The Opelousas courier., 1882-05-13
The Fate of Capt DeLong.
IN. @. Times Democrat, May 81

lu6 teleSTdpu IlnhiIy dsSuieS US "a
the fate of Capt. belong, captain of
the Arctic exploring vessel, Jeanette.
There is some satisfaction in knowing
this, and in not being left in that state
of awful uncertainty, as in the case of
the unfortunate Sir John Franklin, al
though the end of belong and his men
must have been horrible indeed.
The trip of the jeanette was at first
an extremely successful one. The best
opportunities were offered its officers
of studying the character and phenom-
ena of Northern climates, and there
was every reason to hope that some
really valuable discoveries would be
made by them. Thus everything was
satisfactory and promising when the
vessel was, more than a year ago, I'M
fortunately ice bound, glued in an i'm
mense ice-field which carried her to
and fro on the ocean,. In this condi-
ton she remained locked up for more
than a year, immovable and stationary,
until, in June last, the incoming ice
crushed her to pieces, and she sank to
the bottom. The crew escaped with
out difficulty, and in three boats, com
manded respectively by Capt. belong,
Lieut.. Melville and Lieut., Chip, made
fer the Siberian shore. What was the
fate of the last is al yet completely I'M
known, as not a word has been heard
from him or any of his lei since the
boats parted company at the mouth of
the Lena.
The first news of the wreck of the
Jeanette came from Capt. Belongs
party. Information was conveyed by
natives to Yakutz, and thence via Mos
COW to this country. The party had
landed successfully, this bulletin said,
near one of the mouths of the Lena,
and had sent one of the men with some
natives to look for Melville. A few
days after, news came from Lieut.. Mel
Vile, whose party had landed success
fully at the other mouth of the Lena.
Lieut.. Melville kept up constant COM
~manication with civilization, and,
marching and sailing, was soon able to
reach some of the advanced Russian
posts. From one of these he furnished
a full and thorough history of the ex-
petition and gave some account of
the country through which he passed.
No further news in the meanwhile had
been received from belong. This did
not arou much anxiety at first.
as it was known that he had to travel
more than a thousand miles to reach
civilization. AS time progressed, how
ever, a fear was entertained that he
might have met with some accident,
and arrangements we're at once made to
begin a thorough and effective search
for him. Lieut.. Melyilleswas ordered
by the Secretary of the Navy tos spare
no trouble or expense to discover the
missing party, and a steamer was Sc
cured to travel down the Lena to rem
der aid and assistance if necessary.
Melville started<on his relief expedi-
ton, and a few weeks ago, we received
the news that he had struck the trail,
having reached one of the cairns or
stone huts erected by belongs party,
in which they had placed papers tell
ing their condition and the line Of their
march. With this direction to assist
him the search was continued. but the
hopes of finding the party alive and
well were rapidly dissipated. The pa
pers left among the cairns told a sad
story indeed. Capt. DeLong had only
two days provisions with him; his
men were weak and tired and sick. The
country through which they had been
travelling, moreover, exceeds, in desc
Ylateness, the Sahara of Africa. 1t is
wholly without life of any kind, q great
plain, uninhabited, treeless, lifeless,
with nothing but ice and cold and
bleak famine. The belong party had
unfortunately chosen the very worst
route possible. Over it they trudged,
weary, worn and hungry, until they
could trudge no longer. When and
how they died we have not yet learned,
but it was a death of misery and suf-
fering, the worst, probably of all deaths
starvation. The corpses of the gal
liant party were found in March the
news only reached us last night, for it
takes weeks and months for news to
cross those vast plains.
To the gallantry, the heroism, the
courage and the determination Of these
men, this march bears witness. They
sacrificed their lives in an earnest effort
to solve q question which it has been
the ambition and desire Of all mankind
to solve.
Speaking of the increased receipts
from sales Of whisky, beer and tobacco
] "A Baltimore, as shown by the report