all, who for
years would not give up hope of seeing him again, was Franklin's wife.
She spent all her means in relief work. In the course of six years the
English Government disbursed L890,000 in relief expeditions. Most of
them were useless, for when they set out the disaster had already taken
place. One expedition which sailed in 1848 was caught in the ice, and
resorted to a singular means of sending information to the distressed
men, wherever they might be. About a hundred foxes were caught and
fitted with brass collars, in which a short description of the position
of the relief ship was engraved, and then the foxes were let loose
again.

In 1854 the names of Franklin, Crozier, and all the other men were
removed from the muster roll of the Royal Navy. A statue of Franklin was
set up in his native town, and a memorial of marble was erected in
Westminster Abbey with the words of Tennyson:

Not here! the white North has thy bones; and thou
Heroic sailor-soul,
Art passing on thine happier voyage now
Toward no earthly pole.

THE VOYAGE OF THE "VEGA"

A brilliant remembrance of the Arctic Ocean is the pride of the Swedes.
The north-west passage had been discovered by Englishmen; but the
north-east passage, which for 350 years had been attempted by all
seafaring nations, was not yet achieved. By a series of voyages to
Spitzbergen, Greenland, and the Yenisei, Adolf Nordenskioeld had made
himself an experienced Polar voyager. He perfected a scheme to sail
along the north coasts of Europe and Asia and through the Behring
Strait out into the Pacific Ocean. His plan, then, was nothing less than
to circumnavigate Asia and Europe, an exploit which had never been
performed and which the learned declared to be impossible. It was
thought that the ice-pack always lay pressed up against the Siberian
coast, rendering it impossible to get past; parts had been already
sailed along and stretches of coasts were known, but to voyage all the
way to the Behring Strait was out of the question.

Now Nordenskioeld reasoned that the ice must begin to drift in summer,
and leave an open channel close to the land. The great Siberian rivers,
the Obi, the Yenisei, and the Lena, bring down volumes of warm water
from southern regions into the Arctic Ocean. As this water is fresh, it
must spread itself over the heavier sea water, and must form a surface
current which keeps the ice at a distance and the passage open. Along
th