his face turned towards the west. His feet were drawn slightly up,
as though he were sleeping; his left arm was raised with the elbow
bent, and his hand, thus horizontally lifted, was bare. About four
feet back of him, or towards the east, I found his small notebook, or
ice-journal, where he had tossed it with his left hand, which looked
as though it had never recovered from the act, but had frozen as I
found it, upraised.”

During his ill-fated cruise, De Long not only made a number of
valuable physical observations in an unknown region, but he also
proved the Siberian Ocean to be a shallow basin dotted with islands,
and exploded the theory of a great continent to the north of Asia.

CHAPTER XXVII

LEIGH SMITH AND THE “EIRA”

Not a little of our knowledge of Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land is
due to the exertions of that able yachtsman and hunter, Leigh Smith,
of whom mention has already been made in connection with his rescue
of the unfortunate Swedes at Mussel Bay. Leigh Smith first comes into
the story of Arctic Exploration early in the ’seventies, when in a
series of three voyages, he examined the coast of Spitzbergen and
corrected several errors which then obtained credence concerning the
outline of North-East Land. Valuable as were the scientific results
of these voyages, however, we need not concern ourselves particularly
with them, and it is not until 1880, when he paid his first visit to
Franz Josef Land, that we have to enter into the story of his doings
in any detail.

Experience had taught him that discoveries could always be made
in the icy seas by perseverance and by promptly seizing any
opportunities that might arise, so, when he decided to make another
expedition northward, he made up his mind to sail for the Spitzbergen
seas, to conduct a careful examination of the ice over a large area,
and then to prosecute his researches in the direction which seemed
most promising. With this end in view, he had built for himself a
steam yacht of 360 tons burden and 50 horse-power, which he named
the _Eira_, and with a company of twenty-nine, he set sail for the
north in June 1880.

His first objective was Jan Mayen, but he was prevented from
examining that interesting island by the fact that it was, as usual,
enveloped in a thick mist. He next turned his attention to the east
coast of Greenland, which, of course, still offers a splendid field
to the adventurous explorer, but here again he was foiled, for the
coast was so encumbered by ice that it was impossible for him to
approach it. He then shaped his course for Spitzbergen, but falling
in with the two famous whalers, David and John Gray, he learnt that
the ice was equally bad in that direction. Accordingly, he determined
to try his luck in the Barents Sea, and to discover once and for all
whether there was a practicable sea-route to Franz Josef Land. Payer
and Weyprecht had, of course, found their way thither in 1871, but as
we have seen, they had been drifted there with the ice; a Dutchman
named De Bruyne had actually sighted its high land in 1879, but he
had not succeeded in reaching it; while, in the same year, Captain
Markham, in his little yacht the _Isbjörn_, had pushed as far north
as lat. 78° 24´, and had come to the conclusion that a steamer ought
to be able to make its way through the loose ice with which the sea
was cumbered without very much difficulty. There was, therefore,
every reason for Leigh Smith to hope that he would be able to reach
those shores which had never been visited since they were first
discovered.

Though the sea was covered with ice and dense fogs were of frequent
occurrence, he succeeded in bringing the _Eira_ through in safety,
and on August 14 she was lying at anchor off May Island, which is
situated just to the south of Hooker Island. Continuing her journey,
she steamed past Barents Hook, round the southern shore of Northbrook
Island, and up to Bell Island, between which and Mabel Island an
excellent anchorage was found and named Eira Harbour. Making that his
base, Leigh Smith surveyed the coast-line in all directions, adding
about 110 miles to the maps, and forming an interesting collection
of the flora and fauna of the country. Towards the end of August the
weather became threatening, so he determined to bid farewell to Franz
Josef Land for that year, as he was not prepared to spend a winter
there.

With a view to convincing doubters that the voyage to Franz Josef
Land would be practicable in any year, he set out on his second
voyage thither in the following summer. The _Eira_ was more hampered
by ice than had been the case before, but on July 23 land was
sighted, and Leigh Smith set his course for Cape Ludlow. After
exploring much of the coast-line which he had been unable to reach
during his previous visit, he made for Bell Island, off which he
anchored on August 6.

He had just finished examining Cape Flora and was thinking of
turning eastwards, in the hope that he might pick up some traces of
the lost _Jeannette_, when a calamity took place which completely
upset all his plans. For one fine Sunday morning, when the weather
was beautifully calm, and there seemed to be nothing to fear, the
pack-ice suddenly came down with the tide, and the _Eira_ was caught
between it and the land floe. She was protected by a grounded berg,
and for a while no injury was done to her. Then, without any
warning, the berg gave way, the _Eira_ heeled over, and the water
came pouring into her hold, probably through a hole made by a tongue
of ice. The pumps were tried, but without much effect, so all hands
were set to work, passing provisions and anything else that they
could save out on to the ice. Within two hours she was at the bottom,
in eleven fathoms of water.

There was now nothing for the men to do but to make the best of a bad
business, and to set about preparations for the winter. Fortunately
the land abounds with bears and walruses, and thanks to the united
efforts of the crew and of Bob, their retriever, the larder was soon
filled with a sufficient store of meat to last them comfortably till
the spring. Bob seems to have been a veritable Nimrod among dogs, and
to have combined an enthusiasm for hunting with an unusual degree
of sagacity. On one occasion, while out for a constitutional by
himself, he came upon a herd of seahorses, and succeeded in conveying
the intelligence to his human friends, to the great benefit of the
larder. On another occasion, he decoyed a bear right up to the door
of the hut, where it was promptly shot, while he once nearly died a
sportsman’s death in the embrace of a moribund bear, which, in his
zeal, he had approached rather too closely.

All the boats had fortunately been saved, and the winter was spent
in making preparations for a voyage to Nova Zembla, where, it was
hoped, succour would be found. This hope was amply fulfilled, for, on
reaching their goal after six weeks of very hard work, they fell in
with the Dutch exploring steamer, the _Willem Barents_, and later
on with the _Hope_, which had been sent out to their relief by the
British Government, and by which they were conveyed home none the
worse for their experiences.

Leigh Smith’s voyages were valuable not only scientifically but also
commercially, for he showed that walruses abound in those seas, a
piece of knowledge of which hunters have availed themselves to the
full.

CHAPTER XXVIII

GREENLAND AND THE EARLIER JOURNEYS OF NANSEN AND PEARY

On the whole of the earth’s surface there is probably no more
desolate and uninviting country than Greenland. Extending for a
distance of over 1400 miles from north to south, and of some 900
miles from east to west at its broadest point, almost the whole of it
is covered with a permanent ice-cap, which probably attains in places
a depth of 3000 feet, and on which it is absolutely impossible for a
human being to sustain life for long.

Some small portions of the coast are inhabited by tribes of Eskimos
and by settlers, while here and there traces remain of its early
Norse discoverers, many of them probably Christians, as Holm, in
1880, found ruins of four stone churches in the Julianshaab district.
These settlements are confined to small areas on the western coast;
the eastern coast, with the exception of a small tract between Cape
Bismarck and Cape Farewell, whither a few Eskimos migrated from the
Parry Islands, is entirely uninhabited. This coast, indeed, protected
as it is by an almost impassable barrier of ice and shrouded by
perpetual fog, has never been very thoroughly explored, in spite of
the persistent efforts of generations of daring travellers. During
the earlier days of Arctic exploration, Hudson, the Dane Daniell,
Gale Hamke, Han Egede and his son, Olsen Wallör, and other whalers
mapped out small sections of the coast, but their discoveries did not
amount to very much.

In 1822, however, Captain William Scoresby, jun., one of the most
famous of Scottish whalers, visited the coast, and, in the intervals
of fishing, succeeded in charting and sketching it from Hudson’s
Cape Hold-with-Hope to Gale Hamke Bay, making at the same time a
number of valuable astronomical and trigonometrical observations.
Captain Edward Sabine, while engaged on his great pendulum work of
1823, visited Pendulum Island with Captain Clavering, who explored
much of the coast in the neighbourhood, the field which he thus
opened up being later developed by Koldewey, with whose voyage in the
_Germania_ we have already dealt. Among others who have contributed
to our still scanty knowledge of this desolate land are Blosseville,
Wandell, Graah, Giesecke, Rink, Dalager, Jensen, Steenstrup, Knutsen,
Knudsen, Eberlin, Garde, Ryder, Drygalski, and Nathorst, thanks to
whose efforts much of the east coast has been mapped out.

For centuries even less was known of the great ice-cap which forms
the interior, and, until recently, it remained practically untrodden
by the foot of man. The Eskimos believed it to be the abode of the
Kivitogs, or sorcerers, and would not attempt to penetrate it,
while few of the explorers who had the hardihood to venture upon it
succeeded in achieving much. In 1870 Nordenskiöld and Berggren, the
naturalist, succeeded in penetrating it to a distance of thirty-five
miles from Aulaitsivik Fiord, and discovered a true ice-plant and
a dust of cosmic origin, which the geologist named kryokonite.
Repeating the attempt in 1883, Nordenskiöld, after fifteen marches,
reached 48° 15′ W., at an elevation of 4900 feet. Seeing that it was
impossible for him to proceed much farther, he sent on two Laps on
skis, who covered another 140 miles, and reported on returning that,
though they had reached an elevation of 6600 feet, the ice-field
still rose steadily.

The first man to cross Greenland from one coast to the other was
Dr Fridtjof Nansen, who was later to win still further fame for
himself by his daring attempt to cross the North Pole in the _Eram_.
Nansen was born on October 16, 1861, and from his earliest youth he
displayed the keenest interest in natural science and that absolute
contempt for danger which proved of such immense service to him
later on. It was in 1887, while curator of the Bergen museum, that
he first announced his intention of crossing that terrible ice-cap
which had hitherto defied the efforts of even the hardiest explorers.
The announcement was greeted with ridicule, but, nevertheless, he
received over forty applications from would-be companions, and the
sum of £300, the estimated cost of the expedition, was presented by a
generous Dane.

No sooner had it been made possible for him to carry out his plans
than he set about the preparations for the journey. Not only was it
necessary for him to select his companions and to arrange all the
details of the route which he proposed to follow and the equipment
which he meant to take with him, but he also thought it advisable to
test the various kinds of skis and snowshoes on which the trip was
to be made, and to accustom himself to hardships by sleeping on a
snow mountain protected from the cold by only a bag.

His companions were to be five in number, and consisted of Otto
Sverdrup, a retired ship’s captain; Lieut. Dietrichson, of the
Norwegian army; Christian Christiansen Frana, a peasant from North
Norway; and two Laps, named Balto and Ravna. Nansen’s plan was
daring in the extreme, for he proposed to land on the east coast of
Greenland, and to make his way as best as he could to the west. It
will be obvious that, having once embarked upon the trip, the party
could not possibly turn back. Ahead of them lay civilisation and
food; behind them lay nothing but an uninhabited and inhospitable
coast, where they would be compelled to die of starvation should they
return to it. By adopting this route, therefore, he burnt his boats
behind him.

In May 1888 Nansen and his companions sailed from Norway in the
sealer which was to take them to Greenland. They had made an
arrangement with the captain that business was to come first, and
that he was not to go out of his way to land them. Accordingly it was
not until July 17, when the ship happened to be within two miles and
a half of the shore, that the explorers were able to put off in their
two boats. As we have had occasion to point out more than once, the
east coast of Greenland is generally encumbered with ice, and Nansen
found that reaching the shore was by no means so easy a matter as
he had anticipated. For many days they were drifted about with the
pack, sometimes being carried as far as thirty miles out to sea, and
it was not until July 29 that they were able to effect a landing.
Even now, however, they were not able to start immediately across
the ice-cap, for in the course of their wanderings they had been
carried 200 miles to the south, and it was necessary for them to make
a toilsome journey northward before, on August 10, they were able to
set their course for the west coast.

They found at once that it was quite impossible for them to travel
by day, as the snow was so soft that very little progress could
be made. Even at night the conditions were but little better, for
their way lay over rough and hummocky ice, which was frequently
intersected by chasms, and rain fell in torrents; consequently they
were only able to cover a few miles on each march. As they travelled
upward, however, towards that high plateau of which Central Greenland
consists, the cold grew more intense, with the result that the
ice became firmer, and they were able to travel by day. The cold,
however, though it brought relief to them in one direction, was not
without its disadvantages, for they were unable to find any more
drinking water, and were obliged to content themselves with snow,
which they melted in flasks carried at their breasts.

The upward journey occupied them about three weeks, and it was with
the utmost relief that they found themselves at last on the plateau,
at an elevation of about 9000 feet. The ascent had been terribly
steep, the work of dragging the five sledges had been excessively
arduous, and so much time had consequently been spent, that Nansen
determined to change his course, and, instead of pressing on
to Christianshaab, to make for Godthaab, his nearest point in a
south-westerly direction. The second half of the journey afforded a
very pleasant contrast to the first. Abandoning the biggest of the
sledges and binding the others together in couples, the explorers set
sail and sent them racing down the slope while they glided beside
them on their skis. As they neared the coast they were obliged to go
more cautiously, for they very nearly tumbled head over heels down
the first of the precipices which break up the ice-cap at this point.

With some difficulty they succeeded in reaching the shore, and here
the party split up. Nansen, Sverdrup, and one of the Laps made a
crazy and exceedingly uncomfortable boat out of willows, in which
they sailed to the Eskimo settlement of New Herrnhut. Here they were
received by a missionary, and a party was sent back for the others,
who arrived in safety on October 16.

Nansen had intended to return to Norway that autumn, but the last
ship had sailed, and he was consequently obliged to spend the winter
at Godthaab. He ultimately reached home at the end of May, in the
happy knowledge that he had performed a feat which had hitherto
been considered impossible, and that he had proved the interior of
Greenland to be a vast ice-field. The journey had cost him far more
than he had originally anticipated, but the deficit was soon made
good by private subscription.

Nansen was not the only man of the time who was attempting to solve
the riddle of Central Greenland, for before he set out on his daring
journey, the brilliant young American, Lieutenant Peary, had already
begun that series of raids upon the inland ice which were eventually
to be attended by very remarkable results.

Peary is a native of Maine, and he began his career as an engineer in
the United States navy. He seems, however, to have been predestined
by nature for the life of an Arctic traveller, for, as Sir Clements
Markham well put it, he combines “forethought and prudence in
planning his operations with great skill and undaunted resolution in
carrying them into execution”—qualities which more, perhaps, than
any others go to make a successful explorer. It was in the year 1885
that he first turned his attention seriously to that branch of work
with which his name is now so intimately connected. Realising that
there was still a vast field for research in Central Greenland, he
then suggested to the academies and learned societies of the United
States that he should undertake an expedition thither, with a view
to pursuing scientific investigations in that practically unknown
country, and to discovering once and for all whether or not Greenland
was an island. The idea was taken up enthusiastically, and sufficient
funds were soon raised to enable him to carry his plans into
execution.

His first trip was more or less tentative, for he was at that time
totally inexperienced in Arctic travel, and it was, of course,
necessary for him to find out exactly what difficulties he would
have to encounter on such a journey as that which he proposed to
undertake. Leaving America in May 1886, he was soon at Godhaven,
where he met his friend Christian Maigaard, a prominent official
in those parts, who intended to accompany him on his journey.
Thence he sailed up the Pakitsok Fiord, at the end of which lay
his starting-point. After carefully reconnoitering the glacier and
discovering a tongue of ice which seemed reasonably accessible, he
started off with Maigaard and two Eskimos, their equipment consisting
of a couple of sledges and provisions for about three weeks. Their
way did not lie in particularly pleasant places, for the ice-field
was intersected with innumerable crevasses which needed a good deal
of negotiation. He found, however, that travelling was by no means
impossible, and the party succeeded in penetrating the interior to a
distance of about a hundred miles before lack of provisions compelled
them to beat a retreat.

He returned to America more enthusiastic than ever about his plans
for exploring the north of Greenland, and fully convinced that he
could accomplish great things there, given the opportunity. It was
not, however, until the year 1891 that he was able to set out on his
second journey on the steamboat _Kite_, commanded by Captain Richard
Pick. On this occasion he was accompanied by his wife; Dr Cook, the
distinguished ethnologist; Gibson, an ornithologist; John Verhoeff,
a mineralogist; his own coloured servant; and last, but by no means
least, by Elvind Astrup, a young Norwegian who did splendid work not
only on this but also on Peary’s later expeditions. There was also
on board a party of nine men of science, with Professor Heilprin at
their head, whose task it was to make researches and observations
while Peary was away on his long journey.

One serious misadventure marked the passage out, as Peary had the
misfortune to break his leg, with the result that he was absolutely
helpless when the party landed at M’Cormick Bay, and was precluded
from taking part in any of the short autumn trips round Inglefield
Gulf.

The first days after their arrival at the bay were, of course, spent
in the erection of the portable dwelling which they had brought
with them, and to which they gave the name of Redcliffe House. As
soon as spring came round Peary, who, under the care of his wife,
had completely recovered, set off on a short sledge journey round
Inglefield Gulf, on which Mrs Peary accompanied him.

It was not, however, until May 14 that he started on the long journey
which was to be the crowning glory of his expedition. The first part
of the journey was slow, for it took him a week to round Inglefield
Gulf, during which time he discovered no fewer than thirty glaciers,
ten of them of the first magnitude. On reaching the divide between
Whale Sound and Kane Sea, he sent back two of the four men who had
set out with him, and with Astrup as his only companion he pushed on
north. On June 26 they reached the northern edge of the inland ice
and, unable to proceed any further in that direction, they turned
south-east in the hope that they would succeed in making the east
coast of Greenland. Following the extreme limits of the ice-cap
their journey brought them, on July 4, to a large indentation, which
they named Independence Bay, in honour of the day. From the top of a
tremendous cliff, 4000 feet high, they obtained a magnificent view of
the land all round them, a view which left no doubt whatever in their
minds that Greenland was an island.

Of the twenty-one dogs with which they had started only eight now
survived, and as they were a full 450 miles from home, they had no
choice but to make the best of their way back to Redcliffe House,
which they reached without misadventure on August 6. The _Kite_
arriving a few days later, Peary and his companions returned to
America. Their party, however, had been reduced by one member, for
the mineralogist, John Verhoeff, had been overtaken by a snowstorm
when out hunting for specimens and had never been heard of again.

Peary’s experiences convinced him that there was a vast field for
discovery in the north of Greenland, and he promptly set about
raising the money for a third expedition by delivering lectures
on his experiences. The result of his efforts was so entirely
satisfactory that the autumn of 1893 saw him once again established
in Whale Sound. On this occasion, however, he was able to find far
more satisfactory quarters in Bowdoin Bay, an indentation on the
north shore of Inglefield Gulf, where he erected Anniversary Lodge, a
house which might truly be said to have the most modern improvements,
in that it was actually lit by electric light supplied by a dynamo,
for the working of which his steam launch was responsible.

On August 29 Astrup and three companions set out with the object of
laying down _caches_ of provisions for the great spring journey.
Unfortunately, however, they had only deposited two _caches_ when
Astrup was taken ill, and they had to hurry home without properly
locating the spots.

[Illustration: PEARY’S TRAVELLING EQUIPMENT]

On September 12 an exceedingly interesting event took place,
for Mrs Peary, who was again a member of the expedition, presented
her husband with a daughter. To Miss Peary consequently belongs
the honour of having been born in a higher latitude than any other
civilised being.

It was on March 6, 1894, that Peary set out on his spring journey
accompanied by seven men, twelve sledges and ninety-two dogs, and
with sufficient provisions to last for six months. Unfortunately,
however, the weather was by no means so favourable as it had been
on his previous journey. The cold was intense, and his men were
frost-bitten and his dogs frozen to death before his eyes. Sending
back the greater number of his party, Peary pushed on pluckily with
three companions, but circumstances were too much for him, and he had
to confess himself beaten in the end. When he finally reached Bowdoin
Bay, on April 15, only twenty-six dogs out of the original ninety-two
remained to him.

The rest of the spring and the early part of the summer were spent
in exploring and mapping out the unknown shores of Melville Bay.
During the course of one of these journeys Peary reached Cape York,
where he “unsnowed” two gigantic meteorites, the reports of which had
attracted many previous explorers, none of whom, however, had managed
to find them. Later on he succeeded in conveying them to America, as
well as a third of such vast proportions that its removal entailed
several months of hard work.

In August the _Falcon_ came to fetch the explorers, but Peary was
by no means satisfied with his year’s work, and though prudence
undoubtedly demanded that he should return at once, seeing that
he was short of provisions and fuel and that he had no means of
knowing whether or not a ship would be able to visit him during the
following year, with characteristic determination he proclaimed
his intention of staying at Bowdoin Bay for another year with two
volunteers, Hugh Lee and his coloured servant Henson. So, sending
the rest of his party home, he set about making preparations for
the winter. The greater part of the autumn was spent in gaining
Eskimo recruits, in hunting and in attempting to find the _caches_
laid down by Astrup. In the last of these enterprises Peary failed
completely, but the hunting was very fairly successful, with the
result that he and his two companions were able to spend the winter
in comparative comfort. The spring journey was begun on April 2,
1895, the party consisting of Peary himself, his two volunteers, four
Eskimos, and sixty-three dogs, drawing four sledges. The Eskimos did
not prove of much assistance as one of them deserted with his outfit
on the third day, while, a little later, Peary had to send back the
remaining three. With Lee and Henson he now pushed on in the face of
appalling difficulties. Snow-storms raged around them, obliterating
their landmarks and so concealing their _cache_ of pemmican that it
was nowhere to be found. Lee was frost-bitten, the dogs died one
after another, and game was conspicuous by its absence, yet Peary
persevered and, by dint of almost superhuman efforts, he arrived
within a short distance of Independence Bay early in May. Here he was
so fortunate as to kill ten musk-oxen, but no other game of any kind
was to be found, and they now found themselves under the necessity
of rushing back to the camp with all possible despatch. They had only
nine dogs left and food for seventeen days, but by going on short
rations and making forced marches they succeeded in winning their
desperate race against starvation. They were only in the nick of
time, however, for when they reached Bowdoin Bay, on June 25, they
had eaten their last scrap of food, while only one dog remained to
them out of the sixty-five with which they had started. The _Kite_
calling for them later in the summer, they reached Newfoundland in
September after one of the most hazardous journeys on record.

CHAPTER XXIX

THE JACKSON-HARMSWORTH EXPEDITION

It was, no doubt, the success which attended Mr Leigh Smith’s
expedition that first directed the attention of another well-known
English explorer, Mr F. G. Jackson, to Franz Josef Land, and led him
to think seriously of undertaking an expedition thither, with a view
partly to surveying that still almost unknown country and partly to
pushing on, if possible, another step towards the Pole.

Mr Jackson first published the plans of his proposed journey in 1892,
but, though they were very generally approved by those who were
experienced in Arctic research, no one seemed particularly anxious
to provide the necessary funds. Accordingly, in 1893, he determined
to undertake an expedition to the Yugor Straits, with the double
object of exploring Waigatz Island and of testing the equipment
which he proposed to use on his voyage to Franz Josef Land. His trip
was attended by complete success, and when he had accomplished the
task which he had set himself, he determined to extend his journey
round the White Sea and through Lapland, in order that he might
become conversant with the ways of the Laps as well as with those
of the Samoyads, with whom he had been travelling. We may mention
incidentally that it was on this journey that he first learnt the
value of the hardy Russian ponies which proved of such inestimable
service to him on his later expedition.

It was while he was still far from home that he received a telegram
conveying the welcome news that Mr Alfred Harmsworth (now Lord
Northcliffe) had generously undertaken to provide the funds for the
journey to Franz Josef Land of which he hoped such great things. He
did not return to England immediately, thinking that the objects of
his new expedition would be better served if he were to continue
his investigations in Lapland. These completed, he hurried back and
instantly set about his preparations for his forthcoming campaign.

His first care was, of course, to select a vessel suitable for the
conveyance of his party and his stores to the unknown country which
he was to explore, and his choice finally lit upon the _Windward_, a
steam whaler of 461 tons. The expedition was to be provisioned for
three years, and with such care and good sense was the equipment
prepared, that nothing that the travellers could possibly need during
their lengthy stay in the Arctic regions was omitted. Mr Jackson was
no less fortunate in the selection of his staff, and much of the
great success which attended his expedition was due to the work of
his doctor, Reginald Hettlitz; his botanist, Mr Harry Fisher; and his
mineralogist, Mr Child.

The _Windward_ set sail down the Thames in July 1894, and early in
August she reached Archangel, where she took on board a number of
dogs, four ponies, and three portable houses. The passage across
Barents Sea was not unattended by difficulties and occupied some
eleven days, while another fortnight was spent in tacking about
before Bell Island, a nearer approach to the land being made
impossible by the girdle of ice which surrounded it. On September 10,
however, the _Windward_ cast anchor off Cape Flora, the westernmost
point of Northbrook Island, and here the party erected their winter
house, to which they gave the name of Elmwood.

Mr Jackson made it evident at once that he had at any rate one of the
qualities essential to a successful Arctic explorer, in that he was a
splendid disciplinarian. He was convinced that if good health was to
be preserved, every member of his party must be kept constantly busy,
so he saw to it that his men always had plenty of occupation. If they
were not at work, they were sent out hunting, game being exceedingly
plentiful on the island. If they were not hunting, they were made
to play football or other games. The results triumphantly justified
his methods, for during the three years that they spent on Franz
Josef Land not a member of his party had an hour’s illness and not a
single man had to knock off work through indisposition. The crew of
the _Windward_, on the other hand, who were not under his immediate
supervision, and who were allowed to please themselves as to how they
occupied their time, became subject to scurvy, to which several of
them succumbed.

The winter passed without incident, and as soon as spring came round
they set about trying their sledges and making preparations for their
first journey of exploration. This was begun on April 16, and in the
course of it Jackson and his two companions, Lieutenant Armitage
and Blonkvist, pushed north as far as Back Island, where Nansen and
Johansen were destined to build their winter hut four months later.
They were prevented from going much further, however, by the fact
that their way led them through a mixture of snow and mud, which
their ponies were quite unable to negotiate; accordingly there was
nothing for them to do but to make their way home to Elmwood House.

In June the _Windward_ got up steam and set sail for England, leaving
the explorers behind. Her voyage proved to be one of the most trying
description, for so dense was the pack that it took her sixty-five
days to plough her way through it. No provision had been made for
such an eventuality, and she soon found herself short of coal, with
the result that she had to burn her masts, her bridge, and any other
timber that she could spare in order to keep her engines going.

Meanwhile Jackson and his companions, having been foiled in their
attempt to penetrate far to the north, turned their attention to the
vast tract of undiscovered country which lay to the west of them,
and they spent the rest of the summer in exploring and mapping out
Alexandra Land as far as Cape Mary Harmsworth.

Two serious losses befell them during their second winter at Cape
Flora, in that one of their ponies was found hanged in its stable one
morning, while another fell sick and died. Otherwise, however, the
winter months passed without incident.

The spring was spent in another trip north along the shores of
British Channel, during the course of which Jackson and his
companions added islands and capes innumerable to the map of Franz
Josef Land. Their discoveries, however, though of great geographic
value, need not be recorded at length here, and it was not until June
17 that an event occurred of which we must give any detailed account.
We leave Mr Jackson to tell the story in his own words.

[Illustration: THE MEETING BETWEEN JACKSON AND NANSEN]

“Just after dinner,” he writes, “Armitage came rushing down to tell
me that through his field-glass he could see a man on the floe to
the S.S.E. of Cape Flora, about four miles off. I could hardly
believe it; such a thing seemed utterly impossible, and thought he
had mistaken a walrus on the ice for a man, but having got a glass I
could see he was correct. I could also make out somewhat indistinctly
a staff or mast, with another man apparently standing near it close
to the water’s edge. It occurred then to me that it might be one
of my own men, although they had all been at dinner a few minutes
before, but I, however, found that all were present. I got a gun
with all speed, and firing off a shot on the bank to endeavour to
arrest the stranger’s attention, I started off to meet him coming
across the ice.... On our approaching each other, about three miles
distant from the land, I saw a tall man on ski with roughly-made
clothes and an old felt hat on his head. He was covered with oil and
grease, and black from head to foot. I at once concluded from his
wearing ski that he was no English sailor, but that he must be a man
from some Norwegian walrus sloop who had come to grief and wintered
somewhere on Franz Josef Land in very rough circumstances. His hair
was very long and dirty, his complexion appeared to be fair, but dirt
prevented me from being sure on this point, and his beard was
straggly and dirty also. We shook hands heartily, and I expressed the
greatest pleasure at seeing him. I inquired if he had a ship. ‘No,’
he replied, ‘my ship is not here’—rather sadly I thought—and then he
remarked, in reply to my question, that he had only one companion,
who was at the floe edge. It then struck me that his features, in
spite of the black grease and long hair and beard, resembled Nansen,
whom I had met once in London before he started in 1893, and I
exclaimed:—

“‘Aren’t you Nansen?’

“To which he replied:—

“‘Yes, I am Nansen.’

“With much heartiness I shook him by the hand and said, ‘By jove, I’m
damned glad to see you!’”

Such, then, was the unexpected meeting between two explorers who were
both trying from different directions to solve the problem of the
frozen north. It was as well for Nansen and his companion that that
meeting took place, for they had to confess that they were hopelessly
lost, and small wonder, for Payer’s map of the north of Franz Josef
Land was quite unrecognisable, while, as their watches had run down,
they were unable to discover their longitude. Now, however, their
troubles were at an end, and they were saved from the necessity of
attempting that awful voyage to Spitzbergen in two frail kayacks, a
voyage which must almost inevitably have resulted in their deaths.

Jackson lost no time in taking the two weary travellers back to his
hut, where they were refreshed with a good meal and a wash and brush
up—the first in which they had been able to indulge for a year. We
are told that so begrimed were they after their journey, that the
first application of soap and water had almost as little effect upon
them as it had upon the historic tramp who washed and washed till he
came to a flannel shirt. Time and honest endeavour, however, made
their due impression, and Nansen and Johansen were soon able to boast
that they cut as respectable figures as any of their companions.

The two explorers had, of course, much in common, and they soon
became such fast friends that Nansen’s pleasure at the arrival of
the _Windward_ on July 26 and the prospect of an immediate return to
the civilised world which it brought with it, was tempered by very
real regret. However his course was naturally obvious, and when the
ship, after discharging the stores which she had brought for Jackson,
sailed once more for England, she took with her Nansen and Johansen,
as well as Blonkvist, whose health would not stand another winter
in the Arctic, and Fisher, the botanist, who had now completed his
researches into the flora of Franz Josef Land.

During the ensuing year Jackson continued his exploration of the
new land, and his labours were always attended by the happiest
results. The sum of them was to prove that it consisted of a
cluster of islands, separated from one another by channels in which
ran exceedingly rapid currents. These currents, keeping the ice
constantly in motion, often made travelling exceedingly difficult,
but they ensured open waterways, in which walruses abounded. He
further proved that several countries hitherto marked on the maps,
such as Gillies and King Oscar Lands, did not exist at all, and made
countless scientific observations of the greatest value.

He had hoped that he might be able to extend his visit to Franz Josef
Land over another year, with a view to making an effort to push
north. This, however, was not to be, and when the _Windward_ called
for him on August 6, the force of circumstances compelled him and his
party to return home to England. This they accordingly proceeded to
do, having first established a depot of provisions for the benefit of
Andrée, should fortune direct the course of that intrepid explorer
thither.

  FRANZ JOSEF
  LAND
]

CHAPTER XXX

NANSEN AND THE “FRAM”

A careful study of the history of Arctic travel had convinced Nansen
that the routes by which most of his predecessors had attempted to
reach the North Pole were either impracticable or else beset by such
difficulties that he who could overcome them would be fortunate
indeed. Vessels attempting to penetrate far to the north had always
been stopped by an impenetrable barrier of ice. Travellers trying
to make the journey by sledge had found the ice so rough and the
movements of the pack so disconcerting, that they had been invariably
compelled to turn back before they were very far on their way, while,
so far as has yet been discovered, there is no land in a sufficiently
northerly latitude to form a suitable base.

The experiences of the _Jeannette_, however, turned his thoughts in
another direction. It will be remembered that that ill-fated vessel
was caught in the ice near Wrangel Land and drifted thence to New
Siberia, where she went down. Three years later there was found,
frozen into the drift-ice in the neighbourhood of Julianshaab, on
the south-west coast of Greenland, a number of articles which had
obviously come from the sunken vessel. These articles were first
discovered by the Eskimos, and were afterwards collected by Mr
Lytzen, colonial manager at Julianshaab, among them being a list of
provisions signed by De Long, a pair of sealskin breeches marked with
the name of Louis Noros, one of the _Jeannette’s_ crew, the peak of a
cap belonging to Nindemann, another of the sailors, and a manuscript
list of the ship’s boats.

Professor Mohn, in a lecture delivered before the scientific society
of Christiania, showed that these articles must have drifted across
the Pole, a theory which was supported by the fact that Siberian
larches had often been found on the east coast of Greenland; and
Nansen came to the conclusion that where they could drift he could
drift too. His proposal to put his theory to the test was greeted
with a hurricane of disapproval, especially as it involved the
abandonment of the well-known Arctic canon never to leave the
shore. He was told that human hands could not construct a ship
which could withstand the enormous pressure of the winter ice, and
that he was simply throwing away the lives of himself and of those
who accompanied him. Nansen, however, thought otherwise, and in
October 1892 a specially-built vessel was launched at the mouth
of the Christiania Fiord, and was christened by Mrs Nansen the
_Fram_—anglice, “Forward.”

The sides of the _Fram_ were thirty inches thick, and strengthened
with stanchions at points where the pressure was expected to be
greatest, while her hull was specially shaped in the hope that she
would rise when squeezed by the ice. She was only 128 feet long, but
very broad of beam. Her speed, under steam and sail, was expected to
be eight or nine knots an hour in very favourable circumstances;
under steam alone she was not expected to average more than three
knots, but speed was not, of course, a primary consideration. Her
crew consisted of thirteen, and included Captain Sverdrup, Lieutenant
Johansen, who was destined to accompany Nansen on his perilous
journey over the ice, and Lieutenant Scott-Hansen, who was chiefly
responsible for the scientific observations.

The _Fram_ set sail from Christiania on June 24, 1893, and was soon
making her way along the north coast of Europe. On August 4 she
entered the dreaded Kara Sea, but it was not until the end of the
month, when off Taimur Island, that she met with her first serious
opposition from ice. Here Nansen discovered a new group of islands,
and at one time he thought that he would be obliged to make their
closer acquaintance by wintering off them. Fortunately, however, a
storm broke up the ice on September 6, and he was able to proceed
on his way past Cape Chelyuskin. He had intended to call at Olenek
for dogs, but the summer was so far advanced that he did not dare to
linger on the way, so he pushed north past New Siberia and entered
the pack at lat. 78° 50´ on September 29.

As soon as the ice had really gripped the vessel and there was no
further prospect of release, preparations for the winter were set on
foot. The rudder was shipped, the hold was cleared out to make room
for a joiner’s shop, the engine was taken to pieces and a mechanical
workshop set up in its room, a smithy was erected, tinsmith’s work
was done in the chart-room, and shoemaker’s and sailmaker’s work in
the saloon. “There was nothing,” says Nansen, “from the most delicate
instruments down to wooden shoes and axe handles that could not be
made on the _Fram_. When we were found to be short of sounding line,
a grand rope-walk was constructed on the ice.... There was always
something to occupy us, and it was not difficult to find work for
each man that gave him sufficient exercise and so much distraction
that the time did not seem to him unbearably long.”

It is not to be supposed, however, that Nansen did not suffer
occasionally from ennui; and this was especially the case when the
_Fram_, to his disgust, was drifted steadily south-west, for several
weeks. Presently, however, she started once more on her northward
journey, and from that time onward her course gave her crew little
cause for dissatisfaction, though she did not approach the Pole quite
so nearly as had been hoped; the ship, moreover, behaved herself
splendidly in the ice and resisted the most serious pressures.
Contrary to the opinion of many experts, who had held that, frozen
into the pack as she would be, she could not possibly rise from her
bed and thrust the oncoming ice beneath her, she would sometimes be
raised so high above the surface that her bottom was almost visible.

Though Nansen saw from the _Fram’s_ drift that she would follow very
nearly the course he had anticipated, he thought that still more
might be accomplished, and that the sea which lay beyond the ship’s
route could be more thoroughly examined if he and a companion left
her with dogs and sledges. Such an expedition could not, of course,
hope to find the vessel again, as she would be constantly changing
her whereabouts, and it would be like looking for a needle in a
bottle of hay. The prospect of being obliged to find his own way
home to civilised regions did not, however, deter the explorer,
and, leaving Sverdrup in command, he started off on March 14, 1895,
accompanied by Johansen, with twenty-eight dogs, three sledges,
two kayacks, thirty days’ food for their dogs, and a hundred days’
rations for themselves.

The venture was rash almost to the verge of madness, but Nansen
and Johansen entered upon it with such spirit and pluck that they
succeeded in carrying it through successfully, though not without
suffering fearful hardships. High-piled ridges of ice, on the slopes
and summits of which the snow never had time to collect, were
constantly forming in their path, and over these the men had to
drag the sledges while the dogs, who did not care for that kind of
amusement, sat down and looked on. To their great disappointment,
too, the ice grew worse and worse as they journeyed north, till at
last, on April 7, Nansen climbed to the top of the highest point that
he could find, and saw nothing but packed, piled-up ice right on to
the horizon, looking, as he says, “like a rough sea that had been
petrified.” Such being the case, he came to the conclusion that it
would be folly to continue the struggle, so, having reached lat. 86°
14´ N., the farthest point attained up till then, he and Johansen
determined to turn south and make for Franz Joseph Land.

Soon after they had started on the return journey they came upon
better ice and progressed rather more rapidly. Unfortunately,
however, in their anxiety to push on, they occasionally made
inordinately long marches, with the result that, when they halted
for the night on April 12, more than thirty-six hours had elapsed
since they last pitched their tents, and their watches had run down.
They were able to make a reasonably good guess at the time, but from
that day onward they were never able to obtain their longitude with
any certainty.

The inaccuracy of Payer’s map, too, gave them a great deal of worry.
Naturally believing in the existence of Petermann’s Land, they
expected to sight it towards the end of April. May passed, however,
and then the beginning of June, and still no land came in sight. By
the 22nd of the month travelling had become so arduous that, having
shot three bears and a seal, thus relieving themselves of all fear
of starvation, they determined to wait till the warmer weather had
melted the snow. It was not until July 22 that they started once
more on their way, and two days later their eyes were gladdened with
the sight of land. To reach it, however, was no easy matter, for
the ice was broken up by numberless channels which were covered so
thickly with crushed floe that it was impossible for them to use
their kayacks. Accordingly they were obliged to jump from one piece
of ice to another, dragging the sledges after them—a most hazardous
proceeding which often nearly resulted in disaster.

It was while they were preparing to negotiate an open lead that an
incident happened which almost cost Johansen his life. Nansen was
busy with his kayack, which he was holding with one hand to prevent
it from slipping into the water, when he heard a scuffle behind him,
and Johansen’s voice cried out, “Take the gun!”

Looking round, he saw that an enormous bear was throwing itself on
his companion, who was lying on his back. He tried to seize his
gun, which was lying on the fore-deck, but the kayack slipped out
of his grasp into the water. “You must look sharp if you want to be
in time,” said Johansen quite quietly, and Nansen, making a supreme
effort, just managed to clutch his gun and shoot the bear before it
was on its prey.

After immense labour they succeeded in reaching Frederic Jackson
Island, and here they decided to spend the winter, as they realised
that it was too late in the season for them to attempt the long and
dangerous voyage to Spitzbergen. Accordingly they set about building
a hut and shooting walruses and bears, of which they found such an
abundance that they had soon placed themselves beyond the possibility
of starvation. The hut was small, but it was fairly comfortable. “By
the aid of the lamps,” says Nansen, “we succeeded in keeping the
temperature at about freezing-point in the middle of the hut, while
it was, of course, lower at the walls. The latter were covered with
a thick coating of frost and ice, which in the lamplight gave them
such a splendidly marmoreal appearance that in our happier moments we
could dream that we dwelt in marble halls.”

They had nothing whatever to do, so for twenty hours out of the
twenty-four they remained in bed, which, consisting as it did of
huge, hard stones, was not particularly comfortable. Christmas Day
they celebrated by turning their shirts inside out. Their clothes,
by the way, were always a source of worry, for washing was a problem
which they were quite unable to solve. They succeeded in keeping
their persons fairly clean, partly by scraping themselves with knives
and partly by rubbing in bear’s fat and wiping it off with moss; but
though they tried the effect of boiling their underclothing and then
scraping it with a knife, the plan did not answer very well, and they
pined for a cake of soap.

On May 19 they started off once more, and managed to make fairly good
progress either on the ice or in open water. They had one or two
accidents, one of which might have resulted disastrously, for the
kayack which had their provisions and guns on board started off on a
voyage on its own account, leaving them on shore. Nansen was obliged
to swim after it, and became so exhausted in the struggle with the
bitter water that he was only just able to reach it and scramble
over the gunwale. Their troubles, however, were now at an end, for,
when preparing breakfast one morning, Nansen heard dogs barking. At
first he could hardly believe his ears, but the sound came nearer
and nearer till at last there could be no doubt about it. Rushing
off on his skis to learn the solution of the mystery, he met F. G.
Jackson, from whom he received the warmest welcome. As, however, we
have described the meeting in the chapter devoted to the Jackson
expedition, we need not dwell on it again here.

In the meanwhile the _Fram_ drifted steadily on with the ice,
reaching, on October 16, almost as high a latitude as that attained
by Nansen. She pursued her journey to the edge of the pack without
misadventure, and after a series of blasting operations she was set
free of the ice and made her way home in safety.

[Illustration: SPITZBERGEN]

CHAPTER XXXI

CONWAY AND ANDRÉE

Though Nordenskiöld had succeeded in exploring North-East Land pretty
thoroughly, and had shown that it is practically nothing but one
large ice-field, for many years very little attention had been given
to West Spitzbergen, and up till the end of last century nothing
whatever was known about its formation or its geographical features.
In 1896, however, the famous mountaineer, Sir Martin Conway, seeking
for fresh worlds to conquer, decided to repair thither himself and to
elucidate once and for all the mystery that surrounded that part of
the world.

Information concerning the nature of the regions over which he
proposed to travel was, of course, difficult to obtain. However he
read all the literature that existed upon the subject, and having
equipped himself with the Nansen sledges and ponies which, he
gathered, would be absolutely essential for success, he started
off on his travels with a party consisting of Mr E. J. Garwood,
his photographer, Dr Gregory, the geologist, Trevor Battye, the
ornithologist, and, as artist, his nephew, H. E. Conway.

On reaching Advent Bay, which he proposed to make his starting-place,
he was surprised to find an inn in the process of erection by an
enterprising Norwegian company. An inn in an uninhabited country
like Spitzbergen might seem _de trop_, but the explanation was
that a series of trips had been organised thither, and a steamer
was bringing out tourists once a week, most of whom were probably
attracted by Andrée’s balloon, then waiting at the north end of the
island for a chance to start on its hazardous voyage.

Leaving three members of his party to prosecute their scientific
researches near the coast, Conway and Mr Garwood set off on their
journey across the island on June 20. It was not long before they
discovered that their sledges and ponies were nothing but a handicap.
They had expected, of course, to find the interior covered by a great
ice-sheet like that of North-East Land. They actually discovered it
to be a land of temperate climate, intersected by green mountains and
boggy valleys, which were kept in a condition of perpetual stickiness
by the constant rain. In the mud thus formed the ponies were always
sinking, and many arduous hours were spent every day in digging or
pulling them out.

Conway had meant to make a hurried scamper across the island
and back again. He found, however, that the island was in a
process of mountain manufacture, and that the cañons in which the
interior abounded, slowly eating their way into the ridges, were
converting them by degrees into isolated peaks. This process he
found so interesting that he determined to change his plans, and he
accordingly travelled slowly on, over the magnificent Ivory Glacier,
down to Fouls Bay, and then back by a route that differed slightly
from that of his outward journey.

[Illustration: IN THE SLUSH]

On reaching Advent Bay he learnt that a tourist steamer had succeeded
in advancing without difficulty or danger to lat. 81° 32´ N., an
amazing record for such a boat. Fired by this, he promptly hired
the 12 ton steamer _Expres_, and started off on a trip round the
coast, during the course of which he paid a visit to Wellmann’s hut
and Andrée’s balloon. He would have liked to have done more, but
there was a dangerous ice-blink in the sky, and the captain refused
point-blank to venture any further in such a tin-kettle of a boat.

Sir Martin Conway paid another visit to Spitzbergen in the following
year, on which he was again accompanied by Mr Garwood. On this
occasion the two explorers occupied themselves chiefly with studying
the formation of the glaciers.

As we have just seen, while Conway was making the first crossing
of Spitzbergen, Andrée was waiting for an opportunity to start on
the daring but ill-fated Expedition for the discovery of the North
Pole, by which his name will always live in the annals of Arctic
exploration. Andrée was a Swedish engineer and an æronaut of unusual
skill and enterprise, and it was the success of his attempt to cross
the Baltic in a balloon that led him to think seriously of embarking
upon that project which was to cost him his life. The idea was,
it must be confessed, exceedingly tempting, and sounded feasible
enough. A steady south wind would waft a balloon in a few hours to
a point which a traveller over the ice could only reach after weeks
of strenuous labour, and Andrée had every reason to hope that within
a very short time of his departure from Spitzbergen he would be
hanging suspended over the Pole itself.

The project, though its extreme rashness was not to be denied,
commended itself to many, and the æronaut had little difficulty in
obtaining the necessary funds, among those who contributed to them
being the King of Sweden, the late Alfred Nobel, and Baron Dickson.
The construction of the balloon was entrusted to Lachambre of Paris.
The material used was Chinese Pongee silk, cemented together in
double, threefold, and fourfold layers, and covered with a coating of
special varnish. Its cubical contents were 158,294 feet.

It was to be guided by a sail fitted with guide ropes which would
drag along the ground and prevent the balloon from being driven at
the full force of the wind. The difference between the velocity of
the wind and of the retarded balloon was to be utilised for steering.
On trial the plan was found to answer very well.

The _Virgo_, carrying with it Andrée, his balloon, and a party of
geologists, left Tromsö on June 14, 1896, and nine days later a
suitable place for building the balloon house was found on Danes
Island. The landing of the balloon and the building of the house
occupied nearly a month, and it was not until July 27 that everything
was ready for a start. Unfortunately, however, the wind, which had
been for the most part favourable while the preparations were in
progress, now veered round, and for the rest of the summer it blew
steadily from the north, when it did not drop altogether. Week after
week passed by without bringing any prospects of a start, and at last
Andrée was obliged to pack up his balloon and return home, hoping
for better luck next year.

On May 30 he was back at Danes Island once more with his balloon,
which had been undergoing sundry modifications during the winter.
The house had fallen somewhat into disrepair, but it was soon put in
order, and the inflation of the balloon, which was begun on June 19,
was finished at midnight on the 22nd. Everything was now ready for a
start, and on Sunday, July 11, Andrée decided to take advantage of
a stiff breeze which had set in from the south. Standing in the car
with his two companions, Frænkel and Strindberg, he gave the orders
for the ropes to be cut. The balloon rapidly ascended, to a height
of 600 feet, and, after a temporary drop, floated away north over
the flat peninsula of Hollændernæs. It remained visible to those at
Danes Island for about an hour. Then it disappeared over the northern
horizon, never to be seen again.

The only news that the world ever received of Andrée and his
companions after this did nothing towards solving the mystery of
their fate. Of the thirteen buoys which he carried with him on
board his balloon only four were ever recovered. One was picked up
at Skjervö, in Norway, and was found to contain a message to the
effect that it had been thrown out at 10 o’clock on the night of
July 11. Another, which had been dispatched on its journey about an
hour later, when the party had reached lat. 82° N., long. 250 E.,
was recovered off the coast of Iceland. The two remaining buoys bore
no message from the explorer. On July 15, 1897, the sailors of the
s.s. _Alken_ shot a carrier pigeon which had been let loose two
days previously in lat. 82° 3´ N., long. 150 5´ E., but that was the
latest intelligence of the explorers that ever reached their friends
at home.

Many expeditions were sent out to their rescue, and reports were
brought in by natives of shots heard upon the ice and figures seen on
the drifting floes. Fishermen, too, said that they had heard cries
for help, and that they had seen what looked like a deflated balloon
drifting on the sea. But, carefully though these clues were followed,
they came to nothing, and it can only be supposed that, descending on
some vast ice-field far from human aid, probably somewhere between
Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, and Siberia, the unfortunate men perished
miserably of starvation and exposure.

[Illustration: ANDRÉE’S BALLOON IN ITS SHED]

CHAPTER XXXII

THE LATER VOYAGES OF SVERDRUP AND PEARY

As we have already seen, it was as Nansen’s companion on his journey
across Greenland, and as his second in command on the _Fram_, that
Otto Sverdrup first acquired the taste for Arctic travel which, in
1898, led him to undertake an expedition on his own account. The
primary object of his new journey was to complete the survey of the
northern shores of Greenland which had been so brilliantly begun
by Peary, and to discover once and for all whether there lay any
land beyond it in the direction of the North Pole. Failing that,
he proposed to examine Grinnell and Ellesmere Lands, of which vast
tracts still remained totally unexplored.

Sverdrup sailed from Upernavik on August 5, in our old friend the
_Fram_, which had been refitted for the new voyage, and was soon
well on his way up Smith Sound. On reaching Hayes Sound he decided
to go into winter quarters there, as it was, of course, impossible
to attempt to reach a much higher latitude that season, and there
was plenty of good work to be done in the neighbourhood. A couple
of sledge journeys across Ellesmere Island put him in possession
of many new facts concerning the geographical features of that
country, and, as soon as spring came round, he began his preparations
for pushing north. Unfortunately, however, the season was very
unfavourable, and he soon found that, for that year at any rate, his
project of following the north coast of Greenland must be put aside,
so he determined to explore Jones Sound, which had never before been
followed to its juncture with the Polar Sea.

In this he was entirely successful, and when the next winter came
round it found him comfortably ensconced in winter quarters on
the south coast of Ellesmere Land. It was while Sverdrup was away
exploring the coast that the career of the _Fram_ was very nearly
brought to an untimely end by fire. Fortunately, however, she
was saved, and early in August she was afloat again. All serious
thought of pushing up Smith Sound had now been abandoned, and
instead, Sverdrup made for Belcher Channel, at the mouth of which
the next winter was spent. During the spring and summer the work of
exploration went merrily on, with the result that the indefatigable
Sverdrup had soon added much of the unknown coast of North Devon to
the charts.

On returning to the _Fram_ he found, to his regret, that she was so
firmly fixed in the ice that even blasting operations on a large
scale had no effect, and he was, in consequence, obliged to resign
himself to the inevitable and to spend another winter at the mouth of
Belcher Channel. Fortunately, however, he had by no means exhausted
the possibilities of that neighbourhood, and he occupied himself with
making a journey north, for which cartographers have every reason
to be grateful to him, though he failed in his endeavour to reach
Aldridge’s farthest. In the following summer the _Fram_ was set free,
and was able to return to civilised regions.

Sverdrup’s voyage was unrelieved by any very sensational or exciting
incidents, but the work that he did during those four years was
admirable. He mapped out the west coast of Ellesmere Land—a most
arduous task, as it is broken up by a singularly intricate system
of fiords—he discovered three large islands west of that land, he
explored North Devon and the northern shores of North Cornwall
and Findlay Island, and he proved that land existed north of the
Parry Islands, a point on which diverse opinions had hitherto been
held. Consequently, though he never reached the northern shores
of Greenland for which he had set out, he had no reason to be
dissatisfied with the result of his journey.

The energy and enterprise which Lieutenant Peary displayed in
carrying on his chosen work in the Polar Regions aroused so much
sympathy in America, that not long ago a number of those who were
interested in it formed a club which they called the Peary Arctic
Club, and which was founded with a view to providing him with funds
for carrying on the explorations in which he had already achieved
so conspicuous a success. It was principally owing to the exertions
of this club that in 1898 Peary was able to set sail from Sidney
in the _Windward_, which had been presented to him by Sir Alfred
Harmsworth, with the double end in view of completing his examination
of the northern shores of Greenland, and, if possible, of reaching
the North Pole. This expedition was, probably, the most perfectly
planned that has ever set out from any shores.

The _Windward_ had been preceded by the auxiliary ship the _Hope_,
which, after depositing her stores at Etah, sailed for home, while
the _Windward_ herself tried to push on north up Smith Sound. Ice,
however, proved an insurmountable obstacle, and she was obliged to
go into winter quarters near Cape D’Urville, on the north side of
Princess Marie Bay. Peary’s plans for the autumn were threefold.
In the first place, he wished to survey the land around his winter
quarters, in the second place, he was anxious to obtain a supply
of fresh meat for his party, and, in the third place, he intended
to convey as large a supply of provisions as possible along the
coast. He was completely successful in fulfilling each of these
three objects. By the end of September he had explored much of the
surrounding country, proving the continuity of Ellesmere and Grinnell
lands, and dissipating several illusions which existed concerning
Hayes Sound, which he was unable to find at all, Buchanan Bay,
which had hitherto been held to be a strait, and Bache Promontory,
which was popularly supposed to be an island. Early in September he
relieved himself of all further anxiety concerning his supply of
fresh meat, by killing a herd of seventeen musk-oxen, while, by using
every ray of moonlight and often working in complete darkness, he
had, by December 4, cached 3300 lbs. of provisions at Cape Wilkes.
“No one,” he says, “who has not had the actual experience can imagine
the work and annoyances involved in transporting, in semi- or
complete darkness, those supplies along the frightful ice-foot which
lines the Grinnell land-coast.”

On December 20, when the winter, that is to say, was at its worst, he
started off with six men and thirty dogs on a singularly unattractive
journey to Fort Conger. The darkness was intense, the weather was bad
and the way lay through most unpleasant places, but they stumbled
on over the rough ice as best they could, and on January 6 they
succeeded in reaching their destination. Peary, unfortunately, had
to pay for his boldness in thus facing the Arctic winter, for he
found, on arriving at the Fort, that both his feet were so badly
frost-bitten that he was unable to walk, and when the time came to
turn he had to be lashed to a sledge and dragged the whole way home.
Worse, however, was to come, for the doctor found it necessary to
amputate eight of his toes on his arrival at the ship in March, and
Peary felt the effects of the operation for a long while afterwards.
But he was not the sort of man to give in even to such a disaster as
this, and in the early summer he insisted on making another trip to
Fort Conger, in spite of the pain that walking over the hummocky ice
caused him.

The _Windward_ was set free in August, and proceeded at once to Etah,
where Peary had decided to spend the winter, as he did not consider
the ship fitted for an attempt to push northward through the ice.
Here she was joined by the _Diana_, which had been sent out with
supplies, and, after spending a few weeks in walrus-hunting, the two
ships sailed in company for America.

During the latter part of the winter Peary and his whole party
left Etah for Fort Conger, which they succeeded in reaching by the
end of March. After a few days’ rest the commander, with some of
his Eskimos, started off on what was to be the great event of the
summer—a journey round the north coast of Greenland. The way was
exceedingly rough, and days were often spent in the arduous work of
hewing a way for the sledges through the rugged ice. Determination,
however, made light of the great difficulties, and they pushed gamely
on past Lockwood’s farthest point and round the north coast of Hazen
Land, till, on May 19, Peary’s eyes were gladdened by a fleeting
glimpse of a mountain of peculiar shape, which he recognised as the
peak that he had seen rising proudly to the north when, in 1895,
he stood on the ice-cap south of Independence Bay. Unfortunately,
a heavy fog came down upon the party, and they were prevented from
exploring the rest of the Bay before lack of provisions obliged them
to start for home two days later.

Fort Conger was reached in safety, and the rest of the Arctic day
was spent in laying in a supply of fresh meat for the long night.
On April 17, after an ineffectual attempt to push north, Peary
and his men started off for Payer Bay. Here, as he expected, he
met the _Windward_, which had been sent out with supplies. All of
these were taken ashore, and the rest of the summer was spent in
re-establishing the line of _caches_ to Fort Conger. The winter was
destined to be trying, for several of the Eskimos fell ill, and Peary
was consequently obliged not only to nurse and see after them, but
also to do most of the hard work of preparing for the summer journey
single-handed. By February 1, however, his arrangements were complete
and most of his patients had recovered, so he started for Fort Conger
once more, intending to make it the base of his dash for the North
Pole. It was not, however, until April 1 that he was able to leave
Cape Hecla with nine sledges, and he soon found that the lateness of
his departure made it practically impossible for him to win success
that year. Huge pressure ridges, great masses of ice-rubble, frequent
open channels and deep snow made the way almost impracticable, and on
April 21, after reaching 81° 17,´ 27´´, he had to make this entry in
his journal.

“The game is off. My dream of sixteen years is ended. It cleared
during the night and we got under way this morning. Deep snow. Two
small old floes. Then came another region of old rubble and deep
snow. A survey from the top of a pinnacle showed this extended north,
east and west as far as could be seen. The two old floes over which
we had just come were the only ones in sight. It is impracticable and
I gave the order to camp. I have made the best fight I knew; and I
believe it has been a good one.”

There was now nothing for them to do but to make the best of their
way back. They reached Payer Harbour on May 17, where the _Windward_,
with Mrs Peary and her daughter on board, joined them on August 5.
Shortly after this the whole party set sail for home.

Peary has since shown, however, that the passage which we have quoted
from his diary was written in a fit of momentary despondency, and
that his dream of sixteen years is by no means over, for last year he
set sail in the _Roosevelt_ on another dash for the Pole, the results
of which are now being awaited with the keenest interest.

CHAPTER XXXIII

OTHER RECENT EXPEDITIONS—ABRUZZI, WELLMANN AND TOLL

From his earliest days Prince Louis Amadeus of Savoy, Duke of the
Abruzzi, displayed a strong taste for adventure, and while he was
still very young, he made a name for himself as a mountaineer of
more than average daring and skill. It was in 1897, after he had
returned from a successful attempt to climb Mount Elias, the great
Alaskan mountain which had hitherto proved too much for even the most
intrepid adventurers, that he first conceived the idea of organising
an expedition, the object of which should be the discovery of the
North Pole. After spending some eighteen months in considering the
problem and consulting authorities as to the best course to pursue,
he purchased a whaler of 358 tons and 400 horse-power, which was
originally known as the _Jason_, but which he rechristened the
_Stella Polare_, and set to work to fit her out for the expedition
which he proposed to make.

The _Stella Polare_ was provisioned for five years, and her company
included Umberto Cagni, who sailed as captain, Count Franco Quirini,
who served as lieutenant, Doctor A. C. Molinelli, and three Alpine
guides. Sailing from Laurvik, near Christiania, on June 14 1899,
she touched at Tromsö, Hammerfest, Vardö and Archangel, where she
picked up 120 Siberian dogs. Thence her course was set for Franz
Josef Land, which was made in the neighbourhood of Jackson’s house at
Cape Flora. Finding the house in excellent condition, the Duke landed
a store of provisions there to secure himself and his crew against
starvation, in the event of their vessel being lost. Having taken
this precaution, he continued his voyage up British Channel, passing
on his way the members of the Wellmann expedition, who were being
conveyed home in the _Capella_. From them he heard rumours of a new
archipelago to the north of Franz Josef Land, of which, however, he
subsequently failed to find any traces whatever.

Ice rendered the passage up the channel very difficult, but the
_Stella Polare_ succeeded in making her way along Karl Alexander Land
and Crown Prince Rudolph Land, till she doubled Cape Fligely. Here
further progress was totally impossible, so the Duke put back to
Teplitz Bay, where he had decided to spend the winter.

On September 8 the ice in the harbour became very much disturbed, and
the _Stella Polare_ was nipped so severely that she sprang a leak.
The engine room was soon flooded, and for three successive days and
nights half the crew were at the pumps, while the rest were engaged
in transferring the provisions and equipment to the shore. Thanks to
the efforts of the officers and men, the ship was saved, but, being
half full of water, she was perfectly useless as a place of abode,
and tents had to be erected on land.

The winter was spent in making such short expeditions as the weather
permitted, and it was while he was away on one of these that the
Duke had the misfortune to be caught in a snowstorm, during which
two of his fingers were so badly frost-bitten, that they had to be
amputated. This was particularly unlucky for him, as the wound had
not sufficiently healed by the beginning of March to allow him to
take part in the great sledge expedition which was to be the chief
feature of the voyage. The command was, accordingly, entrusted to
Captain Cagni, who started out on the 13th with general instructions
to push as far north as he could. During the early part of his
journey he was accompanied by two supporting parties, on whose stock
of provisions he and his men were to subsist for as long as possible,
in order that his own little store might remain intact until he was
well on his way. The first of these parties to leave him was that
conducted by Lieutenant Quirini, and it was never heard of again. The
Duke sent out search parties in every direction, but not a trace of
their missing comrades could they find, and it can only be supposed
that they either fell down in a crevasse, or were overtaken by a
storm, and frozen to death.

In the meanwhile, Cagni and his three companions pushed on northward
as rapidly as possible. They found the ice comparatively smooth, and
by April 25 they had reached lat. 86° 33´, thus beating Nansen’s
record by some thirty miles. Unfortunately their provisions began
to give out, and they were compelled to beat a hasty retreat. The
outward journey had been a comparatively simple matter, but on their
homeward way they were beset by all sorts of unexpected difficulties
which brought them to the very verge of starvation. The field of
ice over which they were travelling was constantly drifting in a
westerly direction, carrying them further and further from the bay
which they were trying to reach. Leads were always opening ahead of
them, which had to be crossed by some means or other, but, though
they had kayacks with them, these had been so damaged as that they
were hardly seaworthy, while it was often quite impossible to use
them amidst the constantly shifting ice. On several occasions Cagni
had to cross a channel on a small piece of floe, taking with him a
rope by which his companions, with their impedimenta, were towed
across on a larger block, while once a short voyage was made on a
large sheet of ice which was propelled by means of the sails of the
kayacks. Moreover, their provisions were getting very low, and for
the last fortnight of their voyage they were obliged to subsist
entirely on their dogs. Of the eighty with which they started out on
their journey, only six remained when at last they reached the ship.

To attempt to spend another winter in the ice with the ship in so
bad a condition would have been folly. Accordingly, the leak in the
_Stella Polare’s_ side was found and stopped, she was released from
her bed of ice by means of gun-cotton, and on September 6 she was
safely back at Hammerfest.

[Illustration: THE “POLAR STAR” UNDER ICE PRESSURE]

It was in 1894 that the American paper, the _New York Herald_, sent
out Mr Walter Wellmann to search for Nansen and to make for the North
Pole if conditions permitted. Leaving Tromsö on the first of May
in the _Ragnald Jarl_, he set his course for Spitzbergen, which he
proposed to make the base of his sledge expedition, and his ship was
soon lying off Walden Island. A fortnight later Wellmann set off
north with a party of thirteen men and an equipment of the most
improved design. He had only been travelling for about four days,
however, when a sailor brought him the unpleasant tidings his ship
had been crushed to pieces by the ice, and that but little had been
saved. Wellmann, however, was not to be deterred from carrying on
his plans, and he sent back orders to the captain to build himself a
hut out of the wreckage, while he himself pushed pluckily forward.
Unfortunately for him the ice soon became so rough that further
progress was out of the question, and he was obliged to abandon the
attempt when six miles north of the east of the Platen Islands.
Eventually the whole party made its way back to America in safety.

Undiscouraged by his first experiences, Wellmann started out again
in 1898 with a view to completing the exploration of Franz Josef
Land. Reaching Cape Flora on July 28, he found Jackson’s houses
still in perfect condition, and, acting with Sir Alfred Harmsworth’s
permission, he proceeded to transfer one of them to Cape Tegetthoff,
which he proposed to make his headquarters. During the next few
months he succeeded in mapping out much of that part of Franz
Josef Land which was still unknown, and he would doubtless have
accomplished more had he not unfortunately fallen down a small
crevasse and injured his leg so severely that he was obliged to order
a retreat.

At the present moment Mr Wellmann is considering a plan for reaching
the North Pole by airship, in which he hopes to have the co-operation
of M. Santos-Dumont.

Profiting by the advance of science and the experiences of their
predecessors, Arctic explorers have, of course, reduced the danger of
travelling in the frozen regions to a minimum, and it is very rarely
that an expedition ends in tragedy. In recent years, indeed, with
the exception of Captain Cagni and his party who perished during the
Duke of the Abruzzi’s expedition, only four men, Baron Toll, F. G.
Seeberg, and their two hunters, have lost their lives in the cause of
science in the Arctic regions.

The principal field of Baron Toll’s Arctic investigations lay among
the islands of the Siberian Ocean, whither, from the year 1885
onwards, he conducted a series of brilliantly successful expeditions,
all of which added greatly to the world’s knowledge of the geology,
meteorology, botany, and palæontology of these unexplored lands. He
started out on his last journey on July 22, 1900, in the splendidly
equipped laboratory ship _Sarya_, which was provisioned for four
years, with the object of continuing the work by which his name had
already become famous. The first winter was spent at Taimur, at
the mouth of the Khatanga, and in the following summer he rounded
Cape Chelyuskin, paid a visit to Bennett Island, and was ultimately
frozen into Nerpchya Bay, where he met an auxiliary expedition sent
out under Volossovich. On June 20 he set out with the astronomer,
F. G. Seeberg, and two hunters on a journey of exploration. From a
record subsequently found on Bennett Island by Lieutenant Kolchak,
we know that the party followed the north coast of Kotelnyi and
Thadeef Islands, keeping their course towards New Siberia. Here the
ice broke up, and, taking to their boats, they reached Bennett
Island on August 26. The record ends with these words: “To-day we are
going southwards. We have provisions for 14 to 20 days. All in good
health.” That is all we shall ever know of the fate of Baron Toll and
his companions.

M. Brusneff is of opinion that they must have perished on their way
across from Bennett Island to New Siberia. Before they could have
reached the end of that journey the weather was becoming cold and ice
must have been forming upon the sea, making it impossible for them to
cross it in their boats. They had only provisions for a fortnight or
three weeks, and little prospect of adding to their supplies, while,
to make matters worse, they had no warm clothing with them. It is
to be feared that the latest victims claimed by the Arctic regions
must have suffered severely before death brought them release from
their troubles and robbed the world of two of its ablest and most
enthusiastic men of science.

So ends the story of Arctic exploration up to the present time. Those
who have read these pages cannot fail to have been impressed by the
gallantry with which generations of brave men have willingly faced,
in the cause of science, the terrible privations and sufferings only
to be met with in the frozen North, or to have felt proud of the part
which Great Britain has played in solving the secrets of the Polar
regions. Yet, dangerous though the service unquestionably is, it is a
fact that at no time in the whole of its history has the death-rate
among those engaged in it exceeded the average death-rate of the
navy, while so immense has been the advance made in the science of
Arctic travel during recent years that the risks attending it have
now been reduced to a minimum.

Much has been accomplished, but much still remains to be done. There
is around the Pole a tract of over two million square miles which
have never yet been visited by a human being, and there can be no
doubt that if this tract can be made to give up its secrets the world
of science will profit immensely. The Pole itself still remains to
be conquered, and though it is difficult at present to see how that
terribly arduous journey over the rough seas of palæocrystic ice
is to be accomplished, science will doubtless find a way. Of this,
at any rate, we may be sure; so long as the Pole retains a single
secret, there will not be wanting brave men who will gladly go
through any dangers, and suffer any privations, if they can but wrest
it from its prison of ice.

  CHART OF THE
  NORTH POLAR REGIONS
]

INDEX

  A

  Abruzzi, The Duke of the, 301 _et seq._

  Adam, 54.

  _Advance_, the, 132, 182 _et seq._

  Akaitcho, 49.

  Aldrich, Pelham, 216;
    sledging expedition, 219.

  _Alert_, the, voyage of, 215.

  _Alexander_, the, 35.

  Alexieff, 24.

  Ambler, Dr, 249.

  Anderson, James, 168.

  Andrée, 289, etc.

  Ankudinoff, 24.

  Anne, Empress, 24.

  Archangel, 7.

  Armitage, Lieut., 273.

  Armstrong, Dr, 143 _et seq._

  _Assistance_, the, 132, 152, 156.

  Astrup, Elvind, 264 _et seq._

  Augustus, 60 _et seq._

  Austin, Capt. H., 132 _et seq._

  B

  Back, George, 31, 45, 71, 87, 95 _et seq._

  Baffin, William, 20 _et seq._

  Banks, Sir Joseph, 30.

  Baptiste, 73.

  Barents, W., 12 _et seq._

  Barren Ground, 53.

  Barrow, Sir John, 30.

  Battye, Trevor, 287.

  _Bear_, the, 231.

  Beaumont, Lieut., Expedition of, 221.

  Beechey, 31 _et seq._, 38, 79, 102.

  Beechey Island, 132.

  Belanger, 59.

  Belcher, Sir E., 150 _et seq._

  Bellot, J. R., 135;
    death, 156.

  Bennett, J. G., 244.

  Benoit, 60.

  Bering, Vitus, expeditions of, 25, 26
    death, 26.

  Bessels, Dr, 195.

  Bird, John, 113.

  Bismarck, Count, 223.

  Blonkvist, 273.

  Blosseville, Lieut., 258.

  _Blossom_, H.M.S., 71.

  _Bona Esperanza_, the, 6.

  Booth, Felix, 86.

  Borgen, Dr, 201.

  Boyle, John, 145.

  Brainan, Sergt., 228.

  Brooks, 182, 185.

  Bruce, James, 113.

  Brusneff, 307.

  Buchan, Capt., 31 _et seq._

  Buddington, Capt. J. M., 157, 194, 195.

  Button, Sir Thomas, 20.

  Bylot, Richard, 20 _et seq._

  C

  Cabot, John, 2.

  Cabot, Sebastian, 2.

  Cagni, U., 301.

  _Carcase_, the, 27.

  Carlsen, Capt. E., 236.

  Carnegie, A., 236.

  _Castor_, the, 104.

  Chancellor, Capt. Richard, 6 _et seq._

  Chester, 195.

  Child, 271.

  Chipps, Lieut., 249.

  Christian, Hans, 187 _et seq._, 216.

  Chydenius, Prof., 236.

  Clavering, Capt., 258.

  Clerke, Capt., 29.

  Collinson, Capt. Richard, 137;
    voyage of, 147 _et seq._, 155.

  Columbus, 2.

  Coningham, Mrs, 118.

  Conway, H. E., 287.

  Conway, Sir Martin, 287 _et seq._

  Cook, Capt., 29.

  Cook, Dr, 264.

  Copeland, Dr, 201.

  Coppinger, Dr, 221.

  Credit, 58.

  Crozier, F. R. M., 117;
    record of, 175.

  D

  Dalagar, 258.

  Daniell, the Dane, 258.

  Dannett, Captain, 121.

  Davis, John, 8 _et seq._

  Dease, P. C., 103.

  De Bray, 153.

  De Bruyne, 253.

  De Haven, Lieut., 132.

  De Long, Commander, 244.

  Deshneff, 24.

  Des Vœux, C. F., 117, 175.

  De Veer, Gerrit, 14.

  _Diana_, the, 297.

  Dickson, Oscar, 236, 241, 242, 290.

  Dietrichson, Lieut., 260.

  Digges, Sir Dudley, 18.

  _Discovery_, the (1778), 18;
    (1875), 215.

  Domville, Dr, 146, 153.

  _Dorothea_, the, 31 _et seq._

  Durfourth, Cornelius, 6.

  E

  Eberlin, P., 258.

  Edge, Thomas, 236.

  _Edward Bonaventure_, the, 6.

  Egede, Han, 258.

  Egerton, Lieut., 219.

  Ehrensvärd, Count, 236.

  _Eira_, the, 253 _et seq._

  Ekman, 236.

  _Elizabeth_, the, 10.

  _Ellen_, the, 10.

  Ellesmere Land, explored by Sverdrup, 293;
    by Peary, 296.

  Elson, 79.

  Emory, H. H., 231.

  _Enterprise_, the, 132, 137, 147 _et seq._

  _Erebus_, the, 116 _et seq._

  _Expres_, the, 289.

  _Express_, the, 242.

  F

  Fairholm, Commander, 117.

  _Falcon_, the, 267.

  _Felix_, the, 132.

  Fisher, H., 271.

  Fitzjames, James, 116 _et seq._

  Forsyth, Capt., 133.

  _Fortuna_, the, 24.

  _Fox_, the, 168 _et seq._

  Fox, “North-West,” 21.

  Fraenkel, 291.

  _Fram_, the, under Nansen, 279 _et seq._;
    under Sverdrup, 293 _et seq._

  Franklin, Lady, 132, 169.

  Franklin, Sir John, voyage on _Trent_, 31;
    first overland journey, 45 _et seq._;
    second land journey, 70 _et seq._;
    last voyage, 116 _et seq._;
    search for, 129 _et seq._;
    relics of, found by Hobson, 173 _et seq._

  Franz Josef Land, discovered, 211;
    explored by Leigh Smith, 254;
    by Jackson, 270 _et seq._;
    by the Duke of the Abruzzi, 302;
    by Wellmann, 305.

  _Frazier_, the, 242.

  Frobisher, Martin, 7 _et seq._

  _Fury_, the, 64.

  G

  _Gabriel_, the, 25.

  Garde, 258.

  Garlington, Lieut., 230.

  Garwood, E. J., 287.

  _George_, the, 11.

  _Germania_, the, 200 _et seq._

  Gibbons, 20.

  Gibson, 264.

  Giesecke, K. L., 258.

  Gilder, W. H., 181.

  _Gladen_, the, 237.

  Goodsir, H., 118.

  Gordon, Admiral, 157.

  Gore, Graham, 100, 117, 175.

  Graah, W. A., 258.

  Gray, David, 253.

  Gray, John, 253.

  Greely, A. W., 224 _et seq._

  Greene, H., 19.

  Greenland, discovered by Erik, 2, 8-10;
    explored by Hudson, 17, 20;
      Koldewey, 200 _et seq._;
      for explorations of Nansen, Peary, and others, see chapters
        xxviii. and xxxii.;
      Beaumont, 221;
      Lockwood, 227.

  Grinnell, Henry, 182.

  Grinnell Land, explored by Aldrich, 221;
    Peary, 295.

  _Griper_, the, 38 _et seq._

  Grosseliez, 22.

  H

  Hall, Charles Francis, 192 _et seq._

  Hamilton, Lieut, 152 _et seq._

  Hamke, Gale, 258.

  _Hansa_, the, 201 _et seq._

  Harmsworth, Alfred (Lord Northcliffe), 271, 295.

  Harstene, Lieut., 190.

  Haswell, Lieut., 145

  Hayes, I. I., 182 _et seq._;
    voyage of, 190.

  Hazen, General, 234.

  Hearne, Samuel, 23.

  _Hecla_, the, 38.

  Heemskeerck, J., 12.

  Hegemann, voyage of, 201 _et seq._

  Heilprin, Prof., 264.

  Hepburn, John, 45 _et seq._

  _Herald_, the, 129, 138.

  Hettlitz, Dr, 271.

  Hobday, George, 180.

  Hobson, Lieut. W. R., 169, 171, 179, 180;
    discovers Gore’s Record, 174.

  Hodgson, 117.

  Holm, G., 257.

  Hood, Robert, 45 _et seq._

  _Hope_, the, 256.

  Hoppner, Lieut., 38, 87.

  Hudson, Henry, 17 _et seq._, 258.

  Hudson Bay Company, formation of, 22.

  Ignatieff, I., 24.

  Inglefield, E. A., 156.

  International Circumpolar Stations, 223 _et seq._

  _Intrepid_, the, 132, 152.

  _Investigator_, the, 132, 137 _et seq._

  Irving, Lieut., 175.

  _Isabel_, the, 86.

  _Isabella_, the, 35.

  _Isbjörn_, the, 207.

  J

  Jackson, Charles, 11.

  Jackson, F. G., 270 _et seq._, 285.

  James, Capt., 21.

  _Jeannette_, the, cruise of, 244 _et seq._;
    relics found, 278.

  Jensen, 258.

  Johannsen, 273, 280 _et seq._

  K

  Kane, Elisha Kent, expedition of, 182 _et seq._

  Kellett, Captain, 129, 138, 145, 146;
    expedition of, 152 _et seq._, 157.

  Kennedy, Captain, 135, 136.

  King, John, 19.

  King, Richard, 96.

  Kislingbury, Lieut., 226;
    death of, 231.

  _Kite_, the, 264.

  Knight, James, 22.

  Knudsen, R., 258.

  Knutsen, H., 258.

  Kolchak, Lieut., 306.

  Koldewey, Karl, 200 _et seq._

  Krabbe, 154.

  L

  Lachambre, 290.

  _Lady Franklin_, the, 132.

  Legros, 113.

  Leif, 2.

  _Lena_, the, 242.

  Liddon, Lieut., 38.

  Lincoln, R., 231, 234.

  _Lion_, the, 74.

  Lutwidge, Capt., 27.

  Lyon, Capt. G. F., 64, 79.

  M

  M’Clintock, F. L., 134, 135, 152, 153;
    search for Franklin, 169 _et seq._

  M’Clure, J. Le M., 100, 137 _et seq._, 153, 157.

  M’Gary, 187.

  M’Kay, 99.

  Mackenzie, A., 24.

  _Magnet_, the, 124.

  Maigaard, Christian, 263.

  Markham, A. H., 216, 219, 220, 253.

  May, Lieut., 219.

  Mecham, Lieut., 152 _et seq._

  Melville, Lord, 80.

  Melville, Lieut., 234, 245 _et seq._

  _Merimade_, the, 9.

  Mias, Lieut., 65.

  Middleton, Captain, 65.

  _Minion_, the, 16.

  Mohn, Prof., 279.

  Molinelli, Dr, 301.

  _Monticello_, the, 193.

  _Moonshine_, the, 8.

  Moore, Commander, 129, 138.

  Morton, 183, 187.

  Munk, Jens, 21.

  Muscovy Company, 11.

  N

  Naddod the Viking, 1.

  _Nancy Dawson_, the, 129.

  Nansen, F., 244;
    crosses Greenland, 259;
    meets Jackson, 274;
    voyage in the _Fram_, 279.

  Nares, G., 152, 153, 215 _et seq._

  Nathorst, A., 258.

  Nelson, H., 28.

  Nobel, A., 290.

  Nordenskiöld, A. E., early voyages of, 235 _et seq._;
    the _Vega_, 241 _et seq._;
    Greenland, 258-9.

  Norquist, Lieut., 243.

  North-east voyages: Willoughby, 6;
    Jackson and Pet, 11;
    Barents, 11 _et seq._;
    Russian voyages, 24;
    Bering, 25 _et seq._;
    passage discovered by Nordenskiöld, 241.

  North magnetic pole, 90 _et seq._

  North Polar expeditions: Thorne, 4;
    Phipps and Lutwidge, 27 _et seq._;
    Buchan and Franklin, 31 _et seq._;
    Parry, 79 _et seq._;
    Weyprecht, 207 _et seq._;
    Markham, 220;
    Nordenskiöld, 239;
    De Long, 244 _et seq._;
    Nansen, 278 _et seq._;
    Andrée, 289 _et seq._;
    Peary, 298;
    Abruzzi, 303;
    Wellmann, 304.

  _North Star_, the, 132 _et seq._

  North-west expedition, suggested, by Cabot, 2;
    Davis, 8 _et seq._;
    Hudson, 18 _et seq._;
    Baffin, 20;
    Fox, 21;
    Knight, 22;
    Middleton, 23;
    Hearne, 23;
    Mackenzie, 24;
    Cook, 29;
    Ross and Parry, 35 _et seq._;
    Parry, 1819, 38 _et seq._;
      1821, 64 _et seq._;
      1823, 68;
    Franklin, 1819, 45 _et seq._;
      1825, 71 _et seq._;
      1845, 117 _et seq._;
    Lyon, 79;
    Ross, 87;
    Back, 1833, 95 _et seq._;
      1836, 100 _et seq._;
    Dease and Simpson, 102 _et seq._;
    Rae, 1846, 124;
    discovery of the North-West Passage by M’Clure, 140.

  Nova Zembla, discovered by Burrough, 7 _et seq._;
    visited Barents, 12;
    by Hudson, 18.

  O

  Ommaney, E., 132, 135.

  _Onkle Adam_, the, 237.

  Osborn Sherard, 20, 141, 152.

  Oscar, King, 242.

  Osmer, Mr, 118.

  P

  Parr, Lieut., 219.

  Parry, W. E., voyage of, 1818, 35 _et seq._;
    1819, 38 _et seq._;
    1821-24, 64 _et seq._;
    1827, 79 _et seq._

  Pavy, Dr, 227;
    death of, 231.

  Payer, J., 207.

  Peabody, G., 182.

  Peary, Lieut., journeys of, 263 _et seq._, 295 _et seq._

  Peltier, 62.

  Penny, William, 132 _et seq._

  Perrault, 57.

  Pet, 11.

  Peter the Great, 24.

  Petermann, Dr, 200, 245.

  Petersen, C., 134, 169, 189, 216;
    death of, 219.

  Phipps, J. C. (Lord Mulgrave), 27.

  _Phœnix_, the, 147, 156, 157.

  Pick, Capt. Richard, 264.

  Pike, Capt., 232.

  Pim, Bedford, 130, 145, 152.

  _Pioneer_, the, 132, 152.

  _Plover_, the, 129, 137.

  _Polaris_, the, 194.

  _Pollux_, the, 104.

  _Prince Albert_, the, 132, 135.

  _Proteus_, the, voyage of, 1881, 225;
    wreck of, 230.

  _Proven_, the, 241.

  Pullen, W. J., 130 _et seq._

  Pytheus, 1.

  Q

  Quirini, Count Franco, 301;
    death of, 303.

  R

  _Racehorse_, the, 27.

  Rae, 122;
    search for Franklin, 131, 159 _et seq._;
    second expedition, 160 _et seq._;
    obtains news of Franklin, 161.

  _Ragnald Jarl_, the, 304.

  _Ravenscraig_, the, 198.

  Rawson, Lieut., sledging expedition, 219.

  Reid, Lieut., 65.

  _Reliance_, the, 74.

  _Rescue_, the, 132.

  _Resolute_, the, 132, 145 _et seq._, 152;
    recovered by Buddington, 157.

  Richards, Commander G. H., 152.

  Richardson, Sir John, 45 _et seq._, 131 _et seq._

  Rink, H., 258.

  Robeson, Mr, 194.

  _Roosevelt_, the, 300.

  Ross, George, 95.

  Ross, Sir James Clark, 31, 87 _et seq._, 132, 175.

  Ross, Sir John, 10, 31;
    expeditions of 35 _et seq._, 87 _et seq._

  Rupert, Prince, 22.

  Ryder, Lieut., 258.

  Ryp, John Cornelius, 12.

  S

  Sabine, Edward, Capt., 38, 41, 258.

  Sackheuse, John, 35.

  _St Peter_ and _St Paul_, the, 26.

  Samandré, 62.

  Sanderson, William, 8.

  Sandwich, Earl of, 27.

  Saunders, 132.

  Schley, Capt. W. S., relieves Greely, 231.

  Schwatka, Lieut. F., 181.

  Scoresby, Capt. William, jun., 30, 258.

  Scott-Hansen, Lieut., 280.

  _Searchthrift_, the, 7.

  Seeberg, F. G., 306;
    death of, 307.

  Sheddon, Robert, 129 _et seq._

  Siberian Ocean, Islands of, 248, 306.

  Sibiriakoff, A., 242.

  Simpson, Sir George, 111, 122, 159.

  Simpson, Thomas, 103 _et seq._

  Smith, Leigh, relieves Nordenskiöld, 241;
    voyages of, 252.

  Smith Sound, discovered by Baffin, 21;
    explored by Kane and Hayes, 182 _et seq._;
    by Hall, 192 _et seq._; by Nares, 216 _et seq._

  Sontag, death of, 191.

  _Sophia_, the, 132.

  Spanberg, 25.

  Spitzbergen, discovered by Barents, 12;
    explored by Buchan and Franklin, 31 _et seq._;
    by Nordenskiöld, 235;
    circumnavigated by Carlsen, 236;
    explored by Leigh Smith, 252, _et seq._;
    by Conway, 287.

  Steenstrup, K. J. v., 258.

  _Stella Polare_, the, 301 _et seq._

  Steller, 26.

  Stevenson, H. F., 216.

  Strindberg, 9, 291.

  _Sunshine_, the, 8, 10.

  Sverdrup, Otto, 260, 280;
    voyage of, 293.

  T

  _Talbot_, the, 157.

  _Tegetthoff_, the, 207 _et seq._

  _Terror_, the, 100, 6.

  _Thetis_, the, 231.

  Thorne, Robert, 4, 27.

  Thorold, 1.

  _Tigress_, the, 198.

  Toll, Baron, 306 _et seq._

  Torrell, Prof., 235.

  _Trent_, the, 31.

  Tschirikoff, 26.

  Tyson, E., 195.

  V

  Vaillant, 58.

  Vasilovich, Ivan, 6.

  _Vega_, the, 149, 242-3;
    the voyage of, 149 _et seq._

  Verhoeff, John, 264.

  _Victory_, the, 86.

  _Virgo_, the, 290.

  Volossovich, 306.

  W

  Walker, Dr, 169.

  Wallöe, Olsen, 258.

  Walsingham, Cape, 9.

  Wandell, 258.

  Warwick, Earl, 7.

  Waxell, Lieut., 26.

  Wellman, H., 302;
    voyages of, 304 _et seq._

  Wentzel, 49 _et seq._

  Weymouth, 17.

  Weyprecht, Carl, 207;
    lecture of, 223 _et seq._

  Wilde, Capt., 232.

  _Willem Barents_, the, 256.

  _William_, the, 11.

  Williams, Governor, 46, 47.

  Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 6 _et seq._

  _Windward_, the, voyage of, 271 _et seq._, 295.

  Wolstenholm, Sir John, 18.

  Wrangel Land, 245 _et seq._

  Y

  _Yantic_, the, voyage of, 230.

  _Ymer_, the, 241.

  Young, Sir Allen, 169, 171, 180, 244.

  Transcriber’s Notes

  pg v Changed: Franklin’s Last Vovage
            to: Franklin’s Last Voyage

  pg 41 Changed: season opened with a brillant performance
             to: season opened with a brilliant performance

  pg 126 Changed: 63 deer, 5 hares, 1 seal, 172 patridges
              to: 63 deer, 5 hares, 1 seal, 172 partridges

  pg 207 Changed: with navigation, and Lieutentant Julius Payer
              to: with navigation, and Lieutenant Julius Payer

  pg 245 Changed: on the strength of Chuckche reports
              to: on the strength of Chukche reports

  pg 252 Changed: decided to make another expedition northword
              to: decided to make another expedition northward

  pg 272 Changed: had to knock of work
              to: had to knock off work