Discovery of the North Pole: The South Pole soon to follow
Featured Map: The detailed map showing Cook and Perry’s journey to discover the North Pole made in the first decade of the early 20th century.
There is controversy over who the true discoverer of the North Pole really is. There is no doubt, however, that Frederick Albert Cook (June 10, 1865 – August 5, 1940) American explorer and physician, along with another American explorer, Robert Edwin Peary, Sr. (May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920), both claimed (though separately achieved) to have reached the ultimate unconquered destination of the era; the frozen unknown at the geographic north point of the Earth’s axis of rotation, where children imagine Santa Claus lives. (A caveat is not to confuse geographic north with magnetic north). We are referring to the discovery of geographic north.
Read more here:
Smithsonian Magazine Cook vs Peary
And next would be the race for the South Pole.
Excerpt from: Huntford, Roland. The Last Place on Earth: Scott and Amundsen’s Race to the South Pole. Rev. and updated Modern Library ed., Modern Library, 1999. “On July 23rd, the sun returned. What it showed were pallid complexions, unkempt hair, drawn features, and faces that had aged years in a few months. Amundsen’s hair had turned grey. Personalities had changed. The first Antarctic night experienced by man had taken its toll.”
Before reaching the South Pole, famed explorer, Amundsen, was trained under more experienced and seasoned leaders.
Amundsen was a diligent and focused student; even under the worst nights of darkness that lasted even through the day, and when simultaneously, they suffered the symptoms of scurvy.
He made notes of lessons learned in his journal, that he could apply in the future; perhaps partly as a way to escape the horrors of the long polar night.
Two notable achievements during these earlier periods are being part of a team that were first to experience the Antarctic night and being the first to step on the road to the pole. These accomplishments precede and are separate from, his successful expedition to the South Pole.
“…at Cape Adare, Leonard Kristensen, Antarctic’s captain, lowered a boat and went ashore. Borchgrevink was with him. They were the first men to set foot on South Victoria Land. The date was January 24th, 1895. It was the first step on the road to the Pole.”
“…the race for the South Pole, which Scott lost to Nansen’s protégé, Roald Amundsen, in 1911 – and which cost Scott his life, as well. In death, Scott was mythologized as the preeminent tragic hero in the history of the British Empire, but Huntford’s book – lauded by The New York Times as “one of the great debunking biographies” – portrays him as an inept bungler unworthy of such deification.“ Huntford, Roland. The Last Place on Earth: Scott and Amundsen’s Race to the South Pole. Rev. and updated Modern Library ed., Modern Library, 1999.
