 Section 101 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the Search for the Poles. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The World's Story Volume 8 Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the Search for the Poles, edited by Evermarch Tappan. Section 101, The Fate of Sir John Franklin, 1849, by Elizabeth Doughton. Sir John Franklin went from England to the North four times on voyages of exploration and discovery. From his last voyage in 1845, he never returned. Between 1847 and 1857, 39 relief expeditions were sent from England and America in the hope of finding the lost leader. It was finally learned that he had died in 1849, the editor. Away, away, cried the stout Sir John, while the blossoms are on the trees, for the summer is short and the time speeds on, as we sail for the northern seas. Ho gallant cross year and brave Fitzgames, we will startle the war doth throw, when we find a way through the northern seas that never was found till now. A good stout ship is the Erebus, as ever unfurl the sail, and the terror will match as brave a one as ever outroad a gale. So they wade for a will to their pleasant homes, to the little hills and valleys green, with three hearty cheers for their native isle, and three for the English queen. They sped them away beyond Cape and Bay, where the night and the day are won, where the hissing light in the heavens grew bright and flamed like a midnight sun. There was not below, save the fields of snow, that stretched to the icy pole, and the eskimo in his strange canoe was the only living soul. Along the coast like a giant host, the glittering icebergs frowned. Or they met on the main like a battle plane, and crashed with a fearful sound. The seal and the bear was a curious stare, looked down from the frozen heights, and the stars in the skies, with their great wild eyes, peered out from the northern lights. The gallant cross year and brave Fitzgames, and even the stout Sir John, felt it out like a chill through their warm heart's thrill, as they urged the good ships on. They sped them away beyond Cape and Bay, where even the teardrops freeze, but no wave was found by a straight or sound to sail through the northern seas. They sped them away beyond Cape and Bay, as they sought but they sought in vain, for no wave was found through the ice around to return to their homes again. Then the wild waves rose, and the waters froze, till they closed like a prison wall, and the icebergs stood in the silent flood, like their jailers grim and tall. Oh God, oh God, it was hard to die in that prison house of ice. For what was fame or a mighty name when life was the fearful price? The gallant cross year and brave Fitzgames, and even the stout Sir John, had a secret dread, and their hopes all fled, as the weeks and the months passed on. Then the ice king came with his eyes of flame, and looked on the faded crew. His chilling breath was cold as death, and it pierced their warm heart's thrill. A heavy sleep that was dark and deep came over their weary eyes, and they dreamed strange dreams of the hills and streams, and the blue of their native skies. The Christmas chimes of the good old times were heard in each dying ear, and the dancing feet and the voices sweet of their wives and their children dear. But it faded away, away, away, like a sound on a distant shore, and deeper and deeper grew the sleep, till they slept to wake no more. Of the sailor's wife and the sailor's child they will weep and watch and pray, and the lady Jane she will hope in vain as the long years pass away. The gallant cross year and brave Fitzgames and the good Sir John have found, an open way to a quiet bay and a port where we all are bound. Let the waters roar on the icebound shore that circles the frozen pole, but there is no sleep and no grave so deep that can hold a human soul. End of section 101. Edited by Ava March Tabin. Section 102. A Balloon Search for the North Pole. 1897. By G. Firth Scott. The expedition of Herr Andre is perhaps the most novel of all arctic expeditions, in as much as it was undertaken by Balloon. The idea which actuated Herr Andre in his enterprise was to utilize the current of air which, in July, almost invariably blows over Danes Island to the north. Being an experienced balloonist, he realized that could he once rise into that current in a balloon, he would be carried right across the polar region in a few days. From the balloon car, he would be able to observe the character of the region below him, and said at rest the question whether perpetual ice, open water, or land, occupied the extreme northerly spot of the world's surface. With two companions, Dr. Strindberg and Herr Frankel, and especially prepared balloon, an attempt was made to get away in July 1896, but was unsuccessful, and the start was postponed for a year. In July 1897, the members of the expedition were again ready, and on July 11th they were cut loose and floated away out of sight to the north. Since then, no authentic news has been heard of them. They went away prepared to face a long detention in the frozen world. In the car of the balloon, they carried weapons, ammunition, and material were with to build a shelter, should the balloon collapse and leave them on the ice. An aluminum boat was also carried, so that the party could escape by sea if necessary. Several carrier pigeons were taken, and were to be liberated at intervals on the passage. But although one pigeon is said to have been shot in the far north, it is doubtful whether it was one of the Andre birds. The balloon, when it went out of sight, was traveling at a speed which would have carried it over the pole in a few days, and probably have enabled it to descend in Siberia in about a week. For the first fortnight after it had started, therefore, interest all over the world was keenly excited for further news. But the fortnight passed without any reliable intelligence being received, and a month followed, and so on until a year had gone by. Then relief and search parties were talked about, and the Swedish Geographical Society sent one out to look for the missing balloonists in Siberia. It did not meet with Andre, nor did it obtain any reliable information respecting him. News was certainly published in every civilized country to the effect that some outlying tribes had come upon a huge bag, having a massive cordage attached to it, together with the remains of some human bodies. The Russian, Swedish, and Norwegian governments immediately sent forward auxiliary search parties, but their only success was to trace the origin of the report, and find that a Siberian trader had, in a moment of mischievous humor, hoaxed a two confiding telegraph agent. Later, on September 12, 1899, a Swedish sloop, the Martha, reached Hammerfest with the information that a buoy, branded with the name of the Andre expedition, had been found to the northeast of King Charles Islands. The buoy had lost the screw plug from the top, and had been so damaged by coming in contact with some hard substance that the interior cylinder was too dented to permit of an examination being made of the inside. Andre was well supplied with these buoys, and at any time one may be discovered containing a record of his doings from the moment he disappeared with his balloon sailing towards the north. It is not likely. It is scarcely probable that any sign will ever be discovered of the balloon or its occupants. For years, the frozen north held all traces of the Franklin expedition from the eyes of the searchers, who were able to conduct their operations along the route they knew Franklin had followed. No search party can knowingly follow the route Andre and his companions took. Their fate will probably be forever a mystery, for so many things might have happened that no one theory can claim for itself more probability than another. All that is certain is that the party went out of sight, drifting towards the north. They carried their lives in their hands, and knew that they did so. Had they succeeded, they would have achieved a mighty triumph. They failed, and in doing so set their names as indelibly on the scroll of fame as any hero who has laid down his life in the contest with the measureless mystery of the poll. End of section 102. Section 103 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, and the search for the polls. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by April, 6-0-9-0, California, United States of America. The World's Story, Volume 8. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, and the Search for the Polls. Edited by Eva March-Tappen. Section 103. The Attack of the Ice, 1893, by Fridt Joff Nansen. Fridt Joff Nansen, of Christiania, Norway, was trained as a zoologist and expected to become one, but a trip to the waters of East Greenland in search of specimens aroused in him in intense interest in the far north. A few years later he made the first journey across Greenland and spent a winter among the natives of that country. He had a theory that a ship setting out from above Siberia would drift across the pole, and in 1893 he set out in the Fram, forward, to test its truth. For six months he drifted as he had hoped. Then he and one companion left the vessel and with dog sleds pushed on northward. He came within 272 miles of the pole, a point 184 miles nearer than had been reached before. The following article pictures one of his experiences while the Fram was drifting. The Editor. Friday, January 4th. The ice kept quiet during the night, but all day with some intervals it has been crackling and settling, and this evening there have been several fits of pressure from nine o'clock onward. For a time it came on, sometimes rather lightly, at regular intervals, sometimes with a rush and a regular roar. Then it subsided somewhat, and then it roared anew. Meanwhile, the pressure ridged towers higher and higher and bears right down upon us slowly, while the pressure comes on at intervals only, and more quickly, when the onset continues for a time. One can actually see it creeping near and near, and now at one o'clock at night. It is not many feet, scarcely five, away from the edge of the snow drift on the port side near the gangway, and thence to the vessel is scarcely more than ten feet, so that it will not be long now before it is upon us. Meanwhile the ice continues to split, and the solid mass in which we are embedded grows less and less, both to port and starboard. Several fissures extend right up to the Fram. As the ice sinks down under the weight of the ridge on the port side, and the Fram lists more that way, more water rushes up over the new ice, which has frozen on the water that rose yesterday. This is like dying by inches, slowly but surely the baleful ridge advances, and it looks as if it means going right over the rail. But if the Fram will only oblige us by getting free of the ice, she will, I am confident, extricate herself yet. Even though matters look rather awkward at present. We shall probably have a hard time of it, however, before she can break loose, if she does not do so at once. I have been out and had a look at the ridge and seen how surely it is advancing. I have looked at the fissures in the ice and noted how they are forming and expanding round at the vessel. I have listened to the ice crackling and crunching underfoot, and I do not feel much disposed to turn into my birth before I see the Fram quite released. As I sit here now I hear the ice making a fresh assault, and roaring and packing outside, and I can tell that the ridge is coming nearer. This is an ice pressure with the vengeance, and it seems as if it would never cease. I do not think there is anything more that we can do now. All is in readiness for leaving the vessel, if need be. Today, the clothing, etc., was taken out and placed ready for removal in separate bags for each man. It is very strange, there is certainly a possibility that all our plans may be crossed by unforeseen events, although it is not very probable that this will happen. As yet, I feel no anxiety in that direction, only I should like to know whether we are really to take everything on to the ice or not. However, it is past one o'clock, and I think the most sensible thing to do would be to turn in and sleep. The watch has orders to call me when the hummock reaches the Fram. It is lucky it is moonlight now, so that we are able to see something of all this abomination. The day before yesterday we saw the moon for the first time, just above the horizon. Yesterday it was shining a little, and now we have it both day and night, a most favorable state of things. But it is nearly two o'clock, and I must go to sleep now. The pressure of the ice I can hear is stronger again. Saturday, January 5th, tonight everybody sleeps fully dressed, and with the most indispensable necessaries either by his side or secured to his body, ready to jump on the ice at the first warning. All other requisites, such as provisions, clothing, sleeping bags, etc., etc., have been brought out on the ice. We have been at work at this all day, and have got everything into perfect order, and are now quite ready to leave, if necessary. Which, however, I do not believe will be the case, though the ice pressure has been as bad as it could be. I slept soundly, woke up only once, and listened to the crunching and jamming and grinding till I fell asleep again. I was called at 5.30 in the morning by Sphere-Drew, who told me that the hummock had now reached the Fram, and was bearing down on us violently, reaching as high as the rail. I was not left in doubt very long, as hardly had I opened my eyes when I heard a thundering and crashing outside in the ice, as if doomsday had come. I jumped up. There was nothing left for it but to call all hands, to put all remaining provisions on the ice, and then put all our furs and other equipment on deck, so that they could be thrown overboard at a moment's notice if necessary. Thus the day passed, but the ice kept quiet. Last of all the petroleum launch, which was hanging in the davits, on the port side was lowered and was dragged towards the great hummock. At about eight o'clock in the evening, when we thought the ice pressure had subsided, it started thundering and crashing again worse than ever. I hurried up. Masses of snow and ice rushed on us, high above the rail amidships and over the tent. Peter, who also came up, seized a spade and rushed forward, outside the awning as far as the four-part of the half-deck, and stood in the midst of the ice, digging away. And I followed to see how matters stood. I saw more than I cared to see. It was hopeless to fight that enemy with a spade. I called out to Peter to come back, and said, We had better see to getting everything out onto the ice. Hardly had I spoken when it pressed on again with renewed strength, and thundered and crashed, and, as Peter said, and laughed till he shook again, nearly sent both me and the spade to the deuce. I rushed back to the main deck on the way I met Moggiston, who hurried up spade in hand and sent him back. Running forward under the tent towards the ladder, I saw that the tent-roof was bent down under the weight of the masses of ice, which were rushing over it and crashing in over the rail and bulwarks to such an extent that I expected every moment to see the ice force its way through and block up the passage. When I got below, I called all hands on deck, but told them when going up not to go out through the door on the port side, but through the chart room and out on the starboard side. In the first place, all the bags were to be brought up from the saloon, and then we were to take those lying on deck. I was afraid that if the door on the port side was not kept closed, the ice might, if it suddenly burst through the bulwarks and tent, rush over the deck and in through the door, fill the passage and rush down the ladder, and thus imprison us like mice in a trap. True, the passage up from the engine room had been cleared for this emergency, but this was a very narrow hole to get through with heavy bags, and no one could tell how long this hole would keep open when the ice once attacked us in earnest. I ran up again to set free the dogs, which were shut up in Castle Garden, in enclosure on the deck among the port bulwark. They wind and howl most doifully under the tent as the snow masses threaten to any moment to crush it and bury them alive. I cut away the fastening with a knife, pulled the door open, and out rushed most of them by the starboard gangway at full speed. Meantime the hands started bringing up the bags. It was quite unnecessary to ask them to hurry up. The ice did that, thundering against the ship's sides in a way that seemed irresistible. It was a fearful, hurly-burly in the darkness for, to cap all, the mate had, in the hurry, let the lanterns go out. I had to go down again to get something on my feet, my Finland shoes, or hanging up to dry in the galley. When I got there the ice was at its worst, and the half-deck beams were creaking overhead, so that I really thought they were all coming down. The saloon and the berths were soon cleared of bags and the deck as well, and we started taking them along the ice. The ice roared and crashed against the ship's side, so that we could hardly hear ourselves speak, but all went quickly and well, and before long everything was in safety. While we were dragging the bags along the pressure and jamming of the ice at last stopped, and all was quiet again as before. But what a sight! The Fram's port side was quite buried under the snow. All that could be seen was the top of the tent projecting. Had the petroleum launch been hanging in the davits as it was a few hours previously, it would hardly have escaped destruction. The davits were quite buried in ice and snow. It is curious that both fire and water have been powerless against that boat, and it has now come out unscathed from the ice, and lies there bottom upward on the flow. She has had a stormy existence and continual mishaps. I wonder what is next in store for her. It was, I must admit, a most exciting scene when it was at its worst, and we thought it was imperative to get the bags up from the saloon with all possible speed. Svirdrup now tells me that he was just about to have a bath, and was as naked as when he was born. When he heard me call all the hands on deck, as this had not happened before, he understood there was something serious the matter, and he jumped into his clothes anyhow. A mud-syn apparently also realized that something was amiss. He says he was the first who came up with his bag. He had not understood or had forgotten. In the confusion, the order about going out through the starboard door. He groped his way out on the port side and fell in the dark over the edge of the half-deck. Well, that did not matter, he said. He was quite used to that kind of thing. But having pulled himself together after the fall, and as he was lying there on his back, he dared not move, for it seemed to him as if tent and all were coming down on him, and it thundered and crashed against the gun-wale and the hole as if the last hour had come. It finally dawned on him why he ought to have gone out on the starboard and not on the port side. All that could possibly be thought to be of any use to what was taken out. The mate was seen dragging along a big bag of clothes with the heavy bundle of cups fastened outside it. Later he was stalking about with all sorts of things, such as mittens, knives, cups, et cetera, fastened to his clothes, and dangling about him, so that the rattling noise could be heard afar off. He is himself to the last. In the evening the men all started eating their stock of cakes, sweetmeats, and such like, smoked tobacco, and enjoyed themselves in the most animated fashion. They evidently thought it was uncertain when they should next have such a time on board the Fram, and therefore they thought it was best to avail themselves of the opportunity. We are now living in marching order, on an empty ship. By way of precaution we have now burst open again the passage on the starboard side which was used as a library, and had there to fore been closed. And all doors are now kept always open, so that we can be sure of getting out, even if anything should give way. We do not want the ice pressure to close the doors against us by jamming the doorposts together, but she certainly is a strong ship. It is a mighty ridge that we have in our port side, and the masses of ice are tremendous. The ship is listing more than ever, nearly seven degrees, but since the last pressure she has ridded herself a little again, so that she must surely have broken away from the ice, and begun to rise, and all danger is doubtless over. So after all, it has been a case of much to do about nothing. End of chapter 103. This recording is in the public domain. in September 2019. The world's story volume 8. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, and the search for the Poles, edited by Eva March Tappen. Section 104. The Discovery of the North Pole, 1909, by Admiral Robert E. Peary. The Discovery of the North Pole is much more than a mere matter of sentiment, and goes far beyond the solving of a tantalizing academic problem. Its scientific results are of the utmost importance. Chief among them is the knowledge which it has given us of the American polar basin and the continental shelf. Scientists have discovered that neither continents nor islands rise abruptly from the depths of the ocean. There is around them a somewhat leveled submarine platform where the water is comparatively shallow. This platform has received the name of the continental shelf. How far it extended beyond the northernmost land in the American Arctic, no one could say. A shelf of great extent would indicate, according to the scientists, the probable existence of a group of islands or possibly a continent far within the Arctic Circle. Deep water, on the other hand, would mean an unbroken polar sea. This important question was decisively settled by Peary. Fifty miles north of Cape Columbia, he took a sounding that revealed the depth of 660 feet. At about 40 miles farther north, the depth had increased to 1,950 feet. Within five miles of the pole, all his wire, 9,000 feet, was sent down in a vain attempt to reach the bottom. The northern apex of the earth, therefore, is now known to be an ocean of vast depth. Besides collecting much valuable data of which geographical students have long been in need, Peary brought Arctic travel to a science, introducing methods that have been of profound value to all recent explorers. He carried Arctic sledging to its present proficiency, perfected every detail of equipment, and devised the most efficient machine that has ever invaded the mysterious polar regions. Much scientific work in the far north remains to be done, and all future explorers must lie under great obligations to this man who has led the way, who has shown how to plan and organize and equip, how to provide for every contingency, and how to make the delays, difficulties and disappointments all contribute to a final success. The Editor I turned to the problem before me. This was what I had worked for during 22 years, for which I had lived the simple life, for which I had conserved all my energy on the upward trip, for which I had trained myself as for a race, crushing down every worry about non-success. Now, in spite of my years, I felt in trim, fit for the demands of the coming days, and eager to be on the trail. As for my party, my equipment and my supplies, I was in shape beyond my most sanguine dreams of earlier years. My party might be regarded as an ideal which had now come to realization, as loyal and responsive to my will as the fingers of my right hand. Four of them carried the technique of dogs, sledges, ice and cold as their heritage. Two of them, Henson and Uta, were my companions to my father's north three years before. Two others, Egingois and Sieglu, were in Clark's division, which had such a narrow escape at that time, and now were willing to go anywhere in my immediate party, but were not willing to risk themselves again in any supporting party. The fifth was a young man who had never served before in my expeditions, but who was, if possible, even more willing and eager than the others, for the princely gifts, a boat, a rifle, a shotgun, ammunition, knives, etc., which I had promised to each of them who reached the pole with me, for he knew that these riches would enable him to rest from a stubborn father, the girl whose image filled his hot young heart. All had blind confidence so long as I was with them, and gave no thought for the morrow, sure that whatever happened I should somehow get them back to land. I recognized that all the impetus of the party centered in me, and that whatever pace I set it would make good. If I played out it would stop like a car with a punctured tire. I had no fault to find with these conditions. My dogs were the very best, the pick of one hundred and thirty-three with which we had left Columbia. Almost all were powerful males, hard as nails in good flesh, but without a superfluous ounce, without a suspicion of fat anywhere, and, what was better yet, they were all in good spirits. My sledges, now that the repairs were completed, were in good condition. My supplies were ample for forty days, and, with the reserve represented by the dogs themselves, could be made to last fifty. Pacing back and forth in the lee of the pressure ridge where our igloos were built, while my men got their loads ready for the next marches, I settled on my program. I decided that I should strain every nerve to make five marches of twenty-five miles each, crowding these marches in such a way as to bring us to the end of the fifth long enough before noon to permit the immediate taking of an observation for latitude. Weather and open water permitting, I believed I could do this. If my proposed distances were cut down by any chance, I had two means in reserve for making up the deficit. First, to make the last march a first one, stopping to make tea and rest to dogs, but not to sleep. Second, at the end of the fifth march, to make a first march with a light sledge, a double team of dogs and one or two of the party, leaving the rest in camp. Underlying, all these calculations was a recognition of the ever-present possibility of open leads and impassable water, and the knowledge that a twenty-four-hour scale would knock all my plans into a cocked hat, and even put us in imminent peril. At a little after midnight of April first, after a few hours of sound sleep, I hit the trail, leaving the others to break up camp and follow. As I climbed the pressure ridge back of our igloos, I took up another hole in my belt, the third since I started. Every man and dog of us was lean and flat bellied as a board, and as hard. It was a fine morning. The wind of the last two days had subsided, and the going was the best and most equitable of any I had had yet. The flows were large and old, hard and clear, and were surrounded by pressure ridges, some of which were almost stupendous. The biggest of them, however, were easily negotiated, either through some gap or up some huge drifts. I set a good pace for about ten hours. Twenty-five miles took us well beyond the eighty-eighth parallel. While we were building our igloos, a long lead formed to the east and southeast of us at a distance of a few miles. A few hours sleep, and we were on the trail again. The weather was fine, and the going like that of the previous day, except at the beginning, when peak axes were required. This, and a brief stop at another lead, cut down our distance. But we had made twenty miles in ten hours, and were halfway to the eighty-ninth parallel. The ice was grinding audibly in every direction, but no motion was visible. Evidently it was settling back into equilibrium, and probably sagging northward with its release from the wind pressure. Again a few hours sleep, and we hit the trail before midnight. The weather and going were even better than before. The surface, except as interrupted by infrequent ridges, was as level as the glacial fringe from Heckler to Columbia and Harder. We marched something over ten hours, the dogs being often on a trot, and made twenty miles. Near the end of the march, we rushed across a lead one hundred yards wide, which buckled under our sledges, and finally broke as the last sledge lifted. We stopped in sight of the eighty-ninth parallel in a temperature of forty degrees below. Again a scant sleep, and we were on our way once more, and across the eighty-ninth parallel. This march duplicated the previous one as to weather and going. The last few hours it was on young ice. Occasionally the dogs were galloping, and we made twenty-five miles or more. The air, the sky, and the bitter wind, burning the face till it crackled, reminded me of the great interior icecap of Greenland. Even the natives complained of the bitter air. It was as keen as frozen steel. A little longer sleep than the previous ones had to be taken here, as we were all in need of it. Then on again. Up to this time, with each successive march, my fear of an impassable lead had increased. At every inequality of the ice, I found myself hurrying breathlessly forward, fearing that it marked a lead. And when I arrived at the summit, I would catch my breath with relief, only to find myself hurrying on in the same way as the next one. But on this march, by some strange shift of feeling, this fear fell from me completely. The weather was thick, but it gave me no uneasiness, as before turning in I had taken an observation which indicated our position as eighty-nine point twenty-five. A dense lifeless pole hung overhead. The horizon was black, and the ice beneath was a ghastly, chalky white, with no relief, a striking contrast to the glimmering, sunlit ice fields over which we had been travelling for the previous four days. The going was even better, and there was scarcely any snow on the hard granular last summer's surface of the old flows, dotted with the sapphire ice of the previous summer's lakes. A rise in temperature to fifteen degrees below zero reduced the friction of the sledges, and gave the dogs the appearance of having caught the spirits of the party. The more sprightly ones, as they went along with tightly curled tails, frequently tossed their heads with short, sharp barks and yelps. In twelve hours we made thirty miles. There was no sign of a lead in this march. I have now made my five marches, and it was in time for a hasty noon observation through a temporary break in the clouds, which indicated our position as eighty-nine point five seven. I quote an entry from my journal some hours later. The pole at last, the prize of three centuries, my dream and goal for twenty years mine at last. I cannot bring myself to realize it. It all seemed so simple and common place. As Bartlett said when turning back, when speaking of his being in this exclusive regions, which no mortal had ever penetrated before, it is just like every day. The thirty hours at the pole were spent in taking observations, in going some ten miles beyond our camp and some eight miles to the right of it, in taking photographs, planting my flags, depositing my records, studying the horizon with my telescope for possible land, and searching for a practicable place to make a sounding. Ten hours after our arrival the clouds cleared before a light breeze from our lift, and from that time, until our departure in the afternoon of April seven, the weather was cloudless and flawless. The minimum temperature during the thirty hours was thirty-three degrees below zero, the maximum eleven degrees below. We had reached the goal, but the return was still before us. It was essential that we reach the land before the next spring tides, and we must strain every nerve to do this. I had a brief talk with my men. From now on it was to be big travel, little sleep, and a hustle every minute. We would try, I told them, to double march on the return, that is, to start and cover one of our northward marches, make tea and eat our luncheon in the igloos, then cover another march, eat and sleep a few hours, and repeat this daily. As a matter of fact we nearly did this, covering regularly on our homeward journey five outward marches in three return marches. Just as long as we could hold the trail we could double our speed, and we need waste no time in building new igloos. Every day that we gained on the return lessened the chances of a gale destroying the trail. Just above the eighty-seventh parallel was a region some fifty miles wide, which caused me considerable uneasiness. Twelve hours of strong easterly, westerly, or southerly wind would make this region an open sea. In the afternoon of the seventh we started on our return, having double-fed the dogs, repaired the sledges for the last time, and discarded all our spare clothing to lighten the loads. Five miles from the pole a narrow crack filled with recent ice, through which we were able to work a hole with a pickaxe, enabled me to make a sounding. All my wire, fifteen hundred fathoms, was sent down, but there was no bottom. In pulling up the wire parted a few fathoms from the surface, and lead and wire went to the bottom. Three marches brought us back to the igloos where the captain turned back. The last march was in the wild sweep of a northerly gale, with drifting snow, and the ice rocking under us as we dashed over it. South of where Marvin had turned back, we came to where his party had built several igloos while delayed by open leads. Still farther south we found where the captain had been held up by an open lead and obliged to camp. Fortunately the movement of these leads was simply open and shut, and there had been no lateral motion to fault the trail seriously. While the captain, Marvin, and, as I found out later, Borup, had been delayed by open leads, we seemed to bear a potent charm, and had no single lead where we delayed more than a couple of hours. Sometimes the ice was fast and firm enough to carry us across, sometimes a short detour, sometimes a brief halt for the lead to close, sometimes an improvised ferry on an ice-cake enabled us to keep the trail without difficulty down to the tenth outward march. The other trail disappeared completely, and the entire region was unrecognizable. Whereon the outward journey had been narrow cracks there were now broad leads, one of them over five miles in width, caught over with young ice. Here again fortune favoured us, and no pronounced movement of the ice having taken place since the captain passed we had his trail to follow. We picked up the old trail again north of the seventh igloos, followed it beyond the fifth, and at the big lead lost it finally. From here we followed the captain's trail, and on April 23rd our sledges passed up the vertical edge of the glacier fringe, a little west of Cape Columbia. When the last sledge came up I thought my Eskimos had gone crazy. They yelled and called and danced themselves helpless. As Uta sat down on his sledge he remarked in Eskimo, the devil is asleep or having trouble with his wife, or we never should have come back so easily. A few hours later we arrived at Crane City under the bluffs of Cape Columbia, and after putting four pounds of Pemmican into each of the faithful dogs to keep them quiet, we had at last our chance to sleep. Never shall I forget that sleep at Cape Columbia. It was sleep, sleep, then turn over and sleep again, with never a thought of the morrow or of impassable black leads. Cold water to a parched throat is nothing compared with sleep to a fatigue-numbed brain and body. Two days we spent here in sleeping and drying our clothes. Then for the ship. Our dogs, like ourselves, had not been hungry when we arrived, but simply lifeless with fatigue. They were different animals now, and the better ones among them stepped out with tightly curled tails and uplifted heads, and their iron legs treading the snow with piston-like regularity. We reached Heckler in one march and the Roosevelt in another. When we got to the Roosevelt I was staggered by the news of the fatal mishap to Marvin. He had been either less cautious or less fortunate than the rest of us, and his death emphasized the risk to which we had all been subjected, for there was not one of us but had been in the leads at some time during the journey. The big lead, cheated of its prey three years before, had at last gained its human victim. The rest can be quickly told. Macmillan and Borup had started for the Greenland coast to deposit caches for me. As soon as I arrived an Eskimo courier from me overtook them with instructions that the caches were no longer needed and that they were to concentrate their energies on tidal observations and soundings at Cape Morris K. Jessup and North from there. These instructions were carried out, and after their return in the latter part of May, Macmillan made some further tidal observations at other points. The supplies remaining at the various caches were brought in, and on July 18th the Roosevelt left her winter quarters and was driven out into the Channel Pack of Cape Union. She fought her way south in the centre of the Channel and passed Cape Sabine on August 8th, or 39 days earlier than in 1908, and 32 days earlier than the British expedition in 1876. We picked up Whitney and my party and the stores at Ita. We killed 70 odd walrus for my Eskimos, whom I landed at their homes. We met the genie of Saunders Island and took over her coal and cleared from Cape York on August 26th, one month earlier than in 1906. On September 5 we arrived at Indian harbour, whence the message, stars and stripes nailed to North Pole, was sent vibrating southward through the crisp Labrador air. The culmination of long experience, a thorough knowledge of the conditions of the problem, gained in the last expedition, together with a new type of sledge, which reduced the work of both dogs and driver, and a new type of camp cooker, which added to the comfort and increased the hours of sleep of the members of the party, combined to make the present expedition an agreeable improvement upon the last, in respect to the rapidity and effectiveness of its work, and the lessened discomfort and strain upon the members of the party. Piri here speaks in praise of the members of the party and of the special work of each. As for my faithful Eskimos, I have left them with ample supplies of dark, rich walrus meat and blubber for their winter, with coffee, sugar, biscuits, guns, rifles, ammunition, knives, hatchets, traps, etc., and for the splendid four who stood beside me at the pole, a boat and tent each to requite them for their energy, and the hardship and toil they underwent to help their friend Piri to the north pole. But all of this, the dearly bored years of experience, the magnificent strength of the Roosevelt, the splendid energy and enthusiasm of my party, the loyal faithfulness of my Eskimos, would have gone for naught, but for the sinews of war furnished so loyally by the members and friends of the Piri Arctic Club. The Piri Arctic Club is the organization which made Piri's attainment of the pole possible. Its president is General Thomas H. Hubbard, Vice President Zenas Crane, Secretary and Treasurer Herbert L. Bridgman. End footnote. And it is no detraction from the living to say that to no single individual has the final result been more signally due than to my friend the late Morris K. Jessup, the first president of the club. Their assistance has enabled me to tell the last of the great earth stories. The story the world has been waiting to hear for three hundred years. The story of the discovery of the north pole. End of section 104. Section 105 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles. Read for LibriVox.org by Alan Mapstone. Admiral Piri in his north pole costume. Photograph page 546. Robert E. Piri was born at Crescent Springs, Pennsylvania in 1856. He became a civil engineer in the Navy in 1881 and later was engineering chief of the Nicaragua Ship Canal surveys. In 1886 he made a reconnaissance of the Greenland inland icecap east of Disco Bay. His thoughts turned towards the north and now with the instincts of the born explorer and the skill of a train mind he gave his spare time to the problem of preparations for Arctic research. No detail of the subject was too small for his closest attention and his most careful thought. In 1891 to 92 he made a brilliant record for explorations in Greenland. He discovered and named Melville Island and Heilprinland and solved in the affirmative the long debated question whether Greenland was an island. Voyage followed voyage. He investigated the Arctic Highlanders, discovered the half mythical Iron Mountain and found it to be three enormous meteorites which he brought to New York. He rounded the northern extremity of Greenland Archipelago and at length reached in 1906 87 degrees six minutes north latitude which was then furthest north. All this was by way of preparation for his greatest achievement the discovery of the north pole which he himself has described so vividly in the following article. He tells of his success quietly and simply and as has been well said his account will live as a piece of strong vivid and dramatic writing of fine literary quality and of permanent historic interest. End of section 105 this recording is in the public domain. Section 106 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the Search for the Poles read for LibriVox.org. The Search for the Poles Part 3 The South Pole Historical Note Far less interest was felt in the south pole than in the north as early as 1600 it was known that at 64 degrees south there was a rocky coast but no one seemed to care particularly about any further knowledge of it and during more than 200 years few expeditions sailed to the Antarctic regions. In the 19th century the British government sent out Sir James C. Ross with the Arabus and the Terror vessels whose names were given to two of the Antarctic volcanoes. Toward the end of the century people began to be more desirous of knowledge of the extreme south and expeditions were sent out by England, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Norway, Japan and other countries besides those sent by private individuals. The prize however of being first at the south pole was won by Rold Amundsen. He set sail in Nansen's vessel the Fram which had already done much good service in the north and at the end of 1911 the Norwegian flag floated at the south pole as that of the United States had already floated at the north. End of section 106. This recording is in the public domain. Section 107 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles. This is a LibriVox recording while LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. The world story volume eight Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles edited by Eva March Tappen. Section 107 in Antarctic winter quarters 1908 through 1909 by Sir Ernest H. Shackleton. The British Antarctic expedition led by Sir Ernest H. Shackleton pushed on to within 111 statute miles of the south pole. This expedition had well profited by the experiences of its predecessors. It was provided with Manchurian ponies, an automobile specially built for journeying over the ice, and a settling gas plant, a printing press, the supply books and a store of food carefully planned to provide a thoroughly helpful nourishment in a small bulk. Indeed, so far as previous arrangements could make it, this journey was compared with the earlier expeditions a truly luxurious pilgrimage. The editor. The inside of the hut was not long and being fully furnished and a great change it was from the bare shell of our first days of occupancy. The first thing done was to peg out a space for each individual and we saw that the best plan would be to have the space allocated in sections, allowing two persons to share one cubicle. This space for two men amounted to six feet, six inches in length and seven feet in depth from the wall of the hut towards the center. There were seven of these cubicles and a space for the leader of the expedition. Thus providing for the 15 who made up the shore party. One of the most important parts of the interior construction was the dark room for the photographers. We were very short of wood, so cases of bottled fruit, which had to be kept inside the hut to prevent them freezing, were utilized for building the walls. The dark room was constructed in the left hand corner of the hut as one entered and the fruit cases were turned with their lids facing out so that the contents could be removed without demolishing the walls of the building. These cases, as they were emptied, were turned into lockers where we stowed our spare gear and so obtained more rooms in the little cubicles. The interior of the dark room was fitted up by Mawson and the professor. The sides and roof were lined with the felt left over after the hut was completed. Mawson made the fittings complete in every detail with shelves, tanks, etc., and the result was as good as anyone could desire in the circumstances. On the other side of the doorway opposite the dark room was my room, six feet long, seven feet deep, built of boards and roofed, the roof being seven feet above the floor. I lined the walls inside with canvas and the bed place was constructed of fruit boxes which, when emptied, served like those outside for lockers. My room contained the bulk of our library, the chronometers, the chronometer watches, barograph, and the electric recording thermometer. There was ample room for a table and the hole made a most comfortable cabin. On the roof we stowed those of our scientific instruments which were not used, such as the odolites, spare thermometers, dip circles, etc. The gradual accumulation of weight produced a distinct sag in the roof, which sometimes seemed to threaten collapse as I sat inside, but no notice was taken, and nothing happened. On the roof of the dark room we stowed all our photographic gear and our few cases of wine which were only drawn upon on special occasions, such as midwinter day. The acetylene gas plant was set up on a platform between my room and the dark room. We had tried to work it from the porch, but the temperature was so low that the water froze and the gas would not come, so we shifted it inside the hut and had no further trouble. Four burners, including a portable standard light in my room, gave ample illumination. The simplicity and portability of the apparatus and the high efficiency of the light represented the height of luxury under polar conditions and did much to render our sojourn more tolerable than would have been possible in earlier days. The particular form that we used was supplied by Mr. Morrison, who had been chief engineer on the morning on her voyage to the relief of the discovery. The only objectionable feature due to having the generating plant in our living room was the unpleasant smell given off when the carbide tanks were being recharged. But we soon got used to this, though the daily charging always drew down strong remarks on the unlucky head of Day who had the acetylene plant especially under his charge. He did not have a hitch with it all the time. Flexible steel tools were carried from the tank and after being wound around the beams of the roof served to suspend the lights at the required position. A long ridge of wire rope was stretched from one end of the hut to the other on each side, seven feet out from the wall. Then at intervals of six feet another wire was brought out from the wall of the hut and was made fast to the four and a half wire. These lines marked the boundaries of the cubicles and sheets of duct sewn together hung from them, making a good division. Blankets were served out to hang in the front of the cubicle in case the inhabitants wanted at any time to sport their oak. As each of the cubicles had distinctive features in the furnishing in general design, especially as regards beds, it is worthwhile to describe them fully. This is not so trivial a matter as it may appear to some readers, for during the winter months the inside of the hut was the whole inhabited world us. The wall of Adams and Marshall's cubicle, which was next to my room, was fitted with shelves made out of vanesta cases and there was so much neatness and order about this apartment that it was known by the address number one Park Lane. In front of the shelves hung little gauze curtains tied up with blue ribbon and the literary tastes of the occupants could be seen at a glance from the bookshelves. In Adams' quarter the period of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era filled most of his bookshelves, though a complete edition of Dickens came in a good second. Marshall's shelves were stocked with bottles of medicine, medical works, and some general literature. The dividing curtain of duct was adorned by Marston with life-size colored drawings of Napoleon and Joan of Arc. Adams and Marshall did sandow exercises daily and their example was followed by other men later on when the darkness and bad weather made open airwork difficult. The beds of this particular cubicle were the most comfortable in the hut, but took a little longer to rig up at night than most of the others. This disadvantage was more than compensated for by the free space gain during the day and by permission of the owners it was used as consulting room, dispensary, and operating theater. The beds consisted of bamboos lashed together for extra strength to which strips of canvas were attached so that each bed looked like a stretcher. The wall end rested on stout cleats screwed on to the side of the hut, the other ends on chairs, and so supported the occupants slept soundly and comfortably. The next cubicle on the same side was occupied by Marston and Day, and as the former was the artist and the latter the general handyman of the expedition, one naturally found an ambitious scheme of decoration. The shelves were provided with beading and the Venesta boxes were stained brown. This idea was copied from number one park lane where they had stained all their walls with Condi's fluid. Marston and Day's cubicle was known as the gables, presumably from the gabled appearance of the shelves. Solid wooden beds made out of old packing cases and upholstered with wood shavings covered with blankets made very comfortable couches, one of which could be pushed during mealtimes out of the way of the chairs. The artist's curtain was painted to represent a fireplace and mantelpiece in civilization. A cheerful fire burned in the grate and a bunch of flowers stood on the mantelpiece. The dividing curtain between it and number one park lane on the other side of the cubicle did not require to be decorated for the color of Joan of Arc and also portions in Napoleon had oozed through the canvas. In the gables was set up the lithographic press which was used for producing pictures for the book which was printed at our winter quarters. The next cubicle on the same side belonged to Armitage and Brockleshurst. Here everything in the way of shelves and fittings was very primitive. I lived in Brocklehurst portion of the cubicle for two months as he was laid up in my room and before I left it I constructed a bed of empty petrol cases. The smell from these for the first couple of nights after ricking them up was decidedly unpleasant but it disappeared after a while. Next to Brocklehurst and Armitage's quarters came the pantry. The division between the cubicle and the pantry consisted of a tier of cases making a substantial wall between the food and the heads of the sleepers. The pantry, bakery and storeroom all combined measured six feet by three not very capacious certainly but sufficient to work in. The far end of the hut constituted the other wall of the pantry and was lined with shelves up to the slope of the roof. These shelves were continued along the wall behind the stove which stood about four feet out from the end of the house and in an erection of wooden battens and burlap or sack and concealed the biological laboratory. The space taken up by this important department was four feet by four but lack of ground arrow was made up for by the shelves which contained dozens of bottles soon to be filled with Murray's biological captures. Beyond the stove facing the pantry was McKay's and Robert's cubicle the main feature of which was a ponderous shelf on which rested mostly socks and other light articles the only thing of weight being our gramophone and records. The bunks were somewhat feeble imitations of those belonging to number one Park Lane and the troubles that the owners went through before finally getting them into working order afforded the rest of the community a great deal of amusement. I can see before me now the triumphant face of McKay as he called all hands round to see his design. The inhabitants of number one Park Lane pointed out that the bamboo was not a rigid piece of wood and that when McKay's weight came on it the middle would bend and the ends would jump off the supports and less secured. McKay undressed before a critical audience and he got into his bag and expiated on the comfort and luxury he was experiencing so different from the hardboards he had been lying on for months. Roberts was anxious to try his couch which was constructed on the same principle and the audience were turning away when suddenly a crash was heard followed by a strong expletive. McKay's bed was half on the ground one end of it resting resting at a most uncomfortable angle laughter and pointer remarks as to his capacity for making a bed were nothing to him. He tried three times that night to fix it up but at last had to give it up for a bad job in due time he arranged fast innings and after that he slept in comfort. Between this cubicle and the next there was no division neither party troubling about the matter. The result was that four men were constantly at war regarding alleged encroachments on their ground. Priestly who was long suffering and who occupied the cubicle with Murray said he did not mind a chair or a volume of the encyclopedia Britannica being occasionally deposited on him while he was asleep but that he thought it was a little too strong to drop wet boots newly arrived from the stables on top of his belongings. Priestly and Murray had no floor space at all in their cubicle as their beds were built of empty dog biscuit boxes. A division of boxes separated the two sleeping places and the whole cubicle was garnished on Priestly's side with bits of rock ice axes hammers and chisels and on Murray's with biological specimens. Next came one of the first cubicles that had been built. Joyce and Wild occupied the rogues retreat the painting of two very tough characters drinking beer out of pint mugs with the inscription the rogues retreat painted underneath adorning the entrance to the den. The couches in this house were the first to be built and those of the opposite dwelling the gables were copied from their design. The first bed had been built in wild store home for secrecy sake it was to burst upon the view of everyone and to create mingled feelings of admiration and envy admiration for the splendid design envy of the unparalleled luxury provided by it however in building it the designer forgot the size of the doorway he had to take it through and it had ignominiously to be sewn in half before it could be passed out of the storeroom into the hut. The printing press and type case for the polar paper occupied one corner of this cubicle. The next and last compartment was the dwelling place of the professor in Mawson it would be difficult to do justice to the picturesque confusion of this compartment one hardly likes to call it untidy for the things that cover the bunks by daytime could be placed nowhere else conveniently a miscellaneous assortment of cameras spectroscopes thermometers microscopes electrometers and the like laying perfusion on the blankets Mawson's bed consisted of his two boxes in which he had stowed his scientific apparatus on the way down and the professor's bed was made out of kerosene cases everything in the way of tin cans or a plug topped with straw wrappers belonging to the fruit bottles was collected by these two scientific men. Mawson as a rule put his possessions in his storeroom outside but the professor not having any retreat like that made a pile of glittering tins and colored wrappers at one end of his bunk and the heap looked like the nest of the Australian bower bird the straw and the tins were generally cleared away when the professor and priestly went in for a day's packing of geological specimens the straw wrappers were utilized for wrapping around the rocks and the tins were filled with paper wrapped around the more delicate geological specimens the name given though not by the owners to this cubicle was the pawn shop for not only was there always a heterogeneous mass of things on the bunks but the wall of the dark room and the wall of the hut at this spot could not be seen for the multitude of cases ranged as shells and filled with a varied assortment of notebooks and instruments in order to give as much free space as possible in the center of the hut we had the table saw arranged that it could be hoisted up over our heads after meals were over this gave ample room for the various carpentering and engineering efforts that were constantly going on Murray built the table out of the lids of packing cases and they'll often scrub the stenciling on the cases never came out we had no tablecloth but this was an advantage for a well-scrugged table had a cleaner appearance than would be obtained with such washing as could be done in an Antarctic laundry the legs of the table were detachable being after the fashion of trestles and the whole affair when meals were over was slung by a rope at each end about eight feet from the floor at first we used to put the boxes containing knives forks plates and bowls on top of the table before hauling it up but after three had fallen on the unfortunate head of the person trying to get them down we were content to keep them on the floor I've been very anxious as regards the stove the most important part of the hut equipment when I heard that after the blizzard that kept me on board the Nimrod the temperature of the hut was below zero and that socks put to dry in the baking ovens came out as damp as ever the following morning my anxiety was dispelled after the stove had been taken to pieces again for it was found that eight important pieces of its structure had not been put in as soon as this emission was rectified the stove acted splendidly and the makers deserve our thanks for the particular apparatus they picked out as suitable for us the stove was put to a severe test for it was kept going day and night for over nine months without once being out for more than 10 minutes when occasion required it to be clean it supplied us with sufficient heat to keep the temperature of the hut 60 to 70 degrees above the outside air enough bread could be baked to satisfy our whole hungry party of 15 every day three hot meals a day were also cooked and water melted from ice at a temperature of perhaps 20 degrees below zero and sufficient quantities to afford as much as we required for ourselves and to water the ponies twice a day and all this work was done on a consumption not exceeding 500 weight of coal per week after testing the stove by running it on an accurately measured amount of coal for a month we were reassured about our coal supply being sufficient to carry us through the winter right on to sledging time as the winter came on and the light grew faint outside the hut became more and more like a workshop and it seems strange to me now thinking back to those distant days to remember the amount of trouble and care that was taken to furnish and beautify what was only to be a temporary home one of our many kind friends had sent us a number of pictures which were divided between the various cubicles and these brightened up the place wonderfully during our first severe blizzard the hut shook and trembled so that every moment we expect the whole thing to carry away and there's not the slightest shadow of a doubt that if we had been located in the open the hut and everything in it would have been torn up and blown away even with our shelter position I had to lash the chronometers to the shelf in my room for they are apt to be shaken off when the walls trembled in the gale when the storm was over we put a stout wire cable over the hut bearing the ends in the ground and freezing them in so as to afford additional security in case heavier weather was in store for us in the future end of section 107 this recording is in the public domain section 108 of Norway Sweden Denmark Iceland Greenland and the search for the polls this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the world's story volume 8 Norway Sweden Denmark Iceland Greenland and the search for the polls edited by Eva March Tappen section 108 Norway at the South Pole 1911 by Roald Odmondson on the 1st of December we left this broken glacier with holes and crevices without number with its height of 9100 feet before us looking in the mist and snowdrift like a frozen sea appeared a light sloping ice plateau filled with small hummocks the walk over this frozen sea was not pleasant the ground under us was quite hollow and it sounded as though we were walking on the bottoms of empty barrels as it was a man fell through then a couple of dogs we could not use our skis on this polished ice slid just had the best of it the place got the name the devil's dancing room this part of our march was the most unpleasant on December 6 we got our greatest height according to the hypsometer and aneroid 10,750 feet at 87 degrees 40 minutes south on December 8 we came out of the bad weather once again the sun smiled down upon us once again we could get an observation dead reckoning and observation were exactly alike 88 degrees 16 minutes 16 seconds south before us lay an absolutely plain plateau only here and there marked with a tiny sestrui a wind furrow in the snow in the afternoon we passed 88 degrees 23 minutes shackleton's farthest south was 88 degrees 25 minutes we camped and established our last depot depot number 10 from 88 degrees 25 minutes the plateau began to slope down very gently and smoothly toward the other side on the 9th of December we reached 88 degrees 39 minutes on December 10th 88 degrees 56 minutes December 11 89 degrees 15 minutes December 12 89 degrees 30 minutes December 13 89 degrees 45 minutes up to this time the observations and dead reckoning agreed remarkably well and we made out that we ought to be at the pole on December 14 in the afternoon that day was a beautiful one a light breeze from southeast the temperature minus 23 Celsius 9.4 degrees below zero Fahrenheit and the ground and sledging were perfect the day went along as usual and at 3 p.m. we made a halt according to our reckoning we had reached our destination all of us gathered around the colors a beautiful silk flag all hands taking hold of it and planting it the vast plateau on which the pole is standing got the name of the king hakan the seventh plateau it is a vast plain alike in all directions mile after mile during the night we circled around the camp in the fine weather we spent the following day taking a series of observations from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. the result gave us 89 degrees 55 minutes in order to observe the pole as closely as possible we traveled as near south as possible the remaining nine kilometers on December 16 there we camp it was an excellent opportunity there was a brilliant sun four of us took observations every hour of the day's 24 hours the exact result will be the matter of a professional private report this much is certain that we observe the pole as close as it is in human power to do it with the instruments we had a sexton and an artificial horizon end of section 108 this recording is in the public domain section 109 of Norway Sweden Denmark Iceland Greenland and the search for the poles red for liverybox.org by alan mapstone at the south pole photograph page 574 the Norwegian explorer roald amundsen was educated for a physician but gave up medicine for the sea his record as a discoverer includes the determination of the position of the magnetic pole the achievement of the north west passage and the discovery of the south pole on his latest voyage he planned to go to the north pole but while lying in fun shall harbour suddenly proposed to his men that they go to the south pole instead they agreed with enthusiasm the following is his own account of the planting of his country's flag in the frozen south we proceeded to the greatest and most solemn act of the whole journey the planting of our flag pride and affection shone in the five pairs of eyes that gazed upon the flag as it unfurled itself with a sharp crack and waved over the pole i had determined that the act of planting it the historic event should be equally divided among us all it was not for one man to do this it was for all who had staked their lives in the struggle and held together through thick and thin this was the only way in which i could show my gratitude to my comrades in this desolate spot i could see that they understood and accepted it in the spirit in which it was offered five weather beaten frostbitten fists they were that grasped the pole raised the waving flag in the air and planted it as the first at the geographical south pole thus we plant the beloved flag at the south pole and give to the plane on which it lies the name of king hawkin the seventh plateau that moment will certainly be remembered by all of us who stood there in this picture the norwegian flag is shown planted at the pole while beside it stands oscar wisting a member of amonson's party with his team of dogs harnessed to the loaded sled end of section 109 this recording is in the public domain section 110 of norway sweden denmark island greenland and the search for the poles this is a libre vox recording all libre vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libre vox.org the world's story volume eight norway sweden denmark island greenland and the search for the poles edited by ava march tappan section number 110 the rivals in the Antarctic 1911 from harpers weekly roald admison planted the norwegian flag at the south pole on december 14 last 1911 at three o'clock in the afternoon upon a vast plateau stretch away in every direction without a break in the monotony of its flat surface the temperature was 9.4 degrees below zero fahrenheit in considering this comparatively high temperature we must remember that the date was only a week before midsummer captain admison knows nothing of the whereabouts of captain scott the commander of the rival expedition england has not abandoned the hope that her flag was planted first at the pole for the exact location of this geographical point cannot of course be determined absolutely by means of a sextant and artificial horizon such as admison carried and there would be room for two flags to wave so far apart as to be invisible each from the other at each approximating to the side of the pole however the appearances are that captain admison has won the race the lowest temperature record it was 76 degrees below zero on the fahrenheit scale only two blizzards were encountered in place of the violent hurricanes which had been expected a new range of mountains was found ever since the news arrived a year ago that scott and admison had met at the edge of the great iceberg which surrounds the southern polar regions the world had been awaiting news of the expeditions the conquest of the north pole had stimulated the interest of the world and the successful outcome of this attempt to reach the southernmost point of the globe was believed to be inevitable never before had representatives of so many nations striven against one another for such a prize five expeditions were in the field in english a norwegian an australian a german and a japanese but of these five only the english and the norwegian were believed to have any chance of success the australians under the command of dr. mosson sailed with a small ship the aurora in november 1910 the german expedition headed by lieutenant william filchner left buenos ares on board the dutchland on october 5th 1911 the japanese commanded by lieutenant shirasi sailed on november 20th last from sydney and although poorly equipped are believed to have pressed on toward their destination at the onset only the expedition of captain scott was thought to have a chance of attaining the south pole admison's plans originally were to attempt to reach the north pole and he had sailed with that purpose but one hot night while the fram nansons old ship which they had adopted was lying in funchal harbor madera admison proposed that they should alter their quest and sail toward the extreme opposite end of the world the crew accepted his proposition with enthusiasm and scott found that he had a formidable rival one more over who had six months advantage of him and seemed likely to anticipate him in implanting his nation's flag at the south pole but admison's expedition was much less suitably equipped than his chief rivals his main reliance was upon the hundred eskimo dogs that he took to draw the sledges his crew of 19 men moreover had for the most part participated in journeys over the arctic ice packs on february fourth of last year scott found admison in the bay of wells at the edge of the Antarctic ice barrier about 700 miles from the pole since then until his arrival at hobart no news of him was received the expedition of captain scott was far better equipped than that of his arrival the british government contributed the sum of 100 000 and an equal amount was raised by public subscription it was scott's intention to profit by the experiences of lieutenant shackleton who had come to within 97 miles of the pole a year or so before and to follow the same course that his predecessor had taken on june 1st 1910 he sailed from london in the terra nova a dundee whaler 28 years old but refitted and remodeled with 60 men and a supply of stores sufficient for three years much as sir earnest shackleton's equipment had been copied and some had been improved despite the failure of shackleton to profit by his motor slay scott took with him two such sledges upon which he was placing much reliance one of these was lost in the landing at mcmurto sound in january 1911 according to the news brought back at that time he still had the other however a motor with driving wheels composed of hickory and steel and sledge runners for the front like shackleton he took manchurian ponies believing they could be dependent upon better than dogs dogs however were to be used as well the motor sled when subjected to severe tests in norway had proved itself capable of covering from two to three and a half miles an hour it was to be the main feature of the transportation plans of the scott expedition scott's plan was to enter rossi and sail to mcmurto sound on the shore of victoria land landing there and marching across the ice barrier toward the pole the ice barrier extends between victoria land and king edward the seventh land for a distance of about 200 miles this crossed there would be a toilsome ascent of what shackleton called the great glacier a distance of nearly a hundred miles after which would come the journey across the summit of the south polar continent at an altitude of 10 000 feet until the pole was reached like shackleton scott planned to divide his party one body consisting of lieutenant cambell and five men was to be sent east to attempt a landing on king edward the seventh land forming the eastern shore of rossi while this land was discovered years ago nobody had ever been able to step foot on it because of the ice surrounding it as a matter of fact subsequent reports brought back by the terra nova last year showed that this party had failed in accomplishing its objective on account of the ice and had shifted the scene of exploration to victoria land the main party was to be led by scott himself it was to consist of at least 16 men and possibly more at the start following the example of perry and other explorers however some of these men would be sent back from time to time as the journey progressed until a few would make the final dash for the pole at the pole scott intended to plant the two flags which had been presented to him just before he started by queen alexandra they were two union jacks the larger one to be hoisted at the pole if reached and then brought back and presented to her the other flag made of stronger texture it was planned to leave fly as a permanent record the Antarctic has not been the scene of so much exploration as have the arctic regions among the earlier names linked with the discovery of the southern continent are those of the american wilks whose discovery of wilkslam was disputed for many years and the Englishman james clark ross it was the latter who after making his way through the pack ice with two sailing vessels the arabus and the terror in 1842 came across the great ice barrier 100 feet in height which for nearly 50 years was believed to be insurmountable it was not until 1900 that corston borsch crevink a norwegian found an opening in the huge wall of ice and entered it he then discovered that a wide expanse of land over which travel was plainly possible lay behind it captain scott following him seceded and penetrating McMurdo straight in 1908 shackleton reached a latitude of 88 degrees 23 minutes and would have reached the pole but for the loss of a pony laden with supplies shackleton found that the land was the most desolate in the world containing no animal life except a single species of flea role omission the conqueror of the pole is about 40 years of age he is a graduate of the university of christania but after taking his doctor's degree he abandoned medicine to follow the sea as his forebears had done for generations in 1903 he affected the conquest of the northwest passage in a little sloop called the goja manned by seven men a feat which had been attempted vainly by many since franklin's voyage and had involved the loss of many ships and men end of section 110 this recording is in the public domain section 111 of norway sweden danmark iesland greenland and the search for the poles this is a libre vox recording all libre vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libre vox.org recording by sonja the world story volume eight norway sweden danmark iesland greenland and the search for the poles edited by avamarch teppen section 111 captain scott's last message 1912 by robert f scott captain scott in command of the british south pola expedition succeeded in reaching his goal on january 18 1912 on his return weakened by need of food he was overtaken by a blizzard only 11 miles from the camp where fuel and provisions had been deposited the following message was written by him shortly before his death and was found by the relief expedition some months later the editor the causes of this disaster are not due to faulty organization but to misfortune in all the risks that had to be undertaken one the loss of pony transport in march 1911 obliged me to start later than i had intended and obliged the limits of stuff transported to be narrowed the weather throughout the outward journey and especially the long gale in 83 degrees south stopped us the soft snow in the lower reaches of the glacier again reduced the pace we fought these untoward events with will and concord but it ate into our provisions reserve every detail of our food supplies clothing and depots made on the interior ice sheet and on that long stretch of 700 miles to the pole and back worked out to perfection the advance party would have returned to the glacier in fine form and with the surplus of food but for the astonishing failure of the man whom we had least expected to fail seaman evans was thought to be the strongest man of the party and be it more glacier is not difficult in fine weather but on our return we did not get a single completely fine day this with a sick companion enormously increased our anxieties i have said elsewhere that we got into frightfully rough eyes and edgar evans received a concussion of the brain he died a natural death but left us a shaken party with the season unduly advanced but all the facts above enumerated whereas nothing to the surprise which awaited us at the barrier i maintain that our arrangements for returning were quite adequate and that no one in the world would have done better in the weather which we encountered at this time of the year on the summit in latitude 82 degrees to 86 degrees we had minus 20 to minus 30 on the barrier in latitude 82 degrees 10 000 feet lower we had minus 30 in the day and minus 47 at night pretty regularly with the continuous headwind during our day marches these circumstances came on very suddenly and our wreck is certainly due to this sudden advent of severe weather which does not seem to have any satisfactory cause i do not think human beings ever came through such a month as we have come through and we should have got through in spite of the weather but for the sickening of a second companion captain oates and the shortage of fuel in our depots for which i cannot account and finally but for the storm which had fallen on us within 11 miles of the depot at which we hoped to secure the final supplies surely misfortune could scarcely have exceeded this last blow we arrived within 11 miles of our old one ton camp with fuel for one hot meal and food for two days for four days we have been unable to leave the tent the gale blowing about us we are weak writing is difficult but for my own sake i do not regret this journey which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships help one another and meet death with as great a fortitude as ever in the past we took risks we knew we took them things have come out against us and therefore we have no cause for complaint but bow to the will of providence determined still to do our best to the last but if we have been willing to give our lives to this enterprise which is for the honor of our country i appeal to our countrymen to see that those who depend on us are properly cared for had we lived i should have had a tale to tell of the hardy hood endurance and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman these rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale but surely surely a great rich country like ours will see that those who are dependent on us are properly provided for signed r scott march 25th 1912 end of section 111 end of the world story a history of the world in story song and art volume eight norway sweden danmark island greenland and the search for the poles edited by evermarch tappan