The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-01-01

Orleans Academy OF Sciences, by DR.. J. R
Walker, Chairman of Geographical Section
Subject Present State Of knowledge Re
garding the North Polar Regions
The story of Arctic explorations is the stor,
Of thousand years A thousand years ag,
the old Norsemen Gunniborn, Eric the Red
the Viking Naddodd, turning from the ricl
plains of Southern Europe and Asia, wher,
millions OF unoccupied acres invited emigra
ton, crossed the ocean in their trail vessels
and made themselves homes in the Arctic Isl
and of Iceland
Others followed with their wives, children
and servants. Crossing to the adjacent coasts
Of Greenland, they pushed across the PENN
sula and extended their settlements far up the
shores Of Batfin's Bay. These early adven.
turers were soon followed by Others A long
list OF mercantile adventures, seeking O
northwest passage to far Carthay," vainly
beat out their strength against the icy bar
riers. The English, Dutch, Danes and Rus
SLAMS made desperate efforts to find shorter
and easier route to India than the tedious sail
around the Cape of Good Hope.
| This idea being exploded, the pride of ma
| tional acquisition stimulated new expeditions
The Cabots-father and sons; the Cortereal
brothers; Sir Hugh Willoughby, whose whole
company was frozen to death on the coast of
Lapland; Sir Humphrey Gilbert, whose ship
foundered at sea, and many others whose
names are more or less familiar, fill out a long
list of bold and hardy adventures whom
neither disaster nor threatened death could
turn from their cherished purpose.
The name of Henry Hudson stands out as
that Of a prominent standard. bearer in Arctic
waters. He sailed over the magnificent bay
sad indeed.
Wintering on Southampton Island, the
long, cold winter and insufficient food told
on the moral as well as the physical condi-
ton of his men. They mutinied. He and
his son were turned adrift in an open boat
the mutinous crew taking possession of the
vessel and stores. The ship got back to
England with a few survivors on board, but
Henry Hudson was never heard of more.
The Russian Capt. Behring made the i'm
portant discovery Of the straits bearing his
name, the dividing line between Asia and
America in 1928.
American enterprise was first turned in
this direction in 1854; the expedition failing.
however, to get north of lat. IS degrees
Henry Hudson having reached lat. 81 de-
grees 30 minutes).
The name of VIM. Scoresby may be con-
sidered as the connecting link between the |
old explorers, whose adventures were made |
solely IN the interest OF commerce, and those
more liberal modern enterprises conducted in |
the spirit of scientific investigation.
Pushing his wav through the ice he reached
open water beyond, in the highest ATTITUDES
yet attained
By his experiments on the temperature of
the deep sea water, on terrestrial magnetism,
the so-called ''red snow" he added much to
the scientific information of his day. From
his investigations and publications was
evolved that combination Of events which led
to the land-and-water explorations of Parry
and Ross, and eventually, that most exciting
epoch Of Arctic research, the famous expedl-
lion Of Sir John Franklin, and the various
relief and search expeditions sent out by the
British Government, by Lady Franklin, by
Henry Grinnell of New York (aided by the
United States Naval Department. up to the ]
inal search by McClintock, in 1857
There is nothing recorded IN the history of
geographical explorations Of more thrilling
interest than the story of Sir John franklin
Sailing from England in May, 1915, his ships
we're last seen by civilized ,man on the 26th # !
uly. They were then moored to an iceberg l
n latitude "a degrees 40 minutes, longitude &c \
egrees - minutes. Here they were met by :
he whaler Prince Of Wales, Capt. Dannet, /
Tho brought the last intelligence ever re- s
eived from them. Where they went, or what r
'as their fate, was mystery long unsolved :
ave by mourntul conjectures. The previ- +
us experience and reputation of Sir John
rankin was such as to inspire the greatest
onidence in the results Of his expedition !;
ut when two years b. d elapsed, and no
dingS were received from them, apprehen-
ons began to be whispered =
AS the winter Of 1913 wore away, and still
o tidings, the painful silence became intol-
'able and expeditions were planned to go =
} their relief. One party was sent to Ben +
ngs Straits. They pushed forward to Mac :,
enzie River, made many discoveries, but
turned reporting no signs of the lost Other
arties went out and returned with the same
,sults, until all hearts were chilled with the
srtainty Of disaster, and the sympathies of
le whole civilized world aroused In
arch, 1919, the British Government offered :.
reward Of e2O, 900 to any private exploring 81
arty, belonging to any nation, who should
nd and render efficient aid to the wanderers,
I'd Lady Franklin sent out large supplies Of
,al and provisions. =
No less than twelve vessels, besides sledge
Id boat parties were soon vending their
ny through the Arctic waters and over the
nd, ice and snow, in search of the lost
les. This included expeditions fitted out ID
7 the British Government, by public SUBJ
rption, and by private enterprise.
In August, 1850, one of the exploring par
IS came upon the site of an old emcamp-
ent, number of empty meat cans furnish
6 indubitable proofs of civilization. An
her party came across the graves of three
en-, marked with the name of Franklin's In
ssel and the date 1916; some articles of
othing We're also found. The search was
ntinued for ten years. and in 1857 a boat w