Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-05-15
THE POLAR PROBLEM.
Reception OF the News OF De Longs
PartY-The SeawOrthiness of she
Jeannette-HOpeless OF the Po-
lar PrOblem-Valued meteOrOlOGi-
cal gatiOns-COrrection OF
an Error.


assured ike Iabe OF LleubeuanL Culpps anu
the burning Of the Rodgers, with the sub
sequent exposures of officers and crew. Il is
the first loss OF American officers and men
(Hall excepted) in Arctic expeditions; the
last, It Is to be hoped, in the for
lorn problem of the poles. The
story of to-day adds itself to those Of
Barentz, miserably perishing with cold and
hunger on the Lapland shores, of Willough-
by's two vessels and crews frozen at the
mouth of the Dwina, and of Crozier's one
hundred and five men dropping down one by
one in their hopeless tracks toward Hud-
sons Bay. Admiration for the heoric en-
durance of Arctic sufferings, protracted and
inconceivably severe. finds itself almost
checked by the unbidden thought that such
heroism might have been expended on bet
ter objects.
The Journal of Commerce has Justly con-
demned the outlays and exposures of valua-
BILE lives in this attempted solution OF the
problem of the pole. The story Of to-day
more than bears out its structures; and more
than one honorable member of the present
Congress has given his ''last vote for such
an expedition" No liberal appropriation
for the advancement of science has been
overruled. Congress has cordially re-
spouded to the calls for the i'm
provement of river and harbor navigation,
for the most extended territorial surveys,
and for the publication of the reports of
King, Wheeler and Raymond, and Powell,
which have repaid the country by the stim-
ulation of new industFlel and the attrac-
tions OF immigration. They have also cor
daily provided large appropriations aud OUT
fit for astronomical observations of the tran
sit of Venus, and are now TO renew these,
which have practical bearing on the inter-
ests of navigation and commerce. The
problem of the pole has no such merit.
The records OF the Jeanette expedition
must have an honored place in history. II
any one copld have reached the pole De
Long would not have failed. His class
standing on graduating at the Naval Acade-
my gave to his instructors the promise of
the future rapid promotion which he re-
ceived, and with Lieutenant Chipp he had
survived the rough Arctic experiences noted
in Admiral Davis narrative of the Polaris.
While passing through Washington his
combined qualities of the officer and
seaman made the happiestimpression. With
a glow of just pride he pointed out the
track over which, with his wife and young
daughter, he had brought the Jeannette
from Europe through Magellan's Straits.
Nor can the writer forget the look which he
gave to a photograph of his ship taken
while beset by the Northern ice under the
command of her former Captain, Allan
YOung. The picture has proved too pro-
phetic, but the best wishes Of all went out
with the last tokens waited by his wife in
the harbor Of San Francisco July s, 1879.
1t is pleasing, too, to note the sincere
and deep interest in his expedition
so fully manifested by the Arctic ex-
plorerS In the geographical societies OF
London and Paris; in the proceedings of
the first named very special references being
made to the "noble way in which Mr.. Grim
nell and the United States Government and
people came forward with words and active
deeds during the search for Sir John Frank
lin." "The debt Of gratitude" said Mr..
Markham, (which we owe to the nation
which sent forth the Rescue and the Ad-
vance can never be forgotten" The Societe
de Geographic, also, which awarded the
gold medals to Kane, Hayes and Hall, does
not fail to note the high position reached by
the unfortunate Jeannette-a position now
laid down, together with the ships drift, on
the new circumpolar chart issued by our
photographic office. So far, then. as naval
honor, enterprise, and heroic endurance are
concerned, De Long has earned full re-
ward.
But the story of the expedition, IT is to be
feared, has 8 darkened curtain. First Of
all, the route had in 1t but little element of
promise as a pathway to the pole; and,
secondly, the Jeanette may not have been
just the ship absolutely needed for Arctic
perils. It cannot be forgotten that when
Parry had swept westward to Cape Dundas
in latitude 74:47, he was effectually blocked;
that the Admiralty and franklin after
ward considered 1t hopeless to come
Strait; that Collinson was drifted
to the northeast, and that Mcclure
abandoned his ship on this same western
side. "The serried masses of ice, sought
to be forced with almost superhuman
bravery by men Of every European race,
effectualy disposed of the hopo of naviEar~
tion across the frozen sea which bounds
Asia on the northeast" The idea of an
open Polar sea existing on either side of our
continent has been forced into the shrinkage
of mere water holes, opening as they did to
engulf the Jeanette after the closing of fee
masses around her.
De Long unquestioDably used much care
aud diligence In the search for a proper
ship. After conference with naval men of
Arctic experience here, he was encouraged
by the opinion expressed that she was per-
haps the best fitted of all Arctic vessels.
She had proved a staupch seaboat under
her former Captain, and the outlay upon
her strengthening and on equipment, costly
as was that for the Polaris, satisfied his
judgment. Yet If 1t be true, as now
affirmed, that this same Pandora had been
rejected by Lieutenant Polander, of Nor
denskiold's party, and if the report of the
respects an Endorsement, her sailing with
such cargo Of precious life will ever be q
sad era in the records of the harbor of the
Golden Gate.
Perhaps relief may be found in the SEEM
ing impossbilitY of resistance by the strong
est ship to ice masses such as she encoun-
tered. Certainly 1t would seem the jean
nette has secured fact of moment. She
has eliminated the Behring Strait route from
the problem of the pole.
When her gallant survivors have worked
up their log books and recorded from their
recovered journals and from good memories
the facts observed during their discoveries
of the new islands and through the long
drift of the ship, they will doubtless throw
further light on some questions of the cur
rents of the great ocean and add some data
needed from this region by our Signal Ser
vice.
In this connection one is prompted tn re-
fer in a word to the very different purposes
now being carried out under perhaps equal
Arctic exposures by the parties sent out last
year by the Signal Service to the extreme
northern portions-Point Barrow on the
one side and Lady Franklin Bay on the
other OF our continent. Acting in concert
with the observers at the other international
meteorological stations, each of those par
ties was furnished with the meteorological.
magnetic, tidal and pendulum Instructions
recommended by the Hamburg Conference.
and with others specially prepared bv ouf
own National Academy of Science and Coast
Surveys; they were literally equipped with
apparatus as well as with books for soma
tedious unemployed hours to be expected.
They were to make permanent stations TO
be occupied by them up to the year 18SS-84.
For Lieutenant Raw and his command, near
Point Barrow, and for Greeley and Lock
wood at Lady Franklin Bay, many 20 anxi-
ous thought is known in the homes at which
their latest letters received lear no date
since August, 1881.
The relief in the case Of these volunteers
In the good works of science lies in their
ABILITY TO obtain fresh supplies of the sus-
tenance which nature offers in the regions
of warm blooded animal life. Hall. thus
provided, even in his forlorn snow hut.
passed his five years without serious sick.
ness, with no touch of scurvy, though un-
fortified by any antiscorbutic. The meteo-
rological parties have wisely carried out tha
Trainings OF substantial houses, and secured
the help of natives as companions in the
hunt.
To these items Of Arctic interest let me
add one other, gladly diverting further from
the sad Eews of the Jeanette and correct
ing very serious error as to the recovery bv
Lieutenant Schwatka of the Franklin re-
cords. No such recovery was or ever viii
be effected, though now fully announced by
a Washington newspaper. The history ia
literally this: On the report brought In by a
whaler toa New York shipping firm tnat the
Eshinios had promised to lead ?. party to
those loDg-lost treasures, Lieut.. Schwatka's
expedition was organized. His party
made heroic residence In the far north:
learned gOYnethfno mp.~a - U.-1-1T >, ~tr-s