6 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



offering her year's savings to a party of men who were going 

 out to penetrate into the unknown, to fight against the dangers 

 and cold of the Arctic. 



Besides money we received several other tokens of interest 

 and assistance. Her Grace the Duchess of Bedford gave me a 

 valuable pocket chronometer; theWaltham Watch Company 

 gave us seven splendid watches ; the Burroughs Wellcome 

 Company, London, a very complete medicine chest and a 

 photographic outfit ; Mr. Leffingwell's brother, ten cases of 

 lemons; Mr. Lehman, 160 sacks of cornmeal for dog feed; the 

 Horlick's Malted Milk Company, 1,100 Ibs. of their splendid 

 milk products; and the Ziegler Estate Company, some dog 

 harness and clothing. 



A lady, Miss Hughes, had heard that I had no tobacco for 

 myself, and, in fact, could not afford to buy any; the last day 

 before our departure her brother came and gave me tobacco 

 enough for two years. My joy at receiving this gift was great, 

 and many a time later, while on board ship or in winter quarters, 

 I thought of the giver's kind thoughts and sympathy. 



All the different societies and people whom I have mentioned 

 above gave their contributions out of kindness and interest in 

 Arctic work, but great was my sorrow when I had to call on 

 some of them a year and a half later to pay liabilities incurred 

 by the expedition. The knowledge that they might look upon 

 themselves as morally bound to give considerably more in 

 addition to their first and ample contributions caused me 

 many bitter hours on my sledge trip home, but so much the 

 greater was my joy and satisfaction when I found out that 

 they had not only paid, but regarded the difficulty in the 

 same light as myself as an accident unavoidable under the 

 circumstances. 



In order to pay the crew we had made arrangements with 

 five men in Victoria, B.C., to buy the ship on our return for an 

 amount large enough to cover their wages. However, this 

 arrangement was frustrated by the loss of our ship, and thus it 

 came to pass that we again had to ask our former supporters 

 for assistance to pay the wages of the crew. Dr. Leffingwell, 

 her Grace the Duchess of Bedford, the Royal Geographical 

 Society, and the American Geographical Society kindly 

 covered everything, and when I came back to civilization the 



