Nearest The Pole - free ebook by Robert E. (Robert Edwin) Peary

Nearest the Pole A Narrative of the Polar Expedition of the Peary Arctic Club in the S. S. Roosevelt, 1905–1906

With ninety-five photographs by the author, two maps and a frontispiece in colour by Albert Operti...

44 minute read

Read Chapter

INTRODUCTION

The Address of President Roosevelt on his presentation of the Hubbard Medal of the National Geographic Society to Commander Robert E. Peary, at the annual banquet of the Society, December 15, 1906. I count myself fortunate in having been asked to be present this evening at such a gathering and on behalf of such a society to pay a tribute of honour to an American who emphatically deserves well of the commonwealth. Civilised people usually live under conditions of life so easy that there is a cert

5 minute read

Read Chapter

ANNOUNCEMENT

The Peary Arctic Club at a recent meeting resolved unanimously to place the Roosevelt on dry dock for a refitting, and to subsequently tender the same to Commander Peary for a final attempt to be made by him to reach the North Pole. Believing Commander Peary will be successful, the Club has taken this action, and they have every confidence in the gallant and intrepid American, and share in the pride that must animate the American people to see planted at the North Pole the American flag. The Pea

1 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER I FROM NEW YORK TO ETAH

When an expedition starts for distant and mysterious regions for an uncertain length of time, and particularly when its objective point is the frozen heart of the Arctic Circle, it is natural that those who know and are interested in its objects and plans should turn with interest to its personnel and its surroundings and environment while en route to the scene of action. The opening scenes of an Arctic voyage are comparatively familiar to those conversant with Arctic literature. The main featur

4 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER II ETAH TO CAPE SHERIDAN

Leaving Etah soon after midnight of August 16th, the Roosevelt swung out from the harbour of Etah and severed all communication with the civilised world. Below decks the ship was filled with coal until her plank sheer was nearly to the water; on deck were more than two hundred Eskimo dogs; and on the topgallant forecastle, and the tops of both forward and after deck-houses were over half a hundred Eskimos, men, women and children, and their belongings. The heavy pack ice surging down Smith Sound

18 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER III AUTUMN AT CAPE SHERIDAN

It was hoped that the next ebb-tide would give us an opportunity to advance farther, and immediately after breakfast I hurried ashore to examine the ice beyond Cape Sheridan and visit the cairn built by the Alert thirty years before. The weather was too thick to permit any satisfactory reconnoissance. I took the Alert’s record from the cairn, a copy of which Marvin later replaced together with an additional brief memorandum. All the slopes of the land were white with snow above which the cairn,

15 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER IV THROUGH THE “GREAT NIGHT” ON THE SHORES OF THE CENTRAL POLAR SEA

The winter, which for convenience I assume to comprise the time from November 1st to February 7th, the date of the return of the last of the field parties, was marked by practically the same ice and atmospheric conditions as the fall, accompanied of course by a greater degree of cold and almost entire absence of light. Through all its vicissitudes and against continued stress of wind and ice, the Roosevelt clung to her moorings against the ice-foot, presenting a marked contrast to the usual pict

10 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER V SHERIDAN TO THE BIG LEAD

On February 19th, Captain Bartlett left finally for Cape Hecla. Marvin and party followed the next day, Dr. Wolf and his party the next, and I two days later. When I left the Roosevelt there was a lead of open water extending from Cape Joseph Henry past Capes Sheridan and Rawson. The northern part of Robeson Channel was open. There was open water along the Greenland coast as far as the Black Horn Cliffs and apparently to Cape Bryant, with numerous pools and leads in the sweep from Cape Henry to

2 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER VI FROM THE “BIG LEAD” TO 87° 6′ N. LAT.

The night of April 2d was fine until early morning when it clouded up, and when we got under way it was dark and threatening, with a biting wind right from the direction of the Pole, swinging later to the west. The ice was shrouded in the shadowless light peculiar to these conditions, making it almost impossible to see Henson’s trail. I found that our camp floe was an island; a broad lane of young ice separating it from the other ice. After passing two or three more narrow lanes of young ice, we

16 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER VII FROM 87° 6′ TO THE GREENLAND COAST

From the time we left Storm Camp on the upward march the wind had blown with greater or less force, but without interruption, from a little south of true west. Now as we retraced our steps it blew quartering in our faces, and accompanied by a fine drift of snow, cut like red-hot needles. We had already made a good day’s march. Now we had to duplicate it without rest or food. When at last we stumbled into camp I was nearly blind from the effects of the cutting snow and wind, and completely done u

15 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER VIII ALONG THE GREENLAND COAST TO THE ROOSEVELT

Wearily we started westward to regain the Roosevelt and I kept an Eskimo constantly scouting the shore abreast of our line of march, looking for hare, but musk-oxen were to be our salvation and instead of setting an air-line course for the north end of Britannia Island on the route which I had followed in 1900, I determined to go straight for the north end of Ellison Island and thence round the southern end of Britannia Island through the passage between it and the mainland, and from there along

19 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER IX WESTWARD OVER THE GLACIAL FRINGE OF GRANT LAND

The weather for the week following our return to the ship was of the most disagreeable character, beginning within twenty-four hours of our arrival, with a violent southerly gale which swept up the channel with great fury, and was followed by continuous thick weather, with a pronounced rise in temperature, frequent winds and snow. I congratulated myself every day that we got in just in time. The gale combined with the prolonged thick weather and the invariable drop in the physical barometer acco

20 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER X WESTWARD OVER THE GLACIAL FRINGE OF GRANT LAND (CONTINUED)

It blew and snowed all day of the 18th, and for several hours of the 19th. Then the snow ceased, but the wind continued with increased force, keeping up a blinding cloud of drift. We broke camp, leaving all but two days’ rations, and our tent and gear, and went in to the land about six miles distant. The march, short as it was, was as disagreeable as I had experienced for a long time, the bitter wind finding every opening in our clothing and filling it with snow, which then melted, so that when

24 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XI THE RETURN FROM “FARTHEST WEST”

I quote from my Journal: July 6th. —Another day of hell, except that there has been too much water to comport with the orthodox understanding of the place. About 5 P. M. yesterday, the fog and snow lightened sufficiently for a short time, to permit studying out a route to the next point to the east, among the lakes. We then turned in for some sleep before starting, as we had already been up and awake over twelve hours. Waking at midnight, I found the fog had settled down densely but it was no lo

23 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XII SHERIDAN TO ETAH

July 30th and 31st the weather was fine, the channel pack surging back and forth with the tides close alongside, and every now and then large pieces crowding in against us, necessitating shifting the Roosevelt by the lines to avoid them. The channel pack consisted of very large floes packed closely together and showing no signs of leads throughout the entire width of the channel and as far north and south as could be seen. The ship’s people assisted by the Eskimos worked night and day to complet

13 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XIII ETAH TO NEW YORK

As we left Etah loose ice was streaming down past the mouth of the fiord. Cape Alexander was reached at midnight and the Roosevelt headed for Cape Isabella to run a line of soundings across Smith Sound as far as the ice would permit. About ten miles from Alexander the solid edge of the ice was encountered extending unbroken from there to the Ellesmere Land shore. This ice was very heavy and appeared to have no cracks or openings in it. The sounding here was 438 fathoms. The Roosevelt then headed

2 minute read

Read Chapter

1898–1902

The history of The Peary Arctic Club divides itself, first, into that of the subscribers sustaining the 1898–1902 Expeditions, and second, of the incorporators of the Club, in 1904, under the laws of the State of New York. The subscribers met for the first time at No. 44 Pine Street, N. Y., Jan. 29, 1899, and having before them Commander Peary’s letters and reports from Etah, North Greenland, Aug. 12, 1898, adopted the name of “The Peary Arctic Club” and a Constitution, setting forth that “the o

4 minute read

Read Chapter

1904–190–(?)

The Charter of the Peary Arctic Club, April 19, 1904, recites that the objects of the incorporation are “to aid and assist in forming and maintaining certain expeditions to be placed under Commander Robert E. Peary, U. S. N., with the object of continuing his explorations of the Polar Regions and completing the geographical data of the same, receiving and collecting such objects of scientific interest as may be obtainable through such expeditions; collecting, receiving, and preserving narratives

4 minute read

Read Chapter

MONTHLY MEANS OF THERMOMETRIC READINGS AT CAPE SHERIDAN, 1905–1906

President Jesup, and Members of the Peary Arctic Club: In January, 1897, I promulgated my plan for an extended scheme of Arctic exploration, having for its main purpose the attainment of the North Pole. During the spring of 1897, your President, Morris K. Jesup, became interested in the matter, and suggested the idea of the present Club. His example was followed by other prominent men, and late in May, through the persistent personal efforts of Chas. A. Moore, backed by letters from these and ot

2 minute read

Read Chapter

1898–1899

Pushing rapidly northward, and omitting the usual calls at the Danish Greenland ports, Cape York was reached after a voyage, uneventful except for a nip in the ice of Melville Bay, which lifted the Hope bodily, and for a few hours seemed to contain possibilities of trouble. The work of hunting walrus and assembling my party of natives was commenced at once, the Windward soon joined us, after which the hunting was prosecuted by both ships until the final rendezvous at Etah, whence both ships stea

48 minute read

Read Chapter

1900–1901

In the middle of September I started with Henson and four Eskimos to Lake Hazen, to secure musk-oxen for our winter supply, it being evident that my ship would not reach us. Going west as far as the valley of the Very River, by October 4th, ninety-two musk-oxen had been killed. Later nine more were secured, making a total of one hundred and one for the autumn hunting. From the beginning of November to March 6th, the greater portion of the time was passed by my party in igloos built in the vicini

2 minute read

Read Chapter

1901–1902

On the 16th of September I succeeded in reaching Payer Harbour, crossing Ross Bay, partly by sledge and partly by boat, and going overland across Bedford Pim Island. Soon after this my Eskimos began to sicken, and by November 19th six of them were dead. During this time I personally sledged much of the material from Erik Harbour to headquarters, and Henson went to the head of Buchanan Bay with some of the Eskimos, and secured ten musk-oxen. The winter passed quietly and comfortably. Two more mus

15 minute read

Read Chapter

A New Caribou from Ellesmere Land[4]

4 . Bulletin Am. Museum of Nat. History, Vol. xvi, Article xxxii. The valuable natural history material brought by the Arctic explorer, Commander R. E. Peary, U. S. N., to the American Museum of Natural History on his return from his recent long sojourn in the high North contains five specimens of Caribou taken in Ellesmere Land, Lat. 79°, in June, 1902. They comprise four flat skins of adults without skulls, and more or less defective, and the complete skin of a young fawn. In colouration they

4 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XVI THE ARCTIC S. S. “ROOSEVELT”

In July, 1904, in one of the charming villas overlooking the city of Bar Harbor a meeting took place, small as to numbers but weighty with importance in the affairs of the Peary Arctic Club, for at that meeting was taken the formal step which meant the building of the Roosevelt . Four men were present at the meeting: Morris K. Jesup, Lewis L. Delafield his counsel, Captain Charles B. Dix, and myself. Mr. Jesup had stated some time previous, that if subscriptions to the Peary Arctic Club could be

33 minute read

Read Chapter

SUMMARY

119 Males , 85 Females, [6] 3 Infants sex un-learned. Total 207 August 31, 1895, this tribe numbered 253—males 140, females 113 6 . Names of males in italic, females in roman....

13 minute read

Read Chapter