The North Pole: Its Discovery in 1909 under the auspices of the Peary Arctic Club

Project Gutenberg, Robert E. (Robert Edwin) Peary

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• Publié par: anne
• Nombre de lectures: 52
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The North Pole, by Robert E. Peary This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The North Pole Its Discovery in 1909 under the auspices of the Peary Arctic Club Author: Robert E. Peary Release Date: August 3, 2006 [EBook #18975] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NORTH POLE *** Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes, Emmy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE NORTH POLE COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY [Illustration: THE FIVE FLAGS AT THE POLE LEFT TO RIGHT 1. Navy League--Ooqueah 2. D. K. E. Fraternity--Ootah 3. Polar Flag Carried 15 Years--Henson 4. D. A. R. Peace Flag--Egingwah 5. Red Cross Flag--Seegloo] THE NORTH POLE ITS DISCOVERY IN 1909 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE PEARY ARCTIC CLUB BY ROBERT E. PEARYWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT AND A FOREWORD BY GILBERT H. GROSVENOR DIRECTOR AND EDITOR, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY [Illustration] GREENWOOD PRESS, PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Originally published in 1910 by Frederick A. Stokes Co. First Greenwood Reprinting, 1968 Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 68-55210 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO MY WIFE INTRODUCTION SOME _years ago I met at a dinner in Washington the famous Norwegian arctic explorer, Nansen, himself one of the heroes of polar adventure; and he remarked to me, "Peary is your best man; in fact I think he is on the whole the best of the men now trying to reach the Pole, and there is a good chance that he will be the one to succeed." I cannot give the exact words; but they were to the above effect; and they made a strong impression on me. I thought of them when in the summer of 1908 I, as President of the United States, went aboard Peary's ship to bid him Godspeed on the eve of what proved to be his final effort to reach the Pole. A year later, when I was camped on the northern foothills of Mt. Kenia, directly under the equator, I received by a native runner the news that he had succeeded, and that thanks to him the discovery of the North Pole was to go on the honor roll of those feats in which we take a peculiar pride because they have been performed by our fellow countrymen. Probably few outsiders realize the well-nigh incredible toil and hardship entailed in such an achievement as Peary's; and fewer still understand how many years of careful training and preparation there must be before the feat can be even attempted with any chance of success. A "dash for the pole" can be successful only if there have been many preliminary years of painstaking, patient toil. Great physical hardihood and endurance, an iron will and unflinching courage, the power of command, the thirst for adventure, and a keen and farsighted intelligence--all these must go to the make-up of the successful arctic explorer; and these, and more than these, have gone to the make-up of the chief of successful arctic explorers, of the man who succeeded where hitherto even the best and the bravest had failed. Commander Peary has made all dwellers in the civilized world his debtors; but, above all, we, his fellow Americans, are his debtors. He has performed one of the great feats of our time; he has won high honor for himself and for his country; and we welcome his own story of the triumph which he won in the immense solitudes of the wintry North._ THEODORE ROOSEVELT. THE WHITE NILE, _March_ 12, 1910. COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF ROBERT E. PEARY, IN HIS ACTUAL NORTH POLE COSTUME] CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION vii FOREWORD xv I THE PLAN 1 II PREPARATIONS 11 III THE START 25 IV UP TO CAPE YORK 34 V WELCOME FROM THE ESKIMOS 42 VI AN ARCTIC OASIS 53 VII ODD CUSTOMS OF AN ODD PEOPLE 63 VIII GETTING RECRUITS 72 IX A WALRUS HUNT 79 X KNOCKING AT THE GATEWAY TO THE POLE 88 XI CLOSE QUARTERS WITH THE ICE 97 XII THE ICE FIGHT GOES ON 106 XIII CAPE SHERIDAN AT LAST 117 XIV IN WINTER QUARTERS 126 XV THE AUTUMN WORK 134 XVI THE BIGGEST GAME IN THE ARCTIC 143 XVII MUSK-OXEN AT LAST 151 XVIII THE LONG NIGHT 162 XIX THE _Roosevelt's_ NARROW ESCAPE 172 XX CHRISTMAS ON THE _Roosevelt_ 182 XXI ARCTIC ICE SLEDGING AS IT REALLY IS 193 XXII ESSENTIALS THAT BROUGHT SUCCESS 201 XXIII OFF ACROSS THE FROZEN SEA 213 XXIV THE FIRST OPEN WATER 221 XXV SOME OF MY ESKIMOS LOSE THEIR NERVE 230 XXVI BORUP'S FARTHEST NORTH 240 XXVII GOOD-BY TO MARVIN 248 XXVIII WE BREAK ALL RECORDS 255 XXIX BARTLETT REACHES 87 47� 264� XXX THE FINAL SPURT BEGUN 272 XXXI ONLY ONE DAY FROM THE POLE 280 XXXII WE REACH THE POLE 287 XXXIII GOOD-BY TO THE POLE 302 XXXIV BACK TO LAND AGAIN 314 XXXV LAST DAYS AT CAPE SHERIDAN 325 APPENDIX I 337 APPENDIX II 350 APPENDIX III 363 ILLUSTRATIONSFULL-PAGE PLATES REPRODUCING PHOTOGRAPHIC ENLARGEMENTS COLORED BY HAND THE FIVE FLAGS AT THE POLE _Frontispiece._ Facing Page PORTRAIT OF ROBERT E. PEARY IN HIS ACTUAL NORTH POLE COSTUME viii STELLAR PROJECTION, SHOWING THE RELATION OF THE POLAR SEA TO THE VARIOUS CONTINENTS AND THE ROUTE OF THE EXPEDITION xxxii ESKIMO DOGS OF THE EXPEDITION (246 IN ALL) ON SMALL ISLAND. ETAH FJORD 74 CAPTAIN BARTLETT AND HIS PARTY (A TYPICAL UNIT DIVISION OF THE EXPEDITION) 140 ILLUMINATION OF THE _Roosevelt_ IN WINTER QUARTERS ON A MOONLIGHT NIGHT 162 A TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF THE DIFFICULTIES OF WORKING SLEDGES OVER A PRESSURE RIDGE 240 CROSSING A LEAD ON AN ICE CAKE AS A FERRY-BOAT 306 BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS Facing Page GEORGE A. WARDWELL, CHIEF ENGINEER 16 BANKS SCOTT, SECOND ENGINEER 16 ROBERT A. BARTLETT, MASTER 16 THOMAS GUSHUE, MATE 16 CHARLES PERCY, STEWARD 16 PROFESSOR ROSS G. MARVIN, ASSISTANT 17 GEORGE BORUP, ASSISTANT 17 DONALD B. MACMILLAN, ASSISTANT 17 DR. J. W. GOODSELL, SURGEON 17 SNOWY OWL, CAPE SHERIDAN 36 BRANT GOOSE 37 SABINE'S GULL 37 RED-THROATED DIVER, MALE AND FEMALE 37 KING EIDER, DRAKE 37 ESKIMOS COMING OFF TO THE _Roosevelt_ IN KAYAKS 42 THE MIDNIGHT SUN AS SEEN IN THE WHALE SOUND REGION 42 ESKIMO IN KAYAK 43 THE ICE-CLIFFS OF HUBBARD GLACIER 52 PEARY DISTRIBUTING UTENSILS TO WIVES OF HIS HUNTERS AT ETAH 53 DECK SCENE ON THE _Roosevelt_ 53 ESKIMO MOTHER AND CHILD 60 ESKIMO CHILDREN 61 KUDLAH, ALIAS "MISFORTUNE," WITH PUPPIES 61 KING ESKIMO DOG 70 THE DOG MARKET AT CAPE YORK 71 THE WHALE-BOAT RETURNING TO THE SHIP FROM THE WALRUS HUNT 71 THE CAPE JESUP GRENADIERS 71 HOISTING A WALRUS TO THE DECK OF THE _Roosevelt_ 86 A NARWHAL KILLED OFF CAPE UNION, JULY, 1909. THE MOST NORTHERLY SPECIMEN EVER CAPTURED 87CAPTAIN BARTLETT IN THE CROW'S NEST 104 TABULAR ICEBERG AND FLOE-ICE 105 THE _Roosevelt_ DRYING OUT HER