Speaker 1: The Quest for the North Pole is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Mental Floss. It's summer in the
Speaker 1: northernmost reaches of Greenland. The temperature hovers around freezing. American
Speaker 1: explorer Robert E. Peary and his assistant Matthew Henson are
Speaker 1: on a back breaking journey by dog sled across the
Speaker 1: ice cap from Independence Bay, a large fjord on Greenland's
Speaker 1: northeastern corner, to their base camp at Bowden Bay on
Speaker 1: the west coast. They're nearly out of food, and they're
Speaker 1: desperately searching for a herd of muskoks to stave off
Speaker 1: their depths by starvation. The animals they're stalking way up
Speaker 1: to eight hundred pounds and are built like battering rams,
Speaker 1: with a coat of shaggy hair and sharp curved horns.
Speaker 1: Muskoks are powerful and unpredictable, and their peers and Hanson's
Speaker 1: last hope for revival. All day, they look for snags
Speaker 1: of the oxen's hair on rough rocks and scan the
Speaker 1: snow for tracks. Finally, they locate hoofprints and follow them
Speaker 1: across a valley. Anticipating fresh meat. They spot a herd
Speaker 1: of eight adult oxen and their calves about a hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty feet ahead of them, munching on tufts of
Speaker 1: grass on a wind swept slope. According to his biographer
Speaker 1: Bradley Robinson, Henson stops his dogs and sled and let's
Speaker 1: us lead dog out of its trace. It sprints towards
Speaker 1: the herd. The panicked musk ox form a circle around
Speaker 1: their calves. The adults face outward from the circle, ready
Speaker 1: to fight. Perry and Henson aim and fire, but they
Speaker 1: are so weak with hunger that their actions feel like
Speaker 1: they're in slow motion. Most of the bullets hit their targets,
Speaker 1: and the oxen dropped to the ground in heaps. But
Speaker 1: one big animal is just grazed by the shot. It
Speaker 1: turned towards Peary, who has no ammunition left. The ox charges.
Speaker 1: Robinson writes that Perry scrambles up the snow covered slope,
Speaker 1: shouting at Henson to fire. His legs feel like rubber,
Speaker 1: his boots slip on the icy ground, and he expects
Speaker 1: at any moment to feel the animal's horns in his back.
Speaker 1: Out of the corner of his eye, Pier sees Henson
Speaker 1: raised his gun over the ragged sound of his breathing.
Speaker 1: He hears a thud in the snow behind him. Henson
Speaker 1: has saved his life. This isn't the first time that
Speaker 1: Pierry has come within inches of death and his quest
Speaker 1: to reach the North Pole, and it won't be the
Speaker 1: last time that Henson's skill and quick thinking prevent disaster.
Speaker 1: On one of their expeditions, Peary wanted to be the
Speaker 1: first person at the North Pole, and he wanted to
Speaker 1: live to tell the world. Henson would help make it happen.
Speaker 1: In this episode, will examine the unique relationship between Robert
Speaker 1: Peary and Matthew Henson, two adventurers with completely different backgrounds
Speaker 1: and temperaments. They built one of the most enduring and
Speaker 1: successful partnerships in the history of exploration, but there were
Speaker 1: also disappointments, betrayals, and a lot of drama. Will tag
Speaker 1: along as they make their first stabs at the Big Nail,
Speaker 1: the North Pole itself From Mental Floss and I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: This is the Quest for the North Pole. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Cat Long, Science editor at Mental Floss and this is
Speaker 1: Episode five. Meet Pierry and Henson. The Canadian historian Pierre
Speaker 1: Burton rights no other explorer in Arctic history was ever
Speaker 1: a single minded in the pursuit of his goal as
Speaker 1: Robert Edwin Perry. No other as paranoid, and his suspicion
Speaker 1: and even hatred of those he considered rivals and interlopers.
Speaker 1: No other as ruthless, as arrogant, as insensitive, or as
Speaker 1: self serving. Of all the bizarre and eccentric human creatures
Speaker 1: who sought the Arctic grail, Perry is the least lovable.
Speaker 1: Pretty strong words. Yet these unpleasant qualities might have been
Speaker 1: the keys to perry success. His relentless ambition drove him
Speaker 1: on when others might have faltered. His hunger for fame
Speaker 1: would not let him give up, even after he lost
Speaker 1: eight toes to frostbite. His todying to his superiors, as
Speaker 1: Burton puts it, resulted in them funding his expensive trips
Speaker 1: to the Arctic, even aside from his quest for the
Speaker 1: North Pole. He must be given his due as one
Speaker 1: of the greatest explorers of the period, Burton rights, but
Speaker 1: it was the poll that obsessed him. Unlike earlier expeditions
Speaker 1: like nonsense that hope to answer scientific quest, Jens Peary
Speaker 1: was not really concerned about useful discoveries or charting the unknown.
Speaker 1: He had little training in natural history, unless you count
Speaker 1: his taxidermy business. After he graduated from college. He kept
Speaker 1: meteorological records, as every previous explorer had done, but he
Speaker 1: was merely collecting data, not interpreting the results to solve
Speaker 1: the hypothesis. His prime purpose was to conquer the North
Speaker 1: Pole before anybody else. As Burton writes, even the conquest
Speaker 1: of the poll was not in Peery's view and end
Speaker 1: in itself, but only a means to an end. Perry
Speaker 1: hungered for fame and fortune. He made no bones about that.
Speaker 1: The pole he knew would give him both. Very knew himself.
Speaker 1: He discussed his own drives and personality, especially with his mother.
Speaker 1: That's Edward J. Larson, historian and author of most recently
Speaker 1: To the Edges of the Earth, The Race for the
Speaker 1: Three Polls, and the Climax of the Age of Exploration.
Speaker 1: You're basically raised by his mother in Maine, and they
Speaker 1: were devoted to each other, and he would pour out
Speaker 1: his soul to his mother in letters. You can really
Speaker 1: see a man who he is totally driven by a
Speaker 1: sense of a hunger for fame and acceptance. Maybe that
Speaker 1: reflects his lack of a father growing up. He said
Speaker 1: in one letter to his mother shortly after he moved
Speaker 1: to Washington, and at that time he had been trained
Speaker 1: as an engineer and he was working for the U. S.
Speaker 1: Coast and Geodetic Survey. He wrote, I don't want to
Speaker 1: live and die without accomplishing anything, or without being known
Speaker 1: beyond a narrow circle of friends. Perry had moved to Washington,
Speaker 1: d c. In eight seventy nine after graduating from Bowden
Speaker 1: College with a degree in Civil engineering. He worked for
Speaker 1: the Coast and Geodetic Survey for two years, then joined
Speaker 1: the U. S. Navy's Civil Engineer Corps and was assigned
Speaker 1: to Survey Territory in Nicaragua for a potential site to
Speaker 1: build a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The
Speaker 1: expedition into the tropical forests of Central America gave Peery
Speaker 1: a taste of the world beyond his Yankee upbringing. He
Speaker 1: also began to view daring adventure as his ticket to fame.
Speaker 1: After reading about the little known interior of Greenland, he
Speaker 1: formulated a plan for traversing its ice sheet, the largest
Speaker 1: in the northern Hemisphere. Despite having zero experience in cold
Speaker 1: weather exploration, ignorance never stopped Perry once he had a
Speaker 1: goal in mind, and unlike many of the British Admiralties
Speaker 1: expeditions earlier in the nineteenth century, Peery actually learned from
Speaker 1: his experiences and adapted his plans as needed. In eighteen
Speaker 1: eighty six, Peery embarked on his first trip to the
Speaker 1: Polar regions. He hitched a ride on a whaler going north,
Speaker 1: and once he arrived near Disco Island on Greenland's west coast,
Speaker 1: he hired a Dane named Christian may Guard as his
Speaker 1: sole companion for the trek. He tried to hire native helpers,
Speaker 1: but they refused to go with him. Perry estimated the
Speaker 1: provisions and equipment he would need, bundled it on sledges,
Speaker 1: and then set off. He claimed he ascended to seven thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred feet in elevation and marched about one miles
Speaker 1: into the interior before a shortage of food forced him
Speaker 1: and may Guard to turn around. We have only Perry's
Speaker 1: word for the distance he traveled, though we don't know
Speaker 1: how many how far he didn't make it because he
Speaker 1: didn't take a long proper instruments for calculating a longitude.
Speaker 1: Quick refresher here if you're traveling west or east. You
Speaker 1: measure the distance you travel in degrees of longitude. Calculating
Speaker 1: it requires special instruments like a chronometer. Perry had brought one,
Speaker 1: but claimed it had the usefulness shaken out of it.
Speaker 1: After Perry had climbed a glacier, he claimed the hundred miles,
Speaker 1: but for gold Manson, who was the greatest gusplorer at
Speaker 1: the time, said that's ridiculous. He didn't make it that far.
Speaker 1: Proving his achievements once he returned home was a running
Speaker 1: issue with Perry. More on that later. As we mentioned
Speaker 1: in our third episode, Nonsen had traversed the Greenland ice
Speaker 1: sheet from east to west after Perry had returned to
Speaker 1: the US, so he was a novice explorer. Perry was
Speaker 1: already extremely competitive. Once he heard about nonsense achievement, Perry
Speaker 1: altered his plans for his next trip to Greenland. He
Speaker 1: decided to attempt a crossing on a longer, more northern
Speaker 1: route from west to east that would be more difficult
Speaker 1: than nonsense route. When he got back, he wrote to
Speaker 1: his mother, my last trip has brought my name before
Speaker 1: the world. Remember mother, I must have theme. He underling
Speaker 1: the word must I must have theme and cannot reconcile
Speaker 1: myself two years of commonplace drudgery and the name late
Speaker 1: in life, and I see an opportunity to gain it now.
Speaker 1: And then he later wrote, as he was building towards
Speaker 1: his later expeditions, because he kept going back, he wrote,
Speaker 1: same money and Revenge, Goldney forward until sometimes I can
Speaker 1: hardly sleep lest something happened to interfere with my plans.
Speaker 1: Now Here is a driven man in this case with Perry,
Speaker 1: it was not only a personal goal, but it was
Speaker 1: also a public goal that gave his life meaning and
Speaker 1: gaining meaning for his life. And you can see this
Speaker 1: in Teddy Roosevelt going down the River of down in
Speaker 1: South America. By accomplishing this, it gave Perry's meaning to
Speaker 1: his life, and his life was not work living to
Speaker 1: him without meaning. Before Perry embarked on his next trip north,
Speaker 1: he would meet the person who would go further than
Speaker 1: anyone toward making Pierre's dreams of reality. Matthew Alexander Henson
Speaker 1: grew up about as far away from the North Pole
Speaker 1: as can be imagined. He was born in eighteen sixty
Speaker 1: six in Nanjimoy, Maryland, a village in Charles County, on
Speaker 1: the eastern shore of the Potomac River, about forty miles
Speaker 1: south of Washington, d c. The Civil War had ended
Speaker 1: just the year before, but southern Maryland remained sympathetic to
Speaker 1: the Confederacy. To illustrate that fact, John Wilkes Booth had
Speaker 1: fled through Charles County after assassinating Abraham Lincoln because he
Speaker 1: knew he'd find like minded Marylander as to help him escape.
Speaker 1: This feels like a good place to say that while
Speaker 1: we know some things about Henson's early life, other details
Speaker 1: even some pretty big events very widely. Even Henson published
Speaker 1: two versions of his own childhood, Here's what we know
Speaker 1: for sure and where we tried to fill the gaps.
Speaker 1: According to two biographies published in nineteen fifty four and
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty three, Henson's parents were free born black sharecroppers
Speaker 1: on a large farm near Nanjimoy. Henson's mother died when
Speaker 1: he was young, and he was raised by a cruel stepmother.
Speaker 1: When he was about ten years old, he ran away
Speaker 1: to Washington, where he worked for a woman in her
Speaker 1: cafe for a year, and then walked to Baltimore, where
Speaker 1: he signed up as a cabin boy on a ship
Speaker 1: called the Katy Hinds, commanded by Captain Childs. He sailed
Speaker 1: all around the world before coming back to Washington when
Speaker 1: he was about eighteen. In Henson's own book about Reaching
Speaker 1: the North Pole, published in nineteen twelve, he says he
Speaker 1: moved with his family from Nanjimoy to Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: His mother died when he was seven, and he went
Speaker 1: to live with an uncle, who sent him to a
Speaker 1: prestigious high school for black students for more than six years.
Speaker 1: Then Henson signed up on a vessel and sailed to
Speaker 1: ports around the world. In all three books, Captain Child's
Speaker 1: emerges as a kindly father figure to Henson. I wanted
Speaker 1: to know more about Filds, his ship, and his travels.
Speaker 1: I dug deeper into newspaper archives, scholarly databases, and even
Speaker 1: ancestry dot Com, but couldn't find any evidence of an
Speaker 1: ocean going vessel called the Katie Hines. This was really
Speaker 1: perplexing because US merchant ships were registered with government agencies
Speaker 1: and their voyages were often reported in newspapers. So I
Speaker 1: brought in our fact checker, Austin Thompson, who looked in
Speaker 1: other sources, including the annual list of the merchant vessels
Speaker 1: of the United States, and there was no Katie Hines.
Speaker 1: But in several old articles in Maryland newspapers, I did
Speaker 1: find that A. W. S. Child's was appointed captain of
Speaker 1: a police sloop with that name in eighty eight, about
Speaker 1: the same year that Henson says he signed up as
Speaker 1: a cabin boy. This Katie Hines patrolled Maryland's waterways for
Speaker 1: illegal oyster dreasures. Austin found an article that definitively plays
Speaker 1: Childs and the Katie Hines in Maryland in one and
Speaker 1: the Baltimore Sun reported that W. S. Child captain of
Speaker 1: one of the state's oyster police boats, died in eighteen
Speaker 1: eighty three in his home near Nanjimoy, Maryland. That matches
Speaker 1: the year of Childs's death in the Henson biographies. Could
Speaker 1: this be Henson's captain Child's We think so, but we
Speaker 1: may never know for sure. So it's not easy to
Speaker 1: know exactly where and how Henson spent his youth. But
Speaker 1: whether Henson sailed around the world or just the Chesapeake Bay,
Speaker 1: all biographical accounts suggest that he returned to Washington at
Speaker 1: age eighteen or nineteen. He gets a job as a
Speaker 1: clerk at b. H Stein Meticine Sun, a well known
Speaker 1: men's furrier and hat shop located three blocks east of
Speaker 1: the White House. Working in retail will become a turning
Speaker 1: point in his life. In eighteen eighty seven, Robert Peary
Speaker 1: entered the store to buy his son helmet for his
Speaker 1: second trip to Nicaragua. Here's James Edward Mills, a freelance
Speaker 1: journal list, independent producer, and faculty assistant at the Nelson
Speaker 1: Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin. He's
Speaker 1: also the author of the adventure Gap Changing the Face
Speaker 1: of the Outdoors. Key and Hanson struck up a conversation,
Speaker 1: and I'm not sure exactly how it went, but the
Speaker 1: upshot of it was that Hanson joined Perry ostensibly as
Speaker 1: his assistant. And um, It's difficult to know exactly what
Speaker 1: the nature of their overall relationship was, but Hanson basically
Speaker 1: was his right hand man from that point on. Henson
Speaker 1: joined Perry on all of his expeditions, which, after their
Speaker 1: trip to Nicaragua, would abandon warm climates for the farthest
Speaker 1: reaches of the Arctic. You know, I think that he
Speaker 1: might have taken a polar exploration to escape the Jim
Speaker 1: Crow South. This is the one place in the world
Speaker 1: where he could be judged by the continent of his character,
Speaker 1: not the color of his skin. And I think that
Speaker 1: there's a lot to be sent for that. Between eighteen
Speaker 1: eighty one and Pierry and Henson embarked on four expeditions
Speaker 1: to Greenland and northeastern Canada to explore the territory and
Speaker 1: scout out a possible route even further north. On these arduous,
Speaker 1: lengthy journeys, they developed a unique working relationship. Peary was
Speaker 1: the expedition leader, navigator, financier, and planner, while Henson was
Speaker 1: the project manager, carpenter, mechanic and translator. Peary was the
Speaker 1: visionary and Henson made the vision a reality. Before any expedition,
Speaker 1: Peery first had to obtain funding for the enormous expenses
Speaker 1: they would incur, which included borrowing or buying a ship,
Speaker 1: strengthening the vessel for Arctic conditions, hiring the crew, buying
Speaker 1: provisions and equipment, buying items to trade with the new
Speaker 1: wheat for their services, and a ridiculous number of miscellaneous
Speaker 1: costs like books, tents, clothing, maps, tools, guns and edition,
Speaker 1: scientific instruments, spare parts and much more. The disaster of
Speaker 1: the Greely Expedition, a U. S. Army foray to the
Speaker 1: Arctic that resulted in death by starvation, was still fresh
Speaker 1: in people's minds, so Perry's early expeditions to Greenland were
Speaker 1: mostly self funded. He had secured book deals, lecture tours,
Speaker 1: and newspaper exclusives to offset the huge costs of the journeys.
Speaker 1: But when Perry made the North Pole his soul focus,
Speaker 1: he was able to gather a group of donors to
Speaker 1: pay for his adventures, the Peri Arctic Club. The group
Speaker 1: comprised the wealthy industrialists and philanthropists of New York's Gilded Age.
Speaker 1: They enjoyed big game, hunting and other manly pursuits championed
Speaker 1: by Theodore Roosevelt and his doctrine of the strenuous Life.
Speaker 1: Roosevelt said it was the highest form of success, which
Speaker 1: comes not to the man who desires mere easy peace,
Speaker 1: but to the man who does not shrink from danger,
Speaker 1: from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who, out of
Speaker 1: these wins the splendid ultimate triumph. Many of them are
Speaker 1: major business people in New York, but there is also
Speaker 1: a whole set of them who are worrying that, um,
Speaker 1: all these technological advances are weakening white males and they're
Speaker 1: losing their manliness, and so Peery becomes this example of
Speaker 1: you know, this outdoor, strong, successful man. That's Susan Kaplan,
Speaker 1: director of the Pierry McMillan Arctic Museum at Boden College,
Speaker 1: an author of Pery's Arctic Quest, untold stories from Robert E.
Speaker 1: Peery's North Pole expeditions that sort of feeds into the
Speaker 1: whole North Pole narrator to as well, and so Peery's backers,
Speaker 1: many of them are very focused on him as the
Speaker 1: symbol of you know, strong, tough masculinity. That is so interesting.
Speaker 1: That's probably why he and Peeddy Roosevelt were such good friends. Yep.
Speaker 1: It's not simply that he's the strong masculine man, but
Speaker 1: he's a white Western strong masculine man. Becomes very important.
Speaker 1: The club members had money to spare and a desire
Speaker 1: to have their names enshrined on the Arctic map. Perry's
Speaker 1: biggest supporter was banker Morris K. Jessup, one of the
Speaker 1: founders of the American Museum of Natural History. He formed
Speaker 1: the club in with the Chase National Bank, president Henry W.
Speaker 1: Cannon and journalist Herbert L. Bridgeman. The Period Arctic Club
Speaker 1: convinced Perry's employer, the U. S. Navy, to give him
Speaker 1: a five year leave of a since so he could
Speaker 1: pursue his Arctic ambitions. The club also raised funds to
Speaker 1: send a supply ship to Perier's party for each year
Speaker 1: he pursued the poll. Bridgeman organized the relief missions and
Speaker 1: was the only one of the club's leaders who took
Speaker 1: part in one of Perry's adventures. Finally, club members committed
Speaker 1: to contributing a set sum each year to support Peri's goals.
Speaker 1: For their sustained generosity, Perry told them, the names of
Speaker 1: those who made the work possible will be kept through
Speaker 1: the coming centuries, floating forever above the forgotten and submerged
Speaker 1: debris of our time and day. In other words, they
Speaker 1: could bank on an Arctic cape, mountain bay, or glacier
Speaker 1: being named after them, much like donors today get their
Speaker 1: names on a museum gallery or a library building. The
Speaker 1: Peri Arctic Club helped Perry borrow a ship from Alfred Harmsworth,
Speaker 1: the British publisher of the Daily Mail. The Windward was
Speaker 1: the same vessel on which Frederick Jackson brought Fritcheff Nonsen
Speaker 1: and Hilmar Johansson back to Norway after their attempt at
Speaker 1: the North Pole in The ship would be their main
Speaker 1: transport for only the first leg of their journeys. However,
Speaker 1: once they anchored the ship in a safe location to
Speaker 1: act as a base camp, Pierry and Henson traveled by
Speaker 1: dogsled and that's where Henson's talents came into play. Here's
Speaker 1: James Edward Mills again. I think what's really remarkable about
Speaker 1: Henson is that he doesn't get a lot of credit
Speaker 1: and certainly hadn't got a lot of credit for his
Speaker 1: contributions to that expedition, mainly because of his rights as
Speaker 1: an African American. He was, I guess, by design, made
Speaker 1: a play second fiddle to the white explorers in this party,
Speaker 1: despite the fact that Henson was the master craftsman and
Speaker 1: built all the sleds and helped to design the polar
Speaker 1: suits working with the Native Inuits. On their first expeditions together,
Speaker 1: Pierry and Henson visited the new Wheaek commune at Eta
Speaker 1: and hired many of the people to drive the dog sleds.
Speaker 1: Henson intimated that he was interested in learning the skill,
Speaker 1: and he must have seen what he would be in for.
Speaker 1: The Greenland sled dogs were powerful, furry, and ferocious. They
Speaker 1: retained their wolf like instincts and seemed only barely domesticated,
Speaker 1: more wild animal than family pet. The dominant dog, called
Speaker 1: the King Dog, led the team of eight animals, each
Speaker 1: with its own trace connected to the sled. The traces
Speaker 1: spread into a fan shape as the dogs ran at
Speaker 1: top speed, egged on by the new wheat driver's whip
Speaker 1: and verbal commands. It took weeks for Henson to learn
Speaker 1: the right way of shouting commands that the dogs would
Speaker 1: respect and to crack the whip at the King Dog's ear.
Speaker 1: He had to get comfortable with the sled itself, which
Speaker 1: was often loaded with heavy gear. Many times he wiped
Speaker 1: out and ended up in a snow bank as his
Speaker 1: new wheat teachers laughed hysterically, But after more eks of practice,
Speaker 1: Henson finally got the hang of it. By their nineteen
Speaker 1: o eight nineteen o nine North Pole expedition, Perry said
Speaker 1: Henson can handle a sledge better and is probably a
Speaker 1: better dog driver than any other man living except some
Speaker 1: of the best of the Eskimo hunters themselves. A quick
Speaker 1: note about the term Eskimo, since this isn't the last
Speaker 1: time we'll hear it. It's a complicated word. It was
Speaker 1: used by colonizers to describe Native people, not one that
Speaker 1: Native people used to describe themselves. Many consider it offensive,
Speaker 1: while some Native people still choose to use it. The
Speaker 1: Inuit Circumpolar Council Charter of nineteen eighty defines the indigenous
Speaker 1: peoples of the Inuite Homeland, which includes Alaska, Canada, Greenland,
Speaker 1: and Russia as Inuit in inuktitute word, meaning the people.
Speaker 1: Groups within the Inuit Homeland have more specific names for themselves,
Speaker 1: such as the Inuite of northwestern Greenland. Henson showed that
Speaker 1: he was eager to adopt other inw wheat waves. The
Speaker 1: in New Wheat taught him how to hunt walrus, build
Speaker 1: igloos and stone huts, and stay warm by sleeping in
Speaker 1: furs and packing the soles of his sealskin boots with
Speaker 1: moss for installation. Henson also achieved fluency in Innuctitut, or
Speaker 1: possibly the related and New Wheat language Inuktun, which went
Speaker 1: far toward establishing trust and a respectful relationship with them. Peery,
Speaker 1: like other explorers, learned a few important words and left
Speaker 1: it at that. Henson also performed a million other miscellaneous
Speaker 1: tasks for the expedition team, from building and repairing sledges,
Speaker 1: to butchering meat, to patching clothes, to negotiating with the
Speaker 1: in New Wheat families. Here's James Edward Mills. You obviously
Speaker 1: you have the ability to communicate across cultural boundaries. At
Speaker 1: the same time, I think that he had the humility
Speaker 1: to learn their language, He had the vulnerability to be
Speaker 1: taught how to do these critical and important things, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think that that there's probably a certain amount
Speaker 1: of camaraderie that comes with this, because I can imagine
Speaker 1: that especially at the time, you know, when you have
Speaker 1: this still incredibly colonial attitude towards relationships with people of
Speaker 1: color and other parts of the world, as you know,
Speaker 1: the dominant white culture of Europe and North America. Instead
Speaker 1: of telling the in New way to make clothes and sledges,
Speaker 1: Henson was more likely to have said, can you teach
Speaker 1: me how to do it? And I think that it
Speaker 1: is indeed that relationship between people of color and native
Speaker 1: people around the world you know, there's a certain sense
Speaker 1: of a fellowship, and I think that that probably translated
Speaker 1: itself in Henson's relationships with the Inuit from until nineteen
Speaker 1: o nine, periods Old Focused became the North Pole. He'll
Speaker 1: forge a sea root as far as the ice will
Speaker 1: let him sail. He'll rely on the in New Week
Speaker 1: communities in northwestern Greenland for supplies, dogs, and manpower, and
Speaker 1: most of all will depend on Henson's expertise and Arctic
Speaker 1: survival to reach his goal. We'll be right back. In December.
Speaker 1: After leaving their ship windward on the western edge of
Speaker 1: Kane Basin in the Canadian Arctic, Peery and a small
Speaker 1: team are racing north along the coast of Ellesmere Island.
Speaker 1: They're aiming for an abandoned fort, where Peery hopes to
Speaker 1: cut off a Norwegian rival, Auto spare Drop, the same
Speaker 1: man who captain Nonsense Ship from on its incredible journey
Speaker 1: across the Siberian Sea. Ever paranoid that someone else will
Speaker 1: reach the North Pole first and steal his shot at glory,
Speaker 1: Pierry is convinced that's fair Drop, and tends to use
Speaker 1: the fort as a base camp for his own dash
Speaker 1: to ninety degrees north. The only way to reach the fort,
Speaker 1: which is two and fifty miles north of the ship.
Speaker 1: As the snow goose flies is on dog sled over glaciers, mountains,
Speaker 1: and ice flows in the dead of polar winter. Henson
Speaker 1: tries to talk as leader out of this dangerous idea,
Speaker 1: but Perry will not be dissuaded. Now, Peery Henson, the
Speaker 1: expedition surgeon, and four and new wheat guides push on
Speaker 1: through the twenty four hour darkness and temperatures around minus
Speaker 1: sixty degrees fahrenheit. They barely stopped to eat rest, and
Speaker 1: they grow exhausted and disoriented. At any moment, a person
Speaker 1: or sledge could disappear through the ice to their death.
Speaker 1: After nearly three weeks of constant travel, they burst through
Speaker 1: the front door of Fort Conger at Lady Franklin Bay
Speaker 1: on Ellesmere Island. The shelter was built by the American
Speaker 1: Army officer Adolphus Greeley and his crew during the expedition,
Speaker 1: which eventually ended in disaster when relief ships failed to
Speaker 1: rescue them. Now the party finds the notorious hut, just
Speaker 1: as Greeley had left it with biscuits on the table,
Speaker 1: overturned cups and piles of supplies and papers strewn about.
Speaker 1: Henson lights a fire the inwhite ten to the dogs,
Speaker 1: and Peery notices a worrisome wooden feeling in his feet.
Speaker 1: Henson removes the leader's outer boots and sees that Peery's
Speaker 1: legs are like marble up to his knees, a sure
Speaker 1: sign of severe frostbite. As Henson takes off the under shoes,
Speaker 1: several of Pierri's frozen toes pop off at the joints.
Speaker 1: Pier He stares at his feet. Finally, he says, a
Speaker 1: few toes aren't much to give to achieve the poll.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just his cavalier attitude towards his toes that
Speaker 1: made Peery different from his polar peers. Though he was
Speaker 1: a naval officer, Peery's plan for the execution of his
Speaker 1: expeditions was completely different from the British naval methods of old.
Speaker 1: He took cues from Nonsen and adopted a new wheat
Speaker 1: ways that put his own mark on polar travel. Here's
Speaker 1: susan kaplan. Early on in his career, you know, he
Speaker 1: went to the Arctic having built what he thought for instance,
Speaker 1: was the ideal fledge. And once he was up there,
Speaker 1: he started to look and realized that the inu Wheet
Speaker 1: had these technologies, from fledges to the kind difer clothing
Speaker 1: they were wearing, to the implements they were using for
Speaker 1: hunting and processing skins that were really effective and ingenious.
Speaker 1: And he had the openness of mind to recognize that
Speaker 1: there were technologies that they had developed that were ahead
Speaker 1: of anything that any Western culture had come up with.
Speaker 1: And so from that perspective he really respected them at
Speaker 1: the Inuhuit, and in employing them, he also realized that
Speaker 1: they had hunting skills and travel skills that the men
Speaker 1: he was taking north with him just simply did not have.
Speaker 1: And so what he conceived of were teams of Westerners
Speaker 1: and a new Wheat who would work together. And they
Speaker 1: all arrived in the Arctic, you know, months before he
Speaker 1: was going to try to get to the North Pole,
Speaker 1: and he sent these people out in teams hunting and
Speaker 1: doing title readings. And that was both because they needed
Speaker 1: meat and because he had promised scientific results from his expeditions,
Speaker 1: but it was also a way to get people from
Speaker 1: completely different cultures who had no common language to figure
Speaker 1: out how to work together. Like nonsense, Pierie opted to
Speaker 1: pull light sledges with minimal supplies instead of hauling every
Speaker 1: item he would need with him from the US. He
Speaker 1: obtained supplies from a new wheat villages like Itta on
Speaker 1: the northwestern coast of Greenland, or from existing camps from
Speaker 1: previous expeditions like Fort Conger. Peery read books and journals
Speaker 1: by previous explorers and decided the British method of multiple
Speaker 1: ships and large crews was a recipe for failure. Instead,
Speaker 1: he concluded that a mode of exploration based as closely
Speaker 1: as possible on in new wheat techniques had the greatest
Speaker 1: chance for success. Perhaps his biggest divergence from the old
Speaker 1: way was hiring and integrating in new wheat families into
Speaker 1: the expedition's plan, something that only Charles Francis Hall, whom
Speaker 1: we met in our previous episode, had done before, and
Speaker 1: on a much smaller scale. Peerry hired entire families to
Speaker 1: perform certain tasks, knowing that the men would be reluctant
Speaker 1: to leave their wives and children behind. Women prepared furs
Speaker 1: and sewed them into clothing for the explorers, while men
Speaker 1: served as dog drivers hunters and guides. Peery paid them
Speaker 1: with trade goods and supplies forging loyalties so that quote
Speaker 1: unquote new Heat wouldn't work with any other explorers, which
Speaker 1: was also a way to ensure that his quote unquote
Speaker 1: right to claim the poll wasn't infringed. Here's ed Larson Perry,
Speaker 1: especially coming from Maine, was probably more open to this
Speaker 1: view that in their place, at their time and in
Speaker 1: their own ways. Um, these peoples had learned to navigate
Speaker 1: and live in a way that if we use and
Speaker 1: exploit we can succeed. Think of the early America, the
Speaker 1: Westerners going through asking for Native American help, adopting Native
Speaker 1: American ways, the early for trappers, Lewis and Clark, whoever
Speaker 1: you want to talk about, and you know that was
Speaker 1: just different, because how did you know? You America and Britain.
Speaker 1: Just to use an analogy, boats competed for Pacific Northwest.
Speaker 1: The British sailed there with people like Vancouver. The Americans
Speaker 1: went across the mountains with Native American guy, and Verry
Speaker 1: sort of fits in that American traditions. So what he
Speaker 1: did is he tried to figure out, all right, these
Speaker 1: people are already to live up there. How did they live?
Speaker 1: They're already able to travel up there, and so he
Speaker 1: built on this. And that's what I'm getting at the
Speaker 1: question of what sort of a leader he was willing
Speaker 1: to build an organization which was very different than virtually
Speaker 1: all the other explorers. He developed the team of local
Speaker 1: Innoit people, and he used their methods. Matthew Henson played
Speaker 1: a unique role in building the organization and negotiating with
Speaker 1: the in New Heat. He may have been the one
Speaker 1: person able to persuade the New Heat to travel so
Speaker 1: far from their homes and hunting grounds. As James Edward
Speaker 1: Mills notes, he convinced them to go with them. You know,
Speaker 1: it's actually this is the place that they've never gone before.
Speaker 1: They had to have been something to that. So again
Speaker 1: drawing a lot of conclusions here, I don't know first act,
Speaker 1: but I would imagine that, you know, his sensibility to
Speaker 1: bridge the cultural gas as a thoughtful and respectful person
Speaker 1: of color was tootal to give the success of the
Speaker 1: Terry expinitions. At the same time, the New Wheat never
Speaker 1: really got the whole point of Perry's quests, but they
Speaker 1: understood the poll to be a tangible thing as Burton
Speaker 1: writes its name suggested a perpendicular object projecting from the ice.
Speaker 1: They called it the Big Nail, after a useful trade
Speaker 1: article with which they could identify. By availing himself of
Speaker 1: the in new white skills and endurance, Parry was able
Speaker 1: to develop a system that would get him to the
Speaker 1: poll with the least amount of extraneous labor. The system
Speaker 1: involved sending out small advanced parties along the intended route
Speaker 1: from the base camp to the pole. Each party would
Speaker 1: hall supplies to a designated point and build an igloo.
Speaker 1: Successive parties would use some of the supplies and shelter
Speaker 1: at these spots, then deposit their own caches of applies
Speaker 1: at points farther along the route. Each of the advanced
Speaker 1: parties would return to base camp, leaving Parry and his
Speaker 1: hand picked comrades to push on through the final leg
Speaker 1: of the journey to the pole without the need to
Speaker 1: lug tents or food on their sledges. Each party would
Speaker 1: travel extremely lightly, Unlike past explorers, Perry's lean margin for
Speaker 1: error meant that a delay caused by a storm or
Speaker 1: bad ice would ripple through the system. The carefully allotted
Speaker 1: food caches could run out as parties waited to cross
Speaker 1: open water, or one party could eat more than its share,
Speaker 1: leaving too little for the subsequent teams. Despite all the planning,
Speaker 1: they were still at the mercy of nature. After deciding
Speaker 1: that conquering the North Pole was his ticket to fame,
Speaker 1: Perry's next and most ambitious expeditions took place between eight
Speaker 1: and nineteen o six. The first ended up being a
Speaker 1: four year or deal that started with his frost bitten
Speaker 1: toes and slid down hill from there. Perry's will was
Speaker 1: tested constantly by physical injury, emotional turmoil, and the belief
Speaker 1: that other explorers from Norway and Italy were gaining on him.
Speaker 1: Here's susan kaplan. He's not the only one who has
Speaker 1: their sights on the North Pole. Nations were vying to
Speaker 1: get to the North Pole for national prestige, and as
Speaker 1: I mentioned, because if there was land there, what resources
Speaker 1: were on that land? So Peery is not driven to
Speaker 1: go to the North Pole in total isolation. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: there are a number of other people sort of sniffing
Speaker 1: around and trying to figure out how to get there.
Speaker 1: As he planned for departure in the summer of Pierry
Speaker 1: learned that otto, spare Drop was again sailing the from
Speaker 1: Antarctic waters, this time somewhere around Kane Basin, the same
Speaker 1: a locale that Peery anticipated as his jumping off point
Speaker 1: for a dash to the poll sphair Drop actually had
Speaker 1: no interest in being the first man at the pole.
Speaker 1: He was in the region to map unknown lands and
Speaker 1: gather scientific data. But Peery, consumed by a desire for fame,
Speaker 1: didn't believe that Spairedrop was not planning to sabotage his plans.
Speaker 1: He used the alleged threat to squeeze more money out
Speaker 1: of the Periarctic Club. In July, Pierry Henson and the
Speaker 1: rest of the crew departed New York on the windward.
Speaker 1: They sped up the Canadian coastline as far as Kane Basin,
Speaker 1: where Perry ran into spare drops party. In October, Pierry
Speaker 1: called the Norwegians the introduction of a disturbing factor in
Speaker 1: the appropriation by another of my plan and field of work.
Speaker 1: Spheedrop was amused by the encounter and noted how Perry
Speaker 1: tried to hide the patches on his trousers. After a
Speaker 1: few minutes of chit chat. Sphairedrop later wrote I took
Speaker 1: Peery down to the sledge and watched him disappearing at
Speaker 1: an even pace, driven by his Eskimo driver. As I
Speaker 1: was turning around to go back to the tent, I
Speaker 1: caught sight of my crew member Faussheim, driving like mad
Speaker 1: along the ice. My heart felt quite warm with patriotism.
Speaker 1: Now that Peery knew he had competition, or thought he did,
Speaker 1: he accelerated his plan. Since fair Drop was around Kane Basin,
Speaker 1: just south of Fort Conger, Peerrie assumed fair Drop intended
Speaker 1: to appropriate the old hut for shelter and supplies. Peery
Speaker 1: was determined to get there first. After the ill fated
Speaker 1: race north from the Windward by dogs led, Peerrie's party
Speaker 1: reached Fort Conger on January sixth, eighteen ninety nine. As
Speaker 1: they thawed out in front of a fire, Peery realized
Speaker 1: his feet or frost bitten off went his toes with
Speaker 1: the under shoes. The surgeon was forced to fully amputate
Speaker 1: seven Perry later lost another. One, of course, Sperdrov never
Speaker 1: showed up. By March, the party had carried Peyrie on
Speaker 1: a sledge back to the Windward. Over the next year
Speaker 1: and a half, Peerrie traveled hundreds of miles across the
Speaker 1: northern limits of Greenland and Canada's Ellesmere Island, employing and
Speaker 1: testing his staging system and scouting a possible route to
Speaker 1: the pole. In spring nineteen hundred, he and Henson located
Speaker 1: the northernmost point in Greenland, which Peerrie named after his
Speaker 1: chief backer, Morris K. Jessup. He went forth across the
Speaker 1: treacherous sea for several miles, but concluded that this route
Speaker 1: was too difficult. Meanwhile, the Windward returned to New York,
Speaker 1: picked up Perie's wife Josephine, and their young daughter Marie,
Speaker 1: and returned to Ita. The whole winter. Pearrie's family stayed
Speaker 1: less than two hundred miles from where he was spending
Speaker 1: the winter at Fort Conger, but neither of them knew
Speaker 1: it Worse, Josephine met an in New Wheat woman in
Speaker 1: Ita named Ala Cassina, with whom Pearrie had had a child.
Speaker 1: Josephine was a formidable adventurer herself, and had even given
Speaker 1: birth to Marie in the Arctic on Perrie's expedition, but
Speaker 1: the awkward situation in Ita shook her. She wrote to
Speaker 1: her husband, you will have been surprised, perhaps annoyed when
Speaker 1: you hear I came up on a ship. But believe me,
Speaker 1: had I known how things were with you, I should
Speaker 1: not have come. At Fort Conger, the mood was deteriorating.
Speaker 1: Members of the party were getting on each other's nerves.
Speaker 1: The surgeon was jealous of Henson, and Perry tried to
Speaker 1: smooth things over by unfairly chastising his right hand man.
Speaker 1: A reliefship brought the news that Peary's mother had died.
Speaker 1: Josephine was mad at period for carrying on with ale Cassina.
Speaker 1: Then Frederick Cook, a doctor who had served on one
Speaker 1: of Peari's early expeditions, arrived and the news was not good.
Speaker 1: He recommended returning to New York at once. Peery ignored him,
Speaker 1: but that's not the last we'll hear of Cook. At
Speaker 1: long last, in March two, Peery, Henson, and the Inuit
Speaker 1: guides made a serious stab at the Pole. Having lived
Speaker 1: in the region for the past three years, Pierry may
Speaker 1: have felt confident in his chances, but it was a
Speaker 1: struggle from start to finish. The party was already worn
Speaker 1: out from the previous season's traveling, and they were forced
Speaker 1: to detour around hummocks in open water, adding distance to
Speaker 1: their journey. Sometimes they had to chop through barriers of
Speaker 1: solid ice to make a path for the dogs. Then
Speaker 1: they came to a treacherous expanse of open water between
Speaker 1: ice flows, called a lead. This particular lead marked the
Speaker 1: edge of the continental shelf and butted up against the
Speaker 1: shifting ice of the deep Arctic Ocean. The ice was
Speaker 1: constantly coming together and pulling apart without warning. Now Perry
Speaker 1: found it wide open, and there was nothing to do
Speaker 1: but wait for the floes to join again, for the
Speaker 1: temperature to drop some ice could form so they could
Speaker 1: cross it. Frustrated, Perry dubbed it the Big Lead, the
Speaker 1: Hudson River, and the Grand Canal. As they waited, they
Speaker 1: consumed their provisions. On April one, Pierry realized their journey
Speaker 1: to the Pole would be impossible, and he was still
Speaker 1: three hundred and ninety five statute miles from their destination.
Speaker 1: They had reached eighty four degrees seventeen minutes north on
Speaker 1: the windward for their homeward journey, Josephine Pierry gave them
Speaker 1: more bad news. Two years earlier, Italian naval officer Umberto
Speaker 1: Cagney had led a dash for the pole from Francios
Speaker 1: off Land while facing incredible hardships. Can Ye turned back
Speaker 1: after reaching eighty six degrees thirty four minutes north, a
Speaker 1: new farthest north that beat Nonsen and Johansson's record by
Speaker 1: twenty nautical miles and Pierry's turnaround point by a hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty eight nautical miles. And to twist the knife
Speaker 1: a little deeper, Perry's a led did arch nemesis Auto.
Speaker 1: Sphare Drop had also spent four years in the Arctic
Speaker 1: between eight and nineteen o two and had more to
Speaker 1: show for it. He located and mapped three massive islands
Speaker 1: to the west of Ellesmere, now called the sphare Drop Islands,
Speaker 1: and mapped more than one thousand square miles of territory
Speaker 1: in the Canadian hier Arctic. Not only did Pierry not
Speaker 1: reach the poll, he didn't even set a farthest north record.
Speaker 1: He lost eight toes. His marriage was shaky, and his mother,
Speaker 1: his closest confidante, was no longer there to provide moral support.
Speaker 1: His personal and professional life was at a crossroads, but
Speaker 1: one person continued to believe in his mission, Henson had
Speaker 1: assisted him at every turn, and with his help Pierry
Speaker 1: had a chance to try again. Let's take a break here,
Speaker 1: we'll be right back. Robert Peary once wrote that no
Speaker 1: one should ever expect anything of the Arctic except the worst.
Speaker 1: The four year odyssey that he and Henson spent in
Speaker 1: the Arctic was a test of their endurance insanity. But
Speaker 1: on their second attempt at the North Pole, which followed
Speaker 1: the same route that they had mapped out on their
Speaker 1: previous voyage, they would experience some of the worst moments
Speaker 1: in all their fifteen years together. On this expedition, beginning
Speaker 1: in nine five, Peary would finally get his own ship.
Speaker 1: He raised one and twenty thousand dollars about two point
Speaker 1: seven million into days dollars from the Peri Arctic Club
Speaker 1: and mortgaged his own house to pay for the design
Speaker 1: and construction of the Roosevelt, named for one of his
Speaker 1: biggest supporters, President Theodore Roosevelt, It had a rounded, flexible
Speaker 1: hull inspired by nonsense from a system of horizontal trusses
Speaker 1: within the hall strengthened it against the horse of ice,
Speaker 1: while its bow could drive through ice that blocked its way.
Speaker 1: Following his four year expedition, Pierry realized that his usual
Speaker 1: bare bones crew would not have enough manpower to complete
Speaker 1: the relay stages in his system. He would hire a
Speaker 1: larger expedition team, which of course included Henson, and divide
Speaker 1: them into three groups. The first would break the trail
Speaker 1: for the dog sleds and build igloos along the route.
Speaker 1: The second would like cach as of supplies at those stages,
Speaker 1: and the third would be the polar party, the men
Speaker 1: who would actually go to the North Pole. Perry would
Speaker 1: continue to enlist in New Wheat families and their dogs
Speaker 1: in his scheme. The Roosevelt left New York Harbor on
Speaker 1: July and sailed up the Canadian coast, passing landmarks that
Speaker 1: were by now extremely familiar to Pierry and Henson. By
Speaker 1: mid August, they were at Eta to pick up about
Speaker 1: forty of their in New Wheat colleagues, including Utah, the
Speaker 1: community's lead hunter, two hundred dogs, and several tons of
Speaker 1: Walverus meat, which were frozen and hung in the Roosevelt's rigging.
Speaker 1: Then the ship's captain, Bob Bartlett, drove full steam ahead
Speaker 1: north into the pack ice. They overwintered at Cape Sheridan,
Speaker 1: where Sir George Strong NAAR's and the Alert had hunkered
Speaker 1: down about thirty years earlier and prepared for their dash
Speaker 1: the following spring. In February nineteen o six, Parry gathered
Speaker 1: his crew and sent the advanced parties to stockpile supplies
Speaker 1: at Point Moss, a spot on the northern coast of
Speaker 1: Ellesmere Island, from which Peary would leave the security of
Speaker 1: land and travel over the ice for more than four
Speaker 1: hundred miles to the Pole. From Point Moss, Henson, Utah
Speaker 1: and the advance parties went ahead to break the trail
Speaker 1: for the sledges and to build igloos along the route
Speaker 1: at fifty mile intervals. Peerry led the final party. Headwinds
Speaker 1: thwarted their progress through fractured ice fields. The parties encountered hummocks,
Speaker 1: rotten floes, and open leads that slowed their trial boll
Speaker 1: and cause Perry mounting frustration. While the dog teams rested
Speaker 1: at each of their pre built camps, Perry fumed about
Speaker 1: falling behind his planned pace. On March, Pierry, Henson and
Speaker 1: their teams came upon the big lead, and once again
Speaker 1: they just had to wait until they could cross it
Speaker 1: with the sleds. Unlike Nonsen and earlier explorers, Perry never
Speaker 1: took any boats or kayaks with him over the sea ice.
Speaker 1: They were delayed for a week before a thin film
Speaker 1: of ice formed on the big lead, just enough to
Speaker 1: support the weight of the sledges. They continued their dash
Speaker 1: for three days before Perry admitted to himself that the
Speaker 1: delay had again cost him the pole. There was no
Speaker 1: way they could now attempt the next three D and
Speaker 1: sixties statue miles to the pole with their dwindling food,
Speaker 1: but he could not return home and face the peri
Speaker 1: Arctic Club empty handed. To do so would cost him
Speaker 1: another chance to try for the pole. While a ferocious
Speaker 1: store kept them inside their igloo for several days, Perry
Speaker 1: dwelled on Nonsen and Kanye's farthest north records. The least
Speaker 1: he could do would be to try and set one himself. Peery,
Speaker 1: Penson and the New Wheat threw all excess weight off
Speaker 1: their sledges and drove like crazy. They were truly in
Speaker 1: a race against time, because for every day they spent
Speaker 1: going north, they consumed more food and had less food
Speaker 1: for their return journey. Finally, Pierry took a navigational reading
Speaker 1: and discovered they were at eighty seven degrees six minutes north.
Speaker 1: A new record, or was it. Burton writes that Peery
Speaker 1: claimed he traveled one and thirties statute miles between April
Speaker 1: fourteen when he left their igloo and April one when
Speaker 1: he took the reading. That breaks down to an average
Speaker 1: speed of nineteen miles a day without any obstacles in
Speaker 1: the form of hummocks or open water. In contrast, the
Speaker 1: average speed he traveled between Point Moss in the Big
Speaker 1: Lead when he was still attempting to run for the poll,
Speaker 1: it was about seven miles per day. And the only
Speaker 1: proof of their alleged record was Perry's word, since only
Speaker 1: he could make the navigational calculations. As Ed Larson explains,
Speaker 1: this was totally on purpose. There was one I think
Speaker 1: indirect advantage for Perry in all this, and that is
Speaker 1: he could feel and in a way was superior to
Speaker 1: these people. It was it was superior amendment that only
Speaker 1: he could calculate where they were. Only he could take
Speaker 1: and it wasn't very good at longitude, but only only
Speaker 1: he could take a latitude and he could plot the course,
Speaker 1: and he didn't have to worry, as Scott and Shackleton
Speaker 1: and the others did, about somebody he took along, and
Speaker 1: he didn't have to worry about anybody trying to challenge
Speaker 1: his power. Wherever they were, they didn't stop to celebrate.
Speaker 1: Terry had already pushed them to the limit. He later wrote,
Speaker 1: as I looked at the drawn faces of my comrades,
Speaker 1: at the skeleton figures of my few remaining dogs, at
Speaker 1: my nearly empty sledges, and remembered the drifting ice over
Speaker 1: which we had come, and the unknown quantity of the
Speaker 1: big lead between us and the nearest land, I felt
Speaker 1: that I had cut the margin as narrow as could
Speaker 1: reasonably be expected. Now they were in a race against death.
Speaker 1: On their retreat, the wind that had blown at their
Speaker 1: backs on the way north blasted them in the face.
Speaker 1: Tiny snow particles felt like red hot needles on their
Speaker 1: exposed skin. Each day became a mad dash from one
Speaker 1: former camp to the next, where they had shelter but
Speaker 1: no fresh supplies of food. Perry wrote, at the end
Speaker 1: of every march, we stumbled into our old eggloes, utterly exhausted,
Speaker 1: with eyes aflame from the wind and driving snow, but
Speaker 1: thanking God that we did not have to put ourselves
Speaker 1: to the additional effort of building egglooes. Eventually they came
Speaker 1: upon the big lead, stretching clear to the horizon in
Speaker 1: either direction. While they waited to cross it, they killed
Speaker 1: and ate most of their dogs and broke up the
Speaker 1: sleds for fuel. On their northward journey, Perry had dubbed
Speaker 1: the channel the Hudson River. Now as we lay in
Speaker 1: this dismal camp, Perry later wrote, watching the distant southern ice,
Speaker 1: beyond which lay the world, all that was near and dear,
Speaker 1: and perhaps life itself, while on our side was only
Speaker 1: the wide stretching ice and possibility of a lingering death.
Speaker 1: There was but one appropriate name for its black waters,
Speaker 1: the sticks. Finally, a crust of ice two miles wide
Speaker 1: covered the lead, a short distance from their camp, possibly
Speaker 1: thick enough to support a man in snowshoes. There was
Speaker 1: only one way to find out. The lightest and most
Speaker 1: experience in new wheat guide went first, leading the dogs
Speaker 1: in their one remaining sledge behind him. Each man on
Speaker 1: snow shoes followed at fifty or sixty foot intervals. To
Speaker 1: avoid breaking the ice. We crossed in silence, each man
Speaker 1: busy with his thoughts and intent upon his snowshoes. Frankly,
Speaker 1: I do not care for more similar experiences, Perry wrote.
Speaker 1: Once started, we could not stop, We could not lift
Speaker 1: our snowshoes. It was a matter of constantly and smoothly
Speaker 1: gliding one past the other with utmost care and evenness
Speaker 1: of pressure. And from every man as he slid a
Speaker 1: snowshoe forward, undulations went out in every direction through the
Speaker 1: thin film incrusting the black water. The sledge was preceded
Speaker 1: and followed by a broad swell. It was the first
Speaker 1: and only time in all my Arctic work that I
Speaker 1: felt doubtful as to the outcome. Halfway across the ice,
Speaker 1: Perry's boot broke through, and he thought it was the end,
Speaker 1: he wrote, But I dared not take my eyes from
Speaker 1: the steady, even glide ing of my snowshoes, and the
Speaker 1: fascination of the glassy swell at the toes of them.
Speaker 1: After a period in which they must have felt time stopped,
Speaker 1: the whole party made it to the firm ice on
Speaker 1: the southern edge of the lead. Perry remembered, when we
Speaker 1: stood up from unfastening our snowshoes, and looked back for
Speaker 1: a moment before turning our faces southward. A narrow black
Speaker 1: ribbon cut the frail bridge on which we had crossed
Speaker 1: into the lead was widening again, and we had just
Speaker 1: made it. They finally returned to the Roosevelt on May six,
Speaker 1: and despite their struggle to get there, Parry had one
Speaker 1: more trek in him. He and a small team marched
Speaker 1: westward along the northern coast of Ellesmere Island, setting what
Speaker 1: he believed was the farthest west record, just as a
Speaker 1: backup for his farthest north. The Roosevelt and its crew
Speaker 1: returned to New York on December six. Again, they had survived,
Speaker 1: but Pierry had to face his own crushing disappointment, and
Speaker 1: he received a cool reception from the public when it
Speaker 1: learned he had failed to reach the poll, but his
Speaker 1: influential fan club rewarded him for his feats. The National
Speaker 1: Geographic Society honored Perry with its Hubbard Medal at a
Speaker 1: fancy gala, and Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech at the
Speaker 1: ceremony presenting the award. Peary was there to receive it
Speaker 1: on December, having left the Roosevelt and returned to New
Speaker 1: York before the ship steamed into the harbor. None of
Speaker 1: the members of his expedition team, least of all Henson
Speaker 1: and the new Wheat, who were actually at Perry's farthest
Speaker 1: north with him, received any recognition. According to Ed Larson,
Speaker 1: Perry was probably fine with that. He did have this
Speaker 1: singular vision that he had to achieve it, where many
Speaker 1: of the other polar explorers didn't mind sharing glory. I
Speaker 1: mean certainly Shackleton didn't. That was Coren Toshackle his nature.
Speaker 1: Nor did uh Jnson, who was considered the greatest explorer
Speaker 1: of the age. They didn't have that same problem. They
Speaker 1: figured there was plenty to go around and they would
Speaker 1: get the most of it. The metal and accolades were nice,
Speaker 1: but Perry must have asked himself how much longer he
Speaker 1: could continue his quest for the North Pole. In his
Speaker 1: two serious efforts to conquer it, the brute realities of
Speaker 1: the polar environment had held him back. He didn't know
Speaker 1: whether the peri Arctic Club would remain hopeful of his
Speaker 1: dream for glory. At the end of Robert Perry was
Speaker 1: fifty years old. Matthew Henson was forty. Both were well
Speaker 1: over retirement age for Arctic explorers, but despite their age
Speaker 1: and there are many setbacks, they still had one more
Speaker 1: try in them. The Quest for the North Pole is
Speaker 1: hosted by Me cat Long. This episode was researched and
Speaker 1: written by Me, with fact checking by Austin Thompson. The
Speaker 1: executive producers are Aaron McCarthy and Tyler Clang. The supervising
Speaker 1: producer is Dylan Fagan. The show is edited by Dylan Fagan.
Speaker 1: For transcripts, a glossary, and to learn more about this episode,
Speaker 1: visit Mental flaws dot com slash podcast. The Quest for
Speaker 1: the North Pole is a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and Mental Flaws. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
Speaker 1: check out the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast. For more podcasts for my
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.