The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-11-09
DR.. Hayes On the British Arctic
Expedition.

LApeUltlOn.
DIR. /. 1. HAYES writes to the New
York World with reference to the
failure of the British Arctic Expedi-
ton:
The Alert and Discovery are two
fine ships; both are screw steamers.
Never was there any expedition fitted
out by any Governments so beautifully.
was wanting. They had
every scientific appliance, and the ex-
petition cost not less than $4,000
1t was to go to the North Pole and
make discoveries there, and the Brit
ish flag was to be planted on the north
ern axis of the earth, and of course
the world was to be astonished at
British energy and British pluck.
What is the result? One year of trial,
ice eighty feet thick, and no chance of
getting to the North Pole. In plain
terms, don't believe word of it,
and don't believe that the expedition
had any right to return when it did.
Why, l did nearly all they did with my
little bit of chooner-United States
which was not much more than half the
size of the Dauntless. | had no STEAM
and could not work to windward
among the ice fields Of Smith Sound,
and, becoming entangled l was forced
to go into winter quarters in a
crippled condition, in latitude seventy
eight degrees seventeen minutes, at
the mouth of that Sound. There | re-
manned ten months before the ice
broke up and liberated me. With
steam l could have gone further, but l
had no other alternative than to await
the spring, and avel over the frozen
sea with dog sledges. l marked, as
nearly as could be determined, lati-
tude eighty-two degrees-say, 4so
miles from the pole.
The journey was begun April 4, and
the highest latitude was reached May
is, after a toilsome march of 700
miles. The return journey was short
er, but in all l estimated my journey
at l 300 miles, and it occupied sixty
days. To do this l travelled over a sea
which the English expedition sailed
ever in the summer, because they had
steam. They reached, therefore, by
water the point which l reached with
sledges-that is to say, Lady Franklin
Bay, which l crossed and explored.
Practically, therefore, the English ex-
petition began where l left off; and
why, with winter harbor in Lady
Franklin Bay, they did not go on is
more than [ can understand. Ny
winter harbor was in latitude IS deg.
II min., as have said; DR. Kane, with
whom l served as surgeon, wintered
in latitude IS deg. 81 min.--both on
the Greenland side of Smith Sound.
Kane reached on the Greenland side
near latitude 81 deg. IcrOssed over to
the land of my own discovery, Grin
nell Land, and went some sixty miles
further and looked out as Kane did
upon an open sea. Kane was there in
June, in May, and yet both were in.
terrupted by open water. Neither of
us had boats, the journey being made
with sledges. The ice over which We
Travelled was thin and rotten at the
further north. l saw but little ice be-
yond the last point. The northern.
most land seen I named Cape Union
which l fixed, not accurately, but as
near as possible, in latitude 50 deg. 4;
mln., and for this discovery received
after my return, medals and Other
tokens from most of the civilized ma
lions of the earth for having discovered
and actually stood upon the northern
most land ever reached by civilized
man.
The Alert seems to have reached
Cape Union. Beyond this, Capt. Hal
thought he saw lond- ,rl;al, l., -~-----~-
President Land. The English eXpedi
ton reports that this land does not ex
lSt. In this | believe they are correct
We are all apt to be preiudiced in fla
VOr of our own views. | have AWAY.
believed in the existence of an OpeI
polar sea. | think l stood upon its
shores i'll 1861. | believe that SEE
naVlgable, and | am utterly at los
to understand why the Alert and Dis
covery did not sail upon its waters
unless we assume that. the spiri
which animated Batfin, Ross, Parr,
and the long list of arctic heroes ha.
died out with the advance of steam
the telegraph and home comforts
Now, please remember that this grea1
English expedition really started where
left off. The North Pole was onl,
approached by some eighty miles
nearer than l approached it. 1t is sale
that the ice was eighty feet thick. Ii
plain English, l don't believe it, and |
don't understand how it happened that
a grand expedition, fitted out with
such great flourish of trumpets, at
such enormous cost, should have cot
frightened after one winter, and hur,
ried home with the old cry that the
North Pole can't be reached. They
did not stay there long enough to prove
it or tell anything about it. To be
sure, the matter of getting to the
North Pole is of little consequence in
a business point OF view. 1t may be
OF no consequence whatever, but here
Is an expedition fitted out expressly to
do it; has unlimited time; has every
possible advantage; has the unquali-
fed support of the British Govern
ment, and yet, frightened by one WIN
ter's experience, hurries home to re-
port another failure The Polaris did
better, for even after the death of
poor Capt. Hall it stuck until it was
crushed by the ice. Had Capt. Bud
dington been imbued with the same
emotions as actuated Capt. Hall 1 be-
lieve he could have steamed to the
North Pole, and venture to say that,
whether the Alert could or could not
have gone there, one years experience
was not enough to prove it.
l am firm believer in an open Polar
Sea. 1t is not a sea available for the
purposes of commerce, but it is GER
tainly a sea or ocean, as you may please