Huntsville gazette., 1882-01-07

boats, one of which reached the mouth
of the Lena on September %, ard another
subsequently, while the third has not
reached land. The survivors were in their
boats from seventy to ninety days, and their
condition on reaching land is described as
pitiable. Their sufferings must have been
even more heartrending than those OF the
Polaris castaways, whom De Long himself
rescued off the coast of Labrador; for, al
though they, too, left their ship in latitude n
degrees and had been 1876 days on the floating
Ice when they were picked up by the Iigress,
they had started with more thana boat 5 load Of
provisions The escape Of two-thirds of the
Jeannette's crew Is deliverance almost
miraculous The sufferings of these brave
sailors will excite a thrill of sympathy wher-
ever this last story Of Arctic adventure istold
The English-speaking world, recognizing their
Anglo-Saxon grit will rejoice with one CON
sent over the safety of those who have been
rescued, and will lament the possible fate OF
the missing bo It's crew.
HIS De Long the same solace which Payer
and Weyprecht enjoyed, when they reap
peared after their two years voyage! They
had discovered Franz Josef Land. 1T was an
accident, to be sure, for their vessel bad been
caught in the ice and they had been drifting
in utter helplessness for months when their
eyes first caught glimpse of that mysterious
shore; still, it was discovery which richly
compensated them for all their sufferings and
trials Has De Long done anything more
than to return half-w.y on the track of Nor
denskiold, the intrepid Commander of the
| Vega. Unable to break through the ice on
| the Behring Strait meridian. has he turnedto
| the left through Long Strait, and, spending
| two winters on the Siberian coast, only edged
| his way as far west as the Siberian Islands. Or
| has he also made discoveries in higher litl-
| tudes, so that he can do something
| besides compare notes with Nordenskjold!
! The details Of his cruise will be awaited with
| the keenest interest. The latitude where dis
| aster overlook bis trim little vessel indicates
| that he had a higher ambition than to repeat
the Swede's exploit. 1t is higher Latitude
| than that of the northernmost cape which the
| Vega rounded and is on level with Prince
| Patrick Land and the southern edge OF Spitz-
| bergen. Whether it was the highest latitude
which he had reached, or whether he had made
| discoveries of real Importance before his ship
| was abandoned we shall know when the log
is furnished in detail 1t will be melancholy,
indeed, if this gallant commander and his
| plucky companions have struggled and suf-
| fered as they must have done without having
| added materially to the sum OF human knowl-
| edge or enlarged tne horlZon ol the polar
| basin.
! In the first flush of this sudden news from
| the Jeanette, science and geography count
| for little. 1t is the human element which
| touches the hearts of people OF generous m
| stincts There is joy over the deliyerance or
| the bulk of the crew; there is sympathy Tor
| the brave Commanders wife, who has been
waiting SO anxiously for twenty-eight long
months for tidngs of his safety; there is sor-
| row that she ships company has been divided
and that so many brave men may have perish
| ed. But the scientific aspects cannot be en-
tirely overlooked The failure OF TINS expedi-
| tion may tend to simplify the future course of
! Arctic exploration The theory generally
adopted in recent years has been that in order
| to reach a high latitude within the Arctic
| Circle the vessel must follow coast line
| trending northward. When DE Long lett Gan
| Francisco in 1879 there we're three coasts which
seemed to offer peculiar advantages for Arctic
| exploration. One was the Greenland shore,
which Kane, Hayes, Hall and Mares had fol.
| lowed; another was the recently discovered
! Franz Josef Land, which has since
| been partially explored by. Leigh Smith; and
posed to be large island and possibly one OF
chain of islands stretching toward the Pole.
| De Long hoped to succeed in wintefing on
| Wrangell Land and in following what was fan
| cied might be polar archipelago Tar TO the
north. Wrangell Land is now known to be
small 1Sidnd Win an lnlpeDelfdDIe sed w tne
north, and Leigh Smiths disappearance ia the
Kara Sea dscourages attempts to make Franz
| Josef Land base of operations. Ii the phan-
| tom quest for the Pole is ever to be resumed,
the old route through Smiths Sound must be
considered the safest highway. The little col
ony Of Americans and Eskimos which was
landed in Lady Franklin Bay last summer has
better opportunities for scientific research and
extended explorations in the highest latitudes
| than any ships crew exposed 70 The terrible
risks of the Siberian waters and the Barentz
| Sea can possibly have.-E. n Iribans