POLAR EXPLORATION 



N'ordenskiold, who in 1858-72 did much exploring 

 work in the Spitzbergen islands and seas. In two 

 voyages he reached the Gulf of Ohi. At last, in 

 1878, he rounded Cape Chelyuskin, 77 41' V, and 

 after wintering near Behring Strait sailed into the 

 Pacific and reached Yokohama, -M September 1879. 

 Thus, three and a quarter centuries after the at- 

 tempt of Willoughby, the North-east Passage was 

 at last completed^ Before that date an Austrian 

 expedition under Lieutenants Payer and \Veyprecht 

 had been singularly successful, having discovered 

 an island alMiut 200 miles north of Nova Zemhla, 

 as large apparently as Spitsbergen. This new 

 country, Franz-Josef Land, extends from 80 N. to 

 about 83. It was still farther explored to the 

 north-west in 1880 by Mr Leigh Smith, who spent 

 the winter of issl s-j there, lie and his companions 

 eacapingwith great dilliculty. The Jackson-Harms- 

 wonh expedition did valuable work there in 1804-97. 



The more recent exploration to the north of 

 America has adde<l little to our geographical know- 

 ledge, however interesting in certain scientific 

 aspects. The expedition of Kane and Hayes 

 in 1853-55 reached in sledges Cape Constitution 

 in 82 27' N. , anil saw what appeared to lie an 

 open polar sea. Haves again ( 1860-61 ) reached 

 81 3o' N. In 1*71 'the Polaris, under Captain 

 C. F. Hall, sailed from New London, U.S., and 

 reached the latitude 82 16', which was surpns-~i.il 

 in 1876 by the. English expedition under Captain 

 Nares ; Captain A. II. Markham, by means of 

 sledges, reaching 83 20' N. At the same time 

 Aldrich explored the north shore of Grinnell 

 Land. More famous and more disastrous was the 

 'Lady Franklin Bay Expedition,' 1881-84, con- 

 ducted by Lieutenant Greely ; the relief party sent 

 in the summer of 1883, being unfortunately en- 

 trusted to military men, failed to reach the ex- 

 plorers, who were, therefore, compelled to abandon 

 their ships and find their way southwards through 

 almost impassable ice. In Octolter 1883 Greely 

 and his brave companions landed at Cape Sabinc. 

 the bleakest s|H>t probably in all the Arctic regions ; 

 and there in June 1884 Commander Schley found 

 the six men who still survived. Greely and his 

 assistants took scientific observations up to the 

 day of their release. In the early part of Greely's 

 exploration, when in Grinnell I. ami. one of his 

 party, Lieutenant Lockwood, succeeded in reach- 

 ing 83 23'8' N. lat., on the coast of Greenland, 

 which is a few miles nearer the pole than the point 

 reached by Markham. The Greely expedition also 

 explored the interior and the west coast of Grinnell 

 Land. In 1869-70 Captain Koldewey's cx|>edition 

 reached 77 N. on the east coast of Greenland, the 

 highest latitude yet attained on that const. The 

 Jeannetle expedition under Commander I)e Lung, 

 sent out by Ihe New York llrrnlil in 1H79 to push 

 north by Retiring Strait, ended in disaster. The 

 vessel was crushed in the ice in June 1882 in 77 N., 

 155 E., and De Long and many of his men perished. 

 The icy plateau which covers Greenland (<|.v.) was 

 in 1888 crossed from east to west by Nanscu, and 

 Peary did good work there in 1886-95. In 1893-96 

 Nan-en (q.v. ) undertook a more adventurous jour- 

 ney, drifting in the frozen-in From as far north u- 

 84 4', and with one comrade penetrating on foot to 

 86 14' ; all returnee! in safety. Andree started on 

 his still more adventurous ballooning expedition to 

 the pole in July 1*117. and in ISIMI IIHIII.I party under 

 the Duke of Abnud readied lat. 80 Hi I* "'. 



At the suggestion of Lieutenant Weyprecht, an 

 international series of polar obMTVMoriM was 

 established around the mirth jnilar area, for the 

 puriMtse of taking a complete year's observation-. 

 beginning with August 1H82. The station- selected 

 were the folio" ing: Hossekop, in Lapland (Nor- 

 wegians); Ice Fjord, Spitsbergen (Swedes); Lena 



Mouth, Sibetia, and Miiller Bay, Nova Xembla 

 (Russians); Dickson Harbour, mouth of the Yeni 

 sei (Dutch, but the expedition failed to reach it- 

 destination ) ; Great Slave Lake ( English ) ; Point 

 Barrow on north coast of America, east of Behring 

 Strait, and Lady Franklin l!a\ . in Grinnell Land 

 (the United States, the latter 1-cing Creely's ex- 

 pedition); Cumlierland Bay, Davis Strait MM" 

 mans) ; Jan Mayen Island ( Austrians) ; Godthaab, 

 Greenland (Danes). The Germans had also a 

 station on South Georgia Island, on the verge of 

 the Antarctic, and the French on the south coast 

 of Patagonia. The result was a series of obsen a 

 tions of high value on the physics, meteorology, 

 and natural history of the polar, especially the 

 Arctic regions. The Russian expedition at the 

 mouth of the Lena was continued for some vcai- 

 under Bunge and Toll, who not only explored the 

 mainland, nut made a thorough investigation of 

 i he New Siberian Islands. 



It only now remains to survey shortly the polar 

 explorations of the mighty Southern or Antarctic 

 Ocean. Some of the earlier navigators of the Itith 

 and 17th century were drifted south as far as South 

 Georgia and South Shetland. Cook was the first to 

 undertake a systematic exploration of the region, 

 sailing all round at a high latitude, and so disprov- 

 ing the existence of the 'Great Southern Continent ' 

 to l>e found on old maps. Cook reached 71 15' 8., 

 in 106 50' \V. In 1821 the Russian Bellinghau-en 

 discovered the islands named Alexander Land and 

 Peter Land. Weddcll afterwards sailed south to 

 74 15', and in 1831 Bi.scoe discovered Enderby Land, 

 65 57' S., and Graham Land, 67 S. The French 

 expedition, 1838, under D'Urville, found its ad- 

 vance to the pole blocked by a bank extending east 

 and west for 300 miles ; La Terre Adcle, in 140 

 E., was first named in this voyage. In 1840 the 

 United States expedition under Captain \Vilkes 

 discovered a long coast-line, apparently extending 

 from Enderby Land eastwards to Kingold's Knoll, 

 but the only pan of this which has since been found 

 was discovered by lialleny in 1839. The most im- 

 portant results obtained in the Antarctic region 

 are due to Sir James Clarke Ross, who made tnree 

 voyages in 1839-43, discovering Victoria Land, 

 with a lofty range containing the volcanoes 

 Erebus and Terror. He traced the coast from 71 

 S. to 78 10', the highest latitude yet reached in 

 the Antarctic, after passing oome ice-floes which 

 were 1000 miles broad. These southern expedi- 

 tions of lioss, like those of all the chief polnr ex- 

 plorers, have supplied valuable information for 

 students of magnetism, meteorology, geology, and 

 natural history, liesidcs extending the bounds of 

 geographical science. The Challenger expedition 

 only just crossed the Antarctic circle. 



The general result of all the exploring work is 

 that in the north polar regions the unknown ha- 

 lieen pushed hack to within 80" N. lat. : while in I he 

 Greenland and the Nova Zemhla region- explora- 

 tion has been carried to within about 400 miles 

 from the North Pole. On the other side, with the 

 exception of patches lii-re and there, the south 

 polar legion is a great blank within the Antarctic 

 Circle. The Australians have been making dibits 

 within the past few years to take up Antarctic 

 exploration afresh, but nothing has yet been done. 

 The Royal Geographical Society in lHltH-99 took in 

 hand to raise the necessary funds for an Antarctic 

 expedition, and Germany provided for one on an 

 ample scale in 1890 under Von Drygalski. 



The physical geography of the north and south polar 

 region* U largely treated at ARCTIC OCEAN, ANTARCTIC 

 OCEAN. See lo GEOGRAPHY, GKOOHAPHICAI. DISTRI- 

 BVJTIOK, GREENLAND, BrmnmoBr. NOVA ZKMHI.A, 

 FRAN/-.IOSF.H LAND, SIBERIA, NEW SIBERIAN ISLANDS, 

 OB, GI.AUKH, ICE, and the articles on Hudson, Cook, 



