Weekly national intelligencer., 1850-10-19
ID AMERICAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

| from the Mate of the whale-ship Alexander, Of
Dundee, stating that the two American vessels,
.4drance and Rescue, were west ofDepifs Thumb,
Greenland How far west lis not stated ) nor is any
thing said of the state of the ice. The letter is
dated July 25, 1850. DeviFs Thumb is situated
in latitude TAG l6 N. Longitude $40 So W.4rsrr
This meager account furnishes but little informa-
ton, and affords no clue to the probable subsequent
movements of the vessels in their attempt to pass
large portion of Bafin's Bay, stretching north and
south, having on Its eastern and western sides open
water during summer.
Previous advices placed the Expedition at the
Whale Fish Islands, latitude $50 So NJ, Longitude
$50 49, W., on the 29th of June last; after which
time up to the 25th Of July, it appears to have ad
vanced toward the north, about Ave degrees of lat
tude
With this very limited knowledge OF the progress
Of the Expedition, while it would be idle TO enter
upon any speculatons as to its success or failure
the present season, it may yet be well to look at
the passages made across Bafin's Bay, by the sew
eral English expeditions, during the last thirty
years. ~
The first of these expeditions, under the COM
mand Of Captain JOHN Ross, passed Devils Thumb
about the 18th of July, 1918; it went round to the
north of the middle ice, and reached Lancaster 8
Sound, in TAO 81 NJ, 80 %, w., on the 3lst Of
August.
Captain PARRY entered the middle ice on the
2lst of July, 1919, in 74o N. latitude, and 500 w.
longitude; he reached the open water on the 29th,
in 73o 5l' NJ, $40 49, w., having crossed the ice
in nearly direct western course in eight days.
In 1924 PARRY entered the ice on the 18th Of
July, in latitude no q NJ, $50 36' w., and was
nearly two months boring and saving through it !;
ne first met with open water on the 9th of Septem-
Der, latitude TAO Ia, longitude 72o 25'.
Captain JOHN Ross passed Black Hook Cape,
(7lo 2T N, $50 81 W. "under all sail, having a
beautiful view of the land" on the 29th Of July,
1889. On the 9th of August he came in sight Of
Cape Byam Martin, Possession Bay, (73o 49, NJ,
ITO 2s' W.. bea-:aag due west, about fourteen
leagues. In this passage from land to land across
Bafin's Bay, in eight days. there was no obstruc-
ton whatever from the ice; and the water, at the
lowest temperature observed, was 4Oo.
heard from, July 26th, ls45,) was latitude 74o 49,
north, longitude 66o l3' west-[6O0 1879. Whale
ships had succeeded in clearing the middle ice, in
latitude 76o, on the 22d of June of the same year,
Is45.
On the 26th of July, ls4s, Captain Sir JAMES
CLARKE Ross was in latitude 74o NJ; he does not
give his longitude, but remarks that he was off the
Three Islands of Baffin,'' which would make him
about $50 or 59o west. He gained the open water
west Of the ice, on the 2Oh Of August in latitude
75o 3U N, longitude go w.
Captain SAUNDERS, in the store-ship North Star,
reached latitude 73o 3O' NJ, and longitude So So
w., on the 18th of June, lS49. A month later he
had gained but 33' Of latitude, and not quite three
degrees Of longitude. His last letter to the Secre-
tary of the Admiralty is dated 10Th July ls49, lati-
tude 74o 81 NJ, longitude 590 4O' w.
1t should be noticed that in all these expeditions
the vessels were made as strong as wood and iron
could make them," and were fitted out with the
greatest possible to provisions clothing and
fuel; they had strong and picked crews, and were
commanded and naygated by the most experienced
officers and ice masters; yet but two Of them may
be said to have accomplished any thing beyond
the line traced by Baffn two hundred years before
and retraced for the first time afterwards by Captain
JOHN Ross, in 1918.
The voyages Of PARRY in 1S24-'5, and of Sir
JAMES CLARKE Ross in ls48-'9, were complete
failures. From Sir JOHN Franklin and Captain
SAUNDERS no tidings have been received of their
having succeeded in crossing Bafin's Bay. 4
The success Of the American Expedition will
rest upon the skill, prudence, and resolution of its
commander, and the courage and endurance of his
men, and not upon the strength of his vessels or of
their crews. His little craft is too light to bore in
the heavy ice, and his men too few in number to
saw passage through it, at moment of peril,
when closely pressed.
Lieutenant De HAvEN's position (about 74o N,
59o W. on the 25th Of July is not the most favor
able one for reaching Wellington Channel this year.
Yet two of the expeditions which have crossed
Bafin's Bay were near the same point about the
same period Of the season. Captain PARRY, the
year he made his great discovery, was TAO NJ, 59o
W. on the 2lst July, 1919; and Captain Sir JAS.
Ross was in nearly the same latitude and longitude
on the 26sh of July, ls4s. He accomplished few,
if any, of the objects for which the expedition was
fitted out, it is true but he reached with ease and
safety his winter quarters fourteen days less than
twelve months, in the harbor of Port Leopold, on
the llth Of September.