Led overland by Sir John Richardson and John Rae , the party explored the accessible areas along Franklin's proposed route near the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers. No contact with Franklin's party was achieved and Rae later interviewed the Inuit of the region, from whom he obtained credible accounts that the desperate remnants of Franklin's party had resorted to cannibalism.
This revelation was so unpopular that Rae was shunned by the Admiralty and popular opinion; the search for Franklin continued for several years. As early as , it was believed that Franklin's forces were likely icebound. The British Admiralty devised a three-pronged rescue effort to address the three most likely escape routes for Franklin — eastwards via Lancaster Sound , southwards via the Mackenzie River to the settlement of the Hudson's Bay Company fur traders , or westwards via the Bering Strait.
Sir John Richardson, who had participated in earlier Arctic expeditions with Franklin himself, took the objective of the Mackenzie River, tracing the coast between the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers, as well as the shores of Victoria Island and the Wollaston Peninsula , then known as Victoria Land and Wollaston Lands, in an overland expedition. Assuming the existence of an unknown but likely passage between these lands, it would have been the most direct route of travel consistent with Franklin's original exploration orders.
John Rae of the Hudson's Bay Company was attached to this effort. Rae had 15 years of experience in the region and regarded the indigenous people with uncommon respect. It was planned that the expedition would extend their search by wintering in the area of Great Bear Lake. Recent seasons of hunting in Rupert's Land as the Hudson's Bay Company area was called had been poor, so additional provisions were transported to the area in , prior to Richardson's departure.
These consisted of over 17, lb 7, kg of canned pemmican. Four half-ton boats were constructed at Portsmouth Dock Yard and Camper's Yard at Gosport for the river navigation, about 30 by 6 ft 9.
