The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1881-12-24
The Jeanette Heard From.

The gratifying news comes from st. Peters
burg that the larger part If not the whole OF
the crew of the Jeanette is safe. Lieut.. Gen.
Anoutchine, Governor of Eastern Siberia, ar
rived in the Russian capital on Tuesday with
intelligence of the lost vessel. A dispatch to
our State Department from the charge d af-
flares at St. Petersburg gives Interesting de
tails. The Jeanette, 1t appears, was crushed
bv ice in latitude TO and longitude 1510 about
the middle of June of the present year. The
crew embarked in three boats, making for the
nearest land. about 300 miles distant, but were
separated when not far from land by wind and
fog. The boat No. B, with eleven men, under
command of Engineer Melville, reached the
mouth of the river Lena, in Eastern Siberia,
on September 18th, and at a later date boat
No. l. under command of Lieutenant DE
Long. with DIR. Amber and twelve men,
reached the same point. The crew OF the
Jeanette numbered thirtyOne men all told,
though it is not improbable that she was rein
forced, according to the original intention, by
four Esquimaux, as the vessel passed north
ward through Behring's strait, toward the
close of August, 1879. If the latitude and
longitude of the point at which the Jeanette
was caught in the ice are correctly reported,
she was, at the time OF the disaster, 100 miles
northeast of the Island of New Siberia, and
came very near DelIlS lhCul- DCll
of the steamer Rodgers, who sailed from San
Francisco in search Of her in June, 1881. The
Jeanette, a bark-rigged steamer of 42O tons
register and 200-horse power, was built IN
1862 by the British government as dispatch
boat but was sold out of the navy to Sir AL
Ian Young, who fitted her out anew, dubbed
her the Pandora, and made two voyages in
her to the Arctic regions, one in 1875 and an
other in 1876. In January, 1878, she was
purchased for $4,000 by James Gordon Ben
nett, who, in compliment to his sister, gave
the vessel her name, and after Overhaullng
and Strengthening her for polar exploration,
put her in charge OF Lieut.. George w. De
Long, of the United States navy. Provisions
were stored for a voyage of three years, and
every appliance which could be thought of for
the comfort of the men was furnished. On
July 8, 1879 the Jeanette sailed from San
Francisco. She put i'll at several ports III
Alaska for supplies and to leave letters, and
was sighted on September ? by Capt. Barnes,
of the whaler Sea Breeze, south of Wrangell
Land, and next day, she was seen by other
'whalers steering due north. From that day
she was not seen or heard of, and after the
failure of the expeditions sent in search of her
during the past summer, public opinion was
settling down to the gloomy conclusion that
she was lost. The COrwin explored the re-
The Rodgers made two expeditions along the
north coast of East Siberia, and in the second
discovered the insular character of Wrangell
Land. but returned without tidings of the
Jeanette. The Alliance visited the east
coast of Greenland and the open sea towards
Spitzbergen, but of course without news of the
Jeanette. A fourth vessel THE Proteus) car
ried Lieutenant Greedy to Lady Franklin Bay
to establish signal service station and Incl
dentally join in the search for the missing ex
plorer. We are left to conjecture how far
north the Jeanette penetrated, and where she
spent the winters Of 1879 and 1880. 1t is
thought most probable that after discovering
the fact that Wrangell Land is a small island,
Lieut.. De Long stood out in nOrthwestwardly
direction to explore the open sea reported in
that quarter by previous vOyageTs, and spent
his first winter, and perhaps the second also,
shut in by pack ice in very high attitudes.
The fact that the Jeanette was deserted so
early in the spring may fairly be taken to in
dictate that she was damaged during tire winter
of 1880 so seriously that her CONN lnder re-
solved to make his way homeward in the ships
boats when the first open water showed itself
The distance traversed in reaching the mouth
of the Lena was about 500 miles. As the boats
seem to have kept well together most of the
way, and were only separated by fog and wind
when near land, it is very likely that the third
one, from which no news has been received,
has also reached land in perfect safety. The
fate of the Jeanette, supposed to be lost, had
enlisted the sympathies of the whole civilized
world.
DEATH OF A NoNAGRNARIAN-The Han
over, Pa, Spectator says:-On Saturday last,
December 17th, Miss Mary Magdalena Rudi.
sill died at the residence Of her nephew, An
drew Rudisill, in Penn township, near the
York road, a short distance east of this place.
at the advanced age of SO years, months and
8 days. The members of the Rudisill family
have all been noted for their remarkable
longevity-the mother of the deceased diving
some q years ago at the great age of over III
years, indisputably authenticated by the old
German family record. The brothers of the
deceased all attained an age far beyond the
Soriptnral three score and ten allotted to
ma9-John Rudisill, who died some few wears
since, having REACHED the age Of So wears
Andrew, also dead, about "a years, and Henry
L o ~