Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1875-10-29

singular manner. At first it seemed to be
an act of human beings, but, on further
investigation, the Pandora people were
| satisfied that the destruction of stores had
| been accomplished by Polar bears, as the
| tracks of those animals were visible in
every direction, both inside and outside
the building.
One of the discoveries made by the Pan
| dora officers was that the headboards over
the graves of Sir John Franklin's men,
who were lying buried there, were still
standing upright and in good preserva-
ton On the Doth of August the Pandora
steamed away from BECKY Island for Peel
Strait and then ensued the most critical
period of the entire voyage, for the
steamer encountered vast fields of pack
ice which made the passage of the vessel
most difficult and .laborious one. Strug-
Cling through the pack of ice, the Pan
dora steadily worked her way onward,
and despite the difficulty soon passed the
farthest point reached by the Fox WiiUn
McClintock was in search OF Sir John
Franklin,s- rolins Soon AFTER reaching
.has point the Pandora neared the island
known as King Williams Land, thus
navigating a sea where no ship was ever
before except, perhaps, that OF Sir John
Franklin. aa s@' ssaD
At this time the most intense excitement
prevailed among the officers and members
of the expedition, as it was expected that
some important results were at hand.
Many believed that they would be sure to
discover traces of the Franklin expedition,
and some were sanguine that even Sir
Johns papers would be found, and of
eventually making Behring's Straits. In
this, however, they were disappointed.
Roquette's Island was discovered ahead.
1t was then considered probable that the
vessel would be able to reach Bellot's
Straits. AS the steamer moved forward
all hands were gazing eagerly ahead to
the southwark, but, on reaching Roquette's
Island, officers and men saw the edge of
the solid pack of Ice which stretched
across the strait from side to side in one
unbrOken eXpanse of hummock-ice.
This pack blocked the entrance to Bel
lots Straits. Tt was the same pack of ice
that stopped Capt McClintock on the Fox.
So there was no hope of a speedy move
ment of the icy barrier. The Pandora
stayed at this point until the 9TH of Sep
TENDER, when, finding that no further
progress was possible, Capt. Young and
his officers saw that they must decide
either to remain through the winter in
the ice or return. After mature dellber-
alton it was decided to be useless to re-
main in winter quarters, and that it
! would be far better to return next year.
The return journey was full of difficult
| ties, as the ice was rapidly forming, and
the passage of the Pandora was a con-
slant series of exciting scenes and narrow
escapes from moving ice-foes.
Finally escaping through Peel Strait,
the ice still rapidly forming and accumu-
lating, the steamer at length reached
Carey Island in safety. There Capt.
Young found the long looked-for dis
patches from Capt. Mares for the British
Admiralty
From Melville Bay homeward the voy-
age was almost uneventful. The dreaded
bay once safely passed unframed, the
Pandora steamed directly for England and
arrived safely in port.
Capt. Young reports that from the
prevalence of north winds there is album
dant promise that Capt. Mares will prove
successful. Should the expectations of
the Pandora's commander be verified
Capt. Mares will proceed to the highest
latitude possible.