In reply to Dominic Green:
"In August 1853 – in a very icy season – the Resolute and Intrepid broke out of winter quarters, but by 11 November had only managed to move to a new winter position off Bathurst Islands. Miertsching tells us: ‘On 18 September the two ships sailed from Dealy Island with nine months provisions for 175 men; but as it is now accepted as certain that we shall not reach England this year, Captain Kellett has given orders to reduce the daily rations to two thirds as from today so that nine months will last twelve months.’
The plight of the Investigator was now linked to Kellett’s division, and its crew had to resign themselves to another winter in the Arctic, as guests on Kellett’s ships.
Assistance and Pioneer had also moved, but only 52 miles north of Beechey Island. Communication between the two divisions was conducted by use of dog-sledge teams. It was by this means that Belcher shocked his subordinates by instructing them to abandon their ships on 10 April. Kellett held a meeting with McClintock, McClure and Captain Richards, who had carried the message. McClintock was sent to meet and reason with Belcher. He would communicate the collective view that their ships were sound and adequately provisioned, together with the expectation that they would get clear the following summer. Belcher responded with an explicit order to abandon ship. Osborn, who commanded the Pioneer, was placed under arrest for his disagreement with Belcher and two of Belcher’s own officers on the Assistance were ordered off his ship and sent to the North Star.
Before they left the ships, Captain Kellett assembled the Investigator crew on deck and thanked the men for their regular discipline and exceptional good conduct . He handed McClure a letter to the Admiralty in which he gave the crew of Investigator a glowing reference. This testimonial letter was to be of great benefit to them when they later arrived home, and when McClure claimed parliament’s prize for the discovery and completion of the Northwest Passage.
On 25 April, at the entrance to Wellington Channel, McClure and his crew, en route to North Star, met Captain McClintock with his dog sledge on his way back to Kellett with Belcher’s order. The chronometers and other valuable instruments were to be brought along, but everything else was to be left behind. The excellent survey work of McClintock’s tireless subordinates was to be buried beneath the shame of four abandoned ships by order of their lazy, incompetent commander who was sick and simply wanted to go home. His subsequent court martial saw him acquitted due to the wide discretion given to him in orders. But the silence as his sword was handed back to him was indicative of his disgrace in the eyes of his navy peers.
The promotion of Sherard Osborn – whom Belcher had arrested – and Lieutenant May – whom he had reported to the Admiralty – also reflected the Admiralty’s scorn for the disgraced commander; there was no doubt that the ships would have sprung free later in the season. Belcher’s action led to further ignominy for the navy when Kellett’s ship, Resolute, unmanned, drifted into the Davis Strait and was boarded and sailed to America by a whaling captain. She was restored and returned to Queen Victoria by the US government – an inglorious end to the Admiralty’s official effort to find Franklin and his crew. The expedition had failed to search where Sir John Richardson and Lady Franklin had asked – namely, King William Land (later King William Island). By that stage, the Admiralty was determined to finish with the Franklin search and indeed with any further Arctic expeditions, a resolution further affirmed by the outbreak of the Crimean War.
On return to England, McClure and his crew were feted as heroes. He was knighted and promoted to captain, and he and his crew were voted an award of £10,000 by parliament. McClure, however, refused to acknowledge the part played by Resolute in the rescue of Investigator’s crew, and declined to share the prize with Kellett and his men. Following a letter to John Barrow from Henry Kellett aboard Resolute – dated 12 April–2 May – suggesting that the Admiralty acknowledge the contribution of all who participated in Arctic expeditions, the Arctic Medal (1818–55) was awarded to all Arctic-expedition crews of that period. It is interesting to note that Mr Richard Saintfield of Cork proposed the inscription adopted for the medal, which was struck on 1 October 1856. It reads: ‘All those of every rank and class engaged in the several Arctic expeditions’.7"
------------------
That's the end of the chapter so should hopefully include your missing section. Let me know if you think there's still a gap. And if there's any overlap between this text and the text you actually have, I'd be very interested to know whether your edition seems to have more detail or less, or just a re-wording.
Also wondering about the chapters - list below. None of it important, though, it's just curiosity on my part...
Chapter list from my edition reads:
1 Eighteenth-Century Exploration
2 Bransfield Sights the Antarctic Peninsula
3 Sabine and Crozier Enter the Arctic
4 Crozier, Captain of Terror
5 The Franklin Expedition
6 McClure and McClintock Search for Franklin
7 McClure and Investigator Search from the Pacific
8 The Belcher Expedition 9 McClintock’s Voyage of the Fox
10 After the Franklin Search and the Nares North Pole Expedition
11 Jerome Collins and John Cole of Cork
12 Scott’s Discovery Expedition
13 Shackleton’s Nimrod Expedition
14 Antarctic Expedition of Terra Nova
15 Epic Voyage of the Endurance
16 Shackleton and Crean’s Final Voyages
17 The Legacy of the Irish Polar Explorers