POUR EXPLORATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 186, 10 September 1909, Page 2

POUR EXPLORATION.

PEARY'S INTERESTING NARRATIVE. BRILLIANT WORK. A SCIENTIST DROWNED. (Received g, 10.30 p.m.) New York, September 9. Commander Peary, from Battle Harbor, Labrador, by wireless, via Newfoundland, sends the New York limes the following summary in case he is unable to get the full story in time for to-day's issue " After wintering at Cape Sheridan, Grant Land, a sledge expedition left the Roosevelt on February 15. We started north of Cape Columbia ori March Ist; passed the British record on the '2nd; were delayed by open water until the nth, when we crossed the 84th parallel. We encountered open lead [a body of open water between icebergs.] On March 15 we crossed the 85th paral-' lei; and on the 18th the 86th parallel. On the 22nd we encountered open lead, and passed the Norwegian record on the 23rd; and the Italian record on the 24th. We encountered open lead on the 26th, and passed the 87th parallel on the 27th, and the American record on the 28th. "We were held up by open water on the 29th. We crossed the BSth parallel on April 2nd, and the 89th on the 4th; and reached the Pole on the 6th. We left on the 7th, and reached Cape Columbia on the 23rd, arriving aboard the Roosevelt on the^th. "The Roosevelt reached Cape Sheridan on July 18th ; passed Cape Sabine on August Bth, and Cape York on the 26th. All the expedition is in good health, except Professor Marvin, who was drowned on April ioth, 45 miles north of Columbia, while returning from 86 deg., in command of a supporting party." THE RIVAL EXPLORERS. DR. COOK FORESTALLS COMMANDER PEARY. DOGS AND ESQUIMOS COMMANDEERED. New York, September 9. The New York Times publishes a letter from Commander Peary, who wrote in the month of May, 1908: — "As a record of Dr Cook having located himself at Etah, which has been my depot for years, he appropriated the Eskimos I trained and has taken the dog? collected ready for my coming. Dr Cook's action in going north sub rosa, for the admitted purpose of forestalling me, is one which no man possessing a sense of honor would be guilty of." "DON'T WORRY ABOUT COOK." "I HAVE HIM NAILED.' London, September 9. Commander Peary telegraphs :—" Don't worry about Cook. I have him nailed."

PUBLICATION OF THE STORY IN LONDON. Received 9,10.30 p.m. London, September a. The Loudon Times Is publishing Comt maader Peary' 6 story and issues turthcr editions of the continuation of the aar- : rative as received. I PEARY'S CAREER. 1 • EXPLORER, ENGINEER, AND IN v .ejNTOR. 1 STORY OF A BRAVE AND BUS if LIFE, Among explorers of the present geieratiou no name is better known, o; held in better regard, than that of Robert Edwin Peary—explorer, engineer, inventor, and commander and civ J .l engineer in the United States navy. The voyage to Arctic regions which ha*' been crowned with success fa his eighvi. Peary was born at Cresson, Pennsylvania, 071 May (ith, 1850, and was the son of Charles N. anu ivuvry iVwy. In 1577 lie graduated from Bowdou. and in 1881 entered tho United States Navy as civil engineer. During 1884-5. under Government orders, he held the; position of assistant engineneir of the Nicaragua Ship Canal, and was itobscqueiitly appointed engineer-in-charge. It was while acting in the latter capacity that he invented rolling lock gates for the canal.

I FIRST ARCTIC VOYAGE. The first Arctic exploring work tint Commander Peary was engaged upon was a reconnoissanee of the Greenland inland ice-cap, east of Disco Bay, and itt 70 deg. north latitude, in 1880. From June, 1891, to September, 1892, he was chief of an Arctic expedition organised by the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadephia, his sphere of operations being about the north-east, angle of Greenland. He disfoovewd and named Melville Land and Heilprin Land, lynig beyond Greenland; and determined the insularity of Greenland, receiving the Callum medal of the American jginpnieal Society, the patron's medal of the Royal Geographical Society, London and the medal of the Royal .Scottish' Geographical Society, Edinburgh

fciom 180JI to 1805 Peary was engaged in another Arctic vovngc, dtirinn- whi'h iic made n thorough study of the little tribe of Arctic Highlanders. He diq covered, in 1894, the famous Iron Momi-i i tain ( first heard of by Ross in 1818), : ' wlnch proved to be t'hree meteorites, i one of tliem being the largest known I to exist, and weighing ninetv tons 1 "FARTHEST NORTH." <

In 1800 and 1807 Pcarv made summer voyages, and carried the Cape York meteorites to the United States. R» was commander of the Peary Arct : < Club's expedition sent out from Not\ork in 1808, remaining in the fur North till 1002. During this time lie roundel the northern extremity of the Greenland Archipelago, the last of the great Arctic

hind groups, named the Northern Capethc most northerly land in the world (excepting Dr. Cook's latest account of land near the pole, not yet confirmed) - Cape Morris K. .fesup, and attained the then most northerly point in the western hemisphere. SCdcg. lTmhi. Commander Peary was awarded the Kane and Daly gold medals) of the Philadelphia and American Geographical Societies respectively, and elected in 1003 president of 'the latter society. He Is the author of ''Northward Over t'ae Orent lee" (1808), and has contributed largely to geographical journals aiH magazines.

' "ThJ w LO , SS I . OF ' miE L\ 1 [IOO. lac-joss of tune was fatal. After a week Mr. Peary was able to cross and C \T Tar, T r,i ■ But & w». «g»ta <"e laved for days by a. violent storm. IT,, advanced once more for about ten days jndon 21st April, Woo, roaCu-d latKle w ® mln ~highest on record im taSTS. L7„t W ed , t0 Lkv b { f e ' lead/ nnd th ° »»«p«w I»» tj ca V s °d the provisions to run Z X* Te « a,ni =a the Ship after a very tTh 1 march, half starved If he could have taken boats with him I mtle onie, tl ' Wathor ~m<l ' astcil all W Tff p ''''' Sre , m dol,ht ft V I „- P nr> ' w0,,1| l liavo reached the Pole. His rate of travelling proves that dogs are indispensable for Arctic I?w ? 6 , British [r »m the Alert, who dragged their own sledges and boats, could not advance thfee ( m •' SIr- I>enr y sometimes 1 marched thirty miles, A n equally reso. I to and experienced man, if good luckattends lum, will attain tie Polo some day by following Mi;. Peary's route and adopting bis methods," Mm

PEARY AND COOK -VAND THEIR ROUTES. THE "LEAD" THAT BLOCKED PEARY IN 1000. Commander Robert Tidwin Peary, called by Greely "the most persistent and successful of American 'Arctic explorers." sent his final word fro m Etali, North Greenland, on 17th August, 1008. He then reported that lie had killed 35 "walrus, that he lmd a good supply of Eskimo dogs, and that tho Roosevelt was steaming north that night. He hoped—this according to Greely—to ■winter with his ship in tie north coast

of Ellesmcre Land, in about S2deg. 40 niiu. X., and by a fortunate, well-direct-ed sledge journey, to reach the North Pole in the spring of 1009 or 1010, thus beating his own Farthest North record , of 874 eg. firnin. N. in the same ocean. It is interesting here to repeat Dr. Cook's proposed route as stated by Grem». Cook "expected to start nortli m January. IAOB, over a new route. Crossing Ellesmcre Land, Cook planned to follow its western shore beyond Greely Fiord to the new "land to the north-west seen by Peary." NATURAL SEQUEL TO FORMER 'WORK. The peculiar value of Peary's 1000 expedition as paving the way for the success of the next one lias already been dealt with in detail in connection with Dr. Cook's effort. At the risk of reiteration, it may be said that Peary clainieS ®at his '1906 expedition 3iad •'simplified the attainment of' the Polo 50 per cent.," and had accentuated tho fact that man and tho Eskimo dog aro the only two mechanisms capable of meeting all the various contingencies of serious Arctic work, and that the : American j-oute to the Pole, and tho methods and equipment used, "remain the most practicable for attaining that object." Peai7 says that had the -win- i ter of 1905 to 1906 been a- normal season in the Arctic regions, and not, as it was, a particularly open one, "there is not a member of the 1000 expedition who doubts that it would have attained 1 the Pole"; and he ibelicves that had he f known before leaving tfio land what lie i subsequently learned of the conditions to the northward, he could have so modified his route and arrangements that he "could have readied the Pole, In. spite of the open season." These 1 opinions Commander Peary has now e justified by his success. ,]

) EXPLORER'S lEL-LUOK. ' The Manchester Guardian, in summing up the work of Commander Peary $ 1006 expedition, emphasises the m' V,', a ' was caUßc d by meeting with a 'lead or channel of water. Recent cablegrams have informed us that Dr. vook provided for this by taking a collapsible boat. This same "lead" figures |n the interview with Peary riven beManchester Guardian says:— During the winter of 1905-0 Mr. Peary, with his crew and the Eskimos Whom ho had brought fro m Greenland remained i„ good health. The scurvv that almost destroyed Admiral Nnres' expedition in the Alert did not trouble Mr. Peary, thanks to the progress of modern science and to the supplies of game found in Grant Land. The first piece of ill-l«ck was the loss of about eignty dogs through poifioaing, This weakened the slodgc-parties to a verv serious extent. The mnrch began late m February, 1908. Mr. Pearv's plan seemed to be -working well. The par„Tn T y « Teac,lc i north In'.iuide. and fine weather prevailed. Here 7 K Bto PP e<l V a wide channel made by the tide b«- < Polar W J- T v nncl the ce "trat I ?' wWI had stopped Mr. i A ycars , learlicr - Having no ' S'tecYosTu;. orced to wait for «"-• f