Explorers and TravellersGreely, A. W. (Adolphus Washington)
History
Explorers and Travellers
Greely, A. W. (Adolphus Washington)
Explorers; Travelers
The famous mine of cryolite, the only valuable mineral deposit in
Greenland; the Hope Sanderson of John Davis's great voyage of 1587, with
its lofty crest and innumerable flocks of wildfowl; Tessuissak, the most
northerly settlement of Greenland; Duck Islands, the haunts of the
eider, and the chosen rendezvous of ice-stayed whalers; Devil's Thumb,
the great, wonderful pillar, to the base of which Hayes struggled up
thirteen hundred feet above the ice-covered sea, and Sabine Island, all
saw the Panther, in its pleasure-seeking journey. If no geographical
results sprang from this voyage, it had a literary outcome in Hayes's
book, "The Land of Desolation," and in a series of detached sketches,
which in beauty and interest are unsurpassed as regards life in Danish
Greenland.
Hayes died in New York City, December 17, 1881. To the last he
maintained a lively interest in Arctic exploration, and ever and again
he favored polar research, always with an alternative scheme of his old
harbor, Foulke fiord, as the base of operations. He resented the
appellation "Great Frozen Sea" as properly characterizing the Arctic
Ocean to the north of Greenland, and to the last held fast to the ideal
of his youth, the belief of his manhood, "The Open Polar Sea."
XI.
CHARLES FRANCIS HALL,
AND THE NORTH POLE.
Among the many exploring expeditions that have crossed the Arctic Circle
with the sole view of reaching the North Pole, one only has sailed
entirely under the auspices of the United States. This expedition was
commanded neither by an officer of one of the twin military services nor
by a sailor of the merchant marine, but its control was intrusted to a
born Arctic explorer, Charles Francis Hall. Born in 1821, in Rochester,
N. H., Hall early quitted his native hills for the freer fields of the
West, as the Ohio Valley was then called, and later settled in
Cincinnati. There was ever a spirit of change in him, and as years
rolled on he passed from blacksmith to journalist, from stationer to
engraver. Through all these changes of trades he held fast to one fancy,
which in time became the dominating element of his eventful career: in
early youth, fascinated with books of travel relating to exploration in
the icy zones, he eagerly improved every opportunity to increase his
Arctic library, which steadily grew despite his very limited resources.
His interest in the fate of Franklin was so intense that he followed
with impatience the slow and uncertain efforts for the relief of the
lost explorer. Not content with mere sympathy he also planned an
American search, to be conducted in Her Majesty's ship Resolute.
Learning in 1859 that this Arctic ship was laid up and dismantled he
originated a petition asking that it be loaned for such purpose. The
return of McClintock with definite news of the death of Franklin, and
the retreat and loss of his expeditionary force, put an end to the
petition. Hall, however, despite the admirable and convincing report of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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