The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1883-01-13
Belongs Record.
wAsHINoroN, Dec

wAsHINGroN, December %.
Lieutenant belongs report, found beside
his dead body, has been made public. Ii makes
qo0o0 words, and details the incidents of the
cruise from the departure from San Fran
cisco, in 1879, TO January, 1881. Its principal
feature is an elaborate account of DeLong $
views in regard to the expedition. He oonsid-
cred IT good Judgment to head for wrangell
| Land. His idea was to adopt that land as the
| support of the first winters campaign; he en-
| bodies the story of how the land was sighted,
! aud how he expected TO rrach IL. He graphic
| ally described how, OF the next day, the
| Jeanette became beset In the ice never gain
| TO be relieved, aud says: THE party was COM
| PEELED TO make virtue of necessity and stay
where we were. Sometimes all night, and
sometimes all day and night, from January 10
| to February 4, Sweetman and Ninderman
stood down in the forepeak. the 10y water flow
| ing around them nearly TO their knees work
| ing faithfully until their work was accom-
plished, and the good results of that work were
| evident in the gradually reduced amount of
water coming into the ship, and our ability to
control the leak Without such ruinous expe nd
iture of fuel as had been necessary thereto
fore. 1t for these reasons that l have had
the honor to recommend these two men TO you
for medals of honor as a recognition of heroic
conduct under the most trying ciIcum-
stances"
Captain De Long record OF the remainder
of the winter and summer of 1880 is. for tho
most part. monotonous record of storms
ice-mountans, constant anxiety, aud almost
unbroken disappo ntment. As the short Arc
tic summer drew to a close without setting the
Jeanette free. and another dreary winter ap-
preached, Captain De Long evidently began to
revolve in his mind the question whether IL
would not be better to abandon the ship and
make for the northern coast of si5erlu owe
the ice than TO run the risk of a second winter
in the puck.
Under date OF September 90, 1880, he says.
disl Ike natui ally to dwell on the idea Of the
abandonment of the ship. We We come
through so much IL gives me hopes of surviving
more. So 10 as enough of the ship remains
TO shelter us, sticking by that fragment is pref
cradle TO camping on the ice, and can con-
ceive of no greater Torlorn hope than an at
tempt TO reach Siberia SAY 2i0 m lies distanb
over the ice that surrounds US, and With r. win
ter's cold sapping ones Life at every step. OF
course, II we were to lose our ship, we would
make an effort so get there, but our chances
of success would be extremely probiematical."
The last entry in the record l. dated Deoem-
Der 81, 1880, and is as follows: "Minstrels are
ringing IN the New Year in latitude 3 deg rees
~ IN NUTS north, longitude III degrees 81
we have drifted 800 miles--far enough, IL II
had been in a straight line. to carry us To and
beyond the pole, but we are yet only go mi es
northwest of where we were first beset We
have suffered injury, and danger has often
confronted us. We have been squeezed and
jammed, tossed and tumbled. We have
pumped eaky ship for year, but VIC are
not yet daunted. and are as ready to dare ev-
erything as we ever were. And we face the
new year firmly, hoping to dc something
worthy of ourselves of Bennetts enterprise
and of the flag above us"
In less than ten months after these wor Is
were written the Jeanette was at the bottom
OF the Arctic Ocean and Dc Long lay dead In
the Lena Delta.