"...it (was) quickly discovered that what Rawlins took to be calculations for compass variation were in fact the serial numbers on Peary’s chronometer watches!"
| "I consider this the end of a historic controversy and the confirmation of due justice to a great explorer." |
EIGHTY YEARS AGO
The National Geographic Society examined Commander Robert E. Peary’s claim to have reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909, and found no reason to doubt him. This judgment was confirmed by a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1911...
Peary’s claim was only "engulfed in controversy."... due to...Dr. Frederick Cook, who told the world he had reached the Pole... Peary was given the laurel, but critics persisted in raising questions about his navigation and the distances he claimed... beyond healthy controversy lies darker and more dubious ground.
The Society felt that a "docudrama" broadcast on national television six years ago reached that ground with the portrayal of an innocent Cook being victimized and deprived of his rightful claim by a malevolent Peary... The Geographic commissioned Arctic explorer and author Wally Herbert...(who) concluded in the September 1988 issue that Peary had missed the Pole in part because wind-driven ice carried him west. Saying that is one thing, but calling Peary a fraud is another. That is what the Washington Post reported in front-page headlines a year ago. ... astronomer Dennis Rawlins... concluded that Peary was 105 nautical miles from the Pole... it (was) quickly discovered that what Rawlins took to be calculations for compass variation were in fact the serial numbers on Peary’s chronometer watches! It seemed time to try to put an end to a controversy that was clearly moving away from fruitful debate. We asked the Foundation to undertake a comprehensive study of all the evidence regarding the Peary claim and draw a warranted conclusion, let the chips fall where they may. This the Foundation has done. Its work seems to me unimpeachable. Unless something better comes along, I consider this the end of a historic controversy and the confirmation of due justice to a great explorer.
Gilbert Grosvenor, NGS, 1990
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