be an able and
enthusiastic Arctic navigator. He was to rescue any "possible survivor
of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, and to try and recover any records of
the lost expedition."

[Illustration: ESKIMOS AT CAPE YORK WATCHING THE APPROACH OF THE _FOX_.
From McClintock's _Voyage in Search of Franklin_.]

The 12th August found the little _Fox_ in Melville Bay made fast to
an iceberg, and a few days later she was frozen firmly into an ice-pack.
For two hundred and forty-two days she was beset, drifting all through
the long, bitter winter with the ice, till on 25th April 1858, after
having been carried over a thousand miles, she was released.
McClintock, undaunted by danger, turned northwards, and by May he had
reached Melville Bay. Thence up Lancaster Sound, he reached Beechey
Island in August and found there three lonely graves of three sailors
from the _Erebus_ and _Terror_. Here the English commander erected
a tablet sent out by Lady Franklin.

[Illustration: THE THREE GRAVES ON BEECHEY ISLAND. From McClintock's
_Voyage in Search of Franklin_.]

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