ARCTIC CRUISE OF THE REVENUE CUTTER ^‘BEAR^^ 27 
THE ARCTIC CRUISE OF THE UNITED STATES 
REVENUE CUTTER “BEAR” 
By Dr Sheldon Jackson, United States General Agent of Edu- 
cation in Alaska 
Expeditions to the Arctic have alwa}^s had a fascination for 
mankind. From the early voyages of the Norsemen down 
through the successive expeditions of Davis, Baffin, and Ross to 
that of Peary the world has honored the men who have braved 
the dangers of the Arctic in voyages of discovery lasting from 
one to three years, but little account has been made of the 
whalers who have encountered these same dangers for many 
3 ’ears in succession, and particularly of the United States reve- 
nue cutter service that has annually ventured into these icy re- 
gions for sixteen years past. The service began in 1880 with the 
sending of the little cutter Corwin into the Arctic in search of 
the Jeannette, and an Arctic cruise has been made each season 
since that time. In 1883 the steamer Bear, after the rescue of 
General Greely and party of the Lady Franklin bay expedition, 
was turned over to the United States Treasury Department and 
detailed for the Arctic service. She is a barquentine-rigged 
steamer, 198 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 18.5 feet deep, with a 
capacity of 714 tons. She was built at Greenock, Scotland, for 
the Dundee sealing and whaling fleet, and is .an excellent sea 
boat — in fact the best in the Arctic ocean for work in the ice. 
The commanding officer from 1884 to the present time has been 
Captain Michael A. Healy, an officer justlv^ rendered famous by 
his long, successful, and in many ways remarkable service in the 
dangerous waters of Arctic Alaska. 
The annual cruise of the Bear to the Arctic ocean is unique in 
its multifarious duties and its practical usefulness. In addition 
to the ordinary duties of a revenue cutter in protecting the in- 
terests of the customs, more particularly Ijy the prevention of 
smuggling l)y the whaling fleet, this steamer has performed the 
duty of a traveling life-saving station. During these twelve 
years it has rescued from the l)leak and sterile coast of western 
and Arctic Alaska a thousand shipwrecked whalers and desti- 
tute mariners. Not a season passes without one or more whalers 
