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The final sextant reading
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"..and with the
resolute squaring of his jaws, I was sure that he was satisfied, and
I was confident that the journey had ended. Feeling that the time
had come, I ungloved my right hand and went forward to congratulate
him on the success of our eighteen years of effort..." |
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| A Negro Explorer at The North Pole, 1912, by Matthew Henson |
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Matt helped "...writing
down Peary's readings on a piece of tissue paper as he called them
off. At last Peary snapped shut the vernier, rested his eyes a moment,
picked up the pad with Matt's figures and finished his calculations."
According to Matt's biography Dark Companion.
Peary hurt his eyes taking sextant readings. The hardest part was the strain
on his eyes from all the bright snow and sun light. Peary says
"...the strain of focusing,... all in a blinding light of which only
those who have taken observations in bright sunlight on an unbroken
snow expanse in the Arctic regions can form any conception.. left
me with eyes that were, for two or three days, useless for anything
requiring careful vision..."
Peary, The North Pole
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Copyright © 1997 Bradley Robinson. All rights reserved.
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