Show 1 L 1 I in JL l JUT i again repeats itself seventeen bears I 1 ears ago in november 1897 the united states revenue cutter bear was nas dispatched northward to rescue the crews of cl eight fit whaling vessels icebound in the arctic ocean somewhere in the neighborhood of point barrow alaska now the same ship is ott off once more for that frigid region but tin this s time to effect the relief of that part of the crew of the ill fated karluk now marooned upon island to the northwest of bering strait As will be recalled the karluk set out to explore the arctic region north of beaufort sea and it if possible to examine more closely crocker land which was sighted by peary on the of june 1906 from a distant point the discovery of crocker land gave tangible support to the old contention that tho the polar region was not a great ice covered sea but instead that a vast continent existed there beneath its eternal cloak of snow and ice was one of those who believed in ill the existence of an arctic continent in that wide realm and his aim was to trace a part at least of 0 its boundaries to tile the casual observer the untimely ending of his expedition might seem to have thwarted his purpose and to have rendered render e d useless the venturing of the karluk but the loss of that cratt craft in itself has paradoxically added cumulative evidence of the existence of the shores that Stet Stefa ansson lisson and his followers did not see to make this clear it is necessary to explain how the searching mind of the scientist has already determined the probable existence of an uncharted arctic continent or a vast archipelago of large islands covering a total area of quite square miles an area more than ten times as big as the state of new york or as large as alaska itself have you ever spilled a cupful of water on a level bit of ground it if so you have probably noticed how flow tar far the liquid spread again you have no doubt poured a bucketful of water into a barrel and been disgusted at the modest degree it went toward filling it in a popular way this illustrates the manner in which the waters of a rising tide advance upon low lying lands and again how the same influx is relatively but little noticed when the basin is deep and broad without entering into the details of arctic tides it is a fact that they are normally S of modest range and yet in some parts the rise and fall is co less than it should be if the ss water were free to circulate from shore to shore or from side to side ot of the arctic basin indeed so we are told by R A harris of 0 the united states coast and geodetic survey at bennett island at teplitz bay franz josef land the range of 0 the diurnal wave has about one halt half of the magnitude which the tidal forces acting over an uninterrupted arctic basin would produce in other words the normal or theoretical flow Is somehow impeded and the question cn Is what Is the nature and the extent ot of this obstruction st or series of 0 tidal checks the semi daily dally tides found in the arctic ocean are derived almost entirely from those of the north atlantic because the semi daily forces vanish at the pole and are very small in the higher latitudes mr harris continues it is a case of getting near the hub of a wheel these tides enter the arctic ocean proper by way of 0 the strait lying between spitzbergen Spitz bergen and the eastern coast of northern greenland they are propagated through the arctic to the new siberian islands the average rise and fall at bennett island being 25 feet now upon the assumption of an uninterrupted arctic basin the tides at point barrow and at flaxman island could not differ greatly in size from the tides which would upon the same assumption be found at bennett island but as a matter of tact fact the rise and fall of the semi daily dally tide Is 04 foot at point barrow and 05 at flaxman island but the presence of art an obstruction assuming the water for the tidal movement to come as mr air harris says from the atlantic ocean via vie tie passage between the northeastern coast of greenland and spitzbergen Spitz borgen bergen jr Is further evidenced by me directions in which the ebb and t the he flood tides flow it if no barrier existed to the tree free movement of the flood from east to west then the ebb would run east to the outlet between the two points mentioned in short it would leave by the shortest route to the original point of entry into the arctic basin other records are available that help to bear out mr harris argument in lavor favor of a vast uncharted continent or extended group ot of big islands of which crocker Croc lter land Is but a part in ian september 1879 the arctic exploring craft jeannette was caught by the ice and frozen in near island where the karloks Kar Nar luks men ar are a now marooned she was carried by the ebb tide along with the ice to the westward until ahe sank bank on june 12 1881 to the nOr northeast theas t ot of 13 bennett ennett island again hansens Nan sens fram was frozen in to the eastward ot of bennett island on september 22 drifting generally westward got 1893 and after clear on july 19 1898 at a point nearly duo due north now let us see what happened to of Spitz spitzbergen bergen the karluk esons ship was on october 6 last year anchorage by a gale and carried swept from her northeast of barter island off shore at a point caught by there she was near man manning ning point to from froin chic which it it was impossible the ho arctic pack drifted to thence she too and break her loose until crushed westward the westward always island or porth north 0 bodom tad a aut to to tile the 3 mrs A auvy 1 S qa ir NA 9 4 L agn 1 4 AV a BAY 1 0 re 44 k I 1 4 1 0 1 1 mil 4 N 1 was impossible to anchor one of the whal k ers the jeannette was also secured to the ice 3 to the so nth of the revenue cutter here is S what captain tuttle rev 1 ported of the situation F 47 av at a position close to that to in which the jeannette jeannetta was first gripped by the ice fee in september 1879 why should all these vessels have been moved continually to the west by the arctic drift simply because as mr harris and others have explained pla ined the incoming tide from the atlantic has baa to sweep to the eastward and around some borne great obstruction that reaches down from close to the pole to a point fairly near alaska and the uppermost shores ot of the dominion ot of canada the ebb tide in passing out in turn has to follow the same circuitous route but its movement Is to the westward and probably stronger in its general effect than the incoming or flood tide why should this be look at the little map that goes with this article the curving lines with time marked in roman numerals show how the advancing high tide moves from the atlantic and the other figures and decimals indicate the measure of the rise plainly the further the water sweeps into the pocket ending at beaufort sea the smaller the tidal flux and the slower the water moves in the interval of tide chanie change the water so to speak is being crowded accordingly on the ebb the sweep la is freer as it is trending toward the great open atlantic and this probably accounts for the aggregate net gain in the westward dritt drift in this fashion with the tidal data available the has been able not only to compute the general area of the unknown continent or archipelago but to approximate its broad contours true the karluk never reached her objective jec tive and did not even see crocker land but his ship in her unchecked wanderings in the grip of the arctic pack confirmed the existence of the vast barrier in the arctic basin and will inspire further efforts in the direction of its exploration after the karluk kariuk sank captain bartlett and his men made their toilsome way southward over the pack ice fee to island where they encamped with such of the ships ship stores as they were able to carry off with them from island captain bartlett and one eskimo made a a I 1 edge trip to the siberian coast and providence bay thence crossing in the american whaler herman north of the st lawrence island to st michael ou on the alaskan shores chores from st michael news of the predicament of his men on island was dispatched to the united states and steps were at once started looking to the early relief of I 1 the shipwrecked crew at this time the united states revenue cutter bear is on her way into the arctic ocean and would undoubtedly have gone sooner had bad it not been learned that the arctic pack was still as far south as point hope alaska the work cut out for the doughty little steamer Is perilous for she will probably have to nose her way north and westward against a good deal of opposition as it Is we can best beat gather an idea of the task by reference to the kindred duty performed by tho the ship in the early summer of 1898 when she got the crews of the eight whalers chalers out of their hazardous positions on the northern alaskan coast ca capt pt F P tuttle then in command of the bear started from st michael on ju ottly ly 7 and on the of that month stood northward through bering strait arriving off point barrow about july 30 the bear was made fast to the solid pack it S L at the time in the afternoon of 0 ss re s ar the ath there were large pieces feces of 0 ice drifting along with the current fearing they might strike the vessel and part the mooring lines got under way and steamed into an indentation in the ground ice fee where the steamer jeannette was made fast A suitable mooring place was found and the vessel made fast to the ground ice on august 1 and 2 loose ice would drift dratt in and pack around the vessel where she lay in the indentation in the ice As there was only a trifling pressure no danger was anticipated at 2 p ro in august 3 came a sudden pre pressure assure 0 ot f the ice the four forward fasts carried away and the vessel forced astern aste rn about five teet feet the pressure then coming against the starboard side forced the port side against the ground ice A point of ice under water abreast the engine room the weakest place in the vessel as there are no timbers there forced the port side in sufficiently to buckle the engine room floor plates men alen were immediately sent with ice fee chisels and the ice was cut away As soon as tile the ice was removed the pressure at that point ceased and the floor plates dropped back in place the after section ot or the rudder was cpr sprung u ng about an eighth of an aa inch the ice was cut tr irom om around the rudder and the pressure on that was removed so far as can be seen no material damage was done by the nip A vessel less strongly constructed would have been crushed at once on more than one occasion that year the little bear was hard bard put to it and her mission of mercy was fraught with hazards on oa a several everal occasions during that arctic summer she had to blast a channel open to clear water and this exploit was not always immediately successful while the odds against escape piled up in a threatening manner however the ship kept steadily at her task and in the end the icebound ice bound wha lemen were succored and carried back to civilization or after restoration to health set upon other whalers chalers in that treacherous region ice was not the only peril for with the milder months there was tog fog and occasionally very strong winds or gales that meant danger upon that barren coast As a part of 0 the relief expedition a sled party was dispatched overland long before the bear could noss nose her way into the tha arctic ocean and of the gallant work of those men americans and the personnel of the revenue cutter service may well be proud in closing his report to the treasury department captain tuttle said the officers and crew bore the tha monotonous isolation with the greatest patience complaints being almost unheard of the courage fortitude and perseverance shown by the members of the overland expedition P tion are deserving of the highest commendation I 1 starting over a route seldom traveled before by dog sleds with a herd of over reindeer to drive and care tor for they pushed their way through what at times seemed impassable obstacles across frozen seas and over snow clad mountains with tireless energy until point barrow was reached and th object ot of the expedition successfully accomplish d such is the type of the men now aboard the little cutter and there Is every reason to expect the same splendid performance of their present mission as was witnessed under somewhat kindred conditions 17 years SRO ago |