'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From December 1854 to March 1856. (New Issue.) Edited by the Secretary. Volume XII.' [‎37] (148/258)

ON ARCTIC DISCOVERY— 1850-51.
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left before it was made. In April 1850 the schooners Resolute and Assistance
were dispatched under Captain Austin : they were accompanied by two
steamers of sixty horse power, capable of affording a speed of six miles,
and provided with three hundred tons of coal,—and these were to tow the
other ships to the edge of the ice and conduct the search along with them :
store ships were to accompany them, leaving them a supply of three years’
provisions on their separation.
Dr. Goodsir—a member of a talented family, of whom the Professor of
that name is one of the most distinguished—was the medical attendant to Sir
John Franklin; and his brother Robert, a young Surgeon, in his anxiety to
obtain tidings of the adventurers, sought and found a place in March 1849
on board the whale ship Advice, commanded by Captain Penny,—and it
was at this time the officer just named became known as an explorer. In
April 1850 he was entrusted with the charge of two vessels, the Lady Franklin
and Sophia, to co-operate with Captain Austin ; and with these he started on
the 13th April, to act in concert with, and under the command of, that
officer. The joint expedition, as will be seen presently, returned in Septem
ber 1851. In May, Captain Forsyth was dispatched in charge of an expedi
tion supplementary to that of Captain Austin—in command of the Prince
Albert, a small schooner of 89 tons, fitted out from Aberdeen by private
generosity, and given to Lady Franklin. He spoke the ships of Captain
Austin, and returned in safety in October, without having once dropped
anchor during his four months absence. He was the first to find the
trail of the Erebus and Terror. Amongst the traces of a British encampment
at Fort Rielly, some portions of hempen rope were identified: bones pro
nounced those of oxen such as supplied the salt beef of the expedition; and the
marks of tents were made out as those of the magnatic observatory with which
the expedition had been provided. They were supposed to have been left
there in 1845-46. Slight as these traces were, they added fresh energy to the
spirit of investigation : the North Star, dispatched in May 1849 to assist Sir
J. Ross, returned in October 1851, in excellent condition, and was ordered
at once to prepare for a voyage to Behring’s Straits, to join and assist the
Plover, a destination soon afterwards changed to Baffin’s Bay.
The combined expeditions had been particularly requested to penetrate if
possible the western channel and Jones Inlet, and the former of these was
ascended by the American ships in 1850 as far as 75 3 25’ North lat. There
were five miles of open water at one time seen in the channel, and it was
affirmed on board, that then if ever, it might be considered clear of ice. In
spite of this, Captain Austin abandoned all examination of this part of the
coast, and spent the season exploring Jone’s Sound : next year Wellington