CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 12 J 



eighth parallel, through very heavy drift-ice, she went to within 30 miles of Point Hope before 

 clearing its eastern edge. I estimate the extent of the body of ice through which we passed to be 

 150 miles north and south and 200 miles east and west; and, although we picked our way through 

 it with a steamer, a sailing vessel would not have been able to do so even at that time, and there 

 can be no doubt that this Held becomes larger and more solidly packed as the season advances, 

 until it again attaches itself to the main pack, and is formed into a solid mass by the new ice. 



When the missing vessels were last seen (October 10) they were steering in a northerly direc- 

 tion in search of whales. We now know that they could not have gone north of Herald Island, 

 as the Jeannette was at that time fast in the solid pack which surrounded and extended southward 

 of that island. It is probable, therefore, that they continued to cruise in the vicinity of this pack 

 until warned by the increasing formation of new ice that it was time to seek a milder climate. 

 This did not occur until about October 18, according to Captain Bauldy, of the Helen Mar, the last 

 person who saw the missing vessels. 



During the night of October IS, the Helen Mar and Mercury being becalmed, anchored in 

 company near Herald Shoal, and on the following morning were surrounded by newly-formed ice, 

 which continued to increase in thickness until all hope of being again liberated that season was 

 lost. In this extremity they united their forces on board the best vessel (the Helen Mar), and tak- 

 ing from the Mercury what provisions could be moved, as well as a quantity of blubber, which 

 could be used either as food or fuel, they prepared for the worst. A few days later a northerly 

 gale broke up the ice, and by hard carrying sail the Helen Mar forced her way through it, and, 

 passing between the northern pack and the heavy field ice to the south, reached clear water off 

 Point Hope, and passed through Bering Strait, which was almost blocked with ice, about Novem- 

 ber 1. It is probable that the Mount Wollastou and Vigilant had, with the exception of the 

 final escape, a similar experience. Finding themselves frozen in they decided to take their chances 

 together, and for some reason the Vigilant appears to have been the vessel selected upon which to 

 trust their fortunes. Supposing, then, the Vigilant, with both crews on board, had been frozen in 

 at the same time as were the Helen xMar and Mercury, and liberated by the same gale which broke 

 the ice and enabled the former of these to escape (October 24), being farther north, and progress 

 being naturally slow through the broken ice, the Vigilant would have reached the place where the 

 passage had existed between the point of the northern pack and the field of ice filling the center 

 of the sea several days after the Helen Mar had passed through and escaped. Strong southerly 

 winds followed the northerly gale, which assisted the Helen Mar in forcing her way out, and the 

 effect of this would be to set this body of ice to the northward, against the northern pack, thus 

 cutting off all egress by the way of the eastern part of the sea, while to the west and southwest 

 the sea was free from old ice for some distance. Finding escape by the usual route cut off, the 

 Vigilant would undoubtedly follow the western edge of this central field southward in the hope of 

 finding a passage through or around its southern limit, or, failing in this, to reach the coast of 

 Siberia, where they might find safe winter quarters. 



According to native reports along the coast of Siberia north of Bering Strait heavy ice 

 extended so far off shore at that time that no open water could be seen. 



From the whalers who left the Arctic late in the season we learn that this large field of ice 

 extended to Bering Strait, filling the west side, and resting on the shore from Cape Serdze to 

 East Cape, thus rendering it impossible either to escape by the way of the strait or to reach the 

 Siberian coast, and the result must be that the vessel would be near the southern limit of this 

 open water, which would close up with the first northerly wind. The season of 1880 was not an 

 open one in the western part of the Arctic Basin, and it is probable that the wreck remained frozen 

 in to the westward of the limits of navigation until late in the season, when it was liberated and 

 driven in upon the coast by the northeast gales which prevailed at that time. As before stated, 

 the belief that the Vigilant was sailed south, and did not drift there, is confirmed by the drift of 

 the Jeannette, which vessel was caught in the ice within a few miles of where the whalers were 

 last seen, and was actually beset in the pack in sight of Herald Island at that time, and setting 

 out upon her most remarkable drift to the northwest. Had the Vigilant become permanently 

 beset near where last seen she would have been subject to the same current as was the Jeannette, 

 and would have gone in the same instead of an opposite direction. 



