In olden times kings and princes were the warlike leaders of their
countrymen, the doers of heroic deeds. Nowadays they are kept so busy
thinking how to govern wisely that they don’t get a chance to be
heroes. But there is at least one prince of these modern times who has
proved himself the equal if not the superior in bravery of any of those
oldtime royal heroes. This is Prince Luigi Amadeo of Savoy-Aosta, Duke
of the Abruzzi; whose full name, by the way, is Luigi Amadeo Giuseppe
Maria Ferdinando Francesco.
Prince Luigi is an Italian, the son of Amadeo, ex-king of Spain. He
was also a nephew of King Humbert of Italy, and therefore the first
cousin of the present king of Italy, Victor Emmanuel. Luigi was born at
Madrid, January 29, 1873. He studied at the naval college at Leghorn.
It was there that he first showed his truly democratic spirit. He
preferred to be called by his first name, and never allowed himself to
be addressed as “Duke” or “Royal Highness.” From college he entered
the Italian navy, where he made a good record for obedience and
intelligence.
But to settle down as a mere prince or duke would never have satisfied
one of Luigi’s adventurous character. He wanted to do big things and
accomplish dangerous deeds. His first exploit was the ascent of Mt. St.
Elias in Alaska. Until he accomplished this in 1897 the great peak had
never been scaled.
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.
[Illustration: ROBERT E. PEARY]
_Robert E. Peary_