For a time she made her headquarters at Norfolk, Virginia, whence she went out on various fisheries trips. In the spring of 1917 she went through the Panama Canal, and proceeded to Seattle, Washington, to fit out for her work of patrolling the Alaskan coast, carrying supplies to the various stations and settlements, inspecting the canneries and seal-rookeries, and giving assistance, when necessary, to ships along that coast. For this work the Roosevelt is specially adapted, and will be able to perform her duties in all weathers and at all seasons of the year.
While waiting at Seattle, the Roosevelt took part in an important local event, carrying the official party and leading the naval pageant on the occasion of the opening of the Lake Washington ship canal connecting the lake with Puget Sound, and giving Seattle a double water front.
I was on board the Roosevelt for an hour late in May, and as I stood again on the bridge the succession of scenes that passed before me was as rapid as the changing pictures of a movie.
I was much pleased to have the Government take over the Roosevelt. Naturally my feeling for the ship was strong; yet I personally had neither the means to purchase her nor to maintain her after purchase. Nor did I feel like suggesting to the friends who had splendidly furnished the money for the discovery of the pole that the ship be purchased and taken care of.
From time to time I receive letters suggesting some action—public subscription or otherwise—for the maintenance and preservation of the Roosevelt as a national object of interest. These letters have referred to the government ownership by Italy of Abruzzi’s Stella Polare, by Norway of Nansen’s Fram, and by England of Nelson’s Victory; but none of these suggestions ever materialized.
Some day it is my hope to build a Roosevelt II to carry the Stars and Stripes around and into the heart of the antarctic regions. Drawings for such a ship, both in general and in detail, based on my experience in designing, building, and using the Roosevelt, were one of my amusements and occupations during the two long winter nights which the ship spent at Cape Sheridan. These plans contain a number of new ideas and improvements over the Roosevelt. The actual sail-plan, cross-section and longitudinal models to the scale of a quarter of an inch to the foot, are now stored on Eagle Island.
On the conclusion of the war, with the new impetus that has been given to wooden ship-building, perhaps it may be possible to realize these ideas, and send a ship south that will place the name of the United States high in the record of antarctic work. Such a ship, under command of Bartlett, and utilizing the experience gained and the methods developed in twenty-three years of north polar work, could probably do in a given time twice as much work as any existing ship.
There are three pieces of antarctic work of major importance and of great attractiveness that lie ready to the hand of the United States whenever we are ready to undertake them.
One is the complete delimitation of the great Weddell Sea indentation in the antarctic continent lying southeast of Cape Horn. Another is the establishment of a station at the south pole for a year of continuous, systematic scientific observations. A third is the exploration, survey, and study through several seasons of the entire periphery of the antarctic continent.
The first of these, the exploration of Weddell Sea, which thus far has baffled the efforts of every expedition, Scotch, German, French, Swedish, and British, is, from its location in the Western Hemisphere, in our sphere of influence, and would also be likely to give the maximum amount of general results in the shortest time and at the least expense.