The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-07-16
THE JEANETTE ARCTIC EXPEDI.
TT0N.

OF the United States government, left San
Francisco Oh the eighth instant The vessel
selected for this adventurous voyage-the
Jeanette, SO called after the sister OF James
Gordon Benefits a bark-rigged steamer OF
40 tons and 200 horse power. long, low and
rakish. She was originally an English dis
patch boat In the naval service, named the
Pandora, and has already, as the property OF
Sir Allen Young, been used In Arctic explora-
uOns
Her commander Is Lieut. George w. De
Long, United States navy, who Is detailed by
the government for this service. Lieut.. De
Long has already had an Arctic experience,
having been connected with the Polaris
search expedition In 1878. as navigator OF the
United States steamer Juniata. He ls quite
young man, scarcely thirty-fiye years OF
age, and q graduate from the Naval Academy
of the class Of 1865.
The second officer OF the expedition Is Lieut.
q. w. Chipp, who has also had an Arctic ex-
perience having been on the Juniata as sec
ond watch officer. He is thirty. one years OF
age and a graduate OF the class of 1868. Three
other naval officers accompany the expedition,
Master John w. Danenheaner, Engineer &.
w. Melville and Surgeon j. nj. M. Amber.
The crew has been carefully selected and are
all young men between the ages OF twenty
one and thirty-fve, except Capt. VIM Dun
bar, the ice pilot, who Is an old whaler forty
five years of age, aad Jack Cole, the boats
vain, who was born in 1886. To a landsman
1t seems little strange that such young
men, from the commander down. should
have been selected for SO perilous an expedi-
ton In which all the knowledge and ek-
perence OF the oldest sailors will be
put to the test; but we take 1t for
granted that those who fitted out the
expedition knew precisely what sort of men
were best suited for this arduous and dan
gerous service. Everything has been sup
piled to the Jeanette that experience In
Arctic explorations could suggest, and she is
undoubtedly the best equipped vessel that
has ever started upon this perilous quest for
the pole.
| She has steam launch and five strong
whale boats and folding boat that can be
used on Ice with runners, and she Is pro-
visioned for three years. The fur clothing
and Esquimax dogs will be taken on at st.
Pauls. Her crew consists In all Of twenty
eight souls, including three Cinnamon, who
70 as cook, steward and cabin boy.
The route by Behring Strait was selected
by Mr.. Bennett after much reflection. This
will be the first formal effort ever made to
reach the pole by this route, and its selection
was doubtless determined upon from that
fact, In connection with the failure which has
ATTENDED all previous efforts by other routes
| that Of Parry, by the ocean route between
| Spitzbergen and Greenland: OF Kane, Hayes,
Hall and Mares, by way of Smiths Sound,
and Of the Austrian expedition BY the coast Of
| Nova Zembla. The speculative advantages
OF this route are few and ill-defined,
and perhaps the most that can be said
In Its favor Is that it is not known
| to be impracticable, as all others are.
The hopes OF success, however. are
based on the supposed influence upon the
Arctic seas of the Kuro Stwo, the chief warm
current OF the Pacific, corresponding to the
Gulf Stream Of the Atlantic, which pours its
warm volume through the narrow BehrtDg
Strait. The narroWness Of the strait through
which the current enters the Polar seas In a
great degree modifies its effect, yet 1t is
known that it e2erts the same influence, but
to much less extent, On the frozen ocean
north of the American continent that the
Gulf Stream does north OF Europe and Asia.
| In 1850 Mcclure sailed his ship along the
west coast of Banks's Land, which lies far to
the north and east Of Behring Strait, in
open water, making 800 miles of northing in
one day, while on the east coast Of that land
| he was almost ice-bound. On the other side
OF the strait the east coast of Wrangells
| Land. which IS swept by the western current
of the kuro Siwo, is kept free from ice and
was found by kellett and Long, to be dstin-
| guished by mists and fogs as is New Found
land, where the Gulf Stream approaches it.
The effects of the Gulf Stream as climatic
moderator. were noted by the German expedi-
ton In the waters around Nova Zembla, a
point far to the northeastward, of where
the stream had been SO dissipated as
to be no longer distinguishable as a current
There is every reason to believe that the In
fiuence OF the kuro Siwo will be proportion
ally potential very far to the northward be-
You'd the flow OF Its warm waters through
/ Behring Strait.
\ Another fact favorable to this route, de.
duced from the observations Of Killett, Col.
linson, Mcclure McClintoek and Long, lie
that the kuro Siwo combines with an easter.
" current which sweeps over the seventy
fifth parallel, through Banks Strait, Mel
vile Sound and Lancaster Sound into Baf
fins Bay. According to Berghaus, this cur.
rent moves through Banks Strait at the rat
Of sixty-five miles in twenty-four hours
In 1858 Mcclure abandoned his vessel, the In
vestigator, at Mercy Bay, on the northern
coast of Banks's Land, and the vessel wa!
afterWard seen by Lieut.. Pine drifting
toward the Atlantic ocean. The Resolute, an
other abandoned Ship also drifted eastward
and was found floating In Dsvis's Strait. TIL
current which could dislodge two such ship
and float them almost to Baffin's Bay can b
no unimportant agent to be taken into consid
, Grafton by arctic navigators.
We do not suppose that the projectors 0
, this expedition expect either to reach the pol
a. 20 lihd an open sea that can be at any tim
: easily navipahla A.