Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-07
MANY HEROES YIELD LIVES TO
EXPLORE ARCTIC
HISTORY OF PERILoUs INVASION
MARKED BY DEATH
Earth's Pivot Has Proved Not Only
Magnet for Compass Needle, but
for Hundreds of Daring
Travellers

THRoUGHoUT the ages the spell Of
Arctic discovery has been mag
h net attracting the efforts of brave
men. Like the pulse, which alternately
throbs or stills with physical elevation
or depression, the Arctic pendulum,
swayed or held by each succeeding rec
ord Of success or disaster, has vibrated
between restless activity and periodic
quiet.
Almost every decade Of the last century
saw the ice fields of the north attracting
the energies of men who have made
ploration brilliant in their daring work
In the cause Of human progress. I'm
daunted by previous disaster or present
obstacles and despite the opinion Of those
who hold that mans legitimate field of
labor lies only where 1t return i'm
mediate profit to himself, the Arctic way
farer has plodded steadily onward slowly
but steadily closing those gaps which
have represented the worlds ignorance Of
the ultimate north.
Each assault upon the polar region has
been marked by the attainment Of knowl-
edge, even in the face Of disaster and
suffering which has been aid to sub
sequent attempts TO reach the pole Now,
with the goal reached by DR.. Frederick
A. Cook and Robert E. Peary, there
is practical proof that the sacrifice
of human lives, the loss Of many
ships and the expenditure of fortunes in
this task of northern conquest have not
been in vain.
without the men who have dared the
polar seas the world would know less
and would be a corresponding sufferer in
its lack Of knowledge. For it cannot be
denied that to no class OF workers does
60 hos
cling geographers and explorers whose
efforts have brought the world to know
Itself as it really exists.
Vikings Early Explorers
Fable and legend veil those voyages
made in the northern seas by the wander
ing Vikings of the ninth and tenth CEN
turtles, and it was not until the six
teenth and seventeenth centuries that
ord Of approximate accuracy broke the
Arctic circle. The early Norsemen to
whom must go the credit for most Of the
early discoveries, were a piratical race
and conducted their voyages chiefly in a
strictly business spirit. Occasionally one
of them would stumble upon a new coun-
try by accident just did Naddod a
Viking, happen upon Iceland in S61 by
being driven there by a gale while on
his way to the Farce islands. Occasion
ally a curious adventurer would follow
ia the footsteps of one Of these early
discoverers, but no serious attempt was
made to widen the field of knowledge
thus opened up unless the Norsemen saw
a way to entering upon commercial re-
lations to their own profit with the
natives.
Rumors of the existence Of Iceland. or
Thule, it is recorded, were first brought
home by Pytheas. Irish monks are known
to have stayed there early in the ninth
century probably the first attempt to col
onize this gateway to the north was
made by Thorold. about century after
Naddods visit. Feeling 1t advisable to
leave his native home after a quarrel
with relative, in which the latter was
killed. this Viking set his course for Ice
land and established a new home there
1t was his son, Erik, who, following his
father to the new abode, later set foot
upon Greenland when on a voyage of ad-
venture Eriks son, Lief inherited the
same rowing disposition, and. histor-
ians contend, in sailing far westward
landed either on Newfoundland or near
the mouth of the st. Lawrence, thus an
ticpating the discovery Of America by
Columbus by nearly five hundred years.
The Northwest Passage
teenth century that the first serious at
tempts at Arctic exploration were under
taken by John Cabot and his son, Sc
bastian. John Cabot, a Venetian who
settled at Bristol probably about 1474,
merits the honor OF having been the first
to suggest the possibility Of finding a
northwest passage to India. In 1895 he
received a commission from Henry VII.
authorizing him to sail out for the dis
covery Of countries and islands unknown
to Christian peoples. Though the history
OF the earlier Cabot voyages Is sadly OBJ
scure he immortalized himself by the dis
covery Of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton
island. John Cabot made second expe-
dition IN 1893, and probably died soon
thereafter. Sebastian Cabot, finding the
English government little inclined to
spend money on further exploration,
transferred his services to the king of
Spoin for whom he examined the coast
OF South America. In 154S he returned
to England, was honored by Edward VI.
and made other daring voyages.
The first purely British expedition was
that OF Robert Thorne Of Bristol At his
instigation, it is recorded. king Henry
VIII. sent out two fair ships, well man
ned and victualied having In them divers
cunning men to seek strange regions and
so they set forth out OF the Thames on
the goth day Of May. in the nineteenth
yere of his raigne, which was the yere Of
our Lord 1921 The North Pole was
their objective but the chronicles Of the
time fail to record that the divers cum
ming men, were sufficiently clever to ac-
complish much.
Numerous minor expeditions followed.
including the voyage Of the Trinitie and
the Minion, which sailed in 1886 and
reached the coast of Newfoundland
where, through lack Of provisions. the
men took to cannibalism. and all would
have perished but for the timely arrival
of a French ship, which they promptlv
set upon and misappropriated Record Of
ensuing voyages and OF the gallant men
who led in the assaults on the icebound
north continue more and more legible
down to the accurate reports of the re-
suits Of the efforts OF recent years. Those
expeditions which accomplished definite
results through the ensuing years can
best be traced chronologically, each at
tempt to reach the pole rejecting knowl-
edge by which subsequent expeditions
profted.
Sir Martin Frobisher, 1576-1573
Under the auspices Of Queen Elizabeth
the earl OF Warwick and a merchant Of
the name Of Lok. Martin Frobisher fitted
out three small vessels the aggregate
burden OF all these cockleshells being but
seventy-three tons. and set sail In 1876
with intent to discover the Northwest
Passage He did discover the body Of