The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-06-18

LAR SEA AND THE NORTH POLE; THE OPEN
SEA A DELUSI0N.
10 the Editor Of the Herald:
Navigators and seamen have quite gene
rally arrived ut the conclusion that an open
polar sea 10 the north OF Greenland, or
Northeast America, is a delusion which may
as well be given up o3ce and forever. That
any further progress can be made toward
reaching the Pole itself, either by ships or
sledges, through water or over ice, at least
by the way OF Smith Sound or Spitzbergen,
seems also TO be a hopeless problem.
Through the powerful agency OF steam,
backed By the daunlless courage OF brave
men, the latitude Of $50 20> 20" has been
reached; but Captain Mares, in the latitude
OF $50. finds the same weary, hopeless pros
pect before him which the heroic Parry
found to the northward Of SpitZbergen.
Leaving his ship on the northern Shore OF
Spitzbergen. Parry struggled from the Dist
OF June TO the 23d OF July, 1927, upward OF
one month, and only made 292 miles over
the ice. 1t was at the latitude OF $50 45/
north when, worn out by sledgng over the
rough and hummocky ice, he found the
foe over which he was so painfully travel
ling was in motion, carrying him more TO
the south each day than he could make by
sIedging on foot 10 the northward.
The experience OF Payer in the Austrian
expedition to Franz josef Land was not
far different. All around to the north
ward, northeastward, and northwestward
It was the same mighty barrier OF icy
mountains--a chaotic, disrupted, broken
continent OF frozen sea.
Mares, by dint Of pluck and system OF
organized sledging service, which was as
near perfection as could well be made, at
tanned to the highest point ever yet
reached, in the latitude OF $50 20/-a dis.
tance OF only 400 miles from the Pole.
And Mares tells us the same old story OF
the mighty paleocrystic" continent OF
ice confronting him, through no less seq
ment OF the globe than go OF lOngl-
tude! Captain Mares, indeed, IS quite as
hopeless as Parry, or Payer, in the eXpecta-
ton that men will or can ever penetrate
across this fearful barrier OF ice.
With such testimony before Us OF men OF
most tried courage and unequaled skill we
may add our own reflections. Al Atctic
navigators describe 10 lis the strong cur
rents, irrespective OF tides, which run to
the sOuthwsrd, through the sounds and
channels west OF Greenland, as well as
around the island group OF SpitZbergen
and Novaya Zemlia. Not only do the great
foes. when broken up, DRIFT southerly and
carry ships and expeditions through l,20C
miles and more OF drift, but, as Parry 90
eIoauently tells US, his continent OF ice car
ried him south faster than he could drive
his sledges north. and the astounding fac'
was only revealed to him by his obscrva
tions OF the stars for latitude. The drift oi
the Polaris's foe party for about eigh
|
OF the discovery ship Resolute through
Rarrow Strait and Lancaster Sound down
into Bafin's bay.
Thus far discovery and exploration re
veal 10 us great land masses, broken int
| islands and divided by sounds and straits
which are the true conditions FOR an ice
hound region, where tides and currents ant
counter-currents disrupt and rend the lc
masses only to be quickly frozen into ham
mocks. rendering an open polar passage
sea an impossibility. Up to this date yer.
| little is as vet known OF the Arctic region
to tbe west OF Banks Land and the Parr.
Islands, embracing the region nortsol Ben
ring Strait and the northwest coast o
America, but the Information brought 10 u
from these regions by nayigators ana eN
plorers is full OF promise. and does not seen
10 have received the thought and consldera
ton it so Justly deserves.
NcClintock, one OF the boldest and mos
accurate OF all Arctic explorers, report
that from lofty cape on PatricKs lstano
the most westerly of Parry's group, hayin
a fine atmosphere and n clear SKY, no ian
or indication OF land could be detected I
the northWard or westward or southwest
ward. He seemed 10 have come to pola
sea clear OF islands and lands at last.
Rodgers, in the the Vincennes, saw nc
thing TO the northward or TO the northeast
ward or northwestward from the latitud
100 81 north, longitude 17Go 50/ Yves
though they had clear sky an
what they regarded as the ciearest a
=, mospbere. Moore, of the Plover, and he
lett. in the Herald, sailing whole Sci
son in about the same latitude, but sew
raj degrees further to the eastward, saw n
land and no indications OF 1t. Mcclure, !
the Investigator, sailed his ship along I'll
north coast OF America 10 tue eastern snor'
OF Banks's Land, up the Prince OF Wait
Strait. and thence around the southern an
> western shores to the Bay OF Mercy on IN
north. where he was embayed In the lc'
only thirty miles from the great passage
Barrow Strait. Along this whole course
found no icebergs, no land, ana no lInpas'
able foes until he reached the islahd mas
OF Banks's Land and the Parry Islands.
Collinson, in the Enterprise, went sll
, further. Following nearly in the wake
the Investigator. be entered Behring Strai
rounded the northwest point of the Amer
can Continent, and coasted the polar shore
of America as far as Dease Strait, pa
the Mackenzie, past the Coppermlne,
about the longitude OF 1889 near the gree
Fish river. near King Williams Lane
where the Erebus and Terror met Tue
mysterious and unhappy fate. In 'he'
narrow straits Collinson feared he w0uI
become beset, and again returned 10 be'
ring Strait, along the polar shore OF IL
American Continent.
Collinson saw no land until he reache
Ranks's Land, saw no icebergs, ana loui,
no difficulty from ice in this most reInari
able cruise. ,s,oss 90.
All these nayigators report landiess SCI
Nc far as 100 north and upward, ana, mo
significant OF all, the warm current Vi ~
Pacific bore them northeasterly 10 Tue sie'
islands. The ehtire absence OF lceDeIs
nroyes that there are no land masses 10 u
north and northeast OF Behring Stfa'i, IN
the ice foes are carried northward an
hno,tbeastward by the southwest WINDS an
the northeast current. 80, g.,
II may, L think. be safely concluded tn
II the Pole Is ever reached Dy snipS
J sledges IL viii he in this direction. ~ Ia
try, in 1927, bad found the open sea ana Gu ~
rent OF Behring Strait, II can De pehes,
that he would safely have reecneu sne 20 20