TOWARDS THE NORTH POLE. 55 



TOWARDS THE NORTH POLE.* 



r I ^HE collapse of Mr. Baldwin's expedition by Franz Josef Land 

 -*- and the return of Commander Peary and Captain Sverdrup from 

 their abortive attempts to reach the Pole from the American side may 

 make it interesting to give a brief account of the various efforts that 

 have been made to push northwards towards this goal during the last 

 400 years. Mr. Baldwin's richly-equipped expedition was frankly 

 stated to have as its almost sole object a dash at the Pole, and although 

 both the expeditions of Commander Peary and Captain Sverdrup had 

 other and more substantial objects in view, still, in each case, these 

 were to be combined with an attempt to pass all previous records in 

 this direction. We await details of Captain Sverdrup 's proceedings, 

 but it is improbable that he has attained anything like the latitude 

 achieved by Commander Peary. 



During the latter half of the sixteenth century and the early years 

 of the seventeenth, when so many stages of the long journey to the 

 North Pole were covered, great progress was made in that section of 

 the north polar area which lies to the north of Europe and includes 

 the extensive land masses of Novaya Zemlya and Spitzbergen. Sir 

 Hugh Willoughby, in the Bona Esperanza, 120 tons, Richard Chan- 

 cellor, in the Edward Bonaventure, 160 tons, and Cornelius Durfourth, 

 in the Bona Confidentia, 90 tons, first led the way in 1553. The first 

 two vessels reached Kolguev Island, or as some claim even the south- 

 western shore of Novaya Zemlya, in about 72 N. latitude; but the 

 extent of the voyage is uncertain, as in the following winter all on 

 board, numbering some 62 souls, miserably perished of cold and hunger. 

 There is no doubt, however, that Stephen Burrough in the Searchthrift 

 pinnace reached 7020' N. latitude in 1556 and sighted the coast of 

 Novaya Zemlya. The next great step northwards in this direction was 

 made by the Dutch mariner, William Barents. Sent by the merchants 

 of Amsterdam in the Mercury, 100 tons, to discover a passage to China 

 round the north of the island, he sighted on July 4, 1594, the west 

 coast of Novaya Zemlya in 73 25' N. latitude. Continuing his journey, 

 he passed the northern limit of the island, finally reaching Orange 

 Island north of the 77th parallel. Two years later another stage in 

 the direction of the Pole was covered. A Dutch expedition compris- 

 ing two vessels, Barents being chief pilot of the one and Cornelius 



* From the London Times. 



