Page:The frozen North; an account of Arctic exploration for use in schools (IA frozennorthaccou00hort).pdf/172

 of wireless telegraphy was to be used by Captain Bernier, as a means of communication with his ship.

Captain Otto Sverdrup, in command of the Fram, was already in the North in 1902. Sverdrup won his spurs, you will remember, while on the famous Nansen expedition. He was sent out by the Norwegian government to explore the northern coast of Greenland, and to connect Peary's work on the east coast with that of a German expedition on the west coast.

Robert Stein's expedition had not the proper equipment to seek the pole, but was designed for the exploration of Ellesmere land. Stein returned without accomplishing much valuable work.

A novel plan has been announced by Dr. Anschutz Kampfe. Dr. Kampfe proposes to build a submarine boat, and proceed to the pole beneath the ice.

For more than three hundred years, men have struggled to reach the North Pole. They have braved bitter winds and faced starvation and death, in order to wrest the secrets of nature from the great white North.

Since Sir John Franklin's first trip to the Arctic regions, interest in the Frozen North has never flagged. Very grave doubts as to the wisdom of spending so large sums of money and of risking so many human lives have arisen in the minds of those who have followed the story of suffering and death. It is natural in this century, when men are counting the cost of every project, to ask wherein lies the advantage of exploring the polar country, since the work is in every case so difficult, so dangerous, and in many cases fatal. But we may feel sure that the work will never cease until every part of the Frozen North is known.

Beyond the additions to our store of meteorological