M'CLURE (Captain Robert Le M.) &
OSBORN (Commander Sherard), editor.
The Discovery of the North West Passage by H.M.S. "Investigator," Capt. R. M'Clure, 1850, 1851, 1852, 1853, 1854.
THE FIRST CROSSING OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE
A handsome copy of the first edition.
“Captain M’Clure commanded this expedition on the Investigator, with the primary mission of rescuing the missing Sir John Franklin. While M’Clure did not accomplish this task, in his efforts to return to England from the Bering Strait he completed the long-anticipated Northwest Passage, a feat for which he was knighted, and also collected the £10,000 reward offered by Parliament” (Hill).
It was hardly smooth sailing. The Investigator was originally accompanied by the Enterprise, captained by Richard Collinson, though the two ships were separated early on in the Straits of Magellan. M’Clure’s party entered the Arctic via the Bering Strait, wintering at Prince of Wales Strait and made it as far east as Mercy Bay. At this point - June, 1853 - the ship was abandoned and the crew, suffering from scurvy and frostbite, were miraculously rescued by Captain Henry Kellet’s expedition who were also searching for Franklin. The crew of the Investigator were away for four years and eight months.
The map shows M’Clure’s crossing of the Northwest Passage and the plates, after Cresswell, depict Franklin Bay, Princess Royal Island, and Melville Island.
Abbey Travel, 647; Hill, 1122; Howgego III, M32; Lada-Mocarski, 145; Sabin, 43073..
