GREENLAND AND THE EARLIER JOURNEYS OF NANSEN AND PEARY
On the whole of the earth’s surface there is probably no more
desolate and uninviting country than Greenland. Extending for a
distance of over 1400 miles from north to south, and of some 900
miles from east to west at its broadest point, almost the whole of it
is covered with a permanent ice-cap, which probably attains in places
a depth of 3000 feet, and on which it is absolutely impossible for a
human being to sustain life for long.
Some small portions of the coast are inhabited by tribes of Eskimos
and by settlers, while here and there traces remain of its early
Norse discoverers, many of them probably Christians, as Holm, in
1880, found ruins of four stone churches in the Julianshaab district.
These settlements are confined to small areas on the western coast;
the eastern coast, with the exception of a small tract between Cape
Bismarck and Cape Farewell, whither a few Eskimos migrated from the
Parry Islands, is entirely uninhabited. This coast, indeed, protected
as it is by an almost impassable barrier of ice and shrouded by
perpetual fog, has never been very thoroughly explored, in spite of
the persistent efforts of generations of daring travellers. During
the earlier days of Arctic exploration, Hudson, the Dane Daniell,
Gale Hamke, Han Egede and his son, Olsen Wallör, and other whalers
mapped out small sections of the coast, but their discoveries did not
amount to very much.
In 1822, however, Captain William Scoresby, jun., one of the most
famous of Scottish whalers, visited the coast, and, in the intervals
of fishing, succeeded in charting and sketching it from Hudson’s
Cape Hold-with-Hope to Gale Hamke Bay, making at the same time a
number of valuable astronomical and trigonometrical observations.
Captain Edward Sabine, while engaged on his great pendulum work of
1823, visited Pendulum Island with Captain Clavering, who explored
much of the coast in the neighbourhood, the field which he thus
opened up being later developed by Koldewey, with whose voyage in the
_Germania_ we have already dealt. Among others who have contributed
to our still scanty knowledge of this desolate land are Blosseville,
Wandell, Graah, Giesecke, Rink, Dalager, Jensen, Steenstrup, Knutsen,
Knudsen, Eberlin, Garde, Ryder, Drygalski, and Nathorst, thanks to
whose efforts much of the east coast has been mapped out.
For centuries even less was known of the great ice-cap which forms
the interior, and, until recently, it remained practically untrodden
by the foot of man. The Eskimos believed it to be the abode of the
Kivitogs, or sorcerers, and would not attempt to penetrate it,
while few of the explorers who had the hardihood to venture upon it
succeeded in achieving much. In 1870 Nordenskiöld and Berggren, the
naturalist, succeeded in penetrating it to a distance of thirty-five
miles from Aulaitsivik Fiord, and discovered a true ice-plant and
a dust of cosmic origin, which the geologist named kryokonite.
Repeating the attempt in 1883, Nordenskiöld, after fifteen marches,
reached 48° 15′ W., at an elevation of 4900 feet. Seeing that it was
impossible for him to proceed much farther, he sent on two Laps on
skis, who covered another 140 miles, and reported on returning that,
though they had reached an elevation of 6600 feet, the ice-field
still rose steadily.
The first man to cross Greenland from one coast to the other was
Dr Fridtjof Nansen, who was later to win still further fame for
himself by his daring attempt to cross the North Pole in the _Eram_.
Nansen was born on October 16, 1861, and from his earliest youth he
displayed the keenest interest in natural science and that absolute
contempt for danger which proved of such immense service to him
later on. It was in 1887, while curator of the Bergen museum, that
he first announced his intention of crossing that terrible ice-cap
which had hitherto defied the efforts of even the hardiest explorers.
The announcement was greeted with ridicule, but, nevertheless, he
received over forty applications from would-be companions, and the
sum of £300, the estimated cost of the expedition, was presented by a
generous Dane.
No sooner had it been made possible for him to carry out his plans
than he set about the preparations for the journey. Not only was it
necessary for him to select his companions and to arrange all the
details of the route which he proposed to follow and the equipment
which he meant to take with him, but he also thought it advisable to
test the various kinds of skis and snowshoes on which the trip was
to be made, and to accustom himself to hardships by sleeping on a
snow mountain protected from the cold by only a bag.
His companions were to be five in number, and consisted of Otto
Sverdrup, a retired ship’s captain; Lieut. Dietrichson, of the
Norwegian army; Christian Christiansen Frana, a peasant from North
Norway; and two Laps, named Balto and Ravna. Nansen’s plan was
daring in the extreme, for he proposed to land on the east coast of
Greenland, and to make his way as best as he could to the west. It
will be obvious that, having once embarked upon the trip, the party
could not possibly turn back. Ahead of them lay civilisation and
food; behind them lay nothing but an uninhabited and inhospitable
coast, where they would be compelled to die of starvation should they
return to it. By adopting this route, therefore, he burnt his boats
behind him.
In May 1888 Nansen and his companions sailed from Norway in the
sealer which was to take them to Greenland. They had made an
arrangement with the captain that business was to come first, and
that he was not to go out of his way to land them. Accordingly it was
not until July 17, when the ship happened to be within two miles and
a half of the shore, that the explorers were able to put off in their
two boats. As we have had occasion to point out more than once, the
east coast of Greenland is generally encumbered with ice, and Nansen
found that reaching the shore was by no means so easy a matter as
he had anticipated. For many days they were drifted about with the
pack, sometimes being carried as far as thirty miles out to sea, and
it was not until July 29 that they were able to effect a landing.
Even now, however, they were not able to start immediately across
the ice-cap, for in the course of their wanderings they had been
carried 200 miles to the south, and it was necessary for them to make
a toilsome journey northward before, on August 10, they were able to
set their course for the west coast.
They found at once that it was quite impossible for them to travel
by day, as the snow was so soft that very little progress could
be made. Even at night the conditions were but little better, for
their way lay over rough and hummocky ice, which was frequently
intersected by chasms, and rain fell in torrents; consequently they
were only able to cover a few miles on each march. As they travelled
upward, however, towards that high plateau of which Central Greenland
consists, the cold grew more intense, with the result that the
ice became firmer, and they were able to travel by day. The cold,
however, though it brought relief to them in one direction, was not
without its disadvantages, for they were unable to find any more
drinking water, and were obliged to content themselves with snow,
which they melted in flasks carried at their breasts.
The upward journey occupied them about three weeks, and it was with
the utmost relief that they found themselves at last on the plateau,
at an elevation of about 9000 feet. The ascent had been terribly
steep, the work of dragging the five sledges had been excessively
arduous, and so much time had consequently been spent, that Nansen
determined to change his course, and, instead of pressing on
to Christianshaab, to make for Godthaab, his nearest point in a
south-westerly direction. The second half of the journey afforded a
very pleasant contrast to the first. Abandoning the biggest of the
sledges and binding the others together in couples, the explorers set
sail and sent them racing down the slope while they glided beside
them on their skis. As they neared the coast they were obliged to go
more cautiously, for they very nearly tumbled head over heels down
the first of the precipices which break up the ice-cap at this point.
With some difficulty they succeeded in reaching the shore, and here
the party split up. Nansen, Sverdrup, and one of the Laps made a
crazy and exceedingly uncomfortable boat out of willows, in which
they sailed to the Eskimo settlement of New Herrnhut. Here they were
received by a missionary, and a party was sent back for the others,
who arrived in safety on October 16.
Nansen had intended to return to Norway that autumn, but the last
ship had sailed, and he was consequently obliged to spend the winter
at Godthaab. He ultimately reached home at the end of May, in the
happy knowledge that he had performed a feat which had hitherto
been considered impossible, and that he had proved the interior of
Greenland to be a vast ice-field. The journey had cost him far more
than he had originally anticipated, but the deficit was soon made
good by private subscription.
Nansen was not the only man of the time who was attempting to solve
the riddle of Central Greenland, for before he set out on his daring
journey, the brilliant young American, Lieutenant Peary, had already
begun that series of raids upon the inland ice which were eventually
to be attended by very remarkable results.
Peary is a native of Maine, and he began his career as an engineer in
the United States navy. He seems, however, to have been predestined
by nature for the life of an Arctic traveller, for, as Sir Clements
Markham well put it, he combines “forethought and prudence in
planning his operations with great skill and undaunted resolution in
carrying them into execution”—qualities which more, perhaps, than
any others go to make a successful explorer. It was in the year 1885
that he first turned his attention seriously to that branch of work
with which his name is now so intimately connected. Realising that
there was still a vast field for research in Central Greenland, he
then suggested to the academies and learned societies of the United
States that he should undertake an expedition thither, with a view
to pursuing scientific investigations in that practically unknown
country, and to discovering once and for all whether or not Greenland
was an island. The idea was taken up enthusiastically, and sufficient
funds were soon raised to enable him to carry his plans into
execution.
His first trip was more or less tentative, for he was at that time
totally inexperienced in Arctic travel, and it was, of course,
necessary for him to find out exactly what difficulties he would
have to encounter on such a journey as that which he proposed to
undertake. Leaving America in May 1886, he was soon at Godhaven,
where he met his friend Christian Maigaard, a prominent official
in those parts, who intended to accompany him on his journey.
Thence he sailed up the Pakitsok Fiord, at the end of which lay
his starting-point. After carefully reconnoitering the glacier and
discovering a tongue of ice which seemed reasonably accessible, he
started off with Maigaard and two Eskimos, their equipment consisting
of a couple of sledges and provisions for about three weeks. Their
way did not lie in particularly pleasant places, for the ice-field
was intersected with innumerable crevasses which needed a good deal
of negotiation. He found, however, that travelling was by no means
impossible, and the party succeeded in penetrating the interior to a
distance of about a hundred miles before lack of provisions compelled
them to beat a retreat.
He returned to America more enthusiastic than ever about his plans
for exploring the north of Greenland, and fully convinced that he
could accomplish great things there, given the opportunity. It was
not, however, until the year 1891 that he was able to set out on his
second journey on the steamboat _Kite_, commanded by Captain Richard
Pick. On this occasion he was accompanied by his wife; Dr Cook, the
distinguished ethnologist; Gibson, an ornithologist; John Verhoeff,
a mineralogist; his own coloured servant; and last, but by no means
least, by Elvind Astrup, a young Norwegian who did splendid work not
only on this but also on Peary’s later expeditions. There was also
on board a party of nine men of science, with Professor Heilprin at
their head, whose task it was to make researches and observations
while Peary was away on his long journey.
One serious misadventure marked the passage out, as Peary had the
misfortune to break his leg, with the result that he was absolutely
helpless when the party landed at M’Cormick Bay, and was precluded
from taking part in any of the short autumn trips round Inglefield
Gulf.
The first days after their arrival at the bay were, of course, spent
in the erection of the portable dwelling which they had brought
with them, and to which they gave the name of Redcliffe House. As
soon as spring came round Peary, who, under the care of his wife,
had completely recovered, set off on a short sledge journey round
Inglefield Gulf, on which Mrs Peary accompanied him.
It was not, however, until May 14 that he started on the long journey
which was to be the crowning glory of his expedition. The first part
of the journey was slow, for it took him a week to round Inglefield
Gulf, during which time he discovered no fewer than thirty glaciers,
ten of them of the first magnitude. On reaching the divide between
Whale Sound and Kane Sea, he sent back two of the four men who had
set out with him, and with Astrup as his only companion he pushed on
north. On June 26 they reached the northern edge of the inland ice
and, unable to proceed any further in that direction, they turned
south-east in the hope that they would succeed in making the east
coast of Greenland. Following the extreme limits of the ice-cap
their journey brought them, on July 4, to a large indentation, which
they named Independence Bay, in honour of the day. From the top of a
tremendous cliff, 4000 feet high, they obtained a magnificent view of
the land all round them, a view which left no doubt whatever in their
minds that Greenland was an island.
Of the twenty-one dogs with which they had started only eight now
survived, and as they were a full 450 miles from home, they had no
choice but to make the best of their way back to Redcliffe House,
which they reached without misadventure on August 6. The _Kite_
arriving a few days later, Peary and his companions returned to
America. Their party, however, had been reduced by one member, for
the mineralogist, John Verhoeff, had been overtaken by a snowstorm
when out hunting for specimens and had never been heard of again.
Peary’s experiences convinced him that there was a vast field for
discovery in the north of Greenland, and he promptly set about
raising the money for a third expedition by delivering lectures
on his experiences. The result of his efforts was so entirely
satisfactory that the autumn of 1893 saw him once again established
in Whale Sound. On this occasion, however, he was able to find far
more satisfactory quarters in Bowdoin Bay, an indentation on the
north shore of Inglefield Gulf, where he erected Anniversary Lodge, a
house which might truly be said to have the most modern improvements,
in that it was actually lit by electric light supplied by a dynamo,
for the working of which his steam launch was responsible.
On August 29 Astrup and three companions set out with the object of
laying down _caches_ of provisions for the great spring journey.
Unfortunately, however, they had only deposited two _caches_ when
Astrup was taken ill, and they had to hurry home without properly
locating the spots.
[Illustration: PEARY’S TRAVELLING EQUIPMENT]
On September 12 an exceedingly interesting event took place,
for Mrs Peary, who was again a member of the expedition, presented
her husband with a daughter. To Miss Peary consequently belongs
the honour of having been born in a higher latitude than any other
civilised being.
It was on March 6, 1894, that Peary set out on his spring journey
accompanied by seven men, twelve sledges and ninety-two dogs, and
with sufficient provisions to last for six months. Unfortunately,
however, the weather was by no means so favourable as it had been
on his previous journey. The cold was intense, and his men were
frost-bitten and his dogs frozen to death before his eyes. Sending
back the greater number of his party, Peary pushed on pluckily with
three companions, but circumstances were too much for him, and he had
to confess himself beaten in the end. When he finally reached Bowdoin
Bay, on April 15, only twenty-six dogs out of the original ninety-two
remained to him.
The rest of the spring and the early part of the summer were spent
in exploring and mapping out the unknown shores of Melville Bay.
During the course of one of these journeys Peary reached Cape York,
where he “unsnowed” two gigantic meteorites, the reports of which had
attracted many previous explorers, none of whom, however, had managed
to find them. Later on he succeeded in conveying them to America, as
well as a third of such vast proportions that its removal entailed
several months of hard work.
In August the _Falcon_ came to fetch the explorers, but Peary was
by no means satisfied with his year’s work, and though prudence
undoubtedly demanded that he should return at once, seeing that
he was short of provisions and fuel and that he had no means of
knowing whether or not a ship would be able to visit him during the
following year, with characteristic determination he proclaimed
his intention of staying at Bowdoin Bay for another year with two
volunteers, Hugh Lee and his coloured servant Henson. So, sending
the rest of his party home, he set about making preparations for
the winter. The greater part of the autumn was spent in gaining
Eskimo recruits, in hunting and in attempting to find the _caches_
laid down by Astrup. In the last of these enterprises Peary failed
completely, but the hunting was very fairly successful, with the
result that he and his two companions were able to spend the winter
in comparative comfort. The spring journey was begun on April 2,
1895, the party consisting of Peary himself, his two volunteers, four
Eskimos, and sixty-three dogs, drawing four sledges. The Eskimos did
not prove of much assistance as one of them deserted with his outfit
on the third day, while, a little later, Peary had to send back the
remaining three. With Lee and Henson he now pushed on in the face of
appalling difficulties. Snow-storms raged around them, obliterating
their landmarks and so concealing their _cache_ of pemmican that it
was nowhere to be found. Lee was frost-bitten, the dogs died one
after another, and game was conspicuous by its absence, yet Peary
persevered and, by dint of almost superhuman efforts, he arrived
within a short distance of Independence Bay early in May. Here he was
so fortunate as to kill ten musk-oxen, but no other game of any kind
was to be found, and they now found themselves under the necessity
of rushing back to the camp with all possible despatch. They had only
nine dogs left and food for seventeen days, but by going on short
rations and making forced marches they succeeded in winning their
desperate race against starvation. They were only in the nick of
time, however, for when they reached Bowdoin Bay, on June 25, they
had eaten their last scrap of food, while only one dog remained to
them out of the sixty-five with which they had started. The _Kite_
calling for them later in the summer, they reached Newfoundland in
September after one of the most hazardous journeys on record.