1353] THE ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS. b3 



ground) to Augusta, was 301 mike, and from Augusta to Sa- intelligence from the Arctic regions of a most interesting and at 



vannah 146 miles, making the total connextion through the iron the same time a very painful nature. 



wire, 447 miles, and the distance through the ground from Co- The leading feature of interest lies in the fact, that the problem 



lumbia to Savannah, 135 miles. The clock was at Savannah. f a passage for ships between the Atlantic and the Pacific 



The arbitrary signals were given at Charleston. The observed Oceans, north of the American continent — a problem which has 



clock excess was by 59 measures+Os.056. The computed wave- engaged the enterprise of maritime nations, and particularly of 



time, for the above assumed velocity, was Os.058, leaving a our owll) for upwards of three centuries — has been finally 



difference of -f-0s.002. solved. Capt. M'Clure has succeeded in navigating his ship from 



The third experiment was made at Cincinnati, on the 9th of £ eb -" n S' s S V' ait > in ' tbe west > J? with ™ about sixt J miles of 



May last, on the occasion of the meeting of the American Asso- Melvdte Straits— and was according to the last accounts, waiting 



ciation for the advancement of science. The telegraph line was only for the disruption of the ice to pass through those straits and 



composed of 840 miles of iron wire, without ground connexion, return by the eastern outlet to England.— The problem had long 



The distances were as follows : from Cincinnati to Steubenville, ^nce beenstnpt of all that portion of its interest which was re- 



295 miles; thence to Cincinnati the same; thence to Louisville fl e cte . d on I* from th / *<*}* of , commercial speculation ; but its 



125 miles, thence to Cincinnati the same. The personal clock solution, after ages of such perilous adventure as that by which it 



signals were given by Mr. Stager, chief operator, at Cincinnati. h f been SOT S ™» » ■ g'' cat scientific triumph —and adds fresh 



In the first experiment the arbitrary signals were given by the g lol 7 to tb - e old and famous fla g of England. 



operator at Steubenville, and recorded at Steubenville, and also In lieu of the commercial interest which once attached to this 



on the two registers at Cincinnati, on opposite branches of the long vexata quccstio, none better than the readers of the 



line. These registers, I will call, respectively, Stager and Jones ; Athenceum know how melancholy an interest of another kind has 



Stager being the register for the clock station. The observed attached to the late years of adventure in these ice-bound seas : — 



excesses were, for Steuben ville arbitrary signals, as follows : and the painful part of the intelligence now brought home has 



. Stager— Steubenville +0s.O40 by 31 measures. reference to that latter subject of anxiety and suspense. Ihe 



Sfc a ° er j ones -f-0s.039 by 31 " secret of ages has been yielded up at last, we have too much 



dj, .... .. j reason to fear, on . heavy terms. The proud satisfaction which 



Again, for the Jones arbitrary signals, on the Stager clock Englishmen must feel at the discovery of a North-west— rr 



scale, we found : rather, North-east — passage, is clouded by the sad fact, that the 



Stager — Steubenville — Os.004 by 39 measures.' intrepid conquerors of this mysterious route have come on no 



Stager Jones -(-Os.050 by 226 " traces of Franklin and his unfortunate companions. 



The direction of the current from the platinum to the zinc, . When on the eve of sailing, Capt. M'Clure emphatically 



through the junction wires, was fron Stager to Steubenville, declared that be *_? d , find Slr Jolm 1,ra " khn and CaptCrpzier, 



thence to Jones, thence round by Louisville to Stager. ~ * . make , the North-west passage. He has, geographically 



J speaking, redeemed the latter part of this pledge : — but the fate 



This is the first experiment made by the Coast Survey on a tele- f those gallant Commanders and their crews is hidden yet amid 



graph line of iron wire exclusively without ground connection. t he dark and labyrinthine ice-paths of the Arctic seas. The 



The first conclusion to be drawn from this experiment is, that scientific secret of centuries has been wrenched at last from the 



the excesses of the clock station readings in the experiments Spirit of the North ;— but the human secret which in these latter 



heretofore made, have not been owing to the fact that a part of the da y s tbe heart of more nations than our own has so yearned to 



galvanic current has been made through the ground, since they s °lve, be guards yet, in spite of all questioning, in some one of 



are here found to be as great for the dimension of the fine as in bis drear and inaccessible caves. 



former experiments with the partial ground connexions. j t w jn De remembered by those who have followed the history 



This experiment was made with a long circuit of iron wire of tbe Arctic Expeditions in our columns, that Capt. M'Clure 

 without ground connexion. It confirms the general conclusion was first lieutenant of Sir James Ross's ship Enterprise, — and 

 respecting the value of wave time. It gives a new field for the having been promoted, volunteered for the second Expedition by 

 discussion of the physical question, whether the wave is propaga- way of Behring's Strait. He was appointed to the command of 

 ted round iu one direction and only affects the magnets as it the Investigator, under Capt, Collinson, of the Enterprise; and 

 reaches them in succession in this direction, or whether the wave proceeded with that officer to Behring's Strait in the early part 

 travels by the shortest direction from one ina_net to another, with- of 1850. Capt. Collinson having failed to penetrate the pack 

 out reference to the character of the pole. Our experiments with ice, parted from Capt, McClure, and sailed to Hong Kong, whe:e 

 lines composed partly of ground and partly of iron wire stretched be wintered ; but the latter, notwithstanding a signal of recall 

 on poles, led to the preference of the latter view of the subject, from Capt. Kellett of the Herald, who was the chief officer on 

 The experiments at Cincinnati in 1851 raises some doubt on this that station, dashed onwards with a bold determination to force a 

 conclusion; it was made with a single battery at Cincinnati and passage to the north-east,— taking on himself all the responsi- 

 with 840 miles of wire all in the air. The work of this night bility of disobeying orders. Fortunately, his daring has been 

 was not as complete as I could have desired, I must therefore crowned with success; and it is not a little singular that Captain 

 wait till similar experiments are made under more favourable cir- Kellett, who was the last person seen by Capt McClure when he 

 cumstances before attempting a further examination of the ques- entered the ice on the west, — should have been the person to 

 tion. rescue him at the expiration of three years on the side of Mel- 

 ville Island on the east. 



; * * We leara from Capt. M'Clure's despatches — which are very 



The return of the Phoenix steamer— which, our readers will voluminous— that on the 5th of August (1850) he rounded 



remember, was despatched with a transport to convey stores to Pomt Bamw , the north-eastern extremity of Behring's Strait,— 



Sir E. Belcher's searching squadron— puts us in possession of and then bore to the east keeping near the shore. On the 9th,. 



he passed the mouth of the Colville; and on the 11th, a notice 



* Aiht-naeum. was deposited upon Jones's Island, which was found thickly 



