BORUP'S FARTHEST NORTH
That night was one of the noisiest that I have ever spent in an igloo,
and none of us slept very soundly. Hour after hour the rumbling and
complaining of the ice continued, and it would not have surprised us
much if at any moment the ice had split directly across our camp, or
even through the middle of one of our igloos. It was not a pleasant
situation, and every member of the party was glad when the time came to
get under way again.
In the morning we found a passage across the lead a short distance to
the east of our camp over some fragments which had become cemented
together during the cold night. We had only gone forward a few hundred
yards when we came upon the igloo which Henson had occupied. This did
not indicate rapid progress.
[Illustration: COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
A TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF THE DIFFICULTIES OF WORKING SLEDGES OVER A PRESSURE
RIDGE]
At the end of six hours we came upon another of Henson's igloos--not
greatly to my surprise. I knew, from experience, that yesterday's
movement of the ice and the formation of leads about us would take all
the spirit out of Henson's party until the main party should overtake
them again. Sure enough, the next march was even shorter. At the end of
a little over four hours we found Henson and his division in camp,
making one sledge out of the remains of two. The damage to the
sledges was the reason given for the delay.
This march having been largely over a broad zone of rough rubble ice,
some of my own sledges had suffered slight damage, and the entire party
was now halted and the sledges were overhauled.
After a short sleep I put Marvin ahead to pick the trail, with
instructions to try to make two long marches to bring up the average.
Marvin got away very early, followed a little later by Bartlett, Borup,
and Henson, with pickaxes to improve further the trail made by Marvin.
After that came the sledges of their divisions, I, as usual, bringing up
the rear with my division, that I might have everything ahead of me and
know just how things were going. Marvin gave us a good march of not less
than seventeen miles, at first over very rough ice, then over larger and
more level floes, with a good deal of young ice between.
At the end of this march, on the evening of the 19th, while the Eskimos
were building the igloos, I outlined to the remaining members of my
party, Bartlett, Marvin, Borup, and Henson, the program which I should
endeavor to follow from that time on. At the end of the next march
(which would be five marches from where MacMillan and the doctor turned
back) Borup would return with three Eskimos, twenty dogs, and one
sledge, leaving the main party--twelve men, ten sledges, and eighty
dogs. Five marches farther on Marvin would return with two Eskimos,
twenty dogs, and one sledge, leaving the main party with nine men, seven
sledges, and sixty dogs. Five marches farther on Bartlett would return
with two Eskimos, twenty dogs, and one sledge, leaving the main party
six men, forty dogs, and five sledges.
I hoped that with good weather, and the ice no worse than that which we
had already encountered, Borup might get beyond 85°, Marvin beyond 86°,
and Bartlett beyond 87°. At the end of each five-march section I should
send back the poorest dogs, the least effective Eskimos, and the worst
damaged sledges.
As will appear, this program was carried out without a hitch, and the
farthest of each division was even better than I had hoped. At this camp
the supplies, equipment, and personal gear of Borup and his Eskimos were
left for them to pick up on their way home, thus avoiding the
transportation of some two hundred and fifty pounds out and back over
the next march.
The 19th was a brilliant day of yellow sunlight. The season was now so
far advanced that the sun, circling as always in this latitude around
and around the heavens, was above the horizon nearly half the time, and
during the other half there was almost no darkness--only a gray
twilight.
The temperature this day was in the minus fifties, as evidenced by the
frozen brandy and the steam-enshrouded dogs; but bubbles in all my
spirit thermometers prevented a definite temperature reading. These
bubbles were caused by the separation of the column, owing to the
jolting of the thermometer with our constant stumbling over the rough
ice of the polar sea. The bubbles might be removed at night in camp, but
this required some time, and the accurate noting of temperatures during
our six or seven weeks' march to the Pole and back did not seem
sufficiently vital to our enterprise to make me rectify the thermometer
every night. When I was not too tired, I got the bubbles out.
Again Marvin, who was still pioneering the trail, gave us a fair march
of fifteen miles or more, at first over heavy and much-raftered ice,
then over floes of greater size and more level surface. But the reader
must understand that what we regard as a level surface on the polar ice
might be considered decidedly rough going anywhere else.
The end of this march put us between 85° 7´ and 85° 30´, or about the
latitude of our "Storm Camp" of three years before; but we were
twenty-three days ahead of that date, and in the matter of equipment,
supplies, and general condition of men and dogs there was no comparison.
Bartlett's estimate of our position at this camp was 85° 30´, Marvin's
85° 25´, and my own 85° 20´. The actual position, as figured back later
from the point where we were first able, by reason of the increasing
altitude of the sun, to take an observation for latitude, was 85° 23´.
In the morning Bartlett again took charge of the pioneer division,
starting early with two Eskimos, sixteen dogs, and two sledges. Borup, a
little later, with three Eskimos, sixteen dogs, and one sledge, started
on his return to the land.
I regretted that circumstances made it expedient to send Borup back from
here in command of the second supporting party. This young Yale athlete
was a valuable member of the expedition. His whole heart was in the
work, and he had hustled his heavy sledge along and driven his dogs
with almost the skill of an Eskimo, in a way that commanded the
admiration of the whole party and would have made his father's eyes
glisten could he have seen. But with all his enthusiasm for this kind of
work, he was still inexperienced in the many treacheries of the ice; and
I was not willing to subject him to any further risks. He had also, like
MacMillan, frosted one of his heels.
It was a serious disappointment to Borup that he was obliged to turn
back; but he had reason to feel proud of his work--even as I was proud
of him. He had carried the Yale colors close up to eighty-five and a
half degrees, and had borne them over as many miles of polar ice as
Nansen had covered in his entire journey from his ship to his "farthest
north."
I can still see Borup's eager and bright young face, slightly clouded
with regret, as he turned away at last and disappeared with his Eskimos
and steaming dogs among the ice hummocks of the back trail.
A few minutes after Borup went south, Henson with two Eskimos, three
sledges, and twenty-four dogs began to follow Bartlett's trail to the
north. Marvin and myself, with four Eskimos, five sledges, and forty
dogs, were to remain in camp twelve hours longer in order to give
Bartlett one march the start of us. With the departure of Borup's
supporting party, the main expedition comprised twelve men, ten sledges,
and eighty dogs.
From this camp on, each division comprised three men instead of four;
but I did not reduce the division daily allowance of tea, milk, and
alcohol. This meant a slightly greater individual consumption of these
supplies, but so long as we kept up the present rate of speed I
considered it justified. With the increasing appetite caused by the
continuous work, three men were easily able to consume four men's tea
rations. The daily allowance of pemmican and biscuit I could not
increase. Three men in an igloo were also more comfortable than four,
and the smaller igloos just about balanced in time and energy the lesser
number of men that were left to build them.
We had now resumed the program of advance party and main party, which
had been interrupted during the last two marches. The now continuous
daylight permitted a modification of the previous arrangement so as to
bring the two parties in touch every twenty-four hours. The main party
remained in camp for about twelve hours after the departure of the
advance. The advance party made its march, camped, and turned in. When
the main party had covered the march made by the advance party and
arrived at their igloos, the advance party broke out and started on
while the main party occupied their igloos and turned in for sleep.
Thus I was in touch with Bartlett and his division every twenty-four
hours, to make any changes in the loads that seemed advisable, and to
encourage the men if necessary. At this stage in our journey Henson's
party traveled with Bartlett's pioneer party, and Marvin and his men
traveled with mine.
This arrangement kept the parties closer together, relieved the pioneers
of all apprehension, and reduced by fifty per cent. the chance of
separation of the parties by the opening of a lead.
Occasionally I found it advisable to transfer an Eskimo from one
division to another. Sometimes, as has been seen, these odd people are
rather difficult to manage; and if Bartlett or any other member of the
expedition did not like a certain Eskimo, or had trouble in managing
him, I would take that Eskimo into my own division, giving the other
party one of my Eskimos, because I could get along with any of them. In
other words, I gave the other men their preferences, taking myself the
men who were left. Of course, when I came to make up my division for the
final dash, I took my favorites among the most efficient of the Eskimos.
At the next camp Marvin made a sounding and to our surprise reached
bottom at only three hundred and ten fathoms, but in the process of
reeling up the wire it separated, and the lead and some of the wire were
lost.
Soon after midnight we got under way, Marvin taking a sledge, and after
a short march--only some ten miles--we reached Bartlett's camp. He had
been delayed by the breaking of one of his sledges, and I found one of
his men and Henson's party still there repairing the sledge. Bartlett
himself had gone on, and Henson and the other men got away soon after
our arrival.
Marvin made another sounding of seven hundred fathoms and no bottom,
unfortunately losing two pickaxes (which had been used in place of a
lead) and more of the wire in hauling it up. Then we turned in. It was a
fine day, with clear, brilliant sunlight, a fine breeze from the north,
and temperature in the minus forties.
The next march, on the 22d, was a fair one of not less than fifteen
miles. The going was at first tortuous, over rough, heavy ice, which
taxed the sledges, dogs, and drivers to the utmost; then we struck a
direct line across large and level floes. At the end of this march I
found that Bartlett and one of his men had already left; but Henson and
his party were in their igloo. Ooqueah, of Bartlett's party, whose
sledge had broken down the day before, was also in camp. I turned
Marvin's sledge over to Ooqueah, so that Bartlett should have no further
hindrance in his work of pioneering, and started him and Henson's party
off. The damaged sledge I turned over to Marvin, giving him a light
load. We were not without our difficulties at this period of the
journey, but our plan was working smoothly and we were all hopeful and
in excellent spirits.