The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-01-18
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
SATURDAY. Y. January Is.
Polar DIscovcric--Iscst ffoutc TO
the North Pole.

Polar Discov-crics-1scst noutc 70
the North Pole.
In our issue OF November o, we inserted n very
interesting letter from Capt. Thos. Long. giving
an account OF the discovery OF land in the Arctic
Ocean. That article was copied in full in some
Of the California papers and telesraphed to the
New York HsraiG and published there on the sul
Of December, n one of the most interesting dis
cOyeFies made during the year.
At our request, Capt. Long has prepared n
statement Of his observations regarding the best
route for reaching the open Polar Sea. and his
reasons why IL can only be accomplished from the
Pacific Ocean. We do not hesitate u say that il
will prove % be one OF the most forcible argu-
ments yet given 10 the world why the Polar Sea
cannot be reached from the Atlantic, and why
future expeditions should only he sent from this
ocean via B,hFing Straits.
Many iaets stated by Captain Long will lie new
to our readers, and valuable 20 those who may Ell
gage in those expeditions. for we firmly believe that
the open Polar Sea exists and that il will yet he
reached. nayigated and explored in some kind of n
craft which Yankee ingenuity may invent. Both
Kane and Hayes reached what they supposed to be
the shore Of the Polar Sea, but without wishing to
dctraet from the honor due To them, it must besaid
further evidence as To- Its existence and extent is
eagerly sought for by the scientific world. The
following IL Capt. Longs letter:
Nix. EDITOR At your request, / venture a few
remarks upon the Northern Polar Ocean, and my
own impressions in regard to the best method of
making a passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic
Ocean by n northern route, or a communication
by water north Of America or Asia between these
two oceans. Before giving my own views on this
subject, | think it right and proper to take n par
tial retrospect of the causes which first led to these
northern explorations, and of n few of the efforts
made to accomplish this object.
Soon after the discovery of the Pacific Ocean by
Balboa in 1913, and the passage of Magellan
through the Strait which bears his name, and
across the Pacific Ocean in 1921, the enterprise of
the governments and people Of Northern Europe,
and especially of England, was stimulated to find
u more direct route north of America by which to
reach this ocean. Frobisi,er's expedition in
1857 (Which entered Hudson's Bay) was probably
the fret systematic cndcayOr made for this pur-
pose. Since then an almost innumerablc number
Of expeditions have been fitted out for this object,
and an enormous amount of life and treasure has
been expended in these efforts. The English Gov
ernmcnt has been very liberal, not only in offering
rewards (some of them rs large rs 10000 stcr-
ling) to stimulate individual enterprise, but also
in sending numerous expeditions at the expense of
the Government for this purpose. Not only did
the Government offer this large reward for making
the Northwest Passage, but they offered large re-
wards TO any one who should reach certain indi-
Gated points in the Polar Sea. Parry. in 1890,
WIS the first and, / believe, the only one who
reached any of these points.
IL would require too much time and space To
enuincratc all the expeditions fitted out for this
purpose. / shall therefore notice II few only,
which have n direct bearing upon the ideas which
1 propose to advance.
During these earlier northern voyages, there
were Two theories in regard To the character of the
Polar Ocean, each of which had, and, l believe,
still has numerous advocates. One was that the
Polar Ocean was Of unlathomable depth, as WIS
proved by soundings taken north of Spitzbcrsen,
ard the diameter of the sea being nearly 1000
miles, there must be n sufficient agitation of Its
waters to prevent any great accumulation of zee
upon is surface. This, together with the idea of
q system of revolving currents for the Arctic
Ocean, constituted the theory of the Polists, of
harrington and Barrow were the earliest
!
Tn the other side the anti-POlists, OF whom
froiesSor Leslie was the heid' eontended that inc
'e"lcia'ule uceIeseu rcsu"riy Us you Pr"eeueu
'o"aru' u h'r'n' a'u III" therefore 'ne r"mr
y. mus. U 30 much e"c"m"ered with Ice Ne 10
'HAAo 1t i"iOss."'e % penetrate
"SFee''e e0 nus yiefu |" u 'esu-
Inony of direct observation. I will therefore offer
few of these evidences of direct observation that
we nav see which theory has the best foundation. /
- I
hraneclli IN the inOnth OF Nlarch, 1913, III lat
5n+ y ar1 In, IKE an 4 ~, a. oroo
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