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Sir Wally Herbert: he followed Cook and Peary 

British polar icon Wally Herbert died June 12 at age 72. The third expedition to walk to the North Geographic Pole, Wally and his men continued across the Arctic Ocean in a monstrous trip that included overwintering on the ice in 1968-69.  Wally’s polar life was marked by human ambition and controversy typical for Arctic explorers of the time. In 1908, American-born Frederick Cook claimed to be the first to have reached the North Pole. Fellow American Robert E Peary said he reached the pole the next year, disputing Cook and claiming the first for himself. Next to reach the spot was Wally Herbert in 1969, soon disputing Peary. With that the North Pole “first” got its third contestant (not including a number of accompanying team members and local Inuits).  The will to be the first  With a Norwegian first to ski to the South Pole, Nepal/New Zealand first to summit Everest, Soviets first to fly to space and Americans first to walk on the moon - Wally’s dispute of Peary gained many fans among his countrymen (often with inflated claims) and the North Pole debate rages to this day.

Wally was a doubter as far as the North Pole  was concerned.  He did not believe that either Cook or Peary got there, but his earliest opinions were decidedly for Cook, as in his  1970 book, The North Pole.

.Articles from the Current Issue of Membership News

New ‘Admiral Byrd’ is commissioned

On May 15 Society board member Bolling Byrd Clarke, daughter of legendary 20th century Polar explorer Admiral Richard E. Byrd, broke the ceremonial bottle of champagne on the bow of the newly-commissioned USN Richard E. Byrd at the San Diego naval shipyard.  USNS Richard E. Byrd (T-AKE-4) is a Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship in the United States Navy. She is the second United States Navy ship to be named after rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd.

Donald Winter, Secretary of the Navy, Matron of Honor Marie Giossi, Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s daughter and Ship’s Sponsor Bolling Byrd Clarke at launching. The contract to build her was awarded to National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) of San Diego, California, July 2003. She was launched from the building ways into the San Diego Bay. Bolling Byrd Clarke, Admiral Byrd’s eldest daughter broke the ceremonial bottle of champagne on the ship’s bow to start the launch amid fireworks and fanfare. The ship is scheduled to be part of the Pacific Fleet.  The first United States Navy ship to be named after Admiral Byrd was the USS Richard E. Byrd (DDG-23) a Charles F. Adams-class guided missile destroyer.

Two Commemorative Cook US Postal stamps for 2008

Two commemorative stamps will be issued this year as part of the United States Postal Service commercial photo stamp program, both to mark the centennial of the discovery of the North Pole in April 1908. Two Commemorative Cook US Postal stamps for 2008. 

The first stamp depicts Cook from the 2000 Arts & Entertainment cable documentary series on “The Race for the Poles.” The inscription on the stamp is “Frederick A. Cook, Discoverer of the North Pole, April 21, 1908.” 

The companion stamp is a reproduction of a rendering from the book Finding the North Pole, which was published in late 1909 after Cook had returned to the United States from the Arctic via Copenhagen. The inscription is “Centennial of the Discovery of the North Pole, April 21, 1908.”  

Society members interested in obtaining sheets of 20 stamps should write the Society. They will be available after July 1 by writing to Polar Publishing Co., PO Box 11421, Pittsburgh, PA 15238.

October 1997 forum hears of ‘Belgica’

Dr. T. H. Baughman, professor of history at Oklahoma Central University and author of Before the Heroes Came: Antarctica in the 1890s delivered a paper on Cook and Amundson at the Workshop on the History of Antarctic Research. 

The presentation was held October 25 at the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University and was part of the forum on “National and Transnational Agendas in Antarctic Research from the 1950s and Beyond.” While the agenda was concerned with the second half of the 20th century, the Baughman paper was selected to place into perspective modem South Polar exploration and research.  

The “Belgica” expedition of 1897- 99 was the first multi-national and interdisciplinary expedition to winter the Antarctic. Amundson as First Mate and Cook as surgeon-anthropologist set the stage for their assault on both Poles a decade later through their South Polar experience.  

The sponsoring group for the Workshop, headed by Dr. Cornelia Ludecke of Germany, says that “we want to study what degree research in the Antarctic has been driven by scientific criteria and to what extent compromises were made in the light of political barriers and logistical limitations. In historical perspective, a review shall be made of essential background factors at work, both scientific and non-scientific ones, when nations were moved to participate in the IGY (1957-58). Additional background factors will be considered with regard to major nations that chose not to contribute to the IGY with expeditions.

April conference will hear scholars from Norway, Russia and Nunuvat

Explorers, researchers and historians from Russia, Norway and Nunuvat will participate in an international symposium that will discuss the attainment of the geographical North Pole on April 21, 1908 by Dr. Frederick A. Cook. The forum will be held at the Yale Club, located at 50 Vanderbilt at 44th St. in New York City, just opposite from Grand Central Station.  

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