The crew and firemen, with the exception of one of the latter, Charles Clark, a native of Massachusetts, were natives of Newfoundland, of the usual type of sailors and sealers common to that island. One of the firemen had been with me on the _Eagle_ in 1886, and previously to that had been on one of the whalers in search of the Greely party in 1883. Another fireman had been north with me in the _Hope_ in 1898, and one of the sailors had made a voyage to Hudson Bay. [Illustration: DR. WOLF ] [Illustration: CAPT. BARTLETT ] [Illustration: COMMANDER PEARY ] [Illustration: STEWARD PERCY ] [Illustration: MR. MARVIN ] [Illustration: MATE BARTLETT ] [Illustration: CHIEF ENGINEER WARDWELL ] [Illustration: MATTHEW HENSON ] [Illustration: “BO’SUN” MURPHY ] [Illustration: THE SAILORS ] [Illustration: THE FIREMEN ] Next after the personnel of the Expedition comes their environment. In the present case no member of the party was quartered below deck. The after cabin for officers, close down against the propeller post, and the forecastle for the crew, down in the eyes of the ship forward, to be found in all the old-fashioned ships, and even in those recently built for Arctic work, were lacking on the _Roosevelt_, and in their stead were light, roomy accommodations on deck. As to the furnishings of the rooms there was little to be said. Beginning forward, it is well known that Jack, particularly if a Newfoundland sealer, does not take much bric-a-brac to sea with him, his outfit comprising only his clothes and his bedding. There were therefore no oil paintings or etchings on the walls of the forward house. Two tiers of folding bunks, a stove, a table, and the seamen’s chests for chairs, completed the list. The furnishings of the after house were hardly less simple. In the port saloon, which was lighted by two twelve-inch ports on the side, and a window looking forward, a leather-cushioned locker extended around three sides of the room; and this, with an extension table screwed to the floor, a clock, a little library presented to the ship by the SEAMAN’S FRIEND SOCIETY, and a brief notice to the members of the Expedition, stating the object of the Expedition, what was expected of the members and what success would mean to them, completed the furniture. Here the ship’s officers, except the captain, messed. In the captain’s room, at the after end of the port side of the deck house, was a folding berth, a washbasin, a table and a camp chair, and these, with the chronometer, a trunk, and several pictures and photos on the walls, completed its furnishing. At the after end of the starboard side of the deck house was my own room. This room, owing to the thoughtful care of Mrs. Peary and friends, was more luxuriously furnished than any room occupied by me on previous expeditions or than it would have been had I furnished it myself.