Stray Leaves from an Arctic JournalBy the middle of the nineteenth century, the goal of the North-West Passage had claimed the lives of many explorers, yet the disappearance of the expedition led by Sir John Franklin occasioned the greatest response. Naval officer Sherard Osborn (1822-75) took part in the search mission of 1850-1 under Horatio Thomas Austin. Osborn was appointed to command the Pioneer, one of two steam tenders on the voyage. This was the first time such vessels had been deployed in the punishing conditions of the Arctic. Such was their success in cutting through ice and navigating the treacherous waters that similar models were later adopted by the whaling fleet. The present work, first published in 1852, gives a compelling account of the hardships of the expedition, which was successful in its surveying work and confirmed that Franklin had not been lost in Baffin Bay. |
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ahead amongst Assistance Harbour August Baffin’s Baflin’s Bay Barrow’s Straits Beechey Island Behring’s Straits bergs beset boat brigs cairn Cape Farewell Cape Hotham Cape Walker Captain Penny cliffs coast cold Cornwallis Island crew difficulty drift Erebus Esquimaux expedition fast feet find finding fine fioe first five fixed ice floating floe formed gale gallant Greenland Griffith’s Island icebergs Inlet Intrepid journey labour Lady Franklin Lancaster Sound land Lieutenant M‘Clintock Majesty’s Melville Bay Melville Island miles morning night north-west northern northward o’clock officers oflicers one’s ones’s Sound open water pack party passed Penny’s piece Pioneer Polar reached Rescue Resolute sail screw seamen season seen Sherard Osborn ships shore side Sir James Ross Sir John Franklin sledge snow Somerville Island southward squadron steam steamers sufficiently thick traces Union Bay vessels weather Wellington Channel westward Whalers whilst wind winter quarters