The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1909-09-17

ReJoined Roosevelt at Etah with Erik
Aug. IL. Coaled Roosevelt from Erik.
Landed coal and supplies for relief Of
Cook, who had not yet returned. Put two
men In charge and sent Cooks men home
disabled. Whitney will remain through
winter to hunt musk oxen and bear.
Unusually stormy season, but no ice
yet
Showing furiously now-plenty Of It
From Littleton island and Sabine north
all depends on ice conditions beyond.
Have good supply Of Eskimo dogs and
walrus meat All well on board. Expect
to steam north some time tonight.
PEARY.
Left Etah Aug. II.
A second dispatch, forwarded by the
same route. also received by Secretary
Bridgman from Captain Samuel W.
Bartlett. told of the steamer Erik hav-
ing collided with an iceberg and hav-
ing sustained serious damage. Cap
tain Bartlett In the same message also
reported that Peary's steamer. the
Roosevelt. left Etah Aug. IL. His dis
patch follows:
Collided iceberg Monday night. Dam
age serious. Proceeding along shore.
Roosevelt left Etah Aug. IL. Prospects of
success good.
What Peary Feared Most.
Peary went prepared to encounter
much open water. That was a handi-
cap he greatly feared. as dogs and
sledges cannot cross and have to make
long detours around the open water
after the vessel is left behind.
On his present expedition Mr.. Peary
announced that he would take q route
from Grant Land more to the west and
not so directly north as that of his
former attempt, heading almost as far
as the eightieth meridian of longitude
and thus compromising for the east
ward ice drift He planned to estab-
lish his last base on a newly found is
land northwest of Grant Land. Peary
based great hopes on the results to be
obtained by following the arctic cur
rents.
The advantage of this route is that 1t
allows base Of supplies approximate
~ a hundred miles nearer the goal
than the Spitzbergen base. which has
been it's chief rival.
Peary's friends for several weeks
past had been expressing belief that
he had already reached his goal.
Before he set out some one asked
Peary what the discovery Of the pole
would mean. He gave with charac-
teristic enthusiasm this answer:
1T is to open up 100000 square
miles of absolutely unknown regions.
The race is both sentimental and
moral. and If we win we will be vic
torious in the greatest contest ever en-
gagged in by nations wherein there
was no Jealousy"
Although the figures given by DR..
Cook make his discovery Of the pole
antedate that of Peary by nearly a
year, apparently Commander Peary
will be the first to land on American
soil and receive the plaudits Of his
countrymen. If the commander comes
on at once be should reach New York
by rail from Sydney in a few days.
DR.. Cook does not plan to sail from
Copenhagen till Sept. %. He will n
that case not reach New York till
nearly LIS
Career of Commander -Peary.
Commander Peary has made several
arduous trips into the arctic ice.
he was born at Cresson Springs, Pa.
IN May, 1856. He entered the navy In
1881. His first polar experience was
ACQUIRED in 1886, when he made rec
onnoissance Of the Greenland inland
ice. In June, 1891. he sailed from New
York on the Kite and. making his
headquarters at Mccormick bay, on
the west coast OF Greenland, penetrat-
ed as far north as latitude 50. In
lSp4-5 he reached the seventy eighth
parallel on the west Greenland coast
In 1889 he went to between the sew
enty-ninth and eightieth parallels on
the east coast of Ellesmere Land. In
1900 he reached the eighty-second par
allel on the east coast Of Grinnell
Land. In 1866 be skirted the north
coast Of Grinnen Land and made an
attack on the pole from Cape Moss.
This was the expedition which reached
what was at that time farfhest
north" 81 degrees minutes
He reached that point on April q.
Comparatively smooth travelling ne
then found until he reached latitude
SIS degrees Il minutes. There he en-
countered a terrific storm. which held
him prisoner, while the ice drift car
ried him seventy miles to the east
These handicaps and the constantly
widening lanes Of water and increas-
ing roughness Of the ice. together Win
a threatened failure of supplies, forced
Peary to turn back on April Il.