214 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



shall consist of two other ofificers, who may volunteer their services ; twenty-one 

 enlisted men, who may volunteer from the Army or be especially enlisted for the 

 purpose, and one contract surgeon. The latter to be contracted with at such 

 time as he may be able to join the party. 4. The commander of the expedition is 

 authorized to hire a steam sealer or whaler to transport the party from St. Johns to 

 Lady Franklin Bay, for a fixed sum per month, under a formal contract that shall 

 release the United States from any and all responsibility or claim for damages, in 

 case the steamer is injured, lost or destroyed. The said contract shall include 

 the services and subsistence of the crew of the vessel, and shall require that the 

 said crew shall consist of one captain, two mates, one steward, two engineers, 

 two firemen, and seven seamen — not less than fifteen in all. Such steam sealer 

 or whaler shall not be hired until it has been inspected by an officer, to be de- 

 tailed by the Secretary of the Navy for that purpose, and found by him fit for the 

 intended service. 5. The expeditionary force shall be assembled at Washington, 

 District of Columbia, not later than May 15th, and at St. Johns not later than 

 June 15, 1881. 6. During their absence on this duty. Lieutenant Greely, and 

 the other officers of the Army accompanying the expedition, will retain station at 

 Washington, District of Columbia. The enlisted men who may volunteer or be 

 specirlly enlisted for this duty shall receive the pay and commutation allowances 

 (except commutation for quarters and fuel) that accrue to men detached for duty 

 in Washington, District of Columbia. 7. The several bureaus of the War De- 

 partment will furnish, on requisitions approved by the Secretary of War, the nec- 

 essary subsistance, clothing, camp and garrison equipage, transportation to St. 

 Johns, New Foundland, and return, medicines, books, instruments, hospital 

 stores, arms and ammunition. The subsistence stores to be furnished as above 

 directed are for sale, not for issue, to the officers and men of the expeditionary 

 force. 



In view of the general interest on the subject of the Jeannette, Lieutenant 

 Greely suggested the desirability of sending out a sledge party to Cape Henry to 

 look for traces of the vessel or crew. The correspondence on the subject is as 

 follows : 



Washington, April 4, 1881. 

 To the Honorable the Secretary of the Navy, through the Secretary of War : 



Sir, — I notice in the proceedings of the Jeannette Relief Board the follow- 

 ing extract from Captain DeLong's letter: " If I find we are being carried east 

 against our efforts to get north I shall try to push through into the Atlantic by 

 way of the east coast of Greenland if we are far enough north." In this connec- 

 tion the following extracts, showing a northeasterly current, are of interest : 



Her Majesty's Ship Discovery, 1779. Beset in 69 degrees North, near Beh- 

 ring's Straits. Drifted to northeast one-half mile an hour. 



Captain Beechy, 1828, remarks: "Near Point Barrow it (the current) ran 

 at the rate of three miles an hour and upward to the northeast." 



