The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1881-05-26
THE LOST JEANETTE.
How the search for the Lost Artic En-
DlOrer Will be Carried On by the Cor
F"om the New York Herald

F"om the New York Herald
The admirable dispatch with which
the Treasury Department has sent of
the Corwin on her cruise through Beh
ring Strait will enable Captain Hooper
to avail himselfof any opportunity that
offers to communicate with the
Jeanette. The Corwin takes
time by the forelock, and will proably
be the first vessel to enter the Attic this
season. Her instructions not only all
thorize, but direct her commander to
"make careful inquiries regarding the
progress and whereabouts of the steam
er Jeannette," and off practicable
communicate with and extend any
needed assistance to thatvessel." Con-
sidering the vantage Captain Hoopers
early arrival in the Attic will give him
for executing this part Of his orders, as
! well as the latitude Of action they
leave to his discretion, his chances for
finding some clew to the Jeannette's
whereabouts seem almost as good as
those of the commander of the search
steamer Rodgers. "The movement of
the ice in Behring Strait is often so
sudden" said Shererd Osborn, chat
a report twenty-four hours old is Of no
value" But this very variability sug-
gests the probable occurrence of open
ings in the pack, just such an opening
as greeted the Investigator in July, 1850,
when on her way to Point Barrow.
Once within the Attic Circle and able
to examine the coast from Kotzbu
Sound to Point Barrow, the Corwin will
be in good position to pick up some
tidings of the Jeanette, if indeed any
accident has overtaken the exploring
steamer. A study of the winter winds
and ice-drift in the Attic north of Behr-
ing Strait will strengthen the conviction
that if the Jeanette has been disabled
and driven from the vicinity Of Wrang-
ell Land it is well nigh certain that the
ship, Or some relic of the ship, would
have been lodged on the coast of Arctic
America, since Point Barrow pro-
jects into the latitude of Wrangell
Land, and the intervening sea is swept
in Winter by Northwesterly winds. For
this reason it is probable that the obser-
walton of "polar ice, denseley packed,
from Wainwright inlet on the Ameri-
can coast, to latitude ~ degrees north
and longitude 1854 degree west" made
by Commander Moore, of the Plover,
in 1850, holds good almost every Spring.
The Corwin may, therefore, reasonably
hope to fall in with some trace of the
Jeanette in the event that the latter has
succumbed to the violence of Arctic
elements, and has been borne helplessly
along as was the Tegethoff in 1878, in
the great drift currents of the Polar
Ocean. Should the Corwin, therefore,
after thorough search of the American
coast, gain no clew to the Jeannette's
whereabouts, this fact will be a strong
reason for concluding that she has not
been disabled Or drifted from the vicin-
ity Of Wrangell Land, and the Rodgers,
under Lieutenant Berry, will pursue
the search in that direction with greatly
increased confidence that she is on the
right trail. Should the Corwin, however,
find some evidence that the missing
explorers under Captain De Long have
been driven in the direction Of Point
Barrow, Captain Hooper will probably
have time to communicate the fact to
the commander of the Rodgers before
he leaves Behring Strait for the North.