Fraudulent claims of discoveries of some hitherto unknown part of Earth and its inhabitants. Just as the astronomer has the task of discovering the structure of the universe and the microbiologist that of microorganisms, the explorer’s task is finding out about and mapping the structure, topology, and demography of a specific locality on Earth’s surface. It is unfortunate that quite a few explorations have been found, on later examination, in one way or another, to be deceptions.
Frederick COOK is a classic case of a man who claimed more than he had achieved. He started his career as a physician and joined the Peary Arctic expedition of 1891-92 as a surgeon. Robert Edwin Peary was a U.S. explorer who, in 1909, said that he had reached the geo¬ graphic North Pole when in fact he knew that he was hundreds of miles away. Maybe Cook learned to be dishonest from his association with Peary, or maybe both men let their standards slip in later life. Some say that exploring got into Cook’s blood, but others say it was more likely to have been the fame and the glory that attracted him. Whatever the explanation for his behavior, the claims made by Cook for the two explorations he led to have climbed Mount McKinley in Alaska in 1906 and to have reached the North Pole with two Inuit in 1908 were both found to be flawed. The expedition to Alaska had been a scientific success: He had penetrated and mapped previously unknown territory, but he never actually reached the summit of Mount McKinley. Cook had proclaimed he would climb it and, not having done so, the avoidance of loss of face might have been more important to him than the good work he had in fact accomplished.