The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1882-05-20
The Fate ofCapt. De Long.

uctbo 1uoTc ID sotuc east~snCtHu ="
this, and IN not being left in
that STA Of awful uncertainty. as III
the case of the unfortunate Sir J"hn
Franklin. although the end of De-
Long aud bis men must have been
horrible indeed.
The trip If the Jeanette was at
first an extremely successful one. The
best opportunities were offered ITS Ut
tic, RS If studying tue character IA 4
phen"mena Of Northern rlimat. :, ana
there WAS every reason To hope hat
some remli, valuable discoveries
would be made by them. Thus eve
iytling Was sati>factor, and pr.'nls-
my when The vessel was. more than "a
year ,go, unfortuua ely ic. bound,
glued IN au Immense Ice field which
e, rtied her to and fro On the ocean.
In tins condiiion she remained locked
up for more than year, l,ilmov,blr
and staimnary until. III June last.
the Incoming lee crushed b'r I" pi"c-
es, aud she sank 10 the bottom. The
crew escaped without officially. ana
three boats, commanded respective
~ by Cap Del ng.. Lleat. Ael,,ll'
and ieui Ahipp, made for the Sli~
ran shore " hal WA the fate "f the
last is ms yet completely unknown, rs
not word has been heard from HIM
or any of has men since the boats
parted company at the mouth Of the
Lena
The FIRST news o. the wreck 1t the
Jeanette came from Capt. D-i4ong :
parry Information was conveyed by
natives 10 Y.kntz, and thence VIA
Aioscuw to tins country. The par.
hal landed successfully. aud this b,u
lletsn SAID near ube If the mouths ut
the Lenu, and bad seit one II the
men wIh some natives 10 look f"I
the Melville. A few days after. news
cam. from Lieut. Melville whose
part, had landed successfully nj The
other u .,uth If the Lena Li-nt
Melville K pit mp ronstan' ulnnni
cation Will, G. il,z,llou, AID marching
some Ut The advanced Russian posts.
+, ON one cf these be furnishes flu;
aud thorough history Of the exped'-
ton aud gives some account of I
countr, through which be passed,
/ M other news Ia the meanwhile bad
been received from DeIsong. ThIs
did not arouse much anxiety at first
/ as il was known that he had to trave
more than thousand miles to reach
civilization As time progressed, how
ever, IA fear was entertained that he
might have met VITA some accident
and arrangements were at once 'uad'
10 begin thorough aud effective
search for him. Lieut.. Melville wa
ordered by the Secretary of The Nav.
to spare no throuble or expense u
| discover the missing party. and I
steamer was secured 20 travel dow
the Lena to render aid and assistance
if necessary.
| Melville started on his relief exp-
dition, aud few weeks ago, We re
ceived the news that he bad strucl
the trail, having reached one Of tia
cairns or stone huts erected by De
Longs party, IN which they bad plac
J ed papers telling their condition AM
i The line of their march. With thi
direction to ASSET him the search wa
continued hut the hopes of fndin
the party alive aud we'll were rapid
dissipated. The papers left anon
} the cairns told sad story indeed
} Capt. DeLong had only two day
provisions with bin his men wei
weak and tired aud sick. Tue conn
tr, through winch they had bee
travelling, more, yer. exceeds, III des
' ..latness, the Sahara If Africa. 1t
D wholly without life Of anv kInd,
great PLAN, uninhab,t, d, ,reeless. LIT
lrss. with nothing bnt Ice aud col
aud bleak ia,nIpe Ihe belong pa
~ had unfortunately chosen the vel
worst route possible. Over It the
y trudy-d, weary warn aud hnDgr
until they could trudss no hnKe
= When aud how they ai-d WE ha'
! not vet learned, but It WINS u death
z misery and suffering, the worst, pro-
= ably Of all deaths starvation. I'll
J corpses Of the gallant party wei
. iound in March; the news only reac
y ed us last night. for u takes weel
and months FIR news 10 cross tho
y vast nlniuh