THE NORTH POLE

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2627, 8 October 1909, Page 5

THE NORTH POLE

THE SECOND DISCOVERER.

COMMANDER PEARY’S NARRATIVE.

IlNITUI) PIIK.NH ASBOOIATiON tJopYUHIUT FREMANTLE, Oct. 7. Commander Peary, after detailing the preliminary part of his journey, says: Four months of northerly winds during the fall and winter, instead of southerly ones, led me to expect less open water than before, but a great deal of rough ice, and I was prepared to hew a load through the jagged ice for the first hundred miles or°so, and then to cioss the Big Lead on the last day of February. Captain Bartlett, with the pioneer division, accomplished this, and the division got away due north over the ice on March Ist. The remainder of the party followed shortly after. Ihe party now comprised seven membei-s of the expedition and seventeen Eskimos, with 133 dogs and 19 sledges. On March 2 they passed the British record made by Markham, S2deg. 20min. After Capt. Bartlett had passed on this march, we negotiated the lead and reached Captain Bartlett’s third camp. Borup had gone back from here, but missed his way owing to the “faulting” of the trail by the movement of the ice. Marvin came back also for more fuel alcohol. The wind continued, forming /jpen water all about us. By the end of March 4 we were all upon Captain Bartlett, who had been stopped by a wide lake of open water. We remained here till March 11th. At noon on March sth the sun was red, shaped like a football. A big reflection just raised itself above the horizon for a few minutes and then disappeared again. It was the first time I had seen it since October 1. I now began to feel a deal of anxiety, because there were no signs of Marvin and Borup. Besides, they had the alcohol and oil, which were indispensible for us. We concluded they had either lost the trail or were imprisoned on an island by open water. Fortunately, on March 11th the lead was practicable, and leaving a note for Marvin and Borup to push on after us by forced marches, we proceeded north, ward. During this march we crossed the 84th parallel and traversed a succession of just-frozen leads from a few hundreds yards to a mile in width. This inarch was really a simple one.

Lieut. Peary’s story continues: “On the 14th we got free of the leads and came on decent going. While making camp a courier from Marvin came and informed me that he was on the march in the rear. The temperature was 59 degrees of frost at night. Marvin and Borup came spinning in with their men and dogs steaming in the bitter air like a squadron of battleships. Their arrival relieved me of all anxiety as to the oil supply.

“In the morning we discovered McMillan’s foot was badly frost-bitten. The mishap occurred two or three days before, but McMillan had said nothing about it in the hope it would come out all right. A glance showed that it was the right thing to send him back to Cape Columbia at once. The arrival of Marvin and Borup enabled me to spare sufficient men and dogs t& go back with him. This early loss of McMillan was seriously disappointing. ‘‘Soundings gave a depth of 825 fathoms. Leaving this camp the expedition comprised 16 men, 12 sledges, 100 dogs, and at the end of two short marches we came upon Hansen and his party in camp, mending sledges. Next morning we put Marvin in the lead to pioneer the trail, with instructions to make two forced marches to bring up the average, which had been cut down by the last two short ones. Marvin carried out his instructions implicitly. A considerable amount of young ice assisted in this. At the end of the tenth march in latitude 85,23 Borup turned back in command of the second supporting party. Having travelled a distance equivalent to Nansen’s I was sorry to lose this young Yale runner, with his enthusiasm atfd pluck. He had led his heavy isredge over floes in a way that commanded everyone’s admiration. “A day or two later Marvin obtained a satisfactory sight for latitude in clear weather, which placed us at 85.48. This agreed with the dead reckoning of Marvin, Bartlett and myself. Up to this time the slight altitude of the sun made it not worth the trouble to waste time on observations.

“In the next two marches the going improved. We covered good distances. In one of these marches a lead delays,! us a few hours. We finally ferried across on ice cakes. Next day Bartlett reeled off 20 miles. Here Marvin obtained another satisfactory sight on latitude, which gave our position as 86,38, or beyond the farthest north of Nansen and the Duke of Abruzzi. It .showed we had covered 50 minutes latitude in three marches.

“From this point Marvin turned back in command of the third supporting party. From this point our party consisted of 9 men, with 7 sledges, and 60 dogs. We were obliged on the march to make a detour around an oppn lead. We now encountered the heaviest and deepest snow of the journey. Through a thick smothering mantle, lying in depressions of heavy rubble ice, I came upon Bartlett and his party, fagged and discouraged by the heart-racking work of making a road. I knew what was the matter with them; they were simply spoiled by the good going on the previous marches. I rallied them a bit, lightened their sledges, and sent them on, encouraged again. “During the next march we travelled through a thick haze, drifting before ithe biting air from the north-east. At ithe end of the march we cam© upon