No explorer tried harder or over a longer time to claim the North Pole than Robert Edwin Peary, a tough Mainer who suffered setbacks that would have permanently discouraged others—he even lost most of his toes to frostbite and still wouldn’t give up his dream. But he wouldn’t have been able to do it without Matthew Henson, his African-American right-hand man on seven grueling expeditions. In this episode, we’ll meet Peary and Henson, two adventurers with completely different backgrounds and temperaments who formed one of the most enduring and successful partnerships in the history of exploration. But there were also disappointments, betrayals, and a lot of drama. We’ll tag along as they make their first stabs at the Big Nail—the North Pole itself.
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02/13/21 • 58 min
Mental Floss Presents: The Quest for the North Pole - Meet Peary and Henson
Transcript
The Quest for the North Pole is a production of I Heart Radio and Mental Floss. It's summer in the northernmost reaches of Greenland. The temperature hovers around freezing. American explorer Robert E. Peary and his assistant Matthew Henson are on a back breaking journey by dog sled across the ice cap from Independence Bay, a large fjord on Greenland's northeastern corner, to their base camp at Bowden Bay on the west coast. They're nearly out of
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