Peary Sets Out For the North Pole

By this time Commander Peary was recognized as the foremost Arctic explorer of the world and it was now, with all these years of experience behind him, and strong in the attachment of the Eskimos, that he determined to attempt the Pole itself.

Continuing The Search for the North Pole,
our selection from The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 20 by Charles F. Horne published in 1914. The selection is presented in eight easy 5 minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in The Search for the North Pole.

Time: 1909
Place: North Pole

In 1893-5 Peary headed a second expedition to northern Greenland. This time, despite the most heroic exertions, he failed to journey farther, or as far as he had done before; but he brought back many data of value and interest to science, and he fixed himself firmly in the confidence and affection of the Eskimos of Etah, probably the most northerly dwelling people in the world, the men whose aid proved of such value to him in the end. The explorer’s devoted wife accompanied him part way on both of these trips, and a baby was born to them there in the farthest North.

Again in 1896 and again in 1897 did Peary make summer voyages of preparation to Smith Sound. Then in 1898 he headed an expedition which kept him in the North till 1902, during which time he and his comrades explored and mapped out much of both shores of the Polar channel northwest of Greenland, and the commander himself rounded Greenland’s most northern point, or rather that of the smaller islands be yond it. This the most northerly known land in the world (83o 39′) he named after the man who had chiefly financed his expeditions, Cape Morris K. Jesup. The bold explorer also made an effort to advance due north across the frozen Polar Sea, but was stopped a little above the eighty-fourth parallel by a broad open river or “lead” of water which his sledges could not cross, and which extended apparently endlessly east and west.

By this time Commander Peary was recognized as the foremost Arctic explorer of the world and it was now, with all these years of experience behind him, and strong in the attachment of the Eskimos, that he determined to attempt the Pole itself. His first expedition for this purpose, thoroughly and ably equipped, set out in 1905. A ship, the Roosevelt, was specially built, as Nansen’s Fram had been, for bucking into the ice floes, and resisting their enormous pressure when caught among them. In this powerful ship Peary sailed north to Etah on the shore of Smith Sound; and thence, having taken on board a number of his loyal Eskimos and upward of two hundred of their dogs, he steamed northward to force his way through the series of channels leading to the Polar Sea. The Roosevelt was successfully driven through the entire passage to the shores of Lincoln Sea beyond, at a latitude of about 82o 20′, and there wintered beneath a rocky promontory which was named Cape Sheri dan. This was farther north than men had ever wintered before, except for Nansen’s expedition on the drifting Fram.

The next spring Peary made a bold push for the Pole, leaving his ship early in March. His plan was to send out several sledge parties one after another loaded with provisions. His own sledge, starting last and travelling with a light load, should catch up with the others one by one, until, freshly sup plied from the last of the supporting parties, he with his sledge, his dogs, and drivers should push onward alone. This plan was followed till all the parties were blocked by that same big “lead” of open water which had barred the onward course of Peary’s previous advance in 1902. This lead, the commander believes, separates the continental ice-sheet attached to America from the slowly drifting ice of the deep Arctic Ocean, swept eastward by some ocean current. After a week of anxious waiting, the adventurers succeeded in crossing the lead on a thin coating of ice which temporarily closed it. For nearly three weeks more Peary struggled on, now over smooth ice, now amid broken piled-up ridges, each to be climbed and descended in its turn, or again blocked by open water, as the ice floes cracked apart and joined again. On April 21, 1906, Peary with his single sledge reached latitude 87o 6′; but he knew that with his dwindling provisions and exhausted Eskimos and dogs he could not possibly reach the Pole and get back. Perhaps, even now, he had gone farther than they could return. So, reluctantly, he gave the order for retreat, having stood higher north than ever any man before.

The retreat to the Roosevelt was ultimately accomplished in safety, though the “big lead” proved as difficult of crossing as before and the eastward drift of the ice resulted in the party reaching the coast of Greenland more than a hundred miles from their ship. They had to depend upon the game they found there, musk-oxen and hares, for subsistence as they journeyed back. After this the shores of Grant Land where they had wintered were explored far to the westward, and other islands discovered. Then in the late summer the Roosevelt broke a passage out of the ice-pack, rammed her way successfully southward through the Greenland channels, and in the fall returned to New York, whence she had set out.

Peary with undying courage began at once his lecture tours to secure money for another attempt; and, what with his own financial efforts and those of devoted friends, he was ready for his final trip in the spring of 1908. Once more the Roosevelt steamed north to Etah, once more she took on board the loyal Eskimo settlers with their valuable dogs, and once more she bucked and buffeted her way through the ice-filled channels west of Greenland. Once more, after long battling, the sturdy ship forced her way northward to Cape Sheridan on the shore of Lincoln Sea. Peary tried to get the Roosevelt even farther north than in 1905, but found himself driven back upon Cape Sheridan, so that he wintered almost exactly where he had been before.

The big island northwest of Greenland is called Grant Land. Its most northern point is Cape Columbia, many miles to the north and westward of Cape Sheridan. From Cape Columbia, as the most northern land accessible, Peary had resolved to make his start for the northward struggle in the spring. Hence all winter long one sledge expedition after another carted stores from the Roosevelt to Cape Columbia, that all might be ready there.

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