The Robert Peary expedition in 1908 is what most people know as the first to reach the North pole, although that itself is in some dispute. It turns out that Peary wasn't even the first to reach the North pole in his own party! Peary recruited Matthew Henson, a young Black man with years of experience in seafaring and wilderness survival, to head the crews of his various adventures, including the 1908 North Pole expedition.
Henson was promoted to “first man” and field assistant. He was a skilled craftsman, often coming up with life-saving solutions for the team in the harshest of Arctic conditions. On the final stage of the journey toward the North Pole, it was just himself, Peary and four native Inuit assistants, Ootah, Egigingwah, Seegloo, and Ooqueah.
As they approached the “Farthest North” point of any Arctic expedition until 1909, Robert grew more and more weary, suffering from exhaustion and frozen toes, unable to leave their camp, set up five miles from the pole. Henson scouted ahead on Peary’s orders. “I was in the lead that had overshot the mark a couple of miles,” Henson later recalled, “We went back then and I could see that my footprints were the first at the spot.”
Read the story of Matthew Henson, including his famous descendant you may be surprised to learn about, at Messy Messy Chic.
(Image credit: Library of Congress)