The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-07-23

frhliadelptia North Americsnl
There seems 10 be very little chance OF
ever 6ndIng tho lost Jeanette. Il ts now
morn than two years since she left san
Fraocisco upon her adventurous and peril
o,s voyege. She was spoken with In the
fall OF 1879, and once since then, but Tor q
wear and over she has passed completely out
Of sight and knowledge. Nothing whatever
has been heard Of her. These are circum-
stances which, taken 10 connection win the
extraordinary peril Of the expedition. DO
not leave much room for hope. 1t Is true
that the Jeanette was exceptionally wen
provided against She dangers and haroships
Of Arctic navigation. She was equlppeo
with every known appliance against the
perils of all kinds to which she wouid oe
exposed; she was proyisioned for tnree
years, and was commanded by an aoie ahd
experienced officer. Captain DE Long was
one OF those who TOOK part IN the foiars
search expedition Of 1878, and bis suoordi-
mates, both abaft aud before the mast, were
all men who had been chosen on account OF
their special fitness for the work In hand.
All the precautions that human foresight
could suggest we're taken, and yet from her
long and unexplained absence the worst Is
TO be feared.
= ACcOTulDK W tue IOutC NHiSu DSSh
determined upon, the Jeanette was to en-
ter the Arctic ocean by way OF Behring
Strait. The theory was adopted that
current Of warm water flows from the Pa
cifc into the Arctic ocean at Bebring
Strait, and the successful voyage OF Nor
densiold from Hommerfest, in Norway, TO
the extreme northeastern coast OF Siberia,
was held as q strong confederation OF the
existence OF that open sea which
Wrangel claimed TO have discovered
by his sledge expedition sixty years ago.
The Jeanette was 10 take the chance OF
being able to push forward into that open
sea, and OF penetrating thence as Tar as TO
the Pole itself. All this involved terrible
risk; and though it must be borne in mind
that, even under the most suspicious cir
cumstances, the work 10 be done could
hardly have been accomplished In any less
time than has elapsed since the expedition
sailed, IL is difficult TO account for the pro-
longed and unbroken silence upon any bypo-
thesis consistent With the safety OF the ship.
1t seems as though Captain De Long would
surely have found ways and means to
SeEd home news OF his whereabouts and
fortunes had he not met with disaster. Yet
there is some consolation In remembering
that the wreck OF the ship does not neces-
sarily involve the loss OF the party. Cap
tain De Long and bis men, disabled and cut
off from communication, may now be
awaiting the arrival OF the relief party
which is Fastening TO the rescue.
Should the Jeanette expedition prove TO
have been failure, it will be the general
opinion OF sensible people that attempts
which have so often been Intellectual, and
which nearly as often have been attended
by disastrous results, bad better not be re-
peated. IL the discovery OF northwest
passage, or the navigation OF an open Polas
sea as far as TO the terrestrial axis, were going
to be OF any benefit TO mankind. 1t would
be different thing. But these expeditions
10 the North Pole neither have nor can have
any practical value.