QUEST OF NORTH POLE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17568, 19 June 1925, Page 6

QUEST OF NORTH POLE.

VENTURES OF THE PAST. TRAGEDIES AND TRIUMPHS. A review of past endeavours in the Arctic field of exploration is of particular interest at this juncture. In ISI9 Lieutenant W. E. Parry passed the 110th meridian west of Greenwich, and he was also the first navigator to pass directly north of the magnetic North Pole, which he located approximately. lie was thus the first to report seeing the compass needle pointing due south. Eight years later Parry decided on a journey to the Pole on foot. It is recorded that in originality of plan and equipment Parry has been equalled and surpassed only by Nansen and Peary. Parry travelled 150 miles north of his base and reached a point 43.3 geographical miles from the Pole. There, while resting, the drift of the ice carried him daily back almost to the same extent as he was able to move forward. Parry, therefore, decided to return, but his achievement marked a new era in Polar exploration. Expeditions led by Captain John Ross and Sir John Franklin carried on Great Britain’s Arctic work. The former, accompanied by is nephew, James (.'lark Ross, who later won laurels in the Antarctic, was absent in the north from 1829 to 1834. Ross definitely located the magnetic North Pole, and brought back a remarkable series of magnetic and meteorological observations. FRANKLIN DISASTER. Franklin's expedition of 1545 was overcome by disaster, and its disappearance completely baffled the world for many years, and has not vet been entirely explained. Sir John Franklin had been in the Arctic regions before, and served as Governor of Tasmania for seven years. When Franklin set out. in the Erebus, accompanied by the Terror (commanded by Captain Crorier', the expedition was well equipped. The personnel consisted of 134 persons, oi. whom nine left the ships before entering the ice. For more than a year evervthing went well with the expedition, but in June, 1847, Franklin died. The ships •cere imprisoned in the ice all tha year. C’rozier succeeded to the command of the expedition, and in July, JB4S, lie was compelled to abandon the ships. With 105 survivors, who were all weak as a result of three successive winters spent in the Arctic, he started back on foot. The history of Arctic exploration for some years following IS4S is practically a record of the search for Franklin and his comrades. Provisions and clothing were deposited in various places in the Arctic seas by the British and by the L nited States Governments, and among those who took part in expeditions at this period were Sir John Richardson. Sir James Ross, Sir Leopold M'Clintock and Sir Edward Belcher Tt was not until 1554 that the fate of the members of the Franklin expedition was decided with any degree of Certainty. It was learned that ail the party’ had died from starvation. In 1557 Lady’ Franklin equipped a further search expedition, led by Sir Leopold J M‘Clintook, who verified the disaster which overcame Sir John Franklin and those with him. THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. Franklin narrowly missed making the north-west passage, and the honour feil to Robert M'Ciurc (1850-53) and Richard Colli'nson (1850-55). M’Clure accomplished the passage on foot after losing his ship, but Collinson took his ship safely through tu England. The northwest passage was not again made until Roald Amundsen navigated the tiny Gjoa, a sailing sloop with gasoline engine, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, during his expedition of 19031900. For some years polar exploration v as neglected, and the most important expedition was that led bv Captain (afterwards Sir George) Nares, in 1575. in the -Alert and Discovery. Commander (afterwards Admiral) Markham, who was with the Nares expedition. beat Hall’s record of farthest north. The question of the north-cast passage had remained dormant for a number of years, but on July 8t), 1579. Adolf Erik Nordenskiold. a Finn, who had taken part n: several Swedish expeditions. took his little vessel, the Vega, round the East Cape, and thus made the north-east passage. N A NSEN S T NSPI RATION. During the succeeding twenty '.car" several expeditions were equipped, included among them being those, led bv 1 Lieutenant Grech’ and Commander De Long, of the United States. The laticr's ship, the Jeanette, was crushed in the ice in 1881. and a number of members oc the expedition, including Dc Long, starved to death. Other expp litions visited the Arctic, but. the fate -f De Long's ship induced Nansen, who had already made the first crossing of Greenland's ice-cap. to build the Fram. so designed that, instead of being crushed by the ice pack, she would be lifted up and would rest on the ice. The. Nansen expedition set out in 1893. and the leader and one companion, Johansen. with dogs and sledges, proceeded toward the North Pole on Marsh 14. 1895. On April 6. 1895. Nansen and Johansen had reached 86deg 14min north latitude and 95deg cast, the highest latitude ever reached. After they had left the Pram the vessel, as Nansen anticipated, drifted northward, and at one time was within fifteen miles of Nansen's Farthest North. Tn July. 1597, Ac,dree set out in a t all* on toward the Pole, and was never heard of again In 1991 an Italian expedition, captained by Signor Cagni, won from Nansen the honour of the Farthest North. PE ARA' S EX PE DIT lON. T o Robert E. Pear.-, a civil engineer m the l nited States Navy . 1 > longs the honour of having fir.-* reached the North Pole. As early as 1886 Peary visited Greenland, and had aroused in him an interest in polar explorationHe participated in several expeditions, and then turned his attention to the Pole. which wa< 396 geographical mile ; farther north than any man had penetrated on the \vc-tern hemisphere. In his first expedition. 1898 1902. i Peary failed to get nearer than 343 - miles to the Pole. On the next attempt he made a wonderful mavh in 1906 to * 87deg Omni, but winds of unusual fury prevented him reaching the Pole. In 1 his third attempt, however. TVav was 1 successful. The expedition left New 1 "3 ork in the Roosevelt, commanded bv Captain R. A. Bartlett, on Tub- 6. 1908. Winter quarters were established at 1 '. ape Sheridan on September 8 Sledge 1 work proceeded, ard in February the t work of establishing a chain of depot-; t began. Upon leaving the Roosevelt, r Peary and his sledge partv se~ «.;i- for > ( ape Columbia. Tn five marches ssdeg f 23min was reached, and from that p .inf the leader started on with twelve mm. r ten sledge? and eighty dogs. I From S'7dcg 48min - the furthest, t

north attained at that time Peary went on with only Ilcnsen (a Negro', 11 »ur Eskimos, and the pick of his dogs (forty in number 1 . The 125 miles of the first dash were covered in five equal days' marches, and the North Pols v. as reached on April C. 1909- Peary's entry in hi< diary was as. follows: “The Pole at last. The prize of three centuries. My dream and goal for twenty years. Min® at la-;* I cann-'t bring myself to realise it It seems ail so simple and commonplace.” Pear*'- and his part'.- remained at t.hn Pole for thirty hours, and C:-- party then started back The return prov;d more perilous than the advance and tli*® expedition ultimatelv Incian Harbour (Labrador) on September 5. After his return to the United States I eary '.vac involved in x bitter controversy vfith Dr F. A. Cook who claimed to hwe reached the North Foie firs' by nearb a year. Look’* claim was, however, proved tu be false,