128 



DISCOVERY 



Land reported by Peary in 1906 to be some 150 miles 

 west of Grant Land, could not be found by Macmillan 

 in a sledge journey in 1914. Dr. Cook's report of land 

 on the same meridian in lat.85° N.can scarcely be taken 

 as evidence of its existence. Nevertheless, that stretch 

 of Arctic Ocean offers a fine field for the pioneer 

 explorer. 



.Vnother but much smaller area of the Arctic Ocean 

 that should be examined for possible land lies between 

 Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land, from lat. 80° N. 

 to 84° N., the so-called Victoria Sea. There is more 

 than one report of high land sighted in that region, 

 of which the least unconvincing was that of the late 

 .\dmiral Makaroff, of the Russian Navy. When 

 testing the ice-breaking qualities of the Yermak in 

 1899, Makaroff went north of Spitsbergen in search of 

 heavy ice, and in the course of his cruise reported 

 high land seen in refraction at a distance of 60 to 100 

 miles, on about the thirtieth meridian and in about 

 lat. 82° N. Curiously enough, this is about the locality 

 to which Giles Land, discovered in 1707 but not ex- 

 plored till nearly two centuries later, was unaccountably 

 displaced by Petcrmann, the German cartographer, 

 from its true position some two degrees farther south. 

 The pack-ice drifting from the north-east makes this 

 part of the polar sea difficult to penetrate, but quite 

 possibly some Norwegian hunting sloop in a favourable 

 season has crossed it. There used to be a rumour 

 among the walrus hunters of a large island to the north- 

 east of Spitsbergen, but the story lacked substance and 

 was generally discredited. The existence of islands 

 at one time reported north of Franz Josef Land has been 

 disproved, but at the same time the occurrence of small 

 islands cast of Spitsbergen and the extension of the 

 continental shelf a short distance north of Spitsbergen 

 shows that there is nothing intrinsically impossible 

 in hidden islands existing in this sea. On the other hand, 

 there cannot be much land between the meridians of 

 western Franz Josef Land and eastern Spitsbergen, 

 owing to the freedom with which pack streams south- 

 ward on the east of the Spitsbergen archipelago and 

 its speed of movement north of Franz Josef Land. 

 The northward extension of Nikolas Land, north of 

 the Taimir Peninsula, Siberia, requires further investi- 

 gation. The unexplored area of the ocean north-cast 

 of Greenland, which offers little likelihood of land, 

 will probably be visited by Amundsen on his present 

 expedition. 



Apart from the task of penetrating the ice-bound 

 seas, other difficulties not quite so obvious present 

 themselves. 



It is possible in polar regions to be very near land 

 without seeing it. Fog may be a hindrance, but even 

 in clear weather it must be remembered that the horizon 

 is at no great distance from the deck of a small ship. 



If the sea is clear of ice there is probably no lookout in 

 the crow's-nest and low land might escape detection. 

 A most striking and alm(;st incredible instance of an 

 elusive land is thr little-known Nikolas Land, which lies 

 north-west of Cape Chelyuskin, the most northerly 

 point of Siberia. Several exploring vessels on the look- 

 out for land had rounded this cape, including the Vega 

 in 1878 on her circumnavigation of Asia, and Nansen's 

 Fram in 1893, but reported only sea to the north. Great 

 was the surprise, therefore, when the Russian ice- 

 breakers Vaigach and Taimir, under Com. Vilkitski.in 

 1913 discovered a considerable extent of high land 

 and two small islands some thirty miles north-west of 

 Cape Chelyuskin. This discovery shows that it is 

 unsafe to remove a reported land from the map merely 

 because it has escaped rediscovery by vessels or 

 sledging parties in the vicinity. 



The Russian ice-breakers in 1913 and 1914 crossed 

 the position of the reported Sanrikov Land to the north- 

 west of the New Siberia Islands and saw no land. The 

 Fram in 1894, passing on the w-est, failed to sight it. We 

 are probably justified in saying that it does not exist. 

 Yet a snow- or ice-clad land may merge so effectively 

 into a background of cloud as to be almost invisible. 

 Every voyager to and from Spitsbergen knows how 

 Bear Island, full on his track, eludes his view despite 

 its height of 1,760 feet. On the other hand, nothing is 

 commoner in polar seas than the appearance of land 

 which on closer examination turns out to be a cloud 

 or mirage effects. Even experienced polar voyagers 

 are thus deceived at times, while the novice discovers 

 new land every day. 



It must not be forgotten that many doubtful lands 

 have been reported from a great distance and placed 

 by one bearing which, even if the compass is accurate 

 and the magnetic variation known, is at best an 

 unsatisfactory way of locating a position. Distance in 

 polar regions is very deceptive. In fine weather the 

 transparency of the atmosphere is so marked that long 

 distances appear quite short and, provided the land is 

 high enough, it can be seen 100 miles or more away with 

 great ease. 



The methods of Arctic exploration have changed since 

 the days, not half a century ago, when weak-powered 

 vessels contested with the pack-ice, and large sledging 

 parties heavily laden w-ith stores and dogged by scurvy 

 made heroically laborious marches into the unknown. 

 Dogs were rarely used, although Wrangell a century ago 

 showed what could be done with them. Even after 

 Rae showed the advantage of travelling with small 

 parties and making use of dogs, the practice of man- 

 hauled sledges persisted. Sir Leopold M'Clintok, a 

 pioneer in successful Arctic sledging, was one of the 

 few explorers to follow Rae's example until the days 

 of Peary and later Scandinavian explorers. The marvel 



