William Reed draws his conclusions from the journals of polar explorers. Reed concludes that the captains had not erred but were “lost” because they were unaware that their ships had entered the interior of the earth. These explorers include Elisha Kent Kane (1820-1857), who explored the Arctic regions, tracing Sir John Franklin’s expedition. Kane later wrote Arctic Explorations (1857); Adolphus Washington Greely (1849-1918) commanded the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition from 1881 to 1884. He later wrote Three Years of Arctic Service (1894) and Robert Peary (1856-1920), who made polar voyages in 1886, 1891, 1893-95, 1896, 1897, and 1898-1902. He wrote Secrets of Polar Travel (1917) and North Pole (1968[1910]); Sir John Franklin (1786-1847) wrote two accounts of his voyages (1969[1823]); 1969[1828]), one account covering the years 1819 to 1822 and the second account covering 1825 to 1827. He died during his third voyage.

Other polar explorers include George Wallace Melville (1841-1912), who led the sole surviving party from George Washington DeLong’s tragic North Polar expedition. DeLong conceived of a plan for reaching the North Pole while serving in a polar expedition that sailed around Greenland in 1873. Melville wrote an account in 1885 titled In the Lena Delta that recounts this expedition. Charles Francis Hall (1821-1871) wrote Life with the Esquimaux (1970[1865]), which recounts his expedition.

Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930), a Norwegian arctic explorer, scientist, politician, and humanitarian, recounts his experience in the First Crossing of Greenland (1890). Nansen writes that while navigating his ship to the North Pole, he reported seeing a red sun at a time when the sun was known to be below the horizon. All of these arctic explorers’ observations led credence to the notion that the earth is hollow.

Further Reading