The Washington herald., 1906-11-24

u DfitAihs IL Not r easihte.
Crew Gave Him Trouble. and Com
planned that He Had Broken Faith.
North Sydney, y. s, Nov. Z8.-After an
absence Of ls3 days in the polar regions.
Commander Robert J. Peary arrived here
at o'clock this morning on the steamer
Roosevelt An hour later the craft was
anchored OF the Sydney Yacht Club
Ia the Gladiator the explorer was taken
ashore TO the Sydney Hotel, where he
greeted Mrs. Peary. who had been wait
ing there for her husbands arrival for
several weeks.
Peary asked for news, and was especial
ly interested in the San Francisco earth
quake Of which he had head nothing.
The Roosevelt shows no .gn of rough
usage. She looks splendid about the hail,
except aft. under counter. where she
shows the effect Of a broken rudder- The
flag which the Arctic Club gave the ship
flies from the main truck, and the ensign
given by the Geographical Society from
the mizzen.
Plans New Arctic Ship.
Asked If he intended 10 90 again, Com
modore Peary said:
oh, wait until i get a chance TO re-
cover from fatigue before talking about
that But if do go have a design for
new ship. worked on II while away.
Here it is
/ Peary showed model, something like
a monitor, in his living quarters.
The last leg Of the journey from Port
Aux Basque was made at an average
speed Of six knots.
Despite all reports, Commander Peary
was found 10 be I'm perfect health. He
had increased twelve pounds in weight.
All who had accompanied the explorer 70
the far North were likewise in splendid
condition.
After greeting his wife, Pesry at once
! sent the following message 10 Morris 4.
Jesup. of New York:
The clubs expedition has completed grsat polar
I triangle the apex of which marks the nearest aT-
TTccCh 10 ihe pole and Us base connects tho north
ern a1trc-itics of che t7o most no-then lands or
the cloba piece q the stars ard STRIPES has bern
/ deposited al each angle q the triangle.
From where Pesry was il would have
/ taken him only thirty or forty days 10 50
10 the pole and back
/ NOt such a Hard Feat.
! Peary places the exact northern limit Of
/ his approach 20 the pole at arlis miles
Re marked the frozen spot with a flag
staff from which futtered new silk
sudon which Pe7ry himself made.
He buried in the ice AT latitude s. de-
grees minutes in a brass Thermometer
case. with photographs Of cairn and flags.
/ his message. which was written in Eng
i fish. French. Dutch. Danish. Spanish. and
( German. Mr. Peary said,
Finding the north pole is not nearly 50
dangerous q S IL was 10 try to avoid being
shipwrecked on the Newfoundland coast
We had an awful time. We spent
eleven davs in Battle Harbor fighting the
undert0w which threatened 10 tear US
( from the rocks To which We were secured
we broke our best anchor and lost
countless ropes For three days We beat
I back and forth iu and ont Of St Georges
( Bay. trying TO save the Roosevelt
asked if dissatisfaction Of the crew af-
/ fected the chances Of the expedition
Peary said:
NO; one OF two Of the men tried TO
make trouble. but have since grown
ashamed of themselves
1T is not true that 7 refused TO let them
D
/ had they wanted TO. Capt. Bartlett and
myself would have brought her back.
Broke Faith to Avert Disaster.
The men had food. and their complaint
was that I did not go IN for fresh sup
/ ply. as / promised. on the way back
from through KaIe basin
THAT I did not is because I did not
want another Polaris disaster for the
wcrld to talk about
Il make the announcement now TO ex-
plain why ! broke faith with the men.
Altogether we were fifty-seven days
on the ice trip. We left the ship Feb
ruary % and returned TO her April p
The plan and scope were for light
pioneer party. with picked dogs, to ad-
vance and 20 be re-enfcrced at various
points and times by relief parties with
food
''The first party was to move forward,
leaving the cache behind. Then the
other parties were to come up behind.
fifty miles apart each with food which
was to be cached. The party then was
10 return for more.
when We gots ready to start on Feb
ruary % and left the ship with 10 Eskl-
mos L. avoid confusion We made Cape
Hehla 2 rendezvous.
From this point 70 the pole was only
about 40 nautical miles, but as IL after
ward proved I Travelled considerably
more than this but. of course. not in
straight direction
The second division had instructions
to leave Hekla four days after L did. The
third was to come four days after the
| second. This plan was carried out TO
the letter.
Each party had a specific compass,
set just as at sea. for the ice field
Everything went along swimmingly,
and with Matt Hanson and the six Es-i-
mos who formed my party. we managed
to push forward at times at the rate Of
forty miles a day
''The Eskimos estimated that we did
forty miles day. and sometimes forty
five miles.
Couldn't Find Relief Party.
I'm the vicinity of latitude s. we met a
wide lead OF open water. and it took US six
days to cross it, because the new ice was
himsy and we had to nurse small por-
tions Of provisions across at time
Altogether We met fourteen or fifteen
ro.Gs i'm a single da-'s march