REMINISCENCE OF CAPTAIN NYE. 29 



"A short time before Lieutenant DeLong's departure I 

 suggested to him that we call together all the whaling cap- 

 tains then in port most of whom I knew well persqnally- 

 and avail ourselves of whatever information their experience 

 might afford and suggestions they might have to make. J 1< 

 accepted the idea and arranged the meeting, and they all 

 attended. One by one they gave their opinions, mainly upon 

 the point of their greatest interest, the probable direction of 

 the winds and currents at the time when Lieutenant DeLong 

 expected to reach AVningel Land. But there was one among 

 them who kept ominously silent, not venturing an opinion, or 

 offering a suggestion. 1 finally said : 'Captain Nye has not 

 given us his opinion, and we would like to hear from him.' 

 He said : ' (Jentlenien, there isn't much to be said about this 

 matter. ' Yon, Lieutenant DeLong, have a very strong vessel, 

 have you not? Magnificently equipped for the service, with 

 unexceptionable crew and aids? And yon will take plenty 

 of provisions, and all the coal yon can carry?' To each of 

 these questions, as it was asked, Lieutenant DeLong replied 

 a lilirmat ively. 'Then,' said Captain Nye, 'put her into the 

 ice and let her drift, and you may uet through or yon may 

 u'o to the devil, and the chances are about equal/ Poor 

 Captain Nye ! He ventured in there after Lieutenant DeLong 

 into those same Arctic regions, in the prosecution of his 

 enterprise as a whaler and was never heard of again. lie 

 was from New Bedford, Mass., was one of the oldest, lira vest, 

 and best men in the service, and there was no man sailing 

 to the frigid seas who knew more of their perils than he who 

 made that ominous forecast of the probable fate of the Jean- 

 nette, if not of her commander.'' 



Much anxiety for the missing barks was felt in San 

 Francisco, and merchants and citizens of that city petitioned 

 the Secretary of the Navy to send out a government vessel 

 to search for the whalers, and also for the Jeannette, as in 

 the opinion of returned whalemen Captain DeLong had not 

 succeeded in reaching AYrangel Land when winter set in. 



Subsequently, Captain C. L. Hooper, of the revenue cutter 



