The Journey to the Polar Sea
by SIR JOHN FRANKLIN
INTRODUCTION BY CAPTAIN R.F. SCOTT
JOHN FRANKLIN, born in 1786. Many naval experiences, including Trafalgar,before heading an expedition across northern Canada in 1819. Elected F.R.S. andknighted after a second expedition. Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen’s Land,1836 to 1843. Last expedition, 1845, was lost, and Franklin died in 1847 nearthe Arctic. Subsequent investigations have established him as the discoverer ofthe North-West Passage.
THE JOURNEY
TO THE POLAR SEA.
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.
INTRODUCTION.
In days of hurried action I have been astonished at the depth of interest whicha re-perusal of this wonderful old narrative has held for me. Wonderful it isin its simplicity and its revelation of the simplicity of character and faithof the man who wrote it. It is old only by comparison—scarcely ninety yearshave elapsed since the adventures it described were enacted—yet such a periodhas never held a fuller measure of change or more speedily passed currentevents into the limbo of the past.
Nothing could more vividly impress this change than the narrative itself. Weare told that Mr. Beck missed his ship at Yarmouth but succeeded in rejoiningher at Stromness, having travelled “nine successive days almost without rest.”What a vision of post-chaises, sweating horses and heavy roads is suggested!And if the contrast with present-day conditions in our own Islands is great,how much greater is it in that vast Dominion through which Franklin directedhis pioneer footsteps. As he followed the lonely trails to Fort Cumberland, orsailed along the solitary shores of Lake Winnipeg, how little could he guessthat in less than a century a hundred thousand inhabitants would dwell by theshore of the great lake, or that its primeval regions would one day providelargely the bread of his countrymen.
There civilisation has followed fast indeed, and ever it presses forward on thetracks of the pioneer. But even today if we follow Franklin we must come againto the wild—to the great Barren Lands and to the ice-bound limit of aContinent—regions where for ninety years season has succeeded season withoutchange—where few have passed since his day and Nature alone holds sway. Forthose who would know what IS as well as for those who would know what hasbeen, this narrative still holds its original interest; all must appreciatethat it records the work of a great traveller and a gallant man whose famedeserves to live.
R.F. SCOTT.
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN’S VOYAGES INTO THE POLAR SEAS:
F.W. Beechey: Voyage of Discovery toward the North Pole in H.M. ShipsDorothea and Trent (with summary of earlier attempts to reach thePacific by the North) 1818.
Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1819 to1822, by John Franklin, 1823, 1824.
Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea in the Years1825 to 1827, by John Franklin, 1828.
PUBLICATIONS CONCERNING THE SEARCH FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN:
Report of the Committee appointed by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiraltyto inquire into and report on the Recent Arctic Expeditions in search of SirJohn Franklin, 1851.
Papers relative to the Recent Arctic Expeditions in search of Sir John Franklinand the Crews of H.M.S. Erebus and Terror, 1854.
Further Papers relative to the Search, 1855.
R. King, The Franklin Expedition from First to Last, 1855.
R. Huish, Recent Expeditions to the Polar Regions,