In this structure I passed the polar winter at Fort Conger in entire comfort, using for fuel chips, old papers, bits of tarred paper, and the like picked up during the summer about Fort Conger. To give an idea of the complete insulation of this place from the external cold, I found, on returning from some of the autumn hunting-trips, that I could warm the interior of my tent to a comfortable temperature by the judicious burning of a yard of tar roofing paper in my sheet-iron stove.
Winter quarters should be as warm and comfortable as possible, as a matter of improving the effectiveness of the personnel. In this they play a very important part. Men who have passed the winter in comfort and ample warmth have more vitality and endurance and will stand the strain and exposure of the spring sledge-journey better than men who have been uncomfortable and chilly through the winter. This is just as definite a proposition as that Eskimo dogs that have been well fed during the winter will stand the sledge-journey better than dogs that have been half fed. The ideas of toughening one’s self against the cold, of training for the sledge-journey, of inuring one’s self to scant rations, are fallacies.
The Eskimos, through generation of life in the polar regions, have worked out from stern experience the true practice in all such life questions, and we find them keeping their winter habitations heated up to the nineties, and we find them gorging themselves with food when food is to be had. As a result, when the necessity arises, they are in condition, and have a reserve vitality which enables them to endure bitter cold and to go for a long time on scant food.
Even the animals, the musk-ox, the reindeer, the hare, know the trick, and during the summer eat incessantly and travel little, and thus get themselves in condition for the bitter winter when it requires incessant travel to secure starvation rations.
After the question of suitable quarters for a party comes the problem of keeping them in good spirits during the four months of darkness, the secret of which lies in keeping each member busy and in varying the monotony of the work as much as possible. For this purpose much of my material was taken north in the rough, and the work of shaping it—building sledges for our spring work, making harnesses for the dogs, our fur clothing, and other equipment—as well as regular hunting-trips, kept time from hanging heavily on our hands. The younger members of the party invariably went out on hunting-parties during the eight or ten days of moonlight each month, those who went into the field one moon staying on the ship the next. The coming and going of these parties gave plenty to talk about and to look forward to.
As for hedging my men about with rigorous rules, I believe it is not necessary, and have never done it. Much of the routine of ship life was laid aside while we were in winter quarters, there being only the watches of the regular day and night watchmen, the only regular bells being a signal for all noise to cease at ten in the evening, and another for lights to be turned out at midnight. Meals were served at regular hours in the mess-rooms, and lights were supposed to be out at midnight, but were not forbidden if a man wanted one after that time. For the Eskimos there was one rigid rule—no noise was to be made by them after the ten o’clock bell until eight the next morning. And they knew, if they were up late at night, they would be expected to go on with their work of building sledges and making fur clothing as usual the next day. The engineers and sailors, besides attending to their regular work, sometimes helped with the equipment, but seldom went out on hunting-trips.
I had a fairly complete arctic library in my cabin, and these books were borrowed one at a time by the different members of the expedition. We also had a good collection of the best novels, which did much to while away the long evenings, and a pianola, the gift of a friend, gave us all great pleasure. The sailors amused themselves with games of checkers, dominoes, cards, in story-telling, boxing, and in contests of strength with the Eskimos. A banjo or an accordion was in almost every party, and frequent phonograph concerts in charge of the steward, Percy, varied the monotony. Holidays like Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, and birthdays were observed by a special dinner, with a table-cloth and our best dishes, with perhaps games or sports afterward. On all my expeditions few, if any, complaints of homesickness or monotony were made.
CHAPTER VI
POLAR CLOTHING
The question of clothing is one of vital importance to the polar explorer, and it is a matter concerning which there is a wide difference of opinion among various authorities. Despite what some explorers say to the contrary, clothing made from the fur of arctic animals is the only kind suitable for serious work in these regions. Many, finding the fur clothing of their own particular expeditions unsatisfactory for the purposes to which they put it, have drawn general instead of specific conclusions in regard to the value of fur.
There have been very few who have appreciated the value of fur clothing. Nansen was one of these, but he was not fortunate enough to be able to get the real polar furs for use, and therefore found his wolf-skins not so satisfactory as he had expected.