SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2939, 17 July 1878, Page 2

SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

Some of our readers may remember that in 1872, while Captain Edward Potter was wintering in Bepulse Bay, he obtained a few spoons and othi r relics of Sir John Franklin's ill-fated expedition from two Eskimo of the Nechelli Iribe- They told him that a party of white men came a long time before to the place in the Gulf of Boothia, where the jN'cchelli were then wintering, and all had died there from exhaustion and want of food. This .information, which seemed improbable then, was confirmed by later reports. During the present year, howerer, Thomas F. Barry, who was with Oapt. Potter in 1872, brought back the intelligence that while his vessel, the A. Houghton, was wintering last year at Marble Island, in the upper part of Hudson Bay, he obtained from some Nechelli a silver spoon "wi'h Franklin's crest on it. These Nechelli told him exactly the same story respecting the party of wnite men that he had heard from others at £epulse Bay fire years before. This corroboration led Chief Justice Daly, President of the American Geographical Society, to see Earry, wilh whom he tells us, he L bad a< long, full, and very satisfactory conversation. On the authority of Joe Ebjbcring, so well known in^connexijljpjtritb. Hall's Expedition, Justice Daly^siates that Barry speaks Eskimo,very well!and the Justice is thoroughly, .satisfied of Barry's truthfulness. The Nechejli whom Barry met last winter gave substantially the same account a& the others, and tw^ who were between 50 and 60 years of age,: said — they had seen the white men. The JNechelli offered to go and point oat the spot where the cairnstillremains, with the books or papers that were put under it; but it involved a journey of over 4.00 miles, and, those in the vessel were not provided with-, the equipment necessary for such an expedition. Whatev.gr conjectures may be indulged in, w» think with Justice Daly. there is sufficient information coinmunicaled to Captain Potter to justify a search for the spot where the Nechelli say this party of white m«jn died, which could be done at a comparatively small expense and might very well be under taken by some of those private persona who have money and public spirit enough for enterprise. o( this kind. Apart from the interest that is felt in knowing the fate of the Franklin Expedition, there is the expectation that where the,last of them perished some record will be found which will be of scientific value if it should contain the observations, mad* over this part of the Arctic region by the .expedition. The' record of bis journey is the very last thing that an explorer will part with, everything will be sacrificed for its preservation; an the assurance, Justice Daly thinks, r\- bo felt that some memorial, containing documents and papers the precious record i>f their labour and fate, was erected in the vicinity of the place where the last of - them died in the hope that at some time " in the future it would be found by civilized man.-—Times.