skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Captain Robert Bartlett (1875-1946) is another major figure in the story of Matthew Henson. Bartlett 
was the Captain of the Roosevelt, the ship that made the journey to the Arctic two times with Peary's expeditions to find the North Pole. In the 1905 expedition, the group blazed a trail to within two hundred miles of the North Pole, the closest anyone had come to the North Pole at this point. With the second journey to the North Pole in 1908-09 Bartlett was with Peary when they made it fifty miles closer. The work needed to break the ice and snow between camps was backbreaking. Bartlett assisted with this task to the last camp.
Peary had been sending teams back down the trail to the ship until there were just two teams left, Peary's and Bartlett's. Once both groups were at the camp, Bartlett assumed that Peary would choose him to continue on to the North Pole. Confident he would be chosen to Continue with Peary leaving Henson to head back to the ship, the "bitter disappointment" came. Peary said that because Henson could handle the dogs and sledges so well he and the four Eskimos would be of more use to him. Only in his writings did Bartlett show his disappointment in not making it to the North Pole, "he did not hold a grudge and remained fiercely loyal to Peary" to the end of his life.
Image Caption: This photograph titled "Peary & Bartlett, Battle Harbor" of Captain Robert Bartlett and Robert Peary standing a a ship, presumably the Roosevelt in Battle Harbor, Labrador circa 1909 after returning from the North Pole Expedition, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
The 1908-1909 North Pole expedition was broken into multiple sections or marches. At each camp there was a group sent back along the blazed trail to leave supplies in determined locations for the last parties' return. Peary ultimately 
had a choice between taking Captain Robert Bartlett or Matthew Henson with him for the last march. Citing that they had been together for over twenty years, Peary chose Henson and four Eskimos Seeglo, Ooqueah, Egingwah and Ootah to accompany him.There has been some speculation that Peary did not choose Captain Bartlett to join him on the last march so that he could receive all the recognition. Conversely, according to Elysa Engelman in the article Black Hands, Blue Seas: Matthew Henson at the North Pole, racists assumed the reason for Peary to have chosen Henson and the four Inuit was because being men of color they "lacked the intelligence or ability to contradict his claims."
Image Caption: This photograph titled "The five flags at the Pole" was taken in 1909 once the Peary expedition made it to ninety degrees North. Matthew Henson is in the center holding the American flag with, from left, Ooqueah, Ootah, Henson, Egingwah, and Seeglo (presumably in this order) holding flags from the Daughters of the Revolution Peace Society, one with the Navy League emblem and two with Peary's college fraternity emblems, Peary is the photographer, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Upon returning to the United States, Robert Peary and Captain Robert Bartlett were met with much praise and adoration for their achievements. Both men were honored at dinners and award ceremonies hosted by royals from all over the world. Each of the explorers was awarded many of the same medals and commendations, but Peary, never 
to be overshadowed, would not be honored at the same time as Bartlett or anyone else.In December 1909, Peary was awarded a special medal from the National Geographic Society for the discovery of the North Pole. Peary was awarded numerous awards from countries all over the world for his accomplishments within just a year or two after the discovery.Bartlett was awarded the Hubbard Medal by the National Geographic Society in 1909 upon his return from the North Pole expedition. He was also awarded the Peary Polar Medal by Congress for the 1908-09 expedition among several others.Image Caption: This photograph titled "Dinner to Commander Robert E. Peary, U.S.N., Hotel Astor, March 5, 1910" is just one example of the type of honors Peary and Bartlett received when Henson was not known by many to have even been with the expedition, this photograph taken for the Geo. R. Lawrence Co., available courtesy of the Library of Congress.
