Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-05-11

Is there an Open Sea at the North Pole:
Fer the last two hundred and seventy years
IL has been the opinion of all those navigators,
geographers and philosophers who have given
the closest attention 10 the subject, or who
nave adventured farthest into the Polar seas
that north OF Spitzbergen, and within the Polar
circle, the ocean was open, and at certain and
particular seasons unencumbered by ice. Such
was the conclusion arrived at by 'sthat most
persevering seaman" the Arctic Columbus,
William Barentz, of Amsterdam, who first dis
covered Spitzbergen in 1896, and explored the
north and eastern coast of Nova Zembla and
died after he had solved the problem of the
possibility OF Europeans wintering at the ex-
treme north, but before he had enjoyed either
the fame or the fruits of his intrepidity and
conduct
That exploring expeditions sent out by diff
ferent governments have never sailed upon this
open Polar sea, but have invariably encoun-
tered barrier OF ice in the latitude of the
nOrtheTmOst Spitzbergen Archipelago is proef
of nothing more than that they did not happen
to be north when prOpitious season or con-
curing circumstances threw open the icy por-
tails of that Arctic ocean, and extended silent
but certain welcome to enterprise and daring.
But although national expeditions have
failed, more than one ship has ploughcd its
waters free of Ice in the pursuit of gain or for
'he qualification Of curiosity. Moreover that
sea, which has upbOrne several Dutch whalers
to within one or two degrees of the Pole, and
even, it is probable. to the Pole itself pre-
sented visible demonstrations of its existence
to the eye Of Morton, (kane's subordinate }
even rs r roar, thrOug many a weary winter
hOuI, announced its gale wrought fury, free of
icy fetters, to the ear of Barentz as if to cheer
him with proof of that great truth which his
master mind had worked out, although ocular
demonstration was denied to his fearless search
The idea of a free Polar ocean is nothing
new Col. Beaufoy, In the first years of this
century, published work t'On the North
Pole, ;" which, to an unprejudiced mind. is as
conclusive IN Its proofs as anything can be
which depends upon circumstantial evidence
cOTrobOrating testimony which has never been
as it were, legally perpetuated.
One hundred and sixty-fYe years ago, Peter
Plancius, Dutch theologian, mathematician, /,
and even statesman Of no mean repute but
better known as geographer, indicated the
pOsSlbiliIyOf that very Polar circumnavigation
which Mcclure achieved, and Barentz bored
into the ice northeast Of Europe and pointed
out with mis- finger to the Dutch mariners of his
generation that northeastern Arctic explora-
ton beyond which 1t is conceded no other na-
ton has since penetrated
Before Mentioning in concise Language the
different mariners who have claimed or are
conceded to have nayigated an open Polar sea
within the Arctic circle, let us consider the
proofs which nature brings forward to estab-
llSn the TACT oil It's existence
First Whalers who have made their way
through the supposed icy barrier along the
Arctic line $50 deg. NJ have found the waters
which unsuccessful explorers declared the re-
giOn of eternal ice, prolific in whales, and pur-
sued them over ''holl0w grown" seas, urged
sOuthWard by northerly winds, waves of suffi-
cient magnitude to require a long and unister-
rupted roll, proving that the northerly wind
had been blowing over a landless, iceless ex-
panse of water.
Second. Those Hollanders and Russians who
have wintered upon the northern coasts of
Spitzbergen, likewise those seamen who have
made their way thither early in the fishing
seasons, declare that in the spring great num-
bers of wild geese, ducks and marine birds
take their fight farther north. Parry, July
IL, 1877, saw, when all was ice around and be-
fore him, two seals, fish and a bird, near So
deg. north, and still farther on a rotge, a ma
rine bird, when be attempted to reach the Pole
over the ice. Is it reasonable to suppose that
whales, amphibii and birds would with each
returning year. resort to region of eternal ice
and desolation which were such the fact could
afford no certain means of subsistence to either?
Third Quite number Of mariners, who
have sailed to the north of Spitzbergen, relate
that they experienced more suffering and cold
from sOutherly than from northerly winds;
showing that the former, rather than the latter,
blew from the ice to the south, and that to the
northward the sea was open and free of ice.
Fourth. Morton, sent forward by Kane,
looked northwards from Cape Constitution in
81 deg. % min. north ian elevation of 480 feet,
commanding an horizon Of almost 40 miles,
upon a great waste Of waters without a speck
OF Ice, and alive with marine birds, while be-
low him, a surf (the sure indication of an open
seal broke upon the rocks below.
Fifth. BarentE, in mid winter imprisoned
by the Ice on the northeast shore of Nova
Zembls. heard and recorded that outside the
azf - - 1.1Ssr L. L.. Al n
fields continually heaved, dashed and ground
together and broken up with a most horrible
noise, by an impetuous sea from the north, q
sea driven upon the coast by gales which, to
create such a sea, must have blown over a vast
unfroZen ocean.
Sixth. Msrteu universally conceded to be
one Of the most reliable authorities in regard
TO Polar navigation) reports, in regard to the
weather often experienced at the far north
that on July Path, 1871, when at the northern
extremity of Spitzbergen, 1.-The tar wherewith
the ship was daubed overmelted Upon other
occasions he mentions ''warm weather." and
seoresby, jr., records degree Of heat upon
the eastern coast Of Greenland, up Hurry inlet
about I'll deg. north, as oppressive as any ex-
perienced by those who had been in the torrid
regions; and the Dutch captain with the truth
of whose relations the English northern COM
pany were perfectly satisfied, stated that be
had sailed to 80 deg, within one degree Of the
fOlci IN as nOt "OaeucIs ns ne uau ever eXpe-
rienced at Amsterdam in mid summer
Finally, Bsrentz, whilst he wintered in Nova
Zembla, the Russians, who wintered at Maloy
Zsrum. east of SpitIbergen, and parties whe
have wintered at KOla in Laplaud, and In the
northsrnmost regions Of Europe attest that the
cold diminishes with the northerly wind, and
proving incontestibly that il cannot blow over
an iee-bound, but on the contrary, over an
open and iceless sea.
--<>~>S--------
TIE GEOGRAPHY OF CoSsUNPrIoN.-Con-
sumption originates in all latitudes-from the
equator, where the mean temperature is eighty
degrees, with slight variations to the higher
portion Of the temperate zone, where the mean