Introduction. 13 



Only a few attempts have been made through Bering 

 Strait. The first was Cook's in 17/6; the last the 

 Jeannette expedition 1879-81 under De Long, a 

 Lieutenant in the American navy. Scarcely anywhere 

 have polar travellers been so hopelessly blocked by 

 ice in comparatively low latitudes. The last named 

 expedition, however, had a most important bearing upon 

 my own. As De Long himself says in a letter to 

 Gordon Bennett, who supplied the funds for the 

 expedition, he was of opinion that there were three 

 routes to choose from, Smith Sound, the east coast of 

 Greenland, or Bering Strait ; but he put most faith in 

 the last, and this was ultimately selected. His main 

 reason for this choice was his belief in a Japanese 

 current running north through Bering Strait and 

 onwards along the east coast of Wrangel Land, which 

 was believed to extend far to the north. It was urged 

 that the warm water of this current would open a way 

 along that coast, possibly up to the Pole. The 

 experience of whalers showed that whenever their 

 vessels were set fast in the ice here, they drifted 

 northwards ; hence it was concluded that the current 

 generally set in that direction. " This will help 

 explorers," says De Long, " to reach high latitudes ; but 

 at the same time will make it more difficult for them to 

 come back." The truth ot these words he himself was 

 to learn by bitter experience. 



The Jeannette stuck fast in the ice on September 6th, 



