THE START 27 



twenty-sixth President of the United States so 

 great. 



In the course of that last luncheon at Sagamore 

 Hill, President Roosevelt reiterated what he had said 

 to me so many times before, that he was earnestly 

 and profoundly interested in my work, and that he 

 believed I would succeed if success were possible. 



After luncheon the President and Mrs. Roosevelt, 

 with their three sons, came on board the ship with 

 Mrs. Peary and me. Mr. Bridgman was on deck, 

 to welcome them in the name of the Peary Arctic 

 Club. The Roosevelt party remained on board about 

 an hour; the President inspected every part of the ship, 

 shook hands with every member of the expedition 

 present, including the crew, and even made the 

 acquaintance of my Eskimo dogs, North Star and the 

 others, which had been brought down from one of my 

 islands in Casco Bay, on the coast of Maine. As he was 

 going over the rail, I said to him: "Mr. President, I 

 shall put into this effort everything there is in me — 

 physical, mental, and moral." And he replied, "I 

 believe in you, Peary, and I believe in your success — 

 if it is within the possibility of man." 



The Roosevelt stopped at New Bedford for the 

 whale-boats, and also made a short stop at Eagle 

 Island, our summer home on the coast of Maine, to 

 take aboard the massive, steel-bound spare rudder, 

 which we carried as a precaution against disaster in 

 the coming battle royal with the ice. On the former 

 expedition, when we had no extra rudder, we could have 

 used two. But, as things turned out this time, when we 

 had the extra rudder we had no occasion to use it. 



