New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-07-09

tons show that q small craft Is most easily
managed in the midst of icebergs and Hoes
and can work out of dangerous places where
large one would be lost. The crew OF the
Jeanette has been picked with care. Every
man is in good health, and of an age when
gives the best promise of endurance. Inc
commander is Lieutenant G.. w. DE Long, n
United States naval officer of courage ana
experience and the first and second officers
Lieutenants Chip and Danenhower, and the
chief engineer G.. w. Melville, are also vol
unteers from the naval service. - schooner
accompanies the steamer as tender, with
a cargo of coal and provisions, which will be
landed at st. Michaels, in Behring's Sea. Thus
nothing is lacking in the outfit OF the vessel
or the personnel of her crew which would
tend to the success of the enterprise, ana It's
results will now depend upon the heroisn,
fOrtitude and sagaeity of the officers and men,
and on good-luck, which is an important
factor in determining the success or failure
OF all Arctic ventures.
The route Mr. Bennett has selected il the
most promising he could have chosen, because
the least explored No persistent attempt mas
ever been made to approach the Pole by way
or Behring's Strait. The efforts OF the Eng
lish and Russian explorers in the last century
and the early part of the present, which re-
suited in fixing the outlines of the American
and Asiatic coasts on either side OF The
strait, were directed toward finding north
west or northeast passage to the lhdles.
Their motives were commercial. Afterward
came the numerous expeditions sent III
search of Sir John Franklin, making import
Y,lFVN n tod
scientific expeditions Of more recent years,
have given Us maps of the islands, bays ana
sounds lying north of the American Continent,
and of the shOre-line of the mainland. Only one
of the Franklin expeditions went mp through
Behring's Strait. That was McClure'S, III
1850, hut that navigator Rugged the main
land closely after weatherng Point Barrow
for some hundreds Of miles to the eastward
before turning to the north, and hnally
reached BarrOW's Strait, where lie lost his
ship He demonstrated the possibility OF get
ting around the northern shores OF the CONT
nent with vessel, but he left the great space
to the north of b brings Strait as much
blank on the maps rs it was when Captain
Cook went up through the Strait III lIIS,
and turned back after reaching latitude TO-
45'. Aud so it remains TO this day. The
whalers follow their prey up into the Arctic
Sea, but they are not explorers and have no
motive to venture further north than they can
go with safety.
The limit of present knowledge in this d.
rcction is but short distance north OF Point
Barrow, the northernmost headland of Alaska.
There may be nothing but sea and ice beyond
as appears on the maps, but the maps OF this
region represent our Ignorance and not our
knowledge. There may, for aueht we know,
be as large islands there as have been dIscOy-
cred in a higher latitude further east and
further west. Six years ago the Austrian eX-
plorers, Payer and Weyprecht, found north
east of Spitzjcrgen IA country as large as Scot
land, where the geOgraphers had supposed
there existed nothing but an open sea. Per-
haps the Jeanette will make discovery of
equal interest.
The important fact which furnishes the
motive of the Bennett Expedition is that while
a latitude as bighas So has been reached by the
Smiths Sound route, and along the east coast
OF Greenland, and also by tine recent Austrian
expedition, nobody has penetrated toward the
Pole even rs far as TO by way of Behring's
Strait Yet there is no reason why the
channel between the Arctic and Pacific Oceans
should nor offer as favorable an approach to
the polar regions as either of the routes here
tofore selected. In fact, there are some rea-
sons in climate and tidal currents for beliey
ing that il VIII be possible to get nearer the
Pole by this route than any other The jean
nette will show whether these reasons are
well-founded. If she meets with no misfortune
she will be back next year. Her commander
has the great advantage Of not going over
n beaten track, so that whether he accom-
pishes much or little, he cannot fail to make
some important additions TO the sum Of Arctic
knowledge, and he may have the good for
tune to inscrlbe his name with those OF
Kane. Hall and Hayes. on the roll of daring
American explorers who have bravely struggled
to unlock the secrets of the frozen Pole.
DOWN IN MAINE.
1.-THE canvass i'm Name does not become live