Dr. Frederick A. Cook: Hero of the Belgica Expedition
Born in Hortonville, NY in 1865, Dr. Frederick A. Cook had his first experience in polar exploration in 1891, as ethnologist and photographer for Commander Robert Peary’s expedition to Greenland. In 1897, Cook volunteered to join a Belgian expedition to Antarctica, which needed a physician. Although the expedition flew the Belgian flag, was financed by Belgians, and named its vessel the Belgica, the ship actually had an international crew. First-mate was a Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, who would be the first man to reach the South Pole in 1911 and would become a close friend of Cook.
The Belgica Expedition provided more adventure than anyone had expected. On March 3, 1898, the ship became frozen in the ice and remained so for a year. During that time, Dr. Cook busied himself by taking care of the crew, who were dying from scurvy. Cook persuaded a reluctant captain Adrien de Gerlache to encourage the men to eat raw meat. Based on his experience in Greenland, Cook believed that a diet rich in raw meat could provide the vitamins that were lacking in the canned and salted goods on the ship. Cook was right and the crew recovered.
Cook observed the psychological despair of his shipmates and became convinced that they needed physical exercise. He noticed leads in the ice and led a project to use saws to connect the leads and create a channel. As the weather warmed, the channel broadened and allowed the Belgica to escape through the ice and into open water.
Possessing an innovative and creative mind, Cook used his time in Antarctica to improving goggles and developing a light and easily constructed tent. Cook himself would use these instruments and others in his effort to reach the North Pole in 1908.
As a writer, Cook was unusually talented. In 1900, his account of the Belgica expedition, Through the First Antarctic Night, 1898-1899 and its extraordinary photographs made Dr. Cook famous as the hero of the expedition and a prominent polar explorer.
Dr. Cook in Controversy
Dr. Frederick A. Cook is probably the most controversial figure in the history of polar exploration. In 1903, Dr. Cook made use of his experiences in Greenland and in Antarctica and his interest in mountaineering to attempt to reach the summit of Mt. McKinley in Alaska, which had never been climbed. He did succeed in circumnavigating the mountain and garnered enough information to attempt another climb in 1906, when he claimed to have attained the summit.
Honored by the National Geographic Society, Dr. Cook decided to use his experience and his fame to reach the North Pole. Unlike his rival Commander Robert Peary, Cook believed that a small expedition could travel quickly and, by adapting to native techniques and customs, could reach the North Pole. Cook even designed a special sled that was exceptionally light and could also be used as a boat to cross leads in the Arctic ice.
In 1907, Dr. Cook attempted to reach the North Pole. He was not heard from again until May of 1909, when he claimed to have reached the North Pole on April 22, 1908 with two natives from Greenland. His delay in returning was occasioned by weather and difficult travel, which required him to spend a winter in a cave.
In September of 1909, Commander Robert Peary announced to the world that Peary had reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909 and denounced Cook’s claim as a fraud. Although both men have been dead for decades (Peary in 1920 and Cook in 1940), the controversy rages to the present.
Supporters of Dr. Cook claim that Peary and his wealthy supporters vilified and undermined Cook. Cook charged that Peary destroyed Cook’s original navigational records, which he had left behind in Greenland at a site that Peary had visited. Furthermore, Cook and his supporters scoffed that Peary’s own records did not support his claim to have reached the North Pole. On the other hand, supporters of Peary maintain that Cook lied about his accomplishment of the North Pole and that he never had any navigational records to support his claim.
Controversy also surrounds Cook’s accomplishment of Mt. McKinley. In 1909, as the two men debated each other’s claims to the North Pole, one of Cook’s companions in 1906 “confessed” that he and Cook had lied about reaching the top of Mt. McKinley. Supporters of Dr. Cook have pointed out that backers of Peary provided financial support for the confession.
In 1940, Dr. Cook died in relative obscurity but maintained that he had reached the North Pole in 1908. Sixteen years after his death, Cook’s daughter and others established the Dr. Frederick A. Cook Society to maintain Dr. Cook’s claims, an organization that continues to meet, sponsor conferences, and produces publication.
Return to Exhibits Page or visit the Frederick A. Cook Society Collection at The Ohio State University Archives