The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-09-05
ARCTIC EXPLORERS WHO
 HAVE NEVER RETURNEE

| UT EAplOrcTb WnO nave u6bcT ECLdEh | ed from he frozen North since the day when Sir John Franklin and more than | 100 souls mysteriously vanished for ever from the sight of man, poor | George De Long and his companions Of | the Arctic steamed Jeanette perhaps furnish the saddest example. says The Louisville Courier-JournaI.
 My old friend. Admiral Melville. U. S. N, one of the few survivors of the 1 ul-fated expedition. only lately gave me a brief account of a tragedy the | horrors of which have seldom been | surpassed--eyen in the dark annals of Polar enterprise.
 The Jeanette, a screw steamer. pre- yiously known as Sir Allen Youug's l Pandora. left San Francisco for Berins | Straits in the summer Of 1873 ana en- tered the pack due north or the latter, hoping to establish winter quarters at wrangeli Land. But the vessel was firmly damned in the Ice and swept away in A northwesterly direction. far from the coveted goal. Winter crept an with It's furious gales and blizzards and the Jeanette was once saved only by e miracle from being dashed to de- atruction by the foes.
 Another summer, another winter and yet another summer found the ship helplessly drifting at the mercy of the pack. Two years after leaving San Francisco Melville risked his life to hoist the American flag on barren rock. now mapped as Jeanette Island and a few days later similar isiet was discovered and named Henrietta Loas of the Jeanette. Some useful work had hitherfore 1 been accomplished. which revived the hope of De Long and his now despair | ing crew. There was even some at- | tempt at publication on board to cele- 1 brate these events. and no one antic' | tpated the sudden and total loss of the | ship, which occurred only week later On June 12. 1881. a terrific hurricane arose and the Jeanette was literally l smashed in two by the tremendous | ing her crew shelterless several hun. | dred miles away from land.
 Let the reader picture the situation l the leagues of Ice and storm-swept sea which lay between this miserable handful of men and the coast of Si- beria Utself a death trap of cold and hunger). and let him then realize the dogged pluck of the gallant De Long,
 who could under such ghastly condl- l tions cheerfully enter In his journal: | jeanette went down at a. m.
 Set up tents on the ice. Getting sleds
 and boats ready. Everybody bright
 and cheerful. In the evening Lauter- | oacn seEehaoeu uS "A'" hiS Hoi ''o"
 lea"
 The Jeanette expedition now
 struck south for the New Siberian Ts-
 landA, and during this harassing and
 perilous journey, Melville was the
 most energetic and resourceful mem
 Der of the party. most of whom were
 doomed to destruction. Five boats and
 nine sledges carried sixty days pro-
 visions, which underfed and enfeebled
 men and dogs could hardly drag at a | Snail's pace.
 Bennett Island was eventually
 reached after terrible hardships in
 twenty-three days. and here they
 by shooting the sea birds which swarm about that ice-bound mass of granite
 Leaving this on August 8. the Lda- | kov Islands were reached eleven days later. And from these to the Siberian coast extended open water--lashed in.
 to fury by ceaseless gales. Many of | the party were now sick and footsore. all were exhausted by cold and hun"
 ger, but the indomitable Melville urged
 them on with the fact that every in.
 active hour must lessen the chance of | salvation.
 So they embarked, one gray. tempes.
 tuous morning, on a mountainous sea.
 soon foundered with all hands. De
 Long and Melville, in charge of the
 others. were separated by the storm.
 the former being carried westward on
 to the sandy shores of the Lena delta.
 to which he and his companions had to
 wade waist deep through miles Of
 loose. floating Ice
 I have been with dogs along that
 coast for two months without seeing a living soul. and can therefore imagine
 the feelings of those poor castawayS on landing, almost at the end of their
 supplies, in that grim region. bereft of human and animal life.
 Melville. with nine men. was more
 fortunate. for he eventually reached a
 Siberian settlement on the Lena River
 and how he travelled thence to the
 town of Verkoyansk. hundreds of miles
 inland. and speedily returned with as. sistance. Is now 6 matter of history
 But he was too late. For when. the following spring. after almost super