Evening star., 1896-02-13
MELVILLE AND GREELY.
Both Discredit the story That Nansen
Has Been Heard From.

bOtn DfSereH1t the story SEGt hansen
Has Been Heard From.
The story coming from Russia to the eff
feet that Nansen. the explorer, has dis
covered and landed at the north pole. and
is now on his way home Is received here
with absolute incredulity by the two per-
sons who of all others In the United
States are best qualified to pass an opin-
ion upon the probability of the statement
namely, Commodore Melville of the navy
and Gen. Greely of the army. Commodore
Melville said this afternoon that he was
particularly confident that the story was
without reasonable foundation. The
Franz" said he, entered the Arctic to the
north and east of Nova Zembla, with the
intention of forcing her way to the east
ward to the vicinity of Bennett Island,
which is south of where the Jeannette was
crushed in the ice. AS the Jeannette had
made 1890 miles in northerly direction,
Nansen had an idea that IL he could get
in-o the same current it would carry him
to tine pole. This. to my mind, is impos-
sible There Is an ice cap at the pole ex-
tending down to the vicinity of the eighty
fifth degree of north latitude Soundings,
currents and all of the observed phenomena
of the arctic region assure US of this fact.
If the Fran should have managed 20 get
as far east and north as Bennett Island,
and so was seized by the current which
carried the Jeannette, the probabilities are.
If the ship was not crushed and sunk by
the ice. as was the Jeanette, and the pro-
visions held out, that she would drift out
into the Atlantic ocean between Franz Jo-
seph Land and Nova Zembla. If, however,
there should be a channel north OF Franz
Joseph Land and between 1t and the Ice cap
mentioned, it is possible that the ship may
have drifted through 1t to the northward OF
Spitzbergen and gotten into the DRIFT COM
ing south along the east coast or Green
land If beset in the ice there, she may
have turned the cape and drifted around to
the west coast of Greenland, eventually 70
be cast out into Baffin's bay and dri1i
southwark. These are the results which
800 years of exploration and observation IN.
dictate may be expected as the ending oil
the attempt made by the Franz
What Gen. Greedy Says.
Gen Greely called attention to the fact
that the dispatch announcing Nansen's sue
cess did not state where he was when heard
from. and this he regarded as a suspicious
circumstance. 1t would have bean easy
when teiegraphing the reported discovery
of the pole to have stated just where Nam
sen was when this trader heard from him
"As matter of fact" said General Greely
"nothing authentic had been heard from
the explorer since his departure from civili-
zation. 1t was expected that he would
touch at the New Siberia Islands on his way
around. to take on extra provisions and dogs
for his sleds- Several parties had touched
at the islands during the past two or three
years, however, and they had found nc
evidence that Nansen had been there"
General Greedy has gone on record as con.
denining the theory upon which Nansen's
expedition was founded, and, like Commo
dore Melville. he believes the project to bt
utterly impracticable. According to Gen