The inland ice of Greenland was for centuries one of the greatest Arctic problems—an entirely unknown area of 750,000 square miles. So little was its formation understood in the first half of the eighteenth century that Governor Claus Paars, Greenland’s first and only governor, took out horses with the idea of riding across it to the supposed lost colony on the east side. He was disabused when he sailed up to the end of the Amaralikfjord, reached the inland ice and, after a march of two hours, was stopped by a crevasse.
No one knew what there might be within that vast region. The Eskimos were often on its edge when hunting the reindeer, but had never ventured far. They were terrified at the mighty solitude. At last curiosity overcame fear in the case of a trader named Lars Dalager, who was at Frederikshaab, one of the most southern Greenland stations. With a few Eskimos, he went up to the head of a fjord to the south of the iisblink on September 2nd, 1751, and advanced for a few days over very rough ice. He noticed the extreme cold of the inland ice and sighted mountain peaks which he supposed to be on the eastern coast, but they have since been found to be nunataks or mountain peaks rising out of the great snowy expanse. He returned to his boat after five days. The men of science who visited Greenland somewhat later, Fabricius in the days of Krantz, and the German Geisecke in 1806–13, only reached the edge of the inland ice, though it engaged much of their attention. The well-known Alpine traveller Whymper made two attempts from Disco Bay in 1867 and 1872, but without result. Several persons, such as Steenstrup, Kornerup, and Holm, made observations on the rate of movement of the glaciers and it was found to vary in different localities.
The first really serious expeditions were those of Nordenskiöld in 1870 and 1883. In the former year the accomplished Swedish explorer selected the northern arm of the Auleitsivik fjord, twenty miles north of Godthaab, as his point of entrance into the unknown. He was accompanied by the botanist Dr Berggren. On the 19th July they reached the ice cap by a cleft, and finding the surface impassable for a sledge they abandoned it, and went on with a few necessaries on their backs. Passing the region of broken-up ice and cleft and favoured by good weather, they came to a perceptible rise, with a smoother surface, and reached their furthest point 2200 feet above the sea and 30 miles west of the Auleitsivik fjord, returning after six days. Nordenskiöld found rivers and streams on the surface. The explorers went along the bank of one great river until the whole mass of water poured down a perpendicular cleft into the depths.
In 1883 Nordenskiöld again came out to Greenland in the steamer Sophia, funds being supplied by Baron Oscar Dickson, that munificent supporter of Arctic research. Nordenskiöld believed that the inland ice was not an unbroken mass, but that there were islands with bare rocks and some vegetation, the abode of reindeer and ptarmigan. He started from the same place as in 1870, with a party of ten, including two Lapps with ski. In 18 days they had advanced 73 miles and attained a height of 5000 feet. They were stopped by soft sludgy snow, but Nordenskiöld sent on the Lapps, who returned with a report that they had been 145 miles further, reaching a height of 5800 feet, and that there was nothing but an endless unbroken surface of snow. Yet the sight of two ravens rather confirmed Nordenskiöld in the belief that the expanse of snow was relieved by oases. The great Swedish savant was 31 days on the inland ice.
Meanwhile, Dr Rink, the learned and accomplished Danish Inspector of Greenland, had warmly advocated further research as far back as 1876. The Danish savant Steenstrup observed the rate of movement of glaciers in 1876 and 1877, and in 1878 an expedition was undertaken into the interior by Lieutenant Jensen. This was a very interesting journey and revealed the character of the inland ice in the far south. Jensen entered by the Fredrickshaab iisblink, and crossed the expanse of snow as far as the Nasuasak nunatak, which was one of the peaks seen by Dalager, 4700 feet above the sea. He had three small one-man sledges with three weeks’ provisions. The ice was very rough and broken, and the men suffered from snow blindness. But the nunataks were reached, and Jensen ascended one of them to a height of 5000 feet, obtaining an extensive view. They are known as the Jensen nunataks. The journey on the inland ice occupied 31 days, from July 3rd to August 3rd.
The next attempt was made in 1886 by Peary in Disco Bay, in the same place that Whymper had previously selected. Robert Peary was a civil engineer employed in the American naval dockyard service; a very resolute and determined man who had conceived the ambition of taking a share in Arctic discovery. His companion was the Danish lieutenant Maigaard. Their point of entrance was in 69° 30′. They took thirty days’ provisions, which were carried on two sledges, 9 feet long and 13 inches wide, weighing 23 lb. each, their shelter for the night being a tarpaulin between the sledges. They advanced over the inland ice for 24 days, from June 8th to July 2nd, meeting with a “fohn” wind which made the snow soft and sticky, and they were also delayed by snowstorms. In returning, the wind was at their backs, so they rigged up the tarpaulin on some alpenstocks and sailed back at great speed, 22, 27, and even more miles a day. They returned on July 24th.
The name of Fridtjof Nansen will for ever be coupled with the first crossing of the inland ice of Greenland. It was here that his genius in conceiving a great plan for discovery, his ability as a leader, and his mastery of details first began to develop. From the first he was something more than an explorer. Born on the 18th of October, 1861, young Nansen was of good lineage on both sides, and in his after life he proved the truth of Holberg’s saying “Det er min tro noget i at vaere kommen af godt folk.” He became a naturalist, and as his character developed its chief points were devoted patriotism, breadth of view, and love of science, above all of scientific accuracy. He had reached the age of 27, when, after a study of the labours of Jensen and Nordenskiöld, he resolved to achieve the crossing of Greenland, conceiving that science would benefit more especially by discoveries respecting the meteorology of the inland ice.
Nansen, who had determined on crossing from east to west, had already been for a cruise on the east coast of Greenland and had made acquaintance with the character of its difficult navigation. The study of the necessary equipment was undertaken with his never-failing care and intelligence. His party was to number six, and he had to consider the nature of the ground and the climate, while, as in all Arctic travelling, lightness had to be the main consideration. His sledges, of which he took five, were of ash, the upper part light and slender. They weighed 28 lb., and were 9½ feet long by 20 inches wide, the runners shod with thin steel plates. They were turned up at both ends, with a chair-back-like bow for pushing and steering, and every joint was lashed, no metal being used.
The tent was in five pieces of waterproof canvas, with two uprights and one cross pole of bamboo, the guy-ropes made fast to crampon-like hooks. The sleeping bags were of reindeer skin, with hood-shaped flaps to button over the head, each to hold three men.
Nansen rightly decided that woollen clothes were the best, as avoiding condensation. He paid specially close attention to the foot gear. Woollen stockings were worn next the skin, then thick goat’s-hair socks, and over these came the finneskos of the Lapps with the hair outside, stuffed, as is the Lapp custom, with a grass (Carex vesicaria). Large woollen mitts were used, and fur caps with ear-flaps. The cooking apparatus consisted of a spirit-lamp with a copper tin-lined boiler above, tall and cylindrical, with a copper flue carried through the centre, by which the hot air passed to a broader and shallower copper vessel over the boiler to melt snow in, all cased in thick felt. With this apparatus and 12 oz. of spirits a gallon of chocolate and rather less of water was obtained in an hour. The provisions consisted of Beauvais dried meat (which contained insufficient fat), meat biscuits, chocolate with meat powder, pea soup with fat, and tea. Some luxuries such as condensed milk and whortleberry jam were taken, but Nansen was very strongly opposed to the use of spirits and tobacco, as being injurious stimulants. The instruments consisted of a theodolite and stand, a pocket sextant, artificial horizon, azimuth compass, four watches, thermometer, boiling-point thermometer, and aneroids. Four of the sledges when loaded had a weight of 200 lb. each, the fifth of 400 lb.
Nansen was a master of ski-travel. This method of winter locomotion has been used by his countrymen from time immemorial, and by himself from childhood, and truly the speed attained and the feats performed by Norwegian experts are marvellous. On very soft snow, however, the Canadian snow-shoe is preferable.
Of his five comrades Otto Sverdrup was the son of a Helgeland farmer with forest property, and was born on October 31st, 1855. He had been 17 years at sea. Olaf Dietrichsen, a surgeon and a keen sportsman, was aged 25, and Kristian Trana, aged 24, was a forester. The others were two Lapps, both young men.
The expedition started in June, 1888, and the Jason, a Norwegian sealer, took them to the edge of the ice on the east coast of Greenland and some distance into it. The explorers then took to their boats, but it was long before they could reach the land. Drifted to the south, they came to an Eskimo encampment at Cape Bille, and having reached the inner lead of water on the 15th August, boats were at length hauled up on the beach and the great journey was commenced. From the 17th to the 20th they were detained by storms with heavy rain, but the 22nd saw the ascent commenced in fine weather. The ice was heavily crevassed and nunataks were visible here and there.
By the 26th the party had reached a height of 6000 ft., and by the end of the month the elevation was 7930 ft. Hitherto they had worn Canadian snow-shoes, but on September 2nd it was found that ski could be used, even when dragging the sledges, and the national mode of progression was gladly adopted for the remaining nineteen days. The explorers were surprised at the great difference between the temperature of day and night on this lofty plateau in September. The thermometer showed -4° in the day, and -40° Fahr. at night. Furious gales of wind were frequent.
The summit was 8250 ft. above the sea, and from September 17th there was a pronounced fall to the westward. Sail was now set on the sledges, portions of the tent being used for that purpose. This day a snow bunting was seen. The crevasses and fissures again began to appear, and on the 20th the summits of the western Greenland mountains were in sight. The sermik suak or inland ice thus proved to be a vast extent of smooth level snow with a margin of broken and fissured ice. The head of the Ameralik-fjord was at length reached after 40 days on the inland ice.
The explorers were still sixty miles from the Danish settlement of Godthaab, and it was decided that while Nansen and Sverdrup constructed a boat and went down the fjord the rest should proceed by land. The framework of the boat consisted of two bamboos and a ski staff. The difficulty was the ribs, which were made of the branches of the dwarf willows growing on the banks of the fjord, and the canvas covering them entailed much labour in sewing with a sailmaker’s needle as they were without a “palm.” The oars were bamboos with forked willow-branches with canvas stretched across. It was a fairly good boat, and only required baling every ten minutes. After a great feast on cranberries the two explorers started and managed to make their way in her to Godthaab. The others also arrived safely, and all were very hospitably received for the winter, returning to Norway in the following year.
It was a splendid achievement. The central water-parting was found to be 125 miles from the east, and 226 from the west side, the greatest elevation measured being 8970 ft. Supposing the average land surface under the ice to rise to 2000 ft., the thickness of the ice-cap would be nearly 7000 ft. The excavating power of the glaciers is enormous, and the pressure causing the melting of the snow and the discharge of an enormous quantity of water into the sea, counteracts any increase above caused by the excessive precipitation occurring from the warm winds blowing from the sea. Nansen found the moisture to be so great as to be near saturation. Out of 40 days on the inland ice there were 16 days of snow and 4 of rain. The meteorological results were the most important outcome of the expedition, because the deductions from them apply to regions far beyond the limits of Greenland. It was a fine piece of exploring work, and the name of Nansen will for all time be coupled with the first crossing of Greenland.
Peary, who, as already mentioned, had made an attempt at crossing with Maigaard in 1886, succeeded in raising funds for another expedition in 1891. His design was to traverse the inland ice from Whale Sound in the north of Baffin’s Bay, where he would find the tribe of Arctic Highlanders. Here a steamer landed him, accompanied by Mrs Peary, Dr Frederick Cook, aged 26, a hunter named Gibson, a young Norwegian aged 20 named Eivind Astrup, a meteorologist named Vershoef, and Henson, a coloured man from Virginia, aged 23. Some short sledge and boat trips were made; the house, taken out in pieces, was built; and the winter was passed in preparations for the journey over the inland ice.
Peary, a man of great energy and indomitable resolution, claimed to have inaugurated a new departure in Arctic exploration. He held that only small parties can do effective work; that fur clothing is better than woollen, and indeed absolutely essential; that tents and sleeping bags are unnecessary luxuries; and finally that all traction should be by dogs, and that by killing a portion of the dogs for dogs’ food the original load will last longer. But, at all events as regards the latter, few humane Englishmen will agree with him. Dogs are invaluable for keeping open communications, and for depôt work; but they ought to be well fed, well treated, and not overworked. There is a fine passage in Captain Scott’s Voyage of the Discovery on this subject:—
“To pretend that dogs can be made greatly to increase the radius of action without pain, suffering, and death, is futile, and this sordid necessity robs sledge-travelling of much of its glory. In my mind no journey ever made with dogs can approach the height of that fine conception which is realised when a party of men go forth to face hardships, dangers, and difficulties by their own unaided efforts, and by days and weeks of hard physical labour succeed in solving some problem of the great journey.”
Peary started with Astrup, Cook, and Gibson in April, 1892. By May 24th the true inland ice had been reached, and the supporting party with Cook and Gibson returned. Already the number of dogs had been reduced to 13. Peary and Astrup continued over the inland ice, reaching an elevation of 6000 ft. On June 26th they came in sight of the sea, and from July 1st they were travelling over mountainous crests and ridges until they reached a summit whence they had a view of a great bay. Musk oxen were seen and one was secured. By July 7th they were back on the inland ice, and returned on August 6th. Only five dogs had survived. Peary claims to have travelled a distance of 1400 miles in 80 days—about 17 miles a day.
Dr Cook had been getting through some useful anthropological work in the meantime, making a census of the Arctic Highlanders, taking measurements of both sexes at different ages, and recording their habits and customs.
In 1893 Peary undertook another expedition. Accompanied by Mrs Peary, with Captain Bartlett in command of his steamer Falcon, he made, as before, for Whale Sound. Fourteen persons were landed and the Falcon returned. A winter house was built and on September 12th Mrs Peary gave birth to a daughter. On March 8th, 1894, the start was made for the inland ice journey. On the 13th eight dogs were killed as food for the others. Astrup and another man broke down, and had to be sent back on sledges. The rest went on, but were stopped by a gale on March 22nd, and when it subsided two dogs were found dead, and two more men were obliged to return. In this journey tents and sleeping bags were taken, in spite of their being previously held to be “unnecessary luxuries,” The party got 128 miles from Whale Sound, where a large depôt was left, at 5500 ft. above the sea, a smaller one having been deposited earlier. Here they were forced to return.
Later, Astrup made a reconnaissance of Melville Bay, and the recesses of Whale Sound were explored.
Another winter was passed at the house, and preparations were made for a second attempt at the inland ice. On April 1st, 1895, Peary started with a man named Lee, the coloured man Henson, four natives, six sledges, and sixty dogs. The first depôt could not be found, being buried under the snow, and—a far more serious blow—they also failed to find the second depôt with all their pemmican, 1400 lb. On entering the fourth week the party began the eastward slope with only 17 dogs left out of 42. The survivors had to be fed with dogs and soon only 11 were left. One cannot help feeling glad when Peary and his two comrades had to get into the drag-ropes themselves. At last they left the ice and pushed on to the land in the hope of finding musk oxen, and reaching the valley succeeded in shooting two of these animals and a hare.
When the return journey was begun on June 3rd Peary had nine dogs and fourteen days’ rations for them, and thirty days’ half rations of biscuits and oil, and seventeen of frozen meat for the men. On the 10th there were only six dogs, and on the 22nd one alone survived. The men had four biscuits left when they reached the house at Whale Sound.
The results which Peary claimed were the discovery of Independence Bay, of the northern end of Greenland, of a channel dividing that great mass of land from large islands to the north, and of Greenland’s insularity, and for many years these features have been shown on the maps. It has now been found that he did not discover the actual north end of Greenland, and that his channel does not exist. Peary nevertheless did real good in improving the condition of the Arctic Highlanders by supplying them with canvas and improved weapons. With better means of obtaining sustenance the death rate is said to have decreased and there are signs of an increase in the population of this most interesting northern tribe. Dr Cook’s census gave the number at 233. Peary discovered near Cape York, and brought home, the three great meteoric stones from which the Arctic Highlanders used to obtain the iron for their knives.