Norwich bulletin., 1909-09-24


stepping stones to ultimate success
4 The real pathfinders of the pole wer'
the early Danish, the Dutch, the Eng.
| lish and the Morse, italian and Amer
| lean explorers. With these worthy
forerunners we must therefore shar'
the good fruits which your chairman
| has put into my basket.
1 A similar obligation is due to the
| wild man. The. twin families of wilt
| folk. the Eskimo and the Indian, were
| important factors to us. The use Of
| pemmicam and the snowshoe which
makes the penetration of the arctic
mystery barely possible has been bor-
| rowed from the American Indian. The
! method of travel the motor force an6
| the native Ingenuity without which
| the polar quest would be a hopeless
| task, have been taken from the Es-
kimo. To savage man, therefore, who
has no flag, we are bound to give a
part of this fruit.
/ To John r. Bradley, the man who
paid the bills-belongs at least one hall
| of this fruit.
The Canadian government sent its
expedition under Captain Bernier 1000
miles out of its course to help us to
it. / gladly pass the basket. In re-
turning, shriveled skin and withered
muscles were filed out at the expense
of Danish hospitality And last but
not least-the reception with open
arms by fellow explorers-to you
and to all belongs this basket of good
things which the chairman has placed
on my shoulder
Nothing would suit me better than
to tell you tonight the complete story
of our quest, but the first telegram
gives, more specific data than l could
hope to tell you in an after dinner
address. Therefore l shall devote the
allotted time to an elueidation of GER
tain phases of our adventure. In "a
few days hope to tell the complete
story to you with pictures.
Chose to Escape Bombast and Flour
ish of Trumpets.
One of the most remarkable charges
brought out is that / did not seek a
geographic license to start for the pole.
Now, gentlemen. to the large public
that may be a. mystery, but you who
know viii appreciate that no explorer
can start and say that he will reach
the pole. Many good men have ried
before, all have failed. All who under
took. the problem know that success
is but barely possible when every con-
ceivable circumstance is favorable. 1t
is. only necessary to make announce
-ment that an expedition embarks for
the pole to start an undesirable bonn
bast and flourish of trumpets. This
chose to escape. Mr.. John R. Brad
ley furnished the funds, shaped the
destiny of the expedition. For the
time being the business concerned us
only. l believed then as / believe
now, that if we succeeded there would
be time enough to fly the banner of
victory. You are here tonight-Mr
Bradley is here, and / am here. We
have come together to celebrate that
victory.
Now. gentlemen, appeal to you as
explorers and men. Am I bound to
appeal to anybody, to any man, to any
body of men-for license to look for
the pole?
The Charge of insufficient Equipment.
Another criticism is the charge of
our insufficient equipment. We have
met this. You know that we had every
possible aid to success in sledge trav-
cling A big ship is no. advantage. An
army Of white men, who at best are
novices, is distinct hindrance, while
cumbersome luxury of equipment Is
fatal to progress. We chose to live
life as simple as that of Adam and
we forced the strands of human endkr-
ance to scientific limits. If you will
reach the pole there is no other way.
For our simple needs Mr.. Bradley fur
nished sufficient funds. We were not
overburdened with the usual aids of
pleasure and comfort, but ! did not
start for that purpose.
Now as to the excitement of.%the
press, to force things of their own
picking from important records into
print-in reply tos this / have taken
the stand that l have already fE&am
tangible account of our journeSs at
is as complete as the preliminarNfec-
ords of any previous explorer. ss7he
data. the observations, the record are
of exactly the same character. Here's
tofore such evidence has been Aaken
was not expected to appear for years,
whereas we agree to deliver all within
q few months.
Now gentlemen, about the pole.
We arri ed April 81 1908. We dis
covered new land along the 1O2nd
meridian between the Saith and the S5th
parallel Beyond this there was alb
solutely no life and no land. The ice
was in large, heavy fields with few
of east, the wind was south of west
Clear weather gave good regular OBJ
servattons nearly every day. These
combined with those at
the pole on the 21st and 22nd of April
are sufficient to guarantee our claim
When taken in connection with the
general record, you do not require this.
can see that, but this and all other
records will come to you in the due
course of events.
I cannot sit down withrout acknowl-
edging toSyou, and to the living Arc
tic explorers, my debt Oh gratitude for
their valuable assistance. The report
Of this polar success has come with a
sudden force, but in the present enthu-
siasm we must not forget the fathers
Of the art of polar travel There is
glory enough for all There is enough
to go to the graves of the dead and
to the heads OF the living
Many are here tonight The names
are too numerous to mention. Special
for honors must be made to
Greely. Schley, Melville, Peary. Fiala,
Nansen, Abruzxi, Cagni. Sverdup.
Amnndsen,s Nordenskjold and a num-
ber of English and other explorers.