Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-10-23
.prTrr rrpJDT3TTD.v.

| vitTsUf On. HAYES OK THE hEsoLts Or p .nE
PASDoRA's NoYAGE-F RANkLlN SA !, 6 ale
| -TuE THEORY OF THE EXISTENCE OF AN OPEN
PoIAR SEA-PROsPECTs or THE ENGLISH tx
rEDITIoN f.
DIR. Isaac /. Hayes, of New York, tie eminent
arctic explorer, writes to the New York Herald a
letter concerning The Pandora's voyage to the
arctic regions, which We give below DIR. Hayes
SAYS: II find, indeed, so much gratifesoon in TIE
news that feel disposed to write few observa-
tons touching this subject in which you have
always manifested so great an interest do tins
partly because would correct slight crror in the
Transmission Of the telegram which might be con-
fusng to The general reader, and partly because
there arc some results which arc interesting in
connection with the English expedition to the
North Pole under Captain Mares.
The Pandora has made very gallant dash into
the Arctic seas, and as a summer adventure re-
minding one of the bold attempts of Bathn, Ross
| and Inglefeld. To be sure, the Northwest pas
| sage was not accomplished, but the Pandora came
about as near to i. as any expedition, save that of
Sir John Franklin with the Erebus and Terror.
| That this should have been done inside of four
months without serious accident Is certainly cred
liable to Captain Young and his associates, rs it is
to the great journal which took so large share
in the bold enterprise.
MELVILLE BAY.
I'p to time of reaching Melville Bay all seems to
have been plain sailing with the Pandora. Mel.
vile Bay is the great terror of Arctic nayigators.
The winds, currents and the enormous discharge
of icebergs from the Greenland glaciers block II
up to such an extent that navigation IS always
dangerous and sometimes impossible The bay
in itself is but broad curve of the Greenland
coast extending in a northwesterly direction from
"a little above pernayik, in lat. 80 deg. TO Cape
Y ork in lat. &c deg. But this bay has come to be
regarded as comprising the whole OF Baiiin's Bay
living TO the westward, in which quarter there Is
slow, circular movement OF the waters, caused by
the northerly set of the current on the Greenland
side and southeily set on the American SIDE,
the result being that great bodies OF ice are held
there, constructing what is known as u he lddle
Ice" on Melville Bay Pack. 10 the northward
of this the sea s generally free up to Smith sound
and also to the westward into Lancaster Sound.
Westerly winds drive this pack upon the Green
land coast while easterly winds drive 1t IN the op
poste direction and leave the coast free. The
navigator watches his chances, and must hold in
one direction or the other, for If once caught IN
the pack" his ship is liable to be crushed as an
eggshell in the hand. The Pandora, with good
Judgment, seems to have he d well to the west and
run the gauntlet without difficulty. by pursuing
the same course after succession OF westerly
gales once passed, under sail, through Melville
Bay IN forty Eight hours, and again in ffty-tive,
without encountering much ice. The open sea
above this bay is known as the North Water, IN
which lie the Carey Islands, and to which point
the course of The Pandora was identical with that
Of the Alert and Discovery, under captain Mares.
and the same as that of Sir John Franklin and Of
all the discovery and search expeditions OF recent
times. Thence, however, the course OF the Alert
and Discovery was due north to Smith Sound, on
the track Of Baffin in 1918; Ross, in 1885, Ingle-
field, in 1852; Kane, in 1893; Hayes, IN 1861 j;
Hail. in 1872; and in which direction the northel-
most known land has been discovered and where
lies the "Open Polar Sea" which Kane first dis
covered, which subsequently saw and traced stll
further north to latitude W degrees-that 49, to
within $50 miles of the Pole-which Hall after
ward reached as believe, ip the steamer Polaris,
and which Captains Mares and Markham will, l
am equally confident, navigate.
THE COURSE OF THE PANDORA.
From Cary Island the course ofthe Pandora as
a little TO the south of west, and into Lancaster
Sound, directly on the track OF Franklin; then in
to Barrow Straits, on to Beechy Isivnd, which lies
at the entrance to Wellington Channel, and where
Franklin passed the winter OF lo45-46. and where
three of his party lie buried. Their graves
were first discovered in 1850, but here all traces Ct
the missing expedition were lost until 1858, when
DR.. Rae, travelling overland from the northern
mart of Hudsons Bay, in noithweste;ly direction,
session he found numerous relics and learned Of
the destruction of the entire party.
FRANKLIN's FATE.
But he was utterly unable to locate the position
of the r misfortune OF to learn of the cause there
of. further than that small body of men, drag
cling one boat, reached Montreal Island, at the
mouth Of Backs or Great Fish River, where. in
the shelter of the boat they all lay down and died.
though, as he learned from the natives, not until
some of them had resorted to the terrible alferna
tive Of cannibalism. Here the matter rested until
CAPTAIN McClintock, in the steamer Fox, In 1898,
approached the locality from the North. Captain
Young, commander OF the Pandora, was with NC
rptock on this voyage.
After search OF ten years the locality of Frank.
Inns ships was fixed within certain limits, and all
that McClintock and Young had TO do was to push
south from Barrow Straits by ship as far as posi-
ble and, there wintering, to search IN the spring
for traces Three routes were open to them. In
the first place they might go down Prince Re-
gents Inlet. 10 the westward OF this inlet lies
the large island Of North Somerset. Then comes
Peel Sound. then Prince of Wales Land, then
McClintock's Channel, discovered by Captain
Young while on sledge journey in the spring OF
1889. McClintock went down Prince Regent In
let, where Parry and Ross had previously gone,
and were finally brought up by the ice in Belloit
Strait, which serarates Somerset Island from
Boothia Peninsula, the northernmost point OF the
mainland of the American Continent. This y IN
latitude y dogs. Thence to the south hes King
William I.and-an island over hundred miles
long, near the northern extremity OF which Frank
Inns ships were beset and finally frozen fast in the
ice, after having come south through
Peel Sound in september, l6t6-Whlch TACT was
determined by McChntock and Young during
their sledge journeys in 1885, for, on visiting that
island large heap of stones Or cairn was discoy-
cred by them, and under it a record, carefully Sc
cnred in bottle, which told, in few brief words
the story the world was SO long in search Of And
this story was to the effect that Franklin had after
wintenng on Beechy Island and trying to reach
Behrng Straits in the direction Of the Pole, where
the open sea was supposed to lie, gone south
toward the American coast in the hope of follow
ing its course toward the Pacific Ocean, when the
ships were unfortunately beset. 1t further states
that Sir John Franklin hinself died long before
the final catastrophe.
Here is the record:
April 2j 1913.
TIE FRANKLIN RECORD.
II. NJ. ships Erebus and Terror were deserted on
the I'D April, leagues NV of this, avmg been
beset since l.th September, 1876. The officers and
crews, consisting of l05 souls under the command
of Captain +. X. NJ Cr0zier, landed here in lat. SO
deg 81 min. ~ n. longitude rs deg. II min. W
Sir John Franklin died on the llth June, lsi7, and
the total loss by deaths in the expedition has been
to this date, officers and Is men.
lsigned) FIR. NJ. CROZIER,
Captain and senior officer.
And start on to-mor- JAMES FITZJAMES,
River.
This record was, however, WI ittcn on the margin
of paper which had nearly year before been
placed there while all was well, and which runs AS
ioiloWs: