Double First

A few days before Robert Peary announced he had reached the North Pole in 1909, another American, Dr. Frederick Cook, claimed and many believed Cook and doubted Peary. Peary's critics doubted that Peary could have made the journey as quickly as he claimed. Leary insisted that he had covered 1300 km at an average speed of 54 km a day, and at times he had traveled at least 74 km in a day - figures which British explorer Wally Herbert, who led the first crossing of the Arctic ice cap in 1968 - 69, had described as incredible. Some critics also pointed out that the only non-Eskimo witness of his dash to the Pole was his Negro servant. In addition, Peary's book on the expedition contained many discrepancies because it was ghost-written, and Peary undermined his own credibility by refusing to admit that he had been helped with the writing. Later, however, Cook’s own account was questioned. His claim to have climbed Mount McKinley was shown to be false, and later imprisonment for financial fraud did nothing to improve his reputation. Nevertheless, the case for or against Peary or Cook is not proven, and almost certainly never will be. The reason: the North Pole is merely a point on a constantly shifting ice pack. So nothing is left there to substantiate either man's claim.