The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1879-03-01
TnE OPEN POLAR SEA.
Arrival In 81. LOUIS of "A sailor Who Says hs
has Been There.
An Opening Into the Mysterious Regions Eight.
cen Miles Wide.
i'rum the st. LouI. Republican

cen miles wide.
Frum The ST. Louis Republican
Capt ). Il futile the Aric navigator, who
claims to have had, and probably has had i
longer ana more varied experience rs SEA
man than almost any man now LIVING, was IN
the city yesterday on his way 10 Washington
to negotiate with the government for small
steamer Ia assist III his further explorations III
Arctic seas. Capt futile is native of New
I York, but al The early age of sixteen ran away
from his parents and went to sea. and has ever
since-sOmc lhirty-iive years-bcen sea-tar
ing man. He is a large and muscular man,
with the appearance OF having been Injured Ia
hardShips. He has been all over the globe he
says, and has sailed in every sea, and has made
twenty VOYAGES 10 the Arctic regions since
his early manhood he has been captain OF
whaling and surveying ships. One OF the
things that particularly attracted his atten.
ton in sailing northwarl was, that he found
the sea more and more open, especially every
fourth year. lie made his last trip about u
year ago, starting from Ilakodado, Japan i'll a
full-rigged ship with Is men, all-lold. In
latitude 81 he noticed m extraordinary dup OF
the compass, and on taking soundngs dlscoy-
cred the cause Of ii to be immense loads Of
MAGNETIC SUBSTANCE,
LII HNc lulUDlliS Oh NultT. IL WIS lllAcu WIN
minerals and fine particles Of gold. In ati-
tude 81 he encountered the ice belt, grounded
under the water and extending in height IN
some places over 400 feet. 1t stretched east
and west aS far as the eye could reach. He
here discovered that the needle pointed due
south, and in his own mind concluded that the
magnetic deposit he had passed had some con.
ncctlon with the direction in which the needle
usually pointed. BY climbing to the highest
points on the icy barrier he could see directly
into an open polar sea lying beyond, and by
tracing along the belt castwardly, he found IA
passage through into this sea- with depth OF
30 iathoms, or $40 feet. The water was quite
warm and gulf stream was steadily setting
out with IA velocity of from four to six miles
per hour He pulled through this passage in
whale boats, and found 1t to be about eighteen
miles wide. In the north part OF this open
sea he found nearly fresh leaves of plaintains,
bananas and other
TROPICAL PLANTS
Floating on the water, and showing that they
had been of the trees but Il short time. Last
October he found large female whale going
north through the open passage before men
toned, and also saw migratory birds going
north In July these birds went back south
with their Young, and about the same time he
observed whales going south with their young
From these facts he concludes that during Il
considerable part of the year there is warm
climate within the open polar sea, sufficient to
produce tropical fruits. In the ice barrier on
one of his trips he found bones and tusks of
the mastodon, which in 1876 he carried to the
Centennial at Philadelphia. They We're 50
large and so strong that some naturalists
thought the animal to which they belonged
must have been forty feet in length. He also
found some hard wood in the shape Of troughs
imhedded in the ice. They looked like feeding
troughs, and the edges had the appearance Of
having been gnawcd by animals. In sailing
west he struck the north part OF the coast OF
New Siberia, where he found Il race of people
that he thought no one had ever seen before or
heard Of They spoke an unknown language
which
SOUNDED LAKE, HEBREW.
They spoke Il few words of Hawaiian and the
ESquimauX language, and with these and the
aid of signs they conveyed the idea that they
came from the North. He was Il little ac-
Quainted with the EsquimauX language, hav.
ing passed four winters with that people, liv-
ing on raw walrus, whale blubbcr and bear
meat During one Of these winters. which are
without daylight, he made Il journey of $50
miles in the dark. During his adventurous
career he has met with many disasters the
most serious of which was an encounter with
a polar bear. He had both arms and both legs
broken, and lost one finger off his left hand
another being so badly laceratcd by the teeth
Of the animal that it is sadly out of shape. He
also lost two ribs, which were completely torn
from the body, which bear the marks of great
wounds, which it seems almost incredible that
my man could receive and live. The polar
bears attain an incredible size, some being re-
ported to weigh rs much as 5000 pounds He |
making another trip to further
EXPLORE that open polar sea- but needs a small
steamer for towing purposes, which he hopes !
o obtain from the government He proposes |
ngton City this morning.