There is much in this, and it is a precept well to be followed particularly if the leader is new at the work. Few men, having had experience in a certain direction and associated in a subordinate position with an inexperienced leader, are big enough to be loyal to their commander.
The usual result is constant slurring criticism which is sure to have its effect upon other members of the expedition, and opposition either direct and active or sullen and passive.
The last man of all is the one who is always wondering whether he will ever get back home or not, and is constantly congratulating himself as a hero because he is in the terrible polar regions and still alive.
I know of no better test of character than a season spent in the polar regions. In these regions men get to know one another better in a few months than they would in a lifetime at home. There is something about the life which very quickly shows the true caliber of a man. If he is a cur, or has a yellow streak it is sure to come out. In making up my last party I was exceptionally fortunate, for I had the membership of the preceding expedition to select from. Every one was glad to make the success of the expedition first and personal feelings and ambitions secondary. My party was efficient and congenial, and never had I spent a winter in the arctic so free from friction and petty annoyances.
CHAPTER III
SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT
The detail of equipping a polar expedition is like the detail of equipping an army for foreign service, with, however, this difference. After the expedition has cast loose from civilization there is no chance to rectify mistakes or omissions. No rush wires or cables can be sent back to ship this or that article by next train or steamer. The little ship which bears the hopes of a polar expedition must contain in its restricted space everything to supply all the needs of its people for two or three years in a region where nothing can be obtained but meat, and even that only by those who possess the “know how.” Even when the needs are reduced to almost primeval simplicity, the multiplicity of essential things is great.
As an illustration of how an article, though so common that, like breathing, we are unaware of it, may be overlooked, it is said that a great polar expedition costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, and fitted out under the supervision of committees of scientists and polar experts, discovered, when it reached its winter quarters, that there was no salt on board except that in the salt pork and beef.
Supplies for a polar expedition comprise primarily equipment and provisions. The latter subdivides again into provisions for ship and headquarters and provisions for sledge-work.
The former are essentially normal, comprising standard commercial supplies, the principal thing being to have the best, and the specialness lies largely in the packing. The latter number only four items, pemmican, compressed tea, condensed milk, hard tack; but they are special in every detail of make and packing, with the exception of the condensed milk.
Here are a few of the items and figures on the list of supplies for one of my last expeditions, flour, 16,000 pounds; coffee, 1000 pounds; tea, 800 pounds; sugar, 10,000 pounds; kerosene, 3500 gallons; bacon, 7000 pounds; biscuit, 10,000 pounds; condensed milk, 100 cases; pemmican, 30,000 pounds; dried fish, 3000 pounds.