FOREWORD 



THE struggle for the North Pole began nearly- 

 one hundred years before the landing of the 

 Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth Rock, being in- 

 augurated (1527) by that king of many distinctions, 

 Henry VIII of England. 



In 1588 John Davis rounded Cape Farewell, the 

 southern end of Greenland, and followed the coast for 

 eight hundred miles to Sanderson Hope. He discov- 

 ered the strait which bears his name, and gained for 

 Great Britain what was then the record for the far- 

 thest north, 72° 12', a point 1128 miles from the geo- 

 graphical North Pole. Scores of hardy navigators, 

 British, French, Dutch, German, Scandinavian, and 

 Russian, followed Davis, all seeking to hew across the 

 Pole the much-coveted short route to China and the 

 Indies. The rivalry was keen and costly in lives, 

 ships, and treasure, but from the time of Henry VIII 

 for three and one-half centuries, or until 1882 (with 

 the exception of 1594-1606, when, through Wm. Bar- 

 ents, the Dutch held the record), Great Britain's flag 

 was always waving nearest the top of the globe. 



The same year that Jamestown was founded, Henry 

 Hudson (1607), also seeking the route to the Indies, 

 discovered Jan May en, circumnavigated Spitzbergen, 

 and advanced the eye of man to 80° 23'. Most valu- 



