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THE WELLMAN POLAR EXPEDITION 



to reach or approach the Pole, and also to aid the work of ex- 

 ploration, which also formed a part of our plans, we established 

 at Cape Heller, near the 81st parallel, an outpost or depot of sup- 

 plies. This was done immediately after our arrival in Franz 

 Josef Land. Within two days after the Frithjof sailed back to 

 Norway a party set out with small boats and sledges for the 

 north. Their instructions were to establish a depot as far north 

 as possible. When they started the ice-sheet upon the bay and 

 the straits was solid and apparently unbroken. But conditions 



PREPARING THE HEADQUARTERS HUT FOR WINTER 



Copyright, 1899, by Walter Wellman 



often change with amazing rapidity in the Arctics, and so it was 

 in this case. Within less than 48 hours the party found them- 

 selves involved in the greatest difficulty on account of the sudden 

 breaking up of the ice and its rapid drifting out to sea under the 

 influence of strong offshore winds. Nothing but desperate, even 

 heroic, work enabled them to save their lives and the valuable 

 equipment. Finally managing to reach the land, they struggled 

 northward for a month, sometimes upon the ice-sheet, more often 

 upon the rough shore, occasionally crossing glaciers and now and 

 then advancing some of their heavier weights by boats in com- 



