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Is the behavior of a pendulum a useful indication of nearness to the pole?

--- Peter Fogg  wrote:
>  Am reading 'Robert E. Peary at the North Pole' A Report to the National
> Geographic Society by The Foundation for the Promotion of the Art of
> Navigation.
>
> It has, not unexpectedly, much data on the navigation involved. There is
> a map showing his track, which indicates he over-ran his latitude by a
> few miles (kept going north until he was heading south again) and the
> implication is that this ensured he reached the pole, given the
> limitations of his instruments - within about 5 miles.
>
> This raises a question, which was put as an assertion by a 'reliable
> source' - that the thing to do, and the thing done, was to set out from
> the polar camp and follow a circle around it, so that the actual pole,
> if a little way off, would be encompassed and any subsequent doubts
> about exact postion would
> be laid to rest. The book doesn't mention this, although the track on
> the map indicates Peary was off a little to one side (to the left while
> facing north).
>
> Some time ago there was some discussion on the list about polar
> navigation. Amundsen apparently camped and measured the sun's altitude
> thoughout the day. Although I have no reason to doubt that these
> measurements were taken with great care surely there would be a
> practical limit to just how precise a spot they could indicate.
>
> Does anybody know whether Amundsen did send out a party to circle his
> polar camp? I know Scott found Amundsen's black tent and accepted this
> as the pole, so I guess he didn't describe any circles.


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