The Eskimos said they saw Peary's rock pile "cairn" at Cape Hubbard.
Cook
told them they did not see it (!) and that Peary had never been there.
This is very interesting because Cook says he passed Cape Hubbard.
Initially he said he did not see the cairn. When
provoked by reporters as to Peary's very visible rock pile he finally
admitted that he saw it in the distance.
This admission outraged reporters because all explorers stop and
retrieve the records stored at a cairn, then place in it their own
record. This is how each would prove the others geographical
achievement. But Cook not only did not do this but later claimed Peary
had never been at Cape Hubbard. He did this in his book even though the
Eskimos had seen the cairn, and Cook had even admitted to a reporter
that he saw it but did not stop because he was in a hurry to reach the
North Pole!
Years later the Cape Hubbard cairn was visited by another explorer
who retrieved Peary's notes and thus settled the charge Cook made
that Peary had never been there. This makes the comments of the Eskimos
even more interesting because they were on record in 1909 stating
"Cook says they did not see it. Said Peary had never been there."
The point being that Cook not only lied about going to the North Pole
but lied to the Eskimos about Peary, told the Eskimos to lie, lied to
the Newspapers about the cairn, and even accused Peary of fraud by
claiming Peary had never been to Cape Hubbard because Cook did not see
his cairn!
This incident is a perfect example of the low character of
Frederick Cook and the extremes of which he was capable. |
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