Like any celebrity who is caught following the crowd, all the Arctic travellers insisted that their plans had been made ages ago and that the coincidence of so many polar expeditions was purely haphazard.

• 如同任何一位被人发现在随大流的名人一样，所有这些造访北极的人都坚称，他们的计划老早之前就已经制定了，并强调说同时出现如此多的极地探险纯粹是碰巧而已。