. Discovery. Science. DISCOVERY 127 The Maud, imprisoned in the drifting pack-ice which sets with the current towards Greenland and Spits- bergen, will probably cross the heart of the polar basin, advancing approximately along the meridian of i8o°. But between that longitude and the Parry Islands there remains a vast area north of about lat. 74° N. that has never been entered, unless perhaps some unrecorded American whaler has seen his chance in an open season and pushed north. Roughly speaking, this may be termed the Beaufort Sea, although that name is more westward and northward in the south
. Discovery. Science. DISCOVERY 127 The Maud, imprisoned in the drifting pack-ice which sets with the current towards Greenland and Spits- bergen, will probably cross the heart of the polar basin, advancing approximately along the meridian of i8o°. But between that longitude and the Parry Islands there remains a vast area north of about lat. 74° N. that has never been entered, unless perhaps some unrecorded American whaler has seen his chance in an open season and pushed north. Roughly speaking, this may be termed the Beaufort Sea, although that name is more westward and northward in the southern part of this area of the Arctic Ocean until crushed in the ice. (It must be remembered that neither was built of sufficient strength to withstand heavy ice-pressure.) Stefansson, in crossing the south-eastern end of the Beaufort Sea, found a continuous south-westerly drift. Other evidence is in favour of an easterly set which packs the ice against the Parry Islands, Grant Land and Greenland. More than one explorer has penetrated 100 miles or more into this region from the land to the south or cast, but. SKETCH JL\P OF THE POL.\R REGIONS. Series of crosses mark drift of ice-boxmd ships: single crosses indicate furthest advances into unexplored area of Arctic Ocean between .\laska and the North Pole. The probable course of Amundsen's drift is shown. strictly applicable only to its south-eastern part. This will prove a difficult region to explore. Stefansson maintains that what he calls the pole of inaccessibility in the north lies in lat. 83° 50' N., long. 160° W., that is, 370 nautical miles from the geographical pole on the meridian which passes about 80 miles west of Alaska's most northerly cape. The drift tactics of Nansen and Amundsen might be tried, but with less hope of success than farther west, at least until more is known of the currents. More than one whaler caught in the ice has disappeared in this sea never to be heard of again. De Long's Jeannette in 1881 an
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