114 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



no land was laid down in any chart in our possession, we 

 concluded it to be a new island. The island was named 

 Jeannette Island, though not landed upon. Its position was 

 latitude 76 deg. 47 min. north, longitude 158 deg. 56 min. 

 east. 



The ship drifted rapidly northwest, and on the 24th of 

 May a new land was discovered, and as we were drifting 

 toward it no effort was made at the time to land upon it. 

 The ice in the vicinity of the ship was much broken up and 

 thrown into chaotic masses in all directions and in all forms 

 imaginable. Great anxiety was now felt for the safety of 

 the ship, as the whole ice-field, pack and floe, seemed in 

 rapid motion. We gradually approached the island until 

 the 1st of June, when a party, consisting of C. E. Melville 

 and five men, with a boat mounted on a McClintock sled 

 drawn by fifteen dogs, and equipped with guns, ammunition, 

 tent, and provisions for seven days, left the ship to make a 

 landing, which was accomplished on the evening of June 3d. 

 We hoisted the national standard, and took possession of the 

 island in the name of the United States of America, naming 

 it Henrietta Island. It is situated in latitude 77 deg. 8 min. 

 north, and longitude 157 deg. 43 min. east. It is high, 

 mountainous, and of volcanic origin, and is covered by a per- 

 petual dome of ice and snow. The traveling party returned 

 to the ship on June 6 h. 



The ship and ice continued to drift to the west and north- 

 west, the whole ice-field being broken up in all directions. 

 On the night of June 10th several severe shocks were felt, 

 and the ship was found to have raised several inches in her 

 bed Thorc was evidence of an approaching break-up of our 

 friendly lloe-picce. At ten minutes past twelve A. M., June 

 llth, the ice suddenly opened alongside the ship, completely 

 freeing her, and she floated on an even keel for the first time 

 in many months. 



The ice continued in motion, but no serious injury oc- 

 curred to the ship until the morning of the 12th, when the 

 ice commenced to pack together, bringing a tremendous 



