Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1861-11-14

WV" S'Soe aluoi Iuto tue dTCtI'
; scheme, in which he has perished.
From the official account of the Arc
tic Expedition, made by DR.. Hayes, tc
the contributors to that enterprise, we
, compile the following facts, which arc
presented in chronological order. The
passage through Melville Bay, made
late in August last year, was remark
able. No field ice was seen until
we reached within a few miles of Cape
York. when we encountered a narrow
stream, which, under a full press ol
sail was bored without difficulty
We were only SIS hours in cffccting
the passage of the bay" The acci
dental meeting with Hans, DR.. Kane's
runaway boy, near Cape York, was
one of the noteworthy incidents of the
early part of the voyage.
In Smiths Straits the voyagers met
heavy ice packs" and icebergs, and
had several narrow escapes from de.
struction. During the early part OF
September, DIR. Hayes says
The schooner frequently came in
collision with icc.felds from fifteen to
twenty feet in thickness. The quar-
ter inch iron plate on the cutwater
was torn of, and the false stern was
carried away. Soon afterward we
encountered severe "nip," and be-
fore the rudder could be shipped, the
two lower pintles were broken off. In
this crippled condition it was impossi.
BILE to make further headway, and, af
ter extricating ourselves from the ice,
we ran down into Hartstein Bay, and
anchored. 49,.
The explorers went into winter quar-.
ters on the 9th of September at the
head of Hartstein Bay. This point is
twenty miles further south than DR..
kane's winter quarters, and was
named Port Foulke in honor of Wm.
Parker Foulke, Esq, of Philadelphia
DR.. Hayes reports
/ need hardly say that l deeply re-
grct that we could not attain a higher
latitude with the vessel particularly
do regret that We could not reach
the West coast. That coast was
wholly unapproachablc with q sailing
vessel. .... ..
T The schooner was moored by -four
hawsers, forty yards from shore, in
seven fathoms water. The sails were
unbent and the top-masts housed and
after giving the crew a holiday, our
winter preparations were commenced
The stores were deposited in house
built for the purpose on shore. The
hold was converted into a comfortable
room for the men, and the upper deck
was housed over with boards. Owing
to hard weather, three weeks elapsed
before these arrangements were com.
pletcd. The weather continued bois
terous throughout the autumn and
indeed throughout the greater part o.
the winter
While the daylight lasted we were
proftably employed. A survey of the
harbor and adjacent coasts was made
by the joint labors of Messrs. Sonta g
Mccormack, Dodge and Radcliffe. Ii
September, Mr. Sontag put up in the
observatory the fine pendulum appa
ratus constructed expressly for the ex
pcdition 10y the Messrs. Bond of Bos
, ton, and full set of satisfactory ex
periments were obtained. The mag
netic instruments were subsequent,
placed in the same building, and ob
servations were there made from tim,
to time. A metcorologic Observatory
was erected on shore, and observa
tions were there recorded three times
daily with several instruments. A bi
hourly record was kept near the YES
sci with single instrument. may
mention that all the instruments have
been well compared. A survey oI
Johns glacier was made by Mr.. Son
tag and myself in October. This gla
cicr, which was discovered and named
by DR.. Kane, approaches the sea
through deep valley, and its face j.
two miles from the sea. The angles
. not yet reduced, obtained in October
were repeated by myself last June
and they show considerable move
: ment in the glacier. The survey o.
this glacier was further continued by
me late in October, with party o.
five persons ascended to the me,
! de glaze, and travelled eastward fifty
miles. Our greatest elevation was
4,500 feet, the temperature at whicl
elevation was Is degrees lower than
at the level Of the sea.
The winter was passed in health
and comfort. We were fortunate in
capturing upward of 200 reindeer
which kept both ourselves and the
dogs constantly supplied with fresl
J food.
The loss of the dogs procured a
Danish settlements was a serious
drawback to the full success of th,
enterprise. Mr.. Sontag lost his lifi
while on an expedition to the Esqui
maux for the purpose of obtaining
more dogs. The manner of his dealt
is thus described:
1t appears from Hans report. that
the immediate cause Of Mr.. Sontag's
death was cold. Hans, upon his re
turn, stated that they travelled the
first day to Sutherland Island, where
they camped in snow hut, and were
detained there two days. Their next
camp was at Sorfalik, deserted Es-
quimaux station on the coast, fifteen
miles below Cape Alexander, where
they built another snow hut. They
set off next day directly for Northum
berland Island. The ice, although
covered with light snow, appeared te
be sufficiently strong. Mr.. Sontae
walked in advance of the sledge, and
when about five miles from the land
he came upon thin ice and broke
through. Hans assisted him out ol
the water, and they Immediately puI