Polar Pathways: Robert E. Peary's Arctic Expeditions
1891-A Broken Leg
Later in the expedition, Robert Peary suffers
from his on-board accident
“About eight o’clock on Saturday evening, July 11th the Kite being then engaged in ramming a passage through some comparatively heavy ice, I stepped to the stern rail as she was backing for another blow, to watch her behavior. Just as I reached the rail a large cake of ice struck the rudder, jamming it hard over, and tearing the wheel from the hands of the two men on duty… The next instant the iron tiller had caught my leg between it and the house and snapped both bones just above the ankle. My leg was set and I was stowed on a long seat across the head of the cabin, where I was destined to remain till I was taken ashore at our winter camp.” - Robert E. Peary, Northward over the Great Ice, published in 1898
"The Days Were Very Long" by Robert E. Peary 1891, Northward over the “Great Ice” Vol. I and II. Frederick a. Stokes Company: New York, 1898.
