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Robert E. Peary

, Explorer
Robert E. Peary
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  • Born: 6 May 1856
  • Birthplace: Cressen, Pennsylvania
  • Died: 20 February 1920
  • Best Known As: North Pole expedition leader

Robert Edwin Peary, his assistant Matthew Henson and four Inuit men were the first to reach the North Pole on 6 April 1909. An officer in the United States Navy, it was Commander Peary's eighth attempt to reach the pole in two decades of exploring arctic regions. When he returned, however, a former colleague from his 1891 Greenland expedition, Dr. Frederick Cook, claimed to have reached the North Pole a year before. In 1911 a congressional inquiry concluded that Peary, who had been promoted to Rear Admiral, deserved the credit. In recent years the weight of opinion has shifted clearly to Peary's side, with a nod to the accomplishments of Henson as well.

The four Inuits who reached the North Pole were Oatah, Egingwah, Ookeah and Seegloo... Peary's wife Josephine joined him on several of his expeditions.

 
 
Biography: Robert Edwin Peary

The American explorer Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920) is famous for his discovery of the North Pole; he was one of the last and greatest of the dog team-and-sledge polar explorers.

Robert Peary was born in Cresson, Pa., on May 6, 1856, but he lived in Maine after the death of his father in 1859. Entering Bowdoin College in 1873, Peary studied civil engineering. An outstanding student of strong, independent judgment, he graduated in 1877.

After working as a county surveyor in Maine and a draftsman in Washington, D.C., Peary passed the civil engineering examinations of the U.S. Navy and was commissioned in 1881. In 1884-1885 he worked on the ship canal survey in Nicaragua, but while there his interest was attracted to the Arctic. He made a brief reconnaissance trip to the Disko Bay area of Greenland in 1886, but his professional duties returned him to Nicaragua for 2 more years. Then, from 1888 to 1891, while engaged in naval engineering along the Eastern seaboard, he prepared for more Arctic work.

In June 1891 Peary, his young wife, and five others, including Matthew Henson, Peary's assistant in all his subsequent Arctic expeditions, and Frederick A. Cook, the party's surgeon and ethnologist, left New York for Greenland. Before returning home in 1892, Peary made a 1,300-mile trek to northeastern Greenland, discovering new land and indicating the insularity of Greenland. Popularly acclaimed for these achievements, Peary was able to organize and finance another Greenland expedition, which began in 1893 and lasted until 1895. This time he attempted additional explorations, but severe weather and illness prevented success. He returned home with two of the three huge meteorites he had discovered (the third was recovered after trips in 1896 and 1897) and with revised plans on polar travel.

Peary's next Arctic journey, from 1898 until 1902, represented his first serious effort to reach the North Pole. He labored and suffered mightily in organizing and conducting this expedition, but he failed to get close to his objective. A major reason for this was the fact that he had eight toes amputated in 1899, although he continued in the field and reached 84°17′N in 1902 before being forced back.

Now realizing the need to reach higher latitudes by ship before embarking with sledges, Peary raised sufficient money to have a ship, the Roosevelt, constructed, and he set out in July 1905 on his seventh expedition. Reaching the north coast of Grant Land and wintering there, Peary and his support party set out with sledges in March 1906. After several weeks of arduous travel over broken ice, the party, weak and exhausted, reached 87°16′N but was forced to turn back with its goal less than 175 miles away.

In July 1908 Peary embarked on what he knew would be his last polar attempt. Accompanied by able assistants and well-equipped, well-trained Eskimos, Peary led a party of 24 men, 19 sledges, and 133 dogs northward from Cape Columbia. His plan called for various support parties to break the trail and carry additional supplies for the main party of six, which alone would cover the last few miles to the pole. On April 1, near the 88th parallel, the final support party turned back, and Peary, Henson, and four Eskimos went on, reaching 90°N on April 6, 1909.

Peary returned to announce his discovery, only to learn that 5 days previously Cook had proclaimed a 1908 visit to the pole. Peary, always austere and direct in manner, minced no words in challenging the authenticity of Cook's claims. In the bitter controversy that followed, the general public often sided with Cook, whose unheralded expedition had dramatic appeal over the carefully planned and officially sponsored labors of Peary. In succeeding years, however, Peary's claims were validated and recognized by Congress and the major geographic societies of the world, whereas Cook's claims, always dubious, did not receive official sanction and suffered from the exposure of additional Cook frauds.

Peary spent his final years as a champion of aviation and the need for greater military preparedness. He died in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 20, 1920.

Further Reading

Peary's own books are Northward over the "Great Ice" (1898); Nearest the Pole (1907); The North Pole (1910); and Secrets of Polar Travel (1917). The best biographies of Peary are William Herbert Hobbs, Peary (1936), and John Edward Weems, Peary: The Explorer and the Man (1967). See also Donald B. MacMillan, How Peary Reached the Pole: The Personal Story of His Assistant (1934). The considerable literature on the Peary-Cook controversy is capably reviewed in John Edward Weems, Race to the Pole (1960).

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Robert Edwin Peary

(born May 6, 1856, Cresson, Pa., U.S. — died Feb. 20, 1920, Washington, D.C.) U.S. explorer. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1881 but was granted leaves of absence to pursue his Arctic expeditions. He explored Greenland by dog sled in 1886 and 1891, finding evidence that it was an island, and returned there in 1893 – 94, 1895, and 1896 to transport large meteorites to the U.S. After announcing his intention to reach the North Pole, he made several attempts between 1898 and 1905, sailing on a specially built ship and sledding to within 175 mi (280 km) of the pole. On April 6, 1909, accompanied by Matthew Henson (1866 – 1955) and four Eskimo, he reached what he thought was the pole, and he became widely acknowledged as the first explorer to attain that goal. (The claim of his former colleague Frederick A. Cook to have reached the pole in 1908 was later discredited.) In 1911 Peary retired from the navy with the rank of rear admiral. Examination of Peary's expedition diary and new documents in the 1980s suggested that the point he reached may have been 30 – 60 mi (50 – 100 km) short of the pole.

For more information on Robert Edwin Peary, visit Britannica.com.

 
Spotlight: Robert E. Peary

From our Archives: Today's Highlights, April 6, 2005

American explorer Robert Peary, his assistant Matthew Henson, and four Inuit guides became the first recorded people to reach the North Pole on this date in 1909. A 1996 analysis of a newly-discovered copy of Peary's records indicated that Peary was actually 20 nautical miles (40 km) short of the magnetic North Pole.
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Peary, Robert Edwin
(pēr'ē) , 1856–1920, American arctic explorer, b. Cresson, Pa. In 1881 he entered the U.S. navy as a civil engineer and for several years served in Nicaragua, where he was engaged in making surveys for the Nicaragua Canal. He became interested in arctic exploration and made a trip to the interior of Greenland in 1886; later (1891–92), having secured a leave of absence from the navy, he led an expedition to Greenland for scientific study and exploration. Important ethnological and meteorological observations were recorded, a long sled journey to the northeast coast of Greenland was made, Peary Land was explored, and the insularity and approximate northerly extension of Greenland were confirmed.

New expeditions continued the work in 1893–95, and in two summer voyages (1896, 1897) Peary brought back to the United States his noted meteorites. An account of his arctic experiences appeared in Northward over the “Great Ice” (1898). Granted another leave of absence from naval duty, he again led an expedition (1898–1902), this time to search for the North Pole. He was only able to reach lat. 84°17′N, but he made important surveys of Ellesmere Land and a study of the surface and drift of the polar ice pack. His Nearest the Pole (1907) recorded the events of his 1905–6 expedition, when he attained lat. 87°6′N, which was only c.174 mi (280 km) from his objective.

In 1908, Peary set out on his last quest for the North Pole. From Ellesmere Island, accompanied by Matthew Henson and four Eskimos, he made a final dash for the pole, which he claimed to have reached on Apr. 6, 1909. He announced that he had achieved his goal, but on his return he learned of the prior claim of Dr. Frederick A. Cook, who had been ship's surgeon on Peary's expedition of 1891–92. An extremely bitter controversy followed. Although Cook fought to the end of his life, not without some support, to substantiate his claim, Congress recognized Peary's achievement and offered him its thanks in 1911, the year in which he retired from the navy with the rank of rear admiral. Nevertheless, it remains questionable as to whether Peary reached the exact location of the North Pole.

Peary's wife, Josephine Diebitsch Peary, 1863–1955, accompanied him on several of his expeditions and gave birth in the arctic to Peary's daughter, Marie Ahnighito Peary. His wife published her experiences in My Arctic Journal (1893).

Bibliography

See his North Pole (1910) and Secrets of Polar Travel (1917); biographies by W. H. Hobbs (1936) and J. E. Weems (1967); D. B. MacMillan, How Peary Reached the Pole (1934); W. R. Hunt, To Stand at the Pole (1982); M. A. Henson, A Black Explorer at the North Pole (1991); F. L. Israel, ed., Robert E. Peary and the Rush to the North Pole (1999).

 
History Dictionary: Peary, Robert E.
(peer-ee)

An explorer of the Arctic in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The claim that he and his team were the first people to reach the North Pole, in 1909, is now doubted.

 
Wikipedia: Robert Peary
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Robert Peary in naval uniform
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Robert Peary in naval uniform

Robert Edwin Peary (May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer who claimed to have been the first person, on April 6, 1909, to reach the geographic North Pole -- a claim that has subsequently attracted much criticism.

Peary's life

Early years

Peary was born in the town of Cresson, 80 miles east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1856. He moved to Maine, attended Portland High School, was a graduate of Bowdoin College, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He was commissioned a Civil Engineer Corps Officer in the United States Navy October 26, 1881. With his wife, Josephine Diebitsch Peary, he had two children: Marie Peary and Robert Edwin Peary, Jr. During the Arctic expeditions, both Peary and his fellow explorer Matthew Henson fathered children with Inuit women, two of whom were brought to the attention of the American public by S. Allen Counter, who met them on a Greenland expedition.


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First Arctic expeditions

Peary made several expeditions to the Arctic, exploring Greenland by dog sled in 1886 and 1891 and returning to the island three times in the 1890s. Unlike many previous explorers, Peary studied Inuit survival techniques, built igloos, and dressed in practical furs in the native fashion. Peary also relied on the Inuit as hunters and dog-drivers on his expeditions, and pioneered the use of the system (which he called the "Peary system") of using support teams and supply caches for Arctic travel. His wife, Josephine, accompanied him on several of his expeditions. He also had 8 toes amputated but kept walking.

North Pole expeditions

Peary made several attempts to reach the North Pole between 1898 and 1905. For his final assault on the pole, he and 23 men set off from New York City aboard the Roosevelt under the command of Captain Robert Bartlett on July 6, 1908. They wintered near Cape Sheridan on Ellesmere Island and from there departed for the pole on March 1, 1909. The last support party turned back on April 1, 1909 in latitude 87°47' north. On the final stage of the journey to the North Pole only five of his men, Matthew Henson, Ootah, Egigingwah, Seegloo and Ooqueah, remained. On April 6, he established Camp Jesup near the pole. In his diary for April 7 (but actually written up much later when preparing his journals for publication), Peary wrote "The Pole at last!!! The prize of 3 centuries, my dream and ambition for 23 years. Mine at last..."

Honors and legacy

The monument for the memory of Robert Peary]at Cape York,Greenland.
Enlarge
The monument for the memory of Robert Peary]at Cape York,Greenland.

Peary was given a Rear Admiral's pension and the thanks of Congress by a special act of March 30, 1911. In the same year, he retired to Eagle Island, Maine, located on the coast of Maine, in Freeport. (His home there is now a Maine State Historic Site.) Civil Engineer Peary received honors from numerous scientific societies of Europe and America for his Arctic explorations and discoveries. He died in Washington, D.C., February 20, 1920 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Matthew Henson was reinterred nearby on April 6, 1988.

The Liberty ship SS Robert E. Peary, the destroyer USS Peary (DD-226) the cargo ship USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE-5), and Knox-class frigate USS Robert E. Peary (FF 1073) were named for him. The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum at Bowdoin College is named for Peary and fellow Arctic explorer Donald B. MacMillan.

Peary was the author of several books, the most famous being Northward over the Great Ice (1898) and Nearest the Pole (1907). The movie Glory & Honor by Kevin Hooks (2000) chronicles his journey to the pole.

In his book Ninety Degrees North, polar historian and author Fergus Fleming describes Peary as "undoubtedly the most driven, possibly the most successful and probably the most unpleasant man in the annals of polar exploration."

Inuit descendants

Some modern critics of Peary focus on his treatment of the Inuit, including a boy named Minik Wallace. With Inuit women, Peary and Henson both fathered children outside of marriage. This fact was brought up in controversies during Peary's lifetime, and would have damaged his reputation if it had been accepted, but it was essentially unprovable at the time because the Arctic was so remote. It was widely acknowledged by the 1960s, however. Peary’s son Kali was eventually brought to the attention of the broader American public by S. Allen Counter, who met him on a Greenland expedition. The "discovery" of these children and their meeting with their American relatives were documented in a book and documentary titled North Pole Legacy: Black, White and Eskimo.

Controversy

Peary's claim to have reached the North Pole has been subject to doubt for a number of reasons. He had no sooner returned from the Arctic before he learned that Frederick Cook was also claiming to have reached the pole the previous year. Cook's claims were quickly dismissed after he submitted logs that were obvious frauds to the scientific community. Cook also was met with skepticism since his claim of being the first to climb Mt. McKinley was found to be a hoax. As for Peary's North Pole claim, it was initially certified by the National Geographic Society after Cook's was proved false. Even with that some doubt comes up as the party that accompanied Peary on the final stage of the journey included no one who was trained in navigation and could independently confirm his own navigational work, which some have controversially claimed to be particularly sloppy as he approached the pole. The distances and speeds Peary claimed to have achieved once the last support party turned back border on the incredible, almost three times that which he had accomplished up to that point. Peary's account of a beeline journey to the pole and back — the only thing that might have allowed him to travel at such a speed — is contradicted by Henson's account of tortured detours to avoid pressure ridges and open leads. The conflicting claims of Cook and Peary prompted Roald Amundsen to take extensive precautions in navigation during his South Pole expedition so as to leave no room for doubt concerning attainment of the pole. See Polheim.

Some polar historians believe that Peary honestly thought he had reached the pole. Others have suggested that he was guilty of deliberately exaggerating his accomplishments. Still others have suggested that any hint that Peary did not reach the pole must be the work of pro-Cook conspirators who are simply out to discredit Peary.

Recent evidence and claims

In 1989, the National Geographic Society (a major sponsor of Peary's expeditions) concluded, based on the shadows in photographs and ocean depth measures taken by Peary, that he was no more than five miles away from the pole. But since Peary's original camera (a 1908 #4 Folding Pocket Kodak) has not survived, and the camera was made with at least six different lenses from various manufacturers, the focal length of the lens -- and hence the shadow analysis which is based upon it -- must be considered uncertain at best. The National Geographic Society has never released Peary's photos for independent analysis.

Support for Peary came in 2005 when the British explorer Tom Avery and four companions recreated the outward portion of Peary's journey with replica wooden sleds and Canadian Eskimo Dog teams, reaching the North Pole in 36 days, 22 hours – nearly five hours faster than Peary. Avery writes on his web site that "The admiration and respect which I hold for Robert Peary, Matthew Henson and the four Inuit men who ventured North in 1909, has grown enormously since we set out from Cape Columbia. Having now seen for myself how he travelled across the pack ice, I am more convinced than ever that Peary did indeed discover the North Pole."[1] But Avery and his team were airlifted off the pole instead of returning by dogsled, a circumstance which allowed his team to carry much less weight in food and supplies than would otherwise have been needed, and much less than Peary took.

It has been claimed by supporters of Peary and Henson that the depth soundings Peary made on the outward journey match recent surveys and so confirm that they reached the pole.[2] However, only the first few soundings taken by Peary's party, taken nearest the shore, actually touched bottom; thus their usefulness is extremely limited.

References

  1. ^ Tom Avery website, retrieved May 2007
  2. ^ "Proof Henson & Peary reached Pole." Mathew A Henson website. Retrieved 11 August 2007.

External links


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Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
History Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Robert Peary".  Read more

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From Today's Highlights
April 6, 2005

The discovery of the North Pole is one of those realities which could not be avoided... The world needed a discoverer of the North Pole, and in all areas of social activity, merit was less important here than opportunity.
- Karl Kraus

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