The Value of Arctic Exploration 



43 



have served her purpose of getting me 

 to 82° 50', Cape Joseph Henry, which 

 will be my base of action. The second 

 vessel will carry a large freight of coal, 

 which will be landed on Grant Land, 

 near the northern entrance of Robeson 

 Channel. With this reserve of coal I 

 will not have to economize the fuel of 

 my steamer, but can keep the furnaces 

 and engines going at utmost tension 

 through the ice. The reserve will also 

 be there to take my steamer back after 

 her work is done, if she is still alive. 

 From Cape Joseph Henry the march 

 toward" the Pole will begin in 1905. 

 The distance from this point to the Pole 

 and back again is less than the average 

 distance of my four sledging trips in 

 1892, 1895, 1900, and 1902. There is 

 no reason why I should not equal this 

 distance on my next sledging trip, thus 

 gaining the Pole and getting back again 

 in one season of 100 days. I shall take 

 my Eskimos with me to my northern 

 base. 



On my return to Cape Joseph Henry 

 after the polar dash, I plan to return in 

 my steamer from that point if conditions 

 are favorable. If the ice is impenetra- 

 ble or my steamer is unable to carry me, 

 I shall proceed by land southward to 

 Cape Sabine, over the route which I 

 laid out and which I have traveled so 

 often in the past. At Sabine my aux- 

 iliary vessel would meet me and bring 

 me home. 



The principal departures in my new 

 plan are : First, using a powerful 

 steamer to force my way through the 

 ice, instead of a sailing ship with aux- 

 iliary engines; and, second, making my 

 base on the shore of the Polar Sea, 

 more than 200 miles north of my pre- 

 vious base at Cape Sabine. 



Abruzzi's remarks upon the subject 

 of the attainment of the Pole are partic- 

 ularly valuable as well as extremely in- 

 teresting. His words are given in full : 



' ' It would be useless to repeat the at- 

 tempt (of reaching the Pole) by follow- 



ing the same plan (the route from 

 Franz Josef Land). It would, at most, 

 be possible to push a few miles farther 

 towards the north if the ice of the Arctic 

 Ocean was in an unusually favorable 

 state ; but the results would not afford 

 any compensation for the fatigue and 

 privations undergone. While follow- 

 ing, therefore, the invariable plan of 

 setting out from some point on land, and 

 not from a ship drifting on the ice, on 

 account of the reasons put forth in the 

 first chapter of this work, it will be 

 necessary to find some other method of 

 shortening the distance which has to be 

 traveled with sledge. What I should 

 recommend would be to sail along the 

 western coast of Greenland to the north 

 of Kennedy Sound, where it ought to 

 be possihle, under favorable conditions, 

 to go to a still higher latitude than that 

 reached by the Alert off Grant Land." 



This is the plan of campaign which 

 Assistant Secretary Darling has been 

 pleased to commend, and for the execu- 

 tion of which he has granted the neces- 

 sary leave. This is the plan which has 

 the approval and sympathy of President 

 Roosevelt. 



Assistant Secretary Darling, in grant- 

 ing leave for the purpose of this expe- 

 dition, has continued the traditions of 

 the Navy Department, and has associ- 

 ated himself with Dobbin, Kennedy, 

 Robeson, and Chandler, all of whose 

 names are inscribed on our Arctic charts. 

 He has also put himself in line with a 

 long list of British Lords of the Ad- 

 miralty, who have seen the moral as 

 well as the material utility of Arctic 

 exploration, and have fostered and en- 

 couraged it with all the means at their 

 command. 



President Roosevelt, in expressing his 

 sympathy and approval of the work (as 

 was naturally to be expected from his 

 big, active temperament), associates 

 himself with a long list of illustrious 

 names in the past — Ferdinand of Spain, 

 Charles V, Henry VII, Elizabeth, etc., 



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