WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
The Great White North / The story of polar exploration from the earliest times to the discovery of the pole cover

The Great White North / The story of polar exploration from the earliest times to the discovery of the pole

Chapter 26: CONCLUSION
By Helen S. Wright
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

AdventureHistory - Other

About This Book

A chronological account traces polar exploration from ancient references and Norse voyages through sixteenth-to-nineteenth-century expeditions, describing searches for the Northwest Passage, early scientific and sledge journeys, shipborne voyages beset by ice, and later national attempts that culminate with the reported attainment of the Pole in 1909. Drawing on explorers' own reports, official accounts, and contemporary illustrations and maps, the narrative emphasizes practical hardships, geographic discoveries, and the endurance, sacrifice, and techniques that defined Arctic travel, organized into thematic chapters surveying individual voyages, shifting methods, and the gradual filling in of the far northern chart.

CONCLUSION

For three and twenty years Robert Edwin Peary has knocked valiantly at the portals of Immortal Fame—that Castle Nowhere—whose glistening walls of eternal ice lie shimmering in the brilliant sun; whose jewelled towers and minarets catch the glint of sparkling rainbows.

The Gates at last have opened and the banquet hall is set. Wild Arctic melodies fall grandly upon the ear. The cannonade of glaciers thunders a salute. About the festive board stand the heroes of the past, according to their precedence and rank.

Hail! ye Iva Bardsen! Hail! ye early Norsemen and ye Danes! There stand the Cabots, John the father, Sebastian the bold son. There Sir Willoughby and Chancellor; and old Sir Humphrey Gilbert and a host of others. There Barentz, there Behring,—there Henry Hudson and old Baffin. Three hearty cheers for Von Wrangell, Ross and Parry and brave old Sir John Franklin! Crozier and his men line at attention and salute!

Ah! Elisha Kane, the beauty of a noble soul lies written in a gentle face. Francis Hall, thou dreamer, stand forth and welcome the arriving guest. German, Austrian, Norwegian and Italian, stand thou behind the board, lift high the diamond chalice and quaff the limpid draft in honour of the hero, for he comes.

In one voice, down the ages goes the cry, “All praise to him who conquers!” and Peary, entering, bows, and takes his seat.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Reprinted from Farthest North by Charles Lanman. Copyright, 1885, by D. Appleton and Company.

[2] Navy ropes have certain threads of red or yellow, etc., laid in along with the yarns.