THE PLAN 3 



When victory seemed at last almost within reach, I 

 was blocked by a move which could not possibly have 

 been foreseen, and which, when I encountered it, I 

 was helpless to meet. And, as is well known, I and 

 those with me were not only checkmated but very 

 nearly lost our lives as well. 



But all that is now as a tale that is told. This time 

 it is a different and perhaps a more inspiring story, 

 though the records of gallant defeat are not without 

 their inspiration. And the point which it seems fit 

 to make in the beginning is that success crowned the 

 efforts of years because strength came from repeated 

 defeats, wisdom from earlier error, experience from 

 inexperience, and determination from them all. 



Perhaps, in view of the striking manner in which 

 the final event bore out the prophecies that I had made, 

 it may be of interest to compare in some detail the 

 plan of campaign that was announced, over two months 

 before the Roosevelt sailed from New York on her final 

 voyage to the North, with the manner in which that 

 campaign was actually executed. 



Early in May, 1908, in a published statement I 

 sketched the following plan: 



"I shall use the same ship, the Roosevelt; shall leave 

 New York early in July; shall follow the same route 

 north, via Sydney, C. B., Strait of Belle Isle, Davis 

 Strait, Baffin Bay, and Smith Sound; shall use the 

 same methods, equipments, and supplies; shall have 

 a minimum party of white men, supplemented with 

 Eskimos; shall take on these Eskimos and dogs in 

 the Whale Sound region as before, and shall endeavor 

 to force my ship to the same or similar winter quar- 



