The distance from Cape Colombia to the Pole and back is 826 miles, a distance which had been greatly exceeded in the sledge journeys of the British officers of the Franklin search expeditions. M’Clintock made a journey of 1210 miles in 99 days without the help of dogs, and Lieut. Mecham travelled over 1336 miles, the average rate outwards being 18½ miles, and on the return journey 23½ miles per diem; a feat that has never been beaten by dog-sledging. The peculiar difficulty of Peary’s undertaking was caused by the drift and by the open lanes of water. Against the latter formidable obstacle he again appears to have taken no precautions.
In February 1909 the sledging parties proceeded to Cape Colombia, Bartlett starting on the 15th, and Peary with two Arctic Highlanders, two sledges, and 16 dogs on the 22nd. On the last day of February Bartlett started for the north, as a pioneer party to cut leads through the ridges of hummocks, and thus make the route easier for the sledges that were to follow. On March 1st Peary started with his own sledges and the limited sledges—24 men, 19 sledges, and 133 dogs. Iglus were used instead of tents, which was a mistake, and the scale of diet was practically much the same as M’Clintock’s, the great master of Arctic sledge travelling.
On the 5th March they came to a lane of open water, which detained them for several days owing to lack of means for crossing it. “During five days Peary paced up and down deploring his luck.” Afterwards they crossed seven lanes of water on young ice. Bartlett was the last to return, after taking an observation with the resulting latitude of 87° 46′ 49″ N. Thus 280 miles had been traversed in a month and they were 133 miles from the Pole. The speed had been calculated at under 15 miles a day.
From this spot Peary went on for the Pole with only his negro servant and four Eskimos, five sledges and 40 dogs. It was a great mistake to enter upon what he considered the most important part of his journey without any white companion, more especially as bearings and distances do not appear to have been ascertained by observations. For help in making these rough estimates, and for such observations as were taken, a colleague was imperatively necessary.
Directly Peary parted from Bartlett his estimated distances were more than doubled, and the course was assumed to be due north. Peary refers to the meridian of Cape Colombia as if he had never deviated from that meridian during the whole journey. Yet there is no record of the latitude and longitude of Cape Colombia having been fixed[164], and no mention of any observations for amplitude during the whole journey. Without such observations it would not be possible to keep on the same meridian. Yet, after journeys during four days estimated at from 25 to 30 miles a day, a meridian altitude of the sun was taken which gave a latitude of 89° 25′ N. or 97 miles due north from the position where Bartlett observed. Without amplitude observations this would not be possible, so that there must be mistakes in the observations for this and subsequent meridian altitudes. The sun was very near the horizon at noon at that time of the year. The distances were, perhaps naturally, over-estimated. Peary was very fortunate in being able to follow his tracks during his return journey, in spite of a furious gale which might have obliterated them.
It is to be hoped, in the interests of geographical discovery and of science, that there will now be an end of the North Pole except as a necessary point on maps of the world, and that the energies of explorers will hereafter be turned to more useful work. A complete series of magnetic observations at the 90th degree of north latitude would, however, be important in the opinion of those who believe that terrestrial magnetism is connected with the earth’s axis.
CHAPTER XLI
KOOLEMANS BEYNEN AND THE VOYAGES OF THE WILLEM BARENTSZ. SIR MARTIN CONWAY AND SPITSBERGEN. CAPTAIN BERNIER AND CANADIAN ARCTIC LANDS
The voyages of Sir Allen Young in the Pandora had as one result the training of the character of an enthusiastic young Arctic navigator whose brief career was so brilliant and impressive that no Arctic history would be complete without some account of it.
Laurens Rijnhart Koolemans Beynen was born at the Hague on the 11th March 1852, and became a midshipman in the Royal Dutch Navy in 1871. He saw service in the North Sea, on the coast of Guinea, and in Sumatra, returning home and obtaining his Lieutenant’s commission in 1874. Beynen had read much of the former glories of the Dutch navy, and had thought over the possibility of restoring them. He felt that, owing to exclusive steamer service in well-known seas, and to enervating work in the Indian Archipelago, Dutch seamen had lost much of their skill and spirit. He therefore desired to see new fields of enterprise occupied by his seafaring countrymen, to serve as a counterpoise to the less instructive service in the Dutch Indies. Above all, he considered voyages of discovery in the Arctic seas to be the most fitted to call forth a new spirit among Dutch seamen. Full of these ideas young Beynen called upon Commodore Jansen, with whom he was not previously acquainted, as the officer who was most likely to sympathise with them[165]. It so happened that Jansen had just received a letter from Captain Allen Young, and another from myself, asking whether a young Dutch naval officer could not be appointed to serve in the Pandora. Jansen warmly sympathised with the aspirations of the young officer, and he received permission to join the vessel.
Beynen could not fail to learn much under such a splendid seaman as Allen Young, and he became acquainted with ice navigation in its many phases during the season of 1875, returning with much knowledge and increased enthusiasm. In the winter of 1876, at my request, he undertook to edit a second edition of the voyages of Barentsz for the Hakluyt Society. The work entailed much research, and he accomplished it with diligence and considerable literary ability. It is a standard work which is frequently referred to. Beynen then served under Allen Young in the second voyage of the Pandora and proved himself to be very useful in peculiarly trying circumstances[166].