Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-09-20


/ bringing back the whole personnel of
the Peary expedition of last year, ex-
cept Lieutenant Peary himself. Hugo
! Lee. his companion, and Matthew
| Hanson, a colored servant, all OF
whom will remain at Bowdoin Bay for
another year. hoping to accomplish
! the work Of the expedition which is
still left unfuItilled.
The story of the expedition is very
| thrilling. The first incident was the
birth Of Mrs. Peary's baby September
18th, 1893, a month after the Falcon
left last year During the month of
October last fearful storms swept over
the Falcon harbOr, smashing a
launch and washing away large
quantities of oil intended for use for
illuminating and heating purposes.
Various scientific observations were
pursued all winter. The meteOrologi-
cal observations were the most sue
ceSsful. On March 9th last, the main
expedition started across Greenland
to Independence bay, the fartherest
point north reached by Lieut. Peary,
on his previous journey. The
eight men, Lieutenant Peary.
Entriken, Asuup, DR.. Vincent, Lee,
Davidson, Baldwin and Clarke, with
twelve sledges and ninety-two dogs,
met with frightful weather almost
from the time of starting. After d
week Dr.. Vincent was 50 used up that
he had to return.
The storm reached its worst point
during the equinOctiaI gales Of March
10th. The party was then in camp
about 80 miles from Anniversary
lodge in a temporary house at the
head of Bowdion bay,
The thermometer dropped to 80 and
60 degrees below zero, and remained
so for two days, while the gale, blow
ing about 80 miles an hour, buffeted
the party. Davidson and Lee We're
badly frost bitten, and Astrup, the
Norwegian, gave out from hardship.
The dogs persisted in great numbers
and froze into solid blocks. After the
storm was over, the whole party re-
turned to Anniversary lodge, where
they left three sick men, together with
plenty Of supplies from the base Of op-
erations. Then the four healthy ones,
Lieut.. Peary, Entriken, Clarke and
Baldwin, started again and continued
onward for fourteen days. But the
dogs continued to die and those left
were unable to drag the sledges and
provisions. The party was so weak
ened by exposure and the time Occu-
pied in travelling was so long as to
render it impossible to reach indie
pendence bay in time to accomplish
anything. Consequently Lieutenant
Peary decided to abandon his attempt
to cross Greenland and return to
headquarters. which were reached
April Goth.
The party had been absent about
forty five days and only got $50 miles
away. 1t started with ninety-tWo dogs
and returned with only tWenty-siX, af-
ter having abandoned all the sledges
on the way. 1t covered only a quarter
of the distance necessary and never
made more than twenty miles in any
day. The members Of the party
claimed that their experience in equi-
noctial gales was worse than that OF
any previous arctic explorers. All had
very narrow escapes from being frozen
to death Entriken had both feet bad
ly frost-bitten. Davidson was sick for
months after the experience. After
the party gained health, other eXplora-
tons in the neighborhood were organ
lied. Astrup made a survey Of the
unexplored part Of the coast of Mel
Vile and chartered 100 miles of it. He
had a native crew of five men to help
him.
Lieut.. Peary and wife made
sledge journey to Olrike bay, 100
miles distant Entriken and DR.. Vim
cent started to try and reach Kane's
winter quarters at Littlejohn Island
but the ice broke up, compelling them
to return.
The auxiliary expedition which
sailed from here July It'll, on board
the steamer Falcon, met with very
much ice and the steamer WasAserlouS-
ly hampered in its operations. She
had extreme difficulty n making her
way through the ice foes and only
sighted Bowdoin bay July 23d. Then
the ice pack thirty-fve miles wide pre-,
vented communication with the shore
until August 18th and the steamer
only anchored in Falcon harbor on
August Goth. She found all the Peary
party in good health and spirits and
glad of an opportunity to return home.
While going north the Falcon search
ed the Carey Islands, Cape Faraday
and Clarence head, but found no
| traces Of the lOng-missing Swedish
explorers, Bjorling and Kalsgenius,
who sailed from here in June 1892.
in the schooner Ripple. Their death
| is now regarded as certain.
| The Falcon secured some relics on
| Carey Islands and buried a skeleton
| supposed to be that of a sailor. The
| ship started on its return trip August
| 26th.
Lieutenant Peary decided to remain
| another year in the north and try to
! cross Greenland next year. Lee and
Hanson agreed to remain with him.
He accompanied the Falcon as far
south as Cape York, where he discov-
cred a magnificent iron meteorite.
/ He hoped to put it on board the ship
and send it to the United States. but
found the ice blocking the ship which
made it impossible to get to the land