Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1909-10-12
And Still He rs Temperate Con-
corning PearY.


Captain Bernier with the steamer
Arctic" have arrived at Quebec,
and declares that the northwest pas
sage has been negotiated.
Captain Bernier has letter which
he received from DIR. Cook, dated
Upernavik, May %, in which the
latter says that Commander Peary
sold his supplies, but that with the
aid of the provisions brought by Ber-
nier he was able to ''work out his
problem" Cooks letter says:
"We have pushed into the barest
center and have picked the polar
prize, but the effort was dangerous
beyond all conception.
II have to write you the first letter
after having been sealed behind ice
barriers for two years. 1t was your
supplies, so kindly left in charge of
Mr.. Whitney, which aided me greatly
in getting to Upernavik. All my
other property had been taken by
Peary under the guise of a relief sta
ton for DIR. Cook. Murphy, the man
in charge Of the station, however,
was instructed not to engage in any
relief efforts; not to allow Eskimos to
cross and search until March of the
following year, 1909. My large store
of supplies and my station was used
for barter with natives to satisfy
Peary's commercial greed.
"The splendid assistance which you
have given and the liberality of the
Canadian government, in sending the
ship is a happy contrast to the hind
rance and injustice of one of my own
countrymen.
Describing the return journey from
the pole, DIR. Cook says:
"We were helplessly carried to the
west and unable to reach our caches
along Nansen sound. We were pushed
into Prince Gustave sea with food
and fuel exhausted. Still unable to
press eastward, we went with the ice
to the south, food and fuel now ex-
hausted. Polar bears came to our
rescue as life savers. We then went
into Wellington channel, hoping to be
able to reach whalers in Lancaster
sound, but we were soon stopped by
failing food supplies and young, small
ice. With no gun this short route to
an early ship was no longer possible
and to satisfy the pangs of hunger we
worked to Jones sound. Here, after a
long run of hard adventure by boat
and sledge, cruel necessity forced us
into winter camp in September, at
Cape Sparbo without fuel or food, am
munition or winter clothing, with nc
dogs, no guns. Our situation was
almost hopeless, but fortune came oul
way. Bows and arrows, harpoons
lances and other implements were
made. The musk oxen and bear were
taken with lines. The lance and knife
secured us small game. Foxes were
trapped, walruses and seals attacked
and secured in our little folding can
vas boat. An underground dam wa.
built and the winter of 190S-O9 passed
with taste of everything save fresf
meat.
s'For we had not a morsel of civil
lied food, not even salt. A new equip
ment was devised and as soon as tn.
sun OF 1909 rose over the hills O
North Devon we started for -Annotok
in February, 1909, dragging driet
musk oxen meat as food and melted
tallow as fuel for thirty days on ou
sledges. Deep snow, bad ice, opeI
water and continued storms, made tn,
return slow and arduous, We reached
Annatok after run of hard luck OF
a pril 5. Here we were met by Whit
ney only to find that Peary's men haC
misused our station with its equip
mentS."