The New York herald., 1876-12-11
THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.
DR.. Hayes Reply TO His Eng
lish Critics.
HIS POSITION EXPLAINED
The Question Of Latitude
Considered.
Letter from the German Geographer, Dr..
Petermann.
DR.. Hayes Explorations Fully
Sustained.
DR.. Hayes Explorations Fully
Sustained.
New YoaK, Dec. 4, 1879.

New YoaK Dec 4, 1915.
To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD
find in the HERALD OF to-day letter from your
London correspondent, dated November II, containing
lively description Of the discussion now going in
England over the OF the British Arctic expedi-
tlon, in connection with which my is promi-
nen,ly mentioned. good many people IN Great
Britain be dissatisfied accordiDg TO the press
notices quoted by your correspondent, with the return
the expeditions object to the plans pursued
in travelling while others regard the expedition
Is being all respects success, and still others
decided failure. Among these are "Arcturus,'' ''Po-
iaris "H. b. c., my old friend DR.. Rae, and IAN Old
Arctic. Your correspondent says that my letter in
the HERALD OF October 20 acted this last
unknown party '.hke red Tag bull" nnd
then relates tho result.
should like the privilege of saying few words
with regard TO this The letter referred
being written when a member of your stan in
slnterview'' Ho wanted something tor the morn
ing paper accordingly finished the letter hastily.
did not read 1t over, much less the proofs.
To my surprise the Sun next day charged with i'm
pugning the yerac!.y OF Captain Mares. This |
promptly denied IN subsequent letter, which you
published November B. In saying .did not believe
OF IL" Qor which somo Of the English critics
take to task, calling the letter dlscourteous /
meant that did not believe in any permanent Palace
CryStC ''Se6
eve any permanent ice barrier, and. Short did
not believe the general conclusions at not
deem.ng the time consumed IN observation suicicnt
the evidence satisfactory AS what they reported
having and having done had no moro thought
intention Of questioning that than OF doubling the
Dscaogue regre, that diu not have leisure to give
full and careful discussion ofthe matter tlrst
But my letter OF November o. published In the HERALD
December however, supplies this dsd clcncy,
l am able lo do
This unknown party, who signs himself IAN Old
Arctic '.goes for in very lively fashion. He
writes a vein which much says, .'Go on, gen.
tlemer; but II you only did but know who really
you would have nothing further to say He appears
TO think would be serious blow to free disc
habit Of taking precious little notice of such
but this oae seems 70 require little attention on
count OF your correspondent stating that between
this unknown party and the undersigned I'll is very
pretty cuarre! as 1t stapus. y
Now, it always takes two to make quarrel aud, IN
this case, there IS no quarrel Ut all unless IAN Old
Arctc's - abuse may be called AS Tor myself, /
never quarrel with anybody on paper; and most GER
taInly would not with one who skuks behind
dc plume There 10 certainly OBJ
lection TO anonymous writings; put It is cou-
sidercd au attribute OF an English gentleman,
certainly OF American, that when he begins
to Call he does il in the daylight and not inc
shadow. He says work is worthless, That may
well be. The word nas been applied TO Arctic expiora-
generally the past three hundred years Worth
less or not cannot, however get the fact that
l made a longer sedge journey, with insufficient
orce than either OF those Of the British expedition
ana the distances travelled during my combined Jour
neys not Tar snort of tncirs and that, toO
precisely the same kind OF ice they traverscd.
Like DR.. Rae and the Hudson Bay people, travelled
with the iighes possible weight. We carried tents
relying Tor shelter upon the snow hut Our daily
tons compact and the articles so low aud SIM
pie that half pound per nan per day than
ample To light and simple equipment my success
due. We had no lire, only light furnace tor cooking
We encountered without accident 69a degrees below
zero. Our clothing, becdins all camp turn.
ture less than ten pounds 10 each person.
wrong. us,ns ont tn,rty or forty miles. Wnen tho
evidence produced IL will DC lime enough TO raise
that question. may, however. say tnat my ooserva
tons were mAue with pocket aud compass,
that tho SKY was rarely clear, the horizon inipcr
ect the reiraction great, the temperature low, the
time limited, aud accuracy was therefore not ataIna-
ble l never claimed IT, This unknown party says
the charts OF Kane Hayes Hail were unreliable
as be useless To Captain Mares. He should
mind that when were in that quarter there
charts TO guide US. We made them
along and good many hundreds Of miles OF them,
too, and under the most trying circumstances. The
simple TACT that saw the land, sketcned and mapped
II as best We could. cannot be doubted. At ore time
suffered acutcy from blindness and could
scarcely see anything and 10 make an observation
the height OF torture. He should also
the charts Of ST. Georges Channel they would
nave been OF to Captain Mares, and Tor
the simple reason that ne navigating among ice
fields which we're moving and which appear to have
gwen him some trouble. This unknown party says,
never said did. The crossed" in the HERALD
written by me .entercd," and II lhis
known Will trouble himself
| the accounts which published IN ''The Open Polar
Sea- elsewhere, he viii that there record
struggled hard to cross the bay without success
and, finally he positively asserts that was mol there
all. No present notice need be taken OF this
ardy assertion than merely TO observe thai stood
| upon the shores OF deep bay, marked the chart
| Lady Franklin bay. and surveyed what could OF
with my imperfect means and opportunities. had
been with ms small party forty hve days lourneying
over the frozen waters OF Kane BASIN and Kennedy
Channel. during which time We had travelled
course and in our various go,uss aud comngs
| hrn nj mari n "A lu Ytti.a
Our dogs jaded and out Of ood. three days.
journey, when at that point from my supplies
where had lett them with two utterly broken down
men. Ny one ccmpanon 10 heroic Ooy oil eighteen
George +. knorrl, was in such condition that
| feared tor his lie from mere over cxcrton We had
| 10 make a weary march back their camp before
could obtuin another meal heavy snowstorm
| approaching and this breaking upon after
| ward, near proving our destruction. Yet man
aged IN atmosphere which partly obscured the out
Inc Of the sun. 70 obtain the following meridian at
tude May is, 1861, pocket scxantDouble altitude,
| 81 deg. 52 min. INDEX error, deg. III min. THIS
unknown party may compute this II he pIeases
4 make IL latitude 81 deg 50 MIN. AIerward, all my
materials were placed IN tho hands OF Mr.. Charles A.
schot, United States Coas, survey having 20 leisure
myself during the war Aiter applying corrections
errors OF iongitude reractiou, temperature, &C. Mr.
Schott made II 81 deg .. min. Ii this unknown party
| had looked tot course he was thcre himself or he
| wouldn't know so nucb) at the point where
! the coast turns into the bay, he would
have discovered certain DIT OF cil in the sopng
debris fom the tall rock above ana had he scarcned
us base he would have found heap Of stones and
under this he would have obtained record, copy
oi which hc may now, however read IN a more com
Portable place than Lady Franklin Bay II he will
only 90 down INTO Fleet street, LONDON ana buy
OF Messrs. sampson Low & Co. copy Of "Ihe Open
Polar sea.
In confirmation OF my position and general accuracy
In this matter take tnc liberty 0. asking you 10 pub
sl the following opporune letter, received yesterday
from the distinguished German geographcr, Or Peter
mann, whose visit 10 us last summer Is remembered
by all interested scientific discovery with lively
| satisiactlon:-
sGorHA, Nov Is, 1874
"MY DEAR sR-I sent you OH the 18th inst ntlo
map OF the doings OF the English Arctic expedition,