Читать книгу Beyond Adventure - Roy Chapman Andrews - Страница 27

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My son had George Borup's personal diary of the North Pole expedition. He presented it to the Explorers Club in New York City. The pages are already becoming brittle and yellow, but they give an intimate picture of how Peary kept his men healthy and happy during the long winter night, and prepared for the polar dash. George's view is so fresh and uninhibited that I quote from his journal frequently.

The Roosevelt sailed from New York on July 6, 1908. They touched at Oyster Bay, Long Island, where the President of the United States and his family inspected the ship. George told me he was standing near the rail when Theodore Roosevelt left. He heard Peary say, "Mr. President, I shall put into this effort everything there is in me—physical, mental, and moral." The President gripped his hand and replied, "I believe in you, Peary, and I believe in your success—if it is within the possibility of man."

In a heavy sea, the ship rolled her way to the Cape Charles whaling station, on the Labrador coast, where eight tons of whale meat were taken aboard for dog food. The stench didn't help the seasick members of the party. Later, it played a sad role, for some of the dogs died from eating the half-rotten flesh.

At Cape York, Greenland, the first Eskimos were selected for the expedition. George Borup wrote: "Short, stocky and fur clad, they looked more like foxes than anything else . . . and smell!!! We could smell 'em a hundred yards. I looked at Mac. 'Good Lord! Have we got to live with that bunch?' But they hadn't been on board a week before we could hardly notice it at all . . .

"The men picked brought their families and dogs, and the rest were glad to trade five or six dogs for an old Springfield rifle and some shells. Peary not only speaks their lingo like a native, but also understands their feelings. When one considers that when he first came to Greenland they had practically nothing, and are now rich according to their notions; that formerly existence was precarious, where as now they have arms, boats, thread, needles and all manner of necessities, it can be readily seen that he represents something more than human to them."