POLAR EXPLORATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 209, 8 October 1909, Page 2

POLAR EXPLORATION.

COMMANDER PEARY'S DASH. TRYING EXPERIENCES. NEWS BY THE MAE,. Ly Cable.—Pre* Association.—Copyright Fremantle October 7. Commander Peary, after detailing the preliminary part of bis journey, sayss—"Four months of northerly winds dicing the fall and winter, instead of southerly ones, led me to expect leu open water than before, but a great deal of rough ice, and I was prepared to hew a road through the jagged ice for the first 100 miles or so and then across the big lead. On the last day of February, Captain Bartlett, with the pioneer division, accomplished this, and Ihe division got away due north over the ice on March 1. Toe remainder of the party followed shortly after, and the party now comprised seven members of the expedition, 17 Esquimaux, 133 dogs and 10 sledges. On March 2 we passed THE BRITISH RECORD ■ made by Markham at lat. 82 degrees liH min. After Captain Bartlett had paes.-d on this march, we negotiated a lead and reached Bartlctt's third camp. Borup had gone back from here, but missed hi* way owing to the faulting of the tr?'l by the movement of the ice. Marvn came back also for more fuel and alcohol. The wind continued, forming open water all about us. By the end of March 4 we were all upon Bartlett, who had been stopped by a wide lake of open water. We remained here till March 11. A GLIMPSE OF THE SUN.

"At noon on March 5 the aun, red and shaped like a football by reflection, just raised itself over the horizon for a few minutes and then disappeared again. That was the first time I had seen it since October 1. I now began to feel a good deal of anxiety became there was no sign of Marvin and Borav. Besides, they had alcohol and oil, which were indispensable for us. We concluded they had either lost the trail or been impnaoi.ed on en island by open water. Fortunately on March 11 the lead was practicable, and, leaving a note for Marvin and Borup to push on for us by forced marches, we proceeded northward. The sounding of the lead gave 110 fathoms. During this march we crossed the 84th parallel and traversed a succession of just froten leads, frOTi a few hundred yards to a mile in width. The march was really a simple one. A TIMELY ARRIVAL "On March 14 we got free of leaoi and came on decent going. While male-. ing camp a courier from Marvin came :tnd informed me that he was on the march in the rear. The temperature was 59 below zero at night. Marvin and Borup came spinning in with their men and dogs, steaming in the bitter air like a squadron of battleships. Their arrival relieved me of all anxiety aa to Ihe oil supply. "In the morning we discovered Professor McMillan's foot badly frost-bitten. The mishap occurred two or three days before, but Professor McMillan had said nothing about it in the hope that it would come out all right. A glance showed that it was the right thing to Bend him back to Cape Columbia at once. The arrival of Marvin and Borup enabled me to spare sufficient men and dogs to go back with him. This ear'y loss of Professor McMillan was seriously disappointing. ' "Soundings gave a depth of 825 fathoms. Leaving this camp ETie expedition was comprised of 10 men, K sledges mil 100 dogs, and at the end of two short marches we came upon Hanson and ''is party in camp, mending sledges. Next morning we put Marvin in the' lead to pioneer the trail, with instructions to make two foKti marches to bring up the average, which hud been cut down by the last two short ones. Marvin carried out the instructions implicitly. A considerable amount of young ice assisted in thai. At the end of the tenth march, in latitude 85deg. 23min., Borup turned back in command of the

SECOND SUPPORTING PARTV, having travelled a distance equivalent to Nansen. I waß sorry to lose this young Yale runner, with his enthusiasm and pluck: He had led his heavy sledge over the floes in a way that nimmaniVd everyone's admiration. A day or twii Inter, Marvin obtainrd a satisfactory sight for latitude in'clear weather, which placed us at 85deg. 48min. This agreed with dead reckoning. Marvin. BnrtHt ami myself up to this time had a slight altitude of the sun, which made it not worth the trouble to waste time over observations. In Hie next tvu> marches THE GOING IMPROVED, and we covered good distances. In one of these marches a lead delated ua a few hours, but we Anally ferried acro<i on ice cakes. Next day Bartlett reeled oIT 20 miles. Here Marvin obtained another satisfactory sight on latitude, which gave our position 80deg. 38min., or beyond the farthest north obtained by Nansen and the Duke of Abruoi. It allowed we had covered 50 minutes latitude in three marches. From this point Marvin turned back in command of tin third supporting prty, w hich M>m this point consisted of 0 men, 7 sledges, and 00 dogs. We were obliged on the march to make a detour round an open lead, We now encountered the

HEAVIEST AND DEEPEST SNOW 0? THE JOURNEY. Through a thick, smothering mantle iy. ing in depressions of heavy rubble bs, I came upon Bartlett and his party, fagged and discouraged by the heart-aching work of making a road, I knew what was the matter with them. They were simply spoiled by a good going on the previous marches, and found

A STARTLING CONDITION OF AFFAIRS. \ A rapidly widening road of black water ran but a few feet from our igloos. Oat of my team's dogs escaped only by • few feet from being dragged by the movement of the ice to where another team had an equally narrow escape of being crushed by the ice blocks whleS piled over them. The ice on the north side of the lead waa moving around. I rallied them a bit, lightened their; sledges, and sent them on encouraged again. "During the next day we travelled through a thick haze drifting before a biting air from the north east. At * the end of the march we came upon the captain camped beside a wide, open land with dense black water. We built our igloos and turned in, but before I had fallen asleep I was aroused out A MOVEMENT OF ICE . ; eastward of the small floor on which we were. The eaptain'i igloos was drifting eastward in the open water, and tils side of our igloos threatened to follow suit. Kicking out the door of the igloOi, 1 called to the captain and men to pack sledges and be ready for a quick dash when a favorable chance arrived. We hurried things on the sledges and moved on to a large floe to the west of us. men leaving o no man to look out 'or the dogs and sledges we hur,ried over to assist the captain's partv to join up the corner of their raft. Impinged vn the ice on our side for the rest of the night ond during th c next, we auffcrrd THE TOHM'KNTS OF THE DAMNED wilh ice surging together, opening Oat. groaning ami grinding, while th? opeil water looked like the black smoke of a prairie lire. Then the motion ceased, the open water closed, the atmosphere to the north cleared and we puahed "°!i?v befor( ' thp ic * snoul < l "P™ again, "e came to layers of young ice some ot which buckled under our sledgM. this was a good long march. The next march was also a long one. We encountered

A HIGH WIND ;l«'«d in our faces, and it was bitter and insisti'iit. We concluded ye were near Hie 88th parallel. Next morning Bartlett started to walk five or six milea to Hii- noill, to „„ike sure of reaching the 88th parallel. He found our poiition w '.OR. 4«min., showing that the continued north wind had robbed ua of a number <>r hard-earned miles. Bartlett started hack along in the train in command -f my Jiiiirth supportinfif party, with two J.sqmmaiix and one sledge and eightcii nogs- 1 felt the pangs' of regret at ho disappeared in the distance, but it ww only momentary. My work was still ahead, not in the rear. BARTLETT'S GOOD WORK. "Hurllctt had done good work and lis had been 8 great help to me. Circumstances thrust the brunt of the pioneer"■ft upon him, lint instead of dividing I' among several as I had planned, he tad reason to take pride in this fact that he had bettered the Italian record by a • egrne and a quarter and had covered a •'■"tanw equal to the entire distance of .-' the Italian expedition from Frani Jo- y «ef s Land to Cagui's farthest north. 1 -i f had given Bartlett this position an I kd 104 of honor in command of my fourth M and last supporting party for two re*. HI -oust First, because of his nuainvJßl cent handling of the second, because he had cheerfully octween me and many www of the expedition, '3|^^|