Noose of Laurels
Wally went from polar adventurer to writer to artist. He left behind him a trail of damage in the "public mind" about the American hero Robert E. Peary. Now he lives in the UK selling his water colors from a website.

Wally Herbert's 1971 book Across The Top Of The World was a strange 1968 - 69 arctic adventure. Britain could not afford another embarrassing polar disaster like Franklin, Shackelton or Scott. So while America went to the moon, the British tried to re-gain pride in conquering a Pole. They spared no expense air supplying their team with everything it desired for 16 months. Photo courtesy of Across The Top of The World, 1971

The National Geographic was furious with him for claiming Peary was a fraud. Wally put "a gun to their head" to publish his "Herbert ice drift theory" article in the 1988 National Geographic Magazine only because he was going to publish a book about it. They had originally commissioned him to examine the Peary diary in the National Archives to author a study on the 1909 North Pole expedition. Herbert took it as his opportunity to make a name for himself at any cost.

Portrayed Peary as a tired old fraud
What was that cost? He made Peary out to be a tired old fraud who wanted fame so badly that he faked reaching the Pole. Herbert wrote a morbid tale that he came to believe, yet some people felt he was actually looking into his own dark core. Herbert had no proof, only a "theory" which has since been laid to rest with the one thing Wally was short on - hard evidence. That hard evidence proves Wally's theory wrong.

Why? What was his motive for this? Some have said it was his last shot in life at fame. If he could establish that Peary didn't reach the Pole then he, Wally Herbert, could claim that priority from his absurd 1969 polar stunt. Huh? What is all that about you ask? People in Britain tells me they love Wally over there and totally believe him. You don't understand this, do you?

British Peary haters explained
Ok, here we go: Peary is hated by Brits because he took "a negro" with him to the Pole "instead of Captain Bartlett" in his place. The fact is that Peary had written to Bartlett before they left America to make it explicit to him that he was not to go to the Pole with Peary. You see, this was an all American expedition just as all of Peary's expeditions were. If British citizen Bartlett (he was from Labrador) accompanied Peary to the Pole then England would claim a joint achievement. Peary wanted no such thing.

It is right there in Herbert's nasty little book. He says that when Peary left Bartlett at 130 miles from the Pole and went ahead with Henson "...he left behind his last reliable witness." Oh, my God! Racism. Wally reverted to the racist slurs of 1909 - 1910. In fact the BBC has a response to this you can enjoy if you have RealAudio installed. There is 1/2 hour of radio drama and interviews about this topic, but not with Wally.

Matt Henson
Back to why Peary took Henson. He had always gone the distance with Matt. Matthew Henson was the top person on Peary's team. If you wanted anyone with you out there it was Matt! Everyone on the expedition said that. Even Bartlett! In fact, Bartlett and Matt were lifelong friends and fellow members of the New York Explorers Club. In fact, my father met Henson at Bob Bartlett's funeral. That is how they came to write Dark Companion together and how I ended up with this website and all this polar history knowledge.

More importantly one has to remember that Henson was Peary's top man for 18 years. If Peary was going to risk his life in a dash to the Pole he knew, from many years of experience, that Henson could get him back alive. That is a fact. Peary did not take passengers in a situation as deadly as going to the Pole. Keep in mind that is 50 Degrees below zero and the wind can split the ice suddenly (an open lead) so that one is trapped by open water. Peary and Henson had faced death from this before. You have to go back and read about their adventures on the Arctic Ocean ice to understand fully.

Brits blame Peary for the death of Robert Scott
Now the British people were bitter that they didn't get a man to the North Pole, so their beloved polar bungler Robert Falcon Scott went to the South Pole and starved to death with all his men. Believe it or not, the British people blame this on Peary. I know it sounds incredible but experts have explained it to me. If Peary had taken Bartlett to the Pole, then England would have had a "Pole" for their own. But with only one Pole left they lost that to Amundsen and accused him of killing Scott by beating him to the South Pole and thereby breaking poor Scott's heart. There is a very deep seated anti-Peary sentiment in the UK over this. So when Wally's book trashed Peary they loved Wally for it. Hey! I don't make this stuff up - other people tell it to me. In fact there is another UK non-polar achiever who mouths off against Peary.

Peary family deeply hurt
The Peary family told me they felt "stabbed in the back" by Wally as well. They had extended hospitality to him and like a little weasel he took what he wanted and then released that dreadful book Noose of Laurels.

Wally apparently had a personal agenda for writing this theory that Peary failed. No one had been impressed with his long, boring dogsled trip to the Pole back in 1969 when America landed on the moon. His stunt involved the Canadian Air force that flew him fresh dogs and supplies as he floundered around for 18 months (!) trying to get attention. Then, almost 20 years later he wrote a book to discredit Peary. The supposition being that if people believed it then he could say that he had been the first person to reach the North Pole by dogsled.

The "westward ice drift theory" has been totally disproved. Wally had no clue about the depth soundings Peary took and how they matched up to the actual ocean floor. But the US Navy did and when they released the information Wally was proved wrong. See National Geographic January 1990 article by Thomas D. Davies Rear Admiral, USN (Ret.)

But the folks back home on the British Isle love little Wally and after all, the Queen made him little Sir Wally. Just like Elton John, Sean Connery and other entertainers. So know you know that story.

Wally went home, his mistakes stay with us
Just so you appreciate how serious the damage is that Wally Herbert did, look at this reference from the Encyclopedia Brittanica: Examination of Peary's expedition diary and new documents in the 1980s suggested he may only have reached a point 30-60 mi (50-100 km) short of the pole. See? That is wrong. That is the Herbert "ice drift theory" that was quickly shown to be wrong. But then why is in the encyclopedia 12 years later?