3 25 HORRORS OF THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION 



ing, "you will hear of me through St. Petersburg; but if it takes 

 me eastward and northward, there is no saying what points I may 

 reach; but I hope to come out through Smith's or Jones' Sound." 

 He further wrote, "It is our intention to attack the Polar regions 

 by the way of Bering Straits, and if our efforts are not crowne'd 

 with success, we shall have made an attempt in a new direction and 

 examined a hitherto unknown country." 



At a later date he thus expressed his intentions: 

 "If the season is favorable to an advance northward I shall 

 make for Kellett (or Wrangell) Land, and follow along its east 

 coast as far as we can go. If everything is all right with Norden- 

 skiold, and I hear of it, there will be no necessity for our going to 

 St. Lawrence Bay at all. In this case I shall push through Bering 

 Strait at once and make for the east side of Kellett Land, following 

 it as far as possible, and getting to as high a latitude with the ship 

 as we can before getting into winter quarters. If our progress is 

 uninterrupted for some distance, I shall content myself with one 

 landing, at first on the southeast point of Wrangell or Kellett Land, 

 where we will build a cairn and leave a record of our progress to 

 date. If our progress is interrupted, we shall no doubt make fre- 

 quent landings on Kellett Land, and build several cairns ; but, gen- 

 erally speaking, I shall endeavor to build cairns and leave records 

 every twenty-five nautical miles of our track." 



On the 8th of July, 1879, the "Jeannette," DeLong's ship, 

 sailed from San Francisco for the north. It was heavily laden with 

 supplies for a long voyage and had thirty-two persons aboard. A 

 stop was made at St. Michael's, Alaska, where forty dogs were 

 procured, also some Indians who were to act as drivers and hunters. 

 Bering Strait was soon afterwards reached, and on the last day 

 of August it was learned that the "Vega'" had passed the winter 

 in Kolintschin Bay and had sailed thence to the south. In proof 

 of this Swedish, Danish and Russian buttons were found in a hut 

 on the shore, while papers were recovered written in Swedish and 



