Smyrna times., 1879-07-16
Through Behring's Strait.

Last week the little steamer Jeannetie
weighed anchor in San Francisco Bav and
started northward on her voyage of Arctic
discovery. She measures 420 tons. carries
thirty two men all told, and is euuipped, bv
the intelligent liberality of James Gordon
Bennett, with everything which the expert
ence of former polar expeditions has shown
to be of value in promoting the health and
comfort of the crew, and in facilitating
movement by land and water in the frozen
zone. Her orders are to 90 through Beh-
rings Strait, reach Winter harbor at a
point as far North as possible, and then
dispatch q party across the ice fields with
dogs and sledges in the direction of the
Pole. The vessel would seem small for the
tough work before her, did not the history
OF previous explorations show that a small
craft is most easily managed in the midst
OF icebergs and floes, and can work out of
dangerous places where large one would
be lost. The crew of the ,7eanncttr has been
picked with care. Every man is in good
health, and of an age which gives the best
promise of endurance. The commander is
| Lieutenant u. w. De Long, a United States
naval officer of courage and experience;
and the first and second officers, Lieu.
tenants Chipp and Danenhower, and the
chief engineer, G.. w. Melville, are also
volunteers from the naval service. A
schooner accompanies the steamer as a
tendar, with a cargo Of coal and provisions,
| which will be landed at st. Micheals, in
Behring's Sea. Thus nothing is lacking in
the outfit of the vessel or the personal oil
her crew which would tend to the success oil
the enterprise, and its results will now de
pend upon the heroism, fortitude and sa
gacity of the officers and men, and on good
luck, which is an important factor in deter
mining the success or failure of all Arctic
| ventures.
The route Mr.. Bennett has selected is the
most promising he could have chosen, be
cause the least explored. Nopersstent at
tempt has ever been made to approach tn,
Pole by way Of Behring's Strait. The
efforts of the English and Russian explorer
in the last century and the early part 0
the present, which resulted in fixing tn
outlines of the American and Asiatic coast
on either side of the strait, were directed
toward finding northwest or Il northeas
passage to the Indies. Their motives wer
, commercial. Afterward came the numerou
expeditions sent in search of Sir Joh
, franklin, making important discoverie!
, which, supplemented, by the scientific e.
, peditions Of more recent years, have give
us maps of the islands, bays and sound
, lying north Of the American Continent, an
, Of the shore-line Of the mainland. Onl
one Of the Franklin expeditions went u
through Behring's Strait. That wa
McClure's, in 1850, but that navigator hu;
r ged the mainland closely after weatherin
Point Barrow for some hundreds of mile
to the eastward before turning to the Nortl
, and finally reached Barrow's Strait, whel
he lost his ship. He demonstrated til
!. possibility of getting around the northeT
: shores Of the Continent with vessel, bl
: he left the great space to the North
: Behring's Strait as much a blank on I'll
J maps as it was when Captain Cook went L
= through the Straitin ITS. and turned bac
. after reaching latitude 70o 45/. And so
g remains to this day. The whalers folio
= their prey up into the Arctic Sea, but thu
= are not explorers and have no motive
= venture further North than they can
> with safety.
:, The limit Of present knowledge in tn
- direction is but short distance North
y Point Barrow, the northernmost headlal
~ ~ of Alaska. There may be nothing but s
- and ice beyond, as appears on the maj
:, but the maps of this region represent o
oF ignorance and not our knowledge. The
u may, for aught we know, be as large islam
=. there as have been discovered in a high
- latitude further East and further We
~ Six years ago the Austrian explorers. Pay
\, and Weyprecht, found northeast of Spi
- bergen country as large as Scotlan
u where geographers had supposed there {
~ ~ listed nothing but an open sea. Perha
q - the Jeanette will make discovery of eqI
:, interest
" The important fact which furnishes t
~ motive of the Bennett Expedition is IL
io while a latitude as high as 800 has be
" reached by the Smiths Sound route, a
a along the East coast of Greenland, and a
pte p by the recent Austrian expedition, nobo
VI has penetrated toward the Pole even as
u. u as 750 by way of Behring's Strait.
70 there is no reason why the channel betwe
s1 'ss the Arctic and Pacific Oceans should !
~ ~ offer as favorable an approach to the pc
' regions as either of the routes heretof
" selected. In fact, there are some reast
az in climate and tidal currents for believ
~ ing that it will be possible to get nearer
- Pole by this route than any other.
10 Jeannettc will show whether these reas
or are well-founded. If she meets with
% misfortune she will be back next W
oo Her commander has the great advant
eu e of not going over beaten track, so t
on whether he accomplishes much or little
-, cannot fail to make some important az
&c tions to the sum of Arctic knowledge,
1 9Hs he may have the good fortune to inscl
nai his name with those of Kane, Hall
" " Hayes, on the roll of daring American
'ne e plorers who have bravely struggled to
ot os lock secrets of the frozen Pole.-N.
S y. Tribune.