Shackleton's Heroes (37 page)

It is hard to disagree with Richards's opinion considering the large
number of diary entries Mackintosh wrote on the filthy conditions at
Discovery
hut. He dreaded staying at Hut Point any longer than was absolutely necessary.
28
He wrote continually on the putrid conditions, how their faces were black with soot and how everything they touched was blubber. He hated the smoke-filled hut and living a life of what he called ‘primitive people'.
29

I
T WAS
15 July before Joyce, Richards and Wild (with their four dogs) crossed the sea-ice to Cape Evans. Richards tells us that the first thing they asked Cope, Stevens, Jack and Gaze was: ‘Are Mackintosh and Hayward here?' They were told no and Richards says that they were not surprised but he adds that Cope, Stevens, Jack and Gaze were shocked to hear that Mackintosh and Hayward had attempted to cross earlier.
1

All the men were absolutely convinced that Mackintosh and Hayward were lost and dead. They could not have lived for more than a few hours in the blizzard because they had no equipment of any sort. There was the barest chance that after the return of the sun they might find their bodies so during the spring and summer (August 1916 to January 1917), searches were carried out.

Mackintosh and Hayward were never seen again. No trace of their bodies was found. It was a tragic death for these two men, and heartbreaking for Joyce, Richards and Wild, who had heroically brought them back to the safety of Hut Point. Richards later named it as the final fatal tragedy of the expedition.
2

Joyce, Richards and Wild, with Cope, Stevens, Jack and Gaze, then lived on at Cape Evans in reasonable comfort. As well as seal meat, penguin meat and penguin eggs they had stores that Scott had left (tinned vegetables, jams, sugar, flour and biscuits), beds to sleep on, an insulated hut with lighting and a few books and papers to read. They never washed or shaved and slept in their clothes inside their sleeping bags and under Jaeger blankets.
3

There the dog Con was killed by the other three dogs – as a result of a long-standing feud between the huskies and him. Richards wrote later that Con was a general favourite of all the men who returned from Mount Hope and his death saddened them.
4

Richards fell ill soon after they reached Cape Evans. In his book,
The
South Polar Trail
, Joyce tells us that one day Richards suddenly collapsed. He simply threw up his arms, gave a cry, and fainted. Cope, who had become something of a recluse at Cape Evans, rallied and nursed Richards back to health. Joyce believed that the long journey had strained Richards's heart.

In August 1916 Richards scribbled a message on the wall next to his bunk, with an incorrect spelling of Spencer-Smith's name. The message is still faintly visible after almost 100 years: ‘
R. W. Richards, 14 August 1916, Losses to date, Hayward, Mack, Smyth, ship?
'

In his book Richards tells us that all they could do was wait at Cape Evans for the following January and February and see what came in the way of relief. They were not optimistic as they thought the
Aurora
had been lost but they all looked forward to seeing what the new year would bring. They scrounged some ‘luxury items' like matches and soap, from a visit to a third hut at Cape Royds which was a few miles to the north of Cape Evans. Their stores at Cape Evans would last them for another 12 months, plus what they could obtain from seals and penguins. Killing seals for meat and fuel took up most of their time.
5

They were rescued on 10 January 1917 when the
Aurora
arrived at McMurdo Sound, with Shackleton on board. Richards tells us he was looking out for
seals that morning and he saw what he termed ‘some sort of shape' about 7 miles out to sea, which he thought might have been an iceberg. Then he saw a plume of smoke from the ship's stack so he called to the others that ‘the ship's here'. He tells us that the others did not believe him, calling him a ‘bloody fool'. But someone did get up and look and Richards remembered that man said: ‘By Jove, there is something there'. He explains that there was then a ‘terrific scurrying around' for a couple of hours to load up the sledges with the things that had to be taken back. They then set off to travel across the 7 miles of sea-ice to the ship. After a couple of hours walking they saw three tiny dots, which turned out to be three men, coming across the ice from the ship and Richards tells us that Joyce recognised one as Shackleton.
6

In his book
The Ross Sea Shore Party
Richards wrote that Shackleton immediately asked how many men had been lost and on being told three, the three men lay down on the ice, which was a signal back to the ship indicating the number of lives lost.
7

For Richards it was the first time he had met Shackleton. After being told of the loss of the
Endurance
, before even landing Shackleton on the Weddell Sea side of the continent, Richards remembered that it did not even register with them that all their labours and suffering had been for nothing. He said later: ‘I don't look on our struggle as being futile. It was something that the human spirit accomplished.'
8

The
Aurora
was under command of Captain John King Davis and he wrote later that he was astonished at what a profound effect such a long period of isolation had on the Mount Hope Party men. He says they were ‘about the wildest looking gang' that he had ever seen. He described them as men with smoke-bleared eyes looking out from grey haggard faces with beards and uncut matted hair impregnated with soot and grease. He saw that their eyes had a strained and harassed look and he was not surprised given what they had endured. They had lost their ship eighteen months before; there was the toll of two seasons sledging, the loss of three companions, a lack of suitable clothing and proper food and the almost incessant storms and blizzards. To Davis what would have been worst of all were the weary months waiting for a rescue that might be delayed for another year.
All these factors combined to change the men into individuals unlike any he had ever met. He went on to state that the mark of their physical and mental hardships went far deeper than their appearance. He said: ‘Their speech was jerky, semi-hysterical and at times almost unintelligible.'
9

Joyce gave a report to Shackleton on the steps he and the others had taken to try and discover the bodies of Mackintosh and Hayward. Then Shackleton, Joyce and Wild searched again, unsuccessfully. Davis conducted an inquiry with Joyce, Richards and Wild and their statements are included in his ‘Report of the Proceedings of the ‘Aurora' Relief Expedition 1916–17' notes. Davis's conclusion was that because Mackintosh and Hayward had only been on their journey to Cape Evans for two hours before the blizzard overtook them, it appeared unlikely that they would have had the time to reach land. The thinness of the ice suggested that it would have broken up quickly into detached floes. In Davis's opinion this would have lessened their chances of being carried more than a very short distance before they would have lost all support.
10

A memorial cross was erected on the hill behind Cape Evans. There was no inscription put on the cross but a sheet of paper was left at the Cape Evans hut with these words, in Shackleton's handwriting.

On 17 January Joyce, Wild and Richards left McMurdo Sound on the
Aurora
.

Shackleton presented Richards (and Joyce) with a prismatic compass, and on the back of Richards's he engraved an inscription, using his diamond ring:

‘To R. W. Richards

From E. H. Shackleton.'

Richards said later that the compass was ‘the greatest keepsake I have from those days in the Ross Sea'. It had emotional associations for him, particularly in the difficult six days of the blizzard in February 1916 when they searched for the Bluff depot and then turned south again to try and locate Mackintosh, Spencer-Smith and Wild. Richards said: ‘Our lives definitely depended on it.'
11

Ernest Wild died in March 1918. The
Sydney Morning Herald
newspaper of 16 March 1918 reported that he had been killed on a minesweeper in the Mediterranean. However, Wild's naval records show that he died on 10 March 1918 of ‘Enteric Fever' – typhoid.
12

In 1923 Joyce, Richards, Wild and Hayward were each awarded the Albert Medal in bronze, for saving life on land. Richards wrote to a colleague in 1956 stating that he could never quite figure out why they were awarded the medal as they were only saving their own lives, and they could scarcely do that and leave the others behind.
13
In 1971 the Albert Medal ceased and living recipients were invited to exchange their Albert Medal for the George Cross.

Joyce's book,
The South Polar Trail
, was published in 1929.

In 1940 Ernest Joyce died aged sixty-five.

Richards's book
The Ross Sea Shore Party
was published in 1962. He said it was ‘an attempt to set down my personal story of the fortunes and misfortunes of the Ross Sea Party of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition after the lapse of 40 years'.
14

Richards was interviewed a number of times late in his life and at one interview he was asked what was the biggest moment; what registered most in his mind some sixty years later? Richards replied that it was finding the tent with Mackintosh, Spencer-Smith and Wild. For Richards it was ‘probably the most emotional moment and reached deeper into me than anything else'.
15

In 1985 Dick Richards died aged ninety-one.