Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/203

* POLAR RESEARCH. 167 POLAR RESEARCH. between Olenek and Yaiia, aiul Simeon Desh- neff, whose voyage from Kolyma to Kam- tchatka (1048) determined the separation of Asia and America. A century later came 'the great survey' and a score of expeditions. Chariton Laptieff and Tchelyuskin discovered the North Cape of Asia (1742). Dmitri Laptieff (1737- 42) skirted the coast from the Lena to Cape Baranov, thirty degrees of longitude, thus prac- tically completing the Asiatic coast line. Adolf Krik Xordenskjijld solved the vexatious problem of the circumnavigation of Asia and Europe. Leaving Tronisii in the Vega, in .June, 1878, Xordcnskjiild passed the Waigat and Kara Sea, rounded Cape Tcheljiiskin, skirted the Xew Siberian Islands, and was definitely stopped by ice only 110 miles from Bering Strait. Forced to winter to the east of Cape Szerde Kamen, Nor- denskjfjld reached Yokoliama in 1871), having made without disaster the Xortheast Passage. Another phase of Asiatic exploration somewhat related to the Xortheast Passage is that of the islands of the Siberian Ocean. Liakhoff (1770) first visited the island of his name, and later added two others to the New Siberian Archi- pelago. He was followed bv Samkiff (1805), Sirovatskoff (1806). and Bjelkoff (1808), all ivory-hunters. The daring sled-journeys of Lieutenants F. v. Wrangell and P. F. Anjou (1820-23) skirted the New Siberian and Bear islands, but had no material results, there being only open sea at Anjou's farthest, 76° 37' north, 138° east. In 1881 a northerly extension of this archipelago was discovered by De Long, com- inander of the Jeannelte, as is elsewhere stated. The most notable explorations of the New Sibe- rian Islands, yielding a wealth of scientific data, afe those of Baron Von Toll, now extending over many j-ears. Fridtjof Xansen, a Norwegian, in 1893 passed the Waigat in the From on a novel and hazardous attempt to explore the vicinity of the North Pole by a drift voyage. The Siberian Ocean was very open, and the Fram was not beset until she had reached a eomparativelv high latitude (78° 50' X., 134° E.), northwest of SannikotT Island, about 200 miles east of the place where her predecessor, the Jeaniiette, sank in 1881. The Frnm, under 0. Sverdrup, drifted almost uninterruptedly west-northwest until she reached 85° 57' N., 70° E., when the course clianged gradually to west and southwest to northwestern Spitzbergen, where she escaped the ice after a besetment of thirty-five months. Nanscn left the ship with Lieu- tenant .Johannesen in JIarch. 1895, on a sledge trip to reach the Pole, but tmfavor.ible ice con- ditions obliged their return from 86° 4' N.. 90° E. They traveled south by sledge and by kayak as the sea opened, but it" was 153 days before they reached Franz Josef Land. Building a hut. they lived on the plentiful game, and, start- ing for Spitzbergen in the spring, were, after a hazardous journey, saved by the Harmsworth- ■Jackson expedition near Cape Flora in the south- ern part of Franz Josef Land. The Fram fovmd no land in the polar ocean, but in its place discovered that from 140° E. to 10° E. the sea is of gi-eat depth, with rich fauna. It had hitherto been supposed that this part of the polar sea was shallow. Nansen in his southward journey limited the northeast extension of Franz Josef Land and traced a part of its shores. Fbanz Josef Laud. Two Austrians, C. Wey- precht and J. Payer, opened this route while exploring the Barents Sea. Their ship, Tegetlhof, beset in 76° 22' N., 63° E., drifted northward for a 3ear, and in August, 1873, they saw the south shores of Franz Josef Land, where the ship was abandoned in 80° N. (1874), the party reaching Nova Zembla by boat. Payer by sledge journeys explored raany'of the islands of Franz Josef Land, and reached Cape Fligely, 81.5° N., 58° E. English explorers followed, and in two voyages (1880 and 1881) Leigh Smith covered the coast from 54° E., Payer's westerly point, to 42° E., and while wintering at Cajie Flora, owing to the loss of his ship, the Eira, discovered rich fauna and flora. F. G. .Jackson (1894-97) established his base at Cape Flora and made ex- tensive explorations between 42° E. and 56° E. and to 81° 20' N. Jackson rounded Alexandra Land and conclusively proved that Franz .Josef Land is composed of numerous islands of limited area. It may here be added that the discoveries of 'hite Island (2000 feet high) by Kjeldsen (1876) and New Iceland (also a frowning, high land mass) by Johannesen (1887) indicate that Franz Josef is merely an extension of the great Spitzbergen Archipelago. W. Wellman, an Amer- ican, unsuccessful in Spitzbergen in 1894, re- newed his efforts to reach the Pole in 1898 by way of Franz .Josef Land, when E. B. Baldwin, discovering Graham Bell Land, extended the archipelago to 65° E. The Duke of the Abruzzi (1899) reached, in the Stella Polare, 82° 4' N., northeast of Rudolph Island, and wintered in Teplitz Bay. 81° 47' N. He explored Austria Sound, while his assistant. Captain Cagni, start- ing for the Pole, reached 86° 34' N., 64° E., the most northerly point attained by man, and 230 statute miles from the Pole. The Region op Spitzbergen. In 1598 the Dutch, under J. C. Ryp and ,J. Heemskerck, discovered Bear and Spitzbergen islands, explor- ing the west coast of the latter as far as 79° 49' N. In 1607, in one of his most remarkable voyages, Henry Hudson, the English navigator, followed the w-est coast to 80° 23' X.. crossed Greenland Sea, discovered Jan jMayen, and sighted East Greenland in 73° N. Hudson's dis- coveries led later to the very lucrative whale fish- eries. The Greenland Sea. Numberless whalers explored every sound and inlet during the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries for commercial purposes. Efforts toward geographical explora- tion northward in this region have been sin- gularly fruitless. Phipps (1773) reached 80° 48' X., 20° E., only 25 miles bevond Hudson (1607). Scoresbv, the elder, attained, in 1806, 81° 30' N., 19° "e. Nordenskjold and Otter reached 81° 42' N., IS E. Parry in his wonder- ful boat and sledge journey ( 1827 ) pressed on to 82° 45' N., 18° E., the highest ever attained in the Greenland Sea. The Spitzbergen ARCmrELAGO. Scientific ex- ploration of the archipelago began in the nine- teenth century with Clavering and Sabine (1824). an<l the French commission, Fabrc, Gaimard, ifartins. and Marmier (1838). Most notable of countless explorations in recent years are the following: 'Torrell and Nordenskjold (1861) first visited Northeast Land, reaching Cape Platen and Phipps Island, 80° 42' N. ; Carl- sen (1863) first circunmnvigiited Spitzbergen: Nordenskjold (1872) first crossed Northeast