[meteorite-list] NPA 09-21-1897, Peary Back Again (Cape York Meteorite)

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat Aug 14 17:44:18 2004
Message-ID: <BAY4-F30JJdPiHi6tTC0002b285_at_hotmail.com>

Paper: Naugatuck Daily News
City: Naugatuck, Connecticut
Date: September 21, 1897
Page: 8

PEARY BACK AGAIN

The July Expedition Returns From Greenland's Shores.

ALL ON BOARD SAFE AND SOUND.

The Last Ton of Coal Burned Steaming Into Harbor at Cape Brenton, but the
Ship is Ballasted Well With a Giant Meteorite.

     SYDNEY, C.B., Sept. 21. - The steam sealing back Hope, with Lieutenant
R. E. Peary and party on board, returning from north Greenland, arrived here
late yesterday afternoon. All on board are well.

     The Hope came into port burning her last ton of coal and with her
bulwarks and decks giving evidence of the furious seas of an unusually
stormy summer. She is nearly as deep in the water as when she left here in
the latter part of July with her bunkers full of coal, for the huge Cape
York meteorite, the largest in the world, is in her hold.

      Lieutenant Peary has on board also six Cape York Eskimos, who will go
with him when he returns next year to attempt to reach the north pole. The
Eskimos have their tent, sledges and canoes. They are eager for the
undertaking, and all the arrangements have been made.

     The expedition visited Cape Sabine, and relics of the ill fated
expedition led by Greely have been obtained. The summer in Baffins bay was
marked by almost continuously stormy weather and by an unusual scarcity of
ice.

     The investigating party from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
under Mr. R. W. Porter, landed at Cape Haven on Aug. 3 and did not re-embark
until Sept. 13. The party led by Mr. Hugh Lee, the arctic explorer of
Meriden, Conn., landed at Godhaven on Aug. 7 and re-embarked Sept. 7.
Professor Schuchert's party, landed at Omenak on Aug. 8, re-embarking on
Sept. 4. The party led by Robert Stein of the United States geological
survey was on land from Aug. 10 to Sept. 2.

     The Hope will coal here and then proceed to New York, where she will
land the meteorite.

                                                        
------------------------------------------------------


     The object of the expedition, which left Boston on July 19 last for
Sydney, was to bring about the establishment of a settlement at a remote
northern point in Greenland, which would be used as a base of supplies for
an expedition in search of the north pole under Lieutenant Peary in 1898.
To this end, according to Lieutenant Peary's plans, as made known as that
time, a party of Eskimos was to established at the new settlement and would
during the ensuring 12 months be engaged in making preparations for the
expedition.

     The Hope was to skirt the coast of Greenland, dropping scientific
parties at various points and taking Lieutenant Peary to Whale sound, where
it was proposed to establish the settlement.

     In the party as originally constituted were 43 persons, including,
besides, Lieutenant Peary and Mrs. Peary and their daughter, their servant
and the crew. Mr. and Mrs. Hugh J. Lee, who chose a cruise in arctic waters
as a wedding trip; Robert Stein of the United States geological survey,
Albert Operil, the well known arctic scenic artist; J. D. Figgins of Falls
Church, Va., taxidermist; Dr. Frederick Sohon, surgeon, Washington, and
several investigation parties, one under the direction of Professor C. H.
Hitchcock of Dartmouth, having in view a study of glaciers and the relics of
the old Norse colonists from Iceland; another from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, under Mr. R. W. Porter, whose plan was to hunt the
big game of the country and bring back zoological specimens, and a third,
headed by Professor Charles Echuehert and Mr. C.D. White, representing the
National museum, with instructions to examine fossil formations, which it
had been claimed tended to prove that Greenland was once a country of
tropical climate.

     The bringing home of the Cape York meteorite was a secondary, though a
scarcely less interesting object of the expedition.

(end)

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick


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Received on Sat 14 Aug 2004 05:44:16 PM PDT