Читать книгу Farthest North - Charles Lanman - Страница 9

From this point, the story of Lieutenant Lockwood’s life will be chiefly given from the records which he kept during his sojourn in the Arctic regions. For reasons which the general reader will appreciate, all merely technical and official remarks have been omitted, and only those retained which are calculated to illustrate the personal character of the man and officer, it being understood that his journals, illustrating his merits and labors, will be fully set forth in the official history, to be hereafter published, of the expedition with which he was so honorably identified.

In 1880 it was proposed by an International Polar Commission, for the purpose of elucidating in behalf of science the phenomena of the weather and of the magnetic needle, that meteorological stations should be established by various countries in different parts of the polar regions. The Congress of the United States made an appropriation for establishing a scientific colony at the two places designated for the occupation of the Americans—viz., Point Barrow, in Alaska, and Lady Franklin Bay, in Grinnell Land. These stations were to be occupied for from one to three years. At the time the expedition was being organized in Washington for the latter place, Lieutenant Lockwood was on a visit to his parents in that city. Taking a special interest in the operations of the Signal-Service Bureau, which had the business in charge, he forthwith volunteered for the proposed expedition, and his services were accepted by the Secretary of War. When the party for the Lady Franklin Bay station was fully organized, it consisted of First-Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely, U. S. A., commander; Lieutenants F. F. Kislingbury and James B. Lockwood, U. S. A., as assistants; and Dr. O. Pavy, as surgeon and naturalist; with a force of twenty-two sergeants, corporals, and privates, all connected with the army, and whose names are given as follows: Edward Israel, Winfield S. Jewell, George W. Rice, David O. Ralston, Hampden S. Gardiner, sergeants in the Signal Corps; William H. Cross, sergeant in the general service; David L. Brainard and David Linn, sergeants of cavalry; Nicholas Saler, corporal of infantry; Joseph Ellison, corporal of infantry; Charles B. Henry, Maurice Connell, Jacob Bender, Francis Long, William Whistler, Henry Biederbick, Julius R. Fredericks, William A. Ellis, and Roderick R. Schneider, privates in various branches of the army; and, finally, two Esquimaux, Jans Edwards and Frederick Christiansen, of Greenland.

In view of the possibility that Lady Franklin Bay might become a permanent station, all the preliminary arrangements were made as complete as possible. A steamer called the Proteus was secured for conveying the expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, and she was ordered to await the arrival of the explorers at the port of St. John’s, in Newfoundland. Lieutenant Lockwood sailed in a steamer from Baltimore with the party and reached St. John’s late in June.

Here it may not be out of place to submit a few remarks on the utility of these Arctic explorations, which are sometimes criticised by people who, without due consideration, jump to hasty conclusions. In former times their main object was to find open passages between the northern regions of Europe, Asia, and America, and to settle the problem of the north pole; and statistics show that when these expeditions have confined their operations within reasonable limits, the mortality attending them has been remarkably small—less than in ordinary commercial voyages. Sir John Franklin went far beyond these limits, and left no monuments by which he could be traced. De Long put his ship into the polar ice with the design of moving with the polar drift. The Greely Expedition was expected to be confined, and was confined, to the well-known waters of Smith’s Sound. It could, therefore, be reached at any time, and, if necessary, it could fall back upon a point accessible at all times. All that was required to secure its safe return was a well-chosen base, and an absolute certainty that this base would be maintained. Unfortunately, neither requirement was fulfilled, and hence nineteen men lost their lives. Sledge-journeys from established bases, though fraught with great labor and discomfort, have never been attended with serious loss of life. It is now about one thousand years since the first Arctic voyage was made, and their aggregate usefulness can hardly be questioned when we remember that they have developed fisheries that have built up the commerce and navies of nations, and that the direct return into the exchange of England has been far more than the cost to her of all her Arctic explorations. The Polar Commission, already alluded to, inaugurated a new policy in regard to Arctic explorations, and one whose utility can not be questioned. It had its origin, in 1875, in the mind of a German discoverer named Carl Weyprecht; and in the opinion of many of the leading minds of the world, the meteorological observations inaugurated by him have done much, and will do much more, to rectify errors in the polar problem and bring to light information about the ice zones, which will give the observers a prominent position in scientific history. According to Professor Joseph Henry, the problems connected with physical geography and science, which are yet unsolved, are the determination of the figure and of the magnetism of the earth, complete knowledge of the tides of the ocean, the winds of the globe, and the influence of extreme cold on animal and vegetable life. Surely the men who voluntarily toil and suffer in their efforts to obtain the needed light on all these subjects, are quite as worthily employed as those who struggle for riches or political fame. In the Professor’s opinion, all the branches of science above mentioned are indirectly connected with the well-being of man, and tend not only to enlarge his sphere of mental activity, but to promote the application of science to the arts of life. A French writer, after applauding the plans of the Polar Commission, concludes his remarks as follows: “The larger number of the civilized nations are striving by scientific means to wrest the mysterious secrets of the deep from the hidden recesses of the North.” In 1884 the number of nations that had entered heartily into the project was thirteen; fifteen polar stations, and over forty auxiliary stations, had already been established. That the reader may fully understand the operations and exploits which are to be chronicled in the subsequent pages of this volume, it may be well to submit the subjoined extract from the official report of General W. B. Hazen, Chief of the United States Signal Service, for the year 1881: “Owing to the very mobile nature of the atmosphere, the changes taking place on one portion of the globe, especially in the Arctic zone, quickly affect regions very distant therefrom. The study of the weather in Europe and America can not be successfully prosecuted without a daily map of the whole northern hemisphere, and the great blank space of the Arctic region upon our simultaneous international chart has long been a subject of regret to meteorologists. The general object is to accomplish, by observations made in concert at numerous stations, such additions to our knowledge as can not be acquired by isolated or desultory traveling parties. No special attempt will be made at geographical exploration, and neither expedition is in any sense expected to reach the north pole. The single object is to elucidate the phenomena of the weather and of the magnetic needle as they occur in America and Europe, by means of observations taken in the region where the most remarkable disturbances seem to have their origin.”

While the foregoing were to be considered as the primary considerations, it was expressly stated in the official instructions, that sledging parties, generally, should work in the interests of exploration and discovery, and should be conducted with all possible care and fidelity. Careful attention was also to be given to the collection of specimens of the animal, mineral, and vegetable kingdoms. It will be seen that all that was accomplished by Lieutenant Lockwood was instigated by the mandate connected with the use of the sledge.

It thus appears that the Greely expedition was not only intended to accomplish a good work, but that in all human probability the same might have been accomplished without serious loss of life. That there was a deplorable loss of life, we can only lament, leaving for others to point out the causes of the disaster which befell the expedition.