Was the North Pole Really Discovered?
On April 21, 1808, Dr. Frederick A. Cook announced that he had reached the
North Pole. His announcement was followed a few days later by one from
Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary, who claimed to reach the North Pole on April
6, 1909. Both men hurled accusations against the other, claiming that they
discovered the North Pole and that the other did not. Cook accused Peary,
saying that he had appropriated some of his reports on his return from the
Pole. But Cook failed to have any written record that he had made of his
trip, and this made his reports seem suspicious.
Though Cook claimed to be the first to reach the North Pole, Peary is
generally given credit to have been the first to discover it. Cook's claim
was discredited because the sun's altitude was only a few degrees above
the horizon and was so low at the time that observations of it as proof of
his position were worthless. Peary reached, or claimed he reached, the
North Pole in April, fifteen days earlier in the season, and hence under
more adverse solar conditions. His calculations are therefore more open to
suspicion than Cook's.
Also, Cook has no witnesses that he found the North Pole, other than
Eskimos. The same is true of Peary, who lacked witnesses through choice,
having ordered the men on the expedition to remain behind, while he went
on alone with one Eskimo companion to the Pole. While Cook was doubted
when he claimed to make 15 miles a day, Peary claimed to have made over 20
miles. The argument whether Cook or Peary, or neither, discovered the
North Pole is still not perfectly settled.
There is one factor in Peary's dash to the Pole that casts suspicion on
his claim to have reached it. This was the remarkable speed at which he
claimed to travel, or would have had to travel to reach the North Pole and
return during the time he did. When he neared the 88th parallel north
latitude, he decided to attempt a final dash to the Pole in five days. He
made 25 miles the first day; 20 miles on the second day; 20 miles on the
third day; 25 miles on the fourth; and 40 miles on the fifth. His five-day
average was 26 miles a day. Can a man walk that fast under the incredibly
difficult conditions of the North Pole area, supposedly an ice-terrain
described by the men in the atomic submarine "Skate" as fantastically
jumbled and jagged? And yet, further south, with presumably better
conditions of travel, he was able to average only 20 miles a day.
From these facts we must conclude that neither Cook nor Peary reached the
true North Pole, since, according to the theories presented in this book,
it does not exist. What Cook and Peary reached was probably the magnetic
rim of the polar opening or depression, where the compass points straight
down, but not the Pole itself, which lies in the center of this opening.
Peary may have traveled for the distance he calculated as correct to reach
the North Pole, but what he really did was to travel this same distance
either around or into the depression or opening which exists in this part
of the world, into which Admiral Byrd entered; and the further he would
travel the deeper he would go into this opening, without ever reaching the
true Pole.
Scientific societies that considered Cook's and Peary's claims to reach
the North Pole concluded that in neither case could it be said
authoritatively that the explorer had reached the Pole.
Cook's claim to have reached the Pole was based on his promise to prove it
by field notes and mathematical observations. But he was never able to
present any notes. He claimed that Peary caused some of this data to be
buried. But in time the faith in Cook turned into skepticism, which was
started by Peary's denial of Cook's claim. Peary's denial was supported by
Cook's failure to present proper scientific data. Rear Admiral Melville of
the United States Navy, an old time Arctic explorer, said in an interview
at the time:
"It was the crazy dispatches purporting to have come from Dr. Cook about
the conditions he found there, and other things, that caused a doubt in my
mind about Cook's having found the Pole."
According to Dr. Tittman, Cook and Peary could not have traveled on foot
over solid ice to reach the North Pole, because practically all scientists
agree that this is not the fact. Some think there is open sea there and
others fertile land. All explorers who have gone far enough north found
open sea. As for fertile land there, this would only be possible according
to our own theory of a polar opening and central sun, since, according to
the theory of a solid earth, it should get colder and colder the further
north one goes. But Arctic explorers found the opposite to be true. They
found it warmer near the, Pole than further south. But even if the cold at
the Pole was not enough to freeze the sea, how could it be warm enough to
permit fertile land unless our theory is correct? Since all polar
explorers agree that there is open sea in this region (the polar orifice),
but ice further south, it is clear that Cook did not go as far north as he
thought he went.
When the Swedish Academy of Sciences and University of Copenhagen examined
Cook's claims, they decided that he had not proved that he reached the
Pole. Peary gave the following report to the Associated Press:
"Cook was not at the North Pole on April 21, 1908, nor at any other time.
Cook's story should not be taken too seriously. The two Eskimos who
accompanied him say he went no distance north, and not out of sight of
land. Other members of the tribe commemorate this story. He has simply
handed the public a gold brick."
But when Peary returned to civilization his own story sounded as dubious
as Cook's. He had taken even fewer observations of his alleged position
than Cook had done. The fact that he left his white companions behind and
had no witnesses cast doubt on his claims. When Cook was doubted when he
said he made fifteen miles a day in sledge traveling, Peary claimed he
made over twenty, and even forty. Since it is impossible to make forty
miles a day on a dog sledge, which is admitted to be slower travel than on
foot, this claim seems impossible. When questioned whether he traveled
faster on the dog sledge than on foot, Peary admitted:
"In Arctic expeditions a man is lucky if he is able to walk without
pushing the sledge. Usually he must grip the rear and push it ahead. It is
like guiding a breaking plow drawn by oxen. You must also expect at any
moment that the sledge may strike some pressure ridge that will wrench you
off your feet."
According to Peary's statement it seems impossible that he could travel at
speeds of twenty to forty miles a day over Arctic ice and keep it up for
eight days, after doing equally arduous work for months.
For this reason, after examining Cook's and Peary's data, Honorable Mr.
Miller concludes:
"The question whether Cook or Peary discovered the North Pole may never be
solved. It seems to be one of history's puzzles, and to remain a matter of
one man's word against another."
When Peary submitted his proofs for investigation, the Congressional
Committee that examined them acknowledged in Congress that Peary had not,
no more than Cook, proved his claim of reaching the Pole. Peary claimed he
traveled a distance of 270 miles from eighty-seven degrees, forty-seven
minutes North to the Pole and back to the same latitude in seven days and
a few hours. This speed seems impossible in the polar region.
Cook admitted he did not reach the Pole in his book he wrote after he
returned from his expedition, in which he wrote:
"Did I actually reach the North Pole? If I was mistaken in approximately
placing my feet upon the pin-point (North Pole) about which this
controversy has raged, I maintain it was the inevitable mistake any man
must make. To touch that spot would be an accident."
This created an international scandal. After foreign kings and
universities had congratulated and showered honors on Cook, later it was
discovered they had been duped. Now, after one American explorer (Cook)
was found to have made a false claim, it would reflect badly the
reputation of the United States if another (Peary) was found, after
examination, to also make a false claim. This would lead to ridicule in
the foreign press. To prevent this, the Congress of the United States
appointed a committee of the National Geographical Society, which gave a
favorable verdict on Peary's discovery after a cursory examination of his
field notes, and it was hoped this would settle the matter, so that the
world may consider an American explorer, Peary, to have discovered the
North Pole. It was hoped this would settle the matter, and prevent one
false claim about the discovery of the North Pole by an American from
following the other.
However, a year after the committee of the National Geographical Society
made a favorable verdict on Peary's claim, a new Congressional
investigation was made and its verdict was that Peary did not prove his
claims because his statements were not backed by a single white witness.
The committee made the verdict of "not proven."
But Peary never replied to the charges made against him, and wished to end
his career by retiring with the rank of Rear Admiral, which carried a
pension with it of $6,000 a year. Friends of Peary brought into Congress a
bill to retire him. One would think that before he retired an inquiry
would be made whether or not he reached the Pole, but no inquiry was made.
While the United States government refused to officially endorse Peary's
discovery, it could not afford to lower its prestige before the world by
announcing that he did not discover the North Pole.
"I am satisfied that Peary did not discover the Pole for two reasons:
"1. In spite of all the talk there has been about scientific data brought
back by him and furnished as evidence, the fact is that his claim to the
discovery in question is backed by his unsupported word, and by nothing
else.
"2. All of the other claims to discoveries in the Arctic region by Peary
have been proven false. Why, then, should we accept as true his
unsupported statement that he arrived at the Pole?"
At a Congressional Hearing, Mr. Tittmann, superintendent of the U.S. Coast
Survey, was asked: "What evidence is there that this party consisting of
Peary and others, reached the Pole?"
Mr. Tittmann replied: "I have no evidence of that except the soundings
recorded under Peary's signature. Peary brought back nothing - no
witnesses, no worthwhile scientific proof, nothing but his unsupported
word to back up his claim to have discovered the Pole. But, inasmuch as
his reputation for veracity has been completely shattered by the fact that
every other claim of discovery made by him has proven false, there is
nothing that the world can accept as demonstrating that at any time he has
been anywhere near the Pole."
Due to the irregular action of the compass in the polar region and the
fact that the sun was barely above the horizon when both explorers were
there, making it difficult to make measurements, in a region where it is
easy for an explorer to get lost due to difficulty in ascertaining his
position, it is probable that neither Cook or Peary really found the North
Pole, even if they thought they did. This is confirmed by the fact that
every previous Arctic explorer found warmer conditions and open sea very
far north, while Cook and Peary claimed they traveled over ice. This would
indicate that they were in points further south and if they had gone
further north they would reach open sea. Commenting on this fact, Marshall
B. Gardner, in his book, "A Journey to the Earth's Interior or Were the
Poles Really Discovered," writes:
"Had they (Cook and Peary) gone further they would have found open and
increasing temperature. Had they then possessed boats they could have
launched on that sea and the way to the goal and to the truth would have
been clear. They would have seen the earth's central sun shining even in
the winter, shining all of the twenty-four hours and all of the year, and
they would have discovered new continents and oceans, a new world of land
and water and of forms of life some of which have vanished from the
outside of the globe."
"But it was not to be. The discovery of that new land was left to those
who, following the theory outlined in this book, and using such safe means
of Arctic traveling as the airplane and dirigible, will fly over the
eternal barrier of ice to the warmer sea beyond and over that until they
come into the realm of perpetual sunlight. "
Gardner's claim was confirmed by the two expeditions of Admiral Byrd,
which traveled by airplane through the openings at the North and South
Poles and came to this warmer land, where they saw a new strange form of
animal life, as well as trees, green vegetation, mountains and lakes,
though the expeditions did not penetrate the polar openings far enough to
reach the tropical land of perpetual sunlight in the earth's interior,
about which Gardner speaks. But such a land and such a sun must exist if
Admiral Byrd's observations of a warmer territory beyond the Poles are
correct.