Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1851-10-23

subjected to occasional and powerful disrup-
tion. On the 9Th of December and 18th of
January the vessels were exposed to constant
dancers. and if they had been larger, or less
carefully guarded with double sides and hea-
w braces, their destruction weuld have been
inevitable. The disruption was accompanied
with noise, described by the officers as re-
sembling locomotive whistle; and slngu-
lar and constant pulsation of the ice, accom-
panied with that noise, was constantly occur
ring. The drift was frequently at the rate
of ten miles per hour, and occasionally the
vessels would be carried uear to bold and rocky
promontories, from which there was much dam
ger. Frequently, when the squadron was In
peril, every knapsack was filled with food, with
which to retreat upon the ice, in case OF the
destruction of the vessels During the elgh-
ty-one days of this hazardous time the sun
did not rise, and there was total darkness,
except at midday, when for a few moments,
paper could be read if held up towards the
faint light that proceeded from the south. In
February of this year they were blessed with
a return of daylight which enabled their sick
to take exercise upon the ice. 1t was then
ascertained that they were ninety miles from
land. and that the ice in which the vessels
Law imbeded appeared to be stationary, al
tho from astronomical observations ITS motion
was known. On the 10th of June, by Sc
we're explosion of the ice, the vessels were lib
Grated, and they were once again sailing
cheerfully upon the waters. Sea-slckness,
however-so long had they been free of mo-
tion-soon generally prevailed. They emer-
ged from their Imprisonment IN latitude 6o
deg. 30 min, and Immediately proceeded to
the Greenland settlements for fresh provis-
ions, which were obtained to limited extent.
They again proceeded northward along the
Greenland coast, leaving to the west the mas
ses of floating ice, and penetrated again into
the upper regions of Baffins Bay. Here a
new and far more threatening difficulty be-
set them. They were locked up in the midst
of huge icebergs, which shut them out COM
pletely from view of the horison. Some of
them were two hundred and fifty feet high,
and in the light of the sun Git was now con-
slant day. the scene was spoken ofas extreme
ly gorgeous. They had now reached the
10th of August, and even with an open sea
they could not have made Lancaster Sound
before the ice would again form, and it was
determined that the expedition should retrace
reached our port.
The officers concur in stating that the win
ter of those regions exceeds any cold within
our conception; and they were astonished TO
find that the steam generated from their bod
les and from cooking became condensed into
water on their bedding and froze it together
so that it could not easily be separated. The
extensive waste of waters between the coasts
of Greenland and America become cemented
together by ice, and all the region, including
Hudson's Bay, Labrador, and the Straits of
Belle Isle, becomes choked up, and but for
the Gulf stream it would belt in Newfound-
land
Such is the region through which numer-
Gus, expensive, and well-planed enterprises
have been sent by various Governments, at
different times within the last two centuries,
for the purpose of navigating around the
northern coast of America, into The Pacific
Ocean and now two vessels, the Enterprise
and the Investigator, before spoken of are en-
deavoring to make the passage from the op-
posite direction, and in the hope of finding
the veteran navigator, whose fate enlist so
warmly the benevolent interest of all COM
mercial nations. The voyages of Ross, of
Parry, of Back, and formor voyages of Frank
lin, are deeply Interesting, and there is now
a commercial motive for prosecuting them
which did not until lately prevail. The wha-
lers are now obliged to proceed northward,
through the passage between Asia and Amer
lea, for supplies of oil; within seven or eight
hundred miles of the supposed locality of Sir
John franklin. This fact will stimulate the
spirit of discovery on the Pacific side to an
extent beyond what now exists. One of the
remarkable facts attending the expeditions
last made through Barrows's straits--the
British and the one in questions this, that
they commenced wintering within fifteen
miles of each other, fact that was unknown
until the arrival of the expedition in this
port, where tidings were obtained of the
place Of wintering and of the unexpected
return of the British vessels. We have the
materials on hand for more extended notice
of the expedition, but we omit it to-day, in
order to make room for the deeply interest
ing letter of Lady Franklin, whose earnest
efforts in the important duty which has devol-
we'd upon her have done so much to enlist the
sympathy of the civilized world in her behalf,
and in the behalf of her distinguished husband
1t is highly crcditable to the management of
the expedition that although exposed to severe
sickness and to vast perils, not single man
has been lost, and the vessels were but slight
ly damaged prior to the gale in September
H