Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1900-05-26
WILL USE BEER KEGS
Study of Arctic Currents by Aid of
Drifting Casks.
Plan of Rear Admiral Melville Adopt
ed by the Geographical Society
of Philadelphia at Last
Years Meeting,

The Geographical society of Phila-
delphia expects to continue this year
the work of setting wooden casks
adrift on the ice north of this conti-
nent to demonstrate, if possible, the
currents of Arctic waters north of
Eehring strait. The project was sug
gested by Admiral Melville and this
society began to carry it out last year
Mr. Henry G. Bryant, president of the
society, has a paper in its bulletin
telling of the preliminary work.
1t was Melville's idea that if oaken
casks were set ahoat on the ice in the
waters north of Alaska they would
come out in the course of four or five
years somewhere between Spitzbergen
and Greenland and thus demonstrate
the correctness of the theory of the
northeast drift of those waters, al
ready fortified by the experience of
the Jeanette and rram expeditions.
The society had a considerable num-
Der of heavy oaken Baskets made, in
each of which a bottle was placed
containing a blank form on which the
finder is to record the date and local
ity where the cask is recovered and
return the paper to Philadelphia. The
casks were to be placed on heavy flow
ice, for if launched in the open sea
they were too much at the mercy of
winds and waves, while if deposited on
heavy ice they would probably lee car
ried on the more correct drift. Meth
er were they to be placed on the ice
! adjacent to the Point Barrow district
in Alaska, where purely local currents,
running east and west, exist.
Last summer the United States rev.
enue cutter Bear carried 20 casks
north and others were distributed
among the steam whaling companies
! having vessels in that region Most
of the casks, it was expected, would
be put adrift during August and Sep
! TENDER last The intention to repeat
the experiment on the same scale this
year will, it is thought, enhance the
probability of definite results. Rear
Admiral Melville firmly believes that
the fugitive casks will justify the
hopes with which the society has I'M
dertaken this experiment There is
no doubt he says, that the casks
will come out somewhere. Siberian
driftwood has beeen found on the
northeastern shores of Bennett island,
on the northeast point of Novaia Fem
liza, on the east coast of Franz Josef
Land, on the east shore of Spitzberg-
en- and possibly in the drift on the
east side of Greenland. A strong cur
rent is known to exist at certain sea-
sons of the year to the southwark and
westward between the northern end
of Novaia Zemlia and the southern
side of Franz Josef Land and between
the southern side of Spitzbergen and
Bear island-dropping the stones from
the polar pack which form the shoal
of 300 fathoms between the above is
! lands.
I'VE may look for these casks on
any of these shores or in the above
mentioned drifts, and also for the pos
sibility of demonstrating a drift to
the eastward or the northward and
eastward, finally coming out by the
way of Smith sound, Kennedy chan
mel and Batfin bay, as we'll as by the
slow drift through the North Amer
lean archipelago to the coast of Labra-
dorm. Y. Sun.