The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1909-10-27


have been fruitless, and the records OF
their voyages have all been alike in
tales of freezing weather, fields Of
impenetrable ice, days Of suffering
and often the silence Of unsolved trag-
edy.
Modern science contributed little to
the progress of discovery in the Far
North. Explorers Of the twentieth
century scarcely went further than the
men Of the seventeenth century. Morse
men were the first to touch Greenland
and Iceland, many centuries ago, but
authenticated records of northern dis
covery begin soon after the discovery
Of America.
1527-Flrst polar expedition sent out
by Henry VIII. of England, for dis
coverie even to the North Pole, two
faire ships we'll manned and victualled,
having in them divers cunning men
to seek strange regions" One ship was
lost north of Newfoundland, the other
returned to England.
1596-First crossing the eightieth de-
gree Of north latitude by Dutch ex-
pedition under William Barentz, look
ing for the Northwest Passage. The
ships reached so degrees II minutes
north latitude. This is the first expedi-
tion that left definite records Of its ex-
periences.
19O6-The record farthest north, un-
til Cooks feat, made by Commander
Peary reaching 81 degrees minutes,
an advance of only 4S0 miles in 300
years.
Tragedies of the North Pole.
Sir John Franklin and all his men
in two ships of an English expedition
were lost in 1S4S. Capt. De Long and
an American expedition were nearly all
| lost in 1881. Nineteen out of twenty
| four men in Lieut.. Greely's party per-
ished in 1884. Prof. Andree started
for the Pole in a balloon in 1897 and
never was heard of again.
| Positions of expeditions around the
| Pole are usually given in degrees and
minutes of north latitude. A degree
| of latitude at the Pole is 69.4 statute
miles, and minute, which is a sixtieth
part of a degree, is approximately
| / IT miles.
Most modern expeditions reach 80
degrees north with relatively small diff
flculty That is 694 miles from the
Pole. The struggle has been to cover
the intervening region of ice, snow and
barren islands. Peary in 1906 got
within 2O3 miles of the goal. Nansen
of Norway in 1895, the Duke of the
| Abruzzi in 1900, and Anthony Fiala OF
Brooklyn in 1903, all reached points
about $50 miles from the Pole before
being obliged to turn back.
Three Routes Often Tried.
There have been three often tried
routes to the Pole. The most favored
has been up through the channel be-
! tween the east coast Of America and
the west coast of Greenland. The sec
ond lies long the eastern side OF
Greenland, with Spitzenberg as base
The least used is the Pacific ocean
route through Behring Straits and
pushing north from the Siberian coast
Likewise there are there modern
methods of conducting expeditions. The
one most often used is to push as far
North as possible through the ice In
strong ship and then with we'll
equipped sledge outfit dash across the
ice on foot. This was the method OF
Commander Peary in the past and the
one he is now using.
DR.. Nansen gave a striking example
of another plan. He had constructed
an exceptionally strong vessel, the
Fran, which he allowed to be frozen
in the ice at chosen spot, expecting
that the Arctic currents would carry
him to the pole. The currents, how
ever, drifted him off to one side.
| Andree's Trial by Balloon Failed.
| The most modern of the schemes Is
to sail through the air. Prof. Andree
tried it first in 1897. With an ordinary
balloon-for airship had not then beer
devised-he set out from Tromsoe
Norway, hoping to be blown to the
pole by favorable winds. But the bal
loon and its daring passenger were losi
. somewhere in the trackless Arctic re-
gion. Wellman is experimenting witt
dirigible balloon in Northern Nor
way. Count Zeppelin and Others have
| planned to use airshiDs.
Early expeditions 10 the Far Nortf
were not directed toward the NORTH
Pole. The object Of navigators was tt
find the tabled Northwest Passage tha
would give a short cut to India ant
the Far East. That was even the ain
of the voyages of Columbus. Henry
Hudson, whose discovery Of the Hud
son river is to be celebrated this
month, was one Of the earliest ant
most persistent seekers for the North
west Passage. In the year 1907 III
pushed his way past 30 degrees anf
set the mark for the irthest north o.
that day. A few years later he pene
trated Hudson bay. There he was Sc
adrift in small boat by mutineers ant
ended his life in the frozen regions
the first noted victim Of Arctic explor