Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-10-30
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MONDAY, OCTOBER 80. 1854.
The American Arctic ExPedftion-Ap-
prehensiOms of its Safety.

pFehensHOms of its Safety.
1t is now about fifteen months since the ez
pedition Of Dr. Kane was heard of last. He
was just then entering the Dects Trap, as
the whaler's call it, at the most northern por-
ton of Baffin's Bay. Two hundred and six
teen cebergs were in view from the deck of
his little vessel Through these and unnum-
bered groups of others beyond them, he was
to thread his way into Smiths Sound, and
thence, if Providence favored, into the Polar
sea. All afterwards was to depend on the
phases of that unvisited region. If by boats
forced through the floating cefelds, or by
sledges drawn by dogs, he could push onward
till he had crossed the great drift current that
sets towards the Atlantic-that current which
bttlaed Sir Edward Parry, carrying him as far
buck in the twenty-four hours by its southern
progress, as he had advanced over the moving
ice in an opposite direction-Dr Kane hoped
to find memorials at least, if not the relics, of
Sir John Franklin's party. 1t is plain to
those who have studied the oceanic phenome-
nn Of the Arctic circle, that the lost navigator
must have been imbedded in fixed ice to the
west of the inlet, through which he passed
from Lancaster Sound or else his vessels
have yielded to this current and their remains
are to be looked for i'll the track which our
countryman intended to explore
The season of 1858 was AN uncommon open
nous as to this and the immense icefelds in
the Atlantic during the last six months, prove
the fact; for the ice which is encountered by
nayigators off our coast, is always that which
was detached by the Arctic summer Of the year
before. 1t is altogether probable, therefore,
that the little company of the Advance, when
they had reached the farthest north which is
dehneated on our charts, found the way still
an open one TO those for whom dangers and
difficulties were calculated things, Tie sea-
son of 1854, on the other hand, has been an
uncommonly close one. 1t is the declaration
of all who have visited North Baffin's Bav
during the present year-whalers transport
ships, and steamers under the conduct Of Brit
ish government ofiicers-that there was nei-
Their hope nor chance for any vessel fighting
her way over the barrier that blocked up
Smiths Sound. This fact explains why our
gallant adventures have not returned as they
proposed to do. At the same time it furnishes
no ground for anxiety for their immediate safe
ty. They are beyond the perils Of the polar
approach; and their stores, carefully husband
ed and reinforced by the hunt, will no doubt
enable them to live and labor on till another
summer. Their great risk is the character of
the season which is to come Should that
also be close one, they may themselves need
the same office of charity they sought to rem
der to Sir John Franklin.
1t is this last suggestion which we are anx-
ious to present to the American people and TO
their representatives now about to reasonable;
and we invite our brother journalists to join
with us in doing so. The little party num-
-bers nineteen souls, embarked in a single yes
sci, to which the government of the United
States has contributed nothing but some half
dozen officers, with limited share of their
| equipment, and the orders under which they
sail. In all other respects it is a private ex-
| petition. The vessel and her garniture are
contributed by the gentleman who furnished
forth De Ravens hotilla. Mr.. Peabody con-
tributed some $4,000 to its outfit; the diff
! ferent scientific associations of the country at
| New Y FORK, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Bos-
| ton, aided the young commander in making
| up the rest. Yet it is strictly an American
party, and whatever of honor it may achieve,
or has achieved belongs, and will belong, to
the country under whose official countenance
it sailed. 1t may be commended, too, as a
gallant party. Its members are young men
the oldest of them, the commander, not 80
years of age when he sailed yet most of them
tried men, both i'll battle and in storm. They
are serving without more than the ordinary
pay of their grades, some of them without
any pay at all, and more than one contribute
ing from his personal means to the cost of the
expedition. They are in word, crusaders
in cause of rescue, without the possible i'm
putation to a single one Of them of any other
than an ennobling motive. They have thrown
themselves out. as a forlorn hope, TO redeem
the pledges which were given, yeAfs ago, by
the national executive; and the question is
not now to be asked whether they shall. be
left without support, and the flag they carry
be abandoned to its fate
The only real subjects for discussion are the
means Of rescuing them. This is simple
enough. The season during which it is at all
practicable to traverse Melville bay or even
the more southern part of the Greenland
coast, extends from the beginning of June to
the middle of August. During this period,
and under fayoring circumstances, a vessel
like the Advance, impelled by sails, might
pass from the mouth of Smiths Sound to the
United States in some six weeks. In perhaps
half that time, or little over, properly pre-
pared steamer could pass from the United
States to the southern edge of the barrier that
now shuts in our little party. If the ice of
North Baffin should then be found relaxed.
few days more would be sufficient for an ex-
ploration by such steamer, reaching very far
to the north, and for the almost certain reun-
ion of the two parties. Ii, on the contrary.
the ice should be found unbroken at the mouth
Of Smiths sound, an exploration by sledge
parties, such as have been resorted to SO sue
cessfully in Wellington channel would be the
Indispensable and only means of effecting
rescue.
There will not be the same difficulty in fol-
lowing the track of DR.. Kane's party that has
embarrassed the seekers Of Sir John Franklin.
Warned by the unfortunate example of the
English navigator, DIR. Kane arranged with
his friends before setting out full system Of
signal marks by which his course would be
Indicated for, though he looked to be gone
but single winter, he was too familiar with
the capricious chances of Arctic voyaging not
to apprehend the possibility of his being de-
tanned, and he therefore left behind him in
this country full instructions for those who
might be pleased to follow him. The cost Of
such a rescue expedition would not be large.
A strongly built steamer, Of moderate tom
mage, such as could be chartered and fitted
out in a few weeks, provisioned for four
months, differed and manned by volunteers
from the navy or the merchant service---and
perhaps, if the steamer employed were verv
small one, transport schooner to carry out
stores-would makeup the entire equipment
and outfit. There would be no difficulty in n
finding the men for such party. Those
who have read DIR. Kanes narrative Of the
first Grinnell expedition must have been
struck with the kind and manly feeling
which all the officers Of the Advance and
Rescue bore to each other. There is not one
Of them, we are sure, who would not gladly
undertake the search for his lost comrade. All
that is needed is the prompt and effective