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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 1906)
o Final Desperate Rush, When Men Ate Their Dogs, Told of by the Commander. Afloat for Five Days on an Ice Floe, and-' Escape on Bridge that Bent. Lost in Blinding Storms and Cut Their Way - Through Drift With Pickaxes. Cut Off from Provisions by Crack in Ice and Forced to Live on Half Rations. Musk Oxen Save Lives of the Party Wnen Their Despair (Published by pprnilssion of New York Herald.) NEW YORK.' Xov. 20. Robert E. Peary set Bail from North Sydney. B. for the North Pole on July 26, 1905. His last word before the report printed herewith was in the following telegram to Herbert !. Bridgman. of the Peary Arctic Club, dated Etah. North Greenland, August 18, 1905: "Cape York was reached August 7, 12 days from Sydney. The voyage was un usually favorable. No lee anywhere. Na tives and dogs were secured, and joined the Erik at North Star Bay August 9. Transferred to Erik and Roosevelt, pro ceeded to Etah immediately to overhaul machinery and prepare for Ice fighting. The Erik visited all the settlements, se Fought Ice and Storm on Journey North (Copyright 190 by the New York Herald Com pany. All rights reserved.) CHATEAU BAY. Quebec, Nov. 5. Leav. ing Etah soon after midnight of August 16, the Roosevelt encountered heavy ice off Lfttletcm Island, and bored into it toward Cape Sabine, realizing all our ex pectations in regard to her, even though deeply loaded and her boiler power re duced one-half. Cape Sabine and Prayer Harbor were densely packed with ice. negativing any approach, and we smashed along into open water under Cape Albert. We deposited a depot of coal boats and provisions at Victoria head; then steamed in open water to Cape Frazer. Working the tides from there, we reached Cape Collinson, only to be driven back by the Ice. The Roosevelt was then forced eastward into the heavy channel pack, and after a severe struggle reached loose ice on the Greenland side of Cape Calhoun, and after a temporary delay steamed north close by the Greenland coast, past Cape Constitution and Thank God Harbor. Smashed Against Ice Foot. A few miles north of Cape Lupton a sudden motion in the ice smashed the Roosevelt against the ice foot and ground her along Its face until she slipped into a narrow niche. This momentary riurry twisted the back of the rudder, broke the heavy iron head bands and gave the Roosevelt a very disagreeable grinding and squeezing, but did not seriously injure her. As soon as the pressure relaxed we steamed around Cape Summer and . lied to the fast ice of Newman Bay, under Cape Brevoort. Here we remained a week, waiting for a lead to open across Robeson Channel, ice from the north gradually ' filling the bay and water through which we had come. Again the Roosevelt deliberately at tacked the dense channel pack, and after 25 hours of severe and continuous stress and strain, such as I believe no other ves sel afloat could have withstood, we reached Wrangel Bay. Here the move ment of a heavy pack twisted the back of the rudder until it was nearly torn away, but did not render it entirely unservice able. In Lincoln Bay the Roosevelt was held Borne time and forced aground at every tide. Then we squeezed around Cape Union, and later around Cape Rawson, end early in the morning of September 6 made fast to the ice foot under the point of Cape Sheridan, just as the ice closed in and held us fast. This ice remained stationary until the evening of the 16th, when a large floe piled around Cape Sher idan, crushing everything before it. It pressed against our starboard side. Terribly Squeezed and Held Fast. The Roosevelt was unmercifully Squeezed . had one blade torn off her pro peller, and was lifted until the propeller showed out of water. On the turn of the tide she settled back somewhat, but did not float again until the following Sum mer. For 86 hours men, women and children worked incessantly landing coal and all supplies and equipments. This position become perforce the Roosevelt's Winter quarters, though I had aimed for Porter Bay at Cape Joseph Henry, 27 miles to the north. But here she remained, moored to the exposed face of the ice foot with her nose pointed steadily and stubbornly to the north. By October 1 100 musk oxen and deer had been secured. On October 12, from the summit of Black Cape I saw the sun for the last time. During October my dogs died rapidly, the cause being traced to poisoning from my cured whale meat Several tons of this were thrown away, and I faced the proposition of subsisting on my dogs, and what aid I could secure from the Eskimos until the Spring seeding season began. From this time until into February all the dogs and nearly all the Eskimos, with Marvin and Henson, lived in snow houses in the Iake Hazen Basin and along the slopes of the United States ranges, subsisting upon musk oxen, rein deer, hare and salmon trout. Not Very Cold, but Stormy. The Winter was the direct antithesis of that experienced by the Alert in this re gion. Temperatures were comparatively high, and every few days we had violent winds from the south, sometimes in the shape of squalls of a few hours' duration, sometimes continuing as furious gales for two or three days. At those times water leads from a hun wm0 3 Was the Greatest. 1 curing natives, dogs, and walrus, Joining the Roosevelt at. Etah August 13. "Natives are in prosperous condition, plenty of meat, abundance of dogs, and located this season deeper in Melville Bay and Inglefleld Gulf than for years. The Roosevelt overhauled machinery, filled with coal, and leaves Etah for the north with 23 Eskimo men and some 200 dogs August 16. Ice extends from Little ton Icland to Cape Isabella, but appar ently is not heavy. This may make the establishment of a base at Cape Sabine unnecessary. No ice was seen south of Littleton Island. All well on board. "PEARY." Mr. Peary, in his dispatch to the Herald today from Chateau Bay, on the coast of Labrador, takes up this thread and tells in detail this thrilling story of his latest journey to the frozen north: dred yards to two or three miles in width invariably formed, extending from Cape Rawson to Joseph Henry, and doubt less farther in both directions. The ice was in more or' less active motion prac tically all the time. g On Christmas night the Ice suddenly broke completely away from .the shore from Cape Rawson to beyond Cape Sheri dan and disappeared in the Inky darkness, leaving the starboard side of the Roose velt exposed and unprotected. Simul taneously a violent southerly gale began which threatened to tear the Roosevelt from her moorings, though tho port anchor and cable and every steel and manila cable on board was made fast to slots in the ice foot. The swell heaving around Cape Rawson from Robinson Channel rocked theRoosevelt pronounced ly. The next three weeks were periods of constant anxiety, with the ice pack surg ing back and forth along the shore and liable to crush upon us at any time. I had no fear that the Roosevelt would be crushed, but was prepared for her being forced partly upon the ice foot and thrown on her beam ends. Explicit or ders were issued in regard to the ex tinguishment of fires and lamps in this contingency. With the exception of brief intervals of quiet, the ice remained in motion up to the time of my leaving the ship, ami the Roosevelt was subjected to repeated but not crucial pressures. On February 7 Marvin came In with the last of the field parties and I found that 120 dogs remained out of my original pack of more than 230. A few days later (Taptain Bartlett, with Dr. Wolf, Mr. Clarke, Fireman Percy, Assistant Stew art, 20 Eskimos and 20 sledges, went to Cape Hecla to reconnoiter. The Ice northward from that point, they report ed, was in a condition disagreeable, though not unexpected. Leads of water extended north from Cape Hecla -as far as could be seen from the summit of the cape, and leads and pools were numerous to the northeast. On the Move for Cape Hecla. On February 19 Captain Bartlett left finally for Cape Hecla, Mr. Marvin and party followed the next day. Dr. Wolf and his party the next, and I was two days later. When I left the Roosevelt there was a lead of open water extend ing from Cape Joseph Henry past Capes Sheridan and Rawson. The northern part of Robeson Channel was open. There was open water along the Greenland coast as far as the Black Horn Cliffs and appar ently to. Cape Bryant, with numerous pools and leads in the sweep from Cape Henry to Cape Bryant. Three, marches brought me to Cape Hecla,' where the entire outfit was as sembled. Our encampment comprised Messrs. Bartlett, Wolf, Marvin, Henscn. Clarke and Ryan, Fireman Percy, myself and 21 Eskimos, with 120 dogs the per sonnel for one main and five or six di vision parties, which on my programme I hoped would be able to advance sup plies and maintain communication to a base beyond the highest point suited for my final point of departure. Point Moss, some 20 miles west of Cape Hecla, was determined as our point of departure from the land. Two days were spent at Cape Hecla resting the dogs, the expedition quartering In seven snow houses, and subsisting on four musk oxen killed just back of Cape Hecla. On February -28 Mr. Hensen left Cape Hecla with a pioneer party of three light sledges. Captain Bartlett and his party followed the next day, then Clarke and his party, then Dr. Wolf, then Messrs. Marvin, Bryan and myself. During our stay at Cape Hecla there was open water along the ice foot and a large lead reach ing north from the cape. Had to Wait for Ice to Be Quiet. On my second march from the lead the movement of the ice was such as com pelled me to assemble my sleds upon an old floe to wait until the commotion ceased. Further on the doctor's party was delayed by open water and obliged to camp. Beyond this the captain's party was delayed for a day by an open lead, and another lead necessitated detours be fore they could be crossed. - This and the roughness of the ice, a very considerable portion of the trail having to be cut with pick axes, made our progress slow. Our first glimpse of the sun was ob tained March 6. Some 80 miles from the land the char acter of the going greatly improved, and I began to hope that we were through the scattered ice near the land and into the less rugged surface of the central nolar THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, DECEMBER 2, 1906. 'TV Jlrtf7r n r i in 3 iag nt?Ty n"l.- r-- THE ROUTE NORTr'i FROMtTAH TO CAPE OO0 JOURNEY FROM THE iKZt. JOUfyNtT NOrvTH SECONPJOURNEVAUONG COAST COURSE OF THE DDL' roisi ETAH area. Leads, however, were more fre quent and wider at 84.38 latitude. We came upon Captain Bartlett, Messrs. Hensen and Clarke with their parties stalled by a broad lead extending east and west as far as could be seen.' A careful reconnoissance showed . no immediate prospect of crossing, and I sent Captain Bartlett and Mr. Clarke, with their sleds, back to bring up more supplies, remaining with my own and Mr. Hensen's party to get across the lead at the first oppor tunity. At this time the papties of Mr. Marvin. Dr. Wolf end Mr. Ryan were bound out ward from the land on their second trip. The lead slowly widened, keeping a pass able strip of water constantly open. After a delay of six days, the lead, now about two miles Wide, was crossed on the young ice. which bent beneath our weight and necessitated half leads on the sledge. Mr. Hensen s party proceeded north im mediately, while I remained a day longer to establish a cache on the north side of the lead and leave instructions for the supporting parties which I hoped would arrive in two or three days. When I started north from the land the weather was so thick it was almost Im possible to follow Mr. Hensen's trail, and a westerly wind was blowing, which set the ice grinding. At the end or the three marches I over took Mr. Hensen in 82.12 north latitude. camped in a dense fog. My own igloo was hardly completed before it began to blow heavy. The ice quickly responded to the pressure. Mr. Hensen s igloo, built too near the edge of the floe, was shattered by the breaking of the ice, and his party was obliged to build another nearer the center. . The gale, accompanied by snow, in creased in violence, and continued without interruption for six days. . At Its close my observations showed that we had been driven some 70 miles to the eastward, un doubtedly out of all communication with my supporting parties. Hensen - was , started northward again. and the two Ksauimeaux. with, empty NOV V 7 I k 7 II v K. - A.-r-TrW swf zr ' . i v- m t II 1 U J;S5i stoics FigOVLT IheriJan. I ROOSEVELT TO PT.M035. ROOSEVELT I uOTlT'O liiiF SH0W5 1 sledges, sent back on the track to meet any supporting parties that might possibly have crossed the lead, or if none had done so, to bring up the cache at the lead. Those men returned inside of 74 hours, saying they had been able to get less than the distance back to the cache, where they had encountered open water and completely sheltered ice as far north as they could- see from the highest pinnacles. It was evident that I could no longer count in the slightest degree upon the supporting parties, and that whatever was to be done must be done by a dash. With the outcome hanging entirely upon the weather and the condition of the ice. At the storm camp we abandoned every thing not absolutely necessary and bent every e,nergy to setting a record pace. In the legacy of retrievable damage which the storm had left us was one small codicil such snow as the wind had not torn from the face of the floes was beaten and banked hard, and the snow which had fallen had been hammered Into the areas of rough ice and the shattered hedges of the big floes, so that they gave us little trouble. North of the storm camp we had no occasion for1 snow shoes or pickaxes. The first march of 10 hours in the lead with the compass, sometimes on a dark track, the Bledges following in Indian file with drivers running beside or behind, placed us 30 miles to the good, my Bsqui meau said. . Fortyrfour hours on the second march I overtook Mr. Hensen in his camp beside a lead which was closed. When I arrived he hitched up and followed behind my hurry party. I had with me now seven men and six teams with less than half loads for each. As we advanced the character of the ice improved, the floe becoming much larger and rifts infrequent, but the cracks and narrow leads increased and were nearly all active. These cracks were uniformly at right angles to our course, and the ice on' the northern side was moving more rapidly eastward than on the southern. As dogs gave out, unable to keep the pace,, they were fed. to. the others. April , - . . 4 O V .XV' ES T 55s 5v 3 ' T TV - -lr'fri STORM CAMP DURING 6 DAYS GALE STORM CAMP DRIFTED 70 M I LEt EASTWARD ELAYEO GDAYS BY OPEN ILEADS START OF ICE JO U ,r CI1 U.W r PPAhTi 'S C0UR5R 20 we came into sl region of open leads leading nearly north and south, and the ice bottom became more pronounced. Hurrying on between these a forced march was made. Then we slept a few hours, and. starting again soon after mid night, pushed on till noon of the 21st. My observation then gave 87 degrees 6 minutes. I thanked God with as good a grace as possible for what I had been able to ac complish, (hough it was but an empty bauble compared with the eplendld jewel for which I was risking my life. But looking at my remaining dogs and tho nearly empty sledges, and bearing in mind the moving ice and the unknown quantity of the big leads between us and the nearest land, I felt that I had cut the margin as narrow as could be reasonably expected. My Hags were put out from the summit of the highest pinnacle near us and a hun-a dred feet or so beyond this I left a bottle containing a brief record) and a piece of the flag which six years before I had car ried around the northern end of Green land. Then we started to return to our last igloo, making no camp here. From the time we left storm camp the wind had blown with greater or less force, but without interruption "from a little south of the west. Now as we' retraced our steps it blew squarely In our faces, and was accompanied by a, fine drift of enow which cut like needles. When we reached camp I was nearly blind from its effects, and completely cut off. Of 14 cracks and narrow leads passed in this last march all but three had changed in the hours elapsing between our outward and return march. Last Sleep for Many Days. " " At this camp we took a full sleep, the last for a number of days, and then hur ried on sick at heart. I had hoped that Marvin had crossed the big lead before the storm, and that he woulc( cache provisions at Storm Canto ac- 0 TUI JAM .! i v ?s: hum 1 COMMA AV? FZOBEHTJ-r. ?7?Vr r fv cording to my instructions left there. I was very anxious, therefore, to hold on to the outward trail as far as Storm Camp and kept my two best Eskimo well in advance of the sledges, picking up our trail. When the trail was lost they wont at once to the wett and picked it up again. If a lead was encountered one went risht and the other left; and the first one that found a passing crossing signaled the fact to the following sledges. In this way wo were able to keep the trace, reaching camp every night exhausted and with eyes turning from the wind and snow. As on the outward so on our return Jour ney, never for an hour did the wind ceas. The last march into the Storm Camp, which we reached God only knows how was in the teeth of a blinding gale ot wind and snow in which none but an Es qulmo could have kept the trail. At 'Storm Camp we were held up tour hours by the gale, then resumed the march with the number of dogs still fur ther reduced. When we reacned the re gion where my Eskimos had been stopped in their attempt to bring up the cache from the big lead I was not surprised at the expressions of amazement, and almoat humor, with which they had returned to me. Thero was no open water, but the chain of broken ice was indescribable. Ap proaching 84 latitude we camped in a re gion of huge rafters near together, and running every direction. Soon one of my Eskimos sent in advance signaled open water. When I climbed to his side on an ice pinnacle there was a broad black band ex tending east and west as far as I could see. I turned east, keeping an Eskimo scaling close to the leads in search of a practicable crossing. Once he raised our hopes by signaling that he had found it. but when the sledges came up the place was impracticable. Ice Parted Beneath Their Feet. The next day we continued eastward and found a. mixture of naif congealed rubber ice barely sufficient to support us span ning the lead. The sledges were hurried to this, and we were within a few yards of the ice on the south side when our bridge failed us and the ice under us be gan to go apart'. It was a rather uncertain but finally successful scramble to get back. We camped on a piece of big floe bounded on one side by the steadily widening lead, on the other three by big rafters ot a thin character. Here we remained five days, drifting steadily eastward, and watching the lead slowly widen. The dogs were driven away and the sledges went to cook those which we ate ourselves?' On the fifth day two Eskimos whom I had sent reconnoitering to the east re ported young ice a few miles distant which might support us on snowshoes across the lead, now over two miles wide. No time was lost in hurrying to the place, when it was evident that it was our chance or never. Each man tied on his snowshoes with utmost care, and we be gan the crossing in widely extended lines. The thin film crusting of the black waters bent and yielded beneath us, sending un dulations ia every direction. I do not care for another similar experience. In Silence in Face of Death. Acro'Bs those indeterminate miles we walked in silence. It was with an inex pressible relief that I stepped on the firm ice on the other side, with a number of my party still on the ice. As we left the lead a widening lane of black water cut the frail bridge upon which we had crossed in two parts. During the remainder of this march and the next week we cut our way slowly through such a hell of shattered Ice as I "hope- never to see again, conglomerations of fragments in fize rrom a paving stone to the dome of the Capitol, rounded by the terrible grinding they had received be tween the jams of the big lead. Then the going steadily improved, a few I narrow leads intersecting our path, and I these finally disappearing. No motion 43 V, of the ice was perceptible, and it wa ev ident that we were under the shelter of Cape Morris Jettsup, and no longer in dan ger of drifting around it into the East Greenland current. On May 12 wo dragged ourselves Into the ic foot of the Greenland Coast at Cape Nowmayer. In an hour or two we had four hares. No one can imagine how delicious they were. Just before reaching land we cam upon fresh sledge tracks leading eastward, and tor an Instant I thought it might be a party looking for us, but an inspection of the tracks showed a very light sledge drawn by three dogs and accompanied by four men traveling slowly. I could not make it out further than it meant trouble, and as soon as we had slept a fe" hours I sent two Eskimos to follow the (rack. The next day they returned with Clarke and hi.s three Eskimos, skull-faced and wavering In gait. My man ha- found them about three miles eafct of their rope; this addition of four starving men to my hungry party did not lighten my i.'ouble, but 10 more hares secured here improved matters and we started along the coast for the Roosevelt. I kept one Eskimo constantly scouting the shore abreast of the line of march looking for hare, but musk oxen were to be our salvation, and so I took the pass age inside of Britannia Island and Fence Cape May and Cape' Bryant. Secured Necessary Musk Oxen. We had camped on the ice a little northeast of Brant Island and had just killed a dog for food when, with my spy glass, seven musk oxen were seen on the north, seme five or six miles distant. 1 went away on snowshoes and secured the entire seven. Then the tent was brought up and for two days we ate and slept. Be fore we reached Cape Bryant (he meat was gone. My men ate continuously and I had no heart to restrain them. At Cape Bryant sledge tracks coming from the north showed that another sup porting party, which I judged to be Mar vin's, had been driven upon the Green land coast, at Repulse Harbor, everything but instruments and record were left to be brought in later, and we headed across Robeson Channel for a point a little north of Cape Union, the only direction in which the ice was practicable. One march and two or three hours of another landed us on the ice foot north of Cape Union. Here one of my Eskimos remarked, "Tlgerakshua keska svoypuni." Freely translated, "Back again, thank God!" One man dropped out in the march from Repulse Harbor, another remained at the camp on the ice aDd another dropped be hind between the camp and the ice foot. From Cape Union the hard level ice foot presented easy walking to the Roosevelt, whoss slender spars looked very beautiful as we rounded Cape Raw-son. Arriving on board L immediately sent two Eskimos and teams back with foods and stimulant to bring in the three strag glers. I learned that Marvin with Ryan and some Eskimos had left for the Greenland coast in search of Clarke and, that Cap tain Bartlett and Dr. Wolf were still peg ging away at the work north of Hecla. I sent a messenger to recall Marvin and another with a letter to Hecla to reach Captain Bartlett as soon as he arrived. But Forty Dogs Remained. Forty-one dogs out of 120 survived the Spring campaign. On the seventh day after my return I left the ship with my own party of three Eskimos, and Marvin, who was to run a line of sounqings as far north as possible, and his party, com prising Boatsman Murphy and two Eski mos. On the way I met Captain Bartlett re turning rather weak, but still in good con dition. In spite of the most persistent ef forts he and the doctor had been unable to get further than a point probably somewhat beyond Cache No. 2, about 98 miles from the lund. The April gale had so completely de- (Concluded on Fate 49.) Is.1 , x vTSt