Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-10
SEARCHFOR WELLMAN
His Expedition Went to the Arctic
Year Ago.
EXTRACTS FROM Els LAST LETTER
Steamer CapalIa Gone to His Res
cue or for News.
WILD, BLEAK NORTHLAND

Just a year has passed since the steamer
Frithjof sailed away from Cape Tegett-
hoff latitude So, where they had safely
landed Welman, the arctic explorer, and
his party of eight brave fellows.
The Capalla, from Goteborg, Sweden,
stopped at Vardo, on the northeast coast
of Norway, July 10, from which point she
was going to Franz Joseph Land to bring
back the Wellman expedition, or news
of it.
Mr. Welman, in his delightfully."- graphic
style, describes the scene of their landing
and the leaving of the ship in a letter to
Mrs WeIlman, which the Frithjof brought
back last September:
Cape Tegetthoff is wild and bleak A
mountainous headland. snow covered and
mist enshrouded, terminates in a series of
basalt spires rising from 200 to 500 feet
above the sea. The land is bare of vege-
tation, except for MOSES which carpet the
hillsides, and arctic peoples, which are in
every direction.
About the spires and across the plateau
the wind sweeps violently. Only once be-
fore in all time has the cherries spot been
visited.
Here we are to set up our home. Upon
the second plateau, about 100 feet from the
water, we have begun the erection of a
house. 1t will not be mansion. 1t will not
even be a good house, as arctic houses go,
but we cannot afford to waste much time
in its construction, for we do not expect to
live in it. So far now able to see,
it will serve only as depot.
1t is our purpose to place in it our reserve
supplies. and to make it as secure as pos
s:bie against the ravages of bears. and then
to abandon it for the winter, or perhaps
forever.
But it will be a comfort to know in case
~ - 81 hn --St e r,,1
wintering in the arctics, that we have some
sort of house to return to.
In spite of all temptation to settle down
here and make ourselves as comfortable as
possible for the winter, we have determined
to adhere to the original plan of expedition.
we propose to go north and winter
wherever we can or must, and in the best
fashion circumstances will permit of In
other words we are going to burrOw in the
ground, to hibernate like so many polar
bears.
Hope the Guiding star.
How far. north we shall be able to get
we do not know. In this region man pro-
poses and nature disposes. But we believe
everything comes to him who works. and
we shall push on in a week with our dogs
and loads. If We make three miles a day
we shall do well, for it must be remembered
that we are trying to carry to our win
ter camp, 100 geographical miles north,
the supplies which are usually taken
to sledgfng headquarters by a ship. But
we have all the remainder of the summer
and early autumn to do it in before dark
ness and the cold come. The obstacles
in our way will have to be very great If we
do not succeed.
This forenoon it was impossible to send
things ashore, as the waves We're running
high in the strait: but this afternoon amid
many yelpings and barks of disrnay or de-
light, the dogs were taken ashore and tied
up to a big rock. Material for house build
& Dff mr. osn ctr
and coal. In day or two We shall have
quite a settlement here in the most north
erly point in the world that we know any
thing about. We mean to take care not to
make it too comfortable, as it must not
tempt us to neglect our work toward the
pole.
MONDAY, August 1, 1898
Again the skies are bright. This far
northern world is bathed in the most bril-
liant of sunlight glistening upon sea and
fcebergs and glaciers and Illuminating the
darkest clefts of rugged mountains. None
of US have ever seen anything more beau-
tiful than the immense glacier of McKitn-
took, six or eight miles westward. 1t
rises, a perfect sheen of glstening ice,
studded with billions of particles of re-
fracting crystals to a height of some 1000
feet, and the two eminences appear, one
bald and rugged and black as if with a
mighty effort it had shaken itself loose
from the grip of ice king, and the other
lifting itself toward the sky, as white as
marble, erect and majestic but still with
the mantle Of frost clinging to all its gar
ments. In the foreground have the
bold cliffs of Cape Tegetthoff. At its base
our pack of eighty-three Siberian dogs rails
ing continuous series of echoes, each of
which is repeated many times, serving, to-
gether with the incessant chatter of birds,
to raise strange din in this silent world.
To the northeast Cape Frankfurt rises
from the snow as a black landmark of our
route toward the region north, the land of
promise for our expedition. All day we
hDU hap h1IS oct iTN etc nch cFaI
fixing up the house, where our men now
sleep to keep watch over the dogs.
No Faint Heart There.
After dinner our Norwegian members
were invited to a conference. They were
told that we Americans We're we'll satisfied
with all of them; they were informed of
our plan of expedition, which involves a
most arduous campaign and wintering
amid great discomfort. Then they were
told if any one among them was dissatis-
fled and wished TO return with the ship
now was the accepted time. To a man they
laughed at the idea Of returning.
Your true Norwegian likes nothing bet
ter than sharp battle with the angry
forces of nature in the arctics- The sharper
it is the better he is pleased. Tomorrow the
Frithjoff turns toward home and we begin
preparing our equipment for the march
north"
Left to Themselves.
The last seen of Wellman and his eight
brave companions they were waving good
byes to the captain of Frithjoff as she
steamed away leaving them to their fate
What that fate has been we may know this
fall upon the return of the steamer Capa1la,
which was chartered by Mr.. Welman's
family to go north to his assistance.
The Capaila stopped at Vardo early in
July to take on supply of coal; therefrom
she started for Franz Joseph Land carrying
instruction where to look for the expedi-
ton, but the probabilities were they would
be at Cape Flora.
If the expedition was able to carry out
the proposed plan of reaching a point 100
miles beyond Cape Tegetthoff before the
darkness of winter overlook them, an early
start was assured for this spring and a
great deal could be accomplished between
the middle of February and August.
The Dog Express.
Mr.. Wellman's plans for distributing the
loads among a great number of dogs was