The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-08-28
t'ROCKERLAND0NLY
MIRAGE lSFOUNDBY
EXPLORING PARTY
Macmillan and His Associates
4 Ascend Same Cliff As Did
Peary and See Mirage
DECEIVED UNTIL THEY
SAIL RIGHT OVER SPOT
Arctic Expedition Safe At Home
After -Four Years and With
out Loss Of a Man
d. . . . .
ASSOCIATED Press BY o. 8. Naval Com.
humiliation aervtra,

muutcatiOn Servicel
SYDNEY, Nova Scotia. August 27--
Macmillan and his Followers who we're
sent north TO prove on disprove the ex.
istence Of Crockerland, which was re-,
ported by Peary after his return fro m
the discovery of the North Pole, have
reached here after four years spent in
the frozen arctic. They report that
there is no crockerland, but they ns
well us Peary were deceived by a won.
derful mirage and believed In its exist
ence until they had sailed over the sea
where Il had seemed to exist. In
Four Years Absent
The Macmillan party arrived here
yesterday aboard the relief steamer
Neptune and were in splendid health
considering the long period they ha6
been in the frozen north and the hard.
ships which they have experienced
Speaking of Peary's Crockerland
yesterday afternoon the explorer said
'Peary was deceived by a wonderful
mirage due TO layers of air Of different
densities suspended close 10 the ide
That Crockerland does not exist hui
was mirage we have eifectually
proved. We were deceived for time
ourselves, and 1t was not until We
sailed over where we had believed il to
be that we became convinced.
Ascend Same CHI T
i'Peary reported that he sighteG
Crockerland from q elf fourteen hun
bred feetehigh. Re climbed the same
cliff. For four days we saw nothin,
but then the sun shifted. II is true
II was only a mirage but it seemed tC
be green hills, covered with vegetation
and rising high above the water and
lit was clearly seen. We supposed il
10 be. about la0 miles northwest OF
Cape Thomas Hubbard but we sailed
$50 miles and passed right over the
Supposed Crockerland. 81.
"It was a wonderful mirage for II
deceived each and every one of us and
we were at first convinced Of its exist
ence as had been Peary."
y The expedition did not lose n man
its -four years absence.
Who Macmillan Is -
Donald Baxter Macmillan, whose pre-.
sence with his Crockerland exploring
party at Sydney, has been made known
to the world, and especially to his pa.
irons, the American Museum of Natural
History, calls Provincetown, Mass, his
native town. There, in the heart of
the aforetime New England whaling in.
dustry he grew up to love the sea and
with a desire to explore. Graduating
at Bowdoin College and taking post
graduate work at Harvard, he then set
tied down to the calling of teacher
and followed it for several years, all the
time his interest in Polar geography
and exploration growing. In 1908 he
had his first chance to go North with
Peary. Two years later he was with
the Cabot party that set out to ex
plOre Labrador as it never had beer
before. He gave especial attention to
the natives and their characteristics
ethnOlogiCally considered. In 1913 with
the backing of the American Museum
of Natural History in New York City
he set out to see whether there really
existed such u body of land as Peary
said that he saw on one of his Polar
trips, its approximate but not exact
position being known, The museum of
ficials only recently announced that
they would send a third expedition
forth, this time headed by Captain
Bartlett, to discover the Macmillan
party. ,..r. - Il "