By the act of February 27, 1879, the Secretary of the Navy was authorized to accept and take charge of, for the use of a North Polar expedition by way of Behring's Straits, the ship Jeannette, the private property of James Gordon Bennett, esq., and by him devoted to that purpose. He was also authorized to use any material on hand in fitting the vessel for this voyage, upon the condition that the department should not be subject to any expense on account thereof. The vessel was accepted under the provisions of this law, and after a thorough examination it was deemed best, on account of the hazardous nature of her contemplated voyage, that her capacity to resist the pressure of the ice should be increased. This conclusion was precautionary merely, inasmuch as she been well constructed and was believed to possess ordinary strength. Accordingly, a large amount of work was done upon her at the expense of Mr. Bennett. She was furnished with new boilers, and put in as perfect condition as possible before leaving the port of San Francisco, July 8, 1879. Iron box-beams were introduced abaft and forward of the boilers to strengthen her sides. Additional wooden hooks were introduced and fastened through and through. Her extreme fore-end, to the extent of about ten feet from the spar-deck down, was filled in with solid timber and calked. Additional strakes and plank six inches thick were introduced to strengthen her bilge, and her deck frame was renewed where required. All these repairs were so carefully made as to give every reasonable assurance that the vessel would be able to overcome any of the ordinary perils incident to navigation in the Polar Seas.
Sail Plan of the arctic steamer Jeannette
The Jeannette was placed under the command of Lieut. Commander George W. De Long, and Lieuts. Charles W. Chipp and John W. Danenhower were detailed as his assistants.
The only communication received by the department from Lieutenant De Long, since he left San Francisco, was dated August 26, 1879, at St. Lawrence Bay, Siberia. He says: "I have hopes of reaching Wrangel Land before going into winter quarters," and there is no reason to doubt that he made every effort possible to courageous and
competent officers and crew to accomplish this. If he did reach there and thus escape the floe of ice which is supposed to have caused the loss of some whaling vessels during the last fall, he must have passed the winter upon land, as it is satisfactorily ascertained that the mountainous regions of Wrangel Land extend to the coast, and, although uninhabited, furnish the means of subsistence. In this event he probably sailed as soon after the opening of the spring as possible and has since reached the open sea beyond. Of course this supposition is problematical only, but, after a careful consideration of all accessible information, the department is disposed to rely upon it as true. On September 2, 1879, Commander De Long addressed a communication to the New York Herald from Cape Serzge, which is the last point upon the coast of Siberia he would be likely to touch before fully entering the Arctic Sea. Afterwards the Jeannette was seen a short distance east of Wrangel Land, about 71 degrees north latitude, where she probably encountered the ice then floating southward, in what Professor Nordenskjold calls its "cold ice-carrying current." Although the Jeannette is sufficiently strong to resist an ordinary floe, and far more able to do so than any whaling vessels afloat, yet the ice may have been in sufficient quantities to render it a prudential step for her commander to sail again to the southward and westward, in order to find protection west of the ice floe and somewhere upon the coast of Wrangel Land. Consequently if that island was reached either upon the eastern, southern, or western coast, it is a fair presumption that the winter was spent there and the ship kept in safety, ready to go to sea upon the opening of last spring. And if this was accomplished there is no reason to suppose, in consequence of her not having been since heard from, that she is now lost, inasmuch as Commander De Long has had no opportunity of holding intercourse even with the natives of any part of Siberia, and may not be again heard from for some months. The department has possession of a letter written from Petropavlovdsk, Kamtchatka, September 22, 1880, wherein it is stated that the writer while in the Arctic Ocean had fallen in with a whaling vessel, the officers of which informed him of a rumor that the Jeannette was lost. He does not state either the time or place of this communication, and we are left to infer, as he had sailed westward to Kamtchatka, that whatever rumor was in circulation must have been conveyed to the whaling vessel by the natives on the south side of Siberia or that part which lies immediately west of Behring's Straits. A report received from either of these sources is scarcely entitled to credit. If the Jeannette had been lost, information of the fact would have reached the natives on the north side of Siberia before it could have been communicated to those on the south side, and in the mean time would have reached Behring's Straits before Captain Hooper, of the United States revenue cutter Corwin, visited there on her return. Whereas Captain Hooper heard nothing of the sort, and confirms the opinion adopted by the department, by saying in his official report: "I have no fears for the safety of the officers and crew of the Jeannette. The fact that they have not been heard from seems to indicate that the vessel is safe and that they consider themselves able to remain another year at least."
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