The Worst Journey in the World (4 page)

Before Nansen started, the spirit of adventure, which has always led men
into the unknown, combined with the increased interest in knowledge for
its own sake to turn the thoughts of the civilized world southwards. It
was becoming plain that a continent of the extent and climate which this
polar land probably possessed might have an overwhelming influence upon
the weather conditions of the whole Southern Hemisphere. The importance
of magnetism was only rivalled by the mystery in which the whole subject
was shrouded: and the region which surrounded the Southern Magnetic Pole
of the earth offered a promising field of experiment and observation. The
past history, through the ages, of this land was of obvious importance to
the geological story of the earth, whilst the survey of land formations
and ice action in the Antarctic was more useful perhaps to the
physiographer than that of any other country in the world, seeing that he
found here in daily and even hourly operation the conditions which he
knew had existed in the ice ages of the past over the whole world, but
which he could only infer from vestigial remains. The biological
importance of the Antarctic might be of the first magnitude in view of
the significance which attaches to the life of the sea in the
evolutionary problem.

And it was with these objects and ideals that Scott's first expedition,
known officially as the British Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904, but
more familiarly as 'The Discovery Expedition,' from the name of the ship
which carried it, was organized by the Royal Society and the Royal
Geographical Society, backed by the active support of the British
Government. The executive officers and crew were Royal Navy almost
without exception, whilst the scientific purposes of the expedition were
served in addition by five scientists. These latter were not naval
officers.

The Discovery left New Zealand on Christmas Eve 1901, and entered the
belt of pack ice which always has to be penetrated in order to reach the
comparatively open sea beyond, when just past the Antarctic Circle. But a
little more than four days saw her through, in which she was lucky, as we
now know. Scott landed at Cape Adare and then coasted down the western
coast of Victoria Land just as Ross had done sixty years before. As he
voyaged south he began to look for safe winter quarters for the ship, and
when he pushed into McMurdo Sound on January 21, 1902, it seemed that
here he might find both a sheltered bay into which the ship could be
frozen, and a road to the southland beyond.

The open season which still remained before the freezing of the sea made
progress impossible was spent in surveying the 500 miles of cliff which
marks the northern limit of the Great Ice Barrier. Passing the extreme
eastward position reached by Ross in 1842, they sailed on into an unknown
world, and discovered a deep bay, called Balloon Bight, where the rounded
snow-covered slopes undoubtedly were land and not, as heretofore,
floating ice. Farther east, as they sailed, shallow soundings and gentle
snow slopes gave place to steeper and more broken ridges, until at last
small black patches in the snow gave undoubted evidence of rock; and an
undiscovered land, now known as King Edward VII.'s Land, rose to a height
of several thousand feet. The presence of thick pack ahead, and the
advance of the season, led Scott to return to McMurdo Sound, where he
anchored the Discovery in a little bay at the end of the tongue of land
now known as the Hut Point Peninsula, and built the hut which, though
little used in the Discovery days, was to figure so largely in the story
of this his last expedition.

The first autumn was spent in various short journeys of
discovery—discovery not only of the surrounding land but of many
mistakes in sledging equipment and routine. It is amazing to one who
looks back upon these first efforts of the Discovery Expedition that the
results were not more disastrous than was actually the case. When one
reads of dog-teams which refused to start, of pemmican which was
considered to be too rich to eat, of two officers discussing the ascent
of Erebus and back in one day, and of sledging parties which knew neither
how to use their cookers or lamp, nor how to put up their tents, nor even
how to put on their clothes, then one begins to wonder that the process
of education was gained at so small a price. "Not a single article of the
outfit had been tested; and amid the general ignorance that prevailed the
lack of system was painfully apparent in everything."
^[15]

This led to a tragedy. A returning sledge party of men was overtaken by a
blizzard on the top of the Peninsula near Castle Rock. They quite
properly camped, and should have been perfectly comfortable lying in
their sleeping-bags after a hot meal. But the primus lamps could not be
lighted, and as they sat in leather boots and inadequate clothing being
continually frost-bitten they decided to leave the tent and make their
way to the ship—sheer madness as we now know. As they groped their way
in the howling snow-drift the majority of the party either slipped or
rolled down a steep slippery snow slope some thousand feet high ending in
a precipitous ice-cliff, below which lay the open sea. It is a nasty
place on a calm summer day: in a blizzard it must be ghastly. Yet only
one man, named Vince, shot down the slope and over the precipice into the
sea below. How the others got back heaven knows. One seaman called Hare,
who separated from the others and lay down under a rock, awoke after
thirty-six hours, covered with snow but in full possession of his
faculties and free from frost-bites. The little cross at Hut Point
commemorates the death of Vince. One of this party was a seaman called
Wild, who came to the front and took the lead of five of the survivors
after the death of Vince. He was to take the lead often in future
expeditions under Shackleton and Mawson, and there are few men living
who have so proved themselves as polar travellers.

I have dwelt upon this side of the early sledging deficiencies of the
Discovery to show the importance of experience in Antarctic land
travelling, whether it be at first or second hand. Scott and his men in
1902 were pioneers. They bought their experience at a price which might
easily have been higher; and each expedition which has followed has added
to the fund. The really important thing is that nothing of what is gained
should be lost. It is one of the main objects of this book to hand on as
complete a record as possible of the methods, equipment, food and weights
used by Scott's Last Expedition for the use of future explorers. "The
first object of writing an account of a Polar voyage is the guidance of
future voyagers: the first duty of the writer is to his successors."
^[16]

The adaptability, invention and resource of the men of the Discovery when
they set to work after the failures of the autumn to prepare for the
successes of the two following summers showed that they could rise to
their difficulties. Scott admitted that "food, clothing, everything was
wrong, the whole system was bad."
^[17]
In determining to profit by his
mistakes, and working out a complete system of Antarctic travel, he was
at his best; and it was after a winter of drastic reorganization that he
started on November 2, 1902, on his first southern journey with two
companions, Wilson and Shackleton.

It is no part of my job to give an account of this journey. The dogs
failed badly: probably the Norwegian stock-fish which had been brought
through the tropics to feed them was tainted: at any rate they sickened;
and before the journey was done all the dogs had to be killed or had
died. A fortnight after starting, the party was relaying—that is, taking
on part of their load and returning for the rest; and this had to be
continued for thirty-one days.

The ration of food was inadequate and they became very hungry as time
went on; but it was not until December 21 that Wilson disclosed to
Scott that Shackleton had signs of scurvy which had been present for some
time. On December 30, in latitude 82° 16' S., they decided to return. By
the middle of January the scurvy signs were largely increased and
Shackleton was seriously ill and spitting blood. His condition became
more and more alarming, and he collapsed on January 18, but revived
afterwards. Sometimes walking by the sledge, sometimes being carried upon
it, Shackleton survived: Scott and Wilson saved his life. The three men
reached the ship on February 3, after covering 960 statute miles in 93
days. Scott and Wilson were both extremely exhausted and seriously
affected by scurvy. It was a fine journey, the geographical results of
which comprised the survey of some three hundred miles of new coast-line,
and a further knowledge of the Barrier upon which they travelled.

While Scott was away southwards an organized attempt was made to discover
the nature of the mountains and glaciers which lay across the Sound to
the west. This party actually reached the plateau which lay beyond, and
attained a height of 8900 feet, when "as far as they could see in every
direction to the westward of them there extended a level plateau, to the
south and north could be seen isolated nunataks, and behind them showed
the high mountains which they had passed": a practicable road to the west
had been found.

I need note no more than these two most important of the many journeys
carried out this season: nor is it necessary for me to give any account
of the continuous and fertile scientific work which was accomplished in
this virgin land. In the meantime a relief ship, the Morning, had
arrived. It was intended that the Discovery should return this year as
soon as the sea-ice in which she was imprisoned should break up and set
her free. As February passed, however, it became increasingly plain that
the ice conditions were altogether different from those of the previous
year. On the 8th the Morning was still separated from the Discovery by
eight miles of fast ice. March 2 was fully late for a low-powered ship to
remain in the Sound, and on this date the Morning left. By March 13 all
hope of the Discovery being freed that year was abandoned.

The second winter passed much as the first, and as soon as spring arrived
sledging was continued. These spring journeys on the Barrier, with
sunlight only by day and low temperatures at all times, entailed great
discomfort and, perhaps worse, want of sleep, frost-bites, and a fast
accumulation of moisture in all one's clothing and in the sleeping-bags,
which resulted in masses of ice which had to be thawed out by the heat of
one's body before any degree of comfort could be gained. A fortnight was
considered about the extreme limit of time for such a journey, and
generally parties were not absent so long; for at this time a spring
journey was considered a dreadful experience. "Wait till you've had a
spring journey" was the threat of the old stagers to us. A winter journey
lasting nearly three times as long as a spring journey was not imagined.
I advise explorers to be content with imagining it in the future.

The hardest journey of this year was carried out by Scott with two seamen
of whom much will be written in this history. Their names are Edgar Evans
and Lashly. The object of the journey was to explore westwards into the
interior of the plateau. By way of the Ferrar Glacier they reached the
ice-cap after considerable troubles, not the least of which was the loss
of the data necessary for navigation contained in an excellent
publication called Hints to Travellers, which was blown away. Then for
the first time it was seen what additional difficulties are created by
the climate and position of this lofty plateau, which we now know extends
over the Pole and probably reaches over the greater part of the Antarctic
continent. It was the beginning of November: that is, the beginning of
summer; but the conditions of work were much the same as those found
during the spring journeys on the Barrier. The temperature dropped into
the minus forties; but the worst feature of all was a continuous
head-wind blowing from west to east which combined with the low
temperature and rarefied air to make the conditions of sledging
extremely laborious. The supporting party returned, and the three men
continued alone, pulling out westwards into an unknown waste of snow with
no landmarks to vary the rough monotony. They turned homewards on
December 1, but found the pulling very heavy; and their difficulties were
increased by their ignorance of their exact position. The few glimpses of
the land which they obtained as they approached it in the thick weather
which prevailed only left them in horrible uncertainty as to their
whereabouts. Owing to want of food it was impossible to wait for the
weather to clear: there was nothing to be done but to continue their
eastward march. Threading their way amidst the ice disturbances which
mark the head of the glaciers, the party pushed blindly forward in air
which was becoming thick with snow-drift. Suddenly Lashly slipped: in a
moment the whole party was flying downwards with increasing speed. They
ceased to slide smoothly; they were hurled into the air and descended
with great force on to a gradual snow incline. Rising they looked round
them to find above them an ice-fall 300 feet high down which they had
fallen: above it the snow was still drifting, but where they stood there
was peace and blue sky. They recognized now for the first time their own
glacier and the well-remembered landmark, and far away in the distance
was the smoking summit of Mount Erebus. It was a miracle.

Excellent subsidiary journeys were also made of which space allows no
mention here: nor do they bear directly upon this last expedition. But in
view of the Winter Journey undertaken by us, if not for the interest of
the subject itself, some account must be given of those most aristocratic
inhabitants of the Antarctic, the Emperor penguins, with whom Wilson and
his companions in the Discovery now became familiar.