Crocker Land Expedition
Its purpose was to investigate the existence of Crocker Land, a huge island supposedly sighted by the explorer Robert Peary from the top of Cape Colgate in 1906.
[1] Following his 1906 expedition that failed to reach the North Pole, Robert E. Peary reported in his book that he had sighted distant land from the heights of the northwestern shore of Ellesmere Island.
The existence or non-existence of Crocker Land became important following the controversial events of the autumn of 1909, when both Peary and Frederick Cook returned to civilization, claiming to have reached the North Pole.
[7] As well as confirming and mapping the position of Crocker Land, the declared purpose of the expedition was to investigate "geology, geography, glaciology, meteorology, terrestrial magnetism, electrical phenomena, seismology, zoology (both vertebrate and invertebrate), botany, oceanography, ethnology, and archaeology".
Its boundaries and extent can only be guessed at, but I am certain that strange animals will be found there, and I hope to discover a new race of men.The expedition left Brooklyn Navy Yard aboard the steamer Diana on 2 July 1913.
The next three weeks were spent constructing a large eight-room shed, with electricity generation capabilities, that was to serve as the local headquarters of the expedition.
After making a number of preliminary trips to place supply caches along the route, MacMillan, Green, Ekblaw and seven Inuit set off on the 1,200-mile (1,900 km) journey to Crocker Land on 11 March 1914.
The four dog sleds set off across the treacherous sea ice, avoiding thin patches and expanses of open water, and eventually, on 21 April, the party saw what appeared to be a huge island on the north-western horizon.
As MacMillan later said, "Hills, valleys, snow-capped peaks extending through at least one hundred and twenty degrees of the horizon.” Piugaattoq, an Inuit hunter with 20 years of experience of the area, explained that it was just an illusion.
Finally, on 27 April, after they had covered some 125 miles (201 km) of dangerous sea ice, MacMillan was forced to admit that Piugaattoq was right—the land that they had sighted was in fact a mirage.
Our powerful glasses, however, brought out more clearly the dark background in contrast with the white, the whole resembling hills, valleys and snow-capped peaks to such a degree that, had we not been out on the frozen sea for 150 miles, we would have staked our lives upon its reality.
One of the dog teams died in the snow, and during a squabble over which direction to travel next, Green took a rifle from the sled and shot Piugaattoq in the back, killing him.
[16] Journals from Tanquary, Ekblaw and Donald MacMillan and his wife Miriam are available online at the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives website.
[17] Digitization of materials at Bowdoin College related to the Crocker Land Expedition was funded by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation in November 2015.
