The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-08-15
MELVELLE'S VIEWS.
He Says Nansen's Theory of the Polar
Current Was Not Borne Out.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14.-Without ques-
tioning the accuracy of the reports that
come by cable from Norway, announcing
the return of the Arctic explorer Nansen
safely from his novel and adventurous
voyage in the Fran. Commodore Melville.
engineer in chief of the navy, who was
a member of the Inflated Jeanette party,
which served as the pattern for Nansen's
attempt to reach the north pole. holds that
the result of the explorers voyage as now
understood here, clearly proves Nansen's
theory of polar drift to be groundless. In
the opinion of Commodore Melville, Nam
sen has only closely paralleled the cele-
hrated voyage of Wyprecht and Payer in
the Tegethoif, and has followed their drift:
The Tegethoff rounded the north point of
Nova Zembla with the intention of traverS-
Ing the north coast of Siberia. Her COM
manders got in the ice and drifted north
and east, being favored by the gulf stream
in the early rail-. Afterwards. when the
stream lost it's force, they drifted south
and west, bringing up on Wiltsee island,
Josef land. During the winter their
ship was crushed and in the following sum-
mer they escaped in their boats and were
headlands of Nova Zembla. Nansen. Com
modore Melville points out. has had a very
similar experience. He did not enter the
ice on the side of the polar basin from
where he was picked up. so his trip fails
utterly to prove that a current exists that
may be relied on TO carry a ship across
the polar waters and bring it down on the
east side OF Greenland. AS a matter of
fact. he was last heard from. according to
Commodore, Melville, eastward of Nova
Zembla, and he has just drifted northward
and back again. This is precisely in ac-
cord with the judgment passed upon Nam
sens theory before he undertook his voy-
age. by Commodore Melville, who had care
July calculated the probable drift in the
Arctic regions north of the New Siberian
islands from the experience he had with
IN Loo Ac RI NnnCay onHr-A h.
says that while it Is not known exactly
just where he entered the ice. ne doubtless
entered northward of Nova Zembla and
this would give hir1 just the right drift to
emerge where he is reported TO have been
picked up.
After reading the Vardoe cable letter to-
night Commodore Melville said: In read
Ing the later dispatch of this evening it
seems a most extraordinary condition of
affairs that the two principal officers of
the FRAN should have been found SO far
away from their ship and separated from
the other members of the ships company.
If the dispatch is authentic, and it would
not be fair to doubt il, the meeting of
Nansen and Jackson is to be considered
an extremely fortunate one for the former.
With his chronometer and watch stopped
he had lost his reckonings and without
doubt would have persisted had he not
met Jackson. 1t is extraordinary that
nothing is said definitely of the where
she was abandoned in "a degrees north
latitude. The dispatch says that the high
est northern latitude was made north Of
the New Siberian islands. That Is possible.
but not probable l doubt If the Fran
ever attained a higher latitude than s.
degrees, II indeed she reached so far as
that: and. IL the NanSen party attained
a latitude of Sc degrees. 1t must have been
upon the fixed ice cap over which it could
be comparativeiy easy travelling.
sailed or steamed its way southwark and
westward TO Franz Josef Land. This is
hardly possible. 1t matters not where a
ship is put in the moving polar pack TO the
nOrthward of the coast of Siberia, any
where from Nova Zembla TO East Cape at
Boring strait. IL she holds together she
would be spewed out between Nova Zembla
and Franz Josef Land. or between Franz
josef Land and the Spitzbergen. Or. if 1t
is possible that there il open water or
running Ice or drifting pack TO the north
of Franz Josef Land. 1t Is possible for a
ship TO come out between SpitZbergen and
Greenland, though the latter is very doubt
than thirteen hundred miles by the jean
nette expedition was found TO be a very
shallow sea. from sixteen to thirty faith
oms. Currents do not move very rapidly
In such shallow waters. liz the theory that
an Ice cap rests at the north pole of the
earth holds good. II should extend south tC
about 81 degrees north latitude. and as the
polar pack is driven TO the north and west
along the edge of this cap. the result Is
TO shove the loose ice out of. the channels
before mentioned. The dispatch is SC
meager In detail that / dislike 10 ommen
on its possibilities. But there is no reason
why. ii the Fran held together all this
time. she would not have drifted out just