In 1904 Peary commissioned the building of the Theodore Roosevelt, a steamship specially designed to sail in polar waters. Ready to make his next attempt at the North Pole, he asked Bartlett to be his captain. Bartlett agreed, with the condition that he be allowed to accompany Peary to the Pole. They set out from New York on July 16, 1905, and first headed to Greenland to pick up a party of Inuit men and women and a team of sled dogs. (The Inuit were crucial to the success of the expedition, for the men constructed igloos to live in and the women made garments out of animal hides and furs.) From Greenland the Roosevelt fought its way through the ice of Smith Sound, arriving at Cape Sheridan on the northwest coast of Ellesmere Island on September 5. Beginning in February 1906, Bartlett led parties of Inuit north to cut trails and set up supply depots. On April 21 he reached as far north as latitude 85° 12′, before a large expanse of open sea stopped him. Peary, too, tried to push farther, but bad weather and open water made it clear that the expedition was at its end.
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