INTRODUCTION 



under the cliffs of Cape Columbia. A part of it read 

 as follows: 



*'Everything has gone to hell. My Eskimos are talking of quitting 

 and of hiking for the ship. If they do, I shall go it alone just as soon 

 as I can get across the lead." 



With a heavy sledge and alone, he was going out over 

 the drift ice in search of his commander! 



Borup prepared at Groton School, and graduated 

 from Yale in 1907; then he became an apprentice in 

 the Pennsylvania Railroad machine-shops at Altoona, 

 Pennsylvania. Attendance at a lecture by Peary in 

 1906 fired his ambition to see the Arctic regions. 



In the spring of 1912 I proceeded to New York to 

 assume charge of the outfitting of the expedition, Borup 

 at this time being engaged in post-graduate work at 

 Yale University. Our voluntary subscription of ten 

 thousand dollars, through our friends, to the American 

 Museum, was more than doubled, contributions being 

 received from one hundred and thirty-seven individuals 

 and twelve colleges, schools, and societies. 



All was preceeding well when, in April, the sad news 

 of Borup 's death w^as received. At a meeting of the 

 executive committee of the Board of Trustees of the 

 Museum, held in May, 1912, it was resolved to post- 

 pone the expedition for one year, and that it be made 

 a memorial of George Borup. 



With the reorganization which followed, our expedition 

 of three men, with one object in view, expanded rapidly 

 into a personnel of seven men and several objects to 

 be attained: 



1. To reach, map the coast-line, and explore Crocker 

 Land, the mountainous tops of which w^ere seen 



