Polar Controversies Still Rage a Century
On
By Rod Eime
In September 1909, US polar adventurer Frederick A Cook announced
to the world that he and two Eskimo companions had just returned
from the North Pole after a journey of nearly two years.
His bold claims were immediately met with derision by another
US veteran of the ice, Robert E. Peary, who counter-claimed
his own expedition was the first, reaching the pole on April
6, 1909.
Now, almost one hundred years on, both men's claims raise
serious doubts, despite vigorous debates supporting both efforts.
In truth, any claim about a journey to the North Pole during
this era must be doubtful because of the elusive nature of
the objective and the inherent inaccuracies of the instruments
of the time.
William Mills, the keeper of collections at the Scott Polar
Research Institute (SPRI), author of Exploring Polar Frontiers:
a historical encyclopedia (San Diego and Oxford: ABC-Clio,
2003) and a regular polar traveller himself, notes;
"Neither Cook's nor Peary's claim has been conclusively
disproved, and both claimants have their defenders, but insofar
as an informed consensus can be identified it would be against
both claims. Commander Richard Byrd's claim to have made the
first aircraft flight to the Pole on 9 May 1926 is similarly
controversial and recent evidence suggests that in fact he
turned back about 100 miles south of the Pole, though again
he too has his defenders.
"If Cook, Peary, nor Byrd is to be believed, the first
to see the Pole were those travelling with Roald Amundsen
aboard the airship Norge on 12 May 1926. However it was the
Soviet's 1948 aircraft landing that is generally considered
to be the closest to the exact geographic goal."
In the decades after WWII, numerous "firsts" were
achieved, most notably the motorised and dog-sled achievements
of the 1960s, however the most sensational "northing"
occurred on August 17 1977 when the Soviet icebreaker Arktika
became the first surface vessel to reach the pole.
Today, the Arktika's sister ship, Yamal, makes annual sorties
to the exact location of the geographic North Pole thanks
to modern satellite navigation. Expeditioners aboard the vessel
can even authenticate their achievement with a certificate
and immediately silence any dinner party detractors.
The 75,000 horsepower Yamal sails from Helsinki to the North
Pole via Franz Josef Land on two voyages during July 2005.
For more information, visit: TravelNorthPole.com
The case for Peary: PearyHenson.org
The case for Cook: CookPolar.org
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