126 ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 



The problem appealed strongly to two explorers whose names, 

 by reason of their exploits during recent years, have become familiar. 

 They are Nansen and Peary. The former, by his dash for the Pole, 

 during which he surpassed all previous records of the "farthest 

 north," had dwarfed his Greenland performances ; the latter, by his 

 journey of 1,300 miles over the ice-crowned interior of Greenland, 

 went far to prove the insular character of the country. 



Lieutenant Peary, failing to obtain government supplies for a 

 scheme of an overland journey to the northern coast of Greenland, 

 devised by him in 1891, was supported in it by the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Sciences. The expedition was necessarily small, 

 but that did not affect its utility. It was, moreover, unique, by the 

 inclusion of Lieutenant Peary's wife as one of its members; the 

 account which she has given of her sojourn in high latitudes is one 

 of the most interesting of books on the Arctic regions. 



The party left New York on June 6, 1891, on board the steamer 

 "Kite," for Whale Sound, on the northwest coast of Greenland, the 

 party including several prominent members of the Philadelphia 

 Academy. The voyage was satisfactory in every way until June 

 24th, when an unfortunate accident befell the leader. 



The "Kite" had encountered some ice which was heavy enough 

 to check her progress, and, to get through it, the captain had to ram 

 his ship. This necessitated a constant change from going ahead to 

 going astern, and, as there was a good deal of loose ice floating 

 about, the rudder frequently came into collision with it when the 

 vessel was backing. Lieutenant Peary, who was on deck during one 

 of these manoeuvres, went over to the wheelhouse to see how the 

 rudder was bearing the strain. As he stood behind the wheelhouse, 

 the rudder struck a heavy piece of ice and was forcibly jerked over, 

 the tiller, as it swung, catching him by the leg and pinning him 

 against the wall of the house. There was no escape from the posi- 

 tion, and the pressure of the tiller gradually increased until the bone 

 of the leg snapped. 



