This note is deposited with a small American flag in a metallic tube on the drifting ice.
Its return will be appreciated, to the International Bureau of Polar Research at the Royal Observatory, Uccle, Belgium.
(Signed) FREDERICK A. COOK.
POLAR ADVANCE OF THE NATIONAL STANDARDS
Climax of four centuries of Arctic exploration—Stars and Stripes at the Pole.
THE RETURN—A BATTLE FOR LIFE AGAINST FAMINE AND FROST
TURNED BACKS TO THE POLE AND TO THE SUN—THE DOGS, SEEMINGLY GLAD AND SEEMINGLY SENSIBLE THAT THEIR NOSES WERE POINTED HOMEWARD, BARKED SHRILLY—SUFFERING FROM INTENSE DEPRESSION—THE DANGERS OF MOVING ICE, OF STORMS AND SLOW STARVATION—THE THOUGHT OF FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY MILES TO LAND CAUSES DESPAIR