1-151-943 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Dispute over who was the first to reach the North Pole, 1909. American naval officer and explorer Robert E Peary (1856-1920) is generally credited with being the leader of the first successful expidition to the North Pole (1909), although another American, Dr Frederick Cook, claimed he had reached the Pole the previous year. Cartoon from Le Petit Journal (Paris, 1909) showing Peary and Cook disputing the claim with fisticuffs, watched, somewhat incongruously, by penguins, which do not live in the northern hemisphere.