New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-10-14
TILE Ice RARRIERS.

Additional al details of the Neptunes voyage
in the direction of Lieutenant Grcelys Arctic
colony are furnished by our special CORE
spondent The barrier of ice in Smith Sound
was found in the latitude where DR.. Kane and
DR.. HAYES were forced to winter. AS it has
been passed tour times in twelve years, by the
Polaris in 1871, by the Alert and Discovery in
1875 and again on the return voyage, and
finally by the Proteus IL 1881, there is fair
chance of successful cruise to Discovery
Harbor next year, by which the Arctic cOlonsts
may secure passage hOmeward. The failure
of this seasons relief expedition is especially
TO be regretted since Lieutenant Greelys party
have already been exposed to an unusually
cold Arctic winter and may have been greatly
enfeebled and in pressing need OF the addl-
tional force of observers carried north by the
Neptune. They are stationed ut the entrance
of Lady Franklin Sound, where the Discovery
wintered in 1876, while her companion ship
outstrippcd Captain Halls farthest point and
sent sledging parties within 400 miles of the
Pole. That winter was one of the coolest ever
recorded, and the men were so exhausted by
it that Sir George Mares was forced to return
during the following summer, whereas il he
could have remained another year extended
explorations might have been practicable. 1t
must not be forgotten, however, that the exped-
ton had not taken adequate precautions against
scurvy, and that the men were enfeebled by
laborious sledging journeys Lieutenant
Greely's men have had no sledging journeys to
make and they have been well housed. Even
if their own supply of fuel runs short, there is
a seam of coal at Discovery Harbor, which can
be opened in an emergency. There is, there
fore, no cause for serious apprehension in
regard TO the health and safety of the colonists,
provided the conditions of the ice are more
favorable another summer so that they can be
reached and taken OF by ship.
The Neptune is not the only Arctic steamer
whose course was INSTRUCTED by the ice during
August. The Dijmphna, commanded by Lieu
tenant Hovgaard, of the Danish Navy, sailed
from Copenhagen on July IS, for Cape
Chelyusliin, the nOrthernmost headland of Asia.
where he expected to winter His ultimate de
sign was to strike nOrthward from that point
and to ascertain whether the conditions of the
currents and ice favor exploration in that
quarter and whether the coast of Franz Josef
Land trends as far eastward as that meridian
The vessel was sighted ON August II by the
Nordenskod, a steamer owned by the Swedish
trader Sibiriakol She had been belated in her
voyage and was then struggling to find an
opening in the ice south of Novaia Zemlia. The
Louise, an Arctic yacht, which subsequently
arrived in England, reported that the Kara
Sea was filled with Ice and that Lieutenant
Hovgaards vessel was still detained eighty
miles east of Waigatz Island on September %
1t was SO late in the season that the attempt
to make Cape Chelyuskin seemed utterly hope
less, although the mouth of the Yenisei might
DO reached, if the ice barrier in the Kara Sea
could be broken through. The DUmphna Is
not equipped for AN extended voyage of ex-
ploration, as she is only provisioned for twenty