Next in 1892 and 1894 the American Explorer Robert Peary crossed the Northeastern coast.Peary's crew reported Unicornia Isle in a journal. The sighting was again in summer, during a coastal exploration. Earlier in the trek, in the Northwest, Peary spotted Crocker Land which Peary thought was a new and big discovery. Peary was not interested in Unicornia Isle as it had already been discovered and his interest was in new discoveries. He liked being "the first."
Unicornia Isle has a quiet but powerful explorer history.
The Inuit of Northeastern Greenland were the first to tell of the natural wonders of the Isle. Several tales are passed on of summer sightings of the nearby Isle while exploring in kayaks through melting ice fjords.
It started in London. It was a time of parties, tea and great fashion. All night balls were the rage and merchants needed fine silk, spices, perfumes and jewels to sell. Asia had some of the finest but by ship it took ages to sail around America and Canada. It was time to find a shortcut.
The shortcut was named the Northwest Passage. It cut above America and Canada and passed Greenland on the icy Artic Ocean, instead of sailing south around America. It would be a dangerous voyage through thousands of icebergs but it had to be done. The old long route around America just took too long.
On May 19, 1845 Britain launched the ships Erebus and Terror to brave the Northwest Passage. Sir John Franklin was in command. The Franklin Expedition made it safely to Greenland but then vanished. In London, Lady Jane Franklin was told the news of her lost husband. She was naturally beyond distraught.
Map of The Northwest Passage to Asia
Lady Jane Franklin's father was a wealthy silk merchant. She lost her mother as a child but held a high place in London society. When her husband went missing, Lady Franklin funded a series of expeditions to find him.
Enter Explorer John Rae. He kept a journal while searching Greenland for Sir Franklin.
John Rae eventually found Polar Inuit who has seen the sad fate of The Franklin Expedition. They had not survived. The Polar Inuit, however, taught John Rae much about the area and how to map it. Unicornia Isle was included. John Rae returned to London. He had wonderful geographical news of Greenland and about Unicornia Isle. But Lady Franklin was so distraught upon learning of her husband that she discounted all of John Rae's news, including the words of Unicornia Isle.
Lady Franklin went so far as to champion her friend Charles Dickens to publicly mock John Rae's good word in London society. History has since proven her and wrong and John Rae to be a hero.
Although most of Victorian London turned its back on John Rae in the 1800's, ,the explorers of the time did not. They knew John Rae to keep accurate records. He spoke the truth.
First in 1888 there was a magical sighting of Unicornia Isle during the Nansen Expedition. Explorer Fridtjof Nansen was a Norwegian who was the first to ski across inland Greenland. Using his cross country ski technique, Nansen explored to the furthest reaches of Northeast Greenland.
In summer, after Nansen crossed Greenland on skis, Nansen traveled to the Greenland Northeastern coast where there was no snow. He followed John Rae's coordinates by foot and raft through the islands. Nansen's team saw the Narwals first. Narwals are whales of the unicorn family. The floating Polar Bears and bouncing white hares and birds came next. That night Nansen saw a unicorn in the light of the moon. He followed it in the morning to Unicornia Isle.
Norse Vikings led by Erik the Red came next.
Beginning in the 1400's, Europeans began to explore Greenland while searching for seas and land to trade with. Denmark and Norway are close to Greenland and they began more modern explorations in the 1700's. No sightings of Unicornia Isle were reported in these earlier explorations, although they may in fact have occurred.
Modernly, this changed.
Three expedition sightings of Unicornia Isle followed John Rae.
Robert Peary later claimed to be the first to reach the North Pole in 1909. Others on Peary's team however attest that Explorer Mathew Henson, a teammate, was the first to the pole. Years later new explorers found Peary's coordinates to be off, claiming that both Peary and Henson fell short .
Then in 1910 Explorer Peter Fruechen and Knud Rasmussen from Denmark set up the Thule Trading Post. Their full name for Thule is Untima Thule. Thule is the Northern most settled area in Greenland. The seven Thule Expeditions based in Thule and explored Northeastern Greenland. Sightings of Unicornia Isle were recorded.
Following the Thule Expeditions, the world entered two World Wars and Thule was turned into an American military base. Today the United States still uses Thule for its Northernmost Air Force base. Additionally NASA has used the base for its OMG Oceans Melting Glaciers mission to learn about the melting glaciers such as the Northern glacier of Unicornia Isle. NASA has also named the farthest object in time, 4.5 billion years ago during the time of our planet's creation, Ultima Thule in respect to Thule. Since the military occupation of Thule, there have been no officially recorded sightings or word from Unicornia Isle other than by satellite.
Unicornia Isle
