INTRODUCTION 3 



a correspondence with her Grace the Duchess of Bedford, and, 

 when I failed to secure the money I had counted on, I wrote to 

 her, explaining my troubles and asking her to support the 

 expedition. The answer was very gratifying and came by 

 return of post, accompanied by a cheque. I was highly pleased 

 with the result, for if the Royal Geographical Society gave 

 me the support of which I had reasonable hope and the 

 negotiations with Mr. Heinemann were brought to a successful 

 issue, I would have my share of the amount required for the 

 expedition projected by Mr. Leffingwell and myself. In 

 December I got a letter from Dr. Scott-Keltie, in which he told 

 me that the Council of the Royal Geographical Society had 

 finally agreed to grant us the amount they had half promised 

 before, and after Christmas I received a contract from Mr. Heine- 

 mann, the signing of which meant a considerable sum towards 

 carrying out our enterprise. 



Preparations were now in full swing; sledges were being 

 built by Hagen & Co., Christiania, furs were made by 

 C. C. Moller in Drammen, and special sledge provision was 

 manufactured by Beauvais in Copenhagen. These provisions 

 later on turned out to be excellent, and great care had been 

 taken in preparing and packing everything. 



In the beginning of February I came over to America, and 

 was met by a piece of news which was likely to affect our 

 plans. The whalers on which we had relied for carrying our 

 food were, with one exception, frozen up in the ice at Herschel 

 Island and Cape Bathurst. The only whaler going north, 

 S.S. William Bailis, was loaded to the trucks with provision and 

 gear for its comrades, and could not possibly carry anything 

 more. A supply ship had also been chartered by the different 

 firms whose ships were laid up in the Arctic, but neither there 

 nor anywhere else was there any possibility of getting provisions 

 transported : everything was full. 



This meant that we had to get a vessel of our own, an 

 expense far beyond our means at that moment ; but I started 

 to look for further assistance, and through Dr. Cyrus A. Adams, 

 who had shown the greatest interest in the enterprise, I succeeded 

 in getting the American Geographical Society to support the 

 plans and to make a large grant. 



On February 25 I arrived in Chicago, where I met Mr. 



B 2 



