The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1881-06-02
How the Search for the Lost Jeanette viii
be carried on by the Oorwin.

! NcW Ork
| The admirable dispatch with which
the Treasury Department has sent off
| the Corwin on her cruise through Behr-
ing Strait will enable Captain Hooper
to avail himself of any opportunity that
offers to communicates with the JEAN
nette. The Corwin takes time by tho
foreiock. and will probably be the first
boat to enter the Arctic this season.
Her instructions not only authorize, but
direct her commander to make care
full inquiries regarding the progress and
whereabouts of the steamer Jeannette.
and ''if practicable communicate with
and extend any needed assistance to
that vessel" Considering the vantage
Captain HoOper's early arrival in the
Arctic will give him for executing this
part of his orders, as well as tile lati-
tude of action they leave to his discre-
ton. chances for finding some clew to
the Jeannettes whereabouts seem al
most as good as those of ths COM
mander of the search steamer -Rodg-
ers. 1.-The movement of the ice in
Bchring Strait is often SO sudden" said
Sherard Osborn. "that a report twenty
four hours old is of no vaiue." But
this very variability suggests the proba-
BILE occurrences Of openings in tho pack,
just such an opening as greeted the In
vestigator in July, 1850. when on her
way to Point Barrow. Once within the
Arctic Circle and able to- examine the
coast from Kotzehu Sound TO Point Bar
row, the Corwin will be in good posi-
ton to pick up some tidings of the
Jeanette, if indeed any disaster has
overtaken the exploring steamer. A
study of the Winter winds. and ice-drift
in the Arctic north of Behring Strait
will strengthen the conviction that if
the Jeanette has been disabled and
driven from the vicinity of Wraneell
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 projects
into the latitude of Wrangell Land. and
the intervening sea ia swept in Winter
by northwesterly winds. For this rea-
son it is probable that the observation
of ''polar ice. densely packed from ,
Wainwright inlet on theAmerican coast, :.
to latitude 714 degrees north, and Ion
gitude 164 degrees west, made by Com
mander Moore, of the Plover in 1850,
holds good almost every spring. The
Corwin may, therefore almost reasona-
bly, hope to fall in with some trace of
the Jeanette in the event that the latter
has succun ,ed to the violence of Arc
tic elements, and has been borne help
lessly along as was the Tegethof in 1873
in the great drift current of the Polar
Ocean. Should the Corwin. therefore,
after thorough search of the Ameri-
can coast, gain no clew to the wherea-
bouts of the Jeanette, this fact will be
strong reason for believing that she
has not been disabled or drifted from
the vicinity of Wrangell Land. and the
Rogers, 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
p ,obably have time to communicate the
fact TO the Commander of the Rodgers
before he leaves Behring Strait for the
Mouth