National Republican., 1882-12-20
THE JrANNErrE EXPEDITION.
Prof Ncv,omB, one OF thc Survivors, tells
tIt Story AT lincoln Hall.

The atteidancr to hear the lecture of Prof.
Ncwcomb, 1t Lincoln hall, last evening was
not very large, hut those who were present
listened NEST attcntivcly to the interesting
lecture. After having been introduced by
Prof. f. CCucs. of the Smithsonian institution,
and, having apoogizcd for the non-appearancc
on the stage of the other survivors of the ex
pcdtion, who were announced to be present,
Prof Newcomh, ut precisely fifteen minutes
past eight o'clock commenced his recital of
the experiences of the Jeanette crew in the
northern seas. He said that, by the LIBERAL
ity of one of New York's leading citizens,
Mr. James Gordon Bennett a former Eng
lish Ship the Pandora, was fitted up,
and, undgr government supervision,
was permitted to go forth. After
having been ovcrhaulcd in England and re-
chrstencd the Jcanhcttc," he said, she sailed
to san Francisco in December, 1873, and then
went up to Mare island navy yard that there
she was further ovcrhaulcd and new boilers
put in her that there truss-irame or heavy
timber was placed 'mdships; that engineers
thought this frame was II great improvement
in the vessel and that it would be very ciIec-
tive in resisting the strain necessarily result
ing from the ice pressure. Stcaming from
Marc island, she 10y out in the stream until
July g. 1879. She left san Francisco with the
parting injunction of the captains wife,
Take good care Of them, doctor"
They steamed north to Akutan pass, to Una
laska where they arrived on the second of
August; that from there they steamed fur
thcr north to St. Michael's, where they stayed
sometime, procuring dogs and skin clothing,
and had their skin clothing overhauled by
the native women. From there they went
across Rehring sea to st. l. ,wrence bay, where
they took on their final supplies, and sent
back their last messages by the supply
seiooner which returned TO San Francisco.
Soon after entering the Arctic ocean they
steamed west and effected landings at Scrtlze,
Kamcn, Koliutchin bay, and Nordenskjold.
They then steamed further north, entering
the ice at Herald island becoming frozen
in on the sixth of September. He said that
while they were there they INDUCED in
various amusements, such as football, skating
and hunting. While there were plenty of
hummocks level sheets of ice, they saw no
icebergs, the water being too shoal in all
those parts of the Arctic ocean visited by the
Jeannette to allow iCebergs of any size, the
average thickness of ice in one seasons
freezing being eight feet. He then went on
to say that the situation was so novel the first
season that but little sense of danger was
experienced and that all hands were
busy arranging comforts for the cold
weather. He then, in most graphic man
ner, described the appearance i'll the northern
seas of that beautiful phenomenon the aurora
borealis. He said that on the nineteenth of
January the ice cracked under the bow of the
vessel and caused it to leak, and from that
time to the date of the crushing of the jean
nette, which was on the twelfth of June,
1881, they were kept constantly pumping
Ho said that somewhere about the twentieth
Of June, latter the loss of the ship, the party
camped on the ice, and about week after that
everything was made ready to start south on
the retreat toward help. This was after Henri
eta island had been discovered, Jeanette
island being discovered on the retreat He
said the last seen of De Long and Lieut.. Chipp
was on the afternoon of the second gale; that
the whaleboat party landed on the tenth of
September, and after various haps and mishaps
reached the fungus village of Geemabialock,
from which point, clothing having been fur
nshed them, they were transported by dog
sleds to Werchoinsk, on the Yana river, which
place they reached on the twenty-sev-
enth of November. On December II they
were at Yakutsk, and from there they pro-
coed to Irkoutsk, where they left Mr.. Mel
vile, who went to search for De Long, while
the party Prof. Newcomb was with journeyed
ON to Orenburgh, where railway communica-
tion began. On the thirteenth of March, 1882,
they left this place, having previously re-
ceived orders to come home.
Having put aside his manuscript the pro-
fessor illustrated his travels by the aid of forty
steriopticon views.