“Your father spoke to me kindly”: Ibid., 36.
“I am firmly resolved”: Ibid., 38.
“Poor little silken bag!”: Ibid., 35.
“For this long, long year I have waited”: Ibid., 40.
“I melted somewhat”: Ibid., 44.
“I was falling in love”: Ibid., 51.
5: GATEWAYS TO THE POLE
a “mischievous” idea: Clements Markham, quoted in John K. Wright, “The Open Polar Sea,” Geographical Review 43, no. 3 (July 1953).
“There is reason to believe”: T. B. Maury, “Gateways to the Pole,” Putnam’s Magazine 4, no. 32 (November 1869).
“a circulation in the air”: Ibid.
“Armed in their tropical birthplace”: Ibid.
“these whales can not travel”: Maury, quoted in Wright, “The Open Polar Sea.”
“There is a river in the ocean”: Maury, The Physical Geography of the Sea, 25.
“they are almost identical”: Maury, “Gateways to the Pole.”
“Santa Claussville, N.P.”: For a detailed examination of Thomas Nast’s depiction of Santa’s polar home, see www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1225.html.
“free and open Sea”: The Dutch tale is quoted at length in Wright, “The Open Polar Sea.”
large holes at the North and South Poles: Remarkably, Symmes’s “holes at the poles” theory lives on in a vibrant and tenacious conspiracy subculture, the Hollow Earthers. See www.hollowplanet.bogspot.com, among other websites.
The theory’s most indefatigable proponent: See Fleming, Barrow’s Boys.
“Seals were sporting”: Maury, The Physical Geography of the Sea, 219.
“The sea about the North Pole”: Hayes, quoted in Mowat, The Polar Passion, 117.
“are the only practicable avenues”: Maury, “Gateways to the Pole.”
“a great and solid mind”: Ibid.
“Who shall say”: Ibid.
PART TWO: THE NATIONAL GENIUS
6: THE ENGINE OF THE WORLD
the city was hosting a world’s fair: My description of the Centennial Exhibition is drawn primarily from the New York Herald’s copious coverage of the fair throughout the summer of 1876. See also Linda P. Gross and Theresa R. Snyder, Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition, Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2005.
“murmuring sound”: “Machinery Hall Notes,” Scientific American Supplement, June 10, 1876.
“great pulsating iron heart”: “Closing Ceremonies of the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876,” Scientific American Supplement, December 2, 1876.
“an athlete of steel”: William Dean Howells, “A Sennight of the Centennial,” Atlantic Monthly, July 1876.
“plunge their pistons downward”: Ibid.
“The American invents as the Greek sculpted”: See the Centennial Exhibition Digital Collection (http://libwww.library.phila.gov/CenCol/overview.htm), offered by the Philadelphia Free Library, under the heading “Machinery Hall.”
“If we are to be judged”: Ibid.
“a grand achievement”: Petermann’s remarks in The Annual Report of the American Geographical Society for the Year 1876, 148–56.
“the blank spaces of the unknown”: J. G. Bartholomew, “The Philosophy of Map-Making and the Evolution of a Great German Atlas,” Scottish Geographical Magazine 18 (1902): 37.
“Without a knowledge of the North Pole”: Oswald Dreyer-Eimbcke, “Heinrich Berghaus and August Petermann,” IMCoS Journal 79 (Fall 1997).
“The ice pack as a whole forms a mobile belt”: Petermann, quoted in Murphy, German Exploration of the Polar World, 18.
“very easy, trivial thing”: Ibid., 22.
“The Americans have eclipsed all other nations”: Guttridge, Icebound, 17.
“high-toned acts of the United States government”: Ibid.
“I hardly believe that this great work”: Murphy, German Exploration, 1.
“our explorers, one after the other”: Ibid., 22.
“I was almost killed by the heat”: Petermann, quoted in the New York Herald, July 15, 1878.
“I am altogether most happy”: Petermann’s remarks in The Annual Report of the American Geographical Society for the Year 1876, 148–56.
“All my expectations have been surpassed”: Ibid.
7: SATISFACTION
“impudent and intrusive”: O’Connor, The Scandalous Mr. Bennett, 16.
“the whip broke at the first blow”: Ibid., 23.
“You are too ugly a rascal”: Seitz, The James Gordon Bennetts, 46.
“American Society”: O’Connor, The Scandalous Mr. Bennett, 27.
“motherhood is the best cure for the mania”: Ibid., 26.
“Lofty editorials and public-spirited crusades”: Ibid., 30.
“figure is most magnificent”: Ibid.
“the beau ideal of the man of the world”: Seitz, The James Gordon Bennetts, 266.
“it would take an Arabian Night’s volume”: Ibid., 234.
“the tigerish proprietor”: Ibid., 224.
“a slender, fair-haired girl”: O’Connor, The Scandalous Mr. Bennett, 136.
a woman of “unusual beauty”: Seitz, The James Gordon Bennetts, 267.
“Jimmy Bennett, veteran of fleshpots”: O’Connor, The Scandalous Mr. Bennett, 135.
“the excuse for much drunkenness”: Seitz, The James Gordon Bennetts, 267.
“had the seat of honor”: O’Connor, The Scandalous Mr. Bennett, 132.
“The match was regarded a brilliant one”: Quebec Saturday Budget, January 20, 1877.
liable “at any moment”: Ibid.
“had been some time”: Ibid.
“pump out the bilge”: O’Connor, The Scandalous Mr. Bennett, 136.
“Bennett forgot where he was”: Seitz, The James Gordon Bennetts, 268.
“fled to Canada”: O’Connor, The Scandalous Mr. Bennett, 140.
“Why don’t you kill me”: Seitz, The James Gordon Bennetts, 268.
“blood stained the snow”: O’Connor, The Scandalous Mr. Bennett, 139.
Mr. Bennett “gave full front”: Hartford Weekly Times, January 13, 1877.
“Do you think I did right?”: New York Times, May 17, 1878.
“as to life, limb, or digestion”: New York Times, January 15, 1918.
“did not care to entertain a fellow”: O’Connor, The Scandalous Mr. Bennett, 142.
“a case of Bennett banishing himself”: Ibid., 144.
“Mr. May declared that”: Ibid.
8: THE SAGE OF GOTHA
“a tiresome journey”: Bennett letter to George De Long, quoted in Emma De Long, Explorer’s Wife, 116.
“dreamy drowsy town”: “The Unknown Arctic World: Interview with Dr. Augustus Petermann,” New York Herald, July 15, 1878.
“He knew how to teach”: Ludwig Friedrichsen, quoted in Espenhorst, Petermann’s Planet, 200.
“Today Petermann is regarded in all civilized nations”: Ibid., 202.
viewed as the world’s “Polarpapa”: Murphy, German Exploration, 62.
“undeviating affinity for the wrong guess”: Ibid., 20–21.
“His character combined outstanding virtues”: Murphy, German Exploration, 17.
“This Arctic business belongs to the world”: New York Herald, July 15, 1878.
Petermann had a love-hate relationship: German scholar Philipp Felsch convincingly develops this theme in his recent biography, Wie August Petermann: Den Nordpol Erfand. Felsch further shared his insights during an interview in Berlin, July 2012.
“Dr. Petermann has done serious injury”: C. R. Markham, “Arctic Exploration,” Nature, November 30, 1871.
“All very easy to write at Gotha”: Ibid.
“I think it utterly mistaken”: Murphy, German Exploration, 62.
“The world will not fail to recognize”: Undated correspondence from the 1870s, Correspondence of August Heinrich Petermann, Perthes Collection, University of Erfurt Gotha Research Library.
“the Pole will be found by a navigator”: New York Herald, July 15, 1878.
“It is a well-known fact”: Petermann, The Search for Franklin.
“Perhaps I am wrong”: New York Herald, July 15, 1878.
“A great task must be greatly conceived”: Petermann, quoted in Murphy, German Exploration.
“from mental overexertion”: See Felsch, Wie August Petermann, 239.
“just returned from a hurried trip to Gotha”: Bennett letter to George De Long, reprinted in George De Long, The Voyage of the Jeannette, 1:27.
“Petermann says it can be done in one summer”: Ibid., 1:28.
“seriously thinking of getting another vessel”: Ibid.
9: PANDORA
“He is more than ever disposed”: Letter from George De Long to Emma De Long, reprinted in Emma De Long, Explorer’s Wife, 155.
“I have astonished my stomach”: Ibid., 110.
“The demand for whalebone”: Ibid., 113.
“fearful day”: Ibid., 109.
a “tidy” ship: Guttridge, Icebound, 28.
“answered her helm”: Young, The Two Voyages of the ‘Pandora’ in 1875 and 1876, 38.
a live polar bear: Ibid., 40.
“hopelessly beset”: Ibid., 115.
“escape was hopeless”: Ibid., 116.
“severe battle she had endured”: Ibid., 137.
“A small omission now”: George De Long, The Voyage of the Jeannette, 1:27.
“drawn into the maelstrom”: Emma De Long, Explorer’s Wife, 188.
“Where is Papa going?” Ibid.
“almost a new vessel”: Times (London), May 23, 1878.
10: THREE YEARS, OR ETERNITY
“kept up a running fire”: Emma De Long, Explorer’s Wife, 123.
“See here, De Long”: Ibid., 123.
“were very much engrossed”: Ibid., 124
“I would have preferred”: Ibid.
“we may be gone for eternity”: Guttridge, Icebound, 28.
“impossible to make him come forward”: Emma De Long, Explorer’s Wife, 124.
one of Newport’s elegant “cottages”: One of the nation’s best surviving examples of shingle-style architecture, the Isaac Bell House in Newport is now a national historic landmark.
Stanley would return to further exploits: See Tim Jeal, Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007); and Frank McLynn, Stanley: The Making of an African Explorer (London: Random House UK, 2004).
“Your wife must think a great deal of you”: Emma De Long, Explorer’s Wife, 119.
“38 and 5/6 years”: Hoehling, The Jeannette Expedition, 17.
“worth his weight in gold”: Emma De Long, Explorer’s Wife, 122.
“with all my heart”: Guttridge, Icebound, 27.
“a freezing up in the Arctic”: Reference to Bennett’s comment is made in De Long to Bennett, May 15, 1879, Jeannette correspondence, National Archives.
“any lurking effects”: Ibid.
“They wondered at my daring”: Emma De Long, Explorer’s Wife, 124.
“As we were under sail”: Ibid., 127.
“utterly absorbed in the study”: Ibid.
“about to part with father and husband”: Ibid., 128.
11: A BENEDICTION
“the liberal and enthusiastic scholar”: New York Herald, July 15, 1878.
“Tow-headed children”: Ibid.
“I am very glad”: Ibid.
“It is not what dogs can do”: Ibid.
“Mr. Bennett’s expedition will find it”: Ibid.
“Pangs of conscience”: Hugo Ewald Weller, August Petermann: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Geographischen Entdeckungen der Geographie und der Kartographie im 19. Jahrhundert (Leipzig: Wigand, 1911), 27.
hanging from the end of a rope: Several early accounts stated or implied that Petermann died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but most Petermann scholars today, including his biographer Philipp Felsch, agree that Petermann hanged himself.
“whom he so seriously misjudged”: Letter from Clara Petermann to a friend in Gotha, Correspondence of August Heinrich Petermann, Perthes Collection, University of Erfurt Gotha Research Library.
12: SECOND CHANCES
“just in time”: Emma De Long, Explorer’s Wife, 130.
“clean swift death”: Ibid., 129.
“its melancholy fate”: Ibid., 131.
“much to our sorrow”: Ibid.
“never out of my mind for a moment”: De Long to Bennett, May 15, 1879, Jeannette correspondence, National Archives.
“I believed him”: Ibid.
“a correct navigator”: Ibid.
“my desire to touch the soil”: Emma De Long, Explorer’s Wife, 134.
“Of how close we had come to eternity”: Ibid., 138.
“we scarcely dared to breathe”: Ibid., 137.
13: THE U.S. ARCTIC EXPEDITION
“as much a part of the Mare Island waterfront”: Lot, A Long Line of Ships, 32.
“or they will ruin us”: Guttridge, Icebound, 41.
“laboring to keep down expenses”: De Long to Bennett, Jeannette correspondence, National Archives.
“I do not carry enough guns”: Ibid.
“Little things run away with the money”: Guttridge, Icebound, 43.
“edit a newspaper”: George De Long, The Voyage of the Jeannette, 1:38.
“refused point blank”: Ibid.
“unhesitating obedience”: Ibid.
“He smiles rarely and says very little”: Ibid., 43.
“The secrets of his home”: Guttridge, Icebound, 72.
“a No. 1 man and a brother”: De Long to Danenhower, Jeannette correspondence, National Archives.
“conspicuously lacking in enthusiasm”: Guttridge, Icebound, 44.
“the durned thing’s hollow!”: Hamilton, President McKinley, War and Empire, 21.
“power that is conferred upon admirals”: Guttridge, Icebound, 5.
“prodding them up all the time”: De Long to Bennett, Jeannette correspondence, National Archives.
“I immediately open fire”: Ibid.
“you are getting your way”: Bennett to De Long, Jeannette correspondence, National Archives.
“if there is a suitable ship”: Thompson to De Long, Jeannette correspondence, National Archives.
“quiet, pleasant gentleman”: Emma De Long, Explorer’s Wife, 147.
“He knew nothing about Arctic exploration”: Ibid.
“but even she did not manage”: Ibid.
“a strong inclination to jump overboard”: Guttridge, Icebound, 47.
“It is my considered opinion”: Ibid., 48.
“I cannot replace him”: De Long to Bennett, Jeannette correspondence, National Archives.
“endeavoring to temper justice”: Ibid.
“bent on going”: Ibid.
“no steps to imply distrust”: Guttridge, Icebound, 49.
“working like a beaver”: De Long to Bennett, Jeannette correspondence, National Archives.
“everything the Jeannette might need”: Guttridge, Icebound, 52.
“attain an increased height”: George De Long, The Voyage of the Jeannette, 1:29.
“I cannot recommend you”: Ibid.
“men have pined for light”: De Long to Bennett, Jeannette correspondence, National Archives.
“A new sort of urban star”: Stross, The Wizard of Menlo Park, 77.
“I should like to illuminate the ship”: De Long to Edison, April 21, 1878, and Collins to Edison, May 2, 7, and 9, 1878, Papers of Thomas Alva Edison, Rutgers University.
“It will keep them warm”: Guttridge, Icebound, 51.
“have been made to grow by it”: De Long to Bennett, Jeannette correspondence, National Archives.
14: ALL THAT MAN CAN DO
“sturdily fortified for ice encounter”: Guttridge, Icebound, 60.
“I am perfectly satisfied”: George De Long, Th
e Voyage of the Jeannette, 1:34.
“He has attended to everything”: De Long to Bennett, Jeannette correspondence, National Archives.
“great tact in dealing with the frozen foe”: New York Herald, July 9, 1879.
“a student of natural history”: Hoehling, The Jeannette Expedition, 27.
“a little bit about everything”: Ibid., 30.
“and will make a name for himself”: George De Long, The Voyage of the Jeannette, 1:37.
“steal ashore like a phantom”: Guttridge, Icebound, 53.
“head and promoter of the expedition”: De Long to Bennett, Jeannette correspondence, National Archives.
“I am sure you will agree”: Guttridge, Icebound, 38.
“On reaching Bering Strait”: George De Long, The Voyage of the Jeannette, 1:39.
“tomorrow’s sun will shine”: De Long to Bennett, Jeannette correspondence, National Archives.
“my resolution increases”: Ibid., 64.
“I will spare neither money”: Ibid., 56.
“all that man can do”: Nourse, American Explorations in the Ice Zones, 372.
15: THE NEW INVADER
“taking good care”: Emma De Long, Explorer’s Wife, 159.
“his mind had been turning”: George De Long, The Voyage of the Jeannette, 1:40.
“what a pretty widow”: Emma De Long, Explorer’s Wife, 159.
“afraid the sluices would give way”: Ibid.
“I shan’t be a widow”: Ibid., 160.
“engaged in a great undertaking”: George De Long, The Voyage of the Jeannette, 1:44.
“rigidly in control”: Emma De Long, Explorer’s Wife, 160.
“force the Northern Sphinx”: San Francisco Examiner, July 9, 1879.
“the shrine of Arctic discovery”: New York Herald, July 9, 1879.
“Should success crown the efforts”: New-York Commercial Advertiser, July 8, 1879.
“the verge of a discovery”: Hoehling, The Jeannette Expedition, 32.
“Will the new invader”: San Francisco Chronicle, July 9, 1879.
“Regret exceedingly”: George De Long, The Voyage of the Jeannette, 1:40.