RELICS OF ARCTIC EXPLORATION.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 197, 26 January 1875, Page 3

RELICS OF ARCTIC EXPLORATION.

Captain Kilgour, of the whaler Polynia, which arrived in Dundee on October 21st, brought a number of relics of Arctic exploration. A portion of his crew, when on shore at Batty Bay on July 27th, discovered a cairn on a low point of the bay. Judging that it had been erected by some party belonging to one of the various expeditions sent in search of Sir John Franklin, they pulled it down, and found a tin canister about 12 inches in length, and 4 inches in diameter, the lid being soldered on. Capt Kilgour opened it, disclosing records deposited on August 6th, 1862, by Captain William Kennedy, of the Prince Albert, Lady Franklin’s vessel. A sledge, two iceknives, and various other articles were picked iip on the south side of the bay, where it appeared Captain Kennedy’s party had encamped. It appears that Captain Kennedy went into winter quarters in Batty Bay in the fall of 1851, and it was not until August 6th, 1852, that the ice broke up and liberated his vessel. It was obvious that Batty Bay had not been visited since 1852. The records are in an excellent state of preservation. This season many of the whaling vessels visited Bellot Strait, the utmost extremity reached by Sir Leopold McClintock, with The Fox, in 1858-9. The whaling fleet experienced severe weather in Cresswell Bay, almost all the crews having to abandon the ships and take to their boats for a time, the Arctic and Tay, both Dundee ships, being lost, as previously reported.