THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 131 



which have to be crossed and which are in every icy ocean the 

 most serious handicap that the explorer has to meet. These same 

 strong currents break up the ice into more pressure-ridges, making 

 sledge travel more difficult and the breakage of sleds more likely. 

 Also when, by the opening of leads all around, you are com- 

 pelled to cease traveling, the currents carry you with greater speed 

 — usually in a direction that does not suit you — than the sluggish 

 waters north of Greenland. But allowing all that, Wrangel and 

 Leffingwell and Mikkelsen had at least shown that sledge travel 

 was practicable. It was also reasonable to assume that the diffi- 

 culties would be greatest near land, and would lessen when you got 

 farther out to sea than even they had been. 



The whalers were all personally friendly and willing to help 

 me when they could. They agreed that it was "my funeral," and 

 were anxious to see that nothing prevented our making the trial; 

 but they were equally eager in their advice that upon the first 

 clear evidence of the absence of game at sea we should (if we ever 

 got started) turn back towards shore and safety. They pointed 

 out that it is not cowardice but discretion which yields gracefully 

 to the inevitable. Captain Cottle and some of the other whaling 

 officers, such as Mr. William Seymour, were willing to go so far as 

 to urge eligible young men in the crews to take their chances with 

 us. This was because they were good friends and good sports 

 and not because of any real confidence in our program, although 

 I think I came nearer convincing Captain Cottle than I did almost 

 any of the members of our own expedition. 



But I had to admit that with the exception of such men as 

 Captain Bernard, who with blind loyalty would go anywhere, Wil- 

 kins who was ready for any adventure, and my friends at the 

 Polar Bear who were sportsmen in the best sense of the word 

 and looked upon our venture as one of the sort which might work 

 out and ought not to be allowed to fail for want of men to try 

 it out — apart from these, I had to admit that I had secured no 

 support and that geographers, explorers, whalers and Eskimos 

 alike were of the opinion that our plans were unsound and thart 

 the attempt to carry them out would be disastrous. 



This was the case of the opposition stated, as it seems to me, 

 with fairness, allowing weight to every real argument. It looked 

 like a strong case. 



In rebuttal I appealed to the science of oceanography which, 

 although not so old as some, is as well established as most of the 

 biological sciences. Thousands of observations taken by careful 



