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A NEGRO EXPLORER AT THE NORTH POLE
[Illustration: MATTHEW A. HENSON]
A NEGRO EXPLORER AT THE NORTH POLE
BY
MATTHEW A. HENSON
WITH A FOREWORD BY
ROBERT E. PEARY
REAR ADMIRAL, U. S. N., RETIRED
AND AN INTRODUCTION BY
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS_
NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
_Copyright, 1912, by_
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
_All rights reserved, including that of translation
into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian_
_February, 1912_
FOREWORD
Friends of Arctic exploration and discovery, with whom I have come in
contact, and many whom I know only by letter, have been greatly
interested in the fact of a colored man being an effective member of a
serious Arctic expedition, and going north, not once, but numerous times
during a period of over twenty years, in a way that showed that he not
only could and did endure all the stress of Arctic conditions and work,
but that he evidently found pleasure in the work.
The example and experience of Matthew Henson, who has been a member of
each and of all my Arctic expeditions, since '91 (my trip in 1886 was
taken before I knew Henson) is only another one of the multiplying
illustrations of the fact that race, or color, or bringing-up, or
environment, count nothing against a determined heart, if it is backed
and aided by intelligence.
Henson proved his fitness by long and thorough apprenticeship, and his
participation in the final victory which planted the Stars and Stripes
at the North Pole, and won for this country the international prize of
nearly four centuries, is a distinct credit and feather in the cap of
his race.
As I wired Charles W. Anderson, collector of internal revenue, and
chairman of the dinner which was given to Henson in New York, in
October, 1909, on the occasion of the presentation to him of a gold
watch and chain by his admirers:
"I congratulate you and your race upon Matthew Henson. He has driven
home to the world your great adaptability and the fiber of which you are
made. He has added to the moral stature of every intelligent man among
you. His is the hard-earned reward of tried loyalty, persistence, and
endurance. He should be an everlasting example to your young men that
these qualities will win whatever object they are directed at. He
deserves every attention you can show him. I regret that it is
impossible for me to be present at your dinner. My compliments to your
assembled guests."
It would be superfluous to enlarge on Henson in this introduction. His
work in the north has already spoken for itself and for him. His book
will speak for itself and him.
Yet two of the interesting points which present themselves in connection
with his work may be noted.
Henson, son of the tropics, has proven through years, his ability to
stand tropical, temperate, and the fiercest stress of frigid, climate
and exposure, while on the other hand, it is well known that the
inhabitants of the highest north, tough and hardy as they are to the
rigors of their own climate, succumb very quickly to the vagaries of
even a temperate climate. The question presents itself at once: "Is it a
difference in physical fiber, or in brain and will power, or is the
difference in the climatic conditions themselves?"
Again it is an interesting fact that in the final conquest of the "prize
of the centuries," not alone individuals, but _races_ were represented.
On that bitter brilliant day in April, 1909, when the Stars and Stripes
floated at the North Pole, Caucasian, Ethiopian, and Mongolian stood
side by side at the apex of the earth, in the harmonious companionship
resulting from hard work, exposure, danger, and a common object.
R. E. PEARY.
_Washington, Dec., 1911._
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
FOREWORD v
INTRODUCTION xv
CHAPTER I
THE EARLY YEARS: SCHOOLBOY, CABIN-BOY, SEAMAN, AND
LIEUTENANT PEARY'S BODY-SERVANT--FIRST TRIPS TO THE ARCTIC 1
CHAPTER II
OFF FOR THE POLE--HOW THE OTHER EXPLORERS LOOKED--THE
LAMB-LIKE ESQUIMOS--ARRIVAL AT ETAH 15
CHAPTER III
FINDING OF RUDOLPH FRANKE--WHITNEY LANDED--TRADING AND
COALING--FIGHTING THE ICE-PACKS 26
CHAPTER IV
PREPARING FOR WINTER AT CAPE SHERIDAN--THE ARCTIC LIBRARY 35
CHAPTER V
MAKING PEARY SLEDGES--HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC NIGHT--THE
EXCITABLE DOGS AND THEIR HABITS 40
CHAPTER VI
THE PEARY PLAN--A RAIN OF ROCKS--MY FRIENDS, THE ESQUIMOS 46
CHAPTER VII
SLEDGING TO CAPE COLUMBIA--HOT SOLDERING IN COLD WEATHER 52
CHAPTER VIII
IN CAMP AT COLUMBIA--LITERARY IGLOOS--THE MAGNIFICENT
DESOLATION OF THE ARCTIC 62
CHAPTER IX
READY FOR THE DASH TO THE POLE--THE COMMANDER'S ARRIVAL 70
CHAPTER X
FORWARD! MARCH! 75
CHAPTER XI
FIGHTING UP THE POLAR SEA--HELD UP BY THE "BIG LEAD" 78
CHAPTER XII
PIONEERING THE WAY--BREAKING SLEDGES 93
CHAPTER XIII
THE SUPPORTING-PARTIES BEGIN TO TURN BACK 103
CHAPTER XIV
BARTLETT'S FARTHEST NORTH--HIS QUIET GOOD-BY 116
CHAPTER XV
THE POLE! 127
CHAPTER XVI
THE FAST TREK BACK TO LAND 140
CHAPTER XVII
SAFE ON THE ROOSEVELT--POOR MARVIN 145
CHAPTER XVIII
AFTER MUSK-OXEN--THE DOCTOR'S SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION 153
CHAPTER XIX
THE ROOSEVELT STARTS FOR HOME--ESQUIMO VILLAGES--NEW DOGS
AND NEW DOG FIGHTS 161
CHAPTER XX
TWO NARROW ESCAPES--ARRIVAL AT ETAH--HARRY WHITNEY--DR.
COOK'S CLAIMS 170
CHAPTER XXI
ETAH TO NEW YORK--COMING OF MAIL AND REPORTERS--HOME! 180
APPENDIX I--NOTES ON THE ESQUIMOS 189
APPENDIX II--LIST OF SMITH SOUND ESQUIMOS 196
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
MATTHEW A. HENSON _Frontispiece_
FACING
PAGE
ROBERT E. PEARY IN HIS NORTH POLE FURS 76
THE FOUR NORTH POLE ESQUIMOS 77
CAMP MORRIS K. JESUP AT THE NORTH POLE 122
MATTHEW A. HENSON IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE SLEDGE JOURNEY TO
THE POLE AND BACK 123
THE "ROOSEVELT" IN WINTER QUARTERS AT CAPE SHERIDAN 138
MATTHEW A. HENSON IN HIS NORTH POLE FURS, TAKEN AFTER HIS
RETURN TO CIVILIZATION 139
INTRODUCTION
One of the first questions which Commander Peary was asked when he
returned home from his long, patient, and finally successful struggle to
reach the Pole was how it came about that, beside the four Esquimos,
Matt Henson, a Negro, was the only man to whom was accorded the honor of
accompanying him on the final dash to the goal.
The question was suggested no doubt by the thought that it was but
natural that the positions of greatest responsibility and honor on such
an expedition would as a matter of course fall to the white men of the
party rather than to a Negro. To this question, however, Commander Peary
replied, in substance:
"Matthew A. Henson, my Negro assistant, has been with me in one capacity
or another since my second trip to Nicaragua in 1887. I have taken him
on each and all of my expeditions, except the first, and also without
exception on each of my farthest sledge trips. This position I have
given him primarily because of his adaptability and fitness for the work
and secondly on account of his loyalty. He is a better dog driver and
can handle a sledge better than any man living, except some of the best
Esquimo hunters themselves."
In short, Matthew Henson, next to Commander Peary, held and still holds
the place of honor in the history of the expedition that finally located
the position of the Pole, because he was the best man for the place.
During twenty-three years of faithful service he had made himself
indispensable. From the position of a servant he rose to that of
companion and assistant in one of the most dangerous and difficult tasks
that was ever undertaken by men. In extremity, when both the danger and
the difficulty were greatest, the Commander wanted by his side the man
upon whose skill and loyalty he could put the most absolute dependence
and when that man turned out to be black instead of white, the Commander
was not only willing to accept the service but was at the same time
generous enough to acknowledge it.
There never seems to have been any doubt in Commander Peary's mind about
Henson's part and place in the expedition.
Matt Henson, who was born in Charles County, Maryland, August 8, 1866,
began life as a cabin-boy on an ocean steamship, and before he met
Commander Peary had already made a voyage to China. He was eighteen
years old when he made the acquaintance of Commander Peary which gave
him his chance. During the twenty-three years in which he was the
companion of the explorer he not only had time and opportunity to
perfect himself in his knowledge of the books, but he acquired a good
practical knowledge of everything that was a necessary part of the daily
life in the ice-bound wilderness of polar exploration. He was at times a
blacksmith, a carpenter, and a cook. He was thoroughly acquainted with
the life, customs, and language of the Esquimos. He himself built the
sledges with which the journey to the Pole was successfully completed.
He could not merely drive a dog-team or skin a musk-ox with the skill of
a native, but he was something of a navigator as well. In this way Mr.
Henson made himself not only the most trusted but the most useful
member of the expedition.
I am reminded in this connection that Matthew Henson is not the first
colored man who by his fidelity and devotion has made himself the trusty
companion of the men who have explored and opened up the western
continent. Even in the days when the Negro had little or no opportunity
to show his ability as a leader, he proved himself at least a splendid
follower, and there are few great adventures in which the American white
man has engaged where he has not been accompanied by a colored man.
Nearly all the early Spanish explorers were accompanied by Negroes. It
is said that the first ship built in America was constructed by the
slaves of Vasquez de Ayllon, who attempted to establish a Spanish
settlement where Jamestown, Virginia, was later founded. Balboa had 30
Negroes with him, and they assisted him in constructing the first ship
on the Pacific coast. Three hundred slaves were brought to this country
by Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, and it is said that the town of
Santiago del Principe was founded by Negro slaves who later rebelled
against their Spanish masters.
Of the story of those earlier Negro explorers we have, aside from the
Negro Estevan or "little Steve," who was the guide and leader in the
search for the fabulous seven cities, almost nothing more than a passing
reference in the accounts which have come down to us. Now, a race which
has come up from slavery; which is just now for the first time learning
to build for itself homes, churches, schools; which is learning for the
first time to start banks, organize insurance companies, erect
manufacturing plants, establish hospitals; a race which is doing all the
fundamental things for the first time; which has, in short, its history
before it instead of behind; such a race in such conditions needs for
its own encouragement, as well as to justify the hopes of its friends,
the records of the members of the race who have been a part of any great
and historic achievement.
For this reason, as well as for others; for the sake of my race as well
as the truth of history; I am proud and glad to welcome this account of
his adventure from a man who has not only honored the race of which he
is a member, but has proven again that courage, fidelity, and ability
are honored and rewarded under a black skin as well as under a white.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
Principal, Tuskegee Normal
and Industrial Institute.
A NEGRO EXPLORER AT THE NORTH POLE
CHAPTER I
THE EARLY YEARS: SCHOOLBOY, CABIN-BOY, SEAMAN, AND LIEUTENANT PEARY'S
BODY-SERVANT--FIRST TRIPS TO THE ARCTIC
When the news of the discovery of the North Pole, by Commander Peary,
was first sent to the world, a distinguished citizen of New York City,
well versed in the affairs of the Peary Arctic Club, made the statement,
that he was sure that Matt Henson had been with Commander Peary on the
day of the discovery. There were not many people who knew who Henson
was, or the reason why the gentleman had made the remark, and, when
asked why he was so certain, he explained that, for the best part of the
twenty years of Commander Peary's Arctic work, his faithful and often
only companion was Matthew Alexander Henson.
To-day there is a more general knowledge of Commander Peary, his work
and his success, and a vague understanding of the fact that Commander
Peary's sole companion from the realm of civilization, when he stood at
the North Pole, was Matthew A. Henson, a Colored Man.
To satisfy the demand of perfectly natural curiosity, I have undertaken
to write a brief autobiography, giving particularly an account of my
Arctic work.
I was born in Charles County, Maryland, August 8, 1866. The place of my
birth was on the Potomac River, about forty-four miles below Washington,
D. C. Slavery days were over forever when I was born. Besides, my
parents were both free born before me, and in my mother's veins ran some
white blood. At an early age, my parents were induced to leave the
country and remove to Washington, D. C. My mother died when I was seven
years old. I was taken in charge by my uncle, who sent me to school, the
"N Street School" in Washington, D. C., which I attended for over six
years. After leaving school I went to Baltimore, Md., where I shipped as
cabin-boy, on board a vessel bound for China. After my first voyage I
became an able-bodied seaman, and for four years followed the sea in
that capacity, sailing to China, Japan, Manilla, North Africa, Spain,
France, and through the Black Sea to Southern Russia.
It was while I was in Washington, D. C., in 1888, that I first attracted
the attention of Commander Peary, who at that time was a civil engineer
in the United States Navy, with the rank of lieutenant, and it was with
the instinct of my race that I recognized in him the qualities that made
me willing to engage myself in his service. I accompanied him as his
body-servant to Nicaragua. I was his messenger at the League Island Navy
Yard, and from the beginning of his second expedition to the Arctic
regions, in 1891, I have been a member of every expedition of his, in
the capacity of assistant: a term that covers a multitude of duties,
abilities, and responsibilities.
The narrative that follows is a record of the last and successful
expedition of the Peary Arctic Club, which had as its attainment the
discovery of the North Pole, and is compiled from notes made by me at
different times during the course of the expedition. I did endeavor to
keep a diary or journal of daily events during my last trip, and did not
find it difficult aboard the ship while sailing north, or when in
winter-quarters at Cape Sheridan, but I found it impossible to make
daily entries while in the field, on account of the constant necessity
of concentrating my attention on the real business of the expedition.
Entries were made daily of the records of temperature and the estimates
of distance traveled; and when solar observations were made the results
were always carefully noted. There were opportunities to complete the
brief entries on several occasions while out on the ice, notably the six
days' enforced delay at the "Big Lead," 84° north, the twelve hours
preceding the return of Captain Bartlett at 87° 47' north, and the
thirty-three hours at North Pole, while Commander Peary was determining
to a certainty his position. During the return from the Pole to Cape
Columbia, we were so urged by the knowledge of the supreme necessity of
speed that the thought of recording the events of that part of the
journey did not occur to me so forcibly as to compel me to pay heed to
it, and that story was written aboard the ship while waiting for
favorable conditions to sail toward home lands.
* * * * *
It was in June, 1891, that I started on my first trip to the Arctic
regions, as a member of what was known as the "North Greenland
Expedition." Mrs. Peary accompanied her husband, and among the members
of the expedition were Dr. Frederick A. Cook, of Brooklyn, N. Y., Mr.
Langdon Gibson, of Flushing, N. Y., and Mr. Eivind Astrüp, of
Christiania, Norway, who had the honor of being the companion of
Commander Peary in the first crossing of North Greenland--and of having
an Esquimo at Cape York become so fond of him that he named his son for
him! It was on this voyage north that Peary's leg was broken.
Mr. John M. Verhoeff, a stalwart young Kentuckian, was also an
enthusiastic member of the party. When the expedition was ready to sail
home the following summer, he lost his life by falling in a crevasse in
a glacier. His body was never recovered. On the first and the last of
Peary's expeditions, success was marred by tragedy. On the last
expedition, Professor Ross G. Marvin, of Cornell University, lost his
life by being drowned in the Arctic Ocean, on his return from his
farthest north, a farther north than had ever been made by any other
explorers except the members of the last expedition. Both Verhoeff and
Marvin were good friends of mine, and I respect and venerate their
memories.
Naturally the impressions formed on my first visit to the Land of Ice
and Snow were the most lasting, but in the coming years I was to learn
more and more that such a life was no picnic, and to realize what
primitive life meant. I was to live with a people who, the scientists
stated, represented the earliest form of human life, living in what is
known as the Stone Age, and I was to revert to that stage of life by
leaps and bounds, and to emerge from it by the same sudden means. Many
and many a time, for periods covering more than twelve months, I have
been to all intents an Esquimo, with Esquimos for companions, speaking
their language, dressing in the same kind of clothes, living in the same
kind of dens, eating the same food, enjoying their pleasures, and
frequently sharing their griefs. I have come to love these people. I
know every man, woman, and child in their tribe. They are my friends and
they regard me as theirs.
After the first return to civilization, I was to come back to the
savage, ice- and rock-bound country seven times more. It was in June,
1893, that I again sailed north with Commander Peary and his party on
board the _Falcon_, a larger ship than the _Kite_, the one we sailed
north in on the previous expedition, and with a much larger equipment,
including several burros from Colorado, which were intended for ice-cap
work, but which did not make good, making better dog-food instead.
Indeed the dogs made life a burden for the poor brutes from the very
start. Mrs. Peary was again a member of the expedition, as well as
another woman, Mrs. Cross, who acted as Mrs. Peary's maid and nurse. It
was on this trip that I adopted the orphan Esquimo boy, Kudlooktoo, his
mother having died just previous to our arrival at the Red Cliffs.
After this boy was washed and scrubbed by me, his long hair cut short,
and his greasy, dirty clothes of skins and furs burned, a new suit made
of odds and ends collected from different wardrobes on the ship made him
a presentable Young American. I was proud of him, and he of me. He
learned to speak English and slept underneath my bunk.
This expedition was larger in numbers than the previous one, but the
results, owing to the impossible weather conditions, were by no means
successful, and the following season all of the expedition returned to
the United States except Commander Peary, Hugh J. Lee, and myself. When
the expedition returned, there were two who went back who had not come
north with us. Miss Marie Ahnighito Peary, aged about ten months, who
first saw the light of day at Anniversary Lodge on the 12th of the
previous September, was taken by her mother to her kinfolks in the
South. Mrs. Peary also took a young Esquimo girl, well known among us as
"Miss Bill," along with her, and kept her for nearly a year, when she
gladly permitted her to return to Greenland and her own people. Miss
Bill is now grown up, and has been married three times and widowed, not
by death but by desertion. She is known as a "Holy Terror." I do not
know the reason why, but I have my suspicions.
The memory of the winter of 1894 and 1895 and the summer following will
never leave me. The events of the journey to 87° 6' in 1906 and the
discovery of the North Pole in 1909 are indelibly impressed on my mind,
but the recollections of the long race with death across the 450 miles
of the ice-cap of North Greenland in 1895, with Commander Peary and Hugh
Lee, are still the most vivid.
For weeks and weeks, across the seemingly never-ending wastes of the
ice-cap of North Greenland, I marched with Peary and Lee from
Independence Bay and the land beyond back to Anniversary Lodge. We
started on April 1, 1895, with three sledges and thirty-seven dogs, with
the object of determining to a certainty the northeastern terminus of
Greenland. We reached the northern land beyond the ice-cap, but the
condition of the country did not allow much exploration, and after
killing a few musk-oxen we started on June 1 to make our return. We had
one sledge and nine dogs.
We reached Anniversary Lodge on June 25, with one dog.
The Grim Destroyer had been our constant companion, and it was months
before I fully recovered from the effects of that struggle. When I left
for home and God's Country the following September, on board the good
old _Kite_, it was with the strongest resolution to never again! no
more! forever! leave my happy home in warmer lands.
* * * * *
Nevertheless, the following summer I was again "Northward Bound," with
Commander Peary, to help him secure, and bring to New York, the three
big meteorites that he and Lee had discovered during the winter of
1894-1895.
The meteorites known as "The Woman" and "The Dog" were secured with
comparative ease, and the work of getting the large seventy-ton meteor,
known as "The Tent," into such a position as to insure our securing it
the following summer, was done, so it was not strange that the following
summer I was again in Greenland, but the meteorite was not brought away
that season.
It is well known that the chief characteristic of Commander Peary is
persistency which, coupled with fortitude, is the secret of his success.
The next summer, 1897, he was again at the island after his prize, and
he got it this time and brought it safely to New York, where it now
reposes in the "American Museum of Natural History." As usual I was a
member of the party, and my back still aches when I think of the hard
work I did to help load that monster aboard the _Hope_.
It was during this voyage that Commander Peary announced his
determination to discover the North Pole, and the following years (from
1898 to 1902) were spent in the Arctic.
In 1900, the American record of Farthest North, held by Lockwood and
Brainard, was equaled and exceeded; their cairn visited and their
records removed. On April 21, 1902, a new American record of 84° 17' was
made by Commander Peary, further progress north being frustrated by a
lack of provisions and by a lane of open water, more than a mile wide.
This lead or lane of open water I have since become more familiarly
acquainted with. We have called it many names, but it is popularly known
as the "Big Lead." Going north, meeting it can be depended upon. It is
situated just a few miles north of the 84th parallel, and is believed to
mark the continental shelf of the land masses in the Northern
Hemisphere.
During the four years from 1898 to 1902, which were continuously spent
in the regions about North Greenland, we had every experience, except
death, that had ever fallen to the lot of the explorers who had preceded
us, and more than once we looked death squarely in the face. Besides, we
had many experiences that earlier explorers did not meet. In January,
1899, Commander Peary froze his feet so badly that all but one of his
toes fell off.
After the return home, in 1902, it was three years before Commander
Peary made another attack on the Pole, but during those years he was not
resting.
He was preparing to launch his final and "sincerely to be hoped"
successful expedition, and in July, 1905, in the newly built ship,
_Roosevelt_, we were again "Poleward-bound." The following September,
the _Roosevelt_ reached Cape Sheridan, latitude 82° 27' north, under her
own steam, a record unequaled by any other vessel, sail or steam.
Early the next year, the negotiation of the Arctic Ocean was commenced,
not as oceans usually are negotiated, but as this ocean must be, by men,
sledges, and dogs. The field party consisted of twenty-six men, twenty
sledges, and one hundred and thirty dogs.
That was an open winter and an early spring, very desirable conditions
in some parts of the world, but very undesirable to us on the northern
coast of Greenland. The ice-pack began disintegrating much too early
that year to suit, but we pushed on, and had it not been for furious
storms enforcing delays and losses of many precious days, the Pole would
have been reached. As it was, Commander Peary and his party got to 87°
6' north, thereby breaking _all records_, and in spite of incredible
hardships, hunger and cold, returned safely with all of the expedition,
and on Christmas Eve the _Roosevelt_, after a most trying voyage,
entered New York harbor, somewhat battered but still seaworthy.
Despite the fact that it was to be his last attempt, Commander Peary no
sooner reached home than he announced his intention to return, this time
to be the last, and this time to win.
However, a year intervened, and it was not until July 6, 1908, with the
God-Speed and good wishes of President Roosevelt, that the good ship
named in his honor set sail again. The narrative of that voyage, and the
story of the discovery of the North Pole, follow.
The ages of the wild, misgiving mystery of the North Pole are over,
to-day, and forever it stands under the folds of Old Glory.