The Cruise of the Laura to the East Green¬ 
land Ice-Pack 
HERE was the call of the North be¬ 
hind it all, to begin with. 
I believed that with a good, stout 
ship, properly equipped and stocked 
with eighteen months’ provisions, to 
guard against any unforeseen con¬ 
tingencies or of being frozen in the 
ice,—a trip could be taken far enough 
into the Arctics, with comparative 
safety, so that, providing ice con¬ 
ditions were in any way favorable, the chances would be 
good for getting to the East Greenland coast, King William 
Land, and then returning home the same year. 
One fact which determined me in selecting this east coast 
of Greenland as objective was that on Shannon Island and 
at another nearby point there are two Arctic relief stations— 
one established by the Baldwin-Ziegler Expedition, and the 
other by the Swedish Government, under Nathorst—and 
these might be accessible to us in case of accident to the ship. 
Briefly, then, the objects of the trip were as follows: 
1. To approach the Greenland coast near Franz Josef 
Fjord; 
2. If ice conditions permitted, to advance north as far as 
possible toward King William Land; 
3. To attempt to secure live specimens of musk-ox and 
polar bear; 
4. To collect specimens of bird-life and study their food 
and habits; 
5. To make some short land-expeditions; 
6. To secure what shooting we could. 
[15] 
