The New York herald., 1879-12-04
The Jeanmette and the Arctic "Ice
Pack.'7

The apprehensions of the captain of the
whaling bark Mercury that the Jeannette
has been fast frozen in by the ice pack
north of Herald Shoal appear to be prema-
ture. The Mercury was abandoned Octo-
Der "a in the ice then lying just north of
Herald Shonl, II deg 10 min. north lati-
tude and 172 deg. west longitude. But the
Arctic expedition was reported early in the
month as having been sighted in the first part
of October steaming toward Wrangell Land,
on the shores of which the commander of
the Jeanette was seeking winter harbor,
three hundred miles northwest of the ice
which enclosed the Mercury. There is
reason to hope also that the very winds
the northwest had swept the Arctic
ice toward Herald Shoal by October "a had
previously cleared the waters near Wrangeu
Land. But, if Captain Hickmott's fears for
the Jeanette were confirmed it by no
means follows that she has become mex
tricably entangled in the ice pack.
In an account just published of the
Vegas winter experience at the northern
extremity of Behring Strait it is stated that
during the winter the ice beyond the shore
was in continual motion. $50 called poly
MAS or open places" says Nordenskj6ld,
ssprobably occur here all the year round,
and in favorable weather we could see con-
stantly blue water sky from true north
west to east" AS late as January / his
lieutenant reached open water by four
hours walk, and from a hummock six
teen feet high s'could see no boundary
to the open water" which was
covered by o ''water sky observa-
tions which led him to conclude that the
open water extended then sat least fifty
miles" 1t is highly improbable that this
part of the Arctic Ocean which the officers
of the Vega saw free of ice and canopied by
the unmistakable ''water sky" in January
should become so clogged with frozen
fields in October as to cut off all hope of
release from strong steamer entangled in
the ice meshes. The history Of Arctic ex-
plorations supplies many examples of ships
thus entangled for time, but afterward
safely liberated. In 1857 Sir Leopold
McClintock. in the Fox. near Mel.
Vllle OOuuO, was cauSnt III IN 1ce
pack, and all winter his vessel drifted
from day to day with the pack, until
finally, on the 18th of April, 1858, still fast
in the ice, she was drifted quite out Of the
Arctic Ocean, but in sound condition.
The eventful career of the Resolute, aban-
doned by Kellett, which drifted thousand
miles on the Atlean shoulders of an
Arctic ice field, and some years after was
found in such good condition that she was
navigated into an American port, is an
other and familiar illustration of the
ability of a strong Polar ship to live through
such experiences. But the misfortune
which overlook these vessels occurred in
the great ice bearing current which emerges
from the Arctic basin. The Jeanette is in
lower latitudes and in milder seas than Nc
Clintock and Kellett were exploring when
they were arrested and imprisoned in the
ice. We may, therefore. in the absence OF
any report that the Jeanette has been ac-
tually seen fast in the ice pack, dismiss all
such anxiety for her safety as the captain OF
the Mercury expresses.