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THE NORTH POLE

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THE NORTH POLE

BY

ROBERT E. PEARY

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INTRODUCTION

Some years ago I met at a dinner in Washington the famous Norwegianarctic explorer, Nansen, himself one of the heroes of polar adventure;and he remarked to me, "Peary is your best man; in fact I think he is onthe whole the best of the men now trying to reach the Pole, and there isa good chance that he will be the one to succeed." I cannot give theexact words; but they were to the above effect; and they made a strongimpression on me. I thought of them when in the summer of 1908 I, asPresident of the United States, went aboard Peary's ship to bid himGodspeed on the eve of what proved to be his final effort to reach thePole. A year later, when I was camped on the northern foothills of Mt.Kenia, directly under the equator, I received by a native runner thenews that he had succeeded, and that thanks to him the discovery of theNorth Pole was to go on the honor roll of those feats in which we take apeculiar pride because they have been performed by our fellowcountrymen.

Probably few outsiders realize the well-nigh incredible toil andhardship entailed in such an achievement as Peary's; and fewer stillunderstand how many years of careful training and preparation there mustbe before the feat can be even attempted with any chance of success. A"dash for the pole" can be successful only if there have been manypreliminary years of painstaking, patient toil. Great physical hardihoodand endurance, an iron will and unflinchi