I wish I were a polar bear,
I
do upon my soul;
I might have saved these days of
care,
In which I’ve raved and torn my
hair,
And worried till my nerves are
bare,
By knowing how and why and where
And who and which one of this pair
Discovered
that old pole.
Sept. 20, ‘09
The
Cook-Peary North Pole Dispute
In
September of 1909, an American medical doctor and veteran of both arctic and
antarctic travel, Frederick A. Cook, astonished the world with the news that he
and two Eskimo companions had reached the North Geographic Pole on April 21,
1908. A break-up of ice in the summer of 1908 had prevented his return to land
and had forced him and his two companions to over-winter in a remote area to
the south. This, he said, had delayed his return to civilization by a year.
Five days later, another
veteran arctic traveler and a Navy civil engineer, Robert E. Peary, announced
that he and five companions had reached the North Pole on April 6-7, 1909 and
labeled Cook a fake. "Dr. Cook has handed the public a 'gold brick,'"
Peary wired in a widely publicized message from Battle Harbor, Labrador, on his
return from the Arctic. Although the laurels ultimately went to Peary, doubts
still linger and, despite protestations of countless writers on the subject
that they have had the final word, it is unlikely the debate will ever be
definitively resolved. In fact, one of the more intriguing aspects of the Cook-Peary
controversy is that of how, ninety years later, the debate could still have the
capacity to fascinate--and infuriate--so many partisans on both sides.
Christmas traditions
notwithstanding, there is nothing at the North Pole and no real reason why anyone
should want to go there--other than, like Mt. Everest, It's there! In contrast
to the antarctic landmass in the southern hemisphere, a continent roughly the
size of the United States and Mexico combined, the north polar region is a vast
sea perpetually covered by floating ice. Since the polar ice pack is constantly
in motion moved by wind and currents, there is no permanent means to mark the
location of the North Geographic Pole. Yet few points on earth have held out
such lure...or been the subject of so much mystery and bitter controversy.
At first Cook was
feted in both Europe and the United States as the discoverer of the North Pole
and Peary's claim of reaching the North Pole, that came a year later than
Cook's although both were announced within a week of each other, was largely
ignored or not believed. Soon, however, Peary supporters began raising
questions about Cook's proof of reaching the pole--although Peary's
"proof" was never any better--and doubts about Cook's veracity, particularly
his claim of having reached the summit of Mt. McKinley in Alaska in 1906, began
to creep in. Cook had sold his account of the polar journey to the New York
Herald while Peary's account appeared in the then-struggling New York Times.
Within weeks, the debate became a war of words between the two rival newspapers
that countless numbers of eager readers followed daily.
In a series of
bitter attacks that would rival any present-day political campaign, Peary
supporters questioned Cook's abilities, his veracity and even his sanity. Cook
failed to respond and ultimately left the country--a move Peary supporters
interpreted as "fleeing the country" because his claims were
false--and public opinion soon shifted in Peary's favor. Taking advantage of
this shift in public sentiment, Peary submitted his north pole data to the
National Geographic Society. After what was disclosed in congressional hearings
a year later to have been little more than a cursory glance, the NGS
"certified" Peary as the discoverer of the North Pole. However, the
group never investigated Cook's claim. If Cook had in fact reached the pole a
year earlier, it would be irrelevant in terms of firsts or discoveries if Peary
had reached the pole in 1909.
Acting on the
quasi-official acceptance of Peary's claim, his supporters next turned to
having Peary promoted to a Navy Admiral and retired with a pension. But far
from the automatic action that they may have anticipated, this move touched off
a series of events that continue to this day.
The so-called Peary
Hearings in congress in 1910-11 again raised the question of Peary's
"proofs" (or lack thereof) of reaching the North Pole. Although
Congress ultimately promoted Peary to Rear Admiral and retired him with a
pension, they took no official action to declare him the discoverer of the
North Pole.
Peary died in 1920
prompting widespread fears among his supporters that Cook would use Peary's
demise as an opportunity to press his claim. However, during the 1920s Cook had
turned to oil prospecting and appeared to be uninterested in the north pole
controversy. Nevertheless, in 1924 Cook was convicted on a somewhat
questionable charge of mail fraud in the promotion of oil stocks and sentenced
to Leavenworth prison. Cook is reported to have been a model prisoner at
Leavenworth, and during this time, with the help of a small but loyal group of
supporters, once again began pressing his north pole claim.
Cook was finally released
from Leavenworth in 1930, penniless and in poor health, after having served an
inordinately long sentence considering the crime for which he was convicted.
Cook died of a stroke in 1940 shortly after having been granted a full pardon
by President Roosevelt. But still the debate did not die with Cook's death.
There was a brief lull in
the controversy during the war years, but following World War II a small group
of Cook family members and other supporters continued to keep Cook's name
alive. In 1951, one of the most starkly and strikingly beautiful books on the
Arctic, Cook's Return from the Pole, appeared. The book, edited by
historian Frederick J. Pohl, was based on Cook's notes from the year
spent returning the point he believed, or claimed, was the North Pole,
over-wintering in a cave in the remote Devon Island district of the Canadian
Arctic, and finally returning in April 1909 to his base in northwest Greenland.
This was followed in 1961 by Andrew Freeman's The Case for Doctor Cook, a
biography based on notes notes from interviews with Cook in the 1930s. Meanwhile,
the Peary family and the National Geographic Society continued to support
Peary's claim and every school-child learned from his or her history books and
encyclopedias that Peary discovered the North Pole
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