Hi Just few words more. I do not think we have any material to prove or disprove Peary's reaching the North Pole. There are only few institutions that could do the investigation professionally and possibly fairly and we know that this is very hard. This is unbelievable but fairness sometimes may not be afforded in science because of many non-scientific issues. So we sundialers should leave the issue.
Just to remember those great. Nansen (Norwegian) left his ship Fram during the frozen-in drift knowing that the drift would not take the ship to the Pole which was the goal. He did not reach the Pole on foot and never hesitated to acknowledge this. And it is rather easy to cheat in case of the North Pole because the ice cap is on the move all the time. Shackleton (Brit of Irish descendance) missed the South Pole by really few days march. But his greatest achievement was reaching South Georgia Island from Antarctic island on a small rescue boat when his ship was crushed by the ice. Waters he sailed are known to be the hardest of all, high Southern latitudes and vicinity of the Cape Horn. Later in spite of all the hardships he rescued the rest of his party that stayed and waited. Amundsen was the first to reach the South Pole while dreaming about the North one. He showed mastership of organization and leadership. Scott lost his expedition in heroic but ill-starred effort. Once I read the saying paying the tribute to those great: If you want good scientific expedition choose Nansen or Scott. If you want performance choose Amundsen. If you are in a hopeless situation then knee down and pray for Shackleton. - Slawek Grzechnik
