Solving the mystery of the North Pole is like trying to solve a
murder. Lacking witnesses, we rely heavily upon circumstantial
evidence. We cannot trust Peary or Cook’s accounts since they
had strong motives for bending the truth. We cannot trust the
accounts of the men who accompanied them because none of them
were capable of calculating their geographical position using
sextants or other equipment. Peary’s Party, supposedly at the
North Pole We cannot rely upon the evidence that Cook or Peary
brought back (photos of the North Pole and of the sun above the
horizon) since these photos could be made from other locations
besides the North Pole. Nor can we rely upon them identifying
unique features of the North Pole itself, since the pack ice
covering the North Pole is constantly drifting, carrying any
flags, cairns, or messages with it. The best evidence of
reaching the North Pole would have come from ocean soundings
(lines used to measure the depth of the sea floor). But Cook did
not carry the equipment to mak