New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-04-02
ENGINEER WELTILLE'S CHART.

A cODv of the chart of the Lena delta for
warded by Engineer Melville to the Navy De-
partmcDt enables lis to trace the wanderlngs al
Lieutenant De Long and his companions from
the moment they reached the coast 10 the morn
ing of October 9 when they dispatched NoraS
and Nindermann for succOr. Ii shows the
points where the first cutter ard the whaleboat
were bcached, the nuts where De Longs records
were founG the hunting stations where he
halted and the villages on the west bank OF
the river toward which he was marching when
last seen. When the two scamcn left the main
patty, about Oue-quarter OF the distance be-
tween The landng-placc and Bulun village had
been travc,>cd That halting place was at the
junction Of the Tun tt and Bjelkol Channels
and may easily be identified Oh PCternanns
charts or on the maps which accompany Nor
denskiods account of the voyage Oi the VEGA
The section which Engineer Melville is now
searching for his commander is the long. irregu-
larry shaped sandbank named Borchaja Island
on Nordenskiold's map. and bounded by the
westcrnmost channel, Bych0v Sound, the north
ernmost channel, and the western branch pre-
viously referred to as the Bielko Channel.
This island, which is a flat and b rrcn waste,
flooded from June until autumn, was tray efscd
bv the two scamcn, and the western bank OF
the river was then followed rs far as Bnic0ur
COMPOSITE TaS AIRY shown on ordinary map y,
where assistance WIS received from the
natives. The distance was made in fifteen
days. the halting place where De Long was last
seen beng q little more than third Of The way
between the landing-placc and Bulcour.
This chart illustrates The righteousness q.
l.,
wrecked explorers hangs. De Long landed on
the eastern bank of the northernmost channel,
and marching southwark was forced to wait
for tie river to freeze over, and was then car
ried away from the only settlement where the
want, of his men could nave been Immediately
relieved. This was Upper Bulun, village on
the coast where Engineer Melville renewed his
supplies during his first expedition If De
Long had happened to beach his boat on the
western instead of the eastern edge OF the
Tumat mouth. the first day : march would have
led him in the direction OF that village and lis
party would undoubtedly have lcen rescued.
With supplies of provisions close at hand, if
they had only known where to Loo, for them,
they plunged into an unnhabitable waste. On
the other hand, when the Whdlcb0at was
beachcd in the castcmmOst and only nayig&blc
mouth Of the river, there was a settlement close
ar hand to the southeast. Engineer Mclyille
and his mo1, without having the faintest ousp-
cion of ifs oxstcncc turned their backs upon it
and marched long distance 70 the northwest
which was precisely the opposite direction from
that in which they ShOuld have gone. They
were in fact moving along Bychoy Channel
ard Sound toward that very wilderness where
De Long and his companions have been inn
prisoned and if they had not been discovered
by three fishermen and carried back to the
settlement at Cape Bychov. they would have
had a very slender chance of reaching by
circutous route Bulcour and the villages on
the Lena. Both parties landed IL the vicinity
OF a settlement OF which the charts did not bear
any trace; both rctreatcd from the nearest
place of refuge, advancing into a barren waste
where there were no habitations and where
death from starvation was almost inevitable
by happy chance one was discovered by
natives and rescued and bv an memorable fate
the other was left to face agonizing sullcrings
and in all probability the awful doom Of Sir
John Franllin's followers.