Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1880-10-01

| Return to New bedford, Mass, Of the Dark
| George aud Mary, from Hudson's strait
The Papers and Records of Sir John
| Franklin Found Co Have Been DsstrOyed
The Coolest Temperature Recorded
Ever Experienced by White Men.
BOSTON, Mass, September %.
The bark George and Mary, Captain Baker,
has just arrived at New Bedford from Hud'
sons strait, bearing news from the Arctic re-
glons The franklin search party, under
Lieutenant Frederick schwatka, U. S. A., are
passengers on board the George and Mary, and
have been the recipients of much kindness
| from Captain Baker and his subordinate of1i-
GERS and men. After returning to Depot
Island, from a sledge journey of over 5000
miles, occupying eleven months and four days,
they were reduced TO the verge of starvation
through the ruscality Of Captain Thomas L.
Barry of the whaling schooner Eothen, of
New York, who stole thSir remaining provis-
ions to fit out his vessel for an additional
whaling voyage. Had it not been for the
timely aid offered by Captain Baker they
| would have suffered extremely, as the native
Esquimaux with whom they were living were
short Of provisions, and had been reduced to
the necessity Of eating some of their dogs on
two previous occasions during the winter
while on King William Land and in its imme-
date vicinity.
During the summer of 1879 Lieutenant
SCnWdtkaS party eStaOllsnel tne laCl tnat tnO
precious records of Sir John Franklin's expe-
dition, which perished there in the year 1s4S,
were entirely destroyed by the Notchillik Es-
quimaux, who found them in sealed tin bsx,
which they broke open and whose contents
they scattered to the winds moro than thirty
years ago.
The party have secured many interesting
and valuable relics and identified the remains
of Lieutenant John Irving, third officer of the
Terror, by a silver prize medal awarded to him
by the Royal Naval College in 1880, which they
found in his opened grave. During the re-
turn trip the search party encountered the
severest cold ever experienced by white men,
while travelling, and lived upon the same
fare such as raw or boiled reindeer meat,
and fish, as did their native EsquimauX assist
ants.
The party left New York on the 10Th of
June, 1878, in the schooner Eothen, and pro-
ceeded direct to Camp DAILY, as it was called
in North Hudson Bay, latitude siXty-three de-
grces foTty-seven seconds north, longitude
twenty degrees west, having had pleasant
passage up. Here the supplies were landed,
aud the party established themselves and
made preparations to enable them TO endure
the rigors of the Arctic winter, which they
knew was fast approaching. Skins were pro-
cured from animals slain, and soon the party
were warmly clothed and ready for business
Abundant supplies of food, arms and ammu-
milton had been provided through the munih-
cenCe of American merchants. So far the pro-
cess of Staying animals was greatly simplified
to the practiced marksmen The summer of
1879 was passed in active research for more
light ON the fate OF Sir John Franklin and his
crew.
Lieutenant Schwatka, in his report of the
sledge journey, says: " 1t is the longest sledge
journey ever made, both in regard to time and
distance, having been absent from its base
eleven months and twenty days, and having
travelled 2,sl9 geographical or 32j1 statute
miles. 1t is the first sledge journey that has
been undertaken by white men in the Arctic
midwiuter, but know of none before this en-
comprising the whole duration of the last uu-
favorable months of that season, and, in fact,
they have been generally very short, and
under circumstances where comfort COM
mensurate with the exposure could be easily
attained from some suitable base. 1t expert
enced the coolest temperature ever recorded
by white men in the field. Not only
was a single observation II degrees
Fahrenheit January g. 1880, but also in regard to
protracted cold, there being no less than six
teen days when the average shows one hun
dreds degrees below the freezing point, and
twenty-sev en- days when the thermometer
stood below sixty degrees Fahrenheit, during
very nearly all of which weather the party
prosecuted its journey without severe frost
bites, ana even in compa rative comfort. 1t il
the first Arctic expedition whose sole reliance
for the subsistence Of itself and its draugh
animals has been placed in the game of the
locality, and W hose experience in that respec
has been spread constantly over every month
of the year, having stlrted with less than on,
, months full rations for the consumers anC
having been absent for a period ALREADY
stated. 1t may not be amisS, however, L
state that it was also the finest arme,
party that ever entered the Arctic regions
/, which fact placed it on almost favorabl
footing for such an experience. 1t was tn,
first expedition wherein the men of the part!
lived solely upon the same diet, voluntaril!
assumed, as its native allies, which fact
coupled with those already stated, shows tha
white men are not only able TO live the sam
: l AS Esquimaux in the Arctic region, and witt
, equal comfort, but also to prosecute an,
projects that their superior intelligence ma
dictate or their ambition may desire, and un
der all circumstances that the natives them
selves would similarly yeRture to undertak
far less laudabe objects; and it might b
further added that the prosecution of thes
schemes need not be limited to such particu
larly favorable seasons of the year as the eN
perience of the Arctic expedition would lea
one to infer.
ed summer tour over the ground covered b!
the unfortunate crews in their explorations
although glance at the map will show tina
their base was in a far less favorable position
7. for such an undertaking than that of the grea
? majority of the numerous searehers who pre-
1 ceded them. 1t performed the last sad rite
for the few remains of the lost crews. OwinI
, mainly TO the favorable circumstances of
a summer sojourn, and from the thoroughnes
oft ha n
: tho bleaching bones with the brown ca
: stones composing the Hat coast of King viii
lam Land and the adjoining main land, d.
not hesitate to state that not single unburie
= man of Franklins unfortunate expedition
> probably exists. Where nature had not an
! ticipated my party, which she had in tn
greater majority Of cases of the ll5 mel
/ known TO have abandoned the ships, or the re
] | treating crews themselves performed tn
2 burial my party completed these sad offices
From the incompleteness of the skeletons
their ineXtricable confusion and widely-scat
tered condition, II is hard to place a close est
mate upon the number inferred, which
roughly speaking, varies between twenty an
forty. II established the loss of the records O
the Franklin party beyond all reas onabl
I doubt, as these alone have been the main in
e centives 10 the many expeditions since Dl
I Ross, i'm 1854, who established the loss of tn
party. This success, although unfortunatel
of negative nature, is of no small character
since this loss, coupled with the loss of tn
prrty and the burial of their dead, must neees
sarily settle the Franklin problem in all its i'm
+ portant aspects"
$ AT the session of the American Phi
!. biological Association in Philadelphia
, the other day Prof. S. 0. Haldermal
: read paper on the invention of word
by children. The child which the Pro
: fessor used to illustrate his remark
: was his own grandchild, who came t.
4 Philadelphia from South America upol
4 sailing vessel. The child could no
! speak when it started upon the voyage