Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1881-12-31
THE LOSS OF THE JEANETTE.
She is Crushed in the Ice and De-
serted by her Crew.
From the New York Tribune.

the Tegethoff That vessel disappeare,
: off the coast of Novuia Zemlia, in 1872
and was never again seen, but tw,
years afterward Payer and Weyprech
and their companions returned withou
. their ship, having broken away from
Arctic imprisonment and effected thei
escape in their boats after an agonizins
struggle. In like manner the Jeannett,
has been crushed in the ice, and he
, gallant commander comes back withou
his ship two years after it was las
sighted north of Behring Strait. The
scene of the disaster was latitude II
longitude 157 east, and the time June
%. The crew embarked in three boats
one of which reached the mouth of the
Lena on September %, and another
subsequently, while the third has moi
reached land. The survivors were il
their boats from seventy to ninety days,
and their condition on reaching land is
described as pitiable. Their sufferings
must have been even more heartrending
than those OF the Polaris castaways,
whom De Long himself rescued off the
coast of Labrador; for although they
too left their ship in latitude II and had
been 1876 days on the floating ice when
they were picked up by the Tigress,
they had started with moro than a
boats load of provisions. The escape
of two thirds of the Jeannette's crew is
q deliverance almost miraculous. The
sufferings of those brave sailors will eX-
cite thrill of sympathy wherever this
last story of Arctic adventure is told
The English-speaking world, recogniz-
ing their Anglo-Saxon grit, will rejoice
with one consent over the safety of
those who have been rescued and will
lament the possible fate of the missing
boats crew.
Has De Long the same solace which
Payer and Weyprecht enjoyed, when
they reappeared after their two years
voyage? They had discovered Franz
Josef Land. 1t was an accident, to be
sure, for their vessel had been caught in
the ice and they had been drifting in
utter helplessness for months when
their eyes first caught glimpse of that
mysterious shore; still, it was discov-
cry which richly compensated them for
all their sufferings and trials. Has De
Long done anything more than to return
| half way on the track of Nordensklold,
the intrepid commander of the Vega !?
Unable to break through the ice on the
Behring Strait meridian, has he turned
to the left through Long Strait and
spending two winters on the Siberian
coast, only edged his way as far west as
the Siberian Islands? Or has he also
made discoveries in higher latitudes, SO
that he can do something besides COM
pare notes with Nordenskjold The
details of his cruise will be awaited with
the keenest interest. The latitude where
disaster overlook his trim little vessel
indicates that he had higher ambition
than to repeat the Swede's exploit. 1t
is higher latitude than that of the
northernmost cape which the Vega
rounded, and is on a level with Prince
Patrick Land and the southern edge of
Spitzbergen. Whether it was the high
est latitude which he had reached, or
whether he had made discoveries of real
Importance before his ship was aban-
doned, we shall know when the log is
furnished in detail 1t VIII be melan-
choly, indeed, if this gallant commander
and his plucky companions have strug-
gled and suffered as they must have
done without having added materially to
the sum of human knowledge or enlarged
the horizon of the polar basin.
In the first flush of this sudden
news from the Jeanette, science and
geography count for little. It is the
human element which touches the
hearts of people of generous instincts.
There is Joy over the deliverance of the
bulk of the crew; there is sympathy
| for the brave commanders wife, who
has been waiting so anxiously for twen-
ty-eight long months for tidings of his
safety: there is sorrow that the ships
company has been divided, and that so
many brave men may have perished.
But the scientific aspects cannot be en-
tirely overlooked. The failure of this
expedition may tend to simplify the
future course of Arctic exploration.
The theory generally adopted in recent
years has been that in order to reach a
high latitude within the Arctic Circle
the vessel must follow coast line
tending northward. When De Long
left San Francisco in 1879 there were
three coasts which seemed to offer pc
culiar advantages for Arctic explora-
ton. One was the Greenland shore,
which Kane, Hayes, Hall and Mares
had followed; another was the recently
discovered Franz Josef Land, which
has since been partially explored by
Leigh Smith; and the third was Wran-
gell Land, which was supposed to be a
large island and possibly one of chain
of islands stretching toward the pole.
De Long hoped to succeed in winter
ing on Wraugell Land and following
what was fdncied might be a polar
archipelago far to the north, Wran-
gell Land is now known to be q small
island with an impenetrable sea to
the north, and Leigh Smiths disappear
ance in the Kara Sea discourages at
tempts to make Franz Josef Land base
of operations. If the phantom quest
for the Pole is ever to be resumed, the
old route through Smiths Sound must
be considered the safest highway. The
| little colony of Americans and Eskimos
which was landed in Lady Franklin Bay
last summer has better opportunities
for scientific research and extended ex-
ploration in the highest latitudes than
any ships crew exposed to the terrible
risks of the Siberian waters and the
Barentz Sea can possibly have.
FRENCH RATLwAYs.-M Papon has
introduced into the Chamber of Deputies
q bill for the immediate purchase of the
whole of the French railways by the
Government. The scheme provides for
| tho division of the great lines into