Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 6: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
History
Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 6: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
Biography
This success caused Kane to make one more effort to reach the
hitherto inaccessible Washington Land, and for this purpose he
placed all his means at the disposal of one of his seamen, William
Morton. A supporting party accompanied Morton to Humboldt Glacier,
whence he proceeded with Eskimo Hans Hendrik and a dog-team on the
advance journey. Their track lay over the sea-ice, about five miles
from, and parallel with, the face of the glacier. Five days took
them to the new land to the north, and three days later, June 24,
1854, Morton reached alone an impassable headland, Cape
Constitution. From the highest attainable elevation Morton found his
view completely cut off to the northeast, but between the west and
north he could see the southeastern half of Kennedy's Channel as far
north as Mount Ross, 80° 58' N. He says "Not a speck of ice was to
be seen as far as I could observe; the sea was open, the swell came
from the northward ... and the surf broke in on the rocks below in
regular breakers." Morton described accurately the general
landscape, but he was an incompetent astronomical observer, and his
estimates of distances were excessive. The farthest point was
charted nearly a hundred miles north of its true position, while
Cape Constitution was placed 31 miles too far north by Morton and 52
geographic miles by Kane, who "corrected" Morton's observations by a
series of erroneous bearings. Morton's general account of his
explorations has been confirmed by Hans Hendrik in his Memoir
written some years since in Eskimo.
In the meantime the Etah Eskimo, natives of Prudhoe land, had
discovered the brig, and through the interpreter, Hans Hendrik,
promptly established friendly relations with Kane. It may be said
that the expedition owed its final safety to these natives; their
supplies of fresh meat checked scurvy, and later their dog teams
rendered retreat possible. Slight misunderstandings, not always the
fault of the natives, naturally occurred, but the Eskimo were
honest, humane, and willing, and never committed a hostile act.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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