Traveler Robert Peary, his discoveries and achievements

Polar explorer Robert Peary is best known for the fact that he was the first to visit the North Pole. To this achievement he went all his life, with an obsessive self-sacrifice fulfilling one task after another.

Youth

May 6, 1856 Robert Peary was born. His hometown was Cresson, which is near Pittsburgh. He also studied on the East Coast, in Maine, where he went to serve in the US Navy. Army debt threw him into Latin America, including in Panama and Nicaragua, where at that time the Americans tried to build the Nicaraguan Canal to simplify navigation between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

But the real enthusiasm and passion of the young man was the North. At that time, the theme of the Arctic excited the scientific community and just adventurers who wanted to be on the edge of the world. Almost all the years of Robert Peary's life (1856 - 1920) were given to polar research. Only 15 years have been spent among the Eskimos. Even the daughter of the discoverer Mary was born on an expedition.

The first expeditions

In 1886, he first went to the North, finding himself in Greenland. Travel on this island was organized on the basis of using dog sleds. Piri was such an adventurer that he wanted to cross the island alone. However, his Danish companion persuaded the young researcher. Instead, they went together, leaving behind about a hundred miles, or 160 kilometers. At that time it was the second longest voyage on the "green island". Robert Peary wanted to improve his result, but already in 1888, Greenland was conquered by Fridtjof Nansen.

After that, the polar explorer became obsessed with the idea of reaching the North Pole, which no one yet submitted to. In order not to perish in the first expedition, Piri has consistently studied survival skills for several years in the harsh climatic conditions of the Far North. For this he studied the life of the Eskimos. Later, the aborigines of this people will help the researcher in his difficult travels.

The exotic experience was not wasted. Robert completely abandoned the usual equipment for Europeans and Americans. Even before that, many ekspiditsii died because of unpreparedness to critical temperatures during the stay at the parking lot. There used tents and sacks, which were defenseless before the arctic winds and cataclysms. The Eskimos instead of them built shelters out of snow, or a needle. Robert Piri took over their experience. Biography of the discoverer says that this man borrowed much from the indigenous inhabitants of the North.

Innovations

The first attempt to reach the North Pole was undertaken in 1895. Before that, there were several more trips to Greenland, where Piri was gaining experience and knowledge about survival in the harsh conditions of the North. He created a system of transshipment points to simplify the communication of the expedition. With regard to transport, the preference was given to dogs, while their number was invariably greater than required.

Robert very carefully selected the inventory, guided by the rule that the campaign should take only that which has the minimum weight and can bring the maximum benefit. Superfluous things could be a burden, slowing down the researcher, and in the North every hour is expensive, as the weather regularly changed with an enviable surprise, and the life support resources were calculated on a per-minute basis.

It was also important psychological work within the team of polar explorers. Piri took over the experience of army discipline. In his expeditions, the authority of the chief was unshakable. Orders given to them were carried out immediately, thanks to which it was possible to avoid deviations from the solution of the assigned tasks.

Purpose - North Pole

All this luggage of knowledge and skills was applied in 1895, but that attempt was unsuccessful. In addition, many suffered from frostbite, including Robert Peary himself. The North Pole deprived him of eight toes on his feet, which had to be amputated.

The second attempt took place only five years later - in 1900, when Piri was able to improve his health and solve organizational problems. This time he managed to move forward, but he never reached the goal.

Conquest of the North Pole

In 1908, the sixth Arctic expedition Piri was organized. This was his third attempt to conquer the North Pole. A team of Americans and indigenous Greenlanders took part in the campaign. A multi-month path to the goal included a long wintering on the ice. Through certain stretches of the route, some participants returned to the Big Land to report the results. Robert Peary slowly but surely made his way to his goal. What he discovered, it became clear on April 6, 1909, when his people installed a striped star flag in the snow, in the place where the pole was supposed to be. Here the team stayed for 30 hours, then turned to the side of the house. The return took place on September 21, 1909.

The traveler died in 1920, fanned by glory. Shortly before this, the US government made him a Rear Admiral.