Old Pulteney and their imaginary North Pole.

 

 

You may remember a few weeks ago reading in the papers or seeing on the news how a brave bunch of explorers sponsored by Old Pulteney whisky had rowed all the way to the North Pole. Articles like the Telegraph’s claimed that this feat was only possible because so much ice had melted in the Arctic.

 

 

As most of us knew at the time, these stories were a load of old porkies and now the Press Complaints Commission has ordered the Telegraph to print a retraction. Reluctant for readers to spot their original (deliberate?) mistake, the paper hid the five line correction away on Page 18 next to an article on nude wrestling!

For anyone not familiar with the story, a quick recap. The expedition did not row to the Geographic North Pole. They did not even row to the Magnetic North Pole. Instead they rowed to the location where the Magnetic Pole was in 1996. Still sounds impressive? Well not really. As Google Earth below shows, they rowed through the Canadian Archipelago, a group of islands just off the northern coast of Canada, to an island called Ellef Ringnes. The closest they got to the True North Pole was 790 miles while the current Magnetic Pole is 458 miles to the North. Pack ice would have made a row to either of these Poles impossible, but of course the organisers of the trip knew this.

 

 

 

Anthony Watts has the full story.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/09/30/the-telegraph-finally-figure-where-the-north-magnetic-pole-is-issues-microscopically-size-correction/

 

The waters in this particular part of the Arctic have been sailed for many years. This group of islands was originally named the Parry Islands after Sir William Parry who discovered them in 1820. Before him there is evidence that the Vikings sailed the seas here.

Don’t get me wrong. A 450 mile row in freezing waters is not a stroll in the park, even with Sat Nav, radios, supplies dropped by air and the fact that they were never far from land. But it was hardly Scott of the Antarctic stuff.

Which begs the question. Why are we being lied to?

If you wish to complain, you can contact the Telegraph at www.telegraph.co.uk. Alternatively you may wish to contact Old Pulteney at http://www.oldpulteney.com/contact.php