Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1871-12-07

any exploring expedition for they Aere
accustomed TO pursue whales In the Arctic
Sea far north Of Spitzbcrgen. After fhe
discovery Of Davis Straight and BszEh's
Bay. most exploring expeditions weus IN
that direction and this new route % The
pole has been tried ever since, down 10
our time. And since whales bsunme
scarce near Spitzbergeu that region Has
seldom been visited save by walrus Inn
ters from Norway.
Most Of the explorers who have lied
up Baffin's bay have turned west, tfying
every passage leading westward. and al
ways assuming that the climate ftsffher
north was much colder and far nsofe IN
hospitable- Generally the aim has s6een
to find passage through the i6Dko Sch
rings Strait, and the nearest approf y :
success was realized in 1852, w2
British ships Investigator coming he ,., ei
Behring's Strait and the Resoluss somr
the opposite quarter were within fs~ de-
erees Of each other. in the ice so7fh OF
Melville Island. The Investigator. Thich
had already been frozen in two WiGters,
was visited BY sledge party frosa the
Resolute. The vessels were abandoned :,
and both crews came home in the North
Star, by way of Bsffin's Bay. Thg pas
sage thus traced is vide and diresf; but
the water in it is constantly frozeA. No
vessel ever did or ever will get Trough
it. Further attempts there will beszworse
than useless. Some haze tried more north
erly routes; but the only impor;snt sue
cess of the many voyages in this direction
is that secured by the Kane expedition in
1884, which went direct north up Baffin's
Bay toward Kennedy Channel. Dr. Kane
succeeded in taking the Aivanee- sup to
the latitude of IS degrees 43 minutes, and
spent two Winters near this point. No
other vessel sailing in this direction has
reached so high latitude, although Cap
tain lnglcfeld. in 1882 went up' by the
same route 10 - degrees 80 minutes, and
yet 1t is more than two degrees further
south than the northern extremity Sp;tz
bergen. \ slclge party went across the
ice to 81 degrees 22 minutes, north lati-
tudc, and found the upper Polar sea but
open water was found one degree below
this point, in Kennedy Chann.i, along
which the voyagers went to the sea. 1t
was found impossible to release the Ad-
vance from the ice. after she wss frozen
in, and Kane was obliged to leave his
vessel and return to an inhabited point on
the coast of Greenland BY means Of sledges
AMI boats
Expeditions have been sent sarlrd the
south pole, but the highcs, latitude reached
in that direction is rs degrees 10 minutes,
and this point of south latitude has been
reached but once-by Sir Jane Ross, in
1912. In the previous year hS went to
the 18th southern parallel. :ssss,y sonth
of New Zealand, along frozen coast, and
discovered an active volcano. which rises
l., 400 feet above the level Of the sea-
The extreme severity of the cold, in the
southern Polar sea. makes exploration in
that quarter very difficult. 1t is known.
however, that there is large body of land
within the Antartic circle, and that the
passage round Cape Horn is really strait
between that cape and Enderby Land,
somewhat wider than that which leads into
Bafiin's Bay. To reach the South Pole
is manifes,ly impossible.
The German expedition which is sai.
to have reached the North Pole was plan
ned and directed BY the most scientific
study OF the possibilities of arctic naviga-
ton. The route chosen is that along the
west side of Spitzbergen A small vessel
was sent out in this direction in 1868. which
went beyond the s1st degree of north lat
itude, and explored little known portion
of the coast Of Greenland. Kaue's sledgc
party did not 20 further north.