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"... we continued our voyage along a bold shore, consisting of precipices of
limestone, forty or fifty feet high, with three or four fathoms of water at the
base. In the evening, having reached a projection which appeared to be the western
pitch of the cape, we encamped in a bay near a remarkable perforated rock, having
come twenty-six miles since leaving Point Stivens. [...] I had now the gratification of naming the extensive bay we had been coasting for three days, after my friend and commanding officer ; and to the several inlets on its eastern side I assigned the names of Wright, Cracroft, and Sellwood, in honour of his near relatives. A group of islands to the northward was named Booth Islands on the same account. In bestowing the name of Franklin on this remarkable bay, I paid an appropriate compliment to the officer, under whose orders and by whose arrangements the delineation of all that is known of the northern coast of the American Continent has been effected; with the exception of the parts in the vicinity of Icy Cape discovered by Captain Beechey. It would not be proper, nor is it my intention, to descant on the professional merits of my superior officer; but after having served under Captain Franklin for nearly seven years, in two successive voyages of discovery, I trust I may be allowed to say, that however high his brother officers may rate his courage and talents, either in the ordinary line of his professional duty, or in the field of discovery, the hold he acquires upon the affections of those under his command, by a continued series of the most conciliating attentions to their feelings, and an uniform and unremitting regard to their best interests, is not less conspicuous." |
