120 < ENTERPRISE,' 1854— WHYMPER, 1865-66. 



command of Lieutenant Jago was despatched from her to Point 

 Barrow, at which spot she arrived on the 24th. The ice broke up 

 sufficiently to admit of the ship being moved on the 15th, and she 

 reached Point Barrow on the 8th of August : Point Hope on the 

 10th ; but, owing to the prevalence of southerly winds and a strong 

 northerly current, did not arrive at Port Clarence until the evening 

 of the 21st, when we communicated with the Rattlesnake, and found 

 that the Plover had sailed for Point Barrow two days previously. 

 After receiving some supplies, the Enterprise left for Point Barrow 

 on the afternoon of the 22nd. On the 28th we made the ice in lat. 

 71°-0 and long. 159°-0 w., and reached Point Barrow the same after- 

 noon, and, after communicating with the Plover, returned to Port 

 Clarence on September 8th, the Plover arriving on the following 

 day. Both vessels left for the south on the 16th. 



In the course of the years 1865 and 1866 expeditions were 

 equipped by Americans at San Francisco with the view of laying 

 down a telegraph-cable across the continents of Asia and America. 

 Mr. Whymper, who accompanied the expedition, has published an 

 interesting account of his explorations, from which a few extracts 

 have been made, as they bear on the ice movement. 



In 1865 soundings were taken across Behring Sea between the 

 64° and 66° of latitude, when the bottom was found to be very 

 even, with an average depth of 19^ fathoms. 



In 1866 Mr. Whymper left Petropaulowski on August 6th, and 

 reached Plover Bay on the 14th, where 14 men were left to pass 

 the winter. Leaving Plover Bay on the 20th, Norton Sound was 

 reached on the 24th. The ice in Norton Sound forms early in 

 October, but is frequently broken up and carried to sea. On 

 Christmas eve all the ice was blown out of the bay. In the spring 

 the bay was not clear of ice until the third week in June. 



He then proceeded overland to the Kwipak or Yukon Eiver, and 

 spent the winter at Nulato (the Russian fort where Lieut. Barnard 

 was killed in 1851). Nulato by the river is 600 miles from its 

 mouth ; opposite the Fort it is li mile wide, and occasionally opens 

 out into lagoons 4 and 5 miles across. The ice began to move on 

 the river opposite the fort on April 5th, and on May 19th was 

 rushing past at the rate of 5 or 6 miles per hour, bringing with it 

 a large quantity of drift-wood, and rising 14 feet above its usual 

 level. On the 26th Mr. "Whymper left Nulato and, ascending the 

 river 600 miles, reached Fort Yukon on June 23rd, which he 

 estimates to be in latitude 66° N. This is the Hudson's Bay post to 

 which the Eat Indians brought a communication from Comm r 

 Maguire, with whom they fell in with near the mouth of the 



