Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-10-01
POLAR PERILS.

Ever Experienced BY white Men.
BOSTON, Nass., September q.
The bark George and Mary, Captain Baker,
has Just arrived at New Bedford from Hud-
sons Strait, bearing news from the Arctic re-
gions. The Franklin search party, under
Lieutenant Frederick schwatSa, 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.ofB-
GERS and men. After returning to Depot
Island, from a sledRe journey Of over 5000
miles, occupying eleven months and four days,
they were reduced TO the verge Of starvation
through the rascality Of Captain Thomas F.
Barry, Of the whaling schooner Eothen, Of
New York, who stole tbslr remaining provts-
ions to iit 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 |
EsqulmauX 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 It's imme- |
diate vicinity.
During the summer Of 1879 Lieutenant
schwatka's party established the fact that the |
precious records OF Sir John Franklin's expe-
dition, which perished there in the year ls4s,
were entirely destroyed by the Notchillik Es-
uuimaux, who found them in a sealed tin bsX,
which they broke open and whose contents
they scattered to the winds more than thirty
years ago.
The party have secured many interesting
and valuable relics and identified the remains
Of Lieutenant John Irviag, 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 ish, as did their native EsquimauX assist
ants,
The party left New York on the 10th Of
June, 1873, in the schooner Eothen, and pro-
ceeded direct TO Camp DAILY, as it was called,
in North Hudson Bay latitude siXty-three de-
Rrees forty-seven seconds north, longitude
twenty degrees west, having had pleasant
| passage up. Here the supplies were landed,
| and 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 munif-
ceuce Of American merchants. So far the pro
cess Of Staying animals was greatly simplihed
| to the praotced 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; " IL is the longest sedge
| journey ever made, both in regard to time and
distance, having been absent from its base
eleven months and twenty days, and having
Travelled 2,8l9 geographical or 32jl statute
miles, Il is the first sedRe journey that has
been undertaken by white men in the Arctic
midwinteT, but know Of none before this en-
comprising the whole duration of the last un-
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 II expert
enced the coolest temperature ever recorded
by white men in the field. Not only
was single observation II degrees
Fahrenheit January 3, 1880, but also I'm regard to
protructed cold, there being no less than six
teen days when the average shows one hun.
dred degrees below the freezing point, and
twenty-seve 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 oompa aratlve comfort. II IL
the FIRST Arctic expedition whose sole reliance
for the subsistence of itself and its draught
animals has been placed in the game of the
locality, and W hose experience In that respect
has been spread constantly over every month
of the year, having started with less than one
months full rations for the consumers, anC
having been absent for n period already
stated. IL may not be amiss, however, tC
state that IL was also the finest armeS
party that ever entered the Arctic regions
which fact placed It on almost favorabl,
footing for such an experience. II was tn,
first expedition wherein the men of the pRrty
= lived solely upon the same diet, voluntaril!
/ assumed as it's native allies, which fact
coupled with those already stated, shows tina
white men are not only able TO live the SAM
as Esquimnux In the Arctic region, and will
! equal comfort, but also 20 prosecute an!
projects that their superior intelligence ma
dictate or their ambition may desire, and un
I der oil circumstances that the natives them
selves would similarly venture to undertake
far less laudable objects; and II might b
further added that the prosecution of thes
3 schemes need not be limited to such particu
S lary favorable seasons of the year as the eN
perience OF the Arctic expedition would lea
one TO infer,
"The party was tho irst to make an extend
ed summer tour over tho ground covered b!
1 the unfortunate orews I'm their explorations
although glance at the map will show tina
their base was in far less favorable position
for such an undertaking than that Of the grea
majority Of the numerous searcheTs who pre-
8 Ceded them. II performed the last sad rite
} for the few remains OF the lost crews. OWN
, mainly 20 the favorable circumstances of
summer sojouru, and from the thoToughnes
e OF the search and the conspicuous contrast o
a the bleaching bones with the brown ola
/. stones composing the Hat coast of King Wn
. lam Land and the adjoining main land, d
not hesitate TO state that not single unburie
man of FranlIlin's unfortunate expedition
probably exists, Whore nature had not m
10 ticipated my party, which she had In tn
greater majority OF cases of the los me
T known 20 have abandoned the ships OF the II
o treating crews themselves performed tn
n burial, my party completed these sad Oifcei
IA From the incompleteness of the skeletons
n their ine1tricable confusion and widely-soai
l. tered condition, II is hard to place close est
d mate upon the number inferred, which
II roughly speaking, varies between twenty an
forty. IL established the loss of the records O
? the Franklin party beyond all reasonabl
doubt az these alone have been the main II
!, oentives 10 the many expeditions since Di
= Ross, In 1854, who established the loss OF IN
= party. This success, although unfortunRtel
1, of a negative nature, is of no small character
i since this loss, coupled with the loss OF IN
q pTrty and the burial OF their dead, must neoel
2 sarily settle the Franklin problem In all lie in
pOrtant aspects"
AT the session of the American Phi
lological Association in Philadelphia
Z the other day Prof S. o. Haldermal
read paper on the invention Of word
/ by children. The child which the Pro
10 Faaeor tnsad IN lluatrate his remaFk