The North Pole | Page 9

reaching the polar ocean by
designing and constructing the Roosevelt, whose resistless frame
crushed its way to the desired haven on the shores of the polar sea.
From here he made that wonderful march of 1906 to 87° 6´, a new
world's record. Winds of unusual fury, by opening big leads, robbed
him of the Pole and nearly of his life.
The story of the last Peary expedition, which resulted in the discovery
of the Pole and of the deep ocean surrounding it, is told in the present
volume by Commander Peary. The 396 miles from Greely's farthest

had been vanquished as follows: 1900, 30 miles; 1902, 23 miles; 1906,
169 miles; 1909, 174 miles.
No better proof of the minute care with which every campaign was
prearranged can be given than the fact that, though Peary has taken
hundreds of men north with him on his various expeditions, he has
brought them all back, and in good health, with the exception of two,
who lost their lives in accidents for which the leader was in no wise
responsible. What a contrast this record is to the long list of fatalities
from disease, frost, shipwreck, and starvation which in the popular
mind has made the word arctic synonymous with tragedy and death.
Thus Robert E. Peary has crowned a life devoted to the exploration of
the icy north and to the advancement of science by the hard-won
discovery of the North Pole. The prize of four centuries of striving
yielded at last to the most persistent and scientific attack ever waged
against it. Peary's success was made possible by long experience, which
gave him a thorough knowledge of the difficulties to be overcome, and
by an unusual combination of mental and physical power--a
resourcefulness which enabled him to find a way to surmount all
obstacles, a tenacity and courage which knew no defeat, and a physical
endowment such as nature gives to few men.
It has been well said that the glory of Peary's achievement belongs to
the world and is shared by all mankind. But we, his fellow-countrymen,
who have known how he has struggled these many years against
discouragement and scoffing and how he has persevered under
financial burdens that would have crushed less stalwart shoulders,
specially rejoice that he has "made good at last," and that an American
has become the peer of Hudson, Magellan, and Columbus.
GILBERT H. GROSVENOR.
National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C., U. S. A. August 30,
1910.
[Illustration: STELLAR PROJECTION, SHOWING THE RELATION
OF THE POLAR SEA TO THE VARIOUS CONTINENTS]

THE NORTH POLE
CHAPTER I
THE PLAN
It may not be inapt to liken the attainment of the North Pole to the
winning of a game of chess, in which all the various moves leading to a
favorable conclusion had been planned in advance, long before the
actual game began. It was an old game for me--a game which I had
been playing for twenty-three years, with varying fortunes. Always, it
is true, I had been beaten, but with every defeat came fresh knowledge
of the game, its intricacies, its difficulties, its subtleties, and with every
fresh attempt success came a trifle nearer; what had before appeared
either impossible, or, at the best, extremely dubious, began to take on
an aspect of possibility, and, at last, even of probability. Every defeat
was analyzed as to its causes in all their bearings, until it became
possible to believe that those causes could in future be guarded against
and that, with a fair amount of good fortune, the losing game of nearly
a quarter of a century could be turned into one final, complete success.
It is true that with this conclusion many well informed and intelligent
persons saw fit to differ. But many others shared my views and gave
without stint their sympathy and their help, and now, in the end, one of
my greatest unalloyed pleasures is to know that their confidence,
subjected as it was to many trials, was not misplaced, that their trust,
their belief in me and in the mission to which the best years of my life
have been given, have been abundantly justified.
But while it is true that so far as plan and method are concerned the
discovery of the North Pole may fairly be likened to a game of chess,
there is, of course, this obvious difference: in chess, brains are matched
against brains. In the quest of the Pole it was a struggle of human
brains and persistence against the blind, brute forces of the elements of
primeval matter, acting often under laws and impulses almost unknown
or but little understood by us, and thus many times seemingly

capricious, freaky, not to be foretold with any degree of certainty. For
this reason, while it was possible