THE NORTH POLE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2598, 4 September 1909, Page 5

THE NORTH POLE.

ITS REPORTED DISCOVERY. DR. COOK’S NARRATIVE. --.. ' ".••'T x- -''' . - ■?: SCEPTICISM STILL PREVAILING. U NITKI) I’ItKHH AsSv.CIAT! ON—CorYUIOHT. LONDON, Sept. 2. The Paris edition of the New York * ‘Herald” has commenced publishing details of the early stages of Dr. Cook’s journey. The party - left Annatock on the 19th February with eleven men. There were 103 dogs and 11 sledges. The party started to cross the Polar Sea on the 18th March, from Heiberg Island, at which stage some Eskimos, with a number of dogs and supplies of food, returned. ■•;/. >; v. . •v ’ ;j;| r J PROFESSOR DAVID’S OPINION. SYDNEY, Sept 3. Professor David (who accompanied Lieutenant Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition) considers it very improbable that Dr Cook discovered land extreme north. Allithe sounding-taken by Dr Nansen and . other explorers indicated the. presence of a very deep ocean at the Pole." The existence of isolated land,of a volcanic nature was possible, but a large stretch of land was . unlikely. Mr Douglas Mawson (who was also with' Lieutenant Shackleton’s party) considers the report that Dr Cook discovered the Pole might well be believed. He thinks Dr Cook probably journeyed north the year before,, and wintered in ‘ a hut built on moving ice, relying on walrus food, and that he made a dash for the Pole afterwards, with the appearance of the sun. That would explain his absence for two years. It seemed to Mr Mawson quite feasible to reach the Pole so early in the season.

y DR. COOK’S STORY. (Received September 3, 10.30 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 3. Dr. Cook, in a message to the “New York Herald,” says: “We felt the bite of cold especially on the heights bordering Ellesmere Sound, where the temperature -was 83 below zero centigrade. Several of the dogs were frozen, and the men suffered cruelly. “Along the game tracks from Nansen’s Sound to Land’s End the party killed 101 musk oxen, 7 bears, and 325 hares. “The crossing of the circumpolar pack commenced on 21st March, 1908, two Eskimos, with 26 dogs, accompanying me. We experienced long marches. For the first few days persistent winds cooped us in snow houses, eating dried heef and tallow, and drinking hot tea. Observations taken on 13th March in latitude 84.47, longtitude 86.36. Here were the last signs of solid earth. We advanced/over a monotonous moving sea of ice, with neither bears’ footprints nor seals’ blowholes. The .ice-fields became, beyond the 86th parallel, more extensive. The crevasses were few and less troublesome, with little or no clashed ice as barriers. I was surprised to meet an indication of land in the ice from the 87th to the 88th parallel.

“We were now within 100 miles of the pole. The temperature was below 40 degrees. Signs of land were still seen, but were deceptive illusions, mirages and inverted mountains. I made daily astronomic observations. REACHING THE POLE. “The scene was one of depressing . monotony, but on the 21st April, ~in latitude 89 degreees 59 minutes 46 seconds, the Pole was in si|ht. We advanced the 14 seconds, and made supplementary observations. The flag was raised to the coveted breezes of the North Pole. The temperature was 38 --degrees below zero centigrade. The barometer reading was 29.83. The compass pointing to the magnetic pole was useful, as over endless fields of. snow, with no life, no land ? no spot to relieve the monotony, we turned homewards on April 23rd. Long distances were at first quickly covered. We anxiously watched the daily reduction />f the food supply, and reached on the 24th May the 84th parallel near the 97th meridian. The ice was much broken, and we had on the sledges scarcely enough food to reach Our caches on Nansen Sound. . We hardly equalled 10, instead of the necessary 15 miles per day. A course was set for the musk ox lands. The temperature rose to' zero, with a persistent mist. We struggled 20 days through the fog, and found ourselves far down in Crown Prince Gustav Sea. In 1 a few days bears came* along. They were our life savers. We crossed from the Firth'of Devon into James Sound. The frost, early in September, stopped our progress. With neither food, fuel, nor ammunition, new implements were shaped. Cape Spardo was selected as a likely place for game, and the use of the bow and arrow yielded meat, skins, and fat. An underground den was prepared. There we .remained until the sunrise of 1909. We started on the/ 18th February for Annatok, • and reached Greenland shores On the 15th April.” Though Dr. Cook is a person of high reputation, some persons are still sceptical .in. England, France, and America. Lieutenant Shackleton does not think the long time occupied by the return tells, against: Dr. Cook’s statements. The “Daily Mail” describes Dr. Cook’s narrative as bald and uncon- ' vincing. .

CABLE NEWS.

AMERICAN ADMIRAL PRONOUNCES DISCOVERY A FAROE. NEW YORK, Sept. 3. Rear-Admiral Melville, of the United States Navy, after reading Dr. Cook’s narrative, declares that he is convinced that the reported discovery is a farce.. Several expeditions have been in the field during 1908, hut most of these have not yet reached a stage at which an appreciation of results is possible. Commander Peary, has once more set out on his persevering quest of the North Pole, having sailed from. Sydney, Cape Breton, on July 17,1908. His safe arrival in northern Greenland has since been announced. As before, he intends to establish a base on the northern shore of Grant Land, but hopes to transport sufficient stores over the ice to enable him to start on the final dash with fully-laden sledges. The Danish expedition to East Greenland, under, Rasmussen’s . former chief Mylius Erichsen, has experienced’ disaster in the loss of the leader and two companions, though the rest of the party have reached home in safety. Various'sledge parties had made their way in 1907 to the north-east coast of Greenland, and that under Erichsen himself perished in a, vain attempt to return, its fate not being ascertained until the next spring. Researches were meanwhile carried out by the other members of the expedition,; both on the east coast and on the inland ice.

During the summer of 1908 a Swedish expedition, under Prof, de Geer, carried out surveys and observations in the neighborhood, of Ice Fiord, Spitsbergen ; while a French expedition, under Capt. Benard, sailed early in the year with a view to research in the fields of oceanography, marine biology and meteorology on the coasts of Novaya Zemlya and the Kara Sea. Its vessel, built specially for the purpose, is named the Jacques Cartier. > Of prospective expeditions, the most important is that of the Norwegian, Capt. Roald Amundsen, oft North-West Passage fame, who proposes to drift across the North Polar basin by a route starting' from the vicinity of Bering Strait.