U. S. ARCTIC COLONIZATION AND EXPLORATION IN 1881. 225 



The " Mount Wollaston " and the " Vigilant," with their crews, numbering 

 about thirty people each, have not since been heard from. They were in full pro- 

 bability caught in the ice, which formed so suddenly around the other vessels, 

 and did succeed in breaking their way out. 



The meteorological records of the Arctic for 1879, though not complete, show 

 that in September and October strong gales [.revailed, such as would render very 

 perilous the situation of vessels caught in the pack ice and protected by no har- 

 bor. Captain Cogan saw a very heavy pack, he thought one hundred feet thick, 

 through which the missing vessels would have to make their way and against 

 which they would have to defend themselves, unless, they were fortunate enough 

 to get into some harbor. Against such immeasurable force as thick pack ice, 

 driven by a current, skill in handling a vessel would avail nothing. The ship 

 would be carried with the ice. No floating structure made by man could resist 

 it, and, as the coast was encumbered with ice, there seems little probability that 

 they made a harbor. But incase the vessels were lost the crews might make 

 their way over the ice to Wrangel Land, where only they can be sought, since the 

 Arctic is too vast to be explored with any rational hope of success in finding the 

 vessels, except upon some definite information as to whither they were driven. 



But the information of the purpose of Captain DeLong to land on Wrangel 

 Land is very definite. He proposed to land there frequently and to build cairns. 

 On Wrangel Land, then, and on Herald Island, where he proposed to go, in- 

 formation of him is to be sought. 



Captain Cogan said before the Board that the " pack ice around Herald Is- 

 land was such as would keep the 'Jeannette' from landing, since, even though 

 they succeeded in sending parties over the ice, it would take them a good while, 

 their vessel would be drifting off all the time and they could not get back. They 

 could not steam back and hold their place ; they could not hold up against that 

 ice. The ' Jeannette ' was in the ice and going along with it. It enclosed her, 

 for she steamed right into it. I do not think it would be proper to send people 

 away from her, as they might not be able to get back." 



From all the foregoing it does not seem probable that cairns will be found on 

 Herald Island, and we fear scarcely on Wrangel Land. It will be proper to look 

 for them, however. 



"In the event of disaster to the ship," says Captain De Long, in his letter of 

 July 17, 1879, after leaving San Francisco, "we shall retreat upon the Siberian 

 settlements or the natives of around East Cape, and wait for a chance to get 

 back to our depot at St. Michaels. If the ship comes up merely for tidings of us, 

 let her look further on the east side of Kellett Land and on Herald Island. 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, and if we are far south, then by way of Lancaster Sound and Mel- 

 ville Bay." 



Captain Cogan, who has a very high reputation for experience and intelli- 

 gence in Arctic matters, saw the pack ice into which the "Jeannette " had gone 



V-15 



