Crocker Land - The Expedition

The Expedition

The expedition left Brooklyn Navy Yard aboard the steamer Diana on 2 July 1913. Two weeks later, at midnight on 16 July, the Diana struck rocks, trying to avoid an iceberg. MacMillan blamed this on the captain, who was drunk at the time. The expedition transferred to another ship, the Erik, and eventually arrived at Etah in northwest Greenland on the second week of August.

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. An attempt was also made to set up a radio room, but it was not successful and the expedition was never able to establish reliable radio-communications with the outside world.

Having made a number of preliminary trips to place supply caches along parts of the route, MacMillan, Green, Ekblaw and seven Inuit eventually set off on the 1,200-mile (1,900 km) journey to "Crocker Land" on 11 March 1914. The temperature was 32 degrees below freezing and weather-conditions were very poor.

Eventually the party reached the 4,700 ft (1,400 m) high Beitstadt Glacier, which they took three days to climb. The temperature dropped dramatically and Ekblaw suffered severe frostbite. He was evacuated back to Etah by some of the Inuit.

One-by-one, the other members of the party gave up and turned back. By 11 April, at the edge of the Arctic Ocean only MacMillan, Green and two Inuit, Piugaattoq and Ittukusuk, remained. The four dog-sleds set off across the treacherous sea-ice, avoiding thin patches and expanses of open water, and eventually on 21 April 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. He called it "poo-jok", which means mist. However MacMillan insisted they press on, despite the fact that it was late in the season and the sea-ice was breaking up. For five days they went on, following the mirage, until on 27 April, having covered some 125 miles (201 km) of dangerous sea-ice, MacMillan was forced to admit that Piugaattoq was right. Their sighting was in fact a mirage, probably a rare form called a Fata Morgana.
Later MacMillan wrote:

The day was exceptionally clear, not a cloud or trace of mist; if land could be seen, now was our time. Yes, there it was! It could even be seen without a glass, extending from southwest true to northeast. 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. Our judgment then as now, is that this was a mirage or loom of the sea ice.

MacMillan therefore had reason to believe that Peary's sighting of Crocker Land must have been a similar mirage.

The party turned around and was able to reach solid land with no time to spare, for the sea-ice broke up the next day.