Chapter I: Preface

My chief object in compiling this work has been to supply a brief account of the main efforts which have been made to reach the North Pole. The subject is now so extensive that few have the opportunity of covering the whole ground. While the exciting and specially interesting incidents have not been omitted, the book aims at giving the reader an intelligent idea of the equipment and other means by which the work of exploration has been carried on.

The many expeditions which have set out to find a north-west or a north-east passage do not come within the scope of the book, except when they have had some special bearing on the struggle for the Pole.

Those who may wish to pursue the subject further by consulting the original authors can be assured that no works of fiction relate greater deeds of heroism than are found in the records of Arctic exploration; and that while they may satisfy their love for the adventurous they will add something to their geographical knowledge.

It is hoped that the maps may be of considerable assistance in enabling the reader to follow the narrative. The spelling of geographical and other names is generally that adopted by the authors of the original works.

GEORGE BRYCE.
BIRMINGHAM, _December 1909_.

CONTENTS AND LIST OF MAPS

I. PARRY’S EXPEDITION OF 1827
II. KANE’S EXPEDITION (1853, ’54, ’55)
III. EXPEDITION COMMANDED BY DR. HAYES IN 1860−61
IV. THE GERMAN EXPEDITION (1869−70)
V. VOYAGE OF THE _POLARIS_ (1871−73)
VI. THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EXPEDITION (1872−74)
VII. THE BRITISH EXPEDITION OF 1875−76
VIII. THE VOYAGE OF THE _JEANNETTE_ (1879−81)
IX. GREELY’S EXPEDITION (1881−84)
X. THE NORWEGIAN POLAR EXPEDITION (1893−96)
XI. SVERDRUP’S EXPEDITION (1898−1902)
XII. ITALIAN EXPEDITION (1899−1900)
XIII. PEARY’S EXPEDITIONS (1886−1909)
XIV. DR. COOK’S EXPEDITION (1907−9)

MAPS

1. THE ARCTIC REGIONS
2. CHART OF SMITH SOUND AND KENNEDY CHANNEL
3. CHART OF PART OF EAST GREENLAND
4. KAISER FRANZ-JOSEF LAND IN 1874
5. CHART OF GREENLAND AND ELLESMERE ISLAND
6. FRANZ-JOSEF LAND
7. CHART OF SVERDRUP’S DISCOVERIES
8. CHART OF NORTHERN PART OF GREENLAND
9. CHART OF NORTH POLAR REGIONS

GLOSSARY OF ARCTIC TERMS

_Beset_, so enclosed by floating ice as to be unable to
navigate.
_Bore_, to force through loose or recent ice.
_Calf_, detached mass from berg or glacier, rising suddenly
to the surface.
_Crow’s nest_, a look-out place attached to the
topgallant-masthead.
_Dock_, an opening in the ice, artificial or natural,
offering protection.
_Drift ice_, detached ice in motion.
_Field ice_, an extensive surface of floating ice.
_Floe_, a detached portion of a field.
_Hummocks_, ridges of broken ice formed by collision of
fields.
_Ice-blink_, a peculiar appearance of the atmosphere over
distant ice.
_Ice-foot_, the ice which adheres to the coast above the
ordinary level of the sea.
_Lane or lead_, a more or less navigable opening in the ice.
_Nip_, the condition of a vessel pressed upon by ice on both
sides.
_Pack_, a large area of floating masses of ice driven
together more or less closely.
_Palæocrystic ice_, the name given by Nares to the old ice
of the Polar Sea.
_Polynia_, a Russian term for an open-water space.
_Rue-raddy_, a shoulder-belt to drag by.