Frederick Cook

Biography

He was born the June 10th 1865 in the Catskill Mountains (the United States). With died of her father the family settles with New York where Cook worked very hard at the same time to provide for the needs for its family and to treat to studies of medicine. He becomes doctor of medicine of the Université of New York in 1889.

He Maria shortly after but his wife died a few months after the marriage.

Forwardings

In 1891, it belonged to the North Greenland Expedition which the American Robert Edwin Peary ordered, and of which the goal was the exploration of the Greenland. The authoritative character of Peary and the personality of Cook, in which Peary perceived already a rival, did not facilitate their relation.

In 1893 Cook organized its own forwarding and made arm with its expenses a ship, the Zeta . He repeats the following year on board the Miranda which failed to know a fatal outcome.

In 1897, recruited by Adrien de Gerlache for Belgian polar forwarding in the Antarctic, it joined on October 22nd, 1897 the Belgica at the stopover of Rio de Janeiro.

It will take part thus in the first wintering in the Antarctic playing a considerable part, from its personality, its experiment of the ices and its statute of doctor, in his success. It will also bind with Roald Amundsen to which it will communicate many information on the polar raids and the role of the dogs. Information which will lead Amundsen to be initiated there and to apply them at the time of the conquest of the south pole.

Frederick Cook also carried out many photographs of forwarding and its catches of sights of Belgica taken in the ices constitute exceptional documents of the history of discovered Antarctic continent.

Returned to the USA Cook will briefly turn to the alpinism where it will make errors of appreciation. He will assert the rise of the Mont McKinley but he will be confused and shown lie.

He returns for what is appropriate to him, the polar regions, and assembles in 1906 a forwarding towards the north pole (always unconquered) at the beginning of Annoatok to 920 miles of the pole. He shows visionary with a light ultra forwarding of three men (two Inuit S accompany it), two sledges of 400 kg and 26 dogs. He states to reach the pole the April 21st 1908. Constrained with the wintering, it joined with his two companions their base the April 18th 1909.

The polemic

A polemic was born with forwarding from Peary which earlier claims to have reached the pole a few days, the April 6th 1909. The Congress of the United States judged the business and Peary was declared victorious by 4 votes against 3 by the Naval affairs subcommittee . The president declaring with Peary “I believe in your word, but your evidence I do not know anything of it”.

For a swindle, he is condemned to 14 years of prison and is finally released in 1930. He will continue until his death to affirm to have reached in first the pole.

Currently the success of Peary is strongly disputed by the specialists and that of Cook also. It would seem that the first men proven with the north pole are Amundsen and Umberto Nobile aboard the Norge airship the May 12th 1926 and especially the Russian Papanine who was posed in the plane the May 21st 1937.

See too

Robert Peary
Roald Amundsen
Ralph Plaisted first to reach the North pole by terrestrial way after Peary and Cook

External bonds

an article zetetic