30. The 1854 report of Dr. John Rae.

Dr John Rae’s 1854 report (Rae, 1880) is here broken up into parts each representing a different fragment of history.

1.   ‘In the spring, four winters past (spring 1850), a party of ‘white men’ amounting to about forty, were seen travelling southward over the ice dragging a boat with them, by some Esqimaux, who were killing seals near the north shore of King William’s Land, which is a large island.   None of the party could speak the Esquimaux language intelligibly, but by signs the party were made to understand that their ship, or ships, had been crushed by ice, and that they were now going to where they expected to find deer to shoot.   From the appearance of the men, all of whom, except one officer, looked thin, they were then supposed to be getting short of provisions, and purchased a small seal from the natives.’

Conclusion: The above is the famous Washington Bay encounter of 1850..

2.   ‘At a later date the same season, but previous to the breaking up of the ice(Rae, 1880, the bodies of some thirty persons were discovered on the Continent,’

Conclusion: The above is a description of Starvation Cove.

3. ‘and five on an island near it,’

Conclusion: These are the five bodies found on a Todd Islet.

4.  ‘about a long day’s journey to the N.W. of a large stream, which can be no other than Back’s Great Fish River (named by the Esquimaux Doot-ko-hi-calik), as its description, and that of the low shore in the neighbourhood of Point Ogle and Montreal island agree exactly with that of Sir George Back.’

Conclusion: This is Starvation Cove again.

5. ‘Some of the bodies had been buried (probably those of the first victims of the famine), some were in a tent or tents, others under the boat, which had been turned over to form a shelter, and several lay scattered about in different directions.’

Conclusion:  This is Starvation Cove.

6.  ‘Of those found on the island, one was supposed to have been an officer, as he had a telescope strapped over his shoulders, and his double-barrelled gun lay underneath him.’

Conclusion: This is the Todd Islet again.

7.  ‘From the mutilated state of many of the corpses and the contents of the kettles, it is evident that our wretched countrymen had been driven to the last resort – cannibalism – as a means of prolonging existence.’

Conclusion:  This is probably the tent site at Terror Bay.

8. ‘There appeared to have been an abundant stock of ammunition, as the powder was emptied in a heap on the ground by the natives out of kegs or cases containing it; a quantity of ball and shot was found below the high water mark, having probably been left on the ice close to the beach.   There must have been a number of watches, compasses, telescopes, guns (several double barrelled), etc., all of which appear to have been broken up,’

Conclusion: This is Starvation Cove again.

9.  ‘as I saw pieces of the different articles with the Esquimaux, together with some silver spoons and forks. I purchased as many as I could get. A list of the most important of these I enclose, with a rough sketch of the crests and initials of the forks and spoons.  The articles themselves shall be handed over to the Secretary of the Hudson’s Bay Company on my arrival in London.’

Conclusion: The silver cutlery was probably found by the Inuit at both Terror Bay and Starvation Cove. There is no mention of a ship, although McClintock in 1859 purchased silverware taken from the wreck of Erebus while it was ashore.

Dr. John Rae’s report is a composite of testimonies describing only four  locations:

1) The Washington Bay (1850)

2) Starvation Cove (1850)

3) The Todd Islet with 5 unburied bodies (1850)

4) The tent at Terror Bay.