AFTER MUSK-OXEN--THE DOCTOR'S SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION
From the time of my arrival at the _Roosevelt_, for nearly three weeks,
my days were spent in complete idleness. I would catch a fleeting
glimpse of Commander Peary, but not once in all of that time did he
speak a word to me. Then he spoke to me in the most ordinary
matter-of-fact way, and ordered me to get to work. Not a word about the
North Pole or anything connected with it; simply, "There is enough wood
left, and I would like to have you make a couple of sledges and mend the
broken ones. I hope you are feeling all right." There was enough wood
left and I made three sledges, as well as repaired those that were
broken.
The Commander was still running things and he remained the commander to
the last minute; nothing escaped him, and when the time came to
slow-down on provisions, he gave the orders, and we had but two spare
meals a day to sustain us. The whole expedition lived on travel rations
from before the time we left Cape Sheridan until we had reached Sidney,
N. S., and like the keen-fanged hounds, we were always ready and fit.
It was late in May when Prof. MacMillan and Mr. Borup, with their
Esquimo companions returned from Cape Jesup, where they had been doing
highly important scientific work, taking soundings out on the sea-ice
north of the cape as high as 84° 15' north, and also at the cape. They
had made a trip that was record-breaking; they had visited the different
cairns made by Lockwood and Brainard and by Commander Peary, and they
had also captured and brought into the ship a musk-ox calf; and they had
most satisfactorily demonstrated their fitness as Arctic explorers,
having followed the Commander's orders implicitly and secured more than
the required number of tidal-readings and soundings.
Prof. MacMillan, with Jack Barnes, a sailor, and Kudlooktoo, left for
Fort Conger early in June, and continued the work of tidal-observations.
They rejoined the _Roosevelt_ just before she left Cape Sheridan. A
little later in the month, Borup went to Clements Markham Inlet to hunt
musk-oxen, and from there he went to Cape Columbia, where he erected the
cairn containing the record of the last and successful expedition of the
"Peary Arctic Club." The cairn was a substantial pile of rocks,
surmounted by a strong oaken guide-post, with arms pointing "North 413
miles to the Pole"; "East, to Cape Morris K. Jesup, 275 miles"; "West to
Cape Thomas H. Hubbard, 225 miles"; while the southern arm pointed
south, but to no particular geographical spot; it was labeled "Cape
Columbia." Underneath the arms of the guide-post, which had been made by
Mate Gushue, was a small, glass-covered, box-like arrangement, in which
was encased the record of Peary's successful journey to the Pole, and
the roster of the expedition, my name included. From the cross-bars,
guys of galvanized wire were stretched and secured to heavy rocks, to
help sustain the monument from the fury of the storms. Borup did good
work, photographed the result, and the picture of the cairn, when
exhibited, proved very satisfactory to the Commander.
Dr. Goodsell with two teams, and the Esquimo men, Keshungwah and
Tawchingwah, left the ship on May 27, to hunt in the Lake Hazen and
Ruggles River regions. They were successful in securing thirteen
musk-oxen in that neighborhood, and in Bellows Valley they shot a number
of the "Peary" caribou, the species "_Rangifer Pearyi_," a distinct
class of reindeer inhabiting that region.
On the return of Dr. Goodsell, he told of his fascinating experiences in
that wonderland. Leaving the _Roosevelt_, he had turned inland at Black
Cliff Bay. Past the glaciers he went with his little party, down the
Bellows Valley to the Ruggles River, an actual stream of clear-running
water, alive with the finest of salmon trout. Adopting the Esquimo
methods, he fished for these speckled beauties with joyful success. Here
he rounded up and shot the herd of musk-oxen, and here he bagged his
caribou. He was in a hunter's paradise and made no haste to return, but
crossed overland to Discovery Harbor and the barn-like structure of Fort
Conger, the headquarters of General Greely's "Lady Franklin Bay
Expedition" of 1882-1883. Professor MacMillan was on his way to Fort
Conger and it was with much surprise, on arriving there, that he found
that Dr. Goodsell had reached it an hour before him. It was an
unexpected meeting and quite a pleasure to the Professor to find the
Doctor there, ready to offer him the hospitality of the fort.
Dr. Goodsell returned to the _Roosevelt_ on June 15, with a load of
geological, zoölogical, and botanical specimens almost as heavy as the
loads of meat and skins he brought in. He was an ardent scientist, and
viewed nearly every situation and object from the view-point of the
scientist. Nothing escaped him; a peculiar form of rock or plant, the
different features of the animal life, all received his close and eager
attention, and he had the faculty of imparting his knowledge to others,
like the born teacher that he was. He evinced an eager interest in the
Esquimos and got along famously with them.
His physical equipment was the finest; a giant in stature and strength,
but withal the gentlest of men having an even, mellow disposition that
never was ruffled. In the field the previous spring he had accompanied
the expedition beyond the "Big Lead" to 84° 29', and with the strength
of his broad shoulders he had pickaxed the way.
On account of his calm, quiet manner I had hesitated to form an opinion
of him at first, but you can rest assured this was a "Tenderfoot" who
made good.
During this time I left the ship on short hunting trips, but I was never
away from the ship for more than ten or twelve hours.
* * * * *
On July 1 quite a lead was opened in the channel south from Cape
Sheridan to Cape Rawson. The ice was slowly moving southward, and the
prospects for freeing the _Roosevelt_ and getting her started on her
homeward way were commencing to brighten. The following day a new lead
opened much nearer shore, and on July 3 the Esquimos, who had been out
hunting, returned from Black Cliff Bay, without game, but with the good
news that as far south as Dumb Bell Bay there stretched a lead of open
water. July 4, a new lead opened very close to the _Roosevelt_. The
spring tides, with a strong southerly wind, had set in so very much
earlier, three years before, that on July 4, 1906, the _Roosevelt_ had
been entirely free of ice, with clear, open water for quite a distance
to the south; but this year the ship was still completely packed in the
ice, and furthermore she was listed at the same angle as during the
winter.
On July 5, I was detailed to help Gushue repair the more or less damaged
whale-boats. The heavy and solidly packed snow of the winter had stove
them in. On July 6, the anniversary of our departure from New York a
year before, the greater part of the day was spent in pumping water from
the top of a heavy floeberg into the ship's boilers. This work was not
completed until the morning of the 7th, when the fires were started. Due
to the cold, the process of getting up steam was slow work. The ice had
been breaking up daily, new leads were noticed, and on this day, July 7,
a new lead opened at a distance of fifty yards from the ship, and open
water stretched as far south as the eye could see. All hands were put to
work reloading the supplies that had been placed on shore the fall
previous, for it was easy to see that the time for departure was at
hand.
With the boilers in order, an attempt was made to revolve the shaft, but
the propeller was too securely frozen in the ice to move, and so Captain
Bartlett got out the dynamite and succeeded in freeing the bronze
blades.
From the 10th of July to the 13th, a fierce storm raged, clouds of
freeing spray broke over the ship, incasing her in a coat of icy mail,
and the tempest forced all of the ice out of the lower end of the
channel and beyond as far as the eye could see, but the _Roosevelt_
still remained surrounded by ice.
The morning of the 15th, a smart breeze from the northeast was blowing,
and proved of valuable assistance to us, for it caused the huge blocks
of ice that were surrounding the ship to loosen their hold, and for the
first time since October, 1908, the _Roosevelt_ righted herself to an
even keel.
By this time all of our supplies had been loaded and stored, and from
the crow's-nest a stretch of open water could be seen as far as Cape
Rawson. From there to Cape Union the ice was packed solid.