Biography of Robert Peary. His life and key discoveries

April 6, 1909 expedition of an American explorer Roberta Leary reached the North Pole. His compatriot Frederick Cook claimed that he had visited the North Pole a year earlier.

Who was Robert Peary

Robert Peary was extraordinary an ambitious person. Even in his youth, he wrote that “I would like to gain a name that would give me access to the circle of the elite, where I would feel on an equal footing with everyone.” After graduating from high school and college, he became an officer in the United States Navy Department and was engaged in military engineering work in Central America. But even then, after reading several books about the north, Piri began to connect his ambitious dreams with research northern territories. And soon he went to Greenland.

In 1891-1892, he crossed this island on a sleigh - however, not very successfully: at the beginning of the campaign, Piri broke his leg and did not remain disabled only thanks to the professional skill of the expedition doctor. This doctor was precisely Frederick Cook, his future rival.

Robert Peary In general, he had no luck for a long time - all his ambitious plans collapsed, because someone was always ahead of him (the same Fridtjof Nansen, for example). However, the American did not despair - having dreamed of conquering the North Pole, throughout the 1890s he studied the life of the Eskimos and came up with his own “system” that was supposed to help him get to the northernmost point of the planet.

Piri made his throw to the Pole in the first half of 1909. The expedition was prepared fundamentally: under the auspices of the US Navy Department; intermediate bases were arranged in advance; the number of the detachment was large.

April 6, 1909 Robert Peary reached the North Pole. Imagine his amazement when, on the way back, he learned that Frederick Cook had done this a year earlier: April 21, 1908. Since then, Pirie has fiercely defended his own priority, launching a wide newspaper campaign and tirelessly accusing Cook of forgery.

So was Robert Peary at the North Pole?

The matter for Cook was complicated by the fact that the documents of his campaign were lost (not without, it seems, the efforts of Peary). Let us note that modern researchers, who have studied in detail the diaries, maps and photographs of Peary’s expedition, are inclined to conclude that the American still did not reach the pole, having made an error in the calculations. In this case, distances from eight to 160 kilometers are named, separating him from the goal at the final point of the journey.

Robert Peary walked to the top of the planet five times and was forced to turn back five times. That's non-freezing open water, then impassable hummocks stopped him.

In the intervals between expeditions, he returned to his homeland in the USA for a year or two. He returned only to prepare a new expedition. In total, he lived among the Eskimos in the far north of Greenland for a decade and a half.

During one of the expeditions, he froze his feet. Eight fingers had to be amputated. But neither this accident nor numerous failures could break the traveler’s perseverance.

Robert Edwin Peary was born in Cresson Springs, Pennsylvania on May 8, 1856. The father died when the boy was two years old. The mother returned with her son to Maine, on the southern border of the state, where he grew up among wildlife. He was only son. After finishing high school in Portland, he was accepted to Baudouin College in Brunswick. The mother also moved to Brunswick so as not to be separated from her son at least in the first years of his student life.

After graduating from college, Robert went to Washington, where he worked as a draftsman for the US Coast and Geodetic Survey. Soon, however, he transferred to the Navy Department as an engineer and received military rank Lieutenant Three years later he is sent to Nicaragua. IN tropical forests he carried out surveys of the canal route across the isthmus. The ministry appreciated Piri's work so highly that it granted him several months of leave. In 1886, Robert took a vacation, asked his mother for $500, and unexpectedly left for Greenland.

In June 1886, the whaling ship Eagle landed Robert Peary at Godhaven.

It seems that at that time Piri had not yet seriously thought about conquering the Pole. His plans were more modest: crossing Greenland from the west coast to the east.

At that time, the interior of Greenland remained a blank spot on maps. There was an opinion that glaciers only border the island, and behind them there should be exposed rocky areas with a milder climate, even covered with forests.

In 1878, the Dane Jensen tried to cross Greenland, and in 1883, the Swede Nordenskiöld. But both of these attempts ended in failure.

Peary also failed to achieve success. In 26 days, his detachment managed to advance less than 100 miles inland icy desert- even smaller than Nordenskiöld’s detachment.

Piri wrote about his first unsuccessful attempt crossing Greenland as a reconnaissance expedition; in fact, Peary's plan, as already stated, was to reach Peterman Peak on the opposite side of the island. Peary walked about one-sixth of the distance and was forced to turn back.

But the Greenland expedition made his name, and he himself was now hopelessly “sick” of the North. The biographer writes: “In the continental ice of Greenland, during a reconnaissance expedition, his taste for Arctic travel first awakened. This was the path that promised him the desired glory.”

Peary returned to Nicaragua, then moved to Philadelphia. With the support of the American Geographical Society and the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, received a cash subsidy, obtained an eighteen-month leave from service, and in 1891 again went to Greenland. He formulated his goal as follows: “...to achieve and determine northern border Greenland by land, that is, by crossing the internal ice."

Peary called his first trip to Greenland reconnaissance. But this time he really led the expedition: a special ship, thirty people on board.

At the very beginning, while approaching the wintering place, a huge piece of ice jammed the ship's rudder, and the heavy iron tiller spun sharply. The blow hit Piri in the legs.

“A fracture of both bones above the ankle,” determined the expedition doctor, Frederick Cook.

Pirie in his book devotes three lines to this episode: “Thanks to the professional skill of my doctor Cook and the vigilant and attentive care of Mrs. Pirie, my complete recovery was quickly achieved.”

And after a month and a half, Piri personally participates in the delivery of food warehouses, which should provide for next year's sleigh trips. In winter, equipment was tested on short hikes, and people practiced skiing. Eskimo women sewed clothes. And in the spring, Piri went on a hike and walked along the ice sheet for more than 2000 kilometers, crossing Greenland twice in its northernmost part.

In January 1899, Piri, preparing a throw to the Pole, decided to abandon an auxiliary food warehouse in the darkest time of the polar night. His detachment will fight its way to Fort Conger for a week. “We walked in complete darkness, over piles of ice, stumbling, falling, getting up again, and made our way further and further for 18 hours.” When at Fort Conger, in the very house where the Greeley expedition once wintered, he can undress for the first time in a week, he will see that his legs are hopelessly frostbitten.

The ship's doctor, Thomas Dedrick, amputates eight of his fingers, and again the squad will fight their way into the night - now back to the Window Horde's parking lot. But in his book, Piri will write only two lines about this return journey: “On the twenty-eighth we reached the Windward’s parking lot. Everyone, except me, walked 250 miles in 11 days...” He was carried on sleds for these 11 days. And a month after the amputation, he will again go to Fort Conger... on crutches. Whatever it is, in the spring they must go to the Pole!

Piri was frantic in his work, he did not spare either himself or other people. And he couldn’t stand it when his companions showed independence when they had own opinion, different from his opinion.

By the way, the rush to deliver food to Fort Conger in 1899, when Peary suffered such serious frostbite, is explained precisely by the fact that the American traveler sought to get ahead of the Norwegian Otto Sverdrup...

In 1892, in his report to the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, Peary characterized Dr. Cook as “an indefatigable student of the extraordinary people among whom we happen to live.”

A little later, Cook wrote an article about his ethnographic research and asked Peary for permission to publish it, since he was bound by certain contractual obligations even before the expedition began. Piri refused.

Robert Peary devoted his entire life to fulfilling his dream of conquering the Pole. “More than once I returned from the great frozen desert defeated, exhausted and exhausted, sometimes mutilated, convinced that this was my last attempt... But less than a year passed, I was again overwhelmed by the well-known feeling of uneasiness. I was inexpressibly drawn there, to boundless icy expanses, I longed to fight the frozen elements."

Piri is already over fifty, but he does not want to put up with failure. “I have not engaged in systematic physical training, since I do not see any particular benefit in it. Until now, my body has always obeyed the will, whatever the demands placed on it,” Piri wrote.

Over the years, he began to feel that conquering the top of the planet was destined for him by fate. "I for many years I believed that reaching the Pole was destined for me."

Money for the new expedition is provided by wealthy patrons from the Peary Arctic Club. President Theodore Roosevelt himself, hugging him goodbye, called Peary the national hope.

Over the years, plans to conquer the pole have changed somewhat. “Only very small parties are suitable for actual work in the polar regions,” Peary once wrote. Now he believes that "auxiliary parties are necessary." They pave the way in the hummocks, build an igloo (ice hut) for overnight stays, they must drop food supplies as far north as possible and, finally, preserve the strength of the main detachment for the decisive push to the Pole.

At the end of February 1909, a huge caravan leaves Cape Columbia: 19 sledges, 133 dogs, 24 people. On March 1, Robert Piri himself will start in the rearguard...

Radio communication at that time had not yet become common practice on polar expeditions, and the world knew nothing about Piri’s fate until the fall of 1909.

Only on September 7, a victorious telegram arrived in Europe: “The stars and stripes have been driven into the pole!” As you can imagine, the “stars and stripes” are the American flag that Peary said he planted at the Pole on April 6, 1909.

On the very day that Peary's telegram reached Europe, the conqueror of the North Pole... Dr. Frederick Cook was already being honored in Copenhagen! He claimed to have reached the top of the planet on April 21, 1908.

Dr. Cook learned of Peary's success at a banquet held in his honor: “A dead silence fell in the room... The air seemed to be electrified. When I heard the news, I felt... neither envy nor annoyance. I thought only about Piri, about long and difficult years, and I was happy for him. I didn't feel a sense of competition. I believed that Piri had solved, in addition to vanity, great scientific problems in his campaign. Perhaps he managed to discover new lands and map new spaces."

Speaking to reporters that day, Cook would be restrained: “We are both Americans, and therefore there can be no international conflict because of this wonderful discovery, so long ago and so ardently desired." It seemed that Cook and Peary would rightfully share the honor and glory of the discoverers among themselves. But Peary could not come to terms with the fact that he was “only second.” He was too accustomed to consider pole with his property. Already one of Peary’s first telegrams was a declaration of war: “Please note that Cook simply deceived the public. He was not at the Pole on April 21, 1908, or at any other time..."

And a scandal broke out - unprecedented in the history of geographical discoveries. Many times the question of the priority of opening the pole was discussed at meetings of a special commission and even in the US Congress itself.

Peary said: “I put my whole life into doing what seemed worthwhile to me, because the task was clear and promising. And when I finally achieved the goal, some filthy cowardly impostor spoiled and ruined everything.”

Cook sent a letter to the president: “If you sign the decree on Piri, then you will honor a man with sinful hands... In given time in the bleak North there are at least two children screaming for bread, milk and their father. They are living witnesses to the dirty tricks of Piri, who is covered with a scab of unspeakable vice."

But Cook was a member of the Peary expedition in 1891 - 1892. Young Frederick Cook then looked at his boss as a deity, and Peary, after the end of the expedition, wrote: “We owe to Dr. Cook that there were almost no diseases among the members of our expedition. I cannot but pay tribute to his professional skill, constant patience and composure at critical moments. While engaged in ethnography, he collected a huge amount of material about the virtually unstudied tribe of Greenland Eskimos. He was always a useful and tireless worker."

On Piri’s side stood the Arctic Club, created by him back in 1898 and bearing his name. The club included wealthy and very influential people: the president of the American Museum of Natural History, the president of the largest bank in America, a railroad magnate, a newspaper owner and many others. For ten years they subsidized all of Robert Peary's expeditions. You could say they bet on him. His success was at the same time their success, his laurels partly their laurels. But what are ephemeral laurels! His success promised them very real dividends.

It is quite obvious that the Arctic Club unconditionally sided with Piri; moreover, it put its influence, its money, and most of the American press on Piri’s side.

In 1911, after much debate, the lower house of the US Congress adopted a resolution, which was soon signed by the president. Peary was awarded the rank of rear admiral, and on behalf of Congress, gratitude was declared “for his Arctic research, culminating in reaching the North Pole.” Robert Peary was given many honors during his lifetime. However, neither Cook nor Peary could provide comprehensive evidence of reaching the pole.

Such evidence could be, first of all, ocean depths measured in the polar region (they could be verified subsequently), or multiple repeated astronomical definitions carried out on drifting ice independently of each other by several expedition members and preferably with several instruments.

However, neither Cook nor Peary were able to measure the depth of the ocean in the polar region and make full-fledged astronomical determinations.

Cook was accompanied by two Eskimos, but they, naturally, did not know how to use a sextant.

Many members of Peary's expedition were quite experienced navigators, but none of them reached the Pole. More precisely, Piri did not take any of them to the Pole.

He sent Captain Bartlett, the commander of the advance detachment, back from latitude 87°47", when only 133 miles remained to the Pole.

In the book “The North Pole” Robert Peary will write: “I looked after the mighty figure of the captain for a long time. She became smaller and smaller and finally disappeared behind the snow-white sparkling hummocks. I was inexpressibly sad that I had to part with best friend and an invaluable companion, always cheerful, calm and wise, to whose lot fell the most difficult work of paving the way for our parties."

One of the historical geographers, quoting these words, remarked quite rightly: “One can only be surprised at Piri’s hypocrisy.”

Indeed, Peary always strived to ensure that no “white” could lay claim to his fame. On the way to the Pole, he was accompanied by four Eskimos and a mulatto bodyguard, Met Henson.

Later, at a meeting of a congressional commission, he would declare quite frankly: “The Pole is the goal of my whole life. And therefore I did not think that I should share the achievement of this goal with a person who, perhaps, is capable and worthy, but is still young and has devoted only a few years to this.” life. Honestly, it seems to me that he does not have the same rights as me."

Robert Peary's recordings have raised and continue to raise many questions. First, it was established that the "pole" photographs presented by Peary as proof of his victory were not taken at the pole. Secondly, the speed of its movement on drifting ice cannot but cause surprise.

Robert Peary in 1906 was able to reach a speed of 25.9 kilometers per day, Frederick Cook on his way to the Pole traveled an average of 27.6 kilometers per day, Captain Bartlett, returning lightly to Cape Columbia, 28.9 kilometers.

A simple calculation shows that in order to reach the pole in eighteen days and return to Cape Columbia, Piri, after parting with the auxiliary detachment, had to travel 50 (!) kilometers per day in 1909. This speed seems absolutely incredible.

Piri himself explained his phenomenal speed by the fact that on the way back his detachment followed the same trail along which it moved to the Pole. However, such an “explanation” immediately raises new questions.

Nowadays, the American Theon Wright has conducted a detailed analysis of documents and materials related to the history of the dispute between Peary and Cook. His book "The Big Nail" was published in our country. Theon Wright could not help but be confused by the inconsistencies in Peary’s descriptions, and he, having studied everything and everyone, comes to the conclusion: “All together shows that only one conclusion is possible: Peary was not at the Pole, and his reports about the last campaign are a complete hoax.” .

However, not everyone accepts Wright's point of view. Disputes between supporters of Piri and Cook continue to this day. And probably only American researchers can finally resolve this dispute - they have access to the materials and documents of their compatriots.

Having shown undoubted courage and the greatest perseverance in achieving the goal, Piri did not want, could not admit his defeat. It is significant that, upon returning to the ship, he did not even notify the expedition members that he had reached the pole. Apparently, the plan to falsify the records only arose when Peary learned from the Eskimos about Cook's success. Before that, he could still hope to honestly repeat the attempt, for example, next year. But the news of his opponent’s achievement became for Piri the downfall of everything to which he had dedicated his life. And then ambition won in him.