The British expedition which has been projected is not a national
effort. It is purely private, planned and equipped by private
enterprise and private money, in order to follow up the line in which
private exertions have already done more for polar exploration than
many government expeditions have achieved. Its leader, Mr. Frederick
G. Jackson, is a business man, possessed of leisure and sufficient
means, and experienced in travel in all parts of the world. Of the
same age as Doctor Nansen, and, like him, married, he is as typical an
Englishman as the latter is a Norseman. Pluck and "go" are his in very
large measure; experience in serious ice-work he cannot lay claim to,
but he knows more about the Arctic regions than many famous explorers
did on their first setting out. Mr. Jackson has made a summer cruise
to the far north, and, under the tuition of a canny Peterhead whaler,
he has picked up many wrinkles which will help him in time of need. He
is a keen sportsman rather than a man of science, but his ten
companions will be chosen for their ability to make all necessary
scientific observations and collections. If his plans fall out as he
hopes, Jackson will be the most eager in the race to the pole, and it
will not be his fault if the Union Jack is not the first flag planted
on that much coveted site. He intends to leave England about the
middle of July, or perhaps as late as the beginning of August.
His plan of attack is that which is most approved by the Arctic
admirals of the British navy. It is to approach by Franz-Josef Land,
which may in favorable years be comparatively easily reached. On
landing, a depot will be formed and stores laid up as a base for
retreat; and then, by sledging northward along the land-ice, the coast
would be delineated and mapped as far as it extends, other depots
established, and if the surface proves suitable, and if Franz-Josef
Land proves, as is probable, not to have a great northerly extent, an
advance may be made on the sea-ice, carrying boats for crossing open
water.
It seems very probable that in this way the highest latitudes of
earlier explorers may be passed, and in Franz-Josef Land life is more
tolerable than in perhaps any other place at the same latitude. Mr.
Leigh Smith, the most successful Arctic yachtsman, spent the winter of
1881-82 in a hut built on an island in the south of Franz-Josef Land,
after his ship was wrecked, and without winter clothing, and he found
bears and walrus plentiful enough to keep himself and his party
supplied with fresh meat. The country however is very desolate, in
spite of its comparatively genial conditions. Mr. Jackson intends to
hire or purchase a steam whaler to convey him to Franz-Josef Land, and
for navigation he has secured the services of Mr. Crowther, Leigh
Smith's ice-master. After establishing winter quarters, he will make
some preliminary trips to test his sledges and complete the survey of
the southern part of the land, reserving the great northward march for
the spring of 1894. He is pushing forward his preparations quietly and
quickly, and, as he does not ask for public money, he does not feel it
necessary to publish any of the details of his intended mode of life.
It is difficult to forecast the result of his expedition. From the
little we know about Franz-Josef Land, it appears certain that with a
favorable season much good work could be done, and there is more
satisfaction in contemplating an expedition in which pluck and
endurance count than the mere passive submission to the laws of
physical geography, on which Nansen depends. In two years he hopes to
prove that Franz-Josef Land is or is not a practicable road to the
pole.
We have no data to make a comparison between the two brave men, nor
any wish to do so. But Nansen is Nansen, and Jackson has yet to win
his spurs; to him therefore would be the greater glory if success
attend him.
For our part, we heartily desire that Nansen, Peary, and Jackson may
meet simultaneously at the pole, and return betimes to tell their
story and share the honors. The aggravating thing is, that the
expeditions may never reach their proper starting point. Many a good
ship has knocked about for a whole season in the Kara Sea without
getting a lead through the ice; the effort to reach Franz-Josef Land
has not been often made, and it is a sinister omen that the
"Tegetthof," which discovered that region, arrived there after
eighteen months of drifting fast in the floes. But we shall see.