und by members of the Jackson-Harmsworth
expedition, by whom they were rescued. The _Fram_ also returned safely.
The existence of the polar current was not established.

In 1900 Captain Cagui, a member of the Abruzzi Polar Expedition,
starting from Franz Josef Land, made a dash across the ice toward the
pole. He succeeded in reaching latitude 86 deg. 34', the nearest approach
to the pole up to that time.

Only a few years afterward, 1905-6, Amundsen, in the steamer _Gjoa_,
found a more southerly northwest passage from King William Land than
that followed by Collinson. It was comparatively free from ice. Amundsen
was the first to penetrate the northwest passage in a continuous voyage.
The result showed plainly that as a commercial route the northwest
passage was out of the question.

The man who finally succeeded in reaching the pole is the intrepid
arctic explorer, Robert E. Peary, of the United States navy. In the
first record-breaking trip Peary started in July, 1905. Sailing through
Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, Smith Sound, and Robeson Channel to Grant
Island, which lies west of the northern part of Greenland, he went into
winter quarters at Cape Sheridan.

In the early spring, when the daylight was an hour long, Peary set out
for the north pole over the ice-clad ocean with sledges drawn by dogs.
Delayed by storms and open water in some places, he succeeded after
incredible hardships and suffering in reaching 87 deg. 6', the highest
point up to that time reached by man, a distance only two hundred miles
from the north pole.

In previous trips Peary had crossed the northern part of Greenland twice
at the risk of his life, each time bringing much knowledge of the north
coast of Greenland. During one of his voyages Peary brought home three
meteorites. The largest, weighing more than thirty-six tons, is now in
the Museum of Natural History of New York City. These are among the
largest meteorites ever found, and it is an interesting fact that so
many were found in Greenland.[1]

Peary's last and successful trip began when the steamship Roosevelt,
commanded by Captain Bartlett, sailed out of New York harbor, July 6,
1908. The vessel traversed Baffin Bay and reached Cape York August 1.
At Etah, an Eskimo settlement, three weeks were consumed in storing
supplies and selecting Eskimo guides and purchasing dog-trains. The
Roosevelt then proceeded northward through the narrow strait that
separates Greenland from Grant Land.