COOK'S EXPEDITION (1909) 333 



possessed had in the same region made the attempt from 

 points hundreds of. miles nearer the Pole, and had suffered 

 utter defeat. Markham's starting-point was about 240 

 geographical miles nearer the Pole, and his farthest north 

 was 400 miles from the Pole. Lockwood's base was over 

 200 miles nearer the Pole, and his record was only 4 miles 

 farther than Markham's. Dr. Cook was well aware that 

 Commander Peary himself, by far the most experienced 

 of Arctic explorers, had repeatedly made attempts from 

 a base much nearer the Pole. Starting from Lockwood's 

 base in 1900, his farthest point reached was 370 miles 

 from the Pole. A second attempt from the same point 

 in 1902 reached a latitude 343 miles from the Pole. In 

 1906 his third trial was made from a ship situated more 

 than 240 geographical miles nearer the Pole than 

 Annootok, but the farthest north attained was still 

 174 miles from the Pole. 



This was the position when Dr. Cook decided to make 

 the attempt from Annootok. It is not surprising, there- 

 fore, that those acquainted with the history of the subject 

 should find a serious difficulty in at once accepting Dr. 

 Cook's statement that he had accomplished such an 

 extraordinary achievement. 



His idea of avoiding the route through Kennedy 

 Channel and adopting a course sufficiently west to escape 

 the crushed-up land-ice was no doubt a good one, but 

 making every allowance for this advantage, the contrast 

 between his expedition and Commander Peary's expedition 

 of 1909 is very great. Commander Peary had relief 

 parties to assist him until he was within 132 geographical 

 miles of the Pole. His problem then was to travel these 

 132 miles and return to land 413 miles distant. Dr. 

 Cook, on the other hand, was about 462 miles from the 

 Pole when his last supporting party left him. To reach 

 the Pole he had therefore to travel 462 miles against 



