Peary has since shown, however, that the passage which we have quoted from his diary was written in a fit of momentary despondency, and that his dream of sixteen years is by no means over, for last year he set sail in the Roosevelt on another dash for the Pole, the results of which are now being awaited with the keenest interest.
CHAPTER XXXIII
OTHER RECENT EXPEDITIONS—ABRUZZI, WELLMANN AND TOLL
From his earliest days Prince Louis Amadeus of Savoy, Duke of the Abruzzi, displayed a strong taste for adventure, and while he was still very young, he made a name for himself as a mountaineer of more than average daring and skill. It was in 1897, after he had returned from a successful attempt to climb Mount Elias, the great Alaskan mountain which had hitherto proved too much for even the most intrepid adventurers, that he first conceived the idea of organising an expedition, the object of which should be the discovery of the North Pole. After spending some eighteen months in considering the problem and consulting authorities as to the best course to pursue, he purchased a whaler of 358 tons and 400 horse-power, which was originally known as the Jason, but which he rechristened the Stella Polare, and set to work to fit her out for the expedition which he proposed to make.
The Stella Polare was provisioned for five years, and her company included Umberto Cagni, who sailed as captain, Count Franco Quirini, who served as lieutenant, Doctor A. C. Molinelli, and three Alpine guides. Sailing from Laurvik, near Christiania, on June 14 1899, she touched at Tromsö, Hammerfest, Vardö and Archangel, where she picked up 120 Siberian dogs. Thence her course was set for Franz Josef Land, which was made in the neighbourhood of Jackson’s house at Cape Flora. Finding the house in excellent condition, the Duke landed a store of provisions there to secure himself and his crew against starvation, in the event of their vessel being lost. Having taken this precaution, he continued his voyage up British Channel, passing on his way the members of the Wellmann expedition, who were being conveyed home in the Capella. From them he heard rumours of a new archipelago to the north of Franz Josef Land, of which, however, he subsequently failed to find any traces whatever.
Ice rendered the passage up the channel very difficult, but the Stella Polare succeeded in making her way along Karl Alexander Land and Crown Prince Rudolph Land, till she doubled Cape Fligely. Here further progress was totally impossible, so the Duke put back to Teplitz Bay, where he had decided to spend the winter.
On September 8 the ice in the harbour became very much disturbed, and the Stella Polare was nipped so severely that she sprang a leak. The engine room was soon flooded, and for three successive days and nights half the crew were at the pumps, while the rest were engaged in transferring the provisions and equipment to the shore. Thanks to the efforts of the officers and men, the ship was saved, but, being half full of water, she was perfectly useless as a place of abode, and tents had to be erected on land.
The winter was spent in making such short expeditions as the weather permitted, and it was while he was away on one of these that the Duke had the misfortune to be caught in a snowstorm, during which two of his fingers were so badly frost-bitten, that they had to be amputated. This was particularly unlucky for him, as the wound had not sufficiently healed by the beginning of March to allow him to take part in the great sledge expedition which was to be the chief feature of the voyage. The command was, accordingly, entrusted to Captain Cagni, who started out on the 13th with general instructions to push as far north as he could. During the early part of his journey he was accompanied by two supporting parties, on whose stock of provisions he and his men were to subsist for as long as possible, in order that his own little store might remain intact until he was well on his way. The first of these parties to leave him was that conducted by Lieutenant Quirini, and it was never heard of again. The Duke sent out search parties in every direction, but not a trace of their missing comrades could they find, and it can only be supposed that they either fell down in a crevasse, or were overtaken by a storm, and frozen to death.
In the meanwhile, Cagni and his three companions pushed on northward as rapidly as possible. They found the ice comparatively smooth, and by April 25 they had reached lat. 86° 33´, thus beating Nansen’s record by some thirty miles. Unfortunately their provisions began to give out, and they were compelled to beat a hasty retreat. The outward journey had been a comparatively simple matter, but on their homeward way they were beset by all sorts of unexpected difficulties which brought them to the very verge of starvation. The field of ice over which they were travelling was constantly drifting in a westerly direction, carrying them further and further from the bay which they were trying to reach. Leads were always opening ahead of them, which had to be crossed by some means or other, but, though they had kayacks with them, these had been so damaged as that they were hardly seaworthy, while it was often quite impossible to use them amidst the constantly shifting ice. On several occasions Cagni had to cross a channel on a small piece of floe, taking with him a rope by which his companions, with their impedimenta, were towed across on a larger block, while once a short voyage was made on a large sheet of ice which was propelled by means of the sails of the kayacks. Moreover, their provisions were getting very low, and for the last fortnight of their voyage they were obliged to subsist entirely on their dogs. Of the eighty with which they started out on their journey, only six remained when at last they reached the ship.
To attempt to spend another winter in the ice with the ship in so bad a condition would have been folly. Accordingly, the leak in the Stella Polare’s side was found and stopped, she was released from her bed of ice by means of gun-cotton, and on September 6 she was safely back at Hammerfest.
