THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 716, 23 February 1853, Page 3

THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION

Aberdeen, Thursday Evening, October 8. The Prince Albert has just arrived from the Arctic Regions, bringing no accounts of Sir John Franklin. The following are the results of this expedition: — The Prince Albert left Aberdeen on (he 22ud of May last year, the search being under the direction of Mr. William Kennedy, who had long been connected with the Hudsons Bay Company. The main object of the expedition was to get, if possible, on the track of Sir John Franklin, assuming that he had followed out his instructions to seek a passage going south-west by Eape Walker. The Prince Albert made the ice on the 22nd of June, and crossed to the west side in 72 deg. 50 min. north latitude; got to Ponds Bay on the 24th of August, and there saw four natives, but found that they bad heard nothing of Sir John Franklin. She then proceeded up Lancaster Sound, where she encountered heavy gales of: cast wind, and by the time she readied Barrow Straits, on September

4, the icc had barred (he passage. The expedition then made lor Port Leopold for shelter, and here Mr. Kennedy landed in a boat, with six men, and was proceeding to make enquiries, when a barrier of ice got between the ship and the land, and the weather being still bad, with a strong current, the vessel was carried up Prince Regent’s Inlet as far as Batty Bay, leaving Mr. Kennedy and his boat’s crew on shore. Unable to return to Port Leopold, Captain Leask tried to reach Fury Point, he did not succeed, and getting into Bally Bay came to anchor there, where M. Bellot, the French gentleman who accompanied Mr. Kennedy, left the ship with four men for Port Leopold on the -17 th of October. Here Mr. Kennedy and his men had remained in a stale of great anxiety for six weeks, but getting at the provisions which were left by Sir John Boss they enjoyed excellent health. Returning with M. Bellot to Batty Bay, the ship was housed for the winter, and preparations made for searching during the lime she would bo fast. They started with sledges on the 24th of February, with a parly of fourteen men, slopped a short time at Fury Point, then crossed Melville Bay, got as far west as Brentford Bay, and here discovered a channel, about two miles broad, leading westward, and opening up a bay by the northern coast of North Somerset. A fatigue parly of six men pushed up this new channel, walking and sledging it, in 72nd degree north latitude and 100 degrees west longitude, while eight men returned to the ship from Brentford Bay. Mr. Kennedy and M. Bellot were of the advanced party, traversing the north coast of Somerset, round by Port Leopold, and arriving at the ship on the 50lh of May. This was a most difficult and trying journey, the weather being thick and stormy. The direct distance from the ship to this channel would be GOO miles; the distance traversed was fully 1230 miles. But in all this search, which included also a search of Cape Walker, no new traces were foundjof Sir John Franklin. During the time that Mr. Kennedy was out, Dr. Cowie, with a party of four men, crossed Cresswell bay to the water on the west side of North Somerset, but was alike unsuccessful. Scurvy now unfortunately appeared among the men, and they had a sickly time of it from May to July, but a parly getting down to Port Leopold, Mr. Kennedy was able to procure antiscorbutic medicines and food, and the crew then gradually got belter. On the Clh of August last summer they got out of Batty Bay, and proceeded northward, intending to go to Griffith's Island. They reached Bcechy Island on the 12th of August, and falling in with the North Star, stationed with provisions for the use of the Franklin expedition, and learning that the other vessels had passed up Wellington Channel, Mr. Kennedy deemed it useless to proceed further north, and determined to return home. At the lime he left Beacby Island, Wellington Channel was open and free from ice as far as the telescope could command a view, and it is the opinion of Mr. Kennedy, as well as of the officers of the North Star, that from the remarkable openness of the season, the searching squadron would occupy a more advanced position than any of the previous expeditions could reach. Describing the slate of this channel to Captain Penny, who is at present in Aberdeen, that gentleman expressed his firm conviction that if the steamers are pushed forward with energy, they might get through at Behring’s Straits. The crew of the Prince Albert are all in good health and spirits. Mr. Kennedy has brought despatches for the Admiralty from the North Star, and proceeds with them to-morrow morning by first train for London. The expedition, it will he remembered, was fitted out entirely at Hie expense of Lady Franklin, and, although it has not been successful in the main object of its search, the discovery of Ibis new channel and the search of Prince Regent’s Inlet and North Somerset, will lend to concentrate efforts now' entirely on Wellington Channel as the only hope of discovering Sir John Franklin. The accounts brought by the Prince Albert as to Davis’s Straits Fishery are of a very discouraging character. The Regalia of Kirkaldy, and the American ship M’Leland were wrecked; crews saved. The True Love, of Hull, had three fish; the Ann, of Hull, two. The ships did not gel to the westward, and were fishing in Cumberland Straits.