Cape Chelyuskin. He fitted out a small steamer called the
“Dymphna” and sailed from Copenhagen in July 1882, but was
unfortunately beset and obliged to winter in the Kara Sea. In
1883 Baron A. E. Nordenskiold undertook another journey over
the inland ice of Greenland. Starting froifi Auleitsivikfjord on
the 4th of July, his party penetrated 84 m. eastward, and to an
altitude of 5000 ft. The Laplanders who were of the party
were sent farther on snow-shoes, travelling over a desert of snow
to a height of 7000 ft. Useful results in physical geography
and biology were obtained.
On the 18th of September 1875 Lieut. Weyprecht, one of the discoverers of Franz Josef Land, read a paper before a large meeting of German naturalists at Graz on the scientific results to be obtained from polar research and the best means of securing them. He urged the importance of establishing a number of stations within or near the Arctic Circle, and also a ring of stations as near as possible to the Antarctic Circle, in order to record complete series of synchronous meteorological and magnetic observations. Lieut. Weyprecht did not live to see his suggestions carried into execution, but they bore fruit in due time. The various nations of Europe were represented at an international polar conference held at Hamburg in 1879 under the presidency of Dr Georg Neumayer, and at another at Berne in 1880; and it was decided that each nation should establish one or more stations where synchronous observations should be taken for a year from August 1882. This fine project was matured and successfully carried into execution. The stations arranged for in the North Polar region were at the following localities:—
Norwegians: Bossekop, Alten Fjord, Norway (M. Aksel S. Steen).
Swedes: Ice Fjord, Spitsbergen (Professor N. Ekholm)
Dutch: Port Dickson, mouth of Yenisei, Siberia (Dr M. Snellen)
Russians: Sagastyr Island, mouth of Lena, Siberia (Lieut. Jurgens).
Novaya Zemla, 72° 23′ N. (Lieut. C. Andreief).
Finns: Sodankyla, Finland (Professor S. Lemstrom)
Americans: Point Barrow, North America (Lieut. P. H. Ray, U.S.A.).
Lady Franklin Bay, 81° 44′ N. (Lieut. A. W. Greely, U.S.A).
British: Great Slave Lake, Dominion of Canada (Lieut. H. P. Dawson).
Germans: Cumberland Bay, west side of Davis Strait (Dr W. Giese).
Danes: Godthaab, Greenland (Dr A. Paulsen).
Austrians: Jan Mayen, North Atlantic, 71° N. (Lieut. Wohlgemuth).
The whole scheme was successfully accomplished with the exception of the part assigned to the Dutch at Port Dickson. They started in the “Varna” but were beset in the Kara Sea and obliged to winter there. The “Varna” was lost, and the crew took refuge on board Lieut. Hovgaard’s vessel, which was also forced to winter in the pack during 1882–1883. The scientific observations were kept up on both vessels during the time they were drifting with the ice.
The American stations commenced work in 1882 and one of these furnished a rare example of heroic devotion to duty in face of difficulties due to the fault of those who should have brought relief at the appointed time. Lieut. A. W. Greely’s party consisted of two other lieutenants, twenty sergeants and privates of the United States army, and Dr Pavy, an enthusiastic explorer who had been educated in France and had passed the previous winter among the Eskimo of Greenland. On the 11th of August 1881 the steamer “Proteus” conveyed Lieut. Greely and his party to Lady Franklin Bay during an exceptionally favourable season; a house was built at the “ Discovery's" winter quarters, and they were left with two years' provisions. The regular series of observations was at once commenced, and two winters were passed without accident. Travelling parties were also sent out in the summer, dogs having been obtained at Disco. Lieut. Lockwood with twelve men and eleven sledges made a journey along the north coast of Greenland and reached Lockwood Island in 83° 24′ N. and 42° 45′ W., the highest latitude reached up to that time. From this island at a height of 2600 ft. on a clear day an unbroken expanse of ice was seen stretching to the northward, the view extending far beyond the 84th parallel. A promontory of the north coast of Greenland seen to the north-east in 83° 35′ N. was named Cape Washington. Vegetation was found at the extreme position and animal life was represented by foxes, hares, lemmings and ptarmigan. The party returned to Fort Conger on the 1st of June 1882 after an absence of 59 days. Greely made two journeys westward into the interior of Grinnell Land following up the northern branch of Chandler Fjord to a great sheet of frozen fresh water, Hazen Lake, with an area of about 500 sq. m. Beyond this, 175 m. from Fort Conger, he climbed Mt Arthur, 4500 ft., the highest summit of Grinnell Land, and saw distant mountains beyond a fjord to the southwest. In the spring of 1883 Lockwood made still more extensive journeys, crossing Grinnell Land to Greely Fjord, which entered the western sea. The central depression of Grinnell Land abounded in musk oxen and was free from ice, though the higher land to north and south lay under permanent ice-caps. Important as these geographical discoveries were, the main object of the expedition was the series of scientific observations at the headquarters, and these were carried out during the whole period with the most scrupulous exactness. As neither the relief ship which was to have been dispatched in 1882, nor that in 1883, sent the expected relief to the station at Fort Conger, Lieut. Greely started from Lady Franklin Bay with his men in a steam launch and three boats on the 9th of August, expecting to find a vessel in Smith Sound. The boats were beset and had to be abandoned, the party reaching the shore across the ice with great difficulty, carrying their supplies of food, now rapidly diminishing. On the 21st of October 1883 they were obliged to encamp at Cape Sabine, on the western shore of Smith Sound, and build a hut for wintering. A few depots were found, which had been left by Sir George Nares and Lieut. Beebe, but all supplies were exhausted before the spring. Then came a time of indescribable misery and acute suffering. The party proved insubordinate and the sternest measures were required to maintain military discipline. When the sun returned in 1884 the poor fellows began to die of actual starvation; but it was not until the 22nd of June 1884 that the relieving steamers “Thetis” and “Bear” reached Cape Sabine. Lieut. Greely and six suffering companions were found just alive, but with all their scientific records, their instruments in order and the great collections of specimens intact. The failure of the relief expeditions to overcome difficulties which were child’s play to what Greely and his companions had come through only enhances the splendid courage and determination of the heroic survivors.
Danish expeditions under Lieut. G. Holm explored the east coast of Greenland from Cape Farewell northwards in Eskimo boats between 1883 and 1885, and at Angmagssalik they encountered a tribe of Eskimo who had never seen white men before. Lieut. Ryder and Lieut. T. V. Garde continued the exploration of East Greenland, and Ryder explored the great Scoresby Fjord. Captain Holm established a missionary and meteorological station at Angmagssalik Fjord in 1894, from which the Danish government take charge of the Eskimo of that region. In 1892–1893 an expedition sent out by the Berlin Geographical Society under Dr Erich von Drygalski studied the ice formations on the west of Greenland.
In July 1886 Lieut. Robert E. Peary, civil engineer, U.S. Navy, accompanied by the Dane Christian Maigaard, made a journey on the inland ice of Greenland eastward from Disco Bay in about 69° 30′ N. They reached a height of 7500 ft., when according to Peary’s observations they were 100 m. from the coast, and then returned. Dr Fridtjof Nansen with Otto Sverdrup and five other companions, after overcoming great difficulties in penetrating the ice-floes, succeeded in landing on the east coast of Greenland in August 1888 in 64° 23′ N. and reached a height of 8920 ft on the inland ice, which was crossed on ski to the west coast, The interior was found to be a nearly flat plateau of snow resembling a frozen ocean, and at the high altitude of more than 8000 ft. the cold was intense. The crossing occupied more than two weeks, and the party not having dogs had themselves to haul all their gear on sledges. As they approached the western edge of the ice their progress was checked by dangerous crevasses; but on the 26th of September they succeeded in reaching the west coast at the head of the Ameralik Fjord in 64° 12′ N., having
