DASH TO THE POLE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 632, 8 October 1909, Page 7

DASH TO THE POLE.

PEARY'S STORY. ICE OPENS UNDER SLEEPING CAMP. ' ;'" ''■' BARTLETT'S WORK.' IBy Telegrapb.-Preo A«ioclallon.-<3opvrlrhl.l Fremantle, October.?.;' Newspapers, to ■ hand by the mail contain Commander Peary's ; account of his Arctic expedition, on which ho, claims, to hove reached the North Tolo on April 6, 1090.. Ho soys: Bartlett Howi a Road. Four months of northerly, winds during tho •;'• fall and winter, instead of southerly ones, '■ led mo to expect less open water than before, ' ' but a great de.il of rough ice;,and I was prepared to hew a road through the jagged ica for tho, first one hundred miles or so, and then cross the big leads. .-.-'. ■ ■ \■'.■■: On February, Captain Bartlett (a Newfound- ' lander, captain of tho Roosevelt), with tho pioneer division, accomplished this, and his, .-,:_ division got nwny due north over the ice ok March 1. Tho remainder of tho party followed shortly afterwards. Theparty now com-' prisod seven members of the expedition, 17. Eskimos, 133 dogs,' and ,19 sledges. . On March 2 wo passed tho British record made by Lieutenant (afterwards Admiral) A. H. Markham, who in 1875-76 reached latitude ' 33 degrees 10 minutes ' 26. seconds. Captain.,,V Bartlett had passed the British record the day '"■..: before We negotiated a lead, and reached Bartlctt's third camp. ■:''• ■'■'. ' , Borup (Mr. George Borup, of the Sheffield. Scientific School) had gone back from here, but missed his owing to the faulting of thi '.■ trail by tho movement of ice. Marvin (Mr. Ross G. Marvin, drowned on April 10) canir > back also for more fuel,and alcohol. The wind' continued forming open water- all about us. :.-.': " By March i we were all up on Bartlett, who had been stopped by a wido< lake of open water. We remained hero till March 11. : I now began to. feel a great deal of anxiety because thero were , no signs of Marvin and Borupj besides, they-had alcohol and oil, which wero indispensable for us. Wo concluded they had either lost the trail or. wero ■:■:•■■ imprisoned on ah island by opeh water. .'■■'' ■ Fortunately on Maroh 11, tho lead was prao- \ ticablr, and leaving a note for Marvin and Borup to.push on after us by forced, marches,northward.: Tho sounding of tha, ' load gavo 110 fathoms. During this marct. •'•"' wo crossed tho B<th parallel, and traversed a , succession of just frozen leads from, a fe# :... 'hundred yards to ~a milo in width; •' Thil' "■' march was really a.simple one. ..- ■, Marvin and Borup « . .' • ■''■; ■'■'■■:'■■'■] *■ ; Accident:; ' "■' ■'■■■■>''.■" ';■'■•'!;:-V '■■•;; On March H we got free of tho leads, arirt came on decent going. While making camp : . n °!!? r ! cl I ' rora ' Mowin Mmo and informed. • mo that he:was ohe march in the rear. Tho ' > temperature was 59 degrees.: At night Marvin '■:'. and Borup ciine spinning in, with their men, and dogs steaming in the bitter air-like a squadron of battleships. Their arrival relieved mo ; from r al(;aiixietT;;Rs tfl.'pUjsupply., , :,.;. „J?r.,r c Morning if was : discovered that MMilan l (Mr;,;p.onaW M'Millan, geologist nnd zoologist) had a foot badly frost-bitten. The P'shap occurred two or three.days before, but ; MMillan.had said nothing about it, in tha hope that it would como out. all right. 'A glance snowed mo that it was tho right thini . to'send,him baok.:b i Capß,ColUmbia;. : ,ati'once. ' -■W ,arrival of,..Mtat-in■*arid .Borrip ft en'abM ine to spare sufficient men and dogs to i iro • • baok with hirn. This early loss of M'Millar. was-, seriously:, disappointing. . ..bonndings gavo a depth of (&i fathoms. Leav- ■'■•" ing this camor the expedition comprised ■ IC' men, 12.sledges,.and. 100>gs, and at the-end' ' or two j short .marches: we came upon' Henson ':■■::, servant, who had,been sent'in : ■aavaucc)-,(indv his party .in camp, .mending ; s Next morning,', we .put vMnrvin : in '• ' tho lead to pioneer a trail,'with instructions ■ to mnko two forced marches, to bring us up to the average',•:Fhich;.:ba'a;been-'.cut down b\ " '.'. the last two short' ones.' Marvin 'carried our'' , his instructions , implicitly., ,■ A : caneidersbla : amoniit of young ice assictcd.in this. •-''■' ' ' ' , At tho end of Maroh 20) in latituilo B.s'degTeM r ft A "fe B ° ru P- turned . back :i„. commw,a i .travelled.n.distance equivalent to Hansen's:-I ?f?:, so .ra' tOilosc.this joung yalo,runner,-with '. Ms enthusiasm; and pluck. ' Ho, had 'led.'his' ' heavy slddgo "over- floes 'in"- a" way that -com-' ; imandcd ovcry, pile's: admiration. ■ - a , ••' ■•;;■'

j Other Countries' Rocprdt Bbaten. ' ' A day or'twb later'lirarvin obtained' a satis. ■■'■ factory sight for latitude, in clear weather,' ,wtoch placed m at 85, degrees 48 minutes.: Thli KtV T,th j. tllo *l5 nd ■ "''Zoning. of Marvin, Bartlett, and myself.. ;■■' ■.'.,•■■■' : • 'In' one-of".these] marches a lead ''delayed 'ui ,<*■ lew .hours; ; .\Ye.:-iiiially-. ferried; across xin ico.cakes. .Next day Bartlett; rcelod.off twenty miles.- Here Marvin obtained another satis-!' sight on latitude,which gave our ffi'H c V 3 ,. 8(! ( !jp c « 58 minutes, Sr.beyond' ithe farthest, north of Nansen:(Bß, degrees IS minutes),,and Abruzzi (ono of whose'parties.: under Captain Cagni, roached 86 degrees 31 ■h.a"«L- , T1, «„ obsi ?"-ation i showed fhat weV had covered nfty minutes latitude in three' i Hero Marvin turned'.back'in 1 command of th« • third supporting party. ' We now encountered the heaviest and. deepest snow of tho journoy, : ihrough a thick, smothering'mantle lying in; Uartlett and his party,, fagged and diseour.; aged by the heart-racking work of making.; aroad, i knew what was the matter with them' rtbey.werq simply spoiled by tho-good gOinr, on the provious marches. ,'M rallied tVm a bis lightened their sledges, and sent them on en- •, couraged asain. ~■•.,•.:, "• ■ ■ I 1... Aroused by Breaking leelv. '.-.< • : During tho nW march? wo'travelled ttrougb' a-thick haw;drifting before a biting air from thj north-oastO Atitho end of the march wa caitio upon ■ Captain .Dartlctt camped besida wide open land, with denso black water. ty>" built our,' and turned inl,' but before j had fallen asleep, I was rouse? out by a movement of tho ice,'and found i;' ■: startling, condition of affairs. A rapidly-widening road of black water ran but a. lew; iect lroin our: igloos. Ono of, my' teams of dogs escaped by only a few feet fron being dragged by tho movement of ice l to where another team had an equally narrow escape-o' being crushed by iee,biocks piled over them. J-no lead was moving around ensihrard of tho small floor on which woAvero.' Tho-captain'? ■'■ igloo was drifted eastward in open water, an< th.t• sides of our igloos'.threatened to (ollo» ' suit. ,■-•.,' ■ ..-- . ■. Kicking out tho door.of tho igloos,-I'called m tho captain and his men to pack- 'thci! sledges and bo ready tor a quick dash when favourabla ohanco arrived. We hurried tht things on the sledges, which the dogs moved on to a largo iloo to tho ■ west -of us. Then, loaying ono man to look out for tho dogs an? sledges, we hurried over to assist Bartlett. -,-. lor tho rest of tho night and during tht ' next day wo suffered tho torments , pt'ths damned, with tho-ico surging together, open-' iry out, groaning and grinding j whila the open wnte,r looked liko tho block smoke of a proirif fire. Then tho motion censed, tho open wato* ':' closed, tha atmosphere; to tho north cleared, and wo pushed.across before tho ice should open again. .'.,■■; .'■' '~'•', v;-, '•.•.,•;,.•'■'■";■■ Wo camo to layers of.'young" ice, som'o" o' : which buckled upon our sledges;.- This was • • good long march.. Tha next march also was v long one. Wo encountered a- high wind dead on our faces—bitter and insistent. Wo con eluded wo wore near the 88th parallel. Undo; tho north wind wo had lost us several miles. .'■ Next morning Captain. Bartlett started ' t» walk five or six miles to'the north to makf suro of reaching tho- 88th parallel. Ho foiini our position'to be 87deg. iSmin., showing thai, tho continued north wind had robbed us of » number of hard-earned miles. :

1 Baftlelt's' Retiirn-PeaTy'sTrlbßter---- '--• , Cilptniu Bartlett started oh the' back ■ trai» ■' ■'■'.' in command of my fourth, supporting parti '' with two'-Eskimos, ono sledge, and cigi'tcei.. to- ,1 felt p.apgsof regret as ho disappeared ' .'in,, tho distance, but-it was.'only momentary. My work was still ahead; ffiot' in. the rear. Captain Bartlett.) had,-done good work, and had been a groat help to ni'a;'circumstances had thrust the-brunt of tho'pioneering upon . him, instead of. Sirjdihe it among several, as : I-had plotmed.''He"had:reasoil. to take pride in this'fact—that-hohad-boftercd the Italian record by a degree ninbn.'quarter,'-aW : . had covered-a'-distance: eqnnh to the entire liisi.'". ..tance' 1 of-thoJlltaliau. expedition fromi'-tYan*-;-'. l Joseph' Land to Cagni's farthest north.' .".T':'M'■':? ... 'I. had givwi Captain. Bar'tlot't llris : poslh'oh' ;v and post of honour in command of my fourtK- '■; and last supporting party, and Cor two rem sons—firstly,■-■"- because '/ 0f..•...hi5; ■. handling of the Koosovolt; second,,because.he had cheerfully stood between mo and inanr.'■'-"■ trifling 'annoyances onMlib expedition; i ■> C fn;' "Then there was nvthird','reason '.' It socmcA'•'£& •to me appropriate, in view Of the magnificent' ■' British record TiS'-Arclio \vork covering, tlircf centuries, that it'should be a British subjen who could boast that, next to ail Auioricaii, hi had been nearest the Polo, '-:.-?■ •.»..-■..■,