Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-06-10
NO CHANCE TO GET BEARINGS
National Magazine.

If any one really got to the pole he
would, in common parlance, be utterly
cat sea-" simply because at the pole
there is no possibility OF ascertaining
ones whereabouts. A person arriving
there would find an altogether diff
ferent world before him. Like blind
man he would gropc about and vainly
endeavor to get back whence he came
This by no means enviable situation is
calculated to destroy illusions which
he may have cherished when starting
on his polar expedition. His COM
pletely changed situation would be ac-
counted for by the fact that when
stationed at the pole the direction of
the north would be found to coincide
with the line of the zenith-that is to
say, the point exactly above us. The
opposite point-viz.: The nadir,
would coincide with the direction to
the south. The longitudinal circles,
and thence also the meridian of the
locality, would coincide with the
circles of latitude; an equator would
coincide with the horizon. Hence an
astronomical determination of the
the locality, according to latitude and
longitude, is precluded.
The same may be said as re-
CARDS determining ones bearings in
any direction. The compass, too, will
fail there, because its horizontal in
tensity is so slight as to preclude the
possibility of its action. The only
criterion for judging that one has
arrived at the pole is that the abserved
latitude of the sun, after having been
corrected to latitude above the true
horizon, is found to coincide with the
value of the declination of the sun for
the day in question.
Moreover, in those regions is scarcely
day on which dense fogs do not pre-
vail, and GO or more degrees CO. of
cold, such as mostly exist there, will
enhance the difficulties of observation
to such an extent that it can only be
a question of approximate estimate.
Such conditions are by no means en-.
viable, and are scarcely calculated to
induce us to long for them with all
our hearts.
But these are not the only things
which are likely to make q sOjourn
at the pole a never-ending torment.
Worse that all the rest, one cannot
count the passing hours there; in
other words, there is no criterion for
determining the time of day. During
period of six months the sun will
neither rise nor set, but during the
whole of the time will always remain
either above or below the horizon.
As the earth revOlves around its axis
in twenty-four hours, the sun APP
parently describes, during the same
interval, circuit of 800 degrees
around the sky, being visible at an
latitude equal to the declination when.
ever declination is of the same name
as the pole at which the observer is
stationed.
The numerous attempts hitherto
made to reach the pole have, as a
matter of course, been by water-that
is to say, by ships and sledges. The
idea that one might get there by
an aerial passage has not gained
ground until recently, but if we con-
slider the balloons are not navigable,
and hence are liable to be carried
away by air currents in any direction
that may accidentally prevail, and in
the most unlikely event only to the
pole, no one possessed of but a
moderate allowance of common sense
will comprehend how success could
have been expected from such an en-.
terprise. Moreover, determinations
of locality cannot possibly be made
from balloon with an approximate
degree of accuracy.