HOPV LATITUDE IS RECKONED 329 



deavors. It was King Christian IV of Denmark who sent out Jens Munk and 

 others, Danes and Englishmen, to rediscover the lost colonies of Greenland and 

 restore Denmark's supremacy in the Arctic. 



But all these expeditions, whether financed by kings or commoners, were 

 undertaken with commercial ends in view. Some glimmering of scientific 

 purposes seems, however, to have lighted the voyage of the second Baron Mul- 

 grave, who was ordered north by the British government in 1773; and thence- 

 forward the spark of enthusiasm continued to brighten to a steady flame. 

 Great Britain commanded or assisted or rewarded the efforts of Cook and 

 Parry and Franklin and Ross, from 1776 to 1848. Then, as the mystery of 

 Sir John Franklin's fate wrought on the minds of men lending a poignant in- 

 terest to the problem of the Arctic, a new type of "promoter" appeared in the 

 field — the rich man who had no selfish ends to serve. The last word of 

 Franklin's expedition was received in 1845. Between 1847 and 1857 thirty- 

 nine expeditions of relief and discovery were sent out, at an aggregate cost 

 approximating $2,000,000; and, though the British government was gener- 

 ously active, while our own was by no means inert, a large part of the sum 

 was provided by private individuals. 



In this connection Americans naturally think first of Henry Grinnell, a 

 native of New Bedford. In 1850 he fitted out the DeHaven search for Frank- 

 lin; in 1853, together with George Peabody, bore the cost of the expedition 

 commanded by Kane, who had accompanied DeHaven; in i860, assisted the ex- 

 pedition organized by Kane's surgeon. Dr. I. I. Hayes; and in i860, 1864 and 

 1 87 1 helped to meet the expense of Hall's voyages. It is true that that was 

 comparatively a day of small things; but the $100,000 that Mr. Grinnell de- 

 voted to Arctic exploration represented then a large fortune; and it led Dr. 

 Kane to write the book that inspired Peary, and enabled Hall to reach the 

 highest north attained in his day — and all this signifies that "Grinnell Land" 

 preserves a name which is rightfully honored. 



The northwestern passage, such as it is, was discovered by Sir Robert Mc- 

 Clure or by Sir John Franklin — the reader may take his choice of authorities — 

 in the early '50s. The magnetic pole, though "rediscovered" by Amundsen in 

 1905, had been located by Sir James Clark Ross in 1831. The fate of the 

 Franklin expedition had been definitely determined by Capt. McClintock and 

 Capt. Hall. Lacking the incentive that these problems had provided, there 

 might have been some cessation of activity in the Arctic field, had not James 

 Gordon Bennett of the New York Herald resolved in 1879 to conquer the 



