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matthias was the first african-american to become a successful arctic explorer not only that but
according to some accounts he may be the first person to reach the north pole
even so henson rarely received credit from his contemporaries for his achievement as
most people preferred to praise robert peary who's better suited to their ideal image of
an american explorer but inevitably the pendulum swings the other way it might have taken decades
but the world finally began to recognize that matthew henson was one of the greatest explorers
in american history he was awarded medals and honorary doctorates he was put on a stamp and
had parks schools and even a glacier named after him he was also re-buried at arlington
national cemetery matthew henson is no longer simply an asterisk in somebody else's career
matthew alexander henson was born shortly after the end of the american civil war on
august 8 1866 in nanjimo maryland even before the abolition of slavery his parents had been
free black americans who made a modest living a sharecroppers despite their freed status
they still had to contend with racist vitriol and terror attacks from the ku klux klan and
other white supremacists who began lashing out more frequently after the confederacy
lost the civil war in an attempt to find a safer environment for their children the henson parents
left nand muay and moved further up north to a town called georgetown near washington dc
unfortunately both parents died in the years that followed and while still a young boy matthew
henson found himself an orphan in the care of his uncle there was one event in henson's childhood
that he later described as having a profound inspiring effect on him when he was 10 years
old he attended a ceremony to honor abraham lincoln one of the keynote speakers was frederick
douglass the former slave who became a prominent author social reformer and statesman in his speech
douglas urged young black people to seek an education in order to combat racial prejudices
and inequality with these words in his heart when he was barely 12 years old hanson made his way to
baltimore maryland which was steadily developing into a thriving poor town he found a job in 1878
as a cabin boy aboard a three-masted merchant ship called the katie hines under the command of
captain charles henson spent the next six years of his life on that vessel captain charles took
the uncabin boy under his wing and provided him with an education besides learning how to read
and write henson also became an adept sailor and trained in a variety of skills such as navigation
and sailing that would later prove useful in his career as an explorer by the time he turned 20
matthew henson was a salty sea dog who had traveled to the far east north africa and
the arctic seas captain charles passed away in 1887 prompting henson to leave the katie hines
and find a new vocation in life the adventure bug had bitten him but he did not have the means to go
gallivanting to far away lands on his own and so he went to washington dc and took
a safe but boring job as a clerk for a furrier's shop but that didn't last long
henson's life changed forever one day in november 1887 when a navy officer came
looking to sell walrus and seal pelts brought from greenland he was robert peary an engineer
and explorer who had already made up his mind to become the first man to reach the north pole
at that point in time period just returned from his first expedition into the arctic
and had every intention of going back however he was still an active member of the united states
navy corps of civil engineers so he couldn't just leave when he felt like it instead he was due to
travel to nicaragua to conduct some surveys on possible routes for the proposed nicaraguan canal
which as we know today was never built while in the furious shop peri and henson
got to talking the officer learned of henson's exploits at sea and was
impressed with his nautical experience especially given the fact that just a few years prior
the clerk was a poor orphan who couldn't read or write piri recognized potential when he saw it so
he offered henson a position as his aide for his upcoming surveying expedition to nicaragua matthew
henson had developed a strong hankering for adventure so such an opportunity was too good for
him to pass up he accepted the offer and although neither of them knew it yet began a partnership
that would literally take them to the ends of the earth the following year matthiensen found
himself in the rainforests of central america as a personal assistant to peery over the next
two years it was live henson helped the officer create a map of nicaragua's tropical forests in
search of possible routes for the canal the former cabin boy performed admirably during the trip and
returned to the united states as one of piri's good friends he even helped henson find a job
as a messenger for the league island naval yard in philadelphia but hanson already knew our life
pushing pencils behind the desk was not for him instead he dreamt about going on adventures again
exploring the untamed lands of the world indeed it didn't take long for such an occasion to arise
by 1891 henson started building a regular life for himself he had a steady job was newly married to a
woman named eva flint however peary had received leave from the navy as well as financial support
from the american geographical society to continue his exploration of greenland he began assembling
his team and at the top of his list was matthew henson who eagerly accepted to serve once again
the north greenland expedition party set sail from new york in june 1891 aboard the ss kite
at that time much of the arctic was a mystery so their main mission was not to attempt to reach the
north pole but simply to explore greenland and see if it was an individual land mass or a peninsula
as far as matthiensen was concerned while he may not have had any formal training or
experience in arctic conditions he learned by doing he became a jack of all trades for
filling numerous roles during his multiple trips to the frozen regions of the north
he served as a navigator map maker hunter fisherman translator soldierer carpenter and
dog handler unlike most explorers neither peery nor hansen adopted an i know best attitude when it
came to arctic survival they recognized the fact that the local inuit people had tips and tricks to
help them survive in the seemingly never-ending frozen wastes of the arctic since after all
they were the ones who'd managed to turn it into their home they learned how to hunt how to build
igloos and even how to dress in furs even though other explorers consider the practice undignified
and gentlemanly while piri was willing to use information from the inuit to survive
his eagerness did not translate to affection or respect for them but where piri was horrid and
quick to betray people he considered unworthy henson was compassionate henson knew firsthand
how it felt to be treated like a secondhand citizen and he had no intention of doing the same
to others he showed a genuine interest in inuit culture and learned their language which proved
to be an invaluable asset when it came to securing the help for his expeditions they called him mari
parlock which was roughly translated to matthew the kind one in turn he wrote in his memoirs that
i've come to love these people i know every man woman and child in their tribe they are
my friends and regard me as theirs going back to the actual expedition itself it accomplished its
goal although not without hardships and sacrifices the mission was marked by tragedy when the team's
mineralogist john verhoff lost his life after falling into a crash the trip took a few months
longer than expected because piri suffered a leg injury but in the end the team crossed greenland
and proved that it was in fact one giant island they made their way back to america in late 1892
this had been matthew henson's first trip to the arctic and it did well to showcase his skills and
tenacity and to solidify his position as peery's first man for six more expeditions that they would
undertake together over the coming 17 years the next voyage occurred the following year this time
there were more men and a bigger ship yet the mission was a failure due to terrible weather
conditions henson fell ill during this trip after a long race with death as he put it and required
months of rehabilitation to get his strength back on his way back in the summer of 1895 henson swore
to never leave his happy home in warmer lands again but of course we already know how that one
turned out his oath was about as reliable as that as someone who promises never to drink again after
waking up with a raging hangover one notable thing did happen during that expedition though
henson took in a local orphan it was on this trip that i adopted the orphan eskimo boy
could look to his mother having died just previous to our arrival at the red cliffs after this boy
was washed and scrubbed by me his long hair cut short and his greasy dirty clothes of skins and
furs burned a new suit made of odds and ends collected from different wardrobes on the ship
made him a presentable young american i was proud of him and he of me he learned to speak english
and slept underneath my bunk two more missions to greenland occurred in 1896 and 1897 which resulted
in the team reaching the island's most northern point and mapping it completely this was only a
secondary objective though as their main goal was to retrieve the gargantuan cape york meteorite
that had landed in the frozen wastes of the arctic the locals weren't too happy with this though
since they used the metal from the meteorites to make tools the arctic team's continued success
increased the profile of the dynamic duo of henson and berry in the united states
that made it easier for them to secure funds in order to go on more missions for the next
trip they intended to set a new farthest north record this is a term that has lost all value
nowadays but before anybody had reached the north pole arctic explorers kept setting new records by
traveling a little further each time and the farthest north referred to the most northerly
latitudes that had been reached by humanity if we take their word for it then hanson's team set a
new furthest north on two sequential voyages to the arctic the first one lasted for five years
between 1898 and 1902. this time it was perry's turn to suffer the wrath of the grim destroyer as
henson liked to call the merciless conditions caused by mother nature in the arctic wastelands
the commander's feet froze so badly that he lost nine toes frostbite understandably this injury
kept him on the shelf for a while and henson's team did not return to the arctic until 1905.
this trip was shorter as they had obtained a state-of-the-art steamship dubbed ss roosevelt
which was powerful enough to make its way through the floating ice packs the climax of
this expedition was one of the rare occasions when henson was not by the commander's side as the team
got separated earlier during a storm this actually proved to be a problem for peery as he didn't have
anyone with him skilled enough in navigation to confirm that he had set a new farthest north but
they claimed it anyway and this highlights their big problem with these expeditions
nowadays robert perry has what we might call an issue with credibility the guy made a lot of
bold claims and some of them might not have been true we'll get to the big one about reaching the
north pole in a minute but his claims of setting new farthest north records have also come under
scrutiny these doubts have also tarnished the accomplishments of matthew henson by association
but enough of the farthest north malarkey from now on it's north pole or bust since this was
the true goal that matthew henson and all other arctic explorers at the time had in mind in 1908
it was finally time for the big one on july the 6th hanson set off on his seventh and final arctic
mission alongside his longtime companion this time determined to make it all the way to the north
pole they first traveled to greenland where they picked up dozens of inuit men including cooklatu
who was eager to go exploring alongside his adoptive father as well as hundreds of dogs and
tons of meat from there they sailed to ellsmere island in canada where they made camp and
left for the pole in late february 1909. the simplest tasks became complicated and
exhausting when they had to be done under the brutal and relentless conditions at the arctic
even just soldering a few tin cans became a job for a demon in hades according to henson worked
all day soldering the tins of alcohol and a very trying job it was i tried to work with
mittens on i tried to work with them off as soon as my bare fingers would touch the cold metal of
the tins they would freeze if i attempted to use my mittens they would singe and burn and it was
impossible to hold the solder with my bare skin gloves on when the expedition started the party
consisted of 24 men but only six were present for the last leg of the journey matthienson robert
perry and four inuit men six almost turned to five when matthew henson slipped on a block of ice and
fell into the icy cold water in the arctic such an accident could easily have turned into a
death sentence in fact that is exactly the outcome that befell one of henson's compatriots professor
ross g marvin who drowned on this expedition while returning back to camp henson however did
not share his fate as he was saved by uttar one of the inuit men who managed to grab the explorer
by the name of the neck just like a sled dog and pull him out of the water they knew it stripped
hints of his wet clothes and beat the water out of them then following a wardrobe change the
hunt for the north pole resumed as if nothing had ever happened that was when the commander's nasty
side started to show itself because in that moment honesty friendship and teamwork didn't matter as
much to him as becoming the first man to reach the north pole he realized he knew it weren't going to
be a problem and he would have left henson behind if he had any chance of making it without him
but he didn't and he knew it matthew hansen was the one who took care of the dogs and
the supplies he was also the one who knew how to fix the sledges and he was the only one who knew
how to speak with he knew it if anything henson was the one who didn't need peri on april 6 1909
the team made camp for the last time on their way to the pole up until this point their camps were
simply named camp number one camp number two etc but they felt that something special was
needed to mark this momentous occasion therefore the commander took an american silk flag and
carefully planted it on top of their igloo christening the location camp morris k jessup
after one of their financiers the six man went to sleep and woke up the next morning ready to make a
final march to the north pole ostensibly the plan was for the faster henson to scout ahead and then
allow the navy officer to overtake at the last minute and claim the glory of being the
first to the north pole however henson's team overshot their target let's say by mistake but
who knows so when perry finally caught up to them matthienson greeted him by saying
i think i'm the first man to sit on top of the world according to henson's journal the mood
became decidedly frosty from that point on even by arctic standards henson wrote from the time of my
arrival at the roosevelt for nearly three weeks my days were spent in complete idleness i would catch
a fleeting glimpse of commander peri but not once in all that time did he speak a word to me then he
spoke to me in the most ordinary matter-of-fact way and ordered me to get to work not a word
about the north pole or anything connected with it even though neither one said anything about
it they both knew that the partnership they had had for over 20 years had disintegrated
and piri immediately went to work to ensure that he was the one who enjoyed all the fame and glory
and not matthew henson this did not prove difficult despite his decades of experience
and success racial prejudices against henson were still pervasive and the world at large
was more than happy to dismiss him as simply a mere sidekick to the commander even newspapers
of the day decried the fact that perry gave the honor of reaching the north pole to a black man
instead of one of his white companions such as the ship's captain robert bartlett
only other explorers who knew matthienson personally understood how indispensable
he'd truly been to the success of the mission and the peri didn't take him by choice but
because he could not have done it without him even after he published his own memoir
in 1912 titled a negro explorer at the north pole henson still went mostly ignored however karma is
you know what and peary encountered a completely different and unexpected opposition to his claim
frederick cook a man who accompanied them on henson's first trip to the arctic as the
team's surgeon he also claimed to have reached the north pole and he said that he did it first this
triggered an intense debate over who was telling the truth if indeed any of them were whether by
choice or by force matthew henson mostly stayed out of the controversy although he disbelieved
cook's story feeling that he was too soft to succeed in such a grueling mission as far as
henson was concerned he lived a quiet unassuming life after his arctic days were over he never
tried to go on another mission both because he did not want to do it without his long-term companion
and because he felt that he'd already accomplished what he set out to do in the arctic henson found
a job with the u.s customs house in new york city on recommendation from president teddy
roosevelt himself and he spent almost 30 years working there he had married again to a woman
named lucy ross in 1907 and had an inuit concubine named akantinwa while in greenland who gave him
his only biological child a son named anaok this fact however was not publicized until the 1950s
after henson's death unfortunately in the decades following his historic trip to the north pole
matthiensen saw his accomplishments swept under the rug and forgotten while his former partner
was made an admiral and received multiple medals and honors it wasn't until 1937 that henson was
made an honorary member of the explorers club of new york and a decade later he received a medal
by the u.s navy for his efforts mathienson's final tribute in his lifetime came in 1954 when
president dwight eisenhower invited him to the white house to receive a special commendation
for his work as an explorer matthienson died a year later on march 9 1955 in
the bronx age 88 in 1988 following a special exception granted by president ronald reagan
matthew henson and his wife lucy were re-buried at the arlington national cemetery with full
military honours the image showed henson and the four men who accompanied him to the frozen edge
of the earth thus some long deserved recognition was finally granted to five intrepid explorers who
persevered and triumphed in the face of adversity both from mother nature and their fellow men