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| An interesting apology from Scientific
American magazine. Peary is declared the discoverer of
the Pole. Men of science had been duped by Cook just as
readily as the public. |
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| The September 1909
issue, above, and January 1910— top |
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"...the fiasco of the receipt of his
so-called data by a committee of the University of
Copenhagen. These gentlemen very quickly reported that Cook’s statement was the same as that printed in a New
York newspaper; that the copy of his notebooks contained
“no original astronomical observations whatsoever, but
only results;” that the documents presented were
“Inexcusably lacking in Information which would prove
that the astronomical observations therein referred to
were really made;” and that they contained “no details
regarding the practical work of the expedition and the
sledge journey which would enable the committee to
determine their reliability.”
By this sweeping repudiation of Dr. Cook’s claims, the
University of Copenhagen has drawn the final curtain
upon one of the most spectacular dramas of audacious
imposture in the history of geographical research. |
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RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR 1909 |
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Exploration |
See also: actual
image of article |
The year 1909 will forever be famous in the annals of
scientific accomplishment as having witnessed the
successful culmination of the age-long quest for the
North Pole; and the achievement of Commander Robert E.
Peary of the United States navy in finally reaching this
theoretical point at the dome of the world, after
twenty-three years of practically uninterrupted
endeavor, will stand as the most difficult feat of
geographical exploration in the history of the world. It
was eminently fitting that Peary should be the first to
reach the North Pole; for among all, the Arctic
explorers he was easily the first in practical knowledge
and experience. When he announced to the world on
September 5th that on April 6th, 1909, he had reached
the coveted goal, his word was accepted without
question. Subsequently, his data was passed upon
favorably by the National Geographic Society of America,
which later presented him with its medal; and the
verdict of this tribunal has been tacitly indorsed by
the various learned societies throughout the world. In
our issue, of September 11th, commenting upon the
freely-expressed doubts of Dr. Cook’s claim that he
also, and a year earlier, had reached the North Pole, we
wrote: “The man who can look Death full in the face
throughout all the cruel sufferings of a two years’
search for the secret of the frozen North, is built upon
lines too noble to admit of the slightest subterfuge or
misrepresentation.” It was evidently with the same
conviction that the Danish authorities and the Danish
people at large accepted Dr. Cook’s stupendous claim in
a spirit of loyal belief, which appears never to have
wavered until, the fiasco of the receipt of his
so-called data by a committee of the University of
Copenhagen. These gentlemen very quickly reported that Cook’s statement was the same as that printed in a New
York newspaper; that the copy of his notebooks contained
“no original astronomical observations whatsoever, but
only results;” that the documents presented were
“Inexcusably lacking in Information which would prove
that the astronomical observations therein referred to
were really made;” and that they contained “no details
regarding the practical work of the expedition and the
sledge journey which would enable the committee to
determine their reliability.”
By this sweeping repudiation of Dr. Cook’s claims, the
University of Copenhagen has drawn the final curtain
upon one of the most spectacular dramas of audacious
imposture in the history of geographical research.
Second only in importance to Peary’s achievement in
reaching the North. Pole was Lieut. Shackleton’s
wonderful journey in the Antarctic, when he succeeded in
reaching latitude 88’degrees 23; minutes; south, and
arrived within 111 miles of the South Pole. Shackleton
passed the very point reached by Scott in 1903; pushed
on for 325 miles and was defeated in his quest by
hunger, fatigue, sickness and the loss of his dogs and
ponies. He discovered eight new and distinct mountain
ranges and over one hundred mountains, and ascended
Mount Erebus, the most southerly volcano. The south
magnetic pole was reached at 72 degrees 25 minutesEND |
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