The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-28
PEARY SCORNS BALLOON IDEA
MEN AND DOGS THE ONLY USEFUL
POLE HUNTING AGENCIES.
: euddenIy varying Temperatures and winds.
He says. Render Air Tsp Impossible
wireless TelegrRphy Useless In Far
NOrth-DrIrting I1an Pure Chance.

Boston, Nov. 27.-Comma nder Robert
=. Peary, the arctic explorer, arrived here
ut s4O tonight from Sydney, n. =
He was accompanied by Mrs. Peary and
A. j. Quigly OF New York. n personal friend.
The party left for New York on the mid
night train.
Commander Peary said he would remain
in New York but a short time tomorrow,
as he was anxious to get TO Washington in
order to spend Thanksgiving with his
children
He thought he might see som of the
members OF the Arctic Club while in New
York.
As to making any more trips in search
Of the Pole, the explorer said he had not
given hat subject any thought, his chief
anxiety being TO get home as quickly as
possible.
Mr.. Peary said that he believed that he
would nave reached the Pole had not there
been such an unusually open season and
heavy storms, which broke mp his system
of relays arranged to bring up food as he
dashed north over the ice.
He was asked If il would not have been
feasible TO have used canoes in the open
water as Nansen did, but TO this Peary
replied that he did not think 30 on account
OF the number Of people he had with him.
/. In Nansen's case, he explained. there were
Z only two men in the party.
The commander was greeted at the Bruins
wick. Me-, railroad station by a throng OF
Bowdoin College men, who cheered him
Justify. The explorer came out on the
platform Of his car and made a short speech,
saying that he was proud of his achieve
ment, for he considered it was a n achieve
o-rN a. haua raarhod n mint fIIrfhar north
! than any other man. He was also proud,
he said, to nave old Bowdoin share the
honors.
Peary is an alumnus Of Bowdoin, class Of
! TT, and he was personally greeted by
? President Hyde, with whom he chatted
while the train was getting ready TO start.
At Portland a number of personal friends
were on hand TO congratulate him.
In an interview on the train Commander
Pesry said:
while I don't want TO appear as CRITICS.
ing the plans of others personally, l have
J no faith in the airship or allied means for
F, reaching the North Pole. If it were pos
sible TO bring the airship to such a degree
of perfection that it would be as reliable az
an ocean liner and dirigible enough to with
stand the sudden and remarkable f1uctua-
tons of circumpolar winds and able TO go
10 windward-all of which it is not-the n
we might talk with reason about balloons
and aeroplanes.
However, these ideas of electrical sledges
and airships as c~ontrivanCes on which TO
reach the Pole are based, it seems to me,
on lack of knowledge of prevailing condi'
tons up there.
AN airship, as il IL at present. would
meet with ins~urmountable difficulties,
among them rapid fluctuations in tempers-
ture, these being about as fierce and as
variable as the winds.
Then the heavy falls of snow weighing
on the balloon would make a very APP
preciable difference in its weight, with
consequent difficulties in its management
Besides this the minute particles of
snow, long and fine and piercing as nee
dies. due TO evaporation Of snow and ice.
might affect the chances of the airships'
airworthiness The rise and fall of temper
AZURE to the extent of p difference of %
degrees with or without the sun would
naturally nave its effect upon the gas and
on the mechanical operation of the ship.
Il have in no way changed my opinion
regarding the proper way to reach I ne
Pole. Ny allegiance to the Smith Sound
or American ror te = un impaired. / have
always 4OINItIcu IN DDS~D ltlb ~ OI "
drift method OF reaching the Pole if a ship
can be Out into the ice at the proper place.
manned by men of such temperament az
would permit them to su bmit patiently to
acampaign which would not ne aided in the
least by their own methods,
sOf course il il impossible to say how
long such a method would require to be
successful. IL might take five or six or ten
years to drift over the Pole, or to approach
1uxN7CiapfIU Doar IL IN mako II DOEglhlp for
sledge part les to reach n without any eX-
traordinary difficulties.
at by no means follows from the voyage
Of the Fran that another ship or that ever
the Fran herself would be able to repeat
her voyage in safety.
Il am strongly opposed to the use or an
attempt TO use untried or undeveloped ideas
in the polar regions. The Far North Ia not
cafe ground for experiments, as l have al
ways maintained. and l have again found
that the only practicable agencies for travel
over the rough ice foes and ridges Of the
polar sea are the man and the Esquimau
dog q, tbsss r,dvas ,roousntlv rise
twenty-five TO seventy-five feet, and are
sharp enough at the top to penetrate any
thing vulnerable, and the c%revices are big
enough for two or three men TO fall in.
Then there are the leads, or open water.
moving and changing all the time, so that
the man must be left to look out for himself,
and his animal must have sense enough TO
be able TO kOOk out Tor USel1
Il did not use a wireless telegraphy outfit
aboard the Roosevelt, because / have no
faith In IL for polar work. The wireless is
in its experimental stage, n 1t would have
to be perfected beyond anything it has
lone yet before l should care to Use it in
my work.
The wireless does not operate well in
the arctic. Some OF the wireless stations
on the Labrador coast. which Is the extreme
northern point for the service, are so close
together that it il possible to wigwag sig
mails from one station to the other, yet mes
saEes are unsatisfactory between them
Two OF the things Commander Peary
notices on coming back to civilization
again are the pinching Of civilized foot
gear and the difficulty Of writing with a
pen after having used a pencil for SO long.
He also anticipates some difficulty in MAX
ing his way through the crowds on Broad
way, having encountered comparatively
few people in the ~uncrowded Broad White
Way" that leads to the Pole.
AT almost every station coming from
Sydney there was a curious crowd, and some
times amusing incidents occurred.
AT one station, in Canada a band of twenty
nr more small bows were gathered To |