First page of letter from Sir John Richardson to Eleanor Isabella Gell, after the fate of Franklin's expedition has been established by John Rae's reports Details communicated by Dr Rae must have grieved the friends of all parties, the only consolation being that her father must not have been at the final scene where 40 died of cold and starvation near the mouth of Back's river; reflections on the likelihood of scurvy between 1846 and 1850 and the oversight in not erecting beacons and signal posts, which James Ross might have seen in 1849. 23 Oct 1854