Chapter 17—The Fate of Sir John Franklin
The Forward succeeded, though not without difficulty, in getting by James Ross Sound, by frequent use of the ice-saws and gunpowder; the crew was very much fatigued. Fortunately the temperature was agreeable, and even thirty degrees above what James Ross found at the same time of year. The thermometer marked 34°.
Saturday they doubled Cape Felix at the northern end of King William’s Land, one of the smaller islands of northern seas.
At that time the crew became very much depressed; they gazed wistfully and sadly at its far-stretching shores.
In fact, they were gazing at King William’s Land, the scene of one of the saddest tragedies of modern times! Only a few miles to the west the Erebus and Terror were lost.
The sailors of the Forward were fam
