llet, pushing on
as far as Brideport on Melville Island, explored that region without
success. But then it was rumored in England that two ships, abandoned
in the ice, had been seen not far from New Caledonia. At once Lady
Franklin fitted out the little screw-steamer _Isabella_, and Captain
Inglefield, after ascending Baffin's Bay to Victoria Point, at the
eightieth parallel, returned to Beechey Island with equal unsuccess.
At the beginning of 1855 the American Grinnell defrays the expense of
a new expedition, and Dr. Kane, trying to reach the Pole--"

"But he did not succeed," cried Hatteras with violence, "and thank God
he did not! What he did not do, we shall!"

"I know it, Captain," answered the doctor, "and I only speak of it on
account of its connection with the search for Franklin. Besides, it
accomplished nothing. I nearly forgot to say that the Admiralty,
regarding Beechey Island as a general rendezvous, ordered the steamer
_Phoenix_, Captain Inglefield, in 1853, to carry provisions there; he
sailed with Lieutenant Bellot, who for the second, and last, time
offered his services to England; we can get full details about the
catastrophe, for Johnson, our boatswain, was eye-witness of this sad
affair."

"Lieutenant Bellot was a brave Frenchman," said Hatteras, "and his
memory is honored in England."

"Then," resumed the doctor, "the ships of Belcher's squadron began to
return one by one; not all, for Sir Edward had to abandon the
_Assistance_ in 1854, as McClure had the _Investigator_ in 1853.
Meanwhile Dr. Rae, in a letter dated July 29, 1854, written from
Repulse Bay, gave information that the Esquimaux of King William's
Land had in their possession different objects belonging to the
_Erebus_ and _Terror_; then there was no doubt possible about the fate
of the expedition; the _Phoenix_, the _North Star_, and the ship of
Collinson returned to England; there was then no English ship in these
waters. But if the government seemed to have lost all hope, Lady
Franklin did not despair, and with what was left of her fortune she
fitted out the _Fox_, commanded by MacClintock; he set sail in 1857,
wintered about where you made yourself known to us, Captain; he came
to Beechey Island, August 11, 1858; the next winter he passed at
Bellot Sound; in February, 1859, he began his explorations anew; on
the 6th of May he found the document which left no further doubt as to
the fate of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, and returned