In 1954, a shore party from the Soviet survey shipDonetsdiscovered a note in a broken whisky bottle on Herald Island off the northeast coast of Siberia in the Chukchi Sea. The faded document lay forgotten in Soviet archives for 17 years before it was noticed in 1971. Careful restoration of the message made it possible to establish that it had been left Sept. 29, 1881, by Master C. F. Putnam and Ensign H. J. Hunt of theRodgers, a converted American whaling ship, that was searching for the missingJeannette, commanded by Lieut. Comdr. George W. De Long. (The translation of the Soviet account of this find, prepared by William Barr of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, is followed by his detailed commentary, based on contemporary accounts, recalling the circumstances of this episode in Arctic exploration.)