Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-14

4 pO1dI PdCA oOAltC QdJ may pSCCII1G tIle
source of a great deal Of the worlds
cheap power. One look at the globe
shows that the land area and popula-
ton of the earth are mostly concen-
! trated about its northern axis. OF the
nearly 1900, ft00, 900 people In the world
about 800, 100 900, or rs per cent, are
clustered on. the upper portion of the
ball on which we live.
Almost fieometrically in the center
OF this population mass lies the vast
polar ice pack This pack is, roughly
| 1900 miles in diameter. It Is acted on
by wind and the tide and ocean cur
rent.
If the pushing and pulling energy of
only small 10-mile square of this
vast icei desert could be harnesed, il
would Fave to be by some cheap means
such rs radio. But power by radio is
already in sight Not long ago Mar
conf reduced the usual 360-degree
spre3 d Of radiated waves to less than 3
| DEGREES, and sent measurable bit of
energy several hundred miles.
'Transmision Would Be Problem.
Capt. Bartlett's polar drift may cost
Oh the order of 100000. It may cost
tae lives of some of his men. It will
surely take several years and entail
" deal OF suffering and hardship.
| But the privationS Of his men and the
I dollars Of his expense account will be
but nominal sum to pay for the
/ knowledge Bartlett may obtain. Indeed,
1T he captures only one or two small
and isolated facts besides his daily CO.
operation with home laboratories, his
expedition vii have paid for itself sew
eral times over.
| oh Do a. aR
viving mariners of the old school.
He begins his now famous account of
his life: II have been Shipwrecked IL
times. Four times I have seen my own
ship sink or be crushed to kindling
wood against the rocks. Yet love the
sea as dog loves its master who clouts
it for the discipline of the house"
He was born in the little fishing viii
lage of BriguS, Newfoundland, about
half century ago. His father COM
manded sealing sessel lin the Winter
and Spring and operated the family
fishing station at Turnavik, Labrador
during the Summer.
Took Schooner at IL.
When Bob was only II his father
turned fishing schooner over to him
Bob heard his mother protest at the
| AAoAA NACW 04AA AOASAI WdbCAO dALlOAlS
which her boy had to work. To which
the canny old father replied:
You can't temper steel in cool
fire!"
Up to 1898 Bartlett divided his time
between sealing at home and wander
ing in tramp ships over the face of
the seven seas. He carried fish, coal,
bananas, rum and score of other car
goes to the seaports of the world.
When ne got his masters papers, he
fell into the hands of Peary, who was
just beginning his Northern work. In
1898 he took the Windward to ElleSmere
Land and saw Peary carried aboard,
both feet frozen and helpless from star
walton. The sight had a curious effect
on young Bartlett
From that moment" he says, Il
was determined to see that Peary
reached the Pole!"
And from that moment he went
through every grueling step of the way
up to April, 1909, when Peary sent him
back at the eighty eighth parallel of
latitude.
Stefansson selected Bartlett as skip
per of the Karluk in 1918. Later his
vessel was blown into the polar pack in
a blizzard east of Point Barrow, Alaska.
In the dead of the terrible Arctic Win
ter she was crushed, leaving her crew
and scientific staff stranded on the foes
| In go below zero weather, hundreds of
miles from the nearest land.
Responsibilities MOI Shirked.
Bartlett didn't shirk his RESPONSE
bility. He organized the retreat and
moved in an orderly manner with mex
perienced men toward Wrangel Island.
When a small group of Englishmen who
| had been in the Antarctic insisted on a
sprint toward Alaska he sadly bowed
| to their will and let them go. No trace
was ever found Of this party.
| Having got his crowd safely over the
fearful ice north of Wrangei Island. he
boldly went on, and at last reached the
Siberian coast. After hardships that
time and again would have exhausted a
weaker and less determined man, he
crossed to Alaska and finally secured a
small ship with which to rescue those
he had left behind. Altogether that
Karluk adventure is one Of the grand
est tales of the frozen North.
War came. Bartlett was at once
drafted by the United States Army to
look after the New York docks. But the
Navy managed to wrest him from her
rival service. At noon one day he was
soldier, at pm. the same day 4
Se1AOK, ACutCAdAt SOiAAaAoAAN~Ap OAAVCSs
| States Navy.
Worker With Distinction.
With distinction he commanded
| transports and ammunition ships. Long,
| hard trips and wartime rationS were
no novelty to Bartlett.
But the North still called. After few
sealing voyages he bought little two
maSted schooner, the MorriSSey. Twice
he took George Putnam In her for
Summer trips to Greenland. He took
Anthony and MacCracken to Siberia
last Summer for Eskimo rnumn1ies. And
at the present moment he is rigging her
for short voyage to Bafin Bay prior
to his great enterSzise next year.
| Living as we do in the warm and well
fed luxury of our busy lives. we can
only vaguely comprehend what our
scientists are doing on the strange
frontiers and no-man's land of abstract
research.
And we as a nation are to be con-
graduated that we will have at our
command men like Bartlett, who are
willing TO work for the human race and
not for daily wage; who have the
courage and spirit of high adventure to
60 out and seek the truth that the rest
of us may have better radio sets, safer
transportation, cheaper food and lives
Of greater ease.
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