Editing Robert Peary (section)

====Inconsistent speeds====
[[File:PearyBartlett.png|thumb|alt= Photograph of Peary and Robert Bartlett | Peary and Robert Bartlett at [[Battle Harbour]] in 1909]]
The last five marches when Peary was accompanied by a navigator (Capt. Bob Bartlett) averaged no better than {{convert|13|mi|abbr=on}} marching north. But once the last support party turned back at "Camp Bartlett", where Bartlett was ordered southward, at least {{convert|133|nmi|abbr=on}} from the pole, Peary's claimed speeds immediately doubled for the five marches to Camp Jesup. The recorded speeds quadrupled during the two and a half-day return to Camp Bartlett&nbsp;– at which point his speed slowed drastically. Peary's account of a beeline journey to the pole and back—which would have assisted his claim of such speed—is contradicted by his companion Henson's account of tortured detours to avoid "pressure ridges" (ice floes' rough edges, often a few meters high) and "leads" (open water between those floes).

In his official report, Peary claimed to have traveled a total of 304 nautical miles between April 2, 1909, (when he left Bartlett's last camp) and April 9 (when he returned there), {{convert|133|nmi|abbr=on}} to the pole, the same distance back, and {{convert|38|nmi|abbr=on}} in the vicinity of the pole.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}} These distances are counted without detours due to drift, leads and difficult ice, i.e. the distance traveled must have been significantly higher to make good the distance claimed.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} Peary and his party arrived back in Cape Columbia on the morning of April 23, 1909, only about two and a half days after Capt Bartlett, yet Peary claimed he had traveled a minimum of {{convert|304|nmi|abbr=on}} more than Bartlett (to the Pole and vicinity).{{citation needed|date=April 2013}}

The conflicting and unverified claims of Cook and Peary prompted [[Roald Amundsen]] to take extensive precautions in navigation during [[Amundsen's South Pole expedition]] so as to leave no room for doubt concerning his 1911 attainment of the [[South Pole]], which—like [[Robert Falcon Scott]]'s a month later in 1912—was supported by the sextant, [[theodolite]], and compass observations of several other navigators.