COOK AND PEARY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 47, 25 February 1937, Page 5

COOK AND PEARY

A POLAR CONTROVERSY

RIVALS IN EXPLORATION

CLAIMS EXAMINED

A recent message from New York 'stated that Dr. Frederick A. Cook is suing the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" and claiming £5000 damages, says a writer in the Melbourne "Age." The Appellate Court has ordered plaintiff to strike from his claim a paragraph in which he asserted that he had been accused of having obtained money under, false pretences by claiming that he had discovered tne North Pole. The Court ruled thai in a matter involving scientific achievement, it may be stated without "imputing fraud that the claim of a discoverer has been either disputed or rejected.

The "Encyclopaedia Britannica," which ■is ■■ the most comprehensive reference book in. the English language, underwent numerous changes of ownership' in Great Britain since the first edition was ■ published in Edinburgh •in three' volumes in 1768-71, but when the fourteenth edition was published in twenty-four volumes in 1929, it was announced that the copyrights, and other property in the work had been acquired by an American organisation', which was registered as the Encyclopaedia Britannica Co. The fourteenth edition was published simultaneously in Englan/i and the United States, but' it was printed in Chicago. It was necessary to print the edition, in the. United States, in order to secure copyright for it in that country. The only reference to Dr. Cook in the fourteenth edition is as follows, in'an article on the Arctic Regions: — "Dr. F. A. Cook spent two years in the Arctic regions, 1907-1909, and claimed to have reached the Pole by sledging alone with two Eskimos, a year before Peary. He submitted the evidence for his achievement to the University of Copenhagen, which failed to find it j satisfactory,'and Dr. Cook, did not appear to challenge this decision." STARTLED THE WOKtD. The claim of Dr. Cook to have reached the North Pole startled the world .when it was first made on September 1, 1909. He was then, returning to- civilisation in the Danish Government steamer Hans Egde, which was employed in communication between Denmark and her colonies in Greenland. His story was that he had been two years in the Arctic, and that, accompanied by two Eskimos, he had reached the Pole on* April 20, 1908. He! got lost on the return journey,' and had some extraordinary adventures in Jones Sound, which delayed his return to civilisation for months. At first Dr. Cook's claim to have reached the North Pole was generally accepted as. genuine, though, of course, there were some sceptics. He was given an. enthusiastic welcome when he reached " Copenhagen in the Hans Egde; the city was beflagged, and he was officially entertained. For more than a hundred years Arctic explorers had been ■ vainly trying to reach the Pole, and Dr. Cook's achievement was therefore regarded as a great triumph. Little was known concerning his expedition, which obviously had been fitted out on a modest scale; but Cook himself was known as a man who had taken part in other. expeditions to Polar regions. He had been honorary medical officer in an Arctic expedition which left New York in 1891. under Commander Robert Peary, and he had served in a similar capacity in a 'Belgian expedition to the Antarctic in 1897; -In' 1903-1906 he led an expedition to Alaska, and claimed to : have been' the first man to scale Mount McKinley. COMMANDER PEARX APPEARS. Five day's after Dr. Cook's claim to have reached, the Pole was made public, a similar claim was made by another explorer returning from the Artie,- by another route. . This was Commander Robert Peary, who had made five expeditions into the Arctic regions, and. in 1908 had set out in the steamer Roosevelt, with a wellequipped expedition; on :his third attempt to reach the Pole. He claimed to have'got'there on April 6, 1909 —nearly twelve ' months after Dr. Cook, of whose' claim he was unaware when he first 'announced . his own claim, on the arrival of the Roosevelt at Indian Harbour, Labrador, on her way south to. New York. The effect of Peary's announcement of having achieved the ■ great ambition of his life in his third attempt with a wellorganised' expedition was to throw doubt' on the genuineness of Dr. -Cook's claim; It was felt, that it was unlikely' that' two men had reached a goal for ' which so many Arctic explorers had vainly tried, and preference was given, to Peary, as a man who had, set out three, times,, a man who had-more experience of the difficulties of travelling in the Arctic than any other explorer, and for the purpose of overcoming those difficulties had had the benefit of a well-equipped expedition. Peary was soon made aware that Cook' claimed to be the first man to reach the Pole, and to have preceded him by almost twelve months. The two explorers were known to one another, Cook having served under Peary in'an Arctic expedition eighteen years before. An angry exchange took place between them across the Atlantic- each said some nasty things about the other, and ridiculed the others claims to have reached the Pole. The controversy,, which provided a great deal of amusement to newspapers readers, divided scientists in several countries into rival camps. Cook carried'out lecturing tours in Denmark and the United States, but so much doubt and ridicule -were thrown on his claim that eventually he ; ' submitted it to the council of the University of Copenhagen for exammation.- -. ■ CLAIM NOT PROVED. The council reported that the documents he had submitted were insufficient proof that he had reached the Pole, and that his account of his journey to that goal was inadequate. The American Explorers' Club investigated' Cook's claim to have ascended Mount McKinley, when he was in command of an exploring expedition into Alaska in 1903-06, and as a result cancelled his membersihp of the club. Cook wrote a book, "My Attainment of the Pole" (published in 1911), in which he described his journey to the Pole, accompanied by two Eskimos, and: discussed Peary's claim. Peary's supporters got into communication with the two" Eskimos who were supposed to have accompanied Cook to the Pole, and they repudiated the story. But their testimony was of little- value, as their geographical knowledge was negligible. Cook's supporters bribed Peary's negro servant, Matthew Hensqn, who, with four Eskimos, had been Peary's companions in his final dash to the Pole, to say that Peary did not reach the Pole. Henson obliged by declaring that in the 'final dash after Captain Bartlett, of the Roosevelt, had been left behind, 133 nautical miles south of the Pole, Peary "rode like a tenderfoot in a fur-cushioned sledge until theygot to a ' place which Peary said was "far enough." This repudiation was quite as valueless as that of Cook's Eskimos.

Although the credit of being the first man to reach the North Pole has generally been given to Commander Robert Peary, doubts about the genuineness of his claim have been revived from time to time. In response to doubts expressed soon after he returned to civilisation in 1909 he submitted proofs of his claim to the American National Geographical Society, which accepted them as satisfactory, and presented him with a special gold medal. The Naval Committee of the Federal Congress also examined Peary and his records before recommending his promotion to the rank of Rear-Admiral in the American Navy. His claim was examined on behalf of the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain, and he was presented with the society's gold medal. Similar bodies in Germany, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and.Belgium presented him with gold medals.

But even today sceptics are heard. One of the most persistent of them is Mr. J. Gordon Hayes, an Englishman, who has made a study of Arctic and 'Antarctic exploration, and has written a number of books about Polar explorers and explorations. In his latest book, "The' Conquest of the North Pole," published ■in 1934, he states:

I "There have been many critics of Peary's claims on both sides of the Atlantic, and all disinterested inquirers have come to the same conclusion that he did not reach the Pole; by this it may be understood that he was never within fifty or more miles of its position. Many Polar explorers agree with this verdict; but they have hitherto refused to make any more public, admission of their opinion than an affirmation in their lectures, though this they do not hesitate to make. TOO FAST A PACE. In a previous book, "Robert Edwin Peary: A Record of His Explorations, 1836-1909," Mr. Hayes closely examines Peary's final dash to the Pole in 1909, and insists that he. could not possibly have' travelled as fast as he claimed to have done. He supports this contention by a careful examination of the journeys of other .Arctic explorers, and an examination of Peary's -previous journeys in the Arctic. Jn the "Geographical Review" of January, 1929', appeared an article entitled "Peary's March on His North Pole Exhibition," by Gunnar Isachsen, who was a member of the second Fram Expedition to the Arctic in 1898-1902. He points out that ice conditions vary greatly in the Arctic regions, and that several times members of the Fram I Expedition made marches of over i seventy miles a day on ice that was 'easy .to sledge over. Peary's average on his 133-mile dash to the Pole was 26 miles a day for five days. And his average on the return journey to Cape Columbia was 29 miles a day for sixteen days. "It is my :opinion that marches of the length of Peary's on his North Pole expedition of 1909 are possible not only for parts of the trip, but for the entire journey," wrote Gunnar Isachsen. It is of interest to note that in "The Conquest of the North Pole," Mr. Hayes suspends judgment regarding Dr. Cook's claim to have reached the North Pole. Of Cook's book, "My Attainment of the Pole," he states: "This book as a whole bears the stamp of reality; it • presents no more difficulties than most other books of the same class, and fewer difficulties than Peary's 'The North Pole.' But Peary's book contains positive evidence that he could not have reached it." It is undeniable that Dr. Cook was a man of courage, resource, and endurance, and that he did not shrink from the hardships of Polar travel. And some of his old friends never lost their affection for him, even- though they had doubts about the genuineness of his claim to have reached the North Pole. Among his comrades in the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897 was Roald Amundsen, who was subsequently to achieve Polar fame, and to have the honour of leading the fir. expedition to reach the South Pole. Amundsen was first mate of the Belgica, which took the Belgian expedition to the Antarctic, and Cook was the ship's physician. Owing to the Belgica becoming blocked in the ice the expedition had to spend a winter in the Antarctic, for which it had not been equipped.

Writing in 1927 of this experience, Amundsen said: "The entire ship's company faced the prospect of a winter in the Antarctic with no winter clothing for the crew, without adequate provisions for so many men, and even without lamps enough to light the quarters of all. It was a truly dreadful prospect. For thirteen months we lay caught in the vice of the ice field. Two of the sailors went insane. Every member of the ship's company was afflicted with scurvy, and all but three of us were prostrated by it. The commander and the captain were both so prostrated that they took to their beds and made their wills. The command of the expedition now devolved upon me as ranking officer. It was in this fearful emergency, during these thirteen long months, in which almost the, certainty of death stared us steadily ,in the face, that I came know Dr. Cook intimately, and to form the affection for him, which nothing in his later career could ever cause me to alter. He of all the ship's company was the one man of unfaltering courage, unfailing hope, endless cheerfulness, and unwearied- kindness. When anyone was sick he was at his bedside to comfort him; when any was disheartened he was there to encourage and inspire. And not only was his vfaith undaunted, but his ingenuity and enterprise were boundless."

In 1923 Cook was sentenced in America to fourteen years' imprisonment on charges of fraud in connection with oil stock promotion. He was released on parole after completing five years of his sentence. He is now in his 74th year. Admiral Peary died in 1920.