Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-05-17

mendous force, and the ship was il
the way That settled the matter
and there was barely time to get The
provisions and tents and sledges and
boats out on one ofthe largest ice-hoes
when the Jeanette, again loosed from
the ice clutch, went to the bottom o.
the Arctic sea, crushed and broken
thing.
The position of the party at this
time was anything but cheerful. In
the midst of rapidly breaking ice-felds,
five hundred miles from Siberia and
help, with third of the crew sick
from tin poisoning produced by the
tomato-cans, and all exhausted by the
labor of getting out of the ship, the
outlook on the morning of June IA
was dark indeed But preparations
for the long journey were made at
once, and not man showed despond-
ency, if he felt it. The provisions con-
sisted of some $500 pounds OF pemmi-
can, or thin-sliced, sun-dried meat,
1,500 pounds of hard bread, and large
quantity Of Leibig's extract. There
were five sleds, and three sled-mount-
ed boats making a total weight of
Is, 400 pounds to be dragged by twen-
three men-the rest being invalids-
over the tough and almost impassa-
able surface.
The travelling was to be by night,
70 prevent snow-blindness, the sleep
ing by day. The order of march was
this: all hands except special detail
of four men were to advance the first
cutter to the first black flag established
by Pilot Dunbar, who went ahead to
select the best road; then the second
cutter and the whaleboat and provision
sleds to be brought up to the first sta
tion as rapidly as possible; and while
this was going on, the special detail of
four was to advance the extra pro-
visions, and the sick, with the hospital
sled, were also moved to the front.
After week of such toll and hardship
as this, the captain found from his
reckonings that the drift had more
than neutralized the way covered by
the painful advance, that they were in
fact twenty-seven miles further from
succor than when they started. Had
that distressing fact been told the men,
it may be doubted whether their cour-
age would have held out as it did
So the days and journey went on.
The direction of the drift most FORUM
ately changed, and carried the party
toward instead of away from the
Siberian coast, and Mt times they were
able to make as much as twenty miles
a day, the number of the sledges de-
creasing as the food was devoured. and
wider spaces of water to be sailed over
making passage much easier In July
land was sighted and made, and Ben
nett Island became a point for future
maps Millions of birds were seen,
but no seal or walrus. Nearly week
was spent there, resting for a new
start.
Then came what was to be the final
voyage, and long and eventful one.
The boats were now used altogether,
aldpassing safely through great quanti-
ties of ice the three heavily loaded
boats worked their way southwark.
They reached Thaddeoffsky and the
New Siberia Islands, and after sue
cession of perils and many days of half
starvation made landing on Semmoff-
sky Island and succeeded in shooting
a deer, which they devoured then and
there, as an antidote for utter exhaus-
ton. September II the three boats
left the island, in few hours saw the
last piece of ice, and in but few hours
more saw the last of each other. All
were caught in terrible gale. through
which Lieutenants Danenhower's boat
lived as if by miracle. 1t is more than
probably that the smaller boat COM
manded by Lieutenant Chipp went
down in that heavy sea. The escape
from it of Lieutenant Danenhower's
boat makes q thrilling chapter
At last, after four days of exposure to
the storm, landing was effected on
the banks of the Lena, and September
Is, Sunday, was the first day ofreal
rest the eleven had known in many
month. Soon they came across coup
lie Of. natives, and then their trials
were nearly over. 1t is fitting finale
of the story that these natives, shy and
fearful of the strangers at first, were
made friends and fellow-helpers by the
sight of religious emblem which q
friend had given Lieutenant Danen-
hover as a talisman. When he saw
the natives cross themselves for pro-
lection, he at once produced it as a
sure way to their confidence, and says
in closing his remarkable story: at was
the only article in the possession of the
party, which indicated to the natives
that we were Christians. You can
imagine our feelings at meeting these
people, for they were the first strangers
whom we had seen for more than two
years, and | never before felt so thank
full to missionaries as / did that day at
finding that we were among Christian
natives"
The sad fate of Lieut.. DeLong and
all his party, with the exception of
two of them, has already been publish
ed. Their boat reached the northern
mouth of the Lena on the 18th of
September, last, but were prevented
from entering the river by a bar:
They abandoned the boat and waded
to the shore. Here they found q
reindeer or two, and after resting
started southwark, but were unfortu-
nate as to their course, and got into a
desert where they perished from star
/ ILL., md ton of