The morning call., 1894-03-11
A NEWSPAPER MAN AT THE
NORTH POLE.

One CT the most promising Of the many
polar expeditions of the year has been
undertaken bv Mr.. Walter Wellman of the
Chicago Herald Mr.. Wellman proposes
to leave Tronsoe On the north cOast of
Norway on May in a steamer which has
been chartered for the purpose, and which
VIII carry the party TO Danes Island, Spitz-
bergen. Having made base of operations
there, the steamer will land it's passengers
on the edge of the polar icepack, between
so deg. aud 81 deg. north latitude. and from
that point they will proceed in boat-sledges
made of aluminium. This is the route
which was taken by Parry in 1927. He
got as far north as 50 deg. As min, within
forty miles of the highest point reached by
any explorer, but his boats were heavy
and his progress so slow that the season
drew toward close while his work was
only half done. Still Parry did good serv-
ice; for half a century he was the banner
polar navigator. Mr.. Wellman hopes to
avoid the obstacles which he encountered.
His boats are very light and can be drawn
rapidly over the ice. He will be supplied
with compressed meat, containing maxi
mum of nourishment with a minimum of
weight. He hopes to avoid the southwest
ward cur rent from the pole, which drove
Parry's boats out of their course, by cross
ing the region of the current before the
ice breaks up. The distance he expects to
traverse is about 400 miles. If he succeeds
be believes he will be back at Spitzbergen
before the close of navigation in the Arctic
Ocean.
Americans will watch the progress of
Noll ,itb info
1t would be pleasant to hear that an
American had discovered the pole, and a
newspaper man at that. But the most
promising, as 1t is the most carefully
planned expedition of the year, is that of
DR.. Nansen.
Nansen started last year by his old route
of 1878. from the neighborhood of North
Cape. Hugging the shore of Siberia, he
was to pass inside of Nova ZAmbla,
through the Morden Sekiold Sea to the
Siberian Islands. and to make some spot
near the one where the Jeanette was
wrecked his point of departure for the
pole. His theory is that the southwesterly
current passes over the pole, carrying the
ice with it, and with this ice he proposes
to drift toward the north coast of Green
land. He is fortified in this belief by the
fact of the discovery on the southwest
coast of Greenland of articles placed Oh
the ice by the sailors of the Jeanette.
Arctic navigat0rs generally scout DR..
Nansen's plan. General Greedy pro.
nounces it "impracticable and suicidal, :"
and English geogrsphers agree with Linz
success will depend on the ability of
Nansen's vessel to withstand the pressure
OF the ice. which crushed the ribs of the
Jeanette. and on his finding way out
of the pack after he has drifted over the
pole. 1t was the opinion OF the survivors
of the Bennett expedition that nothing
could withstand the lateral pressure of
immense icefioes when they began TO
move. Nansen believes that the danger
from this source has been exaggerated
Again, ship caught in the polar pack
might remain for an indefinite period
locked in the ice. We have no means of
reckoning the rate at which the polar cur
rent travels. II the adventurous doctor
were immured in the ice for ten years
our first news of his fate might be re-
ceived from some relief expedition in the
distant future.
1t fills sympathetic mind with sadness
to think of the noble lives which are being
sacrificed year after year to solve geo.
graphical problem. From the north cGpes
of Spitzbergen TO the pole the distance is
less than from here to Ogden. A man could
walk it in a little over a month; a swift
ocean steamer could traverse it in less
than forty hours. Nothing intervenes be-
tween Spitzbergen and the pole but ice
and water. Yet Christendom has for
three-quarters of a century spent her best
skill and courage In the effort to cross the
gap, and the way is still barred