Born August 15, 1815, Brigus, Newfoundland
Died April 28, 1946, New York, New York
The oldest of ten children, Bob Bartlett was born in the small Newfoundland fishing village of Brigus on August 15, 1875. When he was fifteen he left to attend boarding school in St. John’s, the capital city of Newfoundland. But he was unhappy there and, after two years, convinced his parents to let him go to sea aboard a sealing ship. He quickly earned a reputation as a skillful seal hunter, which was one of the chief ways to earn a living in Newfoundland at that time.
In 1898 Bartlett’s uncle hired him to serve as first mate on the Windward, the ship used by American explorer Robert Edwin Peary (1856–1920) in his first attempt to reach the North Pole. After a winter in the far north, Bartlett and the Windward returned south. Peary stayed behind in the Arctic, learning Inuit (Eskimo) methods of travel and survival and improving his expedition equipment and tactics. He developed what was later called the “Peary system” of polar travel: sending advance parties ahead to open the trail and set up supply stations, which allowed the main party to spend its energy covering distance.
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