It was in 1900 that he led an expedition to the Arctic region which broke Nansen’s “farthest north” record. Unfortunately the duke himself was severely frostbitten and could not leave the ship; but Captain Umberto Cagni reached latitude 86° 33´, and came nearer the Pole by a few miles than Nansen.
The Duke’s ship, the Polar Star, sailed from Christiania on June 12, 1899. Seriously crushed by the ice, they had a hard task to prevent its sinking. But this was done, and Cagni with a party set out over the ice of the Arctic Ocean for the Pole. Their sufferings were terrible, and only heroic efforts brought them back alive. The expedition returned home in 1900, where honors were heaped upon them all.
But even these successes did not satisfy the royal adventurer. He looked around for other fields to conquer, and found that the loftiest peak in the Ruwenzori range in Africa, the “Mountains of the Moon” of Ptolemy, had never been scaled. He conquered this awe-inspiring height in 1906.
In 1909 he tried to conquer Mt. Godwin-Austen in the Himalayas. This peak is the second highest known in the world. It rises 28,250 feet in the air. The duke reached a little over 19,000 feet; but was compelled to give up the attempt. But he turned to Bride Peak, near at hand, rising 25,100 feet, and ascended it a distance of 24,580 feet, the world’s record for altitude.
And notwithstanding the fact that he has accomplished so many big things and done so many brave deeds, the Duke of the Abruzzi is very modest, and rarely wears any of his innumerable decorations and medals.
ROBERT E. PEARY