Josephine Diebitsch Peary: Arctic Explorer

by Linda Harris Sittig

I often find fascinating, strong women through their husbands.

Like Karin Bergöö, a talented textile artist married to Swedish painter Carl Larsson.  And Mileva Marić, a brilliant mathematician married to Albert Einstein (his first wife). Anne Morrow, a sensitive writer married to Charles Lindbergh.

So it was through her husband, Robert E. Peary, that I discovered Josephine Diebitsch. You may remember Robert Peary, credited with being the first man to reach the North Pole in 1909.

Born in May of 1863, amid the turmoil of the Civil War, Josephine spent her childhood in Washington, D.C. The oldest of four siblings and often a ringleader for their city adventures, the children frequently visited their father’s workplace, the Smithsonian Institution. Perhaps it was among the many exhibits that Josephine honed her curiosity about life elsewhere.

A tomboy as a young girl, she grew up to be a beautiful woman by all accounts, with a personality that made her feel at ease in multiple groups of people. This last trait would become her hallmark in her adventurous life with Robert Peary.

In 1882 after she graduated as valedictorian from business college, her father fell gravely ill, and Josephine took over his job at the Smithsonian. She stayed at the Smithsonian until 1886 when she became engaged to Peary.

Peary, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, received orders shortly after the wedding to report to Philadelphia Naval Yard. While in Philadelphia, he began exploring options for his current fascination: Greenland. He wanted to be the man who figured out whether Greenland was an island or an extension peninsula of an Arctic continent.

In 1891, having received funding from the National Academy of Sciences, Peary and Josephine set out for Greenland. A five-man crew accompanied them, but Josephine would be the first white woman to travel on an Arctic exploration. Indeed, in 1891, women explorers were a rare species.

As adventurous as the trip sounded, Josephine quickly became the cook, the nurse, and a facilitator with the native Inuit people. The trip lasted almost a year, and several times Peary would go off on a side excursion and be out of communication until he returned. Josephine was left alone during those times, with only a handful of native Inuit for company. So she taught herself how to hunt and shoot. Once the expedition returned stateside, Peary began seeking funding for his next trip.

This time, Josephine arranged for a cook, a doctor, and a practical nurse. Josephine was seven months pregnant, the trip would last two years, and she intended to write a book about her experiences in the Arctic.

The baby, Marie, was born healthy, and Josephine and the baby flourished despite the long Arctic winter. Josephine worked on her writing that would later become her first book, My Arctic Journal, and her second book, The Snow Baby.

In the summer of 1894, a ship arrived in Greenland looking for the explorers. Even though Peary had stipulated no supplies for two years, reserves were accepted, and several crew members decided to return to the United States. Peary insisted that Josephine and the baby return as well.

Josephine reluctantly came home to Washington with her daughter. But then the reality that all the funding had been spent on the unexpected supply ship meant no money for a boat to retrieve Perry in the summer of 1895.

Although usually a private person, Josephine joined the speakers’ circuit. The president of the National Geographic Society agreed to give all proceeds from ticket sales of her talks toward financing Peary’s return ship. Soon, other venues offered the same. Josephine also used the royalties from her first book to help fund his rescue. The cost of this rescue was $10,000 – what would be well over $250,000 today.

Finally, in 1895 Peary was able to return to America. However, by 1898, he journeyed again to the Arctic, now looking for the elusive North Pole. This journey was slated for four years while Josephine remained home and wrote her second book, The Snow Baby.

After learning that Peary had taken an Inuit mistress and given her two children, Josephine decided it was time she found her husband. In 1900 with young Marie in tow, Josephine booked passage on a supply ship to rendezvous with the Peary camp.

However, travel was slow, and the ship became embedded in Arctic ice 200 miles south of the Peary camp. Josephine had no alternative but to winter aboard the boat with her seven-year-old daughter.

This ordeal would have been enough to break most women, but Josephine soldiered on, teaching Marie her school subjects daily and taking her daughter out onto the frozen landscape to explore.

In the spring of 1901Peary found the ship and reconciled with Josephine and Marie.

For the next eight years, Peary would leave on several Arctic expeditions, but by now, Josephine had two children and stayed behind with them.

Josephine Peary spent three winters and eight summers in the Arctic and wrote three books about her own Arctic exploits. This was at a time in history before anyone had automobiles, let alone go off exploring a wild frontier.

She became a notable speaker and was awarded the National Geographic Medal for her Arctic accomplishments later in life.

Peary claimed he reached the North Pole, 90 degrees north, in 1909. What made this feat all the more remarkable was that the exact spot was located in constantly shifting polar seas.

Would he have accomplished all his exploits without the help of Josephine? It is a question worth pondering.

Robert Peary died in 1920, and Josephine retired to Maine, dying in 1955. Both the Peary’s are buried side by side in Arlington National Cemetery.

Josephine’s story inspires me, once again affirming that every woman deserves to have her story told.

I am busy right now with speaking engagements about my newest book, OPENING CLOSED DOORS: THE STORY OF JOSIE C. MURRAY. Please visit my website, https://www.lindasittig.com, to learn more about the book and me.

~linda