Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1891-06-27
NEW POLAR EXPEDITION.
THE DANGEROUS EFFORT TO BE
TRIED AGAIN.

a Norwegian Explorer Who VIII Try
TO Get There I'm Five Years--Uncle
Sam VIII Also Make Another Effort
An Overland Route.
The efforts to discover the North Pole
will be abandoned only when this real or
imaginary point is discovered. For 200
years brave and adventurous souls have
sacrificed comfort, health, and life itself
in the quest of this elusive spot, only to
be met with disaster and utter failure.
And yet the spirit of enterprise, the
desire for exploration, are not subdued.
The determination to penetrate this I'M
known place is as stubborn and persistent
as if danger and privation and death had
not attended all former attempts. Moth
ing in previous expeditions holds out any
prospect of success; the survivors of
those other journeys are yet alive to tell
the narrowing tale of the awful desola-
ton Of that desert of ice and snow, but
they can not daunt the hardy and adven-
furious men who still cherish the hope Of
final success.
Two expeditions for this purpose are
now in the midst Of preparations, buoy
ant with hope, confident of success, will
ing to hazard all risks. One of these
will start from Norway in June, under
the command Of DR.. Fridtjof Nansen, a
distinguished Norwegian explorer. He
is preparing for an absence of five years.
His ship will weigh ITO tons and will be
so constructed that when struck by great
masses of ice it will be forced out of the
water to the top of the mass. 1t will
be manned by crew Of eight men and
fully equipped for the long journey. DR..
Nansen will sail straight through Boring
Strait into the Arctic Ocean, and then
follow the current. He believes that q
current runs from the coast Of Siberia
into an open polar sea. His reason for
this belief is that after the ill fated jean
nette was abandoned on the north Ber-
ing coast, near the mouth of the river
Lena, articles believed to belong to this
ship were picked up on the west coast of
Greenland. DR.. Nansen's theory is that
they got into this Siberian current, were
carried toward the pole, and then down
through Baffin's Bay to the western
shores of Greenland. 1t will be remem-
bered that various scientific societies in
Europe have discouraged DR.. Nansen's
theories, but he will proceed with his ex.
petition, and we shall hear of him no
more for five years, if ever.
The second expedition is of a very
different nature. 1t is under the direc-
ton of Engineer Robert E. Peary, of the
United States Navy, who has obtained
leave of absence for 18 months, COM
mencing May1. He will conduct his ex-
petition overland through Greenland in
northeasterlY direction. Three or four
men will comprise the party, and they
will travel with dogs and sledges. Mr..
Peary has previously explored in Green
land, and he is quite certain that these
great ice plateaus form the safest and
surest route to the North Pole. He feels
sure that he will reach the northern
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ice, upon which hewill continue to travel.
His plan meets the approval of Engineer
Melville and other Arctic explorers. The
cost of this expedition will be borne by
geographical and scientific societies. In
the latter case it will not be impossible to
follow the party up with rescuing ex-
petition, as has been necessary in all
previous attempts at explorations.
What lies in that impenetrable beyond
is for the imagination alone to depict.
1t may be only an endless expanse of ice
and snow, with nothing to repay the ire
mendous exertion of finding it except the
satisfaction of universal curiosity. But
there has always existed vision of an
open sea, an equable climate, vegetation,
and it has even been dreamed that a race
of people might live in this wonderland
And restless, daring, inquiring humanity
will continue its research to the end OF
time, OF until all the mystery is solved