Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-02-23

He Has Been e-Ienarkable State
'neats of Things Not Generally K,,o,v,.-
An Opening Into the Mysterious REGIONS
Eighteen Miles Vide. 8
lSt. Louis Globe-D Democrat.
Capt. A. B. Tuttle, the Arctic navigator, who
claims to have had, and probably has had, a
longer and more varied experience as a seaman
than almost any man now living, was in the
city yesterday on his way to Washington to
negotiate with the government for small
| steamer to assist in his further exploration in
Arctic seas. Capt. Tuttle is native Of New
York, but at the early age of 16 ran away from
his parents and went to sea, and has ever since
some thirty-ive years-been sea-faring
man. He is a large and muscular man, with
the appearance of having been Injured to hard
ships. He has been all over the globe, he saws.
and has sailed in every sea- land has made twen-
ty voyages to the Arctic regions. Since his
early manhood he has been captain of whaling
and surveying ships. One of the things that
particularly attracted his attention in sailing
northward was, that he found the sea more and
more open, especially every fourth year. He
made his last trip about year ago, starting
from Hakodado, Japan, in a full-rigged ship,
with forty-ive men, all-told. In latitude
seventy-eight he found open sea clear of
ice. In latitude eighty-onea he noticed an ex-
traordinary dip of the compass, and on taking
mense loads of
MAGNETIC SUBSTANCE,
in five fathoms Of water. 1t was mixed with
minerals and fine PARTICLES of gold. In lati-
tude eighthy-two he encountered the ice belt,
grounded under the water and extending in
height in some places over 400 feet It 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
connection with the direction in which the
needle usually pointed. By climbing to the
highest points on the icy barrier, he could see
directly into open polar sea lying beyond
and by tracing along the belt eastwardly, he
found passage through into this sea, with
depth OF ninety fathoms, or 240 feet. The
water was quite warm, and gulf stream was
steadily setting cut with velocity Of from
four to six miles per hour. BE pulled through
this passage in whale boats, and found it to be
about eighteen miles wide. In the north part
OF this open sea he found nearly fresh leaves Of
plantains, bananas and other
TROPICAL PLANTS
floating on the water, and showing that they
had been off the trees but a short time. Last
October he found large female whale going
north through the open passage before men
toned, and also 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 a
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 were so
to which they belonged must have been forty
feet in length. He also found some hard wood
in the shape of troughs imbedded in the ice
They looked like feeding troughs, and the
edges had the appearance of having been
gnawed by animals. In sailing west, he struck
the north part of the coast of New Siberia,
where he found a race of people that lie thought
no one had ever seen before or heard Of. They
spoke an unknown language which
SOUNDED LIKE HEBREW.
They spoke 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 little acquaint-
ed with the Esquimaux language, having
passed four winters with that people, living
on raw wairus whale blubber and bear meat
During one of these winters, which with
out daylight, he made a journey of $50 miles
in the dark. During his adventurous career
serious of which was an encounter with polar
BEAR He had both arms and both legs broken,
and lost one finger off his left hand, another
being SO badly larcerated by the teeth of the
animal that it is sadly out of shape. He also
lost two ribs, which. were completely torn
from his body, which bears the marks of
wounds which it seems almost incredible that
any man could receive and live. The polar
bears attain an incredible size, some being re-
ported to weigh as much as 5000 pounds. He
contemplates making another trip to further
explore that open polar sea; but needs small
steamer for towing purposes, which he hopes
to obtain from the government. He proposes
to start some time in 1880, and leaves for WASH
ington City this morning.