149(click for larger image)
(click for larger image)
At the North Pole there is only one direction—south. One could go south in as many ways as there are points on the compass card, but every one of these ways is south; east and west have vanished. The hour of the day at the pole is a paradoxical conception, for that point is the meeting place of every meridian, and the time of all holds good, so that it is always any hour one cares to mention. Unpunctuality is hence impossible—but the question grows complex, and its practical solution concerns few.
No one needs to go to the pole to discover all that makes that point different from any other point of the surface. But the whole polar regions are full of unknown things, which every Arctic explorer of the right stamp looks forward to finding. And the reward he looks forward to most is the approval of the few who understand and love knowledge for its own sake, rather than the noisy applause of the crowd who would cheer him, after all, much as they cheer a winning prize-fighter, or race-horse, or political candidate.
The difficulties that make the quest of the pole so arduous have been discovered by slow degrees. It is marvellous how soon nearly the full limits of northward attainment were reached. In 1596 Barents discovered Spitzbergen in about 78° north; in 1770 Hudson reached 80°; in 1827 Parry, by sledging on the ice when his ship became fast, succeeded in touching 82° 45´. Since then all the enormous resources of modern science—steam, electricity, preserved foods and the experience of centuries—have only enabled forty miles of additional poleward advance to be made.
The accompanying map gives a fair idea of the form of the Arctic regions, and remembering that the circle marked 80° is distant seven hundred miles from the pole, the reader can realize the distances involved. The Arctic Basin, occupied by the Arctic Sea, is ringed in by land; the northern coasts of America, Europe, and Asia, forming a roughly circular boundary broken by three well-marked channels communicating with the ocean. Bering Strait between America and Asia is the narrowest, Baffin Bay between America and Greenland is wider, branching into a number of ice-blocked sounds to the westward, and tapering off into Smith Sound in the north-east. The widest channel of the three lies between Greenland and Europe, and this is bisected just south of 80° North by the island group of Spitzbergen.
The whole region is one of severe cold, and the sea is frozen for the greater part of the year, land and water becoming almost indistinguishable, but for the incessant movement and drift of the sea-ice. In summer the sea-ice breaks up into floes which may drift away southward and melt, or be driven by the wind against the shores of continents or islands, leaving lanes of open water which a shift of wind may change and close in an hour. Icebergs launched from the glaciers of the land also drift with tide, current, and wind through the more or less open water. Possibly at some times the pack may open and a clear waterway run through to the pole, and old whalers tell of many a year when they believed that a few days’ steaming would carry them to the end of the world, if they could have seized the opportunity. At other times, routes traversed in safety time after time may be effectively closed for years, and all advance barred. Food in the form of seals or walrus in the open water, reindeer, musk ox, polar bears or birds on the land, may often be procured, but these sources cannot be relied upon. Advance northward may be made by water in a ship, or by dog-sledge, or on foot, over the frozen snow or ice. Each method has grave drawbacks. Advance by sea is stopped when the young ice forms in autumn, and land advance is hampered by the long Arctic night which enforces months of inaction, more trying to health and spirits than the severest exertion.
Smith Sound has been the channel by which most recent Arctic explorers have pushed north. Thus Markham reached latitude 83° 20´ North, in 1876, and in 1882 Lockwood got four miles farther north, coming nearer the pole than any other man. From his farthest point an express train could cover the intervening distance in ten hours, but the best ice traveller would require months, even if the way were smooth. This route has been by common consent150abandoned, at least for advance by water. No high latitude has been reached from Bering Strait nor along the east coast of Greenland. For ships the most open way to the north lies to the west of Spitzbergen, as Parry found two generations ago. Neither of the two projected expeditions from Europe is, however, intended to take this route. Mr. Jackson means to advance over the ice in sledges, trusting that Franz-Josef Land stretches northward to the immediate neighborhood of the pole. Doctor Nansen also founds his plan on a theory, but his is so novel, and involves a plan of action so different from all previously attempted, that it must be considered in detail.
Fridtjof Nansen, who planned and will lead the Norwegian expedition starting in June, is a naturalist, thirty-two years of age. He is singularly adapted physically for deeds of daring and endurance, perfectly equipped intellectually for command and research. His lithe, erect figure testifies to athletic training, while his expansive forehead and firm chin equally betoken thoughtfulness and determination. He is a typical Norseman, fair in complexion and hair, simple and rather reserved in manner, and modest almost to a fault. No one can see him without becoming his friend. He speaks English fluently, and a quiet, half-repressed humor lights up his conversation. Never overstepping the truth, he does not seem to feel the temptation of spinning imaginative yarns so over-powering for the undisciplined traveller. He knows his own strength, and measuring himself against the difficulties he proposes to meet, he feels confident of victory, and inspires others with his own faith. There is no turning back when once his mind is fully made up.
Nansen’s whole life has been a training for the exploit he now engages in. After graduating at the University of Christiania, he was appointed curator of the Museum at Bergen, and carried out several important biological researches, of which that on the anatomy of whales is perhaps the best known. He was a diligent student of the great Norwegian naturalist Sars, and on his return from Greenland he entered into a closer relation by marrying the professor’s daughter. Mrs. Nansen is said to be the most accomplished lady ski-runner in Norway, as her husband is the champion of his sex; their portraits in the costume of this national sport are extremely characteristic. She had originally planned to accompany Doctor Nansen on the Arctic voyage, but has reluctantly relinquished the intention. She stays behind with her little girl only a few months old. For the last three years Doctor Nansen has devoted himself entirely to the study of various branches of science likely to be of service to him in the accomplishment of his great ambition, and in organizing every detail of his expedition.
The chief circumstance in which Nansen differs from all his predecessors is, that he prepares no line of retreat. To the common question, “But how are you to come back?” his reply in word and deed has always been, “I will never come back. I shall go through to the other side.” Thus, in crossing Greenland in 1888, he started from the uninhabited east coast, so that he and his companions had to go forward—retreat meant destruction. Such determination is only redeemed from obstinacy by the forethought which inspires it. Before setting out to cross Greenland, Nansen crossed the mountains of Norway from Bergen to Christiania in winter, thus proving his mastery of the ski or Norwegian snow-shoes, and testing his power of withstanding cold and fatigue. Just as the crossing of the Norwegian mountains proved his competence for the splendid feat of crossing Greenland, that journey by its success establishes his ability for enduring the severest privations which his new expedition may be called upon to undergo.
151FRIDTJOF NANSEN.
FRIDTJOF NANSEN.
A careful study of all the known phenomena of the Arctic Basin, and the records of all the exploring, whaling, and sealing voyages in these waters which were accessible, impressed two facts upon him—one, that the currents of the Polar Basin were more regular and more powerful agents than had been previously supposed; the other, that the failure of the great expeditions to the north was in most cases due to the great number of men carried, and the labor involved in keeping open a line of retreat. The moral of this is simple enough: to sail as far as possible with the currents, to take as few men as possible, and these in thorough training for Arctic work, and to make no provision for retreat. For the valor and heroic efforts of the earlier Arctic explorers there can never be anything but praise; those men fought against the most terrific odds, and stood their ground without flinching, and their opinion on all matters connected with Arctic travel carries the utmost weight. Nansen breaks away from all tradition; he goes right against every cherished principle of all the older Arctic men. He will secure no line of retreat, he will carry only eleven men with him, every one of whom is inured to hardship and expert in ice-travel. He is bound by no orders, but has perfect freedom to alter his plans should circumstances seem to demand it. His plan is to drift with the currents, and the evidence for the currents moving in the direction he wishes to go is as follows:
The great drift of polar water southward along the east coasts of Labrador152and of Greenland has been known from the beginning of Atlantic navigation, and the icebergs and floes carried along are serious obstacles to the shipping of the North Atlantic. It is estimated that between Greenland and Spitzbergen about eighty or ninety cubic miles of water pour southward every day. The current, like that down Smith Sound, flows from the north, but the water cannot originate there. There is a very slight northward extension of the Gulf Stream drift along the west coasts of Spitzbergen and Greenland, but the main drift of North Atlantic water from the southward sets round the North Cape of Norway, keeping the sea free from ice all the year round. It is felt in the Kara Sea, and as a north-easterly stream along the coast of Novaya Zemlya. It is difficult to estimate the volume of this drift, but from certain observations made by the Norwegian Government it seems to be about sixty cubic miles per day. There is a current running on the whole northward from the Pacific through Bering Strait with a volume of perhaps fifteen cubic miles a day, and in addition there is the volume of perhaps two cubic miles daily poured out during summer by the great American and Siberian rivers. This water is fresh and warm, and accumulating near shore in autumn it gives rise to the ice-free border which let the “Vega” slip round the north of Asia. Even where the sea is covered with floating ice, there are perceptible currents, and the ice-pack is never at rest.
Since the vast body of water north of 80° between Franz-Josef Land and Greenland is streaming from the north, and since it must be derived somehow from water which comes from the south, it is evident that north-flowing currents of considerable power must exist in the Arctic Basin. Parry in his splendid voyage of 1827 spent months in sledging northward on a vast ice-floe which all the while was drifting south faster than the dogs could drag the sledges northward.
This polar current is the exit by which Doctor Nansen intends to leave the Polar Basin. It is a current which strews the coast of Greenland with Siberian and North American driftwood, all coming from the north, perhaps across the pole itself. Mud containing microscopic shells which only occur in Siberia has been collected on some of these southward-bound ice-floes. On one occasion a throwing-stick of a form used exclusively by the Eskimo of Alaska to cast their harpoons was picked up on the west coast of Greenland, having obviously been drifted round Cape Farewell, as the boats of many a whaler shipwrecked in the polar current have been drifted before. But perhaps the most interesting argument is that derived from the drift of the “Jeannette.” The “Jeannette” (once a British gunboat, and afterward employed as the “Pandora” in attempting to repeat the north-west passage) was sent out by the proprietor of the “New York Herald,” under the command of De Long, to push north to the pole, through Bering Strait, in 1879. In September of that year she got fast in the ice, and drifted on the whole north-westward for nearly two years. At last she was crushed in the ice on June 13, 1881, to the north of the New Siberian Islands. The drift of the “Jeannette” was becoming faster as she got farther west; indeed, it was possibly the more rapid movement of the current that set the floes in motion and led to the crushing of the vessel. Three years after she sank, an ice-floe was found on the south coast of Greenland at Julianehaab, on which were a number of articles, including documents relating to the stores and boats of the “Jeannette,” bearing De Long’s signature. The relics had a romantic history, and have given rise to controversy; but before their authenticity had been seriously questioned they were sacrificed to the sense of order of a Copenhagen housewife. Nansen is certain that the relics did come from the “Jeannette,” and he believes they were drifted like the wood and Siberian mud upon an ice-raft across the pole or in its immediate vicinity.
His resolve was made accordingly “to take a ticket with the ice,” as he phrases it, and so drift across. The153point where it would be best to join the current, Nansen decided to be off the New Siberian Islands, although Captain Wiggins recommends the most northerly point of continental land, Cape Chelyuskin, as a more likely starting place. At first Nansen proposed to follow the “Jeannette” through Bering Sea, but he has now decided to take the nearer route round the North Cape, through the Kara Sea, and along the coast of Asia, as the “Vega” went, striking northward off the Lena Delta. It will require extremely skilful navigation even to reach the starting point, and it may even be impossible to do so in one year, but, having reached and run into the ice, another question comes to the front. The vessel in which the drift of several years is to be made must not share the fate of the “Jeannette,” if human ingenuity can avoid it. And ingenuity has been taxed to produce a ship of the most perfect kind.
Nansen’s little vessel, launched at Laurvik last October, suits his venture and himself as well as the famous “long serpents” of his ancestors suited them and their voyages of conquest and discovery a thousand years ago. She is built of wood, but is of a strength never hitherto aimed at. The frame timbers, Nansen modestly says, “may be said to be well-seasoned,” for though cut from the gnarled oaks of Italy they have been stored in a Norwegian dockyard during the whole lifetime of the explorer. These timbers—the ribs of the ship—are a foot thick, and are placed only two inches apart, the intervening spaces being filled with a special composition, so that even the skeleton of the ship would be water-tight should the planks be stripped off. Inside, the walls are lined with pitch-pine planks alternately four inches and eight inches thick, with cross-beams and supports to resist pressure in every direction, as shown in the accompanying section. Outside, there is a three-inch skin of oak, carefully calked and made water-tight, then covered by another skin of oak four inches thick, which in turn is encased in a still thicker layer of the hard and slippery greenheart. Bow and stern are heavily plated with iron to cut through thin ice. Finally, to render her fit for living in during the coldest weather, the water-tight compartment set apart for this purpose (one of three) is lined, walls and ceiling, with layers of non-conducting material. Tarred canvas, cork, wood, several inches of felt enclosed by painted canvas, and finally a wooden wainscot, promise to effectually keep out the cold. In the roof, a layer of two inches of reindeer’s hair has also been introduced.
The form of the vessel is as original as her material. She measures one hundred and twenty-eight feet in extreme length, thirty-six in beam, and is seventeen feet deep. With a full cargo she will draw fifteen feet, and have a freeboard of little more than three feet. She is pointed fore and aft, the stern being so formed that the propeller and rudder are deeply immersed to escape floating ice, and both these vital fittings are placed in wells, through which they may be brought on board in case of need, or readily replaced if damaged. The hull is rounded so that even the keel does not project materially. The form is designed so that when the ice begins to press, it will not crush but lift the ship, as one might lift an egg from a table by sliding two hands under it. Her rig, as shown in the illustration, is simply that of a three-masted fore and aft schooner, with a very tall mainmast, designed to carry the crow’s nest for the look-out. This will stand one hundred and five feet above the water, thus affording the wide view indispensable in ice navigation. A captive balloon would have been used as well, but the necessary fittings were too heavy to carry. The engine is not of great power, as no particular reason exists for high speed, and with a coal capacity of only three hundred tons economy of fuel is of the first importance.
The ship is prophetically named the “Fram,” or “Forward,” and for her the viking explorer is determined there will be no turning back.
It is possible that in spite of all precautions the “Fram” may be nipped in the ice-floe which will carry her along, or stranded on some unknown154northern land. This contingency is provided for by two large decked boats, twenty-nine feet long, either of which could accommodate the whole crew. These would be placed on the ice to serve as houses, and in the end could be used for the return voyage. Many smaller boats are carried, and light sledges with dog teams, in case it becomes necessary to travel over the ice. The invaluable “ski” would of course be used in such an emergency, and plenty of tarred canvas would be carried, by means of which the sledges could be converted into boats. Provisions for five years, at least, are stowed away on board; also books for study and recreation, and a complete equipment of scientific instruments for observations and collecting of every kind. The ship carries no alcoholic drink; alcohol is taken only as a fuel for use when the coal runs out, or if the ship has to be left. Nansen does not smoke, and very likely he may regulate the smoking of his followers, for his views on hygiene are clear, and his determination to enforce them strong. The eleven men chosen for the enterprise have the fullest faith in their leader, and that respect for his splendid qualities as a man which is essential to good order being maintained. For in the hardships of Arctic travel there is no sentimental deference to a leader unless he is the best man of the party, and Arctic hardships quickly reduce things and men to their real worth. Nansen and his crew will prove, we are confident, as firmly knit together as the timbers of the “Fram” herself. Captain Sverdrup, who accompanied him across Greenland, goes as navigating officer of the “Fram.”
Perhaps the most original of the many original fittings of this little polar cruiser is the dynamo which will for the first time in the history of exploration supply abundant light during the whole Arctic night. When there is wind a windmill will work it; but in the calm weather the men, in watches, will take their necessary exercise in tramping round a capstan to the strains of a musical box of long Arctic experience—it was in the “Jeannette,”—and thus at least eight hours of perfect light will be secured every day.
Everything that foresight can suggest and money can buy has been secured to make the voyage a success; but even in the most sanguine mind the risk must appear great, and the time of suspense will be long. The drift across the polar area cannot occupy less than two years, and provisions are carried for five. But we need not dwell on dangers; the personality of Nansen rises above them all—the motto he carries with him in a little volume of condensed poetry, as powerful meat for the soul as any of his cunningly concocted extracts are for the body, is the wish of all his friends—
“Greet the Unseen with a cheer,Bid him forward, breast and back as either should be,‘Strive and thrive!’ cry ‘Speed—fight on, fare everThere as here!’”
“Greet the Unseen with a cheer,Bid him forward, breast and back as either should be,‘Strive and thrive!’ cry ‘Speed—fight on, fare everThere as here!’”
“Greet the Unseen with a cheer,
Bid him forward, breast and back as either should be,
‘Strive and thrive!’ cry ‘Speed—fight on, fare ever
There as here!’”
The Norwegian expedition goes out under the command of a hero full of experience, ripe in knowledge, certain to do all that a strong and trained man can accomplish, backed by large grants of money from his own government, and smaller gifts from people and societies in many lands.
The British expedition which has been projected is not a national effort. It is purely private, planned and equipped by private enterprise and private money, in order to follow up the line in which private exertions have already done more for polar exploration than many government expeditions have achieved. Its leader, Mr. Frederick G. Jackson, is a business man, possessed of leisure and sufficient means, and experienced in travel in all parts of the world. Of the same age as Doctor Nansen, and, like him, married, he is as typical an Englishman as the latter is a Norseman. Pluck and “go” are his in very large measure; experience in serious ice-work he cannot lay claim to, but he knows more about the Arctic regions than many famous explorers did on their first setting155out. Mr. Jackson has made a summer cruise to the far north, and, under the tuition of a canny Peterhead whaler, he has picked up many wrinkles which will help him in time of need. He is a keen sportsman rather than a man of science, but his ten companions will be chosen for their ability to make all necessary scientific observations and collections. If his plans fall out as he hopes, Jackson will be the most eager in the race to the pole, and it will not be his fault if the Union Jack is not the first flag planted on that much coveted site. He intends to leave England about the middle of July, or perhaps as late as the beginning of August.
His plan of attack is that which is most approved by the Arctic admirals of the British navy. It is to approach by Franz-Josef Land, which may in favorable years be comparatively easily reached. On landing, a depot will be formed and stores laid up as a base for retreat; and then, by sledging northward along the land-ice, the coast would be delineated and mapped as far as it extends, other depots established, and if the surface proves suitable, and if Franz-Josef Land proves, as is probable, not to have a great northerly extent, an advance may be made on the sea-ice, carrying boats for crossing open water.
It seems very probable that in this way the highest latitudes of earlier explorers may be passed, and in Franz-Josef Land life is more tolerable than in perhaps any other place at the same latitude. Mr. Leigh Smith, the most successful Arctic yachtsman, spent the winter of 1881-82 in a hut built on an island in the south of Franz-Josef Land, after his ship was wrecked, and without winter clothing, and he found bears and walrus plentiful enough to keep himself and his party supplied with fresh meat. The country however is very desolate, in spite of its comparatively genial conditions. Mr. Jackson intends to hire or purchase a steam whaler to convey him to Franz-Josef Land, and for navigation he has secured the services of Mr. Crowther, Leigh Smith’s ice-master. After establishing winter quarters, he will make some preliminary trips to test his sledges and complete the survey of the southern part of the land, reserving the great northward march for the spring of 1894. He is pushing forward his preparations quietly and quickly, and, as he does not ask for public money, he does not feel it necessary to publish any of the details of his intended mode of life. It is difficult to forecast the result of his expedition. From the little we know about Franz-Josef Land, it appears certain that with a favorable season much good work could be done, and there is more satisfaction in contemplating an expedition in which pluck and endurance count than the mere passive submission to the laws of physical geography, on which Nansen depends. In two years he hopes to prove that Franz-Josef Land is or is not a practicable road to the pole.
We have no data to make a comparison between the two brave men, nor any wish to do so. But Nansen is Nansen, and Jackson has yet to win his spurs; to him therefore would be the greater glory if success attend him.
For our part, we heartily desire that Nansen, Peary, and Jackson may meet simultaneously at the pole, and return betimes to tell their story and share the honors. The aggravating thing is, that the expeditions may never reach their proper starting point. Many a good ship has knocked about for a whole season in the Kara Sea without getting a lead through the ice; the effort to reach Franz-Josef Land has not been often made, and it is a sinister omen that the “Tegetthof,” which discovered that region, arrived there after eighteen months of drifting fast in the floes. But we shall see.
156LIEUTENANT PEARY’S EXPEDITION.By Cleveland Moffett.
Before the end of June, Civil Engineer Robert E. Peary of the United States Navy will have sailed on another expedition for the Arctic regions. The party will go by the way of Newfoundland, Baffin’s Bay, and Whale Sound, to Inglefield Gulf, which lies just southeast of Smith Sound and south of the promontory containing the great Humboldt glacier. The winter camp will be established at the head of Bowdoin Bay, some forty miles to the east of Redcliffe House, where Lieutenant Peary passed the winter of ’91, ’92.
ROBERT E. PEARY.
ROBERT E. PEARY.
The programmeof the expedition may be briefly summarized as follows:
The party will be absent about two years and a half, a three years’ leave of absence having been accorded Lieutenant Peary by the Navy Department. They expect to be in camp, as indicated, by the last week in July, when the staunch “Falcon,” a sealing steamer which carries them, will land the expedition and return to Newfoundland. The months of August and September, all they will have before the Arctic night sets in, will be utilized in three ways: a party will be sent inland over the ice-cap with a large store of provisions, which will be stored as far to the north as possible, to await the expedition of the ensuing spring; another party, under Lieutenant Peary himself, will make a careful survey of Inglefield Gulf, which is of rare scientific interest on account of the tremendous glaciers which discharge into it; and a third party will busy itself hunting reindeer and other game to supply the expedition with fresh meat.
By November 1, 1893, they will go into winter quarters, all occupying a single house, which will be made as comfortable as possible. During the five or six months of darkness, scientific work will be carried on, including a thorough study of Esquimo habits and institutions. Clothing will be made of reindeer skins, and, in general, preparations be completed for the advance over the ice-cap. Lieutenant Peary hopes to start the sledges northward early in March, thus gaining two months on the start made in ’92. The season of ’94 will be spent in advancing as rapidly as possible to the northern extremity of Greenland, to Independence Bay, discovered by Lieutenant Peary in his recent expedition. At this point the party will divide, several men being detailed to explore the northeastern coast of Greenland as far to the south as Cape Bismarck, while Lieutenant Peary with two picked men will push across the fjord separating Greenland from the land beyond, and will advance thence still farther to the north, as circumstances may direct. It is probable that Lieutenant Peary will spend the winter of ’94 to ’95 somewhere in the neighborhood of northernmost Greenland, very probably in the most extreme northern latitude in which any white man has wintered. In the spring of ’95, or as soon as the season will permit, he will make a further and final advance, leaving time enough for the party to return to Inglefield Gulf before the fall. There a relief ship will be in waiting to carry the expedition157back to New York with the results of their explorations.
So much for Lieutenant Peary’s time-table; now for what he hopes to accomplish.
To begin with, the party expect to attain the highest north ever reached by any Arctic expedition. The present record is held by the Greely expedition, two members of which reached 83° 24´ north latitude. The farthest north reached by Lieutenant Peary in his last expedition was 82° north latitude, which is some eighty-four geographical miles south of the point reached by Lieutenant Lockwood of the Greely party. Then, as already mentioned, a complete survey will be made of Inglefield Gulf, and also of the entirely unknown stretch of land on the northeastern coast of Greenland, between Independence Bay and Cape Bismarck.
In addition to this, the main object of the expedition is to make a complete map of the land lying to the north of Greenland, or, rather, the Archipelago, for it is believed that this region is occupied by an extensive group of islands. Unfortunately there is reason for thinking that the lofty ice-cap which will allow the explorers to reach the northernmost point of Greenland by sledging over the inland ice does not continue in the same way over the islands to the north of Greenland. Both Lieutenant Peary in his observations on the east, and Lieutenant Lockwood on the west, remarked that the land stretching away to the north was in many places bare of ice and snow, and rugged in its character. One reason for this absence of an inland ice-cap here is the fact that these islands to the north lie low in the ocean compared with mountainous Greenland. Hence, in the summer, which is the only season when an advance would be possible, the ice and snow melt to a great extent and leave the land bare. Now in case Lieutenant Peary finds that there is no continuous ice on this northern land, he will skirt around the shore on the ice of the open sea, for this is present winter and summer alike. It is likely that such an advance over the ice-pack will be attended by very serious difficulties, the ice being heaped up in broken and uneven surfaces, with mountains and chasms to baffle the party. There may also be spaces of open water where boats or rafts will have to be used instead of sledges. At any rate, the advance will be made as far as possible, and the land to the north of Greenland studied and mapped as far as may be.
It is not the purpose of the expedition to seek the North Pole itself. They may and very probably will get nearer to the Pole than anyone has hitherto done. Lieutenant Peary is confident that he will make the farthest north, and General Greely is inclined to admit this, and told me some days ago in Washington that he should not be surprised if Lieutenant Peary reached 85° north latitude. In any event, an approach to the North Pole will be an incident in the expedition, and not its main object.
Several important considerations make it probable that Lieutenant Peary’s present expedition will attain a considerable measure of success. In the first place, in starting from Bowdoin Bay instead of from Redcliffe House, there will be a gain of forty miles rough hauling, which meant in the recent expedition two weeks’ valuable time. From Bowdoin Bay, the party will be able to climb to the inland ice-cap by the shortest and easiest possible route. The fact that an abundant supply of provisions will be sent ahead during the present summer will be a great advantage, and will do away with the necessity of a supporting party such as was employed on the last expedition. To save the carrying of a ton or so of provisions for even a hundred miles is a matter of great importance. Lieutenant Peary expects to make a further saving in time by choosing a course midway between the one taken on his last journey to Independence Bay and the one taken on his return journey. These two courses, it will be remembered, were unsatisfactory, because in the advance to Independence Bay he went too far to the west and was caught in immense fissures and depressions leading to the glaciers, while on the return journey he158went so far to the east that the great elevation above the sea level, often eight thousand feet or more, made it difficult to find the way or take observations on account of perpetual fogs. Now he proposes to avoid the two extremes, and to search for an easier course in a happy medium. A still greater gain in time will be made by starting the expedition early in March, 1894, instead of waiting until May, as was the case before.
A novel feature of the expedition, and one that will be of great service, it is believed, in hauling the loads, will be the use of pack horses in addition to the dog teams. Lieutenant Peary, during his recent western trip, secured a number of hardy burros in Colorado, which he believes will be able to endure the Arctic winter. At any rate, they will be very valuable in carrying the advance provisions this present season, and on a pinch they can be turned into steaks. It has been found possible to fit snow shoes to the hoofs of these pack horses, so as to allow them to advance as rapidly as the dogs. An experiment similar to this has been tried in Norway, where ponies have been used successfully on snow, and also in Alaska.
As to the size of the exploring party, it will be small, comprising not more than ten men in all, and several of these will be left behind at the winter quarters. Lieutenant Peary fully realizes that an exploring party is no stronger than the weakest of its members, and will take along with him only men whose endurance and loyalty have been fully demonstrated. From the winter camp the line of advance will be Independence Bay, where the party will divide, Lieutenant Peary pushing on to the north, and his other men exploring southward to Cape Bismarck. From that point the latter party will be instructed to return to the winter camp directly across Greenland. There is no human way of knowing how Lieutenant Peary will return.
One question which will occur to anxious friends of the explorer is, how Lieutenant Peary and his two companions will live during the winter of ’94 and ’95, at the northernmost point of Greenland, where the foot of man has never trod, and where no supplies could reach them. The answer to this question is, that the party will take with them a very large supply of dried meat and other necessaries, and that they count on finding musk oxen in the region where they will camp. In his previous expedition, Lieutenant Peary killed five of these musk oxen near Independence Bay, and he saw many others. With such a supply of fresh meat, and with abundant means of protecting themselves against the cold, there is no reason why the party may not live through the winter without serious danger or even extraordinary discomfort. Leigh Smith was able to pass a winter on Franz-Josef Land under much less favorable conditions.
In a general way it may be said, in conclusion, that the present Peary expedition starts out with bright prospects. Advantage has been taken of errors and oversights made by others in the past. Dangers and difficulties have been foreseen, and will be guarded against. A sensible, and to a great extent feasible, plan of advance has been adopted. In a word, everything would seem to have been done to prevent the recurrence of one of those wretched tragedies which have stained and saddened the records of Arctic exploration.
Editor’s Note.—The expedition of Lieutenant Peary is undertaken at his own expense, with the aid of voluntary subscriptions.Contributions from one dollar up may be sent to Professor Angelo Heilprin, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Editor’s Note.—The expedition of Lieutenant Peary is undertaken at his own expense, with the aid of voluntary subscriptions.
Contributions from one dollar up may be sent to Professor Angelo Heilprin, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
159AN EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLE.By W. H. Gilder.Author of “Schwatka’s Search,” “Ice Pack and Tundra,” etc.
On the Fourth of July, 1879, after a long and tedious journey over territory never before crossed by man, I stood with Lieutenant Schwatka on Cape Felix, the most northern point of King William’s Land.
Looking in the direction of the Isthmus of Boothia, not more than twenty miles to the eastward, across the frozen surface of McClintock Channel, we could see the snow-covered hills of Cape Adelaide, radiant with all the tints of the rainbow, in the light of the midnight sun. It was there that, nearly half a century before, Sir James Ross had located the North Magnetic Pole. The place is invested with deep interest to all explorers, but, with us, the pleasure was mitigated by the knowledge that we were entirely devoid of instruments with which to improve the opportunity of either verifying the work already done or continuing it upon the same line of research.
Ever since that time I have been strongly imbued with the desire to return to that field of labor with a party of observers properly equipped to make an exhaustive search through that storehouse of hidden knowledge.
About three years ago I brought the subject uppermost in my mind to the attention of Professor T. C. Mendenhall, Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, in Washington, and to that of his assistant, Professor Charles A. Schott, in charge of the computing division of that bureau. From the first both of these gentlemen have been strong advocates of such an expedition.
COLONEL W. H. GILDER.
COLONEL W. H. GILDER.
“The importanceof a redetermination of the geographical position of the North Magnetic Pole,” said Professor Mendenhall, in a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury written at that time, “has long been recognized by all interested in the theory of the earth’s magnetism or its application. The point as determined by Ross in the early part of this century was not located with that degree of accuracy which modern science demands and permits, and, besides, it is altogether likely that its position is not a fixed one. Our knowledge of the secular variation of the magnetic needle would be greatly increased by better information concerning this Magnetic Pole, and, in my judgment, it would be the duty of the Government to offer all possible encouragement to any suitably organized exploring expedition which might undertake to seek for this information.”
Acting upon a further recommendation160in this letter, the Secretary of the Treasury requested the President of the National Academy of Sciences to appoint a committee of its members, or others familiar with the difficult problems involved, “to formulate a plan or scheme for carrying out a systematic search for the North Magnetic Pole, and kindred work,” and such a committee was subsequently appointed, with Professor S. P. Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, as chairman.
GENERAL A. W. GREELY.
GENERAL A. W. GREELY.
The work proposedby this expedition has attracted the attention and held the interest of scientists everywhere, and material aid from several scientific bodies has already been pledged toward the securing of the necessary funds for transporting the party to the field of its labors, and its maintenance while at work there.
The observers will be selected from among the officers of the United States Navy attached to the Coast Survey, who have had special training in magnetic field work. That bureau will also provide the necessary instruments, but, in the absence of any appropriation that could be applied to the transportation and maintenance of the party in the field, the funds for that purpose have to be obtained by the voluntary contribution of those with means and inclination to aid so important an enterprise.
Said the late Professor Trowbridge of Columbia College, in a lecture upon the data to be obtained by this expedition for subsequent expert discussion, “We are living in an epoch in the world’s history when man is struggling for a higher and more perfect life, not only against the degrading tendencies of his inherited nature, but to make the forces of nature subservient to his advancement and well being. Among these forces there are none which seem to affect or control the conditions of animal life on the earth more than heat, light, electricity, and magnetism, all, perhaps, the manifestations of one cosmical agent. As the variations of the magnetic force appear to follow lesser and greater cycles, it is not impossible that nearly all terrestrial phenomena, which depend on causes allied to magnetism, follow similar cycles. We can now predict the course of storms; may we not hope to determine their origin and predict their recurrence, as far as they depend upon the forces which have been mentioned? A knowledge of the laws of the cycles through which these forces pass is the first and only step in this direction to be taken, and this step must be made by patient, long-continued observations.”
PROFESSOR T. C. MENDENHALL.
PROFESSOR T. C. MENDENHALL.
An immediate practicaluse of the observations to be made is their application161to the correction of compass errors. Every one can see that such work as tends to render the mariner’s compass a more reliable instrument must be of immediate and direct benefit, not only to the sailor, but to the surveyor on land.
Admitting that the observations of such an expedition as that to the North Magnetic Pole will be of scientific and general value, it remains to explain something of the personnel of the party, how the work is to be conducted, and by what route it will reach the field of its labor.
Besides the two observers of terrestrial magnetism to be supplied by the Coast Survey, there will be a physician fitted by education and habits of study to take charge of some scientific portion of the work, in which he will be specially instructed by the Superintendent of the Coast Survey or his assistant. There will also be three sailors selected from the whaling fleet, who will have charge of the three whale boats belonging to the outfit, and act as assistants to the several observers. The writer of this article, by reason of his experience in Arctic travel, will have charge of the expedition in all except the scientific work, the reports on which will be turned over directly to the officers of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey for reduction and discussion upon the return of the party from the field.
The scheme of work has already been prepared by Professor Charles A. Schott, who is looked upon as probably the best informed on all the details of terrestrial magnetism of all men in this or any other country. In the course of his exhaustive report upon this subject he says: “The magnetic observations proper will comprise the measure of the three elements, the declination, the dip, and the intensity, which fully define the magnetic force at a place. The measures will be partly absolute and partly differential, and will be considered under two heads; those to be taken while travelling, and those to be attended to at winter quarters.” Detailed instructions for this work are given which are too technical to be interesting except to the specialist. He recommends that a single cocoon thread carrying a sewing needle shall be used to observe the declination where by proximity to the Magnetic Pole the horizontal force is weak. For it must be borne in mind that the Magnetic Pole is the point where the vertical force, called “dip,” is greatest—represented by 90°—while the horizontal force, called “declination,” is 0°.
DIAGRAM OF THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLE REGION.
DIAGRAM OF THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLE REGION.
The observations for dip, naturally the most important of the survey, will be made with a Kew Dip Circle employing two needles; the usual reversals of circle, face, and polarity should be attended to at each station, to place the instrument in the plane of the magnetic meridian. The usual method of finding the plane of the meridian will probably not answer in that part of the world for want of sufficient accuracy; the direction of the magnetic162meridian should, therefore, be taken as indicated by the delicately suspended needle of the declination instrument, and, where this method fails, dip observations should be made in any two planes 90° apart, of which the first plane is preferably that of the meridian as guessed at.
It is proposed to charter a steam whaler to take the party from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to the northern part of Repulse Bay, which, being directly connected with Hudson’s Bay, is the nearest point to the pole-containing area that is accessible any year. There a permanent station is to be erected where regular observations will be continued all the time and from which each spring a field party (perhaps two) will start to locate the geographical position of the pole.