Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-11-02
The Jeannette's Cruise.

Lieut.. Danenhower, one of the officers of
the Jeannett in her Arctic voyage, lectured
in fremont Temple Monday evening.
The object of the voyage, he said was to
explore the unknown regions of the polar
seas by way of Behring's straits, end to
cue Prof. Nordensk jold, who was supposed to
be in distress. After sketching the departure
Of the ship from San Francisco in July, 1879.
the incidental stops at Alaskan ports and the
discovery that Prof Nordenskjod was in
safety, the speaker said that, in Sept. mber
the members of the party found themselves
frozen in the ice, not far from the iS0ih me-
ridian. near Wrange land-frozen in a sin
gle night, by u sudden change in the weather
and in that ice pack they remained for 81
months. drifting to and fro with the wind
lie had often seen pictures of the Jeanette
surrounded by iceburgs, which lowered high
above the ship; bat, as matter of fact
there were no icebergs in that part of the
world. This fact, said the speaker. was one
of the strongest arguments to prove the non
existence of land at the north pole. for ice
bergs are fragments of glaciers. and glaciers
are found upon land. The ice foe was. gen
orally speaking, level stretch for the first
two months. but afterward it became thrown
up into hillocks and boulders. During the
stay in the ice fields rigid discipline was
maintained. and one of the incidents of the
routine of duty was a daily walk of two
hours, between eleven and one o'clock. The
diet was as good as possible under the cir
cunstances, canned fruit and meats consti-
tuting the principal part. although pork and
beans were weekly luxury. In January
the ship began to leak. and for two or three
months il was necessary to work the pumps
necessarily. Finally n bulkhead was built
arauud fh. lank In Eahru,ry IA. ebi,, had
been frozen in the ice for five months, and
had only drifted fifty miles from the place
where abe had entered the ice fields. IL was
fifteen months before the $50 meridian was
crossed. In that time, however, it was dem.
onstrated that wrspgel land was an island,
instead of large continent extending from
Greenland ever the Mt nth pole, as had been
maintained. The speaker related many little
incidents which made up the life of the
party. and spoke of the peculiarities of the
two Chinese servants. the native guides and
Indians. After crossing the ls0th meridian
In January. 1881. the ship drifted to the
northwest for nearly six months. at the rate of
from three to nine miles per day, and among
the incidents was the discovery of Jeanette
and Henrietta islands. Finally, in June, a
great movement of the ice took place; for a
few hours the ship foated in a strip of open
water. and then the ice came together again,
crushing the ship aud sinking her
The crew was then left on the ice. 600 miles
from the Lena delta, with three boats, and
provisions and clothing to last 100 days, and
the retreat began--the retreat that was to end
in death to SO many of the party, and all but
death for the rest. The speaker detailed the
terrible journey over the ice, The dragging of
the boats and sledges, one by one, halt mile
at time, which made the journey many
times longer than the actual distance travelled;
the arrival at the Siberian islands, the sub
sequeut departure from the Lena delta the
separation of the boats in \ gale arrival of
Danenhower's detachment at the delta the
reception by the Inhabitants and the final ar
rival at Yakutsk, at the headquarters of the
Russian government in that part of Siberia.
In closing, the speaker said that the results
of the expedition were the demonstration OF
the insulsrity of Wrangel land. the discovery
of three islands and better know ledge of the
depth Of the seas. the animal life and met
eorology than the world has before possessed
As to the utility of such expeditions. the
speaker thought that chain of circumpolsr
stations should satisfy all the demands OF
science. and that no more ships should be
sent to certain destruction in the polar seas.
The lecture was listened to with close atten-
ton throughout