94 
THE SO-CALLED “JEANNETTE RELICS 
June 5. The latter left Godhavn June 9 and reached Upernivik 
June 13. 
3. On June 18 some Eskimo found on the surface of an ice 
floe off Julianehaab, in southwest Greenland, some articles, which 
were turned over to the Danish officer in charge of that settle- 
ment, Herr Lytzen, who sent them to a friend in Copenhagen. 
Tliese comprised, among other things, some broken biscuit boxes, 
a pair of oilskin trousers, said to have been marked Louis Noros 
(tlie name of one of the Jeannette survivors, who was a member 
of tlie Greely relief expedition of 1884), and a number of written 
jiapers, especially a list of tlie boats of the Jeannette^ and a list of 
provisions signed by De Long, the commander of the Jeannette 
expedition, and stated to be entirely in his or a single hand- 
writing. 
4. The Greely relief expedition left Greenland from Godhavn 
July 9, without toucliing at Julianehaab. 
5. In the latter part of the winter of 1884-’85 a Danish corre- 
spondent wrote to Dr Emil Bessels, formerly of the Polaris ex- 
pedition and a well-known arctic expert, at Washington, stating 
that news of these various relics had been received in Copenhagen 
and requesting his opinion as to their authenticity. The sub- 
stance of this letter was communicated to me by Dr Bessels, who 
was much interested in the find, as, if genuine, it obviously fur- 
nished important data toward a knowledge of the drift in the 
polar regions. The presence in Washington during 1885 of man}^ 
members of the relief expedition, in connection with the various 
investigations Avhich followed their return, enabled Dr Bessels to 
interview many of the seamen as well as their officers and to ac- 
cumulate a large mass of notes from his examination of them. 
On one or two occasions I was invited to be present when some 
of these men called on Dr Bessels. The well-known tendency of 
articles on the surface of ice, under the influence of the sun, to 
sink through it to the level of the water — even such trifles as bird’s 
feathers or dead leaves being rai)idly engulfed, as I have often 
personally noticed — led to doubts as to the possibility of the ar- 
ticles mentioned having remained on the surface of the ice for 
three years during a drift of 3,000 miles, exposed to the elements. 
The possibility of the preservation of written papers under such 
conditions seemed almost incredible. The close approximation 
of the dates of the presence of the relief exjiedition on the west 
Greenland coast and that of the finding of the relics was also 
suspicious. The testimony of the seamen interviewed was, in 
