284 



NATURE 



[May 5, 1910 



bottom. Further soundings were prevented by the 

 loss of the wire, which broke on two occasions, de- 

 tachable sinkers not having been employed. 



The expedition gives convincing proof that the sea 

 extends over the North Pole, confirming the view of 

 the eighteenth-century whalers, who claimed to have 

 occasionally found such open seas that they were able 

 to attain high latitudes. So many British whalers 

 claimed to have reached 82° and 83° in open water 

 that it is difficult to disbelieve them all ; and as the 

 Greenland Sea was then being scoured bv whalers, it 

 is quite probable that they were occasionally able to 

 attain these latitudes. The view that the sea extended 

 to the pole was then partly based on the evidence of 

 Dutch ships, that are said to have reached latitudes 

 of 86°, 88°, and 89° ; but the evidence for these lati- 

 tudes was found unconvincing when it was discussed 

 by Barrington in 1774. 



Considering the exceptional interest in the achieve- 

 ment, and the impossibility of leaving any permanent 

 record at the pole, Commander Peary's observations 

 when published will, no doubt, be scanned critically, 

 though in no hostile spirit. As Captain Bartlett 

 accompanied him to 87° 48' — about 150 statute miles 

 from the pole — and Peary thence made five long 

 marches northward, there seems no reason why so 

 expert an ice traveller, prepared to make the supreme 

 efTort of his life, should not have reached either the 

 pole or sufficiently near it for all practical purposes. 

 As the great goal of Arctic enterprise has been won, 

 we may now hope Arctic research will be continued in 

 a more scientific spirit. There is much work still to 

 be done. Geographically, the area now of most in- 

 terest is that to the north-west of the Arctic Archi- 

 pelago, and as Peary has shown that a large expedi- 

 tion can journey for four hundred miles out from land 

 and back again, the search for the furthest islands of 

 that group is possible by sledge journeys. The con- 

 tour of the Arctic Ocean has still to be determined, 

 and this work can hardly be done by sledge journeys, 

 which can give but meagre results, compared with the 

 work in a floating laboratory drifting, like the From, 

 across the polar seas. Such work is slow, but the 

 risks are probably not excessive. The Arctic death- 

 rate has been far lower than the African, and, with 

 the opportunities of life on a well-found ship, much 

 of the biological and other scientific work might be 

 done during the voyage. The reaching of the pole 

 should change the methods but not lessen the interest 

 of Arctic work. 



Report and Conclusions on Peary's Arctic Work. 



A full report of the speech delivered by the Hon. J. 

 Hampton ^Ioore, of Pennsylvania, in the U.S. House of 

 Representatives on March 22, with reference to Commander 

 Pearv's work in Arctic regions and his attainment of the 

 North Pole, has lately been issued. The subjoined extracts 

 from this report will serve to supplement the information 

 which Commander Peary was able to give in his lecture 

 last night, and to substantiate his claims to distinguished 

 eminence as a polar explorer. 



Memorandum of Peary's Northern Voyages. 



1886. May to November ; about seven months : Pene- 

 trated 100 miles on the inland ice of Greenland east of 

 Disco Bay, about 70° N. latitude ; altitude, 7500 feet. 



189 1-2. June, 189 1, to September, 1892 ; about sixteen 

 months : Right leg broken on voyage north. Five-hundred- 

 mile march out and same distance back, across northern 

 part of Greenland, discovering Independence Bay on the 

 north-eastern coast. 



1893-5. July. 1893, to September, 1895 ; about twenty- 

 j-?ven months : Entire party except Peary and two men 

 returned at end of first year. Spring of 1895 Peary re- 

 peated the march across northern end of Greenland, and 

 gained some miles beyond his farthest of 1892. Discovered 



NO. 2 1 14, VOL. 83] 



the great Cape York meteorites, and brought the two 

 smaller ones back with him. 



1896. July-October ; about three months : Unsuccessful 

 attempt to bring home largest of the Cape York meteorites. 



1897. July-October ; about three months : Brought home 

 largest of the Cape York meteorites— the Ahnigito, the 

 largest in the world — weighing about 90 tons. 



1898-1902. July, 1898, to October, 1902 ; about four 

 \ears, three and a half months : During this time made four 

 separate attempts to get north, resuhing in the rounding 

 of the northern end of Greenland and the attainment of 

 the latitude of 83-59° north of the extreme northern point 

 of Greenland; also the attainment of the latitude of 84-17° 

 north of the northern point of Grant Land. All the instru- 

 ments, records, private papers of the Lady Franklin ex- 

 pedition at Fort Conger brought home. 



1905-6. July, 1905, to November, 1906 ; about seventeen 

 months : Highest north, 87° 6', attained in this journey. 



1908-9. July, 1908, to September, 1909 ; about fi'fteeii 

 months : Attainment of the Pole. 



Summary.— Eight voyages, six attempts to reach the 

 Pole, and some twelve years spent inside the Arctic Circle. 



Degrees , Degrees 



N. Lat. I N. Lat. 



1886 69'oo 1900 8359 



1892 81-35 1902 84-17 



1895 8140 1906 87-60 



1899 81 50 ' 1909 90-00 



Peary's ability as a commander is thoroughly demon- 

 strated by the success of his various expeditions. Twice 

 his ship was driven through the ice to the highest point 

 ever reached in the western hemisphere, and to a point 

 higher than any ship has ever attained under her own 

 steam. Many other ships attempted this same voyage ; 

 four of them accomplished part of it, and two were lost. 

 As to his work being civil and distinct from naval, it may 

 be observed that Peary's bringing of the Roosevelt home 

 in the autumn of 1906, fighting her way through the heavy 

 Arctic ice, from Cape Union to Littleton Island, and thence 

 down along the savage Baffin Land and Labrador coasts, 

 encountering storm after storm, with rudder and sternposts 

 torn away, propellers crippled, and pumps going constantly, 

 has been characterised as one of the ablest, most re- 

 sourceful, and courageous affairs of its kind in the annals 

 of Arctic exploration. Indeed, it was the wonder of every- 

 one who saw the ship when it was taken out on the dry 

 dock. 



With regard to the expedition that was successful, the 

 expedition of 1908-9, resulting in the discovery of the Pole, 

 he fitted out this expedition at his own expense and that of 

 his friends, and was then granted leave of absence by the 

 Navy Department, taking with him instructions which gave 

 him an unqualified official connection with the Government.- 

 Upon Commander Peary's return, the Navy Department 

 asked the Coast and Geodetic Survey to furnish the results 

 of the late expeditions carried on b}' him under the auspices' 

 of the Peary .Arctic Club. 



In reply to this request. Commander Peary sent a profile 

 of soundings taken by the expedition, and tidal and meteor- 

 ological records. 



The following table shows the soundings from Cape 

 Columbia to the Pole : — 



Sounding by — Latitude Fathoms Remarks. 



83 '7 o 



Marvin 83 10 98 



Marvin and MacMillan 83 25 96 



Bartlett 83 53 no 



Marvin ^4 29 825 



Do 84 39 5^ 



Do 85 2^ 310 



Do 85 33 700 



Bartlett 87 15 1,260 



Peary ?9 55 i 500 



Edge of glacial fringe. 

 Edge of continental shelf. 



No bottom. 

 Do. 

 Do. 



Peary's Notes on Soundings. 

 The sounding equipment of the expedition consisted of 

 two reels of specially made piano-wire of 1000 fathoms . 

 each, and three approximately 20-lb. leads, with clam-shell' 

 device for grasping samples of the bottom. These reels 

 were arranged to be fitted quickly to the upstanders of a 



