The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-24
NEARLY A YEAR ON A FL0E.
DIR. COOK OF BROOKLYN TELLS OF
HIS ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCE.

HIS ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCE.
| A Drift Westward of 1000 Miles-HuntinE
Seals on the Island of Ice-Discovery Of
Canal Through Palmer Land-Snd
News That Was q Year in Reaching Him.
DR.. Frederick A. Cook. the Brooklyn physi-
| clan who accompanied the expedition to Ant
arctic regions organized by the Belgian Gov
eminent two years ago. got home yesterday on
the steamer Button from Rio Janero. He was
| chief surgeon and anthropologist Of the ex-
petition. which spent two years in the region
OF the South Pole. There are MANY Incidents
OF the long voyage which Dr. Cook would not
discuss last night as they are to appear first
over his own name in n scientific publication.
"We didn't start for the pole and we didn't
reach It," he said. "The object OF the eIpedl-
ton was to make q series OF observations,
That we did. and we not only ccomplished
all that we expected to. but great deal more.
would not say that we made any great dis
| coveries outside of the discovery OF a canal
through Palmer Land. but the results OF our
observations are certainly Of great Importance.
The expedition was well organized The
first region selected for exploration was that
south OF Cape Horn. Leaving Staten Land OF the
Southern Seas on Jan. 1. 1898. on the BelRica.
steam whaling vessel. built especially for
navigation in the ice PACK: we proceeded . d..
Shetland Islands. passing through this group
to Palmer Land. which is part of the Antarc-
=" It was at Palmer Land that we made our
greatest discovery There we found new
canal as large as the straits Of Magellan.
Pacific Ocean. The land was first discovered
about yen years bso ago. 1nd so 'ar
we went there, At the time il was discovered
only the outskirts were visited. so that our
visit was in a sense the first one. Cor by means
Of the canal we were able to go through the
THE canal is full 200 miles long. which
miles and is navigable. Although the land is
sbs Win ice and IS in WI tn
some forty or flty islands in the canal that
had had OF course never been visited before
you, all the, details of the work Of the
that ali, the iife they found there
was two kinds Of spiders four Kinds Of in
scots in al AL and bird not unlike white
Nothing like them had eyer been seen by the
entomologists before, The white pigeon s
Fuego. 1t was somewhat OF surprise to find
I'VE made twenty landings in all at Palmer
and geographical specimens; We also. sur
veyed the strait and made chart which is the
emerged in the Pacific and proceeded until we
entered na the main body ofpack Ice west of Alex
:. We were in the ice pack for thirteen months
When we entered 1t we deided to push in as
far as we could go and II brought, to a halt be;
pont We S IN n nH@s Mes Res "nd nd
out again. but the oe had closed in behind US
and we were stuck there. 50 We had 70 make
q N fhirtpAn a W in he ipa
Ss due 'SSst $S Vest opT SE so
tude to To- south latitude. The ice eof noe that
we were in was six miles In diameter. and we
We were in danger from the ice during e the
first two months and the last two months only.
Any Vessel ,5 save one Ike ours built to With
heavy seas, would have been crushed to bits
~, We didn't suffer at all during this time.
nate and We shs able ito to eas the
gums and petres., We practically lived on
them. hunting them along the edges
shooting all that we needed. for we were
equipped with modern. long range guns and
picked oil the birds and seals as We needed them.
The coolest weather We struck was 43' below
We never saw land once during the time we
2o5 icebergs around us, and they held the same
position during the entire time. showing that
their drift was the same as that OF the foe
We left the ice on March a last in 1922 west
longitude. TO- south latitude
Our most important discoveries in the
region OF the ice were the westerly current
which carried us along in the ice. and a
submarine plateau. or bank. extending
from Graham Land as far west as we
went, Among the most cherished and valuable
OF the records OF our trip is series Of meteoro-
logical observations. An observation was
taken each hour in the day for an entire year
and the series is the only one in existence Of
records taken In the South Pole region in the
winter. In fact our vessel Ia the first one that
ever spent the winter in that region"
The Belgca. after leaving the icepack, pro-
ceeded to Punta Arenas Patagonia. DR. Cook
Indians before starting for home. The ex-
de- Geriaehe ,sd and ca it left Antwerp
expected to get to Melbourne in March. is!;s
to replenish his stores. and the fact that the
Belgica didn't report there. gave rise to a fear
that she had been ost When DR.. Cook LETT
Brooklyn in 1897 he was engaged to be
married to young woman there. She died
shortly after the expedition left Di. Cook
didn't get the news Of her death until a year
later. letter which had been forwarded from
a dozen different places finally fell into the
hands of an American missionary at Terra del
Fuego. He held it, and fortunately met DR..
Cook while he was there and handed it to HIM.
DR.. Cook is at present staying with his brother
at TAT Bedford avenue, Brooklyn.