Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1875-07-24
The Search for the Poles.

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The British Polarexpedition has sailed
from Portsmouth amid salvOs of artillery,
cheers from the cOngregated thousands,
and other grand displays of official and
popular enthusiasm. Until the vessels
reach Disco, when Mr.. Clement Mark
ham will leave the party and return to
England with a report of the prospects
and general probabilities of success, as
far as can be gathered from appearances
at that far northern point, we shall have
no tidings; and after that time until the
lapse of the three years allowed to the
enterprise, the fortunes, good or bad, of
the expedition will likely remain un-
known. There is great hope, this time,
as to the ultimate success of the attempt.
Never before have ships started on any
voyage OF discovery so completely fitted
out with everything which science could
suggest or experience counsel as these
two quandam whalers nor has any pre-
viOus expedition been projected under
that rigid military discipline. for the lack
of which Hall failed, and which in the
present case, will be maintained by Off
GERS already thoroughly conversant with
the nature Of the task before them, and
the causes which have led to its MONACO
cOmlishment by their predecessors.
The Alert and Discovery are to pro-
coed to Smiths Sound, taking the
route by which Hall reached the furthest
point of north latitude yet attained. 1t
may easily be argued that, if the last
mentioned commanders i'm vessel wretch
edly prepared for the work, could reach
81 deg. 16 min. N. latitude, and then be
fOiled in further attempts to push on
ward, not through any fault of his ship,
but through discussions in his crew, there
is every reasonable probability that the
English ships will have no serious OBJ
stacles to encounter in steadily advancing
until the open sea, which the peculiar
glistening haze (seen above the ice noun
tains by DR.. Kane's mate from the mast
head) indicates, is reached. Then three
millions of square miles of water, posi-
bly, frozen continent, unvisited by liv-
ing things from the lower world, save by
the birds which are known to emigrate
to the nOrthward of any point yet attain
ed by man, lie open to exploration; and
the explorers will doubtless traverse that
now unknown region until they reach
the end of their journey upon the "spOt
where the suns altitude is equal to its
declinatiOn, and where bearings must be
obtained by reference to time and not to
the magnet"
Then what? Science is rather vague
in her answer, for she relies more upon
entirely new discoveries being made
than upon notifications of advanced the
cries. Mr.. Clement Markham sums up
about all that science has to expect from
the exploration of the earth's apex, thus:
at may be shown" says he, ''that no
such extent of unknown area in any part
of the world has ever yet failed to yield
results of practical as we'll as purely sci
entific value; and it may be safely urged
that, as the area exists, which is mathe-
matically certain, it is Impossible that its
examination can fail to add largely to
the sum Of human knowledge"
In plain terms, the discovery of the
pole has reduced itself to matter in
which the curiosity OF mankind to know
what exists at this ultima thule of the
globe, curiosity augmented by repeated
battling, is probably more the underlying
cause Of attempts to solve the problem
than even the thirst for abstract knOwl-
edge. If there had been, or could be,
any direct gain by reaching the open PO-
lar Sea. we have little doubt but that it
would have been penetrated long ago,
for the arctic whalers' extremely power
full vessels, with proportiOnately strong
engines, make their way through the ice
with ease to regions, and spend months
in localities, which the earlier explorers
attained only by immense toll and hard
ships. If the masters of these ships had
found out that more blubber could be
got in the Polar Sea than elsewhere, the
passage would have been made, and the
world would probably have remained in
ignOr NICE of the fact, until some one had
noted with astonishment the figures de-
noting latitude, which the captain would
quite as a matter Of course, have jotted
down in his log.
Curiosity, coupled with a patriotic de-
sire to out do the previous endeavOrs of
other nations, is the motive of popular
attention to the North Pole just at pres
ent. The problem once solved, the at
tainment of the South Pole will be as
eagerly sought after, anb there will be
scores of attempts to penetrate the bar
riers of region so vast that the moon
might easily fall into it without affect
ing, by the impact alone, any portion of
the world now known to man.