[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 56 (Thursday, April 2, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S4307]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO ADMIRAL ROBERT PEARY

 Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, today I wish to commemorate the 
expedition of ADM Robert Peary and his discovery of the North Pole 100 
years ago, on April 6, 1909.
  While Robert Peary was born in Pennsylvania, he was educated in the 
State of Maine, at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. He graduated in 1877. 
He lived in Portland and Fryeburg, and built a home on Eagle Island, 
which is now a State park.
  A century ago, Admiral Peary and his men set sail for the North Pole 
in the Maine-built SS Roosevelt. They sailed through the frigid, ice-
laden North Atlantic and froze the ship into a bay off northern 
Ellesmere Island. After more than a month of dog sledging over the 
moving sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean, Admiral Peary, Matthew 
Henson, and four Inughuit men stood at the northernmost place on 
Earth--the sea ice that marked the North Pole.
  Peary's success had come after a number of previous failures and 
lessons learned. Nations had competed to get there; countless men had 
suffered trying to do so, and some had even perished.
  The story of Robert Peary, his expeditions, and his attainment of 
reaching the North Pole is a celebration of the triumph of leadership, 
creativity and ingenuity.
  Though traveling there has become significantly easier than it was in 
1909, the North Pole remains a destination for scientists. The fact is, 
however, the North Pole of today is not the same North Pole that 
Admiral Peary discovered. The thick, multiyear sea ice that Admiral 
Peary encountered has disappeared. In the last 30 years, the Arctic has 
lost sea ice cover over an area ten times as large as the State of 
Maine, and at this rate the Arctic Ocean will be ice free by 2050. 
Global climate change is one of the most significant environmental 
challenges facing our country, and it has renewed scientific interest 
in the North Pole.
  Today, visitors to the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum at Bowdoin 
College can learn more about Admiral Peary's historic journey to the 
top of the Earth. In special recognition of the 100th anniversary of 
the expedition, the museum has brought together an impressive 
collection of objects that were at the North Pole on April 6, 1909, 
including an American flag that flew at the pole on that day, a page 
from his diary where he reflects on his accomplishment, and one of his 
sledges.
  The people of Maine, and especially those at Bowdoin College, are 
proud of Robert Peary and of all of those involved in his epic journey. 
I am pleased to honor the anniversary of this historic 
occasion.

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