Nearest the Pole / a narrative of the polar expedition of the Peary Arctic Club in the S.S. Roosevelt, 1905-1906

by Robert E. Peary

1898–1902

The history of The Peary Arctic Club divides itself, first, into that of the subscribers sustaining the 1898–1902 Expeditions, and second, of the incorporators of the Club, in 1904, under the laws of the State of New York. The subscribers met for the first time at No. 44 Pine Street, N. Y., Jan. 29, 1899, and having before them Commander Peary’s letters and reports from Etah, North Greenland, Aug. 12, 1898, adopted the name of “The Peary Arctic Club” and a Constitution, setting forth that “the objects of the Club are to promote and encourage explorations of the Polar regions, as set forth in Lieutenant R. E. Peary’s letter dated January 14, 1897, and to assist him in securing additional information regarding the geography of the same; to receive and collect such objects of scientific interest or otherwise as may be obtainable through Lieutenant Peary’s present expedition or other expeditions of like nature; to receive, collect and keep on file narratives and manuscripts relative to Arctic explorations; to preserve such records and keep such accounts as may be necessary for the purpose of the association; and further to command in its work the resources of mutual acquaintance and social intercourse”; declaring that contributors to the expedition, including those absent, were Founders of the Club and elected the following officers: President, Morris K. Jesup; Vice-President, Frederick E. Hyde; Treasurer, Henry W. Cannon; Secretary, Herbert L. Bridgman. Alfred C. Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe) was elected an Honorary Member of the Club in recognition of his gift of the Windward to Commander Peary.

The Club despatched the steamer Diana, Captain Samuel W. Bartlett of St. John, N. F., in command of its Secretary, H. L. Bridgman, from Sydney, C. B., on July 27, 1899, whither she returned on September 15th, having in the meantime successfully accomplished her mission in depositing at Etah her stores, effecting a junction with Commander Peary at Etah on August 12th, and returning with her consort, the Windward, which had wintered at Cape D’Urville, Ellesmere Land. The Windward, preceding the Diana one week in her departure from Etah, arrived at Brigus, N. F., two days earlier, having on board the scientific records and personal effects of each officer and man of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition; the sextant abandoned in 1876 by Lieutenant, now Rear-Admiral, Albert Beaumont, R. N. at Cape Britannia, Greenland, and copies of the Nares-Markham records from the cairns of Norman Lockyer and Washington Irving islands, all recovered by Commander Peary in 1898 and 1899. The personal effects were subsequently distributed by the Club to the survivors and next of kin of the deceased, and the relics of the Royal Navy deposited, through the Lords of the Admiralty in the Royal Naval Museum, at Greenwich.

The Club sent the Windward, repaired and improved and in command of Captain Samuel W. Bartlett, North in the following year, 1900, with Mrs. Peary and Marie Ahnighito Peary on board, leaving Sydney, C. B., on July 21st, with instructions to proceed to Etah, and failing to find there Commander Peary, to cross Smith Sound to Cape Sabine and press forward as far as might be necessary to open communication with him. The Windward failing to return, the Club in 1901 chartered the Erik, and despatched her in command of Secretary Bridgman from Sydney, C. B., July 18th, with instructions to proceed first to Etah, and then to act as circumstances suggested. The Erik arrived at Etah on August 5th, where Commander Peary and the Windward were found, all on board well, the ship having wintered in Payer Harbour under Cape Sabine, where she was joined on May 6th, by Commander Peary from Fort Conger. The Erik and Windward, after the greater part of August in the north waters, returned, the former to Sydney, C. B., September 15th, with Commander Peary’s report of his delineation in 1900 of the northern end of Greenland, and Lockwood and Brainard’s original record from their cairn in 1882 at their farthest, and the Windward to Brigus, September 24th.

New boilers and engines having been installed in the Windward, she sailed a third time for the North from Sydney, C. B., July 20th, 1902, with Mrs. and Miss Peary on board; effected a junction with Commander Peary on August 5th at Cape Sabine; and, after a stay of less than a day, brought away the expedition with the record of 84.17 North (the highest on the Western Continent), in May, 1902. The party, library, instruments, and all the remaining equipment of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition arrived at Sydney, C. B., September 5th.

The founders of the Club were: Morris K. Jesup, Henry W. Cannon, James J. Hill, John M. Flagler, Frederick E. Hyde, E. C. Benedict, H. Hayden Sands, A. A. Raven, Henry Parish, Eben B. Thomas, James M. Constable, Herbert L. Bridgman, Henry H. Benedict, and Eliphalet W. Bliss.

Full contributing members, Edward G. Wyckoff and Clarence W. Wyckoff, of Ithaca, N. Y., and Grant B. Schley, of New York, were in 1899 elected to membership in the club, and President Charles P. Daly, of the American Geographical Society, to its executive committee, in recognition of the contribution by the Society.