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[Peary's Diary]
Monday, Apr. 5 "Over the 89th!! ...Sledges appeared to haul a little easier, dog on trot much of the time. Last two hours on young ice of a north & south lead they were often galloping. 10 hours. 25 miles or more. |
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Special!
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(below) click for a supersize view and more information about the ocean depth measurements. |
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This is the last camp they made before reaching
the Pole. See how they cut blocks of snow to make
the igloos? There wasn't much snow near the Pole and it was harder to make the
igloos. The ice was smoother far out from the land, so they traveled faster. This is because the ocean is very deep which means it doesn't break up into ridges as often as it does in shallow water near Ellesmere Island. Peary noted this in his diary (above). Notice how he says the dogs were "galloping" on a "north & south lead"? in the 1980's Paul Schurke would rediscover this same phenomenon during his dog sledge trip to the Pole. What they are talking about is that the ice had split apart (a lead) but when the ocean between it froze a virtual highway of smooth ice was created. Schurke said that after the slow travel over the annoying pressure ridges these north & south highways "changed his whole reality" as his dogs galloped along like Peary's had. |
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Matt Henson broke trail the last 133 miles by using his compass, the time of day/position of
the sun and moon—exactly the way Paul Landry, Matty
McNair and other experts do today. People wrongly think that a GPS in needed to find the Pole (a guy named Weber said that in his book Polar Attack) but that is silly. Landy and McNair only use a GPS to log daily progress, or to call in coordinates for an airplane to land. |
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