AMERICAN POLAR EXPEDITION.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1744, 22 September 1879, Page 3

AMERICAN POLAR EXPEDITION.

On the afternoon of July Bth the steamer Jeannette, with the American Polar Expedition, sailed from San Francisco for a cruise in the Arctic Sea by way of Behring's Strait. The Jeannette is a barque-rigged steamer of 420 tons register, 200-horse power, and admirably constructed for meeting the perils of Arctic navigation. She was built in 1862 by the British Government. She was then known as the Pandora, and made a voyage to the Arctic seas. Last year she was purchased by Mr James Gordon Bennett, and by special Act of Congress registered as an American vessel under her present name. Lieutenant Geo. W. De Long, U.8.N., was, with the approval of Secretary Thompson, placed in charge of her and took her out to San Francisco, where, at Mare Island, she was thoroughly overhauled and put in order for her polar voyage. Her bows were filled in with solid timber, and her hull was materially strengthened by bracing. The engine was thoroughly overhauled, two extra propellers, duplicates of all parts of the machinery likely to break, and a complete set of machinist's tools with stock being also provided. She has a steam launch, five strong whaleboats rigged with sails and boat covers, and a folding boat that can be used in the water or upon runners on the ice. The sails, including rolling topsails that can be furled from the deck, are all new and stout; the spread of canvas is 6858 square feet. In the outfit are included eight Arctic tents, each 6 feet by 9, a suit of spare Bails, and a number of ice saws with which ice from 10 to 15 feet in thickness can be cut. A deck house roofed over and fastened together by mortises and screw bolts is pro» vided, which can be taken down and put up at will. The cabin and forecastle are padded inside with several thicknesses of felt, and the poop deck is covered with three thicknesses of stout canvas painted over. The ship will bo heated by stoves burning soft coal. The officers of the ship and the scientific members of the expedition are eight in number:— Lieutenant George W. Long, U.S.N., Commander ; Lieutenant O. W. Chipp, TJ.S.N., Exeontive Officer; Lieutenant John W. Danenhower, TT.S.N., Navigating and Ordnance Office ; G. W. Melville, TJ.S.N., Engineer ; Dr. J. M. M. Ambler, TJ.S.N., Surgeon; [ Jerome J. Collins, Meteorologist and Chief of Land Parties and Sledging Expeditions; Raymond L. Newcomb, Naturalist; Captain William Dunbar, Ice Pilot. The crew, including seamen, machinists, carpenters, firemen, and coal passers, number twenty, and there are three Chinamen to serve as cook, steward, and cabin boy. The principal officers have all seen Arctic service ; and the orew have been carefully selected for their physical and mental fitness for their arduous undertaking. The choice was made from 1300 applicants. Special pains have been taken to secure the most perfect outfit possible in the way of clothing and provisions. The ship is provided for three years, and, with the exception of flour and its preparations, all the food stores are in the form of condensed meats, vegetables, and fruits. Ample rations of beer, tea, and coffee will be served. The whole cost of the expedition —in many respects the best equipped that ever i et sail for the Arctic regions—will be defrayed by Mr Bennett. The grand object of the expedition is to add to our knowledge of the unexplored regions in the neighborhood of the North Pole—if possible to attain to that long sought and apparently unapproachable geographical position. The magnetic and meteorological

problems to be studied and possibly solved in those parts are of high importance; and there is no telling what geographical and climatic surprises may not await the plucky voyagers, who have started on the first deliberate assault upon the Pole by way of the Pacific. Should the warm current which enters the Arctic Sea through Behring s Strait prove of sufficient volume to have a material influence on the climate within the seventieth parallel, we may reasonably expect that the Jeannette will at least do something to remove the great blank which covers our maps on that side of the Polo.