Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-09-05
ACCOUNT OF A BEAR HUNT.
Interviews With the Most Northern
People in the World.
THE EXPLORERS SAD ACCIDENT,
And the Fortitude With Which His Wife
Stands the Hardships.
A RICH HARVEST OF COLLECTIONS


have reached here concerning the Peary
Arctic expedition, in the shape of a letter
from Benjamin Sharp, Ph. D., who is a
member of the expedition. Among other
things he saws:
The steamer Kite, with the North Green
land expedition, left Sydney, Cape Breton,
on June u, arriving at the Straits of Belle
Isle on the 18th. The first day that we en-
tered the straits opened with dense fog,
which was so thick that scarcely ships
length ahead could be seen. Soundings
showed that we were in 65 fathoms of water
Now and then a small cake of ice came out
of the fog and disappeared astern Of us; q
pair of puffins, with their bright red, parrot
Ike bills, flew athwart our course; or a
guillemot or murre, taken by surprise at
the vessels approach, dived quickly out of
sight.
Suddenly there came q crash, accompanied
with a heavy jar, and the Kite was found
to have run into large ice foe, which ex-
tended into the fog as far as one could see.
The slight swell broke upon the edge of this
foe, causing sounds like breakers upon q
rocky shore, and to one not used to this ex-
perienc the situation appeared to be dan
gerOus one, but to those who have lived
among ice all their lives this meant only de-
Lay. The engines were put astern and the
Kite worked out into open water She
then ran toward the Newfoundlan coast,
in order to find an opening in the foe
should any exist.
A FIELD OF ICE.
BY noon the fog cleared away and the sun
shone out brightly. Extending to the north
as far as the eye could reach lay an enor-
nous field of ice, riven and torn, thrown
into heaps at places 10 or 15 feet high
Glistening in the bright sun it was dazzling
white. In the shadows beautiful sapphire
blues aud every shade of green could be OBJ
served. This field of ice filled the whole
strait from the Labrador coast on the left,
where long streaks of snow lay in the gorges
of its hills, extending in places to the sea
line, TO the shores of Newfoundland which
were indicated by low dark line on the
right 1t seemed very warm. although the
temperature in the air was $50 Fahrenheit.
Several whales showed their glistening
backs to the warm sun or spouted lazilv in
the breathless air. Along the Newfound-
land coast several fishing boats could be
made out and from the puffs of blue smoke
that occasionally came from them we knew
that they were shooting guillemots, which
Few about us in great numbers As we
steamed among these boats we found they
had Goldfish as we'll as birds
As we saw no prospect of getting through
the ice the engines were stopped, and as
soon as we lost our headway four or five
lines were over the side and the Goldfish
were soon being hauled in. The method of
catching Goldfish is one not known on our
coasts. No bait whatever is used. Two
strong hooks are melted into piece-uf head
moulded to resemble fish. This is known
as a 'Jigger," and when about to be used is
scraped bright and lowered within few
feet of the bottom. Then the line is
twitched up and down until fish is hooked,
So numerous were the fish that as many
are caught by the body as by the mouth,
and it is not unusual to see fish hauled
aboard by the tail, the hook having been
ierked into the fish.
BUTTING THROUGH THE ICE.
An attempt was made to butt through the
ice, and we had in this our first lesson in ice
navigation. The vessel is driven at full
speed at cake of ice, which, if not too
large, breaks. Often it is so heavy that no
break is made, and the vessel rises up on the
cake and slides back. During this one of
the officers is stationed aloft to escon'' the
ship, by selecting the places which seem to
be the weakest, or to find the direction of
the '9ead" or "lanes' between the foes
During this calls of "Starboard!" "Stiddyp'
and Port" are constantly heard above the
grinding of the vessels bow and the throb-
bing of the propeller.
An hour or two of this proved that the
little Kite could not make any headway that
would compensate for the loss of coal. We
determined 10 retreat, but before doing so
we tied up to foe in order to water, and
all hands were soon overheard, snowballing
and photogrsphing. The men with axes
chopped off large pieces of ice from the pin-
nacles, which were brought abroad and put
Into q large iron tank on deck, through
which steam from the boilers was forced in
order to melt it. This is the method by
which vessels in the ice obtain their fresh |
water.
THE PLANS OF PEARY.
Lieutenant Peary, in planning his North |
Greenland expedition, made an application |
TO the Danish Government to transport his |
party and supplies as far as the most north |
ern Danish settlement. This they refused. |
as they did not have the room in their
vessels IA tons) which he required, Not |
being able to proceed to the North in this |
way, the Kite was chartered The time |
between his refusal from the Danish ships |
and the sailing of the Kite was SO short /
that he was not able to write again to Dem J
mark for the credit" as it is called, but /
obtained letter from the Danish
Consul in New York, thinking this
would be sufficient. If he had had the
credit" he would have had no difficulty in
getting all the clothing, dogs, ETC., be
wanted. He took with him four Newfound-
land dogs from New York, which he in
tended to use in dragging the supplies to
the different stations on the inland ice. One
AT oT 4
other escaped on the ice in the Straits of
Belle Isle, SO that now the two remaining
were scarcely sufficient for the work which |
he had planned.
The three days spent at Godhayn were
employed bv the members of the scientific
party in collecting and exploring the island
One party, under the leadership of Lien.
tenant Peary and Mrs. Peary, climbed the
high basaltic cliffs, and on their top estab-
lished a ''cairn," in which the names of the
party were deposited. A fine collection of
plants, which grew about in great abund-
lnce, decking the hillsides with yellow and
pink, was made by the botanist, DR.. Will
lam Burk. Many insects were secured by
he entomologisf, Mr. I. Menpel. while q
valuable collection of birds and eggs was
sathered by the ornithologist, DR.. W. E.
Hughes
MOST NORTHERN WHITE SETTLEMENT.
Leaving Godhavn the Kite steamed
arriving at Upernayik on the
morning of July l. Here the same difficulty
presented itself to Lieutenant Peary, and,
urther, not being personally acquainted
with the Governor, our reception was in
Iced cold one. The town of Upernavik
lifered great contrast to that of Godhavn.
he Government houses, it is true, are
lbOut the same, with their high gabled