commanded by Commander Forsyth.

This mixture of royal and mercantile naval commands gave rise to some
unfriendly feelings, but Captain Penny succeeded in finding many traces
of Franklin's crews, and the tombs of those who had died in 1846. Many
most useful surveys and some geographical discoveries were made, but
beyond the traces found by Ommaney and Penny nothing of the fate of the
Franklin expedition was discovered.

In 1852 Sir E. Belcher sailed on the same errand. Lady Franklin also
dispatched the _Isabel_. Doctor Rae in 1854, however, discovered,
through the information afforded by the Esquimaux, that some white men
had been seen in King William's Land a few years previously, "dragging
boats across the ice," and "looking thin." The Hudson's Bay Company
then sent Mr Anderson, in accordance with a request of the English
Government, to explore the district; and on Montreal Island he found the
remains of a boat, and obtained from the Esquimaux many relics of
Franklin's expedition, with articles which had belonged to the crews.
This intelligence decided Lady Franklin to make another attempt to learn
the actual fate of her brave husband.

Before Doctor Rae had returned with the intelligence he had gained
concerning the Franklin Expedition, a very important Arctic Expedition
had been undertaken by Doctor Elisha Kane. To this we must turn our
attention in a new chapter, as he went out to the limits of the Arctic
Zone in search of Sir J. Franklin, and accomplished a most adventurous
journey.

CHAPTER THIRTY.

DR KANE'S VOYAGE TO THE POLAR REGIONS.

American exploration--The "open Polar Sea"--Dr Kane's voyage in the
_Advance_--Sledge-work--The _Advance_ in winter quarters--Incidents of
the winter--Abandonment of the ship--Terrible suffering--Drifting--
Rescued.

The Americans had already sent out an expedition to search for Franklin,
which was commanded by Lieutenant De Haven. These vessels were the
_Advance_ and _Rescue_, and the expedition, which we have referred to as
the "Grinnell Expedition," was accompanied by Doctor E.K. Kane as
"surgeon, naturalist, and historian." In the spring of 1853, when more
search expeditions were being sent out, Mr Grinnell, Mr Peabody, and
other gentlemen, dispatched Doctor Kane as leader of this important
undertaking.

Doctor Kane had minutely studied the Arctic problem, and he entertained
the idea that around the Pole is open water--a theory afterwards acted
on by D