412 LADY FRANKLIN. ble survivor and recovered the records of the expedition, if they yet existed. She appealed to Lord Palmerston to make one further attempt. In her memorial she dwelt with especial emphasis upon the incident of the " Kesolute," abandoned by the English during a government search expedition, found by an American whaler, refitted, and presented by Congress to the Queen. " My Lord," she says, " you will not let this rescued and restored ship, emblematic of so many enlightened and generous sentiments, fail even partially in her signifi- cant mission. I venture to hope that she will be accepted in the spirit in which she is sent. I humbly trust that the American people, and especially that phil- anthropic citizen who has spent so largely of his private fortune in the search for the lost ships, and to whom was committed by his government the entire charge of the equipment of the ' Resolute,' will be rewarded for this signal act of sympathy by seeing her restored to her original vocation, so that she may bring back from the Arctic seas, if not some living remnant of our long-lost countrymen, yet at least the proofs that they have nobly perished." She adds, that should her request be denied, she will herself send out a vessel. The Government, busy with affairs in the east, was not willing to fit out another expe- dition. She kept her word. The last and most successful of this long series of adventures and perilous searches, was due solely to her heroic persistence. Aided by subscrip- tions from her friends, she bought and refitted for Arctic service the screw yacht " Fox." Captain M'Clintock, already distinguished in former search expeditions, was placed in command of her, and she sailed upon the last day of June, 1857. Lady Franklin, accompanied by Miss Cracroft, came on board to bid the officers farewell.
