I would say anyone concerned about slighting the memory of the National Geographic's dupe Peary should look into the history of Frederick Cook, the doctor who saved Peary's life on one arctic expedition, was subsequently slandered and banned from Peary's party for publishing scholarly accounts but without Peary's permission, and then likely beat Peary by a year to the pole (no one will ever really know, since Peary would only save a Cook confederate [who had Cook's journals and records for safekeeping] from certain death on the ice under condition that all of Cook's material be left behind. Peary and National Geo destroyed Cook, who later was also unfairly jailed for a land fraud scheme (turned out the land was extremely valuable) and was eventually pardoned by FDR, saying Cook was the most maligned man he had ever heard of. Peary was a megalomaniacal, selfish, egotist who refused to have any other white man with him on his final push toward the pole, and who later complained that Cook's accounts couldn't be believed because his only companions were eskimos.
Rory Sellers ---------- From: Peter Tandy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [email protected] Subject: Peary & the pole Date: Wednesday, September 18, 1996 2:37 AM It is interesting to find the various replies concerning the doubt about Peary actually reaching the pole, which I seem to have started. It is especially interesting since I was about to eat a huge slice of humble pie and apologise to Slawomir, readers of this information and Peary himself, for I did (as I hinted might be the case), get my wires crossed about the information. The article I vaguely recalled actually impuned another polar explorer, Commander Richard Byrd, who was intending to fly over the pole, but upon suffering an oil leak in the aircraft engine, turned back before getting there. Nonetheless, he received (and accepted) accolades for the trip, and seemingly, fudged his diaries to cover up the discrepancy. It seems the best that can now be said of his trip is that he could probably "see the pole" (150 miles away was the quoted distance) given the height at which he was flying. This short article appeared in the Daily Telegraph on 10th of May this year (but is only paraphrasing a longer article due to appear in some more learned journal). My apologies for causing initial confusion about Peary, but given the replies maybe I was part-right anyway. Perhaps there is something about the magnetic field or the clean air in those parts which affects normally intelligent honest people...? best wishes, Peter Tandy Peter Tandy Department of Mineralogy, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD Tel: +44 (0)171-938-8778 INTERNET: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
