POLAR REGIONS

Arctic Exploration

Peary went on with his black companion, Matthew Henson, four Inuit and the best dogs. Peary reached the North Pole on 6 April 1909 and camped there for the night. The next day he took photographs of the group. Turning for home, they reached the Roosevelt in 16 days.

C ook claimed he was first at the Pole.

Cook Reaches the Pole First? Just five days before news of Peary’s success reached New York, Cook announced that he had reached the North Pole a year before. In 1908, Cook led a hunting expedition to Greenland. During the trip he sent a message home that he was going to the North Pole. Cook had learned, like Peary, to travel with Inuit. He left Greenland on February 18, 1908, with 10 Inuit, 11 sleds, and 105 dogs. He crossed Ellesmere Island and sledded over the sea ice to the tip of Axel Heiberg Island. From there Cook sledded over sea ice toward the North Pole. Cook and two Inuit with 26 dogs arrived at the North Pole on April 21, 1908. While Cook was returning over the sea ice, the current swept him off course. He missed food supplies left on Axel Heiberg Island for his return. Instead he landed further to the west. He continued on the sea ice to Jones Sound where he camped for the winter. By now all the dogs had died or been shot. Cook and his companions started back across Ellesmere Island to Greenland in the spring of 1909. They arrived half starving and in a terrible state.

Why Peary and Cook are Doubted

People question whether Peary could have traveled as fast as he said he did across the sea ice. Neither he or Cook could produce convincing navigational records. Cook’s diaries of the trip were left in safekeeping in Greenland and were never seen again. The two stories do not seem to stand up to close examination. It could be that the first to sled to the North Pole was in fact the Briton Wally Herbert in 1969. However, most experts now believe Peary was the first to make it.

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