From The Jeannette To Bennett Island

Lieut. Danenhower gives a thrilling account of the experiences of nis party in their retreat from the Jeannette af ter she went down. We follow him in lus march on the ice, until the party reached Bennett Island : We of ten carne to water holes, which caused us much delay in ferrying over. The method of doing this was as follows: First, a large ice piece was found ; on this the boats and sleds were placed, and then all the floating mass was drawn over by the men on the other side, who had transported themselves across by the little dingy or even on smaller ice-floes. Some of these water spaces were as much as a hundred yards wide. These openings were not connected and of course could not be usec in the direction we wished to go. On many occasions the boats had to b launched and paddled across, and then hauled up again on the opposite side. Chipp took charge of this part of the work admirably, and the men were always glad to have him at their head. It was wonderf ui how he kept up. As soon as the list was clear of sick the hospital tent was dispensed with, and I for many days walked af ter the whaleboat, but with Melville always watchiug me jumping cracks ana pumng me ouu I when I f ell in. I found it very difflcult to judge of distanees with one eye bandaged and the other coveied with a dark goggle. Ia the lattí r part of June the snow all melted andtraveling was better, but the men had to wade through pools of thaw-water, and their feet were constantly wet. Seaman's Kaach' feet were covered with blood-blisters, but he never gave in. Nindnman and Bartlett were always the leading men in dragging the boats. each being stationed at the bow to slew them and to lift them over heavy obslructions. As the roads became better we were able to advance t wo sleds at a time, but we would of ten have to juinp them from piece to piece in crossing leads. Jack Cole and Harry Warren were the leading men of one party and Bartlett and Nindeman of the other. The number of times passed over the ground was now reduced to seven and the advance was thus very I much facilitated. Mt. Dunbar was to start out witn iwo 01 uuw flags on his shoulder, and piek out the best road, planting his flags here and there in prominent places. The old gentleman was very careful and efficiënt, though the captain would often take an entirely different road, on several occasions insisting on ferrying the goods across after the ice had come together within flity yards of us. About the 12th of July we saw a "whale back" that looked very much like a snow covered island. Ihave forgotten to teil you that there were some slight changes in the course previousto this. I think it was changed to south (magnetic), which wouid be about 17 (true), for there was about 17 degrees of easterly variation. The captain then shaped the course toward the point where land was thought to have been seen. At this time we began to see a heavy water sky to the south and south east, and the ice to the southwest was more broken and in greater motion, making traveling very difflcult. About July 20 we worked about 12 hours in advancing 1,000 yards over small pieces of ice constantly shif ting. We could not float the boats. The land already mentioned appeared greatly distorted by atmospheric effects. and indeed, until within a few days of reaching it, a great many would not believe that it existed at all. Our progresa toward the land was slow, but flnally we could see the glaciers and water courses upon it quite distinctly. We were shaping a course toward the nörtheast end of the island, the drift of the ice being along the east face. At times we were forced to remain idle in our camping place, it being quite impossible.either to move over the rough broken ice, always in rapid motion, or to launch the boats. On the 24th of July we reached a point two miles distant from the land, but the men were so exhausted we had to camp. Next morning we found that we had drifted at least three miles tothe southward and along the east side of the island. July 27 was very foggy, and we were working our way through living rnasses of ice, when the mist liíted a little and an immense sugar loaf towered above us. We had been swept in by the current, and now seemed to be our chance of reaching the icef oot of the island, which was very narrow, rugged and broken, being aground in 19 fathoms of water. We finally got every thing on one big floe piece, and as we carromed on the icefoot we made a rally and thing upon the iee-clad beach. But before the last boats and sleds were hauled up the floe piece drifted away, leaving them perched on the edge of the ice in a very dangerous position, and they had to be left there f or some hours. Then succeeded the difflcult work of getting the boats and sleds through the very rough and broken fringe along the shore. About 6 p. m. we had succeeded in reaching some smooth pieces near the south cape, and there we camped down, each tent being on a separate piece of floe. There was a solid breakwater outside of us, consequently we were not in any great danger, though the blocks we were on were sometimes in motion as the tide rose and feil. At this point the sides of the island were very bold and steep, conaposed of trap rock and a lavá-like soil, very dry, so muh 'so that frequent land sides were occurring all the time we were there. Mr. Collins and I took a walk over tho rough ice and along the south point of the island in order to get a view of the south side. It appeared very rugged and trended off to the northwest. From a high hummock we saw land to the west-northwest. About 7 P. M. the captain mustered everybody on the island. It was so steep that we could hardly get a footing. He then unfurled the beautiful silk flag that had been made f or him by Mrs. DeLong, and took possession of the island iu the name of the President of the United States, and called it "Bennett Island." This was succeeded by hearty cheers, three times three, with a good American "tiger." There were millions of birds nesting in the cliffs, and their noise was almost deafening. I think one seal was seen, but no walrus, during our stay of nearly a week on the island. The south cape was called Cape Emma, after the captain's wife, and was in latitude 70 deg. 38 min. north, longitude 148 deg. 20 min. east. The captain and doctor thought, too, that the party needed rest and ehange of diet, so the men were sent out to get birds and driftwood, so that we could economizo on our alcohol. In a few hours they knocked down several hundred birds with sticks and stones. These werebrought into camp and divided out. Their effect after being eaten was like that of young veal, and pretty nearly every one of the party was made sick, the doctor included. I used to eat half apeck of scurvy grass every day, and that kept me well. But we had nally to return to pemmican and were very glad to do so after such a surfeit of birds. Mr. Dunbar and the two Inlians were sent up the east side of the sland to explore. They were gone two days and reached the northeast point. They found the land on the east side wa more promising than on the south. They found several grassy valleys, some old deer horns, some driftwood and saw large numbers of Birds. Lieut. Chipp, with Mr. Collins and a boat's crew, explored the south and westsides, and promising reporta carne f rom them. A fair quality of lignite was found in several places. Mr. Melville experimented with it and determined that it would be serviceable f uel for steaming purposes. The tidal action at the island was very great and quite remarkable for thispart of the world. The ice outside of us was in constant motion and seemmg to be ntted reguiariy witn tne rise of the water. We had a tide guage set up, and it was observed every hour by Bartlett, Nindemann and Lee. As I remember the greatest rise and fall was about three f eet ; they wern regular six hour tides. While on the island I observed that the sea to the south and west was freer f rom icethan that to the eastward, and that water elouds to the northwest were very common, and itr occurred to me that in good seasons a vessel could reach the island, which might form a good base f or explorations f urther to the north.