Polar Pathways: Robert E. Peary's Arctic Expeditions
1908- Payer Harbor: One Fight More
“The fog lifted about nine o'clock the first night
out, the sun peeped through the clouds, and as we passed Payer Harbor, on the
Ellesmere Land side, we saw, sharply outlined against the snow, the house where
I wintered in 1901-2. A flood of memories rushed over me at sight of the place… It
was at Payer Harbor that I had rejoined my family; it was at Payer Harbor
that I had parted from them, determined to make one fight more to reach
the goal.
"One fight more," I said in 1902; but I had only reached 84° 17´.
"One fight more," I had said in 1905; but I had only reached 87° 6´.
And now, at Payer Harbor again, on August 18, 1908, it was still "One fight
more!" Only this time I knew it was the last, in truth, whatever the result.” – Robert
E. Peary in The North Pole, published in 1910
