Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-12-21

Lena they lost sight OF each other during
violent gale and dense rog. Boat No. 3. under
command Of Engineer Melville. reached the
eastern mouth of the Lena on the a9th Of Sep
TENDER. and was stopped by icebergs near to the
hamlet OF Observation-Disclosures on the 29th of octc-
Der. There also arrived at Bolenenga boat No. l.
with the sailors Nindermann aud Noras The,
brought the information that Iieut. DE Long
DR.. Amber and q dozen other SURVIVORS had
landed at the northern mouth Of the Lena where
they are at present in a most distressing state.
many having their limbs frozen. An expedition
was immediately sent from Bolenengs To make
diligent search for the unfortunates. who are in
danger of death. Melville ADDS that money was
urgently needed and should be sent per telr-
graph to lakoutsk and Irkoutsk. Will YOU ur-
gently request that 5000 roubles be transmitted
Immediately to the governor of lakoutsk for re-
searches, assistance. and care. as well for the
return and conveyance of the shipwrecked men
TO the house Of the governor? There is sur
geon, who will bcstow upon them all possible
care PRESIDENT PRDACHENko
Countersisned by Minister of the Interior
Obreskof.
Glory for the Americans.
LONDON, December 2l.-The London San
do'd in an article says: Though the Jeanette
has suffered destruction. the Americans have
added additional glory to that they have already
Won in the frozen regions" IL concludes: "Itis
more than possible that Lieutenant De Long
may be the herald of a new race Of those who
feareth not the spirit which dwelleth in the land
of ice and snow"
The Jeanette Expedition.
In 1873 the steam yacht Pandora. then re-
turned from brief but successful Arctic voyage.
under the command of Captain Loring, was pur-
chased by Mr.. Bennett and sent to San Francisco
to be fitted out for an expedition In search of
the North Pole. One year later she was ready for
sea, and on the 9Th of July, 1879, she sailed out
of the Golden Gate attended by a great number
of small boats bearing various committees and
delegates Of citizens and the honest godspeed Of
the American people Her commander. Lieu
tenant De Long. had already seen service in the
Arctic. whittier he went in 1873. in the Junata
to search for the survivors of the Inflated POlaris
The Juniata reached Upernavik, the most northern
settlement in Greenland, but was unable to pro-
gress any further SO he organized and commanded
al expedition in small steam launch and pro-
ceeded nOrthward. Here he fell under the fas-
cinating influence of the northern Sphinx. like
Franklin and SO many other famous explorers
who have essayed a solution of its MYSTERY
There is legend Of the south that whoever
drinks the water of the Rio Grande will return
again to it before he dies, and there is another
not phrased. but rs truthful, that one who be-
holds the eternal ice will return again to look
at 1t. Lieutenant De Long was selected for
the command Of the Jeanette expedition on
account of his rare fitness for such a work A
man of magnificent physique iron will and per-
feet knowledge of the problems to be solved
by the successful issue of such tourney.
he was fitted in all ways for the task. Al
though he had investigated the Bafrin's
Bay route and was informed, from personal
| conversation with Weyprect and Payer of the
advantages and disadvantages of the Franz
josef route. he preferred to try to reach the SUI
preme spot by an untried way, and SO selected
the route via Behring strait. In the adoption
OF this route he was Influenced BY a number Of
considerations. In the first place it was
| cherished theory Of Petermann's that Wrangell
Land was continuation or extension of Green
land, reaching across the Polar basin, and one
not without foundation in the analogies of ply
steal geography. The faith once repOsed in an
open Polar sea had waned. and it was the con-
VlctlOn OF scientific minds that if the Pole was
TO De reached 1t would only be done by sledg-
ing. Now the character Of the ice about
Wrangeil Land was such that it presented less
difficulties than the fields about Smiths Sound or
Franz Josef Land, and this was a powerful in
ducement to attempt the journey by that route.
Wien De Long left civilization it was supposed.
OF course, that Wrangell Land was a consider
able territory, but last summer Lieutenant Ber-
ry, in the Rodgers. proved it to be an insignif-
cant island, and this discovery Disconnected all
the theories that had been formed as to her
whereabouts. Some scientific men supposed
that, having sighted Wrangell Land, the jean
nette was driven in the ice pack away to the east
ward and forced down on the American Coast,
ana when this theory was subject Of moot, the re-
port. brought to America by q San Francisco
whaler that party of white men were making
their way down the Mackenzie river. seemed to
prove the validity of the theory, for it was at
once concluded that the white men could be no
other than remnant of the Jeannette's crew.
1t was objected that these men might be sur
vivOrs of the wrecked whalers Mount Wallaston
or Figilant, but the answer was made that it
was highly improbable that ordinary sailors
would select such scientific method Of release
and with some show Of validity it was said that
when Whalers are wrecked they remain where
ever they land and wait for help rather than fight
tlleir way out over country where death turks
at every step to gather them in. There wasa grad
uauy forming conviction that these white men,
who were reported as ascending the Mackenzie
River, were none other than the survivors of
the Jeanette when Lieutenant HOOgaard of
the Danish navy and one ofNordenskjoid's COM
paniOns on the memorable passage of the Vera
startled the world with the information that the
SamOyeGeS, itinerant along the Northern Siber-
Ian coast In the neishbOrhOod of the mouth of
the fenesi River. had reported to the Norge
gian walrus hunters that they had found the
bodies OF two Europeans on the coast during
their summer march This news completely
upset the theory, which even the Royal Geo
graphical Society of Great Britain did not dis
dain to entertain, and with such force as to sug-
geSt that the government instruct the Hudsons
Bay Fur Company to make o search along the
Mackenzie River.
All the ascertained facts about the Arctic cur
rents in the vicinity of Wrangel Island were
against the conclusion that the Jeanette when
ice-bOund was forced to the eastward, but still
it was admitted that such might be the case
When, however, Lieutenant Hoogaard made his
statements the rational theory that she had
been forced westward again assumed sway, and
it now finds demonstration in the facts reported
by cable.
LAST ACcOUNrs
Since the Jeanette left San Francisco in july,
1873, she has been heard Of but twice, and then
through the Herald correspondent on board,
who wrote long and interesting letters from
Illiolionk station, in the harbor of OOnalaska.
and st. Lawrence Bay. detailing the doings Of
the party up to August 9th. In September of
the same year it was reported that the jean
nette had been seen i'm Kotzebue Sound, but
this was denied later in the year. In
1850, according to Danish authority, a
steamers smoke was seen near the
mouth of the Lena river by the Yakuts living
there. but in the transmission of this story from
tribe to tribe, from the mouth Of the Lena west
to the Kara sea- where the walrus hunters heard
it, it was. no doubt, somewhat damaged. Some
said that the story was one concerning the
Vega, and that the report was an old one. origi-