Three days later the Roosevelt reached Battle Harbor. On September 13 the ocean-going tug Douglas H. Thomas arrived from Sydney, C. B., a distance of four hundred and seventy-five miles, bringing Regan and Jefferds, representatives of the Associated Press, whom I greeted by saying, "This is a new record in newspaper enterprise, and I appreciate the compliment." Three days later the Canadian Government cable steamer, Tyrian, in command of Captain Dickson, arrived, bringing twenty-three special correspondents who had been hurried north as soon as our first despatches had reached New York, and on the 21st of September, as the Roosevelt was approaching the little town of Sydney, Cape Breton, we saw a beautiful sea-going yacht approaching us. It was the Sheelah, whose owner, Mr. James Ross, was bringing Mrs. Peary and our children up to meet me. Further down the bay we met a whole flotilla of boats, gay with bunting and musical with greetings. As we neared the city, the entire water-front was alive with people. The little town to which I had returned so many times unsuccessful gave us a royal welcome as the Roosevelt came back to her once more, flying at her mastheads, besides the Stars and Stripes and the ensign of our Canadian hosts and cousins, a flag which never before had entered any port in history, the North Pole flag.
Little more remains to be said.
The victory was due to experience; to the courage, endurance, and devotion of the members of the expedition, who put all there was in them into the work; and to the unswerving faith and loyalty of the officers, members, and friends of the Peary Arctic Club, who furnished the sinews of war, without which nothing could have been accomplished.
APPENDIX I
Summary of Bathymetrical, Tidal, and Meteorological Observations[4]
BY R. A. HARRIS
Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, D. C.
Soundings.—Previous to the expeditions of Peary, little was known concerning the depths of that portion of the Arctic Ocean which lies north of Greenland and Grant Land. In 1876 Markham and Parr at a point nearly north of Cape Joseph Henry, in latitude 83° 20½´, and longitude 63° W., found a depth of 72 fathoms. In 1882 Lockwood and Brainard at a point lying northerly from Cape May, in latitude about 82° 38´ N., and longitude about 51¼° W., sounded to a depth of 133 fathoms without touching bottom.
The motion of the polar pack was inferred by Lockwood from the existence of a tidal crack extending from Cape May to Beaumont Island. Peary's journeys along the northern coast of Greenland in 1900, and upon the Arctic ice in 1902 and 1906, firmly established the motion suspected by Lockwood. In April of the years 1902 and 1906 he found an eastward drifting of the ice due to westerly or northwesterly winds. Moreover, along the line of separation between two ice-fields the northern field had a greater eastward motion than had the field to the south of the line. These facts, together with the water sky observed to the north of Cape Morris Jesup in 1900, strongly indicated the existence of deep water between Greenland and the North Pole.
Though few in number, the soundings taken in 1909 between Cape Columbia and the Pole are of great interest to geographers.