SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND THE VOYAGEURS

The name of Captain John Franklin, the celebrated explorer who has given his name to the Artic Sea by different expeditions from 1819 to 1847, has just been recalled to my mind, The thirst of discovery rather than the impulse of the fur trade prompted Sir John Franklin to penetrate into the North Countries and the regions of the MacKenzie River. Chateaubriand, in his ‘“ Voyages en Amérique ”, 1827, (ed. 1885) p. 248, states that “ Captain Franklin, who was sent to America in order to fur- “ ther by land the efforts of Captain Parry, descended the Copper ‘“ Mine river (1), entered the Polar Sea, and advanced Eastward “to the Gulf of the Coronation of George IV, almost in the “ direction and altitude of Repulse Bay.

‘ In his second expedition of 1825, Captain Franklin descended “the MacKenzie, and having contemplated the Arctic Sea, re- ‘“ turned to winter by Great Bear Lake, once more going down “the MacKenzie in 1826. Here, at the mouth of the river, the ‘ English expedition separated, one half in two canoes proceeding ‘“ eastward towards the Copper Mine River, whilst the other also “ in two canoes steered westward under the direction of Frank- “ lin in person.

“ Ice floes arrested the captain’s progress on the 9th of July, “but by the 4th of August, he went on his course. One mile “ at the outside was all that could be covered in a day, owing to “ the flatness of the coast and the shallow water ; it was but sel- “ dom that land could be reached, Dense fogs and gusts of wind “ further impeded the progress of the expedition.

(1) In the vear 1824.

‘“ Nevertheless, they found themselves, on the 18th of August, “in the 150th meridian, 70° 30’ north latitude. Captain Frank- “lin had thus cleared more than half the distance between the ‘“ mouth of the Mackenzie and Cape Ice beyond Behring Straits. ‘The undaunted explorer was not wanting in provisions, nor ‘“ were the canoes even damaged. The sailors were all in good ‘“ health and the sea open, but the instructions of the admiralty ‘“ were positive in their prohibition of any extension of the explo- “ration, unless the captain reached Kotzebue Bay before the ‘“ commencement of the stormy season. He was c'nsequently ‘“ obliged to return to the Mackenzie River, entering Great Bear ‘ Lake on the 21st September. Here he was joined by the other ‘ party, which had explored the shores from the mouth of the ‘“ Mackenzie to that of the Copper Mine River. They had even ‘ sailed as far as the Gulf of the Conoration of Georg- IV, ascend- “ ing eastward to the 118th meridian. (Good shelter was met “ with everywhere whilst the coast proved much more accessible “than that followed by Captain Franklin.” See also Aubrey's History of England, vol. 3, pp. 808, 809. Aubrey remarks that ‘“ Franklin’s party endured dreadful sufferings which were ill “ compensated by the exploration of a few hundred mi'es of ‘ coast.”

Fiank'in’s travels are universally known, but it is not s0 generally known that in this, as well as in many other exped'tions, he was accompanied by Canadian voyageurs from the Province of Quebec.

I was fortunate enough to discover in Griffin, their names and dom cile. In March and April, 1824, Hon. William McGillivray, of the firm of McGillivray, Thain and Co., agents in Montreal of the Hudsons' Bay Company, selected sixteen of the best Canadiin reyayeurs to accompany Franklin in the course of his exploratinu. According to their engagement they were to go “in “ one of his cannes, on a voyage to the Indian countries, from “ and back to Montreal, for a period of three years, wintering at “ such p'aces or posts as might be from time to time ordered by “the said Captain John Franklin. And it is moreover especially “ agre: d and understood that the said hired party shall not be “ bou:.d to journey farther north than the Mackenzie River.” Wages to be 1400 livres per annum, or faurteen times more than ordinary. The names of these courageous Canedians were :

Bow: Frs. Léjine, Berthier ; André Letendre, Sorel ; St. Valier Fagnant, Berthier ; Frs. Rinfret, Maskinongé. Amidships: Isidore F'eury, Maskinongé ; François Félix (1), Sorel ; Cuthbert Amyot, Berthier ; Thomas Fagnant, Berthier ; Hercule Trempe, Berthier ; Pascal Côté, Montreal. Helm: Bazile Lussier, Yamaska ; Jacques Guindon, Sorel ; Pierre Lépine, Berthier ; J. Bte Gagnon, Contrecœur ; Antoine St. Denis, Rigaud, et Joseph Monique, Sault St. Louis, bow or helm.

The following eighteen Canadians went with Franklin on his first voyag» in 1819 : Joseph PrIltier, Mathieu Péloquin dit Crédit, So'omon Bélanger, Joseph Benoit, Jos-ph Gagné, Pierre Dumas, Réné St. Germain, Joseph Forcier, J. Bte Parent, Ignace Perrau't, J. Bte B Ileau, Gab:il Beauparlant, Emmanuel Cournoyer, Vincenza Fontano, Michel Yerochant:, Regis Vaillant, J. Bte Bé'anger, et Frs. Samandra. Narratire of a Journey to the Shores of the Polur Ssa, ete, by John Franklin.

Thirty years previously, in 1792-93, Canadian voyrgurs had also accompanied Alexar.der McKenzie in the discovery of the Great River which bears his name. They were François Beaulieu, Alexandre Mackay, Joseph Landry, Charles Doucet, Bap-

tiste Bisson. François Courtois and Jacques Beauch-nin.—Joseph Landry and Charles Doucet had alr-ady been with him on a previous voyage in 1789.

In 1884, more than a century later, the voyageurs distinguished themselves by their skill and coolness in the expedition 1-d by Wolsely to the relief of Gordon, at Khartoum. ‘ History of the Corps of Royal Engineers,” vol. 2, p. 15.