[Illustration: Dr. Walter E. Traprock and Snak]
MY
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
THE _KAWA_ AT THE POLE
BY
WALTER E. TRAPROCK
F.R.S.S.E.U., N.L.L.D.
AUTHOR OF "THE CRUISE OF THE KAWA"
WITH TWENTY-ONE FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1922
Copyright, 1922
by
G.P. Putnam's Sons
Made in the United States of America
[Illustration]
DEDICATED
TO
IKIK, SNAK, YALOK, LAPATOK
AND KLIPITOK
(THE ONLY ESKIMOS I EVER LOVED)
AND
SAUSALITO
FOREWORD
BY
Irving T. Grosbeak, R.O.T.C.
AT DURFEE COLLEGE, XENIA, O.
For hundreds of years men have struggled amid snow and ice to reach
one or the other of the earth's poles. Why? What has attracted them?
What has been the lure which has led them from warm firesides and
comfortable radiators to suffer the rigors of a most annoying climate?
We search in vain among the writings of modern polar explorers for a
satisfactory answer to this question.
In earlier days we find credible reasons for this fanatical zeal,
reasons which were material and commercial. In the dark ages we know
that hardy Norsemen sought an Ultima Thule beyond the Arctic Circle.
The Irish also claim credit for the earliest discoveries. They would.
These voyages were mere forays undertaken with the hope of advantages
in barter and exchange. Following the establishment by Columbus of
the globular theory of earth formation we read, likewise, of many
futile attempts to reach the fabled wealth of India by short cuts and
northwest passages. The adventurous Cabots, fearless Frobisher and
gallant Gilbert were mainly occupied with material aims, the securing
of additional colonies for the crown, additional gold for the royal
treasury. They were out for the cush.
But when we turn to modern days in which the forbidding character of
the northland has been well understood we are more puzzled to find a
reasonable explanation for its fascination. We meet frequently that
strange phrase, "the lure of the North," which is later described
in terms of unspeakable hardships. We are told that this or that
expedition was undertaken in order "to add to the sum of human
knowledge" though that addition proves to be a series of tidal
observations and barometric readings which could have been arrived at
with sufficient exactness by scientific computations.
Moreover, without belittling the courage and determination of our
gallant Peary, it is evident that his exploit was not discovery in
its strictest sense. The pole had been located for centuries as
being the exact point of convergence of the meridional lines. Its
precise position was known. To reach it, then, was a problem in
transportation rather than one of actual discovery. This problem Peary
solved magnificently and since that memorable April 6th, 1909, the
flags of the United States, Delta Kappa Epsilon (Gnu Chapter), the
world's Ensign of Peace, the Navy League and the Red Cross have flapped
concertedly at the top of the world.
And yet the mystery has remained. We can not read the stories of these
brave men, from the most successful to the least, without wondering
what it was which actually drew them into the regions of eternal ice
and snow. We can but suspect some great, unrevealed truth, some untold
secret lying back of the veil of fog, shrouded in the darkness of the
long Arctic night.
May we not well ask, "Has the entire truth been told? has the last word
been spoken which will forever answer the natural question, why go
there?"
It has remained for Walter E. Traprock to answer that question in no
uncertain terms. The writer has no hesitation in saying that since the
perusal of Dr. Traprock's log the entire northern question has been
illuminated with perpetual sunshine.
It is not within the province of this foreword to go into details. The
reader can, at the close of this book, lay it down with the thought
that he knows the whole story of the North, the truth, the whole truth,
and a lot else.
But it would be wrong for us to lay our pen aside without a word
of explanation as to how the Traprock Polar Expedition came to be
undertaken, for the circumstances were at once so dramatic and unusual
as to warrant their preservation in definite form. In the spring of
1921, following Traprock's amazing discovery of the Filbert Islands,
a meeting of the Explorers Union of the United States was held in the
Federation Rotunda in Cambridge, Mass. The name of Traprock was in
every mouth and to many it was distinctly unpalatable. A three days
meeting resulted in the formation of the Traprock Polar Expedition.
One half of the necessary funds was supplied by the Federation, the
remainder being pledges by individuals.[1] But here is the dramatic
truth which has never before been stated.
THE FEDERATED EXPLORERS NEVER EXPECTED DR. TRAPROCK TO RETURN!
The entire expedition was a deliberate plot on the part of jealous
scientific men to forever remove from the field of action their most
brilliantly successful rival. How this dastardly effort failed is told
in the succeeding pages, which add fresh lustre to the crown, fresh
laurel to the brows of America's intrepid son, Walter E. Traprock.
A mere statement of the fact that the first condition of Traprock's
contract was that he should not only reach the Pole himself but that
he should take his ship there will indicate the handicaps which were
imposed from the start.
Did Traprock flinch or evade? Did he hesitate or shilly-shally?
Let the ice-bergs answer! Let the seals bark reply! Let the north wind
howl its answer.
Better still, let the testimony of Traprock be graved on the Palisades
of Time, that the world may know forever just exactly "Why Explorers
Leave Home!"
Irving T. Grosbeak.
Hall of Applied Ceramics,
Durfee College, Xenia, O.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: All of these individual pledges are still
outstanding.--Ed.]
CONTENTS
Chapter I
The Origin of the Expedition. A memorable meeting.
Inklings of a plot. My innocent enthusiasm. Our personnel.
I put the proposition up to Triplett Page 17