The Noose of Laurels

Polar explorer Wally Herbert here exposes the fraudulent claims of Dr Frederick Cook (1908) and Commander Robert Peary (1909) to have reached the North Pole. The former was soon discredited, but Peary's claim received the support of the National Geographic Society of America. In retracing their steps and examining their papers, he uncovers a tale of obsession, rivalry and monumental deception. The first man to cross the Arctic via the North Pole by dogsledge in 1968-9, Wally Herbert recounted this adventure in "Across the Top of the World".