Nearest the Pole: a narrative of the polar expedition of the Peary Arctic Club in the S.S. Roosevelt, 1905-1906Peary, Robert E. (Robert Edwin)
History
Nearest the Pole: a narrative of the polar expedition of the Peary Arctic Club in the S.S. Roosevelt, 1905-1906
Peary, Robert E. (Robert Edwin)
Arctic regions
From here on rapid progress was made again, three more marches taking us
to Conger, where we arrived at 1:30 A. M., June 10th, though the open
water between Repulse Harbour and Cape Brevoort, which had now expanded
down Robeson Channel to a point below Cape Sumner, and the rotten ice
under Cape Sumner, hampered us seriously. In passing I took copies of
the Beaumont English Records from the cairn at Repulse Harbour, and
brought them back for the archives of the Club. They form one of the
finest chapters of the most splendid courage, fortitude and endurance,
under dire stress of circumstances, that is to be found in the history
of Arctic explorations.
In this journey I had determined, conclusively, the northern limit of
the Greenland Archipelago or land group, and had practically connected
the coast southward to Independence Bay, leaving only that comparatively
short portion of the periphery of Greenland lying between Independence
Bay and Cape Bismarck indeterminate. The non-existence of land, for a
very considerable distance to the northward and northeastward, was also
settled, with every indication pointing to the belief that the coast
along which we travelled formed the shore of an uninterrupted central
Polar sea, extending to the Pole, and beyond to the Spitzbergen and
Franz Joseph Land groups of the opposite hemisphere.
The origin of the floe-bergs and paleocrystic ice was definitely
determined. Further than this, the result of the journey was to
eliminate this route as a desirable or practicable one by which to reach
the Pole. The broken character of the ice, the large amount of open
water, and the comparatively rapid motion of the ice, as it swung round
the northern coast into the southerly setting East Greenland current,
were very unfavourable features.
During my absence some thirty-three musk-oxen and ten seals had been
secured in the vicinity of Conger; caches for my return had been
established at Thank God Harbour, Cape Lieber, and Lincoln Bay, and
sugar, milk and tea had been brought up from the various caches between
Conger and Cape Louis Napoleon.
July was passed by a portion of the party in the region from Discovery
Harbour westward, _via_ Black Rock Vale and Lake Hazen, where some forty
musk-oxen were secured.
During August and early September various other hunting trips of shorter
duration were made, resulting in the killing of some twenty musk-oxen.
1900–1901
In the middle of September I started with Henson and four Eskimos to
Lake Hazen, to secure musk-oxen for our winter supply, it being evident
that my ship would not reach us. Going west as far as the valley of the
Very River, by October 4th, ninety-two musk-oxen had been killed. Later
nine more were secured, making a total of one hundred and one for the
autumn hunting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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