INTRODUCTION. 



Partnership with Mr. Leffingwell Contributors to the Expedition Buy 

 a Ship Refitting of the Ship Members of the Expedition The 

 Theory The Plans. 



IN making arrangements for the Anglo-American Polar 

 Expedition, of which Ernest de Koven Leffingwell and myself 

 were to be joint commanders, it was agreed that the official 

 narrative of the expedition should be written by me, while to 

 him should be assigned the scientific reports. 



It was in the spring of 1901 that I met Mr. Leffingwell as a 

 fellow member of the first Baldwin-Ziegler Expedition. Though 

 in temperament we were not at all alike, we found each other 

 congenial, and there grew up between us a friendship which 

 was tested and strengthened by the perils and hardships of 

 Arctic adventure which we shared. During the long winter in 

 Franz Joseph Land we were always together, and came to 

 know and appreciate each other. On the America we occupied 

 the same cabin, on the sledge trips we toiled and trailed 

 together and slept in the same sleeping bag. Our comrades 

 often spoke of us as " the Siamese Twins ! " 



Young and enthusiastic, we were entirely devoted to our 

 work, and made up our minds that we would organize an 

 expedition later on, with ourselves as joint commanders. 



The Baldwin Expedition returned, and, in spite of its failure, 

 in spite of the many disagreeable hours which were still fresh 

 in our memories, we were nevertheless determined to take up 

 any Arctic project which promised sufficient results, scientific 

 and otherwise, to justify the work, the money and the time 

 that we should be forced to expend upon it. 



Years went by. Mr. Leffingwell and myself conceived many 

 promising plans, but the money to carry out our plans, which 

 we in our youthful enthusiasm had thought so easy to get, 

 was still wanting, and the prospects of our return to the Arctic 

 seemed farther and farther removed whenever we tried to raise 

 funds for our enterprise. 



A.I. B 



