HERBERT, Walter William "Wally".

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Trans-Arctic Expedition 1966-68: Proposal to the Royal Geographical Society. The initial proposal for Herbert's expedition, signed by him on page 48, together with a signed first edition of his account of the completed journey, Across the Top of the World. This copy bears Herbert's signature and a later inscription in his hand, dated 1998 in Spitsbergen and addressed to "Des". The proposal appears to be untraced in institutional collections.On 29 May 1969, Wally Herbert (1934-2007), with Allan Gill, Roy Koerner, Kenneth Hedges, and 40 sledge dogs, completed the first surface crossing of the Arctic Ocean along its longest axis. The expedition lasted 16 months and covered 3,800 miles, becoming the first undisputed journey to the north pole on foot.Herbert spent four years planning the expedition, and the results of this research formed the basis of the carefully costed proposal submitted to the Royal Geographical Society in 1965. It addresses, among other topics, the recruitment of suitable men, the merits and limits of an all-meat diet, and the comparative advantages of sledges used by Robert Peary, Fridtjof Nansen, and the drivers of Nome. "No item of equipment and food escaped his careful selection, in particular the very robust dog sledges. The sledges were built to his specifications, based on the design of Robert Peary" (ODNB).The RGS initially rejected the proposal, judging that it could not fund a "purely adventurous enterprise" (p. 49). Herbert later wrote in Acros

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