Polar Pathways: Robert E. Peary's Arctic Expeditions

The North Pole - Borup and the Crevasse

 george borup oo-ma-nak peary arctic
In this photograph taken before the expedition, Borup scales a cliff

"As Borup was getting his team across the open crack between two pieces of floating ice, the dogs slipped and went into the water. Leaping forward, the vigorous young athlete stopped the sledge from following the dogs, and, catching hold of the traces that fastened the dogs to the sledge, he pulled them bodily out of the water. A man less quick and muscular than Borup might have lost the whole team as well as the sledge laden with five hundred pounds of supplies, which, considering our position far out in that icy wilderness, were worth more to us than their weight in diamonds. Of course, had the sledge gone in, the weight of it would have carried the dogs to the bottom of the sea. We drew a long breath, and, reaching the solid ice on the other side of this pontoon bridge, plunged on to the north. But we had gone only a short distance when right in front of us the ice separated with loud reports, forming another open lead, and we were obliged to camp." -Robert E. Peary in The North Pole, published in 1910

"George Borup climbing the Oo-ma-nak" 1908-1909, Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum Collections

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