National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1884-08-16
THE JEANNETTE RELICS.
What DIR. Besscls Thinks OF the Prob
ability OF the story of Their Dis


ability OF the story OF Their Dis
oovery.
PHILADELPHIA, Pa, Aug. 15.-Capt.
Wilson, of tho bark Fluorino, at this port,
from Ivigtut furnishes the following; On
June =, Off Julianeshaab, latitude Coz 36'
north, longitude Ace o. west, the lower
part Of tent was found by an Eskimo
on pieco of foe or drift ice, tho upper
part Of which seemed to have been blown
away, the ends Of store on provision cask
marked "Jeannette;" contents In store
also marked; o charter party and check
book on Bank of California, both signed
by De Long; pair OF oiled trousers Of
Louis Noros; bear skin, which covered
something Of tho size and shape of hu-
man corpse. but the Eskimo could not
remove tho skin to ascertain what was
under it.
DR.. Emil Bessels, the Arctic explorer
and scientist, was asked by q reporter
last night what he thought Of the state
ment made by Capt. Wilson, Of the bark
Fluorine, now at Philadelphia, with
respect to the finding Of the relics Of the
Jeanette party on an ice foo of Julianes-
haab in Juno last. He said he was
rather inclined to doubt tho truth of tho
report that such relics had been found
at tho place named. If the story were
would, no thought, ere long furnish
further details. He did not think IL true
that body was covered up in tho bear
skin said TO have been found on tho foo.
| If such were the case, 1t was not one Of
| the Jeannette's dead, as when the
| Jeannette was abandoned no one on board
had died, and IL was improbable that the
relics could have drifted from the Iona
delta, as the river ice would not have
foated that distance. II the relics had
been found as stated, and wero from the
Jeanette, they had floated to whore they
were found from the place whore the
vessel went down.
Julianeshaab. of which the relics arc
said to have been found, IL on the west
coast Of Greenland, just north of Cape
Farewell. and, according to the opinion OF
| DIR. Bessels, to reach that point the foe on
which they wero found must have drifted
along the north coast Of Greenland, and
have been by the east Greenland ice
stream, which doubles Cape Farewell,
around shat. cape into tho vicinity. Of
Julianeshaab. The currents In Batiin's
bay and Davis straits are such
that the cold current which doubles
Cape Farewell runs to the northward on
the inside of a branch Of the Gulf stream
drift. which probably does not extend
farther north than Disco. He said that
the foe could not have come down Baffins
bay to where 1t was found as the currente
issuing from Smith sound. Jones sound
and Lancaster sound closely follow the
eastern shores of the North American
archipelago, trending as all southwark
currents do to the westward. If the Ice
foe had como through any Of the chan
nels above-named, 10 would necessarily
have followed their course, as did the
various exploring vessels that were beset
in the leo in those channels. and the
Resolute, which was abandoned there and
drifted to whore she was picked up by 0
whaler near the western shore of Davis's
strait. That the flow could have drifted
between tho Siberian coast, Francis
Joseph land, and Spitzberger to the place
where II was found he thought improbs-
BILE, as tho observations of currents OF
record, especially those made on board
the Teegethoff while she was beset In the
loo show that in that region they flow
moro to the northward than to the west
ward.
Ho said that II the story Of the finding
of the relics be corroborated 1t would
prove that the ioe in tho center of the
Arctic basin is not stationary, as was
supposed by tho English Arctic expedition
but that it constantly drifts in an equato.
rial direction. The distance travelled by
the foe in which the relics were found
from the place where the Jeanette went
down, according to the course he be
loved it followed, to Julianeshaab, is abou
$4,000 miles.
He said that Peterman's theory wa
that Greenland was an island, and tina
Petermsn stuck to this theory oven afte
it was proved by the Polarls expedition
that Greenland was not an island, and tha
the eastern Atlantic tidal wave entere,
Robson channel from the northward
The course which ho supposed was takeI
by the foe conformed to the Polari
theory.