Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1898-08-27
NO BEARINGS TO DISCOVER.
II d Mar Ever, Reaches the North Pole
HctWIl1 Be Lost.


II arr one really got to tho polo, ne
would, In common. pttrlance, be utterly
cat sea-, simply because at tho pole
there is no possibility pf ascertalning
ones whereabouts. "A person arriving
there would find an altogether different
world before him. Like blind man,
he would gropo about and vainly en-
doavor to get back whence he cnne.
This by no means enviable situation Is
calculated to destroy tho illusions Which
he may have cherished when starting
on his polar expedition. His completely
changed situation would DO accounted
for by tho fact that when stationed at
the pole tho direction of tho north
would be found to coincide with the
limo of the zenith-that is to say, the
point exactly above us. Tho opposite
point-viz the nadir-would coincide
with tho direction to tho south. The
longitudinal circles and hence also the
meridian Of tho locality, would coincide
with the circles of latitude; an equator
would coincide with tho horizon Hence
an astronomical determination OF the
locality, according to latitude and longl-
tude, is prechlded.
The Same may be said as regards do
termining ono's bearings III any dlrec-
ton. Tho compass, too, will fail there
because its horizontal intensity is so
slight as to preclude the possibility of
it's action. The only criterion for judg-
ing that .one has arrived ut the polo IS
that the observed latitude of tho sun,
after having been corrected to altitude
above tho true horizon, is found to coin
cido with the value of the declinatlon
of the sun for the day in question.
Moreover, in those regions there Is
scarcely day on which dense fogs do
not prevail and GO or moro degrees Q.
of cold, such rs mostly exist there, will
enhance the difficulties of observation
to such an extent that it can only be %
question of approximate estimates. Such
conditions are by no means enviable and
are scarcely calculated to induce us to
long for them with all our hearts.
But these are not tho only things
which arc likely to mako sojourn at
the pole nevor ending torment. Worse
than all the rest, one cannot count the
passing hours there. In other words,
there is. no criterion for determining the
time of day. During a period of SIX
months the sun will neither rise nor sot,
but during the whole Of the time will
always remain either above or below
the horizon. AS tho earth revolves
around its axis in "a hours, the sun ap-
parently describes during the same in
tcrval circuit of $50 degrees around
tho sky, being visible ut an altitude
equal to tho declination whenever
declination is of the same namo as the
pole at which the observer is stationed.
The numerous attempts hitherto made
to reach the polo have, as q matter of
course been by water-that is to say,
by ships and sledges. The idea that ono
might get there by an aerial passage
has not gained ground until recently,
but if we consider that balloons are not
navigable, and hence arc Liable to be
carried away by air currents in any dl-
rection that may accidentally prevail
and in the most unlikely event only to
the pole, no one possessed of but mod
crate amount of common sense will COM
prehend how success could have been
expected from such an enterprise. More
over, determinations of locality cannot
possibly BIO made from q balloon with
any approximate degree Of accuracy
Nautical Magazine.