Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/206

* POLAR RESEARCH. 170 POLAR RESEARCH. Lad}- Franklin liav, while the Alert was pushed into the I'dUii- Seii'lo Kloi-berfj Heaeh, 82" 25' N., on the northeast cimst of Uiiiuiell Land. The members of this party made several notable sledge journeys. L. -. lieaiiniont from Discovery Harbor extended the northern shores of Green- land from Cape IJryant to Ca|)e liiitannia. P. Aldrich traced (Irinnell Land to Cape Columbia, 83° 7' N., and thence westward to Cape Alfred Ernest, 80" V., 220 miles of new coast. Lieu- tenant .rcher e.j)lcired a fiord of his own name. A. H. Markham, taking to the frozen sea, attained 83° 20' X.. then the highest north. Xext came the American contribution to the international polar expedition under A. ". Greely, which primarily devoted itself to scien- tific observations, magnetic, meteorological, tiilal, pendulum, etc., from ISSI to 1883. The com- mander explored the great glacial lake system of interior (Jrinncll Land. .1. B. Lockwood and D. L. Brainard later cros,sed Cirinnell ]>and to the southeast, discovered Greely Fiord, and exlendetl that inlet to Cape Lockwood. about 83° V., 80° X. These inland journeys added about (iOOO square miles of new lanlentiful animal life in a land thought to be large!}' ice-capped. Lockwood and Brainard, accompanied by a supporting party to Cape Bryant, discovered a new archi|«dago north of (Ircenland. and attained 83° 24' X., 43° V. They located Cape Washing- ton, 83° 35' X.. 38° V., and determined that there was no land in the Arctic Ocean far beyond the S4th parallel. It was then tlic higliest north ever attained, and Peary's explorations show this archipelago to be the most northerly known land. In 1884 the Cape Sabine region was ex- plored by the Greely expedition, when V. Long discovered Schley Land, at the head of Haves Bay. Xordensk'jiild (1S83) from Disco Bay reached an elevation of (iliOO feet on the inland ice of Greenland in 68° 32' X., 43° W., more than half way to the east coast. X'ansen's cross- ing (1888) was not a polar journey. The most persistent explorer of Smith Sound is R. E. Peary, who has passed parts of eight years therein. In 1880 he ascended the inland ice lifty miles from Disco. In 1802, with one coinpanion, Eivind Astrup, he crossed from McCorniick Hay to Independence Bay, 450 miles in a direct line. He repealed this trip in 189.5. These difficult journeys, over an ice-cap 8000 feet high, defined the northeast limit of Greenland, 81° 37' X.. 34° V.. some 200 miles north of Lambert (lti70) on the ea.st coast. In his latest voyage ( 18!I8-1!I02) Peary established the continuity of Ellesmere and Grinnell lands, west of Hayes Bay, and also crossed from near Cape Hawkes to the vicinity of Greely I'iord on the west coast. Tn 1900. passing Cape W'asliington of Lockwood. he left the solid ground in S3° 3!t' X. (the most northern known land), and reached 83° 50' N'^. on the Arctic ice- pack, Peary's farthest east. 83° X.. 35° W., de- termines the limitation of the northeast coast of the archipelago above Greenland, In 1901, leav- ing Cape Hecla. Grinnell Land, he attained 84° 17' X'., 05° V., the record latitude in the Western Hemisphere. O. Sverdnip. wintering in the t-'nim in Kane Basin (1898-99) and in Jones Sound (1899-1902), proved the continuity of Ellesmere Land by tracing its western shores from Belcher's farthest in .Jones's Sound to a point north of Greely's Fiord, within 60 miles of /Vldrich's farthest. Sverdrup also discovered and traced the coasts of three islands, to the west- ward of Ellesmere Land, the largest extending fron. about 79° to 83° X., and two others being between 78° and 80° X., and from 92° to lOU^ V. Bering Strait. This was the last attempted route for polar exploration, but the results of expeditions that proceeded via Bering Strait are by no means unimportant, '. Bering's voyage of 1728 added nothing to the discoveries of DeshneU' in lt>48. The great English navigator .James Cook attained in 1778 70° 44' X., near Icy Cape, .laska. In 1820 Otto v, Kotzebue dis. covered Kotzebue Sound, not seen by Cook. The British expedition of F. W. Beechev reached by ship 71° 8' X., 164° W., while his boats under Elson attaineil Point Barrow, the most northerly point, except Boothia Felix, of the continent of America. 'I'he voyages of the Unlerjtrise and In- vestigator are mentioned under the Xorthwest Passage. In 184!» 11. Kellett, R.X.. discovered Herald Island, and in 18.55 .lohn Rodgers of the American navy reached in tliat sea the highest point g-ained up to that time, 72° 5' X., 17.5° W. An American whaler. T. Long, discoverering .Strait was that under Com- mander G, W. De Long, who sailed in the Jenn- nelte in 1879. Beset by the jiack, he was unalde to winter at Wrangell Land, but, drifting west- ward past its north coast, he exploded the theory that it was a continent extending across the Xorth Pole. An east-by-north drift continuing, the De Long Islands were discovered in IS81, (i. W. Melville landing on .Teannette Island, in 7ti' 47' X., 159° W. The Jeiinnette, crushed liy ice, sank .June 12, I.88I, in 77° 15' X'., 155' E. De Long retreated southward toward the X'ew Siberian Islands, being carried while marching to 77° 30' X,, 155° E., the most northerly point ever reached in that sea from Bering Strait, Separated by storm and entering the Lena Delta by diflerent channels, De Long and Melville met diti'erent fat<'s, the former per- ishing of starvation with most of his party, while Melville brought his men to safety and after- wards, by a sledge journey into the Dtdta. ascer- tained the fate of his leader. De Long perished, but his plan was taken up and pushed to success under the daring leadershi]) of Xansen, described under the X^ova Zembla route. ANTARCTIC EXPLORATIONS. Practically without land fauna or flora, inin- habilcd. and far from adventurous nations, the Antarctic Circle is rarely visited. James Cook 11773-1774) eircunmavigated this ocean, entered the Antarctic Circle at four widelv separated jioints, and reached 71° UY S.. 107° W. There are three recognjzed routes of exploration tn the land l.ving south of Patagonia, of Kerguelen Island, and of Tasmania. Patagonia. The first Antarctic disooverer, an -American whaler, Xathaniel B, Palmer, in 1821. discovered the Palmer .rchipelago, lying north of what is supposed to he a portion of the . tarctic continent. The mass of what is be- lieved to he the mainland is now kniown to ex- tend from 63° to 70° S. and to subtend 20 degrees of longitude. Palmer met in his voyage the Rus- sian expedition under Bellingshausen, who in an extensive Antarctic vorage added several islets.