THE ARCTIC AS AN AIR ROUTE OF 

 THE FUTURE 



By Vilhjalmur Stefansson 



THE map of the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere shows that the Arctic Ocean 

 is a huge Mediterranean. It lies 

 between the continents somewhat as the 

 Mediterranean lies between Europe and 

 Africa. In the past it has been an im- 

 passable Mediterranean. In the near fu- 

 ture it will not only become passable, but 

 will become a favorite air route between 

 the continents, at least at certain seasons — 

 safer, more comfortable, and consisting 

 of much shorter "hops" than any other 

 air route that lies across the oceans that 

 separate the present-day centers of pop- 

 ulation. 



We shall "soon" be booking our pas- 

 sage from New York to Liverpool, or 

 London to Tokyo, by dirigible or plane 

 in as matter-of-course a way as we now 

 "book our passage by steamer. As to how 

 far in the future that period lies, our esti- 

 mates differ according to our tempera- 

 ments. 



When Tennyson spoke of the "aerial 

 navies grappling in the central blue," he 

 was a poet and a prophet, for no inven- 

 tions were then available the mere devel- 

 opment of which could make such dreams 

 a reality. When we now speak of the 

 coming transoceanic air commerce, we 

 are no longer prophets, for we are merely 

 considering the daily and yearly increase 

 in efficiency of inventions which we now 

 nave. 



The thought is, however, in the back of 

 our minds that, in addition to such in- 

 creasing perfection of known instru- 

 ments, we shall eventually have also en- 

 tirely new devices that are at present as 

 much in the future as were even the 

 crudest approaches to an aerial navy in 

 the time of Tennyson. 



niGHT BY WAY OF NORTH CAPE 



Although our estimates of when trans- 

 oceanic air service shall be no longer a 

 novelty differ according to our tempera- 

 ments, they vary only between years in 

 the vision of the optimist and decades in 

 the gloomier view of the pessimist. 



But whenever the time of regular trans- 

 oceanic air commerce arrives, there will 

 be in England not only those who desire 

 to book passage by air for New York, but 

 also others who have pressing affairs 

 awaiting them in Tokyo. 



Then will arise the choice of routes, and 

 in the summer season at least it will be 

 thought an absurdity for those in a hurry 

 to go from England to Japan by way of 

 either New York or Montreal. They will 

 fly by way of the North Cape of Norway 

 and Novaya Zemlya. 



Since the days of Magellan it has been 

 a commonplace that you can go east by 

 sailing west. It is about to become an 

 equal commonplace that you can go east 

 by flying north. 



The days of Columbus and Magellan 

 were in Europe days of intellectual renais- 

 sance. People had not generally known 

 even that the world was round ; but when 

 that novel view once was presented, they 

 drew from it all its proper conclusions. 

 One of the most fruitful of these was 

 that you could reach China not only by 

 sailing west, but also by sailing north, 

 and it was soon realized that the shortest 

 route from Europe to China was a north- 

 erly one. In navigation we call this the 

 principle of great-circle sailing. 



NORTHWEST PASSAGE NOT PRACTICAL EOR 

 SHIPS 



But in certain places lands barred the 

 way of the navigator, and everywhere the 

 "frozen ocean" hindered the ships. 



There was failure after failure of great 

 expeditions, until finally it was agreed 

 that although a northwest, passage was 

 possible, it was not a "practical" route, 

 and that neither time nor expense could 

 be saved by using it. 



Before the days of the Suez and the 

 Panama canals, it was cheaper and safer 

 to sail around the Horn or the Cape of 

 Good Hope than to navigate the north- 

 west passage around America or the 

 northeast passage between the Pole and 

 Asia. Although the difficulty of making 



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