Mylius-Erichsen
I have done a little research on this Mylius-Erichsen expedition, since Rawlins, Herbert and Bryce all love to suggest that Peary killed the poor guy and his colleagues by making up the Peary Channel. (I haven't checked to see if this has earlier roots. I suspect it does, because the earliest write-up I have seen of Mylius-Erichsen's fate was written by Greely in 1908. I haven't found that yet, but it would not be surprising if it had a distinct anti-Peary tone to it.)

I had a hard time finding anything on Mylius-Erichsen on the internet -- everything was in Danish. I finally found something in French which I could sort of read. Mylius-Erichsen and his colleagues wintered near Cape Bismarck, on the east coast of Greenland. They went up the east coast and discovered, no doubt to their delight, that Peary's dotted coastline estimate (Coastline which he clearly states in his book he could not see because of an intervening mountain) was way off, and a big arm of land runs out to the east where Peary showed the East Greenland sea. Bryce seems to suggest this was a problem, but it was not.

Mylius-Erichsen started in Independence Fjord and discovered Denmark Fjord, running south. While he explored this thoroughly, two of his colleagues went across to Cape Wycoff, finding Peary's cairn, and on to Cape Bridgeman. They then returned and met up with Mylius-Erichsen's division in May at the eastern end of Independence Fjord. The northern party returned from there safely to the ship, and Mylius-Erichsen clearly could have done so as well. Despite the relatively late season, he decided to head up Independence Fjord to look for the Peary Channel. However, contrary to Bryce's suggestion, he knew (or should have known) at that point exactly how far it was to Academy Glacier, Navy Cliff, etc., because these features are where Peary said they were.

Of course, Mylius-Erichsen did not find the Peary Channel, but if he had, it would not have helped him get back to his ship safely, since it heads to the barren Northwest coast of Greenland, where Peary nearly starved to death in 1906. I find it highly unlikely (and have seen no suggestion) that he intended (starting in late May) to cross Greenland using the Peary channel and then make the trek hundreds of miles down to the Kennedy Channel and along the east side of Kane basin to the eskimo settlements near Etah. In any case, if he had enough supplies to do that, he would have had enough supplies to get back to his ship.

It seems like he just pushed his luck to far, and spent too much time exploring the Independence Fjord and looking for a Channel. Apparently he did not arrange for his other party to return from the ship to establish relief caches (as Peary did), so it appears that at least one of his party decided to take the shortest path for the ship, accross the ice cap (one body was found on the ice pack, two in the Fjord). It is not clear how differently any of this would have worked out if Peary had said that there was a low area that might be a channel, which is probably what he should have said. It seems to me Mylius-Erichsen would still have gone to check it out (possibly with dreams of discovering the Mylius-Erichsen Channel).

Peary can hardly been held responsible for revealing that there might be something to explore. It was up to Mylius-Erichsen to decide how far he would push the limit in his exploration. Like many who have the courage to explore, he pushed it too far. This has nothing to do with relying on Peary's map. If the Channel had been there, it would not have helped Mylius-Erichsen. If the East Greenland sea had been there, the exploration for the Peary Channel would have been easier (less land to get around), but Mylius-Erichsen knew the true state of affairs when he parted company with the others in May.

Doug