St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-05-07
POLAR EXPLORATIONS.

| PYTHEAs speaks of the island of
| Thule, which is on the arctic circle, and
this is the only evidence in existence
that the ancients had any knowledge of
the polar regions. To what extent they
explored the frozen country is unknown.
The earliest explorations Of the polar
| regions in the Christian era of which
there is any record were made in the
ninth century. The monk DICUII., who
wrote about 625, tells about some Irish
monks who visited Iceland, and some
other brethren who visited Thule. King
ALFRED told Of the first polar voyages
made for discovery. These were made,
he says. by OTHE and WULFSTAN.
From his account it is believed that
! OTHER rounded the North cape and
visited the coast Of Lapland. After
ward the Mortimer made many voy
ages to the polar regions, but there is
no record of just how far westward they
! went.
So far as history shows, the first eX
| petition to discover the northern re-
| gions in full was that of Sir HUGH
| WILLoUGHBY and RICHARD CHANCEL-
LoR, which started May 20, 1858. This
was promoted by SEBASTIAN CABOT,
the contemporary of COLUMBUS. who is
| supposed to have discovered New
foundland. WLLoUGHBY discovered
Nova Zembla. then put up in harbor
of Lapland, where he and all his men
persisted of hunger and cold, CHAN
CELIOR reached the Bay of St.Nicholas,
and returned home afterWard. During
that and the following century many
expeditions attempted to explore the
polar regions. Some of them were sue
cessful in discovering new lands, but
the majority resulted only in death to
the navigatorS. No disaster was suffi-
cient to deter the determination to sail
to the utmost northern point; and so,
profiting by the routes marked out by
the successful explorers, the navigators
of Europe continued to form expedi-
lions.
In 1925 PETER the Great appointed
Capt. Virus BERING (Whose name, as
applied to the sea, is misSpelled "Beh1-
ing'D, to command a polar expedition.
BERING succeeded that time in diScov-
ering the Behring sea; but in 1740 he
commanded another expedition. sailing
himself in ship called ''St. Paul." in
which he reached the coast of Alaska,
and skirted northward until he sighted
Mount st. Elias, where he died Dec. s,
1741. Other Russian expeditions fol-
lowed this, but the only results were the
discovery of new lands.
The English government in 1778 Or
dered Capt Cook to proceed north ward
from Kamtschatka aud search for a north
east OF northwest passage from the Pa
cifc to the Atlantic. Cook made three
voyages, and in the third one reached
Cape Prince of Wales, the western eX-
tremity of America, and the farthest
point seen by him Oh the American side
was Icy Cape. Thousands of expedi-
tons, fitted out by all European govern
ments, followed; but beyond the discov-
cry of few uninhabitable lands, the
efforts were failures.
The most persistent efforts were made
by England, and the explorer who came
the nearest to finding a north passage
between the two oceans was Sir JOHN
FRANKLIN. FRANKLIN, after making
voyages extending over many years.
resolved IN 1916 to find passage at any
hazard. His unhappy fate is still fresh
in mind. 1t was not until 1S4S that
anxiety was felt about him. Many Eng
lish expeditions were sent out to find
him, and at length, in 1850. America be-
came interested in the search. Mr..
GRINNEIL, wealthy philanthropist of
New York sent out a searching expedi-
ton under charge of DR.. KANE. KANE
shared the fate of FRANKLIN. and that,
too, is fresh in mind.
But notwithstanding the fate of
FRANKLIN and KANE, and that of many
other polar explorers. expeditions con- j
tinued to start out with the determine
ton of finding passage between the
oceans.
This year four expeditions will sail
for the collar regions, hoping to find an
open sea between the oceans. The
American expedition will be command
ed by Lieut.. PEARY. A north passage
will not be found; but suppose that one
or other of these expeditions should sue
coed in reaching the Pacific ocean from
the Atlantic side, of what earthly bene-
fit would the route be to the world? 1t
is doubtful that another ship would ever
be able to pass that way. These polar
expeditions are the most fruitless and
useless undertakings Imaginable. The
money squandered in this way could be
used TO great advantage in many useful
scientific researches, and it seems time
that the public cried down the Arctic
exploration craze.
CAPTURED BY PELF.