Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-09-09
LIEUT.. PEaEY's EXPEDITION.
What HIS chances Are of RefnT ming Home
Alive.

..
l see that some OF .he gentlemen who accom-
parisd Lieut.. Pehry his Gree inland expedi-
ton say one thing and some another. will
endeaycr 10 give you an idea as to what think
his chances are TO see his home and friends
once mere. In locating at Mccormick bay,
wet coast of Greenland, he picked ont the
most favorable spot from which he could ex-
pi5re the nsighboring country and reach the
known caches Of provisions left by previous
expeditions and at the same time have his owa
base of supplies i'll such position that he could
in case OF al enforced retreat next spring make
Cape YORK. drawing on the cache at southeast
Cary IsI and for supplies if short of rations. II
his leg is in condition to admit OF travelling
next sp;inP. which doubt he will make an
effort 10 accomplish his task of exploring the
northern edge of the Greenland continent. By
being at McCormicL bay he is in position to
easily reach the wintering place OF the ElGti
Eskimo or Hushis. Whale and Murchison
sounds being the bes: hunting grounds on
that CO.'S, and favorte place of the ElGti IN
winter. Northumberland Island having n small
settlement of them on jts northwest point.
CEAScs FOR SUPPLIES.
The trouble il this: Peary being laid up at this
time. when the tirds are migrating south.
his men may, in tbeir ignorance of the neces-
sity of preseI wing game while still time TO get
1.-THE not being or deck TO superintend things
become slo;bful and neglect to lay i'll sup
plies. Whale sound is full of ''sea unicorn
white whale. We saw schools of them az we
left Northumberland Island in So but 10 cap
ture them requires harpoons. lines and lances
and men who under So nd their use. ''Wal-Gs
are very numerous 1uring this month, but II
not fast with ar iron they eink being shot.
They leave the soEnd and waters above as the
ice makes i'll The feiI II the wear AZ Iittleton
island, 100 mites nUrtbves. OF Mccormick bay.
situated on The northwest pom. OF the ie!snd
are 2i0 rations IN barrels. On .Le so;.tEsrn snc
of The island are six tons :. coal. LETT b. Nal.
Beebe in 1882 from .he y ). Neptune, i
| them in 1888. I.iaut- reary ca.. draw from
these If short. but it vii req lire Digs and
sledges. and as he would hare nearly 800 miles
to tTavel there and back o-e- the zee IN foot.
and as his men do not kaoS bO" 10 dtjVe dogs,
1T WOULD BE HAZARDOUS CNDEETASING.
Only one white II an N twenty is ever ste
cessful in managing these dogs They are Ike
big timber wolves and just as Bsyago. *
pect he intends falling back th9 cdchs at
LIttleton Island il short on his way bacn from
the interior. The country forty miles back OF
his present position Is as lI-tle aGo",n - the
moon. How a man With 4 weak 'eg expects 10
Chamber up The cliffs o: rock and zee TO tie
ice cap Is 10 ne puzzle.
THE OILY CHANCE NoRTE.
To reach the ice. cap is his only cEsuoe Of
travelling north. The cosst line is d ;lmbled
up mass of peaks of stone and ice rising thou
sands of feet like perpendicular wall. After
gaining the summit by steering 4 nOrtheas.
course he will be able 70 cut of 200 miles of
coast line. going entirely east of prudhoe Land
peninsula. reaching the southern edge of the
Humboldt glacier thirty miles east Of Peabody
bay. From there, after crossing the glacier
sixty miles at its narrowest point. he has many
hundred miles TO travel to reach the known
limit of the northern coast at the eighty-fourth
degree. reached by the Greedy party from
Lady Franklin bay in 1852. He will meet Jun
mense crevices in the ice cap impossible 10
cross. taking days TO 60 around Fearful
storms sweep over the ice cap. and they
do not know how to build snow i"loos they
WILL if not careful. perish. If anything should
happen to Peary during the trip who will be
competent among his men to guide the others
back to Mccormick bay? They have no furs
to make sleeping bags. and nothing but furs
will keep n man alive during the terrific
storms on the Ice Cap" hut won't stand
while you count three lgloos with floor
three feet below Level. ere the only things they
can exist in. Ii requires skill TO build them
properly. l am afraid he will never get back to
Mccormick bay If he makes any northlng.
But the neighboring country, being unknown,
is rich with scientific discovery, and II he lives
to get back. even ii unable to go any further
north, he will have discoveries worth showing
and telling. Darkness begins October "a and
lasts until February 15-1ll days From Feb
ruary Is to October 27-254 days-it is light
all OF the time. If careful OF his boat it will be
in fair condition next spring for his retreat
south to Cape York.
TO GO SOUTH.
Not having any certainty of relief party res
cuing him, he will no doubt make an early
start south. From Mccormick bay he will
cross Murchison sound to Herbert Island from
there to Cape PeaIy by ways of Radcliffe point,
nearly 100 miles. Due southwes. from Cape
Peary lie the Cary Islands. the southeastern
one of which contain the cache Of the Mares
expedition. He has 90 miles of water to cross
/ in heavily laden boat, job We hadn't
/ nerve to undertake i'll 1888, for TO miss and 20
| to leeward of the islands in gale means death
| in the .'Noi til Water On this southeast Cary
\ Island is a clinkeI built life boat and gear and
rations for several months for his men. if in
good condition. When we examined them in
| 1883, previous to the loss OF the Proteus. we
| found IS per cent of them in good condition
| after seven years exposure. They are in bar
| rels and tin cans of English make and are scat
tered on shelves of rock 100 feet above high
| water. overlooking the sea. on the southwest
point of the island. 1t is fifteen
years since they were landed. Lieut..
Pearv will make from there either Saunders
/ Island or Wostenholm Island and then Cape
| Athot. From Cape Athot until the Ketowik
glacier is passed he will be unable to make a
landing for nifty miles solid glacier face
| many feet III height. constantly discharging
| heavy islands of ice. heavy currents filled with
| running paSh Ice Will De met. ana With log
| and bad weather the outlook will lie gloomy
indeed to his Inc experienced men. II is many a
| weary mile from Conical Rock dying thirty
| miles off the COAST 10 Cape York. where he
| will meet Huskies and where he expects to
meet the whalers. / am afraid he will miss it,
| Cape York is the lard fall of the vhalefs bound
| for Jones sound and other whaling grounds
| They seldom approach nearer the cape than
\ twenty miles on account of the heavy ice and
| countless numbers of ieebergs discharged from
the hundreds of glaciers of the Great Mer De
Glace. From Imiick bay to Red Head, rs de-
grees. is a rule solid a glacier face from
| the heavy southwest winds driving the bergs
| in the blight of the bay. We found a record in
| 1853 belonging to Sir John Ross. that had lain
| undisturbed on Browns Island since 1913,
thirty five years. Cape York Is kept bread of
, the starboard bow and whalers require large
rewards to induce Them to risk losing an entire
ships company 10 making a close call to the
cape
| CANNOT LIVE AT THE CAPE.
They cannot live at the cape. Mrs. Peary
would die III a week 1t is fearful the way the
| huskies live aGd what they eat. 1t took the
heart out Of GU. best men in 'S3. The Polaris
| party had 10 so thirty five miles south of Cape
| York TO reach whaler- Nordenskod in 1883
could get no closer than thirty miles of it.
The iantic. hunting for us i'll August OF the
same year, was compelled to leave us to our
fate and 20 to the southwark to escape wreck