The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-08-14
Arctic Expeditions.

DIR. Hayes, the noted Arctic explorer, has re-
Gently issued an address to the American people,
In which he urges renewed efforts to reach the
North Pole, and discover the open Polar Sea
which exists there. There seems to be a growing
rivalry between various nations, as to which
shall gain the distinguished honor of making
these Arctic discoveries.
Several expeditions are now supposed to be on
their way north, all of them, however, by the
Atlantic. The Bhering Straits route, which is
unqucstionably the most feasible, has not been
followed, owing probably to Its distance from the
ports where the expeditions have 10 be fitted out.
Among other expeditions, a steam wbaler has
been sent out from Germany at the sole expense
of n wealthy citizen of Bremerhaven, which,
after remaining during the fishing season of the
Island of Jan Alayen, is, about the end of June,
to proceed on a voyage of discovery northward
along the eastern coast Of Greenland, and en-
deavor to discover an opening in the ice between
the 74th and 10Th degrees of latitude. If by the
end of August the expedition should not have
succeeded, the vessels will go and pass the winter
either at Spitzbergen or at Gilsland, and resume
the enterprise in 1870.
From English papers, we learn that n private
expedition to the North Pole will set out this
summer from Glasgow. The explorer who is to
undertake this adventure is MIR. Lamont, late
member of Parliament for Buteshire, and fayon-
bly, known in literature as the author of % Sea-
sons with the Sea-Horses." To win his way to
the Pole is not the sole purpose of Mr.. Lamont's
enterprise, for he is an enthusiastic sportsman,
finding his pleasure in cunning on strange shores.
He is a good sailor as well as n diligent hunter,
and has already made a voyage in his own yacht
through the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. For his
new expedition he has fitted out in Scotland, at
his own expense, a steamer of two hundred and
fifty tons, called the Diana, and has associated
with him gentlemen who can aid him in the
various objects he has in view. One of these is
DIR. Smith, who not long since returned from the
Arctic regions, after having been locked in the
ice with a whaler's crew for many months.
Another is Mr.. Hamilton Macallum, n Scotch
artist. Trained hunters of the walrus and other
animals to be met with in the northern seas have
been engaged in Scandinavia.
In his pamphlet referred to above, DIR. Hayes
discusses the merits of the principal routes, each
Of which has it's advocates. The first - bis
own choice-is that by way Of Smith Sound.
BY this route the doctor, in 1854, reached the
highest northern land known, (Grinnell Land, }
which he subsequently revisited in 1861. There
he saw the open Polar Sea, and dwelt for months
within the sound Of its beating surf-the Their
mometer at the time ranging as low us 40 be-
low zero.
The route by Bhering Strait is the second
which he considers. This is championed by some
distinguished names-such as General Thomas l.. |
Kane, and Captain Silas Bent, U. S. N. An ex-
by this route could fit out at Honolulu,
enter the straits within fifteen days, and follow
the open sea, wherever found practicable.
On the side of the Pole opposite to Bhering
Strait, and 10 . nearer to it, conditions are to be
found in the Spitzbergen Sea similar to those
which exist in Bhering Strait. The distinguished
German geographer, DIR. Petermann, favors this
route. and has fitted out his expedition with two
steamers to return to the ground occupied and
abandoned by it last summer.
The fourth route is that to the east of DIR. Pc
termann's, between Spitzbergen and Nova Fem
bla. DIR. Hayes regards this route as out of the
All attempts to follow the current in
that direction have been bad failures and there
is a strong probability that after the ice has been
penetrated extensive lands will be found lying to
the north and east, cutting off an entrance to the
Polar Sea.
We feel confident that an expedition sent out
from this port to proceed through Bbering Strait,
If the season were favorable, would accomplish
more, in the way of discoveries, than any made
either through Smiths Sound or via Spitzbergen.
But perhaps the most novel, If not the most