If I recall correctly, Rae succeeded because he took far fewer men with him and was able to "live off the land" so to speak. King William Island could sustain a small number of people, I think the Inuit said about 25, but was certainly not large enough to sustain the number Franklin had with him one provisions had run out.
In the days of the old sailing ships cannibalism was a fairly normal method of survival when disaster struck. Rae obviously broke the rule that nobody volunteered the information and nobody enquired too closely, the victim having simply "failed to make it" and was therefore "buried at sea".
Animals I like, people I tolerate.
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