EDITORIAL. 543 



The accident occurred on the 17th. According to the reports 

 which are at hand, no one of the party was injured, and the 

 vessel was not so seriously damaged but that she could be 

 repaired without great delay. The exact course of this expedi- 

 tion is not known to the writer. 



At about the same time that the Peary expedition left St. 

 Johns, an English polar expedition started, under the direction 

 of Mr. F. G. Jackson. Mr. Jackson expected to leave London 

 on the 1 ith of July, in a vessel of four-hundred-tons yacht meas- 

 urement. The party was to call at Archangel, where a Russian 

 hut, built in sections, and thirty dogs of West Siberian breed, 

 were to be taken on board. Thence Mr. Jackson intends to pro- 

 ceed to Franz Josef Land. Here the party will disembark, 

 establish their principal depot, and send their vessel, the Wind- 

 ward, home. This is expected to be accomplished by the end 

 of August or the beginning of September. The winter will be 

 spent at the depot, and about the end of March next Mr.- 

 Jackson hopes to be able to push northward up Austria Sound 

 to Cape Flagely, latitude 82 30', the most northern point yet 

 reached by Europeans. At intervals of thirty or forty miles 

 depots for the storage of provisions will be formed, so that there 

 will be no lack of food on the return. Mr. Jackson will 

 endeavor to reach Petermann's Land, and to go as much further 

 as may be possible. Sufficient food was to be taken to last four 

 years, on the estimate of six pounds three ounces to each man 

 per diem. 



The main considerations which induced Mr. Jackson to select 

 Franz Josef Land as the first objective point of his expedition 

 were : I . The accessibility of Franz Josef Land late in the 

 summer, when approached along the meridian of 45 ° east, or 

 some meridian between that of 45 ° and 50 east. 2. The north- 

 ward extension of Franz Josef Land to a latitude as high as 82 

 30' at Cape Flagely, the long stretch of land forming a safe 

 route for advance and retreat, and providing all that is needed in 



