THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 582, 1 March 1851, Page 4

THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

[From the Globe, Oct. 5.] The Prince Albert one of the ships engaged in this expedition, reached Aberdeen on Tuesday last. The commander, Captain Forsyth, has brought some interesting intelligence, having been the first to light on traces of the voyagers whom he was sent to seek. Commander Forsyth left Aberdeen on the sth June last. Having reached tbe arctic region, he twice attempted to land on Port Leopold, but was prevented by the ice, over which the boats had to be dragged. When there, he met the American brigantine Advance, and in company with her went over to Cape Hurd, and up Barrow’s Straits. He then proceeded to Cape Spencer, at Wellington. On the 25th August he examined Cape Reilly. Here he found traces of five or six tents, or encampments, which, from certain peculiarities, he knew to be those of a vessel in her Majesty’s service. Mr. Snow, second in command, states that the traces of tbe encampments of a vessel in Majesty’s service were evident. The seamen who were despatched from the Assistance to examine these remains found a rope with the Woolwich mark, evidently belonging to a. vessel which had been fitted out at Woolwich, and which in all probability was either the Erebus or the Terror, Other indications were also found, which showed that some vessel had visited the place besides the Assistance. Mr. Snow left a notice that the Prince Albert had called off Cape Reilly on the 25 th of August. The Prince Albert then bore up for Cape York, on the eastern side of Prince Regent’s Inlet, where Mr. Snow again went on shore, and found a cairn of stones, but no traces of anything, He left two cases ofpemmican. As it was obvious from the state of the ice that the object of the expedition—the exploration of Prince Regent’s Inlet, and the passages connecting it with the western seas—could not he carried into effect, Commander Forsyth resolved to return to England. He landed at Possession Bay on the 29th of August, but nothing was found there to repay the search instituted. On the Ist of September the Prince Albert got into Pond’s Bay. Mr. Snow again went on shore to make an examination of four points of land there, but on none of them could any traces be found of the objects of the search. Tbe Prince Albert has explored regions which have seldom been reached, and has had a splendid run on her homeward passage. With regard to the positions of the other expeditions, when last seen, it may be stated, that on August 25th, when the Prince Albert was between Cape Spencer and Cape Innes, in Wellington Channel, Mr. Snow went at noon to the mainmast, and saw the Assistance as near as possible within Cape Hotham— Penny s two ships, the Lady Franklin and Sophia, were in the mid-channel—the American brigantine Rescue was close beset with ice near Cape Bowen. These were the only vessels to be seen there. The Intrepid could not be seen, hut she was doubtless in company with the Assistance, The ice was very heavy, and extended all around, from Prince Leopold’s Island to Cape Farewell, westward, so as to prevent any possibility of reaching Cape Walker; Cape Hotham might be reached with difficulty,. In Wellington Channel there was a great deal of ice, but it admitted ! o 4 passages being made, in which the ships

were working ; and Captain Penny ing up the channel boldly. The North Star, which went out about the middle of May last year as a tender to the Arctic expedition of Sir J. C. Ross, in search of Sir J. Franklin, arrived unexpectedly at Spithead on Saturday morning, but without any news of the lost explorer. The followj n » are the chief details of her voyage .. 15 “On the 29th of July, 1849, when the North Star was proceeding up Baffin's Biand between the Devil’s Thumb and M e |’ ville’s Bay, she was beset in the ice, f rOB J which every effort and exertion was m at ] e t ’’ extricate her without success, and she congg quently drifted about in the pack, in daily jj, pectation of being nipped, or crushed by th’ heavy floes, or overwhelmed by the bergs that towered occasionally far above her mainmast She slowly drifted to the northward, till the' 29th of September, when Commander Sau n . ders, having been sixty-two days in the found his vessel off Wolestenholme s Island and the sound apparently clear of ice. a gale, and sail having been made she was forced through the floe, and safely anchored in the sound the same day. While beset on the ice several bears were seen, but only one shot. On the 26th the North Star was again under weigh, and ran further O p | Wolestenholme’s Sound, and a safe bay was found, and the ship made secure. The bay' was called after the ship, North Star Bay, j and the ship lying about half a mile from the | shore.

“The ship was now made snug for the| winter; sails were unbent, the masts struck, | and the ship housed over, and made as waim I and comfortable as circumstances would pen! mit, The ice soon after took across the sound, f so that the crew could have walked on shore, j The cold was intense ; but two or three stoves» warmed the ship, and the crew were cheered I up and encouraged with all sorts of games I and amusements, occasionally visiting the | shore for the purpose of skylarking. There I was, unfortunately, but little game to shoot. | Former accounts gave this place a high ch-1 racter for deer and other animals : but the j crew of the North Star never saw a single I head of deer, and other animals were scarce; about fifty hares were killed. Foxes were numerous, and a number were shot, but none taken alive. A few Esquimaux families oe-1 casionally visited the ship, and one poor man was brought on board with his feet so frozen that they dropped off, “On the Ist August the North Starm liberated from her tedious imprisonment, and she sailed from Wolestenholme’s Sound; but in Ross’s Bay she again got into the pack ice, where she remained beset for days. She then I succeeded in getting through it, and reached on the Sth August Possession Bay, near tbe entrance of Lancaster Sound, where notice:; of the North Star’s arrival and state were landed. She then proceeded up Lancasterl Sound, opposite to Prince Regent’s Inlet, tol Whaler’s Point, where she anchored on tbe 13th. She remained off Whaler’s Point,ea-1 dcavouring to get in for twenty-four hours,j but the ice was too closely packed along the! coast, and there being no chance of a break| up, notices were landed, and the North Sftrl proceeded to the opposite coast to endeavour| to land provisions at Port Bowen, Port Niel,| or Jackson’s Inlet; but all these places wei!£ so completely blocked up with heavy land-| floes of ice, that the ship could not get int»| either place ; she therefore bore away forNa-| val Board Inlet, in lat. 73deg. 44min. N ( | long. oOdeg. 53min. W., and in a small named Supply Bay, in the inlet, she laodel| her surplus provisions—covering up the ttij and other dry articles, and leaving the profSg notices and directions of their whereabouts.! She remained here five days, and went H| Pond’s Bay.” I Having spoken with the Lady (Captain Penny), and her tender, on the 21st of August, with the Felix (Cufi tain Sir J. Ross) on the 26th, and thejfrM Albert (Commander Forsyth), on the 30thH the same month, the North Star left Ponu J | Bay for England on tbe sth of September, j Sir John Ross in some accompanying “fl spatches, adverts to a story told by an E S W maux, to the effect that Sir J. Franklinf 0 ’! all his crew had been set upon by the and murdered in Wolestenholme’s Sound, j *| place was examined, and not the least shade | of credit is attached to the story by Cap lJl | Penny, whose sojourn at the particular sp j for a whole winter no doubt gave a foun tion for it. |