Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T04:55:21.373Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Captain Hall and the so-called Survivors of the Franklin Expedition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Richard J. Cyriax
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

When Sir Leopold McClintock returned from King William Land in 1859, he stated that none of Sir John Franklin's officers and men could still be living, and the principal Arctic authorities entirely agreed with him. Nevertheless, a dissentient voice was raised in the United States by Captain Charles Francis Hall. Convinced that survivors might still be found, he undertook two Arctic expeditions in search of them. His first expedition, to Frobisher Bay (1860–62), yielded no relevant information, and need not be described. On the other hand, his second expedition, which lasted five years (1864–69), was not in vain. He spent the first winter near Wager River, and the other four winters at Repulse Bay, and made many journeys from his winter quarters. The stories told him by Eskimos convinced him at first that his long-cherished belief was founded on fact, and he informed his friends in the United States that survivors of the Franklin expedition might still be alive. Not until he himself had visited King William Land in 1869 did he realise that he had been too sanguine.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 4 , Issue 28 , July 1944 , pp. 170 - 185
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1944

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 SirMcClintock, F. Leopold. The Voyage of the “Fox” in the Arctic Seas, 5th edition, London, 1881, p. 51.Google Scholar

2 Nourse, J. E.. Narrative of the Second Arctic Expedition made by C. F. Hall, Washington, 1879.Google Scholar

3 J. E. Nourse. op. cit., pp. 276, 331–334, 340.

4 Osborn, S.. Stray Leaves from an Arctic Journal, new edition, London, 1865, p. 288.Google Scholar

5 Sir James Clark Ross, with H.M. Ships Enterprise and Investigator, reached Port Leopold on 11 September 1848.

6 Parliamentary Paper, Instructions to Captain Sir John Franklin, London, 1848, pp. 30, 31.Google Scholar

7 SirParry, W. Edward. Journal of a Second Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage, London, 1824, p. 198Google Scholar. SirRoss, John. Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-West Passage, London, 1835, p. 262.Google Scholar

8 SirBelcher, Edward. The Last of the Arctic Voyages, 2 vols., London, 1855, Vol: 2, pp. 255–257.Google Scholar

9 J. E. Nourse. op. cit., pp. 339, 340, 341, 596–605.

10 Nourse stated that the latitude was 69° 47′ 5″ N., but this does not agree with the map (p. 346) and was the latitude of Encampment Bay, op. cit., pp. 346, 547.

11 J. E. Nourse. op. cit., pp. 344–348 and sketch-map and picture.

12 Rae, J.. Narrative of an Expedition to the Shores of the Arctic Sea, London, 1850, maps.Google Scholar

13 J. E. Nourse. op. cit., pp. 349, 351.

14 The Letter to the New York Herald was published on 4 July 1880.

15 J. Rae. op. cit., 1850, pp. 149, 150.

16 Letter in the New York Herald, loc. cit. Dr Rae's letter in Household Words, London, 23 Dec. 1854, and his “Report to the Hudson's Bay Company”, ibid., 3 Feb. 1855.

17 Sir W. Edward Parry, op. cit., 1824, pp. 442–449; Lyon, G. F.. The Private Journal of Capt. G. F. Lyon, London, 1824, pp. 416–425.Google Scholar

18 Sir John Ross. op. cit., “Appendix”, “Meteorology”.

19 J. Rae. op. cit., 1850, pp. 108, 131, and “Report, etc.”, loc. cit.

20 J. Rae. op. cit., 1850, pp. 155, 156. Letter in the New York Herald, loc. cit.

21 J. E. Nourse. op. cit., 1879, pp. 64, 65, 107–109, 589, 591–594.

22 Commander Fitzjames's Journal, June 16th, 1845.

23 J. E. Nourse. op. cit., pp. 66, 111–113; SirParry, W. Edward, op. cit., 1824, pp. 410, 412.Google Scholar

24 This was mentioned in McClintock's book, The Voyage of the “Fox”, which Hall had with him. (1st edition, London, 1859, p. 233.)Google Scholar

25 J. E. Nourse. op. cit., footnote, p. 296. See also Gilder, W. H.. Schwatka's Search, London, 1881, p. 91Google Scholar. Different writers spell the name in different ways— “Aglugga, Agglugga, Agloocar”, etc.

26 J. E. Nourse. op. cit., pp. 255–257.

27 J. E. Nourse. op. cit., pp. 592, 593.

28 New York Herald, 30 Sept. 1869.

29 Sir John Ross. op. cit., London, 1835.

30 J. E. Nourse. op. cit., pp. 398, 416, 606, 607, 608.

31 Sir John Ross. op. cit., “Appendix”, Frontispiece, and “Natural History”, p. xvii.

32 Dr Rae. Letter in the New York Herald, 4 July 1880; Smith, D. M.. Arctic Expeditions, Edinburgh, 1877, p. 651Google Scholar; Dr Rae. op. cit., 1850, and report to the Hudson's Bay Company, in Household Words, London, 3 Feb. 1855; W. H. Gilder, op. cit.

33 Nourse, J. E.. American Explorations in the Ice Zones, Boston, 1884, pp. 199–268.Google Scholar

34 Sir John Ross. op. cit., 1835, pp. 308, 624, 625, and chart opp. p. 608.

35 J. E. Nourse. op. cit., pp. 391–393.

36 J. E. Nourse. op. cit. pp. xxii, 397–407, 409, footnote on p. 412, 415–417.

37 ibid. p. 431. See also pp. 109, 110.