New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-06
THE END OF AN Arctic OrFST

The result of the search for Lieutenant De
Long and his companions has been fore
gone conclusion for many weeks. Yet now
that definite news of the recovery of the
bodies has been received the heartrending
fate of these brave American sailors is in
vested anew with melancholy pathOs. They
had been imprisoned for twenty months
in leaking ship, which in the opinion of the
Board of Naval Examiners was not
and could not be particularly adapted
for an extended cruise in the Arc
tic regions The vessel, after resisting
for two long winters the tremendous pressures
of the grinding foes, at last went down, and
they were left to drag their boats and sledges
seven hundred miles over the ice. At the end
of three months they were clear of the ice and
within fifty miles of the mainland. Storm
| tossed, separated from their companions they
drifted heplessly for several days and fin
ally reached the shore. But deiverance was
still a phantom hand reckoning them they
knew not whittier. There was a settlement
single days march from their landing place,
but they had no means of knowing it. They
turned their backs upon the only available
place of refuge and marched YEARLY south
ward through barren and desolate waste to
their death. The King of the North, who eX
ercises a spell of mystic fascination over
all who venture within his realm, has
never lured his victims to more pitt
| able end. They had battled with
such stout hearts during the months of
the ice drift and the ninety days of the re-
| treat, yet in the end they were to perish
from starvation and cold-his helpless priso-
ners-the victims of an memorable fate.
The details of Engineer Melville's search
| have not been received. From the date of
| his dispatch from the Lena delta we may
| slrmise that he found the bodies not far from
| the station whence the two men, NorOs
| and Ninderman, were sent forward for
succor, for it was there that the melancholy
quest was to open, and it does not seem to
| have lasted many days. All the books and
papers have been recovered and the search
Tor the remaining boats crew has been begun.
| While the previous operations have been mar
rowed to district about eighty miles i'll length
| the work that remains will have a wider
range The whole delta and the adjacent
| shores a long distance on each side
| will be secured for traces Of
the eight men who were in the
| second cutter. AS the boat was in all
probability swamped before it reached land,
this will be a phantom quest indeed, yet it
| will detain Engineer Melville and the officers
sent out to assist him until next October.
Meanwhile we must caution the public
against premature criticisms upon the conduct
of the efficient officer who has conducted the
search. The charge has been made, seemingly
on the authority of Lieutenant Danen-
hover, that he tarried too long at Cape
| 4l,o+ he ,...h+ h.t~o ,o1
the CAPTAINS party if he had sent one of his
men with the native messenger to Balun, and
| in this way have learned of the landing of the
| first cutter fortnight earlier. Engineer Mel
Vile should be exempted from captious
| criticism when he has been too busy
| searching for his companions to re
count his experience in detail. He has
shown remarkable powers of physical endur-
ance and skilful seamanship and admirable
Judgment He should not be wantonly as
sailed-even if he did give his wife a candid
| opinion of the ship before he set out on his
eventful cruise.
There are morals enough to be drawn from
| the wreck of the Jeanette and the loss of
twenty out of her crew of thirty three souls
without any premature reflections upon the
| conduct of the survivors. These morals
| have been already pointed in these columns
and need not be repeated. The United
States Navy loses in Lieutenant De
| Long one of its most capable and brilliant
! officers. He had the reckless daring of the
time navigators, coupled with scientific at
| tainments. His noble wife, who has been
| hoping against hope until her heart has been
chilled and paralyzed with despair, will have
! the sympathies of every warm heart i'll her
| terrible bereavement