THE CORWIN’S CRUISE IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 559 
ments of the vessel and the trouble occasioned by the heavy ice, the report says 
that the Corwin got under way from St. Michael’s on June 23d, with the hope of 
working north inside of the ice on the Asiatic side. A stop was made at Law- 
rence Island to investigate the reports of the deaths of natives by starvation. At 
the first village about fifty had died, at the second fifty-four dead bodies were 
counted, and it is estimated that one hundred and fifty died at this village. At 
the third village twelve dead bodies were found, and the deaths are estimated at 
thirty. At the fourth settlement there were found three hundred alive. It was 
ascertained that two hundred had died there. This general starvation occurred 
last winter. Capt. Hooper estimates that more than four hundred natives died of 
starvation on this island. ‘The cause he attributes to the continued cold and 
stormy weather, with quantities of ice and snow which prevented the hunting of 
walrus and seal, as well as to the improvident habits of the natives, who are 
slaves to rum. 
The vessel entered the Arctic Ocean on June 28th, and returned to St. 
Michael’s on July 3d, for coal. On the 4th, the whaler Helen Mar was boarded, 
and from this vessel it was learned, that the missing whalers were forty miles 
southeast of Herald Island, in the clear water to the northward. The Corwin 
started north from St. Michael’s on July roth. On July 26th, the Corwin was in 
latitude 70° 50’ west, longtitude 175° 03’ west, only thirty-five miles from Herald 
Island, where a solid pack of ice was encountered, and no further progress could 
be made. Polar bears and two walrus were seen north of latitude 70°. The ves- 
sel returned to Cape Thompson to pick up Lieut. Burke. Returning north, Her- 
ald Island was sighted on August 4th, thirty-five miles distant. After working 
through the ice the distance was decreased to twenty miles. No signs of the 
missing whalers or of life were visible,:and the weather becoming unfavorable, the 
vessel was obliged to turn southward again, arriving at Plover Bay on August 
toth. On the 16th she returned to thirty miles east of Herald island, and on the 
17th was within seven miles of the island, which bore south-southwest. On the 
2oth Herald Island bore northwest a distance of ten miles. The vessel made for 
it and got within three or four miles, when she was stopped by ice from twelve to 
forty feet high. A close examination was made of the island with a glass, while 
the Corwin lay so near, and Capt. Hooper says he was sure there were no human 
inhabitants on it. It is his opinion that the ice around Herald Island was old, 
that for two and three years it does not leave the island free, and that the ice rare- 
ly breaks up between the island and Wrangel Land. 
On August 25th the Corwin reached Point Barrow, which is the most north-_ 
ern point of Alaska, and lacks only twenty-five miles of being the most northern 
point of the continent. ‘‘On the 11th of September,” continues the report, ‘‘ we 
saw the high hills of Wrangel Land, bearing W. % E. (true). We ran in toward 
it until we came to the solid pack, the ice having the same general appearance as 
that we had previously encountered in the vicinity of Herald island, except in 
being covered with newly fallen snow, and being consequently white. We judged 
