The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-11-30
TEE NORTH POLE.
DR.. PeIermann's Account or the Ger
man Expedition, and Discovery OF
the Open Sea.
GOTuA Octobar o

AAL VlCA
= GOTTA, October ..
You will recOllect that the first i'm.
A petus to tne present polar explorations
J was given by the proposition Of Capt
E Osborn, r. N, seven years ago, for a
. British expedition for exploring the
e central Arctic region, to proceed by
way Of Rstfin's Bay and Smith Sound,
which Was most earnestly advocated
by those sea-gOipg and scientific aU-
= thOrities Of Great Britain, and was in
: a fair way of being entertained by the
British government; but when ]
/ placed views and projects before the
1 latter, recommending the sea between
: East Greenland and Nova Zembla as
, the basis of Arctic expeditions, Capt.
: OsbOrn's project was, after an ex-
hausting discussion in four sittings OF
the Royal Society OF London, reject
ed, and to my view the fullest apprO-
baton accorded. Nothing, however,
has since been done by the English,
while Germany, through the gen
erOus contributions of her citizens,
sent to these fields two national ex-
petitions under Capt. Koldewey, and
n addition, extensive explorations
were made in the direction indicated
by DIR. D0rst and DR.. Bsssels in ROs-
. entha's vessel, and subsequently by
Count Aell and Won Heughlin at their
own expense, and very important re-
suits reached, through which Nor.
Wegian fishermen were able to clear,
some of them, fifty-seven per cent.
over their pecuniary investment, and
moreover, TO add the most valuable
scientific observations, discoveries and
surveys to our fund of information
Capt. KOldewey has since expressed
himself, in regard to the North Polar
expeditions, entirely of the opinion of
Capt. Osborn, deeming Smiths Sound
rs the best route, but do not believe
that he will obtain the money for
German expedition on an English plan
which has been rejected by the British
authorities themselves, and for which
he, moreover, believes two steamers,
fitted out and provided for at least two
years, will be indispensable. Already,
during the second North German ex-
/ peditiOn, the most unpleasant differ
ence had arisen between myself and
Capt. KOldewey, through conflicting
/ views and these differences are now
greater than ever, as he has adopted
/ the. opposite of what I advocated,
/ having gone over to Osborn and ex-
pressed himself publicly in regard to
! the eastern half of the Arctic Seas as
/ follows:
'The attempt to penetrate in a ves-
sci between Nova Zembla and Spitz-
| bergen / consider an undertaking
which must end in total failure, and
L would take part in such an expedi-
ton only in case DR.. Peterman would
/ accompany it in person."
/ Reasons for this opinion he does not
give, but it seems Capt. KOldewey
/ does not think it necessary to give
| reasons for his views and assertions.
How little Capt. Koldewey's opinions
are shared by other equally cOmpe-
tent, experienced, and scientific men,
IS shown by the fact that immediate
/ ly after the publication of these Opin-
/ ions in May, an expedition left in
/ June for the exploration of the very
sea which Capt KOldewey would
choose to visit only in my company,
and that his own associates in the pre- |
viOus expedition, the highly distin-
guished First Lieutenant Julius Paw
er, of the Austrian army, and that
excellent naval officer, Lieut.. Wv
precht, undertook it. Compared with /
Koldewey's last expedition, it would !
have been unjust to deny to the cour- /
age and the scientific fervor of these |
gentlemen the very highest apprecia. |
ton, even if they had been less sue. |
cessful. They went with very Door /
means-in a small hired Norwegian /
sailing vessel-while Koldewey had 1
nan - I
vessels, fitted out luxuriously. He |
managed to penetrate during two |
summers, only to seventy-five degrees |
thirty-One minutes north, a third of a |
degree higher than Clavering, forty- /
seven years ago, and in sleighs only 1
to seventy-seven degrees one minute /
north while LieUts. Payer and Wv
precht sailed in small vessel through
that much dreaded sea to Oseventy-nine
degrees north.
The telegram of October Sd, an
nOuncing the return of Payeran Wv /
precht from the high north to from
soc, reads verbally as follows:
"In September, open sea, followed
from fOrty-twO degrees to sixty de-
grees east of Greenwich, beyond sew
enty-eight degrees north latitude
Highest latitude reached was seventy
nine degrees north, on the meridian
of forty-three east. There found IA
vOrable state of ice toward the north,
probable connection with the POlynia
toward the east; probably the most
favorable route to the North Pole"
The last part Of the telegram is not
entirely clear, but have reason to
conclude from it that King Carls
Land, discovered last year by Count
Zell and Won Heughlin, reaches
southwark to seventy-seven degrees
twelve minutes north. The latter
gentlemen have received aeknowl-
edgements of the highest value for
their discoveries and their labOrs in
Eastern Spitzbergen from the Royal
Geographical Society of London and |
its late President, Sir ROderick I.
Murchison.
The cruise and the discovery of Pay
er and Wyprecht prove how little
weight can be placed upon the views
and assertions of Capt. KOldewey, and
also how much appreciation the un-
dertaking of these explorers, their
and their genuine scientific
ardOr in the face of such errors de-
serves. The discovery is more re-
markable, as all other tidings from
European Arctic thus far expressly
state extraordinarily unfavorable con-
ditiOns of the weather and ice. 1t
must be assumed that Payer and Wy
precht probably have penetrated
a belt of drift ice before they
reached an open sea of eighteen de-
gree5 of longitude in extent, and that
they thus, for the first time broke .
the Arctic ice belt, similarly
as Weddell and Ross repeatedly broke
through the Antarctic.
On my chart the Gulf Stream, pub
lished in 1870, 1 drew, after DR.. Bes-
sel's observations in RosenthaPs
steamer Albert, 1859, the Gulf Stream
as far north as seventy-five degrees
and seventy-siX minutes, showing
there still a temperature of four de- !
grees Reaumer, fOrty-fOur Fahrenheit, I
which is higher temperature than
the Gulf Stream has ever been found {
to exhibit on the surface in the same I
latitude. The same Gulf Stream and
the arrows on the chart point directly
TO the spot, latitude 20 north, lOngi-
Lude 43 east, ," which Lieutenant wy ,
Drecht, a gentleman equally cautious :
and thorough in his profession, now ]
announces as that of the most favora- !
Ole ice relations for the probable con-
nectiOn with the open Polar Sea to- :
ward the east and for the most prae-
ticable and favorable route TO the !
North Pole. / have received also 9TH
er highly interesting accounts of 9TH :
er North polar expeditions Of this !
year, with valuable reports and a :
complete journal from which 1 will 1
publish abstracts, with a very inter-
asting original chart, in the next num- :
Der Of the "Geographische Mitthel- ]
.ungen."
A. PETERMANN.
"FeeIing Like It."
a story we once heard in Washing