The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-03-22

drift therefrom ever fallen to the obser-
walton of any Arctic voyager
Nansen, however. insisted that the
very conditions which destroyed other
vessels would insure the safety of his
own, and quoted the unique and des-
pairing drift of the Jeanette some
1900 miles northwestward from Bering
strait. AS is well known, this vessel
was finally destroyed by the convul-
sions of the pack. and only Melville,
with his boats crew, and two men
from De Longs boat, ever returned.
Nansen further contended that GER
tain drift material, picked up on the
southwest corner of Greenland, came
from the Jeanette by drifting over the
pole, down the Spitzpergen current be-
tween that island and Greenland, and
passing around Cape Farewell into Baf-
fins bay. These relics were never iden-
tilted, and their genuineness was dis
trusted by Melville, the man most COM
petent to judge, who made an unavail
ing effort to secure their Identification.
Nansen further declined to believe that
such relics could come there by the
well-known southerly drift from the
Arctic ocean to Baffins bay, or through
the various channels Of the Parry arch
ipelago. Calculating the drift of these
relics at two nautical miles a day, Nam
sen believed that by putting his vessel
into sea to the northward of the Sibe-
rian Islands, in the place where the
Jeanette sank, he too would drift over
the pole and enter the North Atlantic
between Iceland and Greenland. He
was provided with staunch whale boats.
with which he would be able to save
his party in case of the loss of the
Fran.
Abandoning the idea of entering the
ice at Boring strait, he sailed from
Norway June "a 1898, with rs men, pro-
visions for five years and entered the
Kara sea through the straits south of
Nova Zembla. He intended to visit the
Yalmal peninsula and take the ice
either at the most northerly point of
Asia or from the Siberian islands. The
last letter from him was dated at
Charabova, Yugor strait, Aug. 2. 1893,
just as he entered Kara sea. He did
not visit Yalmal peninsula nor the
New Siberian islands, where supplies
have been cached for his use by Baron
Won Toll. The Fran was last seen In
the north of the Kara sea, at the end
of August, 1893, since which time no
authentic or definite information has
been received as to Nansen's move
ments.
The question arises, what have been
the experiences of the Fran? One can
speak either from known experiences
in this quarter, or on differences drawn
from the physical conditions of the ST.
berian sea. AS is well known, this
ocean is very shallow, and, as Melville
has pointed out, its physical conditions
are such as to prevent the presence of
mighty permanent ocean currents,
which otherwise might be expected to
eventually carry the Fran into the At
lantic or Pacific oceans by one of the
debouching straits.
In this quarter we have the expert
ences of the Jeanette in the Siberian
ocean, of the Dimjphna in Kara sea,
and of the Tegetthoff in Nova Zembla
sea all indicate that the drift of the ice
foes depend almost entirely upon the
wind which consequently makes the
experiences of one year no criterion for
another.
On one side of the Arctic ocean exist
the bold, abrupt coasts Of Nova Zem-
bla, Franz-Josef Land, Spitzbergen and
Greenland, washed by deep seas, while
on the other are the low, shelving
shores of Siberia and Alaska laved by
shallow waters. Again, the paleocrys-
tic fioebergs of Smith Sound and Parks
Land. indicate very clearly the exist
ence of an ice clad land of very con-
siderable extent near the north pole.
Essential conditions for the formation
of fioebergs are extended land areas,
moderate elevations, with sloping
shores extending far into the ocean.
There is such a polar ice cap she'd
ding it's floebergs ipto the Arctic ocean
and its locality must be nearer to ST.
IBERIA than to the mountainous regions