Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-05-17
SELECT.
The Story Of the Jeanette Artic
Expedition.

sent out by the NJ Y. Herald, met
Lieut.. Danenhower at Irkutsk, in Sibe-
ria, in the latter part of February, last,
and from him got full history of the
expedition from the time the ship left
San Francisco, on the 8th of July,
1879, to the time she was crushed by
icebergs, on the 18th Of June, 1881,
and alse the story of the retreat to
Siberia, up to the time the three boats
were separated in gale off Semmoffsky
Island, and of the adventures of his
own boats crew, from that time till
they were met by natives in the Lena
river The story is very long and
thrilling one, but we have room for
bu. the following short synopsis of it:
The ship had scarcely got into the
Arctic before she was frozen fast; and
from that time on, until at last she gave
way before the terrible strain to which
she had been so long subjected the
Jeanette simply drifted with the ice.
Lieutenant Danenhower gives this
picture, which would hold good proba-
bly, for almost any time during nearly
two years: "Our position was not an
enviable one. At any moment the
vessel was liable to be crushed like an
eggshelI among this enormous mass of
ice, the general thickness of which was
from five to six feet, though some was
over twenty where the foe pieces had
overrun and cemented together and
turned topsy-turvy. Pressures were
constantly felt. We heard distant
laundering of the heavy masses, which
threw up high ridges of young ice that
looked like immense pieces of crushed
sugar. The ship would groan
from stem to stern; the cabin doors
were often jammed so that we could
not get out in case of emergency. The
deck planking would start from the
beams, showing the unpainted wood
for more than half an inch. This,
together with the sharp cracking of the
ships fastenings, like the report of
discharge of rifles, would wake us up
at night. We lived on canned
goods, with bear and seal twice
week, pork and beans and salt beef
once a week. The discipline of the
ship was excellent, and during the
whole twenty-one' months in the pack
there was but one punishment given,
and that was for profanity"
So things went on until the ship
sprang a leak, as was supposed
though in reality it was much more
serious thing than leak-and then for
eighteen months nearly the ship had
to be pumped regularly and vigorously
the men often standing up to their
knees in ice-water. That is aspecimen
of life in the Arctic that will not be
likely to attract volunteers for future
Expeditions.
In September, 1880, the Jeannette
being firmly as ever imbedded in the
ice, orders were given to go into win
ter uuarters-orders that from the
standpoint of this climate would seem
decidedly superfuous. At that time
saws the Lieutenant, 1--WE all consider
ed that if our provisions held out long
enough, if we were not attacked by
scurvy, and if the ship were not crush
ed by the ice, we should eventually
drift out after reaching the vicinity of
Franz Josef Land, either north or south
of it." Significant 'ifs,' with the long
night of the second winter closing in
upon theh.
The following eight months were
comparatively uneventful. The ship
drifted with the ice, but resisted its
pressure, and the life on shipboard was
the same monoton Gus round of eXer-
else and moderate rations. The ship
drlfted in sort of groove, which
was called Melville's Canal, the rate
of movement varying from three to
twelve miles per day. About the
middle of May following land was
sighted, the first seen in many months.
No such land being laid down on the
chart, a discovery was proclaimed, and
the island-for such it evidently was
received the name of Jeanette
Island. Not long after second island
was seen, and was named Henrietta
Island A sledge party was sent out
10 explore it, and after most difficult
and dangerous trip reached the lanC
and took possession of it in the name o.
the United States. Probably the right
of possession will not be seriously dis
: puted The sledge party had hardly
returned when the final and fatal day
came for the Jeannette. After an i'm
prisonment of twenty-one months, the
| ice suddenly broke away and the ship
foated free. Free, that is, in very
small circle, which was limited by the
moving ice That was the new dan
ger. The ship was just free enough tc
be caught in crush of the mighty
masses of ice and that was what happen
cd On the llth of June, the next day