We've had a full day. We almost didn't go back for the phone today, we were so bagged from yesterday. We chose to get it and come back; it was 12 miles there and back. We're "double bagged" tonight. But Derek cooked us an amazing meal, and I've got a little glass of wine in front of me, and I'm quite happy right now. He made scalloped potatoes, curried fresh vegetables, a bean salad and cooked ham for the carnivores. (John MacDonald is vegetarian.)

We did find some more sites today, on our way back and forth. We found several Inuit tent rings. We found some beams and heavy timbers not far from our camp here. We were told that one of the ships sank offshore. There's no proof of that but we were keeping our eye out for heavy timber and boards, and sure enough we found some. It needs futher interpretation - we don't want anyone to jump to the conclusion that we found a ship. We found some amazing Inuit stuff; caches and cairns, really well built and interesting, but not primarily what we're looking for. We're looking for "Franklin" carved into a board somewhere, and it ain't happening. [laughter]

We had a fox come up within about five feet of the camp a couple of hours ago. We've had caribou come within 50 feet of us. All the animals are very curious about us here. We hope the polar bears haven't gotten wind of us. (John MacDonald interjected that he hopes they actually do see a bear.) We're surrounded by wildlife, in spite of this being such a desolate place. Mosquitos by the billions - you can't over-estimate the mosquitos - just outrageous. There's a big caribou, with a really big rack, approaching us right now, about 60 meters away. At Erebus Bay you hardly see a thing, but over here it's quite different.

The weather is bright and sunny. We've had sun now for 48 hours solid; clear, not a cloud in the sky. The wind is very still. It's probably 20 degrees Celsius. Derek was saying that it's actually uncomfortable, we wish it was colder. It's tough to hike and carry heavy stuff in the heat, and the mosquitos are starting to get us down. You put a hood up to keep the bugs off and you're roasting to death. We wish for a bit cooler weather - just a bit cooler, not down to freezing.

Tomorrow we're heading down to Fitzjames Island, a small island off the southern coast of King William Island. There is Inuit testimony that a Franklin hospital tent was there, where they looked after their sick. Hopefully we'll find some evidence.

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