POLAR EXPLORATION 



4727 



POLAR EXPLORATION 



Later, men devoted themselves to search for 

 a possible passage along the coast of North 

 America, westward to India and Asia. The 

 first to set out to discover this passage was 

 John Cabot, in 1497. Sebastian Cabot, Fro- 

 bisher, Davis and others followed ; Barents, the 

 great Dutch navigator, reached Nova Zembla; 

 Hudson explored Hudson Bay and surrounding 

 waters in 1609 and 1610. During the eighteenth 

 century Arctic waters were frequented by whal- 

 ing vessels, but little was done in the way of 



and was followed in 1871 by Hall, who pene- 

 trated to latitude 82 16' N., but died on his 

 return. In 1875 Nares reached latitude 83 20' 

 N., in Grinnell Land, where later stations were 

 established for the purpose of making a scien- 

 tific study of magnetic and climatic conditions. 

 Nils Adolf Eric Nordenskiold sailed eastward 

 from Tromso toward Bering Strait, and in 1879 

 actually passed through the Northeast Passage 

 and reached Yokohama, by way of the northern 

 coast of Asia. 



100 



Ha! I, farthest North, 1871* 

 Nares, farthest North,l875o 

 Nansen.1896 



d'Abruzzi,!900 



Amundsen, 1906 



Peary, 1909+**++ 



GREENLAND 



90 



PKARY BROUGHT TO AN END CENTURIES OF ENDEAVOR 



scientific exploration. In 1845 an expedition 

 set out under Sir John Franklin for the pur- 

 pose of discovering the Northwest Passage. 

 For ten years no news or trace of this expedi- 

 tinn was found, though repeated attempts were 

 : . Numerous expeditions were sent out 

 . Kiml in. I :ni.l the United States to asccr- 

 mklin and further to explore 

 regions. 



Doctor Elisha Kent Kane, commander of an 

 expedition for the rescue of Franklin, gave I In- 

 first systematic and popular account of ih- 

 polsn II i yes, who had previously ac- 



companied Kane, reached latitude 81 35' N. 



Lieutenant De Long of the United States 

 navy entered the Arctic Ocean through Bering 

 Strait in 1881, but his ship was crushed by ice, 

 and it sank. One of the most important of all 

 polar expeditions, previous to Peary's, was that 

 commanded by Fridtjof Nansen in the specially 

 constructed From, which reached 86 14' N. in 

 1896. 



The expedition commanded by the Duke of 

 Abruzzi reached latitude 86 33' N. in 1900, but 

 Cagni, who was in command of the party, found 

 it impossible to proceed farther. Captain 

 Roald Amundsen in the sloop Gjoa sailed 

 through t!i, Northwest Passage in 1905. He 



