The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1880-12-10
THE CRUISE OF The CORWIN.
TIE STORY OF THREE VOYAGES IN SEARCH
OF THE MISSING wHALERs AND
THE JEANNETTE.

Captain @. L. Hooper. of the Unitet
States revenue steamer Corwin, has jus
submitted to the Secretary of the Treas
ury report Of the cruise made by the
Corwin in Behring sea and the Arctic
: ocean, in obedience to department OF
ders of May 18th last. The vessel made
three trips into the Arctic regions, and
its course covered the whole of the Arctic
ocean from Point Barrow on the Ameri
can coast to point within 25 miles OF
Wrangel land. Captain Hooper was
within three or four miles of Herald
island, and cruised on three sides of it,
He was convinced that there was no hui
man life on the island. He neither saw
nor heard anything about the missing
whalers.
The following is synopsis of the re.
port:
The vessel sailed from San Francisco
May 22d and arrived at Onalaska June Sd.
/ After giving in detail the movements
of the vessel and the trouble occasioned
by the heavy ice, the report refers to get
ting under way from st. Michael's June
| %, with the hope of working north in
side of the ice ON the Aisiatic side, and
says that stop was made at Lawrence
Island for the purpose of investigating
the reports of the deaths of the natives
by starvation, which were fully con-
| frmed.
Captain Hooper estimates that more
than four hundred natives died of starva-
tion and he attributes it to the continued
cold and stormy weather and the i'm
| provident habits of the natives.
The Corwin started north from St.
| Michaeps July 10, and on July 26 was in
| Iok 10 ~ n1u
| thirty-five miles from Herald Island,
| where solid pack was encountered and
| no further progress could be made.
Polar bears and two walrus were seen
| north Of latitude 20 deg. The vessel re-
turned to Cape Thompson to pick up
| Lieutenant Burke, and at that time the
supply of coal being lew, it was decided
to return to Plover Bay. This determi-
nation was abandoned, however, when it
was found that coal could be obtained
from coal mine on the American side,
heretofore unknown, from which sup
| ply was taken.
| Returning north, Herald Island was
| sighted August 4, thirty-fve miles
| distant. After working through the ice
| the distance was decreased to twenty
| miles. No signs of the missing whalers
| or of life were visible, and the weather
| becoming unfayorable, the. vessel was
obliged to turn southwark again, arriv-
ing at Plover Bay August 10. On the
| 18th she returned to thirty miles east of
and on the 18th was within seven miles
of Herald Island. On the Goth the ves-
sci get within three or four miles OF the
island, when she was stopped by ice
from twelve to forty feet high. A
close examination of the island was
I IL Ill
LAY SO near, and Captain Hooper
says he was sure there were no human In
habitants on it. He states it as his opin-
ion that the ice around Herald Island
was old, that for two and three years at
a time it does not leave Herald Island
free, and that the ice rarely breaks up
between Herald Island and >Wrahgel
Land. August 25th the Corwin reached
Point Barrow, which is the most north
ern point of Alaska and lacks only
twenty five miles of being the most
northern point of the continent. "On
the 11th Of September" the report con-
tinues, 1--WE saw the high hills of Wran-
gel Land bearing W. Il F.. (true-) We
/ ran in toward it until we came to the
solid pack, the ice having the same ap-
pearance as that in the viviEity of Herald
Island.
We judged the land to be about
twenty-five miles away. The highest
hills, which seemed to be more distant
were covered with snow, others were
partly covered, and still lower ones were
almost entirely bare. The sight of this
land repaid us to certain extent for oul
disappointment in not finding Heralc
clear of ice, as we had hoped to do, IL
order that we might run lines of sound
ings and make plan of the island.
That part of Wrangell Land which VIZ
saw covered an arc of the horizon O
SO degrees NW.H, N. to VIZ, S
(truel-and was distant from twent,
miles on the former bearing to thirty -fv'
or forty miles on the latter. On tn,
south were three mountains, probabl.
| three thousand feet high, entirely GOV
cred with snow, the central one present
ing conical appearance, and the other
showing rounded tops. To the north
ward of these mountains was q chain o
rounded hills, those near the sea beinl
lower and nearly free from snow, whil
the back hills, which probably reach al
elevation of two thousand feet, wer
quite white. To the north of the north
ern bearing given the land ends entirel,
or becomes very low. The atmospher
was very clear, and we could easily hav
seen any land above the horizon within
distance of sixty or seventy miles, bu
none could be seen from the masthead
There is report that Sergent AndrejAw
Cossack. reached this land in 1862 b.
crossing over from the mainland on th
ice with dog teams, and that he found
to be inhabited by race OF nomad
called Krahayo. This report, however
is probably without foundation.