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GENERAL  A.  W.  GREELY, 

Commander  of  the  Lady  Franklin  Bay  Arctic  expedition  in  1884,  which 
reached  latitude  83  degrees  24  minutes,  455  miles  from  the  North 
Pole,  breaking  all  previous  records. 


DR.  FREDERICK  A.  COOK, 
Discoverer  of  the  North  Pole,  as  he  appeared  on  arrival  home. 


"Old  Glory''  the  First  Flag  at  the  North  Pole 

DISCOVERY 

OF  THE 

NORTH   POLE 

Dr.  FREDERICK  A.   COOK'S  own  story  of  how  he  reached 
the  North  Pole  April  21st,  1908. 

and  the  Story  of   Commander  ROBERT  E.  PEARY'S 

Discovery  April  6th,  1909. 

Graphic  and  Thrilling  Stories  of  the  Greatest  Achievenifent  by  Man  Since  Columbus  Discov- 
ered America;  Terrible  Sufferings  and  Privations;  The  Awful  Cold;  Face  to  Face  v?ith  Death 
by  Starvation;  American  Pluck,  Courage  and  Endurance  Reach  the  Top  of  the  World 
through  Terrific  Gales  Over  a  Continent  of  Ice. 

Special  Introduction  by 

General  A.  W.  GREELY,  U.  S.  A= 

Renowned  Polar  Explorer,  Gold  Medalist  Royal  Geographical  Society 

and  French  Geographical  Society 

Author  of  "Chronological  List  of  Auroras,"  "Three  Years  of  Arctic  Service,"  "Proceedings 

of  Lady  Franklin  Bay  Expedition,"  "American  Explorers,"  "Hand  Book  of 

Arctic  Discoveries,  etc.,  etc. 

Edited  by  Honorable  J.  MARTIN  MILLER 

Well-known  Author  and  Traveler 

Member  of  National  Geographical  Society,  Washington,  D.  C.     Author  of  "The  Twentieth 

Century  Atlas  and  History  of  the  World,"  "History  of  the  Russia-Japan  War," 

"Complete  Story  of  the  Italian  Earthquake  Horror,"  etc.,  etc. 


ALSO  CONTAINING 

A  True  and  Authentic  Account  of  Other  Great  Polar  Expe- 

editions,   Including  Franklin,  Greely,  Abruzzi,  Nares, 

Nordenskjold,  Nansen,  Sverdrup,  Shackelton,  etc. 


ILLUSTRATED    WITH  *  HALF-TONE    REPRODXJC-^ 
TIOINS  OF  PHOTOGRAPHS  of  MANY  EXPEDITIONS 


COPTKIGHT,     1909 
BY 

J.   T.  Moss, 


(g.CI.A256249 


DEDICATION 


To    those  intrepid   men    who,  at    the  risk    of   their 

lives,     with     pluck,     courage     and    endurance, 

through    toilsome    and    perilous  journeys 

into     the     great     silent    and    frozen 

zone,    made    possible    the   great 

discovery   here    chronicled, 

THIS    BOOK    IS    DEDICATED. 


INTRODUCTION 

By  GENERAL  A.  W.  GREELY 

Among  the  many  explorations  of  the  unknown  regions 
in  recent  centuries,  none  have  been  more  fascinating  and 
engrossing  than  those  for  discovery  within  the  polar  cir- 
cles. Despite  man's  utmost  endeavors  a  veil  of  mystery 
has  hitherto  enveloped  the  immediate  vicinity  of  both 
geographical  poles.  In  consequence  there  have  been  of- 
fered to  the  world  various  hypotheses.  Some  declare  that 
they  are  located  on  an  ice-clad  ocean,  others  that  they  are 
on  glacier-covered  plateaus.  Again  the  polar  regions  are 
declared  to  be  the  abodes  of  great  herds  of  polar  and 
hibernating  animals,  while  their  opponents  assert  that 
even  the  white  polar  bear  shuns  the  highest  latitudes. 
While  for  the  most  part  the  polar  countries  are  believed 
to  be  uninhabited,  except  in  the  lower  parts  of  the  Arctic 
circle,  there  are  those  who  have  thought  it  possible  that 
there  are  habitable  areas,  where  unknown  tribes  and 
strange  peoples,  live,  far  separated  from  the  rest  of  the 
world. 

These  and  kindred  polar  topics  have,  for  the  past  four 
centuries,  engaged  the  attention  of  the  learned  and  the 
adventurous,  of  the  scientist  and  the  man  of  imagination. 
From  time  to  time  there  have  appeared  volumes  describ- 
ing not  only  the  actual  inhabitants  of  the  Arctic  circle, 
but  also  fanciful  or  semi-serious  accounts  of  imaginary 
tribes.  Indeed  there  have  been  so-called  scientific  books 
by  American  authors  that  argued  the  non-existence  of 


INTRODUCTION 

eitlier  a  North  or  South  Pole,  and  asserted  that  within 
the  polar  circles  the  surface  of  the  earth  curves  gradually 
inwards,  and  that  on  this  interior  surface  dwell  nations 
as  on  the  outer  surface. 

For  these  and  other  reasons  the  production  from  time 
to  time  of  summaries  of  polar  voyages  and  explorations 
are  most  valuable,  as  tending  to  keep  alive  in  the  rising 
generation  that  interest  in  the  mysterious  and  wonderful 
in  nature,  as  well  as  in  adventurous  action,  which  the 
Polar  World  peculiarly  presents. 

The  most  distinctive  feature  of  polar  exploration  is  not 
generally  recognized,  that  is  its  entire  disinterestedness. 
From  its  earlier  phases  of  voyages  to  foster  commercial 
intercourse,  to  stimulate  and  make  more  profitable  trade 
relations,  by  bringing  China  and  the  Orient  in  quick  com- 
munication with  the  marts  of  Europe,  polar  explorations 
have  passed  to  higher  planes  and  are  now  confined  to 
scientific  and  geographical  researches,  offering  no  im- 
mediate benefits  and  free  from  lure  of  gain  or  other 
aspects  of  materialism.  While  with  increasing  rarity 
polar  work  is  attended  by  disastrous  losses  of  life,  it  has 
that  stimulus  to  adventurous  action,  to  heroic  endurance, 
and  to  a  spirit  of  noble  endeavor  that  makes  it  attractive 
to  hearts  and  minds  which  yearn  for  something  beyond 
the  commonplace  to  stir  their  pulses. 

Nor  have  polar  discoveries  been  devoid  of  practical 
benefits  to  the  world.  Bering's  voyage  led  to  the  discov- 
ery of  Alaska,  which  now  produces  annually  more  than 
thirty  millions  of  weath  for  the  United  States.  Hudson's 
early  Spitzbergen  voyages  opened  up  whale  fisheries 
through  which  the  world  has  profited  to  the  amount  of 


INTRODUCTION 

about  seven  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  Barren  of  at- 
tractions as  has  been  Spitzbergen  to  the  tourist  visitor,  it 
is  now  of  such  commercial  importance  that  its  ownership 
is  to  be  the  subject  of  international  conference. 

Polar  work  has  had  its  tragedies  and  calamities  as  well 
as  its  triumphs  and  successes.  Scores  of  books  have  been 
written  on  voyages  relating  to  the  Northwest  Passage,  in 
attempting  which  Sir  John  Franklin  and  one  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  other  souls  perished.  Their  ships  were  last 
seen  moored  to  an  iceberg  in  Bafifin  Bay,  and  thereafter 
there  have  been  found  no  records  later  than  those  reciting 
the  abandonment  of  their  vessels,  beset  in  ice  northwest 
of  King  William  Land,  and  their  retreat  southwards 
towards  Great  Fish  river.  This  unparalled  polar  mystery 
engaged  the  attention  of  the  world  for  nearly  fifteen 
years,  until  the  harrowing  story  of  its  fate  found  at  least 
a  partial  solution  through  the  great  arctic  traveler  Mc- 
Clintock. 

A  similar  disaster  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury befell  the  first  extended  maritime  venture  of  Eng- 
land to  distant  seas,  in  the  attempted  discovery  of  the 
Northeast  Passage.  Chancellor's  two  ships,  with  an 
equippage  of  sixty-two  souls,  wintered  on  the  barren 
shores  of  Eussian  Lapland,  where  the  entire  party  per- 
ished on  the  dread  arctic  disease — scurvy.  In  striking 
contrast  with  Chancellor's  experiences,  illustrating  the 
vast  improvements  in  equipment  and  transportation, 
Nordenskiold  made  the  Northeast  Passage  without  cas- 
ualty or  danger. 

Most  fortunately  England  was  not  discouraged  by  this 
disaster,  through  which  was  opened  up  a  lucrative  Musco- 


INTRODUCTION 

yite  trade,  but  entered  on  a  career  of  explorations  and 
enterprises  which,  incidentally  led  to  polar  expeditions 
on  a  scale  never  attempted  by  any  other  nation. 

What  stories  of  real  life  can  be  more  thrilling  to  Ameri- 
can minds  than  those  set  forth  in  polar  annals?  There  are 
the  adventures  and  wintering  of  Barents  on  Nova  Zembla, 
the  besetment  of  Weyprecht  and  the  journey  of  Payer  on 
the  shores  of  Franz  Josef  Land,  the  three  winterings  of 
Parry  in  the  North  American  archipelago,  the  sledge 
journeys  of  Wrangell  across  the  Siberian  Ocean,  the  five 
years  of  Sir  John  Eoss  in  Boothia  Felix  and  the  discov- 
ery of  the  North  Magnetic  Pole,  the  vicissitudes  of  Kane 
and  the  boat  journey  of  Hayes  in  the  Smith  Sound  region, 
Scott  among  the  penguins  and  on  the  ice-barrier  of  vol- 
canic Antarctica,  the  great  drift  of  De  Long  and  the  dis- 
aster of  the  Lena  delta,  McClure's  discovery  of  one  North- 
west Passage  and  the  navigation  of  another  by  Amund- 
sen, the  successes  and  sufferings  of  the  men  of  the  Lady 
Franklin  Bay  expedition,  the  death  of  Hall  and  the 
miraculous  drift  of  the  Polaris  crew,  and  many  other 
notable  voyages  culminating  in  the  great  northings  of 
Markham,  Lockwood,  Nansen,  Cagni  and  the  attainment 
of  the  North  Pole  by  Cook  and  by  Peary. 

All  these,  and  other  varied  experiences,  bordering  on 
the  marvelous  and  exceeding  many  flights  of  fancy,  ap- 
peal to  the  imagination,  stimulate  emulation,  and  culti- 
vate an  ardent  appreciation  of  manly  and  heroic  qualities 
exhibited  in  action. 

While  the  wonderful  journey  of  Shackleton  to  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  South  Pole  has  naturally  excited  wide-spread 
interest,  most  intense  in  Great  Britain,  the  astonishing 


INTRODUCTION 

arctic  episodes  of  1909  have  engrossed  the  attention  of  the 
United  States,  where  feeling  and  interest  have  been 
aroused  to  an  extent  unequaled  by  any  other  news  of  the 
period. 

That  two  Americans  should  have  reached  the  North 
Pole  independently  would  be  most  gratifying  to  the  na- 
tional pride  at  any  time,  but  that  such  journeys  should 
be  made  over  separate  routes  and  in  successive  years 
borders  on  the  marvelous.  Especial  interest  attaches, 
therefore,  to  their  methods,  routes  and  experiences. 

Dr.  F.  A.  Cook  established  in  1907  his  headquarters 
most  primitively  with  the  Etah  Eskimo  some  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  from  the  Arctic  sea.  He  took  the 
field  in  native  fashion,  with  Eskimo  assistants,  and  select- 
ing a  novel  route  traveled  through  regions  well-known  to 
abound  in  game.  Attaining  the  North  Pole  with  two 
Eskimos,  April  21,  1908,  he  was  subjected  in  his  return 
to  the  vicissitudes  and  extreme  dangers  of  a  drifting 
polar-pack,  and  spent  an  awful  winter  in  Jones'  Sound 
region,  whence  his  return  in  1909  was  hazardous  and  diffi- 
cult. 

Commander  Peary  approached  the  task  by  again  estab- 
lishing his  ship's  quarters  in  1908  on  the  very  shores  of 
the  Arctic  Ocean,  across  whose  drifting  ice-pack  he  suc- 
cessfully made  his  journey,  reaching  the  pole  April  9, 
1909.  Thus  he  accomplished  by  energy  and  resourceful- 
ness the  great  task  to  which  he  has  applied  himself  for 
some  twenty-three  years. 


Late  Commander  Lady  Franklin  Bay  Expedition. 


COMPETITION  AT  THE  POLE. 
(From  the  Philadelphia  Inquirer.) 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE 


Two  men  have  at  last  set  foot  at  the  apex  of  the  world.  Dr. 
Frederick  A.  Cook  and  Commander  Robert  E.  Peary,  U.  S.  N.,  an- 
nounced on  September  1st  and  September  5th,  1909,  respectively,  that 
they  reached  the  North  Pole  on  April  21st,  1908,  and  April  6th,  1909, 
respectively. 

For  centuries  the  bravest  explorers  and  navigators  of  the  greatest 
European  countries  have  made  attempts  to  capture  this  prize.  It  re- 
mained, however,  for  two  American  explorers  to  make  the  discovery. 
Dr.  Cook  and  Commander  Peary  were  at  one  time  fellow  explorers 
belonging  to  the  same  expedition.  Afterwards  they  became  the  keenest 
of  rivals.  In  commercial  parlance  it  is  said  that '  *  competition  is  the  life 
of  trade."  It  may  now  well  be  said  that  competition  is  the  life  of 
exploration. 

Dr.  Cook's  announcement  thrilled  the  civilized  world  as  no  piece 
of  news  has  in  modern  times.  Commander  Peary's  announcement, 
almost  a  week  later,  in  which  he  questioned  Dr.  Cook's  claims,  made  the 
startling  news  extremely  sensational.  The  controversy  that  arose  be- 
tween the  rival  explorers  filled  the  columns  of  every  newspaper,  weekly 
print  and  monthly  magazine  in  every  language  and  country  throughout 
the  world.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  race,  without  parallel  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  between  the  two  explorers,  to  satisfy  the  goal  of 
their  ambition.  After  each  had  reached  the  Pole  there  was  another 
race  through  unexplored  and  uninhabited  regions  for  weeks  and  months 
to  reach  the  civilized  world  with  the  news  of  the  discovery.  The  chap- 
ters of  this  book  will  relate  how  Dr.  Cook  spent  the  long  sunless  months 
of  privation  and  intense  suffering  travelling  over  thousands  of  miles 
of  ice.  These  pages  will  relate  the  same  as  regards  the  expedition  of 
Commander  Peary. 

The  critics  of  Europe  iand  America  were  quick  to  point  out  that  Dr. 
Cook  took  no  white  man  from  his  expedition  with  him  to  the  Pole,  but 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

was  accompanied  only  by  two  Eskimo-Indians.  It  seemed  to  be  assumed 
that  Commander  Peary  was  accompanied  by  white  men.  His  fuller 
reports,  after  three  or  four  days,  however,  furnished  the  information  to 
the  world  that  he  also  discovered  the  Pole  entirely  alone,  except  one 
Eskimo-Indian  as  his  companion.  It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  book  to 
analyze  or  theorize  concerning  the  claims  of  the  two  rival  explorers. 
The  pages  of  the  work  will  treat  with  the  impressions  and  decisions 
of  scientific  experts  based  upon  the  data  supplied  by  the  two  explorers. 
The  interesting  and  valuable  fact  is  that  the  Pole  has  been  discovered. 
There  is  glory  enough  in  it  for  both  the  daring  explorers. 

The  writer  became  acquainted  with  Commander  Peary  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  He  has  given  his  entire  life  to  adventure  and  exploration. 
His  determination  and  heart 's  desire  were  such  that  undoubtedly  during 
the  many  years  of  effort  accompanied  by  the  most  extreme  hardships 
and  privations,  Commander  Peary  naturally  had  come  to  think  that  it 
was  for  him  to  discover  the  Pole  and  no  one  else.  As  human  nature  is 
constituted,  we  perhaps,  should  make  allowances  if  Commander  Peary 
has  subjected  himself,  because  of  his  criticisms  of  Dr.  Cook,  to  being 
charged  with  being  unethical  and  unprofessional. 

While  Dr.  Cook  is  an  experienced  and  daring  explorer,  his  service  as 
one  has  covered  a  less  number  of  years  than  Commander  Peary  has 
taken  from  his  life  for  this  purpose.  Shortly  after  Dr.  Cook's  Antarctic 
Expedition,  the  writer  had  the  honor  of  meeting  him  in  Europe.  We 
spent  seven  days  together  as  ship  mates  crossing  the  Atlantic.  Since 
that  time  it  has  been  my  pleasure  to  meet  him  on  different  occasions. 
Dr.  Cook  is  a  much  less  impulsive  man  than  Commander  Peary.  When 
we  consider  this  difference  in  temperament,  we  should  have  patience 
with  the  impatient  and  impulsive  man  if  he  has  fallen  a  victim  to  the  too 
common  human  frailties,  and  think  only  of  the  daring  feat  he  has 
accomplished.  Aside  from  the  discovery  of  the  North  Pole  both  men 
have  for  years  furnished  most  valuable  geographical  and  scientific  infor- 
mation for  the  benefit  of  the  entire  world.  The  discovery  of  the  North 
Pole  was  simply  the  crowning  feat  of  a  series  of  discoveries  and  explora- 
tions covering  several  years. 

Scores  and  perhaps  hundreds  of  these  expeditions  have  resulted  in 
failure.    Hundreds  of  lives  have  been  lost.    The  fate  of  many  of  these 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

daring  explorers  is  among  the  things  unknown.    Besides,  millions  in 
money  have  been  expended. 

Many  people  will  question  the  practical  discovery  of  the  North! 
Pole  now  that  it  is  made.  Many  are  already  claiming  that  the  discovery 
is  of  sentimental  satisfaction  only.  Let  us  not  be  too  hasty  in  drawing 
such  a  conclusion. 

A  third  of  a  century  ago,  we  had  many  theorists  who  felt  certain  that 
the  vast  central  western  country  between  the  Missouri  Eiver  and  the 
Eocky  Mountains  was  the  "  Great  American  Desert  "  and  entirely 
worthless. 

Stanford,  Huntington  and  Crocker,  who  conceived  and  made  possible 
the  construction  of  the  first  transcontinental  railway  to  the  Pacific  Coast 
were  ridiculed  and  denounced  as  being  dreamers.  Likewise,  when  the 
United  States  purchased  Alaska  the  criticisms  were  intense.  Those  who 
favored  making  Alaska  a  part  of  this  country  by  purchase  from  Eussia 
were  denounced  as  delusionists. 

Many  who,  in  a  half-hearted  manner,  favored  the  purchase  did  so  to 
'^  get  Eussia  out  of  America,"  and  saw  only  a  sentimental  reason  for 
''  throwing  away  "  $7,200,000,  by  giving  it  to  Eussia  for  a  region  of 
'  *  no  practical  use  in  the  world. ' ' 

Who  knows  but  that,  as  time  goes  on,  it  will  be  demonstrated  that 
the  discovery  of  the  extreme  Arctic  Eegions  may  prove  to  be  of  more 
than  sentimental  and  geographical  value  to  all  the  world  and  par- 
ticularly to  the  United  States,  in  that  it  will  belong  to  the  United  States 
by  right  of  discovery. 

But,  let  us  consider  the  fact  of  the  discovery  a  little  further.  Imagine 
the  discoverer  of  the  North  Pole  standing  with  one  foot  on  the  extreme 
end  of  the  180th  meridian  and  the  other  on  the  meridian  of  zero,  or 
Greenwich.  The  other  end  of  each  of  these  two  imaginary  lines  comes 
together  after  entirely  encircling  the  globe  nearly  13,000  miles  in  either 
direction,  at  the  South  Pole.  Here  is  the  spot  where  no  human  foot  has 
ever  trod,  but  the  thought  of  the  scientific  world  has  centered  here  for 
centuries.  Is  it  possible  to  imagine  the  thrilling  emotions  that  filled  the 
breast  of  the  daring  explorer  who  at  last  stood  at  this  spot?  It  is  as 
impossible  to  appreciate  such  feelings  as  it  is  to  realize  the  extreme 
sufferings  and  privations  endured  to  reach  the  coveted  spot.    Then,  the 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

intrepid  discoverer  must  encounter  the  same  hardships,  facing  death 
every  minute  and  every  hour  on  the  return  to  civilization  and  home. 

We  will  assume  that  Dr.  Cook  or  Commander  Peary — the  reader  may 
take  his  choice,  in  his  imagination,  as  to  which  one  of  these  daring  ex- 
plorers is  actually  standing  at  the  top  of  the  world — stood  astride  the 
North  Pole  with  his  right  foot  on  the  meridian  of  Greenwich  and  his  left 
on  the  180th  meridian.  It  is  plain  that  so  far  as  the  terrestrial  world 
is  concerned,  he  is  facing  southward  in  any  direction  he  may  look. 
There  is  no  east,  west  or  north.  Every  direction  is  south.  If  he  is 
looking  straight  ahead  his  eyes  are  scanning  along  the  90th  meridian 
east  of  Greenwich  and  his  back  is  toward  the  90th  meridian  west  of 
Greenwich.    Thus,  we  have  the  world  quartered,  so  to  speak. 

If  he  turns  his  eyes  one-quarter  of  the  way  around  to  the  right  and 
looks  in  the  direction  straight  away  from  his  right  side,  he  is  looking 
directly  down'the  meridian  of  Greenwich,  or  zero,  which  passes  through 
the  Arctic  Ocean  almost  midway  between  Spitzbergen  and  Greenland. 
Farther  south  it  extends  through  the  North  Sea  until  it  crosses  the  ex- 
treme southeastern  side  of  England  at  Greenwich.  Onward  this  imag- 
inary line  shaves  off  the  extreme  western  side  of  France  and  the  north- 
easternmost  corner  of  Spain,  crosses  the  Mediterranean  through  Al- 
geria, almost  touching  the  southeastern  corner  of  Morocco,  and  across 
the  Sahara  desert  in  Africa.  In  the  Gulf  of  Guinea  in  the  South  At- 
lantic Ocean  it  crosses  the  equator.  Here  we  are  just  one-half  of  the 
distance  from  the  North  Pole  to  the  South  Pole.  In  its  onward  reach 
to  the  South  Pole,  the  meridian  of  Greenwich  passes  almost  entirely 
over  water,  so  far  as  known. 

Now,  if  the  explorer  will  turn  his  face  from  right  to  left  as  he  stands 
at  the  North  Pole,  his  eyes  will  be  looking  in  i\^  direction  of  the  180th 
meridian.  This  extends  across  the  Arctic  Ocean  almost  touching  the 
eastern  end  of  New  Columbia,  or  Wrangel  Island,  and  then  cuts  off  the 
extreme  end  of  Siberia,  which  projects  into  the  Bering  Strait.  Now,  it 
passes  through  the  Gulf  of  Anadir  through  the  Bering  Sea,  across  a 
cluster  of  the  Aleutian  Islands,  through  the  Pacific  Ocean,  where  it 
crosses  the  equator  and  extends  onward  across  the  Tropic  of  Capricorn 
and  beyond  grazes  the  eastermost  projection  of  New  Zealand.  This 
makes  New  Zealand  the  eastermost  civilized  country  of  the  world.    It 


EDITOR  '8  PREFACE. 

will  be  seen  that  practically  the  only  land  the  180th  meridian  crosses  is 
that  fragment  of  farthest  and  desolate  Siberia,  mentioned  above.  In  its 
onward  course  to  the  South  Pole  the  180th  meridian,  like  the  meridian 
of  Greenwich,  on  the  exact  opposite  side  of  the  world,  passes  entirely 
over  water,  so  far  as  known. 

In  a  chapter  of  this  book  reference  is  made  to  the  beautiful  little 
story  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe  about  the  young  sea  captain  who  could  not  get 
the  consent  of  the  father  of  his  sweetheart  to  marry  her.  The  father 
meant  to  tell  the  young  captain  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to 
consent  to  let  him  have  his  daughter.  To  make  it  as  strong  as  possible 
the  father  said  to  the  young  navigator,  ''whenever  you  can  prove  to 
me  that  there  are  fifty-four  Sundays  in  one  year,  you  may  have  my 
daughter."  Being  an  experienced  navigator  and  knowing  that  a  Sun- 
day or  any  day  may  be  gained  by  crossing  the  180th  meridian  in  an 
easterly  direction,  the  young  skipper  accepted  the  father's  offer  as  a 
bargain.  After  a  two  years'  cruise  the  young  captain  came  back  and 
demonstrated,  after  long  and  patient  explanation  to  the  girl's  father 
that  he  had  actually  found  fifty-four  Sundays  by  turning  his  ship 
around  and  crossing  the  180th  meridian  twice  in  an  easterly  direction. 
Much  to  his  joy  the  young  navigator  found  his  lover's  father  a  man  of 
his  word.  In  crossing  the  180th  meridian  in  a  westerly  direction  a  day 
may  be  lost.  It  is  here,  as  time  is  measured,  that  every  day  begins 
and  ends,  being  reckoned  from  the  meridian  of  Greenwich. 

It  matters  not  whether  we  can  make  up  our  minds  as  to  the  practical 
usefulness  of  the  North  Pole  and  the  vast  unexplored  regions  surround- 
ing it.  The  fact  remains  that  it  is,  without  doubt,  the  most  important 
geographical  discovery  since  Columbus  discovered  America.  This  dis- 
covery will  undoubtedly  give  a  great  stimulus  to  explorers  all  over  the 
world  to  make  efforts  to  reach  the  South  Pole.  When  this  feat  is  accom- 
plished it  would  seem  that  there  will  be  no  more  "  worlds  to  conquer." 


WHO  WILL  BE  ''NEXT"  AT  THE  POLE. 
(From  the  Philadelphia  Inquirer.) 


£ 

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O 

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o 

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o 


FOREWORD. 


The  North  Pole  has  been  discovered. 

It  has  been  left  for  the  year  1909  to  bring  forth  what  men  of  ages  past 
have  striven  for  in  vain.  Two  American  explorers,  men  whom  neither  na- 
ture's terrors  nor  self-interest  could  sway,  have  gone  into  the  far  north  and 
have  returned  with  news  that  their  feet  have  rested  upon  the  apex  of  the  globe. 
Both  have  their  supporters.  The  friends  of  the  one  will  not  believe  in  the 
achievements  of  the  other.  Probably  as  long  as  human  beings  can  think 
for  themselves,  or  at  least  until  more  fortunate  men  can  thoroughly  traverse 
the  ice-covered  seas  of  the  pole,  there  will  be  question  of  the  deeds  of  either 
Cook  or  Peary. 

Such  glory  as  has  fallen  to  their  lot  is  not  easy  to  apportion. 

Dr.  Cook  ventured  into  the  mysterious  north  and  returned  by  way  of 
Greenland  to  Denmark,  where  he  arrived  worn,  weary  and  haggard  to  make 
the  first  claim  of  having  discovered  the  pole.  Commander  Peary,  of  the  United 
States  navy,  returned  by  a  western  path,  skirted  Canada,  and  from  Labrador 
sent  his  message  of  victory — not  a  week  behind  his  predecessor.  Both  were 
given  a  welcome  befitting  conquerors.  Both  were  called  upon  for  proofs,  and 
gave  them.  They  were  rivals  such  as  never  contended  before  for  the  honor  of 
their  fellows.  They  brought  news  that  stirred  the  imaginations  of  even  the 
dullest.  The  fact  of  their  almost  simultaneous  announcement  of  triumph  forms 
one  of  the  most  startling  coincidences  in  all  history. 

The  purpose  of  this  volume  is  not  to  discuss  the  rival  claims  of  these  mod- 
ern vikings ;  not  to  present  anew  the  arguments  strung  out  ad  nauseam  by  war- 
ring bands  of  scientists ;  not  to  detract  in  the  least  from  the  credit  due  to  either 
man.  This  book  aims  simply  to  present,  from  the  records  available,  and  from 
the  statements  made  by  the  explorers  themselves,  a  complete  and  impartial  ac- 
count of  what  they  saw  and  did. 

Whatever  Peary  may  say  of  Cook,  or  Cook  of  Peary,  the  fact  remains  that 
the  pole  was  discovered.  It  is  preposterous  to  think  that  two  men  could  per- 


petrate  such  a  gigantic  falsehood  upon  their  fellow-creatures.  It  is,  indeed, 
preposterous  to  suggest  that  either  of  these  brave  souls  would  utter  the  greatest 
lie  in  history, — for  such  would  this  lie  be.  It  is  more  in  accord  with  the  spirit 
of  fair-minded  Americanism  to  assume  that  both  are  telling  the  truth;  that 
both  found  their  way  to  the  most  lonely  spot  on  the  globe;  that  both  are  en- 
titled to  a  share  of  the  honor. 

Peary  and  Cook! 

Let  the  two  names  be  linked  together  in  the  crowning  marvel  of  a  mar- 
velous age. 

Let  there  be  found  room  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes  for  both  these  stal- 
warts ;  these  noble  Americans  who  took  the  flag  of  their  country  to  the  pole. 

In  this  book  will  be  found  a  complete  and  authentic  account  of  the  journeys 
of  Commander  Robert  E.  Peary  and  Dr.  Frederick  A.  Cook;  of  what  they 
discovered;  of  how  they  were  received  on  their  return  to  civilization;  and  of 
what  they  had  done  before  their  careers  reached  the  present  glorious  fruition. 
For  the  better  understanding  of  their  achievements  there  will  be  presented  also 
an  account  of  the  work  of  previous  Arctic  explorers, — the  men  who  blazed  the 
way,  and  whose  bones,  in  many  cases,  lie  there  in  the  far  north,  swallowed  up 
by  the  forces  against  which  they  strove. 

The  Author. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  NORTH  POLE  FOUND. 

"I  have  found  the  North  Pole,"  the  epoch-making  message  of  Dr.  Frederick  A.  Cook — 
Success  where  men  had  failed  for  centuries — The  impossible  accomplished — Civiliza- 
tion astounded,  and  the  eyes  of  all  mankind  turned  toward  the  north — Description  by 
a  great  scientist  of  what  it  means  to  find  the  axis  of  the  globe — Will  United  States 
claim   the   new   territory  ? 41 

CHAPTER  II. 
HOW  COOK  STARTED. 

Secret  preparation  for  the  dash  to  the  pole — The  long  journey  the  sequel  to  a  fishing  trip 

— Cook's  vessel  only  a  fishing  schooner — Start  for  the  polar  regions 51 

CHAPTER  III, 
DR.  COOK'S  OWN  STORY. 

Standing  on  the  top  of  the  world — The  great  dash  across  the  ice — Eskimos'  patience  ex- 
hausted— A  vast  excursion  into  the  terrestrial  unknown 59 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  EXPLORER'S  RETURN  TO  CIVILIZATI0!N. 

Explorers  freezing  in  their  idleness — What  Cook  saw  when  he  reached  the  pole — A  vast 
expanse  of  purple  snows — No  life,  no  land,  nothing  but  ice — Privations  of  the  return 
journey — Shooting  walrus  for  food 71 

CHAPTER  V. 
A  NATION'S  HOMAGE  TO  A  HERO. 
Arrival  of  Dr.  Cook  at  Copenhagen — Greeted  on  shipboard  by  the  crown  prince  of  Den- 
mark— Escorted  ashore,  and  followed  through  the  streets  by  a  dense,  cheering  crowd, 
which  tore  the  clothing  of  the  explorer  and  his  escort — Guest  of  a  scientific  society — 
Honored  at  a  banquet — Given  private  audience  by  the  king  of  Denmark — The  gaunt, 
bedraggled  traveler  back  once  more  among  friends 77 

CHAPTER  VI. 

COOK'S  PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  GREAT  TASK. 

A  birthday  passed  in  a  lonely  land— Dr.  Cook  always  adventurous,  and  an  explorer  from 

youth — His  first  work  with  Peary — Goes  to  the  antarctic  as  physician  for  a  party  of 

Belgian  scientists — Climbs  Mount  McKinley,  a  feat  never  before  performed — Tribute 

of  a  companion  on  that  expedition 87 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VII. 
PEARY  FINDS  THE  POLE. 

The  unbelievable  message  that  came  to  a  news  agency  in  New  York — "I  have  nailed  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  to  the  pole" — Credulity  stretched  to  the  breaking  point — Peary  con- 
vinces all — His  dispatches  to  official  sources  and  to  his  wife — Reception  of  the  news 
by  Mrs.  Peary  and  by  the  daughter  who  was  born  in  the  arctic 93 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

PEARY'S  SUCCESSFUL  VOYAGE. 

The  steamer  Roosevelt  starts  north,  and  is  given  God-speed  by  President  Roosevelt — The 

voyage  to  Greenland — Peary  describes  preparations  for  the  dash  to  the  pole — (Jetting 

supplies,  and  shooting  the  formidable  game  of  the  region — ^High  hopes  for  success 

after  a  life-time  of  effort 99 

CHAPTER  IX. 
EARLY  LIFE  OF  PEARY. 

Fired  as  boy  and  man  with  the  love  of  adventure — Reads  of  prowess  of  polar  travelers, 
and  achieves  ambition  to  follow  in  their  steps — First  work  in  the  line  of  exploration 
— Various  trips  in  quest  of  the  pole  touched  on  briefly — Peary's  wife  and  family ....   108 

CHAPTER  X. 
PEARY'S  STORY  OF  THE  DASH  TO  THE  POLE. 

Leaving  Greenland  with  dogs  and  sledges — Long  days'  journeys  over  the  ice — Terrific  toil 
of  lifting  the  sledge  over  ice-hummocks,  and  breaking  a  path — ^Despair  of  Peary's 
followers,  and  his  own  fortitude — The  long-sought  goal  in  sight — The  last  lap  and 
the   final   dash — ^Victory ! Ill 

^  CHAPTER  XL 
THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  HEROES. 

Controversies  likely  to  attend  great  success — Peary  challenges  Cook's  work — Calm  reply 
of  the  man  being  feted  in  Denmark — Countercharges  are  made,  and  friends  of  both 
men  take  sides 124 

CHAPTER  XIL 
PEARY'S  FIRST  VOYAGE. 

"Getting  his  sea-legs"  as  a  polar  traveler — Goes  north  and  studies  Eskimos — Mrs.  Peary 
as  a  companion  of  her  husband  in  the  frozen  land — Life  among  the  Eskimos — ^Accom- 
plishment of  first  expedition 133 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
PEARY'S  LATER  VOYAGES. 

Pushing  farther  north  each  time — Journeys  of  1896  and  later — Achievement  of  the  record 
of  87  degrees  north  latitude — Lands  explored  and  geographic  observations  made — 
Hope  always  of  at  last  achieving  the  pole 143 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
TROUBLES  OF  THE  POLAR  EXPLORER. 

Dangers  the  lure  of  the  adventurous — Habits  of  Eskimo  dogs — An  exciting  and  humorous 
description  of  the  crankiness  of  these  arctic  animals — Explorers  assailed  by  hunger 
and  weariness — Shooting  game  for  food — Thrilling  experiences  of  a  party  of  starving 
hunters 148 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XV. 
THE  EARLIEST  POLAR  EXPLORATIONS. 

North  Pole  a  lure  of  mankind  for  many  centuries — Was  it  once  peopled  with  a  race  hardier 
than  oiu-s? — The  ancient  explorers  and  their  crude  theories — Commercial  advance  the 
first  incentive  of  search — Sporting  blood  inspires  the  chase  of  the  earth's  axis 165 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

TRAGEDY  OF  SIR  JOHN  FRANKLIN. 

The  brave  English  ofi&cer  who  determined  to  find  the  pole — Sets  out  with  two  ships  and 

a  large  party  of  men — Ostensible  aim  to  find  the  north  passage,  but  secret  ambition 

to  discover  the  pole — The  long  silence  following  entry  of  the  ships  into  the  ice-bound 

north — Searching  parties  find  proof  that  Franklin  and  all  his  companions  perished. .   177 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
KANE,  THE  MODEL  OF  PEARY. 
Expedition  to  the  far  north  in  1853 — Battle  with  ice  and  storm  in  Melville  Bay — ^Long 
hours   without   water   or   food — Frozen   into   sleeping-bags — Rescue    and  return   to 
Greenland — Great  value  of  discoveries 191 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
GEN.  GREELY'S  EPOCH-MAKING  TRIPS. 
Envoy  of  United  States  government  to  try  for  farthest  north — Passes  through  the  perils 
and  sufferings  that  fell  to  the  lot  of  all — Reaches  far  northern  point,  but  is  forced  to 
turn  back 300 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
RESCUE  OF  THE  GREELY  PARTY. 

Valuable  scientific  discoveries  of  the  Greely  expedition — His  name  enrolled  among  those 

of  the  bravest  and  most  reliable  of  polar  travelers 206 

CHAPTER  XX. 
FRIDTJOF  NANSEN,  THE  MODERN  VIKING. 
Nansen,  the  hardy  Norseman,  determines  to  find  the  pole — Fitting  up  of  the  Fram,  one 
of  the  sturdiest  ships  that  had  battled  with  ice-bound  seas — Start  of  a  drifting  voy- 
age through  the  polar  ocean — Beset  by  huge  bergs  and  hummocks — Party  forced  to 
subsist  on  poor  food,  and  facing  starvation — Turns  back,  after  attaining  "farthest 
north,"  before  Peary  216 

CHAPTER  XXL 
TWO  BALLOONISTS  WHO  FAILED. 

Wellman  conceives  the  idea  of  sailing  to  the  pole  in  a  dirigible  balloon — ^His  two  attempts, 

ending  in  failure  of  the  airship  to  proceed  more  than  a  few  miles 221 

CHAPTER  XXIL 
LIFE  AMONG  THE  ESKIMOS. 
Little-known  facts  about  a  hardy  people — ^Are  they  intelligent,  or  the  reverse? — Their 
means  of  getting  food — Their  cunning  devices  against  the  rigors  of  frost — What  it 
means  to  live  in  a  below-zero  climate  the  year  round 224 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
SHACKLETON'S  "FARTHEST  SOUTH." 

Pisadvantages  of  journeying  south  compared  with  the  northern  route — The  great  ant- 
arctic even  less  known  than  the  arctic — Early  journeys  south^ — The  record-breaking 
trip  of  Lieut.  Shackleton 235 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
THE  SOUTH  POLE  WILL  BE  FOUND. 

Only  glory  now  left  to  explorers — Plans  of  Peary,  Cook,  and  others,  to  seek  the  south  pole 
— Honor  awaiting  the  discoverer — Will  an  American  be  first  at  the  '^bottom  of  the 
world?"    240 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
DR.  COOK  IN  THE  ANTARCTIC. 

How  the  explorer  sailed  south  with  a  party  from  Antwerp,  Belgium — Cruises  in  the  ice 
fastnesses  of  the  extreme  antarctic — The  vessel  caught  in  the  ice — ^A  2,000-mile  drift 
amid  ice  floes — The  Belgica  buffeted  by  the  winds,  and  ground  by  huge  masses  of 
ice — Howling  gales  and  creaking  timbers,  with  every  moment  fateful  with  tragedy — 
Typical  experiences  of  voyagers  under  such  circumstances — The  dreadful  perils  of 
the  ship  Investigator 243 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
WHAT  SCIENTISTS  SAID  OF  THE  RIVALS. 

A  well-known  Scandinavian  tells  why  he  believes  in  Dr.  Cook — Modesty  and  coolness  of 

the  Brooklyn  man — Physician  gives  his  views 251 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
COOK'S  RETURN  HOME. 

Explorer  lands  in  New  York,  and  is  greeted  by  great  crowd — Ships  in  the  harbor  filled 

with  admirers — Affecting  greeting  from  family — Hero  is  garlanded  with  roses 258 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
PEARY'S  WELCOME  HOME. 

Man  who  vies  with  Cook  as  discoverer  arrives  in  Sydney,  N.  S.,  and  is  given  honors  of 
the  city — Triumphal  tour  through  Maine  on  railroad  train — Crowds  along  route  cheer 
him 278 

CHAPTER  XXLX. 
PREVIOUS  GREAT  CONTROVERSIES. 

Historic  struggle  over  alleged  discovery  of  the  source  of  the  Nile — ^A  nobleman  involved — 
Sensation  at  a  public  meeting — ^Death  of  one  of  the  contenders — Columbus  and  his 
great  rival    285 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
VALUABLE  ANIMALS  OF  THE  ARCTIC. 
Sea  animals  of  great  size  and  of  enormous  wealth  of  fur— Great  herds  of  Muskox  and 

other  land  animals — Wonderful  habits  of  the  Arctic  animals .   292 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
MARVELS  OF  THE  YEAR  1909. 
North  pole  discovery  only  one  of  many  wonderful  discoveries  and  achievements — Ocean 
record  broken  by  the  Mauretania — ^Aerial  navigation  vastly  improved — Records  of 
Wright  and  Curtiss   299 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
AMUNDSEN'S  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  NORTHWEST  PASSAGE. 
Norwegian  sailor  sets  out  in  footsteps  of  the  vikings  and  of  Nansen — Sails  along  in 
region  where   Franklin  perished  and  others  failed — ^Navigates  little    ship   through 
narrow  and  dangerous  passages — Success  at  last 306 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

HENRY  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK. 

North  Pole  attempt  ranks  him  with  many  who  ventured  north  in  early  days — Discoverer 

of  Hudson  Bay  and  Hudson  River — Mysterious  and  romantic  career  of  sea  adventurer — 

Both  his  origin  and  his  death  veiled  in  mystery — New  York  honors  his  memory  with 

pageantry  and  ceremony 313 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
HOW  LATITUDE  IS  RECKONED, 

Uses  of  the  sextant  and  artificial  horizon  scientifically  described — The  method  of  applying 
delicate  instruments  under  adverse  conditions — ^Discovery  of  the  compass,  the  mariner's 
mainstay,  and  little  known  facts  about  the  origin  of  this  device 335 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 
THE  STORY  OF  HARRY  WHITNEY. 

Young  New  Haven  sportsman  becomes  an  important  witness  in  the  great  polar  controversy 
— Story  of  how  he  received  Dr.  Cook's  records,  tried  to  take  them  aboard  Peary's 
ship,  and  was  refused  permission — ^Rival  explorers  emit  broadsides  of  argument 333 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 
WONDERS  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC  WORLD. 

Further  discoveries  of  Shackleton  and  companions — 5,000  feet  of  vertical  ice — Story  of  how 
a  monster  volcano  was  explored — Types  of  animal  life  found  at  "the  bottom  of  the 
world"    341 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

HOW  THE  DUKE  OF  ABRUZZI,  WHO  NEARLY  FOUND  THE  NORTH  POLE, 

CLIMBED  THE  HIMALAYAS. 

Italian  nobleman  who  achieved  far  northern  record  achieves  greatest  mountaineering  feat 
of  the  year  1909 — Starts  out  with  large  expedition  and  conquers  a  mighty  peak  24,500 
feet  above  the  sea — Thrilling  experiences  in  crossing  wide  valleys  and  ascending 
diflScult  steeps   • 351 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
MARVELS  OF  THE  NORTH,  AS  TOLD  BY  NANSEN. 
Norwegian  explorer  among  most  picturesque  of  writers — ^He  describes  with  poetic  enthusi- 
asm the  varied  glories  of  the  north — Marvelous  aurora  borealis,  painting  the  sky  in 
thrilling  colors — ^A  great,  white,  lonely  world 359 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 
DR.  NANSEN  AS  A  MIGHTY  NIMROD. 
Prowess  of  the  explorer  greater  than  that  of  his  companions — Pursuit  o.  the  elusive  rein- 
deer  described — Methods    of   bagging   the    clumsy   walrus — ^Adventures    of    iiitrepid 
hunters  in  bringing  down  polar  bears 370 

CHAPTER  XL. 
DR.  HAYES'  TERRIBLE  BOAT  JOURNEY. 

Surgeon  of  Kane  expedition  tells  how  his  companions  set  out  in  small  craft  to  get  supplies — 
Buffeted  by  storms  and  adrift  on  ice — Drenched  by  freezing  water  and  exhausted  by 
battle  with  elements,  they  reach  land 379 

CHAPTER  XLL 
FURTHER  EXPERIENCES  OF  DR.  HAYES. 

Facing  winter,  the  broken-down  travelers  build  a  hut — ^Drifting  snow  almost  buries  them 
from  sight — One  of  party,  making  a  relief  trip,  is  nearly  murdered  by  Eskimos — Latter 
at  length  prove  to  be  friends  in  need,  and  Hayes  and  his  men  are  able  to  rejoin 
Dr.  Kane 391 

CHAPTER  XLII. 
ARCTIC  AND  ANTARCTIC  REGIONS. 

Extent  of  the  polar  regions,  difficulties  of  exploring — South  Pole  regions  unlike  the  northern 
regions — Number  of  lives  lost  on  different  polar  expeditions  from  1553  to  1910 401 

CHAPTER  XLIIL 
REMARKABLE  DISCOVERIES  OF  A  YOUNG  ARMY  OFFICER. 

Youthful  graduate  of  West  Point  finds  overland  route  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  gold 
country  near  Nome,  Alaska — Meet  great  obstacles  in  an  unknown  country — ^Deserted 
by  Indian  guides,  deprived  of  transportation,  and  hampered  by  scarcity  of  food  before 
success  is  attained   407 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 

FULTON-HUDSON  CELEBRATION  MIXED  WITH  THE  COOK-PEARY  CONTROVERSY. 

Vast  army  of  officials  and  representatives  of  nations  join  in  the  celebration — Cook  appears 

on  the  scene  and  the  controversy  with  Peary  waxes  strong 412 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  NORTH  POLE  FOUND. 

"I  have  found  the  North  Pole." 

From  the  deck  of  a  Danish  steamer  as  it  touched  at  the  Shetland  Isles, 
Dr.  Frederick  A.  Cook  sent  this  message  over  the  world  September  i,  1909. 
It  meant  that  an  American  explorer  had  reached  at  once  the  summit  of  his 
ambition  and  the  summit  of  the  world.  It  meant  that  a  dozen  other  ex- 
plorers saw  their  hopes  blasted.  It  meant  that  a  goal  striven  for  since  the 
sixteenth  century,  a  lure  that  had  caused  human  bones  and  the  wreckage  of 
ships  to  be  strewn  amid  the  ice  of  the  desolate  arctic,  had  been  gained. 

More  than  a  year  had  passed  since  Dr.  Cook  sailed  from  a  point  of  com- 
munication with  the  civilized  world.  Not  a  word  had  come  from  the  lone 
explorer  who  had  plunged  across  the  snows  to  possible  doom.  Then,  on  that 
first  day  of  Septernber,  the  captain  of  the  steamer  Hans  Egede,  a  Danish 
craft,  sent  to  the  colonial  office  of  his  government  this  world-startling 
telegram : 

"We  have  on  board  the  American  traveler.  Dr.  Cook,  who  reached  the 
North  Pole  April  21,  1908.  Dr.  Cook  arrived  at  Upernivik  (the  northern- 
most Danish  settlement  in  Greenland,  on  an  island  off  the  west  coast)  in  May 
of  1909  from  Cape  York  (in  the  northwest  part  of  Greenland,  on  Baffin  Bay). 

"The  Eskimos  of  Cape  York  confirm  Dr.  Cook's  story  of  his  journey." 

That  was  all.  Not  a  word  to  tell  whether  the  explorer  was  well  and  sane, 
or  whether,  after  his  terrible  journey  northward  and  southward,  he  might  not 
lie  in  his  bunk,  a  raving  maniac.  But  Dr.  Cook's  friends  were  speedily  to 
be  reassured.  There  was  another  message,  this  time  to  a  friend  in  New 
York.    It  said: 

"Successful.    Well.    Address  Copenhagen. 

(Signed)     Fred." 

The  friend,  Mrs.  Robert  Pier  Davidson,  of  693  Bushwick  avenue,  Brook- 
lyn, was  the  intimate  associate  of  Mrs.  Cook,  wife  of  the  explorer.     From 

41 


42  THE  NORTH  POLE  FOUND 

Brooklyn  the  joyous  news,  not  only  of  success,  but  of  health,  was  forwarded 
with  all  speed  to  the  explorer's  wife,  who  was  passing  part  of  the  summer 
in  Maine.  The  two  words,  "successful"  and  "well,"  were  all  she  needed  to 
know.  The  one  told  her  that  her  husband  had  achieved  what  no  man  had 
achieved  before.  The  other  contained  the  (for  her)  even  more  heartening 
news  that  he  had  returned  from  the  awful  solitudes  of  the  pole  with  health 
and  strength. 

Before  the  day  was  over  still  another  message  reached  the  world.  It  was 
clearer  and  more  conclusive  than  the  others.  It  was  addressed  to  the  director 
of  the  observatory  at  Brussels,  Belgium,  M.  Lecointe,  an  old  friend  and 
fellow-worker  of  Cook.     It  said: 

"I  reached  the  North  Pole  on  April  21,  1908.  I  discovered  land  far  north. 
I  return  to  Copenhagen  by  steamer." 

And  so  it  had  been  done.  A  man  had  stood  on  "the  top  of  the  world"  and 
had  gazed  upon  expanses  never  before  glimpsed  by  human  eyes;  perhaps, 
indeed,  never  seen  by  the  eye  of  any  living  creature.  More  than  kings  and 
princes  of  the  mythical  world,  more  than  navigators  of  the  new  world  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  has  this  tall,  well  built  man  who  used  to  live  at  670  Bushwick 
avenue,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  found  a  new  thing  under  the  sun. 

On  that  hour  in  April,  1908,  that  this  man  stopped  his  dog  sledges,  pulled 
out  his  sextant,  and  with  mittened  fingers  fixed  the  instrument  on  the  north 
star,  shining  out  of  the  arctic  night,  he  found  himself — if  the  world  will  credit 
his  statement — at  latitude  90  and  longitude  anything  he  pleased. 

He  found  that  by  shifting  the  position  of  his  feet  on  the  tip  of  the  world 
he  could  throw  himself  across  a  span  of  longitudinal  lines  that  swiftest  train 
and  steamer  could  not  cover  in  forty  days. 

Perhaps  in  a  whimsical  moment  this  Brooklyn  explorer  balanced  himself 
on  the  toe  of  one  bearskin  boot  and  whirled  from  right  to  left.  Presto !  he  had 
added  a  day  to  his  life. 

It  took  Dr.  Cook  months  to  work  his  way  back  from  the  region  into  which 
he  had  penetrated.  It  took  only  a  few  hours  for  his  deed  to  become  known  in 
every  city,  every  village,  every  spot  on  earth  where  civilized  men  hold  com- 
munication with  one  another.  And  the  world  gasped  and  smiled,  and  cried 
out  the  questions: 

Who  is  Cook  ?  How  did  he  do  it  ?  What  good  is  it  ?  What  does  it  mean 
to  the  world  of  the  future? 


THE  NORTH  POLE  FOUND  43 

Thousands  of  men  seized  thousands  of  maps  and  searched  for  the  spot 
whose  attainment  had  caused  all  this  uproar.  They  found  ragged  lines  show- 
ing where  continents  had  been  traced  by  voyagers  of  former  years ;  and  then 
they  found  a  blank — a  blank  indicating  the  spaces  never  penetrated.  They 
found  a  circle,  the  imaginary  line  tracing  the  realm  of  the  arctic,  and  other 
circles  showing  80  degrees  north  latitude,  and  85  degrees  north  latitude,  and 
in  the  center  of  it  all,  that  blank.  Some  now  drew  a  dotted  line  from  Green- 
land to  the  middle  of  this  vacant  spot,  and  they  began  to  understand  what  Dr. 
Cook  had  done. 

What  he  did  was  to  enter  one  of  the  few  fastnesses  of  the  earth,  to  explore 
one  of  the  two  spots  thus  far  left  unexplored, — one  the  North  Pole,  and  the 
other  the  South  Pole.  He  had  been  to  the  axis  of  the  globe,  the  center  around 
which  it  whirls.  He  had  been  to  a  place  where,  says  Sir  Robert  Ball,  the 
noted  English  astronomer,  "the  sun  rises  and  sets  only  once  a  year — six 
months  daylight,  six  months  night,  mitigated  only  by  a  little  twilight  at  the 
beginning  and  end  of  a  period  of  awful  gloom,  broken  by  occasional  moon- 
light or  aurora. 

"The  pole  is  truly  a  unique  spot  on  the  globe.  Cook,  standing  there,  faced 
due  south,  whichever  way  he  looked.  He  was  more  than  twenty  miles  nearer 
the  center  of  the  earth  than  if  he  stood  at  the  equator.  His  weight  was 
greater  than  anywhere  else  on  the  surface  of  the  globe.  A  plumbline  in  his 
hand  pointed  vertically  upward  to  the  pole  of  the  heavens,  around  which  all 
stars  revolve. 

"Half  of  the  stars  he  could  never  see ;  the  other  half  never  went  below  his 
horizon  and  would  have  been  visible  throughout  the  six  months  of  night. 
The  famous  constellation  Orion  ever  circled  around  and  around  this  horizon. 
The  pole  star  stood  directly  over  his  head." 

In  summing  up  the  meaning  of  what  Dr.  Cook  did,  Herbert  L.  Bridgman, 
secretary  of  the  Peary  Arctic  club  of  New  York,  used  these  telling  words : 

"The  question  naturally  arises,  What  is  the  value  of  this  achievement? 
Viewing  the  matter  from  viewpoints  of  the  general  public — as  a  great  triumph 
of  man  over  nature,  as  the  achievement  of  a  daring  physical  feat  of  the  first 
magnitude — the  news  from  Copenhagen  makes  Dr.  Cook  deservedly  one  of 
the  great  figures  of  the  decade.  He  is  the  Columbus  of  the  Arctic.  What 
he  has  done  no  one  can  ever  excel.  There  is  no  point  further  north — nothing 
left  for  any  rival  explorer  to  accomplish  which  can  outdo  his  performance." 


44 


THE  NORTH  POLE  FOUND 


Scientists  the  world  over  joined  in  the  bedlam  of  discussion  over  the 
significance  of  the  discovery.  Dr.  George  Titmann,  superintendent  of  the 
coast  and  goedetic  survey  at  Washington,  declared  that  the  chief  immediate 


From  the  Washington  Star. 

value  would  be  the  actual  geographical  information  obtained  by  Dr.  Cook  of 
the  route  over  which  he  passed. 

Dr.  Titmann  also  believed  that  the  discovery  will  have  great  effect  in  stim- 
ulating elaborately  equipped  scientific  expeditions  for  the  collection  of  more 
technical  data  that  will  be  of  great  value. 


THE  NORTH  POLE  FOUND  45 

As  to  the  lay  of  the  land,  the  set  of  the  currents,  the  rise  and  fall  of  tides, 
the  location  of  other  islands  or  the  expanse  of  water  and  its  depth,  Dr.  Tit- 
mann  concluded  Dr.  Cook  must  have  secured  valuable  information.  That  it 
will  be  much  easier  in  future  to  reach  the  pole  there  can  be  no  doubt,  in  Dr. 
Titmann's  opinion. 

Dr.  Titmann  suggested  that  if  Dr.  Cook  had  the  proper  equipment  he 
might  have  taken  pendulum  experiments  that  would  develop  interesting  addi- 
•tional  data  as  to  the  figure  of  the  earth. 

In  general  Dr.  Titmann,  while  greeting  the  alleged  discovery  with  delight 
as  opening  up  a  valuable  field  for  scientific  investigation,  concluded  that  the 
discoveries  made  by  Dr.  Cook,  or  hereafter  to  be  made  by  scientists  following 
his  lead,  would  be  for  the  most  part  of  further  details  about  subjects  already 
known  in  part. 

Dr.  Titmann  doubted,  however,  that  any  of  these  discoveries  could  have 
any  great  immediate  practical  importance.  Navigation  as  a  science  will  gain 
nothing,  nor  will  meteorology.  But  in  the  verifying  of  what  heretofore  neces- 
sarily has  remained  in  the  status  of  theories  Dr.  Titmann  said  much  will  be 
gained.  In  the  matter  of  pendulum  experiments  regarding  the  mass  and 
figure  of  the  earth  he  said  all  civilized  nations  are  now  making  experiments, 
and  experiments  taken  at  the  pole  would  add  to  their  fund  of  information. 

Prof.  William  H.  Brewer,  of  Yale  University,  said: 

"There  are  really  no  scientific  theories  as  to  what  is  immediately  around 
the  pole.  There  are  some  theorists  who  think  there  is  an  open  sea  and  some 
who  believe  that  a  fertile  spot  is  there.  Scientific  men  are  inclined  to  think 
that  there  may  be  little  difference  in  immediate  conditions  close  to  the  pole 
from  those  in  the  Arctic  regions  miles  from  there. 

"The  discovery  of  the  North  Pole  ranks  as  a  great  achievement.  Before 
men  began  to  climb  mountains  we  didn't  know  much  about  mountains,  but 
men  have  climbed  mountains  till  there  are  few  left  unclimbed.  Now  when 
a  man  climbs  a  mountain  for  the  first  time  it's  a  great  achievement,  but  we 
have  learned  so  much  about  mountains  that  his  act  may  not  aid  much  to  the 
scientific  knowledge  about  mountains.  Just  so  with  the  scientific  value  of 
the  discovery  of  the  North  Pole. 

"All  reports  from  the  Arctic  seas  indicate  that  last  year  was  unusually 
severe,  making  it  possible  for  Dr.  Cook  to  proceed  rapidly  over  the  ice. 
Climbing  over  the  ice  and  icebergs  toward  the  North  Pole  is  like  climbing 
through  a  city  without  streets.     You  have  to  climb  over  the  houses.     The 


46 


THE  NORTH  POLE  FOUND 


From  the  Washinston  Star. 

THE  MODERN  COLUMBUS  DISCOVERING  THE  NORTH  POLE. 


THE  NORTH  POLE  FOUND  47 

fact  that  the  year  was  so  cold  kept  the  ice  floes  together  more  compactly  and 
added  an  element  of  rare  good  luck  to  his  splendid  courage." 

The  Matin,  a  great  newspaper  of  Paris,  had  this  to  say : 

"The  dawn  of  a  new  century  has  seen  marvelous  discoveries,  not  the  least 
of  which  is  that  brought  to  us  over  the  telegraph  that  the  North  Pole  had  been 
discovered  and  that  an  American  explorer  attained  that  point  of  the  globe 
which  is  wrapped  in  mysterious  legend  and  always  has  been  deemed  inac- 
cessible. 

'  "For  the  last  five  centuries  the  efforts  of  explorers  have  tended  toward 
the  pole ;  for  five  centuries  explorers  have  rushed  to  the  Arctic  extremity  of 
the  world.  All  peoples  had  tried  to  pierce  the  mystery  of  the  polar  ice  and 
reach  the  exact  spot  where  is  the  pole,  and  it  is  America  which  emerges  trium- 
phant in  this  heroic  journey. 

"One  thing  is  certain,  a  great  feat  has  been  accomplished  and  a  marvelous 
victory  has  been  won  by  the  courage  and  tenacity  of  man  over  the  savage 
brutality  and  relentless  resistance  of  matter,  and  none  will  seek  to  stint  •  to 
young  America  the  enthusiasm  which  the  glorious  conquest  merits ;  none  will 
refuse  her  the  tribute  of  admiration,  well  earned  by  one  of  her  sons  for  the 
triumph  which  he  has  achieved  for  civilization." 

Discussion  also  arose  over  the  value  to  the  United  States  of  the  newly 
discovered  lands. 

State  department  officials  were  of  the  opinion  that  it  was  of  little  conse- 
quence to  the  United  States  what  lands  Dr.  Cook  has  discovered  on  his  way  to 
the  North  Pole  so  far  as  actual  territorial  possession  is  concerned. 

It  was  recalled  by  the  department  officials  that  ever  since  1828  American 
explorers  in  both  the  Arctic  and  Antartic  have  discovered  vast  areas  of  land 
to  which  no  claims  ever  were  made.  Admiral  Wilkes  found  in  the  Antartic 
a  territory  of  more  than  100,000  square  miles  in  area,  and  Dr.  Kane  made 
large  discoveries  in  the  Arctic,  but  no  effort  ever  has  been  made  by  the  United 
States  to  assert  its  right  to  them.  Gen.  Greely  some  years  ago  located  lands 
which  never  before  were  known  to  exist. 

Many  of  the  world's  greatest  navigators  have  from  time  to  time  made 
discoveries  to  which  no  claim  ever  was  made.  The  principal  reason  for  this, 
however,  is  said  to  be  that  these  lands  in  every  instance  were  almost  inacces- 
sible and  absolutely  of  no  value. 

The  islands  of  Spitzbergen,  which  were  discovered  many  years  ago,  still 
are  without  a  recognized  owner.     On  the  maps  these  islands  are  designated 


48  THE  NORTH  POLE  FOUND 

as  belonging  to  Russia,  but  her  claim,  if  ever  asserted,  has  never  been 
recognized. 

These  islands  are  not  only  accessible,  but  have  developed  some  thriving 
industries,  and  only  within  the  last  few  years  has  any  effort  been  made  to 
exercise  over  them  any  jurisdiction  or  authority. 

Recently,  however,  a  conference  was  suggested  of  representatives  of 
countries  having  interests  in  them  to  provide  some  sort  of  an  administration 
for  their  government.  The  United  States  probably  will  be  represented  by 
reason  of  the  fact  that  the  only  important  coal  mines  in  the  territory  are 
operated  by  Americans. 

As  to  the  particular  territory  which  Dr.  Cook  discovered  the  statement 
was  made  that  it  was  quite  probable  that  these  lands  would  be  found  to  be 
an  extension  of  the  mainland  of  Greenland,  and,  if  so,  they  belong  to  Denmark. 
At  any  rate,  it  was  held  to  be  extremely  improbable  that  the  United  States 
would  attempt  to  assert  sovereignty  over  them. 

But  this  was  something  for  the  future.  It  was  enough,  for  the  time,  to 
know  that  Cook  was  an  American.  The  United  States  could  claim  sovereignty 
over  him. 


COMMANDEE  PEAEY,  WHO  HAS  "NAILED  THE  STAES  AND  STEIPES 

TO  THE  POLE." 
The  map  shows  positions  reached  by  other  Arctic  Explorers. 


»,'  .<*'" 


-«S^:«*^,4«Sfc. 


,  ^5^=:„ 


-1^  -  ^s;^:-!-*^ 


-.■^VPl  Cyj  C  _,-j".?-l.&^:::SaJ^A^k.J^^--_^^ 


•f*i'^        »>.l 


DE.  COOK'S  EXPEEIENGE  ON  HIS  WAY  TO  THE  NOETH  POLE.     HIS  GREAT 
EFFORT  GOING  THERE  AND  HIS  FIGHT  FOE  FOOD  ON  THE  WAY  BACK. 


CHAPTER  II. 

HOW  COOK  STARTED  FOR  THE  NORTH  POLE. 

Dr.  Cook's  dash  for  the  pole,  Hke  most  of  the  great  actions  of  history, 
was  as  secretly  conceived  as  it  was  heroically  carried  out. 

Few  even  of  the  explorer's  most  intimate  friends  suspected  he  was  about 
to  undertake  the  most  difficult  journey  within  the  reach  of  man.  The  dis- 
covery of  the  North  Pole  was  the  termination  of  a  voyage  that  started  osten- 
sibly as  a  fishing-trip. 

On  July  3,  1907,  Dr.  Cook  was  the  guest  of  John  R.  Bradley  on  board  his 
schooner  yacht,  the  John  R.  Bradley,  which  left  Gloucester,  Mass.,  to  go  on 
a  fishing  trip  up  the  Labrador  coast.  Mr.  Bradley  is  a  New  York  man  of 
wealth,  interested  in  sports,  and  has  followed  Dr.  Cook's  polar  aspirations 
closely. 

Mr.  Bradley  invited  Dr.  Cook  to  go  on  the  fishing  trip,  never  dreaming 
that  it  would  end  in  the  Brooklyn  man's  making  a  dash  for  the  pole.  Aboard 
the  schooner  were  half  a  dozen  Newfoundlanders  who  were  thoroughly 
familiar  with  the  coast  of  Labrador  and  who  were  to  act  as  guides._ 

The  fishing  party  ran  into  treacherous  weather  and  heavy  ice  packs  as  it 
proceeded  along  the  Labrador  coast.  Then  the  gasoline  engines  got  out  of 
order  and  the  vessel  was  involved  in  difficulties.  The  ship  was  at  length 
headed  for  Cape  York  harbor,  but  owing  to  the  heavy  ice  it  was  unable  to 
land  there  and  a  landing  was  made  in  North  Star  Bay.  There  some  days 
were  "spent  in  hunting  and  fishing. 

While  the  time  was  being  spent  in  this  way.  Dr.  Cook  became  fired  with  the 
ambition  to  reach  the  pole.  He  spoke  to  Mr.  Bradley  about  it,  and  the  latter 
declared  that  if  any  such  trip  was  to  be  rnade,  he  would  not  join  it. 

Dr.  Cook  was  insistent.  He  wanted  the  entire  party  to  go  with  him  on  the 
expedition.  As  Mr.  Bradley  would  not  be  one  of  the  party.  Dr.  Cook  or- 
ganized a  force  of  Eskimos,  and,  with  Rudolph  Fraucke,  made  preparations 
for  the  expedition.    Mr.  Bradley  left  in  August,  1907,  on  his  fishing  schooner, 

51 


52  HOW  COOK  STARTED 

to  return  to  New  York,  leaving  the  determined  Brooklyn  man  and  his  party 
to  seek  the  pole. 

Dr.  Cook  had  an  entirely  different  idea  of  how  the  trip  to  the  pole  ought 
to  be  attempted  from  that  followed  by  Peary  and  other  explorers.  He  cal- 
culated upon  going  through  Nansen  Strait  and  doing  his  traveling  in  the 
winter  months.  His  reasons  for  choosing  the  period  of  extreme  cold  was  that 
the  ice  fields  would  be  smoother  and  that  there  would  be  less  danger  of  en- 
countering the  jagged  passages  of  ice,  through  which  travel  is  extremely 
difficult. 

When  Mr.  Bradley  returned  to  New  York  in  October,  1907,  he  told  of  Dr. 
Cook's  scheme  and  the  preparations  for  the  trip. 

"Dr.  Cook  told  me  before  he  left  Gloucester  that  it  would  be  a  great  thing 
if  we  tried  to  reach  the  pole  before  we  returned,"  said  Mr.  Bradley. 

"I  did  not  give  him  any  encouragement  then,  but  thinking  that  he  might 
insist  upon  making  the  attempt  when  we  reached  the  farthest  point  north  on 
our  trip,  I  ordered  provisions  put  aboard  that  would  furnish  an  arctic  ex- 
pedition for  three  years. 

"When  the  vessel  sailed,  therefore,  we  had  everything  necessary  for  a 
polar  expedition.  On  our  trip  we  went  as  far  north  at  Etah,  Peary's  former 
winter  quarters.  Here  we  enjoyed  a  fine  view  from  the  high  hills  of  Smith 
Sound.  There  was  no  great  amount  of  ice  in  the  sound,  so  Dr.  Cook,  the 
first  mate  and  myself,  took  a  motor  boat  and  went  through  Smith  Sound  to 
79  degrees  north  latitude.  There  the  farthermost  settlements  of  the  Eskimos 
are,  and  we  spent  several  days  among  them. 

"Dr.  Cook  knows  the  Eskimo  language  and  had  no  difficulty  in  convers- 
ing with  them.  He  had  been  up  there  on  Peary's  first  expedition  and  some  of 
the  Eskimos  remembered  him. 

"When  we  returned  to  Etah  we  brought  the  greater  part  of  the  Eskimo 
settlement  back  with  us.  Once  back  at  Etah  conditions  looked  so  favorable 
for  a  dash  to  the  pole  that  Dr.  Cook  could  not  resist  the  impulse.  We  found 
we  could  get  all  the  dogs  we  wanted  and  all  the  natives  that  Dr.  Cook  wished 
to  have  with  him.  The  natives  had  already  cached  their  winter  supply  of 
food.  I  helped  them  kill  walrus,  seals,  white  whales  and  narwhals  to  aug- 
ment the  supply.  The  Eskimo  women  were  kept  busy  catching  arctic  hares 
and  birds  to  make  their  winter  clothing. 

"Dr.  Cook  concluded  to  stay  and  make  the  dash  for  the  pole  as  soon  as 
feasible  after  the  long,  dark  night  should  begin  to  break.     Dr.  Cook  took 


HOW  COOK  STARTED  53 

about  fifty  Eskimos,  men,  women  and  children  with  him  to  a  place  farther 
north  of  Etah  and  established  winter  quarters." 

From  another  source  come  further  details  of  the  Bradley  expedition  which 
had  so  startling  a  result.  The  ship  used  was  a  Gloucester  fishing  schooner 
before  Mr.  Bradley  bought  it,  fitted  the  1 1 1  ton  craft  with  a  gasoline  engine 
and  rechristened  it  with  his  own  name.  He  put  the  boat  in  charge  of  Capt. 
Moses  Bartlett,  who  had  been  first  officer  of  the  Peary  ship  Roosevelt,  and 
engaged  a  Newfoundland  crew. 

It  carried  a  twenty-seven  foot  whale  boat  with  a  ten  horsepower  gasoline 
engine.    The  Bradley  was  fitted  with  everything  needed  on  a  polar  expedition. 

The  route  of  the  Bradley  was  from  Gloucester  to  Battle  Harbor,  Labrador, 
thence  across  Davis  Strait  to  the  South  Greenland  coast.  Ice  first  was  en- 
countered at  Sisco,  and  it  damaged  the  machinery.  After  shooting  bear  in 
Melville  Bay,  the  party  reached  Cape  York  and  North  Star  Bay.  Later  it 
touched  at  McCormick,  Bowdoin  and  Robinson  Bays,  and  reached  Etah, 
Greenland,  Peary's  old  winter  quarters. 

Taking  the  motor  boat  Bradley,  Cook  and  some  others  went  through 
Smith  Sound  to  79  north,  and  brought  back  some  Eskimos  to  Etah.  There 
Cook  decided  to  stay,  and  with  him  and  the  natives  there  also  remained  Ru- 
dolph Francke,  a  member  of  the  expedition.  Cook's  idea  was  to  start  about 
February  i,  1908,  across  Smith  Sound  and  strike  out  in  a  northwesterly  direc- 
tion across  Ellesmereland  to  find  an  open  polar  sea  at  about  St,  degrees  north 
latitude.  His  reason  for  going  in  this  direction  was  to  avoid  the  easterly 
drift  of  polar  sea  ice.  He  had  with  him  a  canvas  boat  in  which  to  cross  the  open 
polar  sea.  He  expected  to  reach  the  pole  and  to  get  back  to  Kennedy  Channel 
in  about  three  months.  Three  families  of  natives  were  to  be  left  at  three 
separate  stations,  but  he  and  two  Eskimos  were  to  make  the  dash,  together 
with  two  sleds. 

On  March  3,  1908,  he  left  his  base  of  supplies  at  Annatok  on  the  north- 
western coast  of  Greenland,  and  with  abundant  supplies  disappeared  in  a 
northwesterly  direction  over  Ellesmereland  into  the  little  known  regions 
toward  the  Arctic  Ocean. 

Francke  was  left  at  Annatok,  twenty  miles  north  of  Etah,  which  is  the 
northernmost  inhabited  settlement  on  the  west  coast  of  Greenland,  and  on 
May  7,  1908,  the  last  word  from  Dr.  Cook  came  to  Francke — a  letter  dated 
March  17,  and  therefore  written  just  two  weeks  after  the  start  northward — 
instructing  Francke  to  go  back  to  New  York  in  case  Dr.  Cook  did  not  return 


54:  HOW  COOK  STARTED 

to  Annatok  by  early  June.  On  his  nonappearance  at  that  time  Francke  started 
southward,  endured  terrible  privations  in  his  struggles  over  the  ice,  was 
picked  up  at  Etah  on  August  17  by  Peary's  auxiliary  steamer  Erik,  and  was 
brought  to  St.  John's,  Newfoundland,  whence  the  news  of  the  possible  loss  of 
Dr.  Cook  was  sent  out  by  telegraph.  Francke  returned  to  his  home  in 
Hoboken. 

Francke's  story  throws  vivid  light  on  hardships  endured  by  Dr.  Cook. 
-He  started  south,  accompanied  by  two  Eskimo  youths  with  a  sledge  and 
canvas  boat,  and  hoped  to  connect  with  the  whalers  at  North  Star  Bay  in 
Greenland,  six  hundred  miles  from  where  he  was.  On  the  way  he  met  some 
Eskimos,  to  whom  he  turned  over  his  clog  team,  as  the  ice  was  broken  and 
loose  and  he  had  to  travel  by  boat  in  the  open  water.  Weather  was  most  un- 
favorable, rain,  fog,  hail,  and  gales  prevailing,  and  as  the  matches  they  carried 
became  damp  he  and  the  Eskimo  boys  had  to  eat  raw  meat  and  sleep  huddled 
together  under  the  overturned  boat  at  night,  as  they  had  no  fire.  Francke 
became  afflicted  with  rheumatism  and  scurvy  and  could  scarcely  hobble  over 
the  floe. 

After  reaching  North  Star  Bay  he  rested  and  doctored  himself,  and  then 
started  back  for  Etah,  making  the  journey  in  a  little  over  a  month.  Both 
ways  the  party  existed  on  the  meat  of  seals,  which  the  Eskimos  killed,  and 
one  polar  bear  which  met  the  same  fate.  While  he  was  absent  from  Etah 
the  Eskimos  broke  into  his  house  and  stole  all  his  supplies.  On  getting  back 
he  was  so  ill  that  he  could  walk  only  with  two  sticks,  and  until  he  joined  the 
Erik,  had  to  exist  on  walrus  meat,  which  the  Eskimos  gave  to  their  dogs, 
as  they  refused  him  the  better  provender  which  they  possessed. 

But  Dr.  Cook's  message  to  Francke  of  March  17  stated  that  he  had 
made  good  progress  in  crossing  Ellesmereland  and  was  then  at  Cape  Hubbard, 
on  the  northwest  side  of  Ellesmereland,  sixty  miles  below  Cape  Columbia, 
Peary's  point  of  departure  from  land  on  his  journey  toward  the  pole  in  1906. 
He  allowed  three  full  months  for  his  dash  over  the  Polar  sea  and  return, 
which  is  the  maximum  time  usually  taken  for  excursions  by  sledges. 

Three  months !  Even  Dr.  Cook,  experienced  explorer  that  he  was,  hardly 
counted  on  the  torturing  delays,  the  terrible  weariness,  and  other  drawbacks 
of  getting  back  to  civilization  once  he  had  pushed  beyond  its  borders. 

It  was  a  year  and  four  months,  and  more,  before  Dr.  Cook  reached  a 
point  where  the  electric  spark  of  the  telegraph  placed  him  in  touch  with  home 
and  country. 


HOW  COOK  STARTED 


55 


From  the    Cleveland   Leader. 

"WELL,  WHOEVER  PUT  IT  THERE;  IT'S  THE  STARS  AND  STRIPES; 


56  HOW  COOK  STARTED 

In  the  meantime  Bradley,  the  backer,,  was  waiting  anxiously  at  home  for 
news  of  the  great  dash.  He  had  taken  a  long  chance  on  Cook,  as  the  popular 
phrase  has  it,  and  success  or  failure  meant  much  to  him. 

But  Bradley  was  accustomed  to  taking  long  chances.  All  his  life  he  had 
been  a  hunter  of  big  game ;  a  tempter  of  fate.  His  career  as  a  hunter  probably 
has  not  been  surpassed  by  an  American.  He  has  been  called  "the  greatest 
amateur  big  game  hunter  in  the  world."  To  scour  the  African  jungles  it 
cost  him  the  sum  of  $20,000.  In  his  caravan  were  one  hundred  and  thirty 
natives. 

Photographs  of  this  expedition  show  a  caravan,  each  man  carrying  from 
eighty  to  100  pounds  on  his  head.  The  men  were  picked  from  various 
tribes  and  were  under  the  guidance  of  native  experts  from  the  country  of 
the  Mad  Mullah.  By  playing  one  faction  against  another,  Bradley  was  able 
to  preserve  peace  and  order. 

Of  this  African  hunt  Bradley  has  written  as  follows : 

*T  have  been  a  sportsman  all  my  life,  not  a  hunter.  A  hunter  is  a  pro- 
fessional who  goes  into  the  jungle  for  ivory  and  skins  for  the  market.  The 
sportsman  hunts  for  the  trophies  only.  I  selected  Africa,  near  the  equator, 
to  hunt  and  bury  myself — becoming  practically  dead  to  the  world. 

"When  I  left  New  York  I  took  along  a  friend  who  had  shot  with  me 
in  the  Rocky  mountains,  a  man  who  was  equal  to  any  emergency.  In  making 
up  a  hunting  expedition  it  is  best  to  have  men  of  several  tribes.  I  had  a 
hundred  porters,  ten  policemen  carrying  Snider  rifles,  and  eight  gunbearers, 
with  personal  servants. 

"I  had  thirty  tents,  accommodating  five  men  each.  We  carried  10,000 
rounds  of  ammunition  with  guns,  revolvers,  knives,  and  everything  necessary 
for  a  complete  African  hunting  expedition. 

"We  hunted  from  6  in  the  morning  until  10  o'clock,  the  hour  for  luncheon 
and  rest.  From  10  to  4  we  staid  in  camp,  then  shot  again  from  4  until  6. 
The  days  were  intensely  hot  under  the  equator,  but  among  the  highlands 
the  nights  were  cool. 

"It  is  curious  that  I  never  found  a  native  who  really  knew  how  to  hunt 
game.  The  Massi  tribe  knows  nothing  of  stalking  wild  animals  which  roam 
in  thousands  around  their  villages.  Many  natives  are  killed  by  lions,  leopards, 
and  especially  by  the  rhinoceros.  I  consider  this  animal  the  most  dangerous 
of  all. 

"There  are  about  eighteen  varieties  of  horned  game  in  eastern  Africa. 
You  find  bunches  of  from  one  thousand  to  two  thousand  or  three  thousand 


HOW  COOK  STARTED  57 

head  of  game,  the  giraffe,  zebra,  eland,  gazelle,  and  hartebeest,  herding  to- 
gether. The  leopard  is  probably  more  dangerous  than  the  tiger  or  lion,  next 
to  the  rhinoceros  the  most  formidable  of  all  animals." 

Bradley's  expedition  into  Asia  was  even  more  thrilling.  He  was  able  to 
make  the  hunt  through  the  courtesy  of  the  Russian  government,  but  he  rnet 
with  considerable  trouble  with  the  secret  police.  Finally,  he  was  given  what 
was  said  to  have  been  the  strongest  credentials  ever  issued  to  a  traveler  in 
those  parts. 

"I  shot  through  the  mountains  in  June,  July,  and  August,"  he  wrote  in 
reference  to  this  expedition.  "It  was  the  mildest  part  of  the  year,  yet  the 
storms  were  terrific  and  the  cold  almost  unendurable.  Even  in  those  summer 
months  the  blizzards  raged,  and  I  had  to  sit  in  my  tent,  wrapped  in  furs  all 
day  long,  with  nothing  to  do  but  just  smoke  and  recall  the  scenes  of  my  recent 
trip  under  the  burning  skies  of  equatorial  Africa. 

"The  Atlai  mountain  sheep  is  the  highest  liver  known.  To  get  one  of 
these  animals  requires  a  lot  of  dangerous  climbing  in  a  country  so  stupendous 
that  you  could  drop  Switzerland  and  a  dozen  Yosemite  valleys  into  it  and 
miss  them. 

"Hardly  a  day  passed  that  I  did  not  see  from  sixty  to  lOO  sheep,  but 
I  could  not  get  near  enough  to  fire  a  shot.  There  were  plenty  of  ibex,  Mon- 
golian gazelles,  big  gray  wolves,  bear,  and  deer,  but  it  was  the  sheep  that 
I  was  after.     They  are  considered  the  hardest  of  game  to  stalk. 

"I  found  the  ibex,  like  the  Rocky  mountain  goat,  to  be  a  stupid  animal, 
always  looking  down  instead  of  up.  So  if  the  hunter  gets  above  them  he 
can  lie  in  wait  behind  the  rocks  until  the  animals  are  feeding  on  the  moss 
below  and  then  bring  down  the  game. 

In  talking  of  Cook's  trip  Mr.  Bradley  took  pains  to  explain  that  the 
Brooklyn  explorer's  success  in  reaching  the  North  Pole  was  not  so  much  the 
result  of  chance  as  the  opinion  of  several  polar  experts  would  indicate.  "This 
was  no  haphazard  expedition,"  he  said,  "no  intensified  Arctic  joy  ride  under- 
taken on  nerve.  We  went  about  our  preparations  for  this  thing  quietly  and 
without  brassband  accompaniment,  but  every  imaginable  contingency  had  been 
provided  for. 

"We  studied  out  the  mistakes  and  misfortunes  of  other  men  who  had 
tried  for  the  pole,  hoping  to  benefit  by  their  errors,  and  we  certainly  benefited 
by  their  examples. 

"I  am  not  going  to  tell  what  the  cost  was,  but  I'll  tell  you  this  much :  One 
single  item  of  the  equipment  was  5,000  gallons  of  gasoline  and  another  was 


58 


HOW  COOK  STARTED 


two  barrels  of  gum  drops.  An  Eskimo  will  travel  thirty  miles  for  a  gum  drop. 
His  sweet  tooth  is  the  sweetest  in  the  world. 

"Now  Cook  has  as  much  nerve  as  any  man  in  the  world,  I  guess,  but  he 
had  something  besides  nerve  to  carry  him  through.  I'm  not  trying  to  take 
any  of  the  credit,  but  I  want  to  say  that  he  had  the  right  kind  of  an  outfit 
to  take  him  through." 

That  this  last  statement  was  true  was  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Cook  when 
the  thrilling  story  of  his  exploit  came  from  his  own  lips. 


From  the 

AVashington  Star 


POLAR  POSSIBILITIES. 


CHAPTER  III. 

DR.  COOK'S  OWN  STORY„ 

When  Di*.  Cook  reached  Copenhagen  he  gave  a  picturesque  and  detailed 
account  of  his  travels.  In  fact,  he  gave  it  many  times,  such  was  the  mad 
eagerness  of  learned  men  and  laymen,  of  kings  and  men  of  humble  position, 
to  know  all  that  he  had  seen  and  to  drink  in  the  wonders  of  the  North.  Cook 
was  like  one  of  the  travelers  of  old  who,  returning  from  a  far  country  to 
their  homes,  were  beseiged  by  their  friends  and  were  wont  to  sit  for  hours 
in  the  great  hall  of  a  castle,  telling  and  retelling  the  marvels  that  had  befallen. 

Perhaps  the  best  account  Cook  gave  of  his  dash  to  the  pole  was  given  to 
W.  T.  Stead,  the  noted  London  editor  and  jJublishen  Stead  passed  some 
hours  with  Cook  and  this  was  what  he  heard : 

"Warning  my  Eskimos  that  only  unyielding  determination  and  patience 
could  take  us  through  the  fight  against  famine  and  frost  and  that  my  success 
depended  as  much  upon  their  loyalty  to  me  as  upon  myself.  I  started  for  the 
North  Pole  on  the  morning  of  February  19,  with  ten  men  and  103  dogs  draw- 
ing eleven  heavily  loaded  sledges.  Overcoming  the  reluctance  of  my  Eskimos 
to  leave  the  mainland  of  Greenland  by  argument  that  I  would  discover  new 
hunting  for  them  across  the  sound  I  marched  my  party  out  onto  the  quivering 
ice  of  Smith  Sound.  We  marched  in  the  dark,  the  daylight  of  the  Arctic 
winter's  end  being  limited  to  but  a  few  hours.  Gloom  unrelieved  even  by  the 
Aurora  surrounded  us.  Progress  was  of  necessity  slow,  the  piled  up  ice 
forming  veritable  mountains  in  our  path,  over  which  we  had  in  many  in- 
stances to  drag  dogs  and  sleighs.  The  thermometer  as  we  crossed  the  sound 
dropped  to  83  degrees  below  zero,  Fahrenheit.  On  the  heights  of  Ellesmere 
Sound  we  suffered  our  first  losses,  several  of  our  dogs  being  frozen. 

"Game  trails  helped  us  along  through  Nansen's  Sound  to  the  Land's  End. 
Musk  oxen,  Arctic  hare  and  polar  bears,  which  were  comparatively  plentiful, 
supplied  us  with  food.  It  was,  of  course,  necessary  to  eat  raw  meat  as  our 
supply  of  alcohol,  the  only  fuel  we  carried,  v/as  being  kept  for  extreme  emer- 

59 


60  DR.  COOK'S  OWN  STORY 

gency.  From  Land's  End  we  pushed  out  into  the  polar  sea  on  our  battle 
against  shifting  ice  to  reach  the  southern  point  of  Heilberg  Island. 

"Here  I  established  the  base  for  my  final  effort,  selecting  the  two  best  men 
in  my  party,  Ahweish  and  Stuckshook,  with  twenty-six  of  my  strongest  dogs. 

"Before  me  lay  460  miles  of  frozen  waste  broken  by  ice  mountains  devoid 
as  far  as  we  knew  of  game  or  anything  to  sustain  life.  On  our  sleds  were 
supplies  sufficient  to  last  us  with  rigid  economy  just  the  distance  we  had  to 
traverse  and  return  and  no  farther.  Added  to  the  gloom  of  the  Arctic  night 
was  an  overcast  sky,  making  accurate  observation  for  several  days  next  to 
impossible.  Onward  we  went,  marching  along  the  level  ice,  scrambling,  push- 
ing, pulling,  fighting  over  the  ice  hills.  The  motion  of  floating  ice  could  be 
felt  distinctly  and  served  to  frighten  my  two  Eskimos  who,  however,  after 
a  few  days'  experience  learned  to  disregard  the  possible  danger  of  a  breakup 
in  open  water. 

"Straight  on  we  went,  guided  mainly  by  compass,  pressure  of  time  and 
fear  of  exhausting  supplies,  rendering  anything  like  accurate  study  of  sur- 
rounding conditions  impossible.  On  March  30  the  atmosphere  cleared  a 
trifle,  enabling  me  to  make  my  first  accurate  observation,  which  showed  that 
we  were  at  latitude  84  degrees  o  minutes  47  seconds  and  longtitude  86  de- 
grees o  minutes  36  seconds.  Here  I  found  the  last  signs  of  solid  earth.  Be- 
fore us  was  a  moving  sea  of  ice,  devoid  of  everything  living,  every  trace  of 
anything  animal.  Neither  footprints  of  bears,  blowholes  of  seals,  nor  even 
traces  of  the  microscope  creatures  of  the  deep  could  be  detected. 

"As  we  progressed  the  monotony  of  the  ever  moving  sea  of  ice  became 
almost  unbearable.  But  cold,  merciless,  penetrating  cold,  more  even  than  the 
object  before  us,  drove  us  to  almost  frenzied  effort  to  lay  that  sea  behind  us. 
Forward  we  went,  lash  of  duty  and  merciless  drive  of  extreme  cold  spurring 
us.  So  day  by  day  we  laid  off  the  distance,  dogs  and  men  standing  the  strain 
with  marvelous  fortitude. 

"Our  first  real  glimpse  of  the  sun  we  obtained  on  the  night  of  April  7, 
when  it  swung  out  over  the  northern  ice.  Added  to  our  hardships  was  the 
glare  of  the  snow  which  rendered  us  almost  snowblind  at  times.  Sunburn 
and  frostbite  attacked  us  on  the  same  day;  dogs  were  becoming  emaciated 
from  the  long  march  and  savage ;  the  patience  of  my  Eskimos  even  was  begin- 
ning to  give  way  under  the  strain  of  that  daily  fight  against  the  merciless, 
silent,  grim  ice.  Weary  legs  scantily  rested  by  the  night's  rest  were  yet 
eagerly  spread  over  the  distance  to  be  marched  for  the  day,  the  one  impulse 


DR.  COOK'S  OWN  STORY  61 

of  my  men  apparently  being  to  conquer  and  return.  On  April  8  my  ob- 
servations showed  us  to  be  at  latitude  86  degrees  o  minutes  36  seconds, 
longitude  94  degrees  o  minutes  2  seconds.    Less  than  100  miles  in  nine  days. 


rrom  the  Washington  Star. 


"Circuitous  twists  around  ice  hills  too  high  to  be  conquered,  troublesome 
pressure  lines  and  old  ice  dangerous  to  our  dogs  and  the  men  themselves 
forced  us  to  lose  much  valuable  time. 

"Hasty  stock-taking  convinced  me  that  we  must  push  forward  and  make 
our  distance  within  fourteen  days  9r  return  with  our  goal  unconquered.    East- 


62  DR.  COOK'S  OWN  STORY 

ward  the  Ice  drift  began  to  take  us  rapidly  and  with  force  that  caused  me  the 
greatest  anxiety.  Still  200  miles  from  the  pole  and  fourteen  days  the  absolute 
limit  in  which  to  conquer  that  distance.  But  from  here  on  our  troubles  began 
to  diminish. 

"The  ice  fields  became  more  regular.  Fewer  crevices,  with  little  crushed 
or  old  ice,  made  our  progress  astonishingly  rapid.  From  the  eighty-seventh  to 
the  eighty-eighth  latitude,  much  to  our  surprise,  we  found  signs  of  land. 
Positive  evidence,  however,  was  lacking.  In  fact,  I  knew  not  whether  we 
were  marching  on  land  or  sea. 

"On  the  14th  I  took  another  observation.  Our  position  was  shown  as 
latitude  88  degj;ees  21  minutes  and  longitude  95  degrees  52  minutes.  Less 
than  100  miles  from  the  goal.  Again  the  over- weary  dogs  were  lashed  into 
action.  Once  more  our  weary  legs  took  up  the  march.  Less  than  100  miles 
to  go,  and  still  a  quick  calculation  showed  me  enough  provisions  if  we  did  it 
in  six  days. 

"Our  speed  became  a  veritable  race.  The  time  was  at  hand  for  the  last 
mustering  of  every  energy.  The  goal  was  too  near  to  be  lost  now.  Snow 
shelters  we  gave  up.  We  were  too  weary  at  the  end  of  our  marches  to  erect 
them.  Huddled  together,  our  dogs  the  same,  we  rested  when  weary  and 
marched  whenever  possible.  We  tried  our  silk  tent  and  found  it  served  to 
shelter  us  perceptibly  from  the  bitter  cold.  I  imagined  that  I  saw  signs  of 
land  every  day,  but  could  not  trust  my  senses  under  the  strain.  Onward  we 
pushed,  our  horizon  ever  monotonous,  uncrossed  now  by  cloud  or  indeed  any- 
thing. .Mirages  when  the  sun  shone  turned  the  world  topsy-turvy.  Observa- 
tions were  made  at  every  step  to  guide  us  accurately. 

"Steadily  the  ice  improved  until  we  appeared  to  be  moving  almost  on  a 
level  glacial  sea.  Slower,  despite  frantic  effort  and  ever  growing  impatience, 
our  pace  again  became.  The  terrific  speed  of  the  past  hours  I  saw  clearly 
could  not  be  maintained,  but  to  try  to  stop  my  men  appeared  to  be  useless. 
Rest  had  become  a  farce  to  us.  Even  the  dogs  appeared  impatient  at  the 
enforced  stops.  April  21  I  stopped  the  party  and  prepared  to  take  an  observa- 
tion. Rough  calculation  told  me  that  I  must  be  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  point  I  was  seeking.  I  found  that  our  latitude  was  89  degrees  57  minutes 
46  seconds.    The  North  Pole  was  within  sight ! 

"Fourteen  seconds  more  we  advanced  slowly,  almost  painfully.  The 
anxiety  was  terrible.  Again,  to  make  sure,  I  took  an  observation  by  the  sun. 
It  was  correct.     Our  latitude  was  exactly  89  degrees  58  minutes.     Forward 


DR.  COOK'S  OWN  STORY  63 

again  we  went,  taking  observations  every  few  seconds.  Finally  we  stopped. 
I  believed  I  had  reached  the  goal.  Again,  almost  tremblingly,  I  took  an  ob- 
servation. There  was  no  mistake.  A  series  of  circular  observations  around 
the  place  where  we  temporarily  halted  proved  me  to  be  at  the  point. 

"The  North  Pole  was  conquered ! 

"Conquered  and  in  the  nick  of  time,  for  our  provisions  even  at  the  most 
economical  calculation  could  not  have  lasted  us  had  the  northern  march  taken 
three  days  more.  Forty-eight  hours  we  remained  in  the  vicinity  of  the  lonely, 
cheerless  spot,  the  goal  of  the  explorers'  am.bition  for  centuries.  I  rested  the 
men  and  dogs  as  much  as  possible  in  the  dreary,  chilly  waste.  Rest  for  me 
was  impossible.  The  knowledge  of  the  final  conquest  kept  me  in  almost  con- 
stant activity.    April  23  I  ordered  the  return. 

"Our  return  journey,  although  marked  by  more  hardship  than  our  advance 
to  the  North,  was  nevertheless  made  lighter  by  the  joy  of  duty  accomplished. 
Although  we  were  forced  to  kill  several  of  our  dogs  for  food  and  finally 
allowed  those  still  living  to  run  loose  at  the  spot  where  we  crossed  the  Firth 
of  Devon  into  Jones  Sound,  we  took  our  misfortunes  more  or  less  cheer- 
fully and  at  Cape  Sparbo,  which  v/e  reached  in  September,  we  built  an  under- 
ground den  and  remained  there  until  the  sunrise  of  1909,  living  on  game 
killed  with  crude  instruments  and  waiting  patiently  until  the  new  day  could 
take  us  back  to  tell  the  world  of  our  triumph. 

"February  18  the  new  start  was  made  for  Annootok.  April  15  we  reached 
the  Greenland  shores  again.     The  rest  the  world  knows." 

Mr.  Stead  adds  by  way  of  comment : 

"In  surveying  Dr.  Cook's  story  it  will  be  well  to  remember  that  all  the 
hardships,  the  hair-breadth  escapes,  all  the  famine  and  the  imminent  prospects 
of  death  occurred  not  in  the  rush  to  the  pole  but  on  his  return  journey,  especially 
in  the  last  six  months  of  his  journeying. 

"Public  attention  has  been  riveted  upon  his  dash  to  the  pole  across  the 
frozen  Polar  Sea.  But  that  was  with  him,  as  with  Peary,  a  comparatively 
swift,  uneventful  advance,  kept  up  day  after  day  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  miles 
daily. 

"If  the  western  drift  of  ice  had  not  carried  him  out  of  reach  of  the  game 
lands  at  Herbert  Island  he  would  in  all  probability  have  been  back  twelve 
months  earlier.  The  real  hardships  of  Dr.  Cook  began  not  in  high,  but  com- 
paratively low  latitudes. 

"He  has  a  far  vivider  recollection  of  the  stirring  events  occurring  last 


64 


DR.  COOK'S  OWN  STORY 


winter  than  of  the  comparatively  monotonous  rush  to  the  pole.  He  sees  this 
polar  journey  at  the  end  of  a  long  vista  of  fifteen  months,  which  were  crowded 
with  such  stirring  episodes,  filled  with  such  wearing  exertion  that — as  he  told 
me — it  seemed  as  though  all  the  cells  of  his  body  and  brain  were  burned  out 
and  replaced  in  the  fire  of  that  strenuous  life. 


^/<'|<'     \B6Lff//ts  Bugt 


MAP  DRAWN  AND  SIGNED  BY  DR.  COOK,  SHO\\'TN'G  HIS  ROUTE  TO  AND  FROM  THE 
NORTH  POLE.    HIS  AUTOGRAPH  APPEARS  IN  THE  UPPER  LEFT  CORNER. 


DR.  COOK'S  OWN  STORY  ^5 

"One  thing  stands  out  conspicuous — that  this  American  citizen  never  dis- 
credited his  country  by  any  high  falutin'  vulgarity  or  ungenerous  cavilHng 
against  any  brother  explorer. 

He  impressed  every  one,  from  the  King  of  Denmark  down,  as  a  simple- 
minded,  honest  man,  not  a  bit  of  a  bounder.  I  believe  him  to  be  absolutely 
unprovided  by  nature  with  the  necessary  outfit  of  a  fakir. 

"Cook  himself  is  certain  that  he  got  to  the  pole.  He  has  a  certainty  that 
is  as  calm,  as  immutable,  as  the  great  pyramids." 

A  DIPLOMAT'S  TRIBUTE  TO  DR.  COOK. 

Dr.  Maurice  Francis  Egan,  American  Minister  to  Denmark,  in  a  magazine 
article  written  shortly  after  Dr.  Cook's  return  to  the  United  States,  tells  in  a 
straightforward  way  why  he  believes  implicitly  in  Dr.  Cook,  and  narrates 
interestingly  some  of  his  experiences  with  Dr.  Cook  in  Copenhagen  immediately 
following  the  explorer's  return  from  the  North  Pole. 

Dr.  Egan  had  been  prepared  for  the  complete  acceptance  of  Dr.  Cook's 
story,  which  he  now  expresses,  by  the  attitude  of  the  Danes  themselves,  who 
relied  upon  the  testimony  of  those'  who  vouched  for  the  intrepid  traveler  as 
much  as  upon  his  own,  in  view  of  their  especial  qualification  for  judging  the 
veracity  of  anything  that  comes  out  of  the  frozen  North.  In  the  course  of  his 
introduction,  leading  up  to  the  receipt  in  Copenhagen  of  the  two  cablegrams 
announcing  Dr.  Cook's  discovery.  Dr.  Egan  says: 

"The  people  of  Scandinavia  are  natural  explorers.  One  cannot  teach  an 
Arab  anything  about  the  desert,  and  it  would  be  a  very  audacious  man  who  from 
southern  regions  would  attempt  to  give  lessons  to  a  Dane  or  a  Norwegian  on 
the  lands  that  lie  above  him  or  seas  that  lie  beyond  him.  These  people  know 
by  the  instinct  of  long  heredity,  by  constant  study  of  the  maps  of  Greenland 
and  of  the  unknown  lands  of  the  waters  that  are  lost  in  mist,  the  ways  of  the 
frozen  North.  They  know  the  ins  and  outs  of  Arctic  warfare  as  we  know  the 
character  of  the  various  States  in  our  Union.  To  a  Dane,  Greenland,  Iceland 
and  the  land  which  Cook  has  seen  are  subjects  of  perpetual  interest.  They  are 
always  looking  toward  the  North,  and  expecting  news  from  the  mysterious 
North,  and  the  sojourner  among  these  people  so  learns  to  think  and  talk  of 
the  North  and  to  be  intensely  interested  in  it.    *   *    * 

"Now  the  Danish  officials  in  Greenland  are  cautious  folk.  They  are  not 
easily  moved  to  praise  or  blame.  And  on  matters  concerning  the  north  and 
the  pole  they  are  scrupulously  conservative.    No  emotion,  no  sensation  moves 


66  DR.  COOK'S  OJVN  STORY 

them.  They  do  not  see  the  pole  through  the  mirage  of  the  south.  When  I 
noticed  the  signature  to  their  telegrams  I  felt  that  they  meant  much. 

"Here  was  a  plain  statement  of  a  fact  as  stupendous  as  the  first  words 
Columbus  uttered,  to  express  the  truth  that  he  had  added  a  new  world  to  Leon 
and  Castile.  The  news  soon  spread  through  Copenhagen,  which  had  heard 
great  news  of  Peary  and  Nansen  before.  The  town  was  stirred  as  if  Holger 
Dansker  had  risen  from  beneath  the  vaults  of  Kronborg  Castle — the  castle  of 
Elsinore — and  walked  into  the  streets.  Nobody  questioned  the  truth  of  the 
story,  for  Knud  Rasmussen's  name  is  a  talisman,  and  the  officers  in  Greenland 
do  not  take  travelers'  tales  seriously  unless  the  travelers  have  serious  claims. 

"Later  came  testimony  from  the  great  Norwegian  explorer  Amundsen  and 
from  Captain  Otto  Sverdrup ;  and  then  the  time  of  waiting.  Even  the  boys  in 
the  street  were  waiting  for  Cook.  A  new  Danish  joke  began  to  circulate.  *Do 
you  believe  that  the  cuckoo  can  prophesy?'  *Yes;  once  in  the  spring,  I  asked 
who  should  be  first  at  the  North  Pole  and  it  said,  "Cook,  Cook,  Cook."  ' 

CHILDREN  TOOK  OFF  CAPS. 

"The  other  day  Dr.  Cook  drove  with  me  through  the  streets  of  Copen- 
hagen and  along  the  Strandvej  to  Charlottenlund,  one  of  the  summer  palaces 
of  the  King;  even  the  little  children  waved  their  hands  and  took  off  their  caps. 
If  he  had  been  an  explorer  crowned  with  the  laurels  won  by  the  discovery  of 
the  South  Pole,  he  would  not  have  been  so  interesting  to  these  little  people,  but 
he  came  from  a  country  which  they  had  heard  about  from  the  moment  that  they 
could  hear  at  all — a  country  which  is  very  near  to  them.   *   *   * 

'^Coming,  ardently  expected,  was  a  hero  whom  they  could  understand,  and 
he  needed  no  explanation.  That  he  was  approved  of  by  Knud  Rasmussen, 
half  an  Eskimo  himself,  who  knows  all  the  ways  of  the  Eskimo,  to  whom  the 
snow  and  ice  are  as  the  forest  bark  and  leaves  are  to  our  Indians,  was  enough. 

"To  me,  knowing  Dr.  Cook  through  his  articles  in  the  Century  and  Har- 
per's, and  through  his  entrancing  'First  Antarctic  Night,'  it  was  a  great  pleasure 
to  think  of  his  coming,  and  to  believe  that  he  had  added  a  new  glory  to  Old 
Glory." 

"How  Cook  Came  and  Went"  is  the  title  of  Dr.  Egan's  articles,  and  he 
deals  with  details  much  more  fully  than  have  the  cables.  Coming  down  to  the 
morning  of  Dr.  Cook's  arrival  in  Copenhagen,  he  continues : 

"When  I  reached  the  environs  of  the  harbor  my  coachmen  would  have 
found  it  impossible  to  get  near  the  open  space  reserved  for  members  of  the 


COOK'S  SLED  PACKED  EEADY  FOK  THE  DASH  TO  THE  POLE. 


PBAHT'S  WINTER  QUARTERS— THE  LOOKOUT  WATCHING  THE  RETURN  OF 

THE  SLEDGE  PARTY. 


TEAINING  ESKIMO  DOGS  FOR  THE  PEABY  EXPEDITION. 


DR.  COOK'S  OWN  STORY  69 

Royal  Geographical  Society  if  it  had  not  been  for  their  red,  white  and  blue 
cockades,  for  which  a  passage  was  instantly  made.  The  Crown  Prince  was  in 
position  and  tremendously  interested.  Near  him  was  Commodore  Hovgaard, 
commander  of  the  King's  yacht,  to  whom  the  success  of  the  ceremonies  attend- 
ing the  reception  of  Dr.  Cook  is  largely  due. 

"It  was  a  beautiful  morning;  the  Sound  never  looked  bluer  or  seemed  to 
be  more  brilliantly  flecked  with  silver  spots.  The  crowd  increased  and  I  began 
to  know  what  pain  a  President  had  to  suffer  under  the  process  of  congratula- 
tory hand-shaking.  The  Crown  Prince  had  an  engagement  to  preside  at  the 
laying  of  the  cornerstone  of  a  students'  building  at  ten  o'clock.  He  is  most 
punctual.  When  he  goes  to  a  ceremonious  convention  himself  he  is  always 
there  at  the  exact  time.  When  his  father,  the  King,  goes  he  is  invariably  there 
five  minutes  before  the  time.  We  still  waited.  The  Crown  Prince  concluded 
that  the  students  would  not  be  impatient,  because  they  had  the  habit  of  taking 
'the  academical  quarter  of  an  hour.'  At  last  the  Hans  Egede  appeared.  The 
expectancy  of  the  great  crowd  grew  intense  and  expressed  itself  in  silence. 

"The  Crown  Prince  and  the  representatives  of  the  Royal  Greographical 
Society  and  myself  entered  the  launch.  In  a  short  time  we  were  on  the  deck 
of  the  Hans  Egede. 

PRINCE  GREETS  HIM. 

"Doctor  Cook,  not  by  any  means  then  the  glittering  butterfly  of  fashion 
into  which  a  tailor  later  in  the  morning  transformed  him,  stood  at  the  head  of 
the  ladder.  Prince  Christian  greeted  him  first ;  then  I  came.  He  smiled : — 'You 
are  the  first  American  I  have  shaken  hands  with  for  over  two  years,'  he  said. 
Afterward  he  explained,  with  that  careful  regard  for  exact  truth  which  is  his 
characteristic,  that  he  had  in  the  meantime  shaken  hands  with  Mr.  Whitney, 
but  that  he  looked  so  much  like  an  Eskimo  that,  for  the  moment,  Doctor  Cook 
had  forgotten  his  nationality. 

"The  explorer  in  his  rough  and  weatherbeaten  clothes,  resembled  somewhat 
the  familiar  figure  of  Robinson  Crusoe.  Prince  Valdemar,  the  Premier  Admiral 
of  the  Danish  navy  stood  near  him  and  most  enthusiastically  congratulated  the 
American  people,  through  me,  on  this  new  glory  to  the  American  flag.  The 
thing  after  we  landed  was  to  know  how  to  get  to  our  carriages. 

"The  Crown  Prince,  through  the  cleverness  of  his  Chamberlain,  got  safely 
into  his  automobile,  but  Dr.  Cook  and  Mr,  W,  T.  Stead,  whom  I  had  invited 
to  share  my  carriage,  were  with  myself  pinned  tight  in  the  enthusiastic,  happy 
and  energetic  crowd.    Dr.  Cook  had  his  sea  legs  on,  which  in  a  crowd  are  not 


70  DR.  COOK'S  OWN  STORY_. 

nearly  so  good  as  land  legs;  he  had  been  so  used  to  the  swaying  deck  that  the 
solid  soil  was  new  to  him.  Mr.  Stead  took  him  in  his  arms,  held  him  tight  and 
began  to  interview  him  at  once. 

"It  took  at  least  ten  minutes  to  be  propelled  through  a  sea  of  applauding 
and  hand  shaking  people.  I  owe  it  entirely  to  the  honesty  of  a  Copenhagen 
tailor  that  my  coat  tails  were  not  torn  off  and  that  I  was  Hfted  up  the  steps  of 
the  home  of  the  Geographical  Society  with  no  loss  except  one  button.  I  am 
afraid  that  if  the  aegis  of  the  United  States  had  not  been  upon  me,  which  was 
both  a  halo  and  a  nimbus  on  this  day,  at  least  one  of  my  ribs  would  have  been 
broken.  The  adventure  recalled  a  Georgetown  football  game  on  Thanksgiving 
Day. 

"Dr.  Cook  was  forced  to  make  a  little  speech,  and  then,  led  by  a  private  way, 
he  finally  reached  his  hotel.  There  was  to  be  no  rest  for  him,  however.  Know- 
ing this,  I  arranged  that  he  should  come  to  the  Legation  to  lunch  in  quietness. 

THE  DANISH  FAREWELL. 

"When  he  left  Copenhagen  on  the  afternoon  of  the  tenth,  on  his  way  to 
meet  the  Scandinavian- American  liner  Oscar  II,"  Dr.  Egan  writes,  "he  was  the 
center  of  admiring  throngs.  Among  those  last  to  say  farewell  was  Count 
Christian  Holstein-Ledreborg,  the  son  of  the  Prime  Minister,  sent  by  his  father 
to  see  him  off. 

"Flowers  were  showered  upon  him.  Old  men  and  women  asked  to  clasp 
his  hand,  and  at  that  moment  he  was  the  hero  of  this  nation  of  Vikings.  His 
speeches  on  receiving  the  very  high  honor  of  the  Royal  Danish  Geographical 
Society's  medal  and  on  being  made  an  honorary  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in  the 
University  of  Copenhagen  were  brief,  direct  and  simple.  This  university  knows 
perfectly  well  how  to  blend  in  its  functions  solemnity,  simplicity  and  brevity. 
None  of  these  functions  ever  occurs  without  music  forming  part  of  it,  and  a 
great  part,  and  the  cantata  for  an  orchestra  of  stringed  instruments  which  pre- 
ceded the  short  speeches  was  an  admirable  preparation  for  them. 

"On  Friday,  when  he  left,  he  was  loaded  with  honors  and  followed  by 
the  acclamations  of  the  people.  He  stood  for  a  few  moments  on  the  upper  deck 
of  the  Melchior.  Admiral  de  Richelieu  had  toasted  him,  the  center  of  a  crowd 
in  the  cabin ;  but  now  he  stood  alone,  and  the  cheers  that  greeted  him  were  as 
much  a  tribute  to  his  personal  character  as  to  his  epoch  making  exploit.  Kindly, 
simple,  firm  and  sincere,  he  had  in  a  short  time  made  the  sons  of  the  Vikings 
love  him." 


CHAPTER   IV. 
THE  EXPLORER'S  RETURN  TO  CIVILIZATION. 

"I  planted  the  stars  and  stripes  in  the  ice  field,  and  my  heart  grew 
warm  when  I  saw  it  wave  in  the  wind." 

These  were  Dr.  Cook's  words  when,  on  September  4,  he  arrived  at  Copen- 
hagen, Denmark,  to  receive  the  greeting  of  a  vast  crowd  and  to  be  congratu- 
lated by  the  king  of  that  nation.  \ 

"Let  the  skeptics  who  disbelieve  my  story  go  to  the  north  pole.  There 
they  will  find  a  small  brass  tube  which  I  buried  under  the  flag." 

This  was  what  he  said  when  he  learned  that  the  truth  of  his  statements 
had  been  questioned.  A  storm  of  discussion,  of  sneers,  and  of  disbelief  was 
raging  in  every  nation.  Scientists  were  wagging  their  heads.  People  were 
divided  into  camps.  And  in  the  Danish  capital  the  sun-browned  hero  of  the 
north  calmly  received  callers  and  told  them  further  incidents  of  his  trip. 

"On  April  21,"  he  said,  "we  looked  for  the  sun.  As  soon  as  we  got  it 
I  made  several  observations.  Great  joy  came  over  us.  We  were  only  sixteen 
miles  from  the  desired  spot.  I  said  to  myself,  'Bully  for  Frederick.'  Then  we 
went  on, 

"The  last  stretch  was  the  easiest  I  ever  made  in  my  life,  although  I  had 
still  to  make  two  observations  and  the  ice  was  broken.  But  my  spirits  were 
high  and  I  shouted  like  a  boy.  The  Eskimos  looked  at  one  another  surprised 
at  my  gaiety.    They  did  not  share  my  joy. 

"I  felt  that  I  ought  to  be  there.     I  made  my  last  observation  and  found 
that  I  was  standing  on  the  pole. 

"There  is  nothing  to  see  there  but  ice;  no  water,  only  ice.  There  were 
more  holes  there  than  at  the  eighty-seventh  degree,  which  shows  there  is  more 
movement  and  drift  there;  but  this  and  other  observations  I  made  afterwards, 
when  I  got  more  settled.  I  stopped  two  days  at  the  pole,  and  I  assure  you, 
it  wasn't  easy  to  say  good-by  to  the  spot. 

ri 


72  THE  EXPLORER'S  RETURN 

LAUGHS  AT  THE  SCOFFERS. 

"As  I  was  sitting  at  the  pole  I  could  not  help  smiling  at  the  people  who 
on  my  return  would  call  the  whole  expedition  a  humbug.  I  was  sure  the 
people  would  say  that  I  had  bought  my  two  witnesses  and  that  my  notebook 
with  my  daily  observations  had  been  manufactured  on  board  this  ship. 

"The  only  thing  lean  put  up  against  this  is  what  the  York  Eskimos  have 
told  Knud  Rasmussen,  That  tube  which  I  buried. under  the  flag  contains  a 
short  statement  about  my  trip.  I  couldn't  leave  my  visiting  card,  because 
I  didn't  happen  to  have  one  with  me. 

"Perhaps  I  should  have  staid  there  longer  had  it  not  begun  to  freeze  us 
in  our  idleness.  The  Eskimos  were  uneasy  and  the  dogs  howled  fearfully. 
On  April  23,  therefore,  I  again  turned  my  nose  southward,  which  was  much 
easier,  as  you  cannot  turn  your  nose  in  any  other  direction  when  you  stand 
at  the  pole." 

Describing  the  return  journey.  Dr.  Cook  said : 

^'Fortune  now  smiled.  We  made  twenty  miles  a  day  until  we  reached 
the  ominous  eighty-seventh  degree.  Then  I  felt  the  ice  moving  eastward, 
carrying  us  with  it.  A  terrible  fog  swept  around  us  and  kept  us  there  for 
three  weeks.  We  got  no  farther  than  the  eighty-fourth  degree.  Then  began 
a  heavy  walk  towards  Heibergsland  and  another  three  weeks  of  fgg.  When 
that  cleared  I  saw  we  had  drifted  southwest  of  Ringnesland,  where  we  found 
open  water  and  tower  high  screw  ice,  which  stopped  our  way  eastward. 

"We  now  began  to  sufifer  hunger.  Our  provisions  were  becoming  ex- 
hausted and  we  were  unable  to  find  depots.  We  entered  Ringnesland  and  on 
June  20  found  the  first  animals  on  our  return — bear  and  seal.    We  shot  a  bear. 

"And  now  our  goal  was  the  whalers  at  Lancaster  Sound.  We  followed 
the  drift  ice  to  the  south.  Eighty  miles  a  day,  but  were  stopped  by  pack  ice 
in  Wellington  Channel,  which  was  impassable  either  by  boat  or  sledge.  Here 
was  lots  of  game,  but  we  did  not  dare  shoot  it.  We  had  taken  only  a  hundred 
bullets  to  the  pole  and  now  only  fifteen  were  left.  We  went  into  Jones  Sound 
after  walrus  and  found  open  calm  water.  We  met  polar  wolves,  with  which 
some  of  our  dogs  made  friends  and  ran  away. 

"Now  we  spent  day  and  night  in  an  open  boat  ten  miles  from  shore. 
This  lasted  for  two  months,  while  storms  often  raged  over  our  head.  At 
last  we  got  ashore  again,  but  we  had  no  fuel  and  were  obliged  to  eat  birds 
raw.     One  day  we  found  fuel,  and  what  a  feast  we  had.     But  we  suffered 


THE  EXPLORER'S  RETURN  73 

much  hunger  during  this  period.  One  night  a  bear  came  and  stole  our  food. 
We  had  many  fights  with  musk  oxen,  which  attacked  us.  Oyr  best  weapon 
against  them  was  the  lasso. 

"Two  or  three  days  we  had  nothing  to  eat.  Then,  in  a  crevice  of  the 
ice,  we  caught  sight  of  several  walruses.  I  had  only  a  few  cartridges  left. 
I  crept  along  the  ice  on  my  stomach,  approaching  the  animals  slowly,  so  as 
not  to  scare  them.  I  expended  all  my  cartridges  and  as  a  result  secured  two 
of  the  walruses.     Our  lives  were  saved." 

It  was  after  describing  these  hardships  that  the  haggard  traveler,  his  hair 
matted  and  long  and  his  eyes  hollow  with  suffering,  cried,  in  a  burst  of  joy 
at  beholding  the  faces  of  white  men  once  more : 

"I  am  the  happiest  man  alive.  Tell  the  whole  world  I  thank  God  I  am 
back." 

"Rumors  about  our  insufificient  equipment  were  all  false,"  said  he.  "No 
expense  had  been  spared  to  provide  an  expedition  for  every  contingency.  To 
show  you  we  prepared  for  every  emergency,  let  me  explain  but  one  phase  of 
our  equipment.  When  the  yacht  was  loaded  all  were  promised  a  delightful 
cruise,  with  stijdy  and  recreation. 

"When  we  arrived  at  Smith's  Sound,  the  limits  of  navigation  and  the 
limits  of  man's  habitation,  it  was  found  that  many  of  the  best  famihes  had 
gathered  at  Anvolok  for  the  winter  bear  hunt.  This  summer  chase  had  been 
very  successful.  Great  catches  of  meat  had  been  gathered;  more  than  one 
hundred  dogs  voiced  the  Eskimo  prosperity.  With  abundant  supplies  taken 
aboard  there,  we  had  the  nucleus  for  a  polar  expedition. 

"Tins  were  secured  and  everything  was  prepared  against  humidity.  Boxes, 
which  later  made  excellent  building  material,  were  taken  along.  With  these 
boxes  we  built  a  house  and  at  the  end  of  the  first  day  we  slept  under  our 
own  roof  comfortably,  sheltered  from  the  storm. 

"Now  I  cannot  give  you  but  a  general  outline  of  our  journey.  We  had 
many  days  and  weeks  of  suffering.  The  outcome  of  the  venture  seems  to 
be  sufficient  reward  for  the  expended  energy.  The  art  of  Arctic  sledging 
has  been  advanced;  a  new  highway  with  an  interesting  strip  of  animated 
nature  has  been  examined.  Big  game  haunts  have  been  located  which  will 
extend  the  Eskimo  horizon  and  delight  the  sportsman. 

"The  boreal  center  has  been  pierced,  new  land  has  been  discovered,  and 
if  we  allow  a  horizon  about  fifteen  miles  to  each  side  of  our  course  a  triangle 
of  about  thirty  thousand  square  miles  has  been  cut  out  of  the  Arctic  blank. 


74  THE  EXPLORER'S  RETURN 

In  relating  further  incidents  of  his  expedition,  when  there  remained  but 
two  faithful  Eskimos  as  an  escort  as  he  plunged  over  the  vast  extent  of  polar 
seas,  Dr.  Cook  gave  another  version  of  the  final  dash.  On  approaching  the 
pole,  he  said,  the  icy  plain  took  on  animated  motion,  as  if  rotating  on  an 
invisible  pivot. 

"A  great  fissure  then  opened  up  behind,"  he  added,  "and  it  seemed  as 
if  we  were  isolated  from  the  world.  My  two  Eskimos  threw  themselves 
at  my  feet  and,  bursting  into  tears,  refused  to  continue  either  one  way  or 
another,  so  paralyzed  with  fear  were  they.  Nevertheless,  I  calmed  them 
and  we  resumed  our  journey. 

"You  ask  my  impression  on  reaching  the  pole.  Let  me  confess  I  was  dis- 
appointed. Man  is  a  child,  dreaming  of  prodigies.  I  had  reached  the  pole 
and  now  at  a  moment  when  I  should  have  been  thrilled  with  pride  and  joy, 
I  was  invaded  with  a  sudden  fear  of  the  dangers  and  sufferings  of  the  return." 

The  most  northerly  land  he  saw  was  between  84  and  86  degrees.  There 
^were  two  bodies  of  land  at  this  point  east  of  his  route.  One  was  about  1,000 
feet  high.  He  could  not  say  whether  they  were  islands  or  not,  as  he  was  not 
equipped  to  make  a  detour  to  explore  them.  , 

Dr.  Cook  said  he  was  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  no  white  man  could 
reach  the  pole  unless  he  was  able  to  wear  the  same  clothes,  eat  the  same  food 
and  live  in  all  ways  just  as  do  the  Eskimos.  He  said  he  owed  his  success' 
largely  to  choice  of  a  route  where  game  was  more  plentiful  on  the  routes 
formerly  attempted,  and  to  the  fact  that  he  traveled  in  winter. 

Although  the  lowest  temperature  experienced  was  83  degrees  below  zero, 
the  explorer  said  he  did  not  feel  the  cold  nearly  so  much  then  as  in  higher 
temperatures  when  the  wind  was  blowing. 

For  a  long  time  the  explorer  lived  on  musk  oxen ;  he  wore  the  fur  of  these 
animals,  ate  their  meat  and  used  their  fat  to  burn  in  lamps. 

By  way  of  contrast  with  Dr.  Cook's  description  of  polar  scenes  is  given 
this  word  picture  by  one  of  his  predecessors : 

"The  air  was  warm,  almost  as  a  summer's  night  at  home,  and  yet  there 
were  the  icebergs  and  the  bleak  mountains,  with  which  the  fancy,  in  this 
land  of  green  hills  and  waving  forests,  can  associate  nothing  but  cold  re- 
pulsiveness.  The  sky  was  bright  and  soft,  and  strangely  inspiring  as  the 
skies  of  Italy.  The  bergs  had  wholly  lost  their  chilly  aspect,  and  glittering 
in  the  blaze  of  the  brilliant  heavens,  seemed  in  the  distance  like  masses  of 
burnished  metal  or  solid  flame.     Nearer  at  hand,  they  were  huge  blocks  of 


THE  EXPLORER'S  RETURN  75 

Parian  marble,  inlaid  with  mammoth  gems  of  pearl  and  opal.  One  in  par- 
ticular exhibited  the  perfection  of  the  grand.  Its  form  was  not  unlike  that 
of  the  Colosseum,  and  it  lay  so  far  away  that  half  its  height  was  buried 
beneath  the  line  of  the  blood-red  waters.  The  sun,  slowly  rolling  along  the 
horizon,  passed  behind  it,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  old  Roman  ruin  had  suddenly 
taken  fire  and  were  in  flames. 

For  further  comparison,  take  this  passage,  from  Capt.  McClure's  account 
of  his  discovery  of  the  northwest  passage  in  1850: 

"I  cannot  describe  my  feelings.  Can  it  be  possible  that  this  water  com- 
municates with  Barrow's  Strait,  and  shah  prove  to  be  the  long-sought  north- 
west passage  ?  Can  it  be  that  so  humble  a  creature  as  I  am  will  be  permitted 
to  perform  what  has  baffled  the  talented  and  wise  for  hundreds  of  years? 
But  all  praise  be  ascribed  unto  Him  who  hath  conducted  us  so  far  in  safety. 
His  ways  are  not  our  ways:  nor  the  means  that  He  uses  to  accomplish  His 
ends  within  our  comprehension.  The  wisdom  of  the  world  is  foolishness 
with  Him." 


76 


THE  EXPLORER'S  RETURN 


CHAPTER    V. 

A  NATION'S  HOMAGE  TO  A  HERO. 

Such  were  Dr.  Cook's  first  scattering  accounts  of  his  journey.  Before 
he  could  calmly  give  forth  his  proofs  and  furnish  the  facts  scientists  were 
awaiting  he  was  caught  in  the  whirl  of  a  reception  such  as  rarely  falls  to  a 
man's  lot. 

The  explorer  arrived  in  Copenhagen  on  the  Hans  Egede  at  lo  o'clock 
in  the  morning  of  September  4.  As  soon  as  the  steamer  entered  the  harbor 
it  was  boarded  by  Crown  Prince  Christian,  heir  to  the  throne  of  Denmark, 
by  Maurice  Francis  Egan,  the  American  minister  to  Denmark,  by  the  Danish 
minister  of  commerce  and  by  committees  representing  various  public  bodies. 
These  extended  to  Dr.  Cook  a  formal  welcome  in  the  name  of  the  Danish 
nation  and  the  city  of  Copenhagen. 

It  was  a  weather  beaten  and  shabby  but  elated  hero  who  was  welcomed, 
and  with  the  same  honors  that  are  customarily  used  in  the  greeting  of  royal 
families. 

Dr.  Cook  stood  on  the  bridge  of  the  Hans  Egede  wearing  a  shabby  brown 
suit  that  had  been  loaned  to  him  by  a  seaman.  On  his  head  was  a  disreputable 
old  cap,  and  his  feet  were  clad  in  leather  moccasins.  His  blond  hair  was 
long  and  shaggy  and  his  mustache  rough  and  straggling.  His  complexion 
was  sallow,  but  his  face  was  full.  He  was  a  strange  figure  for  the  center 
of  such  a  brilliant  scene  as  greeted  his  return  to  civilization. 

A  bright  sun  lit  up  the  blue  waters  of  Copenhagen  harbor.  Ships  and 
yachts  on  every  side  were  gay  with  flags  and  the  shore  and  piers  were  crowded 
with  people. 

Two  big  American  flags  flanked  the  landing  stage  where  Crown  Prince 
Christian  and  other  notable  personages  awaited  for  one  hour  the  appearance 
of  the  Hans  Egede.  Hundreds  of  small  boats  containing  sightseers  swarmed 
over  the  waters  of  the  harbor.  Many  of  these  boats  were  filled  with  American 
tourists  waving  the  stars  and  stripes. 

When  the  Hans  Egede  was  a  mile  away,  slowly  coming  in  with  an  en- 

77 


78  A  NATION'S  HOMAGE 

thusiastic  following  of  small  craft  in  her  wake,  Crown  Prince  Christian  and 
the  members  of  his  staff  embarked  on  a  launch  which  took  them  to  the  side  of 
the  steamer  bearing  the  explorer. 

The  moment  the  anchor  was  dropped  the  crown  prince  sprang  up  the 
gangway,  Dr.  Cook,  at  the  same  time,  appeared  at  the  head  of  the  ladder 
and  awaited  the  prince.  >^ 

The  people  in  the  surrounding  boats,  who  had  expected  from  the  news- 
paper pictures  to  see  a  bearded  man,  recognized  the  explorer  for  the  first 
time  and  sent  up  a  loud  cheer. 

Prince  Christian,  who  is  a  tall  and  handsome  young  man,  was  dressed  in 
a  silk  hat  and  frock  coat.  He  grasped  the  hand  of  Dr.  Cook  and  congratu- 
lated him. 

The  ceremonies  on  shipboard  concluded,  the  entire  party,  including  the 
explorer,  entered  the  launch  and  started  toward  the  city. 

When  the  launch  approached  the  pier  with  Prince  Christian  and  Dr.  Cook 
side  by  side,  a  tremendous  roar  of  cheers  burst  out  from  the  people  on  shore 
and  from  the  assemblage  of  small  craft,  including  yachts,  motor  boats,  land- 
ing  boats  from  the  Russian  warship  in  the  harbor  and  racing  'shells,  clustered 
thick  about  the  pier. 

Dr.  Cook  stepped  ashore  and  in  an  instant  the  police  were  powerless  as 
children  to  make  a  way  for  the  party.  Dr.  Cook  and  those  about  him  were 
engulfed  and  swept  along  by  a  clamorous  crowd.  Minister  Egan  and  the 
Danish  officials  literally  clung  to  Dr.  Cook.  Together  the  party  fought  its 
way  desperately  to  a  point  near  the  Meteorological  institute.  Dr.  Cook  was 
bruised  and  capless  and  part  of  his  sleeve  was  torn  off. 

'T  used  to  be  a  football  player,  but  this  is  the  worst  I  ever  saw,"  he  panted. 

Dr.  Cook  and  Mr.  Egan  finally  succeeded  in  reaching  a  balcony  of  the 
institute.  The  people  crowding  the  streets  and  the  adjoining  park  yelled  fran- 
tically when  they  appeared.  Mr.  Egan  waved  his  hand  toward  Dr.  Cook  as 
an  introduction,  whereupon  the  explorer  made  a  brief  address  in  English. 

"My  friends,"  he  said,  'T  have  had  too  hard  a  time  getting  here  to  make 
a  speech.  I  can  only  say  that  I  consider  it  an  honor  to  be  able  to  put  my  foot 
first  on  Danish  soil." 

After  more  cheering  Commodore  Hovgaard  took  Dr.  Cook  in  a  carriage 
and  drove  with  him  through  the  crowded  streets  to  the  Phoenix  hotel,  where 
he  became  the  guest  of  the  Geographical  Society. 

The  hallways  of  the  hotel  were  decorated  with  American  flags  and  masses 


A  NATION'S  HOMAGE  79 

of  flowers.  Johan  Hansen,  the  minister  of  commerce,  and  a  committee  of  the 
Geographical  Society  gave  a  reception  to  Dr.  Cook  at  the  hotel.  The  minister 
made  a  speech  of  welcome,  in  which  he  said : 

"Before  retiring  to  your  much-needed  rest,  Dr.  Cook,  I  hope  you  will  give 
us  an  opportunity  of  bidding  you  welcome  to  Denmark.  I  thank  you  on 
behalf  of  my  countrymen  for  the  noble  deeds  which  you  so  successfully  have 
performed." 

The  minister  then  invited  Dr.  Cook,  on  behalf  of  the  government,  the 
municipality  and  the  Geographical  Society,  "as  our  honored  guest,"  to  a 
banquet  tonight  at  the  town  hall. 

Dr.  Cook  thanked  the  minister  "for  the  very  kind  reception  you  already 
have  granted  in  Denmark,  and  with  which  I  feel  most  delighted."    ' 

Minister  Hansen,  over  a  bottle  of  champagne,  then  led  in  "Three  cheers 
and  a  long  life  for  Dr.  Cook." 

The  members  of  the  reception  committee  withdrew  and  were  succeeded 
by  a  numerous  delegation  of  tailors,  bootmakers  and  barbers.  The  explorer 
placed  himself  in  their  hands,  and  several  tradesmen  were  at  work  on  him 
at  the  same  time. 

At  the  end  of  an  hour  Dr.  Cook  emerged  with  his  hair  neatly  trimmed, 
his  mustache  cropped  close  and  in  a  new  suit,  hat  and  boots.  He  then  went 
to  the  American  legation  and  had  luncheon  with  Minister  Egan. 

In  the  evening  a  banquet  was  held  in  the  magnificent  municipal  building. 
Four  hundred  persons,  many  of  them  women,  attended,  while  thousands  con- 
gregated in  the  streets  in  a  drenching  rainstorm  to  catch  sight  of  the  explorer 
when  he  entered. 

There  was  a  preliminary  reception  in  the  lofty  and  spacious  entrance  hall. 
The  spectacle  with  so  many  of  the  men  wearing  orders  must  have  impressed 
the  explorer  by  contrast  with  his  recent  experience.  The  company  marched 
upstairs  to  the  air  of  the  "Star  Spangled  Banner."  After  all  had  been  seated 
the  minister  of  commerce,  Johan  Hansen,  escorted  Dr.  Cook  to  the  chair  of 
honor  amid  a  demonstration  which  caused  fcim  to  color  deeply. 

Minister  Egan  sat  at  Dr.  Cook's  right,  with  the  Mayor  of  Copenhagen 
and  Miss  Egan  beyond.  Mrs.  Gamel,  a  wealthy  Copenhagen  woman,  who 
has  contributed  extensively  to  arctic  exploration  and  has  been  closely  identi- 
fied with  it,  was  at  the  chairman's  left.  The  menu  presented  a  lithograph  of 
the  crown  prince  greeting  Dr.  Cook  and  a  map  of  the  arctic  circle,  giving  Dr. 
Cook's  route  and  a  facsimile  of  his  autograph,  with  the  date. 


80  A  NATION'S  HOMAGE 

The  speeches  teemed  with  compliments  to  Dr.  Cook.  The  Mayor  of  Co- 
penhagen first  rendered  tribute.  Minister  Egan  briefly  proposed  a  toast  to 
the  King  of  Denmark,  and  the  corporation  president,  in  proposing  a  toast 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  spoke  of  the  pride  that  must  be  felt 
by  the  nation  which  could  boast  that  it  was  her  son  who  first  planted  the  flag 
where  no  human  being  had  ever  before  set  foot. 

The  minister  of  commerce,  in  proposing  the  health  of  Dr.  Cook,  paid  a 
warm  tribute  to  "his  noble  deed."  He  thanked  him  for  spending  a  little  time 
in  Denmark  and  said  that  the  privations  of  the  explorer  were  appreciated 
most  by  the  men  of  Denmark  whose  names  are  written  with  honor  on  the 
ice  rocks  of  Denmark's  northern  colony. 

When  the  nation  was  first  thrilled  by  the  news  of  Cook's  exploit  he  said 
he  must  confess  there  was  some  skepticism,  but  afterward  it  was  confirmed, 
and  he  hoped  that  Dr.  Cook  would  try  for  the  south  pole  with  the  s'ame 
success. 

When  the  minister  raised  his  glass  to  "Our  Noble  Guest,"  there  were 
nine  hurrahs. 

Commodore  Hovgaard  spoke  from  the  standpoint  of  an  expert  explorer 
and  commended  Cook's  methods.  , 

Dr.  Cook  rephed  in  a  few  words,  modestly  saying: 

"I  thank  you  very  much  for  the  warm  and  eloquent  words,  but  I  am 
unable  to  express  myself  properly.  It  was  a  rather  hard  day  for  me,  but  I 
never  enjoyed  a.  day  better.  The  Danes  have  taken  no  active  part  in  polar 
explorations,  but  they  have  been  of  much  importance  as  silent  partners  in 
almost  all  arctic  expeditions  in  recent  years.  The  most  important  factor  in 
my  expedition  was  the  Eskimo  and  dog  world  and  I  cannot  be  too  thankful 
to  the  Danes  for  their  care  of  the  Eskimo,  and  now  they  also  have  instituted 
a  mission  at  Cape  York.  Had  I  not  met  with  the  right  Eskimos  and  the 
right  dogs  and  the  right  provisions  I  could  not  have  reached  the  pole.  I  owe 
much  to  the  Danish  nation  for  my  success." 

A  telegram  was  read  conveying  the  congratulations  of  the  King  of  Sweden 
for  "a  brilliant  deed,  of  which  the  American  people  may  rightly  be  proud." 

On  the  same  day  Dr.  Cook  was  received  in  private  audience  by  King 
Frederick  of  Denmark.  The  explorer  was  presented  to  the  monarch  by  Min- 
ister Egan.     The  queen  and  her  three  daughters  were  present. 

It  remained  only  for  the  hero  to  receive  tribute  from  the  chief  magistrate 


A  NATION'S  HOMAGE  81 

of  his  own  nation.     This  came  the  same  evening  when  Dr.  Cook  sent  the 
following  cablegram  to  President  Taft : 

"Copenhagen,  Sept.  4. — President,  the  White  House,  Washington:  I 
have  the  honor  to  report  to  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  United  States  that  I 
have  returned,  having  reached  the  North  Pole. 

"Frederick  A.  Cook." 

The  president,  who  was  at  his  summer  home  in  Massachusetts,  replied 
as  follows : 

"Beverly,  Mass.,  Sept.  4. — Frederick  A.  Cook,  Copenhagen,  Denmark: 
Your  dispatch  received.  Your  report  that  you  have  reached  the  North  Pole 
calls  for  my  heartiest  congratulations,  and  stirs  the  pride  of  all  Americans 
that  this  feat  which  has  so  long  baffled  the  world  has  been  accomplished  by 
tlie  intelligent  energy  and  wonderful  endurance  of  a  fellow  countryman. 

"William  H.  Taft." 

Further  honors  were  in  store  for  Dr.  Cook  in  Denmark.  On  Sept.  9  the 
degree  of  doctor  honoris  causa  ("doctor  because  of  having  achieved  great 
honor"),  was  conferred  on  him  by  the  University  of  Copenhagen  in  the 
presence  of  Crown  Prince  Christian  of  Denmark  and  a  distinguished  gathering. 


FAITH  IS  UNSHAKEN  BY  PEARY. 

Professor  Torp,  rector  of  the  university,  in  presenting  the  diploma  to  Dr. 
Cook,  spoke  of  the  admiration  his  achievement  had  aroused  in  the  university. 
In  expressing  his  thanks  Dr.  Cook  said  he  accepted  the  honor  as  testimony 
of  the  genuineness  of  his  journey.  He  promised  to  send  the  university  his 
complete  records,  and  he  said  it  was  his  intention  to  dispatch  a  ship  to  Green- 
land at  his  own  expense  to  bring  down  the  two  Eskimos  who  accompanied 
him  on  his  expedition.  This  was  later  given  up.  In  conclusion  the  doctor 
said : 

"I  can  say  no  more,  I  can  do  no  more;  I  show  you  my  hands." 
Dr.  Cook's  words  in  referring  to  the  records  he  said  he  would  send  the 
university  were : 

"I  can  produce  all  desirable  evidence  that  I  reached  the  North  Pole." 
He  added  that  his  Eskimo  companions  would  be  taken  to  New  York, 
where  they  could  be  examined  by  impartial  men  of  science. 


S2  A  NATION'S  HOMAGE 

The  function  of  conferring  the  degree  was  impressive.  The  ceremony- 
took  place  in  the  great  hall  of  the  university  in  the  presence  of  a  company 
numbering  1,200  persons,  including  a  number  of  scientists. 

In  honor  of  Dr.  Cook  the  entire  body  of  professors  and  students  entered 
the  hall  in  procession.  They  were  accompanied  by  the  Danish  ministers  of 
education  and  commerce  and  Maurice  F.  Egan,  the  American  minister  to 
Denmark.    An  orchestra  rendered  one  of  Beethoven's  symphonies. 

Professor  Torp  said  that  the  honor  conferred  on  Dr.  Cook  was  the  highest 
in  the  gift  of  the  university. 

The  professor  complimented  the  explorer  on  the  courage  and  self-sacrifice 
which  enabled  him  to  go  where  no  human  being  has  even  set  his  foot  before. 
He  declared  that  Denmark  and  the  United  States  would  now  be  neighbors 
in  the  far  North. 

Then,  warming  up  to  his  subject.  Professor  Torp  said  with  enthusiasm 
that  the  Danish  people  not  only  admired  Dr.  Cook  for  his  deeds,  but  also 
because  he  was  an  American. 

When  Professor  Torp  handed  the  parchment  to  Dr.  Cook,  the  explorer 
arose  to  reply,  but  he  was  unable  to  speak  for  five  minutes  on  account  of  the 
continued  applause. 

A  crowd  of  more  than  1,000  persons  that  had  congregated  outside  the 
hall  cheered  Dr.  Cook  as  he  left,  and  followed  him  to  his  motor  car. 

On  Sept.  10  Dr.  Cook  left  Copenhagen  by  sea  for  Christiansand,  Norway, 
where  he  boarded  the  steamer  Oscar  II,  which  sailed  for  New  York  the 
following  day.    A  large  crowd  bade  him  farewell. 

When  Dr.  Cook  boarded  the  special  steamer  that  took  him  to  Christiansand 
the  water  front  was  lined  with  spectators  and  the  ships  in  the  harbor  were 
dressed  with  flags. 

Committees  from  the  Geographical  society  and  the  faculty  of  the  University 
of  Copenhagen  saw  the  explorer  off.  A  director  of  the  company  owning  the 
ship  on  which  Dr.  Cook  traveled  made  an  address  in  which  he  thanked  the 
explorer  for  the  honor  of  leaving  on  a  Danish  ship.  He  said  that  while 
envy  and  jealousy  hvid  been  at  work,  Denmark  believed  in  Dr.  Cook  absolutely. 

The  ovation  to  the  explorer  was  continued  when  he  reached  Norway. 
Special  honors  were  shown  him  by  orders  from  King  Haakon. 

The  greeting  given  Dr.  Cook  savored  strongly  of  the  triumphal  return 
to  his  own  country  of  a  victorious  warrior. 


A  NATION'S  HOMAGE  83 

It  was  1 1  o'clock  in  the  morning  by  the  time  the  vessel  from  Copenhagen 
had  cast  her  anchor  a  cable's  length  from  the  Oscar  II. 

From  daylight,  however,  Christiansand  had  been  watching  for  the  en- 
trance of  the  Melchior.  Every  vessel  in  the  harbor  was  gayly  decorated  with 
flags,  and  all  the  available  small  craft  had  been  chartered  to  bring  out  sightseers 
from  the  shore. 

A  salute  of  seven  guns  was  fired  from  the  deck  of  the  Melchior  and  an- 
swered by  seven  guns  from  the  Christiansand  fort.  This  honor  was  accorded 
Dr.  Cook,  a  civilian,  by  direction  of  the  king. 

-As  soon  as  the  smoke  of  the  saluting  guns  had  cleared  away  steam 
launches  darted  out  from  the  shore  bearing  the  civil  and  military  authorities 
to  the  vessel  with  Dr.  Cook  on  board. 

The  explorer  awaited  the  officials  on  the  bridge  of  the  Melchior.  M.  Cold, 
the  manager  of  the  Scandinavian  Line,  who  had  accompanied  him  from 
Copenhagen,  stood  by  his  side.  The  ship's  band  played  "The  Star-Spangled 
Banner"  while  the  Norwegian  deputations  paid  homage  to  the  explorer. 

When  the  municipal  authorities  boarded  the  vessel  the  Burgomaster  of 
Christiansand  delivered  a  speech  o.f  welcome,  in  which  he  congratulated  the 
explorer  on  his  achievement. 

Dr.  Cook,  in  his  reply,  eulogized  the  explorers  of  Norway. 


POLE,  POLE  WHO'S  GOT  THE  POLE? 


THE  POLAR  ORDER  OF  PRECEDENCE. 
The  Explorers  arranged  in  the  order  of  distance  from  the    Pole  prior  to  1908. 


DR.  FREDEEIOK  A.  COOK. 
Glad  in  furs  ready  for  his  dash  to  the  Pole. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

COOK'S  PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  GREAT  TASK. 

While  Dr.  Cook  was  being  thus  honored  by  rulers  and  mobbed  by  his 
admirers,  people  everywhere  were  passing  through  alternating  feelings  of 
trust  and  disbelief. 

History  never  furnished  a  keener  topic  of  argument.  Nothing  in  the 
realm  of  invention  or  of  discovery  could  seem  more  impossible  than  that  a 
comparatively  little  known  traveler  had  actually  done  what  men  had  failed 
in  for  so  many  centuries.  As  soon  as  the  first  news  flashed  over  the  wires 
two  camps  arose :  Those  who  threw  up  their  hats  and  hurrahed,  and  those 
who  said,  "I  don't  beHeve  it.  Who  is  this  Cook?"  Everybody  who  had  a 
tongue  to  talk  with  joined  in  the  clack  of  tongues.  Scientists  gave  out  weighty 
reasons  for  and  against.  A  few  preferred  to  withhold  any  comment  until 
the  explorer  could  furnish  his  proofs.  Many  others  broke  into  the  open  with 
statements  purporting  to  show  how  Cook  could  or  could  not  have  done  it. 
It  was  even  suggested  that  the  doctor  might  be  the  victim  of  mania,  and  have 
imagined  he  reached  the  pole.  Hints  were  thrown  out  that  Cook  had  always 
been  a  "faker,"  and  that  he  had  carefully  prepared  for  the  claim  of  his  dis- 
covery before  he  even  left  America. 

But  had  Cook  always  been  a  "faker?" 

A  glance  at  his  career  seemed  to  prove  the  contrary. 

Frederick  A.  Cook  was  born  June  lo,  1865,  and  was  therefore  forty-two 
years  and  ten  months  old  when  he  discovered  the  pole.  He  passed  his  forty- 
third  birthday  while  struggling  back  across  the  ice  fields  to  the  nearest  place 
of  human  habitation;  his  forty- fourth  in  a  Greenland  settlement,  awaiting 
strength  to  move  on  again. 

He  was  of  German-American  parentage.  The  family  name  was  origin- 
ally Koch.  Frederick's  birthplace  was  the  little  town  of  Callicoon,  in  Sullivan 
county.  New  York  state,  among  the  hills  of  the  upper  Delaware  River. 

When  still  a  youth  he  sought  his  fortune  in  New  York  City  and  after 
working  his  way  through  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  there  he 

87 


88  COOK'S  PREPARATION 

succeeded  in  establishing  for  himself  a  practice  of  the  profession  in  that 
city. 

As  a  surgeon  of  the  Peary  expedition,  in  1891-92  at  the  age  of  26,  he 
first  identified  himself  with  the  work  of  arctic  exploration.  On  this  expedition 
he  was  the  first  scientist  who  devoted  special  attention  to  the  studies  of  the 
arctic  highlanders. 

In  1894  he  organized  the  famous  Miranda  expedition  of  sportsmen, 
scientists  and  explorers.  Though  the  Miranda  never  returned  from  this 
trip.  Dr.  Cook  won  fame  for  himself  through  an  incident  of  the  expedition 
when  their  ship  was  disabled  at  Sukkertoppen,  by  leading  the  party  safely 
through  a  perilous  trip  in  an  open  boat  to  Holsteinberg,  where  they  obtained 
relief.  Later  he  shared  with  the  late  Captain  Dixon  of  the  Gloucester 
schooner  Riegel,  the  arduous  duty  of  the  return  voyage. 

In  September,  1897,  Dr.  Cook  was  honored  by  the  appointment  to  the 
post  of  surgeon  of  the  Belgian  antarctic  expedition.  Two  years  after  he  had 
joined  the  ship  at  Rio  Janeiro  to  assume  his  new  position  he  returned  with  the 
party  all  in  good  health  and  with  the  loss  of  only  one  man.  He  had  performed 
the  unique  feat  of  leading  the  crew  safely  throught  the  first  antarctic  night. 
For  this  service  he  received  gold  medals  from  the  Geographical  Societies  of 
Belgium  and  was  given  the  rank  of  chevalier  from  King  Leopold.  Dr.  Cook 
later  published  the  narrative  and  a  resume  of  the  scientific  work  of  this  expe- 
dition in  a  volume  entitled  "Through  the  First  Antarctic  Night." 

As  surgeon  of  the  Peary  "Erik"  auxiliary  expedition  in  1901,  Dr.  Cook 
jrevisited  the  scenes  of  his  northern  work  of  ten  years  before.  A  year  later 
he  married  Miss  Mary  Hunt  in  Brooklyn. 

\  On  October  3,  1906,  just  three  years  after  he  led  the  first  expedition  to 
attempt  the  approach  and  ascent  of  the  unknown  Mt.  McKinley  in  Alaska, 
he  satisfied  his  ambition  and  reached  the  summit  of  the  unexplored  mountsrin, 
20,464  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Dr.  Cook's  was  the  first 
ascent  of  this  mountain  on  record,  and  he  achieved  success  only  after  repeated 
failures  and  many  thrilling  adventures,  which  he  described  in  his  book,  "To 
the  Top  of  the  Continent." 

*i  A  member  of  the  party  that  accompanied  Cook  to  Mt.  McKinley  has 
described  some  of  the  incidents  of  the  trip,  as  well  as  Cook's  bearing  on  that 
occasion.     Says  this  man: 

"He  was  a  quiet  man  and  did  not  talk  much  and  was  not  given  to  boasting 
of  his  deeds.    I  have  been  with  him  for  weeks  at  a  time  among  the  mountain 


COOK'S  PREPARATION  89 

ranges  of  Alaska  and  I  never  knew  him  to  be  untruthful  or  to  misrepresent 
anything  whatever. 

*'When  he  failed  in  1903  to  reach  the  top  of  Mt.  McKinley  he  came  back 
and  frankly  admitted  his  failure.  There  are  those  who  doubt  that  he  reached 
the  top  on  his  second  attempt,  but  I  went  with  him  far  enough  to  know  that 
he  did  reach  the  top,  and  Jack  Grill,  an  old  Montana  rancher.,  went  to  the  top 
with  him." 

Mount  McKinley  is  the  highest  peak  in  America.  Its  altitude  is  more 
than  20,000  feet  and  its  summit  had  never  before  been  scaled  by  man. 

"I  left  Seattle  on  the  steamship  Santa  Anna  May  i,  1906,  bound  for 
Nome,  to  do  some  prospecting,"  said  the  man  quoted  above.  "On  the  ship  I 
became  acquainted  with  Dr.  Cook  through  a  Seattle  newspaper  photographer, 
who  was  a  member  of  Cook's  party. 

"We  were  together  a  great  deal  and  when  he  learned  how  well  I  knew 
the  country  in  Alaska  he  proposed  that  I  should  go  with  him  and  take  him 
around  the  mountain  to  the  most  accessible  point.  I  agreed  and  landed  at 
Seldovia  at  the  entrance  of  Cook's  inlet  with  the  party.  ^ 

"The  Eskimos  at  Susitna  laughed  at  these  people  and  called  them  'cheek 
hawks,'  or  tenderfeet. 

"Finally,  as  the  summer  wore  on,  the  'cheek  hawks'  gave  it  up  and  went 
back.  Dr.  Cook,  Brill,  the  Montana  rancher,  and  I  went  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Chulitna  River  and  there  found  the  'hog  back'  leading  from  the  foothills 
up  the  side  of  the  mountain.  Cook  and  Brill  went  up  this  'hog  back'  and 
reached  the  top  September  15.  Two  days  later  they  returned  to  the  camp 
where  I  was  waiting." 

Henry  Collins  Walsh,  secretary  of  the  Explorers'  Club,  New  York,  has 
told  of  one  of  Dr.  Cook's  Arctic  expeditions  as  follows : 

"My  first  meeting  with  Dr.  Frederick  A.  Cook  was  in  the  spring  of  1904, 
when  he  had  organized  our  expedition  to  make  a  summer  trip  into  the  Arctic 
regions  and  for  which  he  had  chartered  the  ill-fated  steamer  the  Miranda. 
I  became  a  member  of  this  expedition  and  was  its  historian. 

"The  Miranda,  it  will  be  recalled,  had  many  mishaps,  colliding  with  an 
iceberg  off  the  coast  of  Labrador,  which  necessitated  a  return  to  St.  John's, 
Newfoundland,  where  the  ship  was  repaired,  and  later  to  run  on  some  hidden 
reefs  off  the  coast  of  Sukkertoppen,  South  Greenland.  In  this  encounter  the 
bottom  was  torn  off  the  Miranda,  but  its  balance  tank  saved  it  from  sinking. 

"We  arranged  to  steam  back  to  Sukkertoppen,  an  Eskimo  settlement  with 


90  COOK'S  PREPARATION 

a  Danish  governor,  and  from  there  Dr.  Cook  with  a  small  party  set  out  to 
look  for  assistance.  He  finally  got  in  touch  with  a  Gloucester  fishing  schooner, 
the  Rigel,  commanded  by  Captain  Dixon.  The  big-hearted  captain  gave  up 
his  fishing  trip,  the  first  that  he  had  attempted  off  the  coast  of  Greenland, 
and  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  Miranda  and  her  party  of  stranded  explorers. 
The  Miranda  and  the  Rigel  were  connected  by  cable  and,  the  steamer  towing 
the  schooner,  started  for  home. 

"Dr.  Cook  and  the  rest  of  us  took  up  our  quarters  on  the  Rigel,  the  officers 
and  crew  of  the  Miranda  alone  remaining  on  that  ship.  On  the  second  night 
out,  however,  a  stormy  one,  the  ballast  tank  of  the  Miranda  began  to  give 
way  and  a  signal  of  distress  went  up  from  the  Miranda,  and  dories  manned 
by  the  Rigel's  crew  went  over  to  the  Miranda  and  brought  over  the  officers 
and  crew  of  that  ship.  The  cable  connecting  the  two  vessels  was  cut  and 
the  Miranda  was  abandoned  to  her  fate  upon  the  high  seas. 

"She  contained  all  the  worldly  collections  we  had  brought  with  us,  our 
extra  clothes,  outfits,  guns,  ammunition,  stores,  etc.,  and  all  the  collections 
that  various  members  had  made  in  Labrador  and  Greenland,  probably  rather 
undigestible  food  even  for  Arctic  fishes.  After  dodging  for  a  time  among 
icebergs,  the  little  Rigel  finally  landed  seventeen  days  later  at  Sydney,  Cape 
Breton  Island,  whence  the  wrecked  party  had  no  trouble  in  making  its  way 
back  to  New  York." 

Mr.  Walsh  also  tells  some  of  Dr.  Cook's  personal  traits : 

"Naturally,  at  the  meetings  of  the  Explorers'  club  and  at  the  meetings  of 
its  officers  and  directors,  I  was  thrown  in  much  with  Dr.  Cook,  and  also  had 
the  pleasure  at  times  of  visiting  him  in  his  own  home,  and  always  found 
him  a  delightful  and  hospitable  host,  and  it  was  pleasant  to  see  the  kindly 
domestic  side  of  this  man  who  spent  so  many  years  in  wild  and  far-away 
places,  where  the  gentler  and  domestic  side  of  a  man  has  little  chance  of  de- 
velopment. 

"I  was  minded  of  Bayard  Taylor's  well-known  couplet: 

"The  bravest  are  the  tenderest, 
The  loving  are  the  daring." 

"I  have  been  asked  to  tell  something  about  Dr.  Cook's  pastimes  and 
favorite  amusements,  but  as  far  as  I  know  he  seems  to  care  but  little  for 
the  ordinary  pastimes  and  amusements.  I  have  never  seen  him  play  any  game 
of  cards,  but  in  one  of  the  upper  rooms  of  his  Brooklyn  home  he  had  a  pool 


COOK'S  PREPARATIONS  91 

table  around  which  he  occasionally  took  relaxation.  We  had  some  games  of 
pool  together,  but  as  neither  of  us  was  at  all  expert  at  the  game,  nothing 
remarkable  can  be  recorded  except  perhaps  some  remarkable  scratches. 

"I  remembered  that  on  one  occasion,  after  the  doctor  had  made  a  remark- 
able shot,  aided  by  Providence,  I  put  up  my  cue  and  remarked  that  I  could 
not  play  against  the  combination  of  the  Almighty  and  a  polar  explorer.  It 
was  a  case  of  cold  feet. 

"I  do  not  think  that  Dr.  Cook  was  ever  much  given  to  outdoor  sports, 
either;  at  least,  I  never  heard  him  dilate  upon  any  of  his  own  experiences 
along  these  lines,  though  he  was,  however,  very  fond  of  automobiling.  At 
his  home  he  had  many  relics  of  his  various  exploring  trips,  and  naturally  our 
talks  ran  much  in  the  channels  of  exploration,  and  it  gave  me  great  pleasure 
when  I  was  able  to  draw  him  out  in  regard  to  some  of  his  own  remarkable 
experiences,  for  I  doubt  if  any  man  living  has  had  more." 


92 


COOK'S  PREPARATION 


3tH~^ 


Froip  the  PMladelphia  Record  Herald 


TWINS. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PEARY  FINDS  THE  POLE. 

At  this  point  it  becomes  necessary  to  leave  the  narrative  of  Dr.  Cook  for  a 
time  and  record  the  extraordinary  fact  that  a  second  message  came  from  the  far 
north ;  a  second  hero  appeared  to  receive  his  share  of  glory. 

On  September  6,  1909,  a  telegraph  operator  in  the  New  York  office  of  the 
Associated  Press,  the  great  news-gathering  agency,  heard  the  call  of  the  wire. 
He  answered.  As  he  wrote  down  the  words  that  tapped  on  the  instrument  at 
his  side  an  incredulous  smile  spread  over  his  face. 

Another  man  had  discovered  the  North  Pole! 

This  was  the  message : 

"Indian  Harbor,  Labrador,  via  Cape  Ray,  Sept.  6. — To  Associated  Press, 
New  York :    Stars  and  Stripes  nailed  to  North  Pole. 

"Peary." 

In  a  few  minutes  the  dispatch  was  in  the  office  of  every  newspaper  in  the 
world.  There  were  more  incredulous  smiles.  It  was  enough  to  have  spent 
five  days  recording  so  astonishing  a  fact  as  the  discovery  of  the  North  Pole ; 
and  now  came  a  second  claim  and  in  a  short  time  the  Peary  telegram  was  thun- 
dering out  from  the  big  presses  to  startle  the  world. 

What  doubt  there  was  did  not  have  to  do  with  Commander  Peary's  veracity, 
but  with  the  genuineness  of  the  dispatch  itself.  That  some  joker  was  busy 
was  the  prevalent  theory.  This,  however,  was  speedily  disproved.  Commander 
Peary,  besides  wiring  and  sending  a  duplicate  message  to  Renter's  Telegram 
Co.,  a  similar  news  agency  in  London,  had  telegraphed  to  Herbert  L.  Bridg- 
man,  secretary  of  the  Arctic  Club  in  New  York.  There  could  be  no  question 
this  message  was  from  Peary.  Besides  the  earmarks  of  truth  in  the  wording  it- 
self, the  dispatch  was  m  cipher  code  known  only  to  the  New  York  official 
and  to  his  friend  in  the  north. 

Said  this  message: 

93 


94  PEARY  FINDS  THE  POLE 

"Indian  Harbor,  via  Cape  Ray,  N.  F.,  Sept.  6. — Herbert  L.  Bridgman, 
BrooI<;lyn,  N.  Y. :     Pole  reached.     Roosevelt  safe. 

"Peary." 

And  then  there  was  a  third  telegram,  revealing  a  heart  bounding  with  joy, 
and  eager  to  express  itself  to  a  loved  one.    It  read : 

"Indian  jHarbor,  via  Cape  Ray,  Sept.  6,  1909. — Mrs.  R.  E.  Peary,  South 
Harpswell,  Maine :  Have  made  good  at  last.  I  have  the  old  pole.  Am  well. 
Love.    Will  wire  again  from  Chateau. 

"Bert/' 

These,  with  a  few  messages  to  other  men,  none  of  which  added  to  the  in- 
formation contained  in  the  foregoing,  was  all  that  was  heard  of  Peary  for  sev- 
eral days.  He  did  not  find  the  same  faciHties  for  an  immediate  description  of 
his  trip  that  Cook  did.  He  was  sailing  along  the  Labrador  coast;  intent  on 
reaching  a  large  seaport  as  soon  as  possible.  And  he  was  content  for  a  time  with 
sending  the  bare  news  of  his  victory.  Only  the  date,  of  his  discovery — April 
6,  1909 — and  the  fact  he  and  his  ship  were  safe ;  that  was  all  he  vouchsafed. 

And  with  this  silence  the  clamor  of  the  debaters,  and  the  fever  of  specula- 
tion, rose  higher.  Higher,  indeed,  than  they  had  over  the  mere  question  of  Dr. 
Cook's  veracity.  For  now  two  men  were  involved  in  a  gigantic  problem  that 
concerned  whether  one  man's  story  discredited  the  other,  and  raised  the  ques- 
tion which  was  first  at  the  pole. 

The  Peary  advocates,  who  had  already,  openly  or  by  hints,  sought  to  pour 
cold  water  on  Cook's  claims,  at  once  declared  Peary's  news  was  true,  and  that 
he  was  the  real  discoverer.  One  of  the  most  enthusiastic  of  these  was  Rear- Ad- 
miral Melville,  of  the  United  States  navy,  himself  an  old-time  explorer,  who 
said : 

"If  Peary  has  telegraphed  that  he  has  found  the  pole,  I  believe  it,  and  say 
l?ully  for  him. 

"I  have  known  Peary  personally  for  a  long  time  and  as  he  was  well  equip- 
ped for  an  expedition  I  think  he  had  at  least  as  much  chance  as  Dr.  Cook  had 
for  discovering  the  pole.  Peary  was  within  200  miles  of  the  pole  in  his  last 
expedition  and  was  prevented  from  going  there  by  the  opening  of  the  ice  packs. 
He  has  been  gone  long  enough  to  have  reached  there. 

"It  was  the  crazy  dispatches  purporting  to  have  come  from  Dr.  Cook  about 
the  condition  he  found  there  and  other  things  that  caused  a  doubt  in  my  mind 


PEARY  FINDS  THE  POLE  95 

about  Cook  having  found  the  pole.  The  dispatch  from  Peary  makes  the  situa- 
tion most  interesting." 

On  the  other  side  of  the  water,  where  the  chief  purveyors  of  opinion,  the 
London  newspapers,  had  been  chary  of  accepting  Cook's  claims,  the  news  from 
Peary  was  received  with  acclaim. 

The  Daily  Mail  said  editorially : 

"Just  at  the  moment  when  men  were  saying  that  only  the  evidence  of  an 
independent  witness  who  himself  had  visited  the  North  Pole  could  establish  be- 
yond question  or  cavil  the  claim  of  Cook,  that  very  witness  has  appeared  in 
Peary,  an  explorer  whose  statements  are  accepted  by  the  whole  scientific  world 
without  doubt  or  hesitation. 

"Baffled  and  beaten  back  time  after  time,  he  has  known  how  to  win  a  victory 
in  the  end.  Indomitable  has  been  his  perseverence,  iron  his  fortitude,  heroic  the 
spirit  which  has  led  him  to  laugh  at  every  disappointment,  and  thus,  by  sheer 
strength  of  character,  to  reach  his  self-appointed  goal. 

"As  the  glory  of  attaining  the  north  pole  has  been  denied  to  British  effort, 
all  in  this  country  will  rejoice  it  has  fallen  to  one  of  our  kinsmen  over  the  sea 
and  to  such  a  kinsman.  America  well  may  be  proud  of  sons  like  Commander 
Peary. 

"Greatly  as  Commander  Peary's  achievement  would  have  moved  the  world 
at  any  time,  coming  at  this  moment  it  has  a  special  and  absorbing  interest. 
Only  a  few  days  have  passed  since  the  claim  of  Cook  to  have  reached  the  North 
Pole  was  made  known  to  the  pubhc.  The  long  message  in  which  he  recounted 
his  journey  was  by  general  consent  pronounced  unconvincing  and  the  further 
particulars  which  he  communicated  since  landing  at  Copenhagen  have  not  re- 
moved all  ground  for  doubt.  Though  Danish  scientists  of  high  reputation  ac- 
cept his  claim,  a  large  section  of  the  public  still  entertains  doubts  and  asks  why 
it  is  he  has  not  brought  with  him  his  journal  and  detailed  observations  to  estab- 
lish the  truth  of  his  statements.  Now,  on  the  very  eve  of  the  day  on  which 
Cook  will  receive  a  gold  medal  from  the  Danish  Geographical  society,  a  witness 
comes  forth  from  the  unknown  who  has  looked  upon  the  pole." 

One  of  the  most  conservative  of  London  journals,  The  Standard,  had  this 
to  say : 

"No  discredit  is  cast  on  Dr.  Cook's  story  by  assuming  that  the  success  of  a 
more  experienced  and  better  known  voyager  must  be  capable  of  verification. 
For  the  present,  therefore,  we  must  hail  and  congratulate  Peary  as  the  discov- 
erer of  the  pole,  subject  only  to  the  reservation  that  a  prior  claim  has  been  ad- 


96  PEARY  FINDS  THE  POLE 

vanced  and  remains  to  be  verified.  Happily  both  claimants  are  citizens  of  the 
United  States  and  one  possible  reason  for  bitterness  does  not  exist.  In  any 
case,  the  American  stars  and  stripes  float  literally  or  metaphorically  in  the 
coveted  breezes  of  the  northernmost  point  of  the  globe." 

A  Chicago  scientist,  Prof.  T.  C.  Chamberlain,  of  the  University  of  Chi- 
cago, said : 

"A  message  that  had  the  real  ring  back  of  it,  the  ring  of  solid  gold,  was  the 
one  to  Peary's  wife  in  which  he  declared,  according  to  one  dispatch  from  her 
home,  that  he  had  found  'the  darn  old  pole.' 

''One  has  to  appreciate  the  hardships  and  trials  which  Peary  has  suffered  in 
his  former  defeats  to  know  just  how  much  the  success  means  to  him.  The  mes- 
sage to  his  wife  was  the  typical  outburst  of  enthusiasm  which  I  should  expect 
after  the  success  of  his  long-attempted  discovery. 

'T  have  known  Peary  for  a  long  time  and  I  know  him  to  be  a  man  of  his 
word.  He  is  ambitious  and  it  was  always  his  great  desire  to  be  the  first  to  plant 
the  American  flag  on  the  most  northern  spot  in  the  world." 

To  show  how  those  closest  to  Commander  Peary  received  the  news  there 
must  be  told  here  the  manner  in  which  it  came  to  Mrs.  Peary.  She  was  stay- 
ing in  Eagle  Island,  Me.,  across  a  bay  from  South  Harpswell,  the  village  in 
which  Mrs.  Cook  was  passing  the  summer, — another  of  the  singular  coin- 
cidences of  this  remarkable  history. 

A  newspaper  correspondent,  just  provided  with  the  news  from  New  York, 
had  hurried  to  Eagle  Island,  and  to  the  cottage  of  the  Pearys.  There  he  found 
Marie  A.  Peary,  the  sixteen-year-old.  daughter  of  the  explorer.  The  girl  cried 
"Glory,  mamma.     Papa  has  been  heard  from." 

And  then,  seizing  the  message  containing  the  news  of  Peary's  discovery 
from  the  hands  of  the  correspondent,  Miss  Peary  rushed  upstairs  to  bear  the 
glad  and  wonderful  tidings  to  her  mother,  who  only  a  few  minutes  before  had 
gone  to  her  room  with  a  headache. 

An  hour  and  a  half  later,  Arthur  Palmer,  the  storekeeper  at  West  Harps- 
well,  arrived  at  Eagle  Island  with  a  personal  telegram  from  the  intrepid  Arctic 
explorer  to  his  wife  and  family. 

When  Mrs.  Peary  arose  that  morning  and  looked  out  across  the  broad  ex- 
panse of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  be  seen  from  the  Peary  summer  home  she  was  so 
impressed  by  the  beauty  of  the  day  and  the  scene  before  her  that  she  remarked 
to  her  daughter : 

"With  such  a  beautiful  day  as  today  we  surely  ought  to  hear  good  news." 


PEARY  FINDS  THE  POLE 


97 


All  day  Mrs.  Peary  watched  across  the  bay  separating  Eagle  Island  and 
South  Harpswell  for  approaching  boats  which  might  bear  some  message  for 
her.    Shortly  before  4  o'clock  the  boat  of  Stephen  Toothaker  stopped  off  the 


From  the  Washington  Star. 


island  and  Mr.  Toothaker  hurried  ashore.  Mrs.  Peary  was  so  sure  he  had  some 
message  from  her  husband  that  she  rushed  down  to  the  beach  to  meet  him, 
only  to  find  that  he  had  brought  word  that  she  was  wanted  at  a  telephone 
three  miles  away. 


98  PEARY  FINDS  THE  POLE 

Mrs.  Peary  had  been  so  sure  that  it  was  a  message  of  a  different  kind  that 
she  went  back  to  the  cottage  and  retired  to  her  room.  At  4:10  the  corres- 
pondent arrived  and  delivered  the  dispatch  announcing  the  safe  arrival  of 
Peary  at  Indian  Plarbor. 

The  surf  was  rolling  high  on  the  beach  and  it  was  impossible  to  land  with- 
out wetting  one's  feet.  When  the  Peary  cottage  was  reached  Miss  Marie 
Peary  was  reclining  on  a  couch  in  the  pleasant  sitting  room  and  was  the  only 
member  of  the  party  to  be  seen. 

She  came  to  the  door  and  almost  by  intuition  asked  if  there  were  good 
news  for  her. 

"Mrs.  Peary  was  not  slow  in  coming  downstairs  when  she  heard  the 
news,  and  when  asked  for  an  interview,  said : 

"What  (lo  you  want  me  to  say?  God  bless  you,  I'll  say  anything.  I'm 
tickled  to  death." 

Then  she  added: 

"I  can't  find  words  to  express  my  feelings.  Mr.  Peary's  twenty-three  years 
of  work  and  hardship  have  been  crowned  with  success.    God  bless  him." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
PEARY'S  SUCCESSFUL  VOYAGE. 

The  start  of  Commander  Peary's  victorious  journey  to  the  pole  was  far 
different  from  that  of  Dr.  Cook.  The  latter  kept  his  plans  secret  from  all 
but  a  few  intimates ;  his  ship  went  north  in  the  guise  of  a  hunting  expedition. 
Peary,  on  the  other  hand,  set  sail  with  acclaim  of  crowds  and  the  Godspeed  of 
hosts  of  friends.  Furthermore,  he  received  the  enthusiastic  best  wishes  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  then  president,  after  whom  Peary's  vessel  was  named. 

Peary  and  his  party  left  New  York  July  6,  1908.  Forty  guests  of  the 
Peary  Arctic  Club,  along  with  Commander  and  Mrs.  Peary,  accompanied  the 
steamer  to  City  Island  and  returned  to  the  city  later  on  the  navy  tug  Narkeeta. 

Commander  and  Mrs.  Peary  and  Herbert  L.  Bridgman,  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  the  Arctic  Club,  left  later  for  Oyster  Bay  to  have  luncheon  with 
President  and  Mrs.  Roosevelt.  President  and  Mrs.  Roosevelt  inspected  the 
vessel  and  Capt.  Bartlett  continued  upon  his  long  journey,  heading  for  Sydney, 
Cape  Breton. 

The  crowd  that  lined  the  pier  cheered  Peary  enthusiastically  as  the  boat 
left  New  York. 

Peary  took  off  his  hat  and  waved  a  handkerchief  in  acknowledgment. 
Most  of  the  guests  had  gotten  there  ahead  of  him.  Gen.  Thomas  H.  Hubbard, 
president  of  the  Arctic  Club,  and  Mr.  Bridgman  were  in  charge.  Among 
those  present  were :  John  W.  Flagler,  Anton  Raven,  Henry  Parish,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Williami  Guggenheim,  Arva  B.  Johnson,  president  of  the  Philadelphia 
Arctic  Club ;  Dr.  Theodore  Le  Boutillier,  secretary  of  the  Philadelphia  Arctic 
Club;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robert  Guggenheim,  and  C.  K.  G.  Billing^. 

Just  before  sailing  Peary  went  below  to  see  that  all  the  gifts  he  was  taking 
to  the  Eskimos  were  safely  aboard.  Money  does  not  look  good  to  those  in 
the  far  north  and  it  takes  looking  glasses,  silver  thimbles,  shot  guns  and  things 
like  that  in  the  way  of  presents  to  coax  them  along.  Likewise  Peary  dropped 
in  to  see  if  Dave  Henson,  the  negro  cook,  was  in  his  proper  place. 

99 


100  PEARY'S  SUCCESSFUL  VOYAGE 

Dave  has  been  with  him  on  each  trip.  His  work  was  to  boss  the  Eskimo 
drivers  and  hunters,    Dave  speaks  their  native  tongue  with  ease. 

The  Roosevelt  left  its  landing  at  the  foot  of  East  Twenty-fourth  street  on 
the  minute.  It  was  pushed  into  the  river  by  the  Narkeeta,  and  such  a  din  as 
went  up  hasn't  been  heard  in  those  parts  for  some  time.  A  hearty-looking 
ferryboat  started  the  fun  by  tooting  a  regular  salute  of  three  short  blasts. 
This  was  taken  up  with  a  vim  by  a  dozen  yachts  of  the  New  York  Yacht  Club. 
Then  came  the  din  of  the  crowd  on  the  recreation  pier,  yelling  itself  hoarse 
to  the  accompaniment  of  the  whistles  of  numerous  factories  along  the  river 
shores. 

Capt.  Bartlett  at  first  tried  to  acknowledge  all  the  salutes,  but  they  came  so 
fast  that  before  proceeding  with  his  task  he  ordered  a  chair  and  made  himself 
comfortable  on  deck  with  an  improvised  rope  up  to  the  whistle.  He  tooted 
until  the  steam  gave  out  and  it  was  up  to  the  Narkeeta  to  answer  for  awhile, 
and  the  navy  folks  certainly  did  the  thing  up  in  style.  No  craft  was  too  little 
or  too  big  or  too  squeaky  to  get  a  speedy  acknowledgment. 

Possibly  the  greatest  reception  the  little  ship  got  was  from  the  Mayflower, 
the  president's  yacht,  which  was  anchored  off  Whitestone,  Long  Island.  The 
ship  was  manned  in  a  hurry,  and  after  a  salute  was  tooted  the  jackies  set  up 
a  cheer  that  brought  Peary  from  the  lower  deck  in  a  hurry.  He  doffed  his  hat 
and  waved  his  handkerchief  like  a  good  fellow,  and  was  tickled  clear  down  to 
his  shoes.  To  cap  the  climax,  the  Mayflower's  occupants  slowly  dipped  the 
American  flag  aft.  Peary  himself  answered  this  by  dropping  his  flag  in  the 
same  fashion.  The  incident  stirred  his  navy  blood  and  the  veteran  skipper 
danced  around  like  a  boy. 

The  Roosevelt  left  Sydney,  N.  S.,  July  26.  It  was  next  reported  at  Dom- 
ino, Labrador,  July  29,  from  which  point  it  crossed  to  Greenland.  It  passed 
Cape  York  August  7,  1905,  and  reached  Etah  August  16  of  that  year.  The 
expedition's  auxiliary  steamer  Erik,  in  the  meantime,  had  visited  various  set- 
tlements in  Greenland  and  secured  natives  and  dogs  for  the  explorer  and 
turned  them  over  to  the  Roosevelt.  At  Etah  the  Roosevelt  overhauled  its 
machinery,  took  on  board  the  last  supply  of  coal  from  the  Erik  and  thence 
proceeded  north  with  Eskimos  to  the  number  of  twenty-three  on  board  and 
about  200  dogs. 

Peary's  start  from  Etah  on  the  second  stage  of  his  journey  into  the  far 
north  in  search  of  the  pole  was  described  in  a  letter  received  in  New  York 
October  8,  1908,  from  Capt.  Samuel  W.  Bartlett.  .  ; 


PEARY'S  SUCCESSFUL  VOYAGE  101 

The  letter  was  written  by  Capt.  Bartlett  on  his  arrival  at  St.  John's,  N.  F., 
after  carrying  supplies  to  the  Peary  expedition  in  the  steamer  Erik.  Capt. 
Bartlett  said  the  weather  conditions  at  Etah  were  anything  but  pleasant.  It 
had  been  an  unusually  wet  and  foggy  summer  and  Peary's  departure  north 
in  the  Roosevelt  was  delayed  twenty-four  hours  because  of  dense  fog  and 
high  winds. 

It  had  been  planned  to  start  on  August  17,  but  it  was  the  i8th  before  the 
steamer  got  away.  The  fog  was  still  dense,  but  Capt.  Bartlett  said  he  was 
sure  the  Roosevelt  had  a  good  trip  up  Smith  Sound,  as  the  prevailing  winds 
were  south,  which  would  pack  the  ice  over  on  the  Greenland  side.  Nothing 
was  seen  of  the  Roosevelt  after  it  left  Etah  harbor. 

Commander  Peary's  own  story  of  his  preparations  for  his  dash  toward 
the  North  Pole,  dated  Etah,  Greenland,  September  20,  1908,  follows: 

"Here  we  are  at  Etah,  the  Roosevelt  stripped  and  sponged  for  the  second 
round.  As  when  the  Roosevelt  headed  away  across  the  gulf  of  Maine  from 
Pollock  Reef  lightship,  so  now,  on  heading  due  north  from  Sydney  harbor, 
the  weather  was  of  the  finest. 

"Here  the  little  tug  which  had  accompanied  us  thus  far  swung  off  and 
turned  back,  carrying  Mrs.  Peary  and  the  ciiildren,  and  Borup's  father  with 
two  or  three  friends. 

"Throughout  the  night  we  steamed  steadily  northward  across  Cabot  Strait 
with  Polaris  shining  directly  over  the  fore  topmast.  This  in  striking  contrast 
to  three  years  ago,  when  we  crossed  the  straits  in  dense  fog  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  a  long  swell  which  kept  the  main  deck  constantly  awash.  In  the 
forenoon  we  passed  Cape  Ray,  and  in  the  afternoon  the  magnificent  headland 
Cape  St.  George. 

"Early  the  day  following  we  entered  the  harbor  of  Cape  St.  Charles  and 
dropped  anchor  in  front  of  the  whaling  station  just  as  the  costal  steamer  Pros- 
pero  passed  out  with  numbers  of  tourists  on  board. 

"Two  whales  captured  the  day  before  offered  opportunity  for  securing 
some  whale  meat  without  delay,  and  I  immediately  engaged  one,  which  was  at 
once  hauled  out  on  the  slide,  while  Bartlett,  with  Marvin,  McMillan,  and 
Borup,  took  one  of  the  whaleboats  and  pulled  across  to  Battle  harbor,  some 
five  miles  distant,  to  learn  what  was  the  outlook  for  whale  meat  at  Hawke's 
harbor  by  wireless. 

"About  noon  Bartlett  and  the  boys  returned  with  news  of  abundance  of 
whale  meat  at  Hawke's  harbor,  the  supply  engaged  here  amounting  to  about 


102  PEARY'S  SUCCESSFUL  VOYAGE 

18,000  pounds.  It  came  late  in  the  afternoon  and  was  hoisted  on  the  quarter 
deck  between  the  coal  bags  and  the  after  end  of  the  deck  house.  This  done, 
we  steamed  out,  and  with  the  big  lugsail  set  to  a  following  breeze  and  the 
engines  just  barely  turning  over,  we  drifted  down  the  coast  toward  'Hawke's 
harbor,  so  as  to  arrive  early  in  the  morning. 

"We  had  expected  to  run  direct  for  the  Greenland  coast  from  here,  but 
a  consignment  of  Labrador  skin  boots  which  were  to  have  been  at  Hawke's 
harbor  were  not  here,  and  I  determined  to  follow  the  coast  to  Turnavik  land, 
where  they  were. 

"In  a  continuance  of  fine  weather  we  came  in  sight  of  Turnavik  late  in 
the  afternoon  of  the  following  day.  Before  reaching  the  island,  however, 
we  encountered  a  furious  thunder  storm,  and  finally  dropped  anchor  amid  a 
half  gale.  At  the  island  ice  was  reported  a  few  miles  outside,  and  this,  with 
the  darkness  and  the  force  of  the  wind,  resulted  in  our  lying  at  Turnavik 
until  the  next  morning. 

"The  weather  now  for  the  first  time  was  distinctly  dirty,  wind,  rain,  fog 
and  seething  of  a  sea.  All  these,  however,  moderated  in  the  afternoon.  In  the 
evening  it  came  off  entirely  clear,  and  for  some  three  hours  we  passed  through 
a  stream  of  scattered,  waterworn  and  rotten  ice.  After  this  the  weather  con- 
tinned  fine,  with  light,  favoring  westerly  winds  until  Saturday  evening, 

"Saturday  night  we  ran  into  fog,  and  for  the  first  time  encountered  an  un- 
compromising head  wind,  which  continued  with  distinct  violence  until  late 
Monday  and  then  with  less  force  throughout  Tuesday. 

"During  a  portion  of  this  time  there  was  a  pronounced  sea  running,  and 
for  the  first  time  the  Roosevelt  had  the  experience  of  driving  dead  on  through 
a  head  sea.  No  ship  could  make  rapid  progress  under  these  conditions  (our 
log  from  noon  Monday  to  noon  Wednesday  was  eight-four  miles),  but  in 
every  other  way  the  Roosevelt  proved  satisfactory  in  this  test  as  in  others 
which  she  has  encountered.  She  rises  easily,  meets  and  parts  the  waves 
readily  and  recovers  from  a  lunge  buoyantly  and  without  shock.  Of  course 
her  length  is  an  important  factor  in  this.  I  could  not  help  thinking  how  un- 
comfortable the  poor  little,  stumpy  Fram  would  be  under  similar  circumstances. 

"Following  is  a  complete  roster  of  those  who  are  with  me  on  board  the 
Roosevelt : 

"John  W.  Goodsell,  surgeon  of  the  expedition,  was  born  of  native  Penn- 
sylvanians  at  Leechburg,  Pa.,  January  19,  1873.  He  is  35  years  of  age,  un- 
married, 5  feet  10  inches  in  height,  and  weighs  200  pounds.     In  addition  to 


PEAEY'S  PAETY  PBEPAEING  WINTEE  QUAETEES  IN  THE  AECTIC  EEGIONS. 


PEARY'S  SUCCESSFUL  VOYAGE  105 

his  work  as  a  general  practitioner,  Dr.  Goodsell  built  up  a  considerable  prac- 
tice as  a  consulting-  microscopist.  Dr.  Goodsell  expects  to  make  a  special  investi- 
gation of  tubercular  conditions  among  the  natives  and  the  curative  effects  of 
the  Arctic  atmosphere. 

"Prof.  Ross  G.  Marvin  of  the  college  of  civil  engineering,  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, is  on  leave  of  absence  from  that  institution  in  order  to  complete  the 
work  begun  on  the  previous  expedition  of  i9O5-'o0.  Prof.  Marvin  is  28  years 
of  age,  5  feet  11  inches  in  height,  and  weighs  160  pounds.  He  received  the 
degree  of  A.  B.  from  Cornell  University  in  June,  1905,  and  immediately  upon 
graduation  was  chosen  as  my  secretary  and  assistant  for  the  expedition 
of  i905-'o6. 

"Donald  B.  McMillan,  an  assistant  in  the  expedition  party,  was  born  in 
Provincetown,  Mass.,  November  10,  1874.  He  is  33  years  of  age,  unmarried, 
5  feet  9  inches  in  height,  and  weighs  165  pounds.  He  comes  from  a  family 
of  seafaring  people. 

"George  Borup,  an  assistant  in  the  expedition  party,  was  born  at  Sing 
Sing,  N.  Y.,  September  2,  1885,  a  son  of  Lieut.  Col.  Borup,  U.  S.  A.,  retired. 
He  is  23  years  of  age,  5  feet  83^  inches  in  height  and' weighs  155  pounds. 

"Matthew  Henson,  Commander  Peary's  personal  assistant,  was  born  of 
negro  parentage  at  Washington,  D.  C,  August  8,  1867.  He  is  41  years  of 
age,  5  feet  10  inches  in  height,  and  weighs  150  pounds. 

"Charles  Percy,  steward  of  the  Roosevelt,  is  one  of  the  men  who  have 
been  with  her  since  she  was  built.  Born  of  native  parentage  at  Brigus,  N.  F., 
September  15,  1850,  he  is  now  58  years  old,  5  feet  11  inches  tall. 

"Capt.  Robert  A.  Bartlett,  sailing  master  and  ice  navigator  of  the  Roose- 
velt, was  born  at  Brigus,  Conception  Bay,  near  St.  John's,  N.  F.,  August  15, 
1875.  Thirty-three  years  of  age,  6  feet  tall  and  weighing  170  pounds,  he  is 
the  ideal  type  of  the  hardy  Newfoundland  sealer  and  fisherman.  His  great- 
uncle,  Capt.  Isaac,  rescued  the  Tyson  party  from  an  ice  floe  after  their  perilous 
drift  of  many  months.  His  uncles,  Capt.  Harry,  Capt.  John,  and  Capt.  Sam, 
have  all  made  trips  into  the  Arctic  at  various  times  in  command  of  ships. 

"His  father,  Capt.  William  Bartlett,  is  a  successful  sealer  and  fisherman 
with  a  thriving  fishing  station  at  Turnavik  island,  on  the  Labrador  coast. 

"Bank  Scott,  second  engineer  of  the  Roosevelt,  is  the  second  new  officer 
aboard  the  Roosevelt.  He  was  born  at  St.  John's,  N.  F.,  July  4,  1880,  28 
years  of  age,  5  feet  9  inches  in  height,  and  weighs  150  pounds. 

"Other  members  of  the  crew  are  Seamen  John  Barnes,  John  Cody,  and 


106 


PEARY'S  SUCCESSFUL  VOYAGE 


Dennis  Murphy;  Oilers  John  Bentley  and  Patrick  Joyce;  Firemen  Richard 
Butler,  George  Percy,  Patrick  Skeans,  and  John  Wiseman,  and  William 
Pritchard,  mess  boy. 

"Thomas  Gushue,  mate  of  the  Roosevelt,  Is  a  new  officer  aboard  the  ship. 
Bom  of  native  parents  at  Grigus,  Conception  bay,  Newfoundland,  November 
3,  1861,  he  is  47  years  of  age  and  5  feet  10  inches  in  height.    His  sea  service 


From  tbe  Washington  Star. 


THE  POLAB  DISPUTE  GETS  VERY  EXCITING. 


PEARY'S  SUCCESSFUL  VOYAGE  107 

covers  about  thirty  years.  For  the  last  fifteen  years  he  has  been  master  of 
various  fishing  schooners. 

"John  Murphy,  boatswain  of  the  Roosevelt,  was  born  of  native  parents  at 
St.  John's,  N.  F.  He  is  35  years  of  age,  6  feet  tall,  weighs  175  pounds  and  is 
married,  having  a  wife  at  his  home  at  St.  John's. 

"George  A.  Wardell,  chief  engineer  of  the  Roosevelt,  was  born  of  Yankee 
parents  at  Bucksport,  Me.,  February  16,  1861.  He  is  47  years  of  age,  5  feet 
II  inches  tall,  and  weighs  240  pounds..  He  is  married  and  has  a  wife  and 
one  son  at  his  home  in  Bucksport.  He  learned  his  trade  as  a  marine  engineer 
in  the  shipyards  where  the  Roosevelt  was  later  constructed." 

Then  came  the  last  message,  received  by  Peary's  New  York  friends  Octo- 
ber 16,  1908.    It  said: 

"This  is  the  last  word  I  will  be  able  to  send  forth  for  at  least  a  year. 

"Before  us  lies  the  great  ice  pack  stretching  for  a  distance  of  200  miles, 
and  against  its  mighty  force  the  sturdy  little  Roosevelt  must  set  its  prow. 

"By  February  i  we  expect  to  be  in  a  position  to  make  the  dash  for  the 
pole." 


CHAPTER    IX. 

EARLY    LIFE   OF   PEARY. 

The  career  of  Commander  Peary,  like  that  of  Dr.  Cook,  has  been  given 
over  almost  wholly  to  adventure  and  exploration.  With  Peary,  however,  it 
has  been,  almost  from  the  first,  a  ceaseless  quest  for  that  farthest  north  both 
now  have  seen. 

Peary  is  a  veteran  of  the  Arctic.     A  chronology  of  his  trips  into  polar 
seas  is  as  follows : 
1886 — Reached  70  degress  north  latitude  on  Greenland's  inland  ice  cape,  east 

of  Disco  Bay. 
1891-92 — Discovered  Melville  Land  and  Heilprin  Land  and  proved  Greenland 
an  island,  working  as  chief  of  the  expedition  of  the  Academy  of  Natural 
Sciences  of  Philadelphia.     Reached  latitude  81  degrees  37  minutes  north. 
1893-95 — Failed  to  reach  northern  Greenland,  but  discovered  Iron  Mountain. 
1896-97 — Brought  Cape  York  meteorites  to  the  United  States. 
1 898- 1 902 — Rounded  most  northerly  cape  in  the  world — Cape  Morris,  83 
degrees,  39  minutes — and  reached  "farthest  north,"  84  degrees  17  min- 
utes.    In  command  of  expedition  of  the  Peary  Arctic  Club. 
1906 — Attained  nearest  point  to  the  pole  at  that  time,  87  degrees  6  minutes. 
1909 — Reached  the  goal  of  his  ambition  at  last. 

Before  presenting  a  narrative  of  these  voyages,  some  account  must  be 
given  of  the  youth  that  went  to  mold  Peary's  illustrious  maturity. 

Polar  exploration  was  the  great  passion  of  Peary's  life.  That  passion 
had  its  beginning  when,  as  a  boy,  he  read  the  story  of  Kane's  exploits  in  the 
far  north.  Through  all  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  changes  of  circumstances, 
alterations  in  environment,  his  mind  seemed  to  turn  steadily  and  constantly 
toward  the  North  Pole.  At  an  age  when  young  men  of  his  age  were  just  enter- 
ing upon  their  Hfe  careers,  Peary  set  forth  upon  his  first  expedition  into  the 
land  of  eternal  cold. 

Peary  was  born  in  Cressen,  Pa.,  May  6,  1856.  As  a  boy  he  was  big  and 
boisterous.  After  he  had  finished  the  work  of  the  schools  at  Cressen  his  parents 

108 


EARLY  LIFE  OF  PEARY  109 

sent  him  to  Bowdoiii.  He  was  graduated  there  at  the  head  of  a  class  of  fifty- 
one,  being  in  addition  the  school's  prize  essayist.  His  mother,  of  notable 
character,  exerted  a  great  influence  on  the  development  of  her  son.  She  went 
to  the  college  town  with  him  and  made  him  a  home  where  his  friends  were 
always  welcome. 

At  the  end  of  his  college  career  Peary  astonished  his  friends  by  going 
out  to  the  little  town  of  Fryeburg  in  the  mountains  of  Maine,  where  he  became 
a  land  surveyor.  At  23  he  got  a  place  in  the  coast  and  geodetic  survey  at 
Washington.  Thereafter  he  spent  two  years  patiently  making  maps.  Then 
suddenly  he  rented  a  room  arid  spent  several  weeks  at  mysterious  studies. 
When  finally  he  gave  up  the  room  he  surprised  his  fellow  employes  by  an- 
nouncing that  he  intended  taking  the  examination  held  by  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment for  the  admission  of  engineers.  When  the  records  of  that  test  were 
compared  it  was  found  that  out  of  the  forty  who  took  it,  Peary  was  the 
youngest  of  the  four  who  passed. 

In  the  very  first  year  of  his  naval  service  he  was  ordered  to  make  a  report 
on  plans  for  a  new  pier  for  Key  West,  Fla.  Contractors  had  given  up  this 
pier  as  impossible  of  construction  at  the  figure  set  by  the  government.  Peary 
reported  that  the  pier  not  only  could  be  built,  but  that  it  could  be  built  for  at 
least  $25,000  less  than  the  government  estimate. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  ordered  Peary  to  build  the  pier  himself.  When 
the  pier  was  finished  it  was  found  that  he  had  saved  the  Navy  Department 
$30,000. 

In  1885  an  incident  occurred  which  started  him  on  his  first  expedition 
northward. 

"One  evening,"  he  writes,  "in  an  old  bookstore  of  Washington  I  came 
upon  a  fugitive  paper  on  the  inland  ice  of  Iceland.  A  chord,  which,  as  a  boy, 
had  vibrated  intensely  in  me  at  the  reading  of  Kane's  wonderful  book,  was 
touched  again.  I  read  all  I  could  on  the  subject  and  felt  that  1  must  see  for 
myself  what  the  truth  was  of  this  mysterious  interior." 

No  record  of  the  life  of  Commander  Robert  E.  Peary  could  be  complete 
which  did  not  include  an  account  of  the  loyal  part  his  wife  played  in  it. 

Mrs.  Peary  is  possessed  to  a  marked  degree  of  some  of  the  characteristics 
of  her  husband.  By  virtue  of  native  ability,  persistence  and  remarkable  cour- 
age she  has  carved  for  herself  a  place  in  the  history  of  polar  exploration  un- 
equalled by  any  woman  in  the  world. 

Mrs.  Pea;ry,  whose  maiden  name  was  Josephine  Diebitsch,  was  born  and 


110  EARLY  LIFE  OF  PEARY 

educated  in  Washington,  D,  C.  As  a  girl  she  was  fond  of  outdoor  exercise 
and  upon  reaching  womanhood  she  was  possessed'  of  an  uncommonly  rugged 
constitution.  She  was  married  to  Commander,  then  Lieutenant  Peary,  in 
1888  and  first  accompanied  him  on  an  expedition  into  the  north  in  1891.  This 
was  when  her  husband  headed  the  Arctic  expedition  of  the  Academy  of  Natural 
Sciences  of  Philadelphia,  the  trip  lasting  until  September,  1892.  She  also 
went  with  the  explorer  in  1893,  when  for  two  years  he  devoted  himself  to 
explorations  in  Greenland.  On  both  occasions  Mrs.  Peary  went  with  her 
husband  as  far  as  the  winter  quarters  in  Greenland. 

It  was  while  they  were  on  the  last  Arctic  trip  that  a  baby  was  born  to 
them.  This  occurred  September  12,  1893,  on  the  northwest  coast  of  Green- 
land at  Bowdoin  Bay,  Inglefield  Gulf,  yy  degrees  40  minutes  of  north  latitude. 
The  baby  was  christened  Marie  Ahnighito  Peary,  the  second  name  meaning 
"snow  baby."  The  Eskimos  gathered  from  far  and  near  to  see  the  child  and 
called  it  the  "snow  baby"  because  of  the  whiteness  of  its  skin.  In  using  the 
latter  appellation  they  spoke  of  it  as  "Ah-Poo-Mik-A-Nin-Ny." 

In  addition  to  Marie,  the  Pearys  have  a  son,  Robert  E.  Peary,  Jr.  Mrs. 
Peary  is  an  honorary  member  of  the  Philadelphia  Geographical  Society  and 
the  American  Alpine  Club,  and  honorary  vice  president  of  the  Alaska  Geo- 
graphical Society.  Among  her  writings  is  a  volume  entitled  "My  Arctic 
Journal,"  written  in  1894,  and  "The  Snow  Baby,"  published  in  1901. 


CHAPTER  X. 

PEARY'S  FINAL  DASH 

**It*s  ju5t  like  every  day." 

Capt.  Bartlett,  navigator  of  Peary's  ship  and  his  faithful  companion 
through  two  Arctic  journeys,  said  the  above  as  he  and  his  chief  v^ere  toiling 
within  a  few  hundred  miles  of  the  pole.  The  remark  gives  the  keynote  to 
Peary's  manner  of  describing  a  great  feat.  True  to  the  traditions  of  the  navy, 
as  well  as  to  those  of  the  serious  explorer,  Peary  adopted  a  calm,  matter-of-fact 
tone  in  his  narrative.  His  statements  were  brief,  clear  and  cold.  His  various 
accounts  of  the  trip  have  the  lofty  serenity,  the  contempt  of  sentiment,  natural 
to  one  who  has  conquered  himself  as  well  as  the  pole. 

Like  Cook,  Peary  stood  practically  alone  amid  the  desolation  of  "farthest 
north."  Cook  had  with  him  two  Eskimos  who,  as  described  by  him,  were  panio 
stricken  and  prayed  to  their  deity  for  deliverance.  They  were  in  no  sense 
sharers  of  the  emotions  of  their  white  master.  And  so  it  was  with  Peary,  with 
the  difference  that  his  colored  personal  attendant  was  there  to  witness  the  tri- 
umph. One  Eskimo — who  was  there — Egingwah  by  name — no  doubt  looked 
on  rather  cynically  at  Peary's  deeds.  He  was  a  mighty  hunter  and  a  great  man 
in  Greenland,  was  Egingwah,    What  cared  he  for  a  pole  or  two? 

Here  was  a  situation  never  to  be  duplicated  in  any  branch  of  human  en- 
deavor. Let  the  reader's  imagination  picture  Peary,  wrapped  in  his  seal-skins, 
and  with  hard  determined  face  peering  out  from  his  hood,  drawing  rein  there  at 
the  coveted  finish  of  the  race;  stopping  in  the  glittering,  lonely  plain  of  ice; 
searching  the  horizon  in  vain  for  some  animate  thing ;  then  taking  his  observa- 
tions and  proving  he  stood  under  the  north  star,  at  latitude  90 !  He,  too,  like 
Cook,  felt  as  if  he  were  the  happiest  man  alive.  He  did  not  know  there  was  an- 
other "happiest  man,"  whose  joy  was  due  to  the  same  cause.  He  supposed  his 
eyes  to  be  the  first  ever  to  have  gazed  upon  that  scene ;  yet,  a  year  before  a  rival 
explorer  had  set  up  the  glittering  instruments  that  made  the  Eskimo's  eyes  grow 
big,  and  had  looked  up  to  the  sky  in  thankfulness  to  providence. 

That  Peary  sent  back  all  his  white  companions  and  pushed  on  atone  to  the 

111, 


112  PEARY'S  FINAL  DASH 

pole  caused  a  little  surprise  when  first  it  became  known.  Yet  is  was  recognized 
as  just  that  the  leader  and  inspirer  of  it  all  should  have  the  glory.  His  were  the 
risks ;  then  why  not  his  the  honor  ?  So,  with  bitter  disappointment  perhaps,  yet 
with  unquestioning  obedience  to  orders,  the  faithful  companions  of  Peary 
stopped,  one  by  one,  within  a  few  days'  march  of  the  pole  and  let  him  go  ahead 
with  his  one  swarthy  companion. 

The  expedition  started  in  sections,  as  was  Peary's  cautious  habit. 

Capt.  Robert  A.  Bartlett  and  George  Borup  started  February  2y  from 
Cape  Columbia,  with  a  number  of  Eskimos  and  dogs,  on  the  march  across  the 
ice,  heading  north.  On  March  i  Commander  Peary  left  Cape  Columbia  with 
his  party,  consisting  of  seven  white  men,  seventeen  Eskimos  and  136  dogs.  On 
March  4  Peary  came  up  with  Bartlett,  who  had  pitched  his  camp  at  the  side  of 
a  lead  of  water  which  it  was  impossible  to  cross.  The  combined  parties  had  to 
wait  until  March  11,  seven  days,  before  further  progress  was  possible.  The 
sun  was  seen  for  the  first  time  March  5,  and  an  observation  showed  that  the 
explorers  were  a  short  way  from  the  eighty-fourth  parallel.  The  supply  of 
alcohol  v/as  running  short,  and  Borup  returned  to  Cape  Columbia  for  a  fresh 
stock. 

On  March  14  Borup  overtook  Peary  again  and  brought  a  supply  of  oil  and 
alcohol.  The  division  under  Prof.  Ross  G.  Marvin  joined  Peary  the  same  day. 
At  this  point  Prof.  Ronald  B.  McMillan  was  sent  back,  his  feet  having  been 
badly  frozen. 

Peary  deeply  regretted  the  necessity  of  sending  McMillan  back,  as  this  mem- 
ber of  the  party  was  young  and  an  athlete, — a  valuable  man  on  the  trail.  His 
departure  left  a  party  of  sixteen  men,  with  twelve  sledges  and  one  hundred 
dogs.  These  pushed  on  with  all  speed,  dashing  over  the  ice  and  making  a  hand- 
some spectacle  as  they  sped  over  the  white  expanse. 

Thus  far  little  really  severe  weather  had  been  encountered,  but  there  was 
constant  peril  from  the  "leads,"  which  kept  opening  and  showing  startling 
depths  of  black  water,  almost  under  the  runners  of  the  sledges.  Once  one  of 
the  men — George  Borup,  a  Yale  University  man — fell  in,  with  his  dog  team, 
and  emerged  half-frozen.  Another  time  a  huge  lead  opened  just  after  the 
whole  caravan  had  p?ssed  over.  Had  it  broken  under  them,  some  or  all  of  the 
travelers  would  probably  have  drowned  in  the  terrible  icy  water. 

Indeed,  tragedy  was  even  then  threatening  the  expedition.  Prof.  Ross 
Marvin,  of  Cornell  University,  was  to  be  the  sole  victim  of  the  great  polar  vic- 
tory.   His  last  duty  for  Peary  was  performed  when  he  broke  the  trail  as  far  as 


PEARY'S  FINAL  DASH  113 

latitude  86 :34.  At  that  point  he  turned  back,  by  the  Commander's  orders.  As 
Marvin's  sledge  sped  away,  Peary  shouted  after  him,  perhaps  with  an  intuition 
of  what  was  to  come,  the  warning,  "Look  out  for  the  leads !" 

And  then,  while  Peary  was  making  his  last  successful  march,  Marvin  dis- 
appeared in  one  of  those  treacherous  patches  of  water,  and  was  seen  no  more. 

To  return  to  the  dash  for  the  pole : 

Borup  had  turned  back  at  latitude  85  '.^4.  With  his  departure  and  that  of 
Marvin,  together  with  their  Eskimos,  the  party  consisted  of  Peary,  Bartlett, 
Matthew  Henson,  the  colored  man  who  has  been  Peary's  personal  assistant  on 
so  many  of  his  expeditions ;  the  Eskimos,  seven  sledges  and  sixty  dogs,  and  the 
journey  northward  was  resumed.  The  ice  was  perfectly  level  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  see.  Bartlett  took  the  observation  on  the  88th  parallel,  leaving  Peary, 
[Henson  and  four  Eskimos,  with  provisions  for  forty  days,  to  make  the  final 
dash  to  the  pole. 

And  now  was  to  come  the  final  test  of  Peary's  courage ;  the  supreme  hours 
in  his  life.  He  had  already  passed  beyond  his  own  northern  record,  and  had 
outstripped  all  others  as  well.  He  stood  on  the  very  threshold  of  success.  The 
next  few  hours  were  to  tell  whether  the  summit  of  all  polar  ambition  was  to 
be  his.  One  must  fancy  him,  on  that  last  pause  before  the  ultimate  effort, 
solemnly  wondering  what  was  to  be  the  end. 

But  the  conditions  to  be  faced  were  too  severe  to  permit  of  doubt,  or  even 
of  serious  thought  for  the  future.  The  weather  had  thickened ;  heavy  snows 
covered  the  path  ahead ;  the  man  and  dogs  were  feeling  the  strain.  Peary  found 
himself  constantly  inspiring  the  others  from  his  own  limitless  stores  of  courage. 

The  reduced  party  started  the  morning  of  April  3.  The  men  walked  that 
day  for  ten  hours  and  made  twenty  miles.  They  then  slept  near  the  89th  paral- 
lel. While  crossing  a  stretch  of  young  ice  300  yards  wide  the  sledge  broke 
through.  It  was  saved,  but  two  of  the  Eskimos  had  narrow  escapes  from 
drowning. 

The  ice  was  still  good  and  the  dogs  were  in  great  shape.  They  made  as 
high  as  twenty-five  miles  a  day. 

The  next  observation  was  made  at  89.25.  The  next  two  marches  were  made 
in  a  dense  fog.  The  sun  was  sighted  on  the  third  march  and  an  observation 
showed  89:57. 

The  pole  was  reached  April  6  and  a  series  of  observations  were  taken  at  90. 
Peary  deposited  his  records  and  hoisted  the  American  flag  and  other  banners. 
The  temperature  was  32  degrees  below  zero  (Fahrenheit).    The  pole  appeared 


114  PEARY'S  FINAL  DASH 

as  a  frozen  sea.     Peary  tried  to  take  a  sounding,  but  got  no  bottom  at  1,500 
fathoms. 

Peary  stayed  at  the  pole  for  thirty-four  hours  and  then  started  on  his  return 
journey  the  afternoon  of  April  7. 

The  flags  hoisted  at  the  pole  were :     • 

Silk  American  flag  presented  to  the  Commander  fifteen  years  ago,  and  a 
piece  of  which  he  left  at  his  northernmost  point  on  each  of  his  expeditions. 

The  naval  ensign. 

Flag  of  the  Delta  Kappa  Epsilon  fraternity. 

A  flag  of  peace. 
Peary's  attendant,  Henson,  told  a  story  that  gives  some  graphic  details  of 
the  supreme  moment  when  the  pole  was  reached.    Said  he :    . 

"We  arrived  at  the  pole  just  before  noon,  April  6,  the  party  consisting  of 
the  commander,  myself,  four  Eskimos,  and  thirty-six  dogs,  divided  into  two 
detachments  equal  in  number  and  headed  respectively  by  Commander  Peary 
and  myself.  We  had  left  the  last  supporting  party  when  we  separated  from 
Capt.  Bartlett,  who  was  photographed  by  the  commander.  Capt.  Bartlett 
regretted  that  he  did  not  have  a  British  flag  to  erect  on  the  ice  at  this  spot,  so 
that  the  photograph  might  show  this  as  the  farthest  north  to  which  the  ban- 
ner of  Britian  had  been  advanced. 

"Our  first  task  on  reaching  the  pole  was  to  build  two  igloos  as  the  weather 
was  hazy  and  prevented  taking  accurate  observations  to  confirm  the  distance 
traveled  from  Cape  Columbia.  Having  completed  the  snowhouses,  we  had 
dinner,  which  included  tea  made  on  our  alcohol  stove,  and  then  retired  to 
rest,  thus  sleeping  one  night  at  the  North  Pole. 

"The  Arctic  sun  was  shining  when  I  awoke  and  found  the  commander 
already  up.  There  was  only  wind  enough  to  blow  out  the  small  flags.  The 
ensigns  were  hoisted  toward  noon  from  tent  poles  and  tied  with  fish  line. 

"We  had  figured  out  the  distance  pretty  closely  and  did  not  go  beyond  the 
pole.  The  flags  were  up  about  midday  on  April  7  and  were  not  moved  until 
late  that  evening.  The  haze  had  cleared  away  early,  but  we  wanted  some 
hours  to  make  observations.    We  made  three  close  together. 

"When  we  first  raised  the  American  flag  its  position  was  behind  the  igloos, 
which,  according  to  our  initial  observations,  was  the  position  of  the  pole,  but 
on  taking  subsequent  observations  the  stars  and  stripes  were  moved  and  placed 
150  yards  west  of  the  first  position,  the  difference  in  the  observations  being 
due  perhaps  to  the  moving  ice. 


PEARY'S  FINAL  DASH  115 

"When  the  flag  was  placed  Commander  Peary  exclaimed  m  English: 
'We  will  plant  the  stars  and  stripes  at  the  North  Pole.'  In  the  native  lan- 
guage I  proposed  three  cheers,  which  were  given  in  the  Eskimos'  own  tongue, 

"Commander  Peary  shook  hands  all  around  and  we  had  a  more  liberal 
dinner  than  usual,  each  man  eating  as  much  as  he  pleased.  The  Eskimos 
danced  about  and  showed  great  pleasure  that  the  pole  at  last  was  reached. 
For  years  the  Eskimos  had  been  trying  to  reach  that  spot,  but  it  was  always 
with  them  'Tiqueigh,'  which,  translated,  means,  'get  so  far  and  no  closer.' 
They  exclaimed  in  a  chorus,  'Ting  neigh  timah  ketisher,'  meaning,  'We  have 
got  there  at  last.'  " 

Henson,  who  reached  the  farthest  north  with  Peary  three  years  ago,  said 
that  conditions  were  about  the  same  at  the  pole  as  elsewhere  in  the  Arctic 
circle.  All  was  a  solid  sea  of  ice  with  a  two  foot  lead  of  open  water  two 
miles  from  the  pole.  The  Eskimos  who  went  along  on  the  final  lap  were 
Ootah,  Egingwah,  Ouzadeeah  and  Sigloo,  the  two  first  named  being  brothers. 
Commander  Peary  took  photos  of  Henson  and  the  Eskimos  waving  flags  and 
cheering. 

"We  could  see  no  open  land,"  continued  Henson.  "The  ice  near  the 
igloos  was  at  least  ten  feet  high  and  the  flags  were  placed  on  a  hummock  twenty 
feet  in  height.  The  ice  at  the  pole  is  about  the  same  as  on  the  journey  up,  all 
rafted  in  between  with  small  floes.  Nearly  all  the  winds  we  had  were  from 
the  northeast.  Commander  Peary  had  three  thermometers,  and  the  coldest 
day  was  57  degrees  below  zero  Fahrenheit.  I  believe  there  is  a  little  differ- 
ence in  the  temperature  at  the  pole  from  that  some  distance  south." 

Henson  learned  from  the  Eskimos  that  for  three  days  in  Whale  Sound 
in  August,  1909,  they  saw  a  cloud  of  smoke  and  there  was  an  odor  like 
brimstone.  The  natives  were  greatly  frightened,  and  Henson  thought  a  new 
volcano 'had  erupted  and  so  informed  them. 

On  the  return  the  marches  were  continuous  and  Peary  and  the  Eskimos 
suffered  greatly  from  fatigue.  They  had  their  first  sleep  at  the  end  of  the 
eighth  march  from  the  pole  in  the  igloos  left  by  Bartlett.  Here  there  was  a 
violent  snowstorm. 

It  was  April  23  before  the  exhausted  and  excitement-fevered  travelers  saw 
the  land  again.  Then  they  came  to  Cape  Columbia,  The  Eskimos  were  over- 
joyed to  see  land,  for,  though  faithful  to  the  last  in  Peary's  service,  and  full  of 
confidence  in  him,  they  had  made  up  their  minds  to  a  terrible  fate.    When  they 


116  PEARY'S  FINAL  DASH 

saw  land  they  offered  up  strange  prayers  of  thankfulness  to  their  gods,  and 
then,  with  their  chief,  turned  in  for  solid  rest. 

All  slept  the  sleep  of  the  dead  for  the  most  of  two  days,  occasionally  waking 
and  giving*  the  time  to  drying  their  clothing.  After  repairing  their  ice- 
damaged  sledges  and  giving  the  long-suffering  dogs  a  thorough  rest  they 
resumed  their  journey  and  reached  the  ship  Roosevelt,  April  27. 

How  the  crew  of  the  Roosevelt  cheered  when  they  spied  their  gallant 
chief  coming  over  the  ice-fields  with  his  caravan.  One  shout,  "We  got  to  the 
pole,"  and  all  knew  that  the  hope  of  all  was  a  reality. 

It  was  not  until  Peary  reached  his  ship  that  he  learned  of  Marvin's  fate. 
The  story  of  the  professor's  death  was  obtained  from  one  of  the  Eskimos. 
April  10  Marvin  was  forty-five  miles  from  Cape  Columbia.  He  started  out 
that  morning  walking  ahead.  The  Eskimos  were  delayed  in  packing  the 
sledges,  a  fact  that  permitted  Marvin  to  get  a  good  start  on  them.  When 
the  Eskimos  arrived  at  an  open  lead  they  noticed  that  the  young  ice  was 
broken  about  twenty-five  yards  out  and  they  saw  what  looked  like  a  man's 
body  floating  in  the  center  of  the  lead. 

Owing  to  the  treacherous  condition  of  the  ice  the  Eskimos  could  not 
venture  out.  They  returned  to  the  Roosevelt  and  reported.  Captain  Bart- 
lett  then  went  back  to  the  point  they  designated  and  recovered  Prof.  Marvin's 
spare  boots,  clothing  and  personal  belongings,  which  were  still  on  the  ice 
where  the  Eskimos  had  left  th^m.  The  superstitions  of  their  race  prevented 
the  natives  from  bringing  the  dead  man's  effects  with  them.  Prof.  Marvin's 
records  and  observations  were  saved. 

One  of  Peary's  first  acts  on  reaching  civilization  vv^as  to  telegraph  to  L.  C. 
Beamont,  of  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Peary  relief  expedition 
of  1 90 1,  as  follows: 

"Break  news  of  Marvin's  death  to  his  mother  immediately  before-  she  sees 
it  in  the  papers.  Drowned  April  10,  forty-five  miles  north  of  Cape  Columbia 
while  returning  from  86.39  north  latitude.  Great  loss  to  me  and  to  the  expedi- 
tion.   Every  member  sends  deepest  sympathy.  PEARY." 

Through  friends  in  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  where  Marvin's  aged  mother  lived  the 
message  was  com^eyed  to  her.  A  movement  had  been  started  to  give  Mr. 
Marvin  a  great  welcome  on  his  return  from  the  north  and  the  members  of 
the  family  were  planning  a  celebration  on  his  homecoming. 

Ross  Marvin  was  born  Jan.  28,  1880.  He  graduated  from  the  high  school 
in  Elmira,  won  a  scholarship  to  Cornell  university  and  worked  his  way  through 


PEARY'S  FINAL  DASH-  117 

college,  standing  high  in  all  his  studies  in  the  science  course.  He  applied 
to  Peary  for  a  position  on  the  1906  Peary  expedition  and  proved  of  such 
great  service  that  the  commander  sought  him  out  and  induced  him  to  go  with 
him  on  the  trip  that  succeeded, 

.  Marvin  never  knew  of  his  success. 

In  the  course  of  a  four-hour  talk  in  the  attic  of  a  fish  house,  in  September, 
before  starting  for  Sydney,  N.  F.,  Commander  Peary  revealed  more  of  the 
details  of  his  dash  to  the  pole,  the  danger  of  his  task,  his  methods  of  avoiding 
disaster  and  death  and  his  final  triumph  than  he  has  yet  made  public. 

On  the  deck  of  the  Roosevelt  as  it  laid  in  the  narrow  head  of  this  barren 
rock-bound  harbor  he  was  found  by  a  searching  party  of  newspaper  men,  to 
whom  he  gave  this  greeting : 

"Gentlemen,  I  have  the  North  Pole  aboard.    You  are  welcome  to  it." 

It  was  shortly  after  sunrise.  His  visitors  had  just  arrived  aboard  the 
Tyrian,  a  government  cable  ship,  which  had  been  sent  by  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  to  bring  back  the  famous  explorer  as  its  guest.  Captain  Alexander 
A.  Dickson  of  the  Tyrian  only  a  moment  before  had  conveyed  to  the  com- 
mander this  felicitous  message. 

Peary,  gaunt  from  the  rigors  of  the  Arctic,  his  broad  shoulders  towering 
above  all  who  surrounded  him,  was  visibly  impressed  by  the  scene.  Turning 
to  Captain  Dickson  he  grasped  his  hand  hard  and  drawing  the  lips  of  his  stern 
face  still  more  tensely,  he  said : 

"You  flatter  me,  indeed.  I  appreciate  your  invitation,  but  I  must  stick 
to  my  good  ship.  I  must  go  back  home  on  its  deck.  It  has  been  a  good  friend, 
which  I  would  not  think  it  right  to  leave.  Without  it  I  should  never  have 
been  able  to  have  searched  for  the  pole." 

The  spectacle  will  become  history.  Here  was  a  man  who  said  he  had  re- 
turned from  the  frozen  wilderness  of  the  North  as  the  only  discoverer  of  the 
northern  spindle  of  the  earth.  The  struggles  of  twenty-three  years  in  quest 
of  this  goal  had  plainly  stamped  their  marks  upon  his  features.  They  had 
obliterated,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see,  all  the  softness  and  gentleness  of  human 
nature.  Whenever  a  smile  floated  over  his  face  it  left  it  still  more  tense.  At 
the  end  of  almost  every  hour  he  would  clinch  his  teeth  and  draw  his  lips  taut. 

His  costume  well  befitted  the  occasion.  His  legs  were  encased  in  a  huge 
pair  of  rubber  boots  w'hich  reached  to  his  hips.  His  trousers  were  of  the 
toughest  weave  of  blue  jeans.  A  loose-fitting  blue  flannel  shirt  did  not  hide 
his  powerful  chest,  which  had  the  width  of  a  professional  athlete.    An  old  gray 


118  PEARY'S  FINAL  DASH 

overcoat  fluttered  from  his  shoulders,  and  his  matted  sandy  hair  was  sur- 
mounted by  an  ancient,  battered  black  felt  hat. 

With  an  energy  most  characteristic  he  shook  hands  with  the  whole  group 
around  him. 

"I'll  get  your  name  later,"  he  said.  Then  some  one  asked :  "Commander, 
we  want  to  know  all  about  that  pole  of  yours." 

With  a  quick  sweep  of  the  eyes  Peary  pointed  to  the  greasy  deck.  The 
blubber  of  seventy  walruses,  which  had  been  slaughtered  and  brought  aboard 
the  Roosevelt,  there  to  be  sliced  into  halves  and  quarters  for  distribution  among 
his  faithful  Eskimo  followers,  had  left  the  ship  slimy  and  noisome. 

Although  the  vessel  had  been  lying  in  Battle  Harbor  for  more  than  a 
week  for  the  purpose  of  being  cleaned  and  overhauled,  little  work  seemed 
to  have  been  done.  On  every  side,  and  even  hanging  over  him  from  the 
shrouds,  were  trophies  of  Arctic  hunts,  skins  of  bears,  seals,  foxes,  wolves, 
antlers  and  horns  of  musk  oxen,  deer,  walruses  and  other  creatures  most 
strange  to  a  Southern  eye,  all  drying  in  the  sun. 

"This  is  no  place  for  an  interview,  gentlemen,"  said  the  commander.  "I 
think  it  would  be  much  more  convenient  if  we  were  to  adjourn  to  the  attic  of 
that  fish  house  yonder.  It  is  a  rough  place  and  you  will  have  to  associate  with 
nets,  fish  barrels  and  salt  boxes ;  but  I  think  we  will  be  comfortable.  And  in 
order  that  you  shall  not  be  disappointed  when  we  get  to  the  inquisition  chamber 
over  there,  I  will  state  now  that  I  shall  answer  only  those  questions  which  at 
this  time  I  regard  appropriate." 

This  precautionary  remark  was  generally  interpreted  as  meaning  that  Peary 
was  not  going  to  discuss  Dr.  Cook's  prior  claim  of  the  discovery  of  the  North 
Pole  any  more  than  he  could  help. 

With  an  abrupt  bow,  Peary  suddenly  retired  to  his  little  cabin,  which 
opens  upon  the  rear  deck.  It  looked  to  be  a  very  cozy  place,  where,  despite 
the  assault  of  Arctic  climes,  one  might  think  he  was  in  some  genial  Southern 
latitude.  The  walls  were  covered  v/ith  books,  scientific  and  historical,  with 
here  and  there  such  a  book  of  fiction  as  the  "Last  Days  of  Pompeii."  Here 
also  were  to  be  seen  the  choicest  prizes  of  Arctic  exploration — queer  birds, 
fantastic  teeth  and  bones  and  bits  of  strange-looking  rock. 

When  Peary  had  retired  the  chief  object  of  attention  was  Henson,  who 
helped  him  "nail  the  Stars  and  Stripes"  to  the  pole.  When  first  asked  about 
his  trip  to  the  top  of  the  earth  Henson  shrugged  his  soulders  with  the  reply : 

"I  just  got  there,  that's  all." 


PEARY'S  FINAL  DASH  119 

Captain  Robert  A.  Bartlett,  who  not  only  guided  the  Roosevelt  into  the 
farthermost  waters  of  the  North  at  Cape  Sheridan,  but  also  accompanied 
Peary  farther  than  any  other  white  man  in  his  party,  was  likewise  silent  when 
first  approached. 

"I'd  rather  go  to  the  pole,"  said  he,  "than  have  to  answer  questions 
about  it." 

Promptly  at  the  appointed  hour  Commander  Peary  swung  over  the  side  of 
the  low-decked  Roosevelt  into  a  fisherman's  boat.  It  took  only  a  few  strokes 
to  bring  him  to  land.  Thither  Captain  Dickson  of  the  Tyrian  and  some 
of  his  fellow  officers  had  already  gone. 

With  rapid  strides  the  pole  hunter  climbed  up  the  narrow  stairway  of 
the  fish-house.     Then  followed  a  small  army  of  newspaper  men. 

With  a  single  bound  Peary  leaped  upon  a  heap  of  fish  nets.  There  he  took 
his  seat  and  looked  down  almost  defiantly  upon  his  inquisitors.  Everybody  was 
so  impressed  by  the  occasion  that  no  one  broke  the  silence  for  several  moments. 
Here  in  this  obscure  Labrador  village  a  court  was  about  to  be  held,  at  which 
all  the  world  was  listening.  But  almost  at  the  very  beginning  the  stern- faced 
witness  rebelled.     The  questioning  almost  immediately  began  to  irritate  him. 

He  was  asked,  not  about  himself,  but  about  Dr.  Frederick  Cook,  his  rival, 
who  says  he  reached  the  earth's  topmost  gable  a  year  before  Peary. 

At  first,  however,  Peary  tried  to  conceal  his  resentment.  It  was  evident 
that  he  ached  to  overwhelm  Cook's  claim  with  a  flood  of  argument  but  that 
he  had  firmly  resolved  to  contain  himself. 

However,  Commander  Peary  was  the  first  to  break  the  silence. 

"Well,  gentlemen,  begin,"  he  said. 

"Did  you  find  any  signs  of  Cook?"  was  the  first  question. 

"None  whatever,"  answered  Peary  emphatically.  "Yet  it  would  be  possible 
for  an  explorer  to  have  gone  to  the  pole  by  some  other  route  a  year  previously 
and  left  a  track  which  I  would  not  have  crossed.  Such  a  thing  is  possible, 
but  not  probable." 

"Could  a  man  stay  on  the  mainland  and  fake  observations  of  a  polar  trip 
that  might  fool  some  scientists?"  asked  a  New  York  man  dressed  in  a  straw 
hat  and  Eskimo  vest. 

"The  thing  could  be  done,"  replied  the  pole  finder;  "not  only  I,  but  also 
Sir  George  Nares  and  Admiral  Melville  believe  it  possible." 

"But  do  you  think  that  Cook  really  got  to  the  pole  ?"  insisted  the  strangely 
garbed  questioner. 


120  PEARY'S  FINAL  DASH 

"All  I  shall  say  concerning  Mr,  Cook,"  said  Mr.  Peary,  with  some  show 
of  irritation,  "is  contained  in  two  telegrams."    The  telegrams  were  as  follows : 

"Cook  was  not  at  the  North  Pole  on  April  21,  1908,  or  at  any  other  time. 
This  statement  is  made  advisedly." 

Following  an  abrupt  pause,  a  gentle  youth  on  a  box  of  salt  at  the  further 
end  of  the  loft  put  this  question : 

"How  cold  was  it  at  the  pole?" 

Instantly  the  tense  face  of  the  explorer  relaxed. 

"Not  so  cold  as  you  sometimes  get  it  in  the  Adirondacks,"  he  answered. 
"The  maximum  temperature  was  1 1  below  and  the  minimum  32  degrees  below, 
Fahrenheit.  My  last  preliminary  observations  before  reaching  the  pole  were 
at  89.57  with  a  sextant  and  artificial  horizon.  Of  my  observations  at  the 
pole  I  shall  say  more  later." 

When  a  remark  was  made  concerning  the  rapidity  of  his  return  march 
he  replied : 

"Our  speed  was  not  unusual  when  you  consider  the  favorable  weather  with 
which  we  were  blessed.  We  were  not  vexed  with  cross  winds.  Instead  of 
blowing  east  or  west  and  filling  up  the  trail,  so  as  to  impede  the  retreat  they 
came  almost  continually  from  the  north.  They  packed  the  ice  still  harder 
against  the  land  on  the  southern  shores  of  the  Polar  Sea  and  held  it  firm.  We 
were  not  carried  away  from  our  course  by  the  eastward  drift  as  on  previous 
expeditions. 

"Our  new  type  of  sledges  also  helped  greatly.  One  which  reached  the  pole 
was  named  the  Morris  K.  Jesup.  They  cut  down  the  strain  on  the  dogs  one- 
third  and  on  the  men  nearly  one-half.  Without  them  I  should  never  have 
reached  the  pole." 

"Do  you  ride  on  the  sledges  ?"  asked  somebody. 

"Ride?"  inquired  the  bronze- faced  Peary,  astonished.  "Sir,  in  Arctic 
expeditions  a  man  is  lucky  if  he  is  able  to  walk  without  pushing  his  sledge. 
Usually  he  may  grip  the  rear  and  thrust  it  ahead.  It  is  like  guiding  a  breaking 
plow  drawn  by  oxen.  You  must  also  expect  at  any  moment  that  the  sledge  may 
strike  some  pressure  ridge  tliat  will  wrench  you  off  your  feet. 

"My  return  trip  was  twice  as  rapid  as  the  advance,  for  the  further  reason 
that  our  equipment  grew  lighter  and  lighter.  In  going  north  we  had  used  up 
two-thirds  of  the  rations.  The  cracking  of  the  ice  and  the  formation  of  open 
leads  or  lanes  of  water  were  not  as  formidable  as  on  previous  expeditions. 
This  good  luck  was  also  the  result  of  favorable  winds." 


ROBERT  E.  PEARY, 
Who  nailed  the  stars  and  stripes  to  the  North  Pole  April  6,  1909. 
On  April  26,   1906,  on  his  third  Polar  attempt,  Peary  reached 
latitude  87  degrees  6  minutes,  or  within  200  miles  of  the  North 
Pole. 


DE.  COOK  LANDING  AT  COPENHAGEN. 
Dr.  Cook,  who  reported  xrom  i/erwicK,  ou  oeptemuer  z,  tntti  ne  had  reached  the  North 
Pole   (on  April  21,  1908),  reached  Copenhagen  in  the  Greenland  Govern- 
ment Steamer  Hans  Egede,  on  Saturday  morning,  and  was  met 
by  a  vast   erowd,  headed  by  the   Orown   Prince   of 
Denmark.    This  picture  shows  him  bareheaded. 


PEARY'S  FINAL  DASH  123 

Mention,  was  made  of  the  fate  of  the  Roosevelt  and  its  commander  said : 

"What  will  become  of  the  Roosevelt,  now  that  its  original  mission  has  been 
performed,  will  be  decided  by  the  Peary  Arctic  Club,  to  which  it  belongs.  I  can 
only  make  suggestions.  The  ship  might  be  used  as  a  government  revenue  cutter 
in  Behring  Sea  or  as  a  government  ice  breaker  on  the  New  England  coast." 

"Might  it  not  be  used  as  a  floating  memorial?"  asked  some  one. 

"Italy  has  thus  memoralized  the  Stella  Polar  and  Norway  the  Fram,"  was 
the  non-committal  reply.  "Nansen  first  used  the  Fram,  later  Sverdrup  and 
Amundsen  now  thinks  of  fitting  her  out  for  another  expedition.  Then  again 
the  Roosevelt  might  go  in  quest  of  the  South  Pole.  No,  I  shall  never  try  to 
find  the  South  Pole,  or  take  part  personally  in  other  expeditions  although  I  will 
gladly  help  such  work  in  other  ways." 

Then  the  question  was  asked  which  one  hears  from  the  mouths  of  pessimists 
of  the  "What's  the  use"  variety. 

"What  real  good  will  result  from  finding  the  pole  ?" 

"The  greatest  benefit  to  science,"  replied  the  commander,  "will  come  from 
my  soundings  of  the  Arctic  Ocean,  which  now  define  the  course  of  its  bottom 
from  Cape  Columbia  to  the  pole.  They  therefore  supplement  the  findings  of 
Nansen  and  Admiral  Cagni  on  the  other  side.  Then  there  are  two  big  things 
effected  by  the  attainment  of  the  pole  which  do  not  lie  in  the  scientific  field. 
One  is  man's  final  conquest  of  the  earth,  for  every  inch  of  unattainable  land  is 
a  reproach  to  civilization. 

"The  other  practical  result  from  the  discovery  of  the  North  Pole  will  be  the 
opening  up  of  that  region  to  the  people  of  lower  latitudes.  Within  five  or  at 
least  ten  years  summer  travel  to  the  habitat  of  the  Eskimos  will  be  as  common 
as  it  now  is  to  the  Labrador  shore." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  HEROES. 

The  battle  of  brawn  was  destined  to  be  followed  by  a  battle  of  brains. 

Such  an  achievement  as  the  pole  discovery  is  always  likely  to  bring  a  host 
of  unpleasant  developments  in  its  wake;  and  it  is  sometimes  followed  by  a 
quarrel.  Damage  suits  and  fights  with  deadly  weapons  have  attended  the 
great  discoveries  of  riches.  The  heroism  of  American  sailors  in  the  war 
with  Spain  had,  unfortunately  to  be  followed  by  the  Sampson-Schley  contro- 
versy. And  in  the  case  of  the  North  Pole  discovery  a  quarrel  was  even  more 
inevitable  than  in  similar  circumstances  in  the  past.  It  was  not  in  human 
nature  that  two  men  should  stand  at  once  on  the  pinnacle  of  fame. 

This  chapter  does  not  aim  to  plead  the  cause  of  either  Cook  or  Peary.  It 
is  included  simply  because  the  controversy,  and  the  developments  thereof, 
are  vital  parts  of  the  history  of  the  great  polar  discovery. 

The  trouble  started  promptly  on  the  arrival  of  Peary  at  Indian  Harbor, 
Labrador,  the  first  port  he  touched  on  his  return  journey.  One  may  readily 
understand  the  bitter,  the  almost  unbearable  disappointment  of  Commander 
Peary  when  there  was  brought  to  him,  as  almost  the  first  news  from  his  native 
land,  the  announcement  that  Cook  had  outstripped  him  by  a  year.  It  meant 
that  he  had  fulfilled  an  ambition  that  had  inspired  him  from  boyhood,  only  to 
find  himself  outdistanced  in  the  final  stretch.  Under  this  torturing  sensation 
Peary  rushed  two  telegrams  to  America  before  he  had  seen  or  talked  with  a 
relative  or  an  adviser.  The  first  telegram  was  to  his  wife,  the  other  to  the 
Associated  Press.    Said  the  former  message : 

"Delayed  by  gale.  Don't  worry  about  Cook.  Eskimos  say  Cook  never 
left  sight  of  land.    Tribe  confirms.  BERT." 

The  dispatch  to  the  Associated  Press  read : 

"Indian  Harbor,  Labrador  (By  Wireless  Via  Cape  Ray,  N.  F.),  Sept.  7. 
■ — To  Associated  Press,  New  York:  I  have  nailed  the  stars  and  stripes  to 
the  North  Pole.    This  is  authoritative  and  correct. 

"Cook's  story  should  not  be  taken  too  seriously.    The  two  Eskimos  who 

124 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  HEROES  125 

accompanied  him  say  he  went  no  distance  north,  and  not  out  of  sight  of  land. 
Other  members  of  the  tribe  corroborate  their  story.    ROBERT  E.  PEARY." 

Later  he  sent  the  following  to  New  York : 

"Do  not  trouble  about  Cook's  story  or  attempt  to  explain  any  discrepancies 
in  his  statements.    The  affair  will  settle  itself. 

"He  has  not  been  at  the  pole  on  April  21,  1908,  or  at  any  other  time.  He 
has  simply  handed  the  public  a  gold  brick. 

"These  statements  are  made  advisedly,  and  I  have  proof  of  them.  When 
he  makes  a  full  statement  of  his  journey  over  his  signature  to  some  geo- 
graphical society  or  other  reputable  body,  if  that  statement  contains  the  claim 
that  he  has  reached  the  pole,  I  shall  be  in  a  position  to  furnish  material  that 
may  prove  distinctly  interesting  reading  for  the  public. 

"ROBERT  E.  PEARY." 

It  was  like  a  bombshell — this  unequivocal  charge  that  Cook  had  falsified. 
But  the  least  excited  man  in  the  world  was  Dr.  Cook,  the  physician,  who  at 
that  moment  was  being  cheered  in  Denmark  as  the  conquerer  of  the  Arctic. 

Dr.  Cook  was  at  a  banquet  In  his  honor  in  Copenhagen  when  Commander 
Peary's  dispatch  to  The  Associated  Press  was  read  to  him.  Dr.  Cook  lost 
little  time  in  sending  to  New  York  a  number  of  cablegrams,  in  all  of  which 
he  expressed  his  gratification  that  Peary  had  also  reached  the  pole  and  an- 
nounced his  belief  that  Peary's  observations  would  amply  verify  his  own  claim 
that  he  had  been  to  the  furthermost  point  of  the  compass.  Dr.  Cook  was 
particularly  joyous  that,  with  Commander  Peary's  success,  which  he  did  not  in 
the  least  doubt,  all  the  honor  for  the  achievement  was  surely  American.  In 
one  cablegram  to  New  York  Dr.  Cook  declared  that  the  science  of  explora- 
tion would  benefit  immeasurably  through  the  fact  that  Peary  reached  the  pole 
by  a  route  different  from  his,  thus  covering  another  large  unknown  space  and, 
with  the  Cook  observations,  clearing  a  mystery  which  had  perplexed  geo- 
graphers for  many  centuries. 

To  a  newspaper  correspondent  Dr.  Cook  said:  "By  going  much  farther 
to  the  east  than  I  did  Commander  Peary  has  cut  out  of  the  unknown  an  enor- 
mous space  which,  of  course,  will  be  vastly  useful  and  scientifically  interesting." 

Then  he  added,  with  evident  sincerity:  "I  am  the  first  to  shout  'Hurrah 
for  Peary!'  Since  he  has  telegraphed  an  announcement  that  he  has  reached 
the  pole  then  it  is  true,  and  I  congratulate  him." 

Asked  whether  Commander  Peary  was  likely  to  have  found  traces  of  his 


126  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  HEROES 

progress  over  the  polar  seas,  Dr.  Cook  replied :  "No  he  scarcely  would  have 
come  across  my  tracks." 

Dr.  Cook  then  said:  "I  understand  that  a  rumor  is  current  about  my 
having  taken  some  of  Peary's  provisions  at  Etah ;  this  is  founded  on  Eskimo 
gossip  and  misunderstanding.  I  desire  no  controversy.  I  simply  say  in  reply 
to  any  such  assertion,  *No.'    Commander  Peary  is  a  friend  of  mine." 

Cook's  hearty  congratulations  did  not  check  Peary's  charges.  On  Sep- 
tember 14  he  was  interviewed  under  picturesque  circumstances  on  the  deck  of 
the  Roosevelt  off  Battle  Harbor,  Labrador.  On  this  occasion  he  said :  "I  am 
the  only  white  man  who  has  ever  reached  the  North  Pole  and  I  am  prepared 
to  prove  it." 

The  Associated  Press  tug  Douglas  Thomas,  after  a  stormy  passage  up 
the  west  coast  of  Newfoundland  and  through  the  Strait  of  Belle  Isle  from 
Sydney,  arrived  at  the  lonely  whaling  and  mission  settlement  at  noon  Septem- 
ber 14.  A  squall  of  rain  was  sweeping  over  the  harbor  as  the  Thomas  steamed 
in,  but  with  glasses  it  was  possible  to  make  out  the  mast  and  hull  of  the  Arctic 
steamer  Roosevelt  moored  in  the  inner  bay.  The  Thomas  broke  out  the 
"North  Pole"  flag,  the  s-ame  emblem  that  was  flying  from  the  mizzenmast  of 
the  Rodsevelt,  and  signaled  "The  Associated  Press  congratulates  you." 

The  Roosevelt  then  signaled  the  thanks  of  Commander  Peary  for  this 
message,  whereupon  the  Thomas  gave  three  loud  blasts  of  her  whistle.  In 
response  there  came  from  the  Roosevelt  a  chorus  of  barking  and  yelping  from 
the  Eskimo  dogs  on  board,  that  echoed  back  from  the  surrounding  hills. 

The  Thomas  drew  near  to  the  Roosevelt.  The  steamer  looked  little  the 
worse  for  her  second  trip  to  the  polar  regions.  Along  the  rail  were  gathered 
"the  members  of  her  famous  crew,  among  them  the  redoubtable  Capt.  Robert 
Bartlett,  who  was  at  once  recognized. 

Capt.  Bartlett  invited  the  Thomas  to  tie  alongside  and  the  correspondent 
to  come  on  board  without  delay.  The  correspondent  clambered  over  the 
weather-beaten  bulwarks  and  proceeded  direct  to  the  cabin  to  meet  the  man 
who  has  stood  upon  the  apex  of  the  world. 

Peary  said :  "I  have  already  stated  publicly  that  Cook  has  not  been  to  the 
pole.  This  I  reaffirm,  and  I  will  stand  by  it,  but  I  decline  to  discuss  the  details 
of  the  matter.    These  will  come  out  later. 

"I  have  said  that  Dr.  Cook's  statement  that  he  reached  the  pole  should  not 
be  taken  seriously,  and  that  I  'have  him  nailed'  by  concrete  proofs  to  support 
my  statement." 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  HEROES  127 

V 
More  and  more  bitterly  raged  the  controversy,  until  the  two  explorers 
stood  in  the  position  of  calling  each  other  thieves  as  well  as  liars.  Each 
charged  the  other  with  making  use  of  supplies  intended  for  the  use  of  one 
man  only.  This  arose  from  the  fact  that  both  made  Etah,  Greenland,  a  base 
of  operations;  and  their  tracks  crossed  a  number  of  times.  One  assertion 
made  by  Cook's  friends  was  that  Peary  opened  Cook's  letters;  but  this  was 
indignantly  denied  by  Peary  and  not  proven  by  Cook. 

One  interesting  story  grew  out  of  the  matter  of  supplies.  In  this  connec- 
tion a  Danish  physician  wrote  a  letter  which  made  sensational  reading  for 
those  watching  the  argument.    This  letter  said : 

"Now  that  Dr.  Cook  has  gone  (from  Greenland),  I  am  no  longer  under 
any  obligation  to  keep  silent,  and  will  exercise  my  right  to  publish  the  story 
about  the  house  in  Annatok,  a  story  which  Dr.  Cook  himself  had  too  much 
delicacy  to  relate  to  the  world.  I  write  it  according  to  my  memory,  in  the 
same  'manner  that  Cook  in  Egedesminde  told  it  to  me,  and  I  am  fully  con- 
vinced that  in  no  details  are  my  recollections  wrong. 

"Dr.  Cook  had  built  his  house  for  stores  in  Annatok,  north  of  Etah,  and  it 
was  this  depot  which  he  started  to  reach  in  February,  1909,  crossing  Smith 
Sound.  It  was  a  pretty  large  house,  the  walls  being  built  of  heavily  filled 
provision  boxes,  so  that  Dr.  Cook  knew  when  this  important  point  was  reached 
everything  was  safe.  He  had,  before  the  start,  arranged  with  a  wealthy 
young  friend  named  Harry  Whitney  that  he  have  the  right  to  use  the  house 
while  hunting  musk  oxen  for  sport  in  the  winter  of  i9o8-'o9. 

"When  Dr.  Cook  and  his  two  Eskimos,  exhausted  and  half  Starved,  came 
within  a  shot's  distance  of  the  house  in  Annatok  young  Whitney  came  out  to 
bid  him  welcome,  but  inside  the  house  was  a  stranger,  a  giant  Newfoundland 
boatswain,  on  watch.  This  man  had  been  placed  in  Dr.  Cook's  house  by  Peary 
when  the  latter  passed  Etah  with  his  ship  bound  north. 

"Peary  had  given  the  boatswain  a  written  order,  which  commenced  with 
the  following  words:  'This  house  belongs  to  Dr.  Frederick  A.  Cook,  but 
Dr.  Cook  is  long  ago  dead  and  there  is  no  use  to  search  after  him.  Therefore 
I,  Commander  Robert  E.  Peary,  install  my  boatswain  in  this  deserted  house.' 

"This  paper  the  boatswain,  who  could  neither  read  nor  write,  exhibited  to 
Dr.  Cook  and  the  latter  took  a  copy  of  this  wonderful  document. 

"Dr.  Cook  gave  me  a  lively  account  of  how  the  young  millionaire,  Mr. 
Whitney,  during  the  whole  winter  was  treated  like  a  dog  by  the  giant  boat- 


128  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  HEROES 

swain,  and  how  he  had  calmly  witnessed  the  sailor  bartering  Dr.  Cook's  pro- 
visions for  fox  and  bear  skins  for  himself. 

"Dr.  Cook  also  had  to  put  a  good  face  on  the  unpleasant  situation.  He 
had  to  beg  to  get  into  his  own  house,  and  had  to  make  a  compromise  with  the 
boatswain  with  strong  fists. 

"Dr.  Cook  made  a  present  of  the  house  with  all  its  contents  to  his  two 
faithful  Eskimos,  with  the  provision  that  Whitney  was  to  have  the  use  of  the 
house  as  long  as  his  hunting  trip  lasted,  but  he  was  compelled  to  Jet  the  New- 
foundland boatswain  continue  his  watch.  The  boatswain,  however,  received 
strict  orders  not  to  exchange  any  more  of  the  provisions  or  guns." 

The  other  side  of  this  argument  was  presented  by  Herbert  L.  Bridgman, 
who  said : 

"A  false  light  has  been  put  on  the  account  of  taking  Dr.  Cook's  stores.  I 
have  received  documents  from  Commander  Peary  which  prove  that  his  taking 
those  abandoned  stores  was  right. 

"Rudolph  Francke  of  the  Cook  expedition  came  down,  Peary  took  care  of 
him.  Peary  found  at  various  stations  letters  from  Francke,  the  most  imploring 
letters  filled  with  wild  appeals  for  aid. 

"Commander  Peary  took  Francke  with  him  to  his  doctor  at  Etah.  The 
doctor  himself  has  written  me  to  that  effect.  He  found  Francke  suffering  from 
scurvy.    He  had  him  cared  for. 

"Then  Peary  pushed  along  to  the  points  where  he  found  Cook's  stores  that 
he  established  the  year  before.  He  guarded  these  from  bears  and  gave  aid  to 
members  of  the  party.  He  even  offered  to  send  scouts  to  endeavor  to  locate 
Dr.  Cook.    Nothing  more  could  have  been  done  by  mortal  man  than  Peary  did. 

"When  he  found  abandoned  stores  he  took  them.  As  an  officer  of  the 
United  States  navy  he  had  a  right  to  these.  It  is  quite  the  common  practice 
among  explorers  to  take  all  abandoned  stores.  By  his  action  Peary  simply 
followed  custom.  All  his  letters,  written  long  before  this  controversy  arose, 
prove  conclusively  that  Peary  was  guilty  of  no  offense  against  Dr.  Cook." 

Still  another,  from  the  Peary  camp,  was  that  the  instruments  Dr.  Cook 
had  with  him  were  borrowed  from  Commander  Peary  for  another  purpose. 
This  man,  who  has  been  among  the  leaders  of  those  who  have  insisted  that 
Dr.  Cook  must  submit  incontrovertible  proof,  declares  the  Brooklyn  physician 
borrowed  the  astronomical  instruments  for  the  purpose  of  making  observations 
"while  on  a  fishing  and  hunting  trip  along  the  Labrador  coast." 

Members  of  the  Peary  club  also  declared  the  Eskimos  used  by  Dr.  Cook 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  HEROES  129 

belonged  to  Commander  Peary  and  that  he  had  no  permission  to  seek  their 
assistance. 

Cool<;'s  statement  on  this  point  was  this : 

"I  will  not  enter  into  any  controversy  over  the  subject  with  Commander 
Peary  further  than  to  say  that  if  he  says  I  have  taken  his  Eskimos  my  reply 
is  that  Eskimos  are  nomads.  They  are  owned  by  nobody,  and  are  not  the 
private  property  of  either  Commander  Peary  or  myself.  The  Eskimos  engaged 
by  me  were  paid  ten  times  what  they  demanded  to  accompany  me. 

"As  to  the  story  that  Commander  Peary  says  I  took  provisions  stored  by 
him,  my  reply  is  that  Peary  took  my  provisions,  obtaining  them  from  the 
custodian  on  the  plea  that  I  had  been  so  long  absent  that  he  was  to  organize 
relief  stations  for  me  in  case  I  should  be  alive.  Of  this  I  have  documentary 
proof." 

The  above  gives  a  fair  idea  of  the  counter-charges  brought  by  the  rival 
explorers  and  their  friends.  The  more  vital  accusations,  affecting  the  veracity 
of  the  two  men,  remained  to  be  settled  before  a  "jury  of  their  peers," — the 
men  of  science,  doubters  by  profession,  who  were  to  determine  what  the  world 
gained  in  knowledge  by  the  two  dashes  northward.  Of  this  no  account  can 
be  given  here.  The  controversy  was  evidently  one  of  those  never  to  be  settled 
by  a  verdict  even  of  so  formidable  a  jury  as  that  described.  The  true  verdict 
will  be  that  of  posterity.  And  it  is  not  very  venturesome  to  suggest  that  the 
plain  citizen  of  years  to  come  will  accord  equal  honor  to  the  men  who  risked 
all  that  they  might  stand  on  the  earth's  axis. 

Admiral  Schley,  made  just  by  the  fury  of  his  experience  in  the  Sampson 
matter,  said  when  he  heard  of  Peary's  triumph : 

"I  am  as  fully  delighted  with  the  news  that  Commander  Peary  has  been 
successful  as  I  was  when  word  was  received  from  Dr.  Cook.  He  will  share  the 
great  honors  for  although  Dr.  Cook  was  the  first  to  be  successful  in  the  quest, 
Peary  comes  in  for  equal  honors  as  his  feat  is  no  less  wonderful  than  that  of 
the  doctor. 

"There  is  no  question  in  my  mind  as  to  the  veracity  of  Peary's  state- 
ment as  I  know  him  to  be  a  man  of  the  highest  integrity  and  he  probably  has 
ample  records  and  proofs  to  back  up  his  contentions  that  he  has  reached  the 
point  of  highest  latitude.  The  announcement  that  he  has  succeeded  will  do 
much  to  dispel  the  skepticism  manifest  in  certain  quarters  as  to  the  ability  of 
any  human  being  to  penetrate  to  the  pole. 

"This  country  has  much  to  be  proud  of  because  of  the  fact  that  two  of 


130  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  HEROES 

its  representatives  have  brought  such  a  great  honor  home.  It  is  a  wonderful 
triumph  for  American  determination,  grit,  and  physical  endurance  and  skill. 

"It  would  be  just  as  impossible  for  Peary  to  forge  records  and  data  as  it 
would  for  Dr.  Cook.  There  should  be  no  skepticism  because  the  men  report 
their  success  with  such  a  short  interval  between.  Each  was  determined  to  do 
or  die  in  the  last  expedition  and  Peary  deserves  as  much  credit  for  succeeding 
as  does  Cook. 

"All  hail  to  the  gallant  commander,  again  I  say.  I  rejoice  over  his  success 
and  that  it  is  to  the  credit  of  this  nation  that  two  of  our  intrepid  explorers 
have  been  the  only  ones  to  reach  the  long  sought  for  goal." 

WHERE  PEARY  CORROBORATES  COOK. 

The  question  whether  Cook  or  Peary  discovered  the  North  Pole  may  never 
be  settled.  It  bids  fair  to  become  one  of  history's  conundrums  and  to  remain 
a  matter  of  one  man's  word  against  another's. 

Peary  has  now  told  the  detailed  story  of  his  dash  to  the  pole.  In  read- 
ing it  one  can  not  escape  the  surprising  fact  that  it  tends  to  corroborate 
Cook's  narrative  in  several  particulars. 

The  Arctic  sharps  and  wiseacres  doubted  Cook  when  he  said  he  covered 
fifteen  miles  a  day.  They  doubted  him  when  he  spoke  of  "purple  snows" 
and  "milling  ice."  They  doubted  him  because  he  took  no  soundings  of  the 
sub-polar  sea.  They  doubted  him  because  he  said  he  had  pressed  toward 
the  pole  in  winter.  They  doubted  him  because  there  was  no  white  man  with 
him — only  two  Eskimos  who  knew  nothing  of  latitude  and  longtitude.  They 
doubted  him  because  he  brought  out  only  the  records  of  his  own  observations 
and  reckonings  to  prove  his  word. 

So  much  for  Cook.  Now  what  of  Peary  ? 

Peary  was  the  only  white  man  of  his  party  to  reach  the  pole.  He  was 
accompanied  by  four  Eskimos  and  Matt  Henson,  his  negro  body  servant.  He 
alone  made  observations  and  reckonings  at  the  pole.  None  of  the  men  with 
him  knew  anything  about  determining  latitude  or  longtitude.  They  could  not 
have  known  they  had  reached  the  pole  unless  Peary  had  told  them.  Like 
Cook,  Peary  brought  back  practically  his  own  word  alone  to  support  his 
claim  that  he  had  attained  the  earth's  apex. 

When  we  come  to  rate  travel,  Cook's  fifteen  miles  a  day  seems  modest  in 
comparison  with  the  distance  Peary  covered.  When  near  the  eighty-eighth 
parallel  Peary  decided  to  attempt  to  reach  the  pole  in  five  days'  marches. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  HEROES 


131 


From  the  Philadelphia  Record 

According  to  his  story,  he  made  twenty-five  miles  on  the  first  day,  twenty  on 
the  second,  twenty  on  the  third,  twenty-five  on  the  fourth  and  forty — yes 
forty! — on  the  fifth.  On  these  last  five  days  he  traveled  at  an  average  rate 
of  twenty-six  miles  a  day. 

And  on  the  return  trip  from  the  pole  to  Cape  Columbia  he  made  even 
better  time.  He  tried,  he  says,  on  his  return  trip  to  make  double  the  distance 


132  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  HEROES 

he  covered  on  his  dash  to  the  pole.  "As  a  matter  of  fact,"  he  declares,  "we 
nearly  did  this,  covering  regularly  on  our  return  journey  five  outward  marches 
in  three  return  marches." 

It  is  easy  to  figure  out  the  average  rate  of  speed  he  made  on  his  return 
trip.  He  started  back  from  the  pole,  he  says,  on  April  7  and  reached  Cape 
Columbia  on  April  23,  covering  the  450  miles  in  sixteen  days.  This  is  a 
daily  rate  of  28.12  miles  a  day. 

Will  the  Arctic  experts  who  declared  it  impossible  for  Cook  to  make  fifteen 
miles  a  day  charge  Peary  with  falsehood  when  he  says  he  made  forty  ? 

In  the  matter  of  soundings  what  did  Peary  do  ?  Five  miles  from  the  pole, 
he  says,  he  made  a  hole  in  some  new  ice  and  took  soundings.  All  his  wire, 
1,500  fathoms,  he  says,  was  sent  down  without  finding  bottom.  In  pulling 
it  up  the  wire  parted  and  lead  and  wire  were  lost.  Peary  threw  the  rest  of 
his  sounding  apparatus  away. 

We  learn  from  Peary's  story  that  he  started  for  the  pole  earlier  in  the 
season  than  Cook.  He  started  in  February,  Cook  in  March.  He  reached 
the  pole  fifteen  days  earlier  in  the  season — Cook  fixes  the  date  as  April  21  and 
Peary  as  April  6.  This  would  seem  to  dispel  all  doubt  about  Cook's  ability 
to  travel  in  what  is  winter  weather  in  the  Arctic. 

Cook's  references  to  "milling  ice"  and  "purple  snows"  would  seem  unim- 
portant, except  that  the  doubting  Thomases  have  seized  upon  it.  Peary  says 
that  as  he  approached  the  pole  he  found  the  ice  in  motion  that  was  both  visible 
and  audible.  And,  though  he  says  nothing  of  "purple  snows,"  he  describes 
the  surface  of  the  old  floes  as  being  "dotted  with  the  sapphire  ice  of  the  previ- 
ous summer's  lakes." 

So  if  we  doubt  Cook,  why  should  we  not  doubt  Peary?  And  if  we 
believe  Peary,  why  should  we  not  believe  Cook?  Peary's  is  the  unemotional, 
detailed,  matter-of-fact  story  of  a  scientist.  Cook's  is  the  breathless  and 
exultant  tale  of  a  triumphant  adventurer. 

If  both  Peary  and  Cook  reached  the  pole — and  there  is,  on  the  face  of 
things,  no  more  reason  to  doubt  one  than  to  doubt  the  other — their  expedi- 
tions must  remain  distinct  in  purpose  and  character.  The  one  was  a  scientific 
achievement,  the  ether  a  heroic  adventure. 


CHAPTER   XII. 
PEARY'S    FIRST    VOYAGES. 

The  determination  to  probe  the  mysteries  of  the  far  north  which  throbbed 
in  Peary's  blood  found  full  vent  when,  in  1891,  he  set  out  on  a  journey  which 
was  to  comprehend  an  overland  journey  to  the  north  coast  of  Greenland. 
Owing  to  the  disasters  that  had  overtaken  several  government  expeditions, 
Peary  was  unable  to  secure  support  for  his  scheme  from  the  navy  department. 
This  support,  however,  he  secured  from  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Nat- 
ural Sciences.    He  had  already  gained  experience  by  a  short  journey  in  1886. 

The  trip  of  1891  was  momentous  in  several  respects;  and  in  one  way  it 
was  unique :  a  woman  was  in  the  party.  This  was  Mrs.  Peary,  the  same 
woman  who  cried  out  her  delight  eighteen  years  later  over  her  husband's  at- 
tainment of  his  life  ambition. 

The  accounts  of  the  journey  which  follow  are  taken  from  G.  Firth  Scott's 
book,  "From  Franklin  to  Nansen."  Describing  the  start  of  the  expedition, 
the  writer  says : 

"The  party  left  New  York  on  June  6,  1891,  on  board  the  steamer  Kite, 
for  Whale  Sound,  on  the  northwest  coast  of  Greenland.  The  voyage  was 
satisfactory  in  every  way  until  June  24,  when  an  unfortunate  accident  befell 
the  leader. 

"The  Kite  had  encountered  some  ice  which  was  heavy  enough  to  check 
her  progress,  and,  to  get  through  it,  the  captain  had  to  ram  his  ship.  This 
necessitated  a  constant  change  from  going  ahead  to  going  astern,  and,  as  there 
was  a  good  deal  of  loose  ice  floating  about,  the  rudder  frequently  came  into 
collision  with  it  when  the  vessel  was  backing.  Lieutenant  Peary,  who  was  on 
deck  during  one  of  these  maneuvers,  went  over  to  the  wheelhouse  to  see 
how  the  rudder  was  bearing  the  strain.  As  he  stood  behind  the  wheelhouse, 
the  rudder  struck  a  heavy  piece  of  ice  and  was  forcibly  jerked  over,  the  tiller, 
as  it  swung,  catching  Lieutenant  Peary  by  the  leg  and  pinning  him  against  the 
wall  of  the  house.  There  was  no  escape  from  the  position,  and  the  pressure 
of  the  tiller  gradually  increased  until  the  bone  of  the  leg  snapped. 

133 


134  PEARY'S  FIRST  VOYAGES 

"The  doctor,  who  formed  one  of  the  party,  immediately  set  the  Hmb; 
but  the  sufferer  refused  to  return  home,  and  when,  a  few  days  later,  the 
Kite  reached  McCormick  Bay  (near  latitude  78  degrees)  he  was  carried 
ashore  strapped  to  a  plank. 

"The  material  for  a  comfortably-sized  house  was  part  of  the  outfit  of 
the  expedition,  and  this  was  in  course  of  erection  the  day  that  Lieutenant 
Peary  was  landed.  For  the  accommodation  of  himself  and  wife,  a  tent  was 
put  up  behind  the  half-completed  house,  and,  as  a  high  wind  arose,  the  re- 
mainder of  the  party  returned  on  board  the  Kite. 

"As  the  hours  passed  away  the  wind  became  stronger.  The  tent  swayed 
to  and  fro,  and  Mrs.  Peary,  as  she  sat  beside  her  invalid  and  sleeping  husband, 
realized  what  it  was  to  be  lonely  and  helpless.  She  and  her  husband  were  the 
only  people  on  shore  for  miles ;  her  husband  was  unable  to  move,  and  she  was 
without  even  a  revolver  with  which  to  defend  herself.  What,  she  asked 
herself,  would  be  the  result  if  a  bear  came  into  the  tent  ?  She  cpuld  not  make 
the  people  on  board  the  Kite  hear,  and  she  was  without  a  weapon.  Through- 
out the  stay  in  the  North,  Mrs.  Peary  proved  herself  not  only  to  be  a  woman 
of  strong  nerve  and  self-reliance,  but  also  an  excellent  shot  with  either  gun, 
rifle  or  revolver.  It  was,  however,  as  much  as  she  could  stand  when  her 
anxious  ears  caught  the  sound  of  heavy  breathing  outside  the  tent. 

"For  a  time  she  sat  still,  fearing  to  disturb  her  husband,  until  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  sound  compelled  her  to  look  out.  A  school  of  white  whales 
were  playing  close  inshore,  and  it  was  the  noise  of  their  blowing,  softened 
by  the  wind,  which  had  so  disturbed  her.  But  so  self-possessed  was  she  over 
it  that  her  husband  did  not  know  till  long  afterwards  the  anxiety  she  had 
experienced  during  the  first  night  she  spent  on  the  Greenland  shore. 

"The  following  day  rapid  progress  was  made  with  the  house,  and  some 
of  the  party  stayed  on  shore  for  the  night,  so  that  there  was  always  someone 
within  call  of  the  invalid's  tent  until  the  house  was  completed  and  he  was 
removed  into  it.  By  that  time  the  Kite  had  started  home  again,  and  the 
little  party  of  seven  were  left  to  make  all  their  arrangements  for  the  winter. 

"They  had  determined  to  rely  entirely  upon  their  own  exertions  for  the 
supply  of  meat  for  the  winter  and  also  to  obtain  their  fur  clothing  on  the 
spot,  killing  the  animals  necessary  for  the  material  and  engaging  some  of  the 
local  Eskimo  to  make  up  the  suits.  Deer  would  give  both  meat  and  fur,  and 
as  there  was  every  prospect  of  the  neighborhood  affording  them  in  plenty,  as 


PEARY'S  FIRST  VOYAGES  135 

soon  as  the  house  was  up  and  the  stores  packed,  the  majority  started  away 
in  search  of  game. 

"The  spot  where  they  were  landed,  and  where  they  had  erected  their  camp, 
was  on  a  verdure-covered  slope  lying  between  the  sea  and  the  high  range  of  bluff 
hills  which  towered  about  i,ooo  feet  over  them.  In  the  spring  the  ground  was 
covered  with  grass  and  flowers;  the  bay  in  front  was  full  of  seal,  walrus, 
whales  and  other  marine  inhabitants,  and  along  the  hills  behind  experience 
showed  that  game  was  present  in  abundance.  The  Etah  Eskimo,  the  most 
northerly  people  in  existence,  lived  their  quaint,  out-of-the-world  lives  along 
the  shore  of  the  bay  and  neighboring  inlets,  and,  as  soon  as  the  camp  was 
settled,  they  were  kept  busily  employed  in  the  making  of  fur  garments,  proving 
themselves  docile  and  peaceful.  It  was  often  difficult  for  the  members  of  the 
expedition  to  realize  that  the  site  of  their  camp,  with  the  abundance  of  food 
to  be  had,  was  only  from  fifty  to  eighty  miles  from  the  spots  where  the  cast- 
aways of  the  Polaris  suffered  so  acutely  and  the  members  of  the  Greely  expe- 
dition slowly  starved,  many  of  them  to  death.  For  more  than  a  year  the  little 
party  of  seven  lived  in  good  health,  without  a  suggestion  of  scurvy  making 
its  appearance  and  with  only  one  fatality,  which,  moreover,  was  accidental." 
The  Pearys  gave  much  time  on  this  expedition  to  study  of  the  life  of  the 
Eskimos,  whose  traits  will  be  considered  later  on  in  this  volume.  Some  of  the 
interesting  things  they  learned  were  as  follows : 

"Mrs.  Peary,  as  the  first  white  woman  the  Eskimos  had  ever  seen,  was  a 
particular  object  of  attention.  As  their  custom  is  for  men  and  women  to  dress 
very  much  alike,  they  could  not  quite  understand  Mrs.  Peary's  costume,  and 
when  the  first  arrivals  saw  her  and  Lieutenant  Peary  together,  they  looked  from 
one  to  the  other,  and  ultimately  had  to  ask  which  of  the  two  was  the  white 
woman. 

"The  tribe  did  not  number  two  hundred  in  all;  they  held  no  communica- 
tion with  the  Eskimo  farther  south,  and,  except  for  the  occasional  visit  of  a 
sealer  or  a  whaler,  knew  nothing  of  the  outer  world.  None  had  ever  seen 
a  tree  growing,  nor  had  they  ever  penetrated  over  the  ridge  of  land  which  lay 
back  from  the  coast,  and  over  which  glimpses  were  caught  of  the  great  ice-cap. 
The  latter,  they  said,  was  where  the  Eskimo  went  when  they  died,  and  if 
any  man  attempted  to  go  so  far  the  spirits  would  get  hold  of  him  and  keep 
him  there.  They  consequently  warned  Lieutenant  Peary  against  venturing. 
There  was  no  seal  up  there;  no  bear;  no  deer;  only  ice  and  snow  and  spirits, 
so  what  reason  had  a  man  for  going  ? 


136      .  PEARY'S  FIRST  VOYAGES 

"Their  belongings  were  extremely  simple.  A  kayak,  a  sledge,  one  or  two 
dogs,  a  tent  made  of  walrus  hide  or  sealskin,  some  weapons,  and  a  stone  lamp, 
comprised,  with  the  clothes  they  wore,  their  property.  Wood  was  the  most 
valuable  article  they  knew,  because  they  could  use  it  for  so  many  purposes,  and 
had  so  little  of  it.  The  possession  of  knives  and  needles  was  greatly  desired, 
but  scissors  did  not  appeal  to  them,  since  what  they  could  not  cut  with  a  knife 
they  could  bite  with  their  close  even  teeth.  Money  had  neither  a  suggestion 
nor  a  use  with  them ;  trade,  if  carried  out  at  all,  being  merely  the  bartering  of 
one  article  for  another. 

"The  animals  they  liked  best  were  dogs  and  seals;  the  former  being  their 
beast  of  burden  and  constant  companion,  the  latter  the  provider  of  food, 
raiment,  covering  and  light.  Every  seal  killed  belonged  to  the  man  who 
killed  it,  but  the  rules  of  the  tribe  required  that  all  larger  animals  should  be 
shared  among  the  members  in  the  neighborhood ;  the  skin  of  a  bear,  however, 
remaining  in  the  possession  of  the  man  who  secured  it.  But  so  unsophisticated 
and  easy-going  are  the  contented  little  people  that  individual  property  scarcely 
exists  with  them;  every  one  is  ready  and  willing  to  share  what  he  has  with 
another  if  need  be.  The  articles  borrowed,  however,  are  always  returned,  or 
made  good  if  broken  or  lost.  No  one  can  either  read  or  write;  the  boys  are 
taught  how  to  hunt,  how  to  manage  the  kayak  and  sledge,  and  how  to  make 
and  use  the  weapons  of  the  chase,  while  the  girls  are  taught  tiow  to  sew  the 
fur  garments,  and  keep  the  stone  lamp  burning  with  blubber  and  moss,  so 
as  to  prepare  the  drinking  water  and  the  frizzled  seal  flesh  they  eat.  For 
the  rest,  their  chief  desire  is  to  live  as  happily  as  they  can,  and  this,  according 
to  those  who  have  been  amongst  them,  they  manage  to  do  merrily  and  well. 

"During  the  visits  paid  to  the  different  encampments  by  Lieutenant  Peary 
and  his  wife,  about  a  score  of  dogs  were  obtained,  a  number  which  would  be 
sufficient  to  carry  out  the  work  of  the  ensuing  spring.  They  were  usually 
obtained  in  exchange  for  needles  and  knives,  but  the  purpose  for  which  they 
were  needed  always  formed  a  subject  of  wonder  to  the  unambitious  'huskies.'  " 

The  winter  in  Greenland  passed  without  extraordinary  incident.  By  the 
middle  of  April  preparations  were  made  for  pushing  on  to  a  point  where 
further  knowledge  could  be  gleaned.  It  was  Lieutenant  Peary's  plan  to 
journey  with  one  sledge — which  was  followed  by  a  supporting  party — into 
the  unknown  interior  of  Greenland,  and  over  a  great  ice-cap  that  makes  the 
center  of  the  country  a  huge  mountain.  The  start  was  made  April  30.  Each 
sledge  had  a  team  of  ten  dogs  and  was  laden  with  food  and  scientific  instru- 


PEARY'S  FIRST  VOYAGES  137 

ments.     Mrs.   Peary,   of  course,   remained  in  her  temporary  home.     Says 
Mr.  Scott  in  describing  this  trip : 

"The  two  parties  kept  together  until  the  costal  range  was  surmounted,  and 
the  beginning  of  the  ice-cap  was  reached.  Here  fhe  sledge  which  was  to  do 
the  great  journey  was  laden  with  a  full  load,  and  the  two  explorers  started 
forward,  Lieutenant  Peary  leading  the  way  with  a  staff  to  which  was  at- 
tached a  silk  banner — tne  Stars  and  Stripes — worked  by  Mrs.  Peary, 

"The  first  of  the  ice-cap  was  a  stretch  of  some  fifteen  miles  of  ice,  formed 
into  enormous  dome-shaped  masses.  They  toiled  up  one  side  but  traveled 
easily  down  the  other,  and  so  on,  up  and  down,  until  they  had  attained  an 
altitude  of  nearly  9,000  feet  above  the  sea  level,  when  they  found  that  they 
were  on  a  vast  expanse  of  snow.  The  white  unbroken  surface  stretched  away 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  unbroken  by  a  ridge  or  rise,  everywhere  flat, 
white  and  immense.  This  was  the  great  ice-cap,  the  frozen  covering  of  the 
interior  of  Greenland,  the  unknown  region  where  no  man  had  yet  set  foot. 

"But  it  was  a  mistake  to  term  it  an  ice-cap.  They  found  it  to  be  rather 
a  desert,  a  Sahara  with  dry  drifting  snow  instead  of  the  dry  burning  sand. 
And,  like  Sahara,  it  had  its  days  of  storm,  when  the  snow  whirled  in  clouds 
just  as  the  sand  rises  before  the  scorching  blast  of  the  simoom.  Very  won- 
derful was  the  first  experience  of  this  Greenland  dust-storm.  The  sky  over- 
head was  filled  with  dull  grey  clouds,  heavy  and  opaque,  and  the  gloom  spread 
all  around,  so  that  whichever  way  one  looked  there  was  the  same  impenetrable 
veil  of  grey  gloomy  haze.  The  snow  lost  its  dazzling  whiteness  and  took  in- 
stead the  tint  of  the  gloom  of  the  surrounding  atmosphere.  Then  the  wind 
came,  at  first  in  fitful  gusts  but  later  growing  into  a  steady  blow,  the  opening 
squalls  lifting  the  dry  surface  snow  and  whirling  it  up  in  the  air.  The  steady 
breeze  caught  it  and  carried  it  along  in  a  constantly  moving  stream  some  two 
feet  deep,  and  it  was  then  that  the  effect  of  the  storm  was  most  pronounced. 
The  drifting  particles  of  snow  made  a  curious  rustling  noise  as  they  moved 
and  as  they  whirled  around  the  travelers'  legs  the  feet  were  hidden  beneath 
the  dense  moving  veil.  As  a  result,  it  was  as  though  one  were  walking  on 
nothing  and  going  nowhere,  for  the  grey  gloom  all  around  made  one  un- 
conscious of  either  direction  or  space,  and  the  moving  snow  prevented  one 
seeing  the  feet  or  realizing  that  there  was  anything  solid  under  them. 

"The  steady  hum  of  the  drifting  snow,  together  with  its  movement,  made 
the  brain  dizzy,  and  the  two  explorers  generally  found  it  necessary  to  form  a 
camp  when  such  a  storm  came  on,  the  snow  soon  piling  up  against  their  shelter 


138  PEARY'S  FIRST  VOYAGES^ 

tent  and  effectually  protecting  them  from  the  wind.  Then,  when  the  breeze 
had  died  away  and  the  snow  ceased  moving,  they  were  able  to  dig  out  their 
sledge  and  proceed. 

"A  distinct  contrast  to  these  stormy  days  was  given  by  the  period  of  clear 
sunshine.  Then  the  sky,  innocent  of  a  cloud,  was  a  wonderful  blue  vault  over- 
head, while  the  snow-covered  plateau  stretched  away  on  all  sides  until  it  was 
lost  in  the  distance  of  the  horizon.  The  wonderfully  clear  air  enabled  the  ex- 
plorers to  see  a  great  distance  ahead.  At  the  end  of  the  second  day's  march 
after  reaching  this  great  snow  desert,  they"  found  that  the  surface  was  gradu- 
ally sloping  north  and  south.  They  were  on  the  dividing  ridge  and,  as  they 
passed  over  onto  the  downward  slope,  their  progress  was  naturally  at  a  more 
rapid  rate.  A  storm,  such  as  has  been  described,  accompanied  by  falling  snow, 
overtook  them,  and  for  three  days  they  had  to  stay  in  their  shelter.  When 
at  length  the  weather  moderated  and  they  were  able  to  get  out  again  they 
discovered,  before  resuming  the  journey,  that  the  dogs  meanwhile  had  eaten 
six  pounds  of  cranberry  jam  and  the  foot  off  one  of  the  sleeping-bags — a 
fairly  good  example  of  a  dog's  appetite  during  a  snow-storm. 

"On  May  31  in  magnificently  clear  weather  they  looked  out  upon  a  scene 
on  which  no  white  man  had  ever  yet  gazed.  In  his  description  of  the  journey 
the  leader  wrote :  *We  looked  down  into  the  basin  of  the  Petermann  Glacier, 
the  greatest  amphitheatre  of  snow  and  rugged  ice  that  human  e)'e  has  ever 
seen.'  Away  beyond  it,  a  range  of  black  mountains  towered  in  dome-shaped 
hills,  and  they  made  their  camp  with  the  expectation  of  being  able  to  see  more 
of  the  distant  range  at  the  end  of  another  march.  But  by  the  time  they  were 
able  to  resume  their  march  a  thick  fog  had  come  into  the  air,  and  for  three 
days  they  could  only  see  the  snow  at  their  feet.  They  directed  their  course 
entirely  by  compass,  but  as  they  were  unable  to  see  long  distances  ahead,  they 
were  unprepared  for  a  chang^e  in  the  surface.  Before  they  could  avoid  it,  they 
found  themselves  amongst  rough  ice  and  open  crevices.  They  were  getting 
onto  the  Sherard  Osborne  Glacier,  and,  in  the  misty  weather  they  were  ex- 
periencing, it  was  difficult  to  get  back  onto  the  smooth  ice  again.  Over  a 
fortnight  was  spent  in  getting  beyond  this  rough  ground,  and  at  length,  on 
the  weather  clearing,  they  found  that  straight  ahead  of  them  a  range  of  hills 
showed  along  the  horizon  above  the  ice-cap.  The  appearance  of  the  hills 
directly  in  their  path  decided  them  to  turn  their  course  from  due  east  to  south- 
east, and  they  were  soon  able  to  make  out  the  line  of  a  deep  channel  running 
from  the  northeast  to  the  southwest. 


PEAEY'S  CREW:  THE  NEWFOUNDLANDERS  WHO  MANNED  THE  ROOSEVELT. 

Peary  has  congratulated  Newfoundland  on  its  share  in  the   discovery  of  the  Pole,  as 

Captain  Bartlett  and  the  crew  of  the  Roosevelt — nineteen  in  all — hail 

from  Newfoundland. 


PEARY'S  ESKIMOS:  NATIVES  WHO  ACCOMPANIED  PEARY'S  EXPEDITION. 
These  are  the  hardy  natives  of  Etah,  to  whose  assistance  the  explorer  attributes  much 

of  his  success. 


DE.  COOK  AT  COPENHAGEN. 

The  portraits  show  Dr.  Cook  as  he  appeared  on  the  Hans  Egede  and  after  he  had  been 

in  the  hands  of  the  barbers  and  tailors  of  Copenhagen. 


COMMANDEE  PEAEY  AT  HOME  AND  IN  THE  AECTIC. 
Commander  Peary  was  fifty-three  years  old  on  May  6.     He  looks  a  giant  when  clad  in 

his  heavy  Arctic  furs. 


PEARY'S  FIRST  VOYAGES  141 

"On  July  I,  after  fifty-seven  days  of  travel,  they  came  to  the  limits  of  the 
ice-cap  and  stood,  silent  and  amazed,  looking  down  from  the  summit  of  the 
snow  desert  across  a  wide  open  plain  covered  with  vegetation,  with  here  and 
there  a  snowdrift  showing  white,  and  with  herds  of  musk  oxen  contentedly 
grazing  over  it.  Such  a  discovery  was  absolutely  so  unexpected  that  at  first 
they  could  scarcely  believe  their  eyes.  There  was  no  sign  of  any  human  habi- 
tation on  the  land,  and,  for  all  that  could  be  learned  to  the  contrary,  they  were 
the  first  human  beings  who  had  ever  trod  upon  that  plain,  on  which  the  yellow 
Arctic  poppies  were  waving  in  bloom  and  over  which  the  drone  of  the  humble 
bee  sounded,  though  for  hundreds  of  miles  around  it  the  accumulated  snow 
of  centuries  lay  frozen  into  the  great  mysterious  snow-cap  and  its  glaciers. 

"Having  proved  that  they  really  were  not  dreaming,  they  shot  a  musk  ox, 
which  they  used  for  their  own  and  their  dogs'  refreshment.  Then  they  stacked 
their  stores  and  set  out  with  reduced  loads  across  the  plain.  They  walked 
for  four  days,  exploring,  surveying,  and  examining ;  and  on  the  fourth  of  July, 
the  anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepndence  by  the  United  States,  they 
stood  on  a  summit  of  a  magnificent  range  of  cliffs,  3,500  feet  high,  and  over- 
looking a  large  bay,  which  in  honour  of  the  date,  they  named  Independence 
Bay. 

"The  latitude  was  nearly  82  degrees  N.,  and  Lieutenant  Peary,  writing  of 
the  discovery,  says :  Tt  was  almost  impossible  for  us  to  believe  that  we  were 
standing  on  the  northern  shore  of  Greenland  as  we  gazed  from  the  summit 
of  this  precipitous  cliff  with  the  most  brilliant  sunshine  all  about  us,  with  yellow 
poppies  growing  between  the  rocks  around  our  feet  and  a  herd  of  musk  oxen 
in  the  valley  behind  us.  In  that  valley  we  had  also  found  the  dandelion  in 
bloom  and  had  heard  the  heavy  drone  and  seen  the  bullet-like  flight  of  the 
humble  bee.'  " 

For  a  week  the  party  of  investigators  remained  in  this  isolated  region, 
6,000  miles  from  their  friends,  and  then  journeyed  back.  Over  the  glistening 
ice  surface  they  made  fast  time,  and  often  reached  an  average  of  thirty  miles 
a  day.  Sometimes,  when  the  vv^ind  was  good,  sails  were  put  up  on  the  sledges, 
and  they  flew  along,  like  boys  with  their  sleds  on  a  pond.  On  August  8  the 
party  arrived  back  at  the  place  where  Mrs.  Peary  had  been  left,  and  a  short 
time  later  the  Kite  sailed  for  America,  reaching  New  York  September  20, 
1892. 

From  a  scientific  standpoint  the  results  of  this  expedition  were : 


142  PEARY'S  FIRST  VOYAGES 

The  discovery  and  naming  of  Independence  Bay,  at  6i  degrees  north 
latitude. 

Determination  of  the  insularity  of  Greenland,  for  which  Peary  received 
medals  from  a  number  of  geographical  societies. 

Discovery  of  Melville  Land  and  Heilprin  Land. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

PEARY'S    LATER    VOYAGES. 

The  appetite  of  the  polar  adventurer  was  now  well  whetted  for  the  pursuit 
of  a  northern  goal;  his  spirit  and  his  physique  had  both  become  sturdy;  and 
he  was  ready  to  accomplish  greater  work. 

Such  a  triumph  as  "farthest  north,"  was,  however,  to  be  delayed  for 
many  years.  Although  Peary  went  north  again  in  1893,  he  did  not  attempt 
to  reach  the  pole,  yet  his  investigations  were  of  moment  to  science.  He  had 
read  of  a  great  "iron  mountain,"  which  was  first  heard  of  through  Ross,  an 
English  explorer,  in  18 18.  Now,  more  than  seventy  years  later,  the  Ameri- 
can explorer  determined  to  find  that  mountain  and  determine  its  nature.  He 
did  find  it,  and  proved  that  it  was  a  marvelous  rock  indeed, — a  meteorite,  the 
largest  known,  and  weighing  more  than  ninety  tons. 

Experiences  similar  to  those  described  in  the  last  chapter  characterized 
this  trip,  as  Mrs.  Peary  was  her  husband's  companion  on  this  trip  also;  and 
the  voyage  was  distinguished  by  another  event,  also.  A  daughter  was  born 
to  the  Pearys  while  they  were  in  the  Arctic  region.  Though  sixteen  years  old, 
she  is  still  known  as  "the  snow  baby." 

In  1896  and  1897  Peary  made  short  trips  to  his  adopted  country,  Green- 
land, and  made  discoveries  of  minor  importance.  In  the  latter  year  he  brought 
home  a  number  of  wonderful  meteorites. 

By  this  time  the  Peary  Arctic  Club,  under  whose  auspices  the  pole-reaching 
exploit  was  carried  out,  had  come  into  being,  and  under  its  auspices  Peary 
made  a  long  journey,  lasting  from  1898  to  1902.  This  was  an  important  expe- 
dition, full  of  thrilling  experiences  and  also  of  large  scientific  value. 

During  these  four  years  Peary  spent  away  from  his  home  and  beyond 
the  realm  of  white  men  he  rounded  the  northern  extremity  of  the  Greenland 
archipelago,  which  is  the  most  northerly  land  in  the  world.  He  named  the 
cape  he  found  there  after  Morris  K.  Jesup,  the  Philadelphia  capitalist,  who 
was  enthusiastic  in  Peary's  support,  and  who  died  without  seeing  his  protege's 
final  success.  On  this  trip  Peary  attained  a  far  northern  record,  reaching 

143 


144  PEARY'S  LATER  VOYAGES 

84  degrees  north  latitude.  The  expedition  of  1905-6,  however,  was  more 
important  than  any  Peary  had  undertaken  as  a  steppiiig-stone  toward  his  attain- 
ment of  the  North  pole.  This  time  he  dashed  as  far  as  latitude  87,  the  highest 
mark  yet  attained  by  any  polar  explorer.  This  expedition  is  worth  consider- 
ing in  some  detail.  Peary  and  his  followers  left  New  York  July  16,  1905. 
The  loyal  old  Kite  had  long  since  been  out  of  service,  and  a  staunch  new  boat, 
one  of  the  best  ever  designed  for  polar  service,  was  the  vessel  on  which  the 
explorer  rode  out  of  New  York  harbor.  It  had  been  christened  by  Mrs. 
Peary,  who  appropriately  broke  a  piece  of  ice  over  its  bows,  and  its  name 
was  the  Roosevelt.  As  the  reader  will  recognize,  this  was  the  same  craft  that 
took  Peary  to  Greenland  on  the  pole-finding  trip  of  1909. 

The  Roosevelt  sailed  up  Baffin  Bay  to  Etah,  Greenland,  the  favorite  port 
for  Arctic  travelers,  and  there  was  put  in  final  shape  for  a  hard  journey  amid 
the  ice.  After  taking  on  board  a  large  party  of  Eskimos,  to  act  as  hunters 
and  guides,  the  boat  sailed  from  Etah  Aug.  17  of  the  same  year.  Among  the 
most  important  travelers  were  200  Eskimo  dogs.  After  cruising  about  for 
some  time  in  an  effort  to  find  the  best  place  from  which  to  begin  a  swift  journey 
toward  the  pole,  Peary  ran  his  craft  into  a  nook  under  Cape  Sheridan,  one  of 
the  most  northerly  capes  of  Grant  Land.  Here  some  terrible  experiences 
were  met,  which  are  vividly  told  in  one  of  Peary's  own  accounts  of  the  expe- 
dition : 

"Sept.  16,"  says  Peary,  "a  large  floe  pivoted  around  Cape  Sheridan,  crush- 
ing everything  before  it,  until  at  last  it  held  the  ship  mercilessly  between  its 
blue  side  and  the  unyielding  face  of  the  ice-foot.  Its  slow,  resistless  motion 
was  frightful,  yet  fascinating.  *  *  *  The  pressure  was  terrific;  the  Roose- 
velt's ribs  and  interior  bracing  cracked  like  the  discharge  of  musketry.  The 
main  deck  amidships  bulged  up  several  inches,  the  main  rigging  hung  slack, 
and  the  masts  and  rigging  shook  as  in  a  violent  gale;  then,  with  a  mighty 
tremor  and  a  sound  which  reminded  one  of  an  athlete  inhaling  his  breath  for 
a  supreme  effort,  the  ship  jumped  upward.  The  big  floe  snapped  against  the 
edge  of  the  ice-foot  forward  and  aft  under  us,  crumpling  up  its  edge  and 
driving  it  inshore  some  yards,  and  the  commotion  was  transferred  to  the  outer 
edge  of  the  floe,  which  crumbled  away  with  a  dull  roar  as  other  floes  smashed 
against  it  and  tore  off  great  pieces  in  the  onward  rush — leaving  us  stranded 
but  safe.  This  incident,  of  course,  put  an  end  to  all  thoughts  of  further 
advance." 

Further  advance  by  ship,  Peary  meant.    He  had  no  thought  of  being  dis- 


PEARY'S  LATER  VOYAGES  145 

heartened  by  savage  ice  or  bitter  cold.  The  whole  party  prepared  to  quit 
the  Roosevelt,  and  take  to  the  sledges.  Before  this  was  possible,  however,  a 
long  winter  was  to  be  faced,  and  food  must  be  procured  for  scores  of  men.  It 
was  impossible  to  make  the  sledge-trip  in  the  darkness  of  the  winter,  but  it 
was  still  possible  to  hunt  game,  for  those  experienced  enough  to  bring  down 
their  prey  without  the  light  of  the  sun  to  aid  their  eyesight.  Peary  and  his 
Eskimo  went  forth  and  became  huntsmen.  They  brought  down  250  musk 
oxen,  which  form  one  of  the  staples  of  food  in  that  region.  Also  they  were 
fortunate  enough  to  find  many  score  of  the  rare  and  beautiful  Arctic  reindeer, 
which  are  snow-white  and  as  graceful  as  their  brethren  of  farther  south. 

On  October  12  they  saw  the  sun  go  down,  to  be  seen  no  more  for  months. 
Then  the  black  winter,  in  which  the  Httle  ship  cast  forth  the  only  light  for 
hundreds  of  miles  around.  The  winter  passed  without  serious  mishap  to  any 
of  the  human  members  of  the  party ;  but  eighty  of  the  dogs  died  of  poisoning 
caused  by  the  whale-meat  which  had  been  taken  along  for  their  sustenance. 
This  caused  the  hunting  to  be  redoubled,  since  the  trip  was  all  but  hopeless 
should  the  remainder  of  the  animals  suffer  the  same  fate. 

It  was  a  hard  winter  in  more  ways  than  one.  Sometimes  the  ice  would 
break  away  from  the  shore,  and  the  seas  would  dash  against  the  Roosevelt, 
threatening  to  swamp  her. 

"Simultaneously,"  says  Peary,  "a  violent  southerly  gale  blew  up,  threat- 
ening to  tear  the  ship  from  her  moorings.  The  port  anchor  and  cable  and 
every  steel  and  manila  cable  on  board  were  made  fast  to  the  ice-foot.  *  *  * 
The  next  three  weeks  were  a  period  of  constant  anxiety,  the  ice-pack  surging 
back  and  forth  along  shore  on  each  tide,  and  liable  to  crush  in  upon  us  at 
any  time.  Every  one  slept  in  his  clothes,  all  lanterns  and  portable  lights  were 
kept  below  and  trimmed,  and  provision  was  made  for  the  instant  extinguish- 
ment of  all  fires." 

Peary  does  not  add  that  it  became  necessary  to  put  out  the  fires,  and  the 
party  must  have  been  thankful  that  what  little  heat  they  had  was  spared.  With 
February  the  sun  reappeared,  and  those  on  board  ship  were  split  up  into  four 
parties,  to  take  dogs  and  sledges  and  work  northward.  Peary  headed  the  last 
sledge-party.  The  sun  shone  out  on  March  6.  A  few  days  later  Peary  en- 
countered several  of  the  other  parties  and  learned  from  them  of  the  difficulties 
of  advance.  He  then  determined  that  supporting  parties  were  useless,  and 
that  he  himself  must  make  a  dash. 


146  PEARY'S  LATER  VOYAGES 

"At  Storm  Camp,"  he  writes,  "we  abandoned  everything  not  absolutely 
necessary  and  I  bent  every  energy  to  setting  a  record  pace. 

"The  first  march  of  ten  hours,  myself  in  the  lead  with  the  compass,  some- 
times on  a  dog  trot,  the  sledges  following  in  Indian  file  with  drivers  running 
beside  or  behind,  placed  us  thirty  miles  to  the  good — my  Eskimos  said  forty. 
Four  hours  out  on  the  second  march  I  overtook  Henson  (head  of  one  of  the 
supporting  parties)  in  his  third  camp,  beside  a  lead  which  was  closed.  When 
I  arrived,  he  hitched  up  and  followed  behind  my  hurrying  party.  I  had  with 
me  now  seven  men  and  six  teams  with  less  than  half  a  load  for  each. 

"As  we  advanced,  the  character  of  the  ice  improved,  the  floes  becoming 
much  larger  and  pressure  ridges  infrequent,  but  the  cracks  and  narrow  leads 
increased,  and  were  nearly  all  active.  These  cracks  were  uniformly  at  right 
angles  to  our  course,  and  the  ice  on  the  northern  side  was  moving  more  rapidly 
eastward  than  that  on  the  southern. 

"As  dogs  gave  out,  unable  to  keep  the  pace,  they  were  fed  to  the  others. 
April  20  we  came  into  a  region  of  open  leads,  trending  nearly  north  and  south, 
and  the  ice  motion  became  more  pronounced.  Hurrying  on  between  these  leads, 
a  forced  march  was  made.  Then  we  slept  a  few  hours,  and  starting  again 
soon  after  midnight,  pushed  on  till  noon  of  the  21st. 

"My  observation  then  gave  87°  6'.  So  far  as  history  records  this  is  the 
nearest  approach  to  the  north  pole  ever  made  by  human  beings. 

"I  thanked  God  with  as  good  a  grace  as  possible  for  what  I  had  been  able 
to  accomplish,  though  it  was  but  an  empty  bauble  compared  with  the  splendid 
jewel  for  which  I  was  straining  my  life  out.  But,  looking  at  the  skeleton 
forms  of  my  remaining  dogs  and  the  nearly  empty  sledges,  and  bearing  in 
mind  the  drifting  ice  and  the  unknown  quantity  of  the  big  lead  between  us 
and  the  nearest  land,  I  felt  that  I  had  cut  the  margin  as  narrow  as  could  be» 
reasonably  expected. 

"My  flags  were  flung  out  from  the  summit  of  the  highest  pinnacle  near  us, 
and  a  hundred  feet  or  so  beyond  this,  I  left  a  bottle  containing  a  brief  record 
and  a  piece  of  the  silk  flag  which  six  years  before  I  had  carried  around  the 
northern  end  of  Greenland."  • 

The  scientific  results  of  this  expedition  were  the  following : 

Reached  87  degrees  N.  latitude  April  21,  1906. 

Traversed  and  delineated  an  unknown  portion  of  the  north  coast  of  Grant 
Land. 

Discovered  new  land  near  Parallel  83  and  Meridian  100. 


PEARY'S  LATER  VOYAGES  147 

Made  a  new  and  accurate  census  of  the  Eskimo  people. 

More  important  than  the  scientific  results,  however,  were  the  moral  results. 
Attainment  of  a  point  within  three  degrees  of  the  pole  showed  Peary  that  by  a 
little  more  effort,  a  little  more  suffering,  and  a  little  more  luck,  he  could  com- 
pass the  few  score  miles  and  "nail  the  stars  and  stripes"  to  the  pole. 

The  great  year  of  1909  wa3  near. 


CHAPTER   XIV, 

TROUBLES  OF  THE  POLAR  EXPLORER. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  Dr.  Cook  will  ever  be  able  to  paint  in  vivid  enough 
colors  the  privations  he  endured  in  his  rush  toward  the  north.  To  him,  prob- 
ably, much  of  what  he  endured  will  appear  as  a  nightmare.  He  will  start 
from  his  pillow,  some  nights,  fancying  himself  still  driving  a  dog  sled  through 
blinding  snows.  Even  if  his  memory  retains  distinctly  what  he  suffered,  he 
will  doubtless  find  it  hard  to  pick  out  words  to  convey  the  idea  to  others. 

To  understand  it  at  all,  one  may  go  back  to  the  records  that  are  left  of  the 
deeds  of  Cook's  predecessors  in  polar  search.  No  more  thrilling  suggestion 
could  be  found  of  the  experiences  men  are  willing  to  suffer  in  the  pursuit 
of  knowledge  for  the  sake  of  outstripping  others. 

The  early  arctic  explorers,  of  course,  endured  much  that  Cook  was  saved 
through  his  being  able  to  profit  by  experience,  and  through  his  taking  advan- 
tage of  modern  methods.  Scurvy,  for  example,  the  disease  that  has  brought  a 
horrible  end  to  so  many  who  lived  for  months  in  bitter  cold,  did  not  threaten 
him.  iHe  knew  how  to  guard  against  it,  and  he  had  foods  that  did  not  contain 
the  seeds  of  that  malady.  But  the  death  he  faced  was  the  same  that  carried 
away  some  eight  hundred  men  who  sought  the  pole  at  one  time  or  another^ — 
the  death,  slow,  torturing,  and  malignant,  caused  by  intense  cold. 

Farther  on  in  this  volume  will  be  found  an  account  of  some  of  the  early 
arctic  voyages  that  ended  in  tragedy.  Here,  however,  an  effort  will  be  made 
to  give  some  idea  of  the  sight  and  sounds  peculiar  to  the  polar  region. 

At  the  north  pole  itself  the  sun  rises  and  sets  only  once  in  twelve  months. 
From  March  21  to  September  23  daylight  continues;  from  September  23  to 
March  21  the  sun  is  never  visible.  Dr.  Cook  af rived  at  the  pole  during  the 
period  of  daylight;  yet  it  must  have  been  a  cheerless  daylight  he  saw.  For 
what  is  daylight  unless  it  reveals  life  and  beauty?  At  the  pole,  so  Dr.  Cook 
himself  says,  there  was  no  sign  of  animation  at  all — either  of  man  or  beast. 
It  was,  he  says,  "an  endless  field  of  purple  snows.     No  life.     No  land.     No 

148 


TROUBLES  OF  EXPLORER  149 

sight  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  frost.  We  (he  and  his  two  Eskimo  compan- 
ions) were  the  only  pulsating  creatures  in  a  dead  world  of  ice." 

The  heat  at  midsummer  in  the  polar  region  is  hardly  ever  above  the 
freezing  point;  at  midwinter,  the  cold  is  so  intense  that  one's  eyes  would 
freeze  in  their  sockets  if  exposed  to  it.  And  there  are  other  strange  and 
terrifying  features.  As  summer  gives  place  to  the  cold  of  autumn,  and  as 
winter  gives  way  to  the  mild  temperature  of  spring,  there  comes  down  upon 
the  water  a  dense  mass  or  fog,  to  which  the  name  of  "frost-smoke"  is  given. 
An  ancient  Greek  mariner,  Pytheas,  who  sailed  far  north,  was  led  by  this 
"frost  smoke"  to  give  a  curious  account  of  his  trip.  He  was  there  during 
the  six  months'  darkness,  and  he  says  he  came  to  a  great  dark  wall  rising  up 
out  of  the  sea.  He  could  not  see  beyond  it.  At  the  same  time,  according  to 
his  story,  something  seized  his  ship  and  held  it  motionless  on  the  water,  so 
the  winds  could  not  move  it.  He  supposed  he  had  come  to  a  place  where  a 
parapet  ran  around  the  world  to  keep  men  from  falling  over  (for  in  the  time 
of  this  explorer,  of  course,  men  believed  the  world  was  flat).  So  this  voyager 
hurried  home  and  told  his  friends  he  had  reached  the  limits  of  the  earth. 

Later  navigators  saw  sights  some  of  which  are  to  be  experienced  today. 
Many  of  these  mariners  got  far  enough  north  to  see  the  great  icebergs,  floating 
majestically  in  the  sea  and  towering  like  mountains.  Some  saw  the  animals 
that  dwell  in  the  far  north — the  polar  bear  with  its  coat  of  shaggy  white  fur ; 
the  walrus,  with  its  gleaming  tusks  hanging  down  from  its  upper  jaws;  the 
ungainly  seals;  the  penguins,  strange  birds  with  short  stumps  of  wings  and 
uncouth  cries;  and  whales,  spouting  and  floundering  in  the  sea. 

The  sounds  are  sometimes  as  terrifying  as  the  sights.  The  frosty  air 
carries  noises  a  long  distance.  When  Commander  Peary  was  on  a  far  north- 
ern island  he  says  he  heard  the  voices  of  men  talking  a  mile  away. 

"In  the  depth  of  winter,"  says  a  writer,  "when  the  cold  has  its  icy  grip  on 
everything,  the  silence  is  unbroken  along  the  shores  of  the  Polar  Sea;  but 
when  the  frost  sets  in,  and  again  when  the  winter  gives  way  to  spring,  there  is 
abundance  of  noise.  As  the  frost  comes  down  along  the  coast,  rocks  are  split 
asunder  with  a  noise  of  big  guns,  and  the  sound  goes  booming  away  across 
the  frozen  tracts,  startling  the  slouching  bear  in  his  lonely  haunts,  and  causing 
him  to  give  vent  to  his  hoarse,  barking  roar  in  answer.  The  ice,  just  forming 
into  sheets,  creaks  and  cracks  as  the  rising  or  falling  tide  strains  it  along  the 
shore ;  fragments  falling  loose  upon  its  skid  across  the  surface  with  the  ringing 
sound  which  travels  so  far.    In  the  spring  the  melting  ice-floes  groan  as  they 


150  TROUBLES  OF  EXPLORER 

break  asunder;  with  a  mighty  crash  the  unbalanced  bergs  fall  over,  churning 
the  water  into  foam  with  their  plunge,  and  bears  ^nd  foxes  and  all  the  other 
arctic  animals  call  and  bark  to  one  another  as  they  awaken  from  their  winter 
sleep." 

A  source  of  trouble  to  arctic  travelers  often  are  the  characteristics  of  the 
Eskimo  dogs.  These  animals  are  the  only  ones  that  can  be  depended  on  to 
draw  the  sledges,  for  no  others  could  endure  the  cold  and  the  lack  of  food 
that  accompanies  travel  in  regions  of  solid  ice.  But  no  traveler,  unless  he 
be  as  experienced  as  Dr.  Cook,  who  used  them  exclusively  after  leaving  his 
ship,  can  manage  the  queer  creatures.  Some  of  their  traits  are  interestingly 
described  by  a  writer  on  polar  exploration,  as  follows: 

"When  a  dog  team  is  harnessed  up  to  a  sledge,  every  dog  does  not  pull 
his  hardest,  and  a  suggestion  from  the  whip  is  advisable.  The  dog,  however, 
is  inclined  to  resent  it,  and  at  once  bites  his  neighbor  by  way  of  protest.  The 
neighbor  in  turn  bites  his  neighbor,  who  does  the  same,  until  the  whole  team 
has  received  the  sting  arising  from  the  first  lash,  and  all  the  dogs  are  howling 
and  snapping  and  jumping  over  one  another.  The  application  of  the  whip 
handle  instead  of  the  whip  lash  is  then  necessary,  and  when  at  length  quiet  is 
restored,  the  driver  has  to  set  to  work  to  unplait  the  harness,  which  has  been 
twisted  and  tied  into  a  terrible  tangle  by  the  antics  of  the  team.  When,  at 
the  expense  of  a  great  deal  of  patience  and  time,  everything  is  ready  for  a 
fresh  start,  the  inexperienced  driver  is  able  to  estimate  the  value  of  cracking 
the  whip  over,  instead  of  on,  the  back  of  a  lazy  dog. 

"Even  then,  however,  it  is  not  all  plain  sailing.  The  dogs  possess  a  wis- 
dom of  their  own,  and  they  never  act  so  well  together  as  when  they  reach 
a  piece  of  particularly  rough  ice  over  which  the  sledge  does  not  move  easily. 
Directly  they  find  that  they  have  to  lean  heavily  against  the  collar  to  pull  the 
load  forward,  they  with  one  accord  turn  around,  sit  down,  and  look  at  the 
driver.  If  he  is  inexperienced,  he  lashes  about  him  with  his  whip,  and  the 
dogs  fight  and  tangle  the  harness ;  if  he  knows  his  animals,  he  puts  his  shoulder 
to  the  sledge,  pushes  it  forward  on  to  the  toes  of  the  team,  whereupon  each 
one  gets  up,  hurries  out  of  the  way  of  the  threatening  sledge  runners,  and 
together  pull  it  easily  over  the  rough  place. 

"Another  peculiarity  of  the  dogs  is  their  extraordinary  appetite  for  leather. 
Shark  skin  the  Eskimo  consider  to  be  bad  for  them  because  of  its  excessive 
roughness,  but  birds'  skin,  with  the  feathers  on,  are  greatly  relished  by  the 
insatiable  feeders,  and,  as  has  been  said,  leather  is  an  especial  luxury.     The 


TROUBLES  OF  EXPLORER  151 

dogs  are  incorrigible  thieves,  and  frequently  sneak  into  the  tents  or,  if  on 
board  ship,  into  cabins,  in  search  of  plunder.  They  are  generally  greeted 
with  a  kick,  but  should  it  be  sufficiently  energetic  to  dislodge  the  kicker's  shoe, 
the  dog  at  once  seizes  the  delicacy  and  makes  for  a  quiet  spot  on  the  ice  where 
he  can  devour  it  at  his  leisure." 

Desperate  courage  and  the  skill  of  a  big-game  hunter  are  required  if  one 
journeys  in  the  arctic.  When  the  rations  run  out,  as  they  did  in  Dr.  Cook's 
case  before  his  return  journey  was  over,  the  traveler  has  to  depend  on  his 
ability  to  bring  down  the  animals  of  the  region. 

Some  of  the  experiences  of  an  exploring  party  under  these  conditions  are 
thus  described: 

"A  small  opening  in  the  ice  pack  was  discovered  a  mile  or  so  from  the 
camp,  and  on  the  ice  around  the  water  three  seals  were  resting,  having  evi- 
dently been  caught  in  the  ice  when  it  closed.  With  great  care  the  hunters 
crept  over  the  ice  toward  the  animals,  whose  sacrifice  meant  so  much  to  the 
castaways.  Only  two  had  rifles,  the  others  carrying  harpoons  they  had  made 
from  the  tent  poles,  and  which  were  anything  but  reliable  weapons.  Steady 
aim  was  taken  by  the  two  men  who  had  the  rifles  at  the  two  larger  of  the 
seals.  Firing  together  one  seal  fell  dead;  the  one  which  was  not  aimed  at 
plunged  into  the  water,  and  the  other,  badly  wounded,  hobbled  to  the  edge 
of  the  ice.  In  another  moment  he  would  have  been  over  and  probably  sunk  to 
the  bottom,  had  not  one  of  the  men  flung  away  his  harpoon  and,  springing 
forward,  managed  to  seize  the  hind  flippers  of  the  wounded  creature.  His 
comrades  rushed  to  his  assistance  and  dragged  both  him  and  the  seal  back 
from  the  opening  onto  the  ice,  where  the  latter  was  quickly  despatched. 

"They  were  harnessing  themselves  to  their  victims  in  order  to  drag  them 
over  to  the  camp,  when  a  loud  snort  from  the  opening  caused  them  to  start 
around  just  in  time  to  see  the  third  seal  disappearing  under  the  water.  At 
once  they  understood  the  situation.  The  opening  was  the  only  one  for  miles, 
and  the  seal  was  compelled  to  come  to  the  surface  there  to  breathe,  as  he  could 
not  reach  the  top  anywhere  else  for  the  ice.  It  was  at  once  decided  to  wait 
for  him,  but  as,  if  he  were  shot  while  in  the  water,  he  would  inevitably  sink 
to  the  bottom  and  be  lost  to  them,  they  determined  to  lay  a  trap  for  him. 

"The  seals  already  killed  were  placed  in  natural  attitudes  near  the  water, 
and  the  men  hastily  retired  to  sheltering  hammocks,  to  wait  the  return.  The 
men  with  the  rifles  were  both  to  fire  upon  him  as  soon  as  he  emerged  onto  the 
ice,  for  he  was  too  valuable  to  be  lost.    They  had  not  waited  very  long  before 


152  TROUBLES  OF  EXPLORER 

he  reappeared  and,  raising  his  head  high  out  of  the  water  looked  around. 
Seeing  nothing  but  the  two  seals  on  the  ice,  he  "swam  leisurely  round  and 
round  the  opening  before  scrambling  up  onto  the  ice.  As  he  reaf^hed  it  and 
moved  towards  his  two  companions,  the  men,  who  had  been  carefully  aiming 
at  him,  fired  and  killed  him. 

"With  the  three  seals,  the  party  returned  to  the  camp  in  high  spirits,  their 
arrival  being  the  signal  for  general  rejoicing,  for  not  only  would  the  blubber 
of  the  seals  keep  the  lamp  supplied  with  oil,  but  their  skins  were  very  welcome 
additions  to  the  stock  of  warm  coverings  and  the  meat  was  an  invaluable 
addition  to  the  larder. 

"Really  it  was  more,  but  of  that  they  were  not  aware  until  two  days  later, 
when  one  of  the  men  was  awakened  by  a  short  barking  roar  of  a  bear.  He 
quickly  roused  his  companions,  and  they  made  their  way  out  of  the  hut  with 
what  weapons  they  possessed, 

"The  flesh  of  the  seals  had  been  suspended  on  a  line  between  two  poles 
near  the  other  provisions  so  as  to  protect  it  from  any  chance  visit  by  wolves 
or  bears.  As  the  first  man  peered  out  from  the  hut  opening,  he  saw  in  the 
dim  twilight  two  bears  standing  underneath  the  line  of  meat,  sniffing  up  at 
it  and  growling.  They  had,  it  was  afterwards  learned,  picked  up  the  trail 
where  the  dead  seals  had  been  dragged  from  the  opening  in  the  ice,  and  had 
followed  it  to  the  camp. 

"The  man  whispered  back  to  his  companions  what  he  saw,  and  another 
man,  armed  with  a  rifle,  crept  to  his  side.  Aiming  together  behind  the  shoul- 
der of  the  larger  of  the  bears,  they  fired  simultaneously  and  brought  their  quarry 
down.  Immediately  the  other  bear  turned  towards  the  opening  and  with 
snarling  teeth  advanced.  A  third  rifle  was  fired  point-blank  at  its  head, 
but  the  bullet  failed  to  penetrate  the  massive  skull,  though  it  made  the  beast 
change  its  direction.  As  it  turned  away  the  men  realized  what  it  meant  if  it 
escaped,  and  there  was  a  rush  after  it,  the  men  loading  and  firing  as  quickly 
as  they  cotild  load,  so  as  to  secure  it  before  it  disappeared  in  the  dim  grey 
twilight.  It  fell  wounded,  and  was  despatched  by  means  of  the  impromptu 
spears." 

Major-General  A.  W.  Greeley,  himself  a  polar  hero,  has  this  to  say,  in 
his  '^Handbook  of  Polar  Discoveries,"  of  the  hardships  encountered  in  the 
ice  fastnesses : 

"If  one  would  gain  an  adequate  idea  of  the  true  aspects  of  such  voyaging 
he  must  turn  to  the  original  journals,  penned  in  the  great  White  North  by 


TROUBLES  OF  EXPLORER  153 

brave  men  whose  'purpose  held  to  sail  beyond  the  sunset.'  In  those  volumes 
will  be  found  tales  of  ships  beset  not  only  months,  but  years,  of  ice  packs  and 
ice  fields  of  extent,  thickness  and  mass  so  enormous  that  description  conveys 
no  idea;  of  boat  journeys  where  constant  watchfulness  alone  prevented  instant 
death  by  drifting  bergs  or  commingling  ice  floes;  of  land  marshes  when  ex- 
hausted humanity  staggered  along,  leaving  traces  of  blood  on  snow  or  rock; 
of  sledge  journeys  over  chaotic  masses  of  ice,  when  humble  heroes  straining 
at  the  drag  ropes  struggled  on  because  the  failure  of  one  compromised  the 
safety  of  all ;  of  solitude  and  monotony,  terrible  in  the  weeks  of  constant  polar 
sunlight,  but  unsettling  the  reason  in  the  months  of  continuous  Arctic  dark- 
ness ;  of  silence  awful  at  all  times,  but  made  yet  more  startling  by  astounding 
phenomena  that  appeal  noiselessly  to  the  eye;  of  darkness  so  continuous  and 
intense  that  the  disturbed  mind  is  driven  to  wonder  whether  the  ordinary 
course  of  nature  will  bring  back  the  sun  or  whether  the  world  has  been  cast 
out  of  its  orbit  in  the  planetary  universe  into  i;iew  conditions ;  of  cold  so  in- 
tense that  any  exposure  is  followed  by  instant  freezing;  of  monotonous  sur- 
roundings that  threaten  with  time  to  unbalance  the  reason;  of  deprivations 
wastmg  the  body  and  so  impairing  the  mind ;  of  failure  in  all  things,  not  only 
of  food,  fuel  and  clothing  and  shelter — for  Arctic  service  foreshadows  such 
contingencies — but  the  bitter  failure  of  plans  and  aspirations,  which  brings 
almost  inevitably  despair  in  its  train, 

"Failure  of  all  things,  did  I  say  ?  Nay,  failure,  be  it  admitted,  of  all  the 
physical  accessories  of  conceived  and  accomplished  action,  but  not  failure  in 
the  higher  and  more  essential  attributes — not  of  the  mental  and  moral  quali- 
ties that  are  the  foundation  of  fortitude,  fidelity  and  honor.  Failure  in  this 
latter  respect  have  been  so  rare  in  Arctic  service  as  to  justly  make  each  of- 
fender a  byword  and  scorn  to  his  fellow  laborers  and  successors.  Patience, 
courage,  fortitude,  foresight,  self-reliance,  helpfulness — these  grand  charac- 
teristics of  developed  humanity  everywhere,  but  which  we  are  inclined  to  claim 
as  especial  endownments  of  the  Teutonic  races,  find  ample  expression  in  the  de- 
tailed history  of  Arctic  exploration.  If  one  seeks  to  learn  to  what  extent 
man's  determination  and  effort  dominate  even  the  most  adverse  environment, 
the  simple  narratives  of  Arctic  exploration  will  not  fail  to  furnish  striking  ex- 
amples." 

Many  interesting  accounts  are  given  of  the  terrible  cold,  which,  after  all, 
is  the  worst  of  the  polar  explorers'  troubles. 


154  TROUBLES  OF  EXPLORER 

Capt.  John  Franklin — afterwards  admiral — speaks  of  fish  being  frozen, 
saying : 

"It  may  be  worthy  of  notice  here,  that  the  fish  froze  as  they  were  taken 
out  of  the  nets,  and  in  a  short  time  became  a  solid  mass  of  ice,  and  by  a  blow 
or  two  of  the  hatchet  were  easily  split  open,  when  the  intestines  might  be 
removed  in  one  lump.  If,  in  this  completely  frozen  state,  they  were  thawed 
before  the  fire,  they  recovered  their  animation.  This  was  particularly  the 
case  with  the  carp;  and  we  had  occasion  to  observe  it  repeatedly,  as  Dr. 
Richardson  (one  of  the  party)  occupied  himself  in  examining  the  structure 
of  the  different  species  of  fish,  and  was  always,  in  the  winter,  under  the 
necessity  of  thawing  them  before  he  could  cut  them.  We  have  seen  a  carp 
recover  so  far  as  to  leap  about  with  much  vigor  after  it  had  been  frozen  for 
thirty-six  hours." 

If  such  is  the  effects  on  fish,  what  of  men?  This  same  Dr.  Richardson 
nearly  lost  his  life  while  the  expedition  of  which  he  and  Franklin  were  mem- 
bers in  1 82 1  was  exploring  the  north  coast  of  America.  They  traveled  for 
a  time  in  canoes,  and  their  food  gave  out.  Daily  they  became  weaker,  and 
less  capable  of  exertion;  one  of  the  canoes  was  so  much  broken  by  a  fall, 
that  it  was  burned  to  cook  a  supper;  the  resource  of  fishing,  too,  was  denied 
them,  for  some  of  the  men,  in  the  recklessness  of  misery,  threw  away  the  nets. . 
Rivers  were  to  be  crossed  by  wading,  or  in  the  canoe ;  on  one  of  these  occasions 
Franklin  took  his  seat  with  two  of  the  voyageurs  in  their  frail  bark,  when 
they  were  driven  by  the  force  of  the  stream  and  the  wind  to  the  verge  of  a 
frightful  rapid,  in  which  the  canoe  upset,  and,  but  for  a  rock  on  which  they 
found  footing,  they  would  there  have  perished.  On  June  19th,  previous  to 
setting  out,  the  whole  party  ate  the  remains  of  their  old  shoes,  and  whatever 
scraps  of  leather  they  had,  to  strengthen  their  stomachs  for  the  fatigue  of 
the  day's  journey.  "These,"  adds  Franklin,  "would  have  satisfied  us  in  or- 
dinary times,  but  we  .were  now  almost  exhausted  by  slender  fare  and  travel, 
and  our  appetites  had  become  ravenous.  We  looked,  however,  with  humble 
confidence  to  the  great  Author  and  Giver  of  all  good  for  a  continuance  of  the 
support  which  had  hitherto  been  always  supplied  to  us  at  our  greatest  need." 

Dr.  Richardson  finally  undertook  to  swim  the  Copperwire  river,  carrying 
a  line  by  which  a  raft  might  be  hauled  over. 

"He  launched  into  the  stream,"  says  Franklin,  "with  the  line  round  his 
middle,  but  when  he  had  got  to  a  short  distance  from  the  opposite  bank, 
his  arms  became  benumbed  with  cold,  and  he  lost  the  power  of  moving  them; 


TROUBLES  OF  EXPLORER  155 

still  he  persevered,  and,  turning  on  his  back,  had  nearly  gained  the  opposite 
shore,  when  his  legs  also  became  powerless,  and,  to  our  infinite  alarm,  we 
beheld  him  sink.  We  instantly  hauled  upon  the  line,  and  he  came  again  on 
the  surface,  and  was  gradually  drawn  ashore  in  an  almost  lifeless  state.  Being 
rolled  up  in  blankets,  he  was  placed  before  a  good  fire  of  willows,  and,  for- 
tunately, was  just  able  to  speak  sufficiently  to  give  some  slight  directions 
respecting  the  manner  of  treating  him.  He  recovered  strength  gradually, 
and,  through  the  blessing  of  God,  was  enabled,  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours, 
to  converse,  and  by  the  evening  was  sufiiciently  recovered  to  remove  into 
the  tent.  We  then  regretted  to  learn  that  the  skin  of  his  whole  left  side  was 
deprived  of  feeling,  in  consequence  of  exposure  to  too  great  heat.  He  did 
not  perfectly  recover  the  sensation  of  that  side  until  the  following  summer. 
I  cannot  describe  what  every  one  felt  at  beholding  the  skeleton  which  the 
doctor's  debilitated  frame  exhibited.  When  he  stripped,  the  Canadians  sim- 
ultaneously exclaimed,  'Ah!  que  nous  sommes  maigresl'  " 

After  reading  that,  could  one  imagine  a  mosquito  in  the  Arctic  ?  Yet  they 
are  a  terrible  pest  there.  Captain  Hall  describes  a  walk  in  July,  in  the  follow- 
ing language : 

"The  sun  was  about  five  degrees  high.  Not  a  breath  of  air  stirring,  the 
sun  shining  hot,  and  the  mosquitoes  desperately  intent  on  getting  all  the 
blood  of  the  only  white  man  of  the  country,  I  kept  up  a  constant  battling 
with  my  seal-skin  mittens  directly  before  my  face,  now  and  then  letting  them 
slap  first  on  one  and  then  on  the  other  of  my  hands,  which  operations  crushed 
many  a  foe.  It  seemed  to  me  at  times  as  if  I  never  would  get  back.  Minutes 
were  like  hours,  and  the  distance  of  about  two  miles  seemed  more  like  half  a 
score.  At  length  I  got  back  to  my  home,  both  temperature  and  temper  high. 
I  made  quick  work  in  throwing  open  the  canvas  roof  of  our  stores,  and,  getting 
to  our  medicine-chest,  snatched  a  half-pint  bottle  of  mosquito-proof  oil,  and  with 
a  little  of  this  besmeared  every  exposable  part  of  my  person.  How  glorious 
and  sudden  was  the  change !  A  thousand  devils,  each  armed  with  lancet  and 
blood-pump,  courageously  battling  my  very  face,  departed  at  once  in  supreme 
disgust  at  the  confounded  stink  the  coal-oil  had  diffused  about  me." 

Of  the  dreadful  thirst  of  the  Arctic,  which  some  seek  to  allay  by  eating 
snow,  the  diary  of  an  explorer  of  the  last  century  says : 

"The  use  of  snow  when  persons  are  thirsty  does  not  by  any  means  allay 
the  insatiable  desire  for  water;  on  the  contrary,  it  appears  to  be  increased 
in  proportion  to  the  quantity  used,  and  the  frequency  with  which  it  is  put  into 


156  TROUBLES  OF  EXPLORER 

the  mouth.  For  example:  a  person  walking  along  feels  intensely  thirsty, 
and  he  looks  to  his  feet  with  coveting  eyes ;  but  his  sense  and  firm  resolutions 
are  not  to  be  overcome  so  easily,  and  he  withdraws  the  open  hand  that  was 
to  grasp  the  delicious  morsel  and  convey  it  into  his  parching  mouth.  He  has 
several  miles  of  a  journey  to  accomplish,  and  his  thirst  is  every  moment 
increasing;  he  is  perspiring  profusely,  and  feels  quite  hot  and  oppressed.  At 
length  his  good  resolutions  stagger,  and  he  partakes  of  the  smallest  particle, 
which  produces  a  most  exhilarating  effect;  in  less  than  ten  minutes  he  tastes 
again  and  again,  always  increasing  the  quantity ;  and  in  half  an  hour  he  has  a 
gum-stick  of  condensed  snow,  which  he  masticates  with  avidity,  and  replaces 
with  assiduity  the  moment  that  it  has  melted  away.  But  his  thirst  is  not 
allayed  in  the  slightest  degree;  he  is  as  hot  as  ever,  and  still  perspires;  his 
mouth  is  in  flames,  and  he  Is  driven  to  the  necessity  of  quenching  them  with 
snow,  which  adds  fuel  to  the  fire.  The  melting  snow  ceases  to  please  the  palate, 
and  it  feels  like  red-hot  coals,  which,  like  a  fire-eater,  he  shifts  about  with 
his  tongue,  and  swallows  without  the  addition  of  saliva.  He  is  in  despair; 
but  habit  has  taken  the  place  of  his  reasoning  faculties,  and  he  moves  on  with 
languid  steps,  lamenting  the  severe  fate  which  forces  him  to  persist  in  a  practice 
which  In  an  unguarded  moment  he  allowed  to  begin.  ...  I  believe  the 
true  cause  of  such  Intense  thirst  is  the  extreme  dryness  of  the  air  when  the 
temperature  is  low." 

The  woes  of  the  explorer  cannot  better  be  told  than  by  extracts  from  the 
diary  of  John  Herron,  one  of  a  party  left  adrift  on  an  ice-raft  during  the 
expedition  of  the  ship  Polaris,  under  Charles  F.  Hall,  in  1872.  There  were 
nineteen  persons  In  his  party,  Including  two  women  and  four  children. 

Describing  the  way  the  party  was  lost,  Herron  says : 

"October  15. — ^Gale  from  the  southwest;  ship  made  fast  to  floe;  bergs 
pressed  in  and  nipped  the  ship  until  we  thought  she  was  going  down;  threw 
provisions  overboard,  and  nineteen  souls  got  on  the  floe  to  receive  them  and 
haul  them  up  on  the  Ice.  A  large  berg  came  sailing  down,  struck  the  floe, 
shivered  it  to  pieces,  and  freed  the  ship.  She  was  out  of  sight  in  five  minutes. 
We  were  afloat  on  different  pieces  of  Ice.  We  had  two  boats.  Our  men  were 
picked  up,  myself  among  them,  and  landed  on  the  main  floe,  which  we  found 
to  be  cracked  in  many  places.     Saved  very  little  provisions. 

"October  16. — We  remained  shivering  all  night.  Morning  fine;  light 
breeze  from  the  north;  close  to  the  east  shore.  The  berg  that  did  so  much 
damage  half  a  mile  to  the  northeast  of  us.     Captain  Tyson  reports  a  small 


Copyright    1909   by  Underwood   &  Underwood. 
EOOSBVELT  BIDDING  PEAEY  GOOD-BYE  JUST  BEFOEE  THE  STAET  FOR  THE 

POLE. 


THE  WALRUS— THESE  ANIMALS  KEPT  DR.  COOK  AND  HIS  PARTY  ALIVBJ  ON 

THEIR  RETURN  JOURNEY. 


DR.  COOK  IN  THE  ICE  NORTH  OF  THE  87TH  PARALLEL. 


TROUBLES  OF  EXPLORER  159 

island  a  little  to  the  north  of  the  berg  and  close  to  the  land.  Plenty  of 
open  water.  We  lost  no  time  in  launching  the  boats,  getting  the  provisions 
in  and  pulling  around  the  berg,  when  we  saw  the  Polaris.  She  had  steam  up, 
and  succeeded  in  getting  a  harbor.  She  got  under  the  lee  of  an  island  and 
came  down  with  her  sails  set — jib,  foresail,  mainsail  and  staysail.  She  must 
have  seen  us,  as  the  island  was  four  or  five  miles  off.  We  expected  her  to 
save  us,  as  there  was  plenty  of  open  water,  beset  with  ice,  which  I  think  she 
could  have  gotten  through.  In  the  evening  we  started  with  the  boats  for 
shore.  Had  we  reached  it,  we  could  have  walked  on  board  in  one  hour, 
but  the  ice  set  in  so  fast  when  near  the  shore  that  we  could  not  pull  through 
it.  We  had  a  narrow  escape  in  jumping  from  piece  to  piece,  with  the  painter 
in  hand,  until  we  reached  the  floe.  We  dragged  the  boat  two  or  three  hundred 
yards,  to  a  high  place,  where  we  thought  she  would  be  secure  until  morning, 
and  made  for  our  provisions,  which  were  on  a  distant  part  of  the  floe.  We 
were  too  much  worn  out  with  hunger  and  fatigue  to  bring  her  along  to-night, 
and  it  is  nearly  dark.  We  cannot  see  our  other  boat  or  our  provisions ;  the 
snow-drift  has  covered  our  late  tracks." 

There  was  talk  that  Captain  Buddington,  of  the  Polaris,  wilfully  deserted 
the  party ;  but  Harron  says : 

"I  don't  think  Captain  Buddington  meant  to  abandon  us ;  he  either  thought 
we  could  easily  get  ashore,  or  else  he  could  not  get  through  the  ice ;  I  don't 
think  he  would  do  anything  of  the  kind;  standing  on  the  ship,  you  would 
naturally  think  we  could  get  ashore ;  it  may  have  looked  to  him  that  we  were 
right  under  the  lee  of  the  shore;  it  is  very  likely  that  he  thought  we  could 
get  ashore,  and  that  he  didn't  understand  our  signals." 

Further  on  Herron  tells  of  numberless  positions.     His  account  reads : 

"Thursday,  Nov.  28. — Thanksgiving  to-day;  we  have  had  a  feast — four 
pint  cans  of  mock  turtle  soup,  six  pint  cans  of  green  corn,  made  into  scouch. 
Afternoon,  three  ounces  of  bread  and  the  last  of  our  chocolate — our  days'  feast. 
All  well." 

The  next  day,  the  29th,  they  did  not  fare  so  well ;  they  had  to  be  content 
with  boiled  seal-skin;  but  the  thickness  of  the  hair  baffled  the  masticatory 
powers  of  some  of  them. 

Further  extracts  from  the  same  source  show  the  straits  they  were  re- 
duced to : 

"December  2.— No  open  water  has  been  seen  for  several  days;  cannot  catch 
anything.  Land  has  been  seen  for  several  days;  cannot  determine  what  shore 


160  TROUBLES  OF  EXPLORER 

it  is,  E.  or  W.  It  has  been  so  cloudy  that  we  cannot  select  a  star  to  go  by; 
some  think  it  is  the  E.  land;  for  my  part,  I  think  it  is  the  W.  Boiled  some 
seal-skin  to-day  and  ate  it — blubber,  hair  and  tough  skin.  The  men  ate 
it ;  I  could  not.    The  hair  is  too  thick,  and  we  have  no  means  of  getting  it  off. 

"December  5. — Light  wind;  a  little  thick;  15°  below  zero.  A  fox  came 
too  near  to-day ;  Bill  Lindemann  shot  him ;  skinned  and  cut  him  up  for  cook- 
ing.   Fox  in  this  country  is  all  hair  and  hair. 

"December  6. — Very  light  wind;  cold  and  clear.  The  poor  fox  was  de- 
voured to-day  by  seven  of  the  men,  who  liked  it;  they  had  a  mouthful  each 
for  their  share ;  I  did  not  think  it  worth  while,  myself,  to  commence  with  so 
small  an  allowance,  so  I  did  not  try  Mr.  Fox.    Last  night  fine  northern  lights. 

"December  8. — All  in  good  health.  The  only  thing  that  troubles  us  is 
hunger — that  is  very  severe;  we  feel  sometimes  as  though  we  could  eat  each 
other.     Very  weak,  but,  please  God,  we  will  weather  it  all. 

"December  13. — Light  wind;  cloudy;  19°  below  zero.  Hans  caught  a 
small  white  fox  in  a  trap  yesterday.  The  nights  are  brilliant,  cold  and  clear. 
The  scene  is  charming,  if  we  were  only  in  a  position  to  appreciate  it. 

"December  20. — Light  wind;  cloudy.  Joe  found  a  crack  yesterday  and 
three  seals.  Too  dark  to  shoot.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  have  game  underneath 
us.    It  would  be  much  better  to  have  them  on  the  floe  for  starving  men. 

"December  22. — Calm  and  clear  as  a  bell;  the  best  twilight  we  have  seen 
for  a  month.  It  must  have  been  cloudy  or  we  are  drifting  south  fast.  Ouf 
spirits  are  up,  but  the  body  is  weak;  15°  below  zero." 

They  began  now  to  count  the  days  until  they  could  expect  the  sun  to 
shine  forth,  with  how  much  joy  we  can  partially  imagine,  when  we  recollect 
that  for  nearly  three  months  he  had  hidden  his  glorious  face,  and  they  had 
been  groping  in  the  darkness  of  an  Arctic  winter.  Herron  tells  of  their 
Christmas : 

December  24. — Christmas  Eve.  We  are  longing  for  to-morrow,  when  we 
shall  have  quite  a  feast — half  pound  of  raw  ham,  which  we  have  been  saving 
nearly  a  month  for  Christmas.  A  month  ago  our  ham  gave  out,  so  we  saved 
this  for  the  feast.  Yesterday,  9  degrees  below  zero ;  to-day,  4  degrees  above 
zero. 

"December  25. — This  is  a  day  of  jubilee  at  home,  and  certainly  here  for 
us;  for  besides  the  approaching  daylight,  which  we  feel  thankful  to  God  for 
sparing  us  to  see,  we  have  quite  a  feast  to-day — one  ounce  of  bread  extra  per 
man,  which  made  our  soup  for  breakfast  a  little  thicker  than  for  dinner.    We 


TROUBLES  OF  EXPLORER  161 

had  soup  made  from  a  pound  of  seal  blood,  which  we  had  saved  for  a  month ; 
a  two-pound  can  of  sausage  meat,  the  last  of  the  canned  meat ;  a  few  ounces  of 
seal,  which  we  saved  with  the  blood,  all  cut  up  fine ;  last  of  our  can  of  apples, 
which  we  saved  also  for  Christmas.  The  whole  was  boiled  to  a  thick  soup, 
which  I  think  was  the  sweetest  meal  I  ever  ate.  This,  with  half  pound  of  ham 
and  two  ounces  of  bread,  gave  us  our  Christmas  dinner.'^ 

As  Spring  came  on  the  experiences  became  dreadful.    Herron  says : 

"April  5. — Blowing  a  gale  from  the  N.  E.,  and  a  fearful  sea  running. 
Two  pieces  broke  from  the  floe.  We  are  on  one  close  to  the  ten.  At  5  a.  m. 
removed  our  things  to  the  centre.  Another  piece  broke  off,  carrying  Joe's  hut 
(just  built)  with  it;  luckily,  it  gave  some  warning,  so  that  they  had  time 
to  throw  out  some  things  before  it  parted.  A  dreadful  day;  cannot  do  any- 
thing to  help  ourselves.  If  the  ice  break  up  much  more,  we  must  break  up 
with  it;  set  a  watch  all  night. 

"April  6. — Wind  changed  to  N.  W. ;  blowing  a  very  severe  gale.  Still 
on  the  same  ice;  cannot  get  off.  At  the  mercy  of  the  elements.  Joe  lost 
another  hut  to-day.  The  ice,  with  a  roar,  split  across  the  floe,  cutting  Joe's 
hut  right  in  two.  We  have  but  a  small  piece  left.  Cannot  lie  down  to- 
night. Put  a  few  things  in  the  boat,  and  now  standing  by  for  a  jump;  such 
is  the  night. 

"April  7. — Wind  W.  N.  W. ;  still  blowing  a  gale,  with  a  fearful  sea  run- 
ning. The  ice  split  right  across  our  tent  this  morning  at  6  a.  m.  While  get- 
ting a  few  ounces  of  bread  and  pemmican  we  lost  our  breakfast  in  scrambling 
out  of  our  tent,  and  nearly  lost  our  boat,  which  would  have  been  terrible. 
We  could  not  catch  any  seal  after  the  storm  set  in,  so  we  are  obliged  to  starve 
for  a  while,  hoping  in  God  it  will  not  be  for  a  long  time.  The  worst  of  it 
is  we  have  no  blubber  for  the  lamp,  and  cannot  cook  or  melt  any  water.  Every- 
thing looks  very  gloomy.  Set  a  watch;  half  the  men  are  lying  down,  the 
others  walking  outside  the  tent. 

"April  8. — Last  night,  at  twelve  o'clock,  the  ice  broke  again  between  the 
tent  and  the  boat,  which  were  close  together — so  close  that  a  man  could  not 
walk  between  them.  There  the  ice  split,  separating  the  boat  and  tent,  carry- 
ing away  boat,  kayak  and  Mr.  Meyer.  There  we  stood,  helpless,  looking 
at  each  other.  It  was  blowing  and  snowing,  very  cold,  and  a  fearful  sea 
running.  The  ice  was  breaking,  lapping  and  crushing.  The  sight  was  grand, 
but  dreadful  to  us  in  our  position.  Mr.  Meyer  cast  the  kayak  adrift,  but  it 
went  to  leeward  of  us.     He  can  do  nothing  with  the  boat  alone,  so  they 


162  TROUBLES  OF  EXPLORER 

are  lost  to  us  unless  God  returns  them.  The  natives  went  off  on  a  piece  of 
ice  with  their  paddles  and  ice-spears.  The  work  looks  dangerous;  we  may 
never  see  them  again.  But  we  are  lost  without  the  boat,  so  that  they  are 
as  well  off.  After  an  hour's  struggle  we  can  make  out,  with  what  littfe 
light  there  is,  that  they  have  reached  the  boat,  about  half  amile  off. 

"There  they  appear  to  be  helpless,  the  ice  closing  in  all  around,  and  we  can 
do  nothing  until  daylight.  Daylight  at  last— 73  a.  m.  There  we  see  them 
with  the  boat ;  they  can  do  nothing  with  her.  The  kayak  is  the  same  distance 
in  another  direction.  We  must  venture  off;  may  as  well  be  crushed  by  the 
ice  and  drowned  as  to  remain  here  without  the  boat.  Off  we  venture,  all  but 
two,  who  dare  not  make  the  attempt.  We  jump  or  step  from  one  piece  to 
another  as  the  swell  heaves  it  and  the  ice  comes  close  together,  one  piece  being 
high,  the  other  low,  so  that  you  watch  your  chance  to  jump.  All  who  ventured 
reached  the  boat  in  safety,  thank  God !  and  after  a  long  struggle  we  got  her 
safe  to  camp  again." 

"April  20. — The  wind  here  from  the  northwest.  Blowing  a  gale  in  the 
northeast.  The  swell  comes  from  there,  and  is  very  heavy.  The  first  warning 
we  had — the  man  on  watch  sang  out  at  the  moment — a  sea  struck  us,  and 
washing  over  us,  carried  away  everything  that  was  loose.  This  happened  at 
nine  o'clock  last  night.  We  shipped  sea  after  sea,  five  and  ten  minutes  after 
each  other,  carrying  away  everything  we  had  in  our  tent,  skins  and  most  of  our 
bedclothing,  leaving  us  destitute,  with  only  the  few  things  we  could  get  into 
the  boat.  There  we  stood  from  nine  in  the  evening  until  seven  next  morning, 
enduring,  I  should  say,  what  man  never  stood  before.  The  few  things  we 
saved  and  the  children  were  placed  in  the  boat.  The  sea  broke  over  us  during 
that  night  and  morning.  Every  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  a  sea  would  come, 
lift  the  boat  and  us  with  it,  carry  us  along  the  ice,  and  lose  its  strength  near 
the  edge  and  sometimes  on  it.  Then  it  would  take  us  the  next  fifteen  minutes 
to  get  back  to  a  safe  place,  ready  for  the  next  roller.  So  we  stood  that  long 
hour,  not  a  word  spoken,  but  the  commands  to  "Hold  on,  my  hearties;  bear 
down  on  her ;  put  on  all  your  weight,"  and  so  we  did,  bearing  down  and  hold- 
ing on  like  grim  death.    Cold,  hungry,  wet  and  little  prospect  ahead." 

The  crisis  seemed  to  be  rapidly  drawing  near.  Their  little  ice-cake,  already 
too  small  for  the  erection  of  a  hut  on  It,  was  wasting  away  hourly,  and  at 
last,  on  the  25th,  the  gale  reached  them,  and  they  were  compelled  at  great 
risk  to  embark  again  in  their  boat.    They  were  forced  back  to  the  floe,  however. 

At  the  end  of  April  a  steamer  appeared.    Herrons  tells  of  it  thus : 


TROUBLES  OF  EXPLORER  163 

"April  28. — Gale  of  wind  sprung  up  from  the  west.  Heavy  sea  running ; 
water  washing  over  the  floe.  All  ready  and  standing  by  our  boat  all  night. 
Not  quite  so  bad  as  the  other  night.  Snow  squalls  all  night  and  during 
forenoon.  Launched  the  boat  at  daylight  (3.30  a.  m.),  but  could  get  nowhere 
for  the  ice.  Heavy  sea  and  head  wind;  blowing  a  gale  right  in  our  teeth. 
Hauled  up  on  a  piece  of  ice  at  6  a.  m.  and  had  a  few  hours'  sleep,  but  were 
threatened  to  be  smashed  to  pieces  by  some  bergs.  They  were  fighting  quite 
a  battle  in  the  water,  and  bearing  right  for  us.  We  called  the  watch,  launched 
the  boat  and  got  away,  the  wind  blowing  moderately  and  the  sea  going  down. 
We  left  at  i  p.  m.  The  ice  is  much  slacker,  and  there  is  more  water  than 
I  have  seen  yet.  Joe  shot  three  young  bladder-nosed  seals  on  the  ice  coming 
along,  which  we  took  in  the  boat.  4.30,  steamer  right  ahead  and  a  little  to 
the  north  of  us.  We  hoisted  the  colors,  pulled  until  dark,  trying  to  cut  her 
off,  but  she  does  not  see  us.  She  is  a  sealer,  bearing  southwest.  Once  she 
appeared  to  be  bearing  right  down  upon  us,  but  I  suppose  she  was  working 
through  the  ice.  What  joy  she  caused!  We  found  a  small  piece  of  ice  and 
boarded  it  for  the  night.  Night  calm  and  clear.  The  stars  are  out  the  first 
time  for  a  week,  and  there  is  a  new  moon.  The  sea  quiet,  and  splendid 
northern  lights.  Divided  into  two  watches,  four  hours'  sleep  each;  intend 
to  start  early.  Had  a  good  pull  this  afternoon ;  made  some  westing.  Cooked 
with  blubber  fire.    Kept  a  good  one  all  night,  so  that  we  could  be  seen." 

The  morning  of  the  29th  Herron  says: — "Morning  fine  and  calm;  the 
water  quiet.  At  daylight  sighted  the  steamer  five  miles  off.  Called  the  watch, 
launched  the  boat  and  made  for  her.  After  an  hour's  pull  gained  on  her  a 
good  deal."  And  they  finally  reached  the  steamer  and  were  rescued,  in  latitude 
53  -SS-    The  vessel  was  the  Tiqess,  of  St.  John's,  N.  F. 

Sometimes  polar  explorers  are  able  to  save  lives.  The  loss. of  the  transport 
Bredalbane,  in  Aug.  21,  1853,  near  Cape  Riley,  was  such  an  instance,  the 
steamer  Phoenix  being  the  agent  of  rescue.  Mr.  Fowekher,  agent  for  the 
Bredalbane,  tells  the  story  thus : 

About  ten  minutes  past  four  the  ice  passing  the  ship  awoke  me.  I  put  on 
my  clothes,  and  on  getting  up,  found  some  hands  on  the  ice  endeavoring  to 
save  the  boats,  but  these  were  instantly  crushed  to  pieces.  I  went  forward 
to  hail  the  Phoenix,  for  men  to  save  the  boats ;  and  whilst  doing  so  the  ropes 
by  which  we  were  secured  parted,  and  a  heavy  nip  took  the  ship,  making  her 
tremble  all  over,  and  every  timber  in  her  creak.  I  looked  in  the  main  hold, 
and  saw  the  beams  giving  way ;  I  hailed  those  on  the  ice,  and  told  them  of  our 


164  TROUBLES  OF  EXPLORER 

critical  situation.  I  then  rushed  to  my  cabin,  and  called  to  those  in  their  beds 
to  save  their  lives.  On  reaching  the  deck,  those  on  the  ice  called  out  to  me 
to  jump  over  the  side — that  the  ship  was  going  over.  I  jumped  on  the  loose 
ice,  and,  with  difficulty,  and  the  assistance  of  those  on  the  ice,  succeeded  in 
getting  on  the  unbroken  part.  After  being  on  the  ice  about  five  minutes,  the 
timbers  in  the  ship  cracking  up  as  matches  would  in  the  hand,  the  nip  eased 
for  a  short  time,  and  I,  with  some  others,  returned  to  the  ship,  with  the  viev/ 
of  saving  some  of  our  effects.  Captain  Inglefield  now  came  running  toward 
the  ship.  He  ordered  me  to  see  if  the  ice  was  through  the  ship ;  and,  on  look- 
ing down  in  the  hold,  I  found  all  the  beams,  &c.,  falling  about  in  a  manner 
that  would  have  been  certain  death  to  me  had  I  ventured  down  there.  It  was 
too  evident  that  the  ship  could  not  last  many  minutes.  I  then  sounded  the 
well,  and  found  five  feet  in  the  hold;  and  whilst  in  the  act  of  sounding,  a 
heavier  nip  than  before  pressed  out  the  starboard-bow,  and  the  ice  was  forced 
right  into  the  forecastle.  Every  one  then  abandoned  the  ship,  with  what  few 
clothes  he  could  save — some  with  only  what  they  had  on.  The  ship  now  began 
to  sink  fast,  and  from  the  time  her  bowsprit  touched  the  ice  until  her  mast- 
heads were  out  of  sight  it  was  not  above  one  minute  and  a  half.  From  the 
time  the  first  nip  took  her  until  her  disappearance,  it  was  not  more  than 
fifteen  minutes." 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THE  EARLIEST  POLAR  EXPLORATIONS. 

Perhaps  it  is  because  o£  the  obstacles  and  perils  of  polar  investigation, 
rather  than  in  spite  of  them,  that  the  north  has  had  a  special  fascination  for 
men  of  daring.  Certain  it  is  that  ever  since  modern  history  began,  and  even 
before  that,  explorers  have  been  trying  to  push  into  the  land  of  ice. 

Some  historians  believe  that  in  the  dim  days  before  America  or  even 
Europe  was  populated,  a  strange  race  of  men  found  the  North  Pole,  and  even 
dwelt  there  part  of  the  year.  They  may  have  been  some  of  the  prehistoric 
peoples  who  penetrated  many  quarters  of  the  globe,  including  America,  and  left 
traces  of  their  life  in  buried  cities  and  monuments.  Perhaps  in  the  years  to 
come,  when  many  men  have  been  to  the  North  Pole,  some  evidence  of  the  ear- 
liest exploration  in  the  region  may  come  to  light.  But  in  our  day  nothing 
authentic  is  known  of  what  was  done  in  those  times. 

It  has  been  definitely  enough  established,  however,  that  for  more  than 
four  hundred  years  the  pole  has  lured  on  men  of  all  nations  to  suffering  and 
death. 

The  white  races  of  Europe  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  were 
eager  for  a  new  and  speedier  route  to  India  than  the  one  then  made  use  of. 
These  same  races  believed  a  speedier  route  to  China  existed.  Columbus  was 
only  a  searcher  for  this  route.  There  is  no  positive  historical  evidence  that 
he  sought  more  than  this  when  he  left  Spain.  And  he  was  preceded  by  scores 
of  searchers  braver  and  worthier  than  he  in  this  quest. 

Those  who  came  after  him  for  decades  did  not  accept  America  as  a  con- 
tinent with  an  entity  of  its  own.  Jean  Nicollet,  coming  in  1634  to  what  is 
now  northern  Wisconsin,  dressed  himself  in  the  robes  of  a  Chinese  mandarin 
when  he  met  the  Menomini  because  he  believed  he  was  on  the  road  to  China 
and  was  about  to  confront  one  of  the  rulers  of  that  country. 

In  this  chase  for  the  royal  road  to  the  celestial  empire  it  came  about  that 
the  first  lines  of  the  tragedy  of  the  North  Pole  were  written — the  last  are  yet 
to  be  inscribed.     The  white  men  from  Europe  were  not  alone  content  to 

m5 


166  EARLIEST  POLAR  EXPLORATIONS 

search  for  this  way  through  central  North  America;  they  pushed  north  and 
west  of  Labrador ;  they  penetrated  Baffin  bay ;  they  came  to  the  open  sea  that 
surrounds  the  ice  pack  of  the  pole,  and  they  sunk  their  ships  there  and  died 
like  men  for  the  honor  of  their  native  lands  and  the  spirit  of  discovery. 

The  geographers  and  the  mapmakers  gave  them  the  location  of  the  North 
Pole;  legend-makers  threw  their  deceptive  veils  over  its  seas;  governments 
offered  rewards  for  its  discovery,  and  so  apace  grew  the  tragedy  until  today 
the  piles  of  its  victims  and  sunken  treasure  mark  innumerable  spots  in  the 
northern  wastes. 

Fridtjof  Nansen,  a  Norwegian,  reached  86  degrees  14  minutes  April  7, 
1896.  Of  known  explorers  he  was  the  first  to  draw  that  near  to  the  pole. 
He  endured  a  temperature  of  90  degrees  below  zero.  He  lived  upon  food  of 
the  vilest  kind.    So  far  he  advanced,  and  then  was  driven  back  for  life. 

In  1266,  a  few  years  after  the  Magna  Charta  became  part  of  history,  a 
band  of  Norse  sailors,  men  of  Nansen's  type  and  race,  lost  themselves  in  the 
wilds  of  Iceland.  They  reached  as  far  north  as  75  degrees  46  minutes.  That 
is,  it  is  supposed  they  did,  for  traces  of  their  wreckage  were  found  as  far  north 
as  this  latitude  centuries  afterward,  but  not  beyond. 

If  they  made  record  of  what  they  discovered  the  ice  and  the  polar  waters 
swallowed  it  up.  They  did  not  come  within  900  miles  of  the  pole,  but  even  at 
that  the  baleful  influences  of  the  world  of  cold  came  upon  them  and  they 
perished  by  King  William's  Land. 

Next  came  John  Davis,  whose  name  is  now  borne  by  the  waters  between 
Greenland  and  the  Cumberland  peninsula.  He  entered  Baffin's  bay  and  the 
Middle  Ice,  and  in  1585  was  just  on  the  Arctic  Circle  at  Cape  Dyer.  Two 
years  later  he  had  only  reached  latitude  72  degrees  12  minutes  and  there  he 
quit,  with  many  warnings  as  to  the  impossibility  of  conquering  the  ice. 

Baffin  followed  him  in  161 6.  He  was  an  English  navigator  and  explorer 
who  aged  before  his  time  under  the  strain  of  Arctic  travel.  He  was  pilot  of 
the  Discovery,  which  in  161 5  was  dispatched  by  the  Muscovy  company  to 
North  America  in  search  of  the  baffling  northwest  passage. 

The  search  was  given  up  at  latitude  yj.  The  ice  between  Grinnell  Land 
and  Greenland  came  down  upon  the  Discovery  with  such  force,  provisions 
were  so  scarce,  that  it  was  a  question  of  turning  backward  and  fighting  the 
way  to  the  open  sea  for  safety.  Beyond  the  definite  location  of  Baffin's  bay 
the  expedition  amounted  to  but  little.  Scurvy  attacked  the  sailors,  scientific 
observations  were  few,  the  northwest  passage  a  myth — so  said  the  explorers. 


EARLIEST  POLAR  EXPLORATIONS  167 

Their  dismal  tales  filled  England  with  horror.  Corporations  hesitated  to 
send  new  searchers  out.  Baflin  himself  would  not  go  again.  He  died  in  1623 
in  battle,  fighting  with  the  English  against  the  Portuguese  at  Kishm  island  in 
the  Persian  gulf. 

The  tragedy,  once  started,  grew  in  proportions  as  men's  daring  waxed 
more  fierce.  Barents  and  Heemskerck  had  wintered  in  1596-97  at  Barents' 
bay,  on  the  western  tongue  of  Nova  Zembla.  Willoughby  was  there  in  1553 
and  Burrough  in  1556.  The  latitude  was>75,  and  the  open  waters  at  the 
point  were  given  the  name  of  Barents'  sea. 

Barents  advanced  toward  the  pole  as  far  as  latitude  76  in  1594,  but  no 
farther.  He  met  floating  ice  everywhere,  ice  that  tossed  his  ship  about  as 
though  it  were  an  eggshell;  cold  that  penetrated  to  the  marrow  of  his  men. 
He,  too,  surrendered. 

Afterward,  all  through  the  eighteenth  century,  hunters  on  ships,  adven- 
turers behind  masts,  geographers  and  others  skirted  just  the  outer  edge  of  the 
polar  world  in  a  vain  essay  to  find  an  open  passage  that  would  carry  them 
safely  through  to  the  other  side  of  the  world. 

No  attempts  during  this  century  were  made  to  break  into  the  solid  ice 
pack  that  girts  the  pole.  It  was  not  approached  near  enough  to  make  it  cer- 
tain of  existence.  The  approaches  were  confined  to  the  fields  of  floating  ice 
outside  of  the  pack,  frozen  mountains  that  bore  down  upon  ships  and  buried 
them  in  the  sea  with  but  a  moment's  warning. 

So  the  seekers  for  the  way  kept  to  the  Taimur  peninsula,  to  the  Finnish 
and  Icelandic  coast,  to  the  western  borders  of  Greenland  or  close  to  the  Rus- 
sian coast. 

Sir  William  Edward  Parry,  though,  brought  to  Arctic  exploration  the 
determination  to  enter  the  forbidden  lands  as  far  as  his  resources  would 
permit.  He  made  his  first  reputation  as  an  officer  in  the  English  navy.  He 
accompanied  the  Ross  polar  expedition,  which  accomplished  nothing,  and 
then  in  18 19  led  one  of  his  own. 

He  entered  the  Arctic  regions  from  the  south  and  east.  He  explored  and 
named  Barrow  strait.  Prince  Regent's  inlet  and  Wellington's  sound.  He 
reached  Melville  island  in  September,  18 19,  and  to  the  group  to  which  it 
belongs  gave  the  name  of  Parry  islands. 

Sir  William  found  that  distress  and  sufifering  produced  cannibalism  in 


168  EARLIEST  POLAR  EXPLORATIONS 

the  north  islands ;  that  the  aborigines  he  came  in  contact  with  knew  nothing  of 
the  ice  belt  surrounding  the  pole,  or,  if  they  did,  could  not  tell. 

Parry's  explorations  were  between  latitude  75  and  78,  and  by  crossing 
longitude  no  west  he  won  the  $25,000  prize  offered  by  parliament  for  the 
feat.  Three  times  after  1819  by  different  approaches  Parry  sought  to  enter 
the  polar  ice,  but  failed.  Some  of  his  traveling  companions  went  mad.  Others 
prematurely  aged  or  suddenly  died.  In  1827  he  reached  82  degrees  45 
minutes. 

Parry  describes  the  affliction  of  snow-blindness,  something  from  which 
most  Arctic  explorers  have  suffered: 

"Some  of  our  men,"  says  Parry,  "having,  in  the  course  of  their  shooting 
excursions,  been  exposed  for  several  hours  to  the  glare  of  the  sun  and  snow, 
returned  at  night  much  affected  with  that  painful  inflammation  in  the  eyes 
occasioned  by  the  reflection  of  intense  light  from  the  snow,  aided  by  the 
warmth  of  the  sun,  and  called  in  America  'snow  blindness.'  This  complaint,  of 
which  the  sensation  exactly  resembles  that  produced  by  large  particles  of  sand 
or  dust  in  the  eyes,  is  cured  by  some  tribes  of  American  Indians  by  holding 
them  over  the  steam  of  warm  water;  but  we  found  a  cooling  wash,  made  by 
a  small  quantity  of  acetate  of  lead  mixed  with  cold  water,  more  efficacious  in 
relieving  the  irritation,  which  was  always  done  in  three  or  four  days,  even 
in  the  most  severe  cases,  provided  the  eyes  were  carefully  guarded  from  the 
light.  As  a  preventive  of  this  complaint,  a  piece  of  black  crape  was  given  to 
each  man,  to  be  worn  as  a  kind  of  short  veil  attached  to  the  hat,  which  we 
found  to  be  very  serviceable.  A  still  more  convenient  mode,  adopted  by  some 
of  the  officers,  was  found  equally  efficacious ;  this  consisted  in  taking  the  glasses 
out  of  a  pair  of  spectacles,  and  substituting  black  or  green  crape,  the  glass 
having  been  found  to  heat  the  eyes  and  increase  the  irritation." 

Parry  also  describes  some  of  the  characteristics  of  summer  in  the  Arctic,  the 
observations  being  taken  in  June. 

"Having. observed,"  says  Parry,  "that  the  sorrel  was  now  so  far  advanced 
in  foliage  as  to  be  easily  gathered  in  sufficient  quantity  for  eating,  I  gave 
orders  that  two  afternoons  in  each  week  should  be  occupied  by  all  hands  in 
collecting  the  leaves  of  this  plant;  each  man  being  required  to  bring  in,  for  the 
present,  one  ounce,  to  be  served  in  lieu  of  lemon-juice,  pickles,  and  dried  herbs, 
which  had  been  hitherto  issued.  The  growth  of  the  sorrel  was  from  this  time 
so  quick,  and  the  quantity  of  it  so  great  on  every  part  of  the  ground  about 
the  harbor,  that  we  shortly  after  sent  the  men  out  every  afternoon  for  an  hour 


EARLIEST  POLAR  EXPLORATIONS  169 

or  two;  in  which  time,  besides  the  advantage  of  a  healthy  walk,  they  could, 
without  difficulty,  pick  nearly  a  pound  each  of  this  valuable  antiscorbutic,  of 
which  they  were  all  extremely  fond. 

"By  the  20th  of  June,  the  land  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the 
ships,  and  especially  in  low  and  sheltered  situations,  was  much  covered  with 
the  handsome  purple  flower  of  the  saxifraga  oppositifolia,  which  was  at  this 
time  in  great  perfection,  and  gave  something  like  cheerfulness  and  animation 
to  a  scene  hitherto  indescribably  dreary  in  its  appearance. 

"The  suddenness  with  which  the  changes  take  place  during  the  short  season 
which  may  be  called  summer  in  this  climate,  must  appear  very  striking  when 
it  is  remembered  that,  for  a  part  of  the  first  week  in  June,  we  were  under  the 
necessity  of  thawing  artificially  the  snow  which  we  made  use  of  for  water 
during  the  early  part  of  our  journey  to  the  northward;  that,  during  the  second 
week,  the  ground  was  in  most  parts  so  wet  and  swampy  that  we  could  with 
difficulty  travel;  and  that,  had  we  not  returned  before  the  end  of  the  third 
week,  we  should  probably  have  been  prevented  doing  so  for  some  time,  by  the 
impossibility  of  crossing  the  ravines  without  great  danger  of  being  carried 
away  by  the  torrents, — an  accident  that  happened  to  our  hunting  parties 
on  one  or  two  occasions  in  endeavoring  to  return  with  their  game  to  the  ships." 

Another  bold  explorer  was  Admiral  Von  Wrangell,  who  was  sent  out  in 
1820  by  Emporer  Alexander,  of  Russia.  The  party  attempted  to  discover  a 
northern  continent,  and  failed  after  many  privations.  Wrangell  reached 
latitude  70:51,  longitude  175:27  west.  The  ice  they  traversed  was  thin  and 
weak.  In  the  distance,  at  the  end  of  their  journey  they  saw  signs  of  open 
water.  Says  the  admiral :  "Notwithstanding  this  sure  sign  of  the  impossibility 
of  proceeding  further,  we  continued  to  go  due  north  for  about  nine  versts, 
when  we  arrived  at  the  edge  of  an  immense  break  in  the  ice,  extending  east 
and  west  further  than  the  eye  could  reach,  and  which  at  the  narrowest  part 
was  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  fathoms  across.  .  .  .  We  climbed  one 
of  the  loftiest  icehills,  where  we  obtained  an  extensive  view  toward  the  north 
and  whence  we  beheld  the  wide,  immeasurable  ocean  spread  before  our  gaze. 
It  was  a  fearful  and  magnificent,  but  to  us  a  melancholy  spectacle.  Frag- 
ments of  ice  of  enormous  size  floated  on  the  surface  of  the  agitated  ocean, 
and  were  thrown  by  the  waves  with  awful  violence  against  the  edge  of  the  Ice- 
field on  the  further  side  of  the  channel  before  us.  The  collisions  were  so 
tremendous,  that  large  masses  were  every  Instant  broken  away;  and  It  was 
evident  that  the  portion  of  Ice  which  still  divided  the  channel  from  the  open 


170  EARLIEST  POLAR  EXPLORATIONS 

ocean  would  soon  be  completely  destroyed.  Had  we  attempted  to  have  ferried 
ourselves  across  upon  one  of  the  floating  pieces  Of  ice,  we  should  not  have 
found  finn  footing  upon  our  arrival.  Even  on  our  own  side,  fresh  lanes  of 
water  were  continually  forming,  and  extending  in  every  direction  in  the  field 
of  ice  behind  us.  With  a  painful  feeling  of  the  impossibility  of  overcoming  the 
obstacles  which  nature  opposed  to  us,  our  last  hope  vanished  of  discovering  the 
land,  which  we  yet  believed  to  exist." 

On  returning  from  this  extreme  limit  of  their  adventurous  journey,  the 
party  were  placed  in  a  situation  of  extreme  risk. 

"We  had  hardly  proceeded  one  werst,"  writes  M.  von  Wrangell,  "when 
we  found  ourselves  in  a  fresh  labyrinth  of  lanes  of  water,  which  hemmed 
us  in  on  every  side.  As  all  the  floating  pieces  around  us  were  smaller  than 
the  one  on  which  we  stood,  which  was  seventy-five  fathoms  across,  and  as  we 
saw  many  certain  indications  of  an  approaching  storm,  I  thought  it  better  to 
remain  on  the  larger  mass,  which  offered  us  somewhat  more  security ;  and  thus 
we  waited  quietly  whatever  Providence  should  decree.  Dark  clouds  now  rose 
from  the  west,  and  the  whole  atmosphere  became  filled  with  a  damp  vapor. 
A  strong  breeze  suddenly  sprang  up  from  the  west,  and  increased  in  less  than 
half  an  hour  to  a  storm.  Every  moment  huge  masses  of  ice  around  us  were 
dashed  against  each  other,  and  broken  into  a  thousand  fragments.  Our  little 
party  remained  fast  on  our  ice-island,  which  was  tossed  to  and  fro  by  the 
waves.  We  gazed  in  most  painful  inactivity  on  the  wild  conflict  of  the  elements, 
expecting  every  moment  to  be  swallowed  up.  We  had  been  three  long  hours 
in  this  position,  and  still  the  mass  of  ice  beneath  us  held  together,  when  sud- 
denly it  was  caught  by  the  storm,  and  hurled  against  a  large  field  of  ice.  The 
crash  was  terrific,  and  the  mass  beneath  us  was  shattered  into  fragments.  At 
that  dreadful  moment,  when  escape  seemed  impossible,  the  impulse  of  self- 
preservation  implanted  in  every  living  being  saved  us.  Instinctively  we  all 
sprang  at  once  on  the  sledges,  and  urged  the  dogs  to  their  full  speed.  They 
flew  across  the  yielding  fragments  to  the  field  on  which  we  had  been  stranded, 
and  safely  reached  a  part  of  it  of  firmer  character,  on  which  were  several 
hummocks,  and  where  the  dogs  immediately  ceased  running,  conscious,  ap- 
parently, that  the  aanger  was  past.  We  were  saved:  we  joyfully  embraced 
•5ach  other,  and  united  in  thanks  to  God  for  our  preservation  from  such 
imminent  peril." 

More  than  once  during  this  trip  the  party  heard  from  natives  that  land 
could  be  seen  far  away  in  the  northern  seas.    The  part  of  the  coast  alluded  to 


EARLIEST  POLAR  EXPLORATIONS  171 

was  Cape  Jakan,  which  the  explorers  afterwards  visited;  but,  although  "they 
gazed  long  and  earnestly  on  the  horizon,  in  hopes,  as  the  atmosphere  was 
clear,  of  discerning  some  appearance  of  the  northern  land,"  they  "could  see 
nothing  of  it." 

Captain  Beechey,  who  sailed  from  England  in  the  Dorothea  and  Trent 
expeditions  in  1818,  has  left  some  interesting  records.  Speaking  of  the 
purpose  of  the  voyage  he  said : 

"The  peculiarity  of  the  proposed  route  afforded  opportunities  of  making 
some  useful  experiments  on  the  elliptical  figure  of  the  earth;  on  magnetic 
phenomena ;  on  the  refraction  of  the  atmosphere  in  high  latitudes  in  ordinary 
circumstances,  and  over  extensive  masses  of  ice;  and  on  the  temperature  and 
specific  gravity  of  the  sea  at  the  surface,  and  at  various  depths ;  and  on  mete- 
orological and  other  interesting  phenomena."  The  vessels  sailed  in  April, 
1818;  Magdalena  Bay,  in  Spitzbergen,  having  been  appointed  as  a  place  of 
rendezvous,  in  case  of  separation. 

On  May  24  of  that  year  they  reached  latitude  74,  longitude  17:40  east. 
There  they  saw  the  midnight  sun  reflected  from  great  ice-masses,  described 
by  Beechey  thus: 

"Very  few  of  us  had  ever  seen  the  sun  at  midnight;  and  this  night  hap- 
pening to  be  particularly  clear,  his  broad  red  disc,  curiously  distorted  by  re- 
fraction, and  sweeping  majestically  along  the  northern  horizon,  was  an  object 
of  imposing  grandeur,  which  riveted  to  the  deck  some  of  our  crew,  who  would 
perhaps  have  beheld  with  indifference  the  less  imposing  effect  of  the  icebergs. 
The  rays  were  too  oblique  to  illuminate  more  than  the  inequalities  of  the  floes, 
and,  falling  thus  partially  on  the  grotesque  shapes,  either  really  assumed 
by  the  ice  or  distorted  by  the  unequal  refraction  of  the  atmosphere,  so  be- 
trayed the  imagination  that  it  required  no  great  exertion  of  fancy  to  trace 
in  various  directions  architectural  edifices,  grottos,  and  caves,  here  and  there, 
glittering  as  if  with  precious  metals." 

Interesting  accounts  of  the  habits  of  Arctic  birds  are  given  in  Beechey's 
story. 

"From  an  early  hour  in  the  morning  until  the  period  of  rest  returned,  the 
shores  around  us  reverberated  with  the  merry  cry  of  the  little  auk,  willocks, 
divers,  cormorants,  gulls,  and  other  aquatic  birds;  and,  wherever  we  went, 
groups  of  walruses,  basking  in  the  sun,  mingled  their  playful  roar  with  the 
husky  bark  of  the  seal."  The  little  auks  or  rotges  (the  Alca  die)  were  so 
numerous,  that  "we  have  frequently  seen  an  uninterrupted  line  of  them  ex- 


172  EARLIEST  POLAR  EXPLORATIONS 

tending  full  half-way  over  the  bay,  or  to  a  distance  of  more  than  three  miles, 
and  so  close  together  that  thirty  have  fallen  at  one  shot.  This  living  column 
might  be  about  six  yards  broad  and  as  many  deep;  so  that,  allowing  sixteen 
birds  to  a  cubic  yard,  there  would  be  four  millions  of  these  creatures  on  the 
wing  at  one  time. 

"The  reindeer,"  he  says,  "showed  evident  marks  of  affection  for  each 
other.  They  were  at  this  time  in  pairs,  and  when  one  was  shot  the  other  would 
hang  over  it,  and  occasionally  lick  it,  apparently  bemoaning  its  fate ;  and,  if  not 
immediately  killed,  would  stand  three  or  four  shots  rather  than  desert  its 
fallen  companion." 

Beechey  also  describes  some  ice-avalanches,  a  truly  marvelous  sight. 

"The  first  was  occasioned  by  the  discharge  of  a  musket  at  about  half  a 
mile's  distance  from  the  glacier.  Immediately  after  the  report  of  the  gun, 
a  noise  resembling  thunder  was  heard  in  the  direction  of  the  iceberg  (glacier), 
and  in  a  few  seconds  more  an  immense  piece  broke  away,  and  fell  headlong 
into  the  sea.  The  crew  of  the  launch,  supposing  themselves  beyond  the  reach 
of  its  influence,  quietly  looked  upon  the  scene,  when  presently  a  sea  arose  and 
rolled  toward  the  shore  with  such  rapidity,  that  the  crew  had  not  time  to  take 
any  precautions,  and  the  boat  was  in  consequence  washed  upon  the  beach,  and 
completely  filled  by  the  succeeding  wave.  As  soon  as  their  astonishment  had 
subsided,  they  examined  the  boat,  and  found  her  so  badly  stove  that  it  became 
necessary  to  repair  her  in  order  to  return  to  the  ship.  They  had  also  the 
curiosity  to  measure  the  distance  the  boat  had  been  carried  by  the  wave,  and 
found  it  to  be  ninety-six  feet." 

In  viewing  the  same  glacier  from  a  boat  at  a  distance,  a  second  avalanche 
took  place,  which  afforded  them  the  gratification  of  witnessing  the  creation, 
as  it  were,  of  a  sea  iceberg ;  an  opportunity  which  has  occurred  to  few,  though 
it  is  generally  understood  that  such  monsters  can  only  be  generated  on  shore. 

"This  occurred  on  a  remarkably  fine  day,  when  the  quietness  of  the  bay 
was  first  interrupted  by  the  noise  of  the  falling  body.  Lieutenant  Franklin  and 
myself  had  approached  one  of  these  stupendous  walls  of  ice,  and  were  endeav- 
oring to  search  into  the  innermost  recess  of  a  deep  cavern  that  was  near  the 
foot  of  the  glacier,  when  we  heard  a  report  as  if  of  a  cannon,  and,  turning  to 
the  quarter  whence  it  proceeded,  we  perceived  an  immense  piece  of  the  front 
of  the  berg  sliding  down  from  the  height  of  two  hundred  feet  at  least  into  the 
sea,  and  dispersing  the  water  in  every  direction,  accompanied  by  a  loud,  grind- 
ing noise,  and  followed  by  a  quantity  of  water,  which,  being  previously  lodged 


EARLIEST  POLAR  EXPLORATIONS  173 

in  the  fissures,  now  made  its  escape  in  numberless  small  cataracts  over  the 
front  of  the  glacier." 

The  plunge  of  the  enormous  mass  caused  the  Dorothea  to  careen,  though 
at  a  distance  of  four  miles.    Continuing,  Beechey  says : 

"The  piece  that  had  been  disengaged  at  first  wholly  disappeared  under 
water,  and  nothing  was  seen  but  a  violent  boiling  of  the  sea,  and  a  shooting  up 
of  clouds  of  spray,  like  that  which  occurs  at  the  foot  of  a  great  cataract.  After 
a  short  time  it  reappeared,  raising  its  head  full  a  hundred  feet  above  the  surface, 
with  water  pouring  down  from  all  parts  of  it;  and  then,  laboring  as  if  doubtful 
which  way  it  should  fall,  it  rolled  over,  and  after  rocking  about  some  minutes, 
at  length  became  settled.  We  now  approached  it,  and  found  it  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  in  circumference,  and  sixty  feet  out  of  water.  Knowing  its  specific 
gravity,  and  making  a  fair  allowance  for  its  inequalities,  we  computed  its 
weight  at  421,660  tons.  A  stream  of  salt  water  was  still  pouring  down  its  sides, 
and  there  was  a  continual  cracking  noise,  as  loud  as  that  of  a  cart-whip,  occa- 
sioned, I  suppose,  by  the  escape  of  confined  air." 

Another  thrilling  marine  adventure  is  described  by  DeLong,  whose  ship 
Jeannette  was  lost  in  1881.    DeLong's  journal  of  June  12  reads  as  follows : 

"At  7 130  a.  m.  the  ice  commenced  to  move  toward  the  port  side,  but  after 
advancing  a  foot  or  two  came  to  rest.  Employed  one  watch  in  hauling  heavy 
floe  into  a  small  canal  on  the  port  bow,  to  close  it  up  and  receive  the  greater 
part  of  the  thrust. 

"At  4  p.  m.  the  ice  came  down  in  great  force  all  along  the  port  side,  jam- 
ming the  ship  hard  against  the  ice  on  the  starboard  side,  causing  her  to  heel 
16°  to  starboard.  From  the  snapping  and  cracking  of  the  bunker  sides  and 
starting  in  of  the  starboard  ceiling,  as  well  as  the  opening  of  the  seams  in  the 
ceiling  to  the  width  of  one  and  one-fourth  inches,  it  was  feared  that  the  ship 
was  about  to  be  seriously  endangered,  and  orders  were  accordingly  given  to 
lower  the  starboard  boats  and  haul  them  away  from  the  ship  to  a  safe  position 
on  the  ice-floe.  This  was  done  quietly  and  without  confusion.  The  ice,  in 
coming  in  on  the  port  side,  also  had  a  movement  toward  the  stern,  and  this 
last  movement  not  only  raised  her  port  bow,  but  buried  the  starboard  quarter, 
and  jamming  it  and  the  stern  against  the  heavy  ice,  effectually  prevented  the 
ship  rising  to  pressure.  Mr.  Melville  (chief  engineer),  while  below  in  the 
engine-room,  saw  a  break  across  the  ship  in  the  wake  of  the  boilers  and  engines, 
showing  that  so  solidly  were  the  stern  and  starboard  quarters  held  by  the  ice 
that  the  ship  was  breaking  in  two  from  the  pressure  upward  exerted  on  the 


174  EARLIEST  POLAR  EXPLORATIONS 

port  bow  of  the  ship.  The  starboard  side  of  the  ship  was  also  evidently  broken 
in,  because  water  was  rising  rapidly  in  the  starboard  coal-bunkers.  Orders  were 
now  given  to  land  one-half  of  the  pemmican  in  the  deck-house,  and  all  the 
bread  which  was  on  deck,  and  the  sleds  and  dogs  were  likewise  carried  to  a 
position  of  safety.  The  ship  was  heeled  22°  to  starboard,  and  was  raised 
forward  4'  6",  the  entire  port  bow  being  visible  also  to  a  height  of  4'  6"  from 
the  forefoot.   *   *   * 

"At  5  p.  m.  the  pressure  was  renewed,  and  continued  with  tremendous 
force,  the  ship  cracking  in  every  part.  The  spar-deck  commenced  to  buckle 
up,  and  the  starboard  side  seemed  again  on  the  point  of  coming  in.  Orders 
were  now  given  to  get  out  provisions,  clothing,  bedding,  ship's  books  and 
papers,  and  to  remove  all  sick  to  a  place  of  safety.  While  engaged  in  this  work 
another  tremendous  pressure  was  received,  and  at  6  p.  m.  it  was  found  that  the 
vessel  was  beginning  to  fill.  From  that  time  forward  every  effort  was  devoted 
to  getting  provisions,  etc.,  on  the  ice,  and  it  was  not  desisted  from  until  the 
water  had  risen  to  the  spar-deck,  the  ship  being  now  heeled  to  starboard  30°. 
The  starboard  side  was  evidently  broken  in  abreast  of  the  mainmast,  and  the 
ship  was  settling  fast.  Our  ensign  had  been  hoisted  at  the  mizzen,  and  every 
preparation  made  for  abandoning  the  ship,  and  at  8  p.  m.  everybody  was 
ordered  to  leave  her.  Assembling  on  the  floe,  we  dragged  all  our  boats  and 
provisions  clear  of  bad  cracks,  and  prepared  to  camp  down  for  the  night." 


f^ 


DB.  COOK'S  LAST  CAETEEDGE  AFTER  HIS  PEO VISIONS  WEEE  EXHAUSTED. 


ESKIMO  WHO  HAS  BEACHED  LIMIT  OF  ENDUBANGE. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
THE  VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF  SIR  JOHN  FRANKLIN, 

One  of  the  most  famous  of  the  polar  trips  of  the  last  hundred  years  was 
that  of  Sir  John  Franklin.  It  is  famous  for  what  he  discovered  and  because 
of  the  terrible  ending  of  a  promising  enterprise.  Of  all  the  stories  of  dreadful 
want  and  agony  that  have  been  preserved  from  the  records  of  Arctic  travelers, 
none  surpasses  that  concerning  these  Englishmen  whose  fate  remained  a 
mystery  for  years. 

Franklin  was  a  bold  English  searfarer, — one  of  those  born  adventurers 
to  whom  even  war  seems  to  be  too  commonplace.  His  eyes  were  ever  toward 
the  unknown  parts  of  the  globe.  He  was  truly  of  the  mold  of  those  to 
whom  privation  and  a  struggle  with  the  terrible  and  mysterious  is  more  allur- 
ing than  domestic  comfort. 

He  made  several  exploratory  trips  in  his  early  years  which  were,  in  a 
way,  a  preparation  for  the  climax  of  his  career.  He  was  about  sixty  years 
old  when,  in  1845,  he  started  on  his  journey  which  was  to  be  his  last. 

"The  Erebus  and  Terror,  which  formed  the  fleet,  had  already  proved  their 
capacity  for  withstanding  the  strain  and  pressure  of  the  ice  floes.  They 
each  carried  a  crew  numbering  67  officers  and  men,  and  while  Franklin  took 
charge  of  the  Erebus  with  Captain  Fitz-James,  the  Terror  was  commanded 
by  Captain  Crozier.  The  ships  were  provisioned  for  three  years,  and  the 
task  set  them  was  to  discover  and  sail  through  the  passage  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific  Oceans.  The  intention  of  the  Government  was  to  ascertain 
whether  or  not  this  passage  existed  and  Franklin  was  instructed  to  go  by 
Lancaster  Sound  to  Cape  Walker  (lat.  74  degrees  N. ;  long.  98  degrees  W.) 
and  thence  south  and  west  to  push  through  Behring's  Straits  to  the  other 
ocean. 

"Franklin  was  full  of  enthusiasm  as  to  the  outcome  of  the  expedition. 
That  it  would  prove  the  existence  of  the  passage  he  had  no  doubt,  and  subse- 
quent events  justified  him.     But  he  had  bigger  notions  then  merely  proving 

177 


178  VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF  FRANKLIN 

the  passage.  'I  believe  it  is  possible  to  reach  the  pole  over  the  ice  by  winter- 
ing at  Spitzbergen  and  going  in  the  spring  before  the  ice  breaks  up,'  he 
said  before  starting,  and  no  one  would  have  been  surprised  had  he  returned 
in  the  three  years  with  a  record  of  the  journey.  Public  interest  was  thor- 
oughly aroused  in  the  enterprise,  and  when  the  two  vessels  set  sail  from 
Greenhithe  on  May  19,  1845,  they  had  a  brilliant  send-off.  On  June  i  they 
arrived  at  Stromness  in  the  Orkney  Islands,  and  on  July  4  at  Whale  Fish 
Island,  off  the  coast  of  Greenland,  where  the  dispatch  boat  Barreto  Junior 
parted  company  with  them  to  bring  home  Franklin's  dispatches  to  the  Admir- 
alty, reporting  'All  Well'  Later  on  came  the  news  that  Captain  Dannett,  of 
the  whaler  Prince  of  Wales,  had  spoken  them  in  Melville  Bay." 

This  was  the  last  direct  news  from  Franklin's  ships  for  many  years, — 
in  fact,  the  last  ever  seen  of  the  voyagers  by  any  eye  save  that  of  Eskimos. 
From  what  was  learned  later,  however,  it  appears  that  the  ships  managed 
to  reach  Beechy  Island  at  the  entrance  of  Wellington  Channel,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  Barrows'  Strait,  nearly  100  miles  west  of  the  channel  entrance.  At 
this  point  the  ships  made  anchorage,  and  the  men  faced  the  first  winter  with 
plenty  of  supplies,  with  the  best  of  health,  and  without  fear  of  the  future. 

"The  first  Christmas  festival  of  the  voyage  was  kept  up  with  high  revel. 
If  fresh  beef  was  not  available,  venison  was,  and  there  was  plenty  of  material 
for  the  manufacture  of  the  time-honoured  'duff.'  The  officers  and  men,  clad 
in  their  thick,  heavy  fur  garments,  clustered  together  as  the  simple  religious 
service  was  read,  and  over  the  silent  white  covering  of  sea  and  land  the 
sound  of  their  voices  rolled  as  they  sang  the  hymns  and  carols  which  were 
being  sung  in  their  native  land.  Then  came  the  merry-making  and  the  feast- 
ing in  cabins  decked  with  bunting,  for  no  green  stuff  was  available  for  deco- 
rating. 

"The  first  New  Year's  Day  was  saddened  by  the  death  of  one  of  their 
comrades,  and  the  silent  ice  fields  witnessed  another  impressive  sight  when 
the  crews  of  both  vessels  slowly  marched  ashore  to  the  grave  dug  in  the 
frozen  soil  of  Beechy  Island.  The  body,  wrapped  in  a  Union  Jack,  was  borne 
by  the  deceased  man's  messmates,  the  members  of  his  watch  headed  by  their 
officers  following,  and  after  them  the  remainder  of  the  officers  and  crew.  The 
bells  of  each  ship  tolled  as  the  cortege  passed  over  the  ice,  the  crunching  of  the 
crisp  snow  under  foot  being  the  only  other  sound  till  the  grave  was  reached. 
There  the  solemn  and  impressive  sen^ice  of  a  sailor's  funeral  was  said,  the 
mingled  voices  as  they  repeated  the  responses  passing  as  a  great  hum  through 


VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF  FRANKLIN  179 

the  still  cold  air.  A  momentary  silence  followed  as  the  flag-swathed  figure 
was  lovered  into  the  grave,  and  then  a  quick  rattle  of  fire-arms  as  the  last 
salute  was  paid  echoed  far  and  wide  among  the  ice-bergs. 

"Twice  more  was  that  scene  repeated  before  the  ships  cleared  from  the 
ice,  and  one  of  the  first  signs  discovered  by  the  searchers  after  Franklin  were 
the  three  headstones  raised  on  that  lonely  isle  to  the  memory  of  W.  Braine, 
John  Hartwell,  and  John  Torrington,  who  died  while  the  ships  were  winter- 
ing in  the  cold  season  of  1845-6. 

During  this  dark  season  some  progress  was  made  in  the  journey,  for 
whenever  the  ice  broke  up  for  a  spell,  the  ships  were  forced  onward.  By  the 
end  of  the  winter  the  expedition  had  reached  within  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  of  the  western  end  of  the  passage,  and  in  July  the  voyage  was  resumed 
in  earnest.  Little  by  little  they  worked  west, — how  little  is  seen  by  the  fact 
that  they  made  but  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  two  months.  At  the  end 
of  this  period,  in  September,  1846,  the  ships  became  frozen  in  the  ice  for  the 
last  time.    They  were  off  the  north  end  of  King  Williams'  Land. 

And  now  the  explorers,  first  began  to  realize  that  all  might  not  be  well 
with  them.  They  had  provisions  for  three  years  when  they  started;  and 
when  the  winter  they  were  facing  was  over,  they  would  have  been  in  the 
Arctic  two  years.  There  was  no  help  at  hand,  however,  ,and  another  winter 
passed  without  light  breaking  on  their  problem. 

Then,  in  the  spring,  it  was  seen  something  must  be  done.  They  could  not 
go  back;  they  must  go  forward.  One  hundred  and  thirty  men  looked  to 
Franklin  for  their  lives.  '  He  decided,  in  the  emergency,  to  send  a  party  ahead 
in  the  effort  to  discover  the  end  of  the  passage  and  find  open  sea  by  which  the 
ships  could  return  home.  Lieut.  Gore  was  the  man  selected  for  this  mission. 
He  and  his  followers  started  overland,  and  after  a  terrific  journey,  at  last 
reached  an  elevation  from  which  they  could  discern  the  glorious  open  sea. 
The  northeast  passage  had  been  found. 

"To  commemorate  the  fact  the  little  party  built  a  cairn  upon  the  summit 
of  the  point,  which  they  named  Point  Victory,  and  enclosed  in  a  tin  canister 
they  deposited,  under  the  cairn,  a  record  of  their  trip  and  its  results.  Twelve 
years  later  this  record  was  found,  and  by  it  the  honour  due  to  Franklin  for 
the  discovery  of  the  passage  was  confirmed. 

"Elated  with  the  success  of  their  efforts,  Lieutenant  Gore  and  his  com- 
panions retraced  their  way  back  to  the  ships,  for  with  the  end  of  their  journey 
near  at  hand,  all  fears  of  the  provisions  running  short  were  at  an  end.  As  soon 


180  VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF  FRANKLIN 

as  the  ice  broke  np  they  would  be  away  into  the  sea  they  had  seen  from 
Point  Victory,  and  sailing  home  with  their  mission  accomplished,  their  task 
completed,  and  nothing  but  honour  and  glory  waiting  them  at  home.  As 
soon  as  they  came  within  sight  of  the  two  ships,  perched  up  among  the  ice 
ridges,  they  shouted  out  to  their  comrades  to  let  them  know  of  the  success 
achieved.  Round  about  the  ships  they  saw  men  standing  in  groups,  but 
instead  of  answering  cheers,  the  men  only  looked  in  their  direction.  Unable 
to  understand  why  so  much  indifference  was  displayed,  Lieutenant  Gore  and 
his  companions  hurried  forward,  and,  as  they  came  nearer,  some  of  the  men 
separated  themselves  from  the  groups  and  came  to  meet  them  with  slow  steps. 

"Soon  the  cause  of  their  depression  was  made  known  to  the  returned 
explorers.  The  leader  of  the  expedition  lay  dying  in  his  cabin  on  board 
the  Erebus." 

No  more  tragic  picture  lives  in  all  history  than  that  of  the  white-haired 
British  naval  officer,  lying  in  torment  in  his  dark  cabin,  while  the  haggard 
men  he  had  sent  to  spy  out  the  land  told  him  brokenly  of  their  success.  He 
knew  that  he  had  done  what  no  other  man  had  done;  but  he  also  knew  he 
must  die  without  receiving  the  plaudits  of  the  multitudes  at  home.  And  so 
he  died,  June  ii,  1847,  amid  the  sobs  of  his  officers. 

When  the  leader  of  a  desperate  hope  perishes,  the  fate  of  his  followers 
hangs  by  a  thread.  So  it  was  with  the  Franklin  party.  Capt.  Crozier  was 
named  the  leader,  and  he  took  up  the  burden  as  soon  as  Franklin  was  buried, 
there  in  the  Arctic  ice.  Hopeless  indeed  seemed  the  situation.  The  ships  could 
go  neither  forward  nor  backward ;  the  food  supply  was  dwindling.  The  men 
were  beginning  to  show  the  effect  of  the  long  imprisonment.  Yet  all  the  time 
they  were  moving  nearer  the  goal,  for  the  mass  of  ice  which  held  the  ships 
was  carrying  them  on. 

Winter  again.  Now  the  scurvy  invaded  the  crew.  Men's  minds  began  to 
fail.  Some  could  not  walk.  Many  lay  helpless  in  their  bunks.  By  April, 
1848,  twenty  were  dead. 

It  was  agreed  at  last  to  take  the  desperate  measure  of  abandoning  the 
ships,  and  dashing  for  the  spot  Gore  had  discovered, — the  brave  Gore,  who 
had  by  now  succumbed  with  others.  On  April  22,  a  march  was  begun  over 
the  mainland,  in  an  effort  to  reach  the  Great  Fish  river,  where  Eskimo  camps 
might  be  found.  But  soon  it  was  plain  that  not  all  of  the  men  could  reach 
the  goal  alive, 

*'A  council  was  held,  and  it  was  decided  that  the  strongest  should  take 


VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF  FRANKLIN  181 

enough  supplies  to  last  them  for  a  time  and  push  forward  as  rapidly  as  possi- 
ble, while  the  remainder  should  follow  at  a  slower  rate  and  by  shorter  stages. 
The  majority  were  in  the  latter  division,  and  only  a  few  days  elapsed  after 
the  smaller  band,  numbering  about  thirty,  had  left,  before  the  ravages  of 
scurvy  and  semi-starvation  made  it  possible  for  even  less  than  five  miles  a  day 
being  covered.  So  debilitated  were  all  the  members  that  further  advance 
was  abandoned  until  they  had,  by  another  long  rest,  tried  to  recuperate 
their  energies.  But  the  terrible  bleakness  of  the  place  where  they  were 
wrought  havoc  among  them,  and  every  day  men  fell  down  never  to  rise 
again,  until  the  only  hope  for  the  survivors  lay  in  returning  to  the  ships, 
where,  at  least,  they  would  have  shelter, 

"Wearily  they  staggered  over  the  rugged  ice  ridges,  each  man  expending 
his  remaining  energies  in  striving  to  carry  provisions,  without  which  only 
death  awaited  them.  Men  fell  as  they  walked,  unnoticed  by  their  com- 
panions, whose  only  aim  was  to  get  back  to  the  ships,  and  whose  faculties 
were  too  dimmed  to  understand  anything  else.  Blindly,  but  doggedly,  they 
stumbled  onward,  silent  in  their  agony,  brave  to  the  last  when  wornout 
nature  gave  way  and  they  sank  down,  one  after  the  other,  till  none  was  left 
alive  and  only  the  still  figures,  lying  face  downwards  on  the  frozen  snow,  bore 
mute  witness  of  how  they  had  neither  faltered  nor  wavered  in  their  duty, 
but  had  died,  as  Britons  always  should  die,  true  to  the  end." 

Thirty  of  the  men  traveled  less  than  five  miles ;  others  pushed  ahead,  and 
at  last  reached  the  cairn  established  by  Gore.  They  placed  within  it  another 
record,  this  time  a  record  of  death  and  disaster,  telling  the  story  of  Franklin's 
end,  and  giving  the  names  of  the  few  survivors. 

It  was  a  case  of  men  about  to  die  performing  a  service  for  the  dead.  None 
of  those  who  reached  the  cairn  ever  got  more  than  a  few  miles  from  that 
point.  For  a  little  distance  they  proceeded,  dragging  on  a  sledge  a  heavy  boat, 
their  only  hope  if  they  should  reach  open  water.  Then  came  the  crowning 
stroke  when  owing  to  a  break-up  of  the  ice,  the  boat  floated  away,  and  to 
save  it  they  were  forced  to  leave  their  food  supplies  behind.  Then  all  was 
over.  The  few  strongest  who  had  gone  on  ahead  turned  back  to  the  com- 
rades they  had  left  behind.  Together,  then,  they  died,  and  the  Arctic  snows  of 
many  a  winter  drifted  over  their  bones. 

During  these  years  public  sentiment  had  passed  from  pride  in  the  daring  of 
the  expedition  to  anxiety  over  its  fate,  and  finally  into  a  great  clamor  that  some- 
thing should  be  done  in  their  relief.     Many  enterprises  of  succor  were 


182  VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF  FRANKLIN 

planned;  many  met  with  failure.  It  was  years  before  any  definite  evidence 
of  the  fate  of  Franklin  and  his  men  was  gleaned  from  the  great  frozen 
mystery. 

In  1849  as  many  as  eight  expeditions,  some  sent  by  England,  some  by  the 
United  States,  went  in  search  of  Franklin.  The  first  to  find  traces  of  the  dead 
was  that  of  Capt.  Shepherd  Osborne,  sent  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  On 
the  23rd  of  August,  1850,  when  exploring  Beechy  Island,  he  found  relics 
scattered  over  an  area  of  several  miles.  They  consisted  of  empty  tin  cans, 
the  embankment  of  a  house,  and,  finally,  the  graves  of  three  men  who  had 
been  members  of  the  crews  of  the  Erebus  and  the  Terror. 

Aroused  by  these  discoveries  five  more  parties  went  north  in  1852,  and  as 
many  more  in  1853.  The  results  of  these  were  conclusive.  In  1854  Dr.  Rae 
met  a  band  of  Eskimos  who  had  articles  of  silverware  that  had  come  from 
the  missing  ships.  By  trading  with  the  Eskimos  Dr.  Rae  got  possession  of 
a  number  of  these  relics.  In  the  meantime  a  British  expedition  headed  by  Capt. 
McClure,  in  the  Investigator,  had  been  cruising  in  search  during  four  years  and 
when  McClure  was  rescued  from  the  plight  in  which  his  expedition  had 
became  caught,  it  was  learned  that  he  had  found  an  Eskimo  wearing  in  his  ear 
a  brass  button  cut  from  the  clothing  of  one  of  Franklin's  sailors.  This  led  to 
the  belief  that  the  man  had  been  murdered  by  the  natives;  but  no  proof 
of  it  was  ever  forthcoming. 

Very  important  were  the  discoveries  made  by  Sir  L.  F.  McClintock,  who 
went  north  in  1857  ^^  the  head  of  a  party  organized  by  the  widow  of  Frank- 
lin. McClintock  went  direct  to  King  Williams'  Land,  and  found  confirmatory 
evidence  of  the  death  of  the  Franklin  party. 

''On  May  25,  1859,  McClintock,  while  walking  along  a  sandy  ridge  from 
whence  the  snow  had  disappeared,  he  noticed  something  white  shining  through 
the  sand.  He  stooped  to  examine  it,  thinking  it  to  be  a  round  white  stone,  but 
closer  inspection  showed  it  to  be  the  back  of  a  skull.  Upon  the  sand  being 
removed,  the  entire  skeleton  was  found,  lying  face  downwards,  with  frag- 
ments of  blue  cloth  still  adhering  to  its  bleached  bones.  The  man  had  evi- 
dently been  young,  lightly  built,  and  of  the  average  height.  Near  by  were 
found  a  small  pocket  brush  and  comb,  and  a  pocket-book  containing  two  coins 
and  some  scraps  of  writing.  He  had  evidently  fallen  forward  as  he  was  walk- 
ing, and  never  risen.  As  an  old  Eskimo  woman  told  Dr.  Rae,  'they  fell  down 
and  died  as  they  walked  along,'  overcome  with  cold,  hunger  and  sickness. 

"The  explorers  were  now  in  the  region  where  all  their  finds  were  to  be 


VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF  FRANKLIN  183 

made.  Five  days  later  McClintock  came  upon  a  boat  which  he  found,  from  a 
note  attached  to  it,  that  Hobson  had  already  examined.  It  had  evidently 
escaped  the  notice  of  the  Eskimo,  and,  until  the  white  men  found  it,  had 
probably  not  been  touched  by  human  hands  from  the  moment  its  occupants 
had  died.  It  was  mounted  on  a  sledge,  as  though  it  had  been  hauled  over 
the  ice;  but  from  tht  fact  that  its  bows  pointed  towards  the  spot  where  the 
ships  had  been,  it  was  surmised  that  the  men  were  dragging  it  back  to  the 
vessels  when  they  were  overcome. 

"Inside  were  two  bodies,  one  lying  on  its  side  under  a  pile  of  clothing 
towards  the  stern,  and  the  other  in  the  bows,  in  such  a  position  as  to  suggest 
that  the  man  had  crawled  forward,  had  laboriously  pulled  himself  up  to  look 
over  the  gunwale,  and  had  then  slipped  down  and  died  where  he  fell.  Beside 
him  were  two  guns,  loaded  and  ready  cocked,  as  though  the  man  had  been 
apprehensive  of  attack.  There  was  also  as  many  as  five  watches,  several 
books  (mostly  with  the  name  of  Graham  Gore  or  initials  G.  G  in  them),  abun- 
dance of  clothes  and  other  articles  such  as  knives,  pieces  of  sheet  lead,  files, 
sounding  leads  and  lines,  spoons  and  forks,  oars,  a  sail,  and  two  chronometers, 
but  of  food  only  some  tea  and  chocolate. 

"The  story  mutely  told  by  these  relics  was  only  too  plain.  Weary  with 
hauHng  it,  the  majority  of  the  men  had  left  the  boat  in  order  to  get  back  to 
the  ships  and  obtain  a  fresh  supply  of  provisions,  leaving  two,  who  were  too 
weak  to  struggle  on,  in  the  boat  as  comfortable  as  they  could  be  made  until 
some  of  the  others  could  get  back  to  help  them.  Then  the  days  had  passed 
until  the  store  of  provisions  had  been  consumed  and  the  two  sufferers  had 
grown  weary  with  waiting,  so  weary  that  one  had  slept  and  died  under  his 
wraps,  and  the  other,  with  his  remaining  vestige  of  strength,  had  crawled 
forward  to  peep  out  once  more  for  the  help  that  was  so  long  in  coming.  But 
only  ice  had  met  his  gaze,  and,  sinking  down,  he  had  also  passed  into  that 
overwhelming  sleep,  and  had  lain  undisturbed  for  twelve  years  under  the 
covering  of  the  Arctic  snows." 

Others  who  helped  prove  Franklin's  fate  were  Grinnell,  an  American; 
Peabody,  an  Englishman,  ^nd  Sir  John  Ross,  also  a  Briton,  and  Capt.  Charles 
Francis  Hall,  of  New  London,  Conn.  While  prosecuting  their  search  they 
explored  much  territory  and  made  discoveries  of  great  value  to  science. 

Most  noted  of  all  the  explorers  who  thus  turned  the  Franklin  tragedy 
into  great  account  for  the  advancement  of  learning  was  Elisha  Kent  Kane,  an 
American  physician.     Dr.  Kane's  book,  "Arctic  Explorations,"  is  one  of  the 


184  VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF  FRANKLIN 

most  interesting  and  authoritative  of  all  written  in  that  period.  Moreover,  it 
was  this  volume,  full  of  the  romance  of  the  mysterious  north,  that  first  fired 
Peary,  the  pole  discoverer,  with  zeal  to  visit  the  Arctic  region.  The  following 
chapter  is  given  to  Dr.  Kane's  work. 

Thrilling  in  the  extreme  were  the  experiences  of  McClintock,  McClure, 
Rae,  and  others.  Not  the  least  dramatic  were  the  discovery  of  records  of 
earlier  expeditions. 

McClintock,  in  1850,  tells  of  finding  the  place  where  Parry  camped  thirty 
years  before.  This  was  in  a  cove  on  Melville  Island. 

"On  reaching  the  ravine  leading  into  the  cove,"  he  says,  "we  spread  across, 
and  walked  up,  and  easily  found  the  encampment,  although  the  pole  had  fallen 
down.  The  very  accurate  report  published  of  his  journey  saved  us  much  labor 
in  finding  the  tin  cylinder  and  ammunition.  The  crevices  betv^een  the  stones 
piled  over  them  were  jfilled  with  ice  and  snow ;  the  powder  completely  destroyed, 
and  cylinder  eaten  through  with  rust,  and  filled  with  ice.  From  the  extreme 
difficulty  of  descending  into  such  a  ravine  with  any  vehicle,  I  supposed  that  the 
most  direct  route,  where  all  seemed  equally  bad,  was  selected ;  therefore  sent  the 
men  directly  up  the  northern  bank,  in  search  of  the  wheels  which  were  left 
where  the  cart  broke  down.  They  fortunately  found  them  at  once;  erected  a 
cairn  about  the  remains  of  the  wall  built  to  shelter  the  tent;  placed  a  record 
on  it,  in  one  tin  case  within  another.  We  then  collected  a  few  relics  of  our 
predecessors,  and  returned  with  the  remains  of  the  cart  to  our  encampment. 
An  excellent  fire  had  been  made  with  willow  stems;  and  upon  this  a  kettle, 
containing  Parry's  cylinder,  was  placed.  As  soon  as  the  ice  was  thawed  out  of 
it,  the  record  it  contained  was  carefully  taken  out.  I  could  only  just  distin- 
guish the  date.  Had  it  been  in  a  better  state  of  preservation,  I  would  have 
restored  it  to  its  lonely  position." 

Capt.  Inglefield,  in  the  Isabel,  a  steamer  fitted  out  by  Lady  Franklin  in 
1852,  tells  of  a  gale  during  which  he  attempted  to  land  on  the  coast  of  Smith's 
Sound  in  la,titude  78  '.28.  After  describing  the  impossibility  of  landing  Ingle- 
field says : 

"The  rest  of  the  27th  and  the  following  day  were  spent  In  reaching,  under 
snug  sail,  on  either  tack,  whilst  the  pitiless  northerly  gale  drove  the  sleet  and 
snow  into  our  faces,  and  rendered  it  painful  work  to  watch  for  the  icebergs, 
that  we  were  continually  passing.  On  this  account,  I  could  not  heave  the  ship 
to,  as  the  difficulty  of  discerning  objects  rendered  it  imperative  that  she  should 
be  kept  continually  under  full  command  of  the  helm.     The  temperature,  25°, 


VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF  FRANKLIN  185 

and  the  continual  freezing  of  the  spray,  as  it  broke  over  the  vessel,  combined 
with  the  slippery  state  of  the  decks  from  the  sleet  that  fell  and  the  ice  which 
formed  from  the  salt  water,  made  all  working  of  ropes  and  sails  not  only  dis- 
agreeable, but  almost  impracticable;  so  that  I  was  not  sorry  when  the  wind 
moderated. 

"By  4  a.  m.,  of  the  29th,  it  fell  almost  to  a  calm;  but  a  heavy  swell,  the 
thick  fog  and  mist  remaining,  precluded  our  seeing  any  distance  before  us ;  and 
thus  we  imperceptibly  drew  too  near  the  land-pack  off  the  western  shore,  so 
that,  a  little  after  Mr.  Abernethy  had  come  on  deck,  in  the  morning  watch,  I 
was  called  up,  as  he  said  that  the  ship  was  drifting  rapidly  into  the  ice.  Soon 
on  deck,  I  found  that  there  was  no  question  on  that  score ;  for  even  now  the 
loose  pieces  were  all  round  us,  and  the  swell  was  rapidly  lifting  the  ship  further 
into  the  pack,  whilst  the  roar  of  waters,  surging  on  the  vast  floe-pieces,  gave 
us  no  very  pleasant  idea  of  what  would  be  our  fate  if  we  were  fairly  entrapped 
in  this  frightful  chaos.  The  whale-boat  was  lowered,  and  a  feeble  effort  made 
to  get  her  head  off  shore ;  but  still  in  we  went,  plunging  and  surging  amongst 
the  crushing  masses. 

"While  I  was  anxiously  watching  the  screw,  upon  which  all  our  hopes  were 
now  centered,  I  ordered  the  boiler,  which  had  been  under  repair,  and  was  partly 
disconnected,  to  be  rapidly  secured,  the  fires  to  be  lighted,  and  to  get  up  the 
steam ;  in  the  meantime  the  tackles  were  got  up  for  hoisting  out  our  long-boat, 
and  every  preparation  was  made  for  the  worst.  Each  man  on  board  knew  he 
was  working  for  his  life,  and  each  toiled  with  his  utmost  might;  ice-anchors 
were  laid  out,  and  hawsers  got  upon  either  bow  and  quarter,  to  keep  the  ship 
from  driving  further  in ;  but  two  hours  must  elapse  before  we  could  expect  t^e 
use  of  the  engine.  Eager  were  the  inquiries  when  will  the  steam  be  up  ?  and 
wood  and  blubber  were  heaped  in  the  furnace  to  get  up  the  greatest  heat  we 
could  command. 

"At  last  the  engineer  reported  all  was  ready ;  and  then,  warping  the  ship's 
head  round  to  seaward,  we  screwed  ahead  with  great  caution ;  and  at  last 
found  ourselves,  through  God's  providence  and  mercy,  relieved  from  our  diffi- 
culties. It  was  a  time  of  the  deepest  suspense  to  me ;  the  lives  of  my  men  and 
the  success  of  our  expedition  depended  entirely  on  the  safety  of  the  screw ;  and 
thus  I  watched,  with  intense  anxiety,  the  pieces  of  ice,  as  we  drifted  slowly 
past  them ;  and,  passing  the  word  to  the  engineer,  'East  her,'  'Stop  her,'  till  the 
huge  masses  dropped  into  the  wake,  we  succeeded,  with  much  difficulty,  in 
saving  the  screw  from  any  serious  damage,  though  the  edges  of  the  fan  were 
burnished  bright  from  abrasion  against  the  ice." 


186  VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF  FRANKLIN 

McClure  describes  some  exj^riences  of  the  breaking  up  of  the  ice  July  24, 
1 85 1,  off  Point  Armstrong. 

"The  wind,  veering  to  the  westward  during  the  night,"  says  he,  "set  large 
bodies  of  ice  into  the  water  we  occupied,  which  was  rapidly  filling.  To  prevent 
bemg  forced  on  shore,  we  were  obliged,  at  8  a.  m.  of  the  25th,  to  run  into  the 
pack,  where  we  drifted,  according  to  the  tide,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the 
beach ;  but,  during  the  twenty- four  hours,  made  about  two  miles  and  a  half  to 
the  northeast,  from  which,  when  taken  with  the  quantity  of  drift-wood  that 
is  thickly  strewed  along  the  beach,  I  am  of  opinion  that  on  this  side  of  the 
strait  there  is  a  slight  current  to  the  northeast,  while  upon  the  opposite  one  it 
sets  to  the  southward,  upon  which  there  is  scarcely  any  wood,  and  our  progress, 
while  similarly  situated,  was  in  a  southern  direction.  We  continued  drifting 
in  the  pack,  without  meeting  any  obstruction,  until  10  a.  m.  of  the  ist  of 
August,  when  a  sudden  and  most  unexpected  motion  of  the  ice  swept  us  with 
much  velocity  to  the  northeast,  toward  a  low  point,  off  which  were  several 
shoals,  having  many  heavy  pieces  of  grounded  ice  upon  them,  toward  which  we 
were  directly  setting,  decreasing  the  soundings  from  twenty-four  to  nine  and 
a  half  fathoms.  Destruction  was  apparently  not  far  distant,  when,  most  oppor- 
tunely, the  ice  eased  a  little,  and,  a  fresh  wind  coming  from  the  land,  sail  was 
immediately  made,  which,  assisted  by  warps,  enabled  the  ship  to  be  forced 
ahead  about  two  hundred  yards,  which  shot  us  clear  of  the  ice  and  the  point 
into  sixteen  and  a  half  fathoms,  in  which  water  we  rounded  the  shoals;  the 
ice  then  again  closed,  and  the  ship  became  fixed  until  the  14th  of  August,  when 
the  fog,  which  since  the  previous  day  had  been  very  dense,  cleared,  and  dis- 
closed open  water  about  half  a  mile  from  the  vessel,  with  the  ice  loose  about 
her." 

The  difificulty  of  clearing  away  large  masses  of  ice  was,  to  some  extent, 
obviated  by  blasting.  "Previously  to  quitting  the  floe,"  says  McClure,  "I  was 
desirous  of  tiying  what  effect  blasting  would  have  upon  such  a  mass.  A  jar 
containing  thirty-six  pounds  of  powder  was  let  down  twelve  feet  into  the 
water  near  the  center ;  the  average  thickness  was  eleven  feet,  and  its  diameter 
four  hundred  yards.  The  result  was  most  satisfactory,  rending  it  in  every  direc- 
tion, so  that  with  ease  we  could  effect  a  passage  through  any  part  of  it." 

McClure  also  tells  of  one  of  those  dramatic  meetings  in  the  ice-fields  that 
often  occur.    Says  he : 

"While  walking  near  the  ship,  in  conversation  with  the  first  lieutenant  upon 
the  subject  of  digging  a  grave  for  a  man  who  had  just  died,  and  discussing  how 


VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF  FRANKLIN  187 

we  could  cut  a  grave  in  the  ground  whilst  it  was  so  hardly  frozen  (a  subject 
naturally  sad  and  depressing),  we  perceived  a  figure  walking  rapidly  towards 
us  from  the  rough  ice  at  the  entrance  of  the  bay.  From  his  pace  and  gestures 
we  both  naturally  supposed,  at  first,  that  he  was  some  one  of  our  party  pursued 
by  a  bear ;  but,  as  we  approached  him,  doubts  arose  as  to  who  it  could  be.  He 
was  certainly  unlike  any  of  our  men ;  but,  recollecting  that  it  was  possible  some 
one  might  be  trying  a  new  travelling-dress  preparatory  to  the  departure  of  our 
sledges,  and  certain  that  no  one  else  was  near,  we  continued  to  advance. 

"When  within  about  two  hundred  yards  of  us,  the  strange  figure  threw 
up  his  arms,  and  made  gesticulations  resembling  those  used  by  Esquimaux, 
besides  shouting  at  the  top  of  his  voice  words  which,  from  the  wind  and  in- 
tense excitement  of  the  moment,  sounded  like  a  wild  screech :  and  this  brought 
us  both  fairly  to  a  standstill.  The  stranger  came  quietly  on,  and  we  saw  that 
his  face  was  as  black  as  ebony  (made  black  by  the  lamp  smoke  in  his  tent)  ; 
and  really,  at  the  moment,  we  might  be  pardoned  for  wondering  whether  he 
was  a  denizen  of  this  or  the  other  world ;  as  it  was,  we  gallantly  stood  our 
ground,  and,  had  the  skies  fallen  upon  us,  we  could  hardly  have  been  more 
astonished  than  when  the  dark-faced  stranger  called  out,  'I'm  Lieutenant  Pim, 
late  of  the  Herald,  and  now  in  the  Resolute.  Captain  Kellett  is  in  her,  at 
Dealy  Island.' 

"To  rush  at  and  seize  him  by  the  hand  was  the  first  impulse,  for  the  heart 
was  too  full  for  the  tongue  to  speak.  The  announcement  of  relief  being  close 
at  hand,  when  none  was  supposed  to  be  even  within  the  Arctic  Circle,  was  too 
sudden,  unexpected,  and  joyous,  for  our  minds  to  comprehend  it  at  once.  The 
news  flew  with  lightning  rapidity;  the  ship  was  all  in  commotion;  the  sick, 
forgetful  of  their  maladies,  leaped  from  their  hammocks ;  the  artificers  dropped 
their  tools,  and  the  lower  deck  was  cleared  of  men ;  for  they  all  rushed  for  the 
hatchway,  to  be  assured  that  a  stranger  was  actually  among  them,  and  that  his 
tale  was  true.  Despondency  fled  the  ship,  and  Lieut.  Pim  received  a  welcome — < 
pure,  hearty,  and  grateful — that  he  will  surely  remember  and  cherish  to  the 
end  of  his  day." 

Dr.  Rae's  journal  gives  details  of  the  finding  of  Franklin's  relics,  hereto- 
fore described.    Under  date  of  March  20,  1854,  he  wrote: 

"We  were  met  by  a  very  intelligent  Esquimo,  driving  a  dog-sledge  laden 
with  musk-ox  beef.  This  man  at  once  consented  to  accompany  us  two  days' 
journey,  and  in  a  few  minutes  had  deposited  his  load  on  the  snow,  and  was 
ready  to  join  us.     Having  explained  to  him  my  object,  he  said  that  the  road 


188  VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF  FRANKLIN 

by  which  he  had  come  was  the  best  for  us;  and,  having  hghtened  the  men's 
sledges,  we  travelled  with  more  facility.  We  were  now  joined  by  another  of 
the  natives,  who  had  been  absent  seal-hunting  yesterday,  but,  being  anxious 
to  see  us,  had  visited  our  snow-house  early  this  morning,  and  then  followed  up 
our  track.  This  man  was  very  communicative,  and,  on  putting  to  him  the 
usual  questions  as  to  his  having  seen  'white  man'  before,  or  any  ships  or  boats, 
he  replied  in  the  negative ;  but  said  that  a  party  of  'Kabloomans'  had  died  of 
starvation  a  long  distance  to  the  west  of  where  we  then  were,  and  beyond  a 
large  river.  He  stated  that  he  did  not  know  the  exact  place,  that  he  never  had 
been  there,  and  that  he  could  not  accompany  us  so  far.  The  substance  of  the 
information  then  and  subsequently  obtained  from  various  sources  was  to  the 
following  effect: 

"In  the  spring,  four  winters  past  (1850),  while  some  Esquimo  families 
were  killing  seals  near  the  north  shore  of  a  large  island,  named  in  Arrow- 
smith's  charts  King  William's  Land,  about  forty  white  men  were  seen  trav- 
elling in  company  southward  over  the  ice,  and  dragging  a  boat  and  sledges  with 
them.  They  were  passing  along  the  west  shore  of  the  above-named  island. 
None  of  the  party  could  speak  the  Esquimo  language  so  well  as  to  be  under- 
stood, but  by  signs  the  natives  were  led  to  believe  that  the  ship  or  ships  had 
been  crushed  by  ice,  and  that  they  were  now  going  to  where  they  expected  to 
find  deer  to  shoot.  From  the  appearance  of  the  men — -all  of  whom,  with  the 
exception  of  an  officer,  were  hauling  on  the  drag-ropes  of  the  sledge,  and 
looked  thin — they  were  then  supposed  to  be  getting  short  of  provisions;  and 
they  purchased  a  small  seal,  or  piece  of  seal,  from  the  natives.  The  officer  was 
described  as  being  a  tall,  stout,  middle-aged  man.  When  their  day's  journey 
terminated,  they  pitched  tents  to  rest  in. 

"At  a  later  date  the  same  season,  but  previous  to  the  disruption  of  the  ice, 
the  corpses  of  some  thirty  persons  and  some  graves  were  discovered  on  the 
continent. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  articles  obtained  from  the  Esquimos  by  Dr. 
Rae: 

One  silver  table-fork — crest,  an  animal's  head  with  wings  extended  above ; 
three  silver  table-forks — crest,  a  bird  with  wings  extended;  one  silver  table- 
spoon— crest,  with  initials  "F.  R.  M.  C."  (Captain  Crozier,  Terror)  ;  one  silver 
table-spoon  and  one  fork — crest,  bird  with  laurel-branch  in  mouth,  motto, 
"Spcro  melioraf  one  silver  table-spoon,  one  tea-spoon,  and  one  dessert-fork — 
crest,  a  fish's  head  looking  upwards,  with  laurel-branches  on  each  side;  one 


VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF  FRANKLIN  189 

silver  table-fork — initials,  "H.  D.  S.  G."  (Harry  D.  S.  Goodsir,  assistant- 
surgeon,  Erebus)  ;  one  silver  table-fork — initials,  "A.  M'D."  (Alexander 
M'Donald,  assistant-surgeon.  Terror)  ;  one  silver  table-fork — initials,  "G.  A. 
M."  (Gillies  A.  Macbean,  second  master,  Terror)  ;  one  silver  table-fork — 
initials,  "J.  T. ;"  one  silver  dessert-spoon — initials,  "J-  S.  P."  (John  S.  Peddie, 
surgeon,  Erebus) ;  a  round  silver  plate,  engraved,  "Sir  John  Franklin, 
K.  C.  B. ;"  a  star  or  order,  with  motto,  "Nee  aspera  terrent,  G.  R.  III. 
MDCCCXV." 

One  of  the  most  pathetic  stories  of  the  Arctic  belongs  to  this  period.  It 
is  the  death  of  Lieut.  Bellot,  a  young  Frenchman  attached  to  the  Prince  Albert, 
one  of  the  Franklin  relief  ships,  under  Capt.  Kennedy.  He  was  attempting  to 
lead  a  party  to  join  Sir  Edward  Belcher's  squadron,  near  Cape  Beecher. 

Bellot  left  Beechey  Island  Aug.  12,  1853,  with  a  party.  They  encountered 
a  belt  of  water  before  reaching  the  mainland,  and  Bellot  sought  to  cross  it 
alone  in  a  boat.  But  the  ice  separated  him  from  his  companions  and  he  per- 
ished. One  of  his  comrades,  named  Johnson,  tells  of  building  an  ice-house, 
and  continues : 

"Mr.  Bellot  sat  for  half  an  hour  in  conversation  with  us,  talking  on  the 
danger  of  our  position.  I  told  him  I  was  not  afraid,  and  that  the  American 
expedition  was  driven  up  and  down  this  channel  by  the  ice.  He  replied,  *I  know 
they  were;  and  when  the  Lord  protects  us,  not  a  hair  of  our  heads  shall  be 
touched.' 

"I  then  asked  Mr.  Bellot  what  time  it  was.  He  said,  'About  quarter  past 
eight  a.  m.'  (Thursday,  the  i8th),  and  then  lashed  up  his  books,  and  said  he 
would  go  and  see  how  the  ice  was  driving.  He  had  only  been  gone  about  four 
minutes,  when  I  went  round  the  same  hummock  under  which  we  were  sheltered 
to  look  at  him,  but  could  not  see  him ;  and,  on  returning  to  our  shelter,  saw  his 
stick  on  the  opposite  side  of  a  crack,  about  five  fathoms  wide,  and  the  ice  all 
breaking  up.  I  then  called  out  'Mr.  Bellot!'  but  no  answer — (at  this  time 
blowing  very  heavy).  After  this,  I  again  searched  round,  but  could  see  noth- 
ing of  him. 

"I  believe  that  when  he  got  from  the  shelter  the  wind  blew  him  into  the 
crack,  and,  his  south-wester  being  tied  down,  he  could  not  rise.  Finding  there 
was  no  hope  of  again  seeing  Lieut.  Bellot,  I  said  to  Hook,  T'm  not  afraid :  I 
know  the  Lord  will  always  sustain  us.'  We  commenced  travelling,  to  try  to 
get  to  Cape  De  Haven,  or  Port  Phillips ;  and,  when  we  got  within  two  miles  of 
Cape  De  Haven,  could  not  get  on  shore ;  and  returned  for  this  side,  endeavor- 


190  VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF  FRANKLIN 

ing  to  get  to  the  southward,  as  the  ice  was  driving  to  the  northward.  We  were 
that  night  and  the  following  day  in  coming  across/ and  came  into  the  land  on 
the  eastern  shore  a  long  way  to  the  northward  of  the  place  where  we  were 
driven  off.  We  got  into  the  land  at  what  Lieut.  Bellot  told  us  was  Point 
Hogarth. 

"In  drifting  up  the  straits  towards  the  Polar  Sea,  we  saw  an  iceberg  lying 
close  to  the  shore,  and  found  it  on  the  ground.  We  succeeded  in  getting  on  it, 
and  remained  for  six  hours.  I  said  to  David  Hook,  'Don't  be  afraid ;  we  must 
make  a  boat  of  a  piece  of  ice.'  Accordingly,  we  got  on  to  a  piece  passing,  and 
I  had  a  paddle  belonging  to  the  India-rubber  boat.  By  this  piece  of  drift-ice 
we  managed  to  reach  the  shore,  and  then  proceeded  to  where  the  accident  hap- 
pened. Reached  it  on  Friday.  Could  not  find  our  shipmates,  or  any  provisions. 
Went  on  for  Cape  Bowden,  and  reached  it  on  Friday  night." 

When  the  Esquimos  heard  of  Bellot's  death,  they  shed  tears,  and  cried 
"Poor  Bellot !  poor  Bellot !"  Two  years  before,  he  had  seen  an  Esquimo  drag- 
ging himself  over  the  ice,  with  a  broken  leg.  He  called  the  carpenter  and  gave 
him  directions  to  make  a  wooden  leg  for  the  poor  fellow,  and  to  teach  him  to 
walk  with  it. 


CHAPTER  XVIL 

KANE,  THE  MODEL  OF  PEARY. 

"An  Arctic  day  and  an  Arctic  night,"  says  Dr.  Kane  in  one  part  of  his 
book,  "age  a  man  more  rapidly  and  harshly  than  a  year  anywhere  else  in  all 
this  weary  world."  Dr.  Kane  was  not  yet  forty  years  of  age  when  he  went 
to  the  north.  When  he  returned  he  was  a  physical  wreck,  with  barely 
strength  to  pen  the  volume  that  still  lives  in  the  libraries  of  explorers. 

The  expedition  under  the  command  of  Dr.  Kane  sailed  from  New  York 
on  the  30th  day  of  May,  1853.  It  consisted  of  eighteen  chosen  men,  besides 
the  commander,  embarked  in  a  small  brig  of  one  hundred  and  forty-four  tons 
burden,  named  the  Advance.  Dr.  Kane's  predetermined  course  was  to  enter 
the  strait  discovered  the  previous  year  by  Captain  Inglefield,  at  the  top  of 
Baffin's  Bay,  and  to  push  as  far  northward  through  it  as  practicable.  }He 
was  to  cross  Melville  Bay  in  the  wake  of  the  vast  icebergs  with  which  the  sea 
is  there  strewn.  These  huge  frozen  masses  are  often  driven  one  way  by  a 
deep  current,  while  the  floes  are  drifted  in  another  by  winds  and  surface- 
streams,  disruptions  being  thus  necessarily  caused  in  the  vast  ice-fields.  The 
doctor's  tactics  were  to  dodge  about  in  the  rear  of  these  floating  ice-moun- 
tains, holding  upon  them  whenever  adverse  winds  were  troublesome,  and 
pressing  forward  whenever  an  opportunity  occurred. 

Dr.  Kane's  plan  was  based  upon  the  probably  extension  of  the  land- 
masses  of  Greenland  to  the  far  north — a  fact  at  that  time  not  verified  by 
travel,  but  sustained  by  the  analogies  of  physical  geography. 

With  this  plan  in  mind.  Dr.  Kane  pushed  the  ship  Advance  to  Melville 
Bay,  where  the  first  great  difficulties  were  encountered.  By  arduous  work, 
however,  they  reached  Littleton  Island,  and  deposited  some  stores.  A  long 
battle  with  ice  and  storm  followed,  lasting  through  the  month  of  August, 
and  the  ship  finally  reached  Cape  George  Russell,  where  the  ship  was  pre- 
pared for  a  long  imprisonment. 

Many  interesting  things  were  met  with  during  the  winter  that  followed. 

191 


192  KANE,  MODEL  OF  PEARY 

Temperature  readings  were  made  hourly,  and  the  lowest  found  was  in  Feb- 
ruary, when  seventy  degrees  Fahrenheit  was  reached.  At  this  temperature 
chloroform  froze  and  even  chloric  ether,  never  before  known  to  freeze,  became 
congealed.    The  ship  was  then  in  latitude  y8. 

By  March,  1854,  the  party  showed  heavy  signs  of  their  privation.  Scurvy 
spots  mottled  their  faces,  and  many  could  do  no  hard  work.  Dr.  Kane  him- 
self, never  a  very  strong  man,  was  much  exhausted.  But  he  never  relaxed 
in  his  determination  to  push  north.  He  organized  a  party  of  men,  placed 
himself  at  their  head,  and  planned  to  force  a  way  over  bergs  and  mountains. 
First,  however,  he  sent  out  an  advance  expedition  with  supplies — and  this 
party  came  to  grief,  owing  to  a  heavy  gale,  accompanied  by  a  temperature  of 
57  degrees  below.  Three  members  of  the  party  managed  to  force  their  way 
back,  and  on  hearing  their  story  Dr.  Kane  sought  to  go  to  the  rescue.  He 
started  out  with  nine  men. 

His  own  story  of  the  trip  contains  this : 

**We  had  been  nearly  eighteen  hours  out  without  water  or  food,  when 
a  new  hope  cheered  us.  I  think  it  was  Hans,  our  Esquimaux  hunter,  who 
thought  he  saw  a  broad  sledge-track.  The  drift  had  nearly  effaced  it,  and 
we  were  some  of  us  doubtful  at  first  whether  it  was  not  one  those  accidental 
rifts  which  the  gales  make  in  the  surface-snow.  But,  as  we  traced  it  on  to  the 
deep  snow  among  the  hummocks,  we  were  led  to  footsteps;  and,  following 
these  with  religious  care,  we  at  last  came'  in  sight  of  a  small  American  flag 
fluttering  from  a  hummock,  and  lower  down  a  little  Masonic  banner  hang- 
ing from  a  tent-pole  hardly  above  the  drift.  It  was  the  camp  of  our  dis- 
abled comrades;  we  reached  it  after  an  unbroken  march  of  twenty-one  hours. 

"The  little  tent  was  nearly  covered.  I  was  not  among  the  first  to  come 
up;  but  when  I  reached  the  tent-curtain,  the  men  were  standing  in  silent  file 
on  each  side  of  it.  With  more  kindness  and  delicacy  of  feeling  than  is  often 
supposed  to  belong  to  sailors,  but  which  is  almost  characteristic,  they  inti- 
mated their  wish  that  I  should  go  in  alone.  As  I  crawled  in,  and,  coming 
upon  the  darkness,  heard  before  me  the  burst  of  welcome  gladness  that  came 
from  the  four  poor  fellows  stretched  on  their  backs,  and  then  for  the  first 
time  the  cheer  out3ide,  my  weakness  and  my  gratitude  together  almost  over- 
came me.     'They  had  expected  me ;  they  were  sure  I  would  come !'  " 

This  is  Dr.  Kane's  account  of  the  retreat  of  the  party,  now  consisting  of 
fifteen  men : 

"It  was  fortunate  indeed  that  we  were  not  inexperienced  in  sledging  over 


Copyright   1909  by  Underwood  &  Underwood. 
JOHN  E.  BRADLEY  IN   THE  CABIN  OF  THE  "BRADLEY,"  IN  NORTH   GREEN- 
LAND, WHEN  HE  CABBIED  DB.  COOK  NORTH. 


■  ■'ftffcia'jwiijin:  JWWWHiiwiii 


^«??='~^- 


^~  :i.c-:^;^r.:iSi&^ , 


THE  AECTIC  NOEWHALS. 


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«KBEENLAND  SEAL  CAPTURED  BY  PEAEY. 


KANE,  MODEL  OF  PEARY  195 

the  ice.  A  great  part  of  our  track  lay  among  a  succession  of  hummocks; 
some  of  them  extending  in  long  lines  fifteen  and  twenty  feet  high,  and  so 
uniformly  steep  that  we  had  to  turn  them  by  a  considerable  deviation  from 
our  direct  course;  others  that  we  forced  our  way  through,  far  above  our 
heads  in  height,  lying  in  parallel  ridges  with  the  space  between  too  narrow 
for  the  seldge  to  be  lowered  into  it  safely,  and  yet  not  wide  enough  for  the 
runners  to  cross  without  the  aid  of  ropes  to  stay  them.  These  spaces,  too,  were 
generally  choked  with  light  snow,  hiding  the  openings  between  the  ice-frag- 
ments. They  were  fearful  traps  to  disengage  a  limb  from;  for  every  man 
knew  that  a  fracture,  or  a  sprain  even,  would  cost  him  his  life.  Besides  all 
this,  the  sledge  was  top-heavy  with  its  load;  the  maimed  men  could  not  bear 
to  be  lashed  down  tight  enough  to  secure  them  against  falling  off.  Notwith- 
standing our  caution  in  rejecting  every  superfluous  burden,  the  weight,  includ- 
ing bags  and  tent,  was  eleven  hundred  pounds. 

"And  yet  our  march  for  the  first  six  hours  was  very  cheering.  We  made, 
by  vigorous  pulls  and  lifts,  nearly  a  mile  an  hour,  and  reached  the  new  floes 
before  we  were  absolutely  weary.  Our  sledge  sustained  the  trial  admirably. 
Ohlsen,  restored  by  hope,  walked  steadily  at  the  leading-belt  of  the  sledge- 
lines;  and  I  began  to  feel  certain  of  reaching  our  half-way  station  of  the  day, 
before,  where  we  had  left  our  tent.  But  we  were  still  nine  miles  from  it, 
when,  almost  without  premonition,  we  all  became  aware  of  an  alarming  fail- 
ure of  our  energies. 

"I  was  of  course  familiar  with  the  benumbed  and  almost  lethargic  sensa- 
tion of  extreme  cold;  and  once,  when  exposed  for  some  hours  in  the  mid- 
winter of  Baffin's  Bay,  I  had  experienced  symptoms  which  I  compared  to  the 
diffused  paralysis  of  the  electro-galvanic  shock.  But  I  had  treated  the  sleepy 
comfort  of  freezing  as  something  like  the  embellishment  of  romance.  I  had 
evidence  now  to  the  contrary. 

"Bonsall  and  Morton,  two  of  our  stoutest  men,  came  to  me,  begging  per- 
mission to  sleep;  but  Dr.  Kane  refused  the  permission,  knowing  that  to  sleep 
where  they  then  were  meant  death.  At  last,  however,  they  reached  a  point 
of  temporary  safety,  and  slept;  and,  says  Dr.  Kane,  'when  I  awoke,  my  long 
beard  was  a  mass  of  ice,  frozen  fast  to  the  buffalo-skin.  Godfrey  had  to  cut 
me  out  with  his  jack-knife.'  " 

On  proceeding,  they  came  to  a  huge  mass  of  ice-hummocks.  Says  the 
explorer : 

"It  required  desperate  efforts  to  work  our  way  over  it — literally  des- 


196  KANE,  MODEL  OF  PEARY 

perate,  for  our  strength  failed  us  anew,  and  we  began  to  lose  our  self-control. 
We  could  not  abstain  any  longer  from  eating  snow ;  our  mouths  swelled,  and 
some  of  us  became  speechless.  Happily,  the  day  was  warmed  by  a  clear 
sunshine,  and  the  thermometer  rose  to  — 4°  in  the  shade ;  otherwise  we  must 
have  frozen. 

"Our  halts  multiplied,  and  we  fell  half-sleeping  on  the  snow.  I  could 
not  prevent  it.  Strange  to  say,  it  refreshed  us.  I  ventured  upon  the  experi- 
ment myself,  making  Riley  wake  me  at  the  end  of  three  minutes;  and  I  felt 
so  much  benefited  by  it  that  I  timed  the  men  in  the  same  way.  They  sat  on 
the  runners  of  the  sledge,  fell  asleep  instantly,  and  were  forced  to  wakefulness 
when  their  three  minutes  were  out. 

"By  eight  in  the  evening  we  emerged  from  the  floes.  The  sight  of  the 
Pinnacly  Berg  revived  us.  Brandy,  an  invaluable  resource  in  emergency,  had 
already  been  served  out  in  table-spoonful  doses.  We  now  took  a  longer 
rest,  and  a  last  but  stouter  dram,  and  reached  the  brig  at  one  p.  m,,  we  believe, 
without  a  halt. 

"I  say  we  believe ;  and  here,  perhaps,  is  the  most  decided  proof  of  our 
sufferings ;  we  were  quite  delirious,  and  had  ceased  to  entertain  a  sane  appre- 
hension of  the  circumstances  about  us.  We  moved  on  like  men  in  a  dream. 
Our  foot-marks,  seen  afterwards,  showed  that  we  had  steered  a  bee-line  for 
the  brig.  It  must  have  been  by  a  sort  of  instinct,  for  it  left  no  impress  on  the 
memory.  Bonsall  was  sent  staggering  ahead,  and  reached  the  brig,  God 
knows  how,  for  he  had  fallen  repeatedly  at  the  track-lines;  but  he  delivered, 
with  punctiHous  accuracy,  the  messages  I  had  sent  by  him  to  Dr.  Hayes.  I 
though  myself  the  soundest  of  all;  for  I  went  through  all  the  formula  of 
sanity,  and  can  recall  the  muttering  delirium  of  my  comrades  when  we  got 
back  into  the  cabin  of  our  brig.  Yet  I  have  been  told  since  of  some  speeches, 
and  some  orders,  too,  of  mine,  which  I  should  have  remembered  for  their 
absurdity,  if  my  mind  had  retained  its  balance." 

Undaunted  by  such  experiences  as  this  Dr.  Kane  started  in  April  on  a 
sledge  expedition  to  the  north,  seeking,  he  says,  "for  an  outlet  to  the  mys- 
terious channels  biyond  (Greenland)."  He  was  so  weak  by  that  time  that  he 
was  at  one  time  delirious  for  a  week,  and  nearly  died.  Yet  he  achieved 
several  remarkable  discoveries.  One  was  "Tennyson's  Monument,"  a  soli- 
tary column,  or  "minaret  tower"  of  greenstone,  the  length  of  whose  shaft 
was  four  hundred  and  eighty  feet.  It  rose  on  a  pedestal,  itself  two  hundred 
and  eighty  feet  high,  as  sharply  finished  as  if  it  had  been  cast  for  the  Place 


KANE,  MODEL  OF  PEARY  197 

Vendome.  But  by  far  the  most  remarkable  feature  in  the  Inland  Greenland 
sea  is  the  so-called  "Great  Glacier  of  Humboldt."  Of  this  glacier  Dr.  Kane 
gives  a  description  which  constitutes  one  of  the  pieces  of  word-painting  that 
fired  Peary's  imagination.  "This  line  of  cliff  rose  in  solid  glassy  wall  three 
hundred  feet  above  the  water  level,  with  an  unknown,  unfathomable  depth 
below  it;  and  its  curved  face,  sixty  miles  in  length,  from  Cape  Agassiz  to 
Cape  Forbes,  vanished  into  unknown  space  at  not  more  than  a  single  day's 
railroad-travel  from  the  pole.  The  interior  with  which  it  communicated, 
and  from  which  it  issued,  was  an  unsurveyed  mer  de  glace,  an  ice-ocean,  to  the 
eye  of  boundless  dimensions. 

"It  was  in  full  sight — the  mighty  crystal  bridge  which  connects  the  two 
continents  of  America  and  Greenland.  I  say  continents,  for  Greenland,  how- 
ever insulated  it  may  ultimately  prove  to  be,  is  in  mass  strictly  continental. 
Its  least  possible  axis,  measured  from  Cape  Farewell  to  the  line  of  this  glacier, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  eightieth  parallel,  gives  a  length  of  more  than 
twelve  hundred  miles, — not  materially  less  than  that  of  Australia  from  its 
northern  to  its  southern  cape. 

"Imagine  now  the  center  of  such  a  continent,  occupied  through  nearly  its 
whole  extent  by  a  deep  unbroken  sea  of  ice,  that  gathers  perennial  increase 
from  the  water-shed  of  vast  snow-covered  mountains,  and  all  the  precipita- 
tions of  the  atmosphere  upon  its  own  surface.  Imagine  this  moving  onward 
like  a  great  glacial  river,  seeking  outlets  at  every  fiord  and  valley,  rolling 
icy  cataracts  into  the  Atlantic  and  Greenland  seas ;  and,  having  at  last  reached 
the  northern  limit  of  the  land  that  has  borne  it  up,  pouring  out  a  mighty 
frozen  torrent  into  unknown  Arctic  space." 

In  the  summer  of  1854  Dr.  Kane  began  his  return  to  civilization.  It  was 
a  journey  full  of  peril,  but  never  of  despair,  though  by  the  end  of  the  trip 
the  men  were  starving,  human  wrecks.  As  they  crossed  Melville  Bay  death 
stared  them  in  the  face.  They  were  going  largely  on  foot,  and  making  a 
mile  a  day. 

Dr.  Kane's  description  of  his  rescue  is  typical  of  the  thrilling  descriptive 
passages  in  his  book.  He  and  his  men  were  on  the  coast,  awaiting  they  knew 
not  what. 

"Just  then,"  says  the  book,  "a  familiar  sound  came  to  us  over  the  water. 
We  had  often  listened  to  the  screeching  of  the  gulls,  or  the  bark  of  the  fox, 
and  mistaken  it  for  the  *Huk'  of  the  Esquimaux;  but  this  had  about  it  an 
inflection  not  to  be  mistaken,  for  it  died  away  in  the  familiar  cadence 
of  a  'haloo.' 


193  KANE,  MODEL  OF  PEARY 


«  n 


'Listen  Petersen!  Oars — men?  What  is  it?'  and  he  listened  quietly 
at  first,  and  then  trcmbhng,  said,  in  a  half-whisper,  'Dannemarkers !'  " 

It  was  a  vessel  from  Uppernavik,  one  of  the  large  Greenland  ports,  and 
in  a  few  days  the  explorers  reached  this  point  from  which  their  return  to 
America  was  easy. 

A  meeting  with  Dr.  Kane  after  the  latter's  rescue,  is  described  graphically 
by  his  brother.    After  telling  of  a  terrible  gale  in  Baffin's  Bay,  he  said : 

"After  this  gale  we  had  little  or  no  more  trouble  with  the  ice ;  one  or  two 
trifling  detentions  of  a  few  days  brought  us  to  the  open  water.  We  had  drifted 
so  far  to  the  south  that  Lievely  was  nearer  than  Upernavik,  and  Captain  Hart- 
stein  determined  to  put  in  there.  We  had  a  heavy  gale  the  night  after  we 
left  the  ice ;  but  so  glad  were  we  all  to  get  clear  of  it,  that  I  heard  no  complaints 
about  rough  weather.  It  cleared  away  beautifully  towards  morning,  and  we 
were  all  on  the  deck,  admiring  the  clear  water,  and  the  fantastic  shapes  of  the 
w^ater- washed  icebergs.  All  hands  were  in  high  spirits;  the  gale  had  blown  in 
the  right  direction,  and  in  a  few  hours  w^e  should  be  in  Lievely.  The  rocks  of 
its  land-locked  harbor  were  already  in  sight.  We  were  discussing  our  news  by 
anticipation,  when  the  man  in  the  crow's  nest  cried  out,  'A  brig  in  the  harbor !' 
and  the  next  minute,  before  we  had  time  to  congratulate  each  other  on  the 
chance  of  sending  letters  home,  that  she  had  hoisted  American  colors — a  deli- 
cate compliment,  we  thought,  on  the  part  of  our  friends,  the  Danes. 

"I  believe  our  captain  was  about  to  return  it,  when,  to  our  surprise,  she 
hoisted  another  flag,  the  veritable  one  which  had  gone  out  with  the  Advance, 
bearing  the  name  of  Mr.  Henry  Grinnell.  At  the  same  moment,  two  boats 
were  seen  rounding  the  point,  and  pulling  towards  us.  Did  they  contain  our 
lost  friends  ?  Yes ;  the  sailors  had  settled  that.  'Those  are  Yankees,  sir ;  no 
Danes  ever  feathered  their  oars  that  way,'  said  an  old  whaler  to  me. 

"For  those  who  had  friends  among  the  missing  party,  the  few  minutes  that 
followed  w^ere  of  bitter  anxiety;  for  the  men  in  the  boats  were  long-bearded 
and  weather-beaten;  they  had  strange,  wild  costumes;  there  was  no  possibility 
of  recognition.  Dr.  Kane,  standing  upright  in  the  stern  of  the  first  boat,  with 
his  spy-glass  slung  around  his  neck,  w^as  the  first  identified ;  then  the  big  form 
of  Mr.  Brooks ;  in  another  moment  all  hands  of  them  were  on  board  of  us. 

"It  was  curious  to  watch  the  effects  of  the  excitement  in  different  people, — 
the  intense  quietude  of  some,  the  boisterous  delight  of  others ;  how  one  man 
would  become  intensely  loquacious,  another  would  do  nothing  but  laugh,  and 
a  third  would  creep  away  to  some  out-of-the-way  corner,  as  if  he  were  afraid 


KANE,  MODEL  OF  PEARY  199 

of  showing  how  he  felt.  How  hungry  they  all  were  for  news,  and  how  eagerly 
they  tore  open  the  home  letters ;  most  of  them,  poor  fellows,  had  pleasant  tid- 
ings, and  all  were  prepared  to  make  the  best  of  bad  ones.  We  were  in  the 
harbor,  with  a  fleet  of  kayaks  dancing  in  welcome  around  and  behind  us,  before 
the  greetings  were  half  ended,  for  they  repeated  themselves  over  and  over 
again. 

"Our  old  friend,  Mr.  Olrik,  was  with  the  new  comers,  and  as  happy  as  the 
rest.  His  hospitality,  when  we  reached  the  shore,  was  absolutely  boundless ;  and 
his  house  and  table  were  always  at  our  service.  Altogether,  I  never  passed  three 
more  delightful  days  than  those  last  days  at  Lievely.  Balls  every  night ;  feasts 
and  junketings  every  day;  and,  pleasantest  of  all,  those  dear  home-like  tea- 
tables,  with  shining  tea-urn  and  clear,  white  sugar,  round  which  we  sat,  wait- 
ing for  the  water  to  boil,  and  talking  of  Russia  and  the  Czar,  and  the  world 
outside  the  Circle;  while  Mrs.  Olrik  would  look  up  from  her  worsted-work, 
and  the  children  pressed  round  me  to  see  the  horses  and  dogs  I  was  drawing 
for  them.  It  was  enough  to  make  one  forget  his  red  flannel  shirt  and  rough 
Arctic  rig^." 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

THE  GREELY  EXPEDITION. 

One  of  the  great  tragedies  of  the  Arctic  grew  out  of  the  expedition  of 
Adolphus  W.  Greely,  then  a  heutenant  of  the  United  States  army,  and  now  a 
major-general,  in  1881-4.  All  the  horrors  of  which  the  frozen  north  is  capa- 
ble befell  this  party.  Misfortune  was  their  lot,  and  death  overtook  a  majority 
of  the  travelers.  Yet  there  is  no  page  in  the  history  of  Arctic  exploits  more 
thrilling,  for  it  showed,  just  as  war  does,  the  stuff  of  which  American  soldiers 
are  made.  The  fortitude  of  Greely  and  his  followers  and  the  pluck  with 
which  they  pursued  the  search  for  knowledge  in  the  face  of  starvation  and 
sickness,  has  served  as  an  example  to  every  polar  explorer  in  later  years. 

Lieut.  Greely,  after  gallant  service  in  the  civil  war,  had  given  his  atten- 
tion to  the  work  of  the  signal  corps,  of  which  he  was  an  officer.  He  had 
become  an  ardent  student  of  the  Arctic,  and  was  eager  to  venture  into  the 
north.  In  1880  came  the  opportunity,  when  congress  appropriated  funds 
for  the  establishment  of  polar  stations, — half-way  spots  by  which  it  was 
hoped  the  pole  could  be  reached  by  easy  stages.  Greely's  enthusiasm  pushed 
him  to  the  front,  at  this  time,  and  to  his  delight  he  was  given  the  command 
of  the  expedition.  On  the  steamer  Proteus  he  and  his  party  sailed  from  St. 
John's  N.  F.,  July  7,  1881,  and  made  a  quick  trip  up  Baffin's  Bay,  and  into 
the  regions  where  previous  explorers  had  "staked  out  their  claims."  The 
destination  was  almost  reached  when  a  solid  ice-pack  delayed  the  vessel  in 
the  southwest  part  of  Lady  Franklin  Bay.  This  ice,  however,  moved  to  the 
eastward  in  time  to  send  the  ship  on  her  way  after  a  week,  and  Discovery 
Harbor  was  attained.  At  this  point  Lieut.  Greely  established  his  settle- 
ment, and  named  it  Fort  Conger,  a  name  destined  to  be  surrounded  with 
suggestions  of  tragedy  for  all  time.  After  the  party  had  built  a  substantial 
house,  and  landed  large  stores  of  provisions  and  coal  the  Proteus  returned  to 
America,  leaving  the  explorers  to  their  investigations. 

From  August  i,  1882,  for  a  year,  the  scientific  work  proceeded  without 
misadventure.    Enough  was  accomplished  in  this  period  to  give  the  trip  fame 

200 


GREELY   EXPEDITION  201 

on  this  account  alone.  There  was  then  no  thought  of  the  bitter  future. 
Besides  performing  the  studies  in  meteorology,  astronomy,  and  magnetism, 
which  was  the  prime  object  of  the  trip,  there  was  time  for  trips  of  a  purely 
exploratory  nature,  and  these  were  notably  successful.  Greely  had  the  satis- 
faction of  having  one  of  his  men  (one  who  never  lived  to  see  his  native  land 
again)  achieve  the  farthest  north  record.  Of  this  Greely 's  official  dispatches 
had  this  to  say : 

"For  the  first  time  in  three  centuries  England  yields  the  honor  of  the 
furthest  north.  Lieutenant  Lockwood  and  Sergeant  Brainerd,  May  13, 
reached  Lockwood  Island,  latitude  83°  24'  north,  longitude  44°  5'  west. 
They  saw  from  2,000  feet  elevation  no  land  north,  or  northwest,  but  to  north- 
east Greenland,  Cape  Robert  Lincoln,  latitude  83°  35',  longitude  38°.  Lieu- 
tenant Lockwood  was  turned  back  in  1883  by  open  water  on  North  Green- 
land shore,  the  party  barely  escaping  drift  into  the  Polar  Ocean.  Dr.  Pavy, 
in  1882,  who  followed  Markham's  route,  was  adrift  one  day  in  the  Polar 
Ocean  north  of  Cape  Joseph  Henry,  and  escaped  to  land,  abandoning  nearly 
everything. 

"In  1882  I  made  a  spring  and  later  summer  trip  into  the  interior  of  Grin- 
nell  Land,  discovering  Lake  Hazen,  some  sixty  by  ten  miles  in  extent,  which 
fed  by  ice-caps  of  North  Grinnell  Land,  drains  Ruggles  River  and  Weyprecht 
Fiord  into  Conybeare  Bay  and  Archer  Fiord.  From  the  summit  of  Mount 
Arthur,  5,000  feet,  the  contour  of  land  west  of  the  Conger  Mountains  con- 
vinced me  that  Grinnell  Land  travels  directly  south  from  Lieutenant  Aldrich's 
furthest  in  1876. 

"In  1883  Lieutenant  Lockwood  and  Sergeant  Brainerd  succeeded  in  cross- 
ing Grinnell  Land,  and  ninety  miles  from  Beatrix  Bay,  the  head  of  Archer 
Fiord,  struck  the  head  of  a  fiord  from  the  western  sea,  temporarily  named  by 
Lockwood  the  Greely  Fiord.  From  the  center  of  the  fiord,  in  latitude  80°  30', 
longitude  78°  30'  Lieutenant  Lockwood  saw  the  northern  shore  termina- 
tion, some  twenty  miles  west,  the  southern  shore  extending  some  fifty  miles, 
with  Cape  Lockwood  some  seventy  miles  distant — apparently  a  separate  land 
from  Grinnell  Land.  Have  named  the  new  land  Arthur  Land.  Lieutenant 
Lockwood  followed,  going  and  returning,  on  an  ice  cape  averaging  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  perpendicular  face.  It  follows  that  the  Grinnell  Land 
interior  is  ice-capped,  with  a  belt  of  country  some  sixty  miles  wide  between 
the  northern  and  southern  ice-capes. 

"In  March,  1884,  Sergeant  Long,  while  hunting  from  the  northwest  side 


202  GREELY   EXPEDITION 

of  Mount  Carey  to  Hayes  Sound,  saw  on  the  northern  coast  three  capes  west- 
ward of  the  furthest  seen  by  Nares  in  1876.  The  sound  extends  some  twenty 
miles  further  west  than  is  shown  by  the  Eng-Hsh  chart,  but  is  possibly  shut 
in  by  land  which  showed  up  across  the  western  end. 

"The  two  years'  station  duties,  observations,  all  explorations,  and  the 
retreat  to  Cape  Sabine,  were  accomplished  without  loss  of  life,  disease,  seri- 
ous accident,  or  even  severe  frostbites." 

Although  the  attainment  of  the  latitude  Lockwood  reached  meant  an 
advance  of  only  four  miles  toward  the  pole,  it  lives  in  history  with  the  records 
of  Kane,  who  reached  latitude  80  degrees,  30  minutes  in  1854;  of  Hall,  who 
attained  82  degrees,  16  minutes  in  1871,  and  Nares,  who  five  years  later  got 
as  far  as  83  degrees,  30  minutes.  These,  of  course,  do  not  take  into  the  ac- 
count the  later  marks  of  Peary  and  of  Nansen. 

The  life  of  the  explorers  there  in  the  cold  and  lonely  land  was  not  unpleas- 
ant at  that  time.  They  were  under  military  discipline,  and  their  habits  were 
prescribed  with  an  especial  view  to  their  health  and  comfort.  There  was 
plenty  of  good  food  then,  and  everything  seemed  to  point  to  a  triumphant 
return. 

Then  came  the  chapters  of  misfortune.  Greely  had  orders  from  the 
War  Department  based  upon  the  theory  that  relief  would  be  sent  him, 
and  he  would  be  taken  off  from  Fort  Conger.  These  orders,  however,  did 
not  cover  the  possibility  of  ships  being  unable  to  get  through  to  the  party. 
These  were  the  orders : 

"In  case  no  vessel  reaches  the  permanent  station  in  1882,  a  vessel  sent  in 
1883  will  remain  in  Smith's  Sound  until  there  is  danger  of  closing  by  ice, 
and  on  leaving  will  land  all  her  supplies  and  a  party  at  Littleton  Island, 
which  party  will  be  prepared  for  a  winter's  stay,  and  will  be  instructed  to 
send  sledge  parties  up  the  east  side  of  Grinnell  Land  to  meet  this  party.  If 
not  visited  in  1882,  Lieutenant  Greely  will  abandon  his  station  not  later  than 
September  i,  1883,  and  will  retreat  southward  by  boat,  following  closely  the 
east  coast  of  Grinnell  Land  until  the  relieving  vessel  is  met  or  Littleton  Island 
is  reached." 

It  is  the  part  of  army  men  to  obey  orders;  and  on  August  9,  1883,  Greely 
and  his  men  left  Fort  Conger,  and  journeyed  to  Cape  Sabine  by  boats.  This 
trip  took  two  months,  and  was  attended  by  great  privation.  At  one  time 
the  party  was  adrift  for  thirty  days  on  an  ice-floe,  but  they  were  driven  upon 
Cape  Sabine,  and  made  camp  there.     Now  they  learned  of  the  destruction  of 


GREELY  EXPEDITION  203 

the  good  old  Proteus,  which  had  been  hastening-  to  their  relief.  They  had 
no  ship  to  take  them  home.  They  faced  a  long  winter,  with  only  the  food 
— a  comparatively  scant  supply — brought  from  Fort  Conger. 

At  this  point  the  health  of  the  men  began  to  weaken.  Rations  were 
shortened  up.  Four  ounces  of  meat  was  allowed  each  man  a  day.  Game 
swam,  or  flew  before  them,  but  could  not  be  secured,  there  by  the  open  sea, 
without  boats, — and  the  boats  had  been  lost.  Starvation  stared  the  party 
in  the  face. 

Some  of  the  feelings  of  the  men  in  this  situation  are  gleaned  from  the 
diary  of  Lieut.  Lockwood,  the  officer  who  planted  the  flag  farthest  north. 

On  September  26  of  that  year  he  wrote:  "The  northwest  gale  at  this 
hour  (about  4:30  p.  m.)  still  continues.  We  are  apparently  immovable  just 
now;  are  probably  packed  and  jammed  in  ice  somewhat.  God  knows  what 
the  end  of  all  this  will  be.  I  see  nothing  but  starvation  and  death.  The 
spirits  of  the  party,  however,  are  remarkably  good." 

Later  entries  in  Lockwood's  journal  are  these: 

"October  21.  Tonight  we  have  coffee.  We  are  now  in  our  hut;  but  it  is 
not  yet  finished,  and  is  cold  and  uncomfortable.  Our  constant  talk  is  about 
something  to  eat,  and  the  different  dishes  we  have  enjoyed.  How  often  our 
thoughts  turn  toward  home  and  the  dear  ones  there. 

"We  have  found  out  some  scraps  of  news  from  slips  of  papers  wrapped 
around  the  lemons. 

"December  3.  Breakfast  this  morning  consisted  of  chocolate  and  a  few 
scraps  of  butter — no  bread,  for  I  ate  all  my  bread  last  night.  Many  of  us  eat 
all  our  bread  at  night,  and  many  try  to  save  and  manipulate  their  dole  of 
food  in  a  dozen  ways  to  make  the  mite  of  food  seem  more  filling.  I  have 
saved  from  yesterday  some  scraps  of  sealskin  *  *  *  j  2X0.  them  hair  and 
all. 

"December  24.  Tonight  is  Christmas  eve,  and  my  thoughts  are  turned 
toward  home.  God  preserve  me  to  see  this  day  next  year,  and  enioy  it  at 
home  with  those  I  love." 

But  God  willed  it  otherwise.  The  man  who  so  prayed  to  be  once  more 
with  his  loved  ones  succumbed  April  9,  of  the  following  year.  His  mind  had 
weakened,  and  his  diary  began  to  contain  pitiful  entries  in  which  he  described 
dainties  of  the  table. 

"Memorandum :  Roast  turkey,"  he  would  write  while  he  was^  dining  off 
the  frozen  foot  of  a  fox.  With  a  constitution  shattered  by  lack  of  food,  and 
with  his  reason  all  but  gone,  he  died. 


204  GREELY   EXPEDITION 

One  of  the  most  tragic  incidents  of  this  part  of  the  terrible  story  was  the 
attempt  of  Corporal  Joseph  Elison  and  three  other  men  to  reach  a  cache  of 
meat  that  had  been  buried  by  Sir  George  Nares,  an  English  explorer,  in  1875. 
The  goal  was  only  thirty  miles  from  the  Greely  camp,  yet  its  attainment 
under  the  conditions  and  with  the  men  half  dead,  proved  disastrous.  The 
meat  was  not  found,  and  on  the  return  journey  Elison  froze  his  hands,  feet 
and  face.  His  comrades  stopped  to  do  for  him  what  they  could  and  would 
have  lost  their  own  lives  had  not  one  of  them,  Sergeant  Rice,  walked  the 
thirty  miles  back  to  the  camp  to  take  word  of  Elison's  plight.  He  went  the 
distance  without  food,  and  when  he  staggered  into  camp  he  was  scarcely  able 
to  gasp  out  what  had  befallen.  As  soon  as  he  made  it  known,  however.  Ser- 
geant Brainerd  and  a  party  were  sent  to  rescue  Elison.  Sergeant  Brainerd's 
diar}'-,  preserved  in  Greely's  report  to  the  government,  tells  the  story  as  fol- 
lows : 

"The  darkness  was  intense  when  we  started,  and  Christiansen  (Brain- 
erd's sole  companion)  and  myself  floundered  about  among  the  hummocks 
and  through  the  deep  snow  for  some  time  without  advancing  very  far.  We 
stumbled  frequently,  and  often  fell  on  the  rubble,  receiving  serious  bruises. 
The  monotony  of  the  tramp  was  sometimes  broken  by  my  companion,  who 
uttered  half  suppressed  oaths  whenever  he  fell  over  a  projecting  point  of  ice. 
About  noon  we  reached  the  bay  and  found  our  three  brave  comrades  huddled 
together  in  the  one  sleeping  bag  in  a  semi-frozen  state.  Elison  was  still  alive 
and  somewhat  better  than  when  Rice  had  left  him.  Elison  repeatedly  implored 
me  to  kill  him  that  the  others  might  be  saved.  I  tried  to  cheer  him  with  the 
assurance  that  we  would  all  escape  from  these  hospitable  shores  and  return 
to  our  homes  together,  but,  shaking  his  head  sadly,  he  would  repeat  in  a  low, 
pleading  tone,  'Please  kill  me,  wont  you.'  " 

Brainerd  did  what  he  could  to  cheer  the  sufiferer,  and  camped  near  by  to 
await  the  morning.  He  returned  early  to  make  a  second  attempt  at  rescue. 
He  says : 

"The  poor  fellows  had  not  slept  in  my  absence  and  when  I  reached  them 
they  were  shivering  with  the  cold.  It  is  almost  surprising  that  they  survived 
the  cold  of  last  night.  They  were  in  a  half-starved,  half-frozen  condition, 
and  the  merciless  storm  had  been  incessantly  beating  down  on  their  unpro- 
tected covering  of  buffalo-skin. 

"I  stopped  for  a  moment  to  contemplate  the  scene.  Nothing  could  be 
more  utterly  desolate,  dreary  and  forsaken  than  the  spot  on  which  these  brave 


GREELY  EXPEDITION  206 

fellows  were  lying.  Without  shelter  except  such  as  was  afforded  by  a  small 
tent-fly,  their  bag  was  lying  on  a  narrow  terrace  only  a  few  feet  above  the 
ice-foot  and  the  tide,  where  it  was  fully  exposed  to  the  fury  of  the  winds." 

In  spite  of  the  exposure  and  hunger,  Elison  did  not  die — not  then.  Some 
months  later,  after  a  brave  fight  for  life,  he  succumbed. 

As  a  sharp  contrast  with  the  courage  shown  by  these  men  was  the  case 
of  Private  Charles  Henry,  who  was  proved  to  have  stolen  food  from  the 
general  stores.  When  first  caught,  he  promised  to  reform,  and  for  a  long  time 
Greely  restrained  the  talk  of  harsh  measures.  At  last,  when  it  was  seen 
Henry  could  not  withstand  the  temptation,  and  his  stealings  were  endanger- 
ing the  lives  of  the  others,  Greely  ordered  him  shot,  and  this  was  done. 
The  commander  of  the  expedition  made  a  formal  report  of  the  incident  to 
the  war  department,  and  his  action  was  fully  upheld. 

It  is  almost  impossible  not  to  feel  pity  for  Henry,  in  spite  of  the  despicable 
nature  of  his  act.  He  was  starving.  Yet  in  the  far  north,  even  more  strik- 
ingly than  elsewhere,  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  prevails, — and 
Henry  was  not  one  of  the  fit. 

Rather  turn  again  to  the  diary  of  brave  Brainerd,  who  was  one  of  the  few 
who  got  back  to  America.  He  tells  with  great  pathos  of  the  joy  caused  by 
the  killing  of  a  bear.    Says  he : 

"What  words  are  adequate  to  express  the  rejoicing  in  our  little  party 
tonight  ?  There  are  none.  *  *  *  lAie  had  seemed  something  in  the  misty 
distance,  which  was  beyond  our  power  to  retain  or  control.  Life  now  seems 
ten  times  sweeter  than  at  any  former  period  of  our  existence." 

This  same  Brainerd  wrote,  on  June  19  of  that  year : 

"The  party  is  now  yielding  slowly  but  surely  to  the  inevitable  approach 
of  death." 

But  even  then  relief  was  at  hand.  Providence  did  not  mean  that  brave 
Greely  should  perish. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

RESCUE  OF  THE  GREELY  PARTY. 

Two  days  after  Brainerd  sent  up  that  desperate  cry  a  party  of  American 
seamen,  sent  by  the  government,  saved  the  perishing  members  of  Greely's 
ill-fated  expedition. 

The  rescuers  were  headed  by  Winfield  Scott  Schley,  then  a  captain  in 
the  navy ;  years  later  a  hero  of  the  Spanish-American  war.  Schley  had  been 
chosen  to  find  Greely  and  bring  him  home,  if  alive.  The  commander  headed 
a  squadron  of  three  vessels,  one  of  which,  the  Alert,  was  furnished  by  the 
British  government.  These  three  boats  sailed  north  in  April,  1884,  and  in 
June  passed  into  the  polar  sea,  anchoring  finally  at  Cape  Sabine,  Parties 
were  sent  out  from  this  point  over  the  ice  to  seek  traces  of  the  lost. 

On  June  21,  after  the  searchers  had  been  busy  for  three  days,  a  seaman 
rushed  up  to  the  ship  and  delivered  to  Commander  Schley  a  faded  paper.  It 
was  one  of  several  records  left  by  Greely  where  it  might  be  found  by  search- 
ers. Under  date  of  October,  1883,  it  read:  "My  party  is  now  permanently 
in  camp  on  the  west  side  of  a  small  neck  of  land  which  connects  the  wrecked 
cache  cove,  and  the  one  to  its  west,  distant  about  equally  from  Cape  Sabine 
and  Cocked  Hat  Island,  All  well."  The  last  words  had  a  terrible  irony 
in  view  of  what  Schley  and  his  men  found.  They  proceeded  with  all  speed 
to  the  point  described,  and  there  found  the  Greely  party  in  a  terrible  plight. 
It  is  vividly  described  in  Schley's  official  report,  from  which  the  following 
is  taken : 

"Lieutenant  Greely  was  found  in  his  sleeping  bag,  his  body  inclined  for- 
ward and  head  resting  upon  his  left  hand.  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
was  open  and  held  in  his  right  hand.  He  appeared  to  be  reading  prayers  to 
Private  Connell,  whose  condition  was  most  desperate  and  critical.  He  was 
cold  to  the  waist;  all  sensation  of  hunger  gone;  was  speechless  and  almost 
breathless;  his  eyes  were  fixed  and  glassy.  Indeed,  his  weakness  was  such 
that  it  was  with  difficulty  he  swallowed  the  stimulants  given  him  by  Drs. 

206 


RESCUE    OF    GREELY   PARTY  207 

Green  and  Ames;  his  jaws  had  dropped,  his  heart  was  barely  pulsating,  and 
his  body  temperature  very  low. 

"This  tender  scene  of  a  helpless,  almost  famished,  officer  consoling  a  dying 
companion,  was  in  itself  one  that  brought  tears  to  the  eyes  of  the  strongest 
and  stoutest  of  those  who  stood  about  them  on  the  merciful  errand  of  relief. 

"Sergeants  Brainerd  and  Fredericks  and  Hospital-Steward  Bierderbick 
were  extremely  weak  and  hardly  able  to  stand;  they  were  no  longer  able  to 
venture  away  from  their  camp  to  seek  food,  nor  to  prepare  the  simple  diet  of 
boiled  seal-skin,  nor  to  collect  lichens,  nor  to  catch  shrimps,  upon  which  they 
had  to  depend  to  a  great  extent  to  sustain  life.  Their  faces,  hands,  and 
limbs  were  swollen  to  such  an  extent  that  they  could  not  be  recognized.  .This 
indicated  that  the  entire  party  had  but  a  short  lease  of  life — probably  not 
more  than  forty-eight  hours  at  most.  This  fact  was  recognized  by  them  all, 
and  had  come  to  them  from  their  experience  during  that  long  and  desolate 
winter  in  watching  their  dying  companions,  as  one  after  another  passed 
away  from  among  them  forever. 

"Poor  Sergeant  Elison  was  found  in  his  sleeping  bag,  where  he  had  lain 
helpless  and  hopeless  for  months,  with  hands  and  feet  frozen  off.  Strapped 
to  one  of  the  stumps  was  found  a  spoon,  which  some  companion  had  secured 
there  to  enable  him  to  feed  himself.  His  physical  condition  otherwise  appeared 
to  be  the  best  of  any  of  the  survivors,  and  this  may  be  attributed  to  the  fact 
that  each  of  his  companions  had  doled  out  to  him  from  their  small  allowance 
of  food  something  to  help  him,  on  account  of  his  complete  helplessness  to 
add  anything  to  his  own  by  hunting  about  the  rocks  for  lichens  or  shrimps. 
He  suffered  no  waste  of  strength  by  exertion  incident  thereto.  This  care  of 
Elison  was  such  as  only  brave  and  generous  men,  suffering  with  each  other 
under  the  most  desperate  circumstances,  could  think  of. 

"Sergeant  Long  was  very  much  reduced,  though  in  somewhat  better  con- 
dition than  some  of  the  others.  His  office  of  hunter  for  the  starving  party 
had  made  it  necessary  to  increase  slightly  his  pittance  of  food  to  maintain  his 
strength,  that  he  might  continue  the  battle  for  food  and  life  to  the  helpless. 
In  his  case,  however,  the  effect  of  this  continued  effort  had  told  its  story  in 
his  wasted  form.  Shorter  and  shorter  journeys  were  made  in  good  weather, 
while  in  the  frequent  bad  weather  of  that  region  his  strength  was  so  much 
impaired  that  when  the  joyful  signal  whistle  was  heard  he  had  only  enough 
left  to  stagger  out  to  the  rocks  overlooking  the  water  to  see  if  the  signal  had 
proceeded  from  ships  in  sight.     His  first  visit  was  a  bitter  disappointment. 


208  RESCUE   OF   GREELY  PARTY 

as  he  saw  nothing.  A  second  visit,  fifteen  minutes  later,  brought  him  within 
fifty  yards  of  the  Bear's  steam-cutter  and  in  view  of  the  rehef  ships  coming 
around  Cape  Sabine.  When  the  steam-cutter  ran  into  the  beach  where 
Long  was  seen  he  rolled  down  the  ice-covered  clifif  and  was  taken  into  the 
cutter.  He  informed  Lieutenant  Colwell  that  the  location  of  the  camp  was 
just  over  the  cliff. 

"In  the  case  of  Sergeant  Elison  the  medical  officers  were  fearful  from  the 
first  that  his  chances  of  life  were  very  small.  As  soon  as  proper  food  was 
available  and  the  digestive  functions  should  be  re-established  fully,  the  health- 
ful round  of  blood  circulation  would  begin  its  distribution  of  new  life  to  the 
injured  parts,  and  inflammation  would  naturally  occur.  If  Elison's  strength 
should  increase  more  rapidly  than  the  inflammation,  amputation  of  the  injured 
parts  would  perhaps  save  his  life.  Several  days  after  his  rescue,  June  28,  Dr. 
Green  reported  that  Elison  was  threatened  with  congestion  of  the  brain.  The 
symptoms  increased  rapidly  until  the  poor  fellow  lost  his  reason.  At  God- 
haven  his  condition  was  so  critical  that  the  surgeon  of  the  expedition,  after 
consultation,  determined  to  amputate  both  feet  above  the  ankle  as  the  only 
chance  of  life  left  the  sufferer.  Disease,  however,  triumphed,  and  amid  the 
bleak  scenes  that  had  surrounded  him  for  three  years  in  his  heroic  sacrifice, 
and  within  the  desolate  solitude  of  that  region  of  everlasting  ice  and  snow, 
surrounded  by  his  sorrowing  comrades,  he  passed  away  about  3  a.  m.  of  July 
7,  three  days  after  the  amputation. 

"Lieutenant  Greely  was  physically  the  weakest,  but  mentally  the  most  vig- 
orous of  his  party.  He  had  lain  in  his  sleeping  bag  for  weeks  on  account  of  his 
gradually  failing  strength.  He  was  unable  to  stand  alone  for  any  length  of 
time,  and  was  almost  helpless  except  in  a  sitting  posture ;  all  pangs  of  hunger 
had  ceased ;  his  appearance  was  wild ;  his  hair  was  long  and  unkempt ;  his  face 
and  hands  were  covered  with  sooty  black  dirt ;  his  body  was  scantily  covered 
with  worn-out  clothes;  his  form  was  wasted,  his  joints  were  swollen,  and  his 
eyes  were  sunken. 

"His  first  inquiry  was  if  they  were  not  Englishmen,  but  when  he  was  told 
that  we  were  his  own  countrymen,  he  paused  for  a  moment  as  if  reflecting, 
then  said,  'And  I  am  glad  to  see  yon.' 

"The  condition  of  his  camp  was  in  keeping  with  the  scene  inside  the  tent, 
desperate  and  desolate ;  the  bleak  barrenness  of  the  spot,  over  which  the  wild 
Arctic  bird  would  not  fly,  the  row  of  graves  on  a  little  ridge,  one  hundred 
feet  away,  with  the  protruding  heads  and  feet  of  those  lately  buried,  a  sad  but 


RESCUE    OF    GREELY   PARTY  209 

silent  witness  to  the  daily  increasing  weakness  of  the  little  band  of  survivors ; 
the  deserted  winter  quarters  in  the  hollow  below,  with  its  broken  wall  invaded 
by  the  water  from  the  melting  snow  and  ice  above  it ;  the  dead  bodies  of  two 
companions  stretched  on  the  ice- foot  that  remained ;  the  wretched  apology  for 
cooking  utensils  improvised  by  them  in  their  sore  distress,  hardly  decerving  the 
name;  the  scattered  and  worn-out  clothes  and  sleeping  bags  of  the  dead;  the 
absence  of  all  food  save  a  few  cupfuls  of  boiled  seal-skin  scraps;  the  wild  and 
weird  scene  of  snow,  ice,  and  glaciers  overlooking  and  overhanging  this  des- 
olate camp,  cornpleted  a  picture  as  startling  as  it  was  impressive.  I  hope  never 
again  in  my  life  to  look  upon  such  wretchedness  and  such  destitution.  The 
picture  was  more  startling  and  more  deeply  pathetic  than  I  had  ever  dreamed 
could  be  possible.  In  beholding  it  I  stood  for  a  moment  almost  unmanned,  and 
then  realized  that  if  the  expedition  had  demonstrated  any  one  thing  more  than 
another  it  was  that  an  hour  had  its  value  to  at  least  one  of  that  party.  Stouter 
hearts  than  mine  felt  full  of  sorrow.  Eyes  that  had  not  wept  for  years  were 
moistened  with  tears  in  the  solemnity  of  that  precious  hour  in  the  lives  of  that 
heroic  little  band  of  sufferers,  until  this  moment  so  hopeless  and  helpless. 

"In  preparing  the  bodies  of  the  dead  for  transportation  in  alcohol  to  St. 
John's,  it  was  found  that  six  of  them — Lieutenant  Kislingbury,  vSergeants 
Jewell  and  Ralston,  Privates  Whistler,  Henry,  and  Ellis — had  been  cut,  and 
the  fleshy  parts  removed  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  All  other  bodies  were 
found  intact.  When  the  bodies  of  the  dead  were  exposed  in  preparing  them 
the  identification  was  found  complete.  Some  of  them  could  be  recognized  by 
aid  of  a  picture  taken  with  us  from  home ;  others,  whose  features  had  decayed, 
were  identified  by  other  characteristics.  I  am  therefore  satisfied  that  no  mis- 
take was  made  in  this  important  matter,  which  so  impressed  us  from  the 
beginning." 

The  ships  reached  St.  John's,  N.  P.,  July  17.  From  that  point  Schley 
telegraphed  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  of  his  success,  and  told  other  details  of 
the  voyage  as  follows : 

"The  channel  between  Cape  Sabine  and  Littleton  Island  did  not  close,  on 
account  of  violent  gales,  all  winter,  so  that  240  rations  at  the  latter  point  could 
not  be  reached.  All  of  Greely's  records  and  all  the  instruments  brought  by  him 
from  Fort  Conger  are  recovered  and  are  on  board.  Prom  Hare  Island  to 
Smith's  Sound  I  had  a  constant  and  furious  struggle  with  ice  in  impassable 
floes.  The  solid  barriers  were  overcome  by  watchfulness  and  patience.  No 
opportunity  to  advance  a  mile  escaped  me,  and  for  several  hundred  miles  the 


210  RESCUE    OF   GREELY   PARTY 

ships  were  forced  to  ram  their  way  from  lead  to  lead,  through  ice  varying  in 
thickness  from  three  to  six  feet,  and  when  rafted  hiuch  greater. 

"The  Thetis  and  the  Bear  reached  Cape  York,  June  i8,  after  a  passage  of 
twenty-one  days  in  Melville  Bay,  and  two  advance  ships  of  a  Dundee  whaling 
fleet,  and  continued  to  Cape  Sabine.  Returning  seven  days  later,  we  fell  in 
with  seven  others  of  this  fleet  off  Wostenholme  Island,  and  announced  Greely's 
rescue  to  them,  that  they  might  not  be  delayed  from  their  fishing  grounds  nor 
be  tempted  into  the  dangerous  Smith's  Sound  in  view  of  the  reward  of  $25,000 
offered  by  Congress.  Returning  across  Melville  Bay  we  fall  in  with  the  Alert 
and  Loch  Garry  off  Devil's  Thumb,  struggling  through  the  ice.  Commander 
Coffin  did  admirably  to  get  along  so  far  with  the  transport  so  early  in  the 
season  before  the  opening  had  occurred.  Lieutenant  Emory,  with  the  Bear, 
has  supported  me  throughout  with  great  skillfulness  and  unflinching  readiness 
in  accomplishing  the  great  duty  of  relieving  Lieutenant  Greely.  The  Greely 
party  are  very  much  improved  since  the  rescue,  but  were  critical  in  the  ex- 
treme when  found  and  for  several  days  after.  Forty-eight  hours'  delay  in 
reaching  them  would  have  been  fatal  to  all  now  living.  The  season  north  is 
late  and  the  coolest  for  years.  Smith's  Sound  was  not  open  when  I  left  Cape 
Sabine.  The  winter  about  Melville  Bay  was  the  most  severe  for  twenty  years. 
This  great  result  is  entirely  due  to  the  unwearied  energy  of  yourself  and  the 
Secretary  of  War  in  fitting  out  this  expedition  for  the  work  it  has  the  honor 
of  accomplishing. 

"W.  S.  Schley,  Commander." 

The  return  voyage  consumed,  all  told,  almost  six  weeks.  On  August  i  the 
squadron  arrived  in  Portsmouth  harbor  with  six  living  and  twelve  dead  mem- 
bers of  the ,  Greely  party  on  board.  Warships  were  drawn  up  to  give  a 
welcome,  and  the  yards  were  manned,  and  bands  played.  Then,  in  the  cabin 
of  Schley's  ship,  Lieut.  Greely  was  reunited  with  his  wife  and  his  mother.  On 
the  following  Monday  there  was  a  great  demonstration  on  land.  A  parade  of 
all  the  naval  forces  available  was  held  in  the  streets  of  Portsmouth,  and  as  the 
men  in  blue  passed  in  all  their  strength,  the  shattered,  haggard  survivors 
looked  on  from  the  balcony  of  a  hotel. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  Peary's  pole-finding  expedition  was 
the  discovery  of  relics  of  the  Greely  party.  The  finder  was  Prof.  Donald 
McMillan. 

He  told  of  wearing  army  coats  and  picking  up  scraps  of  letters  and  mes- 
sages of  love  that  were  lying  around  the  ground  in  perfect  condition  after  almost 


LIEUTENANT  SHACKLETON'S  EXPLORINa  PARTY. 


Copyright  1909  by  Doubleday,  Page  Sc  Co. 

COMMANDER  PEARY  AND  ESKIMO  DOGS  ON  THE  "ROOSEVELT." 


RESCUE    OF   GREELY   PARTY  213 

thirty  years;  of  finding  letters — veritable  messages  of  the  dead — and  leaves 
from  books  that  had  carried  words  of  love  and  solicitation  to  the  doomed  ex- 
plorers from  relatives  far  away. 

He  also  came  upon  remnants  of  Hall's  camp  and  a  cairn  left  by  Lockwood 
and  Brainerd. 

"While  I  was  at  Cape  Sheridan,"  he  said,  "I  wanted  to  make  several  trips 
out  into  the  desolate  country  to  see  what  I  could  learn  about  the  geology  of  the 
territory  and  the  habits,  customs  and  religion  of  the  people.  On  one  of  my 
first  trips  I  took  a  sledge  and  Eskimos  and  started,  skirting  the  east  coast  of 
Grant  Land  and  Grinnell  Land.  I  slowly  made  my  way  down  to  Fort  Conger, 
about  sixty-five  miles  from  the  Roosevelt,  and  ran  upon  the  last  camp  of  the 
Greely  expedition  of  1 881-1884. 

"Here  I  found  relics,  all  of  which  were  in  the  same  condition  as  when  they 
were  discarded  by  the  ill-fated  members  of  that  expedition.  I  found  coffee, 
hominy,  canned  rhubarb,  canned  potatoes,  breakfast  food  and  all  sorts  of  sup- 
plies. They  were  just  as  good  as  ever,  and  I  practically  subsisted  on  them  all 
the  time  I  was  there. 

"General  Greely's  military  overcoat,  with  the  buttons  on  it,  was  about  the 
first  thing  I  discovered.  I  wore  the  coat,  and  while  I  stayed  there  I  presume 
I  must  have  had  on  at  one  time  or  another  the  clothing  of  all  the  men  in  the 
expedition.  On  the  ground  I  also  found  the  trunk  that  had  been  carried  by 
Sergeant  David  L.  Brainard.  It  was  as  good  as  new  and  I  used  it  as  a  shelter 
from  the  winds. 

"Here  were  records  that  had  been  made  of  the  caches  of  provisions  which 
had  been  stored  along  the  route  and  showed  that  vast  quantities  of  wood  had 
been  left  there  when  the  men  started  south  to  Cape  Sabine,  where  seventeen  of 
the  twenty-five  members  perished. 

"The  men  had  been  taken  to  Fort  Conger  by  the  Proteus  and  had  been  told 
to  await  her  arrival  the  next  year.  During  the  interim  the  steamship  tried  to 
get  through,  but  was  crushed  in  the  ice. 

"Orders  had  been  issued  to  the  party  that  if  the  relief  ship  did  not  arrive 
the  party  was  to  make  its  way  to  the  south  and  reach  Cape  Sabine.  When  the 
Proteus  failed  to  arrive  the  party  started. 

"The  men  were  told  to  discard  all  baggage  except  nine  pounds,  and  in  order 
to  lighten  their  loads  to  that  extent  these  goods,  stores  and  personal  belongings 
were  left  behind.  It  was  these  that  I  had  found  after  a  lapse  of  almost  thirty 
years.  Nothing  had  been  destroyed.  Everything  was  in  an  excellent  state  of 
preservation.    Those  members  of  the  party  who  did  not  perish  at  Sabine  were 


214  RESCUE    OF    GREELY   PARTY 

rescued  by  Commodore  (afterward  Rear  Admiral)  Winfield  S.  Schley  on  his 
relief  expedition  sent  out  for  the  purpose  of  rescue. 

"Fluttering  about  the  camp  was  a  slip  of  paper  that  had  been  taken  from 
the  flyleaf  of  a  notebook.  It  was  a  voice  from  the  dead.  Written  as  the  in- 
troduction to  a  speech  at  a  banquet  that  the  expedition  had  evidently  arranged 
to  kill  the  monotony  of  the  long  winter,  the  words  were  in  the  nature  of  a 
chaffing  of  the  various  members  of  the  party.  The  author  little  knew  at  the 
time  that  he  penciled  his  words  that  they  would  be  found  almost  a  generation 
afterward,  the  simple  story  of  a  tragedy  of  the  Arctic. 

"Here  I  also  found  other  papers  and  magazines.  Carefully  placed  between 
the  pages  of  a  magazine  were  several  photographic  plates  that  had  been  taken 
by  George  W.  Rjce,  who  was  the  official  photographer  of  the  expedition.  The 
magazine  was  still  readable,  despite  the  fact  that  it  had  been  the  plaything  of 
the  elements  there  for  twenty-eight  years.  The  plates,  however,  were  ruined, 
and  I  was  unable  to  discover  to  just  what  extent  the  expedition  had  penetrated 
into  the  Arctic. 

"One  of  the  treasures  concealed  by  the  leaves  of  the  magazine  was  a  photo- 
graph of  General  Greely.  The  features  were  still  distinct.  One  of  the  relics 
was  the  fly  leaf  of  a  book.  It  had  written  upon  it:  'Lieutenant  Frederick 
Kisslingbury.  To  my  dear  father,  from  his  affectionate  son,  Harry  Kissling- 
bury.    May  God  be  with  you  and  return  you  safely  to  us.' 

"The  fly  leaf  had  been  torn  from  a  textbook  that  had  evidently  been  passed 
from  one  student  to  another.  The  names  of  several  persons,  evidently  students, 
had  been  written,  but  a  pencil  mark  had  been  drawn  through  them.  The  first 
name  at  the  top  of  the  page  was  Henry  Satreau.  Underneath  was  Victor 
Cloutier,  Assumption  College.  These  had  been  scratched  out  and  under  them 
written  'Harry  Kisslingbury,  Fort  Custer,  Mont.,  now  at  Assumption  College, 
Sandwich,  Ontario,  Jan.  15,  1881.' 

"The  fate  of  Kisslingbury  is  tragic.  He  had  become  estranged  from  General 
Greely  at  Fort  Conger  and  resigned  his  position  in  the  army.  He  ran  for 
the  shore  to  board  the  Proteus,  intending  to  return  to  America,  but  just  as  he 
reached  there  he  saw  the  smoke  of  the  steamer  in  the  distance.  He  had  arrived 
too  late. 

"Kisslingbury  returned  to  camp,  did  not  ask  for  reinstatement,  and  lived 
with  the  expedition  as  a  private  citizen.  He  was  among  those  who  perished 
later. 

"Another  of  KIsslIngbury's  possessions  which  I  found  was  a  temperance 
hymn  book  on  the  fly  leaf  of  which  was  written :  *To  Lieutenant  Kisslingbury, 


RESCUE   OF   GREELY  PARTY  215 

U.  S.  A.,  from  his  old  friend  and  well  wisher,  the  author,  George  W.  Clark, 
Detroit,  Mich.,  1861.'  Lying  in  the  stores  was  an  ocarina,  a  musical  instru- 
ment, which  was  still  good.  Carved  on  it  rudely  with  a  knife  was  the  latitude 
at  which  Fort  Conger  had  been  established. 

"Stickpins  and  other  articles  of  jewelry  I  found  scattered  around.  It  was 
surprising  to  find  the  stores  in  such  excellent  condition.  It  only  goes  to  show 
the  wonderful  preservative  qualities  of  the  Arctic  climate.  Coffee  I  made 
often  from  the  abandoned  Greely  stores.  One  of  the  most  striking  relics  I 
found  here,  and  one  that  showed  the  proclivities  of  the  owner,  was  a  record  of 
all  the  horse  trotting  events  of  the  time  in  America.  It  had  been  written  in  the 
owner's  hand,  and  embodied  a  description  and  record  of  all  the  trotters  and 
trotting  marks  in  the  history  of  the  turf. 

"It  seemed  that  I  was  to  be  fortunate  in  discovering  the  abandoned  camps 
of  previous  expeditions.  I  went  farther  a  little  later  and  came  across  the  camp 
that  had  been  established  by  Commodore  Hall  in  1881.  This  party  had  been 
brought  north  by  the  United  States  steamship  Polaris.  Like  the  Greely  steamer, 
the  Polaris  was  also  crushed  in  the  ice  at  Littleton  Island. 

"Here  I  found  a  wooden  house,  16  feet  by  35,  which  had  been  erected  as 
a  winter  quarters.    The  house  was  still  standing. 

"After  the  Polaris  had  been  crushed,  nineteen  of  the  party  took  to  the  ice 
cakes  and  tried  to  drift  to  safety.  They  were  picked  up  by  the  Tigress  off 
Newfoundland  after  they  had  floated  to  the  coast  of  Labrador,  not  a  hundred 
miles  from  here.  The  other  members  were  rescued  by  the  Ravenscrag  of 
Dundee,  Scotland.  I  found  all  the  ropes,  sails  and  clothing  that  had  been 
abandoned  in  most  excellent  shape.    The  sails  were  like  new. 

"On  another  sledging  trip  I  ran  across  the  headquarters  of  Sir  George 
Nares  and  Markham,  who  made'  an  expedition  in  1875  and  1876.  I  found 
crockery,  coal  bags,  wood  and  cartridges,  some  of  which  were  loaded. 

"A  peculiar  thing  about  my  discovery  here  was  that  I  ran  across  a  hand 
push  cart  that  this  expedition  used  to  carry  their  supplies  from  the  ship  to 
the  camp.  The  tracks  of  the  cart  still  remained  in  the  sand  as  sharply  de- 
fined as  when  they  were  first  made.  I  took  photographs  of  these  tracks  and 
have  the  plates  now. 

"The  strangest  part  of  all  this  Arctic  work  is  the  way  the  health  of  the  men 
is  benefited.  Instead  of  going  into  a  regular  course  of  athletic  training,  there 
is  a  system  of  preparing  a  man  for  the  dash  by  hunting  in  the  moonlight  and 
sledging.  It  is  only  a  question  of  time  when  the  men  become  so  hardened  and 
acclimated  that  they  are  in  perfect  physical  condition  for  the  work." 


CHAPTER    XX. 

NANSEN,    THE   MODERN    VIKING. 

Fridtjof  Nansen,  subject  of  the  king  of  Norway,  descendant  of  the  vikings 
who  braved  the  perils  of  ice  and  storm  in  early  ages,  surpassed  Greely's 
"farthest  north,"  and  established  a  record  which  it  remained  for  Peary  to  beat. 

There  have  been  few  polar  explorers  of  greater  courage  and  physical  equip- 
ment for  the  hardships  of  the  Arctic  than  Nansen.  Of  powerful  frame  and 
dauntless  bravery,  he  is  a  mighty  hunter,  a  man  of  tremendous  determination, 
and  shrewd  in  the  ways  of  the  wilderness.  Had  it  not  been  given  to  Peary 
and  Cook  to  find  the  pole  in  1909,  it  may  well  be  believed  that  Nansen  would 
have  reached  it  in  a  few  years. 

The  first  great  exploit  for  which  Nansen  is  famous  is  the  crossing  of 
Greenland,  which  meant  the  traversing  of  the  immense  glacier  which  covers 
the  whole  central  part  of  the  island,  the  scaling  of  enormous  ice-mountains, 
and  the  slaying  of  fierce  wild  beasts,  lest  he  himself  be  slain.  The  feat  was  ac- 
complished in  the  summer  of  1888,  five  men  accompanying  Nansen,  and  mak- 
ing part  of  the  journey  by  sledges,  which  they  hauled  themselves,  as  they  had 
no  dogs.  The  route  led  over  great  snow-wastes,  never  before  trod  by  human 
foot,  and  up  mountains,  some  of  which  were  9,000  feet  high.  Part  of  the  way 
led  over  water  to  cross  which  it  was  necessary  for  the  party  to  drag  a  boat 
along.  Frequently  the  thermometer  fell  40  below  zero;  once  to  49  below. 
This  journey,  a  distance  of  about  800  miles,  was  accomplished  in  ninety  days. 
On  his  return  Nansen  found  himself  a  hero.  He  arrived  in  Copenhagen  May 
21,  1889,  was  attended  by  a  demonstration  remarkably  similar  to  that  accorded 
Dr.  Cook  when  the  latter  returned  from  the  Arctic.  Immense  crowds  met  Nan- 
sen at  the  dock,  and  although  royalty  in  person  did  not  accord  him  the  same 
honors  that  fell  to  Cook,  he  was  lionized  in  every  way  scientific  bodies  could 
devise.  During  the  summer  he  visited  all  the  European  capitals,  and  his  per- 
sonality became  as  well  known  as  that  of  any  famous  man  on  earth. 

The  natural  result  of  this  was  that  when,  a  year  or  two  later,  Nansen  con- 
ceived the  ambition  to  reach  the  north  pole,  he  received  enthusiastic  support. 

216 


HANSEN,  THE  MODERN  VIKING  217 

He  had  a  startling  theory  he  desired  to  prove.  This  was  that  in  a  ship  built 
stanchly  enough  to  endure  any  amount  of  ice-pressure,  he  could  drift  across 
the  top  of  the  earth,  and  thus  claim  the  distinction  of  being  first  in  that  latitude. 
He  based  his  idea  on  the  experience  of  the  steamer  Jeannette,  which  was  aban- 
doned north  of  the  New  Siberia  Island  in  June,  1881,  and  pieces  of  which  were 
recovered  on  the  shore  of  West  Greenland, 

Nansen  said:  "It  struck  me  that  if  objects  from  a  ship  could  drift  this 
way,  a  ship,  too,  might  go  the  same  route,  provided  she  was  strong  enough  to 
withstand  the  pressure  of  the  ice." 

The  theory  did  not  meet  with  unanimous  support  from  other  explorers,  but 
Nansen  was  encouraged  to  keep  on,  and  in  November,  1890,  the  ship  Fram 
was  christened  in  Norway.  The  Fram,  which  is  still  in  service,  is  perhaps  the 
strongest  boat  ever  built.  Her  dimensions  are :  Length  of  keel,  102,  and 
water  line,  113  feet.  Breadth  at  water  line,  34  feet;  depth  of  hold,  17  feet. 
The  total  thickness  of  the  ship's  sides  is  24  to  28  inches,  braced  by  powerful 
beams  of  wood  and  iron,  and  all  the  material  used  in  the  construction  is  the 
toughest  and  most  durable  that  could  be  procured  from  any  part  of  the  world. 

As  showing  the  enthusiasm  aroused  by  the  project,  the  following  list  of 
contributions  for  it  is  given : 

Appropriation  by  the  Government  of  Norway,  about $75, 500 

The  King's  private  purse  and  individuals .  .  : 28,500 

Collections  by  a  committee 6,100 

Dr.  Nansen's  contribution • 5,000 

London  Geographical   Society 2,000 

A  private  gentleman  of  Riga  (not  named) i»750 

Interest  account 2,700 

Total    $121,550 

The  Fram  left  Christiana  Fjord,  Norway,  June  23,  1893,  with  a  crew  of 
fourteen  men,  and  provisions  for  two  years.  It  sailed  to  Siberia,  where  Nan- 
sen hoped  to  strike  the  current  that  apparently  took  the  Jeannette  west.  In 
August  the  ship  gained  the  open  sea  and  drifted  to  latitude  79;  but  later  the 
cantankerous  current  started  the  other  way,  and  carried  the  Fram  southeast 
to  latitude  yy.  There  she  became  frozen  in,  and  subject  to  an  enormous  pres- 
sure of  iqe.    This,  however,  only  served  to  bring  out  the  strength  of  the  vessel, 


218  NANSEN,  THE  MODERN  VIKING 

which  was  specially  constructed  so  the  ice,  instead  of  crushing  her,  would 
slide  along  her  sides. 

In  March  of  that  year,  after  the  party  had  endured  the  longest  polar  night 
ever  seen  by  man — owing  to  their  long  stay  above  the  70th  parallel, — Nansen 
decided  on  a  sledge  journey.  He  had  concluded  the  drift  project  was  too  un- 
certain. The  greatest  risks  attended  this  venture,  and  Nansen  determined  to 
make  it  himself,  with  only  one  companion,  a  man  named  Johansen.  On  March 
3  the  sun  appeared,  and  eleven  days  later  the  two  started  out.  The  trip  was 
one  of  the  most  trying  any  explorer  has  suffered,  but  it  was  also  one  of 
the  most  triumphant,  for  it  was  by  this  means  Nansen  achieved  his 
"farthest  north" — 86  degrees,  14  minutes,  north  latitude.  The  best  previous 
record  was  that  of  the  Greely  party.  Nansen  reached  to  within  225  geograph- 
ical miles  of  the  north  pole. 

Nansen  writes:  "In  order  to  investigate  the  state  of  the  ice,  and  the  pos- 
sibility of  advance,  I  went  further  north  on  ski  (slender  snow-shoes  that  re- 
semble sled  runners)  but  could  discern  no  likely  way.  From  the  highest  hum- 
mock I  could  find,  I  saw  only  packed  and  piled  up  ice  as  far  as  the  horizon.  Here, 
as  during  our  whole  journey,  we  saw  no  sign  of  land  in  any  direction.  The  ice 
appeared  to  drift  before  the  wind  without  being  stopped  by  mainland  or  islands. 
If  it  were  like  this  in  the  direction  of  Franz  Josef  Land,  we  might  have  dif- 
ficulty enough  getting  there,  and  the  ice  grew  so  bad  that  I  thought  it  unad- 
visable  to  continue  our  journey  any  further  toward  the  north." 

The  loneliness  of  the  trip  was  somewhat  relieved  by  the  hunting  of  game, 
in  which  the  two  had  many  thrilling  experiences.  One  of  the  most  notable  of 
these  was  an  adventure  which  Nansen  describes  as  follows : 

"We  were  just  about  to  cross  a  channel  on  the  ice  in  our  kayaks.  This 
was  generally  accomplished  by  tying  the  two  kayaks  together  on  the  ice,  then 
placing  them  on  the  water,  and  after  creeping  with  the  dogs  out  onto  the  decks, 
paddling  across.  Suddenly  I  heard  a  noise  behind  me,  and  turning  saw  Johan- 
sen on  his  back  with  a  bear  over  him,  he  holding  the  bear  by  the  throat.  I 
caught  at  my  gun  which  lay  on  the  fore-deck  of  my  kayak;  but  at  the  same 
moment  the  boat  slid  into  the  water,  and  the  gun  with  it.  By  exerting  all  my 
strength  I  hauled  the  heavy  laden  kayak  up  again,  but  while  doing  so  I  heard 
Johansen  quietly  remark,  'You  must  hurry  up  if  you  don't  want  to  be  too  late.' 
At  last  I  got  the  gun  out  of  the  case ;  and  as  I  turned  round  with  it  cocked,  the 
bear  was  just  in  front  of  me.  In  the  hurry  of  the  moment  I  had  cocked  the 
right  barrel,  which  was  loaded  with  shot ;  but  the  charge  took  effect  behind  the 


NANSEN,  THE  MODERN  VIKING  219 

ear,  and  the  bear  fell  down  dead  between  us.  The  only  wound  that  Johansen 
received  was  a  slight  scratch  on  the  back  of  one  hand,  and  we  went  on  our  way- 
well  laden  with  fresh  bear  meat. 

"The  bear  must  have  followed  our  track  like  a  cat,  and,  covered  by  the  ice- 
blocks,  have  slunk  up  while  we  were  clearing  the  ice  from  the  lane  and  had  our 
backs  to  him.  We  could  see  by  the  trail  how  it  had  crept  over  a  small  ridge 
just  behind  us  under  cover  of  a  mound  by  Johansen's  kayak.  While  the  latter, 
without  suspecting  anything  or  looking  round,  went  back  and  stooped  down  to 
pick  up  the  hauling  rope,  he  suddenly  caught  sight  of  an  animal  crouched  up 
at  the  end  of  the  kayak,  but  thought  it  was  Suggen  (the  dog)  ;  and  before  he 
had  time  to  realize  that  it  was  so  big  he  received  a  cuff  on  the  ear  which  made 
him  see  fireworks,  and  over  he  went  on  his  back.  *  *  *  j^  ^^3  j^g^  ^g  ^j^^ 
bear  was  about  to  bite  Johansen  in  the  head  that  he  uttered  the  memorable 
words,  'Look  sharp!'  h^  *  *  Johansen  let  go  his  hold  on  the  bear  and 
wiggled  out,  while  the  bear  gave  Suggen  a  cuff  which  made  him  howl  lustily. 
Then  Kaifas  (the  other  dog)  got  a  slap  on  the  nose.  Meanwhile  Johansen  had 
struggled  to  his  feet  and  when  I  fired  had  got  his  gun,  which  was  sticking  out 
of  the  kayak  hole." 

After  their  long  journey  across  the  frozen  seas,  Nansen  and  Johansen 
reached  land  near  the  8ist  parallel,  only  to  become  imprisoned  in  the  ice.  This 
forced  them  to  winter  many  miles  from  the  Fram.  So  hardy  were  they,  how- 
ever, that  they  passed  the  winter  in  perfect  health.  Immense  quantities  of 
game  were  near  them,  also,  and  they  were  able  to  get  bear,  walrus,  at  any  time. 
There  were  also  quantities  of  foxes,  "which  almost  every  night,"  Nansen  de- 
clares, "constantly  sat  upon  the  roof  of  our  hut,  whence  we  could  perpetually 
hear  their  gnawing  of  our  frozen  meat.  These  foxes  were  of  both  the  white 
variety  and  the  valuable  dark-furred  kind,  and  had  we  been  so  inclined  we 
could  easily  have  laid  by  a  store  of  valuable  furs.  Our  supply  of  ammunition, 
however,  was  not  so  large  as  to  allow  of  our  spending  it  upon  them,  for  it 
seemed  to  me  that  bears  were  the  smallest  game  that  could  give  us  any  return 
for  our  cartridges. 

"At  last  came  the  spring,  with  sunshine  and  birds.  How  well  I  remember 
that  first  evening,  a  few  days  before  the  sun  had  appeared  above  the  horizon, 
when  we  suddenly  saw  a  flock  of  little  auks  sail  past  us  along  the  mountains  to 
the  north.  It  was  like  the  first  greeting  from  life  and  spring.  Many  followed 
in  their  train,  and  soon  the  mountains  around  us  swarmed  with  these  little 


220  NAN  SEN,  THE  MODERN  VIKING 

summer  visitors  of  the  north,  which  enhvened  everything  with  their  cheerful 
twittering." 

May  19  the  travelers  started  south  again,  and  coming  to  water,  they  tried 
voyaging  in  their  kayaks,  with  an  improvised  mast  and  sail.  This  proved  an 
adventurous  trip.    Says  Nansen : 

"One  day,  when  we  had  been  sailing  along  the  shore,  we  lay  to  in  the 
evening  to  reconnoiter  our  farther  way  westward.  In  leaving  the  kayaks,  we 
made  them  fast  to  the  ice  by  a  strong  strap,  which  we  thought  was  perfectly 
reliable.  While  we  were  a  little  way  off  on  the  top  of  a  hummock,  however, 
we  discovered  that  our  linked  boats  had  broken  from  their  moorings  and  were 
rapidly  drifting  away  from  the  ice,  carried  along  by  the  wind.  All  our  pro- 
visions were  on  board,  our  whole  outfit,  our  guns,  and  our  ammunition.  There 
we  stood  upon  the  ice,  entirely  without  resource.  Our  only  safely  lay  in  reach- 
ing our  kayaks,  and  I  had  no  choice  but  to  spring  into  the  water  and  try  to 
reach  them  by  swimming.  It  was,  however,  a  struggle  for  life,  for  the  kayaks 
seemed  to  drift  more  rapidly  before  the  wind  than  I  could  swim ;  the  icy  water 
gradually  robbed  my  whole  body  of  feeling,  and  it  became  more  and  more  dif- 
ficult to  use  my  limbs.  At  length  I  reached  the  side  of  our  craft;  but  it  wa;i 
only  by  summoning  up  my  last  energies  that  I  finally  succeeded  in  getting  on 
board,  and  we  were  saved." 

This  remarkable  journey  was  to  have  as  its  climax  one  of  those  meetings 
of  men  in  a  strange  country  which  are  dramatic  incidents  in  the  world's  history. 
While  cooking  breakfast  one  day,  and  not  in  the  least  suspecting  the  presence 
of  a  white  man  within  hundreds  of  miles,  he  heard  a  dog  bark,  looked  up,  and 
saw  F.  G.  Jackson,  an  English  explorer,  who  was  studying  Franz  Joseph  land. 
Nansen  embarked  on  Jackson's  Steamer  and  returned  home  in  August,  1896,  to 
find  himself  the  chief  hero  of  Norway,  and  a  man  of  redoubled  fame  in  the  rest 
of  the  world. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

TWO    BALLOONISTS   WHO   FAILED. 

The  North  Pole  madness  has  so  invaded  the  blood  of  mankind  that  almost 
every  mode  of  transportation,  short  of  ox-teams  and  railroad  trains,  has  been 
thought  of  for  reaching  the  goal.  Even  automobiles  have  been  suggested, 
though  laughed  to  scorn  by  those  who  have  experienced  the  woe  of  hauling  a 
sledge  over  an  ice-hummock.  It  was  this  very  difficulty  of  progress  over  land 
and  sea  that  led  two  men  of  daring  to  consider  an  aerial  trip.  This,  they  ar- 
gued, would  necessarily  avoid  the  delay  and  despair  of  combating  ice-bergs 
and  mountains  and  be  a  short,  swift,  easy  route. 

To  these  men  the  fact  that  aerial  travel  itself  possesses  perils  sufficient  to 
daunt  most  human  beings  was  as  nothing.  They  were  enthusiasts  in  balloon- 
ing ;  and  to  the  enthusiast  in  that  sport  it  is  said  even  racing  through  a  thun- 
derstorm a  mile  in  air  is  a  joy.  But  bold  as  they  were,  neither  came  within 
miles  of  reaching  the  north  pole.  One  was  a  Swede,  S.  A.  Andree ;  the  other, 
Walter  Wellman,  an  American. 

Andree  was  an  engineer  in  the  patent  office  at  Stockohlm.  He  had  become 
an  experienced  aeronaut,  though  he  had  never  "set  the  world  on  fire,"  and 
when  he  proposed  crossing  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  from  Africa  to  South  America, 
there  were  many  who  approved  the  scheme — so  long  as  they  did  not  have  to 
join  the  party.  One  who  approved  was  Nordenskjold,  a  well  known  Arctic 
traveler,  and  he  it  was  who  gave  Andree  the  idea  of  trying  for  the  north  pole. 
Andree  at  once  began  making  definite  plans,  and  securing  the  necessary  money. 
In  1895  he  obtained  it,  through  the  aid  of  King  Oscar  of  Sweden.  The  sum 
of  $36,000  was  subscribed,  of  which  the  king  himself  gave  $8,000.  Andree 
passed  the  following  winter  in  France,  where  a  balloon  was  specially  con- 
structed for  him.  Following  is  a  description  of  the  craft,  published  just  before 
the  expedition  got  started : 

"It  is  a  double  balloon,  or  rather  a  balloon  in  a  balloon.  The  first  or  inner 
balloon  is  made  of  a  specially  made  silk  cloth  of  three  folds  and  covered  with 
a  two-proof  varnish.    Over  this,  covering  two-thirds  of  the  balloon,  comes  a 

221 


222  TWO  BALLOONISTS  WHO  FAILED 

cover  of  cloth  highly  saturated  with  oil.  The  object  of  the  double  balloon  is 
that  the  air  between  the  two  balloons  will  guard  against  sudden  changes  of 
temperature,  and  also  prevent  snow  and  water  from  gathering  on  the  varnished 
silk.  From  the  oiled  surface  it  will  at  once  slide  off,  particularly  when  the  bal- 
loon sways  from  side  to  side.  Instead  of  the  usual  ventilator  on  the  top  of  the 
balloon  these  are  placed  one  on  each  side,  as  experience  has  shown  that  from 
this  ventilator  the  greatest  loss  of  gas  is  made.  To  support  the  net  a  heavy 
iron  ring  is  placed  under  a  wooden  roof  resembling  what  is  known  in  polar 
language  as  'Nunatak.*  Below  the  balloon  is  placed  an  automatic  ventilator 
opening  at  a  pressure  of  lo  mm.  and  permits  the  escape  of  superfluous  gas. 

"A  novelty  is  the  broad  girdle  surrounding  the  balloon  in  its  lower  part. 
This  is  for  the  purpose  of  guarding  against  wind  pressure.  When  the  lower 
part  of  the  balloon  commences  to  be  empty  of  gas,  the  wind  makes  a  hollow  in 
the  balloon  and  the  girdle  will  prevent  this. 

"The  balloon  has  a  diameter  of  20.5  meters  (one  meter  is  39.37  inches) 
and  has  a  volume  of  4,500  cubic  meters.  The  gondola  is  made  of  wicker,  round 
in  form,  covered  with  a  roof  with  two  sleeping-places,  as  there  will  always  be 
a  man  on  watch.  The  mattresses  will  serve  as  life-preservers  in  case  of  ne- 
cessity, and  the  gondola  has  a  slanting  form  to  facilitate  sliding  along  the  ice 
if  so  near  an  approach  to  the  earth  is  found  necessary.  The  gondola  is  also 
provided  with  a  trapdoor  to  empty  the  water  if  the  balloon  should  take  a  'dip.' 

"M.  Andree  has  devised  an  ingenius  contrivance  for  directing  the  balloon. 
The  efficacy  of  this  device  has  been  tested  by  a  trip.  It  is  composed  of  a  rudder 
sail  secured  to  the  apex  of  the  balloon  and  to  the  car  by  a  rope,  so  that  it  can 
move  freely,  and  a  guide  rope  which  can  be  adjusted  to  different  positions  for 
180  degrees  of  the  circumference  of  the  ring  which  is  secured  to  the  car. 

"The  guiding  is  assisted  by  means  of  this  guide  rope,  which  is  allowed  to 
drag  on  the  ground  or  in  the  water.  The  eyelets  are  intended  to  receive  the 
hook  of  this  guide  rope.  When  the  hook  is  attached  to  the  central  eyelet  the 
balloon  will  move  in  the  line  of  the  wind,  but  by  adjusting  the  guide  rope  to  the 
other  eyelets  motion  in  other  directions  is  obtained. 

"The  balloon  carries  23,100  kegs  of  ballast,  provisions  for  four  and  a  half 
months,  ammunition  a  boat,  heavy  clothing,  and  every  necessity  that  expe- 
rience has  shown  is  required." 

Andree  went  to  Spitzbergen,  arriving  there  June  19,  1896.  The  balloon 
was  then  inflated,  but  this  took  so  long  that  Andree  deemed  it  too  late  in  the 
season  to  start,  so  the  expedition  was  delayed  for  another  year.    This  change 


TWO  BALLOONISTS  WHO  FAILED  223 

of  plan  aroused  the  scoffers,  and  Andree's  exploit  became  something  of  a  by- 
word; but  the  explorer  was  tmdaunted,  and  in  1897  he  again  went  to  Spitz- 
bergen.  The  inflation  of  the  balloon  was  completed  this  time  on  June  22,  and 
a  few  days  were  spent  in  making  the  great  craft  "seaworthy"  in  every  way.  It 
was  given  a  name — the  "Ornen,"  which  is  Swedish  for  eagle.  Finally,  on  July 
II  everything  was  ready.  Andree  wrote  two  messages  of  thanks,  one  to 
a  Stockholm  newspaper  and  the  other  to  the  King,  and  he  and  his  two  com- 
panions climbed  in.  The  names  of  these  companions  were  Nils  Strindberg  and 
Ferdinand  Frankel. 

Before  the  crowd  of  onlookers  the  balloonists  shook  hands  with  their 
friends  and  at  2  40  p.  m.  Andree  gave  the  word,  "Cast  off."  The  monster 
balloon  rose  in  the  air,  and  sailed  over  the  heads  of  the  spectators,  while  the 
three  men  in  the  basket  waved  handkerchiefs  and  shouted  last  adieus. 

And  they  were  last  adieus  indeed.  Those  fast-dwindling  forms,  swaying 
beneath  the  great  dark  gas-bag  against  the  sky,  were  never  seen  again.  Whether 
they  came  down,  with  gas  exhausted,  in  open  water  and  were  drowned, 
whether  they  crashed  against  a  berg  and  so  died ;  or  whether  they  landed  in 
some  ice-wilderness  and  starved, — these  are  mysteries  which  iron-hearted  na- 
ture has  thus  far  refused  to  reveal. 

Wellman's  plans  were  of  a  different  kind.  He  did  not  propose  to  trust  to 
air-currents  to  waft  him  across  the  polar  sea,  as  did  Andree,  but  designed  an 
air  craft  of  the  nature  of  a  dirigible  balloon,  which  theoretically  could  be  turned 
at  will. 

The  bold  adventure  was  backed  by  a  Chicago  newspaper,  and  passed  years 
in  making  his  preparations.  Interest  of  explorers  and  aeronauts  everywhere 
was  aroused,  and  doubt  and  confidence  were  divided.  The  doubters  said  that 
the  fickle  air  would  not  do  what  it  was  claimed  it  would ;  the  supporters  of 
Wellman  urge  that,  if  air  ships  could  travel  hours  with  ease,  why  not  days  ? 

In  September,  1907,  Wellman  made  his  first  start  from  Spitzbergen.  He 
started  boldly  and  with  good  hope;  but  it  proved  that  the  machinery  of  his 
craft  was  too  delicate;  and  after  the  balloon  had  proceeded  a  short  distance, 
something  went  wrong  with  the  guide-rope,  which,  like  Andree,  Wellman  had 
trailing  after  the  airship.  The  balloon  crashed  against  the  side  of  an  ice  moun- 
tain, and  was  badly  disabled.  Fortunately  none  on  board  was  injured,  and  all 
returned  to  Europe  in  safety.  Of  course,  however,  no  further  attempt  was 
made  that  year.  Again,  in  August,  1909,  Wellman  got  his  ship  and  his  men 
together  and  prepared  to  start,  but  this,  too,  ended  in  failure. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

LIFE    AMONG    THE    ESKIMOS. 

Out  of  all  the  disappointments,  privations  and  successes  of  polar  explora- 
tion has  come  one  great  result  that,  whatever  may  be  said  of  the  value  to  man- 
kind of  scientific  discovery,  will  always  be  of  real  human  interest.  This  is  the 
study  of  the  Eskimos,  the  natives  of  the  frozen  zone.  Had  man  never  sought 
to  reach  the  north  pole  these  people,  so  primitive  in  many  ways,  might  have 
remained  in  savagery.  As  it  is,  they  have  been  largely  Christianized ;  and  they 
have  been  partly  civilized.  The  best  tribute  to  the  Eskimos  as  regards  their 
mastery  of  the  region  in  which  they  live  is  that  no  white  man  who  has  traveled 
there  has  succeeded  in  his  activities,  or  even  in  clinging  to  life  itself,  without 
imitating  the  Eskimos.  Both  Peary  and  Cook  say  their  discoveries  were  made 
by  actually  as  those  swarthy  people  do.  It  becomes,  then,  of  the  utmost  interest, 
in  this  age  of  the  world,  to  learn  the  mode  of  life  of  the  straight  haired  men 
and  women  who  so  resemble  our  American  Indians,  and  yet  differ  from  them 
in  so  many  traits. 

Nearly  all  the  great  explorers  have  given  graphic  accounts  of  Eskimo  life. 
Dr.  Kabe  described  his  first  meeting  with  the  natives  as  follows : 

"As  we  gathered  on  the  deck,  they  rose  upon  the  more  elevated  fragments 
of  the  land-ice,  standing  singly  and  conspicuously,  like  the  figures  in  a  tableau 
of  the  opera,  and  distributing  themselves  around  almost  in  a  half-circle.  They 
were  vociferating  as  if  to  attract  our  attention,  or,  perhaps,  only  to  give  vent 
to  their  surprise ;  but  I  could  make  nothing  out  of  their  cries,  except  *Hoah,  ha, 
ha !'  and  'Ka,  kaah !  ka,  kaah !'  repeated  over  and  over  again, 

"There  was  light  enough  for  me  to  see  that  they  brandished  no  weapons, 
and  were  only  tossing  their  heads  and  arms  about  in  violent  gesticulations. 
A  more  unexcited  inspection  showed  us,  too,  that  their  numbers  were  not  as 
great,  nor  their  size  as  Patagonian,  as  some  of  us  had  been  disposed  to  fancy 
at  first.  In  a  word,  I  was  satisfied  that  they  were  natives  of  the  country ;  and, 
calling  Petersen  from  his  bunk  to  be  my  interpreter,  I  proceeded,  unarmed,  and 
waving  my  open  hands,  toward  a  stout  figure,  who  made  himself  conspicuous. 


LIFE  AMONG  THE  ESKIMOS  ^  ^ 

and  seemed  to  have  a  greater  number  near  him  than  the  rest.  He  evidently 
understood  the  movement;  for  he  at  once,  Hke  a  brave  fellow,  leaped  down 
upon  the  floe,  and  advanced  to  meet  me  fully  half-way. 

"He  was  nearly  a  head  taller  than^myself,  extremely  powerful  and  well- 
built,  with  swarthy  complexion,  and  black  eyes.  His  dress  was  a  hooded  capote 
or  jumper,  of  mixed  white  and  blue  fox-pelts,  arranged  with  something  of 
fancy;  and  booted  trousers  of  white  bear-skin,  which,  at  the  end  of  the  foot, 
were  made  to  terminate  with  the  claws  of  the  animal. 

"I  soon  came  to  an  understanding  with  this  gallant  diplomatist.  Almost 
as  soon  as  we  commenced  our  parley,  his  companions,  probably  receiving  sig- 
nals from  him,  flocked  in  and  surrounded  us ;  but  we  had  no  difficulty  in  mak- 
ing them  know,  positively,  that  they  must  remain  where  they  were,  while  Metek 
went  with  me  on  board  the  ship.  This  gave  me  the  advantage  of  negotiating 
with  an  important  hostage." 

The  Eskimos  were  taken  aboard  ship.    Says  Dr.  Kane : 

"They  were  lost  in  barbarous  amaze  at  the  new  fuel, — too  hard  for  blub- 
ber, too  soft  for  fire-stone, — but  they  were  content  to  believe  it  might  cook  as 
well  as  seal's  fat.  They  borrowed  from  us  an  iron  pot,  and  some  melted  water, 
and  parboiled  a  couple  of  pieces  of  walrus-meat ;  but,  the  real  piece  de  resistance, 
some  five  pounds  of  head,  they  preferred  to  eat  raw.  Yet  there  was  something 
of  the  gourmet  in  their  mode  of  assorting  their  mouthfuls  of  beef  and  blubber. 
Slices  of  each,  or  rather  strips,  passed  between  the  lips,  either  together  or  in 
strict  alternation,  and  with  a  regularity  of  sequence  that  kept  the  molars  well 
to  their  work. 

"They  did  not  eat  all  at  once,  but  each  man  when  and  as  often  as  the  im- 
pulse prompted.  Each  slept  after  eating,  his  raw  chunk  lying  beside  him  on 
the  buffalo-skin ;  and,  as  he  woke,  the  first  act  was  to  eat,  and  the  next  to  sleep 
again.  They  did  not  lie  down,  but  slumbered  away  in  a  sitting  posture,  with 
the  head  declined  upon  the  breast,  some  of  them  snoring  famously. 

"In  the  morning  they  were  anxious  to  go ;  but  I  had  given  orders  to  detain 
them  for  a  parting  interview  with  myself.  It  resulted  in  a  treaty,  brief  in 
its  terms,  that  it  might  be  certainly  remembered ;  and  mutually  beneficial,  that  it 
might  possibly  be  kept.  I  tried  to  make  them  understand  what  a  powerful 
Prospero  they  had  had  for  a  host,  and  how  beneficent  he  would  prove  himself  so 
long  as  they  did  his  bidding.  And,  as  an  earnest  of  my  favor,  I  bought  all  the 
walrus-meat  they  had  to  spare,  and  four  of  their  dogs;  enriching  them,  in  re- 
turn, with  needles  and  beads,  and  a  treasure  of  old  cask-staves." 


226  LIFE  AMONG  THE  ESKIMOS 

A  brother  of  Dr.  Kane,  who  was  one  of  a  relief  party  sent  out  in  1855,  has 
this  to  say  of  the  Eskimos : 

"Improvidence  is  another  trait  of  these  'fresh  children  of  impulse.'  We 
were  at  their  village  as  late  as  the  19th  of  August.  Yet,  although  the  auks 
were  flying  round  them  in  such  quantities  that  one  man  could  have  been  able 
to  catch  a  thousand  an  hour,  they  had  not  enough  prepared  for  winter  to  last 
two  days.  They  were  all  disgustingly  fat,  and  always  eating, — perhaps  an 
average  ration  of  eighteen  pounds  per  diem, — ^yet  they  had  lost  seven  by  star- 
vation during  the  last  winter,  though  relieved,  as  far  as  we  could  make  it  out, 
by  the  Dokto  Kayens. 

"They  suffer  dreadfully  from  cold,  too;  yet  there  is  an  abundance  of  ex- 
cellent peat,  which  they  might  dig  during  the  summer.  They  know  its  value 
as  fuel,  and  are  simply  too  lazy  to  stack  it.  The  little  auk,  which  forms  their 
principal  food,  may  be  said  also  to  be  their  only  fuel.  Indeed,  it  quite  fills  the 
place  which  the  seal  holds  among  the  more  southern  Esquimaux.  Their  clothes 
are  lined  with  its  skins,  they  burn  the  fat,  and,  setting  aside  the  livers  and 
hearts,  to  be  dried,  and  consumed  as  bonbons  during  the  winter,  they  eat  the 
meat  and  intestines  cooked  and  raw,  both  cold  and  at  blood  heat. 

"They  are  very  hospitable ;  the  minute  we  arrived,  all  hands  began  to  catch 
birds  and  prepare  them  for  us.  Tearing  off  the  skins  with  their  teeth,  they 
stripped  the  breasts  to  be  cooked,  and  presented  us  with  the  juicy  entrails  and 
remaining  portions  to  eat  raw,  and  stay  our  appetites.  The  viands  did  not  look 
inviting  to  us,  who  had  witnessed  their  preparation ;  but  the}'^  appeared  so  hurt 
at  our  refusing  to  eat,  that  we  had  to  explain  that  it  was  not  cooked  but  raw 
birds  we  wanted.  This  was  satisfactory.  They  set  out  at  once  to  catch  some  for 
us ;  and  in  a  few  moments  three  of  them  were  on  their  way  down  to  our  boat 
loaded  with  birds." 

Dr.  Nansen,  in  recounting  his  crossing  of  Greenland,  describes  many  do- 
mestic traits  of  the  Eskimos  with  a  touch  of  realism.  He  tells  thus  of  entering 
the  home  of  an  Eskimo  family : 

"We  had  been  at  once  invited  to  sit  down  upon  some  chests  which  stood 
by  the  skin-curtain  at  the  entrance.  These  are  the  seats  which  are  always 
put  at  the  disposal  of  visitors,  while  the  occupants  have  their  places  upon  the 
long  bench  or  couch  which  fills  the  back  part  of  the  tent.  This  couch  is  made 
of  planks,  is  deep  enough  to  give  room  for  a  body  reclining  at  full  length,  and 
is  as  broad  as  the  full  length  of  the  tent.  It  is  covered  with  several  layers  of 
sealskin,  and  upon  it  the  occupants  spend  their  whole  indoor  life,  men  and 


LIFE  AMONG  THE  ESKIMOS  227 

women  alike,  sitting  often  cross-legged  as  they  work,  and  taking  their  meals, 
and  rest  and  sleep. 

"The  tent  itself  is  of  a  very  peculiar  construction.  The  framework  con- 
sists of  a  high  trestle,  upon  which  a  number  of  poles  are  laid,  forming  a  semi- 
circle below  and  converging  more  or  less  to  a  point  at  the  top.  Over  these 
poles  a  double  layer  of  skins  is  stretched,  the  inner  coat  with  the  hair  turned 
inward,  and  the  outer  generally  consisting  of  the  old  coverings  of  boats  and 
kayaks.  The  entrance  is  under  the  above-mentioned  trestle,  which  is  covered 
by  the  thin  curtain  of  which  I  have  just  spoken.  This  particular  tent  housed 
four  or  five  different  families,  each  having  their  own  particular  partition 
marked  off  upon  the  common  couch.  Before  every  family  stall  a  train-oil  lamp 
was  burning  with  a  broad  flame.  These  lamps  are  flat,  semi-circular  vessels  of 
pot-stone,  about  a  foot  in  length.  The  wick  is  made  of  dried  moss,  which  is 
placed  against  one  side  of  the  lamp  and  continually  fed  with  pieces  of  fresh 
blubber,  which  soon  melt  into  oil.  The  lamps  are  in  charge  of  the  women, 
who  have  special  sticks  to  manipulate  the  wicks  with,  to  keep  them  both  from 
smoking  and  burning  too  low.  Great  pots  of  the  same  stone  hang  above,  and 
in  them  the  Esquimaux  cook  all  their  food,  which  they  do  not  eat  raw.  Strange 
to  say,  they  use  neither  peat  nor  wood  for  cooking  purposes,  though  such  fuel 
is  not  difficult  to  procure.  The  lamps  are  kept  burning  night  and  day;  they 
serve  for  both  heating  and  lighting  purposes,  for  Esquimaux  do  not  sleep  in 
the  dark,  like  other  people ;  and  they  also  serve  to  maintain  a  permanent  odor 
of  train-oil  which,  as  I  have  said,  our  European  senses  at  first  found  not  alto- 
gether attractive,  but  which  we  soon  learned  not  only  to  tolerate,  but  to  take 
pleasure  in.     *     *     * 

"The  man  embraced  a  fat  woman,  and  thereupon  the  pair  with  extreme 
complacency  pointed  to  some  younger  individuals,  the  whole  pantomime  giving 
us  to  understand  that  the  party  together  formed  a  family  of  husband,  wife,  and 
children.  The  man  then  proceeded  to  stroke  his  wife  down  the  back,  and  to 
pinch  her  here  and  there,  to  show  us  how  charming  and  delightful  she  was,  and 
how  fond  he  was  of  her,  the  process  giving  her  at  the  same  time  evident  sat- 
isfaction. Curiously  enough,  none  of  the  men  in  this  tent  seemed  to  have  more 
than  one  wife,  though  it  is  a  common  thing  among  the  east  coast  Esquimaux 
for  a  man  to  keep  two  if  he  can  afford  them,  though  never  more.  As  a  rule  the 
men  are  good  to  their  wives,  and  a  couple  may  even  be  seen  to  kiss  each  other 
at  times,  though  the  process  is  not  carried  out  on  European  lines,  but  by  a  mu- 
tual rubbing  of  noses.    Domestic  strife  is,  however,  not  unknown,  and  it  some- 


228  LIFE  AMONG  THE  ESKIMOS 

times  leads  to  violent  scenes,  the  end  of  which  generally  is  that  the  woman  re- 
ceives either  a  vigorous  castigation  or  the  blade  of  a  knife  in  her  arm  or  leg, 
after  which  the  relation  between  the  two  becomes  as  cordial  as  ever,  especially 
if  the  woman  has  children.     *     *     * 

"Their  hands  and  feet  are  alike  unusually  small  and  well  shaped.  Their 
hair  is  absolutely  black  and  quite  straight,  resembling  horse  hair.  The  men 
often  tie  it  back  from  the  forehead  with  a  string  of  beads  and  leave  it  to  fall 
down  over  the  shoulders.  Some  who  wear  no  such  band  have  the  hair  cut 
above  the  forehead,  or  round  the  whole  head,  with  the  jawbone  of  a  shark,  as 
their  superstitions  will  not  allow  them  on  any  account  to  let  iron  come  in  con- 
tact with  it.  But,  curiously  enough  a  man  who  has  begun  to  cut  his  hair  in  his 
youth  must  necessarily  continue  the  practice  all  his  life.  The  women  gather 
their  hair  up  from  behind  and  tie  it  with  a  string  of  sealskin  into  a  cone,  which 
must  stand  as  perpendicularly  as  possible.  This  convention  is  especially  strin- 
gent in  the  case  of  young  unmarried  women,  who,  to  obtain  the  desired  result, 
tie  their  hair  back  from  the  forehead  and  temples  so  tightly  that  by  degrees  it 
gradually  gives  way,  and  they  become  bald  at  a  very  early  age."     *     *     * 

The  hospitality  of  this  desolate  coast  is  quite  unbounded.  A  man  will  re- 
ceive his  worst  enemy,  and  entertain  him  for  months  if  circumstances  throw 
him  in  his  way.  The  nature  of  their  surroundings  and  the  wandering  life 
which  they  lead  have  forced  them  to  offer  and  accept  universal  hospitality,  and 
the  habit  has  gradually  become  a  law  among  them. 

Eskimo  society  has  one  great  principle  underlying  it :  Community  of  in- 
terest. If  a  hunter  finds  game  and  buries  it  under  a  stone,  another  hunter  may 
come  that  way  and  take  the  meat  without  any  protest  being  made.  Says  As- 
trup,  who  accompanied  Peary  on  his  first  great  journey:  "The  tribe  forms 
a  single  family,  and  each  member,  without  exception,  consecrates  the  work  of 
his  life  to  the  common  good. 

"It  is  extremely  seldom  that  Esquimaux  quarrel,  and  when  a  disagreement 
occurs  it  is  a  very  tame  affair.  The  parties  do  not  talk  loudly  or  call  each 
other  names,  but  simply  separate.  They  are  quiet  and  gentle  people,  and  very 
much  dislike  anything  in  the  way  of  disturbance  or  discord." 

Another  thing  that  may  not  be  generally  credited  to  these  swarthy  folk  is 
that  they  are  intelligent,  and  almost  invariably  truthful.  Simple-hearted  they 
of  course  are,  so  that  by  promises  of  beads  and  other  ornaments  explorers  have 
been  able  to  convince  them  of  things  that  were  not  true;  but  it  is  the  unani- 
mous belief  of  most  men  who  have  lived  among  the  north  people  that  their 


f^ 


PASSAGE  THROUGH  THE  ICE  MADE  BY  DE.  COOK'S  AEOTIC  SHIP. 


PEAEY  ON  WAY  TO  THE  NOETH  POLE. 


LIFE  AMONG  THE  ESKIMOS  231 

morals  and  their  domestic  relations  as  regards  -the  division  of  labor  between 
man  and  woman  include  much  that  might  well  be  copied  by  other  nations. 

The  method  of  building  an  Eskimo  snow-house  is  told  by  one  of  the  ex- 
plorers who  learned  the  trick  from  the  natives.     He  says : 

"The  process  of  constructing  a  snow-house  goes  on  something  in  this  way, 
varied,  of  course,  by  circumstances  of  time,  place,  and  materials.  First,  a  num- 
ber of  square  blocks  are  cut  out  of  any  hard-drifted  bank  of  snow  you  can  meet 
with,  adapted  for  the  purpose ;  which,  when  cut,  have  precisely  the  appearance 
of  blocks  of  salt  sold  in  the  donkey-carts  in  the  streets  of  London.  The  dimen- 
sions we  generally  selected  were  two  feet  in  length  by  fourteen  inches  in  height, 
and  nine  inches  in  breadth.  A  layer  of  these  blocks  is  laid  on  the  ground  nearly 
in  the  form  of  a  square ;  and  then  another  layer  on  this,  cut  so  as  to  incline 
slightly  inwards,  and  the  corner  blocks  laid  diagonally  over  those  underneath, 
so  as  to  cut  off  the  angles.  Other  layers  follow  in  the  same  way,  until  you  have 
gradually  a  dome-shaped  structure  rising  before  you,  out  of  which  you  have 
only  to  cut  a  small  hole  for  a  door,  to  find  yourself  within  a  very  light,  com- 
fortable-looking bee-hive  on  a  large  scale,  in  which  you  can  bid  defiance  to 
wind  and  weather.  Any  chinks  between  the  blocks  are  filled  up  with  loose 
snow  with  the  hand  from  outside ;  as  these  are  best  detected  from  within,  a  man 
is  usually  sent  in  to  drive  a  thin  rod  through  the  spot  where  he  discovers  a 
chink,  which  is  immediately  plastered  over  by  some  one  from  without,  till  the 
whole  house  is  as  air-tight  as  an  G-gg" 

The  Eskimos  are  well  cared  for  by  the  government  of  Denmark,  and  always 
have  been  as  far  back  as  1851,  Kennedy  wrote.    Speaking  of  Upernavik: 

"It  is  one  of  that  interesting  group  of  little  colonies  with  which  the  enter- 
prise of  the  Danes  has  dotted  the  west  coast  of  Greenland.  Here,  considerably 
within  the  Arctic  Circle,  we  found  a  Christian  community,  not  only  living,  but, 
after  a  fashion,  thriving.  We  were  informed  by  the  governor  that  there  were, 
even  at  this  early  period  of  the  season,  one  thousand  Danish  tons  of  oil  and 
blubber  stored,  from  the  produce  of  the  summer  fishery.  There  was  likewise 
visible  evidence  in  every  direction  of  an  abundance  of  venison,  water-fowl,  and 
eggs,  as  well  as  seals.  The  houses  were  built  of  wood,  very  small,  and  had  a 
singularly  amphibious  look  about  them,  from  being  covered  with  tar  from  top 
to  bottom, — appearing,  for  all  the  world,  like  so  many  upturned  herring-boats, 
ready,  on  any  emergency,  to  take  to  the  water. 

"A  party  of  the  Esquimos,  attached  to  the  settlement,  had  come  in  with  the 
produce  of  some  hunting  excursion  in  which  they  had  been  engaged;  and  I 


232  LIFE  AMONG  THE  ESKIMOS 

was  much  struck  with  their  intelHgence,  and  their  well-clad,  comfortable,  and 
healthy  appearance.  This,  I  learned,  was  in  a  great  measure  due  to  the  benevo- 
lent interest  of  the  Danish  government  in  their  behalf.  There  is  not  a  station, 
I  was  given  to  understand,  along  the  whole  coast  of  Greenland,  which  has  not 
its  missionary  and  its  schoolmaster  for  the  instruction  of  the  natives;  and, 
judging  from  what  we  saw  and  learned  at  Upernavik,  the  Danish  exchequer 
is  not  without  material  and  substantial  proofs  of  the  gratitude  of  the  poor 
'Innuit.'  Thus  instructed,  cared  for,  and  their  energies  disciplined  and 
directed,  the  Esquimos  of  Greenland  give  employment  to  six  ships  annually,  in 
carrying  the  produce  of  their  hunts  and  fisheries  to  Denmark." 

Eskimos  are,  of  course,  among  the  most  skilful  big-game  hunters  of  the 
world. 

They  are  especially  Vi^ary  in  stalking  the  walrus.  An  Eskimo  hunter  will 
approach  as  near  as  possible  on  a  sledge  and  then  leave  vehicle  and  dogs 
behind  and  continue  on  foot. 

Describing  what  follows,  Astrup  (one  of  Peary's  men)  writes:  "Soon  there 
seems  to  be  a  singing  and  cracking  in  the  ice ;  then  there  is  a  break  into  many 
pieces,  and  up  through  the  opening  thus  formed  a  bearded  walrus  quietly  and 
majestically  lifts  its  large  head  and  grinning  face.  You  hear  its  deep  breath- 
ing, which  in  the  twilight  of  the  forenoon  seems  to  resemble  a  slow  snoring, 
and  you  see  its  breath  like  a  cloud  of  vapor,  which  in  the  very  low  temperature 
that  prevails  looks  as  white  and  shining  as  the  steam  from  an  engine.  A 
moment  afterward  the  animal  slowly  disappears  in  the  deep.  It  is  usually 
while  the  walrus  is  engaged  in  breaking  the  thin  ice  in  order  to  form  a  breath- 
ing-hole that  the  Esquimo  rushes  to  the  attack,  though  sometimes,  in  spite  of 
the  cold,  one  is  found  that  has  crept  upon  the  ice  where  it  is  strong  enough  to 
bear  the  weight." 

Capt.  Hall  once  harpooned  a  seal  according  to  the  Eskimo  method.  He  was 
watched  by  a  number  of  Innuits  (natives)  as  he  took  his  seat  by  a  seal-hole, 
which  is  an  excavation  under  the  ice  where  the  animal  dwells  below  the  frozen 
surface.  Hall  at  length  heard  breathing  and  scratching  at  the  spot.  He  jabbed 
his  harpoon  down  and  in  a  moment  the  line  was  jerked  from  his  hand,  but, 
"quick  as  a  flash,"  he  says,  'T  seized  it  again,  or  I  would  have  lost  my  prize,  as 
well  as  the  harpoon  and  line.  The  sealers  far  and  near  saw  that  I  was  fast 
to  a  seal,  and  although  I  called  to  Nii-ker-zhoo,  Iziete!  kietel' — come  here! 
come  here ! — there  was  no  necessity  for  it,  for  before  I  uttered  a  word  he  and 
all  the  others  were  making  their  way  to  me.    Had  I  caught  a  whale  there  could 


LIFE  AMONG  THE  ESKIMOS  233 

not  have  been  more  surprised  and  happy  souls  than  were  these  Innuits  on  find- 
ing I  was  really  fast  to  a  seal.  Laughter,  hilarity,  joyous  ringing  voices' 
abounded.  Almost  the  last  Innuit  who  arrived  to  congratulate  me  was  my 
good  friend  Ou-e-la,  accompanied  by  his  dog,  dragging  a  seal  which  he  had  just 
captured.  Last  of  all  came  the  young  ladies,  Tuk-too  and  Now-yer,  with  dogs 
and  sledge,  and  a  seal  which  Ar-mou  had  taken  a  little  while  before.  All  this 
time  nobody  had  seen  my  seal,  for  it  was  flipping  away  down  in  salt  water 
beneath  the  snow  and  ice,  still  fast  to  one  end  of  my  line  while  I  held  on  to  the 
other.  Nu-ker-zhoo,  with  his  pelong  (long  knife),  then  cut  away  the  snow, 
two  feet  in  depth,  covering  the  seal-hole,  and  removing  still  more  with  my 
spear,  he  chiseled  away  the  ice-lining  just  above  the  hole.  Soon  the  seal  came 
up  to  breathe,  and  then  the  death-blow  was  given  to  it  by  a  thrust  of  the 
spindle  of  the  spear  directly  into  the  thin  skull.  The  prize  was  drawn  forth — 
a  larger  seal  than  either  Ou-e-la's  or  Ar-mou's.  Again  the  air  resounded  with 
shouts  and  joyous  laughter.  It  was  the  first  case  among  them  of  a  white  man's 
success  in  harpooning." 

Despite  their  skill  in  the  hunt,  the  Esquimos  often  suffer  from  hunger. 
Capt.  Tyson,  who  was  with  Capt.  Hall  on  the  Polaris,  told  of  a  visit  to  the 
hut  of  an  Esquimo  known  as  Hans,  to  see  a  sick  boy.    He  says : 

"The  miserable  group  of  children  made  me  sad  at  heart.  The  mother  was 
trying  to  pick  a  few  scraps  of  'tried-out'  blubber  out  of  their  lamp,  to  give  to  the 
crying  children.  Augustina  is  almost  as  large  as  her  mother,  and  is  twelve 
or  thirteen  years  old.  She  is  naturally  a  fat,  heavy-built  girl,  but  she  looks 
peaked  enough  now.  Tobias  is  in  her  lap,  or  partly  so,  his  head  resting  on  her 
as  she  sits  on  the  ground,  with  a  skin  drawn  over  her.  She  seemed  to  have  a 
little  scrap  of  something  she  was  chewing  on,  though  I  could  not  see  that  she 
swallowed  anything.  The  little  girl,  Succi,  about  four  years  old,  was  crying — 
a  kind  of  chronic  hunger  whine — and  I  could  just  see  the  baby's  head  in  the 
mother's  hood,  or  capote.  The  babies  have  no  clothing  whatever,  and  are 
carried  about  in  this  hood,  which  hangs  down  the  mother's  back,  like  young 
kangaroos  in  the  maternal  pouch,  only  on  the  reversed  side  of  the  body.  All 
I  could  do  was  to  encourage  them  a  little.  I  had  nothing  that  I  could  give 
them  to  make  them  any  more  comfortable.  I  was  glad,  at  least,  to  see  that 
they  had  some  oil  left." 

This  same  Capt.  Tyson  Interestingly  describes  the  capture  of  a  whale : 

Captain  Tyson,  who  was  with  Captain  Hall  in  the  Polaris  expedition,  thus 
describes  the  killing  of  a  whale,  in  which  he  participated : 


234  LIFE  AMONG  THE  ESKIMOS 

"I  once  had,  when  I  was  boat-steerer,  quite  an  adventure  with  a  whale 
which  was  determined  not  to  die.  It  was  a  large  and  valuable  balleener.  Soon 
after  the  boat  was  lowered  we  got  alongside.  As  I  rose  to  heave  the  harpoon 
it  seemed,  almost  in  an  instant,  that  the  whale  had  plunged  down  to  the  bottom 
of  the  bay;  as  the  rope  uncoiled  and  went  over  the  gunwale  it  fairly  smoked 
with  the  intense  rapidity  of  the  friction,  and  I  had  to  order  it  'doused'  to  pre- 
vent its  taking  fire.  It  came,  too,  within  a  hair-breadth  of  capsizing  us.  For- 
tunately, the  line  was  over  seventy  fathoms  long,  and  of  the  strongest  kind. 
After  she  plunged  we  followed  on,  it  taking  all  our  strength  to  bring  the  boat 
near  enough  to  keep  the  line  slack.  She  stayed  under  water  the  first  time  so 
long  that  we  thought  she  was  dead  and  sunk.  It  was  nearly  an  hour  before 
she  rose :  and  when  she  did,  the  jerk  almost  snapped  our  strong  line,  already 
weakened  by  the  friction  and  unusual  tension. 

"As  soon  as  she  appeared  she  began  to  beat  the  water  with  her  flukes,  and 
swirled  around  so  that  it  appeared  impossible  to  get  a  lance  into  her,  and,  while 
I  was  endeavoring  to  do  this,  our  line  parted,  and  away  she  went,  carrying 
the  harpoon  with  her.  We  followed  wnth  all  the  speed  we  could  force,  and  at 
last,  after  several  hours'  hard  pull,  came  up  with  her.  She  seemed  to  know  we 
were  following,  and  several  times  disappeared,  and  then  would  come  up  to 
blow,  perhaps  half  a  mile  off;  but  we  were  bound  to  have  her.  On  and  on  she 
went,  on  and  on  we  followed.  The  moon  was  shining,  and  the  Arctic  summer 
night  was  almost  as  light  as  day,  and  deep  into  the  night  we  followed  her. 
Down  she  went,  for  the  sixth  or  seventh  time,  but  fatigue  was  getting  the 
better  of  her.  She  was  weakening,  while  with  all  the  fatigue  our  spirits,  and 
strength,  too,  were  kept  up  by  the  excitement.  At  last,  when  we  had  been 
nearly  twenty-four  hours  on  the  chase,  I  got  another  harpoon  in  her.  This 
seemed  to  madden"  her  afresh.  Another  plunge,  which  had  nearly  carried  us 
with  her ;  but  this  time  she  did  not  stay  down  more  than  ten  or  twelve  minutes. 
Up  she  came  once  more,  the  water  all  around  covered  with  blood,  and  we 
knew  she  was  done  for.  Three  or  four  lances  were  hurled  into  her  ponderous 
bulk,  and  at  last  our  exertions  were  rewarded  by  seeing  her  roll  over  on  her 
side.  She  was  dead.  We  bent  on  another  strong  line,  and  soon  towed  her  to 
a  floe.  But  we  found  ourselves  with  our  prize,  a  good  nine  miles  from  the  ship. 
We  could  not,  therefore,  save  the  blubber,  but  we  made  a  good  haul  of  balleen, 
with  which  we  loaded  our  boat  to  its  utmost  capacity,  and  then  dragged  her, 
with  her  heavy  cargo,  the  whole  distance  over  the  ice  to  the  ship,  which  is  what 
I  call  a  fair  day's  vv^ork." 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

SHACKELTON'S  "FARTHEST  SOUTH." 

And  now  the  South  Pole  is  all  there  is  left  to  discover.  It  scarcely  can 
be  doubted  that  in  a  few  years  the  flag  of  some  nation  will  be  planted  at 
the  Antarctic  axis  of  the  earth.  Already  one  man — an  Englishman — has 
come  within  lOO  miles  of  the  goal.  A  little  more  grit,  a  little  more  food, 
and  a  little  more  luck — it  will  be  reached. 

Lieut.  Ernest  H.  Shackleton  is  the  man  who  holds  the  Antarctic  record. 
He  achieved  it  at  the  outset  of  the  great  year  of  1909,  and  would  have 
attained  the  pole  itself  had  he  not  found  it  necessary  to  turn  back  to  save  his 
life  and  those  of  the  men  with  him. 

Shackleton  left  England  in  the  ship  Nimrod  in  July,  1907.  He  had  al- 
ready risked  his  life  in  the  South  Polar  regions  when  a  member  of  the  party 
of  Capt.  Scott,  and  he  had  acquired  a  valuable  amount  of  experience  in  fight- 
ing his  way  over  the  ice.  On  the  trip  of  1909  he  was  the  leader,  and  he  had 
the  enthusiastic  good  wishes  of  all  England,  with  the  king  and  queen  cheer- 
ing him  on.  When  departing  on  his  voyage  Shackelton  was  given  a  Union 
Jack — the  British  naval  banner — and  this  flag,  that  has  kindled  the  hearts  of 
Britons  for  hundreds  of  years,  he  was  to  plant  at  the  pole,  or  the  nearest  point 
thereto  attainable.     On  presenting  the  flag  the  king  said : 

"May  this  Union  Jack,  which  I  entrust  to  your  keeping,  lead  you  safely 
to  the  South  Pole." 

Though  Shackelton  did  not  reach  the  southern  axis  of  the  globe,  he  did 
these  things : 

Reached  latitude  88:23  south;  longtitude  162.  Traveled  1,708  statute 
miles  within  the  Arctic  circle. 

Went  340  miles  farther  south  than  his  predecessor  and  preceptor,  Capt. 
Scott. 

Found  the  South  Magnetic  Pole,  declared  to  be  of  more  value  to  science 
than  the  geographical  pole. 

Discovered  100  new  mountain  peaks. 

235 


236  SHACKLETONS  "FARTHEST  SOUTH" 

Ascended  Mount  Erebus,  the  southernmost  volcano  of  the  world,  13,200 
feet  high,  this  feat  being  in  the  face  of  a  terrific  blizzard. 

The  expedition  on  leaving  New  Zealand  sailed  to  a  point  from  which 
sledge  journeys  would  be  favorable,  and  there  split  up  into  investigating 
parties,  one  of  which,  under  Shackelton,  went  south;  and  the  other,  with 
Prof.  Edworth  Davis  at  its  head,  went  northward.  It  was  Shackelton's  pur- 
pose to  dash  direct  to  the  pole.  For  this  attempt  he  had  as  an  aid  something 
new  in  the  field  of  polar  effort — automobile  sledges.  The  good  old  dogs  that 
had  tried  the  souls — and  saved  the  lives — of  so  many  travelers  in  the  ice 
realms,  were  discounted  by  gasoline.  For  what  the  sledges  could  not  do, 
the  explorers  had  ponies.     These  proved  of  chief  value  as  food. 

Lieut.  Shackleton  says  in  his  description  of  his  final  dash  toward  the 
South  Pole : 

"The  southern  party,  Adams,  Marshall,  Wild  and  I,  with  four  ponies  and 
a  supporting  party  consisting  of  Sir  Philip  Brocklehurst  and  Messrs.  Joyce, 
Marson,  Armytage  and  Priestly,  left  Cape  Royd  on  October  29,  1908.  We 
left  Hutpoint  November  3  with  ninety-one  days'  provisions.  We  were  held 
up  at  White  Island  from  November  5  for  four  days  by  a  blizzard.  The 
supporting  party  returned  November  7. 

"Owing  to  the  bad  light  among  the  ice  crevasses,  Adams'  pony  was  nearly 
lost.  We  reached  November  13  the  depot  laid  out  in  September  in  latitude 
79:36,  longitude  168  east.  We  took  on  the  pony  maize,  and  provisions  pre- 
viously left  there  and  commenced  reducing  our  daily  rations.  We  traveled 
south  along  meridian  168  over  a  varying  surface  of  high  ridges  and  mounds 
of  snow  alternating  with  soft  snow.  The  ponies  often  sank  to  their  bellies. 
In  latitude  81  we  shot  the  pony.  Chinaman,  and  made  a  depot  for  oil,  biscuit. 
and  pony  meat.  The  remainder  of  the  pony  meat  we  took  on  to  eke  out 
our  dried  rations. 

"On  November  26  we  reached  the  Discovery  expedition's  southernmost 
latitude.  The  surface  now  was  extremely  soft  with  large  undulations.  Tlie 
ponies  were  attacked  with  snow  blindness.  On  November  28  the  pony,  Christ 
was  shot.  We  made  a  depot  in  latitude  82:45,  longitude  170.  Pony  Quan 
was  shot  on  Novembe*  30. 

"Steering  south  southeast,  we  now  were  approaching  a  high  range  of  new 
mountains  trending  to  the  southeast.  We  found  on  December  2  a  barrier 
that,  influenced  by  great  pressure  and  ridges  of  snow  and  ice,  had  turned 
into  land.  We  discovered  a  glacier  120  miles  long  and  approximately  forty 
miles  wide,  running  in  a  south  southwesterly  direction. 


SHA CKLE TONS  "FARTHEST  SO UTH"  237 

"We  started  on  December  5  to  ascend,  the  glacier  at  latitude  of  83  :33, 
longitude  172.  The  glacier  was  badly  crevassed  as  a  result  of  the  huge  pres- 
sure. The  surface  on  December  6  was  so  crevassed  that  it  took  a  whole  day 
to  fight  our  way  600  yards. 

"On  December  7  the  pony,  Socks,  breaking  through  a  snow  Hd,  disap- 
peared in  a  crevasse  of  unknown  depth.  The  singletree  snapping  we  saved 
Wild  and  the  sledge,  which  was  badly  damaged.  The  party  was  now  hauling 
a  weight  of  250  pounds  per  man. 

"The  clouds  disappearing  on  December  8  we  discovered  new  mountain 
ranges  trending  south  southwest.  Moving  up  the  glacier  over  the  treacherous 
snow  covering  the  crevasses,  we  frequently  fell  through  but  were  saved  by  our 
harness  and  were  pulled  out  with  an  Alpine  rope.  A  second  sledge  was  badly 
damaged  by  the  knife-edge  crevasses. 

"Similar  conditions  obtained  on  our  way  up  the  glacier  from  December 
j8,  when  we  reached  an  altitude  of  6,800  feet.  In  latitude  85:10  we  made 
a  depot  and  left  everything  there  but  our  food,  instruments,  and  camp  equip- 
ment, and  reduced  our  rations  to  twenty  ounces  per  man  daily. 

"We  reached  on  December  26  a  plateau  after  crossing  ice  falls  at  an  altitude 
of  9,000  feet,  thence  rising  gradually  in  long  ridges  to  10,500  feet.  Finishing 
the  relay  work,  we  discarded  our  second  sledge.  There  was  a  constant 
southerly  blizzard,  the  wind  drifting  the  snow,  with  a  temperature  ranging 
from  37  to  70  degrees  of  frost.  We  lost  sight  of  the  new  mountains  December 
27.  Finding  the  party  weakening  from  the  effects  of  a  shortage  of  food  and 
the  rarified  air  and  cold,  I  decided  to  risk  making  a  depot  on  a  plateau. 

"We  proceeded  on  January  4  with  one  tent,  utilizing  the  poles  of  the 
second  tent  for  guiding  marks  for  our  return.  The  surface  became  soft  and 
the  blizzard  continued.  For  sixty  hours  during  January  7,  8,  and  9  a  blizzard 
raged  with  72  degrees  of  frost  and  the  wind  blowing  seventy  miles  an  hour. 
It  was  impossible  to  move.  Members  of  the  party  were  frequently  frost- 
bitten in  their  sleeping  bags." 

And  then  follows  this  laconic  description  of  the  discovery  of  "farthest 
south" : 

"We  left  camp  on  January  9  and  reached  latitude  88:23  longitude  16:32. 
This  is  the  most  southerly  point  ever  reached.  Here  we  hoisted  the  Union 
Jack  presented  to  us  by  the  queen.  No  mountains  were  visible.  We  saw  a 
plain  stretching  to  the  south." 

Continuing  the  story  Shackleton  says : 


238  SHACKLETONS  "FARTHEST  SOUTH" 

"We  returned  to  pick  up  our  depot  on  the  plateau,  guided  by  our  outward 
tracks,  for  the  flags  attached  to  the  tent  poles  had  been  blown  away.  The 
less  violent  blizzards  blowing  on  our  backs  helped  us  to  travel  from  twenty 
to  twenty-nine  miles  daily.     We  reached  the  upper  glacier  depot  January  19. 

"The  snow  had  been  blown  from  the  glacier  surface,  leaving  a  slippery 
blue  ice.  The  descent  was  slow  work  in  the  heavy  gale.  The  sledge  was 
lowered  by  stages  by  an  Alpine  rope.  On  the  morning  of  January  26  our 
food  was  finished.  It  was  slow  going.  Sixteen  miles  were  covered  in  twenty- 
two  hours'  march.  The  snow  was  two  feet  deep,  concealing  the  crevasses. 
We  reached  the  lower  glacier  depot  in  latitude  83  145  on  the  afternoon  of 
January  27,  There  we  obtained  food,  and  proceeding,  reached  the  Grisi 
depot,  named  after  a  dead  pony,  on  February  2.    There  was  no  food  remaining. 

"The  entire  party  were  prostrated  on  February  4  and  were  unable  to  move. 
This  lasted  eight  days,  but  helped  by  strong  southerly  blizzards  we  reached 
the  Chinaman  depot  on  February  13.    The  food  had  again  run  out." 

By  this  time  the  situation  so  calmly  recounted  by  Shackleton  was  some- 
what alarming.  Many  men  in  a  similar  pinch  would  have  considered  it  des- 
perate. But  these  Britons,  true  to  the  tradition  of  their  predecessors  in  brav- 
ing polar  hardships,  pushed  on. 

"The  blizzards  continued,  with  fifty  degrees  of  frost.  We  discarded  every- 
thing except  our  camp  outfit  and  geological  specimens,  and  on  February  20 
reached  the  next  depot,  all  our  food  being  finished.  Helped  by  a  southerly 
blizzard  which  was  accompanied  by  sixty-seven  degrees  of  frost,  we  reached 
on  February  23,  the  depot  at  Minna  Bluff,  which  had  been  laid  by  the  Joyce 
party  in  January. 

"Here  we  received  news  from  our  ship.  Marshall  had  a  relapse  and  re- 
turn of  illness.  We  made  a  forced  march  of  twenty-four  miles  February  26. 
Marshall  was  suffering  greatly.  On  February  27  Marshall  was  unable  to 
march.  I  left  him  in  charge  of  Adams  while  Wild  and  I  made  a  forced  march 
to  the  ship  for  relief..  I  returned  March  i  with  a  relief  party  and  reached  the 
ship  at  Hut  Point  March  4  in  a  blizzard. 

"The  total  distance  of  the  journey,  including  relays,  was  172  statute  miles. 
The  time  occupied  was  126  d^ys.  The  main  result  was  a  geological  collection. 
We  also  made  a  complete  meteorological  record.  We  discovered  eight  moun- 
tain ranges  and  over  100  mountains.  The  geographical  South  Pole  doutbless 
is  situated  on  a  plateau  from  10,000  to  11,000  feet  above  sea  level.  Violent 
blizzards  in  latitude  88  show  that  if  a  'polar  calm'  exists  it  must  be  in  a  small 
area  or  not  coincident  with  the  geographical  pole." 


SHACKLETONS  "FARTHEST  SOUTH"  239 

Prof.  Davis,  of  the  northern  party,  started  from  Cape  Royd  October  5, 
1908,  and  with  two  sledges  discovered  the  South  Magnetic  Pole  in  latitude 
72:25.  He  and  his  companions  had  experiences  akin  to  Shackleton,  though 
without  the  severe  hardships. 

Another  feature  of  the  expedition  was  a  viewing  of  the  south  aurora 
borealis,  or  aurora  australis,  as  it  is  sometimes  called.  This  is  described  as 
brilliant  throughout  the  winter,  appearing  most  frequently  in  the  eastern 
sky  and  seldom  in  the  direction  of  the  magnetic  pole.  The  most  striking  form 
of  the  aurora  was  that  of  a  parallel  with  draped  curtains  extending  across 
the  heavens,  sometimes  stationary  and  sometimes  moving  rapidly  across  the 
remarkable  speed. 

Shackleton's  exploits  filled  England  with  pride,  and  were  heralded,  until 
two  Americans  found  the  North  Pole,  as  among  the  greatest  achievements  of 
polar  travel.  When  Shackleton  cabled  to  his  ruler  the  results  of  his  journey 
the  king  cabled  back  as  follows : 

"I  congratulate  you  and  your  comrades  most  warmly  on  the  splendid  result 
accomplished  by  your  expedition,  and  in  having  hoisted  the  Union  Jack  pre- 
sented by  the  queen  within  ill  miles  of  the  South  Pole,  and  the  Union  Jack 
on  the  South  Magnetic  Pole. 

"I  gladly  assent  to  the  new  range  of  mountains  in  the  far  south  bearing 
the  name  of  Queen  Alexandra." 

Edward  R.  I. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  SOUTH  POLE  WILL  BE  FOUND. 

When  Shackleton  reached  latitude  88  south,  he  had  traveled  far  beyond 
the  best  record  of  Capt.  Scott,  his  mentor,  in  1892,  and  had  gone  18  degrees 
farther  than  the  best  previous  mark.  This  was  made  by  C.  E.  Borchgrevink, 
a  Dane,  in  March,  1900.  Borchgrevink's  exact  record  was  latitude  70  de- 
grees 50  minutes.  Before  him  came  a  German  and  a  Scotch  expedition — 
these  in  addition  to  the  Belgian  party  with  which  Dr.  Cook  got  his  training. 
The  German  party  under  Capt.  Ruser  made  a  trip  in  1901  which  was  without 
sensational  incident.  The  Scotch  expedition,  headed  by  Capt.  Bruce  sailed  in 
the  ship  Scotia  in  1903.  Neither  of  these  parties  established  a  notable  record. 
Of  the  various  trips,  however,  the  combined  results  were  such  as  to  prove  the 
utterly  desolate  character  of  the  Antarctic,  and  threw  much  added  light  on 
the  basic  discoveries  made  by  Capt.  Cook,  an  i8th  century  hero  and  navigator 
whose  book  "Capt.  Cook's  Voyages,"  is  one  of  the  celebrated  books  of  the 
world.  Cook,  in  1773-5,  ^''st  circumnavigated  the  southern  continents  and  was 
really  the  discoverer  of  the  Antarctic  region,  which  even  in  modern  times  had 
been  supposed  by  many  excellent  folk  to  be  non-existent,  except  as  an  un- 
broken sea. 

It  is  now  known  that  the  Antarctic,  though  mainly  composed  of  vast  stretches 
of  ocean,  does  include  some  comparatively  small  areas  of  land.  These,  how- 
ever, are  so  ice-covered  and  bleak  as  scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from  the 
frozen  seas.  There  is  no  vegetation,  and  for  the  most  part,  no  animal  life 
whatever.  Explorers  cannot,  as  Nansen,  Cook  and  others  did  in  the  Arctic, 
shoot  quantities  of  life-saving  game  when  near  the  South  Pole. 

There  have  been  three  recognized  routes  of  exploration  to  the  lands  lying 
south  of  the  Antarctic  circle, — Patagonia,  Kerguenlen  Island,  and  Tasmania. 

The  first  American  Antarctic  traveler  was  a  whaler  named  Nathaniel  B. 
Palmer.  He  made  his  attempt  in  1821  and  discovered  what  is  known  as  the 
Palmer  Archipelago,  lying  north  of  what  is  supposed  to  be  the  Antarctic  con- 

240 


THE  SOUTH  POLE  WILL  BE  FOUND  241 

tinent.  In  the  above  three  named  routes  the  most  important  discoveries  have 
been  made  by  way  of  Tasmania. 

In  recent  years  a  new  line  of  travel  has  been  used.  Lieut.  Shackleton's 
was  the  most  recent.     He  sailed  from  New  Zealand  for  the  southern  regions. 

Prof.  T.  W.  E.  David  who  made  a  trip  to  the  southern  magnetic  pole 
asserts  that  in  company  with  two  other  explorers  he  found  the  Magnetic 
Pole  after  a  journey  of  1,260  miles  which  lasted  four  months.  Prof.  David 
describes  the  Magnetic  Pole  as  a  circular  area  about  thirty  miles  in  diameter, 
within  which  the  pole  is  situated  from  time  to  time  during  dijfferent  days  and 
at  different  hours  of  the  day  the  pole  constantly  moving  around. 

Prof.  David  said  that  when  his  party  got  to  the  Antarctic  Magnetic  Pole 
the  needle  of  the  ordinary  compass  refused  to  work,  but  their  position  was 
more  accurately  told  by  an  instrument  which  contained  a  number  of  magnetic 
needles,  which  tilted  up  vertically  the  nearer  they  got  to  the  Magnetic  Pole 
till  at  the  Magnetic  Pole  itself  they  were  upright.  The  compass  would  act 
in  a  similar  manner  in  the  Arctic  magnetic  circle.  ^ 

That  the  South  Pole  will  be  discovered,  and  speedily,  was  asserted  in 
an  earlier  chapter.  Activity  in  this  line  was  immensely  stimulated  by  the 
discoveries  of  Cook  and  Peary.  Explorers  who  had  hoped  to  be  the  first  to 
plant  the  flag  of  their  nation  at  the  northernmost  point  began  to  yearn  for 
the  glory  of  finding  the  southernmost.  No  sooner  had  the  success  of  the 
North-pole-finders  become  known  than  preparations  were  begun  by  several 
travelers  to  go  to  the  Antarctic.  For  a  time  it  was  believed  both  Cook  and 
Peary  would  try  for  the  South  Pole,  but  later  Peary  announced  he  was 
through  with  polar  travel.  Cook  did  not  give  out  his  intentions  immediately. 
In  the  meantime  announcement  was  made  that  Capt.  Scott,  the  Englishman, 
had  received  the  backing  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  for  a  South  Pole 
trip  in  which  he  expected  to  use  motor  sledges  and  all  the  other  most  modern 
means  of  polar  travel.  He  expected  to  establish  two  bases,  one  in  McMurdo 
Sound  and  the  other  in  King  Edward  Land. 

The  Antarctic  has  not  furnished  the  same  black  record  of  death,  starva- 
tion and  misery  that  has  attended  the  search  for  the  farthest  north.  This, 
perhaps,  is  because  there  has  not  existed  the  same  fever  of  desire  to  reach  the 
South  Pole.  But  the  day  of  discovery  is  coming.  They  will  push  forward, 
these  intrepid  voyagers,  into  the  great  white  waste  of  the  Antarctic,  until  the 
last  discoverable  land  is  charted,  the  last  mountains  climbed,  and  all  that  is 
knowable  about  the  South  Pole,  as  well  as  the  North,  will  be  known.     And 


242  THE  SOUTH  POLE  WILL  BE  FOUND 

they  will  find — a  waste,  and  nothing  more.  The  Antarctic  cannot  be  populated, 
unless  with  increasing  knowledge  mankind  can  devise  some  now  undreamed-of 
method  of  making  life  possible  in  the  lands  of  perpetual  ice. 

There  is  at  the  South  Pole  no  race  of  Eskimos  who  have  learned  by  years 
of  slow  and  dearly-bought  experiences  how  to  exist  in  the  face  of  nature's 
sternest  obstacles.  And  yet  it  is  conceivable  that,  in  the  far-distant  future,  as 
civilization  expands,  and  the  wildernesses  are  inhabited,  bands  of  pioneers  will 
penetrate  the  Antarctic  and  force  their  livelihood  from  its  rocks  and  its  frozen 
seas.  By  such  time,  it  may  be  believed,  the  Arctic  region  will  already  have 
been  seized  upon  by  men  of  the  skill  and  hardihood  needful  for  those  who  blaze 
the  way. 

Then  will  the  names  of  Franklin,  Greely  and  Nansen,  of  Peary  and 
Cook,  of  Scott  and  Shackleton,  have  a  luster  far  different  from  that  which 
shines  about  the  heads  of  men  who  achieve  great  but  empty  feats.  To  men 
like  those  will  accrue  the  glory  of  heroes  who  extended  the  boundaries  of  the 
earth  and  discovered  a  foundation-place  for  the  homes  of  the  world's  future 
millions. 

Admiral  Schley,  the  man  who  rescued  Greely,  has  discussed  most  force- 
fully the  question :  "Does  Arctic  exploration  pay  ?"    Says  he : 

"There  are  two  sides  to  this  Arctic  problem.  There  is  a  material  side  and 
there  is  a  scientific  side.  ...  It  has  been  asked,  What  is  the  use  of  all 
this  loss  of  life  ?  What  is  the  use  of  all  these  expeditions  ?  It  may  be  said 
from  the  material  side  that  millions  of  square  miles  of  discovered  territory 
have  been  added  to  our  geography;  that  the  gospel  of  Christ  has  been  sent 
into  this  north  land ;  that  the  domain  of  civilization  has  been  extended ;  that 
the  empire  of  commerce  has  been  made  to  penetrate  into  this  polar  ocean, 
which  has  resulted  in  adding  millions  of  money  to  our  material  possession 
and  circulation.  That  being  the  case,  it  does  seem  to  me  that  there  is  some 
compensation,  certainly,  for  the  small  loss  of  life  which  has  attended  these 
expeditions." 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

COOK  IN  THE  ANTARCTIC. 

For  what  he  had  of  the  lore  of  travel  on  ice-bound  oceans,  Dr.  Cook  owed 
much  to  his  journey  to  the  antarctic  region  in  1897. 

On  that  expedition  he  figured,  as  the  medical  man  of  a  party  of  Belgian 
scientists,  who  sought  to  traverse  and  chart  some  of  the  dim,  unknown  lands  on 
the  "bottom  of  the  world."  As  every  reader  knows,  a  venture  into  the  far 
south  is  as  perilous  as  a  journey  in  the  arctic.  Indeed,  the  dangers  are  in  some 
respect  greater.  The  paths  where  a  few  men  have  trod  are  not  so  well  known 
down  there,  and  the  cold  is  equally  severe.  Then,  too,  the  south  polar  seas 
are  much  farther  from  any  of  the  great  centers  of  civilization.  Countries  of 
South  America,  themselves  homes  of  comparative  savagery,  lie  nearest  to  the 
"frozen  south,"  instead  of  great  seaports,  with  endless  quantities  of  supplies. 
Woe  betide  the  explorer  who,  tempest-tossed  and  with  his  soul  amost  frozen 
within  him,  seeks  shelter  on  the  bleak  coast  of  extreme  South  America. 

Into  this  vast  and  terrifying  region,  however,  Dr.  Cook  was  chosen  to  go. 
With  a  large  party  of  scientists  and  adventurers  he  left  Antwerp  in  August, 

1897.  By  January  23  of  the  following  year  the  vessel  had  reached  the  Palmer 
archipelago,  nearly  at  the  limit  of  where  men  had  penetrated.  The  party  was 
seeking  knowledge  rather  than  attempting  a  pole-finding  feat,  and  they  gave 
much  time  to  the  exploration  of  five  hundred  miles  of  new  land  in  the  South 
Pacific.  In  the  meantime  winter  came  upon  them,  and  though  during  many 
of  the  coldest  months  they  succeeded  in  keeping  clear  of  the  drift,  by  March 
4,  1898,  they  were  fast  in  the  ice  in  latitude  71  degrees,  22  minutes,  and  long- 
itude 84  degrees,  55  minutes.  This  meant  that  they  were  to  the  southwest 
of  South  America,  and  about  midway  between  that  continent  and  the  pole. 

Dr.  Cook  has  thrillingly  described  their  succeeding  experiences.  They 
drifted  two  thousand  miles  in  a  year.    Says  Dr.  Cook : 

"Our  acquaintance  with  the  south  polar  pack  ice  dates  from  February  13, 

1898,  and  ends  with  our  escape  on  March  14,  1899.  We  first  encountered 
it  off  the  eastern  border  of  Graham  Land,  before  crossing  the  polar  circle.  Here 

243 


244  COOK  IN  THE  ANTARCTIC 

it  was  broken  into  small  pieces,  mixed  with  many  glacial  fragments  and  studded 
by  innumerable  icebergs.  While  trying  to  keep  the  coast  in  view,  we  steamed 
among  a  number  of  streams  of  small  fragments  of  drift  ice.  An  on-shore 
swell  forced  the  ice  together,  and  we  were  hopelessly  held  for  the  night  of  the 
13th.  To  the  east  of  us  were  the  high  peaks  and  limitless  glaciers  of  Graham 
Land.  The  country  was  visible  for  only  short  periods  and  in  patches,  for  a 
high  fog  hung  constantly  over  the  land,  leaving  only  an  opening  here  and  there. 

"To  the  west  the  sky  was  perfectly  clear.  A  dark  smoky  zone  near  the 
horizon  indicated  the  limits  of  the  ice  and  an  open  sea  beyond.  Those  wer.e 
of  a  size  and  type  quite  similar  to  those  of  the  Arctic  Sea.  The  entire  mass — 
icebergs,  sea-ice,  and  the  ship — rose  and  fell  with  the  gigantic  heave  of  the  South 
Pacific,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  as  though  we  should  be  carried  with  the  mov- 
ing drift  against  one  of  a  number  of  small  islands.  But  a  change  in  the  di-rec- 
tion  of  the  wind  on  the  following  morning  so  separated  the  ice  that  we  were 
able  to  force  our  way  into  the  open  sea  westward. 

"After  the  first  experience  of  the  ensnaring  powers  of  the  drift  ice,  we 
did  not  easily  put  ourselves  in  a  position  to  be  again  entangled.  The  season 
for  a  campaign  to  the  far  south  was  past,  but  M.  de  Gerlache,  (one  of  the  lead- 
ers of  the  expedition)  thought  it  incumbent  upon  himself  to  make  as  strong  an 
effort  as  possible  to  push  into  the  main  body  of  the  pack  and  beat  the  "farthest 
south"  of  other  explorers.  The  entire  scientific  staff  were  opposed  to  this  effort, 
because  it  was  thought  to  be  too  late  in  the  season.  No  direct  opposition,  how- 
ever, was  offered  wdien  the  'Belgica'  was  headed  southward.  She  was  forced 
into  the  pack  and  out  again,  time  after  time,  making  after  each  rebuff  a  new  ef- 
fort farther  westward.  On  February  28th,  we  were  forced  to  take  to  the  ice 
that  the  ship  might  better  ride  out  a  howling  storm. 

"I  can  imagine  nothing  more  desperate  than  a  storm  on  the  edge  of  the 
pack.  At  best  it  is  a  cold,  dull  and  gloomy  region,  with  a  high  humidity  and 
constant  drizzly  fogs.  Clear  weather  here  is  a  rare  exception.  Storm  with 
rain,  sleet  and  snow  is  the  normal  weather  condition  throughout  the  entire 
year. 

"During  the  day  of  the  28th,  we  were  unable  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  sun, 
and  were  in  consequence  in  doubt  as  to  our  actual  position.  There  was  some- 
thing about  the  sea  and  sky  which  promised  a  night  of  unusual  terrors.  The 
wind  came  in  a  steady  torrent  from  the  east,  and  with  it  came  alternate  squalls 
of  rain  and  sleet  and  snow.  Hour  after  hour  it  blew  harder,  and  before  night 
it  brought  with  it  a  heavy  sea  studded  with  moving  mountains  of  blackness. 


COOK  IN  THE  ANTARCTIC  245 

The  'Belgica'  ran  westerly  before  it,  almost  under  bare  poles  and  edged 
closer  and  closer  toward  the  fragments  of  ice  to  the  south,  where  the  sea  was 
easier. 

"The  sky  to  the  north  and  east  was  smoky  and  wavy,  as  if  a  number  of  huge 
fires  were  there  sending  out  gusts  of  smoke.  On  the  southern  sky  there  was  a 
bright  pearly  zone.  This  was  an  ice  'blink,'  a  reflection  of  the  ice  beyond  our 
horizon  upon  the  particles  of  watery  vapor  suspended  in  the  air.  As  night 
came  upon  us  it  became  necessary  to  choose  between  the  forbidding  blackness 
of  the  north  and  the  more  cheerful,  but  less  hospitable  whiteness  of  the  south. 
With  icebergs  on  every  side,  always  in  our  course,  coming  as  suddenly  out  of 
the  thickening  darkness  as  if  dropped  from  the  skies,  it  was  not  wise  or  prudent 
either  to  move  out  of  it,  or  to  rest  in  our  position.  To  be  more  friendly  with 
the  ice,  or  to  rid  ourselves  entirely  of  its  companionship  was  plainly  our  duty. 

"We  decided  to  seek  the  harboring  influence  of  the  pack,  as  an  experiment ; 
to  ride  out  the  increasing  fury  of  the  tempest.  The  'Belgica'  was  headed  south- 
ward and  quickly  ploughed  through  the  icy  seas,  but  the  noise  and  commotion 
which  came  to  a  climax  every  time  she  rose  to  a  crest  of  a  great  swell  were 
terrible.  The  wind  beat  through  the  rigging  like  the  blasts  out  of  a  blow-pipe, 
the  quivering  mass  swept  the  sky  with  the  regularity  of  a  pendulum;  the 
entire  ship  was  covered  with  a  sheet  of  ice.  As  the  eye  dropped  over  the  side  of 
the  ship,  the  sea  glittered  with  the  brightness  of  a  winter's  sky.  The  brightness 
of  the  sea,  with  the  sooty  blackness  of  the  heavens  over  it,  formed  a  weird  con- 
trast never  to  be  forgotten.  Here  and  there  were  sparkling  semi-luminous 
pieces  of  ice  which  sprang  from  the  darkness  with  meteoric  swiftness,  and  were 
again  as  quickly  lost  in  the  gathering  blackness  behind  us.  These  fragments  in- 
creased in  number  and  size  as  we  pressed  poleward;  but  the  'Belgica'  would 
strike  and  push  them  aside  as  a  broom  moves  dust. 

"After  a  short  but  very  exciting  time,  the  pieces  of  ice  became  more  numer- 
ous and  of  larger  dimensions,  and  the  birds  were  so  closely  grouped  that  fur- 
ther progress  seemed  impossible.  The  sea  rolled  more  and  more,  in  long,  easy 
swells,  as  we  passed  through  the  ice.  This  eased  the  ship  and  made  mat- 
ters more  comforting  to  the  sufferers  from  seasickness. 

"I  must  hasten  to  confess  that  about  one  half  of  us  were  thus  afflicted  at 
this  time,  still  we  tried  to  be  cheerful.  I  cannot  imagine  any  scene  more  de- 
spairing, though,  than  the  'Belgica,'  as  she  pushed  into  the  pack  during  this 
black  night.  The  noise  was  maddening.  Every  swell  that  drove  against  the 
ship  brought  with  it  tons  of  ice  which  was  thrown  against  the  ribs  with  a  thun- 


24(i  COOK  IN  THE  ANTARCTIC 

tiering  crash.  The  wind  howled  as  it  rushed  past  us,  and  came  with  a  force 
that  made  us  grasp  the  rails  to  keep  from  being  thrown  into  the  churning  seas. 
The  good  old  ship  kept  up  a  constant  scream  of  complaints  as  she  struck  piece 
after  piece  of  the  masses  of  ice.  Occasionally  we  would  try  to  talk,  but  the 
deafening  noises  of  the  storm,  the  squeaking  strains  of  the  ship  and  the  thump- 
ing of  the  ice  made  every  effort  at  speech  inaudible.  With  our  stomachs  dis- 
satisfied, and  our  minds  raised  to  a  fever  height  of  excitement,  and  with  a 
prospect  of  striking  an  iceberg  at  any  moment  and  going  to  the  bottom  of 
the  sea,  we  were,  to  say  the  least,  uncomfortable.  When  we  had  entered 
sufficiently  into  the  body  of  the  pack,  and  were  snugly  surrounded  by  closely 
packed  ice  floes,  the  sea  subsided,  and  here  the  overworked  ship  rested  for 
night." 

And  this  is  what  the  Belgica  and  her  crew  endured  for  more  than  a  year ! 

To  further  illustrate  the  woes  of  travel  on  shipboard  in  polar  seas,  there 
may  be  given  here  an  experience  of  one  of  the  parties  in  the  last  century.  This 
was  the  crew  of  the  Investigator,  one  of  the  ships  that  went  north  in  an  en- 
deavor to  find  traces  of  Sir  John  Franklin's  expedition. 

Says  the  description  of  this  mishap: 

"It  was  a  very  narrow  escape  from  destruction.  A  light  breeze  springing 
up  the  day  after  open  water  appeared  among  the  floes,  the  pack  to  which  the 
Investigator  was  attached  began  to  drift.  It  was  carried  towards  a  shoal  upon 
which  a  huge  mass  of  ice  was  grounded.  A  corner  of  the  pack  came  in  con- 
tact with  the  great  stationary  mass  with  a  grinding  shock  that  sent  pieces  of 
twelve  and  fourteen  feet  square  flying  completely  out  of  the  water,  and  as  the 
immense  weight  of  the  moving  pack  pressed  forward,  there  was  a  sound  as  of 
distant  thunder  as  it  crushed  onwards.  The  weight  at  the  back  caused  an 
enormous  mass  to  upheave  in  the  middle  of  the  pack,  as  though  under  the  in- 
fluence of  a  volcanic  eruption.  The  great  field  was  rent  asunder,  the  block 
to  which  the  Investigator  was  attached  taking  the  ground  and  remaining  fixed, 
while  the  lighter  portion  swung  round  and,  with  accelerated  speed,  came 
directly  towards  the  vessel's  stern. 

"To  let  go  every  cable  and  hawser  which  held  her  to  the  block  was  the 
work  of  a  moment,  for  every  one  was  on  deck  keenly  on  the  lookout.  The 
moving  mass  caught  her  stern  and  forced  her  ahead  and  from  between  the 
moving  floe  and  the  stationary  mass.  The  two  came  into  grinding  collision, 
and  the  men  on  the  deck  of  the  vessel  saw  the  great  bulk  to  which  they  had  been 
attached  slowly  rise.     It  went  up  and  up  until  it  had  risen  thirty  feet  above 


COMMANDEB  PEARY  AND  HIS  MEN  CAUGHT  IN  A  SNOWSLIDE. 


COOK  IN  THE  ANTARCTIC  '  349 

the  surface  and  hung  perpendicularly  above  the  ship.  It  towered  higher  than 
the  foreyard,  presenting  a  spectacle  that  was  at  once  grandly  impressive  but 
terribly  dangerous,  for  if  it  fell  over  upon  the  Investigator  she  would  be  crushed 
to  atoms.  For  a  few  moments  the  suspense  was  awful,  till  the  weight  of  the 
floe  broke  away  a  mass  from  the  great  bulk,  and  it  rolled  back  with  a  tre- 
mendous roar  and  rending  and,  with  some  fearful  heaves,  resumed  its  former 
position.  But  no  longer  could  it  withstand  the  pressure,  and  it  was  hurried 
forward  with  the  rest  of  the  floe,  grinding  along  the  bottom  of  the  shoal. 

"The  pack  having  set  in  towards  the  shore,  the  only  hopes  of  safety  lay 
in  keeping  with  the  ice,  for  if  the  Investigator  was  pushed  ashore  by  it  there 
would  be  little  chance  of  her  ever  floating  again.  She  was  consequently  made 
fast  again  and  carried  along,  though  with  a  tremendous  strain  on  her  stern  and 
rudder.  It  was  discovered  that  the  latter  was  damaged,  but  there  was  no  pos- 
sibility of  unshipping  it  for  repairs  while  the  ice  was  moving.  Towards  the  af- 
ternoon the  wind  having  dropped,  the  drift  became  less,  and  for  five  hours  the 
rudder  received  attention. 

"Scarcely  had  it  been  replaced  when  once  more  the  ice  began  to  move,  and 
the  crew  saw  that  they  were  being  forced  directly  upon  a  large  piece  of  the 
broken  floe  which  had  grounded.  Feeling  certain  that  if  the  ship  were  caught 
between  the  grounded  mass  and  the  moving  floe  nothing  could  save  her  from 
being  crushed  to  pieces,  a  desperate  effort  was  made  to  remove  the  great  mass. 
The  chief  gunner,  provided  wath  a  big  canister  of  powder,  went  on  to  the 
ice  and  struggled  over  the  rugged  surface  until  he  reached  the  stationary 
mass.  He  intended  to  lower  the  canister  under  the  mass  before  exploding  it, 
but  the  ice  was  too  closely  packed  around  it  to  permit  of  this  being  done.  There 
was  no  time  to  consider  any  other  plan,  so  he  fixed  the  blast  in  a  cavity  and, 
firing  the  fuse,  scrambled  back  to  the  ship. 

"The  charge  exploded  just  as  the  pressure  of  the  floe  was  beginning  to 
tell,  and  the  result  was  apparently  valueless.  The  Investigator  by  this  time  was 
within  a  few  yards  of  the  great  mass,  and  there  seemed  to  be  no  hope  of  escap- 
ing from  the  crush.  Every  one  on  deck  was  in  a  state  of  anxious  suspense, 
waiting  for  what  was  evidently  the  crisis  of  their  fate. 

"Most  fortunately  the  ship  went  stem-on,  as  sailors  term  it,  and  the  pres- 
sure was  directed  along  her  whole  length  instead  of  along  her  sides.  Every 
plank  seemed  to  feel  the  shock,  and  the  beams  groaned  as  the  pressure  in- 
creased. The  masts  trembled,  and  crackling  sounds  came  from  the  bulwarks 
as  she  strained  under  the  tension.     Momentarily  the  men  expected  that  she 


250 


COOK  IN  THE  ANTARCTIC 


would  collapse  under  them,  when  the  result  of  the  gunner's  blast  was  made 
manifest.  It  had  cracked  the  mass  in  three  places,  and  the  pressure  of  the 
ship's  stem  forced  the  cracks  open.  The  liberation  from  the  obstacle  was  at 
once  evident  as  the  mass  slowly  divided  and,  falling  over,  floated  off  the  shoal. 
The  cable  holding  the  vessel  to  the  floe  parted  as  she  surged  forward  and  the 
ice-anchors  drew  out,  while  the  blocks  of  ice,  as  they  turned  over,  lifted  her 
bows  up  out  of  the  water  and  heeled  her  over ;  but  the  cheer  which  broke  from 
the  assembled  crew  drowned  all  other  noise,  for  it  was  as  though  they  had 
been  snatched  from  the  very  jaws  of  death." 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  NORTH  POLE  HARD  TO  PROVE. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

WHAT  SCIENTISTS  SAID  OF  THE  RIVALS. 

In  an  earlier  chapter  some  of  the  first  developments  of  the  Cook-Peary  con- 
troversy were  described.  On  the  return  of  the  rivals  to  America  the  war  broke 
out  with  renewed  vigor.  All  the  living  explorers  of  note  took  sides,  and  lengthy 
pronouncements  were  made  public.  Most  of  these  debaters  were  inclined  to 
apportion  the  glory  in  equal  parts. 

Of  special  weight  was  the  declaration  of  Capt.  Roald  Amundsen,  who  a 
few  years  before  had  sailed  through  the  northwest  passage.  Amundsen,  after 
quoting  Cook's  first  announcement  of  his  discovery,  said : 

"Thus  read  the  first  message  about  the  achievement  of  this  great  object,  told 
dryly  and  without  much  ado,  without  a  flourish  of  trumpets.  It  was  quite  like 
the  man  who  sent  it.  For  centuries  the  battle  had  been  going  on.  Wealth  and 
intellect  for  many  years  had  been  struggling  side  by  side,  inch  by  inch;  the 
mind  and  energy  of  man  had  forced  themselves  through  terrible  ice  deserts,  great 
and  well  equipped  expeditions  had  taken  up  the  struggle  of  solving  the  problem, 
immense  sums  of  money  had  been  expended  and  many  lives  sacrificed,  and  for 
a  long  time  it  seemed  as  if  nature  would  win  in  the  great  battle. 

"The  news  from  Lerwick,  Shetlands,  on  September  i,  came,  therefore,  as  a 
thunderbolt  down  on  the  civilized  world.  All  that  scores  of  men  and  well 
equipped  expeditions  had  been  unable  to  achieve  was  accomplished  by  a  single 
man.    The  North  Pole  had  been  reached. 

"A  shiver  went  through  the  whole  world.  Was  it  true  ?  Who  was  Cook  ? 
You  had  never  heard  anything  about  him  before,  and  I  think  it  was  right  that 
only  a  very  few  believed  the  news. 

"On  my  part,  on  the  other  hand,  who  knew  Cook  very  well,  the  news  didn't 
come  as  any  surprise.  The  man  was  entirely  adequate  to  the  task.  Fred  A. 
Cook  was  born  on  June  lo,  1864,  in  Callicoon,  Sullivan  County,  N.  Y.  His 
parents  came  from  Hamburg,  Germany,  to  America  about  1850,  where  his 
father  settled  down  as  a  surgeon.  In  189 1  Cook  became  himself  a  surgeon.  The 
same  year  he  went  on  Peary's  expedition  to  Greenland.  As  surgeon  in  this 
expedition  he  showed  brilliant  capacity  as  a  polar  explorer. 

251 


252  WHAT  SCIENTISTS  SAID 

"Later  on  I  had  opportunity  to  speak  with  the  young  Norwegian,  Eivind 
Astrup,  who  was  also  with  the  Peary  expedition  on  the  sledge  trip  through  the 
inland  ice  of  Greenland.  From  him  I  got  a  most  distinct  impression  that  the 
expedition  of  Peary  owed  its  good  results  to  Cook  in  a  very  high  degree. 

"This  was  Cook's  matriculation  in  polar  exploration.  Later  on  he  made 
other  trips  to  polar  regions,  but  it  was  not  until  six  years  later  that  I  got  to 
know  him  more  closely  and  concluded  a  friendship  which  should  last  for  life. 
This  was  in  the  Belgian  expedition  to  the  Antarctic  on  the  Belgica,  where  he 
was  surgeon,  anthropologist  and  photographer,  and  I  was  first  officer.  This  was 
from  1897  to  1899. 

"The  Belgian  Antarctic  expedition  had  as  its  purpose  to  seek  down  toward 
South  Victoria  Land  to  ascertain  more  closely  the  conditions  existing  around 
the  magnetic  South  Pole.  The  plan  was  that  a  party  of  four  men  should  be 
left  behind  there  while  the  ship  returned  to  Melbourne. 

"Cook  and  I  were  well  equipped  to  take  part  in  this  party,  which  was  to 
spend  the  Winter  there.  When  the  expedition  reached  Punta  Arenas,  in 
Magellan  Straits,  where  the  steamer  should  coal,  the  original  plan  was  aban- 
doned, and  the  intention  of  searching  the  regions  around  Graham's  Land,  just 
south  from  South  America,  was  decided  on.  Before  going  there  we  made  sev- 
eral researches  in  less  known  parts  of  Terra  del  Fuego,  and  much  good  work 
was  done  by  Dr.  Cook  among  the  natives  there.  He  took  an  endless  number  of 
photographs  during  the  whole  journey. 

"On  the  first  of  March,  1898,  we  made  our  w^ay  southward  on  flowing  ice 
and  we  were  stuck  so  fast  in  the  ice  that  we  were  prisoners  for  a  whole  year  on 
the  same  spot. 

"Here  it  was  that  I  learned  to  know  Cook  and  learned  to  appreciate  him  as 
one  of  the  ablest,  most  honest,  most  reliable  men  I  have  ever  met.  The  Belgica 
wasn't  prepared  for  Wintering  either  with  equipment  or  provisions. 

"During  the  Winter  scurvy  broke  out.  At  the  same  time  several  of  the 
party  showed  signs  of  mental  trouble.  In  such  circumstances  it  was  very  im- 
portant to  have  a  surgeon  who  was  equal  to  the  situation.  That  was  just  what 
we  had  in  Dr.  Cook.  Quietly  he  went  from  one  to  another,  cheering  them  and 
always  trying  to  keep  up  their  courage  when  it  showed  signs  of  failing  them. 
There  was  only  one  who  died  and  his  death  was  owing  to  long  standing  weak- 
ness.   All  of  Dr.  Cook's  patients  recovered. 

"But  it  was  not  only  as  a  physician  and  friend  I  learned  to  appreciate  him ; 
it  was  also,  and  particularly,  as  a  practical  polar  explorer.    It  was  under  very 


WHAT  SCIENTISTS  SAID  253 

difficult  circumstances  tliat  we  had  penetrated  the  ice,  and  still  more  difficult 
when  we  tried  to  get  out  again.  It  was  different  from  the  floating  ice  of  the 
arctic  regions,  which  seems  to  be  kept  always  in  movement  by  the  current  in 
the  ocean. 

"This  antarctic  ice  in  which  we  were  stuck  seemed  not  to  be  influenced  in 
the  slightest  by  the  movement  in  the  ocean.  The  ice  was  immovable  and  seemed 
to  have  taken  a  grip  on  the  vessel  which  it  would  not  let  go. 

"The  situation  seemed  critical.  Our  food  would  not  be  sufficient  for  another 
Winter  and  it  was  feared  our  mental  condition  would  suffer  very  much  if  we 
had  to  stand  another  Winter  here.    What  were  we  going  to  do  ? 

"Then  it  was  that  our  doctor  quietly  stepped  forward  with  his  proposal  to 
get  out  of  captivity,  and  his  proposal  was  sanctioned  by  the  highest  authority. 
We  should  try  to  saw  ourselves  out  of  the  ice.  It  wasn't  an  easy  task,  badly 
equipped  as  we  were  with  tools,  but  what  we  needed  in  the  shape  of  tools  Dr. 
Cook  by  his  ingenuity  and  skill  in  one  way  or  another  devised  and  manufactured. 
He  thus  helped  us  over  our  difficulties.  That  the  Belgian  Antarctic  expedition  in 
this  way  got  out  of  the  ice  is  due  first  and  foremost  to  the  skill,  energy  and 
persistence  of  Dr.  Cook. 

"His  ascent  of  Mount  McKinley  gave  us  again  a  good  opportunity  to 
look  a  little  further  into  his  character.  Quietly  he  came  forward  and  told  us 
that  one  of  the  greatest  exploits  which  had  ever  been  made  in  mountain  climb- 
ing was  now  accomplished.  It  didn't  occur  to  him  to  beat  a  drum  and  blow 
a  trumpet  to  make  this  known  to  the  world.  If  the  world  wouldn't  acknowl- 
edge his  exploit  without  this  it  was  all  the  same  to  him. 

"  'Reached  the  North  Pole  on  the  21st  of  April,  1908.  Discovered  land 
far  northward.' 

"It  would  not,  indeed,  have  been  necessary  for  him  to  sign  his  name  under 
this  for  my  benefit.  I  should  have  understood  all  the  time  that  it  was  from  him. 
Nobody  else  could  have  taken  it  in  such  thoroughly  fine  and  quietly  noble 
manner. 

"It  was  a  pity  that  Peary  should  besmirch  his  beautiful  work  in  throwing 
out  outrageous  accusations  against  a  competitor  who  had  won  the  battle  in 
open  field.  Peary  will  prove  his  statement,  they  say,  but  in  which  way,  I 
ask?  Is  it  the  evidence  of  Cook's  two  followers  on  which  he  rests  his  accusa- 
tions ?    Then  I  must  confess  it  has  a  very  weak  foundation. 

"When  Peary  accuses  Cook  of  having  taken  his  Eskimos,  then  this  Is  non- 
sense.    The  Eskimos,  as  we  know,  are  free  people  like  ourselves;  nay,  to  a 


254  WHAT  SCIENTISTS  SAID 

still  greater  extent,  and  they  do  what  they  like.  When,  therefore,  the  Eskimos 
took  resolution  to  accompany  Dr.  Cook  on  his  expedition  toward  the  North 
Pole,  neither  they  nor  Dr.  Cook  felt  bound  to  render  Peary  an  account. 

"Another  and  quite  as  futile  a  detail  in  the  accusation  of  Peary  is  when  he 
says  Cook  went  into  his  domain.  Does  Peary  really  mean  that  he  can  assert 
the  right  to  this  territory?  I  think  Peary  cannot  be  so  childish.  It  is  very 
likely  a  stroke  in  the  air  to  gain  the  sympathy  of  unsuspecting  people.  The 
American  people  have  a  great  stake  in  arctic  exploration.  They  deserve  the 
undivided  admiration  of  the  whole  civihzed  world  for  the  splendid  result 
which  two  of  their  brave  sons  have  just  brought  home. 

"We  shall  always  honor  Cook  as  the  first  man  on  the  geographical  north 
pole  of  the  earth.  We  shall  always  admire  Peary  as  the  man  who  didn't  give 
up,  but  finally  achieved  his  aim  and  desire  after  many  years'  hard  work." 

Dr.  Eugene  Murray  Aaron,  F.  G.  S.,  who  has  acquaintance  with  both 
Commander  Peary  and  Dr.  Cook  and  who  has  a  knowledge  of  the  terrors  of 
the  long  night,  and  the  hardships  and  difficulties  of  travel  on  the  arctic  ice, 
who  for  some  years  has  been  a  Chicagoan,  engaged  in  geographic  authorship 
and  publication,  also  discussed  the  merits  of  the  controversy. 

"No  one  who  knows  either  Cook  or  Peary,"  said  the  doctor,  "can  for  a 
moment  doubt  that  each  of  them  firmly  believes  that  he  has  set  his  feet  on  that 
spot  without  longitude,  where  all  lines  converge — and  hence  without  dimen- 
sions, that  we  call  the  north  pole.  The  only  doubt  permissible  to  fair  minded 
men  who  have  the  privilege  of  acquaintance  with  these  great  men  is  as  to 
whether  in  the  final  dash  they  were  able  to  take  along  those  instruments  neces- 
sary  to  scientific  exactitude  and  whether,  during  their  very  brief  stops  on  the 
top  of  the  earth,  they  had  sufficient  time  to  verify  their  first  conclusions. 

"It  must  be  the  opinion  of  all  that  the  reputations  of  America  and  of 
American  men  of  science  have  suffered  from  the  unseemly,  though  perhaps 
rather  natural,  outburst  of  Peary  and  his  warmer  supporters,  when  the  news 
from  Cook  reached  them.  Commander  Peary  has  so  manfully  struggled 
northward  for  the  past  quarter  of  a  century,  always  meeting  rebuffs  and  defeat 
with  a  brave  heart  and  each  time  returning  to  the  battle  to  win  a  few  more 
miles  from  the  threatening  ice  floes  and  leads,  that  it  is  very  understandable 
that  he  has  almost  come  to  regard  the  pole  as  his  by  eminent  domain.  It  is 
not  hard  to  realize  the  poignancy  of  his  feelings  when  he  learned  that  his  rival 
had  beaten  him  to  the  goal,  all  the  more  as  the  personal  relations  between  the 
two  had  been  strained  for  many  years,  owing  to  causes  known  to  few,  but 
quite  sufficient  to  both  of  these  positive,  forceful  men. 


WHAT  SCIENTISTS  SAID  255 

"That  Peary  lost  grip  on  his  better  judgment  for  the  moment  and  sent 
forth  statements  regarding  his  rival's  honesty  that  will  always  come  up  to 
plague  him,  seems  to  be  beyond  question,  although  much  must  be  allowed  for 
the  misunderstanding  of  correspondents  and  perhaps  even  something  for  tele- 
graphic slips.  That,  however,  he  has  done,  with  respect  to  Cook's  supplies  or 
records,  anything  dishonorable  or  underhanded,  those  who  know  him  cannot 
believe.  It  would  seem,  at  this  moment,  that  each  might  well  cry:  'Deliver 
me  from  my  friends !'  For  it  is  the  intemperate  utterances  of  those  that  have 
done  most  to  cloud  the  atmosphere  and  eclipse  the  proverbial  American  spirit 
of  fair  play. 

"Since  Peary's  first  cablegrams,  all  that  we  have  had  from  him  bearing 
upon  Cook's  claims  has  been  corroborative,  rather  than  otherwise.  Cook's 
experiences  with  unusually  propitious  conditions  near  the  pole  were  duplicated 
by  Peary.  The  former's  remarkable  speed  on  his  dash  northward  has  been 
exceeded  by  Peary  on  his  return  from  his  goal  to  Cape  Columbia.  The  lack  of 
adequate  witnesses,  so  criticised  by  Peary's  adherents  when  it  became  known 
that  Cook  had  but  two  Eskimo  'boys'  with  him,  has  been  effectually  met  by 
the  fact  that  Peary  had  but  one  such  with  him  under  like  circumstances.  One 
with  far  northern  experience  can  see  many  more  unmistakable  signs  of  agree- 
ment in  the  very  inadequate  present  accounts  of  the  two  men.  While  Peary's 
account  is  thus  far  devoid  of  longitudinal  data,  it  is  already  plain  why  he 
encountered  no  signs  along  Cook's  route.  At  their  points  of  departure  from 
northern  Grantland  they  were  over  150  miles  apart,  and,  as  Cook's  returning 
route  was  still  further  to  the  west,  there  were  only  a  very  few  miles  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  the  pole  where  by  any  possibility  his  tracks  could 
have  been  detected  by  Peary. 

"Still  further,  it  must  be  remembered  that  these  men,  in  common  with 
everyone  who  has  established  a  far  north  record,  approached  their  tasks  in 
March  and  April,  because  of  the  upbreak  of  the  ice  in  that  great  open  polar 
sea  during  the  long  continuous  day  of  the  summer,  and,  also,  that  one  of  these 
long  days  had  intervened  between  Cook's  return  and  Peary's  start,  doubtless 
breaking  up  every  vestige  of  Cook's  feverishly  hurried  stops  and  dissipating 
any  records  in  the  Ice  he  may  have  sought  to  leave  behind." 

"Then  what  proofs  will  the  public  ever  have;  how  will  these  men  prove 
beyond  doubt  that  they  have  been  there?"  the  doctor  was  asked. 

"Oi  absolute  proofs,  such  as  would  be  undeniable  In  a  court  of  justice, 
there  can  be  none.    We  will  always  be  compelled  to  accept  their  words.     The 


256  WHAT  SCIENTISTS  SAID 

talk  of  records  of  observations,  that  will  support  them  beyond  peradventure,  is 
the  sheerest  nonsense.  Any  man  competent  to  take  such  observations  would 
be  equally  competent  to  coin  them.  There  are  no  self-recording  instruments 
to  automatically,  mechanically  uphold  him  or  give  him  the  lie.  The  statement 
credited  to  astronomers  that  an  eclipse,  occurring  at  the  time  that  Cook  was 
beyond  the  8oth  degree  of  latitude,  must  have  been  observed  by  him  and 
would  be  contributory  evidence,  likewise  means  nothing.  Those  acquainted 
with  atmospheric  and  hydrographic  conditions  in  the  far  north  know  that  this 
is  buncombe.  Then,  too,  were  Cook  the  sort  of  man  to  manufacture  records, 
and  we  who  know  him  believe  him  to  be  far  above  it,  it  would  have  been  the 
easiest  possible  thing  to  acquaint  himself  with  future  astronomic  conditions 
and  be  prepared  to  incorporate  such  observations  among  his  other  manufac- 
tured data. 

"No,  not  until  some  one  has  firmly  established  an  aerial  stage  line  to  the 
north  pole  will  we  be  in  a  position  to  contravert  the  claims  of  those  hardy  men 
who  find  a  certain  delight  in  the  frozen  solitudes  of  the  Arctic  sea.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  there  is  nothing  inherently  more  difficult  in  reaching  the  upper 
stretches  of  the  final  dash  than  have  to  be  coped  with  in  the  preparatory 
marches;  perhaps  nothing  as  terrible  as  Cook  must  have  undergone  in  his 
winter  quarters  in  Ellesmereland,  on  his  homeward  journey." 

"Can  you  state  in  a  few  words  the  practical  value  of  the  discovery  or  attain- 
ment of  the  pole?"  the  doctor  was  asked. 

"By  'practical  value'  I  understand  you  to  take  the  usual  utilitarian  Amer- 
ican view,  and  that  you  would  shut  out  the  gratification  to  American  pride 
and  the  possibility  that  this  achievement  will  lead  to  our  letting  the  north  pole 
rest  in  peace,  which  we  will  not.  Then,  with  those  rather  doubtful  advantages 
set  aside,  it  is  possible  to  answer  your  question  in  four  letters — none.  That 
certain  observations  could  be  taken  at  the  pole,  which,  if  repeated  at  the  equator, 
would  enable  us  to  very  nearly  arrive  at  the  weight  of  our  earth  and  to  settle 
some  other  certainties  desired  by  physiographers,  is  well  known.  But  these  are 
not  possible  on  any  dash  to  that  region,  and  it  is  very  unlikely  that  conditions 
will  ever  allow  eithe*-  the  transportation  of  cumbersome  paraphernalia  or  the 
prolonged  sojourn  necessary." 

To  the  question  as  to  whether  some  recent  interviews  were  accurate  in  con- 
sidering Cook  and  Peary  the  greatest  explorers  of  all  times,  the  doctor  quoted 
a  long  list  from  the  roster  of  famed  explorers,  any  one  of  which  he  regarded  as 
of  greater  eminence.  Among  these  the  names  of  Magellan,  Von  Humboldt, 


WHAT  SCIENTISTS  SAID 


257 


Livingstone,  Wallace,  Merrian,  Bates,  Whymper,  Conway  and  Hedin  are  re- 
called. 

"Conway,  practically  alone  in  the  great  Andes,  Wallace  living  with  the 
head-hunting  Dyaks  of  Borneo,  Bates  for  a  decade  on  the  upper  Amazon,  Sven 
Hedin  courting  instant  death  if  detected  on  the  march  toward  Lassa,  these 
and  many  others  like  them,  not  only  met  and  conquered  as  great  dangers  and 
for  far  greater  lengths  of  time  than  did  Cook  or  Peary,"  added  the  doctor; 
"but  they  contributed  vastly  to  the  sum  of  useful  human  knowledge. 

"Yet  I  would  not  take  one  iota  of  credit  or  glory  from  Cook  or  Peary,  if 
I  had  that  power.  The  qualities  of  indomitable  courage  and  tireless  persever- 
ance that  have  won  them  these  great  successes  are  becoming  too  rare  among 
us,  we  who  are  so  greatly  given  over  to  half-baked  and  transient  effort,  to 
hysteric  admiration  and  interests,  and  to  the  softening  and  often  ignoble  chase 
after  the  elusive  dollar." 


From  the  Detroit  Free  Press 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

COOK'S  RETURN  TO  HIS  HOME. 

It  was  a  great  day  in  New  York  when  Dr.  Cook  was  welcomed  back  to  his 
native  land.  He  was  hailed  as  a  conqueror;  and  though  the  crowd  did  not 
crush  him  and  tear  his  clothing,  as  a  mad  rush  of  the  curious  did  in  Copen- 
hagen, enthusiasm  in  New  York  was  no  less  fervid. 

The  steamer  Oscar  II,  on  which  the  explorer  returned  to  America,  had 
arrived  in  the  outer  waters  of  New  York  harbor  the  evening  of  September  20. 
It  was  not  docked,  however,  until  the  following  morning,  since  its  arrival 
before  Tuesday  would  have  disarranged  the  carefully  laid  plans  for  a  grand 
reception. 

Dr.  Cook's  arrival  at  New  York  went  through  progressive  stages  of  en- 
thusiasm as  he  moved  from  the  lower  bay  to  quarantine,  thence  to  the  tug  on 
which  his  wife  and  children  were  waiting  to  give  the  first  exchange  of  family 
endearments,  then  to  the  steamer  Grand  Republic,  freighted  with  more  than 
1,000  enthusiastic  friends  and  champions  of  the  explorer,  and  finally,  as  he 
set  foot  on  his  native  soil  of  Brooklyn  and  passed  through  cheering  throngs  and 
flower-arched  streets,  to  his  home  in  Bushwick  avenue. 

Everywhere  he  was  met  with  the  same  clamorous  shouts  and  demonstrative 
approval,  which  swept  aside  any  dissenting  note  if  it  existed. 

Dr.  Cook  bore  his  honors  calmly  and  with  dignity,  smiling  upon  the  crowds, 
bowing  acknowledgments  to  the  oft-repeated  cheers  and  grasping  the  out- 
stretched hands  of  friends  and  strangers. 

The  steamer  Oscar  II,  with  Dr.  Cook  on  board,  reached  quarantine  at  6 
a.  m.,  and  anchored  to  await  inspection  by  the  health  officer  of  the  port.  Mean- 
time several  tugs  loaded  with  passengers  hung  about  the  liner. 

At  sunrise  the  steamer  was  dressed  with  flags  and  preparations  were  made 
to  receive  the  explorer's  wife  and  children,  who  were  coming  down  in  a  tug, 
and  to  meet  a  reception  committee  of  city  officials  and  friends  of  Dr.  Cook,  who 
went  down  the  harbor  on  the  steamer  Grand  Republic. 

Dr.  Cook  was  standing  amid  a  group  of  passengers  on  the  saloon  deck  w^hen 

258 


COOK'S  RETURN  259 

the  health  officer  boarded  the  ship.  The  explorer's  face  was  tinged  with  a 
healthy  bronze  and  his  demeanor  was  modest  and  unassuming.  He  answered 
questions  freely,  but  declined  to  discuss  the  attitude  of  Commander  Peary. 

When  asked  about  the  controversy  over  the  discovery  of  the  pole,  Dr. 
Cook  said : 

"I  have  deplored  the  whole  controversy  and  feel  that  nothing  should  be 
said.  I  shall  leave  the  public  to  judge.  I  feel  that  the  Danish  people,  who  have 
accepted  me  without  question  and  have  treated  me  so  liberally,  should  be  the 
first  to  receive  the  evidences  of  my  work. 

"I  want  to  see  my  wife  and  family,  who,  I  understand,  will  come  to  us  first 
in  a  revenue  tug;  then  I  do  not  care  what  comes." 

Dr.  Cook  said  that  during  the  four  months  of  his  stay  in  Greenland  he 
went  over  all  his  notes  and  data  and  completed  his  book  describing  his  trip 
to  the  pole. 

When  he  was  informed  that  they  were  close  at  hand  on  board  the  tugboat 
John  Gilperson,  his  face  beamed  and  he  ran  to  the  side  of  the  deck  and  peered 
through  the  mist. 

Just  then,  the  Gilperson  loomed  up  through  the  light  fog  and  the  figures  of 
his  wife  and  children  began  to  assume  definite  shapes. 

When  Mrs.  Cook  and  the  children  could  be  distinguished  the  explorer  looked 
down  at  the  little  woman,  who  had  smiled  unbelievingly  when  she  received 
reports  that  he  was  dead  in  the  Arctic  regions,  who  had  wept  for  joy  when  the 
first  dispatches  of  his  discovery  of  the  north  pole  reached  her,  and  who  had 
stood  by  him  when  Peary  questioned  his  veracity. 

He  gazed  for  several  seconds  without  displaying  any  emotion,  save  a  slight 
trembling  of  his  hands.    Then  his  eyes  began  to  fill  with  tears. 

He  pulled  off  his  Derby  hat  and  waved  it  at  his  wife.  She  waved  her  hand- 
kerchief— quickly,  eagerly.  At  the  same  moment,  the  Gilperson  blew  three 
blasts  of  its  whistle.  It  was  the  nautical  language  for  "Glad  to  see  you  back." 
The  deep,  bass  whistle  of  the  Oscar  H  responded  in  kind. 

Dr.  Cook  then  turned  to  Captain  Hempel  of  the  steamship. 

"I  guess  I'll  go  aboard  the  tugboat  right  away,"  he  said. 

The  captain  grasped  his  hand. 

"All  right,  sir,"  he  replied. 

Then  the  captain  turned  and  ordered  his  men  to  lower  the  rope  ladders.  It 
had  been  understood  that  Dr.  Cook  was  to  board  the  Grand  Republic,  but  it 
was  not  yet  in  sight.  Even  if  It  had  been,  Dr.  Cook  would  not  have  boarded  it. 
He  had  eyes  only  for  his  wife  and  little  daughters,  Helen  and  Ruth. 


260  COOK'S  RETURN 

"You  are  not  timid  about  descending  the  rope  ladder,  are  you?"  the  captain 
of  the  Oscar  11,  laughing,  asked  Dr.  Cook. 

He  smiled,  but  did  not  reply.  In  descending,  he  unconsciously  displayed  his 
great  strength.  Sometimes  he  held  himself  up  by  his  arms  like  an  acrobat  hang- 
ing from  a  trapeze.  When  he  reached  the  bottom  of  the  ladder  he  leaped  lightly 
to  the  deck  of  the  tugboat. 

He  turned  with  his  arms  outstretched,  and  his  wife  threw  herself  into  them. 

Never  before  had  such  a  scene  taken  place  on  the  grimy  deck  of  the  tugboat. 
Here  was  a  man  who  had  received  the  homage  of  a  King  without  displaying  the 
slightest  trace  of  sentiment.  But  now,  on  seeing  his  wife,  all  of  his  reserve 
gave  way. 

He  was  not  Dr.  Frederick  A.  Cook,  discoverer  of  the  North  Pole.  He  was 
merely  a  man  who  had  been  separated  from  his  wife  and  children  for  more 
than  two  years. 

When  he  clasped  his  wife  in  his  arms  neither  of  them  uttered  a  word  for 
some  time.  Then  she  murmured : 

"Oh,  Fred,"  and  that  was  all  she  could  say. 

Dr.  Cook  patted  her  affectionately,  but  he  couldn't  say  anything-. 

Their  two  little  girls  broke  the  spell  that  kept  their  mother  and  father  silent. 
They  rushed  up  and  each  seized  one  of  Dr.  Cook's  hands. 

"Hello,  papa,"  cried  Ruth,  the  youngest. 

Helen,  the  older,  then  chimed  in  with  a  greeting,  and  Dr.  Cook  picked  Ruth 
and  then  Helen  up  in  his  arms  and  kissed  them. 

Meantime  the  tugboat  Gilperson  had  turned  her  nose  toward  New  York  and 
started  off  at  full  speed.  As  she  left,  she  gave  the  Oscar  H  a  parting  salute, 
to  which  the  liner  replied. 

At  this  time  the  steamship  Monmouth  was  coming  up  the  bay.  She  saluted 
the  Gilperson  and  scores  of  passengers  crowded  out  on  the  decks  and  waved  a 
greeting  to  Dr.  Cook. 

Every  craft  in  the  bay  then  began  saluting  the  tugboat.  When  it  reached 
Liberty  statue  it  was  met  by  the  Grand  Republic. 

As  the  tug  came  up  the  bay,  one  man  had  stood  in  the  background.  He  was 
John  R.  Bradley,  the  man  who  financed  Dr.  Cook's  expedition.  When  Dr.  Cook 
had  greeted  everyone  else  Mr.  Bradley  stepped  forward. 

The  two  men  looked  Into  each  other's  eyes  for  a  moment  and  then  each  took 
the  other  by  the  two  hands.  They  stood  that  way  for  fully  a  minute.  All  the 
gratitude  that  Dr.  Cook  could  express  was  In  his  eyes.    The  words  that  came 


COOK'S  RETURN  261 

to  his  lips  were  merely  conventionalities.  But  the  two  men  understood  each 
other. 

Reporters  crowded  around  Dr.  Cook,  but  he  begged  to  be  left  alone  with  his 
wife  and  children  for  a  few  minutes.  With  his  brothers,  William  and  Joseph,  the 
party  then  went  into  the  captain's  cabin  and  remained  there  for  fifteen  minutes. 
By  that  time  the  Grand  Republic,  chartered  by  the  Arctic  Club  of  America,  was 
ready  to  take  the  Cook  party  aboard. 

A  companion  ladder  was  lowered  from  the  Grand  Republic  to  the  tug,  and 
Dr.  Cook  climbed  up.  Mrs.  Cook  and  her  party  remained  on  the  tug,  which 
followed  the  Grand  Republic  as  it  proceeded  up  the  bay,  around  the  Battery  and 
up  the  East  River  amid  such  a  din  of  whistles,  sirens  and  cheers  as  seldom  has 
been  heard  hereabouts. 

"Bravo,  Cook!"  "Welcome  home!"  "We're  proud  of  you!"  rang  out  across 
the  water.  Then  the  words  "For  He's  a  Jolly  Good  Fellow"  were  sung  in  chorus 
by  Dr.  Cook's  fellow  passengers  on  the  Oscar  II  as  the  tug  left  the  ship's  side. 

The  Oscar  II  immediately  weighed  anchor  and  continued  up  the  river  to 
her  dock,  and  Dr.  Cook  was  transferred  to  the  Grand  Republic,  which  was  lying 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  away.  Cinematographs  and  cameras  were  turned  on  him 
from  every  point  of  vantage  as  he  went  on  board  and  passed  through  a  guard  of 
honor  of  the  47th  regiment  to  receive  the  greeting  of  the  reception  committee. 

On  board  the  Grand  Republic  Dr.  Cook  was  greeted  by  the  official  reception 
committee  and  a  wreath  of  roses  was  placed  about  the  explorer's  neck. 

Standing  on  the  upper  deck  of  the  steamer  Dr.  Cook  addressed  the  committee 
and  his  friends  as  follows :  . 

"To  a  returning  explorer  there  can  be  no  greater  pleasure  than  the  apprecia- 
tion of  his  own  people.  Your  numbers  and  cheers  make  a  demonstration  that 
makes  me  very  happy  and  should  fire  the  pride  of  all  the  world.  I  would  have 
preferred  to  return  first  to  American  shores,  but  this  pleasure  was  denied  me. 
Instead  I  came  to  Denmark  and  the  result  has  come  to  you  by  wire. 

"I  was  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  but  the  Danes,  with  one  voice,  rose  up 
with  enthusiasm  and  they  have  guaranteed  to  all  other  nations  our  conquest  of 
the  pole. 

"You  have  come  forward  in  numbers  with  a  voice  appreciating  still  more 
forcibly.  I  can  only  say  that  I  accept  this  honor  with  a  due  appreciation  of  its 
importance.    I  heartily  thank  you." 

The  steamer  Grand  Republic,  with  Dr.  Cook,  his  wife  and  children  and 
%nembers  of  the  Arctic  Club  on  board,  steamed  up  the  North  River  from  the  bat- 
tery to  the  foot  of  West  130th  street,  where  a  brief  stop  was  made. 


262  COOK'S  RETURN 

The  trip  up  the  river  was  a  triumphal  one.  The  Grand  Republic  was  greeted 
with  the  siren  shrieks  of  hundreds  of  craft,  small  and'  large.  Dr.  Cook  stood  on 
the  upper  deck. 

The  steamer  after  reaching  the  foot  of  West  130th  street  went  up  the  North 
River  as  far  as  Spuyten  Duyvil  and  then  retraced  its  course  to  the  Battery  and 
proceeded  up  the  East  River  to  the  foot  of  South  5th  street,  in  Brooklyn,  where 
Dr.  Cook  was  landed. 

The  ceremonies  on  the  Grand  Republic  during  the  three  hours  that  the 
explorer  and  the  reception  party  were  aboard  were  necessarily  informal,  owing 
to  the  crowd  that  pressed  about  Dr.  Cook,  all  eager  to  shake  his  hand  and 
exchange  words  of  greeting.  The  first  person  to  greet  him  was  Ida  A.  Lehmann,, 
a  daughter  of  one  of  his  old  Brooklyn  friends,  who  had  been  delegated  to  decor- 
ate the  explorer  with  a  wreath  of  roses,  in  accordance  with  a  custom  followed 
at  Copenhagen.  As  Miss  Lehmann  threw  the  garland  about  Dr.  Cook's  neck, 
she  said : 

"You  hero  of  the  north,  come  to  us,  your  friends,  associates  and  business 
acquaintances  of  your  own  neighborhood,  Bushwick.  Your  record  with  us 
was  one  of  honor,  character  and  conscience,  and  your  word  the  synonym  of 
truth.  We  believe  you  from  the  far  north,  and  are  here  to  proclaim  you  a 
'gentleman  of  Bushwick !'  " 

Dr.  Cook  wore  the  garland  during  the  rest  of  the  reception  ceremonies. 

Bird  S.  Coler,  borough  president,  welcomed  the  explorer  aboard  the  steamer 
on  behalf  of  the  borough  of  Brooklyn.  "I  regret,"  he  said,  "that  we  have  not 
a  mayor  as  big  as  our  town  to  receive  you.  You  are  not  only  a  great  explorer, 
but  a  thorough  American  gentleman,  and  Mrs.  Cook  is  a  thorough  American 
lady." 

Speaking  for  the  Arctic  Club  of  America,  Capt.  Bradley  S.  Osbon,  its 
secretary,  read  a  letter  from  the  president,  Rear-Admiral  Winfield  Scott 
Schley,  in  which  the  admiral  expressed  regret  that  his  health  made  it  impossible 
to  be  present.  "I  hope  you  will  carry  to  Dr.  Cook,"  he  said,  "my  congratula- 
tions and  abiding  faith  in  the  great  achievement  he  has  accomplished." 

One  of  the  first  to  greet  Dr.  Cook  after  the  speechmaking  was  over  was  his 
sister,  Mrs.  Joseph  Y.  Murphy  of  Tom's  River,  N.  J.  The  bronzed  explorer 
took  her  in  his  arms  and  hugged  and  kissed  her  regardless  of  the  cameras 
trained  upon  him.  After  that  he  kissed  his  niece,  Miss  Lilyn  Murphy,  arid 
shook  hands  with  Joseph  Murphy,  his  brother-in-law. 

It  was  a  disheveled  discoverer  that  finally  retired  to  his  cabin,  where  he 


COOK'S  RETURN  263 

remained  during  the  rest  of  the  voyage  up  and  down  the  North  River.  Dr. 
Cook  did  not  appear  on  deck  again  until  the  steamer  approached  the  pier  at  the 
bottom  of  South  5th  street,  Brooklyn,  where  the  local  reception  committee  was 
gathered  to  receive  him. 

It  was  still  half  an  hour  before  the  time  fixed  for  his  landing,  however,  so 
the  Grand  Republic  kept  on  up  the  river,  while  the  band  on  deck  played  "Auld 
Lang  Syne"  and  "Home,  Sweet  Home,"  and  Dr.  Cook  With  his  family  and 
a  few  others  stood  in  the  pilot  house,  where  they  were  in  view  of  the  thousands 
gathered  on  the  Brooklyn  shore.  The  steamer  turned  and  came  back  to  land 
the  party  at  11.35. 

About  100  automobiles  and  5,000  persons  were  on  the  pier  and  along  South 
5th  street  when  Dr.  Cook  landed.  There  was  a  rush  to  see  him  and  to  form  a 
parade.  After  much  confusion  the  police  made  a  passage  for  an  automobile 
carrying  the  explorer,  and  the  other  vehicles,  headed  by  a  band,  fell  into  a  line 
a  mile  long.  The  parade  passed  through  five  miles  of  cheering,  crowded 
streets.  At  Dr.  Cook's  former  home  in  Bushwick  avenue  the  procession  passed 
under  an  arch  bearing  the  inscription : 

"We  believe  in  you." 

Thousands  of  school  children  lined  Bushwick  avenue  and  cried  "Cook ! 
Cook!"  as  the  explorer  passed  on  his  way  to  the  Bushwick  club,  where  a 
reception  in  his  honor  was  held  during  the  remainder  of  the  day. 

Dr.  Cook  gave  out  the  following  signed  statement : 

"On  Board  the  Oscar  11. — After  one  of  the  most  delightful  trips  of  my 
life  across  the  Atlantic,  I  am  indeed  glad  once  more  to  see  the  shores  of  my 
native  land.  I  have  come  from  the  pole.  I  have  brought  my  story  and  my 
data  with  me.  The  public  has  already  a  tangible  and  a  specific  record  of  that 
trip.  In  a  short  time,  the  narrative,  with  all  the  observations,  will  be  published 
and  placed  before  the  world  for  examination. 

"It  is  as  easy  for  you  as  for  me  to  understand  why  I  cannot,  on  the  impulse 
of  the  moment,  read  off  a  manuscript  which  covers  the  work  of  two  years.  As 
said  upon  several  occasions,  all  the  charges,  accusations  and  expressions  of  dis- 
belief are  based  upon  entire  ignorance  of  the  supplementary  data  which  I 
possess. 

"No  one  who  has  spoken  or  written  on  the  subject  in  opposition  to  my  claim 
knows  of  the  facts  with  which  such  work  of  exploration  is  measured.  All  of 
the  criticisms  have  been  based  upon  obvious  errors  in  the  reproductions  of  my 
first  dispatch  or  upon  the  discussions  of  petty  side  issues  presented  by  unfair 
critics. 


2CA  COOK'S  RETURN 

"The  expedition  was  private.  It  was  started  out  without  the  usual  pub- 
Hcity  bombast.  John  R.  Bradley  furnished  the  money  and  I  shaped  the  destiny 
of  the  venture.  For  the  time  being  it  concerned  us  only,  but  the  results  were  so 
important  that  on  returning  I  at  once  placed  before  the  public  a  report  contain- 
ing the  main  outline  of  the  work. 

"I  have  not  come  home  to  enter  into  arguments  with  one  man  or  with  fifty 
men,  but  I  am  here  to  present  a  clear  record  of  a  piece  of  work  over  which  I 
have  a  right  to  display  a  certain  amount  of  pride.  When  scientists  study  the 
detailed  observations  and  the  narrative  in  its  consecutive  order  I  am  certain 
that  in  the  due  course  of  events  all  will  be  compelled  to  admit  the  truth  of  my 
statement. 

"I  am  perfectly  willing  to  abide  by  the  final  verdict  of  this  record  by  com- 
petent judges.  That  must  be  the  last  word  in  the  discussion  and  that  alone 
can  satisfy  me  and  the  public. 

''Furthermore,  not  only  will  my  report  be  before  you  in  black  and  white, 
but  I  will  also  bring  to  America  human  witnesses  to  prove  that  I  have  been  to 
the  pole.  FREDERICK  A.  COOK." 

'T  shall  await  events,"  said  Dr.  Cook  just  before  he  left  the  deck  of  the 
Oscar  II  to  be  taken  to  the  city  by  the  welcoming  committee. 

"When  my  material  has  been  got  together  and  put  into  shape  it  will  be  sub- 
mitted in  the  first  instance  to  the  University  of  Copenhagen.  After  that  it  will 
be  laid  before  the  geographical  societies  of  the  world.  I  will  not  consent  to 
submit  any  fragmentary  portions  of  my  observations  or  my  records  to  any  one. 
The  report  and  all  the  data  connected  with  my  trip  must  be  examined  in  their 
entirety,  together  with  my  instruments,  some  of  which  I  have  in  my  possession 
now  and  others  of  which  are  on  their  way  to  America  at  the  present  moment. 
These  will  all  be  properly  controlled  and  tested  before  submission  to  the  scien- 
tific bodies." 

Asked  for  what  reason  he  did  not  immediately  give  full  details  of  his 
achievement,  Dr.  Cook  said : 

"I  have  given  to  the  public  a  concise  account  of  my  journey  similar  to  that 
always  given  by  explorers  on  their  return  from  a  journey  of  exploration.  For 
the  present  no  othei  details  are  necessary  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  no  further 
specific  evidences  of  my  claim  have  been  called  for  from  any  side.  It  has  never 
been  customary  hitherto  for  explorers  to  make  their  full  records  public  in  such 
haste.  As  a  rule,  scientific  societies  are  not  remarkable  for  their  rapidity  m 
coming  to  conclusions,  and  they  are  usually  content  to  wait  until  complete  data 
are  compiled." 


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OOlOfANSEB  BOBBBT  E.  PEABT,  U.  S.  N.,  BEADY  FOE  THE  DASH  TO  THE  POLE, 


COOK'S  RETURN  267 

In  regard  to  the  full  recognition  of  his  feat  by  Denmark,  Dr.  Cook  re- 
marked : 

"Daagaard-Jense,  inspector  of  Danish  North  Greenland,  after  hearing  Ras- 
mussen  and  talking  with  Gov.  Kraul  of  Upernavik,  who  has  seen  and  read  the 
entire  record,  telegraphed  to  the  Danish  government  in  Copenhagen  his  assur- 
ance of  the  truth  of  my  declarations  and  guaranteeing  them  as  authentic.  The 
Danish  authorities  in  Greenland,  who  are  in  reality  the  advisers  of  the  Danish 
government,  have  been  for  nearly  four  months  in  possession  of  all  details  of 
my  trip.  The  Danish  government  and  the  University  of  Copenhagen,  as  well 
as  the  Danish  Geographical  society,  have,  on  their  report,  taken  over  the  virtual 
guaranty  for  the  sincerity  and  authenticity  of  my  records.  They  have  stood  up 
for  them,  so  to  speak,  before  the  world.  They  do  not  ask  me  to  furnish  any 
further  proofs  or  evidence  of  any  kind,  but  in  justice  to  Denmark,  it  is  my 
intention  to  place  the  first  completed  record  of  my  polar  journey  at  the  disposal 
of  the  University  of  Copenhagen." 

On  September  22  Dr.  Cook  cheerfully  submitted  to  a  gruelling  cross  exam- 
ination by  forty  inquisitors  of  the  daily  and  periodical  press,  and  before  the 
interview  came  to  a  close  he  had  converted  even  several  arrant  sceptics  into 
enthusiastic  partisans  of  his  right  to  the  title  of  discoverer  of  the  North  Pole. 

It  was  an  occasion  for  which  there  had-  been  ample  preparation,  for  the 
questioners  had  been  informed  the  day  before  that  he  would  receive  them  and 
they  had  meanwhile  taxed  their  ingenuity  with  the  devising  of  all  manner  of 
interrogatories  and  with  the  aid  of  geographied  experts  had  prepared  test 
questions.  Every  one  present  had  framed  inquiries  which  bore  upon  some 
point  in  the  accounts  of  the  discovery,  which  was  not  quite  clear  to  them. 
For  an  hour  and  a  half  this  business  of  quizzing  proceeded  and,  in  parting,  the 
explorer  was  surrounded,  not  by  analysis,  but  by  eager  converts,  several,  who 
were  commissioned  by  their  editors  to  doubt,  were  wringing  Dr.  Cook  by  the 
hand  and  expressing  their  unqualified  personal  belief  in  everything  he  had  said. 

He  referred  quite  casually  to  the  writing  of  his  experiences  and  at  the 
request  of  one  of  the  reporters  brought  out  one-third  of  the  manuscript  which 
he  had  prepared  prone  upon  the  floor  of  a  hut  with  a  flat  stone  for  his  desk  and 
a  blubber  lamp  for  his  light.  He  had  with  him  three  small  memorandum 
books,  five  by  eight  inches,  containing  two  hundred  leaves  each.  To  these 
he  had  committed  his  diary  in  pencil,  for  ink  will  not  withstand  the  Arctic  chill. 
When  his  enforced  sojourn  in  the  frozen  North  gave  him  time  for  literary 
labors  he  had  written  100,000  words  in  these  memorandum  books  between  the 


268  COOK'S  RETURN 

lines  of  what  he  had  ah-eacly  jotted  down.  The  chirography  was  almost  micro- 
scopic and  often  hundreds  of  words  were  crowded  together  like  a  multitude  of 
pigmies  taking  their  morning  walk  on  paper.  The  scarcity  of  pages  had  com- 
pelled from  the  Arctic  explorer  an  economy  which  caused  him  to  rival  the  in- 
genuity of  those  patient  men  who  write  the  Decalogue  on  the  back  of  penny 
postage  stamp. 

"That's  enough  for  me,"  said  one  hard  headed  Thomas,  who  had  leaved 
over  the  record.  "No  man  alive  would  sit  up  nights  doing  this  kind  of  thing 
for  fun." 

Dr.  Cook  entered  the  room,  where  the  interviewers  were  assembled,  ac- 
companied by  his  secretary,  Mr.  Walter  Lonsdale,  of  the  American  Legation  in 
Copenhagen  and  by  his  daughter  Ruth.  The  child  remained  with  him  a  few 
minutes. 

The  explorer  said  he  would  prefer  to  have  one  man  ask  the  questions,  but 
as  all  had  something  on  their  minds  he  addressed  himself  to  each  interrogator 
in  turn,  looking  him  squarely  in  the  eye  and  speaking  in  incisive,  clear  cut 
sentences. 

"What  was  the  reason,"  he  was  asked,  "that  you  imposed  secrecy  upon 
Mr,  Harry  Whitney  and  young  Pritchard  on  your  return  from  the  pole  ?" 

"I  do  not  think,"  he  answered,  "that  I  was  bound  to  disclose  to  Mr.  Peary 
the  nature  of  my  work,  and  he  might  have  found  out  about  it  on  his  arrival 
at  Etah.  I  told  Mr.  Whitney  that  he  was  at  liberty  to  give  to  the  world  all 
that  he  knew  after  I  had  given  the  announcement  first  to  the  world.  I  knew 
Mr.  Whitney  would  probably  not  be  back  to  civilization  before  the  middle  of 
October.  The  Jeanie,  on  which  he  is  aboard,  is  now  following  out  the  pro- 
gramme as  I.  understood  it.  He  told  me  he  was  going  to  the  American  side 
and  to  Hudson  Bay  to  hunt,  and  the  understanding  when  I  started  for  home 
was  that  he  was  not  to  write  anything  which  would  get  to  civilization  or  to 
Mr.  Peary  before  I  did." 

"Why  did  you  not  wish  Mr.  Peary  to  know?"  was  the  question. 

"Why  should  I,"  was  the  answ^er,  "give  to  Mr.  Peary  any  information 
before  I  gave  it  to  the  world?" 

"Did  you  think  that  Mr.  Peary  would  make  any  improper  use  of  it?"  was 
asked. 

"I  don't  think  so,"  was  the  reply. 

Dr.  Cook  was  asked  if  he  had  any  comment  to  make  on  the  fact  that  Com- 
mander Peary  had  decided  to  accept  no  dinner  invitations  until  the  "contro- 


COOK'S  RETURN  269 

versy"  concerning  the  discovery  of  the  North  Pole  was  settled.  The  Brooklyn 
explorer  said  that  he  had  never  heard  of  it  and  that  he  had  no  comments  to 
make.  He  said  there  had  never  been  any  trouble  between  Mr.  Peary  and 
himself. 

"Do  you,"  one  interrogator  began,  "consider  Commander  Peary  your 
enemy  or  your  friend?" 

"I  don't  know,"  he  replied,  "I  always  treated  him  as  a  friend  and  until  I 
know  more  about  the  situation  I  shall  continue  to  do  the  same." 

SOME  OF  THE  QUESTIONS. 

Here  are  some  of  the  more  important  questions  with  the  replies  of  Dr. 
Cook : 

Q.  Did  you  ever  say  anything  at  Etah  that  indicated  that  you  feared  for 
your  life  if  Commander  Peary  got  there? 

A.     No. 

Q.     Would  you  be  willing  to  meet  Mr.  Peary  in  a  debate  when  he  gets  here  ? 

A.  As  far  as  I  am  concerned  the  Peary  incident  is  closed.  Mr.  Peary  is 
not  the  dictator  of  my  affairs,  and  I  do  not  care  to  say  anything  further 
about  him. 

O.  Did  you  know  Mr.  Whitney  when  you  had  met  him  on  your  return 
to  Etah  ? 

A.  No;  he  introduced  himself,  but  I  did  not  catch  his  name  and  did  not 
know  it  until  the  following  day. 

Q.     Did  you  know  that  Mr.  Peary  was  going  to  start  up  at  that  time  ? 

A.     No,  I  did  not  know. 

Q.  What  caused  you  to  have  such  confidence  in  Mr.  Whitney  that  you 
entrusted  your  instruments  to  him? 

A.  I  knew  him  by  name,  and  circumstances  that  arose  while  I  was  with 
him  justified  my  confidence.  I  gave  him  the  instruments  to  bring  back  because 
I  thought  they  would  be  less  liable  to  injury  on  board  his  vessel  than  if  I  took 
them  across  glaciers  and  rough  ice  covered  country. 

O.  What  is  your  opinion  of  the  story  told  by  the  negro  Henson  of  the 
information  he  obtained  from  your  two  Eskimos? 

A.  Well,  the  Eskimos  were  bound  down  by  me  not  to  tell  any  one  where 
they  had  been.  I  should  like  you  to  have  Henson  here  and  cross-question  him 
yourself.    Henson's  testimony  is  entirely  founded  on  hearsay. 

Q.     Knowing  that  a  ship  was  coming  north  this  summer  for  Mr.  Whitney, 


270  COOK'S  RETURN 

why  did  you  not  wait  for  that  ship  and  come  direct  to  New  York  instead  of 
going  to  South  Greenland  and  from  there  to  Copenhagen  ? 

A.  I  knew  that  the  Danish  government  ship  would  get  me  home  before 
Whitney's  ship. 

DESCRIBES  HIS  INSTRUMENTS. 

O.  What  instruments  did  you  have  with  you  from  Cape  Thomas  Hubbard 
and  back? 

A.  Sextant,  artificial  horizon,  three  compasses,  three  chronometer  watches, 
thermometers,  barometers  and  a  pedometer. 

O.     What  kind  of  sextant  did  you  have  and  how  many? 

A.     One  sextant — a  French  apparatus. 

Q.     What  kind  of  artificial  horizon  did  you  have? 

A.     Glass. 

Q.     What  kind  of  transit  or  theodolite  did  you  have  and  how  many? 

A.     We  didn't  use  any. 

O.     What  kind  of  compass  did  you  have? 

A.     We  hard  one  liquid  compass  and  one  surveying  compass. 

O.  What  kind  of  compass  did  you  use  to  determine  your  compass 
variation  ? 

A.     Surveying  compass ;  it  had  an  azimuth  attachment. 

Q.     What  compass  course  did  you  take  from  Cape  Thomas  Hubbard  north  ? 

A.  Well,  that  changes  every  day.  If  you  follow  the  course  on  a  map  you 
have  got  the  compass  course. 

Q.  Was  your  determination  of  the  pole  solely  by  an  observation  of  the 
sun's  altitude,  or  did  you  take  observations  of  the  pole  star  twelve  hours  apart, 
and  by  the  determination  of  the  celestial  pole  midway  between  the  two  positions 
prove  the  accuracy  of  your  position  on  the  terrestrial  pole  ? 

A.  How  are  you  going  to  take  an  observation  by  the  polar  star  when  you 
have  a  continuous  sun  ?  There  is  no  night ;  you  cannot  have  any  stars ;  there 
is  no  darkness. 

Q.  What  other  kind  of  observations  did  you  make  at  the  pole  and  how 
many?    And  what  was  the  altitude  of  the  sun? 


COOK'S  RETURN  271 

MADE  NAUTICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 

A.  We  have  told  that  the  altitude  of  the  sun  gave  us  our  positions ;  that 
is  all  there  is  to  say  about  that.  We  made  regular  astronomical  observations, 
such  as  would  be  made  by  the  compass  and  other  instruments.  We  merely  made 
the  nautical  observations  that  a  captain  would  have  made  aboard  a  ship. 

Q.  Will  you  describe  in  detail  any  single  observation  taken  by  you  at  the 
North  Pole,  with  the  exact  figures  of  the  results  and  the  corrections  applied  ? 

A.  Not  at  this  present  moment.  We  will  describe  every  one  of  them  in 
detail  when  they  go  to  the  University  of  Copenhagen.  They  will  go  there 
within  two  months.  The  entire  records  will  be  delivered  to  the  university,  and 
after  that  they  will  go  to  everybody  that  wants  to  examine  them. 

Q.  In  your  original  narrative  you  said : — "The  night  of  April  7  was  made 
notable  by  the  swinging  of  the  sun  at  midnight  over  the  northern  ice.  Our  ob- 
servation on  April  6  placed  the  camp  in  latitude  86.36,  longitude  94.2."  The 
astronomers  say  that  in  the  latitude  you  mention  the  midnight  sun  would  have 
been  visible  on  April  i  and  that  if  you  really  saw  it  for  the  first  time  on  April  7 
you  must  have  been  550  miles  from  the  pole  instead  of  234,  as  you  supposed. 
Therefore  to  have  reached  the  pole  on  April  21  you  would  have  had  to  travel 
thirty-nine  miles  daily.    What  is  your  explanation  of  the  apparent  discrepancy  ? 

A.  In  the  first  place,  that  indicates  the  point  I  have  taken;  that  nobody 
can  pronounce  judgment  on  a  matter  of  this  kind  until  they  get  the  complete 
record.  The  northern  horizon  at  midnight  had  been  so  obscure  that  we  could 
not  tell  whether  the  sun  was  below  the  horizon  or  above  it.  We  were  not  mak- 
ing observations  at  midnight.  Therefore  this  statement  is  based  on  the  fact 
that  we  have  said  that  it  was  possible  to  see  the  sun  on  midnight  of  that  day. 
I  have  not  looked  through  the  Herald's  story,  as  it  has  been  written  out  in  full. 
My  impression  is  that  we  were  absolutely  unable  to  see  the  sun  the  midnight 
before  that.    The  horizon  was  obscured. 

Dr.  Cook  in  reply  to  several  questions  said  that  he  could  not  have  gone 
back  to  civilization  any  sooner  than  he  did. 

"Unless,"  he  began,  "I  started  through  the  ice  for  three  hundred  miles  in  an 
open  boat  and  went  to —  Well,  no,  just  take  that  out;  I  could  not  have  got 
back  any  sooner." 

He  described  in  detail  his  provisioning  for  the  final  journey.  He  had 
started  from  Greenland  with  eleven  sledges,  103  dogs  and  eleven  Eskimos,  and 
had  started  on  his  last  stage  northward  with  two  Eskimos  and  twenty-six  dogs 
and  two  sledges,  on  which  were  laden  rations  for  eighty  days.    He  had  made 


272  COOK'S  RETURN 

tHe  calculation  of  the  food  supplies,  too,  on  the  basis  that  dog  would  eat  dog-. 
Speaking  of  the  land  which  he  had  discovered  between  latitude  84-85  and  the 
io2d  meridian,  Dr.  Cook  said  that  it  was  mountainous  on  the  eastern  coast. 
He  saw  it  at  a  distance  of  about  forty  miles. 

"Why  didn't  you  explore  it?"  was  one  of  the  inquiries. 

"If  I  had,"  he  answered,  "I  should  have  never  found  the  pole." 

His  attention  was  called  to  a  quotation  from  one  of  his  books  on  the 
Antarctic,  in  which  he  referred  to  his  taking  a  few  observations  himself,  as 
that  work  was  distributed  among  the  members  of  the  party. 

Q.  Do  you  think  that  on  account  of  your  lack  of  experience  that  your  ob- 
servations might  be  erroneous? 

A.  A  full  investigation  of  those  observations  which  are  to  be  presented  first 
to  the  University  of  Copenhagen  will  show  if  that  is  the  case. 

Dr.  Cook  recounted  in  graphic  language  his  meeting  with  Mr.  Whitney. 
An  Eskimo  had  sighted  the  explorer  at  a  distance  of  five  miles  on  the  ice,  and 
Mr.  Whitney  had  come  two  miles  to  meet  him.  Dr.  Cook  had  then  only  half 
a  sledge. 

Referring  to  a  dispatch  in  the  Herald  in  which  it  was  said  that  doubt  had 
been  cast  upon  his  trip  to  the  North  Pole  on  account  of  the  condition  of  his 
equipment  when  he  returned.  Dr.  Cook  at  once  replied : 

"I  do  not  see  what  they  could  expect.  We  came  back  to  Etah  with  half  a 
sledge.  Our  sleeping  bags  had  been  fed  to  the  dogs.  We  were  ourselves 
dragging  what  was  left  of  the  sledge  and  the  instruments  and  records.  We 
had  come  back  to  land  from  the  pole  with  two  sledges. 

Dr.  Cook  said  he  had  with  him  a  folding  boat  of  canvas,  by  means  of  which 
he  was  able  to  cross  leads,  and  this  he  had  carried  with  him  to  the  pole. 

Speaking  of  the  conversations  he  had  with  Mr.  Whitney  relative  to  his 
discovery,  he  said  that  later  he  questioned  Pritchard,  one  of  the  Peary  sailors 
and  learned  that  he  was  about  to  send  a  letter  to  his  mother  telling  of  the  dis- 
covery of  the  pole.  He  had  Pritchard  leave  out  this  paragraph  for  fear  the 
letter  might  by  some  chance  get  to  civilization  sooner  than  he  did.  The  Danes 
of  Greenland,  Dr.  Cook  explained,  knew  of  the  discovery  four  months  ago, 
but  he  felt  reasonably  sure  that  he  could  get  back  to  civilization  with  the  news 
quicker  than  any  rumor  could  reach.  As  to  what  Murphy,  the  boatswain  of 
the  Roosevelt,  might  be  able  to  communicate,  Dr.  Cook  had  no  fear,  as  that 
worthy  could  neither  read  nor  write  and  he  knew  who  pencilled  his  letters  for 
him. 


COOK'S  RETURN  278 

"I  think  that  on  the  whole,"  added  Dr.  Cook,  "I  have  a  right  to  announce 
my  own  news." 

Dr.  Cook's  attention  was  called  by  one  of  the  reporters  to  an  assertion  in 
the  first  instalment  of  his  narrative  in  the  Herald,  to  which  he  had  referred  to 
the  secrecy  of  his  preparations  at  Gloucester,  which  had  been  made  even  then 
with  the  conquest  of  the  pole  in  view,  while  in  the  second  instalment  he  spoke 
of  his  purpose  to  reach  the  pole  as  an  after  thought,  occurring  to  him  on  the 
shores  of  Greenland. 

"Well,"  replied  the  explorer;  "we  prepared  in  New  York.  We  did  not  ask 
the  government  for  funds ;  we  took  no  private  subscriptions.  We  were,  there- 
fore, not  responsible  to  any  one  and  did  not  have  to  tell  of  our  movements. 
The  business  concerned  us  only.  We  prepared  for  every  emergency  when  we 
left  here ;  we  arranged  for  a  supply  of  provisions  and  for  material  with  which 
to  make  sleds  and  camp  work.  When  you  have  done  that  you  have  done  all 
that  was  necessary  for  polar  expeditions.  As  to  the  other  part  of  the  question, 
we  have  told  and  told  very  completely  why  we  started  out  for  the  pole  at  that 
time.  It  was  simply  because  we  found  a  condition  which  was  unusually  favor- 
able. The  best  natives  and  the  best  dogs  were  there  within  seven  hundred 
miles  of  the  pole.  It  was  a  condition  which  I  have  never  seen  before  nor  since. 
The  Eskimos  were  very  unsuccessful  at  that  point  two  years  before  and  two 
years  since  we  have  been  there." 

Still  further  light  was  thrown  upon  his  trip  by  Dr.  Cook  in  a  speech  at  a 
banquet  tendered  him  September  23  by  the  Arctic  Club  of  America. 

Upon  his  claim  the  organization,  composed  of  men  who  have  explored  the 
frigid  seas,  placed  the  imprimatur  of  its  approval  as  the  one  who  "first"  was  on 
the  "upper  edge"  of  the  earth.  With  them  was  a  brilliant  assemblage  of  the 
men  and  the  women  of  this  city,  who  joined  with  the  veterans  of  polar  en- 
deavor in  giving  enthusiastic  welcome  to  the  returned  explorer. 

Twelve  hundred  persons,  the  second  largest  company  ever  assembled  at  a 
public  dinner  within  those  walls,  pressed  about  the  man  who  had  found  the 
hyperborean  realm,  after  he  had  made  his  response  to  their  greetings,  and 
overwhelmed  him  with  expressions  of  confidence  and  good  will.  Side  by  side 
with  the  men  who  guide  the  destinies  of  New  York  and  with  women  of  society 
stood  survivors  of  the  Greely  expedition  and  of  the  quest  which  Mr,  Peary  led. 

With  characteristic  modesty  Dr.  Cook  gave  credit  for  his  discovery  to  the 
polar  explorers  who  had  gone  before  and  by  whose  hard-won  knowledge  and 
heart-breaking  errors  he  had  learned ;  to  his  friend  and  backer,  John  R.  Brad- 


274  COOK'S  RETURN 

ley ;  to  the  Canadian  government,  to  the  wild  men  of  the  North  and  last  of  all, 
a  casual  mention  of  himself  as  the  one  who  had  at  last  achieved.  He  sought  no 
license  of  his  quest,  as  he  plainly  said,  and  he  showed  a  calm  indifference  to 
captious  criticism. 

Everywhere  about  him  were  the  flags  of  his  own  land  intertwined  with  the 
banner  of  Denmark — the  country  which  had  first  received  him  and  approved 
him  as  the  finder  of  the  axial  terminus  of  the  world. 

By  his  side  sat  Rear  Admiral  Schley,  the  rescuer  of  the  Greely  expedition ; 
before  him  were  friends  and  comrades  of  the  arctic  circle  and  leaders  of  the 
scientific  world  and  beyond,  in  a  box  at  the  center  of  the  balcony,  was  the  wife 
whose  devotion  had  inspired  his  achievement. 

Few  and  eloquent  were  the  words  with  which  the  rear  admiral  introduced 
Dr.  Cook,  the  keynote  of  which  was  that  he  regretted  that  controversy  should 
have  arisen  concerning  so  gallant  a  feat,  and  he  repeated  the  words  which  came 
to  him  as  from  the  past  that  there  was  "glory  enough  for  both." 

Cheers  rang  through  the  hall ;  men  and  women  rose  to  their  feet  and  joined 
in  the  refrain,  "For  He  Is  a  Jolly  Good  Fellow,"  as  the  explorer  rose  to  his 
feet.  The  applause  lasted  for  several  minutes,  and  then,  when  his  auditors 
paused  for  breath,  Dr.  Cook  read  his  speech  in  a  slow,  even  voice. 

Dr.  Cook's  speech  was  interrupted  in  the  middle  by  his  reference  to  his 
backer,  John  R.  Bradley,  who  had  gone  from  his  place  at  the  principal  table  to  a 
group  of  his  friends  on  the  floor. 

"Bradley!  Bradley!"  called  many  a  voice.  "Bradley,  show  yourself!"  And 
finally  he  was  obliged  to  stand  upon  a  chair  and  bow  his  acknowledgments  to 
the  tumultuous  cheers. 

All  that  Dr.  Cook  said  carried  with  it  conviction,  and  when  he  finished 
with  his  tribute  to  the  brave  men  who  had  gone  before  and  his  disclaimer  for 
more  than  his  share  of  the  glory  the  company  hailed  him  with  every  expression 
of  confidence.  It  was  plain  that  they  agreed  with  all  that  Rear  Admiral  Schley 
said  in  his  speech  of  introduction. 

"I  regret,"  the  admiral  said,  "that  there  should  have  been  any  issue  raised 
concerning  an  achievement  so  full  of  glory  for  both.  As  president  of  the  Arctic 
Club  of  America,  I  believe  that  both  Dr.  Cook  and  Mr.  Peary  found  the  pole. 
They  succeeded  in  reaching  that  point  in  the  frozen  seas  which  was  so  long  the 
goal  of  the  cherished  ambitions  of  mankind. 

"Both  endure  inconceivable  hardships  under  trying  circumstances.  These 
two  men  reached  the  pole — men  willing  to  venture  into  fields  of  prolific  danger ; 


COOK'S  RETURN  275 

men  who  were  strong  and  able  to  penetrate  the  farthest  north  and  to  bring  back 
to  you  the  story  of  what  they  have  seen ;  all  honor  to  them  both.  And,  my  dear 
friends,  I  now  have  the  honor  to  introduce  to  you  the  man  who  first  discovered 
the  north  pole." 

Dr.  Cook  in  his  address  said: 

"This  is  one  of  the  highest  honors  I  ever  hope  to  receive.  You  represent 
most  of  the  frigid  explorers  of  Europe  and  nearly  all  of  the  Arctic  explorers  in 
America.  Your  welcome  is  the  explorer's  guarantee  to  the  world — coming  as 
it  does  from  fellow  workers,  from  men  who  know  and  have  gone  through  the 
same  experience — it  is  an  appreciation  and  a  victory  the  highest  which  could 
fall  to  the  lot  of  any  returning  traveler. 

"The  key  to  frigid  endeavor  is  subsistence.  There  is  nothing  in  the  entire 
realm  of  the  Arctic  which  is  impossible  to  man.  If  the  animal  fires  are  supplied 
with  adequate  fuel  there  is  no  cold  too  severe  and  no  obstacle  too  great  to  sur- 
mount. No  important  expedition  has  ever  returned  because  of  unscalable 
barriers  or  impossible  weather.  The  exhausted  food  supply  resulting  from  a 
limited  means  of  transportation  has  turned  every  aspirant  from  his  goal.  In 
the  ages  of  the  polar  quest  much  has  been  tried  and  much  has  been  learned. 
The  most  important  lesson  is  that  civilized  man,  if  he  will  succeed,  must  bend 
to  the  savage  simplicity  necessary. 

"The  problem  belongs  to  modern  man,  but  for  its  execution  we  must  begin 
with  the  food  and  the  means  of  transportation  of  the  wild  man.  Even  this  must 
be  reduced  and  simplified  to  fit  the  new  environment.  With  due  respect  to  the 
complimentary  eloquence  of  the  chairman  and  others,  candor  compels  me  to 
say  that  the  effort  of  getting  to  the  pole  is  not  one  of  physical  endurance,  nor  is 
it  fair  to  call  it  bravery;  but  a  proper  understanding  of  the  needs  of  the  stomach 
and  a  knowledge  of  the  limits  of  the  brute  force  of  the  motive  power,  be  that 
man  or  beast. 

"Our  conquest  was  only  possible  with  the  accumulated  lessons  of  early  ages 
of  experience.  The  failures  of  our  less  successful  predecessors  were  stepping 
stones  to  ultimate  success.  The  real  pathfinders  of  the  pole  were  the  early 
Danish,  the  Dutch,  the  English  and  the  Norse,  Italian  and  American  explorers. 
With  these  worthy  forerunners  we  must  therefore  share  the  good  fruits  which 
your  chairman  has  put  into  my  basket. 

"A  similar  obligation  is  due  to  the  wild  man.  The  twin  families  of  wild 
folk,  the  Eskimo  and  the  Indian,  were  important  factors  to  us. 

"The  use  of  pemmican  and  the  snowshoe,  which  makes  the  penetration  of 


276  COOK'S  RETURN 

the  Arctic  mystery  barely  possible,  has  been  borrowed  from  the  American 
Indian.  The  method  of  travel,  the  motor  force  and  the  native  ingenuity,  with- 
out which  the  polar  quest  would  be  a  hopeless  task,  have  been  taken  from  the 
Eskimo.  To  savage  man,  therefore,  who  has  no  flag,  we  are  bound  to  give  a 
part  of  this  fruit. 

"To  John  R.  Bradley — the  man  who  paid  the  bills — belongs  at  least  one- 
half  of  this  fruit. 

"The  Canadian  government  sent  its  expedition  under  Captain  Bernier  i,ooo 
miles  out  of  its  course  to  help  us  to  it.  I  gladly  pass  the  basket.  In  returning, 
shriveled  skin  and  withered  muscles  were  filled  out  at  the  expense  of  Danish 
hospitality.  And  last,  but  not  least — the  reception  with  open  arms  by  fellow 
explorers — to  you  and  to  all,  belongs  this  basket  of  good  things  which  the 
chairman  has  placed  on  my  shoulder. 

EXPLAINS  LACK  OF  LICENSE. 

"Nothing  would  suit  me  better  than  to  tell  you  to-night  the  complete  story 
of  our  quest,  but  the  very  first  telegram  gives  more  specific  data  than  I  could 
hope  to  tell  you  in  an  after-dinner  address.  Therefore,  I  shall  devote  the 
allotted  time  to  an  elucidation  of  certain  phases  of  our  adventure. 

"One  of  the  most  remarkable  charges  brought  out  is  that  I  did  not  seek 
a  geographic  hcense  to  start  for  the  pole.  Now,  gentlemen,  to  the  large  public 
that  may  be  a  mystery,  but  you  who  know  will  appreciate  that  no  explorer  can 
start  and  say  that  he  will  reach  the  pole.  Many  good  men  have  tried  before ; 
all  have  failed.  All  who  understand  the  problem  know  that  success  is  but 
barely  possible  when  every  conceivable  circumstance  is  favorable.  It  is  only 
necessary  to  make  announcement  that  an  expedition  embarks  for  the  pole  to 
start  an  undesirable  bombast  and  flourish  of  trumpets.    This  I  chose  to  escape. 

"Mr.  John  R.  Bradley  furnished  the  funds.  I  shaped  the  destiny  of  the 
expedition.  For  the  time  being  the  business  concerned  us  only.  I  believed 
then,  as  I  believe  now,  that  if  we  succeeded  there  would  be  time  enough  to  fly 
the  banner  of  victory.  You  are  here  to-night,  Mr.  Bradley  is  here,  and  I  am 
here.    We  have  come  together  to  celebrate  that  victory. 

"Now,  gentlemen,  I  appeal  to  you  as  explorers  and  as  men.  Am  I  bound 
to  appeal  to  anybody,  to  any  man,  to  any  body  of  men,  for  a  license  to  look 
for  the  pole  ? 

"Another  criticism  is  the  charge  of  our  insufiicient  equipment.  We  have 
met  this.    You  know  that  we  had  every  possible  aid  to  success  in  sledge  travel- 


COOK'S  RETURN  277 

ing.  A  big  ship  is  no  advantage.  An  army  of  white  men,  who  at  best  are 
novices,  is  a  distinct  hindrance,  while  a  cumbersome  luxury  of  equipment  is 
fatal  to  progress.  We  chose  to  live  a  life  as  simple  as  that  of  Adam,  and  we 
forced  the  strands  of  human  endurance  to  scientific  limits.  If  you  will  reach 
the  pole  there  is  no  other  way.  For  our  simple  needs  Mr.  Bradley  furnished 
sufficient  funds.  We  were  not  overburdened  with  the  usual  aids  to  pleasure 
and  comfort,  but  I  did  not  start  for  that  purpose. 

"Now,  as  to  the  excitement  of  the  press  to  force  things  of  their  own  picking 
from  important  records  into  print.  In  reply  to  this  I  have  taken  the  stand 
that  I  have  already  given  a  tangible  account  of  our  journey.  It  is  as  complete 
as  the  preliminary  reports  of  any  previous  explorer. 

TO  DELIVER  COMPLETE  DATA. 

"The  data,  the  observations,  the  record,  are  of  exactly  the  same  character. 
Heretofore  such  evidence  has  been  taken  with  faith  and  the  complete  record 
was  not  expected  to  appear  for  years,  whereas  we  agree  to  deliver  all  within  a 
few  months. 

"Now,  gentlemen,  about  the  pole.  We  arrived  April  21,  1908.  We  discov- 
ered new  land  along  the  I02d  meridian  between  the  eighty-fourth  and  the 
eighty-fifth  parallel.  Beyond  this  there  was  absolutely  no  life  and  no  land. 
The  ice  was  in  large,  heavy  fields  with  few  pressure  lines.  The  drift  was 
south  of  east,  the  wind  was  south  of  west.  Clear  weather  gave  good  regular 
observations  nearly  every  day.  These  observations,  combined  with  those  at 
the  pole  on  the  21st  and  22d  of  April,  are  sufficient  to  guarantee  our  claim. 
When  taken  in  connection  with  the  general  record,  you  do  not  require  this. 

"I  cannot  sit  down  without  acknowledging  to  you,  and  to  the  living  Arctic 
explorers,  my  debt  of  gratitude  for  their  valuable  assistance.  The  report  of 
this  polar  success  has  come  with  a  sudden  force,  but  in  the  present  enthusiasm 
we  must  not  forget  the  fathers  of  the  art  of  polar  travel.  There  is  glory  enough 
for  all.  There  is  enough  to  go  to  the  graves  of  the  dead  and  to  the  heads 
of  the  livinsr." 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

PEARY  WELCOMED  HOME. 

While  Dr.  Cook  was  being  greeted  by  his  friends  and  admirers  in  New 
York,  similar  honors  were  being  paid  to  Commander  Peary  in  Sydney,  N.  F., 
the  port  he  had  left  more  than  a  year  before  on  the  quest  that  was  to  prove  so 
notable. 

Peary  had  been  awaited  for  some  days  in  Sydney. 

At  an  early  hour  on  the  morning  of  September  21,  when  the  Roosevelt  was 
still  edging  her  way  along  the  Cape  Briton  coast,  the  steam  yacht  Sheelah, 
owned  by  James  Ross,  president  of  the  Dominion  Coal  company,  put  to  sea 
crarying  Mrs.  Peary,  her  daughter.  Miss  Marie  Peary,  little  Robert  E.  Peary, 
Jr.,  and  a  party  of  friends,  all  eager  to  meet  the  returning  explorer.  Among 
those  on  board  were  Col.  Borup,  father  of  George  Borup,  a  member  of  the 
Peary  expedition;  George  Kennan,  the  author,  and  John  Kehl,  the  United 
States  consul  at  Sydney. 

As  the  Sheelah  drew  alongside  the  Roosevelt  outside  a  sailor  on  the  yacht 
hailed  the  arctic  ship.  In  reply  Commander  Peary  came  to  the  rail  and  was 
greatly  surprised  when  he  perceived  his  wife  and  children  waving  their  greet- 
ings. In  reply  the  explorer  waved  his  slouch  hat  and  called  to  them  to  come 
on  board. 

A  few  words  of  welcome  were  exchanged  while  the  boat  was  being  lowered. 
Mrs.  Peary,  Miss  Peary  and  the  little  boy,  acocmpanied  by  Col.  Borup,  then 
went  over  the  side  of  the  Sheelah,  took  their  places  in  a  small  boat  and  were 
rowed  over  to  the  Roosevelt.  In  the  meantime  Commander  Peary  had  retired 
to  the  cabin.  Mrs.  Peary  and  the  children  were  assisted  up  the  side  of  the 
Roosevelt  and  made  their  way  across  the  deck  to  greet  the  husband  and  father 
in  private.  The  Sheelah  then  put  on  full  steam  and  returned  to  Sydney,  while 
the  Roosevelt  came  along  at  slower  speed. 

Commander  Peary  had  decorated  his  ship  for  the  occasion  and  in  addition 
to  the  flags  of  the  United  States  and  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  the  Roosevelt 
flew  the  burgee  of  the  New  York  yacht  club  and  the  flag  of  the  Peary  Arctic 
club. 

278 


PEARY  WELCOMED  HOME  279 

The  American  flag  waving  at  the  peak  of  the  spanker  gaff  of  the  Roose- 
velt attracted  much  attention.  It  bore  a  diagonal  white  band  on  which  were 
the  words,  "North  pole,"  in  black  letters. 

A  newspaper  correspondent  boarded  the  Roosevelt  at  North  Sydney  and 
received  from  Commander  Peary  a  new  version  of  the  dispute  regarding  Dr. 
Cook's  supplies  at  Annotook.  The  explorer's  attention  was  called  to  a  state- 
ment received  by  wireless  telegraphy  from  Dr.  Frederick  A.  Cook,  on  board  the 
steamer  Oscar  H,  declaring  that  the  Eskimos  at  Annotook  had  informed  Peary 
that  Cook  was  long  since  dead.  Peary  was  asked  if  he  entertained  this  opinion, 
and  said  no.  On  the  contrary,  he  had  left  supplies  at  Etah  in  case,  as  might 
well  happen,  Dr.  Cook  should  return  there  without  food. 

Meanwhile  the  news  that  the  Roosevelt  was  only  twenty  miles  away  spread 
quickly,  and  groups  of  people  gathered  at  the  water  front  to  take  part  in  the 
welcome.  The  day  was  perfect  and  the  harbor  presented  a  beautiful  spectacle, 
as  all  manner  of  water  craft,  yachts,  sailboats  and  motor  boats,  displaying  their 
colors,  made  their  way  down  the  bay  to  escort  the  Roosevelt  to  her  dock. 

The  tug  C.  M.  Winch  conveyed  the  official  welcoming  piarty  down  the  bay. 
This  party  included  the  mayor  of  Sydney,  Wallace  Richardson;  the  heads  of 
the  various  city  departments,  and  other  prominent  officials. 

As  the  morning  advanced  business  in  Sydney  came  to  an  end.  Stores  were 
closed,  the  hotels  were  emptied  of  their  guests,  and  the  crowd  on  the  water 
front  increased  rapidly. 

Commander  Peary's  trip  up  Sydney  harbor  was  one  continual  ovation. 
When  the  Roosevelt  turned  the  point  off  the  city  the  whistles  of  the  steel  works, 
all  the  steam  vessels  in  port  and  the  colliers  united  in  one  immense  and.  sus- 
tained volume  of  sound,  and  the  crowds  that  filled  the  esplanade  and  wharves 
cheered  continuously  as  the  arctic  steamer  swept  slowly  along.  A  fleet  of  tugs 
accompanied  the  Roosevelt  up  the  bay  and  scores  of  carriages  that  had  gone 
down  to  the  point  were  driven  hastily  back  to  town  and  discharged  their  occu- 
pants, who  hurried  to  the  water  front. 

Consul  Kehl  boarded  the  Roosevelt  down  the  bay  and  welcomed  Com- 
mander Peary  on  behalf  of  the  American  government  and  the  American  resi- 
dents of  Sydney.  There  were  no  important  officials  of  the  Dominion  govern- 
ment present  to  greet  the  explorer. 

The  Roosevelt  proceeded  direct  to  the  ferry  wharf,  where  2,000  school 
children  had  been  assembled.  Each  carried  an  American  flag  and  the  emblems 
were  waved  in  unison  the  moment  the  explorer  stepped  ashore.    A  delegation 


280  PEARY  WELCOMED  HOME 

of  ten  school  girls  dressed  in  white  then  went  forward  and  while  Commander 
Peary  stood  at  attention  before  them  Miss  Naomi  Kehl,  daughter  of  the  Amer- 
ican consul,  recited  a  short  address  of  welcome  and  presented  the  commander 
with  a  beautiful  bouquet. 

The  party  then  entered  carriages  and  were  driven  to  their  hotel.  The 
police  had  to  clear  a  way  for  them  through  the  crowd  of  10,000  people  that 
filled  the  square.  At  the  hotel  Commander  Peary  was  welcomed  by  the  city 
aldermen. 

At  the  hotel  Commander  Peary  was  soon  holding  an  impromptu  reception. 
Standing  on  the  steps  of  his  carriage,  he  shook  hands  with  scores  of  people  w^ho 
struggled  to  reach  him.  Rising  in  his  carriage,  Mayor  Richardson  read  an 
address  of  welcome  from  the  citizens  of  Sydne}^  congratulating.  Commander 
Peary  on  his  success  in  reaching  the  pole  and  his  safe  return  and  wishing  him 
and  the  members  of  his  family  good  health  and  a  long  life. 

Commander  Peary  expressed  his  appreciation  of  the  w^elcome  extended 
him.  Eleven  times,  he  said,  he  had  sailed  from  Sydney  for  the  north ;  once  he 
had  returned  with  "farthest  north"  and  now  he  came  back  with  the  pole  itself. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  handshaking  and  greetings  Commander  Peary 
retired  to  his  room. 

The  Roosevelt  had  passed  the  previous  day  at  St.  Paul's  island  and  James 
Campbell,  superintendent  of  the  Canadian  government  station  there,  enter- 
tained Capt.  Robert  Bartlett  and  Prof.  McMillan  of  the  Peary  expedition  at 
his  residence  on  shore.  As  soon  as  his  guests  were  in  his  house  Mr.  Campbell 
turned  to  them  and  said : 

"Now,  gentlemen,  this  island  is  yours;  what  is  the  first  thing  you  want?" 
Without  a  moment's  hesitation  and  in  unison  Capt.  Bartlett  and  Prof,  McMil- 
lan replied : 

"A  glass  of  real  milk." 

Commander  Peary,  after  leaving  Sydney,  made  a  kind  of  triumphal  tour 
through  Maine  on  a  railroad  train. 

On  his  arrival  in  Portland  the  evening  of  September  23,  Peary  was  given  an 
enthusiastic  welcome  by  a  large  portion  of  the  population.  He  was  met  at  the 
station  by  Mayor  Leighton  and  the  reception  committee  in  carriages  and  es- 
corted to  the  Auditorium,  where  he  held  a  public  reception. 

Four  companies  of  militia  and  a  long  procession  of  residents,  all  carrying 
red  fire,  marched  behind  the  carriages.  The  streets  from  the  station  to  the 
Auditorium  were  lined  with  people.  Thousands  cheered  the  explorer  as  he 
passed. 


PEARY  WELCOMED  HOME  281 

After  the  reception  Commander  Peary  was  banquetted  by  the  cities  of 
Portland  and  South  Portland.  At  this  function  he  was  vociferously  applauded 
by  the  diners  and  complimented  by  half  a  dozen  speakers,  including  Gov.  Fer- 
nald  and  President  William  Dewitt  Hyde  of  Bowdoin  college. 

It  was  midnight  before  the  dinner  was  over  and  the  speechmaking  began. 
The  last  speaker  was  the  explorer  himself.  When  he  arose  he  was  generously 
acclaimed. 

"You  know,  as  do  I,  today  has  been  a  white  letter  day  for  me,"  said  Peary. 
"The  splendid  dem^onstration  in  this  city,  every  foot  of  which  I  knew  in  my 
boyhood  days ;  this  splendid  gathering  here,  that  striking  loyalty  from  the  gov- 
ernor straight  from  the  shoulder,  the  fine  tribute  from  Mayor  Leighton  to  Mrs. 
Peary,  who  has  endured  as  much  as  I  in  this  effort,  have  touched  m^y  heart  as 
they  will  touch  hers. 

-  "I  have  been  asked,  'What  is  the  scientific  value  of  the  discovery  of  the 
north  pole  ?'  There  are  some  things  about  it  that  are  a  great  deal  greater  than 
the  gathering  of  a  few  additional  data  about  the  earth.  As  long  as  there  was 
a  part  of  the  earth  undiscovered  is  was  a  reproach  on  humanity  and  a  challenge 
to  civilization.  Another  thing,  it  has  accredited  to  the  United  States  another 
milestone  in  history. 

"Another  fact  is  the  satisfaction  that  at  last  a  man,  in  spite  of  every  obstacle, 
has  made  good." 

During  the  journey  through  eastern  Maine  Commander  and  Mrs.  Peary,  • 
with  their  children  and  newspaper  men,  occupied  the  chair  car  of  the  St.  John 
express  and  overflowed  into  other  coaches.     Along  the  350  mile  route  Peary 
was  cordial  and  appreciative,  although  he  appeared  tired.     At  every  station 
there  was  a  cheering  crowd. 

At  Old  Town  the  first  big  demonstration  on  this  side  of  the  border  was 
made.  At  Bangor  the  explorer  was  welcomed  by  thousands,  and  when  he  walked 
into  the  concourse  from  the  train  shed  was  given  a  succession  of  cheers.  Mayor 
Woodman  escorted  him  to  a  carriage,  and,  with  Gen.  Hubbard  and  members 
of  the  city  council  in  other  carriages,  he  was  driven  to  a  hotel,  where  he  was 
entertained  at  luncheon.    He  was  presented  with  a  large  silver  loving  cup. 

Commander  Peary  left  Bangor  at  3  140  p.  m.  on  the  Bar  Harbor-New  York 
express,  after  a  stop  of  three  hours.  At  Waterville  he  was  officially  welcomed. 
Members  of  the  city  government  in  carriages,  over  1,000  school  children  on 
foot,  headed  by  a  band  and  escorted  by  a  company  of  the  national  guard, 
marched  to  the  station,  where  a  stand  had  been  erected. 


282  PEARY  WELCOMED  HOME 

When  the  train  arrived  the  commander  was  escorted  to  the  stand  by  Mayor 
Redington.  The  school  children,  each  carrying-  an  American  flag,  were  banked 
about  the  stand,  with  the  guardsmen  around  them.  As  Peary  mounted  the 
stand  the  children  cheered  and  waved  their  flags.  Several  thousand  persons 
joined  in  the  cheering. 

Captain  Robert  Bartlett,  who  piloted  the  Roosevelt  through  the  frozen 
North,  told  at  Sydney  how  Commander  Peary  turned  him  back  from  the  pole. 
He  said : 

"I  really  didn't  think  I  would  have  to  go  back  until  I  had  reached  the  eighty- 
eighth  parallel.  The  commander  then  said  I  must  go  back — that  he  had  decided 
to  take  Matt  Henson. 

"I — well,  it  was  a  bitter  disappointment.  I  got  up  early  the  next  morning 
while  the  rest  were  asleep  and  started  north  alone.  I  don't  know,  perhaps  I 
cried  a  little.  I  guess,  perhaps,  I  was  just  a  little  crazy  then.  I  thought  that 
perhaps  I  could  walk  on  the  rest  of  the  way  alone.    I  seemed  so  near. 

"Here  I  had  come  thousands  of  miles,  and  it  was  only  a  little  over  a  hun- 
dred more  to  the  pole. 

"Commander  Peary  figured  on  five  marches  more,  and  it  seemed  as  if  I 
could  make  it  alone,  even  if  I  didn't  have  any  dogs  or  food  or  anything. 

"I  felt  so  strong  I  went  along  for  five  miles  or  so,  and  then  I  came  to  my 
senses  and  knew  I  must  go  back. 

"They  were  up  at  the  camp  then  and  getting  ready  to  start.  Never  mind 
whether  there  were  any  words  or  not.  I  told  the  commander  if  I  was  going  to 
be  any  hindrance  and  perhaps  make  a  failure  out  of  it  I  would  turn  around 
and  go  back.  He  said  I  must  go,  so  I  had  to  do  it.  But  my  mind  had  been  set 
on  it  for  so  long  I  had  rather  die  than  give  it  up  then. 

"When  I  started  on  the  back  trail  I  couldn't  believe  it  was  really  true  at 
first,  and  I  kind  of  went  on  in  a  daze.  I  can  tell  you  every  lead  we  crossed 
and  just  how  far  we  went  on  every  march  and  all  about  the  ice  on  the  trip  up, 
but  as  I  thought  of  it  afterward  I  could  not  remember  anything  about  coming 
back  until  I  got  to  the  ship.  Then  I  heard  of  poor  Marvin,  and  almost  envied 
him.  But  that  distracted  my  mind  until  the  boss  returned,  and  then  I  was  busy 
getting  the  Roosevelt  through  the  ice." 


O    '^ 


05    ^ 


S  n 

3   O 

o 


apq 

OS   o 
o  5 


:  o  CO 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

PREVIOUS  GREAT  CONTROVERSIES  OF  EXPLORERS. 

The  Cook-Peary  controversy,  though  it  bids  fair  to  be  the  most  famous 
of  the  great  contests  of  history,  because  of  the  startHng  facts  at  issue,  has 
aroused  no  greater  bitterness  than  did  several  previous  agitations  of  the  kind. 
Fifty  years  ago  something  similar  aroused  all  those  interested  in  exploration. 
It  lasted  for  years,  with  ever-increasing  bitterness  of  feeling  on  both  sides,  and 
was  not  definitely  settled  until  long  after  one  of  the  principals  had  died. 

This  was  the  famous  dispute  between  Sir  Richard  Francis  Burton  and  Capt. 
John  Hanning  Speke  as  to  the  source  of  the  river  Nile.  Burton  claimed  that  the 
great  stream  rose  in  Lake  Tanganyika,  of  which  he  was  the  discoverer.  Speke, 
on  the  other  hand,  declared  that  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza,  which  he  had  first 
seen,  was  the  river's  source. 

Speke  was  right.  After  most  acrimonious  disputing,  the  question,  already 
half  decided  in  his  favor,  was  answered  once  for  all  by  Henry  M.  Stanley,  who, 
having  thoroughly  explored  the  shores  of  Tanganyika,  showed  that  it  was 
connected,  not  with  the  Nile,  but  with  the  Congo  system. 

When  Speke  first  came  out  in  open  contradiction  to  Burton,  it  seemed  as 
if  he  had  undertaken  a  hopeless  job.  He  was  merely  a  young  officer,  while 
Burton  was  already  making  himself  known  as  one  of  the  most  daring,  original, 
and  versatile  men  that  ever  lived.  Before  his  journey  to  Lake  Tanganyika  he 
had  won  world-wide  fame  by  one  of  the  most  audacious  exploits  ever  recorded. 
Profiting  by  his  remarkable  knowledge  of  Oriental  languages,  he  had,  some 
years  before,  disguised  as  an  Afghan  doctor,  penetrated  to  the  sacred  Moham- 
medan cities  of  Mecca  and  Medina,  where  detection  by  the  Mohammedan  pil- 
grims would  have  meant  instant  assassination. 

This  Mecca  pilgrimage  took  place  in  1855,  when  Burton  was  34  years  old. 
In  October,  1856,  having  succeeded  in  interesting  influential  Englishmen  in  the 
exploration  of  unknown  portions  of  Africa,  Burton,  then  a  captain  in  the 
British  army,  sailed  from  home  for  Zanzibar  with  Speke,  whom  he  had  first 
met  as  an  officer  of  the  Anglo-Indian  troops  garrisoning  Aden,  on  the  Red  Sea. 

2S5 


286  PREVIOUS  GREAT  CONTROVERSIES 

Speke  was  30  years  old,  had  seen  service  in  India,  as  had  Burton,  and  was  a 
genuine  dare-devil  adventurer. 

The  two,  organizing  an  expedition  at  Zanzibar,  proceeded,  first  of  all,  to  the 
forbidden  city  of  Fuga,  in  Somaliland.  Already  their  heads  were  filled  with 
native  tales  of  the  mysterious  great  lakes  in  the  interior;  already  Burton  and 
Speke  seemed  to  have  entertained  their  contradictory  opinions  as  to  which  of 
these  was  the  source  of  the  Nile.  When  the  expedition  got  to  Fuga  the  auda- 
cious officers  gained  admittance  within  its  sacred  limits  by  informing  the 
natives  that  they  were  wizards,  skilled  in  the  curing  of  disease.  The  local 
Sultan,  who  was  very  ill,  at  once  asked  Burton  for  a  remedy,  but  it  was  beyond 
that  resourceful  man's  powers.  When  the  expedition  left  Fuga,  Burton  says 
that  he  was  haunted  by  the  look  in  the  eyes  of  the  Sultan,  hopeless  of  being 
cured,  as  he  said  farewell  to  the  "wizards." 

Returning  to  the  coast,  the  expedition  was  attacked  by  hostile  Somalis.  A 
desperate  fight  ensued.  Lieut  Stroyan,  one  of  the  subordinate  leaders,  was 
killed.  Both  Burton  and  Speke  fought  like  tigers.  Eventually  they  reached 
the  coast. 

Burton  at  once  organized  another  expedition,  purposing  this  time  to  ad- 
vance straight  toward  Lake  Tanganyika.  Speke  was  in  rather  an  unfortunate 
position,  having  sunk  much  money  in  the  disastrous  Somaliland  venture. 
Hence  Burton's  offer  to  him  of  the  position  of  second  in  command  on  the 
Tanganyika  trip  was  distinctly  welcome.  Already  bad  blood  seems  to  have, 
sprung  up  between  the  two  adventurers.  Speke  thought  that,  instead  of  ad- 
vancing through  Somaliland,  Burton  should  have  taken  another  route  toward 
the  great  African  lakes.  He  attributed  much  of  the  ill  success  of  the  prelim- 
inary expedition  to  Burton's  management,  and  seems  even  to  have  considered 
that  the  latter  showed  evidences  of  timidity. 

However,  on  June  26,  1857,  they  departed  from  Zanzibar  for  Tanganyika, 
in  harmony.  Burton,  always  eccentric,  carried  some  horse  chestnuts  tied  up  in 
canvas  bags  to  ward  off  the  evil  eye  and  sickness.  The  expedition,  in  addition 
to  Burton  and  Speke,  consisted  of  two  boys  from  Goa,  two  negro  gun  carriers, 
a  man  called  Sudy  Bombay,  who  had  accompanied  Burton  in  previous  explora- 
tions, and  ten  Zanzibar  mercenaries.  Burton's  avowed  object  was  to  find  Tan- 
ganyika and  gain  for  himself  thereby  the  title  of  discoverer  of  the  sources  of 
the  Nile. 

At  Dut'humi,  in  spite  of  his  horse  chestnuts,  Burton  got  a  bad  attack  of 
marsh  fever.    Here  hardships  began  in  earnest  for  the  rest  of  the  expedition's 


PREVIOUS  GREAT  CONTROVERSIES  287 

members,  too,  for  all  the  riding  asses  died.  But  Burton,  in  spite  of  his  own 
worries,  found  time  to  head  a  raid  against  some  Arab  slave  traders,  whom  he 
defeated,  thus  freeing  a  number  of  captives  who  were  being  dragged  away 
from  their  homes. 

After  traversing  a  land  where  a  great  part  of  the  natives  were  dying  of, 
smallpox,  the  expedition  reached  a  beautiful  country,  over  which  great  herds  of 
zebras  and  antelopes  roamed.  This,  however,  did  not  last  long.  Beyond  it 
were  dreary  swamps.  The  Zanzibar  mercenaries  grew  mutinous.  Time  and 
again,  when  all  else  failed,  Burton  used  a  star  sapphire  which  he  carried  as 
an  amulet,  to  enforce  obedience  from  the  superstitious  negroes.  In  spite  of 
the  awe  that  he  inspired  in  them,  they  plotted  to  kill  him.  While  hunting  one 
day,  followed  by  two  negroes,  who  were  not  aware  that  he  spoke  their  dialect, 
he  overheard  them  arranging  to  take  his  life.  Without  a  word,  without  even 
turning,  he  thrust  his  dagger  backward,  stabbing  one  to  death.  The  other, 
falling  on  his  knees,  begged  for  mercy. 

On  another  occasion  some  more  plotters,  having  made  their  plans  around 
a  wood  fire,  went  away  to  gether  more  wood.  Burton,  stealing  up,  put  a 
canister  of  powder  among  the  embers.  When  the  assassins  returned  and  kin- 
dled the  fire  anew  "there  weren't  any  assassins,"  as  one  of  Burton's  biographers 
succintly  puts  it.  Both  these  stories,  though  not  printed  in  any  of  Burton's 
works,  were  told  by  him  to  intimate  friends  on  his  return  from  Africa. 

After  passing  through  a  realm  where  no  self-respecting  man,  from  King 
down,  was  sober  after  midday,  and  where  obesity  and  beauty  were  synonymous 
terms  regarding  women,  the  explorers  on  Feb.  13,  1858,  saw  "a  long  streak 
of  light." 

"Look,  master,  look!"  shouted  the  Arab  guide,  "behold  the  great  water!" 
It  was  Lake  Tanganyika. 

The  two  Englishmen  set  about  the  exploration  of  the  great  lake's  shores, 
but  were  not  very  thorough.  While  in  a  boat  they  were  caught  in  a  terrible 
storm,  during  which  they  despaired  of  ever  reaching  land  again. 

They  set  out  from  Tanganyika  for  the  coast  on  May  26,  1858.  Burton 
and  Speke  were  both  suffering  severely  from  malaria  and  complications:  in 
fact,  part  of  the  time  the  former  was  nearly  paralzyed,  the  latter  almost  blind. 

When  they  reached  Kazeh  Speke  announced  to  his  chief  that  he  desired 
to  look  for  another  lake,  which  he  understood  from  the  natives  was  somewhere 
in  the  neighborhood.  Whether  owing  to  illness  or  other  reasons,  Burton  re- 
fused to  accompany  Speke  on  this  side  trip.    Moreover,  he  seems  to  have  made 


288  PREVIOUS  GREAT  CONTROVERSIES 

himself  disagreeable  regarding  guides  and  supplies.  But  eventully  Speke  set 
out.  He  made  Burton  a  promise  that  he  would  return  to  Kazeh  within  a 
certain  time  and  resume  the  march  to  the  coast. 

After  a  difficult  advance  Speke,  like  "stout  Cortes"  of  Keats'  sonnet,  ascend- 
ed a  hill,  and  beheld  before  him  a  great  sheet  of  water.  He  described  his  first 
impressions  in  these  words: 

"The  vast  expanse  of  the  pale-blue  waters  of  the  Nyanza  burst  suddenly  on 
my  gaze.  It  was  early  morning.  The  distant  sea  line  of  the  north  horizon  was 
defined  in  the  calm  atmosphere,  between  the  north  and  west  points  of  the 
compass,  but  even  this  did  not  afford  me  any  idea  of  the  breadth  of  the  lake, 
as  an  archipelago  of  islands,  each, consisting  of  a  single  hill,  rising  to  a  height 
of  200  or  300  feet  above  water,  intersected  the  line  of  vision  to  the  left,  while 
on  the  right  the  west  horn  of  the  Ukerewe  Island  cut  off  any  further  view  of 
the  distant  water  to  the  eastward  of  north." 

Speke,  in  fact,  seems  never  to  have  had  an  accurate  idea  of  the  vastness  of 
the  lake  that  he  discovered.  However,  as  he  contemplated  it  he  felt  absolutely 
assured  that,  after  centuries  of  conjecture,  the  source  of  the  Nile  was  at  last  no 
secret. 

He  stayed  about  the  lake,  which  he  called  Victoria  Nyanza  in  honor  of  the 
Queen  of  England,  for  some  time,  gathering  a  great  deal  of  lore  about  the 
natives,  as  was  his  wont,  and  much  other  valuable  data.  Then  remembering 
his  promise  to  Burton,  he  retraced  his  steps,  arriving  at  Kazeh  about  six  weeks 
after  he  had  left  it. 

He  told  Burton  that  he  felt  convinced  that  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza  was  the 
source  of  the  Nile.  Burton  promptly  ridiculed  this  idea.  To  Lake  Tanganyika, 
he  insisted,  belonged  the  honor.  The  two  explorers  got  into  bitter  dispute.  All 
the  way  to  the  coast  they  were  distant  and  unfriendly  to  each  other ;  the  affec- 
tionate "Dick"  and  "Jack"  of  their  previous  intercourse  were  now  replaced 
by  the  icy  "Sir." 

When  they  reached  the  coast  Burton  lingered  to  wind  up  the  expedition's 
affairs,  but  Speke — unfairly,  as  Burton  and  his  friends  maintained,  hurried  to 
England  with  the  news  of  his  discovery  of  Victoria  Nyanza  and  his  belief  that 
it  was  the  long-scught  Nile  source.  He  arrived  in  England  May  9,  1859. 
Immediately  his  statements  aroused  immense  enthusiasm.  Sir  Roderick  Mur- 
chison.  President  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  accepted  them  without 
question,  as  did  many  other  well-known  men.  Burton's  discovery  of  Lake 
Tanganyika  was  entirely  overshadowed.  On  all  sides  Speke  was  urged  to 
return  to  Africa  and  make  certain  his  theories  about  Victoria  Nyanza, 


PREVIOUS  GREAT  CONTROVERSIES  289 

Burton  came  back  to  England  on  May  22,  two  weeks  later  than  Speke.  He 
found  the  "ground  cut  from  under  his  feet,"  says  his  biographer.  Already 
Speke  was  lecturing  "vaingloriously"  at  Burlington  House  and  writing  articles 
for  Blackwood's  Magazine,  Burton  lost  no  time  in  getting  into  the  fight.  He 
vigorously  championed  his  view  that  Tanganyika  was  the  true  Nile  source. 
The  controversy  was  fairly  under  way. 

In  i860  Speke  set  forth  anew  from  England  to  prove  the  worth  of  his 
contentions.  With  him  this  time  went  Capt.  James  Augustus  Grant,  "a  man 
after  Speke's  own  heart,"  described  by  another  explorer,  who  knew  him  well, 
as  "one  of  the  most  loyal  and  charming  creatures  in  the  world." 

The  two  reached  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza  and  made  careful  explorations  of  its 
shores.  In  the  course  of  these  Grant  broke  down.  Speke  was  compelled  to 
continue  his  investigations  alone.  On  July  17,  1862,  having  followed  the  Nile 
northward  from  Victoria  Nyanza,  he  arrived  at  the  first  great  cataract  from 
its  source,  which  he  called  the  Ripon  Falls,  after  Lord  de  Grey  and  Ripon. 
His  theory  was  now  practically  proved  to  be  correct. 

Picking  up  Grant  again,  Speke  descended  the  Nile,  but  crossed  it  at  Karuma 
Falls  to  avoid  the  territory  of  Kamurasi,  a  local  King,  who  had  shown  signs  of 
hostility.  Though  they  did  not  know  it,  the  two  explorers  were  only  fifty 
miles  from  the  junction  of  the  Victoria  Nyanza  with  the  undiscovered  Lake 
Albert.  If  they  had  but  kept  to  the  river  for  only  a  few  marches  more  they 
would  have  found  the  latter  lake,  the  second  great  source  of  the  Nile. 

As  it  was,  they  arrived,  on  Feb.  15,  1863,  at  Gondokoro,  the  highest  point 
on  the  Nile  to  which  explorers  had  arrived  before  them,  and  there  found 
Samuel  Baker.  Speke  handed  over  to  the  latter  all  the  notes  that  he  had  taken, 
and  by  their  aid  Baker  soon  after  discovered  Lake  Albert  Nyanza. 

On  his  return  from  this  momentous  expedition  the  only  reward  received  by 
Speke  from  the  British  government  was  the  permission  to  add  to  the  sup- 
porters of  his  coat-of-arms  a  hippopotamus  and  a  crocodile. 

On  his  return  to  England  Speke  at  once  set  about  showing  that  he  had 
definitely  settled  the  great  question  regarding  the  headwaters  of  the  Nile. 
Even  those  who  admire  him  admit  that  his  attitude  toward  Burton,  though 
never  unfair,  was  hard  and  pitiless.  On  the  Somaliland  and  Tanganyika  expe- 
ditions, he  seems  to  have  acquired  a  dislike  for  his  famous  companion  from 
which  he  never  freed  himself.  Fresh  attacks  by  Burton  on  Speke  began  to 
thicken  about  four  years  after  Speke's  return  from  his  second  expedition.  They 
were  heated  enough,  but  lacked  the  younger  officer's  incisivenesSo 


290  PREVIOUS  GREAT  CONTROVERSIES 

Burton's  main  object,  of  course,  was  to  belittle  Speke's  discovery  of  Vic- 
toria Nyanza.  He  tried  to  show  that  that  lake  was  of  no  special  importance, 
merely  a  network  of  swamps  and  small  lakes,  and  was  overjoyed  when  Samuel 
Baker,  on  returning  from  his  explorations  subsequent  to  those  of  Speke  and 
Grant,  claimed  that  the  Victoria  Nyanza  was  the  ultimate  source  of  the  White 
Nile,  not  of  the  main  river.  Burton  maintained  that  the  Rusizi  River  flowed 
out  of  the  northern  end  of  Lake  Tanganyika,  instead  of  into  that  lake,  hoping 
thus  to  prove  that  connection  existed  between  Tanganyika  and  Lake  Albert. 
If  successful,  he  realized  that  his  would  materially  reduce  the  importance  of  the 
discovery  of  Victoria  Nyanza.  He  even  published  a  map  to  illustrate  his 
theory,  and  worked  hard  to  make  geographers  agree  with  him. 

The  argument  in  print  finally  became  so  fierce  that  a  joint  debate  between 
the  two  rivals  was  arranged,  to  take  place  at  Bath,  Sept.  15,  1864.  Instead  of 
the  debate,  Bath  saw  an  astonishing  and  impressive  scene  of  quite  a  different 
sort. 

"The  great  day  arrived,"  says  Thomas  Wright,  Burton's  biographer,  "and 
no  melodramatic  author  could  have  contrived  a  more  startling,  a  more  shocking 
denouement.  Burton,  notes  in  hand,  stood  on  the  platform,  facing  the  great 
audience,  his  brain  heavy  with  arguments,  bursting  with  sesquipedalian  and 
sledge-hammer  words,  to  pulverize  his  exasperating  opponent. 

"The  Council  and  other  speakers  filed  in.  The  audience  waited  expectant. 
To  Burton's  surprise,  Speke  was  not  there. 

"Silence  having  been  obtained,  the  president  advanced  and  made  the  thrill- 
ing announcement  that  Speke  was  dead.  He  had  accidentally  shot  himself 
that  very  morning  while  out  rabbiting. 

"Burton  sank  into  his  chair,  the  working  of  nis  face  revealing  the  terrible 
emotion  he  was  controlling,  and  the  shock  he  had  received.  When  he  got 
home  he  wept  like  a  child." 

Burton's  emotion  was  not  deep  or  lasting  enough,  however,  to  prevent  him 
from  hinting  that,  Speke  had  committed  suicide,  fearing  to  face  him  and  his 
arguments.  He  had  absolutely  no  justification  for  such  an  assumption.  His 
very  biographer,  avowedly  his  partisan,  wherever  possible  remarks,  that  "it 
was  eminently  characteristic  of  Burton  to  make  statements  resting  on  insuffi- 
cient evidence." 

But  it  was  all  useless.  Speke  was  right  and  Burton  wrong.  In  1870, 
Stanley  terminated  successfully  his  world-famous  search  for  Livingstone  by 
finding  the  latter  at  Ujiji,  in  the  Tanganyika  region.     Together  the  tw^o  ex- 


PREVIOUS  GREAT  CONTROVERSIES  291 

plorers  voyaged  along  the  northern  shore  of  the  great  lake  which  Burton  had 
discovered,  and  proved  conclusively  that  it  had  no  outlet  connecting  with  the 
Nile  basin. 

In  March,  1873,  Lieut.  Cameron,  heading  another  Livingstone  relief  expe- 
dition, met  followers  of  the  latter  bearing  Livingstone's  body  to  the  coast. 
Cameron,  however,  continued  on  his  way,  explored  the  shores  of  Tanganyika, 
and  not  only  corroborated  Stanley  and  Livingstone  regarding  the  non-exist- 
ence of  an  outlet  toward  the  Nile,  but  advanced  the  opinion  that  the  great  lake 
was  a  part  of  the  Congo  system.  This  was  made  absolutely  certain  in  1874, 
when  Stanley  made  his  celebrated  journey  from  Bagamoyo  to  Victoria  Nyanza 
and  Tanganyika,  thence  by  Nyangwe,  on  the  Lualaba,  down  the  Congo  to  the 
sea,  verifying  all  that  Cameron  had  conjectured. 

Thereupon  no  more  was  heard  from  Burton  as  to  the  Lake  Tanganyika's 
being  the  source  of  the  Nile. 

Farther  back  in  history  are  records  of  other  explorers  failing  to  convince 
the  world  of  their  deeds. 

It  is  the  irony  of  fate  that  though  Columbus  discovered  America  this  con- 
tinent should  be  called  not  after  him  but  after  Amerigo  Vespucci.  According 
to  the  latter's  own  story,  which  is  the  only  authority  the  world  has  for  the 
assertion,  Vespucci  was  the  first  to  discover  the  mainland  of  North  America, 
having  reached  here  In  1497,  several  months  before  either  the  Cabots  or 
Columbus.  Columbus's  discovery  was  what  started  Amerigo  Vespucci  to  voy- 
age westward.  The  firm  in  which  he  was  a  partner  fitted  out  Columbus's  later 
expeditions  and  it  was  with  one  of  these  that  Vespucci  sailed,  just  as  it  was 
with  Peary  that  Cook  first  sailed  to  the  Arctic.  However,  this  continent  is 
named  America  and  not  Columbus. 

Another  notable  instance  of  a  real  discoverer  losing  credit  for  his  achieve- 
ment is  that  of  Verrazzano.  That  he  really  discovered  the  Hudson  River  in 
1524  is  a  historical  fact,  proved  by  his  log  and  by  letters  of  his  which  are  still 
extant.  How  far  up  the  river  he  sailed  is  a  matter  of  doubt,  but  it  is  certain 
that  he  sailed  into  New  York  Bay  sufficiently  far  to  see  and  describe  Manhattan 
Island.  Husdon  explored  the  river  that  bears  his  name  eighty-five  years  later, 
in  1609.  The  reason  that  Hudson  received  the  credit  for  it  is  to  found  in  the 
fact  that  the  early  settlers  were  Dutch  and  English.  They  knew  all  about 
Hudson;  few  if  any  of  them  had  ever  heard  of  Verrazzano.  Eager  to  claim 
credit  for  a  man  of  their  own  race,  historians  dismissed  Verrazzano  with  a 
line,  while  they  told  the  full  story  of  Hudson's  discovery. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

VALUABLE  ANIMALS  OF  THE  ARCTIC. 

The  North  Pole  discovery  is  bringing  a  new  discription  of  the  dog.  In 
an  earlier  chapter  were  described  some  of  the  queer  traits  of  Eskimo  canines — 
the  animals  to  which,  more  than  to  anything  else,  perhaps,  Dr.  Cook  owes 
his  success.  Further  details  of  the  habits  and  uses  of  these  animals  may  here 
be  given. 

The  dog  has  probably  reached  the  highest  point  in  his  personal,  economical 
and  ethical  value  to  man  individually,  humanity  as  a  whole  and  the  world's 
progress  by  the  part  he  has  played  in  polar  expeditions.  Whether  to  the  South 
or  the  North  Pole,  no  voyage  has  been  planned  without  counting  upon  the  dog  as 
an  important  if  not  vital  factor,  and  no  explorer  has  ever  returned  from  his 
trip  into  the  regions  of  eternal  ice  without  paying  a  tribute  to  the  value  and 
devotion  of  the  dog. 

Dr.  Fridtjof  Nansen  is  especially  enthusiastic  in  his  references  to  the 
importance  of  the  dogs  in  polar  expeditions,  and  in  his  "Farthest  North"  is 
to  be  found  this  reference  to  them,  showing  not  only  his  appreciation  of  them 
as  helpers,  but  his  fondness  for  them  as  companions : 

"I  kept  an  anxious  eye  upon  the  dogs,  for  fear  anything  should  happen 
to  them,  and  also  to  see  that  they  continue  in  good  condition,  for  all  my  hopes 
centered  in  them.  ...  I  wrote  in  my  diary :  Tn  the  afternoon  one  of  the 
black  and  white  puppies  had  an  attack  of  madness.  .  .  .  This  makes  the 
fourth  that  has  had  a  similar  attack.'  .  .  .  Later  I  wrote:  'Another  of 
the  puppies  died  in  the  forenoon  from  one  of  these  mysterious  attacks,  and 
I  cannot  conceal  from  myself  that  I  take  it  greatly  to  heart,  and  feel  low  spirited 
about  it,  I  have  been  so  used  to  these  small  polar  creatures  living  their  sorrow- 
less  life  on  deck,  romping  and  playing  around  us  from  morning  to  evening, 
and  a  little  of  the  night  as  well.  I  can  watch  them  with  pleasure  by  the 
hour  together,  or  play  with  them  as  with  little  children,  have  a  game  at  hide 
and  seek  with  them  around  the  skylight,  the  while  they  are  beside  themselves 
with  glee. 

292 


VALUABLE  ANIMALS  OF  THE  ARCTIC  293 

"  'It  is  the  largest  and  strongest  of  the  lot  that  has  just  died,  a  hand- 
some dog;  I  called  him  "Lova"  (Lion).  He  was  such  a  confiding,  gentle 
animal,  and  so  affectionate.  Only  yesterday  he  was  jumping  and  playing 
about  and  rubbing  himself  against  me,  and  to-day  he  is  dead.'  " 

Captain  Otto  Sverdrup,  Dr.  Nansen's  companion  and  a  leader  of  expedi- 
tions himself,  thus  writes  of  the  dog  in  his  "New  Land" : 

"There  are  two  indispensable  adjuncts  to  the  carrying  out  of  polar  re- 
search, and  these  are  *ski'  and  dogs.  .  .  .  For  my  own  part  I  am  inclined 
to  believe  .  .  .  the  Eskimo  dog  is  an  ideal  companion  on  a  polar  expedi- 
tion. I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  the  action  of  various  breeds  of  dogs 
upon  the  polar  ice,  but  none  of  them  come  up  to  the  Eskimo  dog.  It  has  the 
persistence  and  tenacity  of  the  wild  animal,  and  at  the  same  time  the  domestic 
dog's  admirable  devotion  to  its  master. 

"It  is,  so  to  speak,  the  mildest  breath  of  nature  and  the  warmest  breath  of 
civilization. 

"As  a  draught  animal  it  surpasses  all  other  breeds.  .  .  .  If  it  may 
be  said  that  polar  research  without  'ski'  is  extremely  difficult,  it  may  be  safely 
said  that  without  dogs  it  is  impossible ;  and,  so  far,  they  are  right  who  say  that 
the  question  of  reaching  the  pole  is  simply  and  solely  one  of  dogs." 

One  of  the  great  advantages  of  the  Eskimo  dog  on  a  polar  expedition 
is  his  ability  to  eat  anything  and  everything  or  nothing.  Captain  Sverdrup 
writes : 

".  .  .  In  weather  of  this  kind  a  ration  of  one  pound  is  too  little  for 
such  big  and  strong  animals,  and  no  matter  how  sustaining  the  food  may 
be  in  itself  the  quantity  is  insufficient.  .  .  .  Gammelgulen  had  tried  to 
rectify  matters  by  getting  his  muzzle  off  and  eating  it ;  he  had  then  appro- 
priated those  of  his  companions,  first  gnawing  them  off  and  then  consuming 
them.  The  traces  had  gone  the  same  way,  including  the  iron  swivels,  and 
only  a  little  was  left  of  the  harness." 

It  is  this  matter  of  food  that  makes  the  dog  the  one  and  only  animal  the 
polar  explorer  is  able  to  use  to  advantage.  Had  the  horse  been  possible  or 
the  reindeer  easily  available  the  necessity  of  carrying  food  for  them — corn, 
oats  and  fodder — would  prove  an  insuperable  difficulty,  but  the  dog  is  car- 
nivorous. He  feeds  on  blubber,  walrus  skin,  fish,  bear  or  musk  ox — food  that  is 
to  be  found  all  along  the  journey  to  the  pole,  or  he  can  feed  on  the  carcass  of 
his  fellow. 

His  tractable  character  and  the  combined  strength  of  an  obedient  pack,  to- 


294  VALUABLE  ANIMALS  OF  THE  ARCTIC 

gether  with  his  auto-solution  of  the  food  problem,  render  him  the  obvious, 
simplest  and  practically  only  answer  to  the  question  of  polar  transportation. 

The  Eskimos  have  used  the  dogs  for  transportation  since  the  earliest  days. 
Martin  Frobisher  reports  their  use  by  the  Eskimos  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  Russians  made  use  of  the  dogs  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
in  charting  the  coast  of  Siberia.  Many  dogs  and  few  men  has  always  been  the 
policy  of  Arctic  explorers. 

Dr.  Nansen  owed  the  success  of  his  expedition  to  his  dogs.  The  hardships 
of  his  memorable  journey  with  Johansen  would  have  been  insurmountable 
without  his  canine  companions.  The  journey  was  severe  upon  the  dogs,  and 
many  of  them  had  to  be  killed  to  provide  food  for  their  fellows.  Dr.  Nan- 
sen  says : 

"On  Wednesday  evening  Haren  was  killed.  Poor  beast,  he  was  not  good 
for  much  latterly.  But  he  had  been  a  first  rate  dog,  and  it  was  hard,  I  fancy, 
for  Johansen  to  part  with  him.  He  looked  so  sorrowfully  at  the  animal  before 
it  went  to  its  happy  hunting  grounds  or  wherever  it  may  be  where  good  draught 
dogs  go  to,  perhaps  to  places  where  there  are  plains  of  level  ice  and  no  ridges 
or  lanes." 

Dr.  Nansen's  dogs  were  mostly  of  the  white  or  white  and  black  Samoyede 
breed.  With  its  pointed  muzzle  and  sharply  erect  ears,  its  strong  bushy  tail 
and  short  body,  the  dog  is  obviously  of  the  Spitz  type,  but  the  wolf  nature  is 
always  more  or  less  apparent  and  the  white  Arctic  wolf  undoubtedly  contributed 
largely  to  its  origin. 

The  Eskimo  dog  is  larger  and  more  nearly  allied  to  the  wolf.  He  is  sturdy, 
well  boned,  has  a  long,  snipy  muzzle  and  erect  triangular  ears.  The  eyes  are  set 
obliquely  like  those  of  a  wolf,  and  the  jaw  is  formidable  and  full  of  strong, 
white,  pointed  teeth.  He  has  a  strong,  arched  neck,  a  broad  chest  and  mus- 
cular quarters,  and  is  apparently  made  for  work,  having  an  almost  tireless 
endurance.  His  tail  is  long  and  bushy  and  his  coat  is  dense,  hard  and  deep, 
especially  on  the  back,  where  it  may  be  from  two  to  four  inches  deep,  with  a 
woolly  undercoat,  which  resists  the  penetrating  snow  and  cold.  In  color  it  is 
the  same  as  that  of  the  wolf,  black  or  rusty  black,  with  lighter  grayish  mark- 
ings on  the  chest  and  ':ail.  Often  there  is  a  pure  white  dog.  In  all  there  are 
the  characteristic  light  spots  over  the  eyes. 

The  Eskimo  dog  does  not  habitually  bark,  but  has  a  weird,  wolfish  howl, 
and  is  thievish  and  destructive.  He  leaves  the  bones  of  a  fish  as  clean  as  if 
they  had  been  scraped  by  a  surgical  instrument.    Each  team  has  its  king,  which 


VALUABLE  ANIMALS  OF  THE  ARCTIC  295 

is  not  always  the  strongest,  but  usually  the  most  unscrupulous  bully  and  tyrant. 
They  are  monogamous  in  their  mating,  and  interference  with  their  domestic 
relations  on  the  part  of  an  outside  dog  results  immediately  in  a  fight  to  the 
death. 

Six  Eskimo  dogs  can  pull  a  load  of  eight  hundred  pounds  seven  miles  in 
an  hour.  Kane  was  carried  for  seven  hundred  miles  at  the  rate  of  fifty-seven 
miles  a  day.  The  record  speed  of  dogs  pulling  a  load  was  attained  in  the  case 
of  the  rescue  of  a  sailor  in  Lieutenant  Schwatka's  expedition. 

"He  was  seen  at  a  distance  of  ten  miles  across  an  ice  covered  bay,  just  at 
nightfall,"  relates  "The  New  Book  of  the  Dog."  "To  leave  him  there  would 
involve  his  death  from  frost  bite,  and  two  Eskimo  natives,  with  a  double  team 
of  forty  dogs,  were  sent  to  fetch  him.  The  runners  were  'iced'  and  the  men 
armed  with  knives  to  cut  adrift  any  dog  that  might  lose  his  footing,  for  there 
was  no  stopping  when  once  started.  They  did  the  ten  miles  in  twenty-two  and 
one-half  minutes." 

The  Eskimo  dog  is  largely  used  in  the  Northwest,  but  a  halfbreed  is  con- 
sidered better.  Many  are  a  cross  between  the  Eskimo  and  the  wolf,  but  the 
superlative  dog  for  hauling  is  the  offspring  of  the  Eskimo  and  what  is  known 
in  Canada  as  the  staghound.  For  speed,  strength  and  staying  power  these  are 
second  to  none.  Many  breeds,  however,  are  employed,  including  the  pure  New- 
foundland, which  is  too  heavy  and  clumsy  for  winter  traveling.  The  Hare 
Indian,  or  McKenzie  River  dog,  was  formerly  used,  and  even  the  greytiound 
and  spaniel. 

The  "huskies,"  so  frequently  referred  to  in  Jack  London's  "Call  of  the 
Wild,"  are  of  the  Eskimo  and  wolf  crx)ss,  and  the  "geddies"  are  of  like  origin, 
bred  specially  by  the  Indians  for  hauling  purposes.  These  last  are  willing 
workers,  declares  "The  New  Book  of  the  Dog,"  but  vicious  brutes,  who  fight 
their  way  through  summers  of  semi-starvation  and  winters  of  ill  treatment, 
hunger  and  the  lash. 

In  the  Hudson  Bay  territory  four  huskies  are  harnessed  to  the  sled  in 
tandem  order,  the  harness  consisting  of  saddles,  collars  and  traces.  The  leader, 
or  "foregoer,"  sets  the  pace,  and  changes  his  course  at  a  word  from  the  driver, 
who,  whatever  his  nationality,  speaks  to  his  team  in  the  patois  of  the  North. 
"Hu!"  and  "choic!"  anglicized  to  "you!"  and  "chaw!"  are  the  words  neces- 
sary to  turn  the  foregoer  to  the  right  or  left.  The  team  is  started  by  "mush !" 
a  corruption  of  the  French  word  "marche,"  meaning  "march."  The  sled  or 
steer  dog  is  the  heaviest  and  strongest  of  the  team,  trained  to  swing  the  ten 
foot  long  sled  away  from  any  obstacle. 


296  VALUABLE  ANIMALS  OF  THE  ARCTIC 

Some  of  the  Indians  and  Eskimos  have  a  separate  irace  for  each  dog,  which 
enables  the  team  to  spread  out  fanwise  when  traveUing  over  the  ice,  but  for 
land  journeys  the  tandem  team  is  considered  better  ahke  for  speed  and  safety. 

In  the  Northwest  the  harness  is  made  of  moose  skin  and  is  often  decorated 
with  ribbons  and  Httle  bells.  The  dogs  seem  to  enjoy  the  tinkling,  and  if  the 
bells  are  taken  away  from  them  they  sulk  and  do  not  go  half  so  well.  As  a 
protection  against  frozen  snow  the  feet  of  the  dogs  are  protected  with  skin- 
shoes.  In  summer  the  dogs  are  turned  loose  and  go  off  by  themselves  in  packs, 
but  before  the  winter  comes  on  they  return  to  their  old  masters,  usually  accom- 
panied by  puppies. 

Next  to  the  dog,  probably,  the  most  valuable  animal  to  the  Eskimo  is  the 
reindeer.  In  Uncle  Sam's  territory  of  Alaska  this  is  recognized  to  the  extent 
of  placing  the  animals  under  government  supervision.  Tens  of  thousands  of 
them  are  kept  at  Wainwright,  Alaska. 

An  encouraging  feature  of  the  work  there,  far  from  markets  and  utterly 
shut  out  from  any  considerable  contact  with  white  men,  is  the  fact  that  the 
native  is  slowly  but  certainly  coming  to  recognize  the  great  possibilities  of  the 
reindeer  industry.  While  every  effort  has  been  made  to  give  as  many  natives 
as  possible  an  interest  in  the  herds  by  direct  ownership  of  some  of  the  deer, 
the  owners  of  deer  are  still  a  very  small  minority. 

So  valuable  has  a  Government  apprenticeship  come  to  be  considered  that 
it  has  often  been  the  deciding  factor  in  determining  the  outcome  of  the  dusky 
love  affairs. 

"When  you  get  some  reindeer  I  will  be  your  wife,"  says  the  Innuit  maiden 
with  the  tattooed  chin.  These  wise  young  ladies  know  that  the  ownership  of 
deer  carries  with  it  as  a  usual  thing  three  or  four  years  of  first  class  Govern- 
ment rations  and  piles  of  cloth  and  clothing  which  Uncle  Sam  throws  about 
in  the  Arctic  with  a  generous  hand.  So  among  the  natives  there  is  developing 
a  sort  of  reindeer  aristocracy  quite  at  variance  with  the  old  democratic,  com- 
munistic ideas  of  the  others  who  hold  no  property  worth  while  and  who  have 
not  been  favored  by  the  Government. 

If  the  moss  is  poor  the  deer  may  feed  for  six  hours  at  the  end  of  which  time 
they  are  driven  back  to  the  vicinity  of  the  camp  and  allowed  to  remain  there 
until  the  next  feeding  time,  while  the  ease  loving  servants  of  the  Government 
sleep  or  whittle  fine  old  ivory  into  curios  to  be  traded  off  on  the  ships  for  the 
tobacco  which  Uncle  Sam  overlooked  in  ordering  the  shiploads  of  supplies 
which  annually  find  their  way  to  the  reindeer  camps  of  Alaska. 


VALUABLE  ANIMALS  OF  THE  ARCTIC  297 

True  there  is  other  work  to  be  done.  Every  spring  along  comes  fawning 
season  and  the  deer  herders  have  to  stand  watch  day  and  night  by  turns.  Now 
and  then  the  long,  wild  note  of  the  Arctic  wolf  is  heard  through  the  midwinter 
gloom  and  a  constant  watch  must  be  kept  by  well  armed  men.  The  repeating 
rifle  made  wolves  so  scarce,  however,  that  dogs  are  by  far  the  greatest  source 
of  danger. 

It  seems  utterly  impossible  to  train  the  malamoot  dog  to  herd  deer.  At 
sight  of  a  deer  the  tamest  malamoot  becomes  as  uncontrollable  as  though  he 
had  never  known  human  restraint  and  were  once  more  a  plain  wolf. 

Besides  guarding  the  herd  occasionally  from  these  dangers  there  are  sled 
deer  to  be  trained,  and  every  June  there  is  a  kind  of  rOundup,  when  the  young 
fawns  are  marked,  along  with  all  deer  that  have  changed  owners  during  the 
year.  In  the  ear  of  each  Government  deer  a  little  aluminum  button  is  riveted 
securely,  but  all  private  owners  and  herders  have  a  mark  which  must  be  reg- 
istered with  the  local  superintendent  and  also  at  Washington.  This  mark  is 
made  by  cutting  the  ear. 

So  far  the  native  in  the  Far  North  has  made  almost  no  use  of  the  wonder- 
fully rich  milk  of  the  reindeer.  This  milk,  which  is  as  white  as  the  Arctic 
snows,  is  at  least  90  per  cent  cream.  In  fact  it  is  practically  all  a  rich,  snow 
white,  sugary  cream.  It  is  the  most  nourishing  milk  in  the  world,  but  the 
Government  has  so  far  supplied  the  camps  with  condensed  milk,  and  the  herders 
have  preferred  opening  cans  to  milking  deer. 

Unlike  the  Laplander,  the  Eskimo  does  not  make  a  pet  of  his  favorite  deer. 
When  he  wants  to  milk  her  she  is  lassoed  and  thrown  down.  When  her  legs 
are  carefully  tied  with  walrus  skin  strings  and  her  horns  are  safely  held  by 
some  stout  friend  the  process  of  milking  begins.  When  the  last  drop  is  ex- 
tracted the  highly  indignant  animal  is  unlashed  and  allowed  to  get  up  and 
go  about  her  business. 

Sometimes  a  horn  is  knocked  off  or  a  leg  broken  before  the  struggling  rein- 
deer understands  that  she  is  to  be  milked  and  not  branded  or  butchered.  Under 
the  circumstances  the  dairying  feature  of  Arctic  life  is  not  very  prominent  and 
the  milkmaid's  song  is  not  welcomed  by  the  wise  little  animals  that  have  under- 
gone the  torture  of  one  milking. 

As  only  a  limited  number  can  be  appointed  apprentices  every  year  and  thus 
draw  Government  rations,  many  are  now  trying  to  get  deer  from  other  natives 
without  waiting  for  Government  favors.  In  this  few  have  succeeded,  for  the 
owners,  recognizing  their  great  value,  are  running  the  price  of  female  rein- 


298  VALUABLE  ANIMALS  OF  THE  ARCTIC 

deer  skyward.  With  the  destruction  of  the  country's  game  and  the  rising 
standard  of  Hfe  among  the  natives  the  population  will  come  more  and  more 
to  depend  upon  the  reindeer  industry,  which  will  doubtless  develop  rapidly. 

Living  in  a  savage  state  of  society  with  no  other  domestic  animal  than  the 
half  tamed  malamoot  dog,  the  process  of  teaching  the  Eskimo  here  how  to 
take  care  of  deer  has  been  slow.  Severe  measures  have  had  to  be  resorted 
to  in  many  cases  to  compel  the  natives  to  keep  their  dogs  from  the  deer  camp. 

Also  it  has  been  found  difficult  to  prevent  those  who  have  no  deer  from 
shooting  the  unfortunate  animals  that  stray  away  from  the  herd.  These  are 
considered  legitimate  prey  and  until  recently  were  hunted  the  same  as  caribou. 
This  year,  however,  a  great  many  of  these  stray  deer  have  been  picked  up  and 
put  back  into  the  herds  which  they  had  deserted. 

It  has  thus  been  found  necessary  to  put  the  native  herder  through  a  course 
of  training.  Those  who  get  their  deer  directly  from  the  Government  serve 
an  apprenticeship  of  four  years.  They  are  bound  by  a  written  contract  the 
strict  terms  of  which  they  cannot  violate  without  peril  of  losing  their  annual 
allotment  of  reindeer  and  suffering  discharge  from  the  service. 

During  the  first  three  years  of  their  apprenticeship  they  receive  in  addition 
to  the  reindeer  a  generous  supply  of  food  free  of  charge.  Cloth,  clothing,  traps, 
guns  and  ammunition  are  also  given  to  the  fortunate  apprentice,  who  soon  be- 
comes a  person  of  consequence  in  the  community.  For  these  Governmental 
favors  the  apprentice  is  supposed  to  take  care  of  his  own  deer  and  to  assist  in 
caring  for  the  Government  deer. 

The  work  of  the  herder  in  a  reindeer  camp  is  not  arduous  and  seems  to  be 
especially  attractive  to  the  carefree  native.  Ordinarily  the  deer  have  a  way 
of  taking  care  of  themselves  that  suits  the  native.  Every  day  an  apprentice 
drives  the  herd  to  some  feeding  ground  where  they  feed  while  the  herder 
saunters  about  or  hunts  ptarmigan  or  other  game  near  at  hand. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

MARVELS  OF  THE  YEAR  1909. 

The  year  1909  will  stand  out  on  the  page  of  histories  yet  to  be  written  as 
the  "Year  of  Marvels."  Some  of  its  deeds  glow  with  a  luster  that  fairly  dims 
the  eye.  Records  have  been  broken  in  many  fields  of  enterprise.  Invention  has 
reached  its  highest  level. 

All  aviation  records  were  broken  at  Rheims  in  August,  1909,  although  they 
do  not  discount  Louis  Bleriot's  achievement  in  flying  across  the  British  Channel 
and  the  records  of  the  Wright  Brothers  in  America.  Henry  Farman,  the  French 
aviator,  flew  the  greatest  distance  ever  covered  during  a  continuous  flight  in 
an  aeroplane.  This  memorable  flight,  v/hich  is  officially  recorded  as  118.06 
miles  was  made  August  23  last,  in  the  remarkable  time  of  three  hours,  four 
minutes  and  56  2-3  seconds.  The  actual  distance  of  the  flight,  however,  was 
140  miles.  This  world-beating  record  won  for  Farman  the  $10,000  prize  of- 
fered by  the  Champagne  district  syndicate  for  the  aviator  who  could  cover  the 
greatest  distance  in  the  air. 

Glenn  H.  Curtiss,  the  sole  American  contestant,  holds  the  world's  record 
for  the  fastest  flight.  He  covered  18  3-5  miles  in  23  minutes  and  29  1-5  seconds, 
or  at  a  speed  of  nearly  fifty  miles  an  hour.  This  record  won  for  him  the  In- 
ternational Cup  and  $4,000. 

Louis  Bleriot  covered  the  course  of  6  1-5  miles  in  7  minutes  and  47  4-5 
seconds  and  Hubert  Latham  reached  the  greatest  height — 490  feet. 

These  records  beat  the  records  of  Orville  and  Wilbur  Wright  but  slightly. 
Orville  Wright  remained  aloft  more  than  an  hour  on  three  different  occasions 
at  Fort  Myer  while  Wilbur  Wright  made  a  hundred  miles  in  two  hours  and 
eighteen  minutes.  Orville  has  met  the  United  States  Government's  require- 
ments by  flying  five  miles  and  back  In  his  aeroplane,  carrying  a  passenger,  at 
an  estimated  speed  of  42  miles  an  hour.  For  this  achievement  made  on  July 
30,  he  and  his  brother  were  paid  about  $30,000,  the  Government  having  of- 
fered $25,000  for  an  aeroplane  that  would  carry  a  passenger  at  the  rate  of  forty 
miles  an  hour  and  a  bonus  of  10  per  cent  for  each  mile  in  addition  to  the 
forty. 

299 


300  MARVELS  OF  THE  YEAR  1909 

The  greatest  record  for  dirigible  balloons  was  made  by  Count  Zeppelin, 
who  covered  450  miles  in  the  Zeppelin  III. 

Close  on  the  heels  of  the  splendid  achievement  of  the  discovery  of  the 
North  Pole  came  an  achievement  in  many  respects  as  wonderful — a  four  day 
boat  across  the  Atlantic.  The  giant  Cunard  steamship  Lusitania,  which  arrived 
in  New  York  Sept.  3,  1909,  made  the  course  from  Daunts's  Rock  Lightship  to 
the  Ambrose  Channel  Lightship — over  which  all  ocean  records  are  computed — 
in  four  days,  11  hours  and  42  minutes.  This  time  clipped  three  hours  and 
10  minutes  from  the  previous  best  record  which  was  made  by  the  Mauretania, 
her  sister  ship.  Throughout  the  entire  trip  the  Lusitania  averaged  25.85  knots 
— another  record  in  itself. 

Less  than  a  hundred  years  ago  it  took  at  least  thirty  days  to  cross  the 
Atlantic.  Frequently  it  required  two  months.  It  was  not  until  1885  that  a 
ten  day  boat  was  a  reality.  From  that  time  the  steamship  lines  have  reduced 
the  passage  hour  by  hour  and  day  by  day  until  1907  when  the  first  five  day 
boat  appeared. 

While  records  were  being  broken  on  land  and  sea  and  air,  other  records  were 
being  made  below  the  surface  of  the  water. 

The  Octopus,  a  submarine  built  for  the  United  States  Navy,  broke  the 
world's  record  on  May  22  last  by  reaching  the  remarkable  speed  of  more  than 
eleven  knots  an  hour  under  water.  According  to  the  official  report  made  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  the  Octopus  covered  a  mile  at  the  rate  of  11.6  knots, 
the  best  previous  record  being  8.5  knots,  made  by  a  British  submarine  last 
year.  In  the  diving  test  she  went  down  at  an  angle  of  eight  degrees  to  a  depth 
of  twenty-six  feet  in  a  fraction  less  than  forty  seconds.  The  best  previous 
record  for  such  diving  was  forty-six  seconds,  made  by  the  Fulton,  of  the 
Octopus  type.  In  addition,  the  Octopus,  while  going  at  full  speed  on  the  sur- 
face dived  to  a  depth  of  twenty  feet  in  four  minutes  and  twenty  seconds,  the 
best  previous  time  being  eleven  minutes. 

A  world's  record  for  depth  of  submergence  v,^ith  a  crew  aboard  was  made 
by  the  Lake,  also  a  United  States  submarine,  on  May  23,  when  she  went  down 
135  feet.  The  best  record  previous  to  this  was  130  feet,  made  by  a  French 
submarine. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  United  States  Government  has  submarines 
that  are  superior  to  any  others  in  the  world  and  there  are  now  104  in  actual 
commission  in  the  several  navies  and  one  hundred  more  are  authorized  or 
building.    It  is  predicted  that  within  two  years  submarines  with  a  submerged 


MARVELS  OF  THE  YEAR  1909  301 

speed  of  fifteen  knots  will  be  built,  but  many  experts  believe  the  present  records 
will  stand  for  a  longer  period. 

One  of  the  greatest  submarine  exploits  of  recent  years  was  made  by  Lieut. 
Kenneth  Whiting,  an  American  naval  officer,  in  the  harbor  at  Manila  last 
month.  He  demonstrated  that  it  was  possible  to  escape  from  a  submerged 
submarine  by  being  shot  through  the  torpedo  tube. 

Mountain  climbing  records  were  broken  in  1909  in  several  parts  of  the 
world.  The  Duk^  of  the  Abruzzi  in  July  reached  the  highest  altitude  ever 
before  attained  by  any  human  climber.  With  his  Italian  party  he  climbed 
Mount  Goodwin-Austen  in  the  Himalayas  to  the  height  of  24,600  feet.  The 
best  previous  record  for  altitude  was  made  by  W.  W.  Graham  in  1883,  when 
he  climbed  Mount  Kabaru  in  the  Himalayas  to  the  height  of  24,015  feet.  Thus 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  famous  Italian  Duke  exceeded  this  record  by  585  feet. 

Mount  Goodwin-Austen  is  the  second  highest  peak  in  the  world.  Mount 
Everest  is  the  highest — 29,002  feet — but  as  yet  no  one  has  succeeded  in  reach- 
ing its  summit.  The  height  of  Mount  Good  win- Austen  is  28,250  feet,  so 
that  the  Duke  of  the  Abruzzi  had  3,650  feet  to  go  to  reach  the  top  when  he 
turned  back. 

While  the  cousin  of  the  King  of  Italy  was  climbing  the  Himalayas  Walter 
S.  Bond  of  New  York  City  was  breaking  records  in  the  Alps.  He  climbed 
Mount  Blanc  from  Chamounix  in  nine  hours.  The  best  previous  time  was  made 
by  Morehead,  an  Englishman,  in  1865,  when  he  made  the  ascent  in  nine  hours 
and  a  half. 

The  record  for  circling  the  globe  was  broken  in  August,  1909 — also  by 
Americans.  Two  New  York  school  boys,  Walter  Drew  and  John  Munnich, 
accompanied  by  the  Rev.  A.  A,  King  and  J.  J.  Conway,  made  the  trip  around 
the  world  in  41  days  and  8  hours.  This  record  was  made  in  little  more  than  half 
the  time  prophesied  by  Jules  Verne  in  his  famous  book  "Around  the  World  in 
Eighty  Days."  Nellie  Bly  made  the  trip  in  67  days  in  1890  and  for  years  this 
stood  as  a  remarkable  achievement.  The  best  previous  record  until  last  month 
was  43  days. 

If  it  had  not  been  for  a  bad  wreck  and  other  unavoidable  delays,  causing  the 
party  to  miss  steamboat  connections,  the  trip  around  the  world  would  have 
been  made  in  35  days.  Indeed,  if  all  the  trains  and  steamships  run  on  schedule 
time.  It  is  practically  possible  to  make  the  trip  around  the  world  In  thirty  days. 

Although  Edward  Payson  Weston  failed  in  his  attempt  to  walk  across  the' 
continent  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  In  100  days,  the  fact  that  he  accom- 
plished the  3,000  mile  journey  in  105  days  broke  all  previous  records. 


302  MARVELS  OF  THE  YEAR  1909 

Great  strides  were  made  in  wireless  telegraphy  during  the  year.  Only 
eleven  years  have  elapsed  since  the  time  of  Marconi's  wireless  signal  at  Flat- 
holm  and  six  years  since  the  exchange  of  wireless  messages  across  the  Atlantic 
between  Cape  Breton  and  Cornwall.  During  the  year  the  globe  was  virtually 
girdled  with  wireless  stations — at  Nome,  in  Hawaii,  Hong-Kong,  Burmah, 
Mozambique,  Trinidad,  Tripoli.  Paris  talks  with  Messina,  press  reports  are 
flashed  across  the  Atlantic,  steamships  at  sea  receive  daily  bulletins.  In  the 
winter  of  1909  the  lives  of  all  the  passengers  of  the  steamship  Republic  were 
saved  by  wireless,  and  after  that  time  the  passengers  of  no  less  than  a  dozen 
other  ships  were  saved  in  the  same  way. 

Wireless  messages  can  now  be  sent  regularly  3,000  miles  over  water  and 
1,000  miles  over  land.  On  May  3,  1909,  the  first  wireless  messages  were  sent 
between  New  York  and  Chicago — the  record  distance  by  land  up  to  the  present 
time.  Stray  messages  have  been  picked  up  at  much  greater  distances,  but  of 
course  they  do  not  figure  in  records.  They  are  considered  flukes.  Nova  Scotia 
to  Paris — 3,000  miles — is  the  record  up  to  date.  The  crowning  demonstration 
of  the  usefulness  of  wireless,  however,  is  the  summoning  of  aid  to  a  ship  in 
distress.  Such  projects  as  a  wireless  fire  alarm  system  for  the  preservation  of 
forests  and  wireless  weather  reports  from  coast  stations  are  but  new  fields  of 
endeavor. 

Practicability  of  wireless  telephony  has  been  demonstrated  and  the  war- 
ships of  many  navies  are  now  equipped  with  wireless  telephones.  The  United 
States  Navy  was  the  first  to  install  them,  and  the  best  records  have  been  made 
between  our  battleships.  Until  1908,  200  miles  was  the  farthest  that  messages 
could  be  transmitted,  but  in  March  1909  wireless  telephone  messages  were  sent 
by  Dr.  Lee  DeForrest  from  the  Eiffel  Tower  in  Paris  to  Marseilles,  a  distance 
of  550  miles.  This  is  the  record  up  to  date.  Great  progress  is  being  made 
by  Dr.  Lee  DeForrest  and  other  inventors,  and  they  predict  that  the  time  is  not 
far  distant  when  it  will  be  possible  to  telephone  across  the  Atlantic. 

The  year  was  the  greatest  for  speed  records  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
It  was  demonstrated  at  Clayton,  N.  J.,  in  December,  1908,  that  steam  driven 
engines  are  still  king,  and  that  they  can  run  as  fast  on  a  curved  as  on  a  straight 
track.  One  of  the  big  locomotives  on  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  in  a  test 
held  December  5  made  a  fraction  more  than  ninety-nine  miles  an  hour.  This 
is  the  world's  record  for  steam  locomotives. 

The  record  speed  for  electric  locomotives  is  ninety-two  miles  an  hour. 
This  record  was  made  December  6  at  Clayton,  N.  J.,  by  Electric  Engine  No. 


MARVELS  OF  THE  YEAR  1909  303 

028,  belonging  to  the  New  York,  New  Haven  and  Hartford  Railroad  and 
known  as  the  Jamestown  Exposition  engine. 

It  has  been  demonstrated  that  trains  can  be  run  with  safety  at  a  speed  of 
ninety  miles  an  hour,  although  it  takes  three  or  four  times  longer  to  stop  a 
train  going  at  that  speed  than  one  going  sixty  miles  an  hour. 

A  new  record  was  made  in  August,  1909,  in  pulling  heavy  loads  by  rail. 
An  engine  on  the  Virginia  Railroad  pulled  ninety  cars,  each  laden  with  fifty 
tons  of  coal,  a  distance  of  243  miles,  breaking  all  previous  records  for  heavy 
hauls. 

World's  records  went  to  smash  in  August  at  the  new  motor  speedway  at 
Indianapolis.  Lewis  Strang  won  the  fastest  100-mile  race  ever  held,  in  i  hour 
38  minutes  48  4-10  seconds.  Strang  made  a  new  twenty-five-mile  record,  going 
that  distance  in  23  minutes  20  seconds.  A  new  ten-mile  record  was  made  by 
Zengell  in  8  minutes  56^  seconds. 

Ever  since  the  opening  of  this  century  scientists  have  been  indulging  in  most 
hopeful  "peeps  ahead"  at  probable  future  achievements. 

William  Marconi,  the  inventor  of  wireless  telegraphy,  predicts  that  all  rapid 
transit  will  be  made  by  airships  within  the  next  fifty  years,  and  that  the  storage 
battery  will  take  the  place  of  coal  and  fire  and  water. 

"Within  the  next  fifty  years,"  he  declares,  "coal  will  cease  to  be  our  only 
source  of  energy.  It  may  be  that  helium,  which  Prof.  Onnes  has  succeeded  in 
liquefying  at  the  incredible  temperature  of  455  degrees  below  zero,  may  lead 
the  way  to  an  unsuspected  source  of  energy  and  heat. 

"Personally,  I  believe  the  harnessing  of  the  sun's  rays  will  be  the  next  big 
scientific  achievement.  In  every  land  men  of  science  are  patiently  studying  the 
problem  of  utilizing  the  energy  of  the  sun — storing  it,  in  fact — so  that  the 
generation  of  electric  force  may  be  cheapened  by  its  use  to  a  point  where  the 
storage  battery  on  a  large  scale  will  be  an  economic  as  well  as  an  academic 
possibility.  The  wasted  energy  in  coal,  as  now  used,  may  In  the  interval,  be 
brought  to  do  its  work  and  so  bring  about  the  monster  storage  battery  sooner 
than  we  now  expect.  But  sooner  or  later  we  shall  enslave  the  sun's  rays  to 
our  uses." 

Thomas  A.  Edison  shares  Marconi's  belief  that  scientists  will  some  day  con- 
trol the  energy  stored  In  coal  without  waste. 

"Ninety  per  cent  of  the  energy  stored  In  coal  is  now  lost,"  he  said  recently. 
"It  goes  of¥  in  heat  from  the  chimneys,  and  is  especially  wasted  In  the  process  of 
converting  water  into  steam.    However,  I  predict  that  means  will  be  devised 


304  MARVELS  OF  T-HE  YEAR  1909 

by  which  this  enormous  waste  will  be  saved.  When  it  is  done  the  production  of 
power  will  be  revolutionized.  The  result  will  have  an  incalculable  influence  upon 
the  material  progress  of  civilization.  It  will  enable  an  ocean  liner  to  cross  the 
ocean  in  three  days  with  an  expenditure  of  about  one-tenth  the  amount  of  fuel 
now  required. 

"Within  a  few  years  electricity  will  run  the  world.  It  is  bound  to  do  so. 
The  greatest  enterprises  to-day  are  those  on  an  electrical  basis.  Electricity  and 
nothing  else  will  be  the  great  force  of  the  future." 

Bishop  Samuel  Fallows  of  the  Reformed  Episcopal  Church  predicts  that  we 
will  soon  be  able  to  talk  with  spirits  as  we  now  talk  with  material  persons. 

"Telepathy  is  an  established  fact,"  declares  the  Bishop,  "and  such  strides 
have  been  made  in  the  explanation  of  psychic  phenomena  in  the  past  few  years 
that  within  the  next  few  years  we  will  be  able  to  converse  with  the  spirits  of 
departed  friends  and  relatives.  Their  state  will  be  made  known  to  us  through 
the  science  of  'immortalism/  which  is  spiritualism  with  the  'fakes'  left  out. 
Immortalism  will  be  studied  by  the  masses  just  as  they  now  delve  into  Latin, 
arithmetic,  geography  or  grammar.  All  the  great  discoveries  of  the  future  are 
going  to  be  made  along  the  lines  of  mental  telepathy." 

Dr.  James  H.  Hyslop,  secretary  of  the  American  Society  of  Psychical  Re- 
search, is  only  one  of  many  distinguished  scientists  that  have  expressed  a  firm 
conviction  that  before  the  close  of  the  present  century  the  psychic  riddle  will 
have  been  solved  and  psychic  knowledge  and  tests  will  have  been  reduced  to  an 
exact  science. 

"It  is  going  to  keep  us  busy  collecting  facts  for  a  long  time,"  Dr.  Hyslop 
declares.  "Many  more  years  may  elapse  before  we  succeed  in  proving  our 
theories  as  to  the  nature  and  uses  of  the  spirit  forces  surrounding  us. 

"A  world  beyond  the  senses  is  already  a  settled  fact,  a  fact  certified  to 
by  scientific  investigation  and  without  appeal  to  exceptional  phenomena.  This 
conviction  is  reinforced  by  the  phenomena  of  X-ray,  wireless  telegraphy  and 
radio-active  substances. 

"The  field  of  psychopathology  will  soon  be  occupied  for  both  philanthropic 
and  scientific  work.  An  institute  for  psychic  research  will  provide  for  study 
and  therapeutic  treatment  of  certain  types  of  functional  mental  diseases — 
insanity,  hallucination,  secondary  personality  and  such  troubles  as  may  yet  be 
made  to  yield  to  hypnotic  suggestion." 

Telegrams,  telephones  and  letters  no  longer  necessary,  better  health  and 
longer  life,  sex  determined  before  birth,  and  the  development  of  a  race  of 


MARVELS  OF  THE  YEAR  1909  305 

geniuses — that  these  and  many  others  will  be  the  practical  results  of  the 
psychological  research  now  being  conducted  throughout  the  world  is  the  asser- 
tion of  Floyd  Wilson,  a  psychologist  and  occultist  of  New  York.  Mr.  Wil- 
son, who  is  the  author  of  several  important  works  on  psychology  and  a 
member  of  both  the  New  York  and  London  Societies  for  Psychological  Re- 
search, believes  that  the  psychic  age  is  at  hand  and  that  it  is  only  a  question  of 
a  few  years  until  practical  results  will  be  demonstrated. 

"The  time  is  not  far  distant,"  says  Mr.  Wilson,  "when  telegrams,  tele- 
phones and  letters  will  be  a  thing  of  the  past.  Mental  telepathy  will  take 
their  place.  At  the  present  time  a  comparatively  few  people  are  able  to 
transmit  their  thoughts  to  each  other  in  this  manner,  but  it  is  within  the 
possibilities  of  every  one.  When  we  know  more  about  it,  as  we  assuredly 
shall,  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  transmit  our  thoughts  by  physical  means. 
Mental  telepathy  will  supplant  all  forms  of  present  communication. 

"And  when  you  stop  to  consider  it,  mental  telepathy  is  no  more  wonderful 
than  wireless  telegraphy  or  wireless  telephony.  The  principle  is  practically 
the  same — space  is  annihilated  and  without  physical  connection. 

"That  our  health  will  be  better  and  our  lease  on  life  longer  in  the  years 
to  come  goes  without  saying.  Poor  health,  to  a  great  extent,  is  due  to  a  con- 
dition of  mind.  By  thinking  health  people  will  keep  in  good  health,  and  by 
determining  to  remain  young,  or  at  least  by  determining  to  keep  from  getting 
old,  old  age  may  be  staved  off  many  years.  Of  course,  people  will  get  sick 
and  die,  just  as  they  do  to-day,  but  illness  will  be  less  prevalent  and  death 
will  be  postponed  longer." 

Dr.  Lee  F.  De  Forrest,  in  the  current  number  of  The  Scrap  Book,  writes : 
"It  is  now  possible  to  say  we  will  soon  be  able  to  talk  across  the  ocean,  and 
over  still  greater  distances.  In  fact,  I  think  I  can  predict,  without  too  great  a 
strain  on  the  imagination,  that  in  the  future,  and  not  so  far  off,  we  will  be 
able  to  talk  around  the  world — in  relays,  perhaps,  but  so  arranged  as  to  be 
almost  instantaneous.  It  is  as  sure  as  arithmetic  that  within  the  next  few 
years  every  vessel  of  a  few  hundred  tons  will  carry  the  wireless  telephone. 
From  recent  experiments,  I  feel  certain  that  within  a  short  time  we  shall  be 
able  to  be  in  wireless  communication  between  our  station,  atop  the  Metro- 
politan Tower  in  New  York  and  the  Eiffel  Tower  in  Paris." 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

AMUNDSEN'S  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  NORTHWEST 

PASSAGE. 

A  modest  Norseman,  Roald  Amundsen  by  name,  performed  in  1905  one 
of  the  few  remaining  great  feats  of  Arctic  exploration  by  sailing  a  ship  for  the 
first  time  in  history  through  the  northwest  passage  and  charting  new  land  in 
the  region  where  the  gallant  Franklin  and  his  companions  lost  their  lives.  Others 
had  crossed  on  sledges  the  archipelago  that  lies  to  the  north  of  the  American 
continent,  and  so  bridged  the  gulf  between  the  two  oceans ;  but  Amundsen  was 
the  first  to  sail  a  boat  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

Amundsen  was  one  of  those  Norwegians  who,  as  soon  as  their  boyhood 
mentality  begins  to  dawn,  feel  their  blood  stirred  by  the  call  of  the  sea.  He 
was  a  student  of  the  Franklin  tragedy,  and  his  latter-day  hero  was  Fridtjof 
Nan  sen.  He  tells  of  his  enthusiasm  when  he  saw  Nansen  returning  triumphant 
from  his  march  across  Greenland.  And  it  was  Nansen  who  was  largely  instru- 
mental in  enabling  Amundsen  to  venture  on  the  trip  that  was  to  succeed  where 
Franklin,  Parry,  Sir  John  Ross  and  others  had  failed.  Amundsen  also  receiyed 
the  material  and  moral  aid  of  the  king  of  Norway.  By  this  powerful  backing  he 
was  able  to  get  a  ship,  and  he  gathered  around  him  six  sturdy  Norwegians,  like 
himself.  The  small  but  compact  and  sympathetic  band  of  explorers  started 
June  16,  1903,  from  Christiania  in  the  motor-yacht  Gjoa,  a  tiny  vessel  of  47 
tons.  It  seemed  almost  a  toy  ship,  when  it  came  to  ocean  travel  and  Arctic 
storms,  but  its  very  smallness  no  doubt  had  much  to  do  with  its  success  in  riding 
over  shoals  and  escaping  ice  complications. 

A  quick  trip  was  made  from  Norway  around  the  lower  coast  of  Greenland 
and  through  Davis  Strait  to  Godhavn.  This  point  was  reached  July  5,  1903, 
and  stores  of  all  kinds  were  taken  in.  Then  the  Gjoa  pushed  northward  in 
Baffin  Bay,  making  for  Cape  York,  which  was  the  northernmost  point  to  be 
reached  in  that  part  of  the  expedition.  Cape  York  was  sighted  August  14,  but 
not  till  after  dangerous  ice  had  been  encountered  in  Melville  Bay,  often  a 
perilous  spot  for  explorers. 

Telling  of  this  ice,  Amundsen  says : 

306 


DISCOVERY  OF  NORTHWEST  PASSAGE  307 

"To  the  east  the  whole  interior  of  Melville  Bay  lay  before  us.  Right  in- 
side, in  the  farthest  background,  we  could  see  several  mountain  tops.  An  im- 
penetrable mass  of  ice  filled  the  bay ;  mighty  icebergs  rose  here  and  there  from 
out  of  the  mass  of  ice.  When  we  at  last  looked  back,  we  saw  the  fog  out  of 
which  we  suddenly  slipped,  lying  thick  like  a  wall  behind  us.  Such  a  sight  is 
one  of  those  wonders  only  to  be  seen  in  the  never-to-be-forgotten  seas  of  ice." 

Melville  Bay  was  not  to  be  a  sticking-point  for  this  lucky  party,  however, 
and  Cape  York  was  made  with  ease.  There  Amundsen  met  members  of  the 
so-called  Danish  Literary  Expedition  to  Greenland,  led  by  Mylius  Ericksen, 
and  including  Knad  Rasmussen,  one  of  the  strongest  supporters  of  Dr.  Fred- 
erick A.  Cook.  Felicitations  and  advice  were  exchanged,  and  the  Amundsen 
party  proceeded  through  Lancaster  Sound  to  Beechey  Island,  which  was  the 
point  where  Sir  John  Franklin  had  his  last  comfortable  winter  quarters. 
Amundsen,  always  an  admirer  of  Franklin,  gives  vent,  in  his  account  of  the 
trip,  to  his  feelings  on  their  putting  in  at  the  spot  where  the  sturdy  Britisher 
quartered  himself  while  still  in  health  and  hope.  It  was  there  that  the  scurvy, 
which  was  to  scourge  the  crews  of  the  Erebus  and  Terror  most  fearfully,  first 
made  its  appearance. 

After  a  short  stay  the  Gjoa  was  turned  south  In  Franklin  Strait  and  plunged 
into  a  region  of  mysteries  and  possible  perils.  As  the  point  of  the  magnetic 
pole  was  approached,  the  compass  began  to  show  signs  of  being  in  a  strange 
country.  It  vacillated  furiously,  and  before  the  eyes  of  the  anxious  mariners 
veered  gradually  until  it  pointed  southwest.    The  magnetic  pole  was  at  hand. 

What  lay  before  the  party,  with  the  ice  accumulations  always  a  danger,  and 
with  a  "nervous"  compass,  they  could  not  foretell.  But  they  sailed  the  Gjoa 
on  along  Somerset  Island.  Between  that  island  and  Prince  of  Wales  Land 
Amundsen  encountered  what  he  feared  was  the  long-dreaded  ice-barrier.  They 
saw  what  they  took,  he  says,  in  the  mirror-like  glitter  of  the  calm  sea,  to  be  a 
compact  mass  of  ice  extending  from  shore  to  shore.  "It  seemed  evident  to  me 
that  we  had  now  reached  the  point  whence  our  predecessors  had  been  compelled 
to  return — the  border  of  solid  unbroken  ice.  Happily  we  were  mistaken,  as, 
in  fact,  we  were  several  times  afterward  under  similar  circumstances.  With 
the  sunlight  on  the  glassy  surface  of  the  sea,  with  pieces  of  ice  scattered  over, 
these  may  easily  present  the  appearance  of  one  solid,  continuous  mass.  This 
optical  illusion  is  also  enhanced  by  the  'ice  blink'  constantly  occurring  in  the 
Arctic  sea.  This  ice  blink  magnifies  and  exaggerates  a  small  block  of  ice  to 
such  an  extent  that  It  looks  like  an  Iceberg;  especially  when  looking  at  it 


308 


DISCOVERY  OF  NORTHWEST  PASSAGE 


DISCOVERY  OF  NORTHWEST  PASSAGE 


309 


310  DISCOVERY  OF  NORTHWEST  PASSAGE 

through  a  telescope  at  short  range  you  may  easily  imagine  you  are  facing  a 
huge  ice-pack.  But  on  the  Arctic  sea  you  can  never  rely  on  what  you  fancy 
you  ^see,'  however  distinct  it  may  appear." 

And  now  the  compass  failed  them  altogether.  Off  Prescott  Island  in  Frank- 
lin Strait,  Amundsen  says,  "the  needle  of  the  compass,  which  had  been  gradu- 
ally losing  its  capacity  for  self-adjustment,  now  absolutely  declined  to  act.  We 
were  thus  reduced  to  steering  by  the  stars,  like  our  forefathers  the  vikings.  This 
mode  of  navigation  is  of  doubtful  security  even  in  ordinary  waters,  but  it  is 
worse  here,  where  the  sky,  for  two-thirds  of  the  time,  is  veiled  in  impenetrable 
fog.    However,  we  were  lucky  enough  to  start  in  clear  weather." 

Next  day  all  Amundsen's  fears  for  the  time  being  were  dissipating  in  a 
manner  he  describes  graphically  as  follows: 

"I  was  walking  up  and  down  the  deck  in  the  afternoon,  enjoying  the  sun- 
shine whenever  it  broke  through  the  fog.  *  *  *  As  I  walked  I  felt  something 
like  an  irregular  lurching  motion,  and  I  stopped  in  surprise.  The  sea  all  around 
was  smooth  and  calm.  *  *  *  j  continued  my  promenade,  but  had  not  gone 
many  steps  before  the  sensation  came  again,  and  this  time  so  distinctly  that  I 
could  not  be  mistaken ;  there  was  a  slight  irregular  motion  in  the  ship.  I  would 
not  have  sold  this  slight  motion  for  any  amount  of  money.  It  was  a  swell 
under  the  boat,  a  swell — a  message  from  the  open  sea.  The  water  to  the  south 
was  open ;  the  wall  of  ice  was  not  there." 

Winter  was  now  approaching,  and  the  Gjoa  was  hard  put  to  it.  Once  the 
little  ship  was  nearly  burned  when  a  quantity  of  petroleum,  used  as  fuel  for  the 
motor,  took  fire ;  but  the  courage  and  coolness  of  Amundsen  and  his  men  averted 
a  disaster.  Another  time  the  Gjoa  ran  aground,  and  was  floated  only  by  throw- 
ing overboard  all.  the  stores  that  were  piled  on  deck.  But  King  William's  Land 
was  reached  in  safety,  and  on  the  southeastern  part  of  the  island  the  Gjoa 
made  port  in  what  one  of  the  party  described  as  "the  finest  little  harbor  in  the 
world."    This  was  ninety  miles  south  of  the  magnetic  pole  as  located  by  Ross. 

The  whole  party  now  entered  upon  a  long  period  of  investigation — the  work 
for  which  they  really  had  come,  rather  than  to  navigate  unknown  seas.  Their 
duty  was  to  observe  the  region  of  the  magnetic  pole,  to  observe  its  variations 
and  make  a  study  o2  the  magnetism  of  the  earth. 

The  magnetic  pole  is  very  little  understood.  Many  suppose  the  north  pole 
to  be  the  point  toward  which  the  compass  points.    Not  so. 

As  Amundsen  describes  it,  "if  we  fit  up  a  magnetic  needle  so  that  it  can 
revolve  on  a  horizontal  axis  passing  through  its  center  of  gravity  (exactly  like 


DISCOVERY  OF  NORTHWEST  PASSAGE  311 

a  grind-stone)  the  needle  will,  of  its  own  accord,  assume  a  slanting  position,  if 
its  plane  of  rotation  coincides  with  the  direction  indicated  by  the  compass.  *  *  * 
At  the  magnetic  north  pole,  the  dipping  needle  will  assume  a  vertical  position,, 
with  its  north  point  directed  downwards;  at  the  magnetic  south  pole  it  will 
stand  vertically  with  its  south  point  downwards." 

The  Gjoa  as  anchored  in  the  "fine  little  harbor,"  which  they  named  Gjoa- 
havn  September  12,  1903,  and  remained  there  until  August  13,  1905.  A  house 
was  built,  in  which  two  of  the  party  pursued  scientific  observations,  acquaintance 
was  made  with  the  Eskimos  of  the  region,  and  much  exploratory  work  was  done. 
A  trip  was  made  to  Boothia,  where  the  magnetic  pole  is  situated,  and  two  of 
Amundsen's  men  made  a  sledge  journey  along  the  eastern  coast  to  Victoria 
Land,  charting  much  new  land,  and  traveling  800  miles.  But  these  pursuits 
came  to  an  end,  and  when  the  season  for  propitious  travel  was  fairly  on,  the 
Gjoa  was  headed  westward  for  the  climax  of  the  journey.  She  was  man- 
euvered successfully  through  the  narrowest  portion  of  the  passage,  south  of  King 
William's  Land,  and  pushed  on  into  channels  whose  navigability  was  yet  to 
be  tested.  On  through  Deas  Strait  and  Coronation  Gulf  the  little  motor-vessel 
held  her  course,  and  scarcely  a  mishap  marred  the  successful  journey. 

Describing  the  most  "ticklish"  part  of  the  trip,  Amundsen  says : 

"The  channel  now  ceased  and  branched  off  in  the  shape  of  a  narrow  sound 
between  some  small  rocks.  The  current  had  probably  formed  this  channel.  The 
passage  was  not  very  inviting,  but  it  was  our  only  one,,  and  forward  we  must  go. 

"As  we  turned  westward,  the  soundings  became  more  alarming,  the  figures 
jumped  from  seventeen  to  five  fathoms,  and  vice  versa.  From  an  even,  sandy 
bottom  we  came  to  a  raggedy  stony  one.  We  were  in  the  midst  of  a  most  discon- 
certing chaos ;  sharp  stones  faced  us  on  every  side,  low-lying  rocks  of  all  shapes, 
and  we  bungled  through  zigzag,  as  if  drunk.  The  lead  flew  up  and  down,  down 
and  up,  and  the  man  at  the  helm  had  to  pay  very  close  attention  and  keep  his 
eye  on  the  lookout  man,  who  jumped  about  in  the  crow's  nest  like  a  maniac, 
throwing  his  arms  about  for  starboard  and  port  respectively,  keeping  on  the 
move  all  the  time  to  watch  the  track.  Now  I  see  a  big  shallow  extending  from 
one  islet  right  over  to  the  other.  We  must  get  up  to  it  and  see.  The  anchors 
were  clear  to  drop,  should  the  water  be  too  shallow,  and  we  proceeded  at  a 
very  slow  rate.  I  was  at  the  helm,  and  kept  shuffling  my  feet  out  of  sheer 
nervousness.  We  barely  managed  to  scrape  over.  In  the  afternoon  things  got 
worse  than  ever;  there  was  such  a  lot  of  stones  that  it  was  just  like  sailing 
through  an  uncleared  field.    Though  chary  of  doing  so,  I  was  now  compelled  to 


312  DISCOVERY  OF  NORTHWEST  PASSAGE 

lower  a  boat  and  take  soundings  ahead  of  us.  This  required  all  hands  on  deck, 
and  it  was  anything  but  pleasant  to  have  to  do  without  the  five  hours'  sleep 
obtainable  under  normal  conditions.  But  it  could  not  be  helped.  We  crawled 
along  in  this  manner,  and  by  6  p.  m.,  we  had  reached  Victoria  Strait,  leaving 
the  crowd  of  islands  behind  us." 

On  August  17  they  anchored  off  Cape  Colborne,  after  having  sailed  the 
Gjoa  "through  the  hitherto  unsolved  link  in  the  northwest  passage." 

On  August  26  at  8  a.  m.,  Capt.  Amundsen  was  asleep  below,  when  he  heard 
a  rushing  to  and  fro  on  deck.  A  few  minutes  later  came  the  cry  "A  sail !"  It 
was  a  whaling  vessel,  and  it  meant  that  the  Gjoa  had  reached  navigable  waters 
in  the  western  side  of  the  passage. 

Says  Amundsen:  "The  northwest  passage  had  been  accomplished — my 
dream  from  childhood.  I  had  a  peculiar  sensation  in  my  throat ;  I  was  some- 
what overworked  and  tired,  and  I  suppose  it  was  weakness  on  my  part,  but  I 
could  feel  tears  coming  to  my  eyes.  'Vessel  in  sight !'  The  words  were 
magical.  My  home  and  those  dear  to  me  there  at  once  appeared  to  me  as  if 
stretching  out  l^eir  hands.     'Vessel  in  sight !'  " 

The  Gjoa  reached  King  Point  August  29,  1905,  after  a  journey  of  only 
sixteen  days  from  King  William's  Land,  and  there  made  a  second  winter  quar- 
ters. That  winter  was  saddened  by  the  death  of  one  of  the  members  of  the 
party,  the  scientist  Wiik.  The  rest  pushed  on  to  the  end,  and  arrived  in  Nome, 
Alaska,  September  3,  1906. 

Amundsen  was  established  at  once  as  one  of  the  great  explorers  of  the 
world,  and  none  received  with  greater  enthusiasm  the  news  of  the  north  pole 
discovery  than  did  he. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

HENRY  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW   YORK  FETE. 

It  was  a  coincidence  almost  rivalling  that  of  the  dual  discovery  of  the  pole, 
that  while  Dr.  Cook  and  Commander  Peary  were  being  feted  and  were  arguing 
their  claims  the  memory  of  a  pioneer  American  explorer  and  Artie  adventurer 
was  receiving  honor.  New  York,  only  three  weeks  after  the  great  pole  sen- 
sation, was  the  scene  of  a  mammoth  celebration,  with  pageants  galore  and  with 
warships  from  foreign  waters  present  in  force. 

The  fete  served  to  teach  people  many  little-known  facts  about  Hudson's 
career,  which  was  one  of  the  most  romantic  in  history. 

Alfred  Payson  Terhune,  in  a  recent  biographical  sketch  of  Hudson,  has 
outlined  the  facts  of  the  explorer's  life  in  a  graphic  way. 

"He  was  born — no  one  knows  where  or  when.  He  died — no  one  knows 
when  or  how.  He  comes  into  our  knowledge  on  the  quarterdeck  of  a  ship 
bound  for  the  North  Pole.  He  goes  out  of  our  knowledge  in  a  crazy  boat  man- 
ned by  eight  sick  sailors." 

So  writes  one  historian  of  Hendrik  Hudson,  man  of  mystery.  The  hero 
who  blazed  his  name  upon  Americ^-'s  history  by  discovering  the  mighty  river 
and  the  bay  that  bear  his  name  seems  to  have  arisen  from  Nowhere  to  perform 
wondrous  deeds  and  to  have  vanished  into  Nowhere  when  his  grand  work  was 
done 

Hendrik  Hudson  flashed  into  fame  at  a  bound,  was  before  the  public  for 
four  brief  years,  and  then  disappeared.  Even  his  portrait  and  autograph  are 
not  generally  believed  to  be  genuine.  None  knows  his  age  at  the  time  he  made 
his  discoveries.  That  he  was  of  mature  years  is  shown  by  his  having  an  18- 
year-old  son.  But  whether  he  was  a  hale  mariner  of  40  or  a  grizzled  veteran 
of  70  it  is  impossible  to  guess. 

He  was  born  somewhere  in  England,  some  time  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
His  name  was  Henry  Hodgson,  and  his  Dutch  employers  later  twisted  the 
English  phraseology  into  "Hendrik  Hudson."  His  father  and  grandfather 
are  vaguely  supposed  to  have  been  London  merchants  and  interested  in  the 
Muscovy  company. 

313 


314  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 

Hudson  first  appears  in  history  on  April  19,  1607,  when,  with  his  16-year- 
old  son,  John,  and  ten  mariners  he  sailed  from  England  as  captain  of  the  Mus- 
covy company's  little  sixty-two  ton  ship,  Hopewell.  There  is  the  modest  object 
of  his  voyage  as  set  forth  in  his  own  notes : 

"To  discover  the  North  Pole  and  to  sail  across  it  to  China  or  India." 

The  voyage  was  probably  of  Hudson's  own  choosing.  For  all  his  known 
life  he  was  a  slave  of  one  idea — and  that  idea  a  wrong  one.  He  believed  that 
he  could  reach  the  orient  through  a  sea  passage  somewhere  in  the  frozen 
north.  This  would  mean  a  short  cut  for  Europe's  trade  with  the  east.  To 
discover  the.  supposed  north  passage  Hudson  devoted  all  his  powers  and  risked 
his  life.  The  really  great  discoveries  which  he  blundered  upon  while  searching 
for  this  passage  he  did  not  seem  to  consider  especially  valuable. 

Sailing  on  the  Hopewell  In  April,  1607,  he  scored  a  "farthest  north"  record, 
penetrating  to  within  10  degrees  of  the  North  Pole  and  discovering  Spitzber- 
gen.  But  the  icepack  and  cross  currents  at  last  drove  him  back.  He  returned 
to  England  without  having  found  the  long-sought  passage  across  the  pole  to 
the  orient.  But  in  1608  he  was  ready  for  another  search.  Again,  in  the  Mus- 
covy company's  service,  he  sought  the  mythical  passage.  This  time  he  sailed 
eastward  to  Nova  Zembla,  and  again  was  turned  back.  Here  is  a  queer  ex- 
tract from  Hudson's  notebook  for  this  voyage : 

"On  this  day  (June  15,  1608),  one  of  our  company,  looking  overboard, 
saw  a  mermaid.     She  was  close  to  the  ship's  side,  looking  earnestly  upward." 

Hudson's  two  unsuccessful  voyages  in  quest  of  the  passage  across  the  pole 
disgusted  the  Muscovy  company  with  that  sort  of  exploration.  They  turned 
their  attention  to  whaling.  Hudson  as  an  explorer  was  out  of  a  job.  Then, 
when  luck  seemed  at  Its  worst,  came  the  chance  of  his  life — a  chance  that  made 
him  immortal. 

The  Dutch  East  India  company  had  been  making  so  much  money  that  a  75 
per  cent,  dividend  had  been  declared.  Some  of  the  company's  directors  sug- 
gested that  a  small  part  of  the  surplus  cash  be  used  for  fitting  up  an  expedition 
to  hunt  for  the  "north  passage."  It  was  a  gamble,  and  to  the  thrifty  Dutch 
looked  for  big  commercial  results.  They  sent  for  Hudson  and  offered  him 
command  of  the  venture. 

He  was  ordered  to  set  out  in  the  eighty-ton  Half  Moon,  with  a  crew  of 
twenty  men,  and  to  "proceed  in  search  of  a  northwest  passage  around  the 
northern  extremity  of  Nova  Zembla  to  India."  For  his  services,  according 
to  a  contract's  terms,  Hudson  was  to  receive  $320,  "as  well  for  his  outfit  as 
for  the  support  of  his  wife  and  children. "    The  contract  adds :    "In  case  he  do 


HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK  315 

not  come  back — which  God  prevent — the  directors  shall  further  pay  to  his  wife 
200  florins  ($80)  in  cash." 

Thus  it  was  that  in  the  early  spring  of  1609  Hudson  put  to  sea  for  Nova 
Zembla.  A  second  ship,  the  Good  Hope,  went  along  with  the  Half  Moon  as 
consort,  but  soon  turned  back. 

The  icepack  kept  Hudson  from  reaching  Nova  Zembla.  His  crew,  in  coun- 
cil, advised  him  to  try  the  impossible  passage  of  Davis  straits  into  India.  Some 
historians  say  he  refused;  others  that  a  great  storm  blew  the  Half  Moon  fat 
westward  from  her  course.  Whether  from  design  or  accident,  Hudson  found 
himself  off  the  North  Atlantic  coast  of  America.  Then  he  made  known  to  his 
men  a  wonderful  plan  he  had  evolved,  namely,  to  discover  an  inland  strait  or 
sea  crossing  the  whole  American  continent  from  the  Atlantic  ocean  to  the 
Pacific.    To  this  insane  plan  we  owe  the  discovery  of  the  Hudson  river. 

Capt.  John  Smith — a  most  marvelous  liar  as  well  as  a  splendid  soldier  of 
fortune — had  once  told  Hudson  that  a  strait  or  inland  sea  cut  the  North  Amer- 
ican continent  in  half,  from  east  to  west,  and  that  its  Atlantic  inlet  was  just 
north  of  Virginia.  Failing  to  find  a  passage  across  the  North  Pole  to  India,  it 
occurred  to  Hudson  that  the  discovery  of  this  inland  sea  between  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  might  help  atone  for  his  other  failure.  For,  by  coming  to  America  at 
all,  he  was  disobeying  his  employers'  orders. 

So  down  the  Atlantic  coast  from  the  north  sailed  the  little  Half  Moon 
She  touched  at  Cape  Cod  (that  had  already  been  discovered  by  Goswold  in 
1602),  found  no  "Inland  sea,"  then  put  further  offshore  and  next  sighted  land 
at  Chesapeake  bay.  Hudson  cruised  in  the  Chesapeake  only  long  enough  to 
find  it  was  not  the  "strait"  he  sought.  Then  he  ran  north,  along  the  coast,  to 
Delaware  bay,  where  he  made  another  hopeless  search  for  the  "strait,"  and 
again  skirted  the  coast  to  the  northward.  Every  opening  in  the  New  Jersey 
shore  line  must  be  carefully  explored,  for  each  might  prove  to  be  the  mouth  of 
the  "strait." 

Thus,  on  Sept.  3,  1609,  Hendrik  Hudson  sailed  inside  Sandy  Hook  and 
cast  anchor  in  lower  New  York  bay.  From  the  size  of  the  bay  it  seemed  to 
him  that  he  had  at  last  found  the  mythical  "strait."  There  is  no  reason  to 
think  Hudson  was  the  first  man  to  enter  New  York  bay.  Mariners  from  sev- 
eral countries  claimed  to  have  been  there  before  him.  Andrea  da  Verazzano, 
a  corsair  in  the  French  service,  explored  the  North  Atlantic  coast  from  Flori- 
da to  New  York  In  1524,  and  so  on  to  Block  Island  and  Newport.  He  was 
either  killed  by  Spaniards  or  roasted  at  the  stake  by  savages. 

For  ten  days  the  Half  Moon  rode  at  anchor  In  the  lower  bay,  while  Hud- 


316  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 

son  parleyed  with  the  natives,  whose  canoes  swarmed  about  his  ship,  and  sent 
out  Httle  exploring"  parties  in  boats.  In  one  of  these  explorations  the  boat 
crew  had  a  fight  with  Indians,  and  John  Coleman,  a  seaman,  was  shot  through 
the  throat  by  an  arrow.  The  first  white  man  to  die  in  New  York  was  buried 
on  a  sandy  strip  of  ground  known  thereafter  as  "Coleman's  Point."  On  Sept. 
12  the  Half  Moon  sailed  up  the  bay  to  Manhattan  island  and  anchored  ofif  what 
is  now  the  battery.  One  historian  writes  that  at  this  spot  Hudson  gave  a  great 
feast  to  the  Indians  and  offered  them  the  first  liquor  they  had  ever  tasted.  A 
drunken  orgy  followed,  and  the  Delawares,  in  contempt,  named  the  island 
"Man-hatta-nink" — meaning  "place  of  general  intoxication."  Hudson  was 
delighted  with  the  beauty  of  Manhattan  island  and  wrote  in  his  report : 

"It  is  a  very  good  land  to  fall  in  with  and  a  pleasant  land  to  see !" 

Thence  up  the  broad  river  he  sailed,  certain  that  he  had  at  last  found  the 
"strait."  Friendly  natives  fed  his  crew  on  grain  and  game  during  this  journey 
and  received  in  return  not  only  such  trinkets  as  savages  love,  but  liquor  as 
well.  Says  the  journal  of  Juet,  Hudson's  mate :  "When  they  were  drunk  it 
was  strange  to  them ;  for  they  could  not  tell  how  to  take  it."  At  the  present 
city  of  Hudson  the  captain  and  officers  went  ashore,  and,  according  to  the 
note,  were  there  feasted  by  the  local  chiefs  on  "a  goodly  store  of  pigeons  and  a 
fat  dog."  Hudson  plied  the  chiefs  with  drink  "to  learn  if  they  had  any 
treachery  in  their  hearts  toward  us."  When  he  discovered  that  the  salt  water 
of  the  lower  bay  was  turning  fresh  he  began  to  doubt  if  he  were  really  in  the 
"strait." 

Yet  he  kept  on,  until,  on  Sept.  22,  at  a  point  just  above  Albany,  he  found 
the  river  was  no  longer  navigable.  This  was  a  terrific  blow.  Hudson  had 
failed  to  reach  the  North  Pole,  he  had  disobeyed  orders  in  coming  to  America, 
and  now  he  knew  at  last  that  there  was  no  inland  sea  leading  from  New  York 
to  the  Pacific. 

His  voyage  had  failed.  He  was  heartbroken.  The  fact  that  he  had  dis- 
covered one  of  the  greatest  rivers  on  earth  counted  for  nothing.  That  while 
searching  for  a  "strait"  which  did  not  exist  he  had  opened  New  York  to  civil- 
ization and  had  thrown  wide  the  gates  to  a  rich  wonder-world — all  this  meant 
nothing  to  him.  He  had  failed.  His  fellow-navigators  would  sneer  at  him. 
iHis  employers  would  reprimand — perhaps  discharge  him. 

To  soften  the  Dutch  East  India  company's  wrath  he  began  to  collect  rare 
woods  and  furs  to  show  how  valuable  a  land  this  might  be  from  a  trade  view- 
point. Indeed,  it  was  the  news  of  these  products — especially  the  furs — that 
later  led  the  Dutch  to  settle  New  York.    Thus,  even  in  his  "failure,"  Hudson's 


HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK  317 

pathetic  efforts  to  pacify  his  employers  were  the  indirect  cause  of  New  York's 
first  growth. 

Coming  down  the  river  Hudson  anchored  under  the  Hoboken  cHffs.  The 
mate  writes  of  the  opposite  shore  as  "that  side  of  the  river  called  Manna-hata." 
(There  are  nearly  a  dozen  versions  of  the  way  Manhattan  got  its  name.) 
There,  on  Oct.  i,  while  the  Indian  canoes  were  clustering  around  the  ship,  one 
savage  climbed  the  rudder  chains,  crept  through  a  window  into  Hudson's  cabin 
and  stole  a  pillow,  two  shirts  and  two  belts.  The  mate,  according  to  his  own 
account,  "shot  at  him  and  struck  him  on  the  breast  and  killed  him."  The  ship's 
cook  seeing  a  second  Indian  who,  in  swimming,  had  seized  the  dead  savage's 
canoe,  "took  a  sword  and  cut  off  one  of  his  hands  and  he  was  drowned."  This 
brought  on  a  general  fight,  in  which  several  more  natives  were  killed. 

On  Oct.  4  the  Half  Moon  set  sail  for  Holland.  It  was  the  first  vessel  to 
leave  the  port  of  New  York  bound  direct  for  Europe.  Hudson  knew  that 
trouble  awaited  him  at  home,  but  had  he  guessed  how  great  a  misfortune  it 
would  prove  he  would  probably  have  chosen  some  other  destination. 

Great  was  the  excitement  at  Dartmouth,  England,  when,  on  Nov.  7,  1609, 
the  battered  little  Half  Moon  crept  into  port,  bearing  the  returned  discoverers. 
Hudson  and  his  men  were  plied  with  questions  as  to  the  wonderful  new  land 
they  had  explored.  They  became  nine-day  wonders  at  the  sleepy  English 
town.    But  suddenly  the  sentiment  toward  them  changed. 

Hudson  had  merely  stopped  at  Dartmouth  on  his  way  to  Holland.  Before 
he  could  go  on  with  his  journey  the  British  authorities  seized  the  Half  Moon 
and  arrested  Hudson  and  the  crew.  For  months  the  returned  mariners  were 
held  captive.  At  last  Hudson  succeeded  in  forwarding  his  reports  to  the  Dutch 
East  India  company,  and  his  men  were  allowed  to  take  the  ship  to  Amsterdam. 
Hudson  did  not  go  with  them.  It  is  supposed,  too,  that  the  Dutch  East  India 
company  (angry  at  his  disobedience  to  orders  and  disgusted  at  what  they 
deemed  his  failure)  discharged  him. 

Thus  the  discoverer  found  himself  stranded  once  more,  without  employ- 
ment or  prospects.  For  months  he  lived  In  miserable  Idleness,  trying  always 
to  secure  command  of  a  new  expedition  for  the  discovery  of  the  North  Pole  and 
of  the  supposed  "passage"  across  it  to  India. 

(The  Half  Moon,  after  several  later  voyages  under  less  famous  captains, 
is  said  to  have  been  wrecked  off  the  island  of  Mauritius  In  161 5.) 

By  dint  of  much  persuasion  Hudson  finally  induced  some  rich  London 
merchants  to  fit  out  a  ship  for  him  and  let  him  make  one  more  search  for  the 


318  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 

northern  "passage."  This  new  vessel,  the  Discovery — seventy  tons — was 
manned  by  Hudson,  his  1 8-year-old  son  John  and  twenty-two  other  ad- 
venturers. She  sailed  from  England  on  April  17,  1610.  In  July  she  entered 
what  was  afterward  known  as  Hudson's  straits,  and  on  Aug.  2  entered  Hud- 
son's bay.  For  three  months  Hudson  explored  that  vast  body  of  water.  Then 
in  November  he  and  his  men  went  into  winter  quarters  on  its  south  shore. 

Hudson  was  a  great  and  fearless  navigator.  But  he  was  not  a  born  ruler 
of  men.  This  had  earlier  been  shown  by  the  mutinous  behavior  of  his  crews. 
Now,  camped  on  the  frozen  coast  of  a  northern  bay,  short  of  food,  fearful  of 
dying  in  that  bleak  wilderness,  his  men  again  broke  into  furious  mutiny. 

Hudson  tried  to  pacify  them  by  argument  and  entreaty,  instead  of  enforc- 
ing his  authority.  He  also  divided  among  them  the  last  fragments  of  the  ship's 
provisions.  He  even  wept  loudly  and  publicly  over  their  mutinous  conduct. 
All  this  served  to  make  the  crew  the  more  contemptuous  of  Hudson's  authority. 

Illness,  starvation  and  mutiny  wore  away  the  long  northern  winter.  When 
spring  at  last  arrived  the  men  clamored  to  start  for  Europe.  Hudson  deemed 
the  ship  too  badly  provisioned  and  the  ice  floes  too  thick  for  a  safe  passage 
so  early  in  the  season.  Whereat  the  mutineers  seized  Hudson  on  the  morn- 
ing of  June  21,  161 1,  as  he  came  on  deck  from  his  cabin,  bound  him  and 
threw  him  into  a  small  boat.  They  thrust  his  son  John  into  the  boat  after 
him,  and  then  proceeded  to  throw  seven  of  the  weakest,^  sickest  sailors  over 
the  side  of  the  ship  into  the  cranky  little  craft  to  keep  the  fallen  hero  company. 

While  almost  the  whole  crew  had  mutinied,  yet  those  who  found  them- 
selves condemned  by  their  stronger  brethren  to  share  their  commander's  fate 
resisted  fiercely.  In  the  free  fight  that  ensued  up  and  down  the  deck  four 
men  were  killed. 

At  last  the  boat  with  its  nine  helpless  occupants  was  cut  loose  from  the 
ship.  A  kettle,  a  gun,  some  ammunition  and  a  little  food  were  tossed  to  the 
fugitives,  and  the  Discovery  sailed  away  for  England,  leaving  Hudson  and 
his  sick  fellow  outcasts  floating  helpless  upon  the  water  in  a  frail  boat.  The 
mutineers  fought  among  themselves  on  the  way  home.  All  ringleaders  were 
killed  or  died  of  hunger  and  disease.  Of  the  twenty-four  who  had  left  Eng- 
land, only  eight  reiurned  alive.  In  the  Discovery,  in  161 6,  Baffin's  Bay  was 
discovered. 

What  became  of  Hudson  and  his  eight  men?  A  relief  expedition  found 
no  trace  of  them.  Did  they  perish,  or — as  old  traditions  say — were  they 
adopted  into  some  Indian  tribe?    Hudson's  fate  is  as  mysterious  as  his  origin. 


HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK  319 

■He  sprang  at  a  bound  from  utter  obscurity,  accomplished  his  life  work  and 
vanished  into  the  Unknown. 

The  most  spectacular  features  of  the  New  York  celebration  were  a  naval 
parade,  a  land  pageant  and  a  display  of  fireworks. 

The  naval  parade  was  held  the  morning  of  Sept.  25  amid  a  din  of  whis- 
tles like  that  heard  when  the  old  year  passes  oiit  and  the  new  comes  in, 
made  up  of  the  combined  clamor  of  all  the  harbor  craft,  the  hoarse  blast  from 
the  tugs,  and  deeper  bass  of  the  big  Hners,  the  firing  of  guns,  the  cheering 
of  the  folks  assembled  on  the  shores  of  the  three  boroughs,  and  the  neigh- 
boring state. 

From  the  lee  of  Jersey  shore,  where  Kill  von  Kull  cleaves  the  way  between 
the  sister  state  and  Staten  island,  there  emerged  a  strange  vessel.  Its  high  poop, 
its  rigging,  its  entire  makeup  bespoke  the  day  that  has  long  since  passed.  Be- 
sides the  Cunarder  Caronia,  which  passed  in  strung  with  flags  from  stem 
to  stern  in  its  honor  the  foreign-looking  boat  appeared  ridiculously  small.  In 
fact,  it  was  completely  blanketed. 

Yet,  after  a  lapse  of  three  centuries,  its  day  had  come  again — a  glorified 
day  in  which  a  great  city  paid  its  tribute  in  respect  to  the  Half  Moon  and 
what  it  stood  for. 

Likewise  the  Clermont,  typifying  the  day  when  Manhattan  stretched  to 
Canal  street  and  no  farther,  while  Brooklyn  was  a  village,  when  the  science 
of  navigation  by  steam  was  in  its  infancy,  got  such  a  reception  as  Fulton  never 
had  in  the  bygone  days  when  his  genius  came  to  be  recognized. 

There  came  near  being  an  end  to  the  most  attractive  feature  of  the  entire 
celebration  before  matters  were  straightened  out  and  a  start  was  made.  The 
Half  Moon  and  the  Clermont  collided  while  rounding  the  turn  off  the  ferry 
house  close  to  St.  George.  The  Half  Moon  had  broken  out  sail  at  the  time 
and  was  footing  it  in  great  shape  under  a  cloud  of  canvas,  but  the  twenty  knot 
wind  proved  too  much  for  it.  In  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  Dutch  crew  to 
prevent  it  the  vessel  bore  down  on  the  long,  low  lying  Clermont  and  rapped 
it  smartly  on  the  port  side  amidships. 

The  Clermont,  with  Its  outside  paddle  wheels  churning  the  water  of  the 
bay  into  a  yeastly  smother,  tried  to  get  out  of  the  way,  but  the  Half  Moon, 
which  was  like  a  chip  on  the  ocean  in  comparison  with  the  present  day  liners, 
proved  fully  as  ambitious  as  the  record  breaking  four  day  boats  and  bore 
down  Into  the  wind  with  a  speed  which  would  have  made  Henry  Hudson  open 
his  eyes  wide  in  astonishment. 


320  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 

Not  far  from  the  Stapleton  shore  the  crash  took  place.  The  Dutch  prod- 
uct of  the  sixteenth  century  had  traveled  a  short  distance  from  Constable 
Hook  in  tow,  but  the  wind  was  so  inviting  it  parted  from  its  convoy  and  put 
out  sail.  When  the  sailors  on  the  Half  Moon  saw  that  a  collision  was  in- 
evitable they  hastily  lowered  the  canvas,  which  retarded  the  Half  Moon's 
speed  considerably.  All  the  same,  the  sixteenth  century  and  the  nineteenth 
came  in  contact  with  force  enough  to  set  the  pewter  plates  on  the  Dutch- 
man rattling. 

Neither  vessel  was  much  damaged.  Part  of  the  railing  of  the  Clermont 
was  splintered  and  the  Half  Moon  had  its  nose  bruised,  figuratively  speaking, 
for  the  bowsprit  was  bent  a  bit,  but  it  was  not  necessary  for  the  vessels  to 
drop  out  of  the  line  and  they  joined  in  the  parade  as  briskly  as  if  nothing  at 
all  had  happened. 

The  Clermont  was  under  its  own  steam  at  the  time,  just  as  the  Half  Moon 
was  under  sail.  The  tug  Frederick  B.  Dalzell  had  taken  the  Half  Moon  200 
yards.  A  breeze  was  kicking  the  bay  into  whitecaps,  but  as  the  quaint  vessel 
spread  its  white  wings  and  the  sails  bellied  out,  it  rounded  Staten  island 
like  an  American  cup  champion.  It  wasn't  on  the  cards  that  it  should  go  as 
fast,  but  the  crowd  on  shore  was  delighted  and  let  out  a  cry  of  approval. 

At  the  same  time  the  cloud  of  steam  issued  from  the  tall  stack  of  Clermont, 
but  its  gait  was  more  methodical.  When  the  crew  saw  the  Half  Moon  up  on 
it,  however,  the  vessel  got  a  move  on  in  earnest  and  tried  to  get  out  of  the 
way.    It  couldn't  quite  make  clear  water  in  time. 

In  the  wake  of  the  Half  Moon  trailed  the  official  boats,  tugs,  yachts,  and 
other  craft.  Five  submarines  stole  into  the  channel  and  went  along,  closely 
convoying  the  Half  Moon.    Then  the  big  show  might  fairly  be  said  to  be  on. 

The  head  line  of  the  naval  parade,  with  the  Half  Moon  leading,  was  off 
South  Brooklyn  shortly  before  l  o'clock. 

The  excursion  boats  were  all  heavily  crowded  and  the  bay  was  full  of 
decorated  vessels  of  all  sorts — tugs,  steam  lighters,  and  other  craft  darting 
hither  and  thither.  The  outward  bound  liners  were  all  decorated  as  they 
passed  the  parade  on  their  way  down  the  bay.  The  boats  moved  up  the  Hud- 
son in  a  double  line  c.  t  a  speed  of  about  eight  miles  an  hour,  but  such  was  the 
number  of  participants  and  the  distance  necessary  to  be  maintained  between 
them  that  the  head  of  the  procession  had  reached  the  turning  point  at  Spuyten 
Duyvil  and  was  part  way  back  before  the  last  upward  bound  vessel  passed 
the  Battery.  Strung  out  thus,  the  column  proved  to  be  nearly  fifteen  miles 
long. 


HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW.  YORK  321 

When  the  Half  Moon  and  the  Clermont  reached  the  United  States  ship 
Newport,  which  marked  the  southern  end  of  the  line  of  warships  at  Forty- 
fourth  street,  they  moved  up  on  the  New  York  side  of  the  river,  while  the  other 
vessels  kept  on  between  the  men  o'  war  and  the  New  Jersey  shore.  As  the 
two  little  craft  went  by  the  warships  started  firing  the  royal  salute,  making 
one  continual  roll  of  powder  fed  thunder. 

The  Half  Moon  and  Clermont  went  only  as  far  as  One  Hundred  and 
Tenth  street,  where  the  land  ceremonies  of  the  day  occurred  at  4  o'clock,  with 
speeches  by  Gov.  Hughes  and  others.  While  these  were  in  progress  the  other 
vessels  rounded  the  head  of  the  warship  line  at  Two  Hundred  and  Twenty- 
second  street,  and  returned  along  the  Manhattan  shore,  back  to  buoy  to  await 
the  night,  when,  with  scarcely  time  enough  for  the  crews  to  get  dinner,  the 
participants  of  the  day  parade  went  over  the  same  route,  while  the  river 
was  gorgeously  illuminated. 

The  weather  was  as  perfect  as  the  preparations.  Four  days  of  rain  had 
washed  all  the  gray  out  of  the  skies,  and  through  the  atmosphere,  clear  and 
sparkling,  ran  the  first  brisk  breath  of  autumn,  the  first  feel  of  Indian  sum- 
mer. Under  the  flawless  sunshine  the  water  danced,  all  white  and  blue,  the 
wheels  and  screws  of  the  scurrying  craft  churning  the  top  of  the  swells  into  a 
creamy  smother. 

Where  all  the  crowd  came  from  and  how  it  got  settled  into  place  is  a 
marvel  past  telling.  The  sun,  climbing  into  the  sky,  looked  down  upon  a  me- 
tropolis that  rippled  and  eddied  with  red,  white  and  blue,  with  orange,  blue 
and  white,  and  with  every  other  color  that  can  be  woven  into  a  flag  or  printed 
into  bunting;  it  looked  down  also  upon  two  rivers,  a  harbor,  and  bay  fairly 
dancing  with  vessels  of  every  sort,  from  ocean  liners,  excursion  boats,  trim 
private  yachts,  fat  ferry  boats,  waddling  like  mallards,  and  tugs  as  brisk  as  the 
blue  teal,  down  to  motor  boats  and  skiffs,  playing  over  the  surface  like  schools 
of  sunfish  in  a  pond.  It  also  looked  upon  the  picked  war  craft  of  our  own 
nation  and  other  nations ;  all  metal  and  menace  and  might. 

Besides  the  pleasure  craft  there  was  waiting  the  greatest  gathering  of  war 
vessels  ever  seen.  It  was  a  fleet  of  seventy  war  vessels,  fifty-three  American, 
four  English,  four  German,  three  French,  two  Italian,  One  Dutch,  one 
Argentine,  one  Mexican,  and  one  Cuban,  with  guns  enough,  if  fired  in  one 
broadside,  to  wipe  out  a  city  or  sink  a  nation's  navy — enough  potential  de- 
struction in  a  row  to  stagger  the  imagination.  There  were  27,000  officers 
and  men  and  nearly  500  big  guns. 


322  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 

In  the  evening  came  the  fireworks. 

As  early  as  6:30  o'clock,  when  the  city  hall  and  all  the  borough  halls  of 
the  great  city,  the  big  East  river  bridges,  the  skyscrapers,  hotels,  and  every- 
thing else  sent  forth  their  first  flash  of  lights,  all  the  river  also  was  lit  up.  In 
front  of  the  big  white  pylons  of  the  staff  at  the  foot  of  One  Hundred  and 
Tenth  street  lay  the  liner  Nieuw  Amsterdam,  with  every  line  studded  with 
lighted  bulbs.  From  the  water  front  a  few  yards  in  front  of  the  crowd  to  the 
rim  of  the  Palisades,  up  and  down  as  far  as  one  could  see,  there  were  lights 
and  lights — and  more  lights. 

There  was  a  pause  for  a  while  on  every  bridge  of  the  miles  of  fighting 
ships  while  the  quartermasters  waited  for  the  "cornet"  signal  that  would 
cause  them  to  give  the  order.  "Turn  on  lights."  The  signal  came  promptly 
as  signals  on  flagships  have  a  habit  of  doing,  and  like  a  burning  trail  of  powder 
ship  after  ship  flashed  out  of  the  darkness,  up  and  down  the  river  as  far  as  you 
could  see.  A  good  imitation  of  the  crack  of  doom  accompanied  the  lighting  up 
of  the  fleet.  Every  siren  for  miles  was  tied  down.  The  hoarse  calls  of  battle- 
ships, liners,  and  other  boats  added  to  the  din. 

Jets  of  light  from  the  clustered  searchlights  far  up  the  river,  which  had 
been  radiating  like  sticks  in  a  woman's  fan  in  individual  rays,  now  were 
brought  closer  together,  still  spreading  out  individual  shafts  of  light,  but  mak- 
ing a  lesser,  therefore  brighter,  number  of  rays. 

And  then  up  and  down  the  river,  the  Jersey  shore — the  back  drop  of  the 
stage — broke  loose  with  fireworks.  Fireworks  spluttered  and  banged  and  sent 
training  balloons  of  fire  sailing  southward  over  the  warships  in  a  strong  breeze 
for  more  than  an  hour.  It  undoubtedly  was  the  biggest  pyrotechnic  display,  in 
quality  and  in  quantity,  that  New  York  ever  had  seen.  * 

Up  on  Washington  heights  twenty  great  beams  of  light  in  twelve  colors 
made  a  playground  of  the  darkness.  The  searchlights  were  there  to  light  up 
the  curtain  of  steam  that  sizzled  a  few  hundred  feet  from  them  to  one  side. 
The  steam  would  billow  out  in  fat,  fanlike  puffs,  and  the  searchlights  would 
illuminate  these  in  gaudy  colors,  like  a  peacock's  tail,  or  it  would  come  out  in 
a  solid  sheet  and  the  colors  would  play  on  the  wall.  Again  it  would  issue 
forth  in  short  snaky  looking  wreaths,  a  dozen  writhing  in  mid  air  at  the  same 
time,  and  the  colors  would  come  and  go  in  red  and  yellow  and  all  the  other 
tints  the  psychologists  say  represent  anger  and  fear. 

The  plant  from  which  all  the  plays  of  light  came  was  situated  on  Riverside 
drive,  between  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-fifth  and  One  Hundred  and  Fifty- 


HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 


323 


seventh  streets.  There  the  twenty  lights  were  lined  up,  occupying  more  than 
a  block,  facing  the  Hudson  river.  Each  projector  had  an  intensity  of  50,- 
000,000  candle  power.  The  light  was  so  powerful  that  when  the  operator 
turned  it  on  a  tree  during  the  preliminary  practice  every  leaf  was  brought 
out  in  a  hard  brilliance  of  contour. 


From  the  PhiladelpMa  Inquirer. 

THE  RACE  FROM  THE  NORTH  POLE  HOME 


The  most  interesting  effect  was  that  obtained  by  forcing  steam  under 
heavy  pressure  through  hose  pipes.  The  pipes  slatted  about  furious  in  mid  air 
and  the  steam  was  thrown  about  in  every  direction.  This  was  called  "the 
battle  of  the  Serpents,"  or  some  such  name,  and  as  lighted  up  by  the  twenty 
projectors  had  a  dazzling  effect.  Another  effect  was  obtained  by  discharg- 
ing an  aerial  bomb  high  in  the  sky,  then  turning  the  searchlights  up  on  it  till 
the  smoke  cloud  had  disappeared. 


324  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 

This  was  the  end  of  the  day's  festivities — and  it  had  been  a  crowded  day. 

The  historical  pageant  on  Sept.  27,  really  represented  the  supreme  effort 
of  the  commission.  For  several  months  300  artists,  carpenters  and  papier- 
mache  manipulators  had  been  at  work  preparing  the  wood  and  plaster  figures 
which  decorated  the  fifty-four  floats  in  the  procession.  Nearly  20,000  men, 
women  and  children,  representing  every  national  and  patriotic  society  in  the 
city,  posed  as  historic  personages  on  these  floats  or  marched  beside  them. 
The  cost  of  the  spectacle  was  $300,000. 

Guests  of  the  commission  and  the  city  numbered  several  thousand.  The 
f(^rmer  occupied  an  immense  stand  in  front  of  the  new  public  library  at  5th 
a""-enue,  40th  and  42d  streets.    This  was  the  reviewing  stand. 

The  story  unfolded  by  the  floats  and  their  costumed  characters  dealt  with 
the  history  of  New  York  and  the  country  surrounding  it  in  four  periods — 
the  Indian,  the  Dutch,  the  colonial  and  the  modern.  The  last  named,  how- 
ever, carried  the  tale  no  farther  than  the  first  Erie  canal  boat  and  the  intro- 
duction of  w^ater  from  the  Croton  reservoir.  Leading  the  pageant  were 
officers  of  the  city  and  the  commission.  The  Irish  societies  led  the  first  division, 
having  in  line  about  400  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick  and  2,000  members 
of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians,  while  after  them  marched  1,500  from 
the  Italian  organizations,  1,500  Bohemians,  250  Poles  and  250  Hungarians, 
all  in  costume.  The  title  car  "New  York,"  which  led  the  floats,  was  followed 
by  250  Norwegians.  A  number  of  Iroquois  Indians  took  part  in  the  tableaux 
on  the  Indian  floats  that  followed. 

After  1,000  additional  members  of  the  Italian  societies  and  1,000  from 
Ireland  came  floats  picturing  scenes  in  the  early  Dutch  colonies,  including 
representations  of  the  Half  Moon  and  the  "Fate  of  Henry  Hudson."  One 
that  attracted  attention  was  the  car  "St.  Nicholas,"  attended  by  250  children. 
That  the  youngsters  might  not  be  wearied  by  the  long  march  they  served  in 
relays  along  the  route. 

Swedish  and  Irish  societies,  including  1,500  members  of  the  Clan-na-Gael, 
preceded  the  floats  of  the  colonial  period  and  members  of  various  patriotic 
societies  escorted  the  cars  of  the  modern  or  United  States  period,,  which  com- 
posed the  last  division.  "The  reception  to  LaFayette,"  however,  was  accom- 
panied by  200  members  of  the  French  societies,  and  the  car  "Garibaldi"  was 
escorted  by  members  of  the  Italian  societies,  including  ten  veterans  who  had 
served  under  the  Italian  liberator. 

And  thus  Henry  Hudson  was  honored.  It  may  be  asked:  How  will 
the  American  nation  do  homage  to  Peary  and  Cook  in  2009  ? 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

HOW  LATITUDE  IS  RECKONED. 

All  those  who  have  been  to  sea  have  looked  on,  more  or  less  mystified, 
while  one  of  the  ship's  officers  takes  his  observations  to  find  out  just  where 
the  ship  is.  If  the  average  landlubber  is  asked  to  tell  just  what  happens  on 
such  occasions  he  will  confine  his  explanations,  as  a  rule,  to  stating  that  the 
instrument  involved  is  a  sextant,  arid  that  the  sun  plays  an  important  part  in 
the  affair.  After  that — unless  he  is  an  exceptionally  well-informed  land- 
lubber— he  will  trail  off  into  vague  remarks  about  latitude  and  longitude,  and 
then,  ten  to  one,  change  the  subject. 

But  the  sextant  suddenly  jumped  into  the  limelight  with  the  discovery  of 
the  pole;  for,  besides  being  indispensable  to  the  seafarer,  it  is  equally  so  to 
polar  explorers.  It  is  by  its  use  alone  that  Peary  and  Cook  were  able  to  de- 
termine their  whereabouts  while  on  their  weary  marches  through  the  frozen 
north.  In  fact,  if  they  had  not  had  the  useful  little  instrument  among  their 
paraphernalia  they  would  have  been  absolutely  unable  to  tell  whether  they 
were  at  the  coveted  goal  or  hundreds  of  miles  away  from  it. 

Hence,  this  query  is  now  more  pertinent  than  ever:  What  is  a  sextant 
and  what  does  it  do  ? 

The  sextant  is  an  instrument  for  measuring  angles  between  distant  objects. 
It  consists  of  a  frame  in  the  form  of  a  sector,  embracing  somewhat  more 
than  one-sixth  (usually  about  one-fourth)  of  the  whole  circle;  two  mirrors, 
one  wholly  silvered  and  one  silvered  over  half  its  surface,  a  movable  arm 
pivoted  at  the  center  of  the  sector  and  carrying  the  fully  silvered  mirror,  and  a 
vernier,  or  measuring  scale;  an  arc  along  the  circumference  of  the  sector 
graduated  into  degrees,  minutes  and  seconds  and  an  eye-piece.  Its  name  is 
derived  from  the  Latin  word  sextans,  signifying  the  sixth  of  a  circle. 

People  are  often  puzzled  to  know  why  the  sextant  should  be  so  called, 
when  it  can  measure  angles  up  to  129  degrees,  or  the  third  of  a  circle.  But,  as 
Lecky  points  out  in  his  well-known  "Wrinkles  in  Practical  Navigation,"  if  the 
possessor  of  a  sextant  will  look  at  the  arc,  he  will  find  out  that  by  his  eye  alone, 

325 


326  HOIV  LATITUDE  IS  RECKONED 

as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  consists  only  of  the  sixth  part  of  a  circle.  The  optical 
principle  upon  which  the  instrument  is  founded  (that  of  double  reflection) 
permits  of  half  a  degree  of  the  arc  being  numbered  and  considered  as  a  whole 
degree.  Thus,  in  the  sextant  what  is  really  only  an  arc  of  60  degrees  is 
divided  into  120  equal  parts,  each  of  which  does  duty  as  a  degree. 

The  optical  principle  upon  which  the  sextant  is  founded  is  thus  ex- 
pressed in  scientific  language:  "If  a  ray  of  light  suffers  two  successive  re- 
flections in  the  same  plane  by  two  plane  mirrors,  the  angle  between  the  first 
and  last  direction  of  the  ray  is  twice  the  angle  of  the  mirror." 

What  the  sextant  does,  expressed  differently,  is  to  solve  the  astronomical 
triangle,  one  point  of  which  is  the  pole,  the  second  the  observed  heavenly  body, 
which  is  the  sun,  and  the  third  the  zenith,  which  is  the  point  directly  over 
the  head  of  the  observer.  What  the  observer  seeks  to  find  out  from  his  read- 
ings of  the  sextant  is  the  sun's  altitude.  Once  he  gets  that  he  can  get  all  the 
other  necessary  data  from  the  so-called  "Nautical  Almanac,"  a  government 
publication,  revised  for  each  year,  which  is  among  the  most  treasured  posses- 
sions of  every  navigator  and  explorer. 

By  latitude  is  meant  the  angular  distance  between  the  horizon  and  the 
level  of  the  observer.  In  making  observations  at  sea  the  actual  horizon — 
that  is,  where  the  sky  and  the  water  meet — is  used.  On  shore,  however,  ob- 
servers make  use  of  an  artificial  horizon.  Ordinarily  this  consists  of  a  cast- 
iron  trough,  containing  pure  mercury,  which  is  protected  from  disturbances 
from  the  wind  by  an  angular  glass  roof.  A  form  of  artificial  horizon  more 
suitable  for  the  needs  of  explorers  is  that  known  as  Capt.  George's,  since  it 
is  more  compact  and  more  easily  carried.  In  place  of  mercury,  molasses,  crude 
oil  and  other  substances  may  be  used  in  the  artificial  horizon. 

What  is  known  as  the  "meridian  altitude,"  or  the  sun's  position  at  noon, 
is  the  best  for  getting  the  latitude,  hence  it  is  that  observations  are  usually 
taken  when  the  chronometer  of  the  explorer  or  navigator  tells  him  that  it  is 
noon.  At  that  time  the  error  which  an  observer  is  likely  to  make  in  deter- 
mining the  longitude  is  a  matter  of  small  importance. 

The  two  things  that  an  observer  must  know  in  order  to  get  his  latitude 
are  the  altitude  of  the  sun,  which  he  gets  by  means  of  his  sextant,  and  the  decli- 
nation of  the  sun,  which  he  gets  from  his  Nautical  Almanac.  By  declination 
of  the  sun  is  meant  its  angular  distance  north  or  south  of  the  celestial  equator 
— i.  e.,  a  circle  reaching  to  the  heavens  which  is  in  the  same  plane  as  the 
equator  of  the  earth. 


HOW  LATITUDE  IS  RECKONED  327 

The  declination  of  the  sun  is  tabulated  in  the  Nautical  Almanac  for  noon 
at  Greenwich,  England,  for  each  day.  It  varies  from  day  to  day,  so  that,  in 
order  to  know  accurately  the  declination  of  the  sun  at  the  time  of  taking  his 
observations,  it  is  necessary  for  the  observer  to  know  how  many  hours  before 
or  after  noon  at  Greenwich  the  observation  is  taken.  This  is  ordinarily  ex- 
pressed in  terms  of  longitude  east  or  west  of  Greenwich. 

But  at  the  pole  there  is  no  longitude.  In  spite  of  this  the  chronometer  is 
equally  necessary  at  the  pole,  in  order  to  ascertain  from  the  almanac  the  de- 
clination of  the  sun. 

The  best  observer  with  a  sextant  and  an  artificial  horizon,  under  ordinary 
conditions,  would  hesitate  to  trust  his  observations,  to  determine  the  sun's 
altitude,  closer  than  a  quarter  of  a  nautical  mile,  or  15  seconds  of  an  arc,  a 
nautical  mile  being  equivalent  to  a  minute  of  longitude  or  a  minute  of  longitude 
at  the  equator,  or  6,086  feet,  instead  of  the  5,280  feet  making  a  statute  mile. 
This  hesitation  on  the  observer's  part  is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  making  obser- 
vations there  are  three  errors  likely  to  be  made.  The  first  is  that  due  to  lack 
of  ability  on  the  part  of  the  observer  himself.  The  second  is  the  "instrumental 
error"  which  can  practically  be  eliminated  by  using  the  very  highest  grade 
obtainable  of  instruments. 

But  the  most  serious  error  of  all  is  that  due  to  refraction. 


ALLOWANCE  FOR  REFRACTION. 

To  give  an  idea  to  the  outsider  of  what  refraction  is,  no  better  example  can 
be  adduced  than  the  appearance  of  an  oar  in  the  water.  Everybody  will  recall 
that  it  looks  as  if  it  were  bent  at  the  surface  of  the  water.  This  is  due  to 
refraction.  In  technical  language  it  is  expressed  thus :  "A  ray  of  light  is  bent 
from  a  straight  line  as  it  passes  from  one  medium  to  another  or  in  passing 
through  a  medium  of  varying  density." 

Thus  is  explained  what  happens  in  observing  the  sun,  for  the  air,  from  a 
maximum  density  at  the  surface  of  the  earth,  becomes  thinner  and  thinner  as 
it  gets  higher  above  that  surface,  so  that  a  ray  of  light  from  the  sun,  when  it 
strikes  the  earth's  atmosphere,  bends  and  keeps  bending  more  and  more  as 
it  travels  toward  the  earth.  Tables  have  been  prepared  which  give  the  amount 
in  degrees,  minutes  and  seconds  of  this  refraction.  It  changes  as  the  barome- 
ter and  thermometer  change  and  the  tabulated  refraction  is  mean  or  average 
of  a  large  number  of  observations  to  determine  what  the  refraction  Is. 


328  HOW  LATITUDE  IS  RECKONED 

The  pole,  by  the  way,  is  the  very  best  point  at  which  to  take  observations, 
for  the  reason  that  there  the  error  due  to  refraction  is  likely  to  be  less  than 
at  any  other  point  on  earth. 

COST  OF  POLAR  EXPEDITIONS. 

A  writer  named  Walter  Leon  Sawyer  has  quite  interesting  facts  about  the 
cost  of  polar  expeditions.    He  says : 

The  "promoter,"  of  the  vulgar  sort,  he  of  the  sordid  imagination,  who 
demands  from  every  outlay  a  return  of  profit,  has  not  had  much  to  do  with 
modern  expeditions  to  the  Arctic,  though  in  earlier  times  his  trail  was  over 
them  all.  Then,  while  the  northwest  passage  to  India,  not  the  North  Pole, 
was  the  goal  of  ambition,  the  discovery  of  such  a  route  seeming  to  insure 
commercial  supremacy,  kings  turned  speculators  and  hard-headed  merchants 
made  ventures  that  must  have  figured  oddly  in  matter-of-fact  account  books, 
Walter  Leon  Sawyer  says  in  the  Boston  Transcript. 

Yet  the  first  polar  expedition,  after  the  interregnum  that  followed  Norse 
colonization  of  Iceland  and  discovery  of  Greenland,  was  discreetly  accounted 
for  by  Henry  VIII,  who  ordered  it.  "For  discoverie  even  to  the  North  Pole, 
two  faire  ships  well  manned  and  victualled,  having  in  them  divers  cunning 
men  to  seek  strange  regions,"  set  out  in  1527;  but  one  was  lost  north  of  New- 
foundland, and  the  other,  having  discovered  nothing  went  home. 

Sebastian  Cabot,  a  little  later,  revived  interest  in  Arctic  enterprise  and 
prom.pted  the  sending  of  Sir  Hugh  Willoughby  and  Richard  Chancellor  "for 
the  search  and  discovery  of  the  northern  parts  of  the  world,  to  open  a  way 
and  passage  to  our  men,  for  travel  to  new  and  unknown  kingdoms."  Wil- 
loughby died,  Chancellor  found  Archangel  and  opened  a  trade  with  Russia. 
And,  following  Chancellor's  success  Elizabeth  instigated  the  Muscovy  com- 
pany in  1575  to  license  vSir  Martin  Frobisher,  who  sought  the  northwest 
passage,  found  some  mica  schist  which  he  took  for  gold,  and  wasted  two  sub- 
sequent voyages  in  gathering  more.  In  1580,  the  Company  of  Merchant 
Adventurers  fitted  out  an  expedition  of  two  ships,  one  of  which  was  lost ;  in 
1594  and  again  in  1^96  Willem  Barentz  of  Holland  made  two  attempts  at 
the  northwest  passage,  the  latter  being  financed  by  the  city  of  Amsterdam ;  and 
in  the  later  years  of  the  sixteenth  century  John  Davys  and  Thomas  James, 
Englishmen  both,  south  the  north,  James  being  backed  by  the  government. 
It  was  at  one  time  "an  association  of  English  gentlemen"  and  at  another  time 
the  Dutch  East  India  Company  that  assisted  Henry  Hudson's  ill-fated  en- 


HOW  LATITUDE  IS  RECKONED  329 

deavors.  It  was  King  Christian  IV  of  Denmark  who  sent  out  Jens  Munk  and 
others,  Danes  and  Englishmen,  to  rediscover  the  lost  colonies  of  Greenland  and 
restore  Denmark's  supremacy  in  the  Arctic. 

But  all  these  expeditions,  whether  financed  by  kings  or  commoners,  were 
undertaken  with  commercial  ends  in  view.  Some  glimmering  of  scientific 
purposes  seems,  however,  to  have  lighted  the  voyage  of  the  second  Baron  Mul- 
grave,  who  was  ordered  north  by  the  British  government  in  1773;  and  thence- 
forward the  spark  of  enthusiasm  continued  to  brighten  to  a  steady  flame. 
Great  Britain  commanded  or  assisted  or  rewarded  the  efforts  of  Cook  and 
Parry  and  Franklin  and  Ross,  from  1776  to  1848.  Then,  as  the  mystery  of 
Sir  John  Franklin's  fate  wrought  on  the  minds  of  men  lending  a  poignant  in- 
terest to  the  problem  of  the  Arctic,  a  new  type  of  "promoter"  appeared  in  the 
field — the  rich  man  who  had  no  selfish  ends  to  serve.  The  last  word  of 
Franklin's  expedition  was  received  in  1.845.  Between  1847  and  1857  thirty- 
nine  expeditions  of  relief  and  discovery  were  sent  out,  at  an  aggregate  cost 
approximating  $2,000,000;  and,  though  the  British  government  was  gener- 
ously active,  while  our  own  was  by  no  means  inert,  a  large  part  of  the  sum 
was  provided  by  private  individuals. 

In  this  connection  Americans  naturally  think  first  of  Henry  Grinnell,  a 
native  of  New  Bedford.  In  1850  he  fitted  out  the  DeHaven  search  for  Frank- 
lin; in  1853,  together  with  George  Peabody,  bore  the  cost  of  the  expedition 
commanded  by  Kane,  who  had  accompanied  DeHaven;  in  i860,  assisted  the  ex- 
pedition organized  by  Kane's  surgeon.  Dr.  I.  I.  Hayes;  and  in  i860,  1864  and 
1 87 1  helped  to  meet  the  expense  of  Hall's  voyages.  It  is  true  that  that  was 
comparatively  a  day  of  small  things;  but  the  $100,000  that  Mr.  Grinnell  de- 
voted to  Arctic  exploration  represented  then  a  large  fortune;  and  it  led  Dr. 
Kane  to  write  the  book  that  inspired  Peary,  and  enabled  Hall  to  reach  the 
highest  north  attained  in  his  day — and  all  this  signifies  that  "Grinnell  Land" 
preserves  a  name  which  is  rightfully  honored. 

The  northwestern  passage,  such  as  It  Is,  was  discovered  by  Sir  Robert  Mc- 
Clure  or  by  Sir  John  Franklin — the  reader  may  take  his  choice  of  authorities — 
in  the  early  '50s.  The  magnetic  pole,  though  "rediscovered"  by  Amundsen  in 
1905,  had  been  located  by  Sir  James  Clark  Ross  in  1831.  The  fate  of  the 
Franklin  expedition  had  been  definitely  determined  by  Capt.  McClIntock  and 
Capt.  Hall.  Lacking  the  Incentive  that  these  problems  had  provided,  there 
might  have  been  some  cessation  of  activity  in  the  Arctic  field,  had  not  James 
Gordon  Bennett  of  the  New  York  Herald  resolved  in  1879  to  conquer  the 


330  HOlVi  LATITUDE  IS  RECKONED 

pole  as  with  the  aid  of  Henry  M.  Stanley,  he  had  just  conquered  Africa.  Mr. 
Bennett  was  then  under  40.  Lieutenant  Commander  George  W.  DeLong, 
whom  he  chose,  and  whom  the  government  commissioned,  to  command  the 
Jeannette,  was  younger  still;  Commander  DeLong  had  a  sound  theory,  that 
of  taking  advantage  of  the  polar  drift,  Mr.  Bennett  had  money,  both  men  had 
the  enthusiasm  of  youth.  Mr.  Bennett  devoted  some  $60,000  to  the  enter- 
prise. Could  the  Jeannette  have  survived  the  terrible  ice  pressure  off  the  New 
Siberian  islands — it  will  be  remembered  that  she  made  her  attack  from  the 
Pacific  side — one  sees  no  reason  why  it  should  not  have  succeeded. 

Previous  to  this  modified  co-operation  with  Mr.  Bennett  the  United  States 
government  had  shown  no  urgent  interest  in  Arctic  exploration,  though,  to 
be  sure,  it  provided  Capt.  Hall  with  the  Polaris  for  his  third  trip.  But  in  1881 
the  project  of  establishing  international  observation  stations  appealed  to  "prac- 
tical" minds  at  Washington,  and  the  attainment  of  the  highest  north  by  mem- 
bers of  Commander  Greely's  party,  in  the  following  year,  may  have  emplanted 
in  the  official  bosom  a  feeling  of  willingness  that  this  nation  should  continue 
to  hold  the  record.  Commander  Peary  has  found  no  great  difficulty  in  secur- 
ing leaves  of  absence. ,  For  so  much  we  have  to  be  grateful.  Meanwhile,  in 
the  last  fifteen  years,  the  Norwegian  government  has  assisted  with  "real 
money"  Nansen,  gainer  in  his  turn  of  the  highest  north,  whose  expedition  in 
the  Fram  cost  $120,000;  the  Italian  government  has  speeded  to  a  later  highest 
north  the  D'Abruzzi  expedition,  which  cost  nearly  $200,000;  Canada,  aided 
by  England,  has  promoted  Capt.  Bernier's  venture ;  Sweden  sent  out  Nathorst 
in  1899;  Denmark  gave  official  godspeed  to  Amdrup  in  the  same  year;  and 
Russia  authorized  Admiral  Makaroff  to  expend  on  his  ice-crushing  ship,  the 
Ermack,  all  the  money  that  he  needed. 

William  Ziegler  of  Brooklyn  In  1901-2  financed  the  expedition  led  by 
Evelyn  Briggs  Baldwin  and,  when  it  failed,  sent  out  in  1903  another  expedi- 
tion led  by  Anthony  Fiala.  Mr.  Ziegler  was  a  hearty  whole-souled,  loud- 
voiced,  sweet-tempered  man  who  had  made  a  fortune  in  baking  powder.  Like 
every  other  successful  business  men,  he  knew  that  it  is  needful  to  spend  money 
in  order  to  "get  returns,"  and  he  appropriated  $1,000,000  to  take  the  pole 
by  storm.  To  list  the  supplies  that  were  carried  on  the  three  ships  of  the  ex- 
pedition would  remind  the  reader  of  a  delicatessen  store. 

But  events  move  swiftly  sometimes,  and  these  expeditions  seem  already 
ancient.  Let  us  come  to  the  present.  As  to  Dr.  Cook's  sponsor,  John  R. 
Bradley,  a  current  story  pictures  "the  best  outfit  ever  carried  by  an  expedition," 


HOW  LATITUDE  IS  RECKONED  331 

while  another  shows  the  explorer  starving  when  he  stumbled  upon  a  preceding 
explorer's  cache.  Friends  of  Bradley,  however,  estimate  that  his  outlay  on 
the  Brooklyn  man's  account  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  $15,000. 

It  is  unfortunate  for  Dr.  Cook  that  Commander  Peary's  adherents  make 
so  superior  a  showing.  The  chief  contributor  to  the  fund  for  his  last  voyage 
was  Zenas  Crane  of  Dalton.  Toward  the  preceding  voyage  the  late  Morris  K. 
Jesup  of  New  York,  president  of  the  Museum  of  Natural  History  and  in- 
heritor of  many  other  honors  as  well  deserved,  gave  $50,000.  Moreover  be- 
lieving in  himself,  Commander  Peary  "backed  himself,"  and,  on  the  authority 
of  Maj.  J.  B.  Pond,  surpassed  the  record  of  any  other  American  lecturer,  speak- 
ing 168  times  in  ninety-six  days,  and  thereby  earning  $13,000,  which  he  de- 
voted to  his  own  enterprise. 

Does  the  reader  weary  of  large  figures?  It  is  granted  that  they  have  a 
repellant  effect  when  they  stand  for  sums  that  have  to  be  given,  and  enthusi- 
asts who  would  like  to  pose  or  to  think  of  themselves  as  angels  of  the  Arctic 
may  well  regret  that  they  did  not  live  in  earlier  and  simpler  days.  When  Capt. 
Hall  planned  his  first  expedition,  in  i860,  all  the  actual  cash  he  received  from 
admirers  and  well  wishers — who  were  naturally  shy  until  he  proved  himself — 
was  $980.  Henry  Grinnell  gave  $343,  Augustus  H.  Ward  of  New  York  gave 
$100  and  there  were^a  few  subscriptions  of  $50,  among  them  one  by  Cyrus 
W.  Field.  Yet  there  were  friendly  souls  besides  who  wished  to  aid.  Capt. 
Hall  gratefully  printed  a  long  list  of  such,  which  contributions  "in  kind" 
ranged  from  twenty-two  pounds  of  hardware  to  a  pound  of  tea.  So,  after  all, 
it  is  easy  to  be  an  angel  of  the  Arctic.  One  can  conceive  of  circumstances  in 
which  the  pound  of  tea  would  be  worth  more  to  a  traveler  in  the  polar  region 
than  twenty-two  pounds  of  hardware — or  money. 

Much  interest  must  forever  attach  to  the  discovery  of  the  compass,  and 
especially  now  that  the  useless  device  has  been  instrumental  in  the  discovery 
of  the  North  Pole.  For  a  period  the  honor  of  the  invention  was  ascribed  to 
Giola,  a  pilot,  born  at  Pasitano,  a  small  village  situated  near  Amalfi,  about  the 
end  of  the  thirteenth  century.  His  claims,  however,  have  been  disputed.  Much 
learning  and  labor  have  been  bestowed  upon  the  subject  of  the  discovery.  It 
has  been  maintained  by  one  class  that  even  the  Phoenicians  were  the  inventors ; 
by  another  that  the  Greeks  and  Romans  had  a  knowledge  of  it.  Such  notions, 
however,  have  been  completely  refuted.  One  passage,  nevertheless,  of  a 
remarkable  character  occurs  in  the  works  of  Cardinal  de  Vitty,  Bishop  of 
Ptolemais,  in  Syria.     He  went  to  Palestine  during  the  fourth  crusade,  about 


332  HOW  LATITUDE  IS  RECKONED 

the  year  1204;  he  returned  afterward  to  Europe,  and  subsequently  back  to  the 
holy  land,  where  he  wrote  his  work  entitled  "Historia  Orientalis,"  as  nearly 
as  can  be  determined,  between  the  years  12 15  and  1220.  In  chapter  91  of 
that  work  he  has  this  singular  passage :  "The  iron  needle,  after  contact  with 
the  lodestone,  constantly  turns  to  the  north  star,  which,  as  the  axis  of  the  firma- 
ment, remains  immovable  while  the  others  revolve,  and  hence  it  is  essentially 
necessary  to  those  navigating  on  the  ocean." 

These  words  are  as  explicit  as  they  are  extraordinary,  they  state  a  fact 
and  announce  a  use.  The  thing,  therefore,  which  essentially  constitutes  the 
compass  must  have  been  known  long  before  the  birth  of  Giola.  In  addition 
to  this  fact,  there  is  another  equally  fatal  to  his  claim  as  the  original  discov- 
erer. It  is  now  settled  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  Chinese  were  acquainted  with 
the  compass  long  before  the  Europeans.  It  is  certain  that  there  are  allusions  to 
the  magnetic  needle  in  the  traditionary  period  of  Chinese  history,  about  2,600 
years  before  Christ,  and  a  still  more  credible  account  of  it  is  found  in  the  reign 
of  Chingwang  of  the  Chow  dynasty,  before  Christ,  11 14.  All  this 
however,  may  be  granted  without  in  the  least  impairing  the  just  claims  of  Giola 
to  the  gratitude  of  mankind.  The  truth  appears  to  be  that  the  position  of 
Giola  in  relation  to  the  compass  was  precisely  that  of  Watt  in  relation  to  the 
steam  engine —  the  element  existed;  he  augmented  its  utility.  The  compass 
used  by  marines  in  the  Mediterranean  during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cen- 
turies was  a  very  uncertain  and  unsatisfactory  apparatus.  It  consisted  only  of 
a  magnetic  needle  floating  in  a  vase  or  basin  by  means  of  two  straws  on  a  bit 
of  cork  supporting  it  on  the  surface  of  the  water. 

The  compass  used  by  the  Arabians  in  the  thirteenth  century  was  an  instru- 
ment of  exactly  the  same  description.  Now  the  inconvenience  and  inefficiency 
of  such  an  apparatus  are  obvious — the  agitation  of  the  ocean  and  the  tossing 
of  the  vessel  might  render  it  useless  in  a  moment.  But  Giola  placed  the  mag- 
netized needle  on  a  pivot,  which  permits  it  to  turn  to  all  sides  with  facility, 
afterward  it  was  attached  to  a  card,  divided  into  32  points,  called  rose  de  vents, 
and  then  the  box  containing  it  was  suspended  in  such  a  manner  that,  how- 
ever the  vessel  might  be  tossed,  it  would  always  remain  horizontal. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

THE   STORY    OF    HARRY  WHITNEY. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  the  Cook-Peary  controversy  entered  into  many 
phases.  One  of  its  most  interesting  angles  was  that  concerning  Harry  Whit- 
ney, the  young  New  Haven  sportsman  who  met  Cook  after  the  latter's  return. 

Dr.  Cook  early  in  the  debate,  named  Whitney  as  having  proof  of  the  North 
Pole  discovery  in  his  possession.  These  proved  later  to  consist  of  instruments 
— a  sextant,  compass,  etc. — and  articles  of  clothing.  To  the  surprise  of  people 
everywhere,  Whitney  reported  on  reaching  Labrador  that  Cook's  property  was 
not  in  his  possession. 

'He  sent  this  telegram  home  on  his  arrival  at  Labrador : 

"S.  S.  Strathcona,  Indian  Harbor,  Labrador,  via  Marconi  wireless.  Cape 
Race,  N.  F.,  Sept.  25. — I  know  not  the  extent  of  the  contents  of  the  box  left 
in  my  charge  by  Dr.  Cook  to  be  brought  back.  No  vessel  having  arrived  for 
me  at  Etah  before  the  Roosevelt  returned  from  the  north,  I  started  home  on  it. 
Commander  Peary  would  not  allow  anything  belonging  to  Dr.  Cook  to  come 
aboard  his  ship.    I  was  forced  to  leave  the  articles  in  a  cache  at  Etah. 

"On  Dr.  Cook's  arrival  at  Annotook  in  April,  1909,  he  told  me  he  had  dis- 
covered the  North  Pole,  also  showing  me  maps  and  requesting  me  to  withhold 
information  from  Commander  Peary,  but  permitting  me  to  say  that  he  had 
gone  farther  than  Peary  had  gone  on  his  last  expedition. 

"HARRY  WHITNEY." 

On  arriving  at  St.  Johns,  N.  F.,  Mr.  Whitney  made  a  more  extended  state- 
ment :  He  said  Cook  arrived  at  Annotook  in  April  of  this  year  and  declared 
that  he  had  reached  the  North  Pole  a  year  before.  He  pledged  Whitney,  how- 
ever, not  to  tell  Commander  Peary,  who  was  to  be  informed  only  that  Cook 
had  gone  farther  north  than  Peary's  previous  record,  87  degrees  6  minutes. 
Continuing,  Dr.  Cook  told  Whitney  that  he  had  accomplished  all  he  expected 
to,  and  more  besides,  and  that  he  was  through  with  the  northern  country. 
Whitney  did  not  communicate  the  latter  part  of  this  statement  to  Commander 
Peary.     Continuing,  Mr.  Whitney  said  that  Dr.  Cook  had  complained  to 

333 


334  STORY  OF  HARRY  WHITNEY 

him  of  Peary's  taking  over  of  his  house  and  stores,  but  declared  that  he  had 
suffered  no  unfairness. 

There  were  two  houses  on  the  Greenland  shore,  one  at  Annotook,  holding 
Cook's  stores,  and  another  at  Etah,  holding  Peary's  stores.  The  three  white 
men,  Whitney,  Murphy  and  Pritchard,  Peary's  steward,  sometimes  occupied 
one  and  sometimes  the  other  of  these  houses.  Murphy  was  in  charge  of  both 
houses.  He  is  not  able  to  read  or  write.  He  had  written  instructions  from 
Peary,  which  Whitney,  at  Peary's  request  read  over  to  him  from  time  to  time. 
These  instructions  were  stringent.  They  directed  Murphy  to  use  Cook's 
stores  first  and  Peary's  afterward.  Murphy  was  told  in  them  that  he  was 
to  give  Dr.  Cook  every  help  if  he  came  along  in  a  needy  condition,  and  further- 
more the  instructions  implied  that  Murphy  was  to  organize  an  expedition  to 
search  for  Dr.  Cook,  but,  according  to  Mir,  Whitney,  this  part  of  the  in- 
structions was  worded  very  ambiguously,  Mr.  Whitney  said  that  Cook  had 
a  copy  of  these  instructions.  Murphy  treated  Cook  very  civilly  and  Cook 
suffered  no  discourtesy. 

When  Dr.  Cook  and  his  Eskimos  arrived  at  the  house  they  had  no  sledge ; 
being  too  tired  to  drag  it  over  the  rough  ice,  they  left  it  twenty  miles  from 
Etah.  The  following  day  some  other  Eskimos  went  out,  recovered  the  sledge 
and  brought  it  in.    On  it  were  Dr,  Cook's  instruments,  clothes  and  food. 

After  passing  two  days  at  Annatook,  where  Cook  first  met  Whitney,  Cook 
started  for  Etah.  Whitney  accompanied  him.  Cook  remained  for  three  days 
at  Etah,  organizing  for  his  trip  south  to  Upernavik.  The  doctor  had  figured 
out  rightly  the  date  that  he  would  likely  get  to  Upernavik  and  when  the  Dundee 
whalers  or  the  Danish  store  ships  would  reach  there,  and  he  argued  that 
he  had  no  time  to  lose.  He  planned  originally  to  take  two  Eskimos  and 
two  sledges,  but  one  Eskimo  fell  sick  and  this  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  cut 
down  the  luggage  he  could  take  with  him  south.  He  consequently  asked  Whit- 
ney to  take  charge  of  the  instruments  with  which  he  had  made  his  observa- 
tions at  the  pole. 

There  were  three  cases,  one  containing  a  sextant,  another  an  artificial  hori- 
zon, and  the  third  an  instrument  which  Mr.  Whitney  said  he  could  not  recall. 
It  hight  have  been  a  chronometer.  Cook  left  no  written  records  with  Whit- 
ney that  Whitney  was  aware  of.  There  may  have  been  some  records,  how- 
ever, in  the  other  boxes  in  which  Cook  packed  his  clothes  and  his  personal 
effects,  but  Cook  did  not  tell  Whitney  especially  that  he  was  leaving  any 
written  records  with  him.    Mr.  Whitney  was  very  positive  about  this. 


STORY  OF  HARRY  WHITNEY  335 

After  Cook  departed  for  the  south  Whitney  resumed  his  hunting.  He  took 
ovv^r  Cook's  two  Eskimos  to  show  him  the  country  where  Cook  had  shot 
musk  oxen.  This  the  two  men  did,  and  Whitney  bagged  all  the  oxen  he 
could  carry  out  in  his  sledges.  He  said  he  found  these  two  Eskimos  to  be  sat- 
isfactory in  subordinate  capacities,  but  he  knows  nothing  of  their  value  in  a 
dash  across  the  polar  sea. 

Continuing  Mr.  Whitney  said  that  in  August  when  Peary  on  board  the 
Roosevelt  reached  Etah  from  the  north  after  his  winter's  work  there,  he 
(Whitney)  informed  him  of  Dr.  Cook's  arrival  in  April  adding  that  Cook  had 
told  him  (Whitney),  to  tell  Peary  that  Cook  had  gone  beyond  Peary's  farthest 
north.  Peary  made  no  comment  on  this,  and  Whitney  said  he  was  not  asked 
any  other  questions  by  Peary.  But  the  next  day  Cook's  Eskimos  came  to 
Whitney  and  asked  him  what  Peary's  men  were  trying  to  get  them  to  say. 
Peary's  men  had  shown  the  Eskimos  papers  and  maps,  but  the  Eskimos  de- 
clared that  they  did  not  understand  these  papers.  So  far  as  Mr.  Whitney  is 
aware,  Cook's  Eskimos  never  admitted  that  while  with  the  doctor  they  had 
only  progressed  two  "sleeps"  from  land. 

When  Commander  Peary  heard  of  Whitney's  statement  he  said: 

"At  Etah,  on  August  17  or  18,  after  the  arrival  of  the  Roosevelt,  and  after 
I  invited  Whitney  to  come  on  board  the  Roosevelt  with  all  his  belongings  and 
trophies,  I  having  extended  the  invitation  in  view  of  the  uncertainty  of  the 
movements  of  his  own  ship,  which  he  had  expected  to  arrive  about  the  first 
of  August  and  which  had  not  yet  appeared,  Whitney  told  me  he  had  some 
foxskins — six,  I  think — and  some  narwhal  horns  which  Cook  had  sent  back 
after  leaving  Etah  for  Danish  Greenland,  with  the  request  that  Whitney  take 
them  home  with  him  on  Whitney's  ship.  Whitney  also  told  me  that  Cook  had 
given  him  (Whitney)  the  sledge  with  which  Cook  had  returned  to  Etah  in 
April. 

"I  then  told  Whitney  that  I  did  not  care  to  have  anything  belonging  to 
Cook  on  board  the  Roosevelt,  and  that  all  I  wanted  from  Whitney  was  that 
he  would  give  me  his  word  that  he  would  not  bring  on  board  the  Roosevelt 
anything  belonging  to  Cook,  which  promise  he  instantly  gave  me.  Later  while 
engaged  in  packing  up  and  bringing  to  the  ship  his  things  Whitney  came  and 
told  me  he  also  had  some  clothes  and  instruments,  belonging  to  Cook. 

"I  told  Whitney  that  these,  as  well  as  the  foxskins  and  narwhal  horns,  he 
could  put  in  a  cache  at  Etah  or  leave  in  charge  of  Eskimos  for  Cook,  which- 
ever he  though  best.     Just  before  the  Roosevelt  left  Etah  he  told  me  that 


336  STORY  OF  HARRY  WHITNEY 

he  personally  had  seen  that  these  things  had  been  left  in  a  cache  and  had  told 
the  Eskimos  that  they  had  been  left  there  for  Cook. 

"I  also  told  the  Eskimos  that  they  were  to  leave  the  cache  undisturbed 
and  that  they  were  not  to  break  up  Cook's  sledge.  Later  I  heard  the  report 
that  the  instruments  were  the  ones  that  Cook  had  used  during  his  sledge 
journey,  but  I  gave  the  report  no  credence,  as  I  could  not  conceive  of  a  man 
leaving  instruments  of  that  kind  out  of  his  own  sight  or  in  the  hands  of 
a  stranger. 

"Still  later,  after  leaving  Eskimo  land  entirely,  and  during  the  voyage 
home,  I  heard  a  report  that  Cook  also  had  left  with  Whitney  a  flag  he  had 
carried  with  him  on  his  sledge  journey.  No  one  seemed  to  know  anything 
definite  about  this,  and  I  paid  no  attention  to  the  report  for  the  same  reason 
as  before.  After  getting  in  contact  with  the  world  I  learned  that  Cook  was 
reported  to  have  said  that  he  left  records  of  his  sledge  journey  for  Whitney  to 
bring  home.  I  never  had  heard  anything  of  the  kind  and  discredited  this  re- 
port as  well. 

"While  knowing  nothing  of  the  matter,  I  do  not  believe  Cook  left  either 
his  records  or  his  instruments  or  flags  with  Whitney.  I  cannot  conceive  it 
possible  for  a  man  under  those  circumstances  to  have  left  such  priceless  things 
out  of  his  sight  for  an  instant.  As  he  went  across  Melville  bay  to  Danish 
Greenland  with  three  or  four  sledges  and  teams  of  dogs,  his  instruments,  his 
records,  and  his  flags  scarcely  would  have  added  a  featherweight  to  his  burden. 

"ROBERT  E.  PEARY." 

Peary  had  more  to  say,  too.  He  pointed  out  that  Dr.  Cook  alleged  he  in 
one  sledging  season  had  covered  twenty-five  degrees,  or  1,700  miles,  of  Arctic 
ice,  when  no  previous  explorer,  notwithstanding  vastly  better  equipment,  ever 
had  covered  more  than  eleven  degrees  of  that  most  difficult  going  on  the 
universe. 

"It  is  well  known,"  said  Peary,  scoring  what  his  bitte>rest  enemy  must 
regard  as  a  staggering  blow  to  Cook's  case,  "what  my  equipment  was  when  I 
started  north  from  Cape  Columbia.  The  world  has  read  of  my  equipment  and 
the  world  knows  what  my  experience  was  in  the  Arctic  field.  Yet  I  did  not 
make  quite  fourteen  degrees  in  my  last  and  only  successful  dash  to  the  pole." 

Peary  pointed  out  with  a  smile  that  showed  every  one  of  his  gleaming 
teeth  and  ruffled  the  bristles  of  his  great  sandy  mustache  that  Dr.  Cook  had 
taken  one  sledge  on  his  1,700  mile  journey  over  Arctic  ice.  This  was  the 
sledge  that  Cook  left  behind  him  at  Etah. 


STORY  OF  HARRY  WHITNEY  337 

"I  examined  that  sledge,"  said  the  commander.  "Yes,  I  looked  over  it 
carefully.  So  did  Hensen.  So  did  McMillan.  They  know  sledges,  I  guess, 
and  so  do  I.  Was  it  anything  Hke  my  Morris  K.  Jessup  sledge?  (Peary's 
shoulders  shook,  though  at  the  same  time  he  gritted  his  teeth).  I  should  say 
it  was  not  anything  like  the  Morris  K.  Jessup  sledge. 

"That  sledge  of  Cook's  was  built  along  lines  of  no  sledge  I  ever  saw 
before.  Why,  I  don't  believe  that  sledge  would  last  one  day  over  Arctic  ice 
with  a  standard  load  of  500  or  600  pounds." 

Getting  down  to  the  Whitney  phase  in  his  controversy  with  Cook  Peary 
asked  a  few  questions. 

"I  would  like  to  know,"  he  said,  "why,  if  Harry  Whitney  knew  the  value 
of  these  instruments  and  proofs  that  Cook  intrusted  to  his  custody-— to  the 
custody  of  a  man  practically  a  stranger — he  did  not  sail  back  to  Etah  on  the 
Jeanie  for  these  things?  Why  did  he  come  away  from  Smith's  sound  and 
leave  those  treasures  to  the  mercy  of  another  Arctic  winter  ? 

"Let  me  point  out,"  ran  on  Peary,  "where  the  Jeanie  was  when  I  last  saw 
Mr.  Whitney.  I  picked  up  Harry  Whitney  at  Etah  on  Aug.  17  and  we  ran 
down  the  sound  about  100  miles  to  Saunder's  island.  Clear  water  and  fair 
winds ;  fine  going. 

"At  Saunder's  island  the  Jeanie  came  along.  We  went  into  North  Star 
bay  so  that  the  Jeanie  could  transfer  the  coal  it  had  for  me  to  the  Roosevelt. 
Then  we  ran  out  into  open  water  again.  Whitney  was  aboard  the  Jeanie.  He 
was  one  day's  sail  from  Etah.  He  had  clear,  free  water  along  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  sound. 

"Did  Whitney  run  back  to  Etah  for  those  immensely  valuable  records  and 
instruments  of  Dr.  Cook  ?  He  did  not.  He  sailed  directly  west,  where  the  ice 
was  packed  against  the  western  shore.  He  wanted  a  bear.  He  cared  more 
about  a  bear  than  he  did  about  Cook's  property.  He  would  not  do  without 
two  days  of  his  hunting  to  go  back  for  what  he  says  now  he  knew  was  Cook's 
proof  of  the  discovery  of  the  pole." 

Then,  to  add  a  touch  of  the  dramatic,  Peary  related  that  whereas  Dr.  Cook 
had  left  his  polar  flag,  his  instruments,  and  records  to  the  mercy  of  a  stranger 
at  Etah,  he  (Peary,  had  sewn  his  flag  into  his  undershirt,  sewn  his  records  into 
his  clothing,  and  taken  every  precaution  humanly  possible  to  guard  his  instru- 
ments against  destruction. 

"Why,"  cried  Peary,  with  a  savage  sneer,  "I  would  not  have  intrusted 
those  things  to  my  father,  mother,  or  brother,  to  any  human  being.  They 


338  STORY  OF  HARRY  WHITNEY 

were  sewn  to  me ;  fastened  to  me ;  and  would  have  gone  to  the  bottom  of  the 
Arctic  with  me  before  I  would  have  turned  them  over  to  a  soul." 

Aside  from  his  scanty  equiptment,  his  lack  of  experience,  the  condition 
of  his  sledge  when  I  saw  it  at  Etah,"  continued  Peary,  "aside  from  the  clumsy 
and  poorly  made  snowshoes  that  afterwards  were  alleged  to  have  traveled 
over  1,700  miles  of  Arctic  ice;  aside  from  the  fact  that  no  other  explorer  ever 
had  negotiated  more  than  eleven  degrees,  I  have  further  information  from 
all  the  Eskimos  to  back  me  up  in  my  assumption  that  Cook  has  not  gone  over 
the  sea  ice  to  the  pole." 

"What  is  your  strongest  line  of  proof  that  Dr.  Cook  was  not  at  the  North 
Pole?" 

"One  of  my  main  points  will  be  the  strongest  that  has  been  advanced  in 
Arctic  exploration  ever  since  the  first  great  expedition  was  sent  there — that 
is,  the  recognized  custom  of  an  explorer,  when  reaching  a  point  attained  by 
an  explorer  previously,  to  make  a  copy  of  the  records  in  the  cairn  there,  put  it 
in  place  of  the  original,  and  bring  the  original  back  with  him.  Dr.  Cook  did 
not  do  this. 

"At  Cape  Thomas  Hubbard  I  left  a  record  in  1906.  Dr.  Cook  declares 
after  he  left  Annotok  he  went  to  Cape  Thomas  Hubbard  with  his  large  party 
of  Eskimos.  Although  he  had  men  enough  to  make  a  thorough  search  he  did 
not  do  so.  He  passed  the  cape  twice  to  the  pole  as  he  outlines  it,  but  neither 
time  did  he  say  that  he  had  looked  for  the  cairn.  My  record  is  still  there.  If 
he  can  show  that  record  I  will  accept  it  as  positive  proof  that  he  was  at  Cape 
Thomas  Hubbard. 

"It  was  at  Indian  Harbor  that  I  .received  a  message  saying  that  Cook 
was  at  Copenhagen,  and  that  he  was  making  the  claim  he  had  reached  the  pole. 

"It  was  then  that  I  sent  my  message  saying  that  I  knew  Cook  had  not  gone 
far  from  land.  The  two  Eskimos  who  had  been  his  company  had  assured  me 
of  this,  and  their  statements  had  been  corroborated  by  other  Eskimos.  I  had 
seen  every  one  of  every  tribe  all  the  way  from  Cape  Columbia  to  Cape  York. 
I  had  visited  every  settlement  in  Eskimo  land,  and  had  complete  corrobora- 
tive evidence  from  all  as  to  what  the  first  two  had  said." 

Shortly  after  this  talk,  the  Peary  charges  against  Cook  were  lined  up  as  a 
sort  of  formal  indictment,  the  "counts"  in  which  ran  as  follows : 

"i.  Mr.  Peary  and  Matt  Henson,  either  individually  or  together,  talked 
with  every  member  of  the  Smith  Sound  tribe  of  Eskimos  and  obtained  testi- 
mony that  corroborates  that  of  E-tuck-a-shoe  and  A-pel-lah,  the  Eskimos  who 
accompanied  Dr.  Cook,  that  Dr.  Cook  had  not  been  out  of  sight  of  land. 


STORY  OF  HARRY  WHITNEY  339 

"2.  In  violation  of  a  custom  of  Arctic  exploration  Dr.  Cook  has  not 
brought  back  records  left  in  cairns  at  points  he  asserts  he  had  reached,  notably 
the  one  left  at  Cape  Thomas  Hubbard  in  1906  by  Mr.  Peary. 

"3.  Dr.  Cook's  story  that  he  traveled  from  Annotook  to  the  pole  and  then 
back  to  Jones'  Sound,  a  distance  of  more  than  twenty-five  and  one-half  degrees, 
or  about  1,700  miles,  in  one  sledging  season  is  impossible.  He  points  out  that 
this  is  more  than  twice  the  best  previous  record  of  eleven  degrees,  and  Mr. 
Peary's  best  record  this  year  of  fourteen  degrees. 

"4.  Cook's  general  equipment  was  such  that  it  would  be  a  physical  impos- 
sibility to  have  accomplished  the  feat. 

"5.  Dr.  Cook  maintains  he  carried  a  glass  mercurial  horizon  on  his  trip 
of  1,700  miles,  whereas  Mr.  Peary  used  a  cast-iron  horizon,  so  that  it  would 
not  only  be  saved  from  being  broken  but  could  be  heated  if  the  mercury  froze. 
This  is  necessary  sometimes,  Mr.  Peary  contends,  as  mercury  freezes  at  minus 
35.    Cook  reports  finding  it  as  cold  as  minus  y^i  degrees. 

"6.  Professor  Marvin  brought  back  from  86.38  duplicate  records  of  Mr. 
Peary's  march  and  of  his  own  to  prove  absolutely  that  Mr.  Peary  reached 
that  latitude. 

"7.  Captain  Bartlett  brought  back  from  87.48  duplicate  records  of  Mr. 
Peary's  march  and  of  his  own  to  prove  absolutely  that  Mr.  Peary  reached 
that  latitude. 

"8.  The  sledge  of  Dr.  Cook's  was  of  such  a  type,  not  built  on  the  lines  of 
any  Arctic  explorer's  sledge,  that  it  could  not  possibly  have  lasted  for  a 
march  of  a  day  with  a  standard  load  of  500  or  600  pounds. 

"9.  Dr.  Cook's  snowshoes  were  of  an  impracticable  type  for  use  in  the 
Arctic  and  were  not  the  kind  that  would 'conduce  to  speed. 

"10  Dr.  Cook's  leaving  of  his  records  at  Etah  was  a  scheme  on  his  part 
by  which  he  could  claim  they  were  lost  or  destroyed  and  so  could  escape  being 
forced  to  produce  them  to  substantiate  his  claims. 


WOULD  NOT  GIVE  UP  FLAG. 

"11.  No  man  who  had  carried  the  American  flag  to  the  pole  would  leave 
such  a  slight  and  easily  transported  article  in  charge  of  a  perfect  stranger. 

"12.  Dr.  Cook  did  have  fresh  dog  teams  from  Etah  and  could  have  car- 
ried his  burdens  to  Upernavik. 

"13.     When  Harry  Whitney  went  on  board  the  Jeanie,  he  did  not  take 


340  STORY  OF  HARRY  WHITNEY 

time  to  go  back  to  Etah  and  get  the  articles  he  must  have  known  were  valu- 
able to  Dr.  Cook. 

"14.  If  Dr.  Cook  did  leave  such  priceless  articles  at  the  Eskimo  village, 
Mr.  Whitney  would  have  been  anxious  to  have  rushed  them  to  the  United 
States." 

Dr.  Cook,  while  this  broadside  was  being  issued,  was  delivering  the  first 
of  his  lectures.     After  it  he  replied  to  some  of  the  Peary  charges,  saying: 

"The  only  sledge  Commander  Peary  saw  was  half  a  one,  which  I  had  given 
to  Mr.  Whitney  as  a  souvenir.  The  remainder  of  it  had  been  used  to  make 
bows  and  arrows. 

"As  to  my  reasons  for  leaving  my  instruments  with  Mr.  Whitney,  he  had 
told  me  that  the  Eric  was  coming  to  Etah  and  would  take  him  over  to  the 
American  side  to  hunt  big  game  and  would  come  back  later  to  Annotook.  The 
distance  from  Annotook  to  Upernavik  by  the  route  which  I  was  compelled  to 
follow  was  nearly  700  miles.  In  that  journey  I  had  to  travel  over  high  land 
in  two  places,  with  glaciers  and  difficult  places.  The  ice  was  extremely  rough 
and  there  was  a  good  deal  of  water  to  be  expected  that  would  have  subjected 
the  instruments  to  a  risk  which  was  entirely  unnecessary,  when  Mr.  Whitney 
awaited  a  ship  to  go  to  Etah  for  him  upon  which  he  expected  to  return  direct 
to  America. 

"By  going  to  Upernavik  I  hoped  to  get  back  by  the  end  of  July  or  the 
middle  of  August,  while  Mr.  Whitney  did  not  expect  to  get  back  before 
October. 

"As  to  the  charge  that  I  had  not  found  traces  of  Commander  Peary's 
records  at  Cape  Thomas  Hubbard :  The  point  which  Commander  Peary  would 
call  Cape  Thomas  Hubbard  is  a  round  promontory,  and  it  would  be  difficult  td 
find  any  distinct  point  which  could  be  positively  recognized  as  Cape  Thomas 
Hubbard.  From  Commander  Peary's  map  I  am  absolutely  unable  to  locate 
Cape  Thomas  Hubbard.  We  did  not  search  for  any  cairn  where  records  might 
be  deposited.  In  fact,  I  did  not  know  that  Commander  Peary  had  left  any 
record  there. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

WONDERS  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC  WORLD. 

Many  interesting  facts  were  gleaned  by  the  Shackleton  expedition  to  the 
Antarctic.  The  South  Pole  is  situated  on  an  Antarctic  continent,  somewhat 
larger  than  Australia,  with  an  area  of  4,000,000  square  miles.  True,  it  is  al- 
most entirely  covered  with  ice,  but  the  surface  of  the  ice  in  most  parts  appears 
to  be  comparatively  smooth,  so  that  sledges  can  make  good  going  over  it. 

The  Pole  is  on  a  tableland  about  10,000  feet  in  height.  The  glaciers  of  the 
Antarctic  regions  are  of  stupendous  size,  many  of  them  incomparably  larger 
than  the  largest  Arctic  glaciers. 

The  Great  Ice  Barrier  is  an  Antarctic  glacier  700  miles  wide  and  hundreds 
of  miles  broad  in  places.  At  its  northern  edge  it  presents  a  continuous  wall  of 
ice,  in  some  places  300  feet  in  height  and  seldom  less  than  100  feet.  It  ex- 
tends across  Ross  Sea  from  King  Edward  VII's  Land  to  McMurdo  Strait, 
and  is  at  least  the  size  of  France  in  area.  The  breaking  off  of  portions  of  the 
northern  edge  in  summer  produces  the  greatest  crop  of  icebergs  in  the  world. 

In  no  other  part  of  the  world  do  frost  and  fire  hold  such  divided  sway. 
On  the  mainland  of  Antarctica  there  are  numerous  volcanoes,  at  least  one  of 
which,  Mount  Erebus,  is  active.  One  of  the  strangest  things  about  Antarctica 
is  that  many  of  its  mountains  are  built  partly  of  snow — that  is  to  say,  with 
layers  of  snow  between  strata  of  lava  and  ashes.  The  ashes  thrown  out  by  the 
volcanoes  fall  cold,  and  form  a  sort  of  cake  which  is  an  excellent  non-conductor 
of  heat.  Then  molten  lava  flows  over  the  crust  of  ashes  without  melting  the 
snow  beneath,  and  in  this  way  glaciers  are  actually  sealed  up  under  layers  of 
rock. 

Mount  Erebus  lies  within  sight  of  Cape  Royds,  now  the  favorite  ship  head- 
quarters of  Antarctic  explorers.  It  was  discovered  by  Sir  James  Clark  Ross, 
who  led  a  famous  expedition  to  the  Antarctic  regions  in  1843.  The  ascent  of 
Mount  Erebus  to  its  summit  was  regarded  as  almost  impossible,  but  this  was 
one  of  the  first  feats  accomplished  by  Shackleton's  expedition. 

Six  men  made  the  ascent.  On  the  third  day,  at  an  altitude  of  8,700  feet, 
they  were  caught  in  a  blizzard  so  terrific  that  it  blew  the  gloves  off  one  of  the 

341 


342  WONDERS  OF  ANTARCTIC  WORLD 

party,  Sir  Philip  Brocklehurst.  The  next  day  they  camped  on  the  rim  of  an 
old  crater  and  explored  its  floor.  Their  attention  was  attracted  to  some  curi- 
ous mounds  dotted  over  the  snow  plain.  They  found  that  they  were  fuma- 
roles,  or  smoke  holes,  which  in  ordinary  climates  may  be  detected  by  the  thin 
cloud  of  steam  above  them.  The  fumaroles  of  Erebus  have  their  steam 
converted  into  ice  as  soon  as  it  reaches  the  surface  of  the  snow  plain,  and  the 
result  has  been  the  creation  of  the  remarkably  shaped  mounds.  The  ice  was 
colored  yellow  on  account  of  the  sulphur. 

On  the  sixth  day  they  reached  the  edge  of  the  active  crater  and  found 
themselves  on  the  lip  of  a  vast  abyss  filled  with  a  rising  cloud  of  steam. 

"After  a  continuous  loud,  hissing  sound,"  writes  Lieutenant  Shackleton, 
"lasting  for  some  minutes,  there  would  come  from  below  a  big  dull  boom, 
and  immediately  great  globular  masses  of  steam  would  rush  upward  to  swell 
the  volume  of  the  cloud  which  swayed  over  the  crater.  The  air  was  filled  with 
the  fumes  of  burning  sulphur.  Presently  a  light  breeze  fanned  away  the  steam 
cloud  and  at  once  the  crater  stood  revealed  in  all  its  vast  extent  and  depth. 
It  was  between  800  and  900  feet  deep  with  a  maximum  width  of  half  a  mile, 
and  at  the  bottom  could  be  seen  three  well-like  openings  from  which  the  steam 
proceeded.  On  the  wall  of  the  crater  opposite  to  the  party  beds  of  dark  pumice 
alternated  with  white  patches  of  snow,  and  in  one  place  the  presence  of  scores 
of  steam  jets  suggested  that  the  snow  was  lying  on  hot  rock." 

The  descent  was  rapid,  for  the  party  dropped  down  5,000  feet  in  four 
hours  by  sliding  down  the  long  ice  slopes. 

The  explorers  ascertained  the  height  of  the  mountain  to  be  13,350  feet. 

It  is  probable  that  the  South  Pole  itself  is  buried  beneath  as  much  as  5,000 
vertical  feet  of  everlasting  ice.  For  this  reason,  on  account  of  the  altitude 
above  the  sea,  its  neighborhood  may  be  expected  to  be  colder  than  that  of  the 
North  Pole.  Then  again,  because  there  is  no  water  to  render  the  climate 
milder,  it  may  be  supposed  that  the  temperature  at  the  southern  end  of  the 
earth's  axis  is  lower  than  at  the  northern  end. 

It  is  deemed  not  at  all  impossible  that  somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
South  Pole  there  may  be  a  comparatively  warm  patch — a  sort  of  oasis  In  the 
midst  of  the  icy  desert,  like  Whale  Sound  in  the  far  north.  In  such  an  oasis, 
if  it  exists,  may  be  found  strange  forms  of  life,  of  which  we  know  nothing. 
There  might  even  be  people  there — human  beings  unlike  any  we  are  ac- 
quainted with,  who,  for  uncounted  centuries,  have  been  shut  away  from  com- 
munication with  the  rest  of  the  world. 


WONDERS  OF  ANTARCTIC  WORLD  343 

Lieutenant  Shackleton,  Captain  Scott  and  others  were  puzzled  by  the  Occur- 
rence of  a  wind  blowing  from  the  South  Pole  considerably  warmer  than  the 
previous  temperature  for  this  point.    Captain  Scott  writes : 

"The  warm  snow,  bearing  southerly  winds,  which  we  experienced,  have 
not  yet  been  explained.  Even  in  the  depth  of  winter  this  wind  had  a  tempera- 
ture of  ten  to  fifteen  degrees." 

This  alone  suggests  that  there  may  be  Comparatively  warm  valleys  or 
regions  somewhere  in  the  Antarctic  continent. 

It  is  a  most  extraordinary  fact  that  vast  as  is  the  accumulation  of  ice  in  the 
Antarctic  continent,  it  is  less  than  it  used  to  be,  and  is  gradually  diminishing. 
Lieutenant  Shackleton  found  traces  of  glaciers  on  Mount  Erebus  i,ooo  feet 
above  the  sea  level.  As  the  adjacent  sea  is  i,8oo  feet  deep,  the  ice  sheet  at  one 
time  must  have  been  2,800  feet  thick. 

Most  of  the  glaciers  in  Antarctica  are  dying,  that  is  to  say,  decreasing  in 
size  and  not  flowing.  Strange  to  say,  meteorologists  argue  that  the  diminu- 
tion of  ice  indicates  that  the  climate  was  formerly  milder  than  now.  Ice  and 
snow  only  accumulate  where  there  is  occasional  warmth  with  moisture  and  va- 
riations of  temperature.  A  continuously  dry  cold  does  not  favor  the  accumu- 
lation of  ice  and  snow. 

Geological  conditions  indicate  that  Antarctica  was  once  linked  by  land  to 
South  America  and  Australia  and  that  it  then  possessed  vegetation  and  abun- 
dant human  and  animal  life. 

Little  is  known  of  the  interior  of  Antarctica.  Shackleton  has  made  a  dash 
into  it  so  rapid  that  he  had  no  time  for  careful  research,  while  other  explorers 
have  merely  scratched  the  edges  of  the  land.  No  fossils  have  been  brought 
back  and  very  few  geological  specimens  of  any  value.  These  are  points  to 
which  the  next  explorers  will  devote  their  attention. 

Nunataks  are  a  curious  feature  of  the  Antarctic  landscape.  They  are  sharp, 
black  rocks  which  stick  up  out  of  the  snow  and  are  very  prominent  in  Summer, 
Sastrugus  is  the  name  given  to  curious  hillocks  of  snow  that  also  form  in  Sum- 
mer. 

It  was  at  Cape  Adare,  where  there  is  a  break  in  the  environing  ice  cliffs, 
that  Ross,  in  1842,  with  his  two  little  sailing  ships,  the  Erebus  and  the  Terror, 
made  his  way  as  far  to  the  south  as  latitude  78  degrees  10  minutes. 

This  place  is  remarkable  because  the  temperature  at  the  base  of  the  high 
cliffs  is  unusually  warm — sometimes  up  to  50  degrees  in  summer — and  much 
curious  Antarctic  vegetation  is  found  there. 


344  WONDERS  OF  ANTARCTIC:  WORLD 

Although  a  great  continent  exists  at  the  South  Pole,  there  are  no  land  mam- 
mals, properly  so-called.  There  are  no  South  Polar  bears,  there  are  no  Ant- 
arctic foxes,  there  are  no  large  mammals  of  any  kind  save  whales,  which  live 
entirely  in  the  water,  and  seals,  which  spend  more  than  half  their  time  there. 

To  make  up  for  these  deficiencies  the  seals  are  the  largest  found  anywhere, 
and  the  birds  are  most  extraordinary.  All  the  animals — whales,  seals,  birds 
and  fish — are  very  different  from  those  found  in  the  Arctic  circle  or  other  parts 
of  the  world. 

The  Antarctic  continent  has  a  vegetation  that  consists  almost  entirely  of 
moss  and  lichen  and  the  land  animal  life,  properly  so-called,  seems  to  be  limited 
to  a  primitive  form  of  wingless  insect.  The  birds  live  to  some  extent  on  land, 
making  their  nests  in  the  moraines  and  rocky  cliffs  of  the  shores,  but  they  find 
their  food  entirely  in  the  ocean. 

Seals  and  whales  are  extremely  abundant  in  Antarctic  waters.  Seven  dif- 
ferent species  of  whales  and  dolphins  have  been  found  in  Ross  Sea,  a  great 
body  of  water  running  into  the  Antarctic  continent.  In  this  sea  five  different 
kinds  of  seals  were  found  and  twelve  different  species  of  bird. 

The  most  remarkable  whales  of  the  Antarctic  seas  are  the  terrible  killers  or 
Orca  whales,  which  scour  the  seas  and  the  pack-ice  in  hundreds  to  the  terror  of 
seals  and  penguins.  The  killer  whale  is  one  of  the  most  ferocious  animals  in 
existence  and  is  far  more  savage  and  destructive  than  tiger  or  shark.  Naturally 
the  few  men  who  reach  the  Antarctic  circle  rarely  indulge  in  ocean  bathing 
there,  but  if  they  did  they  would  run  a  terrible  danger  from  the  killer  whales. 

The  killer  is  a  powerful  piebald  whale  some  twenty  feet  in  length.  It  hunts 
in  large  packs  of  a  score  or  many  score.  No  sooner  does  the  ice  break  up  than 
the  killers  appear  in  the  newly  formed  leads  of  water,  and  the  penguins  show 
that  they  appreciate  the  fact  by  their  unwillingness  to  leave  the  melting  ice  floes. 

From  the  middle  of  September  to  the  end  of  March  these  whales  swarm  in 
McMurdo  Strait,  and  the  scars  they  leave  on  the  seals,  more  particularly  on 
the  crab  eating  seal  of  the  pack  ice,  afford  abundant  testimony  to  their  vicious 
habits.  Not  one  in  five  of  the  pack  ice  seals  is  free  from  the  marks  of  the 
killer's  teeth,  and  even  the  sea  leopard,  which  is  the  most  powerful  seal  of  the 
Antarctic  Ocean,  has  been  found  with  fearful  lacerations.  Only  the  Weddell 
seal  is  more  or  less  secure  because  it  avoids  the  open  sea. 

Beak  whales  are  also  seen  in  schools  from  time  to  time,  and  Lieutenant 
Shackleton  saw  a  whole  school  of  ten  "breeching"  in  McMurdo's  Strait. 
Every  now  and  then  one  would  leap  clean  out  of  the  water  and  fall  back  with  a 
resounding  smash. 


WONDERS  OF  ANTARCTIC  WORLD  345 

The  most  remarkable  animals  of  the  Antarctic  region  are  the  seals.  There 
are  five  Antarctic  seals,  the  crabeating-  or  white  seal,  the  Ross  seal,  the  Wed- 
dell  seal,  the  sea  leopard  and  the  sea  elephant.  Of  these  the  first  three  are 
found  only  within  the  Antarctic  Circle,  while  the  others  wander  considerable 
distances  away.  Seals  do  not  usually  travel  long  distances  by  sea,  but  the  sea 
elephant  seems  to  be  an  exception,  as  it  is  found  from  the  Antarctic  Circle  to 
the  coast  of  South  America.  The  sea  elephant  must  be  an  enormous  creature. 
Only  one  specimen  has  been  found  in  recent  polar  expeditions,  and  he  was  a 
young  male  eleven  feet  in  length,  with  a  girth  of  no  less  than  eight  feet  under 
the  fore  flippers. 

The  sea  leopard  is  smaller  than  the  sea  elephant,  but  much  more  ferocious. 
It  runs  to  twelve  feet  in  length  and  has  a  girth  beneath  the  flippers  of  six  feet. 
Its  head  is  large  in  proportion  to  its  body,  and  it  has  a  terrible  array  of  sharp 
teeth.  It  is  very  long  and  snake-like,  and  moves  like  lightning  through  the 
water,  where  its  diet  includes  not  only  fish  and  emperor  penguins,  but  some- 
times other  seals.  It  has  ten  three-pronged  canine  teeth,  made  for  tearing  flesh 
to  pieces.  The  sea  leopard  has  only  one  enemy  to  fear  in  the  Antarctic  seas, 
and  that  is  the  killer  whale. 

The  crabeater  seal  lives  entirely  upon  a  shrimp-like  crustacean,  which  it  col- 
lects in  large  numbers  in  mud  and  gravel  by  groping  along  the  bottom  of  shal- 
low seas. 

The  Ross  seal  has  the  astonishing  power  of  withdrawing  its  head  within 
the  blubber-laden  skin  of  the  neck  till  its  face  is  almost  lost.  The  teeth  of  these 
seals  are  extremely  interesting  to  naturalists,  for  the  after  canine  teeth  are  in 
the  process  of  disappearing,  showing  that  the  conditions  of  life  in  the  Antarctic 
regions  have  greatly  changed  since  earlier  ages.  The  front  teeth  also  have 
been  developed  into  curved  hooks  for  dealing  with  such  slippery  prey  as  jelly 
fish  and  squids,  which  apparently  form  their  food. 

Among  the  many  Antarctic  birds  is  the  giant  petrel,  which  lives  on  carrion 
refuse  about  the  penguin  rookeries.  It  is  often  to  be  seen  squatted  in  the  ice- 
floes, gorged  by  a  full  meal  of  blubber  from  a  dead  seal,  and  finding  itself  pur- 
sued it  will  deliberately  disgorge  before  it  attempts  to  fly,  knowing  from  ex- 
perience that  even  a  lengthy  run  will  not  enable  it  to  rise  unless  it  empties  ita 
stomach  first. 

The  penguins,  huge  birds  with  tiny  wings  useless  for  flying  purposes,  are 
peculiar  to  the  Antarctic  regions.  They  always  stand  upright,  and  with  great 
white  bodies  and  black  heads,  they  look  like  very  fat  colored  men  wearing  white 


346  WONDERS  OF  ANTARCTIC  WORLD 

waistcoats.  There  are  two  species  of  them  in  the  Antarctic  circle — the  Adelie 
penguins  and  the  Emperor  penguins. 

The  penguins  are  declared  to  be  the  most  amusing  creatures  in  existence. 
When  annoyed  by  an  explorer  the  cock  bird  ranges  up  and  down  in  front  of  his 
wife,  his  eyes  flashing  anger,  and  his  feathers  erect  in  a  ruffle  round  his  head. 
He  stands  there  for  a  minute  or  two  breathing  out  threats  and  then  putting  his 
head  down  dashes  for  the  man  and  rains  blows  upon  him  with  his  flippers. 
When  making  love  he  waves  his  flippers  to  and  fro  and  gazes  heavenward,  as 
if  he  were  reciting  the  most  exquisite  poetry. 

The  greatest  rookeries  of  the  Emperor  penguins  are  on  Ross  Island.  This 
bird  stands  four  feet  high  and  weighs  from  eighty  to  ninety  pounds.  It  hatches 
its  eggs  in  absolute  darkness  in  August,  during  the  coldest  month  of  the  Ant- 
arctic year,  when  the  temperature  often  falls  to  68  degrees  below  zero.  The 
Emperor  penguin  carries  its  single  egg,  and  later  its  chick  in  a  place  between 
its  right  foot  and  its  abdomen. 

To  return  to  the  Arctic  region,  many  remarkable  facts  have  lately  been 
learned,  and  it  is  said  that  the  Eskimo,  though  gradually  becoming  civilized, 
does  not  welcome  the  white  man's  coming.  Beside  his  igloo  he  sits  and  listens 
to  the  tribal  rumors  of  the  coming  events.  He  hears  the  weird,  garbled  tale  of 
how  a  "civilized  man,"  a  "kabhena,"  has  reached  the  north  pole.  He  hears  that 
other  white  men  will  come  after  him.  And  he  sits  and  grieves  for  his  people; 
for  the  advance  of  the  white  man  means  to  him  only  what  it  has  meant  to  all 
the  primitive  people  who  thus  have  been  "discovered" — extermination. 

"Civilization  of  your  kind  we  do  not  want,"  says  the  Eskimo  to  the  ex- 
plorer or  missionary.  "It  is  good,  perhaps,  for  you  and  for  your  countries.  It 
is  not  good  here  in  the  north.  We  cannot  live  under  it.  As  we  live  now  so 
must  we  live  if  we  are  to  exist.  It  is  our  life ;  and  life  is  good  here  among  these 
ice  cliffs  when  it  is  lived  in  our  own  way.  We  are  content.  So  have  our  fore- 
fathers lived  from  time  immemorial.  And  so  will  we  live  as  long  as  we  remain 
on  earth.  Force  us  to  live  as  you  live,  make  us  accept  your  civilization,  and 
we  perish.  We  have  seen  it.  We  know  what  it  does  to  us.  It  kills  the  Es- 
kimo. Leave  us  to  ojr  ways,  leave  us  to  our  country,  or  the  Eskimo  will  be 
wiped  off  the  face  of  the  earth." 

Such  is  the  Eskimo's  reception  of  the  great  news.  It  Is  something  like  a 
shock  to  our  self-satisfaction  and  opinion  that  our  civilization  is  best  for  all 
people,  whether  they  like  it  or  not.  How  can  those  poor  people  up  there  in  the 
frozen  north  spurn  the  benefits  that  civilization  holds  forth  to  them  ?    How  can 


WONDERS  OF  ANTARCTIC  WORLD  347 

they  fail  to  realize  that  civilization  will  make  their  harsh  life  easier,  more 
pleasant,  more  happy  ?  The  questions  come  naturally  at  the  idea.  It  seems 
preposterous.  But  when  one  comes  to  examine  the  mode  of  living  of  the  winter 
bound  Eskimo,  along  with  the  conditions  under  which  he  is  forced  to  exist,  it 
seems  not  so  astonishing  that  the  Eskimos  should  say:  "We  were  a  happy 
people  until  the  explorers  came.  The  explorers  brought  their  civilization,  and 
that  is  not  well." 

Living  in  a  land  so  barren  and  harsh  that  nowhere  else  on  earth  is  its  du- 
plicate to  be  found  inhabited,  the  Eskimo  through  centuries  of  struggle  has 
adopted  the  only  mode  of  living  that  makes  his  existence  possible.  The  land 
which  other  people  despise,  the  conditions  under  which  no  other  people  could 
live,  he  has  learned  to  love.  They  are  his  world,  and  without  them  he  could 
not  live. 

Resources  such  as  the  world  looks  upon  as  necessary  to  the  maintenance  of 
life  the  country  has  none.  It  is  a  barren  of  never  changing  ice  and  snow. 
Stones,  pieces  of  driftwood,  reindeer,  birds,  dogs,  fishes,  and,  most  of  all,  seals 
— these  are  the  things  that  are  given  the  Eskimo  to  live  on.  The  stones,  sticks, 
and  bones  furnish  him  with  weapons.  The  weapons  furnish  him  with  meat. 
For  his  house  there  is  the  stone,  the  ice,  and  snow,  nothing  more.  For  six 
months  of  the  year  his  world  is  in  darkness.  Yet  he  lives  and  is  happy  until  the 
explorers  come. 

As  told  to  some  extent  earlier  In  this  chapter,  the  winter  house  of  the  Es- 
kimo— the  igloo — is  perhaps  the  most  striking  illustration  of  how  bitter  is  the 
fight  to  maintain  life  in  the  killing  cold  of  the  arctic  circle.  It  is  built  of  ice 
and  snow  mainly,  though  in  some  cases  stones  and  blocks  of  frozen  earth  are 
used,  and  its  floor  is  sunk  far  below  the  level  of  the  earth  or  ice  upon  which  it 
is  erected.  A  narrow  passage  dug  in  the  earth,  lower  than  the  floor,  serves  as 
the  only  means  of  entrance  and  exit,  and  the  Eskimo  goes  into  his  house  on  his 
hands  and  knees. 

Along  one  wall  is  the  "sleeping  bench,"  about  six  feet  wide,  which  serves 
for  a  bed  for  the  entire  family.  In  the  center  of  the  room  is  the  lamp,  which 
often  serves  as  a  stove  as  well.  This  is  the  sum  total  of  the  Eskimo's  household 
furniture. 

In  order  to  economize  the  life  saving  heat  several  families  dwell  together  in 
one  hut.  In  the  winter  house  so  excessive  is  the  heat  that  the  thick  fur  gar- 
ments of  outdoor  use  are  discarded  upon  entrance.  Among  some  tribes  men, 
women,  and  children  dwell  together  in  a  complete  state  of  nudity,  in  others  a 


348 


WONDERS  OF  ANTARCTIC  WORLD 


small  loin  cloth  is  used  for  indoor  wear.  Night  and  day  the  stone  lamps  jQUed 
with  train  oil  burn  in  the  huts.  The  Eskimo  is  superstitious  of  all  things.  The 
long  arctic  night  has  driven  the  fear  of  darkness  into  his  soul,  and  he  will  not 
even  sleep  without  a  light  burning  before  his  eyes. 

The  lamps  are  so  constructed  as  to  burn  brightly  all  night.  When  they 
begin  to  grow  dim  the  Eskimo  woman  knows  that  it  is  morning  and  time  to  get 
up.  Cheerless  as  such  a  home  may  seem,  it  is  declared  to  be  quite  the  opposite. 
The  woman  who  wakes  first  in  the  morning  calls  out  to  her  neighbor  a  chal- 


THE  NORTH  POLE  FOUND. 


WONDERS  OF  ANTARCTIC  WORLD  349 

lenge  for  a  race  in  dressing  and  going  out  after  the  morning  meal  of  fish,  which 
is  cached  in  the  ice  outside.  The  challenge  is  accepted.  The  women  dress  and 
rush  out  laughing,  break  off  great  armfuls  of  the  frozen  provender  and  come 
back  laughing  to  their  still  sleeping  companions.  The  fish  are  thrown  on  the 
floor  until  they  have  thawed  from  hard  as  stone  to  a  mere  frozen  condition. 
Then  the  two  women  who  are  dressed  pass  the  food  around  to  the  others,  and 
soon  the  whole  houseful  are  gnawing  away  at  their  fish  breakfast. 

It  doesn't  sound  appetizing,  but  even  the  explorers  who  have  wintered  on 
this  food  declare  that  there  are  worse  things  to  eat  in  the  morning  than  a  frozen 
fish — after  you  get  used  to  it. 

"The  eating  is  not  the  trouble,"  says  the  returned  adventurers,  "it  is  the 
getting  of  it  that  gives  the  Eskimo  a  problem." 

"The  getting  of  it,"  the  procuring  of  food  in  the  waste  of  snow  and  frozen 
waters,  is  more  of  a  battle  for  the  native  than  the  problem  of  housing  himself 
against  the  wintry  blasts.  Hunting  is  his  one  means  of  living,  whether  it  be 
hunting  reindeer,  ptarmigan,  seal,  or  fish.  As  a  consequence  the  hunter  is  the 
"great  man"  in  the  economy  of  Eskimo  life,  and  the  importance  of  a  man  is 
reckoned  by  his  ability  to  kill  seals.  The  best  hunter  in  a  village  is  the  king. 
He  has  his  pick  of  the  women,  and  he  exercises  it  with  a  freedom  rather  start- 
ling to  conventional  ideas  of  matrimony. 

"Without  hunters  a  tribe  cannot  exist,"  is  the  Eskimo's  point  of  view,  and 
the  tribes  that  have  perished  are  the  ones  in  which  there  were  no  strong,  able 
men  to  kill  game  for  food. 

Armed  with  the  most  primitive  of  weapons,  a  piece  of  sharpened  stone  fitted 
in  a  stick  of  wood  to  make  a  lance,  the  Eskimo  hunts  and  slays  the  animals  ol 
his  country,  from  the  swift  flying  ptarmigan  to  the  ferocious  polar  bear.  The 
sea  is  where  he  must  look  for  most  of  his  subsistence,  for  the  sea  holds  the  seal, 
and  without  the  seal  the  Eskimo  could  not  live.  The  seal  furnishes  him  food 
and  clothing ;  its  fat  provides  the  oil  which  lights  his  lamps  and  cooks  his  food, 
and  its  bones  and  skins  make  the  boat  in  which  the  tireless  native  paddles  over 
the  stormy  seas  in  search  of  his  prey. 

The  Eskimo  boat,  the  "kaiak,"  is  his  greatest  invention,  and  the  only  small 
paddle  boat  so  constructed  that  it  can  live  in  the  roughest  sea.  It  is  shaped 
like  a  canoe,  pointed  at  both  ends,  its  decks  covered  with  the  exception  of  the 
hole  in  which  the  hunter  sits,  which  is  large  enough  only  to  admit  his  body. 
With  his  paddle  in  his  hands,  his  harpoon  slung  across  his  shoulders,  and  the 
prayers  of  his  women  following  him,  the  hunter  sets  forth  in  the  teeth  of  a 
gale  to  slay  a  seal  that  has  been  sighted  a  mile  off  shore. 


350  WONDERS  OF  ANTARCTIC  WORLD 

He  rides  up  and  down  the  sides  of  mountainous  waves  like  a  sled  upon  a 
hill.  He  laughs  at  the  efforts  of  the  storm  to  swamp  him.  He  comes  within 
sig-ht  of  his  prey;  the  seal  ducks;  the  Eskimo,  knowing  his  custom,  paddles 
swiftly  in  the  direction  of  the  dive.  When  the  seal  comes  up  for  air  he  is  within 
easy  striking  distance.  The  bone  harpoon  goes  home  with  a  thud;  and  the 
hunter  turns  his  boat  for  shore.     He  has  made  his  kill. 

In  the  summer  time  tents  take  the  place  of  houses.  As  soon  as  the  sun  be- 
gins to  appear,  sometimes  in  April,  the  Eskimo  comes  out  of  his  hibernation, 
gets  ready  his  "woman  boat,"  and  his  camping  outfit,  and  goes  roaming.  The 
"woman  boat"  is  a  large  rowboat,  capable  of  carrying  a  score  or  more  people, 
and  has  its  name  from  the  fact  that  it  is  rowed  by  the  women.  In  such  a  boat 
the  Eskimo  sets  forth  and  rows  until  a  favored  camping  ground  is  found.  Then 
the  whole  party  disembarks,  tents  are  set  up,  and  the  camp  remains  so  long  as 
the  hunting  is  good.  When  that  is  gone,  into  the  boats  again  and  on  to 
another  hunting  ground. 

Of  the  kindness  and  catholic  hospitality  of  the  Eskimo  there  is  but  one 
verdict — they  are  the  kindest  and  most  hospitable  people  in  the  world.  Even 
wrecked  explorers  whose  coming  means  only  that  they  will  consume  a  certain 
amount  of  the  common  store  of  food,  are  hailed  with  the  greatest  delight,  the 
best  is  set  forth  before  them,  and  they  are  invited  to  make  themselves  at  home 
for  as  long  as  they  please.  In  one  instance  an  explorer  relates  that  a  murderer 
was  taken  in,  fed,  housed,  and  cared  for  through  a  hard  winter  by  the  family 
of  his  victim ! 

"Do  some  people  in  your  land  starve  and  shiver  while  others  eat  much  and 
are  warmly  clad  ?"  was  one  of  the  questions  that  the  shocked  Eskimos  put  to 
an  explorer  when  he  expressed  surprise  at  their  charity.  "Why,  then,  do  you 
call  yourself  civilized  ?" 

It  was  a  puzzling  question.  The  explorer  was  forced  to  admit  that  "some 
did." 

"Then  why  do  you  ask  us  to  accept  your  civilization  ?"  demanded  the  Eski- 
mos.   "Here  that  never  happens." 

So  the  "poor,  frozen  native  of  the  north"  does  not  yearn  for  the  civilization 
that  threatens  him.  He  is  satisfied  as  he  is.  He  eats  his  fish,  kills  the  seal, 
sings  his  peculiar  songs,  and  asks  only  one  thing  from  the  civilized  world — that 
he  be  left  alone.  And  that  is  the  one  thing  which  probably  will  not  be  granted 
him. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

HOW    THE     DUKE    OF    ABRUZZI,    WHO    NEARLY 
FOUND  THE  POLE,  CLIMBED  THE  HIMALAYAS. 

Details  of  the  Himalayan  trip  in  1909  of  the  Duke  of  Abruzzi,  whose  ro- 
mance with  Katherine  Elkins  was  much  talked  of  in  1908,  shows  this  journey- 
to  have  been  the  greatest  mountaineering  feat  of  the  times.  He  reached  a 
height  of  24,500  feet  above  sea  level, — this  after  a  dangerous  and  thrilling 
journey  at  the  head  of  a  large  party. 

The  duke  had  already  been  distinguished  for  his  mountaineering  work, 
and  his  Arctic  explorations  as  well.  He  belongs  in  the  front  rank  of  those  who 
sought  the  north  pole.  In  1900  he  led  an  expedition  to  latitude  86  degrees,  33 
minutes,  breaking  Nansen's  record  by  about  23  miles.  Abruzzi  established  his 
base  of  supplies  on  the  north  shore  of  Franz  Joseph's  Land,  480  miles  from 
the  Pole.  He  planned  to  make  the  polar  dash  in  45  days.  The  party  started 
from  the  base  on  February  25,  1900.  Violent  winds  and  bitter  cold  proved  a 
terrible  handicap  to  the  party's  progress.  On  March  22,  three  men  were  sent 
back  to  establish  communication  with  the  base  of  supplies ;  but  these  men  were 
never  again  heard  from.  On  reaching  latitude  86  degrees,  33  minutes,  a  short- 
age of  food  and  the  condition  of  the  men  made  it  necessary  to  turn  back. 
Abruzzi  left  a  cylinder  containing  a  record  of  the  expedition  at  this  point,  the 
farthest  north  up  to  that  time. 

Details  of  the  duke's  adventurous  trip  to  the  Himalaya  Mountains,  during 
which  he  reached  the  greatest  height  ever  attained  on  this  earth  by  man,  were 
published  in  the  Corriere  della  Sera  of  Milan.  They  were  obtained  by  a  rep- 
resentative of  that  paper,  who  boarded  the  steamer  on  which  the  duke  was  re- 
turning to  Italy  at  Port  Said,  proceeding  from  there  with  the  royal  mountaineer 
and  his  companions  to  Marseilles.  Abruzzi  himself  gave  no  description  of  the 
momentous  trip.  Though  always  courteous,  according  to  the  Italian  newspa- 
per man,  his  silence  is  absolutely  impenetrable.  But  from  his  comrades  the  lat- 
ter obtained  an  interesting  narrative  of  the  expedition,  from  its  beginning  last 
spring  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  record-breaking  feat  of  its  intrepid  leader, 
on  Bride  Peak,  in  the  Himalayas,  on  July  17, 1909. 

351 


352  THE  DUKE  OF  ABRUZZI 

LEFT  MARSEILLES  IN  MARCH. 

The  expedition  started  from  Marseilles  on  March  26  on  the  same  Penin- 
sular and  Oriental  steamer  that  brought  it  back  two  weeks  before  to  that  port. 
In  addition  to  the  duke  himself,  it  consisted  of  Marquis  Negrotto-Cambiaso, 
Abruzzi's  aide;  Vittorio  Sella,  a  well-known  photographer;  Doctor  De  Filippi, 
and  several  Swiss  guides,  who  had  already  been  the  companions  of  the  duke 
on  former  mountain-scaling  exploits.  Negrotto,  never  having  had  any  expe- 
rience in  mountain  climbing,  feared  at  first  that  he  would  be  more  of  a  hin- 
drance than  a  help,  but  Abruzzi,  who  knew  him  evidently  better  than  he  knew 
himself,  insisted  that  he  form  part  of  the  expedition. 

Sella,  on  the  other  hand,  had  been  accustomed  since  early  manhood  to  brav- 
ing all  sorts  of  perils  in  quest  of  photographs  of  mountain  scenes.  He  was 
already  acquainted,  not  only  with  the  Alps  and  the  Caucasus,  but  with  the  Him- 
alayas themselves,  the  goal  of  Abruzzi's  efforts.  De  Filippi,  likewise,  was  al- 
ready an  expert  Alpine  climber. 

EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  BEST. 

Fully  two  months  before  starting  for  India  the  duke  had  busied  himself 
making  complete  preparations.  He  had  made  two  trips  to  England  for  the  pur- 
pose of  providing  all  the  necessary  equipment.  As  a  result  of  this  foresight  the 
equipment  was  of  the  very  best,  including,  among  other  things,  three  different 
kinds  of  tents — those  used  in  tropical  countries,  large  and  comfortable,  but 
rather  difficult  to  transport;  Whymper  tents,  holding  three  people,  and  Mum- 
mery tents,  very  small,  holding  one  person.  There  were  also  60  cases,  each 
containing  all  the  necessaries  for  one  day  for  12  persons — everything,  from 
tobacco  to  marmalade,  from  preserved  meat  to  a  stock  of  oil  for  the  special 
stoves  provided  by  Abruzzi  similar  to  those  used  on  polar  expeditions.  The 
members  of  the  expedition  were  also  provided  with  sleeping  bags,  of  three 
thicknesses  each ;  the  first  of  goatskin,  the  second  of  feathers,  the  third,  or  out- 
side one,  of  camel's  fur. 

On  April  9  the  expedition  arrived  at  Bombay,  proceeding  on  that  same  day 
by  rail  to  Rawalpindi,  which  was  reached  on  the  12th. 

ESCORTED  BY  YOUNGHUSBAND. 

There  an  entire  day  was  spent  in  getting  the  impedimenta  of  the  party  in 
traveling  order.     The  latter  was  sent  on  to  Shrinagar  in  queer  two-wheeled 


THE  DUKE  OF  ABRUZZI  353 

native  vehicles  drawn  by  ponies  and  called  "ekkas."  The  duke  and  his  com- 
panions preceded  these  in  European  landaus,  the  local  authorities  having  ad- 
judged the  native  "dongas,"  commonly  used  for  passenger  transportation,  un- 
suited  to  the  august  member  of  the  house  of  Savoy.  But  it  would  have  been 
almost  as  well  for  the  duke  to  have  gone  to  Shrinagar  on  foot,  as  the  old  ve- 
hicles made  the  journey  very  slowly  and  with  such  extreme  difficulty  that  they 
pulled  into  Shrinagar  in  a  pitiable  condition,  with  some  of  their  wheels  held  in 
place  by  ropes. 

At  Shrinagar  the  Italians  waited  from  April  17  until  the  23d,  the  delay 
being  caused  by  the  ekkas  containing  the  baggage,  which  took  their  time  on 
the  road  from  Rawalpindi. 

Finally  they  embarked  in  boats  on  one  of  the  canals  which  have  given  Shrin- 
agar the  name  of  the  "Venice  of  India,"  and  proceeded  to  a  village  at  the  head 
of  navigation  of  the  canal,  being  escorted  to  that  point  by  Sir  Francis  Young- 
husband,  British  Resident  of  Cashmere,  famous  as  the  man  who  entered  the 
sacred  Tibetan  city  of  Lhassa  at  the  head  of  British  troops  some  years  ago.  In 
addition  to  this  he  had  traversed  the  Himalayas  twice  and  made  several  jour- 
neys through  lands  unknown  before  to  white  men,  hence  his  interest  in  Abruz- 
zi's  contemplated  feats  was  of  the  keenest. 

AN  ARMY  OF  250. 

After  the  farewells  on  April  24  to  Sir  Francis  and  to  the  wife  of  Dr.  De 
Filippi,  who  turned  back  to  await  her  husband's  return  at  Shrinagar,  the  dif- 
ficulties of  the  expedition  began.  The  Italians  were  now  accompanied  by  long 
lines  of  native  porters  carrying  the  baggage.  Some  of  this  was  loaded  on 
ponies,  too,  but  many  of  the  latter  had  to  be  abandoned  along  the  way.  In 
their  place  additional  porters,  natives  of  Cashmere,  were  collected  from  the 
neighboring  valleys,  until  finally  their  total  number  of  natives  was  250.  At  the 
head  of  this  small  army  marched  the  duke  and  his  companions. 

As  they  traversed  the  valley  of  the  Sind  they  encountered  deep  snow  every- 
where, which,  being  fresh,  made  the  danger  of  avalanches  imminent.  The  ex- 
pedition could  advance  with  safety  only  early  in  the  morning,  or  late  at  night, 
by  the  light  of  lanterns.  After  several  days  of  this  arduous  marching  the  duke 
and  his  comrades  reached  the  junction  of  the  Dras  and  the  Indus,  proceeding 
from  there  to  Skardo,  the  capital  of  Baltistan. 

They  were  already  at  an  altitude  of  6,500  feet.  Leaving  Skardo  on  May 
9  and  following  the  valley  of  Braldon,  partly  on  foot,  partly  on  ponies,  they 


354  THE  DUKE  OF  ABRJJZZI 

arrived  on  the  14th  at  Askole,  last  inhabited  village  of  the  valley  nearly  10,000 
feet  above  the  sea. 

Hereabouts  was  the  easiest  part  of  the  journey.  The  valley  was  free  from 
snow,  covered  with  flowering  trees,  filled  with  pretty  fields.  Nevertheless,  it 
had  some  difficult  paths,  traversed  by  rivers  and  mountain  torrents,  over  which 
the  expedition  had  often  to  pass  on  primitive  rope  bridges,  some  extremely  long. 
It  frequently  took  two  or  three  hours  to  get  the  entire  expedition  over  one  of 
the  bridges,  as  the  construction  is  so  frail  as  to  allow  at  most  two  or  three  men 
to  cross  at  a  time. 

THE  BASE  ESTABLISHED. 

The  first  experience  on  a  bridge  of  this  sort,  Marquis  Negrotto  told  the 
Italian  reporter,  is  not  pleasant.  To  begin  with,  it  oscillates  frightfully.  The 
water  beneath,  he  added,  seems  to  be  motionless,  while  the  traveler,  on  the 
other  hand,  seems  to  be  flying  through  the  air,  driven  along  by  the  wind  in  an 
impetuous  and  fantastic  career. 

Of  these  wild  scenes  the  intrepid  Sella  took  many  photographs,  climbing 
frequently  in  order  to  take  them  to  all  sorts  of  perilous  vantage  points. 

At  Askole  about  100  additional  porters  joined  the  expedition  for  the  pur- 
pose of  carrying  the  provisions  for  the  other  porters  and  of  driving  to  the  ex- 
pedition's base  at  the  head  of  the  Baltoro  glacier  a  small  herd  of  cattle  and 
sheep  in  order  that  fresh  meat  and  milk  might  be  available. 

On  May  18  the  base  was  established  at  Rdokass,  on  a  grassy  spur  extend- 
ing over  the  glacier  at  a  height  of  13,000  feet.  From  that  time  on  it  served  as 
a  supply  station  for  the  duke  in  his  advance  over  the  glacier  to  the  lofty  peaks 
which  he  had  resolved  to  scale. 

K  2  IN  ITS  MAJESTY. 

On  the  2 1  St  he  set  out  from  Rdokass,  leaving  behind  the  majority  of  the  na- 
tives to  act  as  guards  over  the  greater  part  of  the  provisions  and  baggage, 
which  were  in  charge  of  an  Englishman.  Abruzzi  and  his  companions  marched 
for  four  days  through  the  imposing  solitude  of  the  glacier,  crossing  spur  after 
spur,  until,  on  the  25th,  after  having  averaged  nearly  10  miles  a  day,  they 
found  themselves  at  the  foot  of  the  immense  peak  known  as  K  2,  where  they 
encamped  and  rested  all  night. 

Here  the  work  began  in  earnest. 

The  26th  of  May  dawned,  livid  with  dense  fog,  which  floated  over  the  grim 


THE  DUKE  OF  ABRUZZI  355 

rocks  and  over  the  fields  of  snow,  on  which  no  human  being  had  ever  set  foot. 
The  thermometer  registered  lo  below  zero.  Now  and  then  the  shroud  of  mist 
would  be  blown  aside,  revealing  immense  piles  of  rock,  buried  in  eternal  ice, 
seemingly  stretching  upward  into  the  infinite.  Already  the  duke  was  at  an  al- 
titude of  over  16,000  feet,  much  higher  than  the  highest  points  of  his  own 
Italian  Alps.  He  and  his  brave  troop,  standing  in  silence  at  the  foot  of  the 
gigantic  mountain,  waited  for  the  mists  to  clear  and  reveal  to  them  the  coveted 
peak. 

At  last,  after  several  hours  of  waiting,  the  mist  disappeared.  K  2  appeared 
in  all  its  majesty.  Abruzzi  decided  to  devote  some  time  exploring  the  rocky 
base  of  the  mountain.  _  Its  slopes,  he  surmised,  were  so  steep  as  to  render  ava- 
lanches wellnigh  inevitable. 

The  expedition  was  split  up  into  small  parties,  which  began  to  explore  the 
approaches  to  the  peak  in  order  to  find  some  point  from  which  it  might  be  at- 
tacked. With  two  guides  the  duke  left  his  companions  and  spent  four  days 
trying  to  discover  a  way  up  the  huge  mountain.  In  the  course  of  his  investi- 
gations he  scaled  two  neighboring  peaks,  both  about  20,000  feet  high,  and 
visited  the  western  part  of  the  great  glacier,  hitherto  unexplored,  and  the 
eastern  part  visited  previously  by  Guilermood. 

The  result  of  his  four  days'  work  was  to  convince  him  absolutely  that  K  2 
was  inaccessible  to  man,  no  matter  what  efforts  he  might  put  forth  to  attain  its 
summit.  Hence  the  duke  retraced  his  steps  to  the  base  of  supplies  at  the  head 
of  the  glacier,  where,  throughout  the  month  of  June,  the  members  of  the  ex- 
pedition devoted  themselves  to  topographical  and  photographic  work  around 
the  mountain  and  the  adjacent  country. 

ASCENT  OF  THE  PEAK. 

At  the  end  of  June  the  little  troop  again  took  the  road  along  the  glacier, 
and  climbed  to  the  summit  of  the  Windigab,  20,000  feet  above  the  sea,  in  order 
^o  learn  from  there  whether  it  would  be  possible  to  work  downward  into  Little 
Thibet,  where  there  are  regions  little  known  or  entirely  unexplored.  They 
found  that  such  a  descent  would  be  possible  only  without  baggage,  hence  it 
would  be  merely  a  hunting  trip,  which  the  duke  resolved  not  to  make. 

Instead  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  Chogolisa  or  Bride  Peak.  Disap- 
pointed in  his  desire  to  ascend  K  2,  he  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  not  be 
foiled  a  second  time. 

The  weather  was  very  variable;  perfectly  clear  days  alternating  with  the 


356  THE  DUKE  OF  ABRUZZI 

thickest  mists.  The  marches  became  extremely  arduous.  Already  the  thin  at- 
mosphere which  the  members  of  the  expedition  had  been  breathing  for  many 
days  began  to  show  its  depressing  effects.  Work  which  under  other  conditions 
would  have  been  quite  normal  was  accomplished  now  with  three  times  the 
amount  of  effort  that  would  ordinarily  have  been  expended  on  it.  The  duke's 
companions  began  to  lose  their  appetites,  to  feel  disgust  at  the  unchanging  diet 
of  canned  meat,  to  snatch  only  brief  and  troubled  naps.  Abruzzi  himself,  how- 
ever, seemed  to  keep  all  his  powers  intact.  At  meals  his  appetite  was  unim- 
paired ;  his  periods  of  sleep  continued  to  be  long  and  refreshing. 

The  duke  and  his  three  companions,  Marquis  Negrotto,  Sella  and  De  Fi- 
lippi,  reached  the  foot  of  Bride  Peak  together.  Negrotto  and  De  Filippi  re- 
mained there  in  order  to  make  botanical  investigations  in  the  neighborhood 
and  do  topographical  work.  Sella,  after  a  little  climbing,  turned  back  toward 
Rokass  in  order  to  take  a  panoramic  view  of  the  Mustag  chain  of  mountains. 

HIS  SUPREME  EFFORT. 

As  for  the  duke  himself,  he  began  with  his  three  guides  the  ascent  of  the 
mountain,  choosing  as  his  starting  point  a  camp  located  at  a  height  of  about 
21,000  feet  high. 

The  weather,  which  was  very  cloudy,  compelled  him  to  stay  there  for 
several  days;  but  just  as  soon  as  the  mists  began  to  clear  he  ascended  in  two 
successive  days'  marches  to  a  point  nearly  2,000  feet  higher  up.  From  there 
some  of  the  guides  who  had  followed  him  thus  far  and  who  had  been  able  to 
carry  with  them  tents  and  provisions  sufficient  only  for  four  persons  returned 
to  the  camp  situated  near  the  base  of  the  mountain. 

The  duke  remained  where  he  was  one  whole  day.  At  dawn  of  the  next,  July 
17,  he  began  his  ascent  once  again  toward  the  peak. 

He  was  making  his  supreme  effort. 

At  II  in  the  morning  he  had  managed  to  get  somewhere  more  than  1,200 
feet  higher.  He  now  stood  24,000  feet  above  the  sea.  With  him  were  three 
guides — Petigax  and  two  named  Brocherel.  The  mist  had  become  so  dense 
that  further  progress  seemed  out  of  the  question.  The  four  men,  exposed  at 
any  instant  to  annihilation  from  falling  masses  of  -snow,  shut  themselves  up  in 
their  shelters,  waiting  patiently  on  the  perilous  slope. 

They  waited  until  3  in  the  afternoon.  The  mist  became  constantly  thicker 
and  thicker.  The  three  mountaineers,  without  a  word,  turned  their  eyes  on 
the  duke. 


THE  DUKE  OF  ABRUZZI  357 

Once  more  he  gazed  upward  at  the  peak,  which  seemed  to  be  eluding  him 
as  it  lay  in  his  very  grasp.    Then  he  took  counsel  with  the  three  guides. 

To  climb  any  higher  was  impossible,  they  maintained.  A  few  steps  away 
not  a  thing  was  visible.  The  entire  mountain  seemed  enveloped  in  gray,  cold 
air.  Man  was  obliged  to  yield  before  the  invincible  hostility,  the  insurmount- 
able veto  of  nature.  * 

For  the  last  time  the  duke  looked  toward  the  peak. 

"Let  us  descend,"  he  then  said,  in  a  quiet  voice. 

A  single  march  brought  the  four  men  to  the  camp  established  over  3,000 
feet  below.  They  were  still  four  days'  march  distant  from  Footstool,  at  the 
base  of  Bride  Peak,  where  the  other  Italians  were  encamped. 

There,  ten  days  after  he  had  departed,  the  latter  saw  the  duke  unexpectedly 
reappear  with  his  three  guides. 

"Well,  your  Highness?"  they  asked  eagerly. 

"Three  hundred  and  eight,  by  the  barometer,"  he  replied. 

That  was  equivalent,  according  to  the  calculations  made  with  the  instru- 
ments which  he  had  taken  with  him,  to  7,500  meters,  or  about  24,565  feet. 

Luigil  Amedo  of  Savoy,  Duke  of  the  Abruzzi,  had  broken  the  world's 
record  for  mountain  climbing. 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  RETURN. 

At  once  preparations  were  made  for  the  return  of  the  expedition.  On 
August  12  it  was  already  back  at  Shrinagar,  having  taken  from  Askoue  a  route 
different  from  that  chosen  before.  It  led  the  duke  and  his  companions  over  the 
Skoro,  where,  after  so  many  miles  of  grim  snow-covered  rocks,  they  saw  again 
a  beautiful  flowery  valley  which  seemed  to  them  the  abode  of  eternal  spring. 

It  was  like  a  return  to  life.  As  they  descended  this  valley,  headed  once 
more  toward  Skardo,  not  only  De  Filippi,  the  botanist  of  the  party,  but  all  of 
its  other  members  were  soon  carrying,  in  their  buttonholes  and  in  their  hands, 
great  bouquets  of  myosotis,  gentians,  edelweiss,  and  other  flowers. 

From  Skardo,  instead  of  again  traversing  the  Zoji-la,  by  which  he  had 
traveled  previously,  the  duke  headed  for  the  valley  of  the  Geosai,  through 
which  the  expedition  made  its  way  back  to  Shrinagar.  There  they  were  met  by 
Sir  Francis  Younghusband  once  more,  and  De  Filippi  found  his  wife,  who  had 
awaited  him  through  all  the  weeks  that  he  had  been  lost  in  the  snowy  fastnesses 
of  the  Himalayas.  For  two  days  the  British  Resident  entertained  Abruzzi  and 
his  companions  at  his  summer  home  of  Gulmarg.    Then,  after  short  visits  to 


358  THE  DUKE  OF  ABRUZZI 

Delhi  and  Agra,  where  he  saw  the  old  ruins  of  the  time  of  the  Moguls,  they 
reached  Bombay  on  August  25.  On  the  28th  the  P.  &  O.  liner  Oceana  bore 
them  out  of  Bombay  harbor  toward  Europe. 

All  this  was  told  to  the  Italian  newspaper  man  mainly  by  the  Marquis  Ne- 
grotto  and  Sella,  the  photographer.  As  for  the  taciturn  duke,  he  spent  most 
of  the  days  of  the  sea  journey  writing  in  the  music  room  of  the  steamer,  or 
else  stretched  out  on  his  deck  chair.  Even  when  he  took  a  walk  on  deck  with 
the  Marquis  or  another  of  his  friends,  he  scarcely  spoke  at  all.  His  eyes,  says 
the  Italian,  seemed  fixed  on  something  far  away,  as  if  planning  new  expeditions 
to  remote  parts  of  the  world. 

FRUITS  OF  THE  EXPEDITION. 

According  to  Marquis  Negrotto,  the  duke  will  be  occupied  for  some  time  in 
getting  into  shape  the  great  mass  of  scientific  and  other  data  collected  during 
the  course  of  their  journey  by  himself  and  those  who  accompanied  him.  The 
most  important  part  of  these  are  the  combined  topographical  and  photographic 
records,  in  which  both  the  duke  and  Negrotto  were  much  interested  before 
their  departure.  At  that  time  they  elaborated  the  combination  of  photographic 
and  topographical  work  under  the  direction  of  Signor  Paganini,  of  the  Geo- 
graphical Military  Institute  of  Florence,  the  inventor  of  the  photographic  the- 
odolite, who  was  the  first,  by  means  of  this  system,  to  obtain  exact  descriptions 
of  Monte  Rosa,  Mont  Cenis  and  other  Alpine  peaks.  The  system,  however, 
had  never  been  used  before  at  such  altitudes  as  those  attained  by  the  Abruzzi 
on  his  Himalayan  journey. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

MARVELS   OF  THE  NORTH,  AS  TOLD   BY  NANSEN. 

In  an  earlier  chapter  some  account  was  given  of  Fridtjof  Nansen's  great 
drifting  expedition  in  1893.  Since  Dr.  Nansen  is  one  of  the  most  poetic  of 
writers  no  better  description  of  the  wonderful  sights  and  scenes  in  the  Arctic 
can  be  given  than  that  furnished  in  his  words. 

Writing  at  the  time  when  his  ship,  the  Fram,  was  fast  in  the  ice  and 
being  carried  slowly  on  by  the  ice-drift,  Dr.  Nansen  says  in  his  book,  "Farthest 
North" : 

"Tuesday,  September  26th.  Beautiful  weather.  The  sun  stands  much 
lower  now ;  it  was  9  degrees  above  the  horizon  at  midday.  Winter  is  rapidly 
approaching;  there  are  14^  (fourteen  and  one-half)  degrees  of  frost  this 
evening,  but  we  do  not  feel  it  cold.  Today's  observations  unfortunately  show 
no  particular  drift  northward ;  according  to  them  we  are  still  in  78°  50'  north 
latitude.  I  wandered  about  over  the  floe  towards  evening.  Nothing  more 
wonderfully  beautiful  can  exist  than  the  Arctic  night.  It  is  dreamland,  painted 
in  the  imagination's  most  delicate  tints;  it  is  color  etherealized.  One  shade 
melts  into  the  other,  so  that  you  cannot  tell  where  one  ends  and  the  other 
begins,  and  yet  they  are  all  there.  No  forms — it  is  all  faint,  dreamy  color 
music,  a  far-away,  long-drawn-out  melody  on  muted  strings.  Is  not  all  life's 
beauty  high,  and  delicate,  and  pure  like  this  night?  Give  it  brighter  colors, 
and  it  is  no  longer  so  beautiful.  The  sky  is  Hke  an  enormous  cupola,  blue  at 
the  zenith,  shading  down  into  green,  and  then  into  lilac  and  violet  at  the 
edges. 

VIOLET,  BLUE  AND  PINK. 

"Over  the  ice-fields  there  are  cold  violet-blue  shadows,  with  Hghter  pink 
tints  where  a  ridge  here  and  there  catches  the  last  reflection  of  the  vanished 
day.  Up  in  the  blue  of  the  cupola  shine  the  stars,  speaking  peace,  as  they 
always  do,  those  unchanging  friends.  In  the  south  stands  a  large  red-yellow 
moon,  encircled  by  a  yellow  ring  and  light  golden  clouds  floating  on  the  blue 
back-ground.     Presently  the  aurora  borealis  shakes  over  the  vault  of  heaven 

359 


360  MARVELS  OF  THE  NORTH 

its  veil  of  glittering  silver — changing  now  to  yellow,  now  to  green,  now  to 
red.  It  spreads,  it  contracts  again,  in  restless  change;  next  it  breaks  into 
waving,  many-folded  bands  of  shining  silver,  over  which  shoot  billows  of 
glittering  rays,  and  then  the  glory  vanishes.  Presently  it  shimmers  in  tongues 
of  flame  over  the  very  zenith,  and  then  again  it  shoots  a  bright  ray  right  up 
from  the  horizon,  until  the  whole  melts  away  in  the  moonlight,  and  it  is  as 
though  one  heard  the  sigh  of  a  departing  spirit.  Here  and  there  are  left  a 
few  weaving  streamers  of  light,  vague  as  a  foreboding — they  are  the  dust 
from  the  aurora's  glittering  cloak.  But  now  it  is  growing  again;  now  light- 
nings shoot,  and  the  endless  game  begins  afresh.  And  all  the  time  this  utter 
stillness,  impressive  as  the  symphony  of  infinitude.  I  have  never  been  able  to 
grasp  the  fact  that  this  earth  will  some  day  be  spent  and  desolate  and  empty. 
To  what  end,  in  that  case,  all  this  beauty,  with  not  a  creature  to  rejoice  in  it? 
Now  I  begin  to  divine  it.  This  is  the  coming  earth— here  are  beauty  and 
death.  But  to  what  purpose?  Ah,  what  is  the  purpose  of  all  these  spheres? 
Read  the  answer,  if  you  can,  in  the  starry  blue  firmament." 
At  another  point  Nansen's  journal  says; 


AURORA  BOREALIS  BY  DAY. 

"Thursday,  November  2d.  The  temperature  keeps  at  about  22  degrees 
below  zero  ( — 30  degrees  C.)  now;  but  it  does  not  feel  very  cold,  the  air  is 
so  still.  We  can  see  the  aurora  borealis  in  the  day-time  too.  I  saw  a  very 
remarkable  display  of  it  about  3  this  afternoon.  On  the  southwestern  horizon 
lay  the  glow  of  the  sun ;  in  front  of  it  light  clouds  were  swept  together — like 
a  cloud  of  dust  rising  above  a  distant  troop  of  riders.  Then  dark  streamers 
of  gauze  seemed  to  stretch  from  the  dust-cloud  up  over  the  sky,  as  if  it  came 
from  the  sun,  or  perhaps  rather  as  if  the  sun  were  sucking  it  in  to  itself  from 
the  whole  sky.  It  was  only  in  the  southwest  that  these  streamers  were  dark ; 
a  little  higher  up,  farther  from  the  sun-glow,  they  grew  white  and  shining, 
like  fine,  glistening  silver  gauze.  They  spread  over  the  vault  of  heaven  above 
us,  and  right  away  towards  the  north.  They  certainly  resembled  aurora 
borealis ;  but  perhaps  they  might  be  only  light  vapors  hovering  high  up  in  the 
sky  and  catching  the  sunlight  ?  I  stood  long  looking  at  them.  They  were 
singularly  still,  but  they  were  northern  lights,  changing  gradually  in  the  south- 
west into  dark  cloud-streamers,  and  ending  in  the  dust-cloud  over  the  sun. 
Hansen  saw  them  too,  later,  when  it  was  dark.     There  was  no  doubt  of 


MARVELS  OF  THE  NORTH  361 

their  nature.  His  impression  was  that  the  aurora  borealis  spread  from  the 
sun  over  the  whole  vault  of  heaven  like  the  stripes  on  the  inner  skin  of 
an  orange. 

A  RACE  THAT  FAILED. 

"Sunday,  November  5th.  A  great  race  on  the  ice  was  advertised  for 
today.  The  course  was  measured,  marked  off,  and  decorated  with  flags. 
The  cook  had  prepared  the  prizes — cakes,  numbered  and  properly  graduated 
in  size.  The  expectation  was  great;  but  it  turned  out  that,  from  excessive 
training  during  the  few  last  days,  the  whole  crew  were  so  stiff  in  the  legs 
that  they  were  not  able  to  move.  We  got  our  prizes  all  the  same.  One  man 
was  blindfolded,  and  he  decided  who  was  to  have  each  cake  as  it  was  pointed 
at.  This  just  arrangement  met  with  general  approbation,  and  we  all  thought 
it  a  pleasanter  way  of  getting  the  prizes  than  running  half  a  mile, for  them. 

"So  it  is  Sunday  once  more.  How  the  days  drag  past!  I  work,  read, 
think,  and  dream;  strum  a  little  on  the  organ;  go  for  a  walk  on  the  ice  in 
the  fdark.  Low  on  the  horizon  in  the  southwest  there  is  the  flush  of  the 
sun — a  dark  fierce  red,  as  if  of  blood  aglow  with  all  life's  smouldering  long- 
ings— low  and  far-off,  like  the  dreamland  of  youth.  Higher  in  the  sky  it 
melts  into  orange,  and  that  into  green  and  pale  blue;  and  then  comes  deep 
blue,  star-sown,  and  then  infinite  space,  where  no  dawn  will  ever  break. 
In  the  north  are  quivering  arches  of  faint  aurora,  trembling  now  like  awak- 
ening longings,  but  presently,  as  if  at  the  touch  of  a  magic  wand,  to  storm 
as  streams  of  light  through  the  dark  blue  of  heaven — never  at  peace,  rest- 
less as  the  very  soul  of  man.  I  can  sit  and  gaze  and  gaze,  my  eyes  entranced 
by  the  dream-glow  yonder  in  the  west,  where  the  moon's  thin,  pale,  silver 
sickle  is  dipping  its  point  into  the  blood;  and  my  soul  is  borne  beyond  the 
glow,  to  the  sun,  so  far  off  now — and  to  the  home-coming!  Our  task  ac- 
complished, we  are  making  our  way  up  the  fjord  as  fast  as  sail  and  steam 
can  carry  us.  On  both  sides  of  us  the  homeland  lies  smiling  in  the  sun; 
and  then  *  *  *  the  sufferings  of  a  thousand  days  and  hours  melt  into 
a  moment's  inexpressible  joy.  Ugh!  that  was  a  bitter  gust — I  jump  up  and 
walk  on.  What  am  I  dreaming  about?  so  far  yet  from  the  goal — hundreds 
and  hundreds  of  miles  between  us,  ice  and  land  and  ice  again.  And  we  are 
drifting  round  and  round  in  a  ring,  bewildered,  attaining  nothing,  only 
waiting,  always  waiting,  for  what? 


362  MARVELS  OF  THE  NORTH 

"  'I  dreamt  I  lay  on  a  grassy  bank, 
And  the  sun  shone  warm  and  clear; 
I  wakened  on  a  desert  isle, 
And  the  sky  was  black  and  drear.' 

"One  more  look  at  the  star  of  home,  the  one  that  stood  that  evening 
over  Cape  Chelyuskin,  and  I^  creep  on  board,  where  the  windmill  is  turning 
in  the  cold  wind,  and  electric  light  is  streaming  out  from  the  skylight  upon 
the  icy  desolation  of  the  Arctic  night." 

Other  poetic  descriptive  passages  are  these: 

MATCHLESS  BEAUTY  OF  NORTHERN  LIGHTS. 

"I  went  on  deck  this  evening  in  rather  a  gloomy  frame  of  mind,  but  was 
nailed  to  the  spot  the  moment  I  got  outside.  There  is  the  supernatural  for 
you — the  northern  lights  flashing  in  matchless  power  and  beauty  over  the 
sky  in  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow !  Seldom  or  never  have  I  seen  the  colors 
so  brilliant.  The  prevailing  one  at  first  was  yellow,  but  that  gradually 
flickered  over  into  green,  and  then  a  sparkling  ruby-red  began  to  show  at 
the  bottom  of  the  rays  on  the  under  side  of  the  arch,  soon  spreading  over 
the  whole  arch.  And  now  from  the  far-away  western  horizon  a  fiery  serpent 
writhed  itself  up  over  the  sky,  shining  brighter  and  brighter  as  it  came. 
It  split  into  three,  all  brilliantly  glittering.  Then  the  colors  changed.  The 
serpent  to  the  south  turned  almost  ruby-red,  with  spots  of  yellow;  the  one 
in  the  middle,  yellow ;  and  the  one  to  the  north,  greenish-white.  Sheaves  of 
rays  swept  along  the  side  of  the  serpents  driven  through  the  ether-like  waves 
before  a  storm-wind.  They  sway  backward  and  forward,  now  strong,  now 
fainter  again.  The  serpents  reached  and  passed  the  zenith.  Though  I  was 
thinly  dressed  and  shivering  with  cold,  I  could  not  tear  myself  away  till  the 
spectacle  was  over,  and  only  a  faintly  glowing  fiery  serpent  near  the  western 
horizon  showed  where  it  had  begun.  When  I  came  on  deck  later  the  masses 
of  light  had  passed  northward  and  spread  themselves  in  complete  arches  over 
the  northern  sky.  If  one  wants  to  read  mystic  meanings  into  the  phenomena 
of  nature,  here,  surely,  is  the  opportunity. 

THE  WHOLE  SKY  ABLAZE. 

"Later  in  the  evening  Hansen  came  down  to  give  notice  of  what  really 
was  a  remarkable   appearance  of  aurora  borealis.    The   deck  was  brightly 


MARVELS  OF  THE  NORTH  363 

illuminated  by  it,  and  reflections  of  its  light  played  all  over  the  ice.  The 
whole  sky  was  ablaze  with  it,  but  it  was  brightest  in  the  south;  high  up  in 
that  direction  glowed  waving  masses  of  fire.  Later  still  Hansen  came  again 
to  say  that  now  it  was  quite  extraordinary.  No  words  can  depict  the  glory 
that  met  our  eyes.  The  glowing  fire-masses  had  divided  into  glistening, 
many-colored  bands,  which  were  writhing  and  twisting  across  the  sky  both 
in  the  south  and  north.  The  rays  sparkled  with  the  purest,  most  crystalline 
rainbow  colors,  chiefly  violet-red  or  carmine  and  the  clearest  green.  Most 
frequently  the  rays  of  the  arch  were  red  at  the  ends,  and  changed  higher 
up  into  sparkling  green,  which  quite  at  the  top  turned  darker  and  went  over 
into  blue  or  violet  before  disappearing  in  the  blue  of  the  sky ;  or  the  rays 
in  one  and  the  same  arch  might  change  from  clear  red  to  clear  green,  coming 
and  going  as  if  driven  by  a  storm.  It  was  an  endless  phantasmagoria  of 
sparkling  color,  surpassing  anything  that  one  can  dream. 

"Sometimes  the  spectacle  reached  such  a  climax  that  one's  breath  was 
taken  away;  one  felt  that  now  something  extraordinary  must  happen — at 
the  very  least  the  sky  must  fall.  But  as  one  stands  in  breathless  expectation, 
down  the  whole  thing  trips,  as  if  in  a  few  quick,  Hght  scale-runs,  into  bare 
nothingness.  There  is  somethingmost  undramatic  about  such  a  denouement, 
but  it  is  all  done  with  such  confident  assurance  that  one  cannot  take  it  amiss; 
one  feels  one's  self  in  the  presence  of  a  master  who  has  the  complete  com- 
mand of  his  instrument.  With  a  single  stroke  of  the  bow  he  descends  lightly 
and  elegantly  from  the  height  of  passion  into  quiet,  every-day  strains,  only 
with  a  few  more  strokes  to  work  himself  up  into  passion  again.  It  seems  as 
if  he  were  trying  to  mock,  to  tease  us.  When  we  are  on  the  point  of  going 
below,  driven  by  6i  degrees  of  frost  ( — 34.7  C),  such  magnificent  tones 
again  vibrate  over  the  strings  that  we  stay  until  noses  and  ears  are  frozen. 
For  a  finale,  there  is  a  wild  dispjay  of  fireworks  in  every  tint  of  flame — such 
a  conflagration  that  one  expects  every  minute  to  have  it  down  on  the  ice, 
because  there  is  not  room  for  it  in  the  sky.  But  I  can  hold  out  no  longer. 
Thinly  dressed,  without  a  proper  cap  and  without  gloves,  I  have  no  feeling 
left  in  body  or  limbs,  and  I  crawl  away  below." 

DAZZLING  WHITENESS  IN  APRIL. 

"Sunday,  April  15th.  So  we  are  in  the  middle  of  April!  What  a  ring 
of  joy  in  that  word,  a  well-spring  of  happiness!  Visions  of  spring  rise  up 
in  the  soul  at  its  very  mention — a  time  when  doors  and  windows  are  thrown 


364  MARVELS  OF  THE  NORTH 

wide  open  to  the  spring  air  and  sun,  and  the  dust  of  winter  is  blown  away; 
a  time  when  one  can  no  longer  sit  still,  but  must  perforce  go  out-of-doors  to 
inhale  the  perfume  of  wood  and  field  and  fresh-dug  earth,  and  behold  the 
fjord,  free  from  ice,  sparkling  in  the  sunlight.  What  an  inexhaustible  fund 
of  the  awakening  joys  of  nature  does  that  word  April  contain!  But  here — 
here  that  is  not  to  be  found.  True,  the  sun  shines  long  and  bright,  but  its 
beams  fall  not  on  forest  or  mountain  or  meadow,  but  only  on  the  dazzling 
whiteness  of  the  fresh-fallen  snow.  Scarcely  does  it  entice  one  out  from 
one's  winter  retreat.  This  is  not  the  time  of  revolutions  here.  If  they  come 
at  all,  they  will  come  much  later.  The  days  roll  on  uniformly  and  monot- 
onously; here  I  sit,  and  feel  no  touch  of  the  restless  longings  of  the  spring, 
and  shut  myself  up  in  the  snail-shell  of  my  studies. 

"Day  after  day  I  dive  down  into  the  world  of  the  microscope,  forgetful 
of  time  and  surroundings.  Now  and  then,  indeed,  I  may  make  a  little  excur- 
sion from  darkness  to  light — the  day  beams  around  me,  and  my  soul  opens 
a  tiny  loophole  for  light  and  courage  to  enter  in — and  then  down,  down  into 
the  darkness,  and  to  work  once  more.  Before  turning  in  for  the  night  I 
must  go  on  deck.  A  little  while  ago  the  daylight  would  by  this  time  have 
vanished,  a  few  solitary  stars  would  have  been  faintly  twinkling,  while  the 
pale  moon  shone  over  the  ice.  But  now  even  this  has  come  to  an  end.  The 
sun  no  longer  sinks  beneath  the  icy  horizon ;  it  is  continual  day.  I  gaze  into 
the  far  distance,  far  over  the  barren  plain  of  snow,  a  boundless,  silent,  and 
lifeless  mass  of  ice  in  imperceptible  motion.  No  sound  can  be  heard  save  the 
faint  murmur  of  the  air  through  the  rigging,  or  perhaps  far  away  the  low 
rumble  of  packing  ice.  In  the  midst  of  this  empty  waste  of  white  there 
is  but  one  little  dark  spot,  and  that  is  the  Fram. 

"But  beneath  this  crust,  hundreds  of  fathoms  down,  there  teems  a  world 
of  checkered  life  in  all  its  changing  forms,  a  world  of  the  same  composition 
fts  ours,  with  the  same  instincts,  the  same  sorrows,  and  also,  no  doubt,  the 
same  joys;  everywhere  the  same  struggle  for  existence.  So  it  ever  is.  If 
we  penetrate  within  even  the  hardest  shell  we  come  upon  the  pulsations  of 
life,  however  thick  the  crust  may  be. 

THE  HARMONIES  OF  NATURE, 

"I  seem  to  be  sitting  here  in  solitude  listening  to  the  music  of  one  of 
Nature's  mighty  harp-strings.  Her  grand  symphonies  peal  forth  through 
the  endless  ages  of  the  universe,  now  in  the  tumultuous  whirl  of  busy  life, 


MARVELS  OF  THE  /^ORTH  365 

now  in  the  stiffening  coldness  of  dea4;h,  as  in  Cliopin's  Funeral  March;  and 
we — we  are  the  minute,  invisible  vibrations  of  the  strings  in  this  mighty 
music  of  the  universe,  ever  changing,  yet  ever  the  same.  Its  notes  are' 
worlds ;  one  vibrates  for  a  longer,  another  for  a  shorter  period,  and  all  in 
turn  give  way  to  new  ones,     ... 

"The  world  that  shall  be!  .  .  .  Again  and  again  this  thought  comes 
back  to  my  mind.     I  gaze  far  on  through  the  ages.     .     .     . 

"Slowly  and  imperceptibly  the  heat  of  the  sun  declines,  and  the  temper- 
ature of  the  earth  sinks  by  equally  slow  degrees.  Thousands,  hundreds  of 
thousands,  millions  of  years  pass  away,  glacial  epochs  come  and  go,  but  the 
heat  still  grows  ever  less;  little  by  little  these  drifting  masses  of  ice  extend 
far  and  wide,  ever  toward  more  southern  shores,  and  no  one  notices  it;  but 
at  last  all  the  seas  of  the  earth  become  one  unbroken  mass  of  ice.  Life  has 
vanished  from  its  surface,  and  is  to  be  found  in  the  ocean  depths  alone. 

"But  the  temperature  continues  to  fall,  the  ice  grows  thicker  and  ever 
thicker;  life's  domain  vanishes.  Millions  of  years  roll  on,  and  the  ice  reaches 
the  bottom.  The  last  trace  of  life  has  disappeared ;  the  earth  is  covered  with 
snow.  All  that  we  lived  for  is  no  longer ;  the  fruit  of  all  our  toil  and  suffer- 
ings has  been  blotted  out  millions  and  millions  of  years  ago,  buried  beneath 
a  pall  of  snow.  A  stiffened,  lifeless  mass  of  ice,  this  earth  rolls  on  in  her 
path  through  eternity.  Like  a  faintly  growing  disk  the  sun  crosses  the  sky; 
the  moon  shines  no  more,  and  is  scarcely  visible.  Yet,  still,  perhaps,  the 
northern  lights  flicker  over  the  desert,  icy  plain,  and  still  the  stars  twinkle 
in  silence,  peacefully  as  of  yore.  Some  have  burnt  out,  but  new  ones  usurp 
their  place;  and  round  them  revolve  new  spheres,  teeming  with  new  life, 
new  sufferings,  without  any  aim.  Such  is  the  infinite  cycle  of  eternity;  such 
are  nature's  everlasting  rhythms. 

ENDLESS,  LONELY  WHITE  PLAINS. 

"Monday,  May  28th.  Ugh !  I  am  tired  of  these  endless,  white  plains — 
cannot  even  be  bothered  snow-shoeing  over  them,  not  to  mention  that  the 
lanes  stop  one  on  every  hand.  Day  and  night  I  pace  up  and  down  the  deck, 
along  the  ice  by  the  ship's  sides,  revolving  the  most  elaborate  scientific  prob- 
lems. For  the  past  few  days  it  is  especially  the  shifting  of  the  Pole  that  has 
fascinated  me.  I  am  beset  by  the  idea  that  the  tidal  wave,  along  with  the 
unequal  distribution  of  land  and  sea,  must  have  a  disturbing  effect  on  the 
situation  of  the  earth's  axis.     When  such  an  idea  gets  into  one's  head,  it  is 


366  MARVELS-  OF  THE  NORTH 

no  easy  matter  to  get  it  out  again.  After  pondering  over  it  for  several  days, 
I  have  finally  discovered  that  the  intiuence  of  the  moon  on  the  sea  must 
be  sufficient  to  cause  a  shifting  of  the  Pole  to  the  extent  of  one  minute  in 
800,000  years.  In  order  to  account  for  the  European  Glacial  Age,  which 
was  my  main  object,  I  must  shift  the  Pole  at  least  ten  or  twenty  degrees. 
This  leaves  an  uncomfortably  wide  interval  of  time  since  that  period,  and 
shows  that  the  human  race  must  have  attained  a  respectable  age.  Of  course, 
it  is  all  nonsense.  But  while  I  am  indefatigably  tramping  the  deck  in  a 
brown  study,  imagining  myself  no  end  of  a  great  thinker,  I  suddenly  dis- 
cover that  my  thoughts  are  at  home,  where  all  is  summer  and  loveliness,  and 
those  I  have  left  are  busy  building  castles  in  the  air  for  the  day  when  I  shall 
return.  Yes,  yes.  I  spend  rather  too  much  time  on  this  sort  of  thing;  but 
the  drift  goes  as  slowly  as  ever,  and  the  wind,  the  all-powerful  wind,  is  still 
the  same.  The  first  thing  my  eyes  look  for  when  I  set  foot  on  deck  in  the 
morning  is  the  weather-cock  on  the  mizzen-top,  to  see  how  the  wind  lies; 
thither  they  are  forever  straying  during  the  whole  day,  and  there  again  they 
rest  the  last  thing  before  I  turn  in.  But  it  ever  points  in  the  same  direction,' 
west  and  southwest,  and  we  drift  now  quicker,  now  more  slowly  westward, 
and  only  a  little  to  the  north.  I  have  no  doubt  now  about  the  success  of  the 
expedition,  and  my  miscalculation  was  not  so  great,  after  all;  but  I  scarcely 
think  we  shall  drift  higher  than  85  degrees,  even  if  we  do  that.  It  will 
depend  on  how  far  Franz  Josef  Land  extends  to  the  north.  In  that  case  it 
will  be  hard  to  give  up  reaching  the  Pole;  it  is  in  reality  a  mere  matter  of 
vanity,  merely  child's  play,  in  comparison  with  what  we  are  doing  and  hoping 
to  do;  and  yet  I  must  confess  that  I  am  foolish  enough  to  want  to  take  in 
the  Pole  while  I  am  about  it,  a:nd  shall  probably  have  a  try  at  it  if  we  get 
into  its  neighborhood  within  any  reasonable  time. 

FOGS  AND  HOAR-FROST. 

"This  is  a  mild  May;  the  temperature  has  been  about  zero  several  times 
of  late,  and  one  can  walk  up  and  down  and  almost  imagine  one's  self  at  home. 
There  is  seldom  more  than  a  few  degrees  of  cold;  but  the  summer  fogs  are 
beginning,  with  occasional  hoar-frost.  As  a  rule,  however,  the  sky,  with  its 
light,  fleeting  clouds,  is  almost  like  a  spring  sky  in  the  south. 

"We  notice,  too,  that  it  has  become  milder  on  board;  we  no  longer  need 
to  light  a  fire  in  the  stove  to  make  ourselves  warm  and  cozy;  though,  indeed, 
we  have  never  indulged  in  much  luxury  in  this  respect.     In  the  store-room 


MARVELS  OF  THE  NORTH  367 

the  rime  frost  and  ice  that  had  settled  on  the  ceiling  and  walls  are  beginning 
to  melt;  and  in  the  compartments  astern  of  the  saloon,  and  in  the  hold,  we 
have  been  obliged  to  set  about  a  grand  cleaning-up,  scraping  off  and  sweep- 
ing away  the  ice  and  rime,  to  save  our  provisions  from  taking  harm,  through 
the  damp  penetrating  the  wrappings  and  rusting  holes  in  the  tin  cases.  We 
have,  moreover,  for  a  long  time  kept  the  hatchways  in  the  hold  open,  so  that 
there  has  been  a  thorough  draught  through  it,  and  a  good  deal  of  the  rime 
has  evaporated.  It  is  remarkable  how  little  damp  we  have  on  board.  No 
doubt  this  is  due  to  the  Fram's  solid  construction,  and  to  the  deck  over  the 
hold  being  paneled  on  the  under  side.  I  am  getting  fonder  and  fonder  of 
this  ship 

MYSTERY  OF  THE  FROZEN  NORTH. 

"Sunday,  November  nth.  I  am  pursuing  my  studies  as  usual  day  after 
day;  and  they  lure  me,  too,  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  insoluble  mystery 
that  lies  behind  all  these  inquiries.  Nay!  why  keep  revolving  in  this  fruit- 
less circuit  of  thought?  Better  go  out  into  the  winter  night.  The  moon  is 
up,  great  and  yellow  and  placid;  the  stars  are  twinkling  overhead  through 
the  drifting  snow-dust.  .  .  .  Why  not  rock  yourself  into  a  winter 
night's  dream  filled  with  memories  of  summer? 

"Ugh,  no!  The  wind  is  howling  too  shrilly  over  the  barren  ice-plains; 
there  are  33  degrees  of  cold,  and  summer,  with  its  flowers,  is  far,  far  away. 
I  would  give  a  year  of  my  life  to  hold  them  in  my  embrace;  they  loom  so 
far  off  in  the  distance,  as  if  I  should  never  come  back  to  them. 

"But  the  northern  lights,  with  their  eternally  shifting  loveliness,  flame 
over  the  heavens  each  day  and  each  night.  Look  at  them ;  drink  oblivion  and 
drink  hope  from  them;  they  are  even  as  the  aspiring  soul  of  man.  Rest- 
less as  it,  they  will  wreathe  the  whole  vault  of  heaven  with  their  glittering, 
fleeting  light,  surpassing  all  else  in  their  wild  loveliness,  fairer  than  even  the 
blush  of  dawn;  but,  whirling  idly  through  empty  space,  they  bear  no  mes- 
sage of  a  coming  day.  The  sailor  steers  his  course  by  a  star.  Could  you  but 
concentrate  yourselves,  you  too,  O  northern  lights,  might  lend  your  aid  to 
guide  the  wildered  wanderer!  But  dance  on,  and  let  me  enjoy  you;  stretch  a 
bridge  across  the  gulf  between  the  present  and  the  time  to  come,  and  let  me 
dream  far,  far  ahead  into  the  future. 

"O  thou  mysterious  radiance!  what  art  thou,  and  whence  comest  thou? 
Yet  why  ask?     Is  it  not  enough  to  admire  thy  beauty  and  pause  there? 


368  MARVELS  OF  THE  NORTH 

Can  we  at  best  get  beyond  the  outward  show  of  things?  What  would  it 
profit  even  if  we  could  say  that  it  is  an  electric  discharge  or  currents  of 
electricity  through  the  upper  regions  of  the  air,  and  were  able  to  describe  in 
•minutest  detail  how  it  all  came  to  be?  It  would  be  mere  words.  We  know 
no  more  what  an  electric  current  really  is  than  what  the  aurora  borealis  is. 
Happy  is  the  child.  .  .  .  We,  with  all  our  views  and  theories,  are  not  in 
the  last  analysis  a  hair's-breadth  nearer  the  truth  than  it. 

ROAR  OF  PACKING  ICE. 

"Tuesday,  November  13th.  Thermometer  — 38  degrees  C.  ( — 36.4 
degrees  Fahr.).  The  ice  is  packing  in  several  quarters  during  the  day,  and 
the  roar  is  pretty  loud,  now  that  the  ice  has  become  colder.  It  can  be  heard 
from  afar — a  strange  roar,  which  would  sound  uncanny  to  any  one  who  did 
not  know  what  it  was. 

"A  delightful  snow-shoe  run  in  the  light  of  the  full  moon.  Is  life  a 
vale  of  tears?  Is  it  such  a  deplorable  fate  to  dash  off  like  the  wind,  with  all 
the  dogs  skipping  around  one,  over  the  boundless  expanse  of  ice,  through 
a  night  like  this,  in  the  fresh,  crackling  frost,  while  the  snow-shoes  glide 
over  the  smooth  surface,  so  that  3)-ou  scarcely  know  you  are  touching  the 
earth,  and  the  stars  hang  high  in  the  blue  vault  above?  This  is  more,  in- 
deed, than  one  has  any  right  to  expect  of  life;  it  is  a  fairy  tale  from  another 
world,  from  a  life  to  come. 

"And  then  to  return  home  to  one's  cozy  study-cabin,  kindle  the  stove, 
light  the  lamp,  fill  a  pipe,  stretch  one's  self  on  the  sofa,  and  send  dreams  out 
into  the  world  with  the  curling  clouds  of  smoke — is  that  a  dire  infliction? 
Thus  I  catch  myself  sitting  staring  at  the  fire  for  hours  together,  dreaming 
myself  away — a  useful  way  of  employing  the  time.  But  at  least  it  makes  it 
slip  unnoticed  by,  until  the  dreams  are  swept  away  in  an  ice-blast  of  reality, 
and  I  sit  here  in  the  midst  of  desolation,  and  nervously  set  to  work  again. 

"Wednesday,  November  14th.  How  marvelous  are  those  snow-shoe 
runs  through  this  silent  nature !  The  ice-fields  stretch  al>  around,  bathed  in 
the  silver  moonlight;  here  and  there  dark  cold  shadows  project  from  the 
hummocks,  whose  sides  faintly  reflect  the  twilight.  Far,  far  out  a  dark  line 
marks  the  horizon,  formed  by  the  packed-up  ice,  over  it  a  shimmer  of  silvery 
vapor,  and  above  all  the  boundless  deep-blue,  starry  sky,  where  the  full  moon 
sails  through  the  ether.  But  in  the  south  is  a  faint  glimmer  of  day  low  down 
of  a  dark,  glowing  red  hue,  and  higher  up  a  clear  yellow  and  pale-green 


MARVELS  OF  THE  NORTH 


369 


arch,  that  loses  itself  in  the  blue  above.  The  whole  melts  into  a  pure  har- 
mony, one  and  indescribable.  At  times  one  longs  to  be  able  to  translate 
such  scenes  into  music.  What  mighty  chords  one  would  require  to  interpret 
them! 


OLD  GLORY  NAILED  TO  THE  POLE. 


"Silent,  oh,  so  silent!  You  can  hear  the  vibrations  of  your  own  nerves. 
I  seem  as  if  I  were  gliding  over  and  over  these  plains  into  infinite  space. 
Is  this  not  an  image  of  what  is  to  come?  Eternity  and  peace  are  here. 
Nirvana  must  be  cold  and  bright  as  such  an  eternal  star-night.  What  are  all 
our  research  and  understanding  in  the  midst  of  this  infinity?" 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

DR.  NANSEN  AS  A  MIGHTY  NIMROD. 

Some  of  the  most  graphic  stories  of  hunting  in  the  Arctic  are  from  Dr. 
Nansen's  pen.  He  himself  was  the  best  shot  and  the  most  tireless  game- 
stalker  of  those  on  the  Fram ;  and  he  could  write  about  it  afterward  with  the 
touch  of  an  artist. 

Describing  the  pursuit  and  bagging  of  some  reindeer,  he  writes : 
"On  Sunday,  August  20th,  we  had,  for  us,  uncommonly  fine  weather — 
blue  sea,  brilliant  sunshine,  and  light  wind,  still  from  the  northeast.  In  the 
afternoon  we  ran  into  the  Kjellman  Islands.  These  we  could  recognize  from 
their  position  on  Nordenskiold's  map,  but  south  of  them  we  found  many 
Islands,  like  rocks  that  have  been  ground  smooth  by  the  glaciers  of  the  Ice 
unknown  ones.  They  all  had  smoothly  rounded  forms,  these  Kjellman 
Age.  The  Fram  anchored  on  the  north  side  of  the  largest  of  them,  and 
while  the  boiler  was  being  refitted,  some  of  us  went  ashore  in  the  evening 
for  some  shooting.  We  had  not  left  the  ship  when  the  mate,  from  the  crow's 
nest,  caught  sight  of  reindeer.  At  once  we  were  all  agog;  every  one  wanted 
to  go  ashore,  and  the  mate  was  quite  beside  himself  with  the  hunter's  fever, 
his  eyes  as  big  as  saucers,  and  his  hands  trembling  as  though  he  were  drunk. 
Not  until  we  were  in  the  boat  had  we  time  to  look  seriously  for  the  mate's 
reindeer.  We  looked  in  vain — not  a  living  thing  was  to  be  seen  in  any 
direction.  Yes — when  we  were  close  inshore  we  at  last  described  a  large 
flock  of  geese  waddling  upward  from  the  beach.  We  were  base  enough  to 
let  a  conjecture  escape  us  that  these  were  the  mate's  reindeer — a  suspicion 
which  he  at  first  rejected  with  contempt.  Gradually,  however,  his  confidence 
oozed  away.  But  it  is  possible  to  do  an  injustice  even  to  a  mate.  The  first 
thing  I  saw  when  I  sprang  ashore  was  old  reindeer  tracks.  The  mate  had 
now  the  laugh  on  his  side,  ran  from  track  to  track,  and  swore  that  it  was 
the  reindeer  he  had  seen. 

GETTING  TO  LEEWARD  OF  THE  DEER. 

"When  we  got  up  on  to  the  first  height  we  saw  several  reindeer  on  flat 
ground  to  the  south  of  us;  but,  the  wind  being  from  the  north,  we  had  to 

370 


NANSEN  AS  A  MIGHTY  NIMROD  371 

go  back  and  make  our  way  south  along  the  shore  till  we  got  to  leeward  of 
them.  The  only  one  who  did  not  approve  of  this  plan  was  the  mate,  who  was 
in  a  state  of  feverish  eagerness  to  rush  straight  at  some  reindeer  he  thought 
he  had  seen  to  the  east,  which,  of  course,  was  an  absolutely  certain  way  to 
clear  the  field  of  every  one  of  them.  He  asked  and  received  permission  to 
remain  behind  with  Hansen,  who  was  to  take  a  magnetic  observation;  but 
had  to  promise  not  to  move  till  he  got  the  order. 

"On  the  way  along  the  shore  we  passed  one  great  flock  of  geese  after 
another;  they  stretched  their  necks  and  waddled  aside  a  little  until  we  were 
quite  near,  and  only  then  took  flight;  but  we  had  no  time  to  waste  on  such 
small  game.  A  little  farther  on  we  caught  sight  of  one  or  two  reindeer  we 
had  not  noticed  before.  We  could  easily  have  stalked  them,  but  were  afraid 
of  getting  to  windward  of  the  others,  which  were  farther  south.  At  last 
we  got  to  leeward  of  these  latter  also,  but  they  were  grazing  on  flat  ground, 
and  it  was  anything  but  easy  to  stalk  them — not  a  hillock,  not  a  stone  to  hide 
behind.  The  only  thing  was  to  form  a  long  line,  advance  as  best  we  could, 
and,  if  possible,  outflank  them.  In  the  meantime  we  had  caught  sight  of 
another  herd  of  reindeer  farther  to  the  north,  but  suddenly,  to  our  astonish- 
ment, saw  them  tear  off  across  the  plain  eastward,  in  all  probability  startled 
by  the  mate,  who  had  not  been  able  to  keep  quiet  any  longer. 

THE  SEA,  QUIET  AND  BEAUTIFUL. 

"A  little  to  the  north  of  the  reindeer  nearest  us  there  was  a  hollow, 
opening  from  the  shore,  from  it  seemed  that  it  might  be  possible  to  get  a 
shot  at  them.  I  went  back  to  try  this,  while  the  others  kept  their  places  in 
the  line.  As  I  went  down  again  towards  the  shore  I  had  the  sea  before  me, 
quiet  and  beautiful.  The  sun  had  gone  down  behind  it  not  long  before,  and 
the  sky  was  glowing  in  the  clear,  light  night.  I  had  to  stand  still  for  a 
minute.  In  the  midst  of  all  this  beauty,  man  was  doing  the  work  of  a  beast 
of  prey !  At  this  moment  I  saw  to  the  north  a  dark  speck  move  down  the 
height  where  the  mate  and  Hansen  ought  to  be.  It  divided  into  two,  and 
the  one  moved  east,  just  to  the  windward  of  the  animals  I  was  to  stalk. 
They  would  get  the  scent  immediately  and  be  off.  There  was  nothing  for 
it  but  to  hurry  on,  while  I  rained  anything  but  good  wishes  on  these  fellows' 
heads.  The  gully  was  not  so  deep  as  I  had  expected.  Its  sides  were  just 
high  enough  to  hide  me  when  I  crept  on  all  fours.  In  the  middle  were 
large  stones  and  clayey  gravel,  with  a  little  runnel  soaking  through  them. 


372  NANSEN  AS  A  MIGHTY  NIMROD 

The  reindeer  were  still  grazing  quietly,  only  now  and  then  raising  their 
heads  to  look  around.  My  "cover"  got  lower  and  lower,  and  to  the  north 
I  heard  the  mate.  He  would  presently  succeed  in  setting  off  my  game. 
It  was  imperative  to  get  on  quickly,  but  there  was  no  longer  cover  enough 
for  me  to  advance  on  hands  and  knees.  My  only  chance  was  to  wriggle 
forward  like  a  snake  on  my  stomach.  But  in  this  soft  clay — in  the  bed  of 
the  stream?  Yes — meat  is  too  precious  on  board,  and  the  beast  of  prey 
is  too  strong  in  a  man.  My  clothes  must  be  sacrificed;  on  I  crept  on  my 
stomach  through  the  mud.  But  soon  there  was  hardly  cover  enough  even  for 
this.  I  squeezed  myself  flat  among  the  stones  and  ploughed  forward  like  a 
drain-cutting  machine.  And  I  did"  make  way,  if  not  quickly  and  comfortably, 
still  surel)'-. 

"All  this  time  the  sky  was  turning  darker  and  darker  red  behind  me,  and 
it  was  getting  more  and  more  difficult  to  use  the  sights  of  my  gun,  not  to 
mention  the  trouble  I  had  in  keeping  the  clay  from  them  and  from  the  muzzle. 
The  reindeer  still  grazed  quietly  on.  When  they  raised  their  heads  to  look 
round  I  had  to  lie  as  quiet  as  a  mouse,  feeling  the  water  trickling  gently 
under  my  stomach;  when  they  began  to  nibble  the  moss  again,  off  I  went 
through  the  mud.  Presently  I  made  the  disagreeable  discovery  that  they 
were  moving  away  from  me  about  as  fast  as  I  could  move  forward,  and  I 
had  to  redouble  my  exertions.  But  the  darkness  was  getting  worse  and  worse, 
and  I  had  the  mate  to  the  north  of  me,  and  presently  he  would  start  them  off. 
The  outlook  was  anything  but  bright  either  morally  or  physically.  The 
hollow  was  getting  shallower  and  shallower,  so  that  I  was  hardly  covered  at 
all.  I  squeezed  myself  still  deeper  into  the  mud.  A  turn  in  the  ground 
helped  me  forward  to  the  next  little  height ;  and  now  they  were  right  in 
front  of  me,  within  what  I  should  have  called  easy  range  if  it  had  been  day- 
light.   I  tried  to  take  aim,  but  could  not  see  the  bead  on  my  gun. 

THE  PREY  MOVE  ON  AHEAD. 

"Man's  fate  is  sometimes  hard  to  bear.  My  clothes  were  dripping  with 
wet  clay,  and  after  what  seemed  to  me  most  meritorious  exertions,  here  I 
was  at  the  goal,  unable  to  take  advantage  of  my  position.  But  now  the 
reindeer  moved  down  into  a  small  depression.  I  crept  forward  a  little  way 
farther  as  quickly  as  I  could.  I  was  in  a  splendid  position,  so  far  as  I  could 
tell  in  the  dark,  but  I  could  not  see  the  bead  any  better  than  before.  It  was 
impossible  to  get  nearer,   for  there  was  only  a  smooth  slope  between  us. 


NANSEN  AS  A  MIGHTY  NIMROD  373 

There  was  no  sense  in  thinking  of  waiting  for  Hght  to  shoot  by.  It  was  not 
midnight,  and  I  had  that  terrible  mate  to  the  north  of  me;  besides,  the  wind 
was  not  to  be  trusted,  I  held  the  rifle  up  against  the  sky  to  see  the  bead 
clearly,  and  then  lowered  it  on  the  reindeer,  I  did  this  once,  twice,  thrice. 
The  bead  was  still  far  from  clear,  but,  all  the  same,  I  thought  I  might  hit, 
and  pulled  the  trigger.  The  two  deer  gave  a  sudden  start,  looked  round  in 
astonishment,  and  bolted  off  a  little  way  south.  There  they  stood  still  again, 
and  at  this  moment  were  joined  by  a  third  deer,  which  had  been  standing 
rather  farther  north.  I  fired  off  all  the  cartridges  in  the  magazine,  and  all  to 
the  same  good  purpose.  The  creatures  started  and  moved  off  a  little  at  each 
shot  and  then  trotted  farther  south.  Presently  they  made  another  halt,  to 
take  a  long  careful  look  at  me ;  and  I  dashed  off  westward  as  hard  as  I  could 
run,  to  turn  them.  Now  they  were  off  straight  in  the  direction  where  some 
of  my  comrades  ought  to  be.  I  expected  every  moment  to  hear  shots  and  see 
one  or  two  of  the  animals  fall;  but  away  they  ambled  southward,  quite  un- 
checked. At  last,  far  to  the  south,  crack  went  a  rifle.  I  could  see  by  the 
smoke  that  it  was  at  too  low  a  range;  so  in  high  dudgeon  I  shouldered  my 
rifle  and  lounged  in  the  direction  of  the  shot.  It  was  pleasant  to  see  such  a 
good  result  for  all  one's  trouble, 

"No  one  was  to  be  seen  anywhere.  At  length  I  met  Sverdrup;  it  was 
he  who  had  fired.  Soon  Blessing  joined  us,  but  all  the  others  had  long  since 
left  their  posts.  While  Blessing  went  back  to  the  boat  and  his  botanizing 
box,  Sverdrup  and  I  went  on  to  try  our  luck  once  more.  A  little  farther 
south  we  came  to  a  valley  stretching  right  across  the  island.  On  the  farther 
side  of  it  we  saw  a  man  standing  on  a  hillock,  and  not  far  from  him  a  herd 
of  five  or  six  reindeer.  As  it  never  occurred  to  us  to  doubt  that  the  man 
was  in  the  act  of  stalking  these,  we  avoided  going  in  that  direction,  and  soon 
he  and  his  reindeer  disappeared  to  the  west.  I  heard  afterwards  that  he 
had  never  seen  the  deer.  As  it  was  evident  that  when  the  reindeer  to  the 
south  of  us  were  startled  they  would  have  to  come  back  across  this  valley, 
and  as  the  island  at  this  part  was  so  narrow  that  we  commanded  the  whole 
of  it,  we  determined  to  take  up  our  posts  here  and  wait.  We  accordingly 
got  in  the  lee  of  some  great  boulders,  out  of  the  wind.  In  front  of  Sverdrup 
was  a  large  flock  of  geese,  near  the  mouth  of  the  stream,  close  down  by  the 
shore.  They  kept  up  an  incessant  gabble,  and  the  temptation  to  have  a  shot 
at  them  was  very  great;  but,  considering  the  reindeer,  we  thought  it  best 
to  leave  them  in  peace.  They  gabbled  and  waddled  away  down  through  the 
mud  and  soon  took  wing. 


374  HANSEN  AS  A  MIGHTY  NIMROD 

WAITING  FOR  THE  QUARRY. 
"The  time  seemed  long.  At  first  we  listened  with  all  our  ears — the  rein- 
deer must  come  very  soon — and  our  eyes  wandered  incessantly  backward  and 
forward  along  the  slope  on  the  other  side  of  the  valley.  But  no  reindeer 
came,  and  soon  we  were  having  a  struggle  to  keep  our  eyes  open  and  our 
heads  up — we  had  not  had  much  sleep  the  last  few  days.  They  must  be  com- 
ing! We  shook  ourselves  awake,  and  gave  another  look  along  the  bank,  till 
again  the  eyes  softly  closed  and  the  heads  began  to  nod,  while  the  chill  wind 
blew  through  our  wet  clothes,  and  I  shivered  with  cold.  This  sort  of  thing 
went  on  for  an  hour  or  two,  until  the  sport  began  to  pall  on  me,  and  I 
scrambled  from  my  shelter  along  towards  Sverdrup,  who  was  enjoying  it 
about  as  much  as  I  was.  We  climbed  the  slope  on  the  other  side  of  the  valley, 
and  were  hardly  at  the  top  before  we  saw  the  horns  of  six  splendid  reindeer 
on  a  height  in  front  of  us.  They  were  restless,  scenting  westward,  trotting 
round  in  a  circle,  and  then  sniffing  again.  They  could  not  have  noticed  us 
as  yet,  as  the  wind  was  blowing  at  right  angles  to  the  line  between  them  and 
us.  We  stood  a  long  time  watching  their  maneuvers,  and  waiting  their 
choice  of  a  direction,  but  they  had  apparently  great  difficulty  in  making  it. 
At  last  off  they  swung  south  and  east,  and  off  we  went  southeast  as  hard  as 
we  could  go,  to  get  across  their  course  before  they  got  scent  of  us.  Sverdrup 
had  got  well  ahead,  and  I  saw  him  rushing  across  a  flat  piece  of  ground ; 
presently  he  would  be  at  the  right  place  to  meet  them.  I  stopped,  to  be  in 
readiness  to  cut  them  off  on  the  other  side  if  they  should  face  about  and  make 
off  northward  again.  There  were  six  splendid  animals,  a  big  buck  in  front. 
They  were  heading  straight  for  Sverdrup,  who  was  now  crouching  down  on 
the  slope.  I  expected  every  moment  to  see  the  foremost  fall.  A  shot  rang 
out !  Round  wheeled  the  whole  flock  like  lightning,  and  back  they  came  at 
a  gallop.  It  was  my  turn  now  to  run  with  all  my  might,  and  off  I  went  over 
the  stones,  down  towards  the  valley  we  had  come  from.  I  only  stopped  once 
or  twice  to  take  breath,  and  to  make  sure  the  animals  were  coming  in  the 
direction  I  had  reckoned  on — then  off  again.  We  were  getting  near  each 
other  now ;  they  were  coming  on  just  Avhere  I  had  calculated ;  the  thing  now 
was  to  be  in  time  fcr  them,  I  made  my  long  legs  go  their  fastest  over  the 
boulders,  and  took  leaps  from  stone  to  stone  that  would  have  surprised  my- 
self at  a  more  sober  moment.  More  than  once  my  foot  slipped,  and  I  went 
down  head  first  among  the  boulders,  gun  and  all.  But  the  wild  beast  in  me 
had  the  upper  hand  now.  The  passion  of  the  chase  vibrated  through  every 
fibre  of  my  body. 


NANSEN  AS  A  MIGHTY  NIMROD  375 

BULLETS  WHISTLE  THROUGH  AIR. 
"We  reached  the  slant  of  the  valley  almost  at  the  same  time — a  leap  or 
two  to  get  up  on  some  big  boulders,  and  the  moment  had  come — I  must 
shoot,  though  the  shot  was  a  long  one.  When  the  smoke  cleared  away  I 
saw  the  big  buck  trailing  a  broken  hind  leg.  When  their  leader  stopped,  the 
whole  flock  turned  and  ran  in  a  ring  round  the  poor  animal.  They  could  not 
understand  what  was  happening,  and  strayed  about  wildly  with  the  balls 
whistling  round  them.  Then  off  they  went  down  the  side  of  the  valley 
again,  leaving  another  of  their  number  behind  with  a  broken  leg,  I  tore 
after  them,  across  the  valley  and  up  on  the  other  side,  in  the  hope  of  getting 
another  shot,  but  gave  that  up  and  turned  back  to  make  sure  of  the  two 
wounded  ones.  At  the  bottom  of  the  valley  stood  one  of  the  victims  await- 
ing its  fate.  It  looked  imploringly  at  me,  and  then,  just  as  I  was  going  for- 
ward to  shoot  it,  made  off  much  quicker  than  I  could  have  thought  possible 
for  an  animal  on  three  legs  to  go.  Sure  of  my  shot,  of  course  I  missed ;  and 
now  began  a  chase,  which  ended  in  the  poor  beast,  blocked  in  every  other 
direction,  rushing  down  towards  the  sea  and  wading  into  a  small  lagoon  on 
the  shore,  whence  I  feared  it  might  get  right  out  into  the  sea.  At  last  it  got 
its  quietus  there  in  the  water.  The  other  one  was  not  far  off,  and  a  ball 
soon  put  an  end  to  its  sufferings  also.  As  I  was  proceeding  to  rip  it  up,  Hen- 
riksen  and  Johansen  appeared;  they  had  just  shot  a  bear  a  little  farther 
south." 

Hunting  the  mighty  walrus  is  described  by  Dr.  Nansen  thus : 
"Thursday,  September  12th.  Henriksen  awoke  me  this -morning  at  6 
with  the  information  that  there  were  several  walruses  lying  on  a  floe  quite 
close  to  us.  'By  Jove !'  Up  I  jumped  and  had  my  clothes  on  in  a  trice.  It 
was  a  lovely  morning — fine,  still  weather;  the  walruses'  guffaw  sounded  over 
to  us  along  the  clear  ice  surface.  They  were  lying  crowded  together  on  a 
floe  a  little  to  landward  from  us,  blue  mountains  glittering  behind  them  in 
the  sun.  At  last  the  harpoons  were  sharpened,  guns  and  cartridges  ready, 
and  Henriksen,  Juell,  and  I  set  off.  There  seemed  to  be  a  slight  breeze  from 
the  south,  so  we  rowed  to  the  north  side  of  the  floe,  to  get  to  leeward  of  the 
animals.  From  time  to  time  their  sentry  raised  his  head,  but  apparently  did 
not  see  us.  We  advanced  slowly,  and  soon  we  were  so  near  that  we  had 
to  row  very  cautiously.  Juell  kept  us  going,  while  Henriksen  was  ready  in 
the  bow  with  a  harpoon,  and  I  behind  him  with  a  gun.  The  moment  the 
sentry  raised  his  head  the  oars  stopped,  and  we  stood  motionless;  when  he 
sunk  it  again,  a  few  more  strokes  brought  us  nearer. 


376  NAN  SEN  AS  A  MIGHTY  NIMROD 

ENORMOUS  MASSES  OF  FLESH. 

"Body  to  body  they  lay  close — packed  on  a  small  floe,  old  and  young  ones 
mixed.  Enormous  masses  of  flesh  they  were!  Now  and  again  one  of  the 
ladies  fanned  herself  by  moving  one  of  her  flappers  backward  and  forward 
over  her  body ;  then  she  lay  quiet  again  on  her  back  or  side.  'Good  gracious ! 
what  a  lot  of  meat !'  said  Juell,  who  was  cook.  More  and  more  cautiously  we 
drew  near.  While  I  sat  ready  with  the  gun,  Henriksen  took  a  good  grip 
of  the  harpoon  shaft,  and  as  the  boat  touched  the  floe  he  rose,  and  off  flew 
the  harpoon.  But  it  struck  too  high,  glanced  off  the  tough  hide,  and  skipped 
over  the  backs  of  the  animals.  Now  there  was  a  pretty  to  do!  Ten  or 
twelve  great  weird  faces  glared  upon  us  at  once ;  the  colossal  creatures  twisted 
themselves  round  with  incredible  celerity,  and  came  waddling  with  lifted 
heads  and  hollow  bellowings  to  the  edge  of  the  ice  where  we  lay.  It  was 
undeniably  an  imposing  sight;  but  I  laid  my  gun  to  my  shoulder  and  fired 
at  one  of  the  biggest  heads.  The  animal  staggered,  and  then  fell  head  fore- 
most into  the  water.  Now  a  ball  into  another  head;  this  creature  fell  too, 
but  was  able  to  fling  itself  into  the  sea.  And  now  the  whole  herd  dashed  in, 
and  we  as  well  as  they  were  hidden  in  spray.  It  had  all  happened  in  a  few 
seconds.  But  up  they  came  again  immediately  round  the  boat,  the  one  head 
bigger  and  uglier  than  the  other,  their  young  ones  close  beside  them.  They 
stood  up  in  the  water,  bellowed  and  roared  till  the  air  trembled,  threw  them- 
selves forward  towards  us,  then  rose  up  again,  and  new  bellowings  filled 
the  air.  Then  they  rolled  over  and  disappeared  with  a  splash,  then  bobbed 
up  again.  The  water  foamed  and  boiled  for  yards  around — the  ice- world 
that  had  been  so  still  before  seemed  in  a  moment  to  have  been  transformed 
into  a  raging  bedlam.  Any  moment  we  might  expect  to  have  a  walrus  tusk 
of  two  through  the  boat,  or  to  be  heaved  up  and  capsized.  Something  of  this 
kind  was  the  very  least  that  could  happen  after  such  a  terrible  commotion. 
But  the  hurly-burly  went  on  and  nothing  came  of  it.  I  again  picked  out  my 
victims.  They  went  on  bellowing  and  grunting  like  the  others,  but  with 
blood  streaming  from  their  mouths  and  noses.  Another  ball,  and  one  tumbled 
over  and  floated  on  the  water;  now  a  ball  to  the  second,  and  it  did  the  same, 
Henriksen  was  ready  with  the  harpoons,  and  secured  them  both.  One  more 
was  shot ;  but  we  had  no  more  harpoons,  and  had  to  strike  a  seal-hook  into 
it  to  hold  it  up.  The  hook  slipped,  however,  and  the  animal  sank  before  we 
could  save  it.  While  we  were  towing  our  booty  to  an  ice-floe  we  were  still, 
for  part  of  the  time  at  least,  surrounded  by  walruses ;  but  there  was  no  use 


NANSEN  AS  A  MIGHTY  NIMROD  377 

in  shooting  any  more,  for  we  had  no  means  of  carrying  them  off.  The  Fram 
presently  came  up  and  took  our  two  on  board,  and  we  were  soon  going  ahead 
along  the  coast.  We  saw  many  walruses  in  this  part.  We  shot  two  others 
in  the  afternoon,  and  could  have  got  many  more  if  we  had  had  time  to  spare. 
It  was  in  this  same  neighborhood  that  Nordenskiold  also  saw  one  or  two 
small  herds." 

HUNTING  THE  POLAR  BEAR. 

Bear  were  plentiful  in  most  of  the  region  through  which  the  Fram  passed. 
One  experience  with  the  great  white  species  of  Bruin  is  thus  described  in 
"Farthest  North." 

"As  Sverdrup,  Juell,  and  I  were  sitting  in  the  chart-room  in  the  after- 
noon, splicing  rope  for  the  sounding-line,  Peter  rushed  in  shouting,  'A  bear ! 
a  bear !'  I  snatched  up  my  rifle  and  tore  out.  'Where  is  it  ?'  'There,  near 
the  tent,  on  the  starboard  side;  it  came  right  up  to  it  and  had  almost  got 
hold  of  them!' 

"And  there  it  was,  big  and  yellow,  snuffing  away  at  the  tent  gear.  Han- 
sen, Blessing,  and  Johansen  were  running  at  the  top  of  their  speed  towards 
the  ship.  Onto  the  ice  I  jumped,  and  off  I  went,  broke  through,  stumbled, 
fell  and  up  again.  ,The  bear  in  the  meantime  had  done  sniffing,  and  had 
probably  determined  that  an  iron  spade,  an  ice-staff,  an  axe,  some  tent-pegs, 
and  a  canvas  tent  were  too  indigestible  food  even  for  a  bear's  stomach.  Any- 
how, it  was  following  with  mighty  strides  in  the  track  of  the  fugitives.  It 
caught  sight  of  me  and  stopped,  astonished,  as  if  it  were  thinking,  'What 
sort  of  insect  can  that  be?'  I  went  on  to  within  easy  range;  it  stood  still, 
looking  hard  at  me.  At  last  it  turned  its  head  a  little,  and  I  gave  it  a  ball 
in  the  neck.  Without  moving  a  limb,  it  sank  slowly  to  the  ice.  I  now  let 
loose  some  of  the  dogs  to  accustom  them  to  this  sort  of  sport,  but  they  showed 
a  lamentable  want  of  interest  in  it ;  and  'Kvik,'  on  whom  all  our  hope  in  the 
matter  of  bear-hunting  rested,  bristled  up  and  approached  the  dead  animal 
very  slowly  and  carefully,  with  her  tail  between  her  legs — a  sorry  spectacle. 

"I  must  now  give  the  story  of  the  others  who  made  the  bear's  acquaint- 
ance first.  Hansen  had  today  begun  to  set  up  his  observatory  tent  a  little 
ahead  of  the  ship,  on  the  starboard  bow.  In  the  afternoon  he  got  Blessing 
and  Johansen  to  help  him.  While  they  were  hard  at  work  they  caught  sight 
of  the  bear  not  far  from  them,  just  off  the  bow  of  the  Fram. 

"  'Hush !  keep  quiet,  in  case  we  frighten  him,'  says  Hansen. 

"  'Yes,  yes !'    And  they  crouch  together  and  look  at  him. 


378  NANSEN  AS  A  MIGHTY  NIMROD 

"  *I  think  I'd  better  try  to  slip  on  board  and  announce  him/  says  Blessing. 

"  *I  think  you  should,'  says  Hansen. 

"And  off  steals  Blessing  on  tiptoe,  so  as  not  to  frighten  the  bear.  By  this 
time  Bruin  has  seen  and  scented  them,  and  comes  jogging  along,  following 
his  nose,  towards  them. 

BEAR  CHASES  A  HUNTER. 

"Hansen  now  began  to  get  over  his  fear  of  startling  him.  The  bear 
caught  sight  of  Blessing  slinking  off  to  the  ship  and  set  after  him.  Blessing 
also  was  now  much  less  concerned  than  he  had  been  as  to  the  bear's  nerves. 
He  stopped,  uncertain  what  to  do;  but  a  moment's  reflection  brought  him 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  pleasanter  to  be  three  than  one  just  then,  and 
he  went  back  to  the  others  faster  than  he  had  gone  from  them.  The  bear 
followed  at  a  good  rate.  Hansen  did  not  like  the  look  of  things,  and  thought 
the  time  had  come  to  try  a  dodge  he  had  seen  recommended  in  a  book.  He 
raised  himself  to  his  full  height,  flung  his  arms  about,  and  yelled  with  all  the 
power  of  his  lungs,  ably  assisted  by  the  others.  But  the  bear  came  on  quite 
undisturbed.  The  situation  was  becoming  critical.  Each  snatched  up  his 
weapon — Hansen  an  ice-staff,  Johansen  an  axe,  and  Blessing  nothing.  They 
screamed  with  all  their  strength,  'Bear!  bear!'  and  set  off  for  the  ship  as 
hard  as  they  could  tear.  But  the  bear  held  on  his  steady  course  to  the  tent, 
and  examined  everything  there  before  (as  we  have  seen)  he  went  after 
them. 

"It  was  a  lean  he-bear.  The  only  thing  that  was  found  in  its  stomach 
when  it  was  opened  was  a  piece  of  paper,  with  the  names  'Lutkin  and  Mohn,' 
This  was  the  wrapping  paper  of  a  'ski'  light,  and  had  been  left  by  one  of  us 
somewhere  on  the  ice.  After  this  day  some  of  the  members  of  the  expedi- 
tion would  hardly  leave  the  ship  without  being  armed  to  the  teeth." 


CHAPTER  XL. 

DR.  HAYES*   TERRIBLE  BOAT   TRIP. 

After  contemplating  the  comparative  comfort  and  pleasure  experienced 
by  Nansen  and  his  men,  the  reader  is  again  directed  to  the  grim  horrors  of 
Arctic  travel,  which  after  all  are  the  characteristics  features,  modern  methods 
notwithstanding.  For  peril  and  the  exhibition  of  fortitude,  no  history  sur- 
passes that  of  Dr.  Kane,  whose  expedition  was  partly  described  in  an  earlier 
chapter  One  of  the  most  striking  features  of  that  expedition  was  a  boat 
trip  undertaken  by  a  party  under  Dr.  Isaac  Hayes,  surgeon  of  the  Advance, 
Kane's  ship.  The  boat  journey  was  for  the  purpose  of  getting  aid  for  the 
men  on  board  the  Advance,  which  was  fast  in  the  ice  in  the  region  of  lati- 
tude 78. 

The  boat  journey  began  in  August,  1854,  on  a  small  craft  called  the 
Hope,  on  which  a  sail  had  been  rigged.  The  little  vessel  made  good  progress 
after  rounding  Cape  Hatherton,  near  Lyttleton  Island,  and  the  crew  were 
in  fine  spirits,  "when,"  says  Dr.  Hayes,  "the  look-out  cried,  *ice  ahead!' 
There  it  was,  sure  enough,  about  a  mile  before  us — a  long,  white  line,  against 
which  the  surf  was  breaking. 

"We  ran  down  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  it,  hoping  all  the  time  that 
we  should  find  a  lead;  but  no  opening  could  anywhere  be  seen.  The  pack 
was  jammed  tight  together,  and  against  the  southern  shore  of  the  bay;  and 
stretching  off  to  the  southwest,  it  seemed  to  block  up  the  channel  between 
Lyttleton  Island  and  the  main  land. 

"The  course  of  the  boat  was  changed  to  the  west,  and,  although  the  wind 
was  increasing,  we  determined  to  run  outside  the  island  and  endeavor  to 
reach  the  cove  from  the  south ;  but  here,  again,  we  were  headed  off ;  a  tongue 
of  the  pack  stretched  up  to  the  north  as  far  as  we  could  see.  To  haul  close 
on  the  wind  and  run  up  the  edge  of  the  ice  was  out  of  the  question.  With  a 
less  heavily  laden  boat  this  could  easily  have  been  accomplished ;  but  already 
we  were  shipping  much  water,  with  the  wind  on  the  quarter.  Two  points 
more  around  must  swamp  us.  A  sea  breaking  over  the  gunwale  convinced 
us  of  the  danger  of  the  attempt,  and  again  the  boat  was  headed  south. 

379 


380  DR.  HAYES'  TERRIBLE  BOAT  TRIP 

"It  became  now  evident  that  we  were  in  great  jeopardy.  We  had  run 
down  into  a  bight,  with  a  lee-shore  to  the  east,  and  ice  to  the  south  and  west. 
We  were  in  the  bend  of  a  great  horseshoe. 

"There  was  no  time  to  get  out  the  oars  and  pull  up  to  windward;  the 
boat  could  not  have  lived  long  enough  to  get  her  head  around  to  the  waves. 
The  cargo  was  piled  upon  the  thwarts,  and  a  quarter  of  an  hour  would 
scarcely  have  sufficed  to  clear  them.  Something  must  be  done  and  that 
quickly.  The  wind  increased  in  violence,  the  waves  rolled  higher  and  higher. 
We  could  only  run  down  upon  the  ice  and  trust  to  luck.  Choosing  a  point 
to  the  southwest,  where  the  pack  looked  weakest,  we  brailed  up  the  mainsail, 
took  a  hasty  reef  in  the  foresail,  hauled  in  the  jib,  and  ran  for  it.  John  took 
the  steering  oar,  Petersen  conned  the  boat  from  the  forecastle,  Stephenson 
held  the  sheet,  Bonsall  stood  by  the  brail  of  the  foresail,  and  the  rest  of 
us  took  whatever  of  boat-hooks  and  poles  we  could  lay  hands  on,  to  'fend  off.' 

The  boat  bounded  away. 

"'See  any  opening,  Petersen?'  'No,  sir!'  An  anxious  five  minutes  fol- 
lowed. 'I  see  what  looks  like  a  lead;  we  must  try  for  it.'  'Give  the  word, 
Petersen.'  On  flew  the  boat.  'Let  her  fall  off  a  little— off! — Ease  off  the 
sheet — so — steady! — A  little  more  off — so! — Steady  there — steady,  as  she 
goes!'  Our  skilful  pilot  was  running  us  through  a  narrow  lead  which  termi- 
nated in  a  little  bight,  where  the  water  was,  fortunately  smooth.  We  were 
beginning  to  hope  that  it  would  carry  us  through  the  pack,  when  he  cried 
out,  'It's  a  blind  lead!'  'Tight  everywhere?'  'I  see  no  opening!'  'There's  a 
crack  to  windward.'  'Can't  make  it — Let  go  the  sheet — brail  up — fend 
off!'  Thump,  crash,  push.  The  stem  struck  fair,  and  the  force  of  the  blov/ 
was  broken  by  the  poles.  In  an  instant  all  hands  sprang  out  upon  the  floe. 
The  boat  did  not  appear  to  have  been  seriously  damaged." 

The  boat  w-as  hauled  upon  the  floe  and  the  party  prepared  for  a  terrible 
night.  They  determined,  in  the  face  of  storm  and  cold,  to  go  to  Lyttleton 
Island,  and  they  did  reach  it,  only  to  suffer  more  tortures.  The  temperature 
was  22  below, 

"The  water,"  says  Dr.  Hayes,  "was  freezing  upon  our  clothes.  We  must 
either  land  on  the  island,  or  run  before  the  wind  down  under  Cape  Ohlsen, 
live  miles  south.  I'his  last  would  carry  us  too  far  from  our  comrades  of  the 
Hope,  and  we  determined  to  land  on  the  island  if  possible.  Our  metallic  boat 
would  stand  a  good  deal  of  thumping.  There  were  no  breakers;  but  the 
swell,  which  came  in  from  the  west,  made  the  sea  anything  but  smooth.  With 
a  wooden  boat  it  would  have  been  dangerous  to  approach  the  rocks. 


DR.  HAYES'  TERRIBLE  BOAT  TRIP  381 

"The  shore  was  steep,  almost  perpendicular;  and  it  was  some  time  before 
we  found  a  place  which  offered  the  least  chance  for  executing  our  intention. 
At  length  we  discovered  a  little  cove,  or  rather  a  cleft  in  the  rock,  about 
twenty  feet  in  width  and  twice  as  deep.  The  rocks  to  the  right  and  behind 
were  vertical;  but  the  cleft  ran  off  to  the  left,  and  there  the  rock  sloped 
gradually  upward.  If  we  could  strike  this  inclined  plane,  by  a  fortunate  turn 
of  the  boat  after  entering,  we  should  be  landed  in  safety.  The  boat  was 
headed  square  for  the  opening,  the  men  gave  way  on  their  oars,  and  we  rode 
in  on  the  top  of  a  swell  which,  as  it  retreated,  left  us  high  and  dry.  Next 
moment  all  hands  sprang  out,  and,  seizing  the  boat  by  the  gunwale,  hauled 
her  out  of  danger. 

"As  we  came  across  t^e  ice,  John  had  discovered  a  wounded  duck  sitting 
behind  a  hummock,  and  secured  her  with  an  oar.  A  fire  was  kindled  in  a 
crevice  in  the  rock;  the  saucepan  was  half  filled  with  sea-water,  and  the  four 
quarters  of  the  unfortunate  eider  were  .soon  boiling  in  it.  The  head  was 
knocked  out  of  the  bread-barrel,  and  eight  biscuits  were  added  to  the  con- 
tents of  the  pot. 

"We  were  too  cold  and  too  nearly  famished  to  wait  with  much  patience, 
and  the  stew  was  speedily  pronounced  done.  Plates  and  spoons  we  had  none, 
so  each  one  handled  his  share  of  the  duck,  and  then  we  took  turns  with  the 
lid  for  the  soup, 

"This  hot  meal  warmed  us  up  a  little,  but  with  it  vanished  our  stock  of 
comforts.  With  a  cup  of  coffee,  or  even  tea,  we  should  have  made  out 
very  well. 

"There  was  a  gloomy  prospect  for  the  night.  Nowhere  could  we  find 
protection  against  the  wind,  which  not  only  swept  in  from  the  sea,  but  came 
furiously  down  upon  us  through  the  rocky  gorges.  We  had  not  as  much  as 
a  blanket  to  cover  us,  and  the  cold  gusts  blew  most  cruelly  through  our  water- 
soaked  cloth  coats  and  canvas  pantaloons.  We  clambered  about  in  the  dark- 
ness along  the  rocky  ledge,  under  a  great  black  wall,  hunting  in  vain  for  a 
lea ;  but  no  sooner  had  we  found  a  place  which  seemed  to  offer  us  protection, 
than  the  wind  shifted.  Indeed,  it  seemed  to  blow,  in  one  and  the  same  min- 
ute, from  every  quarter  of  the  heavens,  north,  south,  east,  and  west;  and 
when  it  could  not  get  at  us  from  either  of  these  directions,  it  rolled  down  over 
the  cliffs  and  fell  upon  us  like  an  avalanche.  We  returned  to  the  place  where 
we  had  landed,  and  erected  an  extempore  tent.  One  end  of  an  oar  was 
thrust  jnto  a  crack  in  the  rock,  the  other  end  was  supported  upon  the  barrel. 


382  DR.  HAYES'  TERRIBLE  BOAT  TRIP 

Over  this  was  spread  the  sail.  After  securing  the  corners  with  heavy  stones 
we  crawled  in,  but  we  thus  obtained  only  a  sorry  protection.  The  wind 
came  in  on  every  side." 

Some  of  the  men  found  sleep,  but  Dr.  Hayes  could  not  do  so.  He  started 
to  explore  the  island  for  a  more  protected  spot,  only  to  lose  sight  of  the  boat, 
as  did  a  comrade  who  followed  him.  Then  two  others  joined  them.  Says 
Dr.  Hayes: 

"I  communicated  to  them  my  fears  respecting  the  party.  I  sent  Godfrey 
to  watch  seaward.  Bonsall  went  to  the  north  cape,  and  I  remained  in  my 
old  position.  The  night  wore  on ;  daylight  came  slowly  back ;  the  wind  died 
away  to  a  fresh  breeze;  the  sea  was  going  down;  the  spray  leapt  less  wildly; 
yet  nothing  could  we  see  of  the  boat. 

"At  length  a  change  of  tide  brought  a  change  of  scene;  the  ice  was  set 
in  motion;  the  pack,  which  had  so  closely  hugged  the  land,  was  loosened; 
and  it  stretched  its  long  arms  out  over  the  water  to  the  westward.  Broad 
leads  ran  through  the  body  of  it.  Bonsall's  quick  eye  first  detected  something 
dark  moving  upon  the  water.  *I  see  the  boat,'  he  shouted  to  me, — 'Where 
away?' — 'Coming  down  through  the  in-shore  lead.'  There  she  was,  with  all 
sail  set,  bearing  directly  for  the  island.  By  eight  o'clock  her  party  brought 
up  on  the  south  side  of  our  encampment,  I  counted  them  as  they  floated  by ; 
one,  two,  three,  four,  five — John  was  there. 

"The  swell  was  still  too  high  to  permit  them  to  touch  the  rocks  with 
their  frail  boat;  we  therefore  launched  the  metallic  boat,  and  following  them 
under  oars,  pulled  around  behind  Cape  Ohlsen.  Here  was  found  a  snug  little 
harbor  with  a  shingly  beach.  The  cargo  was  unshipped,  and  the  boats  were 
hauled  up  at  half-past  eleven  o'clock.  The  sun's  slanting  rays  shone  directly 
in  upon  us  from  the  south;  the  mercury  went  up  to  28°.  Not  a  breath  of  air 
rippled  the  water.  No  surf  beat  upon  the  shore.  What  a  contrast  to  the 
tumultuous  scenes  of  yesterday!  From  a  little  stream  of  melted  snow  which 
trickled  down  the  mountain  side,  we  filled  our  kettles;  the  lamp  was  fired; 
and  in  an  hour  and  a  half  the  cook  had  ready  for  us  a  good  pot  of  coffee, 
and  a  stew  of  the  young  eiders  which  were  left  from  the  day  before;  to 
which  were  added  some  pieces  of  pork,  and  a  young  burgomaster  gull,  which 
had  been  shot  on  the  way  from  Lyttleton  Island.  While  this  substantial 
breakfast  was  being  eaten,  we  interchanged  our  stories  of  the  night's  ad- 
ventures. 

"Our  friends  had  had  a  fearful  night.     Bad  as  had  been  our  fortune 


DR.  HAYES'  TERRIBLE  BOAT  TRIP  383 

theirs  was  incomparably  worse.  Soon  after  we  left  them,  the  protecting 
floes  to  the  north  shifted  their  position;  and  from  that  time  until  the  storm 
subsided,  they  were  frightfully  exposed.  The  waves  rolled  in  upon  them, 
frequently  breaking  over  the  floe  on  which  they  were,  while  the  spray  flew 
over  them  continually.  They  wrapped  the  bread-bags  in  a  piece  of  India- 
rubber  cloth,  and  thus  kept  them  tolerably  dry;  but  everything  else  became 
thoroughly  soaked, — clothes,  buffaloes,  and  blankets,  especially.  They 
pitched  their  tent  and  tried  to  get  some  rest,  but  the  water  very  soon  drowned 
them  out.  They  tried  to  cook  some  coffee,  but  the  spray  extinguished  their 
lamp.  They  were  thirty  hours  without  water  to  drink,  and  during  all  that 
time  they  tasted  nothing  warm,  their  sole  provision  being  cold  pork  and 
bread.  Their  suffering  was  great,  and  our  tale  sounded  tamely  enough  after 
theirs. 

'T  questioned  John  why  he  had  so  recklessly  exposed  his  life;  he  'wanted 
to  see  what  had  become  of  them.'  He  did  not  see  them  when  he  started; 
had  no  certain  knowledge  as  to  where  they  were;  he  only  wanted  to  'look 
them  up.'  " 

After  this  terrible  experience  the  Hope  once  more  put  to  sea,  and  the 
party  was  lucky  enough  to  find  another  boat,  called  "Ironsides,"  deserted 
by  Kane  the  year  before.     The  party  divided  into  two  crews. 

"We  pulled  out  from  under  the  land,"  says  the  narrator,  "to  catch  the 
wind  which  still  blew  lightly  from  the  northeast;  and  spreading  our  canvas 
we  gave  three  lusty  cheers  for  Upernavik,  and  stood  away  for  Cape  Alex- 
ander, which  was  fourteen  miles  distant.  A  watch  was  set  in  each  boat, 
Peterson  took  the  steering  oar  of  the  Hope,  John  that  of  the  Ironsides,  and 
the  rest  of  the  crews  crawled  under  their  blankets  and  buffalo  robes. 

"Soon  after  our  starting,  an  ominous  cloud  was  observed  creeping  up  the 
northern  sky.  As  it  spread  itself  overhead,  the  wind  freshened,  and  after 
fluttering  through  a  squall,  settled  into  a  heavy  blow.  The  white-caps  multi- 
plied behind  us,  and  everything  looked  suspicious ;  but  whatever  might  be  our 
misgivings  as  to  the  fortune  in  store  for  us,  out  at  sea  in  a  storm,  with  our 
frail  heavily  laden  boats,  we  could  do  nothing  but  hold  our  course,  and  take 
the  risks.  To  run  back  under  the  land  which  we  had  just  left,  did  not  at  all 
accord  with  our  tastes,  nor  with  the  nature  of  our  undertaking.  Off  the  lar- 
board bow  lay  a  long  line  of  iron-bound  coast  which  offered  no  sign  of  a 
harbor.  Come  what  might,  we  must  keep  on,  and  sink  or  swim  off  Cape 
Alexander. 


384  DR.  HAYES'  TERRIBLE  BOAT  TRIP 

"To  be  at  sea  in  a  snug  ship  with  a  deck  under  your  feet,  the  wind  roar- 
ing and  the  waves  breaking  about  you,  is  a  pleasure,  and  as  the  vessel  bounds^ 
forward  one  scarcely  feels  that  he  is  not  in  the  most  secure  place  in  the  world; 
but  it  is  quite  a  different  affair  in  an  open  boat  twenty  feet  long. 

"As  we  ran  out  from  the  land,  we  obtained  a  fine  view  of  Hartstene  Bay. 
The  coast  which  bounds  it  to  the  north  is  high  and  precipitous,  trending  a 
little  to  the  north  of  east,  and  terminating  in  a  large  glacier,  about  twelve 
miles  east  of  Cape  Ohlsen.  The  face  of  this  glacier,  dimly  traceable  in  the 
distance,  appeared  to  be  about  three  miles  in  extent,  sloping  backward  into  an 
extensive  mer  de  glace.  To  the  south  of  the  glacier  the  land  trends  nearly 
parallel  with  the  north  shore  for  three  or  four  miles,  when  it  falls  off  to  the 
south,  terminating  in  another  glacier  larger  than  the  first,  which,  like  it, 
sweeps  back  around  the  base  of  the  mountains  into  the  same  glassy  sea.  From 
the  southern  extremity  of  this  glacier  the  coast  runs  southwest,  presenting 
an  almost  straight  line  of  high  vertical,  jagged  rocks,  which  end  in  the  noble 
headland  for  which  we  were  steering. 

"Although  closely  watching  the  sheet,  while  John  steered  and  Bonsall 
and  Godfrey  slept,  I  was  yet  at  leisure  to  enjoy  the  magnificent  scene  which 
spread  itself  before  me  as  we  approached  the  cape.  A  parhelion  stood  in  the 
sky  on  my  right  hand,  presenting  a  perfect  image  of  the  sun  above,  and  a 
faint  point  of  light  on  either  side.  On  my  left  lay  the  beforementioned  line 
of  coast,  its  dark  front  contrasting  grandly  with  the  white  sheet  of  ice  a  few 
miles  further  back,  which  seemed  to  be  in  the  act  of  pouring  down  into  the  sea 
from  some  great  inland  reservoir. 

"In  a  little  while,  owing  to  an  accident  to  the  rudder,  the  boat,  no  longer 
under  its  control,  broached  to.  The  next  wave  broke  amidships  and  filled  us. 
The  air-chambers,  which  had  hitherto  made  the  boat  so  crank,  now  saved  us 
from  sinking.  The  steersman  was  knocked  down  from  his  seat,  and  before 
he  could  regain  his  oar,  and  bring  the  boat  into  the  wind,  sea  after  sea  had 
broken  over  us. 

"Finding  that  they  were  not  absolutely  drowned,  and  that  nothing  worse 
could  happen  than  a  good  ducking,  the  men  returned  to  their  posts,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  the  sail  was  reefed  and  set,  and  the  boat  righted.  The  in- 
creased load  which  she  now  carried  sank  her  lower  in  the  water,  and  in  spite 
of  all  our  efforts,  there  remained  an  unwelcome  cargo;  for,  as  fast  as  we 
bailed  out  one  portion,  another  poured  in.  Discouraged  at  length  by  our 
fruitless  efforts  to  get  her  free,  we  gave  up  the  attempt ;  and  being  now  sat- 


DR.  HAYES'  TERRIBLE  BOAT  TRIP  385 

isfied  that  the  life-boat  would  not  go  down,  we  held  on  to  the  mast  and  gun- 
wale to  prevent  the  seas  from  washing  us  overboard,  and  in  this  manner 
drifted  around  the  cape.  Here  we  were  met  by  our  consort.  Her  crew, 
fearful  that  we  had  swamped,  were  gallantly  beating  up  in  smoother  water 
to  our  assistance. 

"It  was  dead  calm  under  the  cape.  After  bailing  out  some  of  the  water, 
we  took  in  the  sails,  unshipped  the  mast,  and  pulled  over  to  Sutherland  Island 
in  search  of  a  harbor.  This  little  rock  lies  about  three  miles  to  the  southeast 
of  Cape  Alexander.  It  was  found  to  be  precipitous  on  its  northern  and 
eastern  sides,  and  unprotected  to  the  south  and  west  from  the  winds  and 
waveis  which  eddied  around  the  cape.  No  harbor  was  found  here,  but  a  little 
farther  on  one  was  discovered. 

"We  were  soon  ashore ;  and  as  we  looked  out  from  the  rocks  on  the  foam- 
ing sea,  and  listened  to  the  moaning  wind  as  it  fell  over  the  cliffs  above  us, 
and  to  the  breakers  thundering  against  the  coast,  we  had  reason  to  be  thankful 
that  we  were  once  again  on  terra  Urnia.  The  Ironsides  was  hauled  upon  the 
beach  and  capsized,  to  free  her  of  her  load  of  water.  Petersen  anchored  the 
Hope  with  a  couple  of  heavy  stones.  Having  no  dry  clothing  to  put  on,  we 
ran  about  until  we  were  a  little  warmed  and  dried;  and  then,  pitching  the 
tent,  we  spread  over  us  our  water-soaked  buffalo,  and  slept  away  fatigue  and 
disappointment. 

"Everything  in  the  Ironsides  was  thoroughly  wet.  Among  the  articles  of 
food  were  a  two-barrel  bag  of  bread  and  our  large  bag  of  coffee.  The  cargo 
of  the  Hope  was  as  dry  as  when  put  on  board  at  Cape  Ohlsen.  She  had  be- 
haved admirably,  and  had  weathered  the  gale  quite  comfortably.  She 
shipped  more  water  through  her  leaky  sides  than  over  her  gunwale. 

"The  wind  lulled  a  little  in  the  night,  but  rose  in  the  morning,  and  in- 
creased again  to  a  gale.  The  storm  was  too  heavy  to  allow  us  to  put  to  sea. 
The  wind  had  hauled  around  to  the  north,  and  the  swell  came  into  our  harbor. 
The  anchorage  of  the  Hope  being  thus  rendered  insecure,  she  also  was  dragged 
upon  the  beach.  Our  wet  cargo  was  spread  out  upon  the  stones  to  dry;  and 
we  awaited  with  much  anxiety  the  breaking  of  the  gale." 

On  the  6th  of  September  they  broke  camp,  and  finally  reached  Northum- 
berland Island,  where  from  a  high  hill  they  viewed  the  country.  Says 
Hayes : 

"Before  us,  to  our  right,  and  to  our  left  was  ice,  ice,  ice.  We  could  see 
full  forty  miles ;  and,  although  not  able  to  determine  positively  the  condition 


386  DR.  HAYES'  TERRIBLE  BOAT  TRIP 

of  the  water  for  more  than  twenty,  yet  what  we  saw  assured  us  that  a  prob- 
ably impenetrable  pack  lay  in  our  way.  To  the  southwest,  towards  the  Carey 
Islands,  whose  tops  were  dimly  visible,  the  sky  indicated  open  water,  which 
seemed  to  run  in  toward  Saunders  Island,  whose  long,  flat,  white  roof,  sup- 
ported by  a  dark  vertical  wall,  appeared  above  the  horizon  to  the  south. 
Under  Cape  Parry  was  a  large  open  area,  from  which  diverged  several  nar- 
row leads,  like  the  fingers  of  an  outspread  hand,  toward  Northumberland. 
One  of  these  leads  came  up  within  four  or  five  miles  of  our  camp ;  but  inside 
of  it  all  was  tightly  closed.  Below  Cape  Parry  several  small  leads  appeared, 
and  much  open  water  seemed  to  lie  along  the  land. 

"Although  this  pack  was  in  fact  the  same  that  had  baffled  Dr.  Kane  in 
July  and  August,  yet  its  existence  here  surprised  me  as  it  had  him.  It  had 
never  been  noted  before.  Our  track  had  been  traversed  by  Baffin  and  Bylot 
in  August,  1616;  by  Sir  John  Ross,  between  August  7th  and  30th,  18 18; 
by  Capt.  Inglefield,  August  28th,  1852;  and  by  Dr.  Kane,  in  the  Advance, 
August  7th,  1853;  and  by  none  of  them  had  any  considerable  quantity  of  ice 
been  seen  north  of  Melville  Bay.  I  was  not  prepared  for  such  a  rebuff  at  this 
part  of  our  voyage. 

"Could  we  pass  it?  would  it  open?  was  there  any  hope  for  us?  I  confess 
that,  as  these  questions  came  in  succession  to  my  mind,  I  could  only  meet 
them  by  gloomy  doubting.  The  ice  was  more  firm  and  secure  than  we  had 
anticipated  finding,  even  in  Melville  Bay.  All  of  our  bright  dreams  of  succor 
and  safety  seemed  to  be  ending. 

"I  was  still  not  wholly  without  hope.  There  were  yet  twenty  days  of  Sep- 
tember; and,  although  signs  of  winter  had  been  about  us  ever  since  we  left 
the  brig,  yet  it  was  now  much  warmer  here  than  at  Rensselaer  Harbor  a 
month  earlier.  Altogether,  September  promised  more  of  summer  than  of 
winter. 

"It  was  with  mingled  feelings  of  hope  and  discouragement  that  I  started 
to  return." 

The  party,  however,  when  the  issue  was  put  to  a  vote,  determined  on  an 
advance.    One  man  made  a  speech.    Says  Dr.  Hayes : 

"I  give  it  as  nearly  as  I  can  remember  it:  'The  ice  can't  remain  long, — 
I'll  bet  it  opens  to-morrow.  The  winter  is  a  long  way  off  yet.  If  we  have 
such  luck  as  we  have  had  since  leaving  Cape  Alexander,  we'll  be  in  Uper- 
navik  in  a  couple  of  weeks.  You  say  it  is  not  more  than  six  hundred  miles 
there  in  a  straight  line.    We  have  food  for  that  time,  and  fuel  for  a  week. 


DR.  HAYES'  TERRIBLE  BOAT  TRIP  387 

Before  that's  gone  we'll  shoot  a  seal.'  It  was  a  right  gallant  and  hopeful 
little  speech,  and  'Long  George'  (as  his  messmates  always  called  him) 
looked  quite  the  hero.  It  reflected  the  spirit  of  the  party ;  and  it  is  one  of  the 
pleasantest  recollections  of  my  life  that,  notwithstanding  nineteen  days  of 
danger  and  suffering,  during  which  they  had  been  wet,  cold,  and  often  half 
famished,  the  men  who  were  my  companions  did  not  quail  at  this  crisis. 

"In  order  that  the  nature  of  our  situation  might  be  more  fully  under- 
stood, Mr.  Sonntag  brought  out  his  charts;  and  after  we  had  carefully  dis- 
cussed together  the  difficulties  and  dangers  on  every  hand ;  the  possible 
chances  of  our  success,  and  the  probable  chances  of  our  being  caught  in  the 
ice ;  and  having  all  arrived  at  a  full  comprehension  of  the  uncertainties  which 
were  before  us,  and  our  facilities  for  availing  ourselves  of  the  temporary 
security  which  was  behind  us,  a  formal  vote  was  then  taken  upon  the  ques- 
tion, 'Whether  we  should  go  back,  or  wait  and  go  on  with  the  slightest  open- 
ing.' 

"There  was  but  one  voice  in  the  company — 'Upernavik  or  nothing,  then 
it  is !'  *That's  what  I  mean !' — 'and  so  do  I !'  were  the  prompt  responses. — 
The  thing  was  settled. 

Hayes'  diary  for  a  few  days  graphically  describes  the  situation: 

"September  ilth.  The  ice  drifts  rapidly  out  of  the  sound,  opening  wider 
the  leads  toward  Cape  Parry  and  the  southwest ;' but  it  is  closing  up  more 
tightly  against  the  southeast  corner  of  the  island.  The  floes  have  left  the 
shore  opposite  our  camp,  and  we  could  put  to  sea  and  make  some  headway 
toward  the  Carey  Islands;  but  this  is  not  the  course  we  have  determined 
upon  pursuing.  We  could  not  advance  more  than  half  a  mile  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  main  land.  Godfrey  has  shot  a  fox,  and  he  reports  having  seen 
several  others  among  the  mountains.  Petersen  brought  down  a  young  raven ; 
it  is  not  good,  but  we  must  eat  it  and  save  our  pork.  The  sky  is  overcast, 
and  the  temperature  has  gone  down  to  25°.    The  air  remains  calm. 

"September  13th.  No  change  in  the  ice.  This  state  of  inactivity  greatly 
affects  our  spirits.  Every  hour  is  precious,  and  it  is  hard  to  be  kept  thus 
closely  imprisoned. 

"It  is  wonderful  how  the  fine  weather  holds;  nothing  like  it  was  ever 
experienced  at  Rensselaer  Harbor,  even  in  midsummer.  The  people  amuse 
themselves  in  wandering  about  the  green,  in  plucking  and  eating  cochlearia, 
or  in  lounging  about  the  camp,  smoking  their  pipes ;  sometimes  relieving  the 
monotony  with  a  game  of  whist,  or  in  sewing  up  the  rents  in  their  dilapidated 


388  DR.  HAYES'  TERRIBLE  BOAT  TRIP 

clothing;  casting  now  and  then  wistful  glances  on  the  sea,>  and  wondering 
impatiently  'when  the  ice  will  open?'  Petersen  shot  a  fox  and  a  young  bar- 
gomaster-gull ;  the  former  was  secured,  but  the  latter  fell  into  the  sea  and 
floated  away  with  the  tide.  Although  the  men  suffer  morally,  they  improve 
physically.  The  cochlearia  has  driven  from  their  systems  every  trace  of 
scurvy;  and  the  few  good  meals  of  fresh  animal  food  which  we  have  eaten 
have  built  up  all  of  us  and  filled  out  our  cadaverous  cheeks. 

The  ice  opened  at  last,  and  the  party  put  to  sea,  only  to  be  caught  in  the 
ice,  and  to  drift  for  hours  on  a  floe. 

"That  we  should  feel  despondent  under  the  circumstances  was,  perhaps, 
quite  natural;  but  now,  as  on  other  occasions,  there  was  exhibited  in  the 
party  a  courage  which  triumphed  over  the  distressing  fortunes  of  the  day. 
Stories,  such  as  sailors  alone  can  tell,  followed  the  coffee,  and  interrupted 
the  monotonous  chattering  of  teeth;  and  Godfrey,  who  had  a  penchant  for 
negro  melodies,  broke  out  from  time  to  time  with  scraps  from  'Uncle  Ned,' 
in  all  its  variations,  'Susannah,'  and  T'm  off  to  Charlestown,  a  little  while 
to  stay.'  Petersen  recited  some  chapters  from  his  boy-life  in  Copenhagen 
and  Iceland;  John  gave  us  some  insight  into  a  'runner's'  life  in  San  Fran- 
cisco and  Macao;  Whipple  told  some  horrors  of  the  forecastle  of  a  Liverpool 
packet;  but  Bonsall  drew  the  chief  applause,  by  'Who  wouldn't  sell  a  farm 
and  go  to  sea?' 

"A  strange  mixture  of  men  crowded  the  tent  on  that  little  frozen  raft,  in 
that  dark  stormy  night  of  the  Arctic  Sea !  There  were  a  German  astronomer, 
a  Baltimore  seaman,  a  Pennsylvania  farmer,  a  Greenland  cooper,  a  Hull 
sailor,  an  East  River  boatman,  an  Irish  patriot,  and  a  Philadelphia  student 
of  medicine;  and  it  was  a  singular  jumble  of  human  experience  and  adven- 
ture which  they  related. 

"We  were  near  being  precipitated  into  the  water  during  the  night.  An 
angle  of  the  raft  on  which  rested  one  of  the  tent  poles,  split  off;  two  of  the 
men  who  lay  in  that  corner  were  carried  down,  and  their  weight  was  almost 
suflicient  to  drag  the  others  overboard.  Fortunately  the  bottom  and  sides 
of  the  tent  were  fast  together,  or  two  of  us  at  least  would  have  gone  into 
the  sea. 

"September  15th.  The  air  cleared  a  little  as  the  morning  dawned;  and, 
although  it  continued  to  snow  violently,  we  were  conscious  of  being  near 
some  large  object,  which  loomed  high  through  the  thick  atmosphere.  Whether 
it  was  land  or  an  iceberg  we  could  not  make  out.    We  were  soon  in  the  boats. 


DR.  HAYES'  TERRIBLE  BOAT  TRIP  389 

and  pulling  tovv^ards  it  through  the  thin  ice  and  sludge.  Before  its  character 
became  clear,  we  were  within  a  hundred  yards  of  a  low  sandy  beach,  covered 
with  boulders.  Two  burgomaster-gulls  fiew  overhead  while  we  were  break- 
ing through  the  young  ice  along  the  shore;  and  they  were  brought  down  by 
the  unerring  gun  of  Petersen.  These  supplied  us  with  food,  of  which  we  stood 
greatly  in  need. 

"The  boats  were  drawn  up  above  the  tide;  and  we  piled  the  cargo  to- 
gether on  the  rocks,  and  covered  it  with  one  of  the  sails.  The  tent  was 
pitched  near  by;  and  with  another  sail  an  awning  was  spread  in  front,  so 
shelter  the  cook  and  to  protect  the  lamp.  This  precaution  was  well  timed,  for 
it  soon  began  to  blow  hard  from  the  southwest,  the  wind  being  accompanied 
with  hail.  We  brought  our  clothes-bags  under  the  awning,  and  changed  our 
wet  garments  before  retiring  to  the  tent. 

"We  had  not  tasted  food  for  more  than  four  and  twenty  hours.  While 
we  were  engaged  with  our  meal,  our  tent  was  almost  blown  over.  Some 
time  elapsed  before  everything  could  be  made  safe.  An  additional  guy  was 
placed  on  the  windward  side,  and  those  at  the  ends  were  fastened  to  heavier 
stones.  The  awning  was  also  tightened;  and  everything  being  thus  ren- 
dered apparently  secure,  we  once  more  drew  our  heads  under  cover.  We 
could  do  nothing  for  our  brave  cook  but  give  him  some  dry  clothing,  the  best 
place  in  the  tent,  and  our  thanks. 

"It  was  still  snowing  hard;  the  wind  had  increased  to  a  gale,  and  as  it 
went  moaning  above  the  plain,  it  carried  up  into  the  air  great  white  clouds, 
and  pelted  mercilessly  the  side  of  our  tent  with  sleet  and  haiL  I  put  my  head 
out  of  the  door;  I  could  not  see  fifty  yards.  The  boats  were  nearly  covered 
by  a  great  drift,  and  our  cargo  was  almost  buried  out  of  sight.  It  was  not 
due  to  ourselves  that  we  were  not  at  sea  in  that  fearful  storm.  We  knew 
not  even  where  we  were.  We  came  by  no  will  of  our  own.  There  was  a 
Providence  in  it. 

"I  was  too  much  fatigued  to  make  the  circuit  of  the  island;  and  I  am, 
therefore,  not  able  to  add  anything  to  the  chart  of  Captain  Inglefield,  who, 
in  the  little  steamer  Isabella,  ran  up  the  channel  in  August,  1852.  The  cliffs 
above  us  were  composed  of  sandstone  and  slate,  resting  on  primitive  rock, 
which  was  visible  near  our  camp.  About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  above  us  were 
discovered  two  well  built  Eskimo  huts,  which  appeared  to  have  been  recently 
occupied. 

"Hoping  that   fortune  would  continue  to  favor  our  effort,  we  retired 


•6\)0  DR.  HAYES'  TERRIBLE  BOAT  TRIP 

again  to  our  tent,  and  awoke  on  the  following  morning  to  find  that  the  wind 
had  hauled  around  to  the  northeast,  and  that  the  clouds  were  breaking  away. 
By  one  o'clock,  p.  m.,  it  was  quite  clear.  The  thermometer  went  up  to  two 
degrees  above  the  freezing  point;  the  ice  was  giving  way,  and  long  leads 
were  opening  through  it,  in  every  direction.  A  narrow  belt  of  heavy  floes 
joined  together  by  young  ice,  unfortunately  lay  close  along  the  shore;  other- 
wise we  could  have  launched  our  boats  at  two  o'clock.  To  break  through  this 
belt  would  have  occupied  us  until  night;  and  deeming  it  imprudent  again  to 
trust  ourselves  in  the  darkness  to  an  uncertain  channel  we  concluded  to 
remain  where  we  were,  and  to  start  fresh  with  the  early  morn. 

"The  morn  broke  upon  us  bright,  clear,  calm,  and  summer-like.  The 
young  ice,  neither  strong  enough  to  bear  nor  frail  enough  to  yield  easily, 
seemed  for  a  time  likely  to  baffle  us;  but  by  breaking  it  up  with  our  boat- 
hooks  and  poles,  we  finally  succeeded  in  effecting  our  escape;  not,  however, 
until  an  hour  after  the  sun  had  passed  the  meridian.  The  way  appeared  to 
be  free  toward  the  mainland,  for  which  we  pulled.  After  we  had  been  under 
oars  a  couple  of  hours,  a  light  breeze  sprang  up  from  east-northeast;  once 
more  our  canvas  was  spread,  and  our  ears  were  again  gladdened  by  the 
music  of  gurgling  waters  as  the  boats  rushed  onward  through  the  rippled  sea. 

"We  struck  the  coast  at  about  twenty  miles  above  Cape  Parry.  Passing 
under  the  north  cape  of  Burden  Bay,  we  were  surprised  to  hear  human  voices 
on  the  shore.  That  they  were  Eskimos  we  knew  from  the  peculiar  'Huk! 
Huk!  Huk' — their  hailing  cry." 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

FURTHER  EXPERIENCES  OF  DR.  HAYES. 

The  adventures  on  the  sea,  in  frail  boats,  were  not  the  last  of  the  troubles 
of  Dr.  Hayes  and  his  men.  Though  near  an  Eskimo  settlement,  they  found 
themselves  almost  without  food.  The  Eskimos  themselves  were  hungry. 
But  a  winter  was  at  hand,  and  they  must  live.  They  started  the  building  of 
a  hut,  to  be  their  headquarters  while  they  scoured  the  country  for  game. 

One  of  the  party  hunted  every  day,  "yet  he  always  came  home  empty- 
handed,  except  on  one  occasion,  when  he  brought  in  five  ptarmigans,  all  of 
which  he  shot  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  camp  on  his  return.  There 
were  several  cracks  in  the  ice  not  far  from  the  shore,  which  were  kept  open 
by  the  changing  tide;  and  in  these  cracks  were  frequently  seen  walrus  and 
seal,  but  they  were  too  timid  to  be  approached.  Petersen  fired  at  them  several 
times,  but  they  were  always  beyond  his  range.  Along  the  shore,  to  the  south 
of  our  position,  he  built  several  fox-traps,  which  he  visited  daily ;  but  hitherto 
no  foxes  had  been  caught. 

"All  this  was  discouraging.  It  seemed  ominous  of  starvation  at  a  very 
early  day.  Our  provisions  were  running  very  low ;  we  had  only  a  few  pounds 
of  pork  left,  and  of  bread  only  a  small  quantity  beside  that  in  the  barrel 
brought  from  the  Life-boat  depot,  of  which  a  small  portion  had  been  con- 
sumed. There  remained  a  little  of  the  meat-biscuit  and  a  few  pounds  of  rice 
and  flour.  Altogether  we  had  not  enough  to  furnish  us  with  full  rations 
during  a  single  week,  and  we  were  trying  to  make  our  stock  suffice  for  a 
longer  period.  Already  we  were  upon  the  shortest  daily  allowance  which 
our  labors  permitted.  Men  working  during  twelve  or  fourteen  hours  of  the 
twenty-four,  in  a  temperature  not  much  above  zero,  require  a  large  amount 
of  food  to  sustain  them.  We  were  becoming  thin  and  weak,  and  were  con- 
stantly hungry. 

"To  appease  the  gnawing  pains  of  hunger  by  at  least  filling  up  the  stomach, 
we  resorted  to  an  expedient  which  I  remembered  of  Sir  John  Franklin's,  in 
his  memorable  expedition  to  the  Copper-mine,  in   1819.     This  was,  to  eat 

391 


392  FURTHER  EXPERIENCES  OF  DR.  HAYES 

the  rock-lichen,  {tripe  de  rochc),  which  our  party  called  'stone  moss.'  When 
at  its  maximum  growth,  it  is  about  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  of  the  thickness 
of  a  wafer.  It  is  black  externally,  but  when  broken  the  interior  appears 
white.  When  boiled  it  makes  a  glutinous  fluid,  which  is  slightly  nutritious. 
Although  in  some  places  it  grows  very  abundantly,  yet  in  our  locality  it, 
like  the  game,  was  scarce.  Most  of  the  rocks  had  none  upon  them;  and 
there  were  very  few  from  which  we  could  collect  as  much  as  a  quart.  The 
difficulty  of  gathering  it  was  much  augmented  by  its  crispness,  and  the  firm- 
ness of  its  attachment. 

"For  this  plant,  poor  though  it  was,  we  were  compelled  to  dig.  The 
rocks  in  every  case  were  to  be  cleared  from  snow,  and  often  our  pains  went 
unrewarded.  The  first  time  this  food  was  tried  it  seemed  to  answer  well;  it 
at  least  filled  the  stomach,  and  thus  kept  off  the  horrid  sensation  of  hungCi 
until  we  got  to  sleep.  Beside  the  unpleasant  effects,  fragments  of  gravel, 
which  were  mixed  with  the  moss,  tried  our  teeth.  We  picked  the  plants  from 
the  rock  with  our  knives,  or  a  piece  of  hoop-iron;  and  we  could  not  avoid 
breaking  off  some  particles  of  the  stone. 

"The  hut  proved  somewhat  of  a  failure  when  the  heavy  snow  came  in 
October.  The  morning  of  the  3rd  there  was  a  severe  storm,  and  to  our 
sorrow  the  hut  was  half  filled  with  snow,  feathery  streams  of  which  came 
pouring  in  through  the  cracks  around  the  roof.  These  fine  particles  filled 
the  air,  and  made  everything  so  damp  that  it  was  with  much  difficulty  that 
the  fire  was  kindled.  Leaving  Godfrey  engaged  in  this  delicate  operation, 
I  took  the  kettle,  determined  to  get  if  possible  some  water  from  the  lake. 
The  fuel  which  must  otherwise  be  used  for  melting  snow,  might  thus  be 
saved  for  roasting  coffee,  the  want  of  which  was  greatly  felt  by  all  of  us. 

"Clambering  up  through  the  hole  in  the  roof,  I  turned  to  the  right 
around  the  base  of  a  pile  of  rocks,  and  then  beat  up  diagonally  against  the 
gale.  The  drift  was  almost  blinding,  and  my  face  grew  so  cold  that  I  was 
frequently  forced  to  turn  my  back  to  the  wind  to  recover  breath  and  warmth. 
It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  I  picked  a  passage  among  the  boulders  and 
drifts;  but,  growing  warmer  as  the  exercise  heated  my  blood,  I  at  length 
came  directly  upon  tie  lake.  This  was  an  unexpected  piece  of  good  fortune ; 
for,  as  I  had  guessed  my  way,  I  could  not  have  even  hoped  to  come  exactly 
to  the  right  spot. 

"Pieces  of  ice  which  lay  scattered  around  the  well,  had  formed  a  center 
for  the  accumulation  of  a  large  drift;  and  I  was  therefore  compelled  to  dig 


FURTHER  EXPERIENCES  OF  DR.  HAYES  393 

another  hole.  Selecting  a  spot  which  the  wind  had  swept  clear,  I  set  dili- 
gently to  work  at  cutting  the  crystal  sheet  with  the  dull  chisel.  This,  luckily, 
had  been  placed  upright  by  the  last  visitor,  or  I  should  probably  not  have 
found  it.  The  ice  was  perfectly  transparent,  and  I  could  see  every  stone 
and  pebble  on  the  bottom,  shining  very  brightly,  and  seeming  to  nestle  there 
in  warmth  and  quiet, — strikingly  in  contrast  with  the  confusion  and  cold 
which  reigned  above.  The  operation  of  cutting  this  hole  was  a  most  tedious 
one,  and  it  must  have  occupied  me  at  least  three-quarters  of  an  hour ;  but  at 
length  the  iron  bar  plunged  through;  and  upon  withdrawing  it  a  crystal 
fountain  gurgled  out  into  the  frost.  My  kettle  was  soon  filled,  and  I  set  out 
to  return. 

"My  tracks  were  covered  over,  and  again  I  was  obliged  to  steer  by  the 
wind.  I  was  getting  on  very  well,  having  now  the  storm  partially  on  my 
back;  but  my  good  fortune  forsook  me  when  I  had  reached  about  half-way. 
In  the  act  of  climbing  over  a  rock,  in  order  to  shorten  the  distance,  I  missed 
m.y  footing,  and  fell  upon  my  face.  The  kettle  slipped  from  my  grasp,  and, 
spilling  its  precious  contents,  went  flying  across  the  plain.  With  a  philosoph- 
ical resignation  which  I  had  the  modesty  afterwards  to  think  quite  commend- 
able, in  the  circumstances,  I  followed  the  retreating  pot,  and,  overtaking 
it  at  length  where  it  had  brought  up  against  an  elevation,  I  returned  to  the 
lake  and  refilled.  This  time  I  was  more  careful,  and  I  reached  the  camp 
without  further  accident,  except  that  I  came  upon  the  sea  some  distance 
above  the  hut;  thus  considerably  increasing  the  length  of  my  walk;  and  that, 
too,  in  the  very  teeth  of  the  storm. 

"A  party  of  the  Eskimos  came  upon  the  hut  one  day,  together  with  a 
drove  of  hungry  dogs. 

"The  dogs  were  fastened  by  their  long  traces;  each  team  being  tied  to  a 
separate  stake.  They  were  howling  piteously.  Having  been  exposed  to  all 
the  fury  of  the  storm,  with  no  ability  to  run  about,  they  had  grown  cold ;  and 
as  their  masters  told  us,  having  had  nothing  to  eat  during  thirty-six  hours, 
they  must  have  been  savagely  hungry.  One  of  them  had  already  eaten  his 
trace;  but  we  came  out,  fortunately,  at  the  proper  moment  to  prevent  an 
attack  upon  the  sledges. 

"Leaving  the  hunters  to  look  after  their  teams,  I  returned  to  the  hut. 
The  blinding  snow  which  battered  my  face,  made  me  insensible  to  everything 
except  the  idea  of  getting  out  of  it ;  and  thinking  of  no  danger,  I  was  in  the 
act  of  stooping  to  enter  the  doorway,  when  a  sudden  noise  behind  me  caused 


394  FURTHER  EXPERIENCES  OF  DR.  HAYES 

me  to  look  around,  and  there,  close  at  my  heels,  was  the  whole  pack  of  thir- 
teen hungry  dogs,  snarling,  snapping,  and  showing  their  sharp  teeth  like  a 
drove  of  ravenous  wolves.  It  was  fortunate  that  I  had  not  got  down  upon 
my  knees,  or  they  would  have  been  upon  my  back.  In  fact,  so  impetuous 
was  their  attack,  that  one  of  them  had  already  sprung  when  I  faced  round. 
I  caught  him  on  my  arm  and  kicked  him  down  the  hill.  The  others  were 
for  the  moment  intimidated  by  the  suddenness  of  my  movement,  and  at 
seeing  the  summary  manner  in  which  their  leader  had  been  dealt  with;  and 
they  were  in  the  act  of  sneaking  away,  when  they  perceived  that  I  was  power- 
less to  do  them  any  harm,  having  nothing  in  my  hand.  A.gain  they  assumed 
the  offensive ;  they  were  all  around  me ;  an  instant  more  and  I  should  be  torn 
to  pieces. 

"I  had  faced  death  in  several  shapes  before,  but  never  had  I  felt  as  then ; 
my  blood  fairly  curdled  in  my  veins.  Death  down  the  red  throats  of  a  pack 
of  wolfish  dogs  had  something  about  it  peculiarly  unpleasant.  Conscious  of 
my  weakness,  they  were  preparing  for  a  spring;  I  had  not  time  even  to  halloo 
for  help — to  run  would  be  the  readiest  means  of  bringing  the  wretches 
upon  me.  My  eye  swept  round  the  group  and  caught  something  lying  half 
buried  in  the  snow,  about  ten  feet  distant.  Quick  as  a  flash  I  sprang,  as  I 
never  sprang  before  or  since,  over  the  back  of  a  huge  fellow  who  stood 
before  me;  and  the  next  instant  I  was  whirling  about  me  the  lash  of  a  long 
whip,  cutting  to  right  and  left.  The  dogs  retreated  before  my  blows  and 
the  fury  of  my  onset,  and  then  sullenly  skulked  behind  the  rocks." 

In  a  desperate  effort  to  get  supplies  one  of  the  party,  John  Petersen, 
offered  to  journey  with  the  Eskimos  to  a  settlement  called  Netlih,  and  bring 
food.  Two  others,  John,  the  cook,  and  a  Mr.  Sonntag,  made  a  similar  jour- 
ney in  another  direction. 

"On  the  evening  of  the  sixth  of  November,  Mr.  Sonntag  and  John  came 
back  to  us.  Their  arrival  was  most  opportune,  for  we  had  eaten  every  ounce 
of  meat  which  was  on  hand  when  they  left  us.  They  were  brought  by  two 
Eskimos,  whose  sledges  carried  a  supply  of  food  sufficient  to  last  us  for  sev- 
eral days.  They  had  a  part  of  two  bear's  legs,  several  other  small  pieces  of 
meat,  and  a  bear's  liver.  This  last  the  Eskimos  will  not  eat,  but  we  were 
glad  enough  to  get  it.  There  were,  besides,  some  pieces  of  blubber,  about 
two  dozens  of  lumme  and  burgomaster-gulls,  and  as  many  dried  auks.  All 
this  provision  had  been  purchased  for  fifty  needles  and  a  sheath-knife, — a 
small  price  where  these  implements  are  abundant,  but  an  exorbitant  one  in 


FURTHER  EXPERIENCES  OF  DR.  HAYES  395 

the  estimation  of  our  Eskimos.  These  native  friends  were  getting  to  be  very 
Jews  in  their  bargainings.  Heaven  knows  we  did  not  grudge  the  poor  crea- 
tures the  few  pahry  things  of  which  they  stand  so  much  in  need;  but,  with 
us,  the  case  was  one  of  hfe  and  death;  and,  by  keeping  up  the  price,  we  pre- 
vented the  market  from  being  overstocked.  A  needle  was  worth  to  them 
more  than  a  hundred  times  its  weight  in  gold.  Ours  had  become  quite 
notorious,  and  by  this  time  every  women  in  the  tribe  had  at  least  one  of 
them.  Some  of  the  women  had  nearly  a  dozen  apiece.  They  were  a  won- 
derful improvement  over  the  coarse  bone  instruments  which  they  had  hith- 
erto used. 

"Mr.  Sonntag  and  John  had  a  hard  journey.  The  track  was  rough.  High 
ridges  of  hummocked  ice  lay  across  the  mouth  of  Wolstenholme  Sound,  and 
through  these  they  were  compelled  to  pick  a  tortuous  passage.  On  their  way 
down  they  were  obliged  to  walk  a  large  portion  of  the  time,  because  partly 
of  the  roughness  of  the  road,  and  partly  of  the  fact  that  there  four  persons 
to  one  sledge.  They  were  quartered  in  a  double  hut,  one  in  each  division  of 
it,  and  were  treated  with  great  kindness  and  civility.  They  returned  to  us 
looking  hale  and  hearty,  and  made  our  mouths  fairly  water  with  glowing  de- 
scriptions of  unstinted  feasts.  They  had  been  living  on  the  fat  of  the  land, — 
upon  bear,  fox,  and  puppy,  the  best  dishes  in  the  Eskimo  larder  at  this  time 
of  year.     Yet  food  was  scarce  at  Akbat,  and  hence  they  brought  little." 

Later  Petersen  and  his  white  companion,  one  Godfrey,  returned  unex- 
pectedly. Petersen  crawled  into  the  hut  almost  exhausted,  and  Godfrey  after 
him. 

"Their  first  utterance  was  a  cry  for  'water! — water!' 

"I  asked  Petersen,  'Are  you  frozen?' — 'No!' — 'Godfrey  are  you?' — 
'No !  but  dreadful  cold,  and  almost  dead.'     Poor  fellow !  he  looked  so. 

"They  were  in  no  condition  to  answer  questions;  but  they  rather  needed 
our  immediate  good  offices.  Their  clothing  was  stiff,  and  in  front  was 
coated  with  ice.  From  their  beards  hung  great  lumps  of  it;  and  their  hair, 
eyebrows,  and  eyelashes  were  white  with  the  condensed  moisture  of  their 
breath.  We  aided  them  in  stripping  off  their  frozen  garments;  and  then 
rolled  them  up  in  their  blankets. 

"Long  exposure  to  the  intense  cold,  fatigue,  and  hunger,  had  benumbed 
their  sensibilities;  and  with  the  reaction  which  followed  came  a  correspond- 
ing excitement.  We  gave  them  to  drink  of  our  hot  coffee,  and  this  combined 
with  the  warmth  of  the  hut  soon  revived  them ;  but  the  violence  of  the  change 


396  FURTHER  EXPERIENCES  OF  DR.  HAYES 

produced  a  temporary  bewilderment  of  mind,  and  the  sleep  which  followed 
was  troubled  and  restless.  Their  frequent  starts,  groans,  cries,  and  mutter- 
ings,  told  of  the  fearful  dreams  of  cold,  starvation,  thirst,  and  murder  by 
which  they  were  distressed. 

"It  was  not  until  the  following  morning  that  we  obtained  the  full  par- 
ticulars of  their  journey;  but  Petersen  told  us,  while  he  drank  his  coffee, 
what  it  was  necessary  that  we  should  know  at  once.  They  had  walked  all 
the  way  from  Netlik,  where  an  attempt  had  been  made  to  murder  them.  The 
Eskimos  were  in  pursuit,  and  if  not  watched  would  attack  our  hut. 

"The  idea  at  once  suggested  itself,  that,  with  a  combination  of  forty  or 
fifty  persons,  and  an  effort  well  directed,  they  might  surprise  us;  and,  dash- 
ing in  a  body  from  the  rocks  above  upon  the  slender  roof  of  our  hut,  they 
might  bury  us  beneath  the  ruins,  and  harpoon  us  if  we  should  attempt  to 
escape.     We  did  not  fear  a  direct  attack. 

"A  watch  was  accordingly  set  and  kept  up  during  the  night.  The  sen- 
tinel was  armed  with  Bonsall's  rifle,  and  was  relieved  every  hour.  The  re- 
mainder of  our  fire-arms  were  hung  upon  their  usual  pegs,  in  the  passage, 
having  been  previously  discharged  and  carefully  reloaded.  The  iron  boat 
was  drawn  up  in  front  of  the  hut. 

"The  night  wore  away.  Mr.  Petersen  and  Godfrey  awoke,  ate  again, 
and  fell  back  into  their  sleep.  The  sentry  marched  to  and  fro  along  the  level 
plain,  a  few  rods  to  the  eastward  of  the  hut;  and  the  creak,  creak  of  his  foot- 
steps was  distinctly  heard  as  he  trod  over  the  frozen  snow.  Inside  the  hut 
all  was  quiet,  save  now  and  then  a  low  whisper,  the  heavy  breathing  and 
occasional  delirious  outcries  of  the  returned  travelers,  and  the  noise  made  by 
the  periodical  changing  of  the  watch.  Scarcely  an  eye  except  those  of  Peter- 
sen and  Godfrey  was  closed  in  sleep.  We  were  all  too  busy  with  our 
thoughts,  and  too  much  agitated  by  our  anxieties." 

The  Eskimos  did  not  attack,  though  it  was  plain  they  had  intended  to 
murder  Petersen.  In  his  sleep  he  had  heard  them  plotting.  He  heard  them 
say,  says  Hayes,  that  "the  hut  was  to  be  surprised  before  Mr.  Sonntag  and 
"John  could  return  from  Akbat.  In  both  cases  Sip-su  (one  of  Petersen's 
Eskimos)  was  to  lead  the  assault,  and  Kalutunah  was  to  act  as  his  second 
in  command. 

"Sip-su  was  just  beginning  to  put  into  execution  the  first  part  of  the 
plan  of  operations,  by  instituting  a  search  for  Petersen's  pistol,  when  Godfrey 
came  to  the  window  and  hallooed  to  his  chief,  to  know  if  he  was  alive.    He 


FURTHER  EXPERIENCES  OF  DR.  HAYES  397 

was  satisfied,  from  what  he  had  seen  and  heard  in  the  other  hut,  that  foul 
play  was  intended. 

"Petersen  awoke  from  his  sham  sleep,  and,  having  exchanged  words 
with  Godfrey,  made  some  excuse  and  went  out.  He  found  a  crowd  of  men, 
women,  and  boys  around  his  rifle.  It  was  fortunate  that  he  had  impressed 
upon  them  the  idea  that  it  was  dangerous  to  touch  it.  Seeing  them  assembled 
about  the  gun,  he  called  to  them  to  know  why  they  were  not  afraid  to  go  so 
near;  and  they  all  withdrew. 

"Having  secured  his  rifle,  he  told  them  that  he  intended  to  go  in  hunt 
of  bears  (Nannook)  ;  and  drawing  from  his  pocket  a  handful  of  balls,  he 
remarked,  as  he  dropped  them  one  by  one  into  his  other  haand,  that  each  of 
them  was  sufficient  to  kill  a  bear,  or  a  man,  or  any  other  animal.  They  would 
have  persuaded  him  to  stay;  but  he  had  already  had  enough  of  their  treach- 
ery, and  he  resolved  to  walk  to  Booth  Bay.  This,  although  a  dangerous  ex- 
periment, was  clearly  more  safe  than  to  remain. 

"Conscious  that  their  guilty  intentions  were  rightly  interpreted,  the  Es- 
kimos clustered  around  him,  declaring,  with  suspicious  eagerness,  that  they 
'would  not  hurt  him,'  that  'nobody  meant  him  any  harm.' 

"It  was  late  when,  with  Godfrey,  he  started  toward  our  party.  The  night 
was  clear  and  calm,  but  the  cold  was  terribly  intense.  At  our  hut  the  tem- 
perature was  forty-two  degrees  below  zero.  The  distance  to  be  traveled  by 
them  would  have  been,  by  the  most  direct  fine,  forty  miles;  but  more  nearly 
fifty  by  the  crooked  path  which  they  must  follow.  Even  the  three  days  of 
feasting  at  the  Eskimo  settlement  had  not  restored  the  physical  strength  of 
which  they  had  been  deprived  by  their  course  of  life  at  the  hut;  and,  reduced 
as  they  were  in  flesh,  it  seemed  to  them  scarcely  probable  that  they  could 
make  the  exertion  necessary  to  enable  them  to  rejoin  us. 

"The  Eskimos  sullenly  watched  them  from  the  shore  as  they  moved  off; 
and  when  they  had  gone  about  two  miles,  the  former  hitched  their  teams, 
and,  leaving  the  settlement,  were  soon  in  full  pursuit.  The  wild,  savage  cries 
of  the  men,  and  the  sharp  snarl  of  the  dogs,  sounded  upon  the  ears  of  our 
poor  comrades  like  a  death-knell.  In  their  previous  anxieties,  they  had  not 
looked  forward  to  this  new  danger.  The  ice-plain  was  everywhere  smooth; 
there  was  not  in  sight,  for  their  encouragement,  a  single  hummock  behind 
which  they  might  hope  to  shelter  themselves. 

"On  came  the  noisy  pack, — half  a  hundred  wolfish  dogs.  Against  such 
an  onset,  what  could  be  done  by  two  weak  men,  armed  with  a  single  rifle? 


398  FURTHER  EXPERIENCES  OF  DR.  HAYES 

The  dogs  and  the  harpoons  of  their  drivers  must  soon  finish  the  murderous 
work.  Petersen  was,  however,  resolved  that  Sip-su  or  Kalutunah  should 
pay  the  penalty  of  his  treachery,  if  at  any  moment  within  range  of  the  rifle." 

It  proved,  however,  that  the  Eskimos  were  not  brave  enough  to  make  the 
assault,  so  Petersen  and  Godfrey  escaped. 

Later,  Dr.  Hayes  writes: 

"November  loth.  Again  the  Eskimos  appear  to  us  more  as  our  goo<l 
angels  than  as  our  enemies.  Under  extraordinary  temptation,  and,  doubt- 
less, at  the  evil  instigation  of  a  bad  leader,  these  poor  savages  had  proposed 
the  death  of  Petersen  and  his  companion ;  but  this  day  two  of  them,  Kalutunah 
and  another  hunter,  came  to  us,  and  threw  at  our  feet  a  large  piece  of  walrus- 
beef  and  a  piece  of  liver.  The  latter  was  not  yet  frozen ;  and  the  animal  from 
which  it  was  taken  had,  therefore,  been  recently  caught. 

"We  were  talking  about  them,  in  no  spirit  of  love,  when  they  arrived; 
and,  as  they  came  up  the  hill,  various  were  the  expressions  of  opinion  as  to 
what  ought  to  be  done  with  them.  One  said  that  we  should  detain  them, 
and  hold  them  as  hostages  until  their  people  should  have  performed  their 
promises ;  and  that  their  dogs  should  be  seized,  and  used  in  the  interval ;  but, 
apart  from  any  consideration  of  justice,  such  a  proceeding  would  scarcely 
have  been  safe.  Another  hinted  that  fourteen  dogs  would  save  us  from 
starvation;  for,  if  we  should  not  succeed  with  them  in  the  hunt,  we  could 
kill  and  eat  them.  Again,  apart  from  any  question  how  far  our  necessities 
overruled  the  old  law  of  meum  and  tuuni,  it  was  certain  that  such  a  step, 
whatever  its  immediate  advantages,  would  bring  us  ultimately  into  open, 
and  probably,  to  our  party,  fatal  hostility  with  the  entire  tribe.  Perhaps,  as 
the  present  of  food  seemed  to  indicate,  we  had  not  exhausted  all  of  our  means 
of  negotiation;  and,  until  driven  to  the  last  resort,  we  could  not  justifiably 
use  the  strong  hand  upon  our  neighbors'  property.  Great  allowances  were 
obviously  to  be  made  for  the  tribe,  upon  whom  we  had  no  claims  except  upon 
grounds  of  humanity  too  general  for  their  uninstructed  minds." 

It  was  through  these  savages  that  Dr.  Hayes  and  his  comrades  v/ere  able 
at  last  to  return  to  the  ship,  for  the  food  they  furnished  made  new  men  of 
the  party.     They  started  back  late  in  November. 

"Our  movements,"  says  Dr.  Hayes,  "were  like  those  of  men  returning 
from  a  long  journey  rather  than  beginning  one.  The  insuflficient  food  upon 
which  we  had  been  subsisting  during  the  last  few  days,  had  so  much  reduced 
us  that,  at  the  end  of  the  first  hour,  many  of  us  were  more  fatigued  than  we 


FURTHER  EXPERIENCES  OF  DR,  HAYES  399 

had  been,  on  former  occasions  of  similar  labor,  at  the  end  of  a  day.  Our 
progress,  slow  at  the  beginning,  became  slower  every  moment.  The  exercise 
did  not  warm  us  as  it  had  done  when  we  were  in  more  vigorous  health ;  and 
we  grew  chilly  in  spite  of  our  exertions.  Face,  hands,  and  feet  seemed  to  be 
pierced  by  a  multitude  of  torturing  needles.  The  frost  penetrated  our  bodies 
as  if  they  had  been  inanimate;  and  the  blood  which  coursed  through  our 
veins  felt  almost  as  if  it  were  half  congealed.  Against  the  intense  cold  our 
imperfect  clothing  offered  a  very  inadequate  shield.  The  thermometer,  when 
we  left  the  hut,  indicated  forty-four  degrees  below  zero.  The  air  was  fortu- 
nately quite  calm;  and  the  moon,  shining  with  an  intensity  which  it  can 
exhibit  only  in  an  Arctic  atmosphere,  gave  us  sufficient  light.  The  snow- 
crowned  mountains  of  Northumberland  Island  were  dimly  visible  above  the 
northern  horizon.  These  were  the  distant,  uninviting  landmarks  towards 
which  our  steps  were  directed." 

Before  they  had  gone  far,  one  of  the  party,  named  Stephenson,  became 
ill.  "In  view  of  this  fact  it  was  decided,  without  much  delay,  that  we  should 
return  in  a  body  to  the  hut,  and  fall  back  upon  our  original  plan  of  sending 
Petersen  and  Bonsall  with  the  sledge.  Several  of  us  were  already  severely 
nipped  by  the  frost;  and  all  felt  themselves  to  be  losing  rapidly  what  little 
strength  they  had. 

"The  cargo  was  re-stowed;  the  invalid,  wrapped  in  blankets,  was  placed 
upon  it;  and  our  melancholy  faces  were  turned  southward,  toward  our  only 
shelter.  Poor  as  this  refuge  had  always  been,  it  was  now  worse  than  ever. 
A  pile  of  frozen  sods  and  snow  was  heaped  upon  the  floor,  and  the  cold  air 
was  streaming  in  through  the  orifice  from  which  these  had  been  taken. 

"We  reached  it — how  or  when  I  doubt  if  any  one  of  us  distinctly  remem- 
bers. I  have  often  tried  to  bring  to  recollection  some  phenomenon  which 
would  indicate  the  period  of  the  day.  I  cannot  even  remember  the  direction 
of  the  shadows  which  our  bodies  cast  upon  the  moon-lit  snow.  I  know  that 
we  did  not  all  arrive  together.  As  we  moyed  slowly  forward,  first  one,  and 
then  another,  and  another  of  the  party  fell  behind;  and  it  was  at  least  an 
hour  after  the  sledge  had  reached  the  hut  before  the  last  one,  no  longer  able 
to  stand  upright,  came  crawling  over  the  plain,  upon  his  hands  and  knees. 
More  than  one  of  us  thus  finished  the  journey;  and  it  has  always  appeared  to 
me  as  a  remarkable  exhibition  of  the  instinct  of  life  that  we  toiled  on  in  our 
stupefied  unconsciousness  even  of  danger.  Stephenson's  fainting  fit  evi- 
dently saved  us;  for,  had  we  gone  two  miles  farther  and  then  turned  back. 


400  FURTHER  EXPERIENCES  OF  DR.  HAYES 

or  had  we  still  goxie  forward,  there  was  perhaps  not  one  o£  us  who  would 
not,  unconscious  of  the  risk,  have  stopped  by  the  way  for  a  short  nap,  through 
which  we  would  have  passed  into  the  sleep  which  knows  no  waking. 

"We  had  just  sense  enough  left  to  enable  us  to  appreciate  each  other's 
wants,  and  to  give  assistance,  the  stronger  to  the  weaker;  to  close  up  tem- 
porarily the  hole  in  the  roof;  to  carry  in  our  frosted  blankets,  and  to  spread 
them  upon  the  breck  underneath  those  which  we  had  left  behind.  We  knew 
when  we  awoke  next  day  that  these  things  had  been  done;  but  none  of  us 
retained  more  than  the  most  vague  impression  as  to  the  manner  of  their 
execution.  The  intense  cold,  operating  upon  our  feeble  and  overtaxed  bodies, 
had  made  wild  work  with  our  mental  faculties. 

"We  lay  down  in  the  darkness ;  and,  through  hours  uncounted,  slept  and 
shivered  away  the  effects  of  our  unfortunate  journey." 

The  next  start  was  made  with  better  sledges  and  dogs,  and  was  suc- 
cessful.    They  reached  the  ship,  badly  frost-bitten  and  almost  dead. 

"We  were  soon  upon  the  land-ice  under  Cape  Grinnell.  The  dogs,  ex- 
cited by  the  unceasing  cracking  of  the  merciless  whips,  galloped  at  the  top 
of  their  speed.     It  was  a  race  of  life  and  death. 

"The  hull  of  the  dismantled  brig  at  length  burst  into  view;  and  a  few 
minutes  afterward  we  were  at  its  side.  So  much  were  my  senses  blunted  by 
the  cold  that  I  remember  scarcely  any  incident  of  our  going  on  board,  ex- 
cept that  Dr.  Kane  met  us  at  the  gangway,  and,  grasping  me  warmly  by  the 
hand,  led  us  into  the  fireless,  frost-coated  cabin.  It  was  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  and  all  hands  except  the  v/atch  were  sleeping.  Ohlsen  was  the  first 
to  catch  the  sound  of  our  coming;  and  springing  from  his  cot  as  I  entered 
the  door,  he  folded  me  in  his  arms ;  and,  after  kissing  me  with  Scandinavian 
heartiness,  he  threw  me  into  the  warm  bed  which  he  had  just  vacated." 

And  so  ended  one  of  the  most  desperate  of  the  ventures  made  in  the  land 
conquered  by  Cook  and  Peary. 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

ARCTIC  AND  ANTARCTIC  REGIONS. 

The  Polar  Regions  extend  respectively  from  the  Arctic  and  Antarctic 
circles,  in  66°  32'  N.  and  S.,  to  the  north  and  south  poles,  the  circles  being 
1,408  geographical  miles  from  the  poles.  The  intense  cold  and  the  difficul- 
ties of  ice  navigation  have  made  the  discovery  and  examination  of  these 
regions  a  slow  and  hazardous  task.  Millions  of  square  miles  are  still  entirely 
unknown.  Notwithstanding,  the  discovery  of  the  North  Pole  by  Cook  and 
Peary,  this  vast  area  must  still  remain  unexplored. 

The  Arctic  circle  is  a  ring  running  a  little  south  of  the  northern  shores 
of  America,  Asia  and  Europe,  so  that  those  shores  form  a  fringe  within  the 
Polar  Regions,  and  are  its  boundary  to  the  south,  except  that  three  openings 
— those  of  the  North  Atlantic,  of  Davis  Strait,  and  of  Bering's  Strait. 

The  width  of  the  approach  to  this  region  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean  in  its 
narrowest  part  is  660  miles,  from  the  Norwegian  Islands  of  Lofoten  to  Cape 
Hodgson,  on  the  east  coast  of  Greenland.  The  width  of  the  approach  by 
Davis  Strait  in  the  narrowest  part,  which  is  nearly  on  the  Arctic  circle,  is 
165  miles;  and  the  width  of  Bering  Strait  is  45  miles.  Thus  out  of  the  whole 
ring  of  8,640  miles  along  which  the  Arctic  circle  passes  about  900  miles  is 
over  water. 

The  South  Polar  Region,  unlike  the  northern  region,  is  almost  covered 
by  'Ocean,  and  the  only  extensive  land  being  far  to  the  south.  It  was  of 
course  entirely  unknown  to  the  ancients  and  to  the  early  navigators  of  modern 
Europe,  although  a  theory  prevailed  among  geographers  that  a  great  conti- 
nent existed  around  the  South  Pole;  the  "Terra  Australis  Incognito."  It  is 
believed  that  the  Antarctic  Regions  will  be  very  much  more  difficult  to  explore 
than  the  Arctic  Regions. 

THE  HEMISPHERE. 

The  Hemisphere  is  one  of  the  halves  into  which  the  earth  may  be  sup- 
posed to  be  divided.    It  is  common  to  speak  of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere  and 

401 


402  ARCTIC  AND  ANTARCTIC  REGIONS 

the  Western  Hemisphere,  the  former,  also  called  the  Old  World,  comprising 
Europe,  Asia,  Africa  and  Australia,  the  latter,  North  and  South  America. 
The  boundary  between  the  two  is  quite  arbitrary,  and  a  more  natural 
division  of  the  earth  is  into  the  North  and  Southern  Hemisphere,  the  divid- 
ing line  being  the  equator. 

THE  EQUATOR. 

The  Equator  is  the  great  circle  of  our  globe  every  point  of  which  is  90° 
from  the  poles.  All  places  which  are  on  it  have  invariably  equal  days  and 
nights.  From  this  circle  is  reckoned  the  latitude  of  places  both  north  and 
south.  There  is  also  a  corresponding  celestial  equator  in  the  plane  of  the 
terrestrial,  an  imaginary  great  circle  in  the  heavens  the  plane  of  which  is 
perpendicular  to  the  axis  of  the  earth.  It  is  everywhere  90°  distant  from 
the  celestial  poles,  which  coincide  with  the  extremities  of  the  earth's  axis, 
supposed  to  be  produced  to  meet  the  heavens.  During  the  apparent  yearly 
course  the  sun  is  twice  in  the  celestial,  and  vertically  over  the  terrestrial 
equator,  at  the  beginning  of  spring  and  of  autumn.  Then  the  day  and  night 
are  equal  all  over  the  earth,  whence  the  name  equinox.  The  magnetic  equator 
is  a  line  which  pretty  nearly  coincides  with  the  geographical  equator,  and  at 
every  point  of  which  the  vertical  component  of  the  earth's  magnetic  attraction 
is  zero ;  that  is  to  say,  a  dipping  needle  carried  along  the  magnetic  equator 
remains  horizontal.    It  is  hence  also  called  the  aclinic  line. 

MERIDIANS. 

Greenwich  is  within  a  few  miles  of  London,  England,  and  a  great  astro- 
nomical observatory  is  located  there.  Time  in  all  parts  of  the  world  is  meas- 
ured according  to  meridian  east  or  west  of  Greenwich.  There  are  in  all  180 
meridians  east  and  180  meridians  west  of  Greenwich,  total  360.  It  is  plain 
then  that  the  meridians  begin  to  number  in  both  directions  from  Greenwich. 

The  Meridian  of  Greenwich  extends  half  way  around  the  world  from 
the  North  Pole  to  the  South  Pole.  Beyond  the  poles,  however,  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  world  from  that  covered  by  the  Meridian  of  Greenwich,  it  is 
the  i8oth  meridian,  alro  extending  from  pole  to  pole;  the  Meridian  of  Green- 
wich and  the  i8oth  meridian  being  the  exact  antipodes  of  each  other. 

Since  the  earth's  rotation  around  the  sun  makes  the  sun  pass  15  meridians 
each  hour,  if  you  will  divide  the  total  number  of  meridians,  360,  by  15,  you 
have  24,  the  number  of  hours  in  a  day.    Roughly  speaking,  the  180th  meridian 


ARCTIC  AND  ANTARCTIC  REGIONS  403 

is  midway  between  San  Francisco  and  Manila.  Approximately  there  are  i6o 
meridians  between  New  York  City  and  Manila  via  San  Francisco,  so  there 
would  be  200  meridians  between  the  two  places  via  Europe  and  Asia.  Di- 
vide 200  by  1 5  as  explained  above  and  you  have  the  difference  in  time  between 
Manila  and  New  York,  which  would  be  13  hours,  and  20  minutes. 

LATITUDE.* 

Latitude,  in  geography,  the  distance  of  any  place  on  the  globe  north  or 
south  of  the  equator  measured  on  its  meridian.  It  is  called  north  or  south 
according  as  the  place  is  on  the  north  or  south  of  the  equator.  The  highest 
or  greatest  latitude  is  90°,  that  is,  at  the  poles ;  the  lowest  or  smallest  o,  at  the 
equator,  between  which  and  the  poles  are  the  parallel  circles,  called  parallels 
of  latitude.  One  method  of  finding  the  latitude  of  a  place  is  by  measuring  the 
altitude  of  the  pole-star.  When  the  latitude  and  longitude  of  a  place  are 
given  its  position  on  a  map  is  easily  found. 

HOW  A  DAY  IS  LOST  OR  GAINED. 

One  difficulty  that  may  lie  in  a  matter  apparently  so  simple  as  the 
reckoning  of  the  days  of  the  week  is  well  shown  in  one  of  Poe's  stories.  The 
obdurate  father  of  the  maiden — evidently  with  the  Greek  calends  in  mind — 
promises  to  give  her  to  the  objectionable  swain  when  three  Sundays  occurred 
in  one  week.  To  his  consternation,  and  the  joy  of  the  lovers,  this  seemingly 
impossible  event  indubitably  happened  when  two  sea-captains  appeared  to- 
gether upon  the  scene  who  had  circumnavigated  the  globe  in  opposite  direc- 
tions. As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  bit  of  fiction  represents  what  is  taking  place 
every  day  in  the  year,  and  must  continue  to  occur  as  long  as  our  present 
method  of  reckoning  time  is  retained.  And  the  reason  for  this  is  simple  and 
familiar.  The  civil  day  begins  and  ends  at  midnight,  but  for  convenience 
of  explanation  let  us  assume  (as  in  the  practice  of  astronomers)  that  the  day 
begins  at  noon  and  ends  at  the  following  noon.  It  is  clear  that  the  interval 
of  time  between  two  successive  noons  will  be,  for  us,  twenty-four  hours  (or 
a  day  as  measured  by  one  complete  rotation  of  the  earth)  only  when  we 
remain  on  the  same  meridian.  For  if  at  noon  on  the  beginning  of  Monday 
we  move,  say,  over  a  space  of  fifteen  degrees  toward  the  east,  it  is  obvious 
that  when  the  sun  again  stands  at  noon,  for  us,  only  twenty-three  hours  will 
have  lapsed,  since  we  shall  have  accomplished  one  twenty-fourth  of  his 
journey  for  him;  that  is,  Tuesday,  will  begin,  for  us,  one  hour  too  soon. 


404  ARCTIC  AND  ANTARCTIC  REGIONS 

Similarly,  if  we  repeat  this  eastward  movement,  Wednesday  will  begin  two 
hours  too  soon;  and  so  on,  until,  when  our  starting  point  is  reached,  we  shall, 
in  count  of  days,  be  just  twenty-four  hours  ahead  in  our  reckoning.  The 
result  will  be  that,  instead  of  ending  the  journey  in  twenty-four  days  (as  we 
seem  to  do)  and  on  a  Wednesday,  we  shall  actually  complete  it  in  twenty- 
three  days,  and  on  Tuesday.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we  move  westward  in 
this  way  the  reverse  will  happen;  our  da3^s,  as  measured  from  noon  to  noon, 
will  be  twenty-five  hours  long,  and  we  shall  actually  complete  the  trip  in 
twenty-five  days  and  on  Thursday.  For  the  stay-at-home,  and  for  travelers 
returning  thus  from  the  east  and  from  the  west,  there  will,  accordingly,  if 
no  correction  is  made  in  the  reckoning,  be  for  each  day  three  distinct  dates, 
each  perfectly  correct  by  diary  or  log;  and  each  day  of  the  week,  not  Sun- 
day simply,  will  be  repeated  thrice. 

EASTWARD  AND  WESTWARD  CURRENTS  OF  CIVILIZATION 

MEET. 

This  shifting  of  dates  is,  of  course,  the  same  in  the  end  whether  the 
journey  about  the  earth  be  made  in  a  month  or  in  a  thousand  years;  and,  in 
reality,  it  has  become  of  practical  interest  principally  in  connection  with  move- 
ments of  population  which  have  extended  through  centuries.  From  Europe 
as  a  center  the  leaders  of  modern  exploration  advanced  toward  both  the  west 
and  the  east;  and  in  their  footsteps  colonists  have  followed  establishing  new 
centers  of  civilization,  whose  commercial  intercourse  with  Europe  has  in 
general  been  maintained  along  the  routes  of  the  earliest  exodus.  But  the 
colonists  carried  their  European  dates  with  them;  and  it  has  thus  happened 
that  at  all  the  points — chiefly  in  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean — where  the 
eastward  has  met  the  westward  current  of  colonization  and  commerce,  there 
has  arisen  a  conflict  of  dates  identical  with  that  just  explained.  On  the  one 
hand  lies  regions  where  the  time  reckoning  has  lagged  behind;  on  the  other, 
regions  where  it  has  shot  ahead.  An  imaginary  line  drawn  upon  the  surface 
of  the  globe  separating  the  regions  where  this  difference  in  dates  prevails  is 
a  date-line;  and  It  is  clear  that  the  difference  of  reckoning  marked  by  each 
line  is,  in  general,  one  day,  for  when  two  circumnavigators,  starting  in  oppo- 
site directions  from  one  place,  meet  one  another  In  the  journey,  one  will  have 
lost  just  that  part  of  a  day  which  the  other  has  not  yet  gained.  On  the 
eastern  side  of  the  line,  namely,  the  date  will  be  one  day  earlier  than  on  the 
western  side ;  that  is,  if  it  is  Sunday  on  the  former  it  will  be  Monday  on  the 


ARCTIC  AND  ANTARCTIC  REGIONS  405 

latter.  It  is  characteristic,  also,  on  such  a  line  that  if  on  crossing  it  from  the 
west  a  day  is  added  to  the  reckoning,  or  on  crossing  it  from  the  east  a  day 
is  omitted,  the  shifting  of  the  dates  will  be  corrected.  This  correction  is  a 
common  item  in  the  diaries  of  travelers  and  the  log-books  of  mariners. 

Lives  Lost  in   Polar  Explorations. 

The  followmg  is  a  complete  and  accurate  list  of  the  deaths  among  members 
of  the  parties  of  polar  travelers: 

Year.       Explorer.                         Lost.  Cause  of  Death. 

1553 — Sir  Hugh  Willoughby 62 cold  and  starvation 

1554 — Richard  Cancellor 8 cold  and  starvation 

1578 — Sir  Martin  Frobisher 40 cold,  starvation,  drowning 

1585 — Capt.  Davis 14 cold 

1594 — Barents    35 starvation,  drowning,  scurvy 

1606 — John  Knight 3 cold 

1607 — Henry  Hudson 10 cold,  scurvy 

1612 — Sir  Thomas  Button 14 cold 

1619 — Jens  Munk 62 .  , .  .cold,  starvation,  scurvy,  drowning 

1631 — Thomas  James 14 cold 

1633 — Isle  of  Jan  Mayen  settlers.      7 cold,  starvation 

1634 — Isle  of  Jan  Mayen  settlers.     7 cold,  starvation 

1648 — Deshneff 70 starvation,  drqwning,  cold 

1719 — James  Knight 50 starvation,  drowning,  cold 

1728 — Bering 10 cold,  drowning 

1735 — Pronchistcheff 2 cold 

1735 — Lassinius 53 scurvy,  starvation,  cold 

1739 — Charlton  Laptier 12 cold,  starvation 

1742 — Bering 31 starvation,  cold,  scurvy 

1773 — Lord  Mulgrave 8 cold  and  starvation 

1776 — Capt.  Cook 4 drowning 

1818 — Parry,  first  voyage i cold 

1819 — Franklin,  first  voyage 2 accident 

1821 — Parry,  second  voyage 7 cold 

1825 — Franklin,  second  voyage ...     4. cold 

1829 — John  Ross 4 cold  and  starvation 

1838 — Pease  and  Simpson 5 cold 


406  ARCTIC  AND  ANTARCTIC  REGIONS 

Year.       Explorer.                          Lost.  Cause  of  Death. 

1845 — Franklin,  third  voyage.  ...135 starvation,  scurvy,  exposure 

1848 — J.  C.  Ross,  search  expedition     i unknown 

1849 — North  Star  expedition 5 cold,  starvation 

1849 — Plover  and  Herald 3 cold,  starvation 

1853 — Rae 6 cold,  starvation 

1853 — Kane  expedition 3 accident,  cold 

i860 — Isaac  Hayes   i cold 

i860 — Hall,  first  voyage 2 cold 

1864 — Hall,  second  voyage 3 cold 

1870— Hall,  last  voyage 2 cold  and  starvation 

1872 — Pegetthoff 2 cold 

1872 — B.  Leigh  Smith 2 cold 

1875 — English  expedition 4 cold 

1878 — Jeanette  (De  Long) 23 starvation,  cold,  scurvy 

1881 — Greely    20 starvation 

1896 — Andree  (balloon)   3 unknown 

1900 — Abruzzi    2 cold 

1908 — Cook none 

1909 — Peary 1 drowning 

Total   756 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

REMARKABLE  DISCOVERIES  OF  A  YOUNG  ARMY 

OFFICER. 

While  all  the  world  knows  of  the  discovery  of  the  north  pole,  not  one 
person  in  10,000,  it  is  safe  to  say,  knows  that  in  1899  a  young  American 
army  ojEficer,  acting  under  orders  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  proceeded  to 
Alaska,  where  he  made  a  tour  of  exploration  that  resulted  in  the  discovery  of 
a  safe  overland  route  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  the  golden-laden  fields  of 
the  Nome  country. 

Not  only  did  this  officer  discover  the  wonderful  natural  roadway  through 
the  Alaskan  Mountains  known  as  Simpson  Pass,  but  he  also  discovered  the 
second  highest  peak  in  Alaska,  and  he  brought  back  to  Washington  the  best 
description  of  the  Alaskan  country  and  some  of  the  finest  maps  ever  made  of 
that  far  northern  country. 

The  man  who  did  all  this  and  the  record  of  whose  achievements  have  been 
filed  away  in  the  archives  of  the  War  Department  all  these  years  is  Captain 
Joseph  H.  Herron  of  the  Second  United  States  Cavalry,  now  adjutant  of  the 
United  States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point. 

EXPLORER  STILL  IN  HIS  THIRTIES. 

Captain  Herron,  who  was  a  young  lieutenant  not  long  out  of  West  Point 
when  he  made  his  wonderful  journey  of  exploration,  never  refers  to  his 
achievements  in  Alaska,  and  were  it  ftot  for  the  fact  that  a  few  copies  of  the 
report  were  ordered  printed  for  the  use  of  the  United  States  Senate,  this 
story  could  not  be  told,  for  Herron  would  never  tell  it — at  least  for  publica- 
tion. 

The  route  to  the  Yukon  and  Nome  countries  explored  and  mapped  out  by 
Captain  Herron  is  officially  recorded  in  the  War  Department  as  the  "All 
American  Overland  Route  From  Cook  Inlet,  Pacifix  Ocean,  to  the  Yukon." 

The  route  follows  the  Yentna  and  Keechatno  rivers,  and  breaks  through 
the  To-Toy-Lon  Mountains  in  the  Fleischmann  glacier  region  of  the  Tateno 

407 


408  DISCOVERIES  OF  ARMY  OFFICER 

River  country.     This  break  is  known  as  Simpson  Pass,  and  is  the  gateway 
that  leads  to  the  gold  fields  beyond. 

"This  report,"  Captain  Herron  said  in  his  official  report  of  his  expedition, 
"represents  the  earnest  efforts  of  a  small  party  in  unknown  regions,  against 
extraordinary  obstacles,  deserted  by  guides,  caught  by  winter,  deprived  of 
transportation,  and  hampered  by  scarcity  of  food. 

COMMENDS  AIDS  IN  HIS  TRIP. 

"I  take  pleasure  in  commending  to  the  adjutant  general  the  men  of  my 
expedition.  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  Henry  R.  Carter,  U.  S.  A.,  a  young 
physician  of  ability  and  attainments,  who,  in  addition  to  conscientious  pro- 
fessional work,  did  duty  at  all  other  tasks  assigned  to  him  with  pluck,  zeal 
and  energy,  and  contributed  much  to  the  success  of  the  expedition.  Privates 
Sam  L.  Jones  and  Gilbert  Dillinger,  Fourteenth  United  States  Infantry, 
proved  themselves  on  every  occasion  magnificent  soldiers  in  every  respect. 
Packers  E.  M.  Webster  and  George  Brown  contributed  greatly  to  the  success 
of  the  expedition  by  their  ability  as  horsemen  and  packers,  as  well  as  by  their 
faithful,  energetic  and  intrepid  services  throughout." 

The  explorations  that  were  to  result  in  the  discovery  of  the  overland 
route  started  at  noon  on  June  30,  1899,  at  which  time  Captain  Herron,  in 
his  report,  says  that  "the  steamboat  left  us,  six  white  men  and  two  red  men, 
camped  in  a  fringe  of  alder  and  spruce  timber  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
Keechatno  Piver.  The  fifteen  pack  horses  were  fed  their  last  ration  of  oats, 
and  over  3,000  pounds  of  our  rations  and  impedimenta  were  piled  up  on  the 


ground.' 


RECITES  HARDSHIPS  OF  TRAVEL. 


The  country  where  the  route  begins  Captain  Herron  describes  as  wild  and 
overgrown;  one  that  exacted  from  those  in  the  expedition  extraordinary 
labor  at  every  step. 

During  the  summer  months.  Captain  Herron  briefly  recites,  the  daily 
routine  of  his  command  was  "a  reconnoissance  for  the  best  route  for  the  day's 
march;  a  search  for  fords,  crossings,  detours  around  or  passages  through 
ravines,  swamps  and  other  obstacles;  the  construction  of  a  pack-train  trail 
by  chopping  out  timber  and  brush  in  dense  forests,  blazing  in  open  forests  and 
corduroying  in  soft  mud  and  tundras;  fording  or  swimming  the  pack  train 
over  the  rivers;  the  building  of  spar  bridges  where  mud-bottom  creeks  inter- 


DISCOVERIES  OF  ARMY  OFFICER  409 

posed  which  were  too  shallow  to  swim,  too  deep  to  corduroy,  too  soft-bot- 
tomed to  ford  and  too  wide  to  jump ;  investigation  for  wood,  water,  grass,  and, 
if  possible,  a  breezy  location  for  camp,  wind,  as  an  additional  requisite,  mini- 
mizing the  mosquitoes,  gnats,  horseflies  and  mooseflies." 

"The  first  object,"  the  Herron  official  report  states,  "was  to  get  through 
the  Alaskan  Range,  a  mass  of  enormous  peaks  and  glaciers  about  seventy 
miles  wide,  extending  across  Alaska  and  constituting  the  chief  barrier  to  the 
interior,    I  consumed  the  month  of  July  exploring  through  these  mountains. 


MARCH  THROUGH  DENSE  TIMBER. 

"The  first  day's  march — forty-three  miles — was  through  dense  timber 
and  over  soft  ground.  The  packs  were  heavy,  the  lash  ropes  stiff,  and  the 
horses  frolicsome.  The  transportation  stampeded  back  on  the  trail  at  every 
opportunity,  raced  through  the  woods,  knocked  off  packs,  plunged  into  mud 
holes,  bogged  down,  and  it  required  eleven  hours  of  patient  toil  to  make  that 
short  march." 

After  this  day's  march  and  until  July  lo,  Captain  Herron  reported  good 
luck.  He  was  then  nearing  the  To-Toy-Lon  Mountains,  and  though  he  did 
not  then  know  it,  Simpson  Pass,  was  not  far  away.  The  Indian  guides,  who 
were  later  to  desert  him,  told  him  on  that  day  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
get  his  horse  over  the  mountains,  that  the  pass  was  over  vertical  rock  cliffs, 
and  that  when  the  Indians  crossed  they  had  to  use  their  hands  in  climbing 
over.  In  the  six  days  that  followed  Captain  Herron  discovered  the  entrance 
to  the  pass. 

"During  the  following  six  days,"  he  writes,  "the  Indians  informed  me 
that  they  'saveyed'  (knew)  the  country  no  further.  I  proposed  climbing  to 
the  top  of  the  mountains  for  a  reconnoissance,  and  devoted  the  afternoon  of 
the  1 6th  to  doing  so.  The  Indians  still  wanted  to  go  back,  repeatedly  warned 
me  'one  month  snow,'  and  made  efforts  each  day  to  persuade  me  to  abandon 
the  trip. 

POUNDED  ON  ROCKS  IN  RIVER. 

"July  17  I  went  into  camp  after  a  short  day's  march  to  make  a  fire  and 
warm  up  Carter,  who,  in  fording  the  Keechatno  River,  was  knocked  down, 
carried  off  and  pounded  on  the  rocks  by  the  swift  current.  The  Indian 
Stepan  rescued  him  from  a  disagreeable  situation.     We  were  nearing  the 


410  DISCOVERIES  OF  ARMY  OFFICER 

head  waters  of  the  Keechatno  when,  on  the  19th,  the  monotony  was  relieved 
by  the  discovery  of  the  pass  over  the  divide. 

"The  formation,  locaHty  and  game  trails  of  antiquity  all  indicated  that 
I  had  found  the  pass  I  sought.  I  asked  my  Indians  for  their  opinion,  but  I 
received  a  reply  of  'No  savey.'  I  camped  in  the  last  clump  of  trees,  our 
elevation  now  being  at  the  timber  line,  and  prepared  to  reconnoiter  the  pass. 

"Stepan  shot,  about  a  mile  from  this  camp,  a  huge  bull  moose.  The  animal 
was  not  far  from  twenty  hands  high  and  very  fat,  the  antlers  in  velvet  state. 
The  fresh  meat  was  welcome  after  a  diet  of  bacon.  The  Indians  consider  the 
soft  outer  edge  of  the  horns  a  great  delicacy,  likewise  the  nose,  the  sole  of 
the  hoof,  the  intestines  and  the  marrow  of  the  bones. 

"Leaving  three  men  and  the  horses  at  camp,  I  took  the  Indians  and 
Dillinger  and  explored  the  pass  for  nearly  ten  miles,  found  it  wide  through- 
out, of  slight  grade,  safe  from  snowslides,  free  from  glaciers,  the  elevation  on 
the  crest  taken  with  barometer  and  psychrometer  3,600  feet  above  sea  level, 
and  practicable  for  trails,  roads  or  railroads.  There  was  no  need  for  the 
pick  or  shovels. 

ATTACK  ON  TWO  GRIZZLY  BEARS. 

"While  in  this  pass  I  came  upon  two  enormous  brown  bears,  asleep 
(sometimes  called  the  glacier  bear,  or  the  grizzly).  Led  by  the  Indian  Slinkta, 
I  crawled  around  to  the  leeward  and  then  approached  them,  too  near,  I 
thought  to  myself,  as  I  had  a  poor  gun,  only  a  few  cartridges,  and  the  nearest 
tree  was  five  miles  away.  Slinkta  whistled  and  awoke  the  bears,  while  I 
fired  and  shot  the  larger  one  in  the  head,  but  only  staggered  him.  He  arose 
and  passed  a  swinging  right  hander  at  the  other  bear,  but  missed  him.  They 
got  away. 

"The  same  day  Jones  and  Webster  were  chased  by  a  brown  bear,  near  the 
glacier  at  the  head  of  the  Keechatno,  Four  or  five  shots  in  the  bear  turned 
him,  but  did  not  kill  him.     He  took  to  the  brush. 

"The  22d  of  July  I  crossed  the  crest  of  the  divide  and  started  down  the 
other  side  of  the  watershed.  East  of  the  divide  the  drainage  is  into  the 
Pacific  Ocean ;  west  of  it  into  the  Bering  Sea.  Bering  Sea  is  closed  by  ice  in 
winter,  while  the  Pacific  Ocean  is  open.  Hence  routes  into  the  interior  must 
connect  with  the  latter. 

"In  the  vicinity  of  camp,  July  23,  on  the  Tateno,  were  hundreds  of  moun- 
tain sheep,  high  up  near  the  summits.  Jones,  Carter  and  Slinkta  climbed  the 


DISCOVERIES  OF  ARMY  OFFICER 


411 


mountains  and  shot  two.  An  enormous  moose  trotted  by  this  camp,  but  we 
were  ah-eady  loaded  down  with  meat  and  let  him  go.  July  26  Carter  and  I 
met  a  black  bear  and  cub;  wounded  the  old  one  and  caught  the  cub,  but  we 
turned  the  little  fellow  loose  the  next  day." 

DESERTED  BY  INDIAN  GUIDES. 

On  July  28  Slinkta  and  Stepan,  Herron's  Indian  guides,  deserted  him, 
and  from  that  time  on  the  exploration  of  the  overland  route  was  made  with- 
out guides,  the  explorers  traveling  by  compass  and  the  sun. 

For  the  first  two  weeks  in  August  the  expedition  had  a  hard  time.  Cap- 
tain Herron  himself  during  that  time  was  injured  when  a  pack  horse  jumped 
and  fell  on  him  in  a  mudhole,  but  he  kept  on.  On  August  25  two  of  his 
horses  v/ere  accidentally  killed,  both  by  snagging,  while  on  September  3  a 
severe  earthquake  further  upset  his  plans. 


From  the  PhiladelDhia  Inquirer 


CAN  DR.  COOK  SILENCE  THE  SKEPTICS? 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK. 

On  September  30  was  held  a  great  military  parade,  one  of  the  largest  ever 
seen  in  America.  Twenty-five  thousand  men  of  arms  marched  past  the 
massed  representatives  and  special  envoys  of  thirty-seven  nations,  while 
2,000,000  citizens,  seated  in  grand  stands  or  standing  along  Fifth  avenue, 
shouted  themselves  hoarse  in  cheers. 

Although  there  were  tremendous  outbursts  for  each  body  of  American 
troops,  and  unstinted  applause  in  overwhelming  volume  for  the  British  sailors, 
the  most  conspicuous  reception  of  the  day  went  to  the  sailors  of  the  German 
fleet,  a  picked  body  of  magnificent  men,  who,  as  they  reached  the  reviewing 
stand,  fell  into  the  formal  slapslap  of  the  parade  goose  step  and  burst  into 
"My  Country,  'Tis  of  Thee,"  with  an  overwhelming  volume  of  brasses  and  a 
fervor  which  took  away  the  breath  of  the  listeners.  , 

The  occupants  of  the  benches  sat  silent  for  a  moment,  and  then,  rising 
bareheaded  to  their  feet,  cheered,  and  cheered,  and  cheered  again,  until  the 
voices  gave  way  and  they  could  only  wave  hats  and  handkerchiefs  in  a  long 
echo  of  applause. 

GREAT  DAY  FOR  WEEHAWKEN,  ETC. 

For  the  first  time  during  the  celebration  all  the  small  towns  within  strik- 
ing distance  of  New  York  suspended  business  today  to  watch  the  parade  of 
the  sailors  and  mariners  of  seven  visiting  nations,  the  regular  soldiers,  the 
blue  jackets,  the  national  guard,  and  the  naval  militia  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  police  of  New  York  City. 

So  many  men  representing  so  many  branches  of  the  war  department  of 
the  world  have  not  boen  seen  on  American  streets  before;  so  many  wearing 
American  colors  have  not  been  seen  since  the  days  of  the  civil  war.  The 
total  count  of  those  in  line  today  outnumbered  the  enlisted  roll  of  the  Ameri- 
can regular  army  before  the  Spanish-American  war.     Forty-four  hundred 

412 


HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK  413 

police  kept  the  crowd  in  line  and  at  the  same  time,  by  a  special  system  of 
platoon  reliefs,  the  regular  and  reserve  force  of  every  precinct  in  the  city  was 
maintained  at  its  full  working  capacity. 

PARADE  IN  ORDER  OF  PRECEDENCE. 

The  parade  followed  strictly  the  order  of  official  precedence.  First  came 
Admiral  Sir  Edward  Seymour's  men,  the  bluejackets  and  marines  of  the 
British  fleet;  then  the  Germans,  and,  following,  the  men  of  the  Netherlands 
and  the  Italian  midshipmen  in  company  front,  with  their  sailors  bringing  up 
the  rear. 

Then  came  the  representatives  of  the  United  States,  the  coast  artillery, 
carrying  the  new  service  Springfields  for  the  first  time;  the  United  States 
Marine  band  of  the  Atlantic  fleet  in  scarlet  and  gold,  with  a  sprinkling  of 
Filipino  musicians  blowing  bravely;  the  marine  corps;  the  sailors  of  the 
various  ships  of  the  fleet  in  division  front;  the  naval  militia;  the  national 
guard;  and,  lastly,  the  drab  garbed  regulars.  The  cadets  of  the  Argentine 
training  ship,  trim  and  youthful,  found  a  place  between  the  American  sailors 
and  the  naval  militia. 

As  if  to  contrast  the  wonders  of  1909  with  those  of  1809 — no  longer 
wonders  now — Wilbur  Wright  and  Glenn  H.  Curtiss,  on  September  28,  made 
sensational  flights  in  their  aeroplanes.  The  former  flew  around  the  Statue 
of  Liberty. 

Miss  Liberty,  on  Bedlow's  Island,  has  seen  maany  ships  from  many  lands 
in  her  time,  and  has  welcomed  all  visitors  with  a  dignified  equanimity  for 
many  years.  She  never  saw  a  ship  of  the  air,  though,  until  that  morning. 
It  was  almost  enough  to  knock  her  off  her  pedestal  for  Wilbur  Wright  to  call 
on  her  in  his  flying  machine. 

It  is  positively  known  that  he  turned  her  head,  because  thousands  of  pairs 
of  eyes  saw  him  do  so.  And  then  he  came  back  to  Governor's  Island  again 
over  the  glittering  waters  of  the  bay.  History  was  made  while  the  spec- 
tators waited. 

The  first  official  visit  to  the  famous  Lady  of  Liberty  and  Light  by  the 
first  aviator  to  show,  mankind  how  it  might  be  liberated  from  the  thraldom 
of  earth  had  been  seen  by  a  multitude. 

It  was  the  second  of  beautiful  exhibitions  of  the  genius  of  Wilbur  Wright, 
believed  by  many  to  be  without  a  peer  in  his  line  in  the  world  today.  The 
first  flight  was  around  the  island,  over  water  at  heights  of  150  to  250  feet, 


414  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 

and  was  begun  at  9:15  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  last  was,  perhaps,  the 
most  daring,  the  machine  fluttering  and  diving  in  a  strong  easterly  wind  like 
a  wounded  seagull,  while  the  setting  sun  was  aglow  with  excitement,  and 
was  begun  at  5  123  p.  m. 

On  this  trip  Mr.  Wright  did  not  fly  high  nor  attempt  to  leave  the  new 
part  of  the  island  used  as  the  aeroplane  starting  field.  But  the  bravery  of  the 
exploit,  the  flashes  the  spectators  saw  of  the  aviator's  rigid  face,  the  tooting 
of  watercraft  whose  wheels  were  stopped  in  midstream,  caused  men,  women 
and  children  visitors  to  the  island  to  cheer  ecstatically.  Officers  and  soldiers 
waved  their  hats,  shouted,  and  clapped  one  another  on  the  back. 

WRIGHT  UNMOVED,  AS  USUAL. 

Mr.  Wright  blinked  the  cobwebs  of  the  sky  from  out  his  eyes,  brushed 
the  cloud  dust  from  his  lapel  and  walked  across  the  darkening  sands  to  his 
shed.  Serene,  modestly  confident,  if  he  took  note  of  the  excitement  that  his 
feat  had  produced  on  land  and  water,  he  smothered  any  reflection  of  it  within 
himself.  He  and  Miss  Liberty  are  both  self-contained  and  immovable.  It  is 
believed  that  he  is  a  man  after  her  own  heart. 

Curtiss  made  a  short  flight  of  about  four  hundred  yards  at  7  a.  m.  He 
slept  the  night  before  on  the  island.  The  machine  had  never  been  tried, 
which  was  also  true  of  Mr.  Wright's  aeroplane,  and  Mr.  Curtiss  did  not 
make  a  further  attempt  yesterday.  The  first  test  indicated  to  him  that  he 
might  do  better  with  a  four-bladed  propeller  instead  of  one  of  two  blades. 
The  former  was  put  in  position,  but  the  machine  was  not  again  taken  out  of 
the  shed. 

Mr.  Wright  arrived  at  the  island  shortly  before  9  o'clock.  The  machine 
was  taken  to  the  center  of  the  sandplot  and  placed,  facing  due  west,  on  the 
monorail.  A  small  crowd  had  assembled.  Mr.  Wright  and  Mr,  Taylor,  his 
chief  mechanician,  turned  the  two  propellers  until  the  motor  caught  the  spark. 
Soldiers  stood  at  a  respectful  distance.  The  aeroplanist,  wearing  his  familiar 
Scotch  plaid  cap,  walked  deliberately  to  the  front  of  the  machine,  listened  a 
moment  to  the  rhythm  of  his  motor,  then  took  his  seat.  At  9:15  o'clock  !he 
machine  was  in  motion,  and  in  an  instant  more  the  aviator  was  soaring. 

Two  circles  were  cut  over  the  starting  grounds,  and  then  he  swung  out 
over  Buttermilk  Channel  to  the  end,  turned  west  at  the  northern  end  of  Gov- 
ernor's Island  and  came  back  to  the  starting  point.  He  completely  circled 
the  island,  having  involuntarily  dipped  a  little  when  saluted  by  the  whistles 


HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK  415 

of  the  tugs,  steamboats  and  factories.  A  distance  of  about  two  miles  was 
covered  in  this  first  flight.  Mr.  Wright  was  in  the  air  seven  minutes  and  ten 
seconds.  The  landing  seemed  a  little  rough,  but  no  damage  was  done.  In 
making  his  last  turn  the  aviator  rose  about  twenty-five  feet  above  Castle  Wil- 
liams.    From  a  little  distance  the  passing  appeared  dangerous. 


A  STARTLED  MISS  LIBERTY. 

Word  was  sent  out  to  the  reporters  that  Mr.  Wright  would  soon  again 
mount  his  paradise  bird  of  the  air.  Each  boat  from  Manhattan  brought  ex- 
cited visitors.  Several  hundred  persons  grew  tense  when,  at  10.17  o'clock, 
the  propellers  were  started,  and  only  a  few  of  the  spectators  knew  that  Mr. 
Wright  meant  to  circle  the  Statue  of  Liberty.  The  weather  conditions  were 
ideal.  A  soft,  steady  breeze  came  from  the  west.  Directly  into  this  the 
aeroplane,  which  is  silver  in  color,  left  the  monorail,  with  the  aviator  in 
charge,  at  10:18:04  o'clock. 

Straight  almost  as  an  arrow  the  wings  of  Wilbur  flew  to  the  Statue  of 
Liberty,  a  mile  and  a  quarter  away.  The  crowd  was  too  engrossed  to  cheer, 
but  stood  tiptoe  instead.  Only  then  was  the  intention  of  the  aviator  pierced 
and  understood  by  all  present.  A  thousand  whistles  seemed  to  make  an- 
nouncement to  the  world  that  there  was  something  new  under  the  sun.  At 
10:19  o'clock  the  flying  machine  was  over  the  sea  wall,  and  the  "total  toot" 
of  the  startled  smokestacks  must  have  reached  the  ear  of  that  immobile  lady, 
the  quest  of  a  great  man. 

As  the  aeroplane  flew  across  the  Upper  Bay  a  seagull,  bewildered  by  the 
noise  of  the  new  intruder,  fluttered  back  and  forth  amid  the  roar  of  the  pro- 
pellers, and  at  last  settled  down  on  the  top  of  a  wave. 

Suddenly  there  appeared  beyond  the  curve  of  Castle  Williams,  the  bow 
of  the  Lusitania,  bound  for  Liverpool.  It  was  as  if  she  had  risen  from  the 
sea  to  give  contrast  to  the  scene.  Her  decks  were  fringed  white  with  flying 
handkerchiefs;  a  cheer  that  sounded  faint  came  floating  across  the  water. 
But  Wilbur  kept  steadily  on  his  virgin  way.  As  an  Irishman  who  was  pres- 
ent, said : 

"Wright  is  now  where  the  hand  of  man  has  never  set  a  foot." 


416  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 

COULD  HAVE  TOUCHED  GODDESS'S  HAND. 

He  would  keep  inviolate  his  appointment  with  Miss  Liberty,  and  at  lO  :22 
o'clock  it  was  that  the  most  unusual  visitor  she  had  ever  received  began  to 
show  her  what  a  man  from  Ohio  could  do  "when  put  to  it." 

It  was  then  he  waltzed  around  her,  his  wing  tips  palpitating  exultantly 
as  he  safely  made  the  turn.  He  went  high  enough  in  the  air  to  touch,  if  he 
had  had  the  time,  the  upraised  hand  of  the  goddess.  He  returned  at  once  to 
the  island,  having  been  away  less  than  five  minutes. 

Miss  Liberty  was  reticent  and  Mr.  Wright  the  same  as  to  what,  if  any, 
pleasantries  were  exchanged,  so  the  truth  may  never  be  known.  But  the 
crowd  on  the  island  was  glad  to  see  him  back,  and,  after  flying  a  half  circle, 
Mr.  Wright  seemed  to  pick  out  a  particular  spot  for  landing,  and  ended  a 
splendid,  graduated  descent  by  almost  swimming  into  the  sand.  There  was 
no  jar;  the  machine  lighted  squarely,  but  when  the  soldiers  were  pulling  the 
aeroplane  back  to  the  monorail  one  of  the  biplanes  was  broken. 

Ferryboats,  a  Sandy  Hook  boat  and  various  nervous  tugs  around  the 
island  stopped  all  progress  during  the  flight. 

Shortly  before  i  o'clock  Mr.  Wright  and  William  J,  Hammer,  secretary 
of  the  aeronautics  committee  of  the  Hudson-Fulton  Commission,  left  the 
island  for  luncheon  at  the  Singer  Building.  Mr.  Wright,  whom  thousands 
at  the  Battery  were  waiting  to  see  in  the  air,  passed  unnoticed  under  his 
tightly  drawn  black  derby  hat  through  the  surging  mob.  In  his  wake,  though 
unconsciously,  were  three  well  fed,  curious  farmers. 

A  BUCOLIC  DISCUSSION. 

"I  tell  you  the  flag  on  the  steeple  is  blowin',  and  that  means  they'll  be 
flyin'  to-day,"  said  one. 

"It's  the  Norwegian  Consul's  flag  that  I  see — over  on  that  tower  there," 
said  No.  2,  pointing  to  the  identical  spot,  near  by,  where  it  was  proper  for 
that  emblem  to  be  exhibited. 

"I  can't  be  seeing  that  far,"  said  the  most  elderly  of  the  three,  pipingly, 
"but  where  is  the  place  for  us  to  get  tickets  for  the  balloon  ascensions?" 

They  were  told  that  Mr.  Wright  expected  to  fly  up  the  Hudson  River  short- 
ly after  3  o'clock.  Old  as  he  was,  the  last  speaker  said  he  would  wait  for  the 
show  to  begin,  and,  his  knees  trembling  with  excitement,  he  started  off  with 
his  companions  in  search  of  a  vantage  point. 


HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK  417 

During  luncheon  Mr.  Wright  was  asked  how  fast  his  machine  was  going 
on'its  way  back  Jrom  Bedlow's  Island. 

"I  made  no  particular  observations,"  he  answered.  "The  wind  was  at  my 
back.     I  was  probably  going  at  the  rate  of  a  little  over  fifty  miles  an  hour." 

"Do  you  expect  to  go  some  distance  up  the  river  this  afternoon?"  he 
was  asked. 

"Oh,  I  think  I  will  make  a  flight  up  the  river — maybe  about  4  o'clock," 
he  said. 

That  was  sufficient  to  arouse  the  visitors  to  the  island  to  the  highest  state 
of  expectation.  Flags  hung  limp  about  the  harbor.  Persons  who  had  never 
seen  a  flying  machine  before  but  had  read  in  newspapers  the  disadvantages 
that  lurk  in  winds  grew  eloquent  in  pointing  out  that  at  last  ideal  conditions 
were  at  hand. 

AND  WRIGHT  ATE  PIE. 

"How  long  will  it  take  Mr.  Wright  to  reach  Albany?"  became  an  oft- 
repeated  question  by  these  enthusiasts,  who  were  most  seriously  in  earnest. 

Meanwhile  Mr.  Wright  sat  calmly  lingering  over  his  favorite  dessert — 
pie — and  the  momentous  concern  of  the  high-keyed  spectators  grew  apace. 

"When  he  says  4  he  means  4,"  maintained  the  faithful. 

He  came  on  time,  but  there  rose  in  a  few  minutes  a  gusty  breeze  of  per- 
haps twelve  miles  velocity  that  made  the  flags  stand  out  straight  to  the  west 
and  caused  the  flight  to  Albany  to  be  omitted  from  casual  talk.  The  wind 
did  not  die  down,  but  became  more  rapid  and  more  uncertain.  When  4:30 
o'clock  came  the  aeroplane  was  seen  to  leave  the  shed.  Oldtimers  at  aero- 
nautic carnivals  here  and  abroad  said:  "He  does  not  mean  to  risk  himself 
in  this  wind." 

Soldiers  were  busy  clearing  the  one  hundred  acres  of  field  of  all  except 
a  dozen  spectators.  Reporters  and  photographers  were  driven  back  to  the 
edge  of  the  sand  plot,  while  other  soldiers  pulled  the  aeroplane  about  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile  to  the  monorail. 

Nothing  further  was  done  until  5:19  o'clock,  when,  to  the  amazement  of 
those  who  understood  what  the  existing  weather  conditions  meant  to  the 
aviator,  and  to  the  delight  of  those  who  didn't,  the  propellers  were  again 
started. 

Wright  was  off  in  another  moment  or  two,  and,  while  not  so  spectacular 
as  his  former  ones,  the  flight  showed  an  ability  to  meet  unwelcome  condition  =; 


418  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 

that  those  who  know  said  marked  the  last  flight  as  one  of  the  great  exhibi- 
tions thus  far  made  in  the  science  of  aviation. 

The  Hudson  celebration  became  more  definitely  linked  with  the  north 
pole  discovery  when,  on  October  i,  Commander  Robert  E.  Peary,  his  wife, 
and  every  member  of  the  crew  that  accompanied  him  on  his  quest  of  the  north 
pole  aboard,  and  the  steamer  Roosevelt,  just  back  from  the  region  of  eternal 
ice,  formed  salient  features  of  a  naval  parade  up  the  lower  Hudson  to  meet 
the  Half  Moon  and  the  Clermont  at  Newburgh, 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peary  arrived  in  New  York  early  from  Portland,  Me.  The 
Roosevelt  was  coming  up  the  harbor  amid  the  salutes  of  other  shipping  when 
the  commander  arrived.  The  Roosevelt's  progress  from  quarantine  to  the 
dock  at  West  Forty-second  street  was  marked  by  a  continuous  blast  of 
whistles.  When  it  came  off  Riverside  drive,  where  the  crowd  was  gathered, 
and  started  on  the  way  up  the  river,  the  salute  was  taken  up  by  thousands  of 
cheering  voices. 

NAVAL  PARADE  CATCHES  THRONG. 

The  naval  parade  was  the  principal  incident  of  the  Hudson-Fulton  cele- 
bration of  the  day  in  so  far  as  Manhattan  was  concerned.  In  Brooklyn  the 
historical  pageant  of  the  previous  Tuesday  was  repeated,  and  there  was 
everywhere  the  usual  expectation  of  aeroplane  flights,  but  the  great  majority 
of  sightseers  flocked  to  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  There  they  saw,  in  addi- 
tion to  Peary's  vessel,  a  great  fleet  of  excursion  steamers,  steam  tugs,  yachts, 
motorboats,  and  other  craft  which  rendezvoused  between  Fort  Lee  and  Spuy- 
ten  Duyvil  and  about  lo  o'clock  fell  into  line  for  the  fifty-mile  journey  to 
Newburgh. 

The  nucleus  of  the  "lower  Hudson"  fleet  that  started  to  meet  the  Half 
Moon  and  Clermont  and  the  other  craft  coming  down  the  river  was  a  squad- 
ron composed  of  one  small  United  States  cruiser,  twelve  torpedo  boats  and 
four  submarines.  The  Castine,  the  parent  boat  of  the  submarine  squadron, 
and  four  other  submarines  acted  as  escort  to  the  Half  Moon  and  Clermont, 
making  twenty-two  American  watships  in  the  demonstration.  The  other 
members  of  the  American  war  fleet  and  the  foreign  men-o'-war  remained 
at  their  anchorages  in  the  Hudson. 

The  Half  Moon  and  the  Clermont  passed  the  night  at  Ossining,  and  had 
a  comparatively  short  run  to  reach  Newburgh. 

Newburgh,  a  quaint  little  city  that  dates  from  early  Dutch  colonial  times, 


HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK  419 

had  prepared  for  the  celebration  of  its  history.  After  the  arrival  of  the  fleet 
there  was  a  street  parade  of  5,000  men,  in  which  the  sailors  and  marines  from 
the  warships  joined.  The  paraders  afterward  were  guests  at  a  big  "shore 
dinner." 

REDSKINS  GREET  HALF  MOON. 

Gov.  Hughes,  the  Hudson-Fulton  commissions  from  up  and  down  the 
river,  members  of  the  legislature,  foreign  and  other  guests  were  welcomed 
by  Mayor  McClung  as  they  went  ashore  at  Newburgh.  Members  of  the 
Waorneck  tribe  of  redmen,  gay  with  paint  and  feathers,  arrived,  sent  out  a 
welcoming  detachment  in  canoes  to  greet  the  Half  Moon,  while  guns  boomed 
a  welcome  from  Palmer's  park. 

During  the  formalities  attending  the  transfer  of  the  Half  Moon  and 
Clermont  to  the  upper  Hudson  commission,  the  sailors  and  marines  of  the 
American  and  foreign  warships  were  landing  further  down  the  river,  to  take 
part  in  the  parade,  one  of  the  features  of  the  day  ashore. 

FEW  AT  DEPOT  TO  MEET  PEARY. 

When  Commander  Peary  stepped  off  a  train  in  the  Grand  Central  station 
at  7:15  a.  m.  on  his  return  to  New  York  from  his  trip  to  the  pole  few  per- 
sons were  at  the  station.  He  and  Mrs.  Peary  were  warmly  greeted  by  Her- 
bert L.  Bridgman,  secretary  of  the  Peary  Arctic  club. 

With  the  laughing  remark  that  he  was  too  hungry  to  talk,  Commander 
Peary  hastened  across  the  street  for  breakfast.  After  breakfast  the  com- 
mander and  Mrs.  Peary  left  in  a  taxicab  for  the  pier  to  board  the  Roosevelt. 

"I  appreciate  the  honor  of  being  in  the  naval  parade,"  said  the  com- 
mander, "and  it  is  an  especial  pleasure  to  be  with  my  crew  on  the  Roosevelt 
on  such  an  occasion." 

While  on  the  pier  Peary  walked  up  and  down  several  minutes  without 
being  recognized  by  200  persons  gathered  there  to  see  the  Roosevelt. 

"How  does  it  feel  to  be  back?"  Peary  was  asked. 

"It  does  not  feel  so  worse — in  the  words  of  Chimmie  Fadden,"  replied 
Peary. 

Then  his  eyes  turned  to  the  Roosevelt.  "She  does  not  look  like  a.  very 
imposing  ship,  does  she?"  he  said.  "But  up  in  the  ice  she  looks  like  some- 
thing, and  there  were  times  when  she  looked  mighty  good  to  me.  You  notice 
the  way  she's  built.    The  round  of  the  bow  prevents  the  ice  from  getting  hold 


420  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 

of  her  when  she  is  squeezed,  and  she  bobs  up  when  the  ice  crushes  together." 

The  north  pole  flag  which  the  steamer  bore  was  the  usual  American  en- 
sign with  a  stripe  of  white  bearing  the  words  "North  Pole"  in  black  letters 
running  diagonally  from  the  upper  corner  of  the  horizontal  stripes  to  a 
corner  under  the  stars.     Commander  Peary  explained  its  origin  as  follows: 

"I  wanted  a  piece  of  the  silk  flag  I  flew  at  the  pole  to  bury  at  that  point 
with  my  records,  so  I  cut  a  diagonal  strip  out  of  it.  Then,  to  preserve  the 
flag,  I  sewed  a  strip  of  white  silk  into  the  cut  when  I  returned  to  the  Roose- 
velt. The  design  seemed  so  appropriate  that  we  lettered  this  strip  and  adopted 
it  as  the  north  pole  ensign." 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peary  had  stepped  on  a  tug  and  were  on  the  way  to  the 
Roosevelt  before  the  crowd  realized  who  they  were.  Then  there  was  a  burst 
of  cheering.  Handkerchiefs  and  hats  were  waved,  and  the  whistles  renewed 
their  blasts. 

Capt.  Bartlett  and  the  crew  of  nineteen  men  were  on  the  Roosevelt  in 
the  garments  they  had  chosen  for  their  rough  trip  to  the  Arctic,  flannel 
shirts,  fur  boots  and  picturesque  sea  togs. 

The  Roosevelt  lay  at  anchor  answering  salutes  of  vessels  while  most  of 
the  ships  intending  to  take  part  in  the  parade  passed.  It  then  dropped  into 
the  line  and  brought  up  the  rear  of  the  procession. 

I^ater  the  following  dispatch  was  sent  to  The  Associated  Press  by  Harry 
Whitney : 

"Stephenville  Crossing,  N.  F.,  Sept.  29. 

"So  many  questions  are  being  asked  of  me  by  different  papers  that  I  de- 
sire to  make  the  following  statement : 

"My  reasons  for  not  going  back  to  Etah  after  Dr.  Cook's  things  were 
that  the  engine  in  the  Jeanie,  one  of  the  smallest  boats  that  ever  went  to  the 
North  Arctic,  was  not  working  satisfactorily,  and  we  were  depending  partly 
on  sails,  which  later  we  had  to  do  entirely.  There  was  no  reason  why  the 
Jeanie  could  not  have  gone  back,  but,  not  knowing  that  Dr.  Cook's  things 
left  with  me  were  of  such  importance  as  they  have  since  turned  out  to  be,  I 
did  not  return.  In  addition,  I  had  promised  the  Eskimos  who  were  with  me 
after  musk  oxen  in  ELesmere  Land  certain  things  which  I  expected  on  the 
ship  coming  for^  me,  but  they  were  not  aboard  the  Jeanie,  and  I  did  not  want 
to  return  and  disappoint  the  men.  Another  reason  was  that  I  wanted  to 
prolong  my  hunting  trip,  which  I  was  able  to  do  by  not  going  back,  but  by 
cutting  across  Smith  Sound  from  North  Star  Bay  and  following  the  edge 
of  the  ice  south. 


HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK  421 

"I  do  not  believe  that  either  Dr.  Cook  or  Commander  Peary,  if  placed 
in  my  position,  would  have  done  any  differently  than  I  did,  nor  would  they, 
having  started  south  for  civilization,  have  turned  back.  I  had  never  seen 
Dr.  Cook  until  I  met  him  in  the  Arctic.  He  told  me  he  had  been  to  the 
North  Pole,  and  I  was  pledged  not  to  reveal  this  fact  to  Commander  Peary, 
but  I  could  say  that  he  had  gone  further  north  than  Peary  in  1906. 

"Commander  Peary,  to  my  knowledge,  knew  absolutely  nothing  about 
what  had  been  left  with  me  by  Dr.  Cook,  except  that  I  mentioned  instru- 
ments, clothes  and  furs  and  also  a  narwhal  horn.  Dr.  Cook's  belongings  left 
in  my  charge  were  placed  in  boxes,  which  were  nailed  up.  Then  I  saw  the 
Eskimos  cover  them  with  rocks. 

"No  one  could  have  been  kinder  to  me  or  shown  me  more  consideration 
than  Commander  Peary  did  while  I  was  on  the  Roosevelt,  and  he  said  he 
would  be  very  glad  to  have  me  remain  aboard  and  return  with  him,  instead 
of  joining  the  Jeanie.  HARRY  WHITNEY." 

While  this  phase  of  the  matter  was  being  aired,  the  directors  of  the  Ex- 
plorers' Club  of  New  York  voted  to  order  an  investigation  of  Dr.  Cook's 
assertion  that  he  ascended  Mount  McKinley  in  1906,  the  truthfulness  of 
which  had  been  repeatedly  and  publicly  called  into  question.  The  decision 
was  reached  after  a  warm  debate  among  the  members  of  the  board,  the  vote 
which  finally  passed  the  resolution  standing  5  to  3.  The  temper  of  the 
dominant  faction  was  suggested  by  the  comment  of  Professor  Marshall  H. 
Saville,  who,  as  acting  president,  in  the  absence  of  Commander  Peary,  was 
to  appoint  the  investigating  committee.  When  asked  whether  the  polar  con- 
troversy was  also  discussed.  Professor  Saville  said: 

"There  is  no  polar  controversy.  It  takes  two  to  make  a  controversy.  As 
matters  stand  to-day  Commander  Peary  has  made  charges  against  Dr.  Cook 
and  Dr.  Cook  has  not  answered  them.  When  Peary  has  taken  final  and 
formal  action  and  Cook  has  made  a  reply,  then  there  may  be  a  polar  contro- 
versy." 

The  directors  had  already  made  extensive  inquiries  relative  to  Dr.  Cook's 
Mount  McKinley  trip  by  correspondence  and  personal  interview,  and  it  was 
said  that  they  had  obtained  information  concerning  it  which  had  not  hitherto 
been  made  public.  All  the  affairs  of  the  club  excepting  the  election  of  officers 
are  managed  by  the  directors,  and  the  action  of  the  board  in  any  matter  is 
final  as  an  expression  of  the  stand  of  the  organization. 

The  resolution  which  was  passed  first  rehearses  the  fact  that  questions 


422  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 

of  the  genuineness  of  Dr.  Cook's  mountain  ascent  had  arisen  "in  the  public 
mind,"  and  that  these  questions  bore  upon  the  standing  of  the  club  of  which 
he  is  a  member.  It  then  directed  the  acting  president  to  appoint  a  committee 
to  investigate  the  charges  and  make  a  report  to  the  club. 

An  interesting  development  of  the  discussion  w^as  that  Professor  Herschel 
C.  Parker,  of  Columbia,  who  headed  the  expedition  with  which  Dr.  Cook 
approached  Mount  McKinley,  and  who  twice  issued  voluntary  statements  to 
newspapers  calling  attention  to  the  doubtfulness  of  Dr.  Cook's  claim  to  the 
ascent,  was  one  of  the  three  directors  who  voted  against  the  resolution.  The 
eight  members  of  the  board  who  were  present  at  the  meeting  were  Professor 
Marshall  H.  Saville,  acting  president;  Henry  C.  Walsh,  secretary;  Professor 
Herschel  C.  Parker,  Caspar  Whitney,  W.  G.  Clark,  Herbert  L.  Bridgman, 
Frederick  Ober  and  F.  S.  Dellenbaugh, 

WAS  COOK  "UNETHICAL"? 

The  stand  of  the  club  on  the  point  raised  by  Commander  Peary,  as  to 
whether  an  explorer  commits  an  unethical  act  in  using  preparations  made  by 
another  explorer,  was  first  stated  for  publication  by  Professor  Saville.  Com- 
mander Peary  requested  the  club  to  make  a  definite  statement  on  this  point 
after  the  departure  of  Dr.  Cook  for  the  north,  and  included  in  his  communi- 
cation a  doctrine  that,  by  prior  exploration  and  by  taking  precautions  look- 
ing to  further  work,  an  explorer  "preempts"  the  field  to  the  exclusion  of  other 
men.  The  Explorers'  Club,  Professor  Saville  said,  officially  recognized  Com- 
mander Peary's  position  in  the  matter  soon  after  he  made  his  request,  that 
is,  while  Dr.  Cook  was  still  absent  on  his  attempt  to  reach  the  pole. 

An  interesting  aspect  of  the  question  was  touched  on  by  the  magazine, 
"The  Bench  and  Bar,"  which  published  an  editorial  on  the  legal  proof  of  the 
discovery  of  the  North  Pole.  The  editorial  lamented  the  fact  that  neither 
Dr.  Cook  or  Commander  Peary  was  willing  to  share  his  discovery  of  the 
pole  with  white  comrades,  for  in  order  to  establish  a  claim  at  law  corrobor- 
ative evidence  must  be  introduced  in  the  shape  of  credible  witnesses  who  will 
testify  to  the  truth  of  a  story  or  the  telling  of  a  story  with  such  a  degree  of 
circumstantiality  that  scientists  will  be  convinced  of  the  truthfulness  of  it. 

The  two  corroborating  Eskimo  witnesses  of  Cook  and  the  negro  witness 
of  Peary  could  be  disbelieved  by  a  jury,  said  the  editor,  first  because  they  are 
ignorant  and  would  know  whether  they  had  been  at  the  pole  only  as  told  so 
by  an  intelligent  man,  and  secondly,  they  occupied  the  position  of  employes, 


HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK  423 

diid  as  such  their  testimony  must  be  placed  in  the  same  category  as  the  testi- 
mony of  servants,  which,  when  given  on  behalf  of  their  masters,  is  deemed 
unreliable.  The  corroboration  of  the  story  by  circumstantial  evidence,  such 
as  neither  explorer  has  yet  produced,  is  the  only  course  left  open. 

BOTH  MUST  SHOW  PROOF. 

"The  Bench  and  Bar"  said : 

"Of  course,  Dr.  Cook  has  as  yet  failed  to  sustain  the  burden  of  proof 
which  inevitably  and  properly  rests  upon  any  one  who  claims  to  have  per- 
formed so  wonderful  a  feat.  In  order  to  establish  his  claim  he  must  adduce 
something  more  persuasive,  something  more  convincing  than  his  bare  asser- 
tion that  he  has  reached  the  90th  degree  of  latitude.  And  the  same  is  true  of 
Commander  Peary,  however  high  his  scientific  standing.  The  question  of 
whether  the  pole  has  been  attained  is  one  of  importance  too  great  to  be  set- 
tled by  the  mere  assertion  of  any  one  person,  no  matter  what  his  reputation 
for  truth  and  veracity  may  be.  Nor  need  we,  under  accepted  rules  of  law, 
give  conclusive  weight  to  the  unsupported  testimony  of  either  of  the  ex- 
plorers, as  each  is  an  interested  witness. 

"Even  if  he  were  tb  produce  these  witnesses  and  they  were  able  to  corrob- 
orate his  story  fully,  their  testimony  would  still  be  liable  to  be  weighed  in  the 
light  of  certain  maxims  of  the  law  of  evidence.  In  the  first  place  they  probably 
are  devoid  of  the  scientific  knowledge  that  would  enable  them  to  give  intelli- 
gent and  valuable  testimony  on  such  a  subject  as  that  under  investigation,  and 
witnesses  who  are  ignorant  and  occupy  a  low  station  in  society  are  peculiarly 
liable  to  the  influence  of  parties  of  superior  intelligence  and  craft.  If  Dr. 
Cook  wishes  to  corroborate  his  story  by  circumstantial  evidence,  the  law  and 
common  sense  both  agree  that  the  circumstances  to  which  he  testifies  must 
not  be  inconsistent  with  known  scientific  facts.  And  this  observation  is,  of 
course,  equally  applicable  to  any  testimony  which  may  be  given  by  Com- 
mander Peary." 

The  following  interesting  comparison  of  the  deeds  of  Cook  and  Peary 
was  published  while  the  controversy  was  at  its  height: 


424 


HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 


Dr.  Cook. 
Before  leaving  land  party  traveled 
over  400  miles  of  land  and  sounds. 
Fittest  of  men  and  dogs  chosen. 


Commander  Peary. 
Before    starting    from    Roosevelt 
winter  was  spent  in  hunting  trips  and 
sledging  supplies.    Best  men  and  dogs 
chosen. 


Over  circumpolar  ice  Cook  traveled 
with  light  equipment.  Had  one  sup- 
porting party,  which  returned  three 
days  out  from  land. 


Over  circumpolar  ice  Peary  trav- 
eled with  a  large  expedition.  Had 
four  supporting  parties,  which  re- 
turned after  fourteen,  nineteen,  twen- 
ty-four and  thirty-five  days,  respec- 
tively. 


Cook's  dash  party  consisted  of  Dr. 
Cook,  two  Eskimos,  with  two  sleds, 
two  teams  of  thirteen  dogs  at  start. 


Peary's  dash  party  consisted  of  Mr. 
Peary,  Henson,  four  Eskimos,  five* 
sleds,  five  teams  of  eight  dogs  each. 


Two   men  out  of  three  marched 
with  sledsfes. 


Five  men  out  of  six  marched  with 
sledges. 


Cook  carried  a  canvas  folding  boat.  Peary  had  no  boat  or  bayak. 


Cook  started  from  land  March  18, 
1908,  seventeen  days  later  in  season 
than  Peary,  but  one  year  previous. 


Peary  started  from  land  March  i, 
1909. 


Cook  left  land  520  miles  from  pole, 
near  the  ninety-third  meridian. 


Peary  left  land  413  miles  from  pole, 
near  the  seventy-first  meridian. 


Cook  took  thirty-four  days  to  cover 
these  520  miles. 


Peary  took  thirty-six  and  a  half 
days  to  cover  these  413  miles.  He 
was  held  up  by  leads  six  whole  days 
and  was  actually  traveling  thirty  and 
a  half  days. 


Cook  crossed  big  lead  without  de- 
lay on  morning  following  night  of 
arrival. 


Peary  was  held  up  at  big  lead  for 
six  whole  days. 


HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 


425 


Dr.  Cook. 
Cook's  average  per  day  from  land 
to  the  pole  was  15.3  miles. 


Commander  Peary. 

Peary's  average  per  day  from  land 
to  pole  was  11.3  miles. 

Peary's  average  per  traveling  day 
from  land  to  the  pole  was  14.5  miles. 


Cook's  average  per  day  before  sup- 
porting party  turned  back  was  21 
miles. 


Peary's  average  per  day  before  last 
supporting  party  turned  back  was  9.7 
miles;  average  per  traveling  day,  11.7 
miles. 


Cook's  average  per  day  to  the  pole 
after  supporting  party  returned  was 
14.7  miles. 


Peary's  average  per  day  to  pole 
after  the  last  supporting  party  turned 
back  was  29.3  miles,  or  132  miles  in 
four  and  a  half  days. 


Cook  arrived  at  the  pole  April  21, 
1908,  fifteen  days  later  in  the  season 
than  Peary,  but  one  year  previous. 


Peary  arrived  at  pole  April  6,  1909. 


Cook  left  pole  April  23  and  reached 
eighty-fourth  parallel  on  May  24. 


Peary  left  pole  April  7  and  reached 
Cape  Columbia  (83  degrees  7  min- 
utes) April  23. 


Between  pole  and  84  degrees  Cook 
traveled  360  miles  in  thirty-one  days, 
at  an  average  of  11.6  miles  a  day. 


Between  pole  and  Cape  Columbia 
Peary  traveled  413  miles  in  sixteen 
days,  at  average  of  25.8  miles  a  day. 


Cook  failed  to  make  base  and  caches 
from  which  he  started  because  of  open 
water  and  impossible  small  ice. 


Peary  kept  trail  made  to  pole,  or 
Bartlett's  trail  made  on  return  right 
to  base. 


Cook's  failure  to  make  base  ren- 
dered necessary  long  course  of  travel, 
another  winter  in  the  Arctic  and 
many  risks  and  privations.  Return 
to  civilization  impossible  for  a  year. 


Peary  reached  supplies  at  base  and 
was  able  to  return  to  civilization  in 
same  year  in  which  he  reached  the 
pole. 


426  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 

While  the  claims  of  the  rivals  were  being  debated,  by  the  average  citizen, 
students  of  international  law  took  up  with  vigor  the  question  of  ownership 
of  the  north  pole. 

A  prominent  official  at  Washington  declared  that  the  land  belonged  to  Dr. 
Cook  and  to  nobody  else,  and  added  that  the  government  was  unwilling  and 
also  unable  to  maintain  its  claim. 

The  voice  of  international  law  has  to  be  heard  on  what  may  prove  a  vexed 
problem.  Either  Russia  or  Canada  might  claim  the  country  (if  country  there 
be)  lying  on  the  confines  of  their  respective  dominions. 

Denmark,  as  possessor  of  Greenland,  might  prefer  claims  that  could  not 
be  entirely  overlooked. 

The  ownership  of  the  north  pole,  or  for  that  matter  the  south  pole,  will 
depend  upon  dry  land  being  found  there.  If  the  spots  at  90  degrees  latitude 
be  covered  with  sea  or  with  ice  (as  Dr.  Cook's  statements  suggest  they  are) 
they  will  belong  to  no  particular  nation.  They  will  be  treated  like  any  other 
part  of  the  high  seas  and  belong  to  all  the  world.  Should  there  be  dry  land, 
the  first  discoverers  may  have  the  honor  of  taking  formal  possession  in  the 
name  of  the  nationality  represented,  and  for  the  time  a  staff  with  a  hoisted 
flag  might  display  the  nationality  of  the  discoverer. 

RIGHTS  OF  DISCOVERERS. 

The  law  of  nations  now  steps  in  to  say  something  on  this  matter  of  the 
rights  of  discoverers. 

It  is  not  always  the  simple  thing  of  "first  come,  first  served."  Many  parts 
of  the  world  were  discovered  by  British  navigators  and  explorers  that  were 
never  taken  into  possession.  One  authority  tells  us  that  "all  mankind  have 
an  equal  right  to  things  that  have  not  yet  fallen  into  the  possession  of  any  one, 
and  these  things  belong  to  the  persons  who  first  take  possession  of  them." 

This  seems  clear  enough.  The  practical  application  comes  next.  "When, 
therefore,  a  nation  finds  a  country  uninhabited  and  without  an  owner  it  may 
lawfully  take  possession  thereof,  and  after  it  has  sufficiently  made  known  its 
will  In  this  respect  It  cannot  be  deprived  of  it  by  another  nation." 

What  if  there  be,  however,  in  the  newly  discovered  land  aboriginal  dwell- 
ers whom  the  discoverer  chooses  to  call  barbarians  or  semlbarbarians  ?  Might 
there  not  be  Inhabitants  in  the  country  around  the  north  pole?  This  question 
should  not  be  overlooked  nor  too  hastily  dismissed  from  consideration. 

The  portion  of  land  that  Dr.  Cook  would  travel  over  must  bear  a  very  small 


HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK  427 

proportion  to  the  whole  of  that  vast  unexplored  region.  There  are  wilds 
within  the  Arctic  region  that  have  not  been  inhabited  for  centuries,  yet  they  are 
covered  with  traces  of  wanderers  or  of  sojourners  of  a  bygone  age. 

"Here  and  there,"  says  Sir  Clements  R.  Markham,  "in  Greenland,  in 
Boothia,  on  the  shores  of  America,  where  existence  is  possible,  the  descend- 
ants of  former  wanderers  are  still  to  be  found.  The  migrations  of  these  peo- 
ple, the  scanty  notices  of  their  origin  and  movements  that  are  scattered  through 
history  and  the  requirements  of  their  existence  are  all  so  many  clews  which, 
when  carefully  gathered  together,  throw  light  upon  a  most  interesting  sub- 
ject." 

The  Eskimos  of  Upernavik  knew  nothing  of  natives  north  of  Melville  bay 
until  the  first  voyage  of  Sir  John  Ross  in  1818.  It  was  found  that  a  small 
tribe  inhabited  the  rugged  coast  between  y6  and  79  degrees  north. 


WHERE  ABORIGINES  MAY  BE  FOUND. 

What  has  international  Law  to  say  on  the  possession  of  land  where  abor- 
iginal natives  are  found? 

No  strict  rules  seem  to  have  been  laid  down  for  guidance.  It  has  been 
said  that  a  nation  may  lawfully  possess  some  part  of  a  large  country  in  which 
there  are  none  but  earlier  nations,  whose  scanty  population  is  incapable  of 
occupying  the  whole;  unsettled  habitation  cannot  be  accounted  a  true  and 
legal  possession.  History  has  shown  us  that  discoverers  have  not  been  very 
particular  about  the  rights  of  aborigines,  especially  when  the  country  is  rich 
in  minerals  or  well  placed  for  commerce. 

The  right  of  discovery  is  usually  stretched  as  far  as  it  will  go.  Yet  many 
of  the  islands  discovered  by  Capt.  Cook  in  the  South  sea  were  never  annexed. 
This  intrepid  explorer  was  not  authorized  by  his  sovereign  to  do  so ;  moreover, 
it  is  not  clear  that  the  sovereign  would  have  had  the  right  of  appropriation. 
The  islands  contained  natives  who  were  not  very  ready  to  admit  the  superior 
rights  of  strangers  who  came  to  them  from  Europe.  Capt.  Cook  suffered  a 
violent  death  at  their  hands,  and  in  the  case  of  New  Zealand,  England  had 
endless  fights  with  the  aborigines.  In  Australia,  however,  the  blacks  were  few 
in  number  and  very  unready  to  show  themselves. 


428  HUDSON  HONORED  IN  NEW  YORK 

FILIBUSTERS  AND  ADVENTURERS. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  fiUbusters  and  adventurers  cannot  hold  the  owner- 
ships and  sovereignty  of  any  new  lands  they  may  discover.  They  must  work 
for  some  state  or  power  recognized  by  other  nations,  else  they  may  at  any 
time  be  dislodged. 

As  has  been  laid  down,  "navigators  going  on  a  voyage  of  discovery,  fur- 
nished with  a  commission  from  their  sovereign  and  meeting  with  islands  or 
lands  in  a  desert  state,  may  take  possession  of  them  in  the  name  of  their 
nation."  And  this  title  has  been  usually  respected,  provided  it  was  soon  after 
followed  by  a  real  possession. 

Was  Dr.  Cook  a  commissioned  explorer  or  was  he,  to  use  a  common  phrase, 
"out  on  his  own."  And  what,  after  all,  is  meant  by  "real  possession?"  The 
country  that  desires  to  maintain  a  claim  of  ownership  of  the  north  pole  and 
take  a  "real  possession"  is  not  likely  to  find  another  nation  to  quarrel  with. 
These  not  very  eligible  properties — the  north  and  south  poles — will  presum- 
ably lie  in  the  public  market.  Expeditions  will  continue  to  be  sent  out  and 
the  interest  attached  to  them  will  be  based  upon  far  higher  considerations  than 
the  ownership  of  a  (possible)  patch  of  sterile  land, 


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