The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-01-11

Will be required and coal depotS must be
established at practicable point o1
either route to insure the unfailing ac-
board to keep record of the voyage for
the owners private information. and pos
sibly Tor his library shelves.
| No better generaS lines of preparation
could be suggested THIN those followed by
James Gordon Bennett in fitting out the
J Jeanette. The whole matter of construct
/ ton. equipment and personnel should be
placed in the hand of a naval commission.
| of which the secretary of the navy should
expedition would necessarily be submitted
! to this body for approval. Upon the COM
mander of each vessel should be conferred
special power for the government and dis
cipline for his ship; the same as those
given De Long by the then secretary OF
the navy. A commodore should accom-
pany the fleet. invested with power to
I shift his flag at will from one vessel to
) the other. There are quite a number Of
experienced men who would, we think.
cheerfully offer TO be drawn upon for
valuable suggestion and advice respecting
the equipment of the various departments
into which such expeditions must be d.
vided. Melville, Nansen, Lord Kelvin and
many others could be mentioned among
the number.
Now that we have theoretically disposed
of the finance. equipment and personnel.
we are ready for the start. While all the
complishment of the part these must piay
in the ultimate success of the undertake
ing. The coal vessels should be sent well
north before the main expedition starts,
but not so far as to become ice bound or
inaccessible to the ice breakers There
they would await the coming of the
fleet" Small war vessels, gunboats or
training ships could easily be made avail
able for towing the Frams of our expe-
dtion so far north as consistent with
safety. Here the expedition vessels would
require assistance. because it is not prac-
ticable to employ great power in vessels
of this class. for power means coal or
OIL and the space for this is limited. OF
course the power must be a nominal fea-
ture.
Both the Russian and Canadian govern
ments own herculanean ice breaking
steamers. The Russian ship is the more
powerful, being used to keep open the
harbor of Vladivostock, while the Cana
dian carries the winter mails in the Gulf
of ST. Lawrence, often steaming through
four feet of solid ice But il is not our
expectation that these ships will under
take solid ice navigation in either the sea
of Kara or Nordenskjoid. Their function
Is to tow our fleet, assisted by their own
power, and place them 0miles apart as
far north as steam power can penetrate,
between the longitude of 40 and 15o east
The approximate position of these vessels
would be along line drawn from Cape
Chelpuskin on the Talmur peninsula TO
Cape Prince Of Wales in Alaska, and the
80 omiles stretch they would occupy would
be bounded on the west by line drawn
from Saunikof Land to the pole on the
east by another line drawn to the same
point from Bennett Land. To be more
exact. these lines to the pole should be
drawn from the eastern portion of both
the land mentioned. 1t is almost GER
tain that the vessels farthest west on
them ain line would attain higher latitude
before coming thoroughly ice locked than
these at the eastern outset, on account of
being nearer the more open western edge
of the polar ice pack.
No what our 10 little explorers are all
fast in the ice for the next three or four
years, the ce-breakers, having accom-
plished their mission, turn their prows
homeward and if necessary tow the nearly
empty Golfers to clear open water from
which they can make their own way
home.
Wireless adieus. good wishes and mes
sages TO friends at home are signaled day
after day from eacn of the ice bound ships
to the retreating steamers. for each YES
sci is fully equipped with apparatus of at
least 200 miles range. One by one the
tapping of the instruments becomes faint,
until the last message is received on the
homeward bound crafts.
When will the next one be received?
Perhaps a year hence, when the Russ
may go north again, and far east OF
Wilczek Land pick up communication
with the nearest ship. and from II learn
the exact position of the others. At all
events, in two years from the beginning
of the drift our newly erected wireless
station on Foreman Land would be in
daily communication with the feet. and
transmit the news to a wireless vessel.
which would spend the summer OF that
year on the south coast OF Franz Joseph
Land, and from thence convey the record
of progress and messages TO the largest
point of the real world.
But to return to our ships. Day after
day the drift goes on Some are gaining
on their northward journey. Some drift
south again. Some a little east. others
west. Every six hours the "all's Well
message is flashed back and forth be-
tween all the vessels. Whenever an OBJ
servation is taken. determining the posi-
tion of any ship, il signals that position
To the next and word is passed on 10
the next. until every log book in the feet
bears the same record. Each vessel car
ries 10 special charts and log books. one
of each Bearing the name Of the other
vessel of the expedition. The officers Of
the entire feet make the entries in the
log book. and plot tire position on the
chart Of the Andrew Carnegie as soon as
her message is flashed across the polar
ice fields
What more simple or interesting? We
could elaborate the various details. bat
this is unnecessary. Enough to compare
this condition with that of hansen in the
Fran. \ lone ship on a more lonely ice
sea. All communication with humanity
cut of from beyond the rails az his own
craft. She Vas the first OF her Kind ever
built. on almost the first voyage ot the
kind ever attempted. and the Others had
all ended IN absolute disaster. The drift
Of the Fran was utter solitude. Ours is