On Top of the World!
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009By Andrea Marroquin
On April 7, 1909, far from the warm waters and sandy shores of Jekyll Island, Georgia, American explorer Robert E. Peary was bundled in furs and battling ice. But on that day just one century ago, thanks in part to several Jekyll Island Club Members in the Peary Arctic Club, he still felt the warm glow of success. In a diary showing signs of wear from the polar trail, Peary wrote “The Pole at last. The prize of 3 centuries, my goal for 20 years. Mine at last!” With these words Peary struck his claim as the first person in history to finally reach the geographic North Pole. With him was African-American explorer Matthew Alexander Henson as well as 4 Inuit men Ootah, Egingwah, Seegloo, and Ookeah.
The quest for the North Pole was part of the continuing search for a Northwest Passage to the Orient. Prior attempts had failed to reach the North Pole despite great sacrifices of money and life. Some 756 men had died trying to find it. Peary credited the success of his own Arctic explorations in part to his financial supporters in the Peary Arctic Club, many of whom were prominent Jekyll Island Club Members. It was they, according to Peary, “who furnished the sinews of war, without which nothing could have been accomplished.”
Just five miles away from where Peary posted his “five flags at the top of the world” sat Camp Morris K. Jesup, where Peary declared his igloo “The Most Northerly Human Habitation in the World.” The camp was named for Jekyll Island Club Member Morris Ketchum Jesup. The first president of the Peary Arctic Club, Jesup had contributed $25,000 towards the construction of the Arctic S.S. Roosevelt, the ship which had battled the ice between Greenland and Ellesmere Island to attain the record furthest point north ever reached by ship under her own steam. It was from this ship that Peary and his dogsled teams had embarked on their quest for the North Pole.
Peary had unloaded his ship and established a packing box village of supplies and equipment that protected the party against the loss of the SS. Roosevelt on the ice. This winter camp was named Hubbardville after Jekyll Island Club Member General Thomas Hamlin Hubbard, a Civil War veteran, lawyer and railroad director, who was also a President of the Peary Arctic Club. Peary had launched his dog sled drive for the Pole from this point.
Upon his return, Peary entrusted to General Hubbard the proof of his claims that he had reached the Pole. It was fortunate for Peary that he had influential backers. He soon learned that Frederick Cook claimed to have reached the Pole in 1908, although Cook was eventually discredited. Throughout the Peary-Cook controversy, Hubbard supported Peary, publishing a piece addressed “To Students of Arctic Exploration” with mathematical evidence suggesting that Peary had indeed passed within 1.6 miles of the North Pole. Peary gained the confidence of many in his own time, earning congratulations from President Roosevelt, who wrote “He has performed one of the greatest feats of our times; he has won high honor for himself and for his country.”
The National Geographic Society and The Royal Geographical Society acknowledged his success. In 1910, President Taft formally recognized Peary’s achievement. Peary was given the Thanks of Congress by a Special Act in 1911. On the anniversary of his journey a century later, some doubts remain whether Peary actually reached the North Pole. There was no one on the last stage of the journey to confirm his exact location. Some technical navigational issues could allow for some variation in his position. Experts do, however, agree that Peary and his companions put themselves at great risk and traveled hundreds of miles from safety to reach the close vicinity of the North Pole.
A number of Jekyll Island Club Members supported Peary’s Polar campaigns in addition to Jesup and Hubbard. Other Club Members who actively contributed to the Peary Arctic Club were F.G. Bourne, James J. Hill, Mrs. Morris K. Jesup, Moses Taylor Pyne, and J.H. Smith. Peary wrote several books about his Polar travels. They include Northward over the Great Ice and The North Pole. Matthew Henson also wrote an account of the journey entitled A Negro Explorer at the North Pole. The movie Glory and Honor by Kevin Hooks dramatizes the 1909 expedition to the North Pole.
Jekyll Island Club Members shaped the world in many ways, contributing to many significant events in their day. Call or visit the Jekyll Island Museum on Stable Road for information about its daily tours throughout Jekyll Island’s 240-acre National Historic Landmark District telling their stories, (912) 635-4036.
