INTRODUCTION 13 



As De Long himself says in a letter to James Gor- 

 don 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 onward along the 

 east coast of Wrangel Land, which was believed to 

 extend far to the north. It was ur^ed 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 of these words he himself was to learn by bitter 

 experience. 



T\\^ Jcanncttc stuck fast in the ice on September 6th, 

 1879, in 71" 35' north latitude and 175° 6' east longitude, 

 southeast of Wrangel Land — which, however, proved 

 to be a small island — and drifted with the ice in a west- 

 northwesterly direction for two years, when it foundered, 

 June 12th, 1 88 1, north of the New Siberian Islands, in 

 77° 15^ north latitude and 154' 59^ east longitude. 



Everywhere, then, has the ice stopped the progress of 



