14 
Peary Auxiliary Expedition. 
Kebnekaisse, the highest mountain in Sweden. Later on, he 
visited the west coast of Spitzbergen as a member of a Swedish 
expedition. In 1891 he reached Upernavik on board a Danish 
trading ship, and, with a native crew in a small boat, made a 
journey as far north as the Devil’s Thumb in Melville Bay. In 
May, 1892, with a fellow-student named Kallstenius, he arrived 
in St. Johns, Newfoundland, to perfect plans for reaching Elles- 
mere Land. Finding he was too late to secure passage on any 
of the whalers, with the scanty means at his disposal he pur- 
chased a small schooner named the “Ripple,” which was re- 
garded as unseaworthy by the prudent skippers of St. Johns. 
After much difficulty he succeeded in obtaining a crew and, at 
length, with high hopes for the future, and heedless of impending 
dangers, embarked on his last fatal voyage. 
The “Ripple,” with its crew of two sailors and a cook, brought 
them in safety to Godhavn, where they purchased a rifle, shot- 
gun and a small boat. On August 3d, the five men sailed from 
Godhavn and were never afterwards seen alive. When autumn 
passed and no news of them reached Europe, their friends in 
Sweden, including Professor Nordenskidld, took measures to 
ascertain their fate. In a letter sent from Godhavn, Bjorling had 
stated that he would leave a message on the Cary Islands, 
whither he proposed to go to replenish his stores from the En- 
glish depot left there by Nares in 1875. The Scotch whalers sail- 
ing from Dundee were requested to visit the Cary Islands and 
look for this message. At length, in November, 1893, the whaler 
“Aurora” arrived at Dundee and brought the first news of their 
movements. Captain McKay reported that in June, 1893, the 
lookout on his vessel had discovered the wreck of a schooner on 
the shore of Southeast Cary Island, which, on examination, 
proved to be the “Ripple.” The landing party also found the 
body of a man under a heap of stones near by, and in a cairn 
discovered four messages written by Bjorling. 
From these messages it appeared that Bjorling reached the 
Cary Islands on August 16, 1892, and that his schooner was 
driven ashore the following day while the men were engaged in 
transferring the provisions from the English depot to the ship. 
