When it came to christening the ship by whose aid it was hoped to fight our way toward the most inaccessible spot on earth, the name of _Roosevelt_ seemed to be the one and inevitable choice.

It held up as ideals before the expedition those very qualities of strength, insistence, persistence, and triumph over obstacles, which have made the twenty-sixth President of the United States so great.
In the course of that last luncheon at Sagamore Hill, President Roosevelt reiterated what he had said to me so many times before, that he was earnestly and profoundly interested in my work, and that he believed I would succeed if success were possible.
After luncheon the President and Mrs.Roosevelt, with their three sons, came on board the ship with Mrs.Peary and me.

Mr.Bridgman was on deck, to welcome them in the name of the Peary Arctic Club.

The Roosevelt party remained on board about an hour; the President inspected every part of the ship, shook hands with every member of the expedition present, including the crew, and even made the acquaintance of my Eskimo dogs, North Star and the others, which had been brought down from one of my islands in Casco Bay, on the coast of Maine.

As he was going over the rail, I said to him: "Mr.President, I shall put into this effort everything there is in me--physical, mental, and moral." And he replied, "I believe in you, Peary, and I believe in your success--if it is within the possibility of man." The _Roosevelt_ stopped at New Bedford for the whale-boats, and also made a short stop at Eagle Island, our summer home on the coast of Maine, to take aboard the massive, steel-bound spare rudder, which we carried as a precaution against disaster in the coming battle royal with the ice.