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27 chapters
PREFACE
PREFACE
The material for this book has been gathered from the rich storehouse of Arctic Literature. The chief labour of its composition lay in elimination rather than construction. The great field I have endeavoured to present can hardly be brought with justice to the narrow bounds of a single cover, but I have conscientiously endeavoured to bring to the reader’s mind an accurate record of brilliant deeds that go to make the history of the far North, and have let the explorers themselves tell the story
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CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
Early adventurers: Pytheas.—Dicuil.—Other.—Wulfstan.—The Norsemen.—Iva Bardsen.—The Cabots.—The Cortereals.—Willoughby and Chancellor.—Stephen Burrough.—Niccolò Zeno.—Frobisher.—Pet and Jackman.—Sir Humphrey Gilbert.—Davis.—Barentz. A grave old world, majestically swinging upon its axis, the mystery of its northern extremity locked closely within its breast, is suddenly electrified by the news that at last man, for centuries baffled in his heroic efforts, has revealed its hidden secret, and that
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CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
No century has produced a more daring or renowned mariner than Henry Hudson, or one whose melancholy fate has provoked more pity. Down through the decades the story of his adventures has been told and retold at the fireside of the old to the eager ears and quickening imagination of the young. Talented, indefatigable, fearless, his achievements, in the infancy of Arctic exploration, handicapped by the lack of all that invention and science has secured to modern explorers, place him in the first r
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CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
As a result of the many disastrous voyages to the Arctic, there was a long period of inactivity in polar research, which continued for the first sixteen years of the nineteenth century. Interest was revived, however, by the astounding report that ice which had cut off the Danish colonies from communication with their native country for centuries, had suddenly become free, and that certain Greenland whalers had sailed to the seventieth and eightieth parallel. The British Admiralty in conjunction
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CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
The principal object of Lieutenant W. E. Parry’s first voyage under the direction of the British Admiralty was to pursue the survey of Lancaster Sound, so abruptly discontinued by Captain Ross the previous year, and decide the probability of a northwest passage in that direction, thus settling the much-disputed question of the existence of the “Crocker Mountains,” which Parry, who had accompanied Ross, declared from the first to have been an ocular illusion. Should Lancaster Sound not prove navi
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CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
The names of Scoresby and Clavering hold their own special interest in the long list of heroes of the north. A practical whaleman, of an intelligent and scientific frame of mind, Scoresby, as early as 1806, had penetrated to within five hundred geographical miles of the Pole. In 1817 he had made an excursion to Jan Mayen Island, and later ascended Mitre Cape, whose summit is estimated at three thousand feet above the level of the sea. But not until 1822 did his discoveries reach the greatest imp
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CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
No name holds more romantic association with Arctic history than that of Sir John Franklin. What a career, what love of adventure, what hardships endured with heroic fortitude, what leadership that could inspire others to passionate loyalty, and superhuman endurance under unspeakable trials, and what a fate ! Let us review briefly a life that stands in the foremost rank of naval history, not so much by great achievement, as by that particular charm of character, indefinable and subtle, that is b
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CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
No tidings of the Erebus and Terror having reached England by the close of 1847, great anxiety was felt as to the whereabouts and fate of the missing ships. The government immediately took measures to outfit three searching parties. The first was to go westward to Behring Strait, and there meet the ships with assistance, should they have been successful in making the object of their voyage, and for this purpose Captain Henry Kellett commanding the Herald and Captain Moore in the ship Plover left
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CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
The British searching squadron, including the Resolute , the Assistance , the Pioneer , and the Intrepid , while wintering in the vicinity of Cornwallis Island and Griffith Island, had held frequent communication and planned for exploration journeys on sledges to be undertaken as early as possible the following spring. Before the winter became too severe, depots of provisions were established to be used by the sledging parties, and the men trained in sledge dragging and walking exercises that th
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CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
Interest in the mysterious fate of Sir John Franklin was in no wise lessened by the unexpected return to England of the searching squadron in 1851. Dr. Rae’s land journey of over-eight hundred miles, including a thorough examination of the east and north coast of Victoria Land, had thrown no new light on the tragic situation. The American coast had now been diligently examined from the entrance of Behring Strait to the head of Hudson Bay, and it was generally believed that Franklin had never rea
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CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
The sledge parties sent out by Sir Edward Belcher’s squadron, though numerous and extended, had succeeded in finding no trace of Franklin or his crews; thus the winter of 1853-1854 passed. The following April, Lieutenant Mecham found in Prince of Wales Strait and, later on, Ramsay Island, records bearing the date of August 27, 1852, giving full intelligence of Captain Collinson, since his separation from the Investigator . All that Collinson knew of the position of M’Clure after parting with him
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CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
Mention has already been made of the second Grinnell expedition, commanded by Dr. Kane and financed by Mr. Grinnell and Mr. Peabody of London. Dr. Kane’s instructions from the Navy Department at Washington, dated November 27, 1852, read as follows:— “ Sir :—Lady Franklin having urged you to undertake a search for her husband, Sir John Franklin, and his companions, and a vessel, the Advance , having been placed at your disposition by Mr. Grinnell, you are hereby assigned to special duty for the p
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CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
In 1860, Dr. Hayes, who had accompanied the second Grinnell expedition and rendered much valuable service to Dr. Kane and his party, once more sailed from America for the purpose of completing the survey of the north coasts of Greenland and Grinnell Land and to make such explorations as he might find practicable in the direction of the North Pole. “My proposed base of operations,” writes Dr. Hayes, “was Grinnell Land, which I had discovered on my former voyage, and had personally traced beyond l
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CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
The personality of Charles Francis Hall is singularly interesting. Born in Rochester, New Hampshire, in 1821, he received a common school education and pursued the vocation of blacksmith, journalist, stationer, and engraver. In 1850, while living in Cincinnati, Ohio, he became deeply interested in the fate of Sir John Franklin, and for over nine years made a thorough study of Arctic history and, especially, of the Franklin search expeditions. Unconvinced by the admirable report of Captain M’Clin
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CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
Other important discoveries followed the journeys of Dr. Hayes and Captain Hall, including that of Captain Thomas Long, an American whaler, who in 1867 discovered “a mountainous country of considerable extent in the Polar Ocean, beyond Behring Strait,” supposed at that time to be the western prolongation of Plover Island. The same year Captain Carlsen and Captain Palliser sailed across the generally inaccessible Sea of Kara to the mouths of the Obi,—and Captain Johannsen succeeded in circumnavig
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CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
Having gained much distinction for his valuable services in the second German expedition, Lieutenant Payer was resolved to continue in the path of polar discovery. The following year, in company with his colleague and friend, Lieutenant Weyprecht of the Austrian-Hungarian Navy, he equipped the Norwegian schooner Isbjorn and examined the edge of the ice between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, reaching 78° 43´ north latitude, and 42° 30´ east longitude, on the 1st of September, 1871. The zealous ende
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CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
The career of Baron A. E. von Nordenskjöld is one of the most distinguished in Arctic history. Born in Helsingfors, Finland, November 18, 1832, he learned at an early age the thrill of adventure and the joys of research while accompanying his distinguished father on his mineralogical tours in the Ural Mountains. After graduating at Helsingfors in 1857, Nordenskjöld was himself appointed a professor of mineralogy at Stockholm. Baron Nordenskjöld’s scientific interest in polar research began as ea
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CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
Captain G. S. Nares, F. R. S. By permission of The Illustrated London News. The British north polar expedition of 1875 comprised the Alert , a seventeen-gun sloop, and the Discovery , originally a Dundee whaler. Under the supervision of the Admiral Superintendent of the Dockyard at Portsmouth (Sir Leopold M’Clintock) these ships were completely overhauled, reënforced, and admirably outfitted for the service expected of them. Each vessel was supplied with nine boats of various sizes, especially c
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CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
The American Arctic expedition of 1879, commanded by Lieutenant George W. De Long of the United States Navy, was equipped and financed by Mr. James Gordon Bennett, proprietor of the New York Herald . The object of the expedition was to reach the North Pole by way of Behring Strait. The bark-rigged steam yacht of four hundred twenty tons, Pandora , which had already seen considerable service in Arctic water, was purchased from Sir Allen Young. By special act of Congress she was allowed to sail un
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CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX
The plan for establishing International Circumpolar Stations within or near the Arctic Circle, for the purpose of recording a complete series of synchronous meteorological and magnetic observations, was outlined in a well-thought-out paper delivered by Lieutenant Karl Weyprecht, A. H. Navy, before the German Scientific and Medical Association of Gratz in September, 1875, soon after the return from his remarkable journey in the Tegetthof . Though Lieutenant Weyprecht did not live to see his splen
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CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XX
The character of the explorer Nansen is best summarized in the brief paragraph explaining his plan for the first crossing of Greenland. “My notion,” he says, “was that if a party of good ‘ski-lobers’ were equipped in a practical and sensible way, they must get across Greenland if they began from the right side, this latter point being of extreme importance. For if they were to start, as all other expeditions have done, from the west side, they were practically certain never to get across. They w
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CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXI
The voyage of the Jeannette , among other valuable scientific results, had proved Wrangell Land to be an island of moderate size. The drift of the Fram had demonstrated the theory of a polar ocean of vast dimensions and great depth. The interest, therefore, in Arctic exploration for the next few years was centred in numerous scientific parties which thoroughly examined, surveyed, and explored the unknown sections of lands bordering on the Polar Basin. As early as 1885, an expedition was fitted o
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CHAPTER XXII
CHAPTER XXII
In the Geographical Journal of November, 1902, Sir Clements R. Markham, President of the Royal Geographical Society of London, commenting on the remarkable achievement of Otto Sverdrup and his gallant companions during four travelling seasons entailing four Arctic winters, expresses himself as follows:— “They have discovered the western side of Ellesmere Island and the intricate system of fiords, as well as three large islands west of Ellesmere Island; they have explored the northern coast of No
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CHAPTER XXIII
CHAPTER XXIII
For nearly a quarter of a century the name of Robert Edwin Peary has been closely identified with Arctic work. No man in the history of exploration has renewed his attacks upon the impassable barriers of the Great White North with such perseverance, endurance, and determination. Again and again in the face of disappointments, bodily disablements, failures, and discouragements that would have blasted the most sanguine hopes of the average man, he has persisted in his endeavours, returned to the f
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CHAPTER XXIV
CHAPTER XXIV
The announcement in the New York Herald on September 1, 1909, of the discovery of the North Pole by Dr. Frederick A. Cook, of Brooklyn, New York, astounded the civilized world. For some years Dr. Cook’s name had been associated with Arctic enterprise, but to the majority of the public his name was strange. In the summer of 1907, Cook had accompanied Mr. John R. Bradley in that gentleman’s yacht in an excursion after big game beyond the Arctic Circle. Later Mr. Bradley sailed home, leaving Cook w
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CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
For three and twenty years Robert Edwin Peary has knocked valiantly at the portals of Immortal Fame—that Castle Nowhere—whose glistening walls of eternal ice lie shimmering in the brilliant sun; whose jewelled towers and minarets catch the glint of sparkling rainbows. The Gates at last have opened and the banquet hall is set. Wild Arctic melodies fall grandly upon the ear. The cannonade of glaciers thunders a salute. About the festive board stand the heroes of the past, according to their preced
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EXPLANATION OF TERMS
EXPLANATION OF TERMS
Bay-ice , or young ice , is that which is newly formed on the sea, and consists of two kinds, common bay-ice and pancake ice; the former occurring in smooth, extensive sheets, and the latter in small, circular pieces, with raised edges. Beset the situation of a ship when closely surrounded by ice. A bight is a bay in the outline of the ice. Blink. A peculiar brightness of the atmosphere, often assuming an archlike form, which is generally perceptible over ice or land covered with snow. The blink
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