Expedition To a Non-Existent Island

Amusing Planet: In 1906, Robert Peary had just returned from an unsuccessful trip to the Arctic. The veteran explorer had hoped to reach the North Pole, but bad weather and dwindling supplies forced him to turn back when he was within 175 miles of his target.

Back home, Peary immediately began planning for his next expedition. But before he could do that, he had to find benefactors who would support his expedition financially. Peary’s 1906 expedition was partially funded by American businessman George Crocker who gifted $50,000 for the trip. Hoping to extract another healthy contribution from Crocker, Peary decided to name a previously undiscovered island after him. The alleged island was spotted by Peary about 130 miles northwest of Cape Thomas Hubbard, one of the most northerly parts of Canada. Peary mentioned the island briefly in his 1907 book Nearest the Pole, where he claimed to have seen “the faint white summits of a distant land” from the summit of Cape Colgate, about 2,000 feet above sea level.

If anyone had cared to inspect Peary’s journals then, Peary’s claims could have been challenged. On the same date Peary claimed to have made the discovery, the conning explorer had jotted down in his diary “No land visible.” Decades later, people continue to argue whether Peary’s “Crocker Land” was an innocent mistake caused by a mirage or a deliberate ploy to swindle money out of the businessman. According to some, from the vast distance that Peary reported to have seen the land, it would have been impossible to tell whether the supposed land was a large peninsula, or an island — unless the sightings were extremely definite, which only made the lie starker because of the precision with which Peary made the statement. more