Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-03-29
LIEUTENANT DE LONG.
still Living Chance for the Conn
mander of the Jeanette.
Nea0 York Times.

4NSW L YIN LtHsSSs
It is extremely probable that before the
end OF the present month the fate of Lieut..
DeLopg and his ten companions of the
Jeannette's crew will have been definitely
ascertained by some one Of the searching
parties now on their way to explore the
country TO the west of the Lena. Three
parties set out from Irkutsk on January 13,
headed by Engineer Melville, Nindelman,
who was one of Belongs party and was
sent up the river in search of aid for the
suffering men, and the seaman Bartlett,
whose energy and intelligence are COM
mended in Engineer Melvllle's report to
the Secretary of the Navy. These search
parties will 90 down the river to the western
branch, where DeLong was left by Ninder-
man and Noros, and there begin their
hunt for traces of the missing men. By the
end Of March they ought either to find and
succor them or discover evidence that they
are already past help, but several weeks must
elspse before we are informed of the results
of their quest. Engineer Melville believes
DeLong to be ''eOmewhere to the westward
of the Lena and between Sixteraneck and
Bulcour, which are separated by an extent
Of about $50 versts (100 miles) of a barren
and desolate region devoid of subsistence"
Yet in the same dispatch in which he ex-
presses thisIconvIction he gives an account OF
his search for the missing commander on
the east side Of the river; 1t is difficult to
understand why he should have pushed his
explorations In that direction, even to the
very coast and along the icy shore. over ter
ritory which 1t was known that DeLong had
already trsversed, and to which there was
no evident reason for supposing that he
would return.
When Noros and Ninderman were sent
on ahead by De Long he and the remaining
ten men were to follow their trail up the
river at such speed as they could make with
the luggage and the partly disabled mem
bers OF the party. This was on October 9.
and nothing has been heard of them since,
1t is not probable that they would leave the
river bank, near which settlements and
game would be more likely to be found than
on the unbroken plains. The limits of the
search are therefore pretty well understood,
and very little time and strength will be
wasted In hap-hazard exploration. Lieut..
Harber, who is now on his way to Siberia to
aid In the work, will probably not be able to
reach the lower Lena in time to take part in
the search for De Long, unless the parties
led by Engineer Melville, Ninderman and
Bartlett shall have been strangely bsf1ied in
their efforts to get upon the trail 1t seems
to be already understood, therefore, that
Lieutenant Harber will wait at Irkutsk for
the breaking up OF the ice in the Lena in
May or June, and then sail down the river
In M. Sibiniakoff'S steamer, the Lena, to ex-
plore the coast to the east of the delta in
search of the missing crew of the second
boat, commanded by Lieutenant Chipp, of
which nothing has been heard since she
of September IL, to the south of Simoutki
Island. Secretary Hunt has telegraphed
him permission to take with him five of the
seamen who had set out for home with |
Lieutenant Danenhower. It must be con-
fessed that the prospect of finding Lieut.. |
Chipp and his seven men alive is discourag-
ingly slight, but it is still possible that they
may have found aid and shelter at some |
fishing station on the coast.
The chief grounds for hope in respect to |
DeLong and his men are furnished in the |
accounts of the terrible hardships which |
were endured without serious injury by |
those of the crew Of whose adventures and |
present safety we are Informed. Engineer |
Melville was ten days IN furious storm, and |
passed two nights in a snow bank without
shelter Of any kind. Noros writes to his
father that he and Ninderman walked one
hundred an twenty miles without anything
to eat, going six days without mouthful Of
food. These marvellous stories Of endurance
naturally suggest the reflection that Lieut..
DeLopg ard his companions would meet
the perils Of their journey with similar forti-
tude and powers OF endurance not
materially less than those which
DTOukub NASlNlli6 anu bu6 ObuCIb
safely through the bleak wilderness.
The fear that they may have been unable
to obtain food supplies is somewhat disqui-
citing, but there is game along the Lena-all
travellers say that-and only few days be-
fore Noros and Ninderman left De Long two
reindeer were shot. There is, moreover, a
possibility that some wandering hunters or
other natives may have met the party and
led them to a settlement out of the range of
the explorations thus far made. II this is
the case. our first news of them will be apt
to come quite Unexpectedly, and perhaps
not through any of the search parties. Noroe
and some OF the other men lately at Irkutsk
are evidently of the opinion that the miss
Ing men have already persisted, and this fear
Is probably widely shared here. But the
history Of arctic exploration ab3uuds IN
narratives of happy deliverance from situa-
tions quite as full of hardship and danger.
There is vet uHquestionably a ''living
chance" for the commander Of the Jean
nafto