Ana ae shumb s make Oke ben Vins and Re Seals And whales ee Along comes the Orca et “g Ae eae Rem down feload, ‘wale up ebove Me Afterguard attack Phem on the fee A bd wx ployer fiwbles dew : and slaves the mushy back 19, He's cvumpled up betw ean Te Poe And so qt Heer shack mn. And there's no dovbt Re soen Lecems 3 P a paleek fer iiiser Invigorating diatoms , al though they*re none Be wiser ~ So the prefeplasm pe Sses OmnlS ey hever- ceasing rovnd, Like ahvuge recYMing deci- mal, te which noeng ‘Ss found (As will be seen later, the human element in the cycle was nearly supplied !) One never sees the penguins swimming on the surface. Occasionally a snake-like head pops up and looks around for a few seconds, but usually they are swimming rapidly with THE TERRA NOVA GOES SOUTH 85 their flippers a foot or two below the surface, or imitating the — dolphins in curving leaps through the air. On the shore near the rookeries the snow was worn into long gutters where the penguins promenaded to and fro. The winds are too strong for any economic deposit of guano to arise. We saw brown patches driven by the wind on to a snow bluff five hundred feet above the rookery. About 6 p.m. on the 3rd Erebus came into sight. We approached it from the north-east—an unusual direction—and so, perhaps, obtained a more comprehensive view of the outer crater than previous observers, It is a wonderful ‘“‘Somma”’ ring, like that of Vesuvius, and being composed of dark steep rock, it stands out in strong contrast to the inner white cone and the outer snow-covered slopes. Ponting got a fine photo- graph of it, which will be of interest to vulcanologists. Having given up all idea of wintering on the north-east quarter of Ross Island, we immediately steamed west to McMurdo Sound. We were engaged on a survey of the north coast of Ross Island. Bowers with sextant, Pennell at the compass, Camp- bell at the range-finder, each with an assistant, formed a busy group on the ice-house. All that night we steamed steadily west to Cape Bird, passing Beaufort Island on the starboard, and then turned south again to Cape Royds. Beaufort Isle was the scene of an exploit of one of our seamen (Paton), who was shut in by pack some five miles away from the island in the whaler Morning. He and a mate broke leave to try and reach the isle across the floes, but had to return without accomplishing their wish. On his return to civilization Paton found he had become a proud father. The child was christened Beaufort Paton on the suggestion of Lieut. Evans. About 5 a.m. we came into sight of the western face of Erebus. McMurdo Sound was closed in here by loose pack, but the ship threaded her way through fairly readily. We were keenly interested to see the condition of the ice at Cape Royds, and two of our afterguard (Priestley and Day) have a personal interest in the headquarters of Shackleton’s expedi- tion. Soon after the queer volcanic knob on the end of Cape Barne hove in view we sighted the meteorological screen, and immediately afterwards the hut of the 1907 expedition. But 86 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING the bay, instead of its old-time surface of sea-ice, was a sheet of open water, with two stranded bergs in one corner. Obviously it was no better as a landing-place than Cape Crozier had been. The hut looked in good order, though the door had apparently been broken in, but we could not see many details, for it was essential to push south and see how much ice had broken away. An hour later we reached Inaccessible Island, and here a solid wall of sea-ice prevented all further progress. Forty-eight hours of coast observation caused one watcher to retire to his bunk. On returning to the deck I found that the Terra Nova had come to a standstill against the sea-ice, about a mile south-east of Inaccessible Island, and the same distance from the shore. Here on a large area of dark eruptive rock—freed from snow at this season—we are building our hut. In the future the locality will be known as Cape Evans. CAPE EVANS : ei. Lands End | ‘inaccessible Is. KS 500 Ft Tent IC Pes Z 1910 Hut ee EREBUS VOLCANO Bkittie 2) 500 Ft. ‘© and A “Big a Razorback \ . Tf | -=- oe ee ~- Broken of f 3-11 : THE OY Turtle Is. g@ ur Chee ees ae BARRIER « tere t+ « ve ; PRAM ROINT 4UT POINT ‘ Y \ 5 q Yilfg ‘ - CAPE iP ARMITAGE 13 MAP OF THE COAST FROM CAPE ROYDS TO HUT POINT: 2"4 Crafter Active ae 133550 ” CHAPPER? VI MAKING WINTER QUARTERS AT CAPE EVANS On the morning of the 4th we carried out hawsers, and put in ice anchors in the ice, over which so many journeys were to be made in the next fortnight. Captain Scott, Evans, and Dr. Wilson went off to choose a suitable site for the hut, and returned very pleased with their brief survey. Let us look landward from the Terra Nova, and examine the locality where the expedition will spend some six months of the ensuing twelve. We are drawn close to the ice, which stands about eight inches above the sea, and some eighteen inches below water-level. It is variable in texture, that near the ship being rather mushy and honeycombed below—while several large cracks traverse it. Further away is a belt of clear hard ice, and then bands of snow-covered and clear ice for a mile or so, until the shore is reached. Here along the western slope of Erebus extends a belt of the dark volcanic rock, kenyte, and in consequence of the rapid heating of dark objects by the continuous sunshine, this is largely free from snow. Immediately at the shore-line is a belt of very soft ice, fantastically honeycombed, and threaded by streams of fresh water. Crossing a snow-bank, we rise slightly, and reach the kenyte gravel on which our hut and the head- quarters generally are placed. Walking along this gravel slope, we come to a flowing stream, falling over a little water- fall—a rarity, as may be imagined, in Antarctica. Moreover, this stream rises in quite a respectable lake—which, if not large enough for a regatta, at all events affords good exercise in chasing the skua gulls, which have been attracted by the Open water. Continuing eastward, the steeper lower slopes of Erebus are reached. The lower portions are of the same dark eruptive rock; but a few hundred feet from the sea- 87 88 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING level these are covered bya pall of snow, which extends almost uninterruptedly to the summit of Erebus. The slope steepens considerably at an elevation of some five thousand feet, and when the top is clouded over, the lower portion is not unlike the base of Fujiyama in Japan. On a clear day the steam-cloud capping Erebus is very obvious. Usually it is seen drifting to the south from a sharp vertical column arising directly above the crater. Sometimes, however, the steam-cloud spreads out fairly symmetrically, and on one occasion it simulated a gigantic cedar-tree, with a central trunk and spreading branches. To the south are two stranded bergs, which I shall describe in detail later. As a background to these dazzling white pyramids is the sombre ridge of Inacces- sible Island, which some of us before long—in spite of its name—managed to conquer. To the north-east is the cliff- like edge of the Cape Barne glacier, reaching almost to the curious dark erratic outline of Cape Royds. Fifty miles away to the west, across the sound, the wonderful glacial valleys of the western mountains are seen veiled in clouds. Now began a strenuous time for all on board. It was necessary to get the heavy cargo off the ship while the floe remained firm. Though the weather was excellent there was no telling when a heavy wind would send all the sea ice into Ross Sea. Gang-planks were run out, and the wildly excited dogs pulled, pushed, and tumbled into the hands of men on the ice. Then they went at a gallop over mushy ice to the bow ice-anchor chain ; there they were tethered at intervals of a foot or so. We had not been at work long when inquisitive visitors turned up. These were the Adelie penguins, who waddled eagerly forward, and promenaded about, with their heads bent on one side in a very critical fashion. Unfortu- nately the dogs were as keenly interested in them, and simultaneously twenty of them rushed at the nearest penguin. A scene of wild confusion ensued. The heavy cable was jerked about so violently that the end dogs were lifted several feet into the air and hung there a moment suspended by their chains. Whips, yells, and curses were of no avail until the miserable bird had been torn limb from limb. For some hours one man had to be on the watch to warn off trespassers and prevent penguin suicide. The ponies, with one exception, were much less trouble, SURVEYING THE NORTH COAST OF ROSS ISLAND FROM THE TERRA NOVA, JAN. 3, 1911. Photo looking aft from the foc’sle, showing six officers at the standard compass, [See p. Ss. PHOTO FROM THE SHIP OF CAPE EVANS, Jan. 26, 1911. The Tunnel Berg appears on the right. Behind is the dark line of the Ramp, and twelve miles away the cone of Erebus with a small steam cloud, THE TERRA NOVA GOES SOUTH 89 and were swung out ina box on a rope from the yard with great ease. The motor sledges were transhipped in their cases—which had hitherto formed efficient walls to the dog “hangar.” Three ropes attached to the mainyard, and manned by ten men, enabled the case—weighing about a ton —to be swung up, outward, and downward on to the floe without a jar. The motors were then taken from their cases, and run further on to the floe, where Day and Nelson soon had them running. It was their buzzing which annoyed our high-spirited steed, ‘Hackenschmidt.” He careered about the waist of the ship, and was more trouble to land than all the other sixteen. He continued his career of uselessness during the following busy season. Ponting found much material here for his cinematograph, and had the machine clicking merrily most of the forenoon. He has literally miles of films, and it is amusing to see the way he snips off a foot or so of an exposed film quite callously to develop it and judge the result. As he says, it only represents a second which will never be missed in a series of several minutes. It was a large hauling job that confronted us. Material for a hut, 50 by 25 feet, with walls and roof of six or eight layers; sledging equipments, tents, etc., for thirty men ; food for two years; fuel (chiefly a patent coal com- pound) for the same period; and fodder for the seventeen horses and for the dogs. All this had to be carried nearly two miles across the sea-ice on sledges, What now were the means of haulage? We had many and varied methods. Firstly, the motor sledges ; secondly, the ponies ; thirdly, the dogs; and fourthly, man power. Each has something in its favour. Speed of transit goes to the dogs, non-liability to accidents to the man-power ; gross tonnage to the motors, and general efficiency (with decent specimens) I should award to the ponies. The man-sledges got to work very early in the campaign. The sledges are nine and twelve feet long, with runners four inches wide, and upturned somewhat at both ends. There is a flexible bent prow, and six or eight vertical stanchions, which Support the upper frame—as simple a design as one could devise. Everything is secured by leather lashings, the abut- ting ends being sewn into a sort of leather bucket. A rope loop projects trom the front, but is fastened to the forward 1161 ‘$ Asenuef “urd 11 ‘yq1ou Suryooy ‘suvag ode punose uorgor oy1 pure ‘snqa1gy WO pNojr-UlvaIs PEplAlp 24) Zurmoys ‘purysy a[qisseovuy Woy YoI9xg Pra S401 DYyIG-HIVV S| 9|4!ssa>2eu| Jorjnsuns THE TERRA NOVA GOES SOUTH gI stanchions, and not to the prow-piece, which serves chiefly to guide the sledge over hummocks of ice. A long rope with broad canvas belts (attached thereto by tributary ropes) con- stitutes the harness. When the load has been tied on by a piece of spun yarn, the leader steps into his belt, adjusts it over the hips, and, grasping his ski-sticks firmly, gives the word and plods on. Many a mile have we covered with bodies hanging forward over the belts, and our spiked boots and ski-sticks barely enabling us to pull the heavy load through a patch of snow-drift. But over moderately smooth sea ice it was quite easy for four men to pull a 1000 lbs. load on two sledges for a distance of a mile and a half in twenty-five minutes. There were two dog teams in constant use, one driven by Meares, and the other by the Russian youth, Demetri. Their sledges are Siberian, and somewhat higher in the frame. The chief difference consists in a high hoop or arch of wood, which is placed two feet from the prow. By this the driver can twist his sledge around. He also carries an iron-pointed staff, to be used as a brake and also to guide the sledge to some extent. The dog teams consist of five dogs—one leader who is specially trained to obey commands (and sometimes scorns to pull), and two pairs of dogs toggled to a central rope much as in the man harness. These dog sledges career about in long sweeping curves, and the air resounds with barbaric cries of “Ky! Ky!” or “Chui! Chui!” while the ice screeches under the impact of the driver’s pointed staff. His chief difficulty is to steer clear of penguins, for awful is the result if they sight an unfortunate bird! A dog team pulls the driver, so that 150 lbs. must be added to their load. Each dog pulls about one quarter that moved by a man, but at twice the speed. The motor 'sledges took some little time, naturally enough, to swing into the ranks. They have fourteen horse-power motor-car engines, four cylinders, magneto ignition. Most people have seen illustraticas of them, for they have been run in Norway and England previously, though designed for the expedition. The two axles bear two pairs of cog wheels about eighteen inches diameter. Around these run two end- less bands—one on each side of the sledge—which carry flat square plates. These plates constitute the bearing surface, 92 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING and each plate is actually stationary on the ground until it comes under the rear cog wheel, when it is caught up and passed forward to the front cog-wheel. Hence the car runs on its own platform. The flat square plates grip the snow by diagonal bars. There is a large tool box in front of the engine, and a small elevated padded seat at the back. Otherwise no top hamper obscures the mechanism. When not in use the motor wears a huge quilted hood which keeps the cylinders from freezing. In work two men are necessary. One drives from the seat, and another holds the end of a rope fastened to a pro- jecting bowsprit. The latter is the helmsman, for at a pull sideways the sledge slews around without the expenditure of much effort. The camber on the plate belts also helps the turning of the heavy mechanism. The two motor sledges were in frequent use for the first few days, and hauled most of the hut material to the shore. They pulled about two tons, and one of their functions (most fully appreciated) was that of hauling back empty man-sledges—empty except for the wearied pullers who lay back on the sledges and dreamily regarded the clear sky on their welcome rest between pulls. The ponies had been standing continuously for five weeks, and were therefore not very fit for a few days. They were given a short rest at the pony-lines on the snow behind the hut, but soon came into requisition, and have done the greater part of the hauling since. The ponies had, however, many little peculiarities which were troublesome, not only to those uninitiated in the mysteries of pony-driving, but to the experts as well. I shall have more to say on this later. Let us accompany a man-sledge from the ship to the hut. The question of knots troubles a landsman. At first it was not uncommon for the first jerk to result in the rope parting company with the sledge! The start was always difficult, for the sledges froze to the ice, and it was necessary to “‘ break them out”’ by extra help. We had not much eye for the beautiful scenery around, but were very keenly and vitally interested in the surface over which we had to pull the load. Ten feet of clear ice were less difficult to traverse than one foot of snowdrift only an inch deep. The party all wore snow-goggles of amber or green glass to prevent snow-blindness. These fogged from THE FIRST HOUR ASHORE. Demetri preventing penguin suicide, TWO MOTOR SLEDGES ON THE BEACH AT CAPE EVANS, JAN. 20, IgII. The tabular berg has just grounded where the ship lay at anchor and so she has steamed off to the north. The motor engine is covered by felting. The sea ice can be seen breaking away. re s Oo s oie i J ¥ 4 b. @ aa oe Wo i Ae ed ; S ent > a ait Cs : + o] wy 1 a“ lad THE TERRA NOVA GOES SOUTH 93 perspiration, and required frequent cleaning unless the sun were very bright, when luckily they warmed up somewhat, and the moisture did not condense so rapidly. At first we would follow the motor trail marked by staves and empty oil drums. But this was too heavily drifted in places, so we deviated south to reach clear ice. All goes merrily until we reach a snow belt. The first sledge touches the snow, and a slight jerk makes us pull to our belts. Another jerk announces the arrival of the second sledge, and if we are pulling three sledges the combined resistance reminds one of hauling three ploughs through stiff wet clay. On this snowdrift we see the pony hoof-marks and the long furrow cut by the dog-driver’s staff. Then on to clear ice again, where spiked boots are essential, We reach a broad band of troubled ice crossing the Svun-holes Se pit smooth surface. This is a recemented crevasse, and is practi- cally as strong as the rest of the surface. The older ice near the shore is “pitted” in a curious fashion. Imagine a red-hot horse-shoe planked down on the ice, with the front forced deeper into the ice. This is the shape and size of these holes, and it seems probable that they might save a man’s life in a blizzard ; for they are all directed to the south, and would form a sort of compass if he had no better! The explanation is that they are due to the action of the hottest solar rays, which, of course, occur when the sun is in the north. Curiously enough, those small holes have no effect on the sledge haulage, except that they tear the runners somewhat. On another patch of snow is a queer “ spoor.” A serpentine trail of four or five parallel lines, with large 94 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING three-toed footprints, alternating with the curves of the con- tinuous serpentine trails. Suddenly it changes into a broad, shallow gutter in the soft snow! What strange beast has made this? It is of course due to the penguin. As he ponderously heaves from foot to foot his stiff tail feathers swing in unison. When he is tired of this method of progression he drops on his breast and propels himself by his toe-nails. Hence the broad gutter! This trail is very like those fossil prints set down to gigantic Plesiosaurians in bygone times. Ew S : SS 3 Antarctic spoor, January 12, 1911. To our right is a patch of very dark ice with an evil crack leading to a small pool. We skirt this warily, and are not much surprised to hear a sudden plop ! as two or three penguins shoot out of the water and land at our feet, and often right in the way of the sledge. A pony-sledge passes us and then stops—amid our jeers—to breathe the steed, for the ponies are short of wind at this early stage. We hear a steady droning, and the motor rolls by. But we beat across country, while the helmsman is hauling the behemoth on to a new course. The belt is beginning to cramp our muscles, and the steady stab and drag of the ski-sticks at first blister the hands. Soon the welcome bamboo at the camp comes into sight. Snow bridges have been built across the tide-cracks just below the hut. Here the ice rises and falls a couple of feet during the day. We save a little “go” for the last hundred yards, and rush her at the tide-cracks. ‘Up she rises,” and several willing helpers from the hut lend a hand, and so our load pulls up on the belt of snow by the hut. Here Bowers takes charge, and his gang puts the wood near the hut site, the food on another spot, fodder here, and oil in the far corner. Then we run the sledge out of the way to the ice, and if there is no motor returning, pull it back with light loads and rapidly easing muscles to the ship. We were returning on Friday evening, somewhat wearied, THE TERRA NOVA GOES SOUTH 95 when Ponting met us and told us the “ owner”’ wished every one to hurry to the ship, for the killer-whales were breaking up the floes, and the stores on the ice would be lost! We ran on and found the sea-ice all broken away at the stern ; but Ponting had not explained his own very exciting adven- ture. Two dogs had broken loose and were racing about at the edge of the ice, when a party of eight killer-whales ap- peared at the stern of the ship, evidently attracted by these strangely active “seals.” An orca is twenty to thirty feet long, and has the most fearsome jaw of all the creatures that hunt in the high seas. Thirteen long conical teeth are set in each jaw, each projecting a couple of inches from the bone— and (unlike those of the crab-eater) built for business. Pont- ing, ever keen on good photographs, took his camera along to get a close view of these fellows. He narrates that they lifted their wicked-looking heads above the water to look at him, and he was just pressing the button, when he felt as if an earthquake had hit him. The whole floe was being broken away by the orcas, and he was separated from firm ice by two feet of water. He did not stop to finish that photo ! After dinner Debenham and I made a trip across the ice to Inaccessible Island. This rises sharply from the sea, about one mile south of the ship, and is usually surrounded by a belt of water—due to the warming action of the very dark rocks of which it is composed. Here we came across our first “sastrugi.” They are long, deep furrows cut by the drifting ice crystals in the sides of snow-drifts as they are driven onward by the blizzard winds. Thus they lie on the windward sides of the drifts, and make sledge-travelling very difficult if they face the sledge. If the drifts are across the path of the blizzards the sastrugi may cut right through the former. Inaccessible Island was almost covered with the debris of kenyte lavas, though here and there bosses of solid rock remained, especially towards the summit ridge. In these cold latitudes the frost action breaks down the rocks very rapidly, without destroying the mineral structure to such an extent as is the case in warmer regions. The kenyte weathered into blocks, which irresistibly suggested the Easter Island “ idols.” Every variety of this rock was found. Some with large crystals an inch long, others like glass, of a chocolate colour ; vesicular lava, full of bubbles, looking like petrified bath- 96 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING sponges, and pieces of kenyte caught up in a later flow of lava, and burnt just to the tint of a red brick. Just before midnight we returned to the ship, and labelled our specimens in broad sunlight, before turning in. There are two icebergs stranded off Cape Evans, and Captain Scott arranged that Wright and myself should have some time free to study their structure while the sea-ice was firm around them. He came along himself to have a close view, and Ponting brought a sledge, filled with cameras, to collect photographs. They were both pyramidal, and pro- jected a hundred feet or so above water. Most probably they had been much tilted, for a very prominent layer of snow— which from its included air melted slowly—was now almost vertical. It was obvious that they were affected by the tide, for a pool filled with brash ice almost surrounded them, and we could hear the ice fragments creaking as they rubbed together. A unique feature occupied our attention most of the time. Traversing the berg from end to end was an oval tunnel, forty feet high and fifteen feet wide, so regular in its outline that it looked as though a red-hot bar had been pushed right through (a distance of 150 feet). The scenic possibilities of this mass of shadow in the midst of the dazzling white of the berg were, of course, fully appreciated by Ponting, and I doubt if any mass of ice has ever been photographed so thoroughly, from the right, from the left, from above, below, outside and from inside, and right through it! By a stroke of almost unbe- lievable luck the view back through the tunnel just framed the ship at a mile distance. Next day the berg had swung through 180°, the ship had steamed away, and the sea-ice had moved out, so that Ponting was rightly overjoyed at the “ for- tuitous concourse of atoms,” which has given rise to one of the most interesting of his studies. We were equipped with rope and axes, and cut steps some sixty feet up the berg until we were well over the tunnel. | was much surprised when one of the blows of the ice-axe seemed to set free a strip of orange-peel! Visions of a Japanese hut far to the south floated through my mind, but on examining the object it was found to be a small fossilized fish. I dug it out six inches below the surface, and as the sun melts off quite an appreciable layer every day, this fish THE TERRA NOVA GOES SOUTH 97 may have been enclosed in the berg for a very long period. The species was probably Notothenia, and somewhat resembles Sep. lou Iceberg equilibrium. The tilting of the Tunnel Berg during the winter, 1911. N.B. The front of the tunnel broke away before September. the garfish of Australian waters. This reminds me of some rather curious biological specimens discovered by one of the H 98 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING non-scientific members in our little waterfall. They were white spherical objects, two millimetres wide, which could be peeled like an onion, and each seemed to enclose a little pearl. But Lillie identified them as crystalline lenses from the eyes of Notothenia, which were the only things found indigestible by the omnivorous skua gull, and so accumulated in the stream near their nests. Both ends of the berg tunnel were fringed by beautiful icicles, many being branched almost as much as the famous Jewish candlestick. The exterior of the berg on the more gently sloping side was armoured with a panoply of plough- shares projecting horizontally, and due probably to the sun melting the surface differentially, as described in the case of the sea-ice. It was unpleasant to climb, and a fall would have precipitated one into a most uninviting pool. As we watched it two killer-whales rose to the surface, and “ blew off steam ” through their dorsal spouts. They moved towards the south, under the solid ice, and we could see them long after spout- ing occasionally along a narrow open crack leading in that direction. We were very fortunate in our weather at this time. Bright calm days, so warm that one could sit outside in the lee of a pile of fodder after lunch—as many of us did—and enjoy a short siesta. From the first day work was carried on busily at the hut. The foundation was excellent, for the surface all round our camp consists of kenyte gravel, on which the snow melts as soon as the sun strikes it ; which is porous, so that water will not lie on it; and finally, is so springy that our food-cases were not damaged, however heavily they were dumped on the gravel. The main timbers were prepared long before we left New Zealand, and most of the matchboard was cut to size, tied in bundles, and roughly labelled. The floor area is fifty feet by twenty-five feet, and the roof is quite plain, with a central ridge. Three small windows, permanently shut, and with doubled panes, admit sufficient light in summer ; while later on an elaborate acetylene plant will come into use. Of greater interest were the precautions to keep out the cold. Vertical tongue and groove matchboard was nailed both out- side and inside the framework, an air-space thus being enclosed between them. Next, a layer of a patent quilted seaweed material, made of sea-grass sewn into jute sacking, was tacked THE TERRA NOVA GOES SOUTH 99 on in two-foot breadths. On the outside this was covered with weather-boarding, and on the inside by another layer of matchboard. The floor was made of thicker boards separated by ruberoid, while the roof has an inner matchboard ceiling— an air-space (with joists, etc.), matchboard, two layers of sea- weed quilt, matchboard, and two layers of ruberoid. Thus every portion of the hut has many layers, each of which is fairly wind-tight. The door opens into an air-tight porch, and this is protected from the south-east blizzards by a wind- screen. A large ventilator on the roof ridge is the only legi- timate air-gap, but in one corner the meteorologist has a sort of external cupboard for his instruments, which is bound to be cool. Everything went along swimmingly. The official carpenter and two of the petty officers carved out the more intricate details of carpentering, while the afterguard soon became moderately expert at nailing matchboard, chiefly with geological hammers. One of the scientists (subjected to criticism) complained that he never could drive a nail straight while any one was watching him. His tormentor declared that he must have afforded amusement the whole day, and pointed to a complete series of wilted nails due to the tyro’s efforts. For the roof-work the spiked boots of the geologists were in great request, for it was possible for us to manceuvre over the sloping boards at much greater speed than could “< Chips” and his assistants. On Sunday (the 8th) occurred an unfortunate accident, almost the sole mishap since the loss of the ponies in the gale. We swung out the third motor-car, having freed it from its case while it was inboard. It was landed on the sea-ice safely, and run smartly away to a firmer surface fifty yards away. I then left the ship with a one-man sledge-load bound for the hut. Captain Scott and Lieutenant Campbell were testing the ice, and warned me to be especially careful of certain wet patches near them. I got through to the shore without incident, but this unhappily was not the case with the motor-sledge, which started off imme- diately afterwards. I was not present, but heard that it was pulled across on to apparently firm ice near the doubtful portion, which had just been crossed safely. There one of the men went through, but was hauled out safely. He declared he felt himself being pulled under the floe by the strong tidal 100 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING current. Almost the next moment one corner of the motor- sledge sank, and then gradually the end, and finally the whole of the machine crashed through the ice; and despite the utmost efforts of the hauling party it sank in a hundred fathoms. Thus was lost nearly a thousand pounds’ worth of valuable machinery, and since it is made largely of aluminium, it corrodes extremely rapidly, and would not be worth salvage, even if it were possible—now the ice is out—to grapple it at that depth. During the building of the hut meals were eaten in a huge brown tent alongside, and many of the afterguard slept in small tents on the shore. A new type of these latter looks exactly like a rounded sun-helmet lying on the ground. The rim is represented by the broad flap, which will be covered with snow on sledging journeys, though now a handful of gravel is sufficient to keep them secure. One evening I strolled into the skuary just behind the camp. Here are hummocks of kenyte with little lakes and shelving gravelly beaches. In the lakes a reddish plant akin to seaweed coats the bottom, and dries to a leathery wrinkled mass. The skuas nest anywhere, not even a semblance of a nest being perceptible. They resent intrusion very strongly, and every one is at first slightly intimidated by the tremendous swoops, rushing wings, fierce eyes, and shrill cries of protest. I wanted a specimen, and decided to test a method of obtaining it, which smacked somewhat of Munchausen when described to me in Australia. Taking a flat slab of kenyte I waited until a skua was approaching. Then, before the bird arrived, I threw the rock into the air almost straight up. The bird collided with it as it was falling, and dropped to the ground stunned. This scheme of hunting is really much more certain than it sounds, for the bird has apparently no fear of objects above it. The ship was moved to a fresh berth, some five hundred yards nearer the hut, and also nearer the slopes of Erebus. Henceforth almost all the transport was effected by pony teams. There were many incidents at first, for the ponies did not understand the icy surface, and were by no means too subdued by their long voyage to object to most of the duties demanded of them. Hackenschmidt is still obdurate, I believe, but the others have calmed down, and done their THE TERRA NOVA GOES SOUTH 101 four trips a day as long as it was necessary. One soon gets to know their characteristics. Fiery ‘ Bliicher” trots through all the work, whether he is pulling an empty sledge or half a ton through a snowdrift; in fact, the driver is usually dragged alongside over the ten miles involved. With a slippery surface and only a single rope halter, it will readily be understood that four legs can defeat two if the whim seizes him. One gentleman, rejoicing in the name of “ Guts,” broke away three times, just as I had lugged him the weary mile to the ship, and galloped back unencumbered. But the least- envied duty in the expedition is a morning in the company of “ Weary Willie.” With drooping lip and stubborn eye, he improves on a crawl only when his driver precedes him with the halter over his shoulder, and practically drags both pony and sledge. In spite of a heavy load of patent fuel, he used to start back two steps to the minute quicker, thinking he was returning to the pony lines, but this soon degenerated to a crawl, and his objections to returning for another load necessitated special help at the turning-point. There was another pony, whom I only discovered on the last day, who was a happy mean between Bliicher and Weary. He was anonymous, but deserved a baronetcy. The last loads con- sisted of patent fuel (in foot cubes) and compressed fodder, while ballast, in the form of thirty tons of kenyte, was loaded from a snow-slide and taken back to the Terra Nova. Many of our minor pursuits irresistibly reminded me of a childhood’s day on the sands. There are little trenches to be dug, to lead telephone wires to the Observatory hill ; pemmican to be poked out of tins in solid cakes just like the little sand-heaps moulded in toy buckets; miniature bridges over the tiny creeks; and, most realistic of all, grottoes to be carved out of solid banks—not of sand, but of hard, clear ice. The track to the Observatory hill passes along a miniature glacier with a bank fifteen feet high on the nearer side. In this it was decided to cut an “ice house” for the mutton, and for seals and penguins. Next door the physicists cut out another grotto for magnetic work. Each took about a week to complete. A “drive” was made into the ice about six feet high and four feet wide. At a convenient distance this was widened 102 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING out to fifteen feet, and we should probably have cut out a prosaic rectangular chamber, but that we found that the floor of almost impenetrable frozen kenyte gravel sloped up very steeply. Moreover, the sun melted the “glacier” at a great rate, so that we had to leave a fairly thick roof. These restrictions produced a very pretty style of architecture—a sort of double crypt with a central partition, and gentle, sweeping curved roof, like an opened cockle-shell lying with the convex sides uppermost. The sunlight filtered through the roof and entrance wall, making the ice look like alabaster. It was hard work chipping the ice. We were helped by Glacier 1€& Gravel Sez SSE Sketch of two grottoes cut in glacieret near the hut, January 15, 1911. a few layers of dust mixed with skua feathers—representing very ancient surfaces—along which the ice broke readily. One half was covered with a rough flooring, and on this were deposited a hundred carcases of sheep given by the New Zealand farmers. In the other half a hundred penguins occupy one corner, and later we shall add seal-meat. A little nearer the hut the physicists excavated an |_-shaped grotto, of severely rectangular cross section, and lacking those picturesque sweeps in the roof which were necessary in the other cave. It penetrates the “glacier” for about twenty- five feet, and is entered by an aperture some three feet high. One feels very like a rabbit entering its burrow, but this THE TERRA NOVA GOES SOUTH 103 constriction is necessary to ensure equable temperature. A mild blizzard was blowing while we were cutting it out, though in the calm—not to say stuffy—atmosphere of the grotto a temperature of twenty below freezing had little effect on one’s comfort. To be sure files, and saws, and other iron tools developed an octopus-like surface, for they stuck to one’s fingers as if smeared with gum. The wall struts—for the lining—-were cemented simply and effectively by a mush of ice and water, which solidified immediately. Two large kenyte boulders formed jagged obstructions on the floor. When foundations for the instrument standards were being made, it was found that under the layer of gravel forming the floor was another layer of ice. It is quite possible that our hut may be built on gravel over a thick ice sheet. This will be tested by a shaft in the winter leisure. On the highest portion of Cape Evans is hoisted the Union Jack. Near by is the meteorological screen, and two anemometers are merrily whirling round. We have been laying telephone wires across the space between the hill and the hut to connect the instruments there to the meteorological laboratory (“ corner” would be a better term) in the hut. On Sunday 15 work was suspended for a day, for every- thing was progressing well. Many of the men took ski on to the slopes of Erebus, behind the hut, and had a pleasant time, diversified by many tumbles, in consequence. To the north of these slopes extended the hitherto untraversed Barne glacier, which formerly blocked all communication with Cape Royds during summer. Its seaward face is a high cliff of ice, strongly crevassed, and reaching from Cape Evans to Cape Barne. Wright and myself received permission to go on the glacier, and providing ourselves with an alpine rope, ice axes, food, and wind-proof clothing, we set off up the rocky slopes behind the hut. We soon reached an irregular snow surface deeply pitted where boulders had sunk, with little runnels of water murmuring below the crusts in ice in numberless little gullies. As the ice became more apparent we roped up and marched to the north, gradually ascending the slope of the glacier. Our objective at this time was the rock ridge behind Cape Barne, about two and a half miles away. The glacier came down from Erebus in undulations resembling gigantic rounded steps. It seemed probable to us that the best surface would 104 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING occur where the ice was in compression rather than in tension. Here in the hollows the crevasses would tend to close up, and we found them quite readily crossed. In the icy surface were broad ribbons of snow, slightly depressed below the surface, and curving grandly round the undulations of Erebus. These looked solid enough, but an ice axe hardly met with any resistance in the snow, and on sweeping it away one could see a chasm extending indefinitely down. Higher up the slope the snow formed bridges, but here in narrower crevasses it was only of value in veiling the depth. However, it was a mere question of jumping ; the leader gathering in the rope and taking a good leap while the follower drove his ice pick into the surface and held on firmly. If there had been any great danger involved, two men would, of course, have been in- sufficient, but we progressed in this fashion for a mile, then crossed another mile of softish snow without crevasses, and reached the Barne ridge, with rocks running from the coast halfway up to the crater of Erebus. Here to our surprise we saw nothing but kenyte hummocks and debris lying between us and Cape Royds. It would not have been human to have resisted this opportunity of visiting the headquarters of the 1907 expedition. After resting a little among the huge mounds of kenyte boulders—actually bearing small tufts of red and green lichens—we tramped quickly across alternating patches of rock and snow, past small ice-covered lakes, and soon reached Back-door Bay. Here quite a large stream—for Antarctica— was falling over an ice cliff, and we reached the first sign of another settlement. This was a bamboo pole planted in a cairn. Then we scrambled over slopes of kenyte gravel, skirting the rotten ice which filled the outer part of Back-door Bay. The narrow gulf at the north-east end of the bay still contained firm ice, and we crossed this without attracting any remark from a colony of twenty seals, and so reached Cape Royds. Here signs of occupation were very evident, though the hut was some distance away on the further (northern) slope of the hill. A sledge with cases of tinned meat, a ladder, and the tubes of the hand-boring plant, had been left close to the water of Back-door Bay. We carried off a tin of beef in case the hut contained nothing more attractive. Following some old sledge tracks we topped a rise, and were right on the hut. THE TERRA NOVA.GOES SOUTH 105 Every one is familiar with the appearance of Shackleton’s hut. It is very snugly placed in a little dell leading to a small lake, which empties into the sea over some steep cliffs a quarter of a mile away. It seemed extraordinary that so many empty boxes and such piles of debris could have been the result of fourteen months’ stay. I suppose our camp will appear the same three years after we have departed. We skirted round the ruined pony shelter, over boxes of cork packing and cases of empty bottles. The door of the porch had carried away, but the inner door was standing. A foot of ice sealed it at the bottom, but hanging on the door was an envelope addressed in Professor David’s hand, “To Any One who may visit Cape Royds.” It did not enter his mind when he placed it there that an old student of his would be the first to see this. The envelope contained a short account of the results of the 1907 expedition, left there “in case the Nimrod is lost on her return voyage.” I carried the re- cord back to Captain Scott, a very interesting document, though luckily not of vital importance, since the expedition’s success was not marred by any accident at the eleventh hour. We then set about getting into the hut. Cutting into the ice with our ice axes we came to a tightly fixed block of wood —which we thought had been placed there to fasten the door. More chips of ice were removed by the ice-axes, and we saw that it was merely a broom, which had fallen down and been embedded its whole length in a foot of ice. There was nothing for it but to cut away this stubborn sentinel, and then it was possible to open the door a foot or so. We entered with much curiosity. All the windows had been covered with battens, but I did not expect to find it so snug and untouched by the weather. Not a grain of snow seems to have entered. We opened one window, and the place might have been abandoned the day before. On the low table in the centre a meal had been left. Condensed milk, saucers, biscuits, jam, and gingerbread. The latter were very good, and not harmed by two years’ exposure. At the back was a tray from the oven with a batch of scones just cooked, and a loaf of bread. I lifted the latter, and the whole outer surface peeled away, leaving a ball in the middle. This is just the way basalt weathers when exposed to the air, and it is 106 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING known technically as “ spheroidal weathering.” I did mot eat the bread. The 1907 expedition left in a hurry, I believe, which accounts for the somewhat unkempt appearance of the hut. Boots were scattered on the floor, books over the bunks, socks drying on lines. In one corner a roulette machine, in another a packet of paper used in their printing press. I fear I was most interested in tinned fruits, and searched through a huge store of unused food in one corner of the hut. Tea, pickles, jams, milk, onions, sausages, hams, cocoa, delicatessen, every-. thing but canned fruit. Finally we saw that the dark room was built of cases of bottled fruit, and in honour of the first crossing of the Barne Glacier we broached a case and extracted a bottle of gooseberries and another of currants. It was a queer meal. I had brought bacon and ship’s biscuit. Wright selected plum-pudding, sardines, and Nestle’s milk. I found preserved ginger, raisins, and corned beef. We drank alternately of currant and gooseberry vinegar, and ate through the above menu. Antarctica is immune from dyspepsia, for we felt none the worse. We strolled round the headquarters. The penguins were very interesting, for they were busy feeding half-fledged chicks. There are no nests near Cape Evans, but the atmo- sphere is the purer! I was not prepared for the shape and size of these chicks, They were nearly as tall as their parents, and twice as large round the most important part of their anatomy. Huge balls of dark grey fluff, with feeble little squeaks no louder than a chicken’s—in strong contrast to the indignant cries of their parents. After a couple of hours at Cape Royds we turned south and experienced no difficulty until we reached the crevasses, for we followed our previous track. The crevasses seemed to have widened a little; we were somewhat tired, and the farther edge was now higher than the nearer. In some ex- amples—which we did not tackle—the difference in height reached two feet. However, we crossed them safely (though in two instances one foot went through the soft snow) and reached Cape Evans without misadventure. Captain Scott had made a journey on a dog-sledge to his old quarters (1902) at Cape Armitage, sixteen miles south of us Unluckily he found his hut filled with ice and practically PHOTO OF THE HUT, SHOWING THE RAMP AND EREBUS, JAN. 20, 1911. The south annexe built of food cases (on the right) and the stable on the left built of coal blocks are just being finished. PENGUIN COURTSHIP ON THE ICE-FOOT NEAR CAPE EVANS. THE TERRA NOVA GOES SOUTH 107 useless, so much so that they slept outside. He had never seen the locality so free from snow. On the 25th of January he hopes to make a start on the depot journey to the south, and on the same day the western scientific party sets out to explore Dry} Valley, Snow Valley, and the Koettlitz Glacier. Captain Scott has honoured me with the charge of this party, whose personnel I have described previously. We have now occupied our hut for a week. Let me close the story of these early days by describing our life in the hut. To-morrow we leave it for some months of sledge- work, so that we have been very busy for some time past. SSN Soe Two Bergs D. sip Barne. aground) 1 Glacier Al P First sketch-map made January 21, 1911 (before any survey), showing ice fronts and positions of ship, A-E. From the porch one enters the quarters assigned to the sea- men and cooks. A large galley-stove is placed on the right, and behind it is the chief touch of colour in the hut in the form of rows of tins of food, spices, and utensils. A bunk suspended high up from one corner by an iron rod marks the resting-place of Engineer Lashley. To the left are many Wire mattresses supported on neat iron frames. A queer instrument like a guitar cut in half is the cherished possession of Anton, the Russian groom. His comical little bow when you address him—for he speaks no English—reminds me of the action known as “ louting low.” “Wor some time the ship had been lying quite close to the hut—about a quarter of a mile away at the spot C (on the 108 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING accompanying sketch-map). The original edge of the ice is shown, and here the ship stayed (at A) until the motor sank. Then she moved to B, nearer the Barne Glacier. On the 18th she came along the crack which opened near the stranded bergs to the position C. But seventeen bergs came into sight, and one huge tabular, as if desirous of this site, bore right down on her. So the ship moved across the Sound to get away from the northern wind. In cruising about here, she ran aground at D off Cape Evans. There was sixty feet of water under the stern and only seventeen feet at the bows! That's pretty steep! They ‘rocked’ her by running across ship in unison, and after an hour got her off. I photographed her from the Cape where the land party watched the efforts of the seamen.” Later I heard that this collision with the reefs of McMurdo Sound tore out a small splinter a foot deep and about ten feet long! Luckily the stout old ship could spare this at her bows without grave inconvenience. A bulkhead of boxes, amid which two branded “ sherry ” mark the wherewithal of future festivities, separated the “ mess deck” from the “‘wardroom.” The latter occupies two-thirds of the hut, and here the sixteen officers live. A long table extends down the middle and reaches to a palatial inner room, sacred to Ponting, the photographer. The roof of the latter is by no means wasted, but constitutes an important laboratory. At the back are two incubators, not for eggs but for parasites, bacteria, and other pleasant creatures fondly cared for by Dr. Atkinson, whom we expect to see brooding for hours over his pets. The centre of the room is thus accounted for. The right and left are divided into cubicles. First, on the left, are five mattresses assigned to Messrs. Oates, Meares, Bowers, Atkinson, and Cherry-Garrard. The right wall was divided into three compartments, occupied respectively by Messrs. Debenham, Gran and Taylor, Nelson and Day, Simpson and Wright. We have to live in this space for six months of darkness, and as we are limited horizontally to seventeen square feet each, it will not cause surprise to find that we have imitated the New York sky-scrapers. The first few hours of our house furnishing were devoted to amassing enough thick timber to build strong frames for the mattresses. These are built in tiers, and so each cubicle has SHIP AGROUND ON A REEF OFF CAPE EVANS CLOSE TO THE TUNNEL BERG. The whale-boat is trying to tow off the ship, while a skua gull on the cape is an interested spectator. ees tae i. GRIFFITH TAYLOR IN SUMMER RIG (ON A KEEN DAY) ON CAPE EVANS, Jan. 25, i911. ay on . - - v vet! THE TERRA NOVA GOES SOUTH 109 some clear floor space. In our own cubicle Debenham has raised his bunk five feet from the floor, and underneath this will ultimately develop a whole geological laboratory! In the far corner is a little oil-engine and dynamo, providing current for Dr. Simpson’s meteorological apparatus. On a table at one of the two windows is the “counter,” an important portion of the biologist’s sanctum. The rest of it is below the counter ! Half the left side of the wardroom is in part partitioned off. Captain Scott has one portion of this, His eastern boundary is a huge drawing-table under our second window. On the other side of this, and snugly fenced in by the dark room, are the quarters of Lieutenant Evans and Dr. Wilson. Near the dark room are the stove and the pianola. The removal of the latter from the ship nearly devastated the officers’ quarters afloat. The stairs were removed, and we had to get into the ship’s wardroom down a rope during the two days while they struggled with the pianola. However, it has safely arrived, though just the last few days a new gramophone has had greater popularity. During the two months of our absence the hut will be fitted with acetylene lighting. The four officers and five men who remain have also a contract to kill (and clean) a thousand penguins and skuas, so that they will be as busy as the sledging parties. Outside the hut the sea waves now wash the kenyte gravel. In the last two days a mile of sea-ice has floated off, and now the Terra Nova is hovering around only waiting to land the three parties (south, west, and east) before she turns her prow to the green northern land. All our preparations are made, and we join her to-morrow morning. The educative value and the interest of an expedition like this is inestimable. I have tried to describe some of the features with which I have been most impressed myself. During the voyage one learns something of seamanship, of biology, of navigation, and of naval matters generally. First- hand information on every conceivable subject from men who have seen many quarters of the world with an appreciative eye is obviously full of interest. The biologist discusses those portions of his subject which touch on geology or meteorology with students who are as anxious to approach 110 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING them from other standpoints. In another way also is this expedition almost unique. It is hardly credible that twenty men should associate for three months in somewhat cramped quarters without a jar; yet I can truly say that the best of good fellowship has always existed. This is the best possible omen for success in the future. [Nore.—This narrative is left in the form in which it was sent back to Australia in January, 1911, in the belief that nothing is lost (and perhaps some touch of reality gained) by so doing. ] Ill FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION January—Marcy, IgII FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION On the 24th of January the ponies went over the sea-ice to Glacier Tongue ex rouse for the Barrier Depdt trip. Captain Scott and the western party sailed in the Terra Nova to the Tongue, which we reached about noon. Later we were able to study the Tongue in some detail, but we could see that it consisted of a huge pier of ice about half a mile wide, and projecting some five miles from the low cliffs south of Turk’s Head. The surface was undulating, and about a hundred feet above the sea in the centre. Its origin is doubtful. Probably it is old piedmont ice anchored on some hidden ridge, but it is added to by blizzards sweeping over the root of the Castle Rock Promontory and depositing snow on the leeward side of the cape. We saw sections of it stranded fifty miles to the north-west later, which proved its partial origin from snowdrifts. On the 25th Debenham, Wright, and myself marched to Hut Point, where the 1902 hut was situated. We took a light sledge and our sleeping-bags. It was very interesting to recognize the places of which we had read in the “ Voyage of the Discovery.” Castle Rock was very prominent, a huge dark square “keep” about two hundred feet above the promontory ; “Danger Slope”—an icy slope dropping down to 150-feet ice cliffs—on which Vince lost his life early in 1903. The conical hill, seven hundred feet high, just east of Vince’s Cross, was Observation Hill; destined to carry another cross two years later to the memory of the man who had built the hut below. Off Hut Point the sea-ice was very rotten and full of huge holes. However, we reached the ice-foot easily enough, and pulled up to the hut. The surroundings were very tidy compared to Shackleton’s quarters, which was very natural, for the 1902 expedition practically lived in the ship. It was 113 I 114 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING Original geological sketch by Captain Scott (January 19, 1911), directing our attention to an unusual outcrop at Hut Point. surrounded by tremen- dous eaves, which were meant to protect stores, etc. We found the door blocked by ice, and had to enter by a window. It was filled with snow to a depth of four feet, which had drifted in through various open- ings. We found a bul- wark of biscuit boxes in the middle, and various stores of chocolate, etc. Some brownish powder, after some cogitation, we determined to be pepper. It had quite “lost its savour” in the ten years of exposure. Alongside were the little magnetic huts. Wright comman- deered some _ asbestos sheets for our own mag- netic equipment, and then we set off to see the real object of our visit. Captain Scott had noticed an exposure of lamellar rocks of a sandy appearance among the almost uniformly dark basic rocks of this region, and, although no geolo- gist, he realized that it was possible that a frag- ment of the well-known Beacon Sandstone (a fossil-bearing rock) had been torn up by a basic lava on its passage to the FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 115 surface. This would show the relative age of the two rocks concerned (the lava, of course, being younger), and so was well worth investigating. We found the outcrop readily enough from Captain Scott’s sketch, but Debenham and I decided that it was a weathered variety of eruptive rock, and not of sedimentary origin. Two other appearances were noticeable here, which were worth recording because we saw them later in various other uarters of Victoria Land. We could not account for them ms our first example. On the steep face of the cliff (five hundred feet high) near where poor Vince slipped to his doom, were four long horizontal ridges—one above the other—of dark masses of rock. They resembled lateral moraines left by giant glaciers, but I believe they are due to debris rolling down to the foot of a snow-slope. The latter varies in extent with varying seasons, and so the debris ridge may be deposited at another level. Another very curious feature soon attracted our notice. All the more or less level lowland around Cape Armitage, as well as the bare plateau of Crater Heights, was marked out like a gigantic tesselated pavement. I noted in my journal, “The lowlands of loose black rock appear to be rolled by a steam roller, while the surface is broken by gutters from four to eight inches deep.” These gutters marked out hexagonal and polygonal areas some twenty or thirty feet across. When a light snowfall had collected in the gutters, the valleys seemed to have been paved with black tiles united by white mortar. These symmetrical polygons are due to a slow movement of half-frozen soil, which has been noted in polar lands, and is called solifluxion or soil-creep. We saw many examples of these tesselations in the western moraines. We walked back to the camp on the sea-ice, pulling the asbestos sheets on the sledge. There was some cold tea to spare in Nelson’s tent, and we were glad to make our meal off this and some biscuits. Then, pillowing my head on a camera, I coiled into my sleeping-bag, and so spent my first night on trek. On the next morning we were told that we could ride back to the ship on the dog-sledges. Nothing loth, we tied our sledge behind Meares’, and soon covered the eight miles. The dogs pulled rapidly, but seemed to need frequent 116 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING rests. It was much more lively than “ man-hauling.” Meares’ constant cries, “Tchui—Tchui! Ky—Ky!” directed the leading dog, and the six pairs behind him swerved left or right in unison. There were numerous seals on our route, and Meares had considerable trouble to keep the dogs to the straight path of duty. One ginger seal especially excited their interest, and ours also, for the colour is most uncommon. Usually the seals are a dull fawn brown, though the breast is often beautifully mottled with white spots. My first seal-killing had been done a day or two before. After dinner Wright and I had marched off on hunting bent. We walked over the great South Road—where we had cleared a track for the ponies over Cape Evans—and reached Gully Bay. Just over the tide-crack we came on three seals ; one beautifully dappled, one small and dark, and a huge, big fellow. We wanted the skin for making sandals, and so attacked the biggest specimen. There was not much attack about it! You just hit him hard on the nose, as Wright did with an ice axe, and then stab him under the fore-flipper, as I did with my Serbish dagger. To make sure, we pole-axed him also. Then we skinned him with consider- able difficulty, for two of us could hardly make the body budge! The skin and blubber were two inches thick and frightfully slippery; you could not grip it. We had to drive the ice axe into the loose flap of hide, and so gradually drag the carcase into the positions necessary for flaying. We left the hide on the head and limbs, and then cut through the cartilaginous breastbone and secured the huge liver— about forty pounds of it, I expect. We intended to drag the hide back with a rope, but all we could manage was the liver, of which I hung a part on each fore-finger. Then we walked back to the hut, about half an hour’s journey, and when we arrived I gave the liver to the cook. I soon found that my fingers were frostbitten, and through inexperience I stayed in the hut. For five minutes I tramped up and down with an almost unbearable pain in my fingers very like toothache. Never again did I expose my hands in the Antarctic in any constrained position, so that this first slight mishap was a good lesson to me. On the 27th of January the ship left Glacier Tongue, to carry Our party to the western side of MacMurdo Sound, a FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 117 distance of thirty miles. I got a photo of the face of the Tongue—showing queer little bulbous icicles where the swell of the tide had licked them. The Tongue rises and falls with the tide, and so there was no very definite crack between it and the sea-ice at its end. Little did we think that this century-old natural wharf was to be torn away from its moorings a few weeks later ! Now that all chance of adding to our equipment had passed, we found that several important matters required attention. For instance, my ski-boots—in which I had to traverse rocky slopes for six weeks—developed a hole thus early in the campaign! This apparently trivial matter bulked very largely in the succeeding journey, and though they were roughly cobbled on board and stiffened with all sorts and conditions of nails—none being very suitable—they were a constant source of worry. In the afternoon we approached Butter Point, passing through a belt of “brash ice” to reach it. This curiously named headland is where the 1902 party started to explore the western valleys. Here a supply of butter was left for the returning travellers to reward them with a toothsome dish of fried seal’s liver (if they had “first caught their geal”). Butter Point is really the north-east end of a “ piedmont ” glacier. It is a mass of ice—almost stagnant—which covers a coastal shelf some five miles wide between the foothills and the sea. The snow slopes rose rapidly to a hundred feet or so, and then more gradually to five hundred feet. Many unsuccessful attempts to fix an ice-anchor in the hard snow (covering the glacier) resulted in our moving north a short distance, where a grip was obtained when the anchors were carried some two hundred yards inshore. On the summit of the snow ridge, about half a mile away, we saw the pole of the depdt left by the 1907 expedition. This was now visited by a sledge party to depét provisions for the forthcoming northern journey in spring. In the meantime our two sledges were lowered on to the ice, and packed in readiness for our start. The sledges differed in size, one being twelve feet long, and the other only nine feet. The latter Evans evidently regarded as the apple of his eye, but weight for weight it was much less efficient than the 118 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING larger sledge, since it weighed almost as much, but could not carry three-quarters of the load. We had a heavy equipment for four men, averaging about 270 lbs. each, but as we were only proposing to take one sledge for a considerable portion of the journey, this was of little importance. Our total load was as follows :— Sledges, etc. Food and Fuel, etc. Tools, etc. Instruments, etc. Twelve-feet sledge Nine-feet sledge Two instrument boxes ... Iron under-runners Oil tins on platform One tin of spirits Seven weeks’ food Biscuits (four boxes) Ready bag (one week) ie Boxes protecting biscuit Cooker ... Three ice axes Crowbar and shovel Candles ... Lantern ... Alpine rope Bamboos Pe Tent and poles ... Four sleeping-bags Repair bag, etc. ... Theodolite Aneroids, etc. Zeiss camera Six dozen plates... Goerz camera Three dozen plates Box camera and films Polariscope Binoculars Compass, abney, etc. Total, i) 265 Total ... 696 Total’? (;. 1308 ~ ~ Nv Om = uw Total { ag | tube Qn “IED WORM = MA ‘jason wineqssnN = N “pur[s] p[eoH = H yjodag Arg surg = q ‘pray qouxyy = YJ *purysy Aapieg sa = [TC "syooy [BIpaypjwg = O “yooq jo pua ye deur Surpyoy osje vag «= *UMOYsS ‘purysy peaf{ O} JUIOg Jafjng pue duvg aroospy 0} JuIOg sapng ‘shournof preMjnog ‘AAUNYUNOL LSAIA NO CuSadAVAL AYMLNNOOD AO TAdOW at I of 7 “ . 7 coat: ‘te ieee. nl a ; | 1 oh as Poe = a — ar ’ _ FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 119 Personal Gear ... Aa Bee 1% bas A ae te ttc) LBS. Totals ... Sledges, etc. oN Se PSS Hood, ete.” ..: son By dicy- fo) A Golayiete! i: uy Habs fe (0) Instruments, etc. ... use fh NOE Personal... a at 50 1040 Several items in this list may be commented on. The heavy steel sledge runners were designed to fit under the wooden runners of the sledge, to take the wear and tear when we were crossing the rough ice of the glaciers. No favour- able occasion for their use arose until half our journey was completed, and then, as will be seen, the trial resulted in the smashing of the large sledge. We also carried the biscuit tins enclosed in their stout wooden cases up and down the Ferrar glacier, with the idea of preserving the biscuits from breakage. The cases were discarded on our return to Butter Point without any inconvenience from broken biscuit result- ing. These two items alone constituted one-tenth of our load, and we were glad when trials showed that we could get along much better without them. It will be noticed that an exceptionally large photographic battery was carried. This was necessitated by the character of the problems which engaged our attention. For instance, Wright was chiefly interested in the forms of ice structure which we encountered. The most delicate ice-crystals, which withered at a breath, must needs be photographed in situ. There was no possibility of his bringing back specimens for study in the hut during the dark winter months. For similar reasons a somewhat bulky polariscope—in which sheets of ice were examined in polarized light—formed part of Wright’s load, and accompanied him in a ruck-sack wherever he went. Debenham was engaged on the more usual work of collecting specimens, mapping their occurrence in the field, and studying the relations of the various rocks. For this purpose another camera was essential, since in general his investigations were carried out in the cliffs at some distance from the rest of us. The subject which primarily interested myself may be popularly 120 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING described as the bearing of geology on scenery—in other words, “ How has the land surface been affected by the flow of glaciers, by the action of wind, frost, water, and ice ? How do the resulting features differ from those observed in more temperate regions where water plays such an important part and ice erosion is absent ?” During February we obtained nearly a hundred photo- graphs illustrating the typical valleys, glaciers, moraines, and general topography of the western mountains, which it is hoped will help to settle the question, “ How do glaciers erode the deep valleys they occupy?” But early in March our cameras became practically useless, for the cold stiffened the shutters and the snow obliterated the details of the land- scape. I asked Pennell to take some soundings off the glacier mouth, for it has been supposed that glaciers cut their troughs out even below the surface of the sea. Rivers, of course, cannot erode below this level, so that this investigation was of importance in connection with the Ice versus Water Erosion hypotheses. He found only seventy fathoms (420 feet), which bears little resemblance to the glacier-cut fiords of Norway, some 6000 feet below sea-level. There is often so much silt and debris washing down from these valleys, that it may be possible that a deep rock trough has been filled thereby. But I think it improbable for reasons which will appear later. Debenham went off with the eastern party to examine the depdt on Butter Point. Priestley was able to identify many of the articles here as having been left by David on the magnificent magnetic Pole journey. Meanwhile, Wright, Evans, and I got our stores and sledges on to the ice and started packing. Some of the seamen went off to kill a seal, accompanied by our doctor, Levick. The latter was to show them a humane and speedy way of ending the seal. He described the method to us on his return, but the effect was spoilt by the butcher declaring that the seal had travelled a hundred yards after Levick had officially killed it ! Debenham had arranged his northern depét by six o'clock, and then our party put the finishing touches to our two sledges. With the zeal of a new leader, I advised donning wind-proofs as evening drew on ; but experience showed later that they were rarely needed until mid-February ! FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 121 I left my trusty “ mousetrap ” camera on board, some one snapping a photo of us just before the start. About 6.30 we pulled off from the ship across the sea ice which separated us from the glacier. The surface was good, and we dragged the sledges about five miles before camping. We headed for the northern side of the glacier. The southern side of the Ferrar was really more direct, but it was cut up into gullies and pinnacles such as made sledging almost impossible. I asked Evans to cook during the first week ; and Deben- ham was cook’s mate, to follow on later. So upon halting Evans took charge of the cooker and proceeded to light the primus, while Wright and I erected the tent overhim. Deben- ham filled the outer cooker with ice and then joined us in piling snow blocks on the flounce of the tent. After seeing that all was secure on the sledges we dived into the tent, and sitting on our rolled-up bags proceeded to change our socks. All of us, except the unfortunate cook, who was too busy mixing pemmican and salt and pepper and thickers—measur- ing out chocolate and cocoa, etc.—to have any time to attend to socks! This was one reason why cooking was not more popular! Our wet socks were hung on a rope slung upon the sledges, and by morning the frozen moisture had evapo- rated (ablated) completely off. However, on this particular evening, while the pemmican was being cooked, Wright and I walked amile or so to the south and reached a lateral “tongue ” or prolongation of the main glacier. There was a sudden rise of some three feet, and the surface, in place of being level and comparatively smooth, was carved out into deep irregular bowls with over- hanging margins, These were in all probability giant “ sun- holes,” and their floors were covered with a most beautiful carpet of snow crystals. Examined closely, each crystal plate was like the segment of a fan strengthened by cross-ribs. These plates were often half an inch across. The whole structure of sunholes, crystals, and hummocking ice reminded me of nothing so much as the appearance of a coral reef, and I suggested the name “ coral-reef surface ” for the type of ice and snow weathering. We returned and found the “hoosh” nearly ready. 1 read the sledging orders which Captain Scott had given me a few days previously. netter of Instruction to Griffith Taylor. Bea. "Terra Nova” aki : pee 26° Iq u Dear Taylor, I ptrpose to disembark a sledge party of which you will have charge oh the sea ice 6f koe Surdo Sound as near the Ferrar Glacier as possibleM Your companions will be Messrs #emssee, Debenhum, Wright and Fetty Officer Evans. You Will have two sledges with food and equipment for 8 weeks. The object of your journey will be the gecologigal exploration of the region betwecn the Dry Valley and the Koettlitz Glacier. Your movenents must depend to gome extent on the breaking of the sea ice. Your best and safest plan aprears to ie ae carry atl Provision up the Ferrar Glacier to a point in the medial moraine abreast of Descent Pass and to make a depot at that point. With e fortnigit's food yon could then continue the ascent to the junction cf the Dry Valley Glacier and descend the valley of that Glacier. On returning to your Depot you will be in a rosition to observe thé extent of the open water and you can either descend the gY¥&cicr anc pass to the East Ln Geb Point or climb Descent Tass descending by the Blue Glacier or by one of the more Southerly foothill glaciers and thus continue the examination of the Koettlitz Glacier area. On completion of your work you shculd cross to Hut Point RS careful not to camp hear the open water. Supplies v0 pet cf provision will be found at-#ut Point ert snoicté—-be-weed seating 138 - = 4 Stems remaining from the And deals Cec ram, Ce formes, trtont Pome Pret Discovery Expedition. I regard it as practically certain . that Cape Evans can be safely reacked over the new sea ice ke before the third week in March provided that the party keeps well within the bays. __ ahe safest course would be t> climt the ridges Nbeyond Castle Rock, te continue on the sea ice’ ~ —— behind Arrival Height,amd descenca to the sea cof to a point one or two miles from the end of Clacier Tongue and from thence to the South side of Cape Evans, Winton Jom Br but~ Gf lure ” Yours sincerely, 124 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING As usual we found the pemmican too rich at first, and I note that I could only eat three of the biscuits! This delicate appetite did not survive many days of Antarctic sledging. I slept soundly, only waking once at four ; but the thought that I carried the chronometer and was responsible for the punctual rising at 7.30 (6.30 local time) made me uneasy for many ensuing mornings ! We did not expect to return by this route, so that I thought it advisable to investigate the physiography of the lower end of the glacier. After breakfast we all went over to the south side of the valley. Wright was soon busy on hands and knees investigating the beautiful “fan” crystals. Deben- ham and I walked on further to some isolated moraine heaps, which projected about ten feet above the ice. I made a traverse over the glacier as far as the lower slope of the hills with the following results. The moraine heaps seemed to be the outward and visible sign of a large continuous ridge—or sheet—most of which was buried in old ice and snow. The mingling of fine silts and huge boulders, some four feet long, was characteristic of a glacial deposit, and a few doubtful striae were present. Many varieties of rock were represented, granites, recalling the famous “ Shap” of the Lake District ; splendid porphyries with large almond-like felspars in a brown matrix ; gneisses of many varieties with parallel layers of glistening mica and dull black hornblende; and some crystalline limestones and much dolerite; both of which occurred in situ about ten miles further west. These elon- gated silt and boulder ridges showed deep cracks along their sides, indicating, 1 imagine, considerable movement of the glacier which bore them. The next half a mile was rather difficult travelling, through pinnacle ice and through large lately frozen pools of water. Very striking were some of the ice-forms here. ‘“ Topsy- turvy”’ icicles, whose original support had almost melted away—leaving them attached below and surmounted with knobs like hatpins, and unsupported crusts of ice which dropped one into a pool of water, were types that made the most lasting impression. I soon reached the land—a sunny slope facing the noon sun. Here several merry little brooks hurried down over the powdery silt to hide themselves beneath the glacier. To be sure, they were only an inch deep e FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 125 and meandered across little channels a couple of feet wide, but they were unusual enough to excite interest. Gradually the silts changed into a pebbly soil, and this into a uniform layer of coarse gravel as I ascended the slope. Larger stones and boulders became common, and one specimen seemed of special interest. It was a fragment of coarse granite some six inches long, with its upper surface weathered to such an extent that every felspar appeared as a separate glistening brick ; yet the moiety of the granite buried in the silt was as smooth as any pebble from the beach. I consider it by no means improbable that this relatively large amount of “ weathering’ had been accomplished while this fragment lay in its present insecure situation, A little higher up the slope I was amazed to see a carpet of green moss, as flourishing as any in more temperate regions. I sat down on a granite erratic, and noted that three types of vegetation were present. One was a veritable moss, to my unbotanical eyes, the ordinary moss of universal distribution. Of the other two species, which may have been algez, one resembled the seaweed called U/va, and the other had a some- what fibrous structure. The patch of green was sixty feet long and about fifteen feet wide, and is possibly the largest area of vegetation south of 774°! I was under the impression that these forms were quite common around MacMurdo Sound, but if I had known that they were inhabited by a most interesting primitive flea, 1 should certainly have added some to our load. However, we obtained thousands of the insects next year at Granite Harbour. On my return I found that Evans had laboriously collected the fragments of a shell, which, pieced together, built up a red scallop. He picked it up on the moraine, where it may have been blown by the wind. We inspanned at noon, and before lunch reached the low ridges marking the junction of the centre of the glacier with the sea ice. Here we obtained fresh water for the cooker, b cutting some three inches through the sea ice. Evidently at this season the sub-glacial drainage overpowered the sea-water at this spot, which was eight or nine miles from the open sea. To the north of this was that remarkable “ Double Curtain” glacier, which is photographed in the Discovery volume. After lunch Wright and I decided to walk in that 126 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING direction, and we soon saw we should be justified in devoting some hours to its examination ; while Debenham came along later and collected the varied rocks in the vicinity. As we approached the northern slopes the surface of the Ferrar Glacier altered in character, and gave place to large lake-like areas of ice, which exhibited most beautiful figures on close examination. In the upper layers of the ice were included radiating designs which resembled a miniature Hampton Court maze in porcelain embedded in glass. These intricate patterns—which are characteristic of glacier ice—I termed “ Arabesques.” They are due, I imagine, to some variation in the solidifying water, perhaps owing to air being squeezed into the latest ice formed—or again show where stones have sunk deep into the glacier. Somewhat nearer the shore there were more unpleasant surfaces met with—large dome-covered ponds into which we fell at frequent intervals. We decided that a tramp over the Crystal Palace would give rise to the same sensations. Bounding the glacier and separated from the debris slopes by a wide stream was an avenue or colonnade of gigantic ice pinnacles thirty feet high. These were traversed by narrow crevasses, down one of which I had to climb to rescue an ice axe. The sun glistening on the icy minarets and beautiful icicles made a most impressive sight. This ice ridge is due to pressure from the glacier piling the ice against the cliff higher up. This crenellated selvage to the more level central level centre of the glacier—moves to the sea with the main body, and so preserves its lateral position, though no pressure can exist where we saw it—for it is many yards from the rock. Between the pinnacle ridge and the slopes was the water- bearing channel which invariably accompanies a large glacier in these regions. This physiographic feature is one of the most interesting and most important in connection with the char- acteristic topography of Antarctic valleys. The small valley bounded by ice on one side and rock on the other is conveniently termed the Lateral moat. Hereabouts it was rather complex, but further up the main glaciers its valley occupied merely a simple V. After crossing the pinnacles we had to negotiate a stream in which the water lay in pools several feet deep—though its flow was comparatively small. Then over a silt moraine and so across another slight MY FIRST CAMP IN ANTARCTICA AT THE SNOUT OF THE FERRAR GLACIER. Over a mile away is the Double Curtain Cliff Glacier. The Kukri Hills are 3000 feet high. The Snout is only ten feet above the sea-ice on which is the tent. The socks are hung out to dry on the sledge. Griffith Taft Wright. Debenham. Taylor. Evans. PHOTO TAKEN JUST BEFORE WE PACKED THE SLEDGES FOR THE FIRST SLEDGE JOURNEY, Jan. 27, 1911. Note the biscuits in the four venesta cases. ‘The men are wearing windproof blouses. [See p. 120. FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 127 ’ depression to the talus slopes below the ‘‘ Double Curtain’ tributary glaciers. It seemed a simple matter at first to investigate the glacier front, but it lay much further up the slope than I had imagined, and was moreover protected by an icy mantle of frozen thaw-water which surrounded the snout. Wright cut steps across this “ mantle,” and found that the almost vertical face of the glacier was forty feet high, and composed of layers of snow which had only lately reached the condition of ice. Meanwhile I climbed up the steep rock slopes alongside the glacier. At first the rocky debris was a confused jumble of granites, dolerites, and basalt, with occasional limestones and gneisses. At 2500 feet elevation I reached the top of the slope and stood on the great shoulder which characterizes the Kukri Hills hereabouts. Here solid rock was plentiful—the same gray granite traversed by long dykes of dark basic rock. A wonderful panorama was spread out before me. I could see up the Ferrar Glacier as far as Knob Head. To the south- west jutted out the three giant gables—like the roof of a Gothic cathedral—which were so appropriately named Cathedral Rocks. I was much interested in my first view of Descent Pass, by which we proposed to reach the Koettlitz Glacier. Still further to the south-west the spurless wall of the Ferrar was notched by the “Overflow.” The latter appeared to spill out through a gloomy curving gorge which indisputably showed evidence of water erosion. In the far west towered the massive Royal Society Range, culminating in Mt. Lister. Its eastern face was carved into rounded “armchair” valleys (cwms) and deep razor-back ridges—another type of topo- graphy which has been recognized in temperate regions as characteristic of glacial erosion. On descending to the main glacier I found that the others had collected several small sponges and shells from the small silt moraine in the lateral moat. These organic remains are puzzling, for it is difficult to imagine that such light and fragile specimens indicate a sea-beach, which could only have raised so many feet above the sea at some far distant period. Objects of greater biological interest had been encountered on our walk to the side of the glacier. In the rough ice we saw many Emperor Penguins, stolidly motionless and 128 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING obviously awaiting the end of their moulting season. We crossed over towards them and found that there were several flocks, probably totalling one hundred. In the nearest group were thirty-six individuals, only one of which had completed moulting. He was singled out for sacrifice and fel] by a blow on the neck. Evans and I dragged him to our camp, where I skinned and cleaned the carcase in preparation for a change of diet if our appetite failed on apemmican regime. The limbs I hacked off with my new bowie knife, and I was chagrined to find that penguin bones can chip the best Sheffield blade ! Already my boots began to give trouble. The soft leather sole would not hold the short nails, which only were available on the Terra Nova, so that I attempted to mend matters by driving in some Canadian lumber spikes supplied by Wright. After Wright had taken another round of angles with the theodolite we moved on up the Ferrar Glacier. The surface degenerated rapidly. The flatter portions were sun-carved into serried ranks of projections like plough-shares, and we used the term ‘‘Plough-share Ice” to describe this feature. Although this was unpleasant to walk on, yet the sledges travelled over it readily—for as a general rule bad walking meant easy pulling, and vice versa. But great holes, two or three feet deep, were cut out below the general level, and these were closer together as we moved further west. They were crusted with fan crystals, and indeed represented a stage of surface evolution which I have described as “coral reef structure.” We had much difficulty in guiding the sledges, and they capsized several times before lunch. Every now and again the sledge runners would jam, sending a jar through one’s frame, so that this unpleasant experience became known —quite naturally—as a “ jam-jar.” Towards evening we approached the first series of pressure rolls. Crossing diagonally (from south to north) were four frozen rivers which formed tempting surfaces, but unfortu- nately in the wrong direction, for they led to the broken ice of the Overflow. We camped in an undulation filled deeply with hard snow, a little below a fine tributary glacier and nearly opposite the Overflow. FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 129 On the 30th we started up some steep undulations. We had anticipated easy going, for Evans, on his 1902 journeys, had always encountered clear smooth ice here. But the ice was buried under a foot of snow and only showed in oc- casional holes. I made brief notes of the surfaces throughout the day, at our various halts, and they are characteristic of glacier sledging and so are here reproduced. “ First Halt, Heavy going up the undulations ; three of them traversed already ; the surface is smooth but the runners stick to the snow. “Second Halt. We have crossed the head of quite a deep snow-covered valley crossing the glacier,—on both sides were numerous crevasses, but they were not wide, the largest being under three feet. I slipped in twice, and Evans and Wright had similar mishaps (in no case, however, did both feet go in). Definite snow bridges over crevasses. We halted at a dead seal, obviously a young specimen and yellowish in colour. “ Third Halt. We can see a good lateral moraine at the foot of the cliffs, for we are gradually rising up a steep slope with a bad surface. Only a few narrow cracks. “ Fourth Halt. Still on the same slope, which is hard going and causes much sweat, chiefly owing to our rather heavy loads, as the slope is only three degrees. “ Fifth Stage. Same surfaces ; stopped for lunch, having done 3600 paces in three-quarters of an hour (fide pedometer). “Sixth Stage. ‘The surface became less damnable and we did a mile in which short patches of ice appeared under one inch of powdery snow. Some ‘glass-roof’ ice is appearing into which we fall, and the snow is still one foot thick in many places. “ Seventh Stage (5 p.m.). Weare reaching plough-share ice. “ Eighth Stage. Snow is falling on the northern slopes, but does not reach down to our level. “ Ninth Stage. Much better surface, nearly all ice, though the snow has powdered it to a greyish colour. “Tenth Stage. ‘ Arabesques’ are showing in the clear ice underfoot, they seem to mark fairly old solid ice and indicate good travelling. “Eleventh Stage (8 p.m.). Crossing the glacier to Cathe- i aon ; surface good, but the moraine seems a long way ahead. K 130 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING “ Twelfth Stage (9 p.m.). Stopped near the big moraine after heavy pulling over two inches of soft snow. Camped on big patch of hard snow by a huge boulder.” We spent the forenoon making our depét at this camp. It lay four miles north-west of Descent Pass, and would be on our route if we decided to return to the sea by the Pass. We left here what we did not require during our fortnight in the Dry Valley region. We piled three biscuit boxes on the smaller sledge, and packed the smaller provision bags under the sledge. We put the butter inside the instrument-box with the spare photographic plates. Also I decided to leave the heavy steel under-runners, for so far we had met with no rough ice. The penguin had been lashed on behind the sledge and had suffered considerably from the capsizes! Him we buried under some blocks of snow, pending a “ hoosh” on our return. We took a fortnight’s provisions in addition to the “ready-bag,” and I tied a note to our depét flag, mentioning the 11th as the probable date of our return. Just to the west of the main Cathedral Rocks was a very interesting tributary valley—the first real low-level tributary of which we had had a good view. Obviously owing to some difference in the snow-supply, this tributary is keeping pace with the main glacier, and enters the latter “at grade.” The majority of the other tributaries have not entered the Ferrar on a level (at grade) since it was two thousand feet thicker. The sun was quite powerful, and we had to wear goggles in consequence, but during our ensuing stay in Dry Valley there was so much bare rock that we had no need for them. At lunch my unlucky boots fell to pieces again, and Evans put some scientific sewing into them. But no sewing held, until continual frost turned the leather into a material almost as strong as steel. Towards six o’clock we reached the top of the steeper portion of the Ferrar Glacier, and found ourselves on a small ice plateau about 3200 feet above sea-level. On the south it rose to the south arm, while to the north was the entrance to Dry Valley. The col of ice leading in this direction is of considerable interest, for it shows what conditions were like near Luzern in the Great Ice Age. However, I will describe this form of “ Twin Glacier” in a later paragraph. A few miles before we camped we were hauling the sledge FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 131 along the foot of the grandest geological section I have ever seen. The cliff was 3300 feet high (as determined by Abney level), and was divided into so many distinct layers that it resembled a gigantic sandwich! It was capped by a little triangle of yellowish rock, which represents the most eastern exposure of the Beacon Sandstone in the valley. Beneath this were two wonderful “sills,” or horizontal sheets of the basic lava called dolerite. They could be traced in the cliffs for miles and miles, and represented flows of lava wedged in between the granites and sandstones. These dolerite sills were strongly columnar, and near by some isolated pillars of enormous size were visible on the sky-line. Above and below the lower of these black sills were layers of grey granite, and
Looking Wesk up te Dry Valles below Tayler Glacier,
WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
where we were about 300
feet up, and so moved east
down the other slope. We
reached another lake nearly
a mile long with a splendid
gravelly shore, on which I
decided to pitch the tent.
We had brought no floor-
cloth ; but after the wet and
icy floor in the “alcove”
we found the warm gravel
most comfortable.
We had a frugal meal
of biscuit, butter, and cold
water. Our beverage from
the lake was distinctly
medicinal, and as the latter
had no outlet we called it
Lake Chad.
I was distinctly troubled
over the topography of the
day’s march. We had left
a huge open valley—a suit-
able outlet for a large flow
of ice like the Taylor Glacier
—and had arrived at a
narrow defile completely
blocked by the tributary
Suess Glacier. We reckoned
we must be near the sea;
but where was the large
open moraine-strewn valley
described by Professor
David in 1908? 1 won-
dered if we had got into an
unimportant tributary and
missed the main outlet of
the valley altogether! So
after dinner Evans and I
made straight for the top of
the ridge (immediately south
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 143
of the tent) which seemed to block the great valley. It was
a stiff ascent of 1600 feet over rough blocks of slate. There
we reached a flat, bare ridge with a further ascent to 3000
feet a little further west. To my surprise I saw that imme-
diately to the south was a broad high-level valley gradually
sloping to the east. I thought at first I was looking into the
Ferrar Glacier, but soon saw that here in Antarctica was an
example of the extraordinary valleys which are so characteristic
of the Italian Alps. As shown by the cross-section, the dry
valley is barred by a huge Riegel, which is traversed by a deep
defile at the north, and scooped out to some extent into a
huge elevated, rounded channel on the south. From this
ridge, above the mile-long defile, Evans and I at last saw the
sea gleaming in the east across some twelve miles of moraine-
strewn valley.
On the sth, Wright and Debenham remained near the
camp, while Evans and I marched down to the sea to tie the
survey on to Ross Island—if we could recognize any portion
of that far-distant feature. We each carried much gear, and
the annexed rough sketch shows how a geologist is loaded
when “ on trek.”
It was extraordinary to find two more very large tributary
glaciers on the south side of the valley—reaching some way
into the ice-free main valley, and blocking up the main drain-
age to form a series of lakes. We named the first the Canada
Glacier, and Wright later on clustered the names of various
Canadian men of science on the adjoining peaks. The second
we called the Commonwealth Glacier ; and to the small glacier
which we ultimately reached, on the north-east end of the Kukri
Range, I gave the name of Wales Glacier, so that our party’s
homelands are well represented in Dry Valley! We had to
climb 400 feet up the slopes here before we could see any-
thing definite to the east ; but then I was able to sight the
theodolite on to Mount Bird, Cape Bird, and Beaufort Island.
It was a long and rough tramp back—across numerous little
streams, running as usual to the north-east,—but we reached
camp again at 9 p.m. and turned in thankfully.
After a somewhat dry breakfast, Wright and I took the
theodolite up to the top of the Riegel. We climbed some
2400 feet, but did not reach the top of Mount Nussbaum—
the central summit,—which I estimated at 3000 feet high.
144 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
When we reached the scarp facing up the valley to the west
the wind was tempestuous, so that we could not stand against
it, much less use the theodolite. We sheltered under the lee
of some projecting dykes of dark rock for some little time.
There came a lull, and almost before we got the theodolite
ready the gale had veered to the east—diametrically opposite
on $5
The Grpleat Expleve/
8-2-0
—and continued to blow almost as fiercely from that quarter.
This violent storm would have been unsupportable on the
Barrier, but the party in our camp below practically felt none
of it. Our apparent fine weather was due less to absence of
wind than to the absence of loose snow, and to the abundance
of shelter.
I tramped to the south and found that the “‘ Round Valley”
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 145
ended in a 1700 foot scarp above the trough containing Lake
Bonney. There was little wonder that we had not realized on
our seaward tramp, vid the defile, that such a high-level valley
existed.
This elevated ridge was comparatively free from debris,
but there were huge erratics of granite with large felspar
crystals three inches across. They
were wonderfully scooped out by the
wind, and were nearly twenty feet
across in some cases. We also found
small kenyte erratics containing large
felspar crystals. These may have been
carried across from Mount Erebus,
or some unknown locality in the
south.
After supper I took the prospect-
ing dish (which was the last article
purchased in New Zealand) and
washed for gold in the gravels along- “Anorthoclase” _felspar,
side the lake. There were numerous thrown out of Erebus,
quartz ‘“‘leads” in the slates and AS ies ea SO nee
metamorphic gneisses, and eruptive in kenyte.
rocks and limestone were in the
vicinity. This is a juxtaposition which is always promising,
and furnishes the “country rock”’ of most gold fields. But
the quartz was too glistening and pure. It had not the
“kindly” rusty appearance which the gold-seeker admires,
and so I was not very sanguine. However, water was abun-
dant in Lake Chad and I washed out many pans of dirt.
The “tails” of heavy sand were not promising, even pyrites
and magnetite being almost absent. We knew there would
be no water available on the remainder of our journey, so I
depdted the “ pan” on a boulder by Lake Chad, where some
future archeologist will discover striking evidence for the lost
kingdom of Sheba !
Next day we started back to Alcove Camp, buoyed by the
thought of hot pemmican after nearly a week’s cold “ tucker.”
We lunched just at the east end of Lake Bonney on our old
site below the peak of the Matterhorn. The latter is the
most striking mountain in the region. The conical summit
(formed of black dolerite columns) perched on a broader
i
146 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
granite base, certainly gives it a resemblance to its forerunner
in the Alps. We estimated it to be gooo feet high. Luckily
we took careful angles which we worked out later in the hut.
To our chagrin all observations resulted in a poor 5000!
Such is the effect of lack of trees or any standard of com-
parison in Antarctic scenery. Continuing west we found that
the penguins seemed to have the same queer habits as the
seals, for we found a skeleton some fourteen miles from
the sea.
We reached Alcove Camp about 5 p.m. and saw that our
camp site was ruined by thaw water. We hunted around for
a new floor, and the only available one seemed to be a pile
of moraine rubble just like a heap of road metal! This we
levelled off, and when the ice had melted away in the sun, we
pitched our tent upon this stony bed. Then we had a hot
meal, much appreciated after our days of cold food.
We were up at 7.20, Greenwich time (really 6.20, local)
and shifted our gear from the heap of road-metal to the
surface of the glacier. We had a good breakfast, though I
noted that twelve lumps of sugar did not seem to sweeten
the cocoa. It was difficult to move the sledge, for the dark
straps had sunk two inches deep in the hard ice and there
frozen in again. We managed to get everything ready by
IO a.m., and moved up the glacier. It was very sunny, and
Evans wore a huge “ Madeira”’ straw hat, quite a yard across
—a queer but useful article that his previous experience had
led him to add to his kit.
We had lunch about six miles up the glacier in the medial
moraine. I took careful notes of the latter, which differed
conspicuously from those of temperate glaciers. It consisted
of huge blocks of granite with smaller pieces of dolerite and
sandstone. They were often 100 feet apart, so that this
moraine compared with Swiss examples was a very “ tenuous
thread.’’ Comparatively little material can be supplied to
these slow moving or stagnant glaciers, and all the small
stones have undoubtedly sunk into the ice long ago.
The upper portion of the Kukri Hills hereabouts showed
by the fragments of the Beacon Sandstone torn off by the
intrusive eruptive rock dolerite that the latter was newer.
The relative ages of the other rocks could be deduced in the
same way. For instance, the dolerite sent “dykes ’’ into the
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 147
granite, so that the latter was older. These points are well
shown in the section I sketched.
Near the Solitary Rocks the glacier was moulded into a
gigantic furrow or longitudinal undulation. We followed
this up toward the ice-falls from the upper glacier and camped
for the night on a small patch of snow in the lee of some large
boulders of the medial moraine. These boulders had lee-
ridges of snow, which, we were interested to see,-were gene-
rally turned into solid ice and formed part of the glacier itself.
This shows that nothing but a maturing process (resembling
that of wine !) is necessary to convert snow into glacier ice.
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The age of rocks. ‘The granite (Gr.) is the oldest; it is penetrated by flat
sheets of dolerite (D) at the junction with the main mass of the latter.
The beacon sandstone (B.S.) has also been torn up and surrounded by the
dolorite (below A and B), and has probably been lifted up by the lava
(to B.S.). The talus (Ta) of loose rock is the latest deposit. From a
sketch of the new end of the Kukri Hills made February 1, 1911.
Wright and I went over to the Kukri Hills while the
others pitched camp. I wished ‘to measure the “lateral
moat.” Near the edge of the glacier there was a thick coating
of snow. At the actual edge there was a sharp curve down-
ward, and carefully peering over we could see that there was
a frozen stream at the bottom of the gully, over 150 feet
below us. I determined to measure the slope and angle
accurately, and for this we had brought the alpine rope and
ice axes. Wright lowered me over the edge, which I found
was a snow cornice projecting over six feet. Under the
148 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
cornice was a well-defined platform a few feet wide—which,
however, narrowed on either side—and then came a long slope
to the bottom. Wright paid out the rope, and I let myself
down to its end. There I started to cut steps, but un-
fortunately slipped and fell the last thirty feet—luckily
without damage except to my knuckles. I can remember
thinking that an ice-axe was an uncomfortable companion in
this roll down the slope and so threw it away for fear lest it
should claim close acquaintance with my person. The stream
was over a hundred feet wide, and then I reached the foot of
a steep rocky slope formed of dolerite blocks fallen from a
bold crag a few hundred feet up.
I climbed up the glacier side again, and then found that
the large snow-shawls of the cornice prevented my getting
back—for as Wright hoisted me the rope merely cut deep
into the snow and soon my head was pulled into the lower
parts of the huge cornice! I crawled along under the cornice,
devoutly trusting it would not avalanche on me, but ulti-
mately had to retrace my steps down to the stream. Again
I slipped, and this time lost the skin off my other hand as I
rolled once more into the moat. Luckily some few hundred
yards north I saw a place where the cornice had fallen off,
and here I was pulled up by Wright with such vigour that
the ice-axe entered my leg !
The huge cross-section of these “moats” is worthy of
note. They definitely prove that no /asera/ erosion of any
importance is occurring in this portion of Antarctica. After
returning to the tent the glacier treated us to rounds of
volley-firing! These were due to the opening of contraction
cracks as the ice shrank in the colder night temperatures.
Wright and Evans spent the morning of the gth over
near the ice falls from the upper glacier. These we named
after the famous Cavendish laboratory in Cambridge. They
had to cross a surface compounded of “ plough-shares”” and
“thumb-marks,” which they found intensely slippery, so that
even surefooted Evans fell and nearly broke his elbow.
Debenham and I cracked sandstone boulders, but found
nought of interest save worm burrows in some shaly bands.
However, these indicate damp conditions for some portions
of the Beacon Sandstone, and so show that the latter is not
perhaps of desert origin.
?
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 149
The most extraordinary feature in this small ice plateau
near Knob Head Mountain is that the moraines here lead down
into Taylor Glacier. Hence they cut right across the upper
portion of glacier above Cavendish Falls, and show that the
ice west of the latter is almost wholly flowing into the Dry
Valley region and not into the lower Ferrar, as was supposed.
This looks as if the “South Arm” and the glacier from the
north side of Mount Lister formed the main supply of the
Lowerzer
See
oo NS
Plan of the bygone ‘win glaciers of Lake Luzern, whose overflow led to the
break through the high range near Vitznau. A close parallel with the
conditions near Knob Head between the Ferrar and Taylor Glaciers.
Lower Ferrar, while the northern portion (vée Upper Ferrar
and Dry Valley) is a distinct glacier now temporarily united
with it after the fashion of the Siamese twins. This type of
union is by no means unknown, and indeed explains the
structure of Lake Luzern—that beautiful high-cragged chain
of lake basins in central Switzerland. Here also two inde-
pendent glaciers (the Reuss and the Aar) cut out deep parallel
gorges as they moved to the north.
They spread out laterally, and ultimately the Reuss Glacier
overflowed to the west, and cut through the high ridge forming
the picturesque cliffs of the Rigi and opposite shores.
150 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
As I have explained elsewhere (p. 280), when, after our
return, I described this interesting parallel between Lake
Luzern and the “opposed” glaciers at Knob Head, Captain
Scott was good enough to honour me by naming the northern
“twin ’’ the Taylor Glacier.
That evening we camped near the ice divide between the
glaciers. We had intended to ascend the South Arm, but
after making our way in that direction for some time, we saw
that a snowstorm was brewing, and so turned towards the
Kukri Hills.
They seemed to me less than a mile distant, but knowing
the difficulty of judging distances, I suggested we should camp
under the slopes, “about a mile and a half on.” Wright,
with his Canadian experience, thought this would be well over
two miles, and I remember the distance turned out to be three
miles! Thereafter I calculated apparent distances with great
care, and when convinced I had allowed for everything I would
use a “ factor of safety” of 3—-and come out about right !
Debenham finished cooking, and being already an adept,
had very properly saved some “ thickers”’ for his final “ flutter ”
at breakfast. So Wright started with the evening meal. He
imparted a scientific and physical aspect to the operation by
suggesting a “drop test” to estimate the viscosity of the
pemmican ; an observation of its meniscus (or curved surface)
to see its sticking power; notes on colour and taste ; and—
added one of his hungry audience—“I suggest 50 per cent.
be subtracted from the cook’s allowance on account of
rits !”
" Perhaps as a result I had a dream in which my astral self
did some logical reasoning! It is a fact that the fossils called
trilobites gradually become more supple and less clumsily built
as one traces them through newer formations, It occurred
to me in the dream that this also held true for man and his
monkey ancestors, and that the stiff, clumsy orang-outang, etc.,
developed into the limber human acrobat. Not a very epoch-
making correlation, but the best my astral self has accom-
plished to date !
On the evening of the roth we reached our depédt at
Cathedral Rocks. We could see our flag from five miles off
with the glasses. On arrival we found the food uncovered, so
that the sun had melted the pemmican and butter. The skua
a
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 151
gulls had found the carcase of the Emperor, and our chance
of a variation of the menu had departed with the skuas.
That evening we discussed literature. Seaman Evans had
read many popular works, and was far superior in this respect
to any of the other seamen with whom I had much to do.
He had read some of Kipling’s poems, and “had no use for
them,” nor did Dickens appeal to him. As was perhaps
natural, he preferred books with more “ plot’’ in them ; espe-
cially did he delight in the works of the French writer whose
name he anglicized as Dum—ass !
Our sledging library was quite extensive, for each of us
had devoted a pound of our personal allowance to books. I
will give the catalogue, if only as a caution to later explorers.
Debenham took my Browning and the “ Autocrat’’; Evans
had a William le Queux and the Red Magazine; Wright had
two mathematical books, both in German ; I took Debenham’s
Tennyson and three small German books. The Red Magazine,
the “ Autocrat,” and Browning were most often read ; Evans’
contribution being an easy winner. Somehow we didn’t hanker
after German.
On the 11th Wright and Debenham carried out a very
important operation to determine the movement of the Ferrar
Glacier. They fixed stakes right across the glacier which were
aligned on two prominent peaks. Some six months later
Captain Scott re-measured this line, and found that very con-
siderable movement, amounting to thirty feet, had taken place
during the winter.
Meanwhile P.O. Evans and I prospected for a route up
the steep snow slope of Descent Pass. Evans had been with
Armitage when he used this route in 1903. We found the
conditions very different. Soon we were sinking nearly two
feet at every step in soft snow, through which I knew it
would be almost impossible to drag the sledges. The slope
soon increased to 11°, so that we found some difficulty in
progressing even unencumbered. There I first made the
acquaintance of the “‘ Barrier Shudder.” Every now and then
a shiver would shake the surface, and we could hear the eerie
wave of sound expanding like a ripple all around. Sometimes
one could see the whole snow surface sinking slightly, and at
first the effect was very unpleasant.
We had been roped for two miles and were still ascending.
152 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
We now began to get among crevasses, though few were
visible through the thick sheet of snow. Quite suddenly
I slipped in to the thigh, and sounding with the ice-axe just
in front found two inches of snow over the crevasse and very
little more behind me, I was evidently standing in a narrow
bridge. At the same time Evans called out that he was over
another about fifteen feet behind, so that for a few moments
things were rather involved. He got back on to firmer
ground and hauled me back, and when we saw the surface
begin to cave in bodily we decided, in Evans’ graphic language,
to “give it a miss.”
We seemed to be in the least impossible part of the pass,
and I could see plenty worse ahead. So I decided to abandon
this route and continue down the Ferrar to Butter Point, and
so reach the Koettlitz Glacier vid the Piedmont Glacier.
During our absence Wright had also slipped into a cre-
vasse while fixing the stake nearest Cathedral Rocks. We
inspanned after lunch, and moved down the glacier to our
old camp at the mouth of the Ferrar.
The morning of February 13 was bright and clear. We
could see no change in the sea-ice filling New Harbour where
we had crossed it a fortnight before. 1 therefore headed
south-east towards Butter Point. Here we had an experience
that might have ended our journey prematurely.
We got along at a good rate for two miles, when Evans
drew my attention to something black sticking up in the ice
just ahead.
We had noticed an unusual creaking sound, which I put
down to ice crystals falling, but this strange object demanded
investigation. I ran forward a little, and the black spike was
obviously the back fin of a killer whale. The creaking was
really a warning that the bay ice was on the move. Meanwhile
the ice I was on moved off with a jolt, a mark of attention
from the killer which we did not appreciate. However, I
jumped the three-foot crack which resulted, and we hastened
to the fixed ice nearly two miles south. It was a case of
“ festina lente.” We could not drag the heavy sledges more
than two miles an hour, and were continually crossing cracks
where the oozy snow and creaking showed how insecure
was our passage. Soon after we reached the Butter Point
piedmont the whole bay ice moved off in great floes to the
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 153
northward, so that seven miles of it had broken away since the
ship landed us. It is quite impossible to tell whether sea-ice
is solid or not, for the first cracks are so small and the eleva-
tion of the eye so little that the only safe way to traverse
sea-ice in late summer is to keep off it !
We expected to find the Butter Point piedmont an easy
level surface, but of its kind it was the worst I met with
down south. All the afternoon we were plugging up an
interminable snow slope. Just as one got one’s foot braced
to draw the sledges through the clinging snow, it would break
through a crust and sink nearly to the knee. Then we would
meet a few yards of firmer surface and bet whether we could
make a dozen steps before the soft “ mullock” started again.
Even worse was the jar when you expected deep snow and
found a firm crust one inch below the surface. I carried a
pedometer, and when we had done 27,500 of these paces I
felt we had earned our supper.
Blue Glacier now confronted us. P.O. Evans and I pros-
pected across the snout, and were glad to find that though it
showed crevasses in places, yet it was so free from snow that
we should have no great difficulty in crossing them. They
curved round parallel to the coast, and, of course, lay along
the line of our march, so that we came on to them end-on
and fell in several times. But by the evening of the 15th we
were safely camped in the rugged ice south of the crevassed
portion. Evans as usual enlivened us with navy yarns. He
illustrated the kindness of the sailorman by a story of a mate
of his who started a poultry-farm. To Jack’s disgust the
ducks in his yard had no belief in altruism and with their
broad bills gave the hens no chance. “So,” said Taff Evans,
“‘evenchooly he gets a file and trims their bills like the hens,
and then everything went all sprowsy !”
If any one had asked us what we should like sent post
haste from civilization, there would have been a unanimous
yell of “Boots!” The rough scrambling over the rocks and
jagged ice of the past fortnight, and the alternate soaking and
freezing they had experienced, had ruined mine completely.
Deep constrictions formed in the leather across the toe and
behind the ankle and raised great blisters, and even boils
in Debenham’s case. I had no sole on the right foot, but
within the next day or so the temperature fell considerably
154 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
and the thin leather lining froze as hard as steel and so pro-
tected my foot. For days a loose boot-nail which had acci-
dentally been pressed sideways into the sole when it was wet
clung like a leech ! .
Each morning we had a painful ceremony when it was
necessary to don our frozen boots. Remarks more fervid
“Wm Wair. Sock
frozen fight
Wrighhs &
Ae ah en Taylor's
ConslFicfion
8 gE ee ~ - e
Jhe Morphology of frozen Ski - books.
IS 201
than polite flew about the tent, and some of us found that
quotations from the poet philosopher lubricated the process.
“. . . Gritstone,—gritstone a-crumble :
Clammy squares that sweat, as if the corpse they keep
Were oozing through ”
was supposed to be a very potent incantation. We carried no
blacking, but this ceremony was called ‘‘ Browning the Boots.”
Open water washed the face of the Blue Glacier. Black
snaky heads—reminding me of prehistoric plesiosaurs—could
be seen darting about amid the brash ice. They were Emperor
penguins, which swim with their bodies submerged.
To the south of us stretched the sea ice, which was evi-
dently rotten and ready to move north. Beyond the Blue
Glacier on the right stretched a broad fringe of moraine which
extended fairly continuously along the north side of the
Koettlitz Glacier. Immediately ahead of us was a fifty-foot
ice cliff, but some distance to the south we found a lower
place and managed with the Alpine rope to lower the sledges
down to the sea ice. We crossed the “ pressure ice ”—where
great cakes had been up-ended to form a frozen rampart—and
reached a good sledging surface at last. Near by was a great
pool of water containing many seals, where jostling ice pan-
cakes were surging about, so there was obviously no time to
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 155
lose. We pushed gaily south and camped that night in a
little gravelly dell among the moraines.
This crater-like dell was occupied by a frozen lakelet of
greenish ice, the colour being due to alge. On the slope
above the lake was a blanket of alga forming a sort of peaty
layer an inch thick.
The latter was apparently im situ, for it extended uniformly
for about ten feet. This occurrence of peat points to an ele-
vated old lake bottom, and we saw similar examples later on
our journey. Even in Antarctica at present we see that con-
siderable organic material is deposited, which might form a
thin coaly layer in succeeding ages under suitable conditions.
Indeed, the kerosene shale deposits of Australia are supposed
to originate in some lowly plant-form like these alge.
February 17, 1911.—We had a calm, clear night, and all
slept very well on the soft sand of the moraine crater. Just
to northward was a little bay filled with pancake-ice having two-
feet motion. We made south across little bays over a very
good surface, which was intersected by cross-channels of clear
ice. Seals were very numerous along this coast. We counted
one group of thirty. We could now see the first of the Ice
Slabs (described in 1902), which seemed in its lower portion
to run parallel to the coast.
Wright espied some white material in the moraines, and
we walked across to see this. It turned out to be a huge
deposit of Mirabilite (sodium sulphate), about ten feet across
and fifty feet long. It was granular in texture, and the dip of
the bed was quite high. The Mirabilite was originally a level
deposit in a saline lake, so that, just as in the case of the alge,
we have evidence of strong upheaval of the moraine silts,
since they experienced a long-continued phase of equilibrium.
The granular mass was not unlike rock-salt in appearance.
We proceeded south and crossed the mouth of the large
bay marked on the Discovery map. We halted off the
southern headland for lunch.
I had a small adventure which might have been serious.
On outspanning—which consisted in freeing one’s harness from
the sledge—I walked over to look at a seal which had crawled
about a hundred feet from the tide crack. He shook his
head angrily at me, so that I made a loop on my harness—still
attached to my belt—and lassoed him with unexpected ease.
156 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
The seal bolted for the tide crack—and for a short distance
they can “lollop along”’ fairly rapidly. It was amusing, at
first, being pulled by an angry seal; but it suddenly struck
me, “ What will happen when the brute dives into the pool ?”’
I could not get the loop off his neck, and had as much chance
of stopping him as a railway train. I experienced some
anxious moments before I managed to get ahead of him and
jerk off the lasso, for it was impossible to slip out of the broad
waistbelt in time. This adventure furnished considerable
amusement to my unfeeling comrades, and became the subject
of one of Wilson’s sketches in the South Polar Times.
After lunch we took a round of sights from this low head-
land. It was composed of moraine heaps with numerous
circular sheets of water, which reminded one most strongly of
crater lakes. On descending from the cape, Debenham found
that the steep little cliff near the tide crack was formed of ice
covered with a mere veneer of moraine silt. Probably a large
portion of the promontory was ice, and we saw other examples
of this pseudo-moraine further up the Koettlitz. As Deben-
ham suggested, the crater lakes were due, in all probability, to
the melting of the foundation ice. Probably the sun’s rays
acting on the silt in a shallow pool have a powerful effect in
deepening the lake when it is once initiated. The drainage of
such a lake presents some difficulties, for though there was
usually an apparent outlet, many were quite enclosed by a
circular wall of debris. Steps of silt, appearing as small
terraces, were common among the heaps. These probably
represent crevasses in the underlying ice, and we actually saw
several such crevasses in the ice exposure noted above. Per-
haps these crevasses account for the (hidden) drainage, for
ablation could not empty many of the lakes. The whole
question of the origin of these unusual lakes is of great
physiographic interest.
We could see fairly rough ice ahead, but hoped to be
able to get the two sledges several miles further before
depéting one during our work on the Koettlitz.
We proceeded somewhat to the east over blue ice. This
soon became rippled and degenerated rapidly into a fearful
“ olass-house”’ and “ bottle-glass” surface. We started to
fall through the ice into hidden channels, and in some cases
there was a foot of fresh water awaiting us. Things got
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 157
worse and worse. We wriggled round ice “ mesas” with
vertical walls, over huge curved platforms which threw us all
together in the centre and then dropped beneath us. We
thought it might be better nearer the land, but at last had to
lower the sledge down two feet to the lower level, which was
silt covered and all the harder to sledge on for that reason.
The “ mesas”’ showed three layers. A flat cake of solid ice
on top, then a few inches of very much weathered ice, and
below a solid pedestal about three feet high. We hoisted
the bamboo and flag and spread out to prospect. The ice
became worse towards the coast, but Wright reported some-
what better going towards the centre of the gulf. However,
it was obviously unwise to drag our unnecessary sledge
further, so we turned in our tracks and crossing many “ glass-
houses” (into most of which we fell, though with little
damage) we made for the headland where we had lunched.
It began to snow and looked very threatening around
Mount Discovery, There was an ugly luminous patch in
the sky to the south-west, and a heavy snow cloud with a
very ragged edge. On Erebus alone was a red-gold ray of
sunshine. From these portents Evans prophesied a blizzard.
We reached land without undue difficulty and crossed the
pressure ice, pitching our tent in a dell not unlike our last
camp, though it was flatter and more exposed to the east.
We carried the smaller sledge well inland, but left the large
sledge below on the sea ice, for we should have had to
manceuvre it round an open channel, and we did not need
it for laying our depét here. This channel along the coast
was about twenty feet across with a five-knot current in it,
which was flowing strongly north. Seals swam up it quite
frequently, and often used to halt and observe the strange
visitors alongside. While the pemmican was cooking I went
on to the ice and killed a seal and extracted his liver.
This camp marked the end of the third week. We
celebrated it by eating a pound of mixed chocolates. Wily
Evans led us to believe that Ae was the donor; but as a
matter of fact, each sledge had a box of them packed in for
birthdays and feastdays.
The snow stopped about 8 p.m., but later in the night
a strong wind from the south-east blew much sand on to the
tent. We had an argument as to whether this was a blizzard
158 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
or not, for there was no snow in the wind. Personally I now
think it tends to prove that the snow in the blizzards is largely
old snow caught up again, for the force and direction of the
wind were just those of typical blizzards. We were protected
from the open barrier surface by Brown Island and the
Koettlitz glacier, and this region is one of small snowfall in
any case. So we were not inconvenienced by such blizzards
as blew on this western coast.
The food was lasting out well. The first tin of biscuits
was finished, and had lasted from the 3rd instant. (We had,
however, an extra bag of loose biscuits.) 1 started my week
of cooking on the 18th, and as we reached Hut Point in the
seventh week I had only one turn at this duty.
February 18, 1911.—It seemed advisable to get a good
view of the Koettlitz from some high peak, so I decided to
spend a few days in the vicinity of this camp before marching
up the big glacier. We had a “ make and mend” morning—
sadly needed by our boots. I had saved some staples from
the venesta boxes (thrown away at Butter Point) and found
they were satisfactory in holding the soles together. Luckily
the others’ boots were very much better, though Debenham’s
were much improved by some of Evans’ sewing. We had
a large fry of |seal’s liver in butter, and Debenham and myself
decided that as raw blubber tasted passably, we would fry liver
in blubber for the next meal off seal meat.
In the afternoon Wright and I crossed Davis Bay to the
mouth of Hobbs Glacier (about two miles to the north-west).
The promontory on which we were camped was about a
quarter of a mile across, chiefly built of basalt fragments rich
in olivine.
The shore of the bay below Hobbs Glacier was in the
form of an extraordinarily flat alluvial fan. This uniform
level extended almost to the glacier for three-quarters of a
mile, though it narrowed greatly away from the bay. It was
mapped out in square “tesselations,” and at the sides were
striking terraces about five feet higher with strongly marked,
clean cut edges. The whole topography had a very recent
appearance ; but the only explanation I can give for these
levels points to a period when Davis Bay was dammed by ice
so as to raise the waterline to the levels of the various terraces.
A parallel case of terraces in a waterless region is given in
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 159
Utah, where the hills around the great basin are fringed by
similar deposits indicating a bygone lake.
Down the fan ran a creek from the glacier, which cut into
the silts at the shore to a depth of several feet. Evidently
the base-line has been lowered by this amount since the fan
was deposited. From the hill above the bay it could be seen
that there were two fans, one of a lighter coloured silt being
derived from the next valley to the south. We could also
see that our camp was really on an island which corresponded
to the stranded moraines south of Butter Point.
February 19, 1911.—I cut out some sealskin from the
carcase near-by to make a pair of “brogans” to cover my
boots, lashing them over the sole
with yarn, and over the sealskin |
bound my iron crampons (steig-
eisen) on. Then we all started
to explore the valley immediately
west of Davis Bay and south of
the Hobbs Glacier. Leaving the
sea-ice we reached a lighter coloured
“fan” by a sharp step of five
feet. Emerging through _ this
broad gravel fan were “nunataks”
of large stones which had evidently
been deposited before the fan.
They rose twenty or thirty feet
above the fan, forming ridges lead- My footgear, 9-2-1
ing towards the valley. We
reached a gully about 500 yards from the bay, which was
entirely water-cut, and was fifty feet deep. It had steep
sides and its bed sloped considerably. The latter was filled
with large rounded boulders, one or two feet in diameter,
obviously waterworn. The account of the summer streams
in 1903, given by Dr. Wilson, explains this striking example
of ordinary water erosion, which I was unprepared to meet
in icy Antarctica.
The gully wound about through the morainic foot-hills,
_ and widened considerably about a mile higher. Here it was
occupied by an ice-sheet some 300 feet wide. In this sheet
narrow little canyons four feet deep had been cut by the
water, and very generally these canyons were roofed with ice.
160 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
In other places the whole ice-shell had been undercut for
thirty or forty feet by the relatively warm water.
Gradually the valley—which I named after Professor
W. M. Davis—became wider, and a tributary joined it from
the north. (See folding map at the end of the volume ; and
also p. 175, section No. II.) It drained the lowest slopes
of the foothills, which extended to the scarp of the Western
Mountains. These lowest slopes are largely covered by a
gigantic deposit of moraine matter. This deposit extends
many miles along the foothills, and can only be due to the
great Koettlitz glacier.
Four or five miles from the coast the steep hill-sides
formed of solid rock rise somewhat abruptly from the
moraine slopes to a fairly uniform height of 3000 feet.
The sides of the valley along which we were walking
were marked by lateral ridges in several tiers. These
were about thirty feet high, and in some cases certainly
contained much ice. At one spot the silty covering of
the side of one of these lateral ridges was marked by
vertical stripes of darker silt, as if the whole ridge had moved
slightly and cracked along these lines. These ridges followed
the contour of the hill between the tributary and the main
valley, and reminded me of the parallel roads of Glenroy
(though on a very small scale, of course). They are, I think,
like terraces or beach deposits due to a bygone ice dam across
the mouth of the main valley, such as one sees in the Marjelen
See above Fiesch in Switzerland. Later we saw “ pocket
editions” on Cape Evans.
Continuing up the valley we found it bounded between
solid cliffs of limestone, which were altered in places to a
marble. We called these the marble cliffs, and they culmi-
nated in a double peak of a fawn tint, which we called Salmon
Peak from its colour. I kept along the base of these cliffs
while the others walked up the thal-weg 200 feet lower.
We soon saw that the upper portion of this “dry” valley
was occupied by a glacier whose snout was forty feet
high.
ere light snow had fallen lately and occupied the
furrows of the “ tesselations ” which ornamented the floor of the
valley. For some reason (probably the direction of the wind
and sun’s rays) only the north-south furrows were now filled,
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 161
and these white zigzag markings on the black basalt-debris
resembled so many white snakes !
The Davis Glacier snout was about six miles from the sea.
A range of mountains 4000 feet high blocked the upper end
of the U-shaped valley. I was very anxious to see whether
the glacier really came into the valley from some hidden angle,
for if not this glacier was of great interest. Here was a glacier
which could not be more than eight miles long, which had cut
out a valley 3000 feet deep and a mile or so broad.
We separated here, Wright and the others taking the theo-
dolite up a 3000 feet hill to the south, while I went a couple
——$———
SS
Empty hanging valley, on north wall of the Davis Glacier, showing catenary
curve due to former glaciation, February 19, 1911.
of miles further into the range to see the head of the glacier.
Everywhere were the signs of recent recession of the
Davis Glacier. First I had to cross the mouth of a side valley
opening 600 feet above the glacier. This was quite free from
ice, and was a perfect “ bowl-valley”’ or cwm. On the opposite
side was another “ hanging valley ” at a lower elevation, with
a most symmetrical U-cross section. It was abruptly trun-
cated by the plane surface (35°) of the marble cliffs under
Salmon Peak. I now climbed round the top of a cliff of ice
which descended smoothly for 1000 feet to the glacier at an
angle of 30°. After ascending over many outcrops of lime-
stone schist, granite, and basic dykes, I reached the head of
the glacier and saw that it originated in a cwm about three
M
162 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
miles from its snout. Its snowfield was very circumscribed,
but reached the summit of the bounding ridge in several
places. The glacier up here was not crevassed, and the main
surface lay only two hundred feet below me. After making
some rapid sketches I returned to the snout of the glacier
where the others had already arrived.
This Davis valley contains a typical example of the “ ice-
slabs” mentioned by Ferrar. But I do not agree with his
description of them. He writes, “They are the relics of
glaciers which once drained the snow valley ; but owing to
diminution of ice-supply, this has now become an inland basin,
and its overflows have slipped away from it, leaving a
subsidiary watershed bare.”’
In the first place, the head of this glacier was a typical
cwm, with steeply sloping sides, and to all appearance a sharp
crest to the ridge at the back. It did not resemble the dis-
continuous lower portions of the Lacroix and Sollas Glaciers in
Dry Valley, which fully deserve the title of ice-slabs. The
latter lie supinely, one might say, on a gently sloping hill-
side, in which they have cut no definite trough. The method
of erosion of these curious valleys became clearer to me as we
saw other examples in the next fortnight.
Monday, February 20.—We spent the morning making a
depét on the Ice-Borne Moraines. We left the camera legs
with a flag thereon, and cemented them into the gravel by the
simple method of pouring a cup of water on to it! The
seal’s liver we put under the food stacked in the small sledge,
and I left a note of our whereabouts in the instrument box.
We took eighteen days’ food with us.
We crossed about one mile of good surface and then
reached ‘‘glass-houses,” “craters,” “pools,” etc., through
which we struggled till two o’clock. After lunch Wright and
I prospected and found some “ plough-share” ice about a mile
to the south-east. We made for this, having to cut tracks
along the bottom of the channels connecting “ glass-house ”
areas. Debenham and I pulled on short traces while the
others lifted the sledge over the constant succession of
obstacles. The sledge fell two feet into a hole and capsized,
but the brunt of the shock was absorbed by the empty oil
tins. We were always falling, and occasionally disappeared a
foot below the glass-house surface.
TRYING TIMES ON THE KOETTLITZ GLACIER, Fes. 2, 1911.
yy.
The sledge has fallen through “glasshouse” ice into a thaw-water channel.
TABLES OR ICE “MESAS” IN THE LOWER KOETTLITZ CUT
OUT BY THAW-WATER. [See p. 157.
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 163
Later we halted in a slight snowstorm. We were
cheered to hear Evans say that it was the worst sledging sur-
face he had ever seen, even though he added that it was not
fit for sledges. I wore my iron steig-eisen all day, and so
was able to hold my own somewhat ; but the others preferred
to slip about, for the irons certainly made one’s feet very sore.
For an hour we had fair going over “ plough-share”” and
shallow glass-houses, during which we changed direction
somewhat to the south. A thick snowstorm blotted all ahead,
and we reached a region of “ basket-work”’ ice structures,
which we called “ fascines,” and all sorts of ice tables. One
shaped like an Armadillo standing on a pedestal was especially
noticeable, and after pulling the sledge over three “ roof-
pillars” (the roof having long ago fallen in) we cried
“enough,” and camped in the shadow of the “‘ Armadillo.”
“Tt is fairly warm to-night, the others smoking peacefully.
They have almost given up trying to make me smoke. I had
a difficulty in getting Wright to eat some extra pemmican !
‘Sugar Vat,’ ‘Liver Chewer,’ and ‘Pemmican Tub,’ are
common ekenames. And so to sleep.”
During the next four days we struggled up the middle of
the Koettlitz Glacier. It was a strenuous time, but I recall a
pleasant noon halt
when P.O. Evans
earned an _ honest
penny. We saw him
playing with the rope
which lashed his
sleeping-bag. Says
Evans, “Ill show
you how to make a
clove-hitch with one
hand, and I bet you
a 1s. 3d. dinner (our
usual currency) you can’t do it after you’ve seen me do it six
times!”” Debenham took the bet, and we all watched Evans
closely. Then “Deb” tried, and to our joy succeeded, for
the handy-man was rarely “done.” But he never turned a
hair, and booked the bets that now filled the air. Again
Debenham proceeded to try, and failed—and Wright and I
were equally unsuccessful. Evans made quite a haul, but
One - hand
Clove Hitch
How Evans won his bef.
20-2-4
164 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
after saying he had never seen any one do it by sheer luck
before, he proceeded to teach us the dodge ; and later Deben-
ham became quite a knot-master under his willing tuition.
“A fine sunny morning, the first for many days. Even
this scene of desolation looks cheerful.” Thus my sledge
diary for the 21st. But the route did not improve. I wrote :
“We got going on awful stuff—rounded pools of ice, between
tables. It got worse and worse, and after many bumps and
leaps and falls I decided to prospect. We had done half a
mile in the hour. . . . We started again about 3 p.m. Awful
heavy work over ‘ glass-house’ and leaping three-foot chasms,
between high fascines and across decomposing rivers of
i¢e.””
About 4.30 we saw a ragged piece of skin projecting from
under an ice-table, and found that it was part of a large fish.
We spent half an hour chipping it out, and recovered the
dorsal spines, skin, tail, and the vertebra. These were pre-
served in a yellow fatty substance smelling like vaseline and
quite soft. I made rather a ludicrous mistake here. I care-
fully preserved a very hard irregular mass coated with this
flesh, thinking it was a bone, but later, after we had carried
it for days on the sledge, we found that this “ pelvic bone,”
as we called it—melted in warm water! No head was found,
and in this respect the fish—which was possibly about four
feet long—agrees with the four large headless fish found by
the Discovery Expedition. We had a hot discussion in the
hut as to this problem of decapitation, but came to no definite
conclusion, for it seemed too far for seals to carry it.
That night we slept at Park Lane Camp. We had been
traversing a frozen park, set out in circular beds with winding
paths in every direction. The “flower-beds” were repre-
sented by elevated masses of ice thirty feet across, exactly
like an apple-pie with a raised crust—even to the four cuts
made by the housewife across the top! The last two days
we had only progressed seven miles, and for five of them we
had carried the sledge rather than dragged it.
Next day, however, we found that to the south the glacier
was nearly continuous. It had not been dissected by thaw-
waters to nearly the same extent, and by 4 p.m. we managed
to advance ten miles to the south-west. We camped on a
platform of weathered ice, so rotten that it resembled a layer
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 165
of honeycomb. We found that this honeycomb ice was very
common in this part of the Koettlitz.
We tried to find an easier way out of the numerous undu-
lations which now characterized the surface, but unsuccessfully,
and so plugged on south-west. We used to “ pully-haul” up
one side (i.e. hand over hand) and then toboggan down the
other. P.O. Evans was an expert steersman, while we others
used to keep the ropes clear. But we had some nasty falls,
especially Evans, who got a cut deep in his palm from a piece
of “ bottle-glass”’ ice, in spite of his thick mits.
At noon we came across a picturesque tunnel in the ice,
about three feet wide, seven feet high, and one hundred feet
long. It had been cut out by thaw-waters which had now
drained away.
In and out wound the lanes, forming a regular network
through all sorts of picturesque pinnacles. Here was one
like a yacht on stocks, there a perfect wedding-cake twelve
feet high, again a lady’s bonnet, and so on, in infinite
variety.
The long promontories of “ bastions” along which we
skirted are probably dissected undulations of the original
glacier surface, fifty to a hundred feet high. They are all
steep to the north, and covered with sloping plough-shares on
the south. The bergs which we left ten miles back were like
jumbled blocks, and were not separated by simple channels—
which looks as if they had been floating separately at some
period and then frozen together again. This may explain the
presence of the sponges and fish which we found so far from
any open water.
On the 24th I wrote: “This is the day of my release
from the joys of cooking! We have done four weeks. A
rotten night, cold, and pillow (of books, etc.) slipping away
on the smooth surface. Every one restless. Smooth ice no
good to sleep on, though I had a jersey under me. Bright
next morning, and we took photos till 10 am. Then we
made across country towards a hanging valley. Some of the
lanes were overhanging, and I took a photo of Debenham
and Evans sitting under a ledge. Sheets of plate-glass pro-
jecting from low bastions were common, but there was no
undulating country. More common were sharp bottle-glass
angles sticking up abominably from about eighteen inches to
’
166 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
two feet, and impeding the sledges, while pot-holes (due to
the sun eating round black silt) caught one’s boots.
“‘Lunched in this mullock about two and a half miles
from the coast. Then on practically straight, making fair
progress with Evans and C. S. W. at the sledge, lifting while
we pulled. We had several upsets, and the rucksack was
jerked off, but the fossil fish has survived so far.
“‘ After a final dash up over steep silt bank between pin-
nacle ridges (where the sledge balanced rockingly!) we reached
a broad avenue between moraines and Stonehenge pinnacles
of ice. I went back for my brogans, and fell a frightful
‘cropper,’ getting a spike in my fifth rib.
“After half an hour or so we plugged on steadily up a
beautiful surface for two and a half miles. The moraines
were getting bigger and wider, and were now about three
hundred yards across. We finally reached a fifty-feet silt
‘col,’ and had to portage the sledge. It was mighty heavy,
and flattened our crampons. Later we reached a cul-de-sac
among the moraines, and after a survey I decided to make a
final camp, as we were now favourably situated to explore
‘Snow Valley’ and Heald’s Island. I don’t understand the
ice-slabs or the promontory on the 1902 map. I guess it is
wrong.
“The sun clouded and snow began. We put the tent
in a sandy dell. It was so small that we had the tent like an
old sock at the side! However, we are on earth again, and
not on cold wet ice, even if one post of the tent is on a huge
stone.
“T cooked my last meal. Raisins in excess ( X 2), sugar-
dust about right, cocoa X 2, chocolate short #, cornflour three
portions left, cheese short 3, biscuits right, and pemmican two
feeds left. Butter short owing to seal-liver feast. We had a
good hoosh and drank thick chocolate.
““My week’s cooking done, Praise Be! 9.20, snowing
now and pretty cool.”
Next morning was devoted to a “make and mend.” All
our sleeping-bags and finnesko were wet with the sloppy ice-
floors of the last week—for we had not been able to find any
snow-drifts on which to camp. They are much warmer and
drier than ice.
Behind the tent to the north were slopes about 1000 feet
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 167
high leading to empty “hanging” valleys. These radiated
from the base of the Lister scarp, which rose in one steep
face 10,000 feet to the summit. This face was pitted by
gigantic “armchair” valleys or, as they are technically called,
cwms, and presented a spectacle which probably could be
paralleled nowhere in the world.
Looking southward across the Koettlitz from the mouth
of one of these hanging valleys one could see some sort of
plan in the icy maze which had so bewildered us. Above
Heald Island the valley was filled with the glacial stream in
a normal uniform mass, interrupted only by crevasses and
falls. But to the east of Heald Island it took the form of a
glacier “ delta.’ Below the falls the ice descended to the
east in a series of broad undulations, a portion of which we
had traversed on the 23rd. Long promontories of ice fifty feet
high extended from the unbroken glacier mass and probably
represented the crests of the undulations. These degenerated
at the ends into icebergs and monoliths of ice, and these again
had weathered into the bastions and pinnacles. Lower down
the thaw waters had etched these into still smaller units, and
along the coast just below me the streams had formed a well-
defined if narrow avenue of smooth ice, which promised us
an easier return,
On these slopes I found an ice-scratched block—the only
specimen I had seen in a hundred miles of moraine debris.
I walked along the margin of the glacier, and was amazed
to see seal-tracks in the fresh snow. We were over twenty
miles from the sea, and had not seen any possible route for
seals on our outward journey. Yet here were two seals—
asleep as usual—on the old glacier ice. I disturbed one of
them to see what it would do. He sneezed and grunted at
me. When I teased him further he began to warble! 1
heaved a lump of ice at him, whereupon he lolloped twenty
yards to a wet patch, lay over on his side, and produced a
whole octave of musical notes from his chest, ranging up to
a canary-like chirrup. Finally he crawled under a deep ledge,
and vigorously butting with his shoulders, opened out a hole
and flopped under the avenue ice.
Later I came out among the moraines, and was unable to
make out where our tent was. Soon I saw Wright’s foot-
prints in the snow—two sets, one going each way. By
168 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
Sherlockian logic, I decided to follow the shorter-pace footsteps,
judging that the weary owner would walk with less “‘ vim”
returning, and they seemed to be “slurred” also. Finally,
a mile ahead I saw some skua gulls wheeling about, and sure
enough below them I found our tent.
When I reached camp I found that Wright and Debenham
had both met parties of seals. We all thought of the constant
stream along the tide crack by our last depét, and came to the
conclusion that this was largely fresh water, and formed the
main drainage of the Upper Koettlitz. By this sub-glacial
stream the seals penetrated nearly thirty miles inland up the
Koettlitz Glacier.
February 26, 1911.—-It seemed advisable to take the
sledge as far up the Koettlitz as we could without waste of
time. So we portaged all our loads out of the cu/-de-sac over
a moraine col and so reached the outer margin of the low
level moraine, where another avenue of smooth ice ran parallel
to the Grand Canal which we had been using. About two
miles to the west we passed a seal and its hole. Soon the
pinnacle ice came in so close that there was barely room to
Squeeze in between it and the moraine. We had one spill
within a few yards of our final camp, and unfortunately it
resulted in the destruction of the focussing screen of my
camera. In a sheltered bay among the moraine heaps we
pitched our furthest camp, where we remained four days.
About 2.30 we started for Heald Island, which lay three
miles to the south across a tumbled sea of ice practically
impassable for sledges. (This island is placed too far to the
south on the Discovery Map.)
First we crossed the definite line of high pinnacles which
extended almost continuously for twenty miles parallel to the
coast. This we called Stonehenge structure, for many ice
masses strongly recalled the Druid monoliths. Then over
a comparatively level area of honeycomb ice between low
bastions. Finally we reached wide level lanes with a thirty
foot wall on the side facing the sun, while the opposite wall
sloped much more gently and was fretted into plough-shares.
Looking back towards our camp we were facing north
towards the sun, so that we saw the sheltered side of the
moraine heaps. The whole surface seemed to be snow-
covered. Yet from the opposite aspect the moraines seemed
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 169
to be bare. I expected this constant thawing on one side of
the moraines would have resulted in some asymmetry in their
shape, but I was not able to detect any such characteristic.
We had not much difficulty in traversing these lanes, and
crossed several cols, down which Debenham and I—who were
not wearing crampons—had to slide in somewhat undignified
positions. Here we separated, Wright and Evans making for
the lateral gully north of the island, while we moved more
directly for its eastern face. We had been steadily rising up
the lanes and came to the divide near to Heald Island.
Here a narrow water-cut channel led down to a broad frozen
river 100 yards across, which fringed the island on the east.
Debenham collected along the slopes while I pushed on
to get a summit view. This end of Heald Island was 1100
feet high, and the slope was very steep, for the most part
reaching 30°. It was covered with a talus of schists, lime-
stones, and basalt, the latter being erratic, while the former
were 7m situ on the top of the hill.
I got good views of the topography from the compara-
tively flat top of the island. The surface was scraped fairly
smooth by glacial action, and only a thin veneer of basalt
rubble was present in this eastern portion.
I carefully noted the features towards the S.W., and was
satisfied that the slope glaciers (Walcott, Ward, etc.) headed
in sharp ranges 6000 feet high, which joined to the scarp of
Lister without any intermediate longitudinal valley, such as
was indicated on the 1902 map as “Snow Valley.” The
surface of the glacier through which we had passed was very
interesting. I could now see that it would take days to get
the sledge up the glacier to a spot where our view would be
materially increased, and judged it better to investigate fairly
fully the features in this interesting region of the valley.
The island evidently blocked the glacier greatly, for this
was 700 feet higher on the south-west face than where we
had crossed it.
Next morning was foggy and cold, and there had been
snow in the night. We boiled the hypsometer and found
that the camp was only 100 feet above sea-level. At 11 a.m.
we started off to explore a large tributary glacier which we
could see across the low-level moraine. Debenham had a sore
heel, due to the deep ridges which developed in our frozen
170 ~ WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
ski-boots, so that he did not move far afield for the next day
or two.
After crossing two miles of moraines we reached a lake.
It was drained by a stream which ultimately reached the
pinnacles of the Koettlitz glacier.
Between the ice cliffs and the lake this stream for a con-
siderable distance flowed under the moraine, and ultimately
entered the seals’ sub-glacial stream and so reached the sea.
Coleridge’s lines entered one’s mind :
“Where Alph the sacred river ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.”
So we christened this stream the Alph River.
We marched along the lake and up the gully beyond.
Here a tributary entered from a large cave in the moraine
wall to the north. The roof of this cave was coated with
most beautiful ice crystals, which resembled pine twigs in
shape and were about two inches long. Many brownish ice
stalactites and stalagmites fringed the walls of the cave, and
Wright was lucky in obtaining some beautiful photos of these
structures,
At 4 p.m. we reached our goal—the steep face of the
Walcott glacier, but as the weather looked stormy we had
to retreat immediately. Wright and I compared compass
readings here. The needles swung extremely sluggishly, but
we found they were reliable to four degrees—which is about
eight times the ordinary error. The fact that magnetic south
was nearly due north also complicated matters here! We
marched back by a different route and discovered a strong
outcrop of basic lava about fifty feet thick, which was rich in
olivine and had caught up fragments of garnet rock in its
passage through the earth’s crust.
It was a cold cloudy morning on the 27th when we
started off for a tramp over the ancient low-level moraines.
We could see a big tributary glacier about twelve miles away,
whose vertical front was separated from the Koettlitz by two
miles of bare moraine heaps. Debenham, with his bad heel,
stayed around the camp where there was plenty of collecting.
We went a short distance along one of the moraine
avenues. Then we climbed eighty feet up and proceeded
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 171
over the more or less level moraine debris for two miles.
There we came on an interesting outcrop. It was very
unexpected to find a deep gully 100 feet below the general
surface with water still flowing in the creek at the bottom.
The walls were largely composed of ice hereabouts, and*they
were melting merrily in the sun.
This stream originated in the lake which we had seen a
day or two before, and we reached it vid some beautiful
meanders. At its outlet was a cave twenty feet deep cut
in blue ice.
Evans and I had a bet as to the length of the lake, in
which I recorded a win; but “ Taff” usually came off best
in these encounters !
February 28, 1911.— We awoke to foggy and cold
weather, which was unsatisfactory, as one of our chief objects
was to climb a peak and get a good view of the hypothetical
Snow Valley (between Descent Pass and the Walcott Glacier).
Wright and I went back to Alph Lake some miles to the
west, while Evans and Debenham made another journey to
Heald Island and traversed it almost to its western end.
I investigated the cave in the silts at the lake outlet.
The cave seemed to be due to a block of ice breaking away
at a silt band, for the roof was filled with stones, while the
mass above was clear ice. The interest lies in the fact that
these silts were obviously laid down in water, and the large
boulders arranged in uniform layers indicated that a strong
current had been operating.
I left Wright at the lake, which he crossed later to
examine the “crystal cave’’ we had seen previously. Mean-
while I climbed up the steep delta of the stream leading to
the “ Ward Hanger,” and visited the latter valley.
This gully was about a mile long with steep sides sloping
thirty degrees at first. I made for a black exposure which |
could see ahead where the gully cascaded down from the
hanging valley. This was a bed of decomposed basic lava,
about twelve feet thick and pointing to fairly late volcanic
action,
Then I proceeded up the gully, scrambling over large
rounded boulders. I hurried to the top of the slope and
found that a very definite dam blocked the hanger, just as in
the adjacent valley. These dams were, I think, high-level
172 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
lateral moraines left by the Koettlitz glacier, and not serminal
moraines of the small tributary glaciers. I could see that the
latter (Ward) glacier now lay about five miles up the valley,
and resembled the others which we had observed previously.
Wright and I then traced the Alph River from the lake
down to the glacier opposite Heald Island. We had to climb
over several rough barriers of silt-coated ice, under which the
stream flowed. The relative movement of the frozen surface
and overhanging ice-cliffs led to very queer twists and bends
in numerous icicles, thus forming a striking example of the
plasticity of ice.
The water was flowing strongly with musical gurgles under
a lace-work of crystal-edged ice. We got very wet boots
by slipping through on our walk at the foot of the steep
slopes fifty feet high. The river ended in a little round lake
separated from the Koettlitz by the silt-covered pinnacle
described previously.
We walked along the glacier edge towards the camp. At
one spot the water was welling up through holes in the ice,
and appeared to indicate a slight tide, for it had spread out to
varying boundaries at various times. Probably a variation in
temperature would account fully for the difference in supply.
We reached the tent about a quarter past six.
The weather had been dull, and it was useless to expect a
good view of the western scarp and valleys. I decided to
wait until the 3rd if necessary to climb up for this view. The
hills were now snow-covered, and we had several valleys to the
north to investigate before our return,
The month of March opened with a bright sunny morning,
just suited for our proposed climb up one of the hinterland
ranges. We climbed up the slope about eight hundred
feet and soon reached the level floor of the hanging “ valley ”
just behind the camp. We marched along this to the north
end of the valley towards a prominent peak on the eastern
ridge. A stiff climb over snow slopes and rugged granite
led to the summit, which we reached at 1 p.m. The aneroid
made this 3000 feet above sea-level. It was a beautiful day
and we could see Erebus, Discovery, Morning, and the Pyramid
up the Koettlitz. Lister itself, as usual, was in the clouds, but
nearly all below was visible. We could see numerous hinter-
land ridges reaching from the Lower Koettlitz to the Lister
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 173
scarp, and satisfied ourselves that no lateral “Snow Valley”
existed below the scarp such as has been indicated in earlier
maps.
a was very cold on this hill (which we called Terminus
Mountain) ; and after swinging the theodolite and taking several
photographs we hurried back to the tent down Ward Valley.
On March 2 we started our homeward trek ; nothing
could be worse than our outward track up the middle of
the glacier—though we were able to study the changes of
the glacier ice and so did not regret it. I therefore decided
to hug the coast on our return, though near the depdt the
ice was so full of silt from the moraines that we had not
seen any feasible route along the coast thereabouts.
For the next few days we followed the course of the
sub-glacial Alph River. Some four miles down-stream from
Terminus Camp a rampart of ice pinnacles commenced, which
recalled the monoliths of Stonehenge. These walled off the
rough sea of the Koettlitz Glacier from the frozen surface of
the “river.” This broad lane was here a quarter of a mile
wide and consisted of a level surface broken up by deep
sunken “paths.” The more elevated areas were preferable
for sledging, for the paths occasionally let us through into
water. The whole structure was due to the drainage of water
away from rivers and lakelets whose surface had frozen.
This splendid track—which we called “ Alph Avenue ”—
enabled us to proceed with unexpected ease, and each day we
halted and explored one of the numerous tributary valleys
which characterized the hinterland.
Each valley was of the same type. A great bar of debris,
some three hundred feet high, blocked the mouth of the
tributary. Within this was a bare rounded valley extending
to the foot of Lister. Some five miles from the coast was
the snout of a tributary glacier which had originally deposited
the moraine, but now was shrunk back to a mere shadow of
its former self.
All along our route were groups of seals, and numerous
skua gulls enlivened the surroundings. Coming back from
one of our détours I was much amused to see Wright crawling
about among the seals in his investigation of the ice—while
thirty skuas were anxiously awaiting the demise of this
obviously crazy seal !
174 WITE SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
The summer was over now and we were getting fifty
degrees of frost in the nights. The weather was gloomy,
the sun rarely appearing till it had sunk below the level of
the pall of stratus.
We had an eventful lunch just before reaching our depét.
We pitched the tent and fastened the door to keep out
the wind. I was sitting next the door with my precious
lumps of sugar on the floorcloth when I noticed that water
was creeping into the tent. In a few seconds it was several
inches deep. We bolted our raisins, pocketed the lumps of
butter and sugar and rushed out with the sleeping-bags.
There was a small lake all round us, rapidly rising round
sledge and tent. The water was rushing out of a crack one
hundred yards below us, probably driven back by a high tide.
We had quite a pilgrimage to get our sledge packed again,
having to walk round the newly formed bay.
The avenue petered out here, after furnishing us with a
magnificent highway for twenty miles. We had some pretty
rough work for the next mile or so, but reached our depédt
safely on the evening of the sth.
Having now described many of the glacial valleys it is
interesting to see if we can discover how their peculiar topo-
graphies have arisen. One great problem confronting
geologists is to explain how the giant “steps” and “ basins”
of the Swiss glacier valleys were produced. In Antarctica the
gradual change in the character of the valleys as we proceed
northward from Mount Discovery has led me to put forward
a theory which I think holds good for these huge glaciers in
latitude 78° S., and may help to explain those in 45° N.
In old Greek manuscripts one can sometimes discern traces
of an older script half obliterated by the later writings—this
MS. is called a palimpsest. Just so in Antarctica—I think that
beneath the largest outlet glaciers, such as the Ferrar and
Taylor Glaciers, we can perceive the relics of an earlier cwm
erosion.
Near Heald Island is the gigantic scarp of the Royal
Society Range 10,000 feet high. Cutting into its face are
simple cwm glaciers such as the Walcott glacier. This stage
is shown in section I. As the snow accumulates (and
turns into ice iz situ) we get a gnawing process, in the
moat, etc., at the margin of the glacier, which gradually extends
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 175
backwards and eats out a long parallel valley such as the Davis
Valley (section II). If the plateau ice-cap increases sufficiently
it will drain to the sea as an ouslet glacier. This will obviously
Young Icecap
Wn
The “ Palimpsest” theory. Generalised sketch sections, showing the chief
types of valley erosion. I. Early erosion like that shown by Walcott
Glacier, 78° 10'S. II. Headward erosion producing a “ finger” valley,
shown by Davis Glacier, 78° S. III. Plateau ice overwhelming the
cwm glaciers giving profile like the Ferrar Glacier, 77° 40’ S. IV.
Pronounced erosion by “thaw and freeze” (= nivation), as shown in
the Taylor Valley, 77° 30’ 8.
tend to follow the lowest contours and so would naturally
overwhelm a series of cwm glaciers (such as shown in II).
Hence we get a glacier falling over steps (and cutting gradually
176 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
through them) which were originally heads of cwm valleys
(see section III). Finally, these big glaciers may retreat very
slowly, and at their snouts—in a somewhat complicated way
which I have explained elsewhere—further erosion by nivation
will produce basins with level bottoms, such as those in the
Taylor Valley * (section IV). In the maximum of glacier
flow (for which we have to go to temperate climes for good
examples) there is much “ planing” by the glacier, but not in
Antarctica under the present conditions. At any rate, the con-
clusion 1 have reached after two summers’ sledging, is that
considerable frost, wind, and water action is occurring in the
Ross Sea area, and very little true glacier erosion. Moreover,
the gradual succession of types of valley erosion which we
investigated makes me confident that some such cycle of
evolution as sketched above is not only possible, but has
taken place in the south.
On arrival we swept the snow from our old ground and
camped on the bare gravel, for our floorcloth was quite
soaked. I went over to the seal I had killed a fortnight
earlier and managed to cut through the frozen hide. Evans
and I then managed to prize off some blubber with the spade.
The blubber was quite soft where it was protected from the
air. Evans and Wright were frankly sceptical as to the value
of blubber as a means of frying !
“ After cleaning out the aluminium base of the cooker,
Debenham cut the blubber into strips and heated it up. It
soon began to melt and gave off much
steam at first. The smell was like fried
herrings and not unpleasant! We
had thawed out some liver from my
cache, and at + 2° F. it was as hard as
iron! I cut it into strips and we
cooked it in the blubber for a quarter
of an hour or so. Debenham tasted
it, and then I ate the first piece.
“Jolly good! Absolutely no taste
of fish or oil, which was curious in view of the smell of
herrings. Evans took his bit gingerly, and then handsomely
acknowledged that he had been sold. He reckoned their
* The theory of nivation would be out of place here. It is explained in
Hobbs’ “ Existing Glaciers,” and I deal with it fully in the official memoir.
forks r
Blubber 53-1
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 177
cook had tried to poison them in 1902. We used safety pins
as forks, and my bowie knife to turn it over. A vote of
thanks to Deb was passed by the company !
“With luck we shall camp in the middle of the Dailey
Isles to-morrow (Monday). On Wednesday get to Hut
Point, and then two days to Cape Evans.”
This prophecy was rather feeble! We took nine days to
reach Hut Point, and five weeks elapsed before we saw our
own headquarters !
March 6, 1911 (Monday).—A fairly sunny morning with
a temperature of — 8° at 9.30. We spent some time in packing
all our depéted goods. I carried an empty biscuit tin to the
nearest large moraine heap, and buried it halfway in the gravel
with a note of our journey. The sun, glancing on the bright
metal surface, made this a very distinct landmark some distance
from the moraines.
We had now two sledges to pull, but the surface was very
ood. We made for the nearest Dailey Island. After one
and a half hours we reached old ice at a higher level than the
sea-ice we had just left. Here I mounted a hummock and
saw that open water extended to Davis Bay, and was practically
within one mile of our track. We were rather astonished, for
this ice (around Blue Glacier) had not been out for several
years. We pushed on and camped two and a half miles from
West Dailey Isle for lunch. Another two miles brought us
to a most interesting locality. All around us were heaps of
large sponges half buried in snow and ice. The three largest
heaps were about 8 feet long and one and a half feet high.
The sponges were a foot in diameter, and among the long
spicules we found Bryozoa, Brachiopoda, Serpule, Molluscs,
and a fine solitary coral.
How did these marine animals come to be entangled in
the old ice on which we found them? The ice was apparently
normal fresh-water glacier-ice, but may have been originally
sea-ice from which the salt had drained out. At any rate, it
was floating—for half a mile further east was a succession of
grinding ice-cracks, 1 believe the sponges were pushed up
(from a depth of twenty feet or so below water) by the edge
of the Koettlitz glacier, in some palzocrystic age when its snout
was much less advanced.
We pushed on about a quarter of a mile, and reached
N
178 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
irregular ice crossed by a deep gully due to tide cracks. Here
we left the sledges, and all climbed up the West Dailey Island.
We attacked the nearest snow-covered slope, though later we
found it was the steepest portion of the island. There was a
fair route along the snow, however, and we soon reached the
top. Two asymmetric valleys crossed the island, whose cross
section seemed to indicate glacial erosion from the south-east.
Blocks of marble, kenyte, and gneiss were scattered over the
island, which was itself composed of basic lava. We were
most interested, however, in the view towards Erebus, for we
hoped to see a clear route to Cape Evans.
5, Caskle
' Z : Rock
‘gts
443 : ri
473 2 s
S44 § \ : Bhazard a
~ t % id
177% a “ 12-173 ©
: J Camp
Pref |
- Bea A
A i, e* er G & ) od
“ Or Brown
= White
A
Map showing our journey round the breaking barrier.
Four miles north of us was a prominent crack leading east
and west. All the ice to the east and north-east was rough,
pinnacled stuff as far as we could see. In the distance
Inaccessible and Tent Islands appeared clearly, and also a
curtain of frost smoke. We could not detect the latter much
south of Tent Island, and hoped this meant that the ice had
not gone out behind Glacier Tongue.
I decided to camp after another mile, and then skirt along
the pinnacle (bearing towards Cape Royds) until it appeared
feasible to cross to the east. I photographed the little valleys
on the island, and then we returned down a much easier slope
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 179
to sea-level. Here we saw a young skua practising its first
flights under the eye of two older birds.
We camped in the snow amid troubled ice just off the
north-east corner of West Dailey Island.
March 7, 1911.—We had a wakeful night, for the pressure
ice at 2.30 started groaning and creaking just under our heads.
We had a temperature of — 13°, and the night was quite dark,
though a glow was apparent to the south. In the morning a
cold wind from the south-east arose.
I had to prospect across half a mile of bad surface, but
found a fair route for a single sledge before the packing was
concluded. The sledges stuck badly on sharp snags, and we
had to relay through tables and over snow-covered ledges and
crevices. Then we reached a glass-house surface, which was
fairly stable owing to the thick covering of snow. We held
along the west side of the broad tongue of bad ice and made
fair progress. It was pretty cold, however, and Debenham
suffered two frostbitten toes.
About 4.30 I felt that we ought to be near the end of the
Pinnacle Ice as shown on the map. So we pulled towards it,
and reached high ridges rather suddenly. We camped here,
and Wright and I penetrated the ice for a mile, making for a
specially high pyramid. The surface was frightful, consisting
of big rough undulations much broken into snags and pyramids,
and crossed by frozen rivers with window-glass buried in snow-
drifts. We could see no difference in the distant east. It
was evident that we could not cross. here, and must make still
farther north. We felt that the whole broad tongue had moved
north, It was necessary, therefore, to turn back and go rather
to the north-west, Hence we called this Keerweer Camp, after
the Cape Keerweer where the old Dutch captain retreated from
Australia.
_ March 8, 1911.—We moved off along the edge of the
pinnacle to the north. We did about one and a half miles,
and got bogged in bad country. A prospect ahead showed
that we had entered a sort of cul-de-sac. We could see frost
smoke rising all around us, and heard seals; and, apparently,
orcas blowing and grunting, much closer than we could explain,
for we could see no water. Finally, we decided to keep to
the smoother ice, and so for the next mile or so were heading
for Butter Point, directly away from our destination at Hut
180 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
Point. Soon we turned more to the east, and topping a small
rise, were confronted by a large bay of open water in the
pinnacle ice, in which several orcas were apparently enjoying
our discomfiture. The water lay right across our path, and
we made as rapid a course as we could lay for the further side
of the bay.
Before going many yards into the pinnacle ice we came on
a labyrinthic river of salt water fifty feet or so below the general
level of the pinnacle. Luckily the pancake had jammed in this
valley, and it was strong enough to carry the sledges. We
had to haul up the sledges by hand on the further (southern)
side. Here we lunched, and soon after came to a fifteen-foot
drop, which necessitated casting off one sledge. 1 prospected
ahead, and the other three followed almost as quickly as I
could pick out a feasible route. Every now and again I
climbed a pinnacle, and got a fair view, and so we got along
much more easily than | had anticipated.
The grade was good, but necessitated much winding about,
and very often drifts of sand covered the ice and played havoc
with the runners. The drifts of snow, eighteen inches deep,
were no trouble compared with a thin film of sand on an ice
ridge.
“We could hardly get a fragment of ice hereabouts which
was not full of sponge spicules, which did not improve the
hoosh. It was very curious to see the skuas pecking at the
numerous sponges lying around, while they neglected the small
frozen fish (Notothenia), of which I saw a dozen !
By six o'clock we brought up our second sledge to the
site I had chosen for a camp. Just north of the camp was a
large cavern excavated in the side of a thirty-foot cliff by a
meandering river, now frozen. We had a fairly sheltered
position for the tent, but there was no snow for the flaps.
However, ice blocks made that all secure. Before turning
in we took a round of angles, which should fix the position
of the edge of the open water quite accurately.
March 9, 1911.—A comfortable night, the temperature
only falling to —3°. We picked a pretty fair route across
the meandering gully. At one place a snow-drift had built
up a track above the undercut edge of the river. Then we
went down-stream a quarter of a mile, and then hauled the
sledges up the further bank. We could see quite a large
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 181
patch of smooth snow towards Observation Hill, and made in
this direction. As we were not more than sixty feet above
sea-level, I judged this to be four miles off, which turned out
to be the case, though it took us nearly two days to reach it.
We pulled in relays, doing one and a quarter miles with
the light sledge in less than an hour, and then returning for
the heavy sledge with some knowledge of the conditions
ahead. Twenty-five minutes took us back to the other sledge,
and sixty-five minutes more with the heavy sledge brought
our whole equipment one and a quarter miles nearer Hut
Point.
Bad sandy patches still annoyed us, but the ice was
gradually becoming more level as we penetrated further south.
In the afternoon we did a longer relay, with less sand but
more snow. We had to cross several creeks, and had some
upsets, but at the end of our day’s work a climb to a
pinnacle showed up smooth sea-ice no great distance ahead in
the direction of Tent Island. Six hours’ hard work—largely
hand-hauling—had only given us three miles of progress,
However, we were able to enjoy the chocolate provided by
Evans in honour of his own birthday, and we christened the
camp Birthday Camp in consequence. ‘
I feel that I cannot more fittingly describe the last few
days of our First Journey than by transcribing my sledge
diary. The style is “choppy,” but if the reader will picture
the conditions under which the journal was written he will
perhaps excuse lapses. We were now coasting the breaking
Barrier edge, just where Bowers’s party had gone adrift a week
before (see p. 197). It was getting very cold, and we had
been sledging six weeks—over really awful surfaces since mid-
February—and were feeling stale and in need of some com-
fortable rest at night.
“. . . Friday, March 10.—I am writing this on the morn-
ing of the 11th, after a rotten night. The tent is flapping and
C. S. W. wears a worried look as the icy aluminium pot
sticks to his finger. I have filled the cooker with powdered
snow. There is drift everywhere, an eighth of an inch thick
in C, S. W.’s bag, who got out to survey the scene. I have
a blistered ear, and am wet everywhere owing to perspiration.
There is no joy in us, though sounding merry. I slept on
the outside, where Debenham has slept hitherto, However,
182 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
I could get my back warm against him, which is not the case
when we reverse !
“We moved off about 11 a.m. with the light sledge.
Debenham prospected one-third of a mile, and then returned
to say that we could go on with both. So we pulled up the
heavy one, and in less than half an hour reached the level ice,
about 11.45. Hence we traversed about six miles of pinnacle
ice. We had heavy going for a mile, owing to deep snow
between hard patches, occasionally knee-deep.
“‘ Now a long argument arose as to the course. Debenham
wished to head straight for Glacier Tongue, and reach Cape
Evans same night maybe. I judged it not much further to
Hut Point, and we were rather near the sea edge. Evans felt
frost-bite in toes, but said later it was due to chocolate-paper
stuffing !
“We camped for lunch at 1 p.m., with good hopes of
getting all ‘sprowsy’ by night. The others put on finnesko,
as all very cold. My feet troubled me least of all. Good
ho! so I didn’t change from boots, though blisters very raspy
when one’s foot slipped into a deep crack! Left about 2.30
and surface got much better—patches of hard white snow and
some ice. We decided to get to Hut Point or bust! About
5 p.m. we decided to bust, for there was apparently five miles
of open water before the Hut! So we deviated with what
speed we might to the south, gradually veering further south
in the teeth of a young blizzard, which made much drift and
at times obscured land. We donned coats and windproof,
and during the last hour got very wet with sweat. Rather
tired when at 6.30 we stopped near snow-drift, being four
miles from the sea.
“We had to put up the pole first and then the tent, which
nearly blew away, and the floorcloth afterward. I got into
finnesko and got fairly warm, though the primus went out
several times through draught, etc. Huge blocks of snow on
flap. Rather slow prospect of a week or two at Hut Point,
when we felt yesterday pretty sure of getting to Cape Evans
in two days! Wind moderated at intervals in the night.
Good sunset and fairly clear, so this is not a true blizzard.
“ Saturday, March 11.—Fairly clear, still some snow-drift
and gusty. Up early. Every one uncomfortable in the
night. Hope to reach the Hut vid Pram Point about 4 p.m.
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 183
“ Drift packed hard round the tent, and had to dig out it
and sledges.
“‘ Made an early start at 9.45 a.m. Saw mists rising appa-
rently all way from Hut Point to White Island. One column
of dark cloud very persistent, the rest varied with wind some-
what. So we made for east centre of White Island over poor
surface owing to fairly soft snow.
“‘ Finnesko nice and warm, felt as if one’s feet bare after
boots. We did six miles and camped where we seemed to see
the crack petering out. Then two miles in the hour to (3.45)
where we deviated from White Island. Here Castle Rock
was occulted by Observation Hill. 1 thought end of water
would be only three-quarters of an hour away! We saw a
black dot and cairn of snow and decided it was the Barrier
depot.
Me We had crossed one crack, probably an old one. The
depét turned out to be a fawn-chested seal, active and bold,
which moved off rapidly (4.30). (The open water was here
only half a mile away.) The cairn was pressure ice, probably
old line of permanent ice. About a mile further came on
sledge tracks of depét party.* Don’t see their depdt anywhere.
Not possible it has gone out, as undoubtedly some of Barrier
has. At 5.30, after doing about four and a half miles, we
reached southern end of broad bay of water.
“C. S. W. took photo here, but so cold that spring shutter
didn’t work, I fear, Then on for two miles further to our
Barrier camp.
“ Sunday, March 12.—Rotten night; slept about four
half-hours and shivered, sore ear, cold knees and back, every-
thing wet (on outside), Helmet a mass of ice, and so wrapped
my head in wind-proof pants. Others better. Dreamt six
individual dreams, including our relief by a rival party of
kids! I got up to read aneroid and so acquired merit !
“‘ Primus a great bother in the morning.
“Quite foggy and snowing considerably. Not safe to say
where we'll be to-night !
“We left about 10. Foggy everywhere and drift blow-
ing, but could see sun. Went (S. 40° W. magnetic) for two
miles or so, then steered by sun. We saw a black object on
* These tracks were made by the Rescue party, in their attempts to save
the ponies, ten days earlier.
184 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
ahead. Evans said an icefoot; I said boxes. They turned
out to be bales of fodder nearly covered and an empty dog-
biscuit box. From here tracks of five sledges (no ponies)
lead to Pram Point. We piled up fodder higher, and left
map and note tied to our depédt pole.* By this time wind
getting stronger.
“We marched on over undulations, mostly heavy going.
Wind from the south-east. About 11.30 a.m. followed sledge
track right to a narrow gulf leading into Barrier, with broken
block sticking out. Ice twenty to thirty feet above water,
some snowy, new ice in the open gulf (elsewhere all clear
water). The shore went nearly due west from here. We
crossed a strong crack rising several feet. C. S. W.’s foot
went in here. I deviated to north-east from here, and pulled
three-quarters of an hour in worse wind and drift. Camped
at 12.45, about four miles from main edge and one and a half
from crack (and edge). Very blowy and blinding, and cold.
Had lunch and no better! Stayed in tent, and here we are
held up indefinitely only six or seven miles from the Hut!
We tried dancing to warm feet. Played cards, sang, changed
socks. Finally, about 4.30, all went outside and filled cooker
with snow. We decided to have an early supper and turn
into our wet bags. We lit the Primus, and let the flames
singe our feet to warm them. Talked of Cambridge cake and
tea and other delights. I put on pyjama pants for the first
time. Jt may prevent chills to-night, but I doubt it. Evans
told cheerful tale of snow wall round tent at Cape Crozier,
when they were pinned in for five days in September in 1903 !
“We can’t see a hundred feet anywhere. The rime is
dripping down my neck and covering our bags. Drifts are
slipping off the tent. Wind veering somewhat southerly from
south-east. Now and again we peeped out of doors. No
improvement. Couldn’t get into shore probably to camp, as
water is evidently exceptionally far to east. No camping on
slopes, I understand, and daren’t try to reach the Hut (eight
miles or more round) in this damned young blizzard. Guess
we'll shiver it out. Underpants make much warmer, but toes
nearly as cold as ever. 5.30 p.m. Booming of lid of biscuit-
tin outside is like Inchcape Bell.”
* The other parties had all returned from the Barrier a fortnight before
to Hut Point.
FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 8s
[N.B.—13th and 14th written later in Hut.]
“ Monday, March 13.—Pretty miserable all day. Stayed
in bags till ro or so. Tent flapping wildly. There had been
a lull in the night ; slight shift to south-west at times set the
door swinging. Couldn’t get going at all. Had lunch at 12
(no breakfast). I didn’t like the idea of Barrier edge being
only one mile away, and we are on a bad crack ; but as thirty
feet cliff, probably ice is eighty feet thick. Couldn’t see the
sun all day till late in the pm. Evans told yarns as usual.
We had supper about 5 p.m., after trying a melancholy game
of Rickety Kate, in which we couldn’t deal in mits, and got
frost-bitten if we took them off. I managed to read a bit of
“The Great Plot.” C. S. W. cursed baccy, and Deb lay
low and felt cold. We turned into the bags very early,
though the sun appeared about 5 p.m., and could get a sight
of land above the drift.
«< Evans said curious wind never to south-west, and so xot
a real blizzard.*
“ Tuesday, March 14,—Another night nearly as bad as the
previous, with sore backache added, for everything damp.
Used to put head and all inside bag for ten minutes and hot
up bag. Then open nose hole to get oxygenated again !
“We got up at 7 a.m. and had early breakfast, but it
came on very badly about ten, and as we knew directions we
decided to make for Castle Rock anyway within half an hour.
We dug out sledges and the tent flap. A long lee snow slope
lay a hundred feet to north of sledges. Instrument boxes
and tank full of drifts of snow, of course.
“‘ Bags thrice proper weight. Mine worse split than ever,
so I have no hood now. We marched on rather difficultly,
but wind helped us considerably over small sastrugi and drifts.
Helmets tight over head, but under chin (i.e. not coldest).
All our duds on—a mistake as one gets so sweaty and it 1s
tiring. Went onand on. Could see ice bluff on left, passed
it and approaching slopes. Wondering if we'd have trouble
at the tide cracks, which Evans described. All lost to sight in
fog about 1.30. Plugged on steadily, had hallucination of
hawthorn trees just behind one. (Why?) Told C.S. W.
* His meteorology was incorrect.
tT In the coldest weather the helmet covers the chin and a nose-nip
protects the nose.
186 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
we were ascending, and wondered where the tide crack was.
We had steered for the cone all the way to reach the incline as
used by Evans (day of Vince disaster, 1902).
“Just about 2 p.m., I guessed we were over the tide crack,
and the sun appeared and showed us we were one-third way
up the mountain! So we joyfully had lunch in the strong
wind. Then transferred all necessaries to the big sledge
(including ski boots), and left about 3.30 for the climb to
Castle Rock. Not half so bad as expected, steady pull up
eight degrees (about four miles), only two stops. Reached
the top at 5.30, without trouble except for some slipping on
hard snow. We zig-zagged a bit. Castle Rock is composed
of agglomerate with brownish outer zone, over a darker centre.
Height about 150 feet (boss). We had a short rest. A very
strong wind blowing across us now. Evans evidently had
Vince in mind, and wouldn’t let us pull quickly, though on a
broad platform. We saw here a team track, apparently a dog
team with sledgemeter. We had arguments as to its meaning
and decided only one unit back. C. S. W. reckoned all the
ponies ‘gone under’ as no tracks. Plateau one and a half
miles long and one thousand feet high. Then we saw four
men over towards Crater Heights. A great sight, though
comic, to see arms swinging and fat wind clothes. Not
like Penguins! They came towards us. We guessed
the names all wrong, except Birdie. (They were Dr.
Bill, Atch, and Cherry.) We heard all were safe and
back, that the queer tracks were due to rescue of Bowers,
Crean, and Garrard. They took our sledge down Ski Slope.
Dr. Bill said, ‘Go and see the Owner.’ They were just
expecting us. I put on crampons and met Scott. He told me
of loss of ponies. Of the eight, three died in blizzard, three
lost on floe, so only two left. We got to the hut about 7 p.m.
Found it all cleared out by Atch and Keohane ; very dark and
sooty from the blubber stove. Only one lantern, we sat
around ; and pots served out in fixed order. Owner arranged
for us to sleep in the ‘Sanctuary,’ opposite window. We had
one lantern over stove, and then turned in to wet bags and
slept fairly. Gran gave us finnesko. Will get Gran and
Garrard’s yarns after.”
1V
‘H IN THE OLD DISCOVERY HUT
MarcH—ApriL, I9I1
d
ot)
VW
ALPH RIVER CUTTING THROUGH THE MORAINES AND
ANCIENT ' ICE. [See p. 170.
ae
“DISCOVERY” HUT, Jan. 25, 1911.
Showing the ice-slope above the bay leading from the Gap to the Hut. Note the
eaves of the hut on left.
A MONTH IN THE OLD DISCOVERY HUT
Wuize we had been engaged on the western journey, Scott
had made his depot at One-Ton Camp, and had returned
north to Ross Island, a fortnight before we arrived. During
February the sea-ice had broken away far to the south of
Glacier Tongue—which marked the water’s edge in January
—and it was now impossible to return to Cape Evans by the
route they had marched south.
Moreover, the icy slopes of Erebus were seamed with
crevasses, and many ice-falls lay at the root of Glacier Tongue,
so that an overland journey was out of the question also.
Luckily the old Discovery Hut had been placed on the long
rocky southern promontory of Ross Island named Cape Armi-
tage, and even under present conditions, with the water reach-
ing to Pram Point, it was possible to get to this hut from the
Barrier surface—as, indeed, the last chapter has shown.
A queer little hut indeed is this, compared with our palace
on Cape Evans! It is square in plan, and rises to a central
peak. All around is a sort of verandah, with outer walls
reaching halfway to the ground. This was designed to hold
stores and protect them from the blizzard snows. But the
hut was hardly used at all by the 1902 expedition. When
we first saw it in January, 1911, it was filled with snow and
ice to within a few feet of the ceiling, and did not look by
any means an attractive place of abode.
During February, Dr. Atkinson and Crean had spent a
large portion of their time excavating the hut, and had ulti-
mately cleared it completely of ice. A great heap of ice blocks
and chips marked the extent of their labours. They had piled
up the boxes of captain biscuits into a barrier enclosing the
north portion of the hut, and in this dark retreat the western
party found the depdt party on the 15th March.
We reached our refuge about 7 p.m. It was almost dark
189
190 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
outside and quite so inside. An acrid atmosphere of blubber,
smoke, and soot enveloped us as we occupied the rough
planks grouped around the heart of the hut. Here was built
up a primitive blubber stove, crowned by a chimney whose
vagaries formed the chief topic of conversation among the
Ry Yy,
NK a
cuts AA
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\\Wi KN dpe
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© Ponting's £ : a £
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5 Room a:
Chart
Table
Captain
Scott
Mother Meares
sover
Jane Atkinson
"Deb over
Geological Lab.
Titus Oates
Be)
L
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L
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a
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Birdie Bowers
over
Cherry- Garrard
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Stores
Crean
“Messdeck
Table
Keohane
Forde
Plan of hut, 1911, showing nicknames and bunks of Explorers.
Sewin é
“Machine
Annexe built of
Anton over
Demitri
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT
Arter our return from the summer’s sledging a new phase of
Antarctic life began. For the next seven months we were
practically confined to Cape Evans, and often to the hut
itself.
During our “ habitation enforced” it was rare for any man
to be addressed by the name inherited from his parents or
chosen by his godfathers and godmothers! The nicknames
of the fifteen of the afterguard had by this time become
standardized, and I| think merit a little attention.
Captain Scott was invariably known as The Owner, a
naval term always applied to the captain of a warship. Dr.
Wilson (baptized Edward Adrian) was always known as
Bill. Doctor Bill at first, Uncle Bill later, as one grew to
rely on him more and more. Lieutenant Evans had four
pre-initials, but was always called Teddy, which eminently
suited his cheery frame of mind. Dr. Simpson was early
caricatured as Sunny Fim by Lillie, and soon every one, in-
cluding our leader, called him nothing else. Captain Oates
was Titus to all of us, except to Bowers, who called him
Farmer Hayseed, while Captain Scott usually referred to him
as Soldier. Ponting was Ponko, and his chief aim in life
(to get us to pose for him in all sorts of uncomfortable
places) is perpetuated in the verb “to pont.” Nelson was
Bronte naturally, and more obscurely Marie from some
theatrical star met with in his varied career. Bowers was
Birdie, from his outstanding features and Titian crest.
Atkinson was shortened to Ach, or at times Fane. We were
short of female society—which lack also accounts for fessie
Debenham as an alternative to Deb. Cherry-Garrard was
always Cherry—though an affectionate variation was Cheery
Blackguard, while the seamen—baulking at the hyphen—
called him Mr. Gerard! Our Canadian Imperialist, Charles
213
214 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
Wright, bore with equanimity the name of Cousin Silas,
though perhaps Carolus and Tranter (Toronto) were more to
his taste. Bernardo Day and Trigger (Tryggve) Gran were
less remarkable ekenames. I gave up counting my own.
McCormick (Skua—alluding to the rapid disappearance of
some apricots), Keir-Hardy, Sharn-Gatch, and Old Griff were
but a few.
Before we had time to change into semi-civilized garb the
indefatigable Ponting had us outside to “pont” er him.
Luckily there were no melting icicles available, and he was
content to get us standing near the sledges. Some of the
others had already shaved off their beards, much to Ponting’s
disgust; but mine was so rudely criticised that I kept it most
of the winter to show my opinion of it! I assisted Ponting
to the best of my ability by adding a touch of verisimilitude
to Debenham’s photograph, and threw some snow at him at
the critical moment ; but most of us looked such pirates,
that there was no need for any further touch of Antarctica
about us.
I spent the day sorting gear, “. . . and about 1 p.m. I had
a gorgeous bath—the first for three months. Funny thing, no
effect from no wash, no change, no hair brush, etc.”
I suppose the cold accounts for no ill consequences, but I
have ever since felt more sympathy for the Southern European
peasants, for their ablutions are equally simple ; they also do
without a lot of impedimenta, and are equally healthy !
Ponting took his plates off to the dark-room, and sub-
mitted proofs next day! ‘‘ Debenham says he looks just like
an aboriginal—and far be it from me to contradict him.”
Captain Scott and Seaman Evans seemed to develop an
Irish appearance, while I scorn to repeat the comments on my
portrait.
On Sunday afternoon I had a stroll with Nelson, who told
me how the nine at the hut had spent the time. Dr. Simpson
was in charge, and had converted the newly built hut into a
palace of mystery. In his corner to the south-east a small
Gardiner oil engine was clacking away. This was used
primarily, in conjunction with a dynamo, to charge accumu-
lators for his electrical recording instruments. Mysterious
clicks and gasps and ticking galore warned us that chrono-
graphs and other wild fowl, to be described later, were brooding
t Sis ee = ~
Photo by H. G. Ponting.
CAPTAIN SCOTT WEARING THE WALLET IN WHICH HE CARRIED
HIS SLEDGING JOURNALS. ;
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 215
over meteorology yet in ovo. Ponting had “raked in every
little bit” available, including some magnificent studies of surf
breaking on the ice-foot. Day and Nelson roused our envious
admiration chiefly by the condition of their common cubicle.
No old beams from the stable framed their bunks! They were
supported by carved and polished standards, encased in veneer
(of venesta casing) ; and below were some fine specimens of
joinery in the shape of two capacious drawers !
Day had equipped the hut with acetylene. The generator
occupied a corner of the enclosed porch, where one could hear
it gurgling as one entered the hut. If the outer door were
not shut properly the fact was made evident by the dimming
of the light! For the water in the generator soon froze if a
blast of —40° struck it from the outer darkness. We were
prohibited from carrying candles through the porch into the
verandah storeroom for fear of explosion.
Nelson and I initiated the survey of Cape Evans on
that stroll. The lakes had diminished greatly ; not by ordinary
evaporation, but through the removal of ice particles by the
rocess of ablation. The margin of the lake ice was fringed
by “ blobs ” of ice united into a lacework, and day by day one
could see this fringe vanishing. It was curious that the small
animalcule (//agellata, etc.) should in some cases belong to the
same genera as in English ponds !
Cape Evans is a low promontory of triangular shape. Its
average height is only about twenty-five feet above the sea,
though Windvane Hill rises to sixty-five feet. The south-
western portion consists of rocky ridges of kenyte with steep
cliffs adjoining the sea, but to the north-east is a gravelly
plain surrounding Skua Lake. Quite abruptly on the east
and about half a mile from the western extremity, rises a steep
bank of gravel (the Ramp) to a height of 150 feet. A few
hundred yards of slope studded with quaint cones of rubble
brought one to the edge of the great sheet of glacier ice which
covers the whole western side of Mount Erebus. This was
our domain, and to this cape we were practically confined
during the ensuing six months (see Map No. 4).
Patches of ice covered portions of the cape, but the rest
of the surface consisted for the most part of kenyte gravel with
ridges and bosses of solid lava (kenyte) projecting through it,
especially to the south-west. These dark lavas undoubtedly
216 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
represented an earlier offshoot from the volcano of Erebus,
probably a subterranean flow ; while careful mapping later on
showed us that the little sheets of ice were not haphazard, but
were “ glacierets”’ fed by blizzard snowdrifts.
The most ingenious apparatus in the hut was due to
Clissold the cook. This was an electrical device to tell him
when the “ bread was riz.” He used to make the dough in
the galley and place it in a big pot, puncheon, or pan. This
was supported on a little trolley and stood at his bedside.
The dough mixed, Clissold turned into bed, and left the rest
to the yeast cells.
When the dough rose sufficiently it pushed up a disc
pat eddie date
: |
he Wc trcol Yeadmakey f
17-4 ott
which overbalanced a gutter. Down this ran a lead ball which
made contact and rang a bell! Further, the bell actuated a
pulley and wire and made another contact whereby a red light
appeared at intervals above his head! All this apparatus was
made in the hut, and we never found out where certain of the
“works’’ were hidden. Anyhow the bread was very
satisfactory.
On the 17th April Scott took a party back by the same
route to the Discovery Hut. Scott, Bowers, and Crean
returned there, accompanied by Day, Nelson, Lashley,
Hooper, and Demetri. Debenham and | went in charge of
two ponies who were to pull the sledges as far as possible.
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 217
There was a fine moon, so that it was quite light at
8.15 a.m. We crossed several cracks, and 1 tested the ice
with an axe. A moderate wind was blowing from the north—
always a safe direction, for the blizzards invariably came from
the south. The surface had improved greatly in the last few
days, and the ponies had no difficulty in pulling along at
about four miles an hour.
Erebus was clouded, but occasionally we could see a red
glow when the mists dispersed. Rarely was there so much
sign of heat visible, though the steam banner often spread out
a hundred miles.
Opposite Turk’s Head (six miles south) the wind changed
/nacce ‘Ale ~,
‘ste Bais Qe
Lye /s/e
=H
Changes in wind direction, March 17, 1911.
to a west breeze and then lulled, but a little further, near
Glacier Tongue, there was quite a strong southerly, and
we could see the drift sweeping over the promontory above
Hutton Cliffs.
Here Scott sent the ponies back in our charge. The
others marched on, and had a cold, rough time reaching the
Discovery Hut. Their difficulties in climbing the ice rampart
at Hutton Cliffs in the teeth of a smart blizzard is well shown
in one of Dr, Bill’s sketches in the South Polar Times.
A small villa had been erected in our absence, to carry the
magnetometers. This was built of asbestos or similar material,
218 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
and held together by brass nails. It also formed a camera
obscura for meteorological purposes. A lens in the roof pro-
jects the clouds on to a sheet of squared paper. This sheet is
rotated until the clouds appear to move along a set of lines,
and by comparing this with a compass the direction of their
movement is obtained accurately and quickly.
That evening I helped to festoon the hut with telephone
wires. While so engaged I saw my first aurora, and it did
not impress me. “ Like a huge broad cirrus cloud right across
the sky from W.N.W. to E.S.E. No colour or movement,
and it only lasted five minutes.”
Wright and I assisted Simpson to send up a ballon sonde.
This seemed a complicated business at first. We had to carry
9 out a queer theodolite with the
“ eyepiece inserted at right angles
oa to the telescope at the side; and
= a large tank for generating the
hydrogen ; and the inner tube
of a bicycle tyre—and various
reels of silk, etc., etc.; not to
mention a small tissue-like de-
flated balloon of red gutta-percha.
= = The tank was filled from a
Ss. ——— ep convenient tide-crack in the
ie ferens Clie, sea-ice, and then Charles filled
A sketch ne sr pees the cycle-tube with calcium
unwinding the ack Sl “ ; i
threads ae the two conical hydride. This compound r
Seis analogous to carbide, but gives
off hydrogen instead of acetylene.
He attached it to the top of the generator, and squeezed it to
push the lumps of hydride into the water. The balloon was
attached to an outlet pipe, and gradually lost its dejected
appearance and became a red sphere of some two feet diameter.
In about ten minutes the balloon was inflated. This was
merely a test, and after tying a piece of silver paper on the
balloon it was set free and rose rapidly. With the theodolite
the vertical and horizontal angles could be plotted, and thus
the path of the balloon charted approximately.
The sun was setting (at 3 p.m.) while we were doing this,
and gave a yellow glow to the steam-cloud on Erebus, which
was drifting to the south-east. When the balloon was about
SIMPSON SENDING UP A “BALLON SONDE,” Nov. 12, 1911.
The meteorograph stands on the box. Inside the latter are the two conical reels of
silk. In the background is the magnetic hut, the Grotto Glacier and Vane Hill.
ge BOL
pass Sy MI Soh .. ee
wR & y *
THE EAST CORNER OF THE HUT SHOWING THE EDDY TRENCH
SCOOPED OUT BY BLIZZARDS ON THE WINDWARD SIDE OF
THE HUT, Sept, 14, 1911.
The stores annexe appears just on Clissold’s right, and the “weather cupboard ” on
the right of the picture.
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 219
4000 feet up we could follow the flashing paper, and saw that
here the air currents were opposed to the direction of the
steam-cloud at 13,000 feet elevation.
The next afternoon there was a furious blizzard of fifty
miles an hour, and a temperature of —7°. We kept to the
hut, and made a start at winter occupations. I was busy
writing a narrative of the western journey for Captain Scott.
In this I proposed to discuss the physiography in some detail.
When I had written twenty pages on the first day and a half,
I wondered if the “ Owner” would live through a report
840 pages long! Luckily the rule of three responsible for
this forecast did not hold throughout !
Inside the hut the temperature was +47°. This was not
exactly hot, and poor Ponting was delighted when some of
the new-comers advocated lighting the small stove near his
dark room. He said that developing photographs with water
down to 47° was not the pleasantest job on earth. The
blizzards hit his side of the hut, so that the inside of the dark
room was festooned with icicles, giving it a most picturesque
but uncomfortable appearance.
Things were getting straight in our cubicle. Our floor
space was about eight feet by eight. We built a small table
opposite the door and put shelves over this. Gran occupied
a bunk over mine, and the legs of his wire bedstead hung
over my head and feet, and caused many bruises at first.
Debenham’s bunk was raised six feet off the ground, and
was supported on two stout wooden cylinders, on which the
linoleum had been rolled. He climbed into it by a primitive
ladder. His sea-chest was under the table, while mine half
blocked the doorway.
On the rubbish-heap outside I found a small tin which
served as my wash-basin. In this I kept a sponge, and
normally it stood on my chest below Debenham’s bunk. We
were able to get about half a tea-cup of water if we found
the cook in a good humour, so that it was rather a dry
rub.
Secretly I was rather proud of my morning wash, but it
did not seem to improve my appearance. I soon discovered
the reason. Watching Debenham one morning before I arose,
I saw him finish his ante-breakfast pipe and casually knock it
on the edge of his bunk. The ash obeyed the laws of gravity,
220 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
and fell into my sponge with great accuracy, and as if it were
accustomed to do so!
When the chest was thereafter freed from my ablutions, it
was seized by Debenham as a petrological laboratory. For
hours he might be observed rubbing down fragments of rocks
on a glass plate with carborundum powder.
He had a microscope, and was able to examine the many
thin sections thus produced without awaiting his return to
civilization. It is most interesting to see a dark rock gradually
becoming transparent as the section gets thinner. First the
quartz and felspar show up like clear and milky glass respec-
tively. Then the green or brown colours of the mica horn-
blende or augite appear, while the characteristic green fringes
to the clear olivine crystals or the absolute opacity of mag-
netite define those minerals. And then under the polarized
light of the microscope even the colourless minerals show
wonderful colours—from the pale greys and yellows of quartz
and felspar to the vivid blue and purple of the olivine and
pink and neutral tints of white mica.
Thus Debenham classified the numerous rocks from the
western mountains. Kemytes rich in lozenge crystals of a
beautifully banded felspar; granites showing brown cleaved
crystals of hornblende and mica among the quartz grains and
simple felspars ; dasa/ts with numerous crystals of olivine and
magnetite in a felted mass of little felspar laths—gneisses,
granulites, etc., etc., each and all can be pigeon-holed by
picking out the relative proportions of the few minerals
specified above.
By far the most interesting instrument in the hut—
consulted by scientist and layman alike—was the “ blizzo-
meter.” Such was the name we used for “ Dines Pressure-
tube Anemometer.’”’ We could all see a roll of paper
on a rotating drum, on which a pen was always scratch-
ing lines giving wind velocity. But the expert could tell lots
more. He could say not only how heavy each individual
gust had been during the past twenty-four hours, but he could
tell from the character of the graph whether the wind were
from the north or south, and, more awkward still, he could
tell when the night watchman had neglected his duty and let
the inlet become choked with drift !
You could not bluff Simpson or the blizzometer. The
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 221
Rotahng
Lever and Pen
Alcohol
Thermograph.
Graph | Pen ,
| < Pisfon rising with
float
alcohol
mercury
Piston rising
with drum
rofafed
Clock which
lowers pencil
| Wind Direction Recorder Dines Blizzometer External Tubes
within Fhe Hol Above Hut
Copied from Simpson’s diagrams at his lecture in the hut, June 3, 1911.
222 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
blizzard gave a thick series of vertical lines, so close together
that a broad ribbon almost resulted. The north wind was
never so strong, and the lines were shorter and less close
together.
To understand the working of the blizzometer, let us
accompany the night watchman. He has been engaged on
his diary, maybe, till nearly midnight, when a complete set of
observations are to be taken. He goes to the blizzometer to
see what particular virulence of blizzard he has to face, and
sees that the pen is motionless at the bottom of the paper—
having dropped down after tracing gusts of sixty miles an
hour. The night watchman feels depressed. He has to go
and inspect thermometers and barometers and various other
-ometers, but had hoped he would be spared “clearing the
head” of the blizzometer. However, he wraps up well, and,
carrying an electric lamp, ventures out round the south of the
hut. He reads the thermometer at the most exposed corner,
and then glances up to the roof-ridge and wonders whether
he'll be blown off or not. In a sheltered nook he finds a
brush of wires, and clutching this he climbs up a ladder to the
roof. He feels the hut vibrating under the blizzard, and the
drift shoots past him to the north. He clutches a metal tube
projecting two feet above the ridge, and proceeds to prod the
Wires into its orifice, which faces the blizzard. A plug of drift
snow breaks loose, and the wind once more drives freely into
the nozzle of the blizzometer. It rushes down the tube into
the hut and enters the base of the instrument. Here it passes
under and into a metal bell floating in paraffin. The pressure
raises this float, and of course raises a piston attached to it
above. The piston passes through a gland to the outside and
carries the pen at its upper end. Thus with every gust the
piston (and pen) rises and falls, and a record is made directly
on the rotating drum. The watchman warms his hands inside
his jacket, and when feeling has returned to them he trudges
into the hut, and devoutly prays the “head” will remain
unchoked all night.
At this period our hut interior looked neat but not gaudy.
Later, the continual tramping in of boots carrying snow and
gravel, somewhat detracted from the neatness ; but luckily, in
the absence of brilliant illumination, no one was perturbed by
the accumulation of “ matter in the wrong place” which soon
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT . 223
collected in the corners. But one object in the hut looked
rather incongruous, and that-was the Broadwood Pianola, lent
us by the Broadwood Company. It was intended to keep
this on the ship, but our unloading was done so successfully
that some time could be devoted to transhipping the pianola.
By dint of dismantling the wardroom—removing the stairs
bodily—Rennick and his assistants managed to hoist the
pianola on deck, and so got it eventually into the hut.
We were a strikingly unmusical crew. Ponting on the
banjo and Nelson on the mandolin were the best. No one
but myself ever used the piano. I had three pieces of music
and speedily lost one—it was found under the pianola buried
in grime six months later,—so that there was rather a same-
ness about my performance. I grieve to state that my two
pieces became less rather than more popular as_ winter
advanced !
However, I rather thought I might shine as a pianola
player, and started to practise as early as April. After listening
for some time, my scientific colleagues, who occupied bunks
immediately back of the pianola, were moved to remark,
“‘ For Heaven’s sake, Griff, give that a miss, and let some one
play who can keep time!” Perhaps I should have persevered,
but they could throw too straight, and I never attempted
pianola-playing again.
On the 21st Scott returned from Hut Point, leaving
Meares, Nelson, Day, Forde, Keohane, Lashley, and Demetri
in the 1902 hut with the ponies.
They had had bad weather going—as I expected. Very
thick drift hampered them, and the new chums, especially
Hooper, had been severely frostbitten. The latter had two
angry red sores on his neck where the blizzard had caught
him between his helmet and jersey. To climb the cliff at
Hutton Cliffs they had to empty a sledge. Crean and
Lashley held it up at arms’ length like a ladder, and Scott
managed to climb up it, and cut steps over the cornice. They
reported that the others expected to stay a fortnight more,
and they augured badly for the commissariat under Meares,
because “he’s so very sparing with the butter !”
Ponting kindly developed my western negatives in his
dark-room. They were no worse than I expected, being,
however, all rather thin. Half a dozen were broken, and I had
224 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
improved on a common error by putting three on one plate.
We had such a rush before starting our journey that neither
Debenham nor myself could test a single plate under Antarctic
conditions. It seems simple now, but we had many failures
before we gauged the best method. Previous Antarctickers
had recommended plates and not films. I now disagree with
this advice im to, at any rate for sledging. We broke the
plates. They scratched easily. Changing them in our bags
was an unmitigated nuisance and filled the dark slides with
hairs. Lastly, the glass plates weighed so much that they
were always left behind when we had to cut down weights.
We had an idea that the quickest exposures would be
advisable with snowscapes. Ultimately we took most of
them at half a second or thereabouts !
A typical scene would largely consist of a skyline of snow
mountain backed by a blue sky more or less covered by grey
or white clouds. The foreground was usually also snow with
bluish shadows. Everything was blue or white. There was
little contrast, and owing to the photographic value of d/ue
being almost the same as that of wire, the resulting photo-
graph was of a dismal flatness and one could not distinguish
land from sky.
Of course this pointed to yellow screens to cut out all blue
and give it the effect of black. We had much better success
thereafter, but this necessitated the slow exposures I have
mentioned previously.
My chief camera was a Zeiss Minimum Palmos equipped
with all modern features, taking telephoto pictures, stereo-
scopic, } plate or panorams (73 inches long). It had a focal
plane shutter calculated to give yso of a second; but the
rubber shutter froze stiff, and my exposures were largely made
with a red handkerchief presented to me by Wright.
At the east end of the hut Ponting was busy at a huge
instrument which looked like a cross between a barrel organ -
and a butter churn. It was really a “washer” for cinema
films. The films were wound on a cylinder, placed in the
washer, covered with a lid, and then rotated by a handle.
When this operation was finished we all admired Ponting’s
ingenuity, for he emptied out the water and placing a rug inside
the hybrid, converted it into a most comfortable lounge chair.
The 23rd was Sunday, and Scott held Church service as
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 225
usual. He and Dr. Bill would consult as to the hymns, and
Bill acted as choir-master. He and Scott would test the key
by striking several notes on the pianola before service. Then
just before we started the hymns Bill would sound the note
again and Scott would lead off with the first line. He hada
tenor voice and could sing much higher notes than most of
us, and made no ado about remarking, “ We'll have this a few
notes higher,”’ between the first and second verses.
Early in the winter Dr. Atkinson started physical measure-
ments, which were always the source of much interest and
amusement. They were taken every alternate Sunday or
Monday, and a list of the figures for those present on the 24th
April may be of interest.
In addition to ordinary measurements, tests of the grip
by the dynamometer and breathing power by the spirometer
were also recorded. In the former an oval spring-frame is
compressed and a rachet and cog actuates a finger which
indicates the grip. The spirometer consists of a _ small
enclosed vane which is blown round by the pressure due to
One expiration.
I got the heights of the officers and recorded them on
the wall of the “owner’s”’ cubicle. The other measurements
are given in the table herewith.
APRIL 24, IQII.
Name. Height. Weight. Dyn™.| Waist. Arm. Chest. Spir™. Calf.
Fr. in. Stone lbs. Ing. Ins. 7 dns, Ins,
Captain Scott 5 g'05 11 64 320] 30% 143 394 294°5 154
Dr. Wilson ... peso Iie or 275 zo) ns "36° “289°3) 154
Lieut. Bowers 5 4 12.0 | 280°) gzF 132 go. 230 164
Cherry-Garrard Os tn 6 300] 30, 19+ 362 267 a5
Atkinson & 675 11) OF 270 | go. 132 362 265 154
Debenham 5 84 «11, oF 305 | 29h 124 384 261 132
Taylor [moo rr 7 Bho | 352" 19° "36% 307 144
Ponting Bee SG rg) WN eh erg | Zoe x44 37 «-258°5 4h
Oates... i. 5 35 TA 4a 270i FIRS TBR 40) 266° 15d
Evans BOs EI MGal 2kO aa te. 40k. 270 Ase
Gran... 5 11°05 13 3% 300] 31% 122 40 335 154
Wright BGS) Tip fz) 945°) sok 222 38 329 149
Simpson ,TO'Qs rE ee! 260") igo Sag” gy 408 13+
Day
Nelson pabsent at |Hut Point.
Mears
* The waist measurement caused great amusement. Evans and I were
Q
~
226 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
Wilson, Bowers, Taylor, Ponting, Gran, and Meares were
non-smokers, and Wilson, Bowers, Taylor, and Simpson were
teetotalers, though several of the others swore off alcohol
except on high days.
At noon the northern and western sky was very beautiful,
and I made an effort to record the colours by means of chalks
in my diary. The dominant note was yellow shading to
lemon-green in the west. Over the western mountains was a
rose-pink flush verging into lilac-grey through salmon-red.
To the north the band of salmon-red flanking the yellow
changed into slate-blue and pale blue overhead. The sun’s
rays shone gold through clouds over the Barne glacier,
which exhibited magnificent purple and blue shadows.
It is sad to think that Bowers’ sailor-like criticism of the
magnificent study in reds and yellows was that it reminded
him “of a mess of eggs that had carried away,” meaning
thereby a dish of fried eggs which had been upset.
Captain Scott instituted an aurora watch on this date. It
was desirable to discover if periods of great magnetic disturb-
ance (as shown by the magnetometers in the ice grotto) were
accompanied by striking displays of aurore. There were
fifteen officers in the hut, so that each man’s turn came along
about once a fortnight. He was to go out at every hour and
sketch the aurora if present, and of course attend to the
meteorological instruments, inspect the ponies, keep up the
fire, and generally mount guard from 8 p.m. to 8 am. A
feast of sardines heated on a bunsen burner was promised to
the gallant watchman.
The most imposing objects near the cape were the stranded
icebergs. Ponting and I walked across to them in the after-
noon. First we reached the Arch Berg just before it fell in
and became the Castle Berg, the Arch Berg, in which the major
portion of the arch had fallen, leaving only a narrrow elevated
strip uniting the two moieties of the berg. There was a
magnificent view, looking back at Erebus through this white
measured first, with the result above recorded. Wilson came next and basely
proceeded to constrict “little Mary” to an incredible extent, so that he had
apparently five inches less corporation than Evans and myself. Every one else
followed suit, and many were the jeers at our expense. However, I got Gran
to measure me according to Wilson’s method, and dropped to 30} with
ease !
. Mnaey Yet fact ae Jul fn Que dasa
vee sol Tag Ce Te SO ae b 4 26
- t
A Pee Oey i Aish 38 | 27
Festus Rea kK a zz
ee Gi tS 71D 260 10 $ hee }
ci ES cg eas, % # fr
Cafetl Pe ee 2k ee 8 ld
ey od
wk Teg a 2h 1 9g 2 4
1 2 a , /
_ Wretpd Paseo ta oe (eee: R26 ;
Cran {6 ee ry Zoot 28 B29 QZ.
Cot ly) Ts a [ae eee ae) 228
a, is 3 ee ieee Be pee Ss Page
Be a Ig 4 Boe I fp Sr wae
pa LA on, AP GLIS cs Sate lar Wag inet Wer ¥o 246.
% PD, | : 2h 6 22. ) Ne 3
CAPTAIN SCOTT’S AUTOGRAPH LIST FOR THE AURORA
\WWe IC lst.
7 °
a |
7 oe pire
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 227
arch, and Ponting promised himself some particularly pleasing
views when the sun returned.
Later we went over to the tunnel berg, which Wright
and I surveyed in January. It had also broken up, and had
tilted up some twenty feet on the southern side, owing to
readjustments in the equilibrium. The once vertical tunnel
was now only half its length, and lying at an angle of 45°
(see Fig. p. 97). ME
Two seals were lying in the lee of a small berg near by.
As we approached they took to the mushy water immediately
surrounding the berg. They lay there on the sea ice sub-
merged by the pressure of the berg above it, being just under
Sen ‘ee
= ees ss SS
The Arch Berg just before it fell in and became the Castle Berg,
April 27, 1911.
water, and not worrying to get through the ice into the Sound
beneath.
Later in the day a wandering Emperor was led in by a
strap round his neck, and I held his wings while Dr. Bill
pithed him by a lancet in the brain.
“The last bunk has been added by Oates. He brought
in some boards from the stables—not needed now owing to
the decease of the six ponies—and has built an erection which
presumably satisfies him. We all remark that it is only held
up by a small plank nailed to Bowers’ bunk ; but Oates is
quite imperturbable as usual, and no whit disturbed by
ribald remarks as to a ‘ deadfall’ trap baited with oats.”
I had been reading Cherry’s set of Kipling, and there
was such a clatter of talk from our rivals across the hut that
I* publicly christened them the Banderlog. Birdie retaliated
by criticizing my pronunciation ; but I said I had no objection
228 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
to calling them the “ Bunderlohg,” and did so for the rest
of the winter.
Debenham fixed up a terra-cotta curtain across our
entrance which had been presented by Ponting, and now we
were hidden from the vulgar gaze, though one frank critic
said our sanctum looked like nothing so much as an opium
den. Day had run in a branch acetylene light, and Debenham
had stained everything stainable a dull red-brown with that
beauteous dye, “ Condy’s Fluid.” Not to be outdone, Gran
fixed red linen borders on the shelves made from photographic
“ window” material, while I draped my bunk with a deep
blue hanging, which had originally formed part of the Sunday
tablecloth. We put down all captious remarks to jealousy ;
and the “Ubdugs”’ were more secluded than any other
coterie in the hut.
Immediately north of Cape Evans the coast-line con-
sisted of alternating rocky crags and snow-drifts, but about
half a mile away this gave place to the vertical wall of the
Barne Glacier. In places this ice barrier rose to 180 feet, and
was fissured with crevasses from which frequent falls took
place. These varying features were named later on, and
Wright, Debenham, and myself were never tired of examining
the silt bands, and included blocks, crevasses, debris slopes,
etc., which characterized the vicinity of High Cliff.
The summer sun acting on some of the dark boulders
included in the ice face had etched them out until they
appeared like giant gargoyles projecting three or four feet
beyond the general plane of the ice wall. I made a rough
pencil sketch of these “ gargoyles,” and on my return to the
hut asked Dr. Bill to show me how to improve on this
attempt.
On the 27th an important institution was inaugurated,
which was afterwards called Universitas Antarctica. Captain
Scott had sounded Wilson, and then he called up Simpson
and myself and asked us if we would be willing to help
carry out a scheme of winter lectures which he had drawn
out.
We had a notice board on the side of the “ Owner's’
cubicle, and on this he appended the following notice :—
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 229
WINTER LECTURES.
Some members of the community have very kindly consented to
give a series of lectures during the forthcoming winter, the programme
of which is attached hereto.
These lectures are arranged for each week, to be given on Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays, after the evening meal.
It is proposed that each lecture should be followed by a discussion,
conducted on ordinary debating lines, and regulated by myself as chair-
man. ‘The time occupied by the lecturer will be about one hour. It
it not thought advisable to attempt to impose a time limit on the
subsequent discussion. Attendance at lectures is purely voluntary, and
neither the lecturer nor the chairman will feel aggrieved if any person
prefers to read a novel or otherwise employ his time.
WINTER LECTURES AND DISCUSSIONS.
Subject. Lecturer,
Monday, Mayr. Antarctic Birds ... E. A. Wilson.
Wednesday, ,, 3. Halos and Auroras G. C. Simpson.
Friday, » 5. Physiography G. Taylor.
Monday, » 8. Future Plans of the Expedition,,. R. F. Scott.
Wednesday, » 10. Illustrated Lecture a: kd. Gy Ponting.
Friday, 5 12. Mineralogy F, Debenham.
Monday, » 15. Penguins ee ar E. A. Wilson.
Wednesday, », 17. Management of Horses ... LL. E..G.!Oates:
Friday, » 19. Ice Problems C. Wright.
Monday, », 22. Evolution of Sledge Rations H. Bowers.
Wednesday, »» 24. Parasitology 4) !4]
PIRQ' 4? yt
tlie | 2 | ea
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 277
He got back quite safely to the tide gauge, which was only
a stone’s throw from the hut. Then he was completely lost.
The wind had dropped somewhat. He tried to keep it full
in his face ; and, perhaps, owing to eddies around the cape,
he must have wandered due west away from the hut and
towards the opensea. After some hours of helpless wandering,
where he had to keep moving to prevent his freezing to death,
he came to some high cliffs. He thought these might be
the walls of Inaccessible Island, but there is little doubt that
he had wandered south now, and was skirting Tent Island.
He tried to burrow into the snow-drifts here, and so got his
hand badly frostbitten. Then the moon showed faintly, and
he owed his life to the fact that he remembered to have seen
the moon over Erebus (and therefore east) on the preceding
night. So he staggered towards the moon, and after about
an hour and a half he reached Cape Evans, and was safe.
We had imagined that the blizzard, constantly blowing from
the south, would have enabled him to steer east to the coast ;
but, owing to lulls and to eddies, and finally to his dazed
condition, he lost all sense of direction, and would have
undoubtedly perished but for the moon. The search parties
got in by 2 a.m., and then the blizzard fury increased nearly
to gale strength, and continued all next day. It was only
during the six hours while Atkinson was lost that it lulled
sufficiently to permit of any one venturing away from land.
If it had kept up to its original or final strength, we might
easily have had other casualties in the search parties.
The recital of dreams, as furnishing outside interests of a
sort, was occasionally tolerated in the hut. I wonder if most
people go through my dream evolution? Asa child, a feeling
of terror, often that primitive idea of falling and never hitting
anything, which is a survival of tree life. Later, the growth
of a belief that the dreamer himself never gets hurt. And
then in the late ’teens the comfortable realization that it’s
only a dream, to be followed by “dreams within dreams” ;
and, finally, at the age of thirty by logical reasoning while
dreaming.
I noted that we had been south six months before I began
to dream of snow and ice, and this perhaps is of psychological
interest. In one dream “TI was climbing up above Grindel-
wald, aided by a New Zealand guide, in company with Dr.
278 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
Bill. We got ‘bushed’ on a high peak near a hay-stack. I
had a talk with Dr. Bill, in which I said that I had dreamt
that the guide was going to take us down an easy way, which
he wanted to keep dark, as he’d discovered it and wanted to
keep it for rich tourists. We both smiled at this fool dream.
Then I really awoke, and I suppose my sub-conscious self is
still smiling on ‘Hay-stack Mountain’ in the Grindel-
wald!”
The ponies were snugly housed in the stable along the
lee side of the hut. Their stable was built of the blocks of
compressed fuel, and was quite a snug abode. They were
rather vicious little beggars, and a walk down the narrow
“aisle’’ meant a risk of a bite or a kick. Oates and Meares
spent a lot of time in the stable making blubber and seal
pemmican for the dogs. The western party had nothing to
do with the ponies, for only those who were leading the
ponies south were responsible for exercising them. In mid-
winter some “ fearful wild fowl” took cover in their shaggy
coats, and occasioned Captain Oates much trouble.
I noted this in my journal as follows—
“Baron Bernard du Day, Messenger from Captain Titos
Oates.
“Greetings to Debenham.
“ Wilt thou peril thyself so far as to visit the stable, and
for payment of one straight-cut cigarette an hour, comb the
manes of ye Siberian ponies to catch ye intrepid and adventur-
ous louse ?
“Debenham meekly leaves his rock sections, and hies him
hence!”
Some of the game from the Pony Coverts was exhibited
by Atkinson under his microscope. They resembled white
ants in wind-helmets! No legs appeared in the specimen, so
I asked if they had been worn off in the chase, but the indignant
exhibitor was silent.
During the autumn another grotto had been added to
our outlying villas. This had been cut out in the glacieret
to house Wright’s pendulums. We called it the “Cave of
Pendullum.” It was usually drifted up, and we had to cut
down to the sacking door, being careful not to chop the tele-
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 279
phone wires. Inside, in one corner, was the telephone box,
well crusted with ice, through which he could hear the ticking
of the sidereal clock in the hut. There was also a delicate
apparatus from the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge to
register the “ionization of the air,” and a microscope and
micro-camera. On an ice bench was the chief instrument, a
stand carrying four short pendulums. Each was mounted on
an agate knife-edge, and was surmounted by a mirror. The
time of swing of these pendulums was very delicately measured,
and gave the pull of gravity at Cape Evans, thus leading to an
estimate of the shape of the earth.
This account is somewhat brief, and this is explained in
my journal as follows: “This description has been greatly
interrupted by the irruptions and incursions of the Anti-
Feminist, who wi// pour out his antiquated views on ‘ Woman’s
Mission in Life’ into the unwilling ears of Debenham and
myself. His only semi-sane argument is, that as all laws rest
On an appeal to force, and as men are physically stronger than
women, therefore men must protect, must rule, and (apparently)
therefore must control and administer all the laws! The rest
is pure selfishness.”
Tuesday (11th July) was Jam Day, as I write with glee.
There are two articles of diet to which I am not particularly
addicted, and they are cheese and sardines. We got cheese
solus for four lunches a week, and sardines every night watch.
So that I used to reckon by Tuesdays! I proceeded to
translate German glaciology as usual, but unfortunately
Debenham and Nelson started a cag on the merits or
demerits of Australian tennis champions ; and when that was
over we had another as to which was the worst storm in the
Terra Nova. Nelson said it took place off Cape Town, Wright
said off St. Paul, Atkinson said south of New Zealand. All
this talk occurred in our cubicle, and as Debenham and I had
not experienced the two earlier excitements, we were not
violently interested, and tried to push the debaters out, with
complete lack of success. I did very little German !
On the 12th of July we had a record blizzard. For over
twelve hours its mean velocity was above forty miles per hour,
and it rose above seventy miles per hour at 9.15, 11.15, and
5.30. At 9.15 p.m. it fairly boomed over the hut. Luckily
the hut is so surrounded by “lean-tos”’ and great snow-drifts
\
280 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
that the wind is led gradually on to the Hut, else it would
surely have blown us into the sea.
This blizzard was accompanied by relatively high tempera-
tures. It roared all that day, but after lunch, on 13th, I
write: “. .. it is getting cooler; none of that oppressive
heat of +8° F. (24 degrees of frost), and is now much nicer
(—7°); so that the leaks have stopped, after damping Gran’s
mattress considerably.”” The lunch was evidently cheese, so
that I confined my attention to brown bread, dripping, and
cocoa. We were able to leave the Hut in the afternoon, and
walked up to Bertram. Skua Lake was so brilliant, I thought
at first it had melted, but it was merely polished like plate-
glass by the furious drift.
Teddie Evans had been engaged for some days on plotting
the chart of Dry Valley on the first western journey. He
made a fine drawing, with
“form-lines” inserted, so
that the shape of the glacial
valley showed up splendidly.
Captain Scott, Evans, and
myself discussed the nam-
ing of the new glaciers, etc.,
now first charted. We had
given some of them pro-
visional names on _ our
journey, and the Owner
chaffed me somewhat, but
said he didn’t mind a bit.
There were two distinct
glaciers included in the Ferrar Glacier, which Scott had
named in 1903. He asked me if the one entering Dry
Valley was going to be described as a type; and I said that
its exposed bed was probably unique in Antarctica. Then he
said, “ We'll call it the Taylor Glacier.” So that on 15th July
I became a cartographic entity !
One of the most interesting paragraphs in the German tome
through which I was laboriously wading tended to show that
the world was approaching another Ice Age rather than leaving
it behind.
In the Swiss Alps the Germans have shown that there were
no less than four Ice Ages included under the last glacial
The Twin Glaciers (copied from
diary, July 15, 1911).
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 281
epoch, separated into three inter-glacial periods. The general
temperatures can be obtained by studying the depression in
the snow-line and the position of the moraines in these four
Gunz Mindel Riss — Wurm Wow
She futore lce-age 1e-70
Ice Ages. It really looks as if we were now in an inter-
glacial period, rather than permanently free from glacial con-
ditions. However, the next Ice Age is seventeen thousand
years off, even by the lowest computation.
I was able to make a characteristic sketch of Erebus on the
18th July. The steam cloud extended across an arc of 90°,
Similar reversal of the steam banner of Erebus at noon, May 1, 1911.
and appeared to be drifting “ the south. The banner was
possibly a hundred miles long. On the surface there was a
cool southerly wind, in just the opposite direction. Several
fine undulations showed in this banner, and at times a hummock
of steam over the crater pointed to extensive outbursts of
vapour. Far to the south the banner was very faint, and
reminded one of the Milky Way.
The dawn colours were very beautiful. We were not to
282 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
see the sun for over a month, but over his position were belts
of crimson lake, dull red and green, with pale blue above.
Sometimes the dogs would accompany us up the Ramp.
Atkinson and I went up to read Bertram on the 21st, while
Stareek and Tsigane trotted alongside. The latter is quite
sociable, while Stareek, one of the leaders, is one of the most
imperturbable. According to Atch, he has been seen admon-
ishing Tsigane for his undignified behaviour !
These walks were good exercise, but the weather was
getting colder (though mid-winter was past) and —35° was
quite common. My first occupation on reaching the Hut was
to go and hold my head over the stove. After some minutes
the lumps of frozen breath which surrounded my mouth would
melt somewhat, and I was able to free my beard from the
flannel of my helmet !
After Church service on the following Sunday (23rd),
Ponting gave an exhibition of cinema pictures in his dark
room. It was a very select show, as there was only room for
an audience of four! His films were megatives, so that the
black and white were reversed. Under these circumstances
the seals appeared white and more slug-like than ever, while
the white shadows following the penguins were most uncanny.
While we were in the dark room Simpson called out that the
wind was still rising. It reached eighty-four miles per hour
at 8 p.m., which was the record during the first winter, though
this was easily beaten in 1912.
The 26th of July was a splendid day, and without doubt
marked the return of daylight. Simpson and I visited
Bertram and were able to read the thermometers without
recourse to fusees. We marched on the Erebus Glacier some
distance, and found numerous potholes in it, due to stones
sinking therein. On our return I continued plotting the
chart of the Koettlitz Glacier. Wright is obtaining interest-
ing results from his ice sections by “rubbings” of the ice
striae with a soft pencil. These photograph quite well.
We were well stocked with books in the Hut. Almost
every officer had taken down some standard novels in addition
to a few text-books, and curiously enough there was very little
overlapping. For instance Cherry had a row of Kipling’s
works which almost all of us appreciated, Day had Dickens,
Debenham had four or five poets, and more popular still—a
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 283
collection of thirty ‘“ paper-back sixpennies,’’ which every one
was always borrowing. He kept them in a box under his
elevated bunk, and I remember one evening after we had
turned in, some one came into our cubicle and started
burrowing about. Debenham said, “ Now then, what are you
after down there?” A voice replied, ‘‘ Where do you keep
those sixpenny novels, Debenham?” It was Scott, who
couldn’t sleep, and wanted some light literature !
I had two or three of Wells, Browning, Tennyson, and
“‘ Martin Chuzzlewit.” However, though my library was small,
I used the official library more than any one! I have
mentioned elsewhere the splendid little library of standard
fiction presented largely by Mr. Reginald Smith. This con-
sisted of about 250 portable volumes published by Smith,
Elder and Co., and by Nelsons, There were Merriman’s,
Bronte’s, and Conan Doyle’s, and all the shilling editions of
noteworthy books by authors like Gosse and Belloc. Mr.
Mackellar gave us many other volumes, especially some small
art books. These lived in Day’s bunk. Then Admirals
Markham and Beaumont presented us with many rare copies
of books on Polar Exploration. These were constantly being
read, especially by Bowers, whose lectures on sledging rations
and polar clothing led him to read every word. Candidly I
must admit that it was not cheering—when the blizzards were
booming over the hut and all was dark around us—to read of
Greeley’s awful suffering in the Arctic, where forty out of
fifty men perished ; or of the loss of the feannette and her
crew in Siberia; but still the volumes were always being
referred to by one or other of the officers.
We had several larger books, Haydn’s “ Dictionary of
Dates,” which didn’t seem to be much troubled, and Harms-
worth’s Encyclopedia, which was always in demand. Cherry
had the large Times Atlas, and we had Paul’s “ History of the
1gth Century,” and Harmsworth’s “ History of the World.”
Oates brought along Napier’s “ Peninsular War,” and rarely
seemed to read or need aught else. I had a bet with him that
I would finish Paul’s six volumes before he had read through
Napier. However, neither was completed, though Oates was
along way ahead! Scott had a shelf of poets and a number
of foreign novelists, chiefly Russian and Polish.
I had finished all the lighter literature in about three
284 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
months, and thereafter was able to advise some of the others
as to works meriting their fleeting attention! It occurred to
me that it would be amusing to try and discover the tastes of
the fifteen officers of the hut. Books were naturally often
discussed. Oates must have been reading some of Merriman,
for I find that Simpson took exception to his praise of the
latter's works on meteorological grounds! This seems rough
on Merriman ; but Simpson said it was not possible to see the
midnight sun at Tver, and he also objected to the wrong use
of the word parhelion. I’m afraid I’d missed these “ pro-
fessional errors,” but I remember what seemed a serious flaw
to me in Davis’ “ Soldiers of Fortune” (otherwise a rattling
yarn), was the author’s weird geological description in the first
chapter! Similarly we expected Captain Scott and Seaman
Evans to revel in Kipling’s sea yarns, whereas they were not
enthusiastic. Both made the same criticism ; Evans saying
that there seemed to be a lot made about a little, and that,
“anyway things isn’t so concentrated-like in the Navy!”
I hope living authors, if they ever read this, will rise
superior to our criticism ! Debenham didn’t like “ Kipps”’ ; in
fact, except for Wright I couldn’t get a word in favour of
Wells. Even Nelson, who liked reading “ Anne Veronica,”
declared it was a piece of satire from beginning to end, in
which Wells was obviously gibing at his readers! The only
book Nelson and I liked in common was Gissing’s “ Born in
Exile,” and I grieve to state that the “ Owner ’”’ characterized
this as “ Tosh!” ‘Richard Yea and Nay” is loved by
Debenham. I couldn’t read it, and declared it was not free
from gross errors. (Pace Hewlett!) Challenged thereon, I
said I had visited the castle at Gisors, and that it was still a
well-preserved ruin, whereas in the novel it is “razed to the
ground.” ‘This, of course, led to a cag on the meaning of
the word razed, in which all the hut took part, and I’ve no
recollection as to who was supposed to have won! Any
Canadian novel that was appreciated by one man, would be
caustically slated by Wright. I think we were all better at
criticism than appreciation. Chambers’ “ Fighting Chance”
was damned “‘ because the hero kisses a girl under water” !
However, as a result we began to get some idea as to each
other’s tastes in literature. I was a sort of referee, in that
Ponting, Day, Debenham, Wright, and Simpson, would some-
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 285
times read a book on my recommendation, while Meares,
Oates, and Nelson, always went for what I didn’t like !
We had very strong winds about this time, and were
very anxious to know how the Cape Crozier party were pro-
gressing, They were due back, and had had awful weather
judging by our experience. On the 29th Atkinson and I
made our usual excursion up the Ramp to “ Bertram.” There
was no drift, but the wind rose to fifty miles per hour at times.
We could hardly keep up on the ice, and I was actually blown
bodily off the little cone on which Bertram was erected.
Later we went out to “Archibald,” letting the wind blow us
there. Scott said he saw us start, and when he looked again
in a few minutes we “ were mere dots on the horizon !”
But it was not so easy getting back, and I only managed
it by bending double and watching our outward tracks.
On the 1st of August I went on night watch at 8 p.m.
Most of the men were turning in, when Hooper called out,
*‘ Here’s the Cape Crozier party.” So we all rushed out and
there were the three of them. Cherry staggered in looking
like nothing human. “ He had ona big noseguard covering
all but his eyes, and huge icicles and frost stuck out like
duck’s bills from his lips! They had been away five weeks
and a day, and it had been hell all the time practically. After
leaving Meares and Sunny Jim, they had pushed on and
camped four miles this side of the 1902 Hut. The next day
they camped on the Barrier. There had been but little snow
on the sea ice, though a snowdrift led them up on to
Barrier. Here awful soft snow began, and it was very cold.
They had to relay most of the way, and sometimes even with
one sledge they could hardly get a move on. It was like
pulling in soft sand, and often they only seemed to be
marking time.
“It took them three weeks to get to Cape Crozier, and
they remained there ten days. They were unable to get any
blubber and had to return when only one tin of oil was left.
Blizzards held them up off Mount Terror, and here Birdie
is credited with sleeping three days and nights (bar meals).
The other two didn’t! They spent three days building a
stone igloo, and pitched the tent to leeward. A tremendous
blizzard came up and blew their tent away! They had now
a poor chance of getting back, and proposed to dig snow holes
286 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
each night and cover themselves over with the floor cloth.
Luckily they found the tent a quarter of a mile away, just on
top of the sea cliff! They had camped just south of the big
cliff under which we had rowed in January, 1911.
“All the ice blew off the Ross Sea with the force of the
blizzard. They were only able to get down to the Emperor
penguins on one day. These were nesting—if such it can be
called—on a piece of old sea ice between the cliffs of Cape
Crozier and the high Barrier Ice. They had to crawl down
between the Barrier and the Rock Cliffs, and here Birdie stuck
as his clothes had frozen so stiff! There were only a
hundred penguins there, instead of 1000 as they had expected.
They spent two hours getting down and could only carry
away six eggs, of which three broke. Cherry says his mits
were made warmer thereby! The temperature was down
to —77° F. (a sledging record) and often below —60° F.
Their sleeping bags froze stiff, and they couldn’t roll them up,
while Cherry’s was too big and never thawed except where he
touched it ; moreover, they tore badly when they were getting
into them.
“On their return they could only make one mile on the
first day, and Birdie went down a crevasse to the length of
his harness. They managed to get him up by a bowline on
the alpine rope. On the last three nights Cherry said that no
one slept. They used to doze on the march and over their
meals, but were too cold in the bags. On emerging from
their tents they had to be careful to hold their heads as they
would bear them later, for their clothes froze and held them
like a coat of mail !”’
About three miles to the south lay Tent Island ; so called
because in 1904 the men cutting a canal through the ice had
their tent there. Atkinson and I walked over there early in
August, to see if we could find his belt, which he had lost on
July 4th. I carried a plane table to continue my survey of
these islands. It was. extraordinary to see footprints in the
gravel, which must have been made by Priestley in 1907,
though they looked as fresh as my own.
We visited Clarence on our return, and found it to be
much less imposing than Archibald or Bertram. Merely a
little box at sea-level, containing two thermometers, but no
stand or cairn. It was getting gloomy and we just returned
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 287
in time, for Atkinson’s feet were pretty well gone in his old
finnesko.
It is a queer fact that both Atkinson and myself dreamed
that the Cape Crozier party were returning on the night
before they arrived. In my dream I modestly went out and
pulled their sledge back. However, 1 don’t think we pub-
lished their approach on the strength of these dreams, else we
might have claimed some credit for our superior intelligence !
When there was no wind it was quite pleasant strolling
about by the light of the moon. In the long winter night it
was cheering to realize that we could tell where the sun was
even if we hadn’t seen him for over three months, for the
moon’s brighter face of course points to the sun. This com-
forting deduction led to the following astronomical effusion
in §.P.T. :—
THE ERRANT SUN,
Throughout the night,
Nor life nor light,
E’er chases gloom away ;
But still the moon
Foretells full soon,
Arrival of the day.
For each bright ray
Shot to the day,
By Luna’s silver bow,
Transfixes straight
Her lucent mate,
The errant sun below.
I wrote at the foot for Dr. Bill’s edification—
“If your artist can rise to the occasion will he please illus-
trate this poem (sic) with a sketch?” and to this note there
hangs a tale as shall appear later.
Wright and I went off for a tramp towards Inaccessible
Island. We came across some of the queer snow stalactites
which I called “Cold Feet.” They were due to snow col-
lecting on the ends of icicles where they were somewhat sticky.
The snow built out a “ foot” to windward, and they looked
exactly like long white stockings.
Near the big icebergs Gran pointed out to us an Emperor
penguin and yelled to us to kill it. On approaching it,
288 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
however, it objected strongly, having legs and arms and
answering to the name of Lieutenant Evans !
The pressure of the sea ice had raised great ridges of ice
around Inaccessible Island. Some cakes of ice were most
precariously perched on the top of these six-foot hummocks,
The queer structures resulting from the buckling and cracking
of this six-foot thick sheet of ice reminded the geologists very
strongly of the type diagrams used to illustrate the major
folds and earthquake cracks in the earth’s crust.
On the 4th of August we made a real start for the summer
campaign by taking the two motor sledges out of their winter
quarters. “It was frightfully heavy work and took about
twenty of us to move one a foot. I wouldn’t care to go over
a snow-lidded crevasse in one.”
Simpson gave us a good lecture on General Meteorology
in the Antarctic.
I thought Simpson didn’t lay enough stress on the purely
local character of our storms. I said that he reminded me of
a minnow living behind a stone in a big river, wildly excited
over every eddy and paying more attention to them than to
the river as a whole. This “cag” between the scientists
greatly delighted certain of the ribald, and Simpson was
referred to as the “ minnow in the eddy” for some time
thereafter.
The usual occupations filled our time during the first
fortnight of August. I was busy mapping the vicinity, trans-
lating German geology, calculating sledge stores, and writing
a long article on the Inmates of the Hut for §.P.T. On
the 14th I wrote, “ To-day is a beautiful day, with a tempera-
ture of —38° F.; but with no wind, so that one can stay out
quite comfortably. It is very light now, for the sun is due
in five or six days. Erebus is very active, and is puffing up
big gouts of steam. Debenham measured one which rose
4000 feet in ten seconds! The banner then sweeps south and
east. It is lit up by the hidden sun in a most beautiful
manner. I say the colour is tawny, Atch says russet, Birdie
burnt sienna, while Bill says it’s a mixture of vermilion and
yellow ochre! Anyway it is very pretty, and Debenham
says he can see inside the crater.”
Through falling into a small crevasse 1 found some beauti-
ful ice crystals above the Ramp. Later I turned up some
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 289
slabs of ice which had covered old water channels and their
lower surfaces were sparkling with beautiful basket crystals
half an inch across. In some cases these were branched like
candelabra. Wright managed to photo some of them satis-
factorily, for unlike our rock collections, 4is specimens were
extremely fragile and hard to preserve. I renovated my
smaller camera which had suf-
fered so in the gale. After
I fitted it with a simple “ flip-
flap” tin shutter, this piece of
apparatus was always called
the mousetrap. /
By this time most of the = “«”¢7' "ivi
diarists had lost their early
enthusiasm. The Owner wrote
an hour or two each day.
Gran and myself were probably the most voluminous writers.
Debenham, Cherry, Wilson, and Simpson also kept records ;
but most of the others affected to despise diaries. Wright
would bring his along once a fortnight, sometime when I was
engaged on mine, and look through it for references to him-
self. We often went for a walk together (invariably towards
the Erebus Glacier), so his diary was often something like
this—
or.
Jhe Mousetrap Cameva
(4 Bru
Aug. 1.—Went up the Ramp with G. T.
» 2-—Ditto.
9 3-—Ditto.
55 4-—No entry.
I suggested he should fill in his blank days with “ Did zor
go up the Ramp with G.T.”! The “illiterate” took a great,
if transitory, interest in our labours. Birdie seeing me stuck
for copy on August 13 sang out, “ Write—Turned in, turned
out ; ditto, ditto. That'll fill your diary!” Atkinson assisted
as follows: “On night watch ; slept till 10.30; woke up
and was very pleased to see Atkinson, because he’s such a
good fellow!” Cherry’s quota, “ We have many cags on
scientific subjects and so acquire much merit.” While Uncle
Bill, with a merry twinkle, added, “‘ And next week we'll get
on to some serious work !”’
I think the seamen enjoyed life in the Hut as much as
U
290 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
any of us. The night watches must have pleased them
immensely. To see a weary officer nodding and shivering all
through the night, while they were snugly rolled in blankets
and enjoying an uninterrupted night’s rest, was just the state
of things they would appreciate! As I have noted already,
some of them unconsciously imitated Kipling’s Emanuel
Pycroft in “ Bonds of Discipline,” feeling they might never
have the opportunity of reprimanding an officer again, they
would pour out (from the shelter of a bed curtain) the vials
of their wrath on any unlucky watchman who fell over the
fire-irons or discomposed their slumbers! It is fair to state
that in the next winter they cheerfully took on night watches,
and were quite equal to reading all the meteorological instru-
ments.
The 15th was a rather threatening morning; the wind
coming from the west, which was most unusual, ‘“ Deben-
ham says this implies a blizzard. Every one has a different
theory of blizzard forecasting. Mine is simple! If you've
had four days fine, you’resure to get a blizzard! This works
well in winter.”
“Last night we had an addition to our Antarctic family.
Innumerable pups accrued to us, descendants of our long-
haired collie, ‘Lady,’ and the Siberian dog, ‘ Beely-glass.’
They occupy a corner of the stable, and add life to our
ménage. Julik went off some time ago, and is undoubtedly
lost ; though it is difficult to see how, unless he got into a
deep crack. The other day Peary and Cook and another dog
(harnessed to the cook’s light sledge) bolted. They tipped
Clissold into the tide-crack, and made for Cape Royds.
Luckily, Atkinson managed to catch them. Tsigane, Peary,
and Cook are the only dogs I’d care to take back.” The others
were too unsociable, and though by no means savage when
well fed, they were little interested in their owners’ doings,
and exhibited none of the so-called dog-like affection.
Wright and I walked south over Cape Evans, and above
the curious belt of moraine, which we called Land’s End.
It was pretty cold, for Evans found the mercury frozen that
day at Clarence ; but as there was no wind this did not affect
us after the exercise made us warm. Sometimes one could
feel one’s nose “go with a ping,” as if the blood had really
solidified in one’s veins. But vigorous rubbing and nursing in
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 291
the warm palm of one’s hand usually restored circulation. As
long as one’s heat energy was abundant there was no risk ;
but when vitality was low, through fatigue and hunger, frost-
bite was certain in any cold extremity.
As we walked over the Erebus Glacier we noted numerous
circular dark patches in the ice. These exhibited maze-like
patterns (arabesques), and marked where stones had sunk
through the ice. There were no stones visible on the surface,
and no source of supply, so that either these were very ancient,
or else they were due to the effect of the sun on stones deep
buried iz the glacier ice. The Land’s End Ridge was a mile
long and only a hundred yards wide. It was most pre-
cariously placed between the glacier and the deep sea, and was
perched on a line of cliffs which were just uncovered by the
retreat of the glacier.
Monoliths of kenyte lava and ash (tuff) were scattered
along the moraine. Great debris-cones, capped by huge un-
weathered blocks of kenyte, rose to thirty or forty feet high.
The Land’s End cliffs abutted on the crevassed piedmont
glacier to the south, and from their 150-feet elevation we
could see the curving crevasses crossing the glacier, and could
determine that the “ ice-caves” were but these crevasses seen
in vertical section on the ice front.
To the south extended a fine view of Turk’s Head, and
the long promontory to the Hut Point. We returned
towards our hut, and attempted to reach the sea-ice from the
moraine. In the dim twilight we judged that there was a
twenty-foot gully between us and what looked like an iceberg.
When we dropped into it, it was only four feet deep! So
deceptive is a snow surface in the absence of light and shade.
The next day was cold again (—35°), and Gran and J
climbed Inaccessible Island. I carried a theodolite, and fixed
it on the top (521 feet). It was awfully cold work. I had
to remove my fur gloves, and my neers “went ’’ very soon,
and standing still made my toes lose feeling also. By the end
of an hour I could do no more, and was so numb that I
could not put the theodolite back properly in its case. My
fingers and toes ached badly all the way home, but had recovered
on arrival.
I went out to the rubbish pile and commandeered enough
material for a book-binding kit. I bound up some glacial
292 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
pamphlets into two pieces of “‘ venesta wood” from a packing-
case. The rest of the case made the sewing frame. Two iron
clamps, lent me by Simpson, made the press, while I had
found a queer residue in the glue pot, which I used in default
of better. Towelling for head border, and tent cloth for the
back completed it. Next day I wrote Hoc Pegit in what is
probably the first book professionally stitched and bound in
boards in Antarctica.
Atkinson gave us a clear and concise account of scurvy,
from which I gather that our chances of seeing any are few.
LECTURE ON SCURVY
By ATKINSON
History: Scurvy was a dread disease about the end of the 18th
century. Anson lost 300 out of 500 men from scurvy in 1795, but
about that time Blaine introduced the use of lime juice, and since then
it is practically unknown in our navy.
Symptoms : It is a general non-febrile disease, and not contagious. It
is marked by mental depression, syncope, and debility, and the morbid
blood arising often causes characteristic patches on gums, thighs, etc.,
like bruises. Atkinson modestly ascribed the cure to the Naval Medical
Corps (loud cheers !). He said that immunity was possible, and was
assisted by plenty of lemons and other vegetables (sic /).
Detection: Ralph found that if you gave too much acids to animals
they got scurvy, and Wright also believes it is a form of acid intoxica-
tion. Serum is obtained from the clotted blood of the patient. This
should be alkaline in reaction, and its alkalinity is tested by neutralizing
it with various strengths of sulphuric acid. Thus 4, or ¥ normal]
strength of acid should be neutralized by alkaline serum. If only J,
» . : « ”
normal acid oo 1S necessary to neutralize, then “you have your scurvy.
Prevention: Fresh meat alone does not prevent scurvy, since they
had plenty of horse in the siege of Paris, and yet sa heavily.
Possibly it is too acid. Fresh vegetables seem to contain an alkaline
salt which is helpful, and possibly sodium lactate is a useful drug.
Nansen, however, believed in change of diet as being very helpful.
In the discussion Uncle Bill said that many of the symptoms
noticed after sledging were purely due to the lowering of tone.
If one entered upon hut life gradually by living for a day in
the annexe you wouldn’t feel funny feelings in your toes !
“T asked if a vegetarian diet would do down here? We
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 293
have no fresh vegetables, but we have bread, butter, cocoa,
sugar, jam, porridge, tinned fruit, tinned milk and cheese.
(I lived on a less varied diet in Cambridge, only I still don’t
enjoy the cheese lunches where the pungent stilton stalks
around, and the exclusives have to collect together and wave
the phantom off.) Bowers said that Bill developed spots on
his face on the Crozier journey; but Bill swore they were
beard sprouts. Birdie had been nodding a bit, so I said he
was evidently scorbutic, as he exhibited a tendency to syncope,
deposit of fat, and an inflamed head (a cruel hit at his red
hair). Ponting had been listening anxiously to the doctor’s
criticisms of sausages, and various potted meats, and then
read us a cable he had received in November announcing that
a friend meant to send a half ton of sausages by the Relief!”
On Saturday night (19th August) we experienced the
maximum wind pressure of the winter. “It rose from forty-
five miles per hour to eighty-six miles in one fell shriek.”
There was such heavy drift that it blew through the outer walls
(of cases) and filled the annexe. The temperature had risen
astonishingly, for we found “Bertram” registering +4° F.,
whereas a day or two before mercury was freezing! The
blizzards were sometimes accompanied by a sort of “ foehn ”
wind warming affect, and nearly always raised the temperature
slightly. They swept away the stagnant heavy cold air which
7 at sea-level, and which normally surrounded the
ut.
The 21st of August was a calm, clear day. The sun
was due in a day or two now. Nelson was having some
trouble with his soundings at the “Igloo.” So seven of
us marched out to help him free his rope. It was quite
a procession, Nelson going first to fix a block and tackle
(pronounced saikle/) on his obdurate rope. Then Atkin-
son and Clissold—-who worked the fish trap, and so were
professionals in such jobs—walked along in a dignified
way. Then long Day on ski, followed by Debenham also
on ski, and causing some amusement by his ‘ croppers.”
Finally, “Trigger” Gran started long after us, and “ flapping ”
along on his ski easily caught us up. I could easily keep up
over a couple of miles without ski, but over a longer distance
there is no doubt as to the advantage of the ski. We all
hauled on the “taikle,” and so broke Nelson’s rope away
294 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
from the bottom, where it seemed to have frozen in. Then
dropping the “earth” wire of his telephone circuit into the
water I rang up Simpson in the hut, and heard him with great
ease through the bare aluminium surface wire.
Debenham and I climbed Inaccessible Isle to try and see
the sun first. Wewent up by the usual route, but had to
kick steps in the thick snow which now covered the gravel
slopes. There is a magnificent windblown gravel ridge on the
lee side of Inaccessible Isle. The blizzards shoot up the
southern face and drop their dust contents beyond the central
notch on the northern slope in the form of a long ridge
about fifty feet high.
We obtained a fine view of the western cwm valleys below
Mount Lister from this elevation (520 feet). To the north
we could see a bright glow over the Barne Glacier and good
520' 4,
Ay 500
(OEE: Zz ia £ ———— : = SS
ZZ WY —— >
We ~G, Wy lg he i
ra
ee sail pe, N
vid G Meinl iN \) ' _> SS
XY ms
= wy
Jhe wind-ridge on Inaccessible Isle ,
with racks 21-86-41
sun shadows on Mount Lister, the first time for four months !
But we did not see the sun’s disc at all.
The sun was due on August 22, so it was natural that
a blizzard should spoil all chances of seeing him! We took
him on trust to the extent of champagne at lunch, when Scott
toasted Lieutenant Campbell’s birthday also.
“‘ A snorting blizzard:; never saw such thick drift. It wet
one, so that one’s hands froze in no time. None went out-
side the hut.”
The table resembled a grocer’s shop from now on, for
Birdie started bagging provisions for the sledge journeys.
Pemmican was taken out of the tins, broken up, and bagged
first, and then cocoa, butter, sugar, in fact everything but
biscuit, which was left in the 40-lb. tins as sent to us.
“2.30 a.m. on the 24th.—It is now my night-watch, and
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 295
I have finished making the slides for my next lecture ; I have
read M. Beaucaire, had two slices of toast, gone on the roof
and cleaned out the blizzometer tubes, and washed my feet.
The sooner 3.30 arrives (and Nelson with it) the better !
“Tn two months we shall be away on the veldt again. I
have lots of prints to make, and must continue my German
and physiography ; but I have done about as much as I
intended, and found the winter a very pleasant and busy
time. It is wonderful how exhilarating a fine day is, though
the last few days have been the limit.”
Next day it was still blizzing, with the temperature up to
+11°! The drift was lower, and Nelson managed to get out
to his igloo on the sea ice.
Captain Scott asked Debenham and myself to map Cape
Evans in considerable detail ; while Lieutenant Evans carried
out the coast survey and Wright obtained heights and ice-
cliff data. As a result Debenham and I were out with our
plane tables fairly continuously in the next few weeks and got
to know almost every rock upon our little promontory.
Wright and I climbed the Ramp in our anxiety to see if
the sun was still alive! but without avail. The clouds on
Erebus were worthy of note. During the day huge billows
collected to the south below the summit, and at 7 p.m. these
disappeared, and the steam cloud (which had hardly showed
before) shot up several thousand feet and then spread out as a
banner to the zorth. This latter direction was unusual, as the
upper air currents usually went due south.
On our return we found that Simpson had seen the rim
of the sun about 3 p.m. from Wind Vane Hill (at noon it
was hidden by the Barne Glacier), so that the meteorologist was
the first to welcome His Majesty’s return.
On the 24th I gave a lantern lecture on Polar and Tem-
perate Glaciation. As usual Ponting kindly made most of the
lantern slides and operated the lantern. Afterwards he showed
us some of his magnificent Swiss slides.
On the 26th I managed to improvise a satisfactory plane
table from a telescope tripod and my drawing board. We had
a spare sight-ruler, and with this primitive instrument I
successfully mapped my section of Cape Evans.
We could always orient on far distant peaks, such as the
Matterhorn, fifty miles north-west ; or Castle Rock, twelve
296 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
miles south ; and this saved a lot of trouble with the usual
“three-point resection” method. I climbed up the Ramp
and read “ Bertram.” I could see the sun shining on Inacces-
sible Isle, and even on Hut Point far to the south, but it
would need to get considerably higher before it illumined the
Ramp. Lieut. Evans was setting up signal flags on the
prominent debris-cones, and we returned together vid
the “ Slippery Slopes,” Evans justifying the name !
“ Just before I reached the Hut I felt exactly like Peter Pan,
and saw that I had regained my shadow! I walked up to
Wind Vane Hill, and there was the old sun showing half his
disc over Cape Barne Glacier! About 2 p.m. I went out with
the ‘ mousetrap’ camera, and took some photos to celebrate
the event. I gave four seconds (with F. 45) on snow banks,
etc., lit by the low-lying sun. This was too much, I believe,
but the photos were fairly satisfactory and worth the trouble
considering when they were taken.”
Wilson reported some queer alge deposits above Gully
Bay, so we went off to investigate them. There were two
layers (about fifty feet above the glacieret) in the soft kenyte
gravel. I had little doubt that they were lake alge which
had grown when the water was held in by a larger ancestor of
the present glacieret. Just to the west were beautiful ex-
amples of these ice-dammed lakelets, with “ Glenroy terraces ”’
marking various contours on their shores, just as in the
historic Glenroy region in Scotland. Only in these Antarctic
specimens the ice dams are still evident, whereas their absence
in Scotland made the origin of the Scotch terraces a puzzle for
many years.
I have made frequent mention of the debris-cones on the
Ramp. Their origin was often discussed by Scott, Wilson,
Debenham, Wright, and myself. Scott and Wilson believed
they were dumped over at re-entrant angles in a bygone ice-
barrier wall. Debenham compared them to the cones and
hollows we had seen over in the western moraines and thought
they were due to the melting of submarine ice. Wright
and I believed them to be due to the weathering of huge
erratics.
On the 27th Gran and I made the rather obvious test of
cutting one open. It was six feet high and lay just on the
edge of the steep slope of the Ramp, whence all debris would
“Jsam oy 0} sivadde dot-vas ay Ul Sieg foUUNT, aYJ, “3s9M pu ysva Ayaryo uns vary ayXuary Jo sdosoyno paSSni ayy, “purljoog ‘soovsia yp, Aoruapy jo
Wonvutioy ay urefdxa surep aor asayy, (‘ya1ou ay} 0} uMOlq shee ore syyTIp oy.) *sAarpns [[eus ssosoe Surtu10y Mous pailip JO sjartaioer[s 0} ang
"1161 “6z “1aag “SNVAA AdVO JO SLATANVI
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 297
slip down the Ramp and save cartage. The upper face was a
friable dry gravel. We heaved out two huge blocks the size
of a man’s body and found them fitting into other blocks of
the same rock. We cleared away the top portion of one half,
and then came to a huge block evidently extending to the foot
of the cone and right through it. All this was frozen stiff
into the kenyte soil of the Ramp, and it was beyond our
powers to shift it. However, we had definitely proved that
this symmetrical cone was solid, and was piled around a core
of kenyte blocks.
<<] met the ‘Owner ’ after lunch and introduced him to the
‘dissected cone.’ He seemed to think it a strong argument
The Dissected Debris-Cone, 288-1
in favour of our long-held theory. Wilson basely hit back at
me for upsetting his argument with a caricature in the South
Polar Times, which is here reproduced.
‘The difficulty in disposing of all the instruments needed
by a geological surveyor is also hinted at in the gear encrusting
the queer object on the debris cone.”
“August 30.—A cold day, —33° with wind. Natheless,
Deb and I went outabout noon plane-tabling. I had finished
my stations and carted the table about, filling in details. But
it was mostly a ‘cabman’s war dance,’ jumping and flapping
one’s arms to keep warm. I found that a great deal of the ice
sheet to the north was only six inches thick over gravel, the
latter appearing in the eddy gutters to the south of every big
boulder.
“It got too cold to work, but I swore I would stay out as
long as Debenham, Finally, at 1.15, 1 could stand it no
longer, and made a beeline for the Hut, finding he had
returned a minute or two earlier!”
The next few days were similarly occupied. I made a
pantograph (to reduce or enlarge drawings), and so obtained a
298 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
fairly accurate plot of all the sections of our map. The result
is given herewith.
One can readily see some method now in the queer
physiographic features of Cape Evans. It can be subdivided
into several zones, which may be tabulated as follows, pro-
ceeding inland (east) towards Erebus :—
1. Kenyte cliffs and ridges, of rock in situ (about fifty feet
above sea-level and chiefly to the south and west of the Cape).
2. Low-lying plains with lakes about twenty feet above sea-
A Peculiar Animal seated on the Top of a Debris-Cone.
level, due to erosion and deposition from 1 (chiefly in the
north-east of the cape).
3. Glacierets and ice-dams running north and south, and
due chiefly to drifts distributed by the southern blizzards.
On the low cape and on the Ramp also.
4. The continuous “Ramp” ; a steep slope (30°) extend-
ing from “Low Cliff” practically to Land’s End Cliff, ie.
about two miles. It varies in height from 100 to 150 feet
above sea-level. Partly composed of rock im situ and partly
of moraine just uncovered by the retreating glacier of Erebus.
Barne
Glacier
High Cuff Low Cliff
SS
a
VY
Sea tce =
ees |
Feel Q
° (000 2000
Cape Evans
Physiographic features of Cape Evans, due largely to the retreat of the Erebus
Glacier.
300 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
5. The boulder-strewn plateau parallel to and east of the
latter, and about 150 to 200 feet high. It is largely ground-
moraine, but contains some ancient ice masses, and is affected
by soil-creep or solifluxion.
6. A zone of large blocks (with ice between) which occurs
chiefly in the north-east, and merges into the Erebus Glacier.
Both 5 and 6 contain numerous debris cones, which are
especially large in the south-east over Land’s End cliffs.
7. The continuous Erebus Glacier which extends un-
interruptedly from Cape Barne to Turk’s Head, and walls in
Cape Evans to the east. There is not much movement in it
just behind the cape, for there is no ice “ wall” but a gradual
merging of rock and ice.
My diary proceeds as follows :—
“* September 1.—I fear I must give this a miss. Titus
Oates says, ‘You were probably caulking and coughing, or
blatting. But if the latter you’d remember!’ (These rude
words refer to a slight cough that worried me at this time.
‘Caulking’ is sleeping, and ‘blatting’ is arguing.) The
Conservatives were evidently waking up, for I note one of
Atkinson’s remarks. Colonials go to London and murmur
ceaselessly, ‘Change and decay, in all around I see, Except
in me, O Lord, except in me!’ This misquotation afforded
the ‘ True-Blues’ (Cherry, Birdie, Titus, and Atch) great joy
about twenty times a day. We Liberals scorned to use such
feeble wit in upholding our principles.”
The next lecture was one delivered by Birdie Bowers on
the Evolution of Polar Clothing. I took fairly full notes of
this lecture, which represented much reading on Birdie’s part
in our extensive library of Polar journals.
LECTURE ON “EVOLUTION OF POLAR CLOTHING”
By Bowers.
September 1, 1911.
There are many fabrics which can be used, for instance, cotton is
very satisfactory for some purposes, as we see in our windproof overalls.
Fur was naturally first used, and Ross, on his magnetic pole expe-
dition, was the first to employ fur sleeping-bags. Weddell found boots a
great difficulty, and had to cut upall his gear to make new ones, Some
Arctic explorers used blanket squares (sixteen inches across) instead of
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 301
socks. One must be careful not to have boot-soles too rigid, for this
induces frostbite. It is curious that the Eskimo garments leave the
skin completely bare at back and knee. ,
Bird-skin clothes are very warm and very light. In one expe-
dition devices were painted on the backs of the white jackets to give the
SSS
fi 2
SS
TS
TS
eS
(es
E.P.froma sketch by G.T. 1913.
A book-plate illustrating Polar clothing.
men behind something dark to look at, and so minimize snow-
blindness.
With regard to mits, thumbless gloves are best for very cold
weather. Greely had gloves with two thumbs, so that they could be
used on either hand,
It is foolish to rub frostbites with snow, for the skin is chafed ;
flannel or a bare warm hand, etc., is better. Wool absorbs perspiration
the best of all textures. White cotton does so to only half the amount.
So the latter evaporates quicker, and soon feels chilly. Nansen says
302 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
goat-hair socks attract the moisture. “Oh! as you were!” No, I
don’t mean that! (G. T.—I find I’ve omitted the correction, how-
ever!) Personally, I think that an old sock makes an excellent
nose-nip !
Sverdrup used to use a double tent for warmth with good results.
I think we might modify the tent opening, and make the tent floor-
cloth wider. If the sleeping-bags were provided with a separate hood,
they would not get so wet. On our midwinter trip we found that
eiderdown inner bags were no use after fourteen days. It was best to
change sides with the fur bags and scrape them. ‘The hair inside was
warmer, but held the perspiration more.
The wind helmet should certainly be made fast to the blouse ; and
I think lanyards fasten the bag-flaps much better than toggles. These
are the only improvements I can suggest in our clothing.
The seamen played six-handed euchre most evenings,
while the two Russians looked at illustrated papers and turned
in somewhat early. The mess-deck used to read the books
in the library, and especially Debenham’s paper-backs. When
l ran short I raided their small private stock. I was assured
by Taff Evans that one by Hichens “is no good, for no one
in the mess-deck can read it!” Needless to say I did not
always agree with this stalwart board of navy critics.
On the 8th of September the second volume of S. P. T.
appeared. Cherry wrote the Editorial in the best style of
the Times. Some eighteen pages were devoted to a skit on
life in the Hut, called the “Bipes.” Its redeeming feature is
a series of coloured illustrations by Uncle Bill. In it I gave
a somewhat garbled but recognizable view of various person-
alities at headquarters. The tenants of the Diarist’s Den (i.e.
our cubicle) as well as the Conservative party (the “ Bunder-
lohg ’’) came in for their share of attention on the part of the
inquisitive rabbit ; who is here supposed to observe the habits
and customs of the so-called Bipes.
Simpson contributed a gruesome account of the decline
and fall of the human race in the last days of the earth’s
habitation. The only panacea seemed to be certain elixirs
to be obtained near Mount Erebus. There was a beautifully
illustrated rhyme dealing with the midwinter party at Cape
Crozier. I could never discover who was the writer unless
it was the Owner himself. Simpson’s career was described in
a semi-serious article, “Celebrities in Glass Houses.” There
were two poems called into being by the return of the sun,
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 303
both due to Australians. Some one, I suspect Nelson, wove
Uncle Bill and myself into a “nightmare interview.” There
were some beautiful photo plates by Ponting and three of
Wilson’s inimitable Egyptian tablets ; besides various cartoons
and silhouettes by Wilson and Lillie.
Guessing at the authors furnished considerable amuse-
ment. Even the astute Nelson fell in! On p. 1g there is
a plan of the hut showing inter a/ia the engine in one corner.
Nelson made the rash statement that Uncle Bill had drawn
it the wrong way round. I immediately bet him that Bill
hadn’t. Nelson went over to the engine and came back ready
to stake his life on it! Then I told him that I had drawn
the plan; so that Bill couldn’t have made a mistake! He
proceeded to say that he would have put me down as the
author of the “ Bipes,” only I was so unmercifully described
therein ; while Simpson amused me by assuring me that
Scott wrote the poem, “The Errant Sun.” I gave the palm
to Nelson’s poem on “ Uncle Bill,” “ You are old, Uncle
William.”
Captain Scott was now preparing for a fortnight’s sledge-
trip over to the west. He proposed to Simpson that he
should take this chance of some sledging, and so the meteor-
ology was left in my hands. Simpson kindly coached me in the
special minutiz, and I started the records on the 11th (before
he left), so as to get into swing.
Nelson gave us a particularly well-illustrated lecture on
the 11th on Invertebrates generally.
He told us of the pleasant habit of the Zydra which turns
itself inside out, and converts its skin into a stomach lining,
and vice versa! He discussed the huge arthropod, remarkably
like a flea (but eight inches long), which Meares declared was
found in a bunk in the hut, though Ponting said he obtained
it on the beach.
We envied the Pycnogonids (sea-spiders), which grow
an extra pair of legs in Antarctica, though they have only
eight in less strenuous latitudes. Two more limbs would
help us so greatly in sledging! He called on me to lecture
on the corals, and I gave a brief account of the biology
of the forerunners of this family (the Archeocyathine),
which occur fossil on the Beardmore Glacier. I discussed
Darwin’s and Murray’s theories with special reference to my
304 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
observations on the coral reefs of the Great Barrier. Debenham
instanced Funafuti—that coral islet bored by Professor David
to show the depth of a reef formation. Birdie wanted to
know why a sea anemone wasn’t a plant? And some one
thereupon asked Nelson if he could explain why a Birdie
wasn’t a cabbage? But this problem proved too difficult for
the lecturer.
Wilson with his usual kindness was now copying some
of my western sketches and turning them into splendid pen-
and-ink drawings. He spent many hours coaching me in
drawing, but indeed he would always help any one if it lay in
his power. I think what touched some of us as much as
anything was his willingness to take the last and longest hour
of any one’s night-watch ! He used to say, “I don’t mind
getting up at seven ; I’ll get on with my painting. Just put a
kettle on to boil, and wake me, and then you can turn in!”
I’m afraid I took advantage of this, when my watch lasted
through to the morning, though usually I shared it with
Nelson.
About this time Scott and Bowers spent their leisure in
photographic work. Ponting was untiring in coaching them,
and the excellent results obtained by these absolute tyros on
the southern journey speaks well for teacher and pupils.
Bowers handed over the pony “‘ Chinaman” to Wright, who
“sets run away with, with great regularity.” Cherry was
typing out those sections from the “ Heart of the Antarctic”
which would help Scott in his southern journey.
On the 15th of September Captain Scott set out for a trip
to the Ferrar Glacier and thereabouts. They carried about
200 Ibs. of food for us to Butter Point, where we were to
pick it up later. Nelson and I helped them along for three
miles, though the party, consisting of Scott, Bowers, Simpson,
and Taff Evans, needed us little. It was —4o° starting, but
luckily there was no wind. A big shear-crack about two and
a half miles out marked a permanent crack in the sea-ice
extending between Inaccessible Isle and Cape Royds. It had
developed into a fractured wall, as much as ten feet high in
places, where the floes ground together, and gave us some
trouble. However, Nelson and I were able to steady the
sledge and guard the sledge meter, and so they soon nego-
tiated it.
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 305
On the 17th of September we actually had a “fine bright
sun, so that films of snow melt on the black rock.” This
is an interesting date, for though the air temperature was
only +7°—that is, twenty-five degrees below freezing !—yet
the radiant heat from the black rock produced a little
water.
Let us accompany the meteorologist, and see how a first-
class weather station is run at 774° S. lat. The weather man
has to rise about an hour before the others. (It was pleasant
to see Sunny Jim lying in his bunk till 8.30 on the 14th—as
he pathetically put it—for the first time since he’d landed !)
I find I am dressed five minutes too soon, so I hit Wright
with a book to get him up in time to check the chronometers,
which is his “ pigeon” !
1. When I hear the automatic signal I have to fly around
and mark all the recording instruments to show exactly eight
o'clock on their charts.
2. I read the large standard barometer and its attached
thermometer.
3. Change the chronograph papers and put ink on the
pens, for the blizzometer, thermograph, barograph, and wind
velocity charts. (In all these chronograph drums the “clock”’
part (carrying the paper) revolves about the central axle—
which is just the opposite of an ordinary clock !
4. Wind up the various chronograph clocks (once a week,
on Monday).
Then I muffle myself in wind-clothes and gloves, and
collect the gear for the outdoor apparatus.
A. A clock set to nearest half-minute.
B. “ana paper for the record burnt by the glass
all.
C. Tablet and pencil.
5. I stagger up to the top of Wind Vane Hill—a long
operation and a cold one in September, for it is not far from
August, the coldest and roughest month. At a definite
minute I read the anemometer figures alongside the anemo-
meter cups.
6. Then I press four times on a button alongside, and this
is electrically transmitted to the record in the hut, and so gives
a datum each day on that record,
7. | walk across to the screen and read the three
Xx
306 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
thermometers—present, maximum, and minimum. Then I
readjust the two latter and read again.
8. By this time three minutes have elapsed, and I return a
few paces to the anemometer and read the latter figures again.
; Push
Maegan
| RA
Tae
.
ZA
“Robinson cor
Anememeter—
(This gives the revolutions in three minutes, and therefore
the velocity per hour at that time. This is another check on
the automatic record.)
g. Read the wind direction from the arrow on the hill,
and note the steam-cloud direction on Erebus.
10. Change the blue paper in the sunshine recorder and
clean the glass sphere.
¥, This is an awful job,
fo for the frost crystals
eee eee cling like glue to the
five-inch glass __ ball,
and have to be melted
off by rubbing with
the bare hands. A
slow and painful job
at —40°!
11. Read the out-
Sunshing Recovols 1, side thermometer at
the south-east corner
of the hut, just below the anemometer tubes.
Each morning at 8.15 I used to predict the weather, as I
went out to Wind Vane Hill. This was received with great
joy by the mess deck. Crean was especially congratulatory.
I have explained my method—z.e. “that after four days’ calm
A FINE STEAM CLOUD BLOWING SOUTH FROM EREBUS,
SEPT. 19, 1911:
The illustration shows also the station on Wind Vane Hill. The thermometer
screen on the left, the flagstaff and the wind instruments on the right. One
anemometer is rotating ; the other is blocked (for the photo).
5)
A GLACIERET NEAR ISLAND LAKE (C. EVANS) DUE TO WIND-
BLOWN SNOW, SEPT. 23, rg11.
The blizzard builds and also prunes these small glaciers. In the distance are the
debris cones on the ramp and the south-west slopes of Erebus.
IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 307
’
it’s certain to blizz ;” and it worked as well as most weather
rules. However, even when this standby failed, Crean was
always consoling. At last the other seamen got nettled.
“Go on, sir! he’s only kidding; he wants your long sea-
boots when you return!” It was “cupboard love,” I
fear ! ,
On Thursday (21st) I believe the wind was blowing seventy
miles per hour when I reached the screen. The temperature
was pretty high (— 7°), but a wind that nearly blew me away
soon robbed one of one’s bodily heat. My fingers took about
ten minutes to “come back,” and only by degrees lost their
dead feeling, though they did not reach the dead-white colour
of bad frostbites.
The early morning sun was throwing fine earth shadows,
which moved round quite rapidly. Thus on the 24th, at
8 a.m., Erebus cast a shadow right over the western moun-
tains, while at 9 a.m. the shadow could be seen to the south-
west of Erebus itself.
Debenham had been doing long-distance geology! He
fixed up a telescope and trained it on the south slope of the
crater of Erebus. He could see hundreds of snow structures
on the side, each representing the vent of a “ fumarole” from
which steam was issuing. This side of Erebus must resemble
a gigantic pepper-box !
Inside the hut Day was doing some ingenious turning.
His lathe was certainly unique! Many of the hardwood
rollers for the motor sledges needed renewal. So he attached
a block of hardwood to the flywheel shaft of the oil-engine,
and he sat on the floor and, using a box as a tool-rest, he
turned out rollers quite successfully, if not very rapidly.
The morning of the 24th was quite clear, so 1 got my
camera into working order, only to find the sky clouding over
for a blizzard so soon as 1 ventured out, about noon. Ponting
was lost for about two hours in the thick fog in the evening.
We fired off guns, and it looked as if Atkinson’s mishap was
to be repeated. However, luckily he had a compass, and so
got back to the hut quite safely in the end.
The weather was hopeless, and the coast survey party very
sensibly returned to await better conditions. The following
i eaae rhyme pinned to Gran’s diary affected them not a
whit :—
308 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
“Three bold explorers hied them forth
For to explore the plain;
Although so bold,
They found it cold,
So hied them home again !”
Next day was again gloomy and cold. It took me ten
minutes to rub the sunshine ball clean. The record for
yesterday showed clearly the sudden cessation of sunshine
about noon, just when I was ready to use my camera.
Every one was now busy with sledging outfit. Bernard
{by mnUeeyZ
:)
yy
\
\\
s
\
\\
HT CORNER! CROSSING THE FORTY-FOOT TIDE CRACK OFF POINT DISAPPOINTMENT,
A TIG
GRANITE HARBOUR.
From a drawing by D, Low,
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 367
unexpectedly on their holes nearly buried in snow. Deb and
Forde were looking down one to see the thickness of the
mushy ice when one leaped out three feet and, as Forde said,
‘It nearly frightened a life out of me!’
“Gran had laid the poles up against the floe and left his
bag just behind, when the mush gave way and in he went to
his waist. He rescued his bag clinging to the pole, and some-
how managed to crawl up the ice-foot, but he was pretty wet
and soon very cold.
“Deb and Forde sat on their packs by the firmer ice,
and I walked along the sea ice (while Gran went along the
ice-foot) to the north. We found it all just the same. At
every footstep water oozed up, and evidently the floe was
melting top and bottom and had never been thick. ‘This
doubtful area was forty feet wide. At the north, a quarter of
a mile from our track, I managed to get on the ice-foot over
three visible cracks, and I don’t know how many buried in
snow. We returned to the others to find Deb had had one
foot through. Having regard to the difficulty of the surface
all the way to our camp—eight miles of two-foot soft snow,
through which we could only pull the sledge at half a mile an
hour with every muscle taut,—I decided it was not safe to
stay over on this shore ; for a few days’ sun would probabl
convert this mushy belt into open water, and we should have
no ready line of retreat at all. So in view of the Owner’s
lectures on caution and my sledging instructions, I abandoned
the idea of camping two or three days on this north side, and
we lugubriously determined to push back with our packs to
the sledge two miles away. First, however, we had to get
Trigger off the ice-foot. I went forward to pick up his bag,
and suddenly went through halfway up to my thigh. Luckily
the other foot kept firm, and I leant backwards and sat back
on the less tricky mush. Then we lashed bag ropes and
threw them towards him. He threw the tent poles on to the
mush and then launched himself full length on the stuff, grip-
ping the poles. The whole floe rocked up and down like
jelly, but the poles kept him up, and he got across to us with-
out further mishap. It would have been impossible to scramble
out if we had gone through, for there was nothing firm to grip.
“Forde also volunteered that he thought ‘You done a
wise thing to give that place a miss.’
368 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
“On our way back Deb stopped to take some angles with
the plane-table, but found that he’d forgotten his sight-rule,
so that even shat weight was uselessly lugged forward. We
camped for lunch at our night camp, and then the sun was so
hot that it dried our bags nicely. My feet were very cold
and wet, and so were Gran’s. I took a complete round of
angles both vertical and horizontal, and with the necessary
sketching this occupied about two hours.
“Then about four we pulled off for Camp Blizzard and
had a diabolical time over the two and a quarter miles of soft
snow. The old track was nearly all filled up by a drift from
the west, and, though the snow had compacted a little, it was
frightfully heavy work. The marks of the bamboos on the
sledge floor showed that the whole sledge was resting on the
snow. Only off the point of the Tongue did a little of
the old track show and helped us somewhat. My sledge belt
began to feel as if it was being pulled out through my back,
and I had to pull with my hands. We camped about 8 p.m,
just near our old Blizzard Camp, where we had to sweep off a
foot of soft snow. I went up the Glacier Tongue to get ice,
but could not reach real ice and had to go over to a cornice
to get air-filled ice. We had an excellent hoosh, four cups of
‘Forde’s concentrated’ with water added. It made a sort
of liver jelly when boiled a little more, and I had two cups
and a glorious cup of cocoa, cooled so that you could get
a good long drink !
«|. . And then I gave the diary a miss, hung socks
and wet breeches outside the tent, and slept right through
till 8 a.m. !”
We pushed off for our headquarters next morning and
found we could hardly move the sledge. After struggling a
few hundred yards I decided to see how the runners looked.
We unpacked everything, and found an irregular lamina of
ice about a quarter of an inch thick had coated the runners.
This we scraped off with a tin matchbox and then turned the
sledge to face the sun, and in about half an hour they were
clean and dry. The improvement was most marked, and
made our light sledge now only as difficult as the two heavy
sledges we had dragged to headquarters! We read in Arctic
books that ice is purposely moulded on the sledges, but I
expect the temperatures are lower, when that method is useful.
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 369
At lunch we had dragged it about a mile and a half, and
we dried the runners again. I noted that my amber-coloured
glasses had a very pleasing effect; they turned the most
gloomy clouds into a beautiful Italian sky. Everything in
the heavens is turned into blue and white, which is a great
change from the dismal views seen through the green goggles
of last year! The relief through using them and the help
they give in picking out hollows in the surface is enormous,
but they fog up somewhat, of course, with perspiration after a
short time.
As we were nearing our headquarters we had a great
discussion as to what had happened to the signal flag. Deben-
ham has excellent sight, and with the aid of the glasses he
swore that he could see the bamboo lying, broken down.
This seemed impossible to me, and I bet him one of our
usual 15. 3d. dinners that it had not broken! However,
after a time I saw myself that the thick and solid bamboo
pole had snapped. It was some consolation that his cairn and
flag at headquarters had blown down also !
We had some difficulty crossing the shear cracks near the
camp, for the snow had covered everything. I prodded
cautiously ahead when we seemed near the largest, and,
stepping on, went right in. I had been standing on the exact
edge and tested too far off! However, I escaped with a
slight wetting, which is the proud privilege of the leader, and
we crossed without difficulty.
We reached our front door at 6.30, finding that the ice
had buckled in our absence, but had not cut us off from
shore. Dodging between two pressure ridges we reached the
ice-foot amid the huge storm-blocks of ice and unloaded with
great joy. Everything was buried in snow.
The 40-lb. biscuit tin was hurled six feet off a rock, and
Granite Hut was half filled with snow. We cleared the
gravel patch and soon pitched our tent, and had a good hoosh
inside us.
Shortly after we turned in it began to blow from the west,
a most unusual quarter. This cold plateau wind increased
very rapidly, and by 2 a.m. was blowing as hard as any wind
I ever felt ina tent. It bent in the stout poles of the tent
like whale-bone, and covered the sledge with a huge ridge of
hard snow. The door flapped so violently that some of us
ay
370 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
could get no sleep. The wind died down about 5 a.m., and
the 10th turned out to be a beautiful day. We spent an hour
clearing the huge drifts off our sledges, which were completely
lost to sight.
As this was Sunday, I decided we would spend it in
tidying up our camp. Gran and I planted his sea-kale seed
in the evening. He said the Norwegians in Graham Land
(West Antarctica) got large crops of this succulent vegetable !
I had my doubts, but it seemed worth trying. Behind our
camp was a huge cluster of granite rocks enclosing a small
cave. We collected some mossy soil and placed it in this
hollow, facing the noon sun. It seemed a bit wet and soggy,
Talpir eck. ? Me home sey: Sea- kale
i ioe ee j
but Gran swore the seedlings would be up in a week and
edible in a month.
“The skuas are squawking like fussy ducks all round us,
‘sometimes cheeping like young chicks; but they don’t lay
eggs, which is their main duty now.”
All the moss, which formed a regular peaty layer an inch
thick in some of the gulleys, implied plenty of soakage.- But
it was a cold summer, ahd we never found any drainage when
we dug into the hollows. Moreover, the blackened appear-
ance of the moss made me sure that we were not seeing it
under favourable or even normal conditions.
A small discomfort, which was to bulk largely in the next
few weeks, began to trouble me. During the seal-killing and
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION py
flensing I managed to inflict eight cuts on my hands, all of
which healed up in the pure Polar air, with one exception. It
was on the forefinger of my right hand, and was beginning to
fester badly. Gran was our self-constituted doctor, though
I’m bound to say that the stories he told of deathbeds which
he had attended on Norwegian ships were not at all reassuring.
Gravely he felt my pulse and armpit, and then said, “ Do you
feel pain here?” I truthfully said “No!” ‘No _ blood-
poisoning in that finger,” said he. At any rate it rapidly
became worse, and for days I could not write, sketch,
or photograph, while the pain prevented my sleeping at night.
The first duty before us was to replace the flag on the
rendezvous. Gran decided it should be of a bolder pattern,
and so he inserted a white specimen bag in the middle of a
black depédt flag, which made a very showy standard indeed.
After lunch we marched across the bay just east of our
camp. This washed the beach where the moss grew, and in
our exiled position it was natural that Debenham and myself
felt that there could be no better name than Botany Bay for
this inlet! The ice surface was in a peculiarly unpleasant
condition. A frozen layer of snow over a foot of soft snow
made walking exceptionally tiring. Flanking the Discovery
Bluff—as we called our rendezvous—was a tumbled scree of
granite blocks mingled with smaller talus and snow. Here,
moreover, numerous little rivulets were rushing down the
chimneys scored in the face of the bluff, so that there was
plenty of variety about our walk.
We reached our flag sooner than I expected ; in fact, we
climbed up right above it to nine hundred feet ; and had to
get down somewhat circuitously, when a hurtling granite
block warned us of precipitous cliffs directly beneath. I
found that our bamboo was as firm fixed as ever, but it had
snapped through like matchwood just at the surface. The
wind seemed to have blown down the face of the Bluff, which
was a most unexpected direction. We mounted it again,
after hacking off four feet waste at the bottom. This
fragment was to prove very useful to us, for I carried it back
to camp.
From this height we could still see nothing but solid ice.
By means of the formula—
Distance in miles = “V/V Height in feet
372 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
it was possible to get some idea of the distance of the horizon.
In this case
D = */ 500 = 23 miles,
so that the break-up of the ice seemed far enough off. To
the north by Point Disappointment I could see the ugly
patch of snow-slush which had nearly engulfed Gran and
myself.
We had a merry meal that evening, at which we decided
to have a sweepstake on the day of the arrival of the ship.
But we could not decide on the prize. We wanted lots of
things at the moment, but they would all be plentiful when
we got aboard, and money was obviously of no value.
Finally Gran had a brilliant idea, and suggested that the
winner should have the first bath! Even this suggestion
met with disapproval, for some one pointed out that we
should have no clean things on board, and would be sledging
for weeks after at Evans Coves, and so might as well not
have a bath at all !
Debenham and I continued our discussions on Tennyson
and Browning. We both preferred the latter, but Debenham
used to try to prove that Tennyson was the better poet.
Gran would join in occasionally, and was always ready to give
an opinion on some debated stanza of Browning’s. ‘ What
porridge had John Keats,” according to our Norwegian critic,
contained an abstruse reference to the gentleman’s brains !
Poor Forde was out of it in these discussions, and we used
to discuss naval matters as a change, for his benefit. But our
Irish mate was essentially a man of action, and was as far
removed from a facile speaker as any man I’ve met, “ The
Bishop orders his Tomb” was a poem which had a fasci-
nation for me. Many a weary mile has passed unnoticed,
while I have memorized line after line of that somewhat
lugubrious poem.
On the 12th Gran found two skua eggs. The poor
mothers seemed wet and miserable, and Gran affirmed that
the second was sitting in a nest full of water, and seemed
relieved to be free of her charge. We collected a few every
day from now onward. They are smaller than a hen’s egg,
and of a brown colour, with irregular black, tawny and buff
flecks irregularly scattered over the shell.
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 373
On this expedition we had more of the trouble with boots
which we had experienced early in the year. My “iron-
clads”’ had lasted splendidly. The steel spikes and bars had
protected the leather completely, and only on the 14th did the
first bar break off. For future work of this description I
should certainly use the heaviest and largest Alpine boots, and
Ironclad Boofs
for Antarchc
Geologisrs , IS*10-49.
that is the most valuable advice as to equipment that | can
offer to future Antarctic geologists.
I had been busy planning how to measure the velocity of
the Mackay Tongue. This flowed eastward between us and
the Kar Plateau, so that by sighting from our granite cape to
a fixed point on the Kar Plateau cliffs, I could fix very
accurately a datum line. It only remained to plant a mark
on the moving glacier somewhere on this line, and our inves-
tigation would be well started. Unfortunately we had
nothing for a mark. I thought of placing a seal carcase on
the glacier ; for stones would sink into the ice in a very short
time. Finally I used the butt end of the flag-pole from the
Discovery Bluff. Here at last we found the blubber-soot
useful, for I used it as a paint to increase the visibility of a
swab of sealskin which I bound on the bamboo stake. Gran
and I marched across to the Tongue carrying the stake and
the theodolite. I never remember any hotter walk than that
two miles. The sun simply made the perspiration pour off us !
However, one could always sit down and have glace au naturel
to cool one. Personally, I never felt any ill result from
eating snow in the Antarctic, and all our party quenched their
thirst in this way.
,wniep ,, a1UN13 oY) posojoua
uLmoys Selina odes wos ysom-y}10U Bulyoory
‘pornsvour sem onSuoy, Avyovyy oy) Jo JUoWoAou oy AqaroyM
JV] oy, ‘aNe]op Aq paddvo (3995 COO) nvaiy[g avy ay) JO spr ayuvsd oy) a
~~
TN Ww \\\ AAI Wr TIT N
OC MT] y
lt aly LL AO en uy BASIL \ yp a) \
wae {ews ‘uses
uvao yids
HPQ sasury
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 375
We climbed up the Tongue without difficulty, but soon
entered into a region riddled with crevasses. They were
parallel to the edge of the tongue, and looked like relics of
old lateral pressure rather than crevasses due to present
movement. They were difficult to cross, especially as Gran’s
boots were so slippery. We had to make a big detour to
get on to the transit line. Finally, I got the theodolite set
up, and sighted “fore and back,” until I got the cape and a
crack in the Kar Cliffs in transit with my station. Here we
planted the stake, and then returned vid the maze of crevasses
to the camp.
At first I could hardly see the stake from Cape Geology.
The cold air close to the ice surface is always flickering on
a warm day and mirages all
objects ; but soon I made it
out at two miles through the
telescope, and I could see
that we could readily measure
a movement of one foot a
day.
By this time we had col-
lected enough eggs to have
a feast. We took the pre-
caution of frying them, and
Forde and I tested them
before cooking. The whites
are translucent and faintly
bluish, and have very little
taste, but I don’t think we
had much fault to find ‘with
them. It was amusing to
see Gran’s horror when a Gran’s BéteNoire 15-12-11
twelve-day chicken appeared
in one of the eggs. It was really an interesting discovery,
for it showed that the skuas commenced laying about the
4th of December. We could not preserve the specimen,
but I knew Dr. “ Bill” would be interested, and so I made
a sketch of Gran’s béte noire. We had a splendid seal-hoosh,
tender, and flavoured with onion-powder, and on top of this
was a fried egg for each of us. It was Forde’s chef d’euvre,
and celebrated the close of his week of cooking.
376 WITH SCOTT : THE SILVER LINING
For the purpose of my survey I laid out a base-line about
a mile long on the bay ice. From the known length of this,
as measured by the sledge-meter, and angles from the two
ends it was, of course, possible to determine the distance of
any visible point. Each of these three points forms a station
to which others may be linked ; and indeed, in exactly this
manner is a “triangulation ” carried out.
On the 16th we started off to examine and survey the
western coast of the harbour. Here the Mackay Glacier
entered the sea, chiefly by the great tongue, but also by huge
ice cliffs to the south, and by the new glacier in the south-
Sketch-map of region near the Devil’s Punch Bowl, December, 1911.
west corner. We headed fora striking cape which projected
from the glacier like a black hand stretched forth from a
snowy cuff of glacier. We called this promontory Cuff Cape.
My finger was very painful, and the swelling now extended
right through my right hand. Luckily I could pull in
harness as well as ever, but for many nights I had no sleep,
and I could do little or nothing in the way of making records
during the day.
However, I became a fairly expert writer with my left
hand in the course of time, but it was very galling to be
incapacitated in almost the most interesting part of our
journey.
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION ah
We camped on the ice-foot at Cuff Cape and scrambled
up to see the glacier behind. Like all the land hereabouts
the rock was covered with a layer of jumbled blocks of granite
mixed up with gravel and clay. The ice cliff was fifty feet
high, and almost free from silt or rock. Hence the debris on
the cape surely marks the condition of the land prior to the
last advance of the glaciers. It is not rock crumbled iz situ,
for I am sure that would be more in the form of a gravel—
moreover, erratics were common.
There was, of course, some moraine material, and a few
perched blocks especially along the north shore. In the bay
near the Tongue the latter had broken the bay ice into square
cakes, evidently by the pressure of the glacier; and the
movement of the Tongue along the stagnant ice of Cuff.Cape
had piled a rampart of ice on top of the latter.
The hot sun acting on the ebony front of my camera had
actually split it! Luckily I discovered it in time, and no
damage was done to my photographs. Gran was very pleased
at finding an insect on this cape, and while we were examining
this wild animal, he also discovered “gold.” This latter,
however, was only golden mica, though it quite resembled the
precious metal.
On the 18th we moved across to the next cape. This
stood out boldly with nearly vertical crags a thousand feet high
bounding it on two sides. It closely resembled in shape the
sky-scraper called the “ Flat Iron,” and as it also had a flat
top we gave it that name. We camped on the south-east
side at the foot of a chimney which led up to a pretty little
tarn. The summit was 1200 feet above the sea and was
covered with a wonderful variety of rocks.
Looking up the glacier to the west we could see a plateau
of dead ice. The moving glacier split on Mount Suess, and
the greater part of the ice entered the sea as the Mackay
Tongue. A small amount flowed down just south of the
Flat Iron forming the “ New Glacier” (see map, p. 376). In
my opinion there is a tendency for greater erosion at the edge
of the ice, for here the sapping action in the “lateral moat”
is very active. In the centre of a glacier the only erosion is
that due to glacier planation, and as I have explained, very
little of this is taking place in Antarctica at present.
There was a marked descent from the top of the Flat
378 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
Iron to the snow plateau, and then a steep drop into the
“ Devil’s Punchbowl.” The latter was a fascinating spot,
and on the 20th we shifted camp so as to examine it more
closely.
We were encamped on a small beach beneath the rocky
wall of the new glacier, which we called the “ Devil’s Ridge.”
Probably the state of my finger accounted for His Satanic
Majesty’s frequent presence on the map hereabouts. The
Punch Bowl was an empty cwm or bowl-valley, which had
been eaten into the steep southern edge of the Flat Iron. Its
floor was below sea-level, and it would thus appear to indicate
subsidence, for we have no idea how the accepted methods of
eroding cwms (by “thaw and freeze” chiefly) could act under
water. The New Glacier had very lately ceased to fall over
the Devil’s Ridge into the cwm. It is only six feet below the
ridge, and there is a drop of five hundred feet to the floor
of the latter. In fact, thaw waters still cross the ridge and
flow through the debris and down into the cwm. It is
perfectly obvious that very little power is exercised by the
“ New Glacier,” or it would have swept the Punch Bowl out
of existence.
There was a little tarn held back by a large bank of snow
near the top of the ridge, and here Gran celebrated midsummer
by a bathe! TI envied him, but could not follow suit owing
to my disabled hand.
Across the bowl a small hanging glacier entered the cwm
but did not reach the sea ice below. We called this the
Dewdrop Glacier. It terminated in a rhomb-shaped face
which was three hundred feet above the bay. In the bay
itself was a great thickness of ice, and Debenham and myself
had many arguments as to its origin. He believed it was
an ancient relic of the Dewdrop Glacier; but I inclined to
the belief that it represented old floe ice jammed up the
narrow bowl by sea ice from without. Gran and I ran a
line of levels across it with the theodolite, which showed that
it was still afloat although in places it rose many feet above
the bay level.
We were running short of stores, so Gran and I marched
back to our headquarters. While I collected the stores he
looked around for skua eggs and soon found eight. The
sea kale did not show that verdant growth which Gran had
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 379
?
anticipated. However, he dug up one corner of the “ garden ’
and proudly showed me that one of the seeds was sprouting !
Gran put the eggs in a tin to carry them to the Punch
Bowl. For security he carefully packed them; but as the
tin was black and the sun was hot his packing, consisting of
snow, soon vanished! However, we got the eggs safely to
the others. Unfortunately five were bad, but the others
assisted the menu at our midsummer feast.
On the 22nd Gran and I explored the ridge and examined
the Devil’s Thumb. This knob is eight hundred feet above
the bowl and is composed of granite stiffened by porphyry
dykes. Next day we spent some time examining a huge
enclosure of limestone caught up in the rocks forming the
Flat Iron. The crumpling and heat had turned the limestone
into marble, and along the junction with the granite many
unusual minerals had been formed. ‘There were huge brown
augites several inches long, and large masses of natrolite,
tremolite, and other similar minerals, which filled Debenham’s
petrological soul with joy.
We returned to Cape Geology on the 23rd of December.
In our absence the tide crack and pressure ridges had been
torn wider by the pressure of the Mackay Tongue on the
sea ice. However, we got ashore without much difficulty by
zigzageing along the torn edges of the crack (see p. 369).
We found the floor of the hut inches deep in ice, which
Forde cleared out with the ice-axe. Meanwhile Gran was
busy at the medical chest, where the long names rather con-
fused him. However, he seemed to remember “aspirin”
as a useful friend, and said it was suited to my case. I
swallowed some of the tabloids. Then he came across
“salicylate,” and apologetically remarked that the latter was
what he had been thinking of. So I tried them also. I was
of the opinion myself that my trouble was a combination of
frostbite, blood-poisoning and rheumatism, due primarily to
an infected cut, and later to cold and a diet of seal meat.
However, on return to civilization I was assured that 1 ought
to have had my finger cut off, and that the bone had been
affected. Gran very willingly started operating on it with
a lancet ; but I am thankful to say that I distrusted his powers
as a surgeon, with the result that now all is well.
On Christmas Day we roamed about Cape Geology
380 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
collecting specimens and skua eggs. I was pleased to see signs
of intellect in two of the skuas, for my observations of seals,
penguins, and skuas left me convinced of their stupidity.
However, in one nest the bird had dragged some moss from
a patch a foot distant, and in another case some quill feathers
were arranged around the nest. All the other birds nested
anyhow and anywhere. A gully, where water often trickled
down on a specially hot day, was a favoured spot !
For lunch we cracked twenty-seven eggs, of which eight
were edible. Then we opened the Christmas bag and we
found therein a small pudding ready cooked and some
caramels and ginger. Forde had rigged up the flap again,
and had raised the Irish flag on his own behalf. He cut out
a white harp from a linen specimen bag and sewed it on to
a piece of green burberry. The result was patriotic and
striking. Gran’s sledge flag was a beautiful piece of em-
broidery presented by Queen Maud, and contained the
Norwegian arms. Debenham’s and mine bore the arms of
our universities.
I had carved a spoon out of a piece of bamboo from the
broken end of our depét flag, and Debenham used this as
a lever to photograph our group. This primitive arrange-
ment took a lot of fixing, but he obtained quite a successful
picture finally.
A heavy sea fog rolled up that evening, and most of us
suffered from rheumatic pains. As a rule, we never caught
cold while sledging, though I remember a touch of influenza
on one occasion. This freedom from some of the minor ills
of life speaks well for the purity of the air in the Antarctic.
Debenham’s birthday is the 26th of December, and Gran
had remembered this fact and carried a packet of cigarettes
from Cape Evans as a present to him.
We walked along the flank of Mount England to explore
the New Glacier and to find a track to the Upper Mackay.
Numerous couloirs or chimneys grooved the steep face, and
Gran and I climbed four hundred feet up one of them. The
snow-line was about eight hundred feet up, and below this
was a tumbled pile of debris and granite blocks with a little
water running between. It was obvious that frost action was
now leading to a great deal of erosion; while at the head
of the couloir where the snow lay, less action was taking
THE FIRST WESTERN PARTY IN A NATURAL ICE-TUNNEL
AMID THE PINNACLES OF THE KOETTLITZ GLACIER.
Edgar Evans standing.
THE SECOND WESTERN PARTY AT CAPE GEOLOGY, GRANITE
HARBOUR, ON CHRISTMAS DAY, 1911.
Forde and Gran standing, Debenham and Taylor sitting.
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 381
place. In short, true glacier erosion (planation) was absent,
and yet all round were specimens of cwms in all stages of
their evolution. Here a gully, there a couloir somewhat
deeper, on the Kar Cliffs a couloir cut into a “ half funnel”
(p. 374); at the “Spillover” near by, a small bowl at the
back of the eroded notch, and along the mountain ridge
(named later after Gonville and Caius College), a series of
giant cwms which, in my opinion, originated in some small
gully such as that I had just climbed. At the foot of each
of these deep couloirs was a delta or debris fan.
We climbed up the steep face of the New Glacier just
where it joined the talus of the mountain slope. Higher up
was a deep lateral gully which had been dammed by debris,
and contained a lake about a quarter of a mile long. This
was bounded by steep granite cliffs on the south, which
showed no sign of grooving by the glacier, but was breaking
off in “shells ” owing to frost action.
We could see up the New Glacier, which was badly
crevassed in many places. I came round to the opinion of
Debenham and Gran, that it would be wiser to portage all our
gear up the 1000-feet cliffs of the Flat Iron, and so gain the
quiet area behind the latter. We returned to Cape Geology,
and packed a fortnight’s provisions and gear for our journey
up the Mackay Glacier.
I caught many of the insects I had discovered on arriving
at Cape Geology. Indeed, later Debenham found them under
most of the stones, clustering among the whitish roots or
hyphe of the moss. They would be frozen stiff in a thin
film of ice until one turned the stone into the sun. Then
the ice would melt, and they would move sluggishly about
until the sun left them, when their damp habitation froze
again! I cannot imagine a finer example of hibernation, for it
looked as if they pursued an active life only when a beneficent
explorer let ina little sunlight on them! Debenham detected
a little red species which was much more nimble than the
millimetre-long blue ones, and I had much trouble in catch-
ing six of them; but the others were more easily managed.
I smeared a piece of paper with seccotine, and then, taking
a small brush from the medical outfit, I brushed them by
hundreds on to the paper. ‘“‘Seccotine sticks everything,”
and the aptera were no exception. In a few moments they
382 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
were securely embalmed like the flies in amber, and so we
safely carried a thousand of these unknown insects back to
civilization.
At noon on the 27th we arrived at the foot of the Flat
Iron again, and started our big task. Like most premeditated
ills, it was not so difficult as anticipated. First we had some
tea on a little gravelly ledge about a hundred feet up, and
then packed the gear for transport up the mile of angular
granite blocks which lay between us and the top of the Flat
Iron. Forde and Gran carried the sledge on their shoulders,
and, as may be imagined, had a most uncomfortable journey
with this “ old man of the ice” to handicap their scramble.
Debenham and I carried food and gear, and in about a dozen
journeys everything was perched high up on the Flat Iron’s
summit. Open water was visible from five hundred feet, so
that it was still about twenty-five miles away. Pennell had
not much chance of reaching the rendezvous unless the ice
went out at a mile a day.
We left our snug gravel island next day, and knotted
ourselves well to the sledge. We were now to journey for
some days over the Mackay Glacier, and though we naturally
chose the smoothest and least disturbed ice for our route, yet
we had to pass near areas full of huge crevasses. I had less
anxiety than ever to fall into one, for I could not use my
right hand at all yet. However, the other three were almost
too prompt to pull me out, as I realized a week or two later.
We zigzagged down on the snow plateau. This is about
ten miles wide, and seven miles from east to west. It is
bounded by the New Glacier crevasses on the south, and by
rock islands which we called Redcliff and Mount Suess on
the west, by the chaos of the Mackay Skauk on the north,
and by the Flat Iron and Cuff Cape Glaciers to the east,
where there is a 1000-feet drop into Granite Harbour.
“The surface was covered with deep snow; we don’t
know what is beneath. There are many indications of east-
west depressions in the snow into which we fell occasionally,
but I am not sure if they were crevasses. The surface often
fell in with a widespread sigh, which was eerie but harmless.
“To the south is a wonderful series of peaks about five
thousand feet high, forming a wall of giant cwms. Probably
they form the divide from the next great valley (of the
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 383
Debenham Glacier). Quite a number of these peaks show
a recurved spine on the summit, which is probably due to the
weathering of dolerite crags. To the north-west is a moun-
tain approaching seven thousand feet, which is capped by
dolerite lava.” (We called it Black-cap at first, but it is now
officially known as Mount Tryggve Gran, after our ever-
cheerful comrade.) “In the face of this mountain are faulted
white bands which are probably Beacon Sandstone.”
That evening we camped on Redcliff Nunakol. This latter
term I invented with Gran’s assistance to describe a rock
island resembling a xunatak, but rounded by previous glacial
erosion. The nunatak has properly never been below the
ice ; hence its name, from the Icelandic numa, lonely, and tak,
South Col 4500 TheDeck North Col
|
Bulwark |
Mount Suess Nunatak, looking west from Redcliff, December 29, 1912.
a jagged peak. Nunakol is from una, lonely, and ho/, a
rounded ridge.
We placed the tent on a patch of gravel near to a little
waterfall. I followed up this stream, and found that it rose
in some swampy ground where a little moss was growing.
Next morning we all explored the Nunakol, which was 1080
feet above the glacier. The top was more or less flat, and
as usual consisted of granite covered with much debris, |
managed to do some sketching, and was especially interested
in the numerous pot-holes cut out in granite by the wind.
They were about a foot in diameter and eight inches deep,
and each contained some pebbles by which they had been
scoured out.
384 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
To assist our survey we named many of the peaks and
glaciers around us. The sharp peak to the north (which I
usually made the datum for the theodolite angles) we called
the “ Referring Facet.” A large tributary glacier to the east
of this was named the Cleveland Glacier by Debenham. He
explained that it was after a large family, and so required a
correspondingly large natural feature! Red Ridge was to the
south, and formed of red granite. Killer Ridge had the shape
of an orca, Sperm Bluff was a black headland like the blunt
head of the sperm whale. Pegtop and Dome nunataks are
self-explanatory. We were quite close to Mount Suess, and
obtained a fine view of this nunatak. Its three dolerite peaks,
the armchair hollow, and the bulwark on the north-east, sup-
ported by huge granite cliffs, made it a very striking object.
On the 30th the day was overcast, and it snowed most of
the time. We could not leave the tent, and lay snug in our
bags and mended gear. I did some useful darning, using
seaming twine to repair my socks. They were lasting splen-
didly. ‘I mended them with my left hand; so far 1 am still
wearing the same socks for eight weeks. If I could darn
easily, I’d keep to them for our whole fourteen weeks. . . .”
Such was the practical value of my patent canvas heel-tips !
Debenham and | made a set of chess pieces from card-
board, and we played on his survey plane-table. It took a
week or two to get used to the men, but we had many games
later while we were marooned on Cape Roberts.
On the last day of the year we pulled westward to Gondola
Ridge. ‘‘ All was snow-covered, and we sank four inches into
it, but the sledge pulled pretty well. There was no sun, but
I got ina cold sweat with the work. Now and again our feet
would sink a foot or two. There must be plenty of crevasses
round this corner of the nunakol, but we trusted the fates and
plugged on. The snow was so deep that we did not break
through the bridges anywhere. The sun came out to cheer
us, and soon we heard the old creaking due to ‘ bottle-glass’
ice and ‘glass-house’ ice. .. .” I knew this meant an ancient
undisturbed glacier from our experience up the Koettlitz
Glacier, and felt that we were safely past the crevasses.
About noon we had approached close to Gondola Ridge,
which extends northward from Mount Suess. Here we came
to a sudden ice cliff, but the slope was not too steep for us to
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 385
toboggan down it on to a lake surface fringing the moraines.
I expect thaw waters had cut out the cliff. Here were fine
debris cones just like those of Cape Evans, but larger, and
°
00°
Piebald Cone
ff
[-Jie}
6°
ae
- oo
~~ Sledge
Oo}
Go
Gondola Nw
low Col
Ascent
Gran's Pk
Sandstone —-|||
Summif
4500°
Sketch Mop
mt Suess Nunatak
and Gondcla Nunakol
5-1-2
formed not only of dolerite, but of granite and Beacon Sand-
stone.
“We pushed on for a whitish silt-bank, and then left the
sledge near it among the black and white rocks composing
the moraine. The silt-bank was a huge heap like a railway
embankment. It was twenty feet high, and composed of
2c
386 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
Beacon Sandstone debris. A little lake lay at the foot, and
its flat top made a splendid camp site. ‘ Here, on soil formed
of real sand, like that near Sydney, we pitched our tent : ’—
probably the first time such a thing had been done in Victoria
Land. We found a bounteous water-supply by cutting
through the ice of the little lake, for alongside a big black
boulder the radiation of the sun’s heat had melted the ice.
This was a great saving, for none of our precious oil was now
wasted in melting the ice.”
There was an extraordinary mixture of dolerite and sand-
stone all over the Gondola Ridge. The sandstone was
characterized by blebs, which in Germany would be called
“Knoten.” We called it briefly “smallpoxy,” and it did not
look hopeful for fossils. However, there was some shale near
the tent, which looked more hopeful. We did not find much
beyond worm-casts and ripple-marks at first.
The discovery of fossils was of especial importance to
Australia, because the central Antarctic area had served as a
distributing base for Australian animals and plants. The
marsupials are represented by a few forms in South America
and New Guinea, and there seems little doubt that land ex-
tended more or less continuously between these limits. Earlier
still South Africa was joined to this Antarctic world, for land-
worms allied to those in the other southern continents are
now known from Cape Colony.
When Gran and I returned from our first survey of the
ridge we found that Debenham had already been successful in
the shales. He had found some vesicular horny plates. I
turned to, and soon obtained two large pieces like the red
tiles capping a roof-ridge. They were nearly two inches
long, and had a well-marked keel. There were also smaller
complete plates. On our return to Europe these were iden-
tified as the armour-plate of primitive fish, and probably of
Devonian age. So that our find on Gondola Ridge added a
new epoch to Antarctic fossils, for Cambrian limestones were
known, and Permian coal-measures were indicated by Shackle-
ton’s specimens. These fish plates identified another set of
sediments midway between them.
The moraines near our camp, though by no means so
abundant as on a smaller European glacier, were the most
important which I saw actually on a glacier in the Antarctic.
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 387
To the north-east two medial moraines stretched out from the
ridge and enclosed an area which we called the Harbour (see
p- 391). In a warm summer this is probably a lake. One
striking “ piebald ” debris cone was half white and half black.
It was twenty-five feet high, and the eastern portion had
resulted from the weathering of a huge “erratic” of sandstone,
while a similar mass of dolerite had broken up to form the
western half of the heap.
Even so far up and away from the sea we found some
lichens. These diminutive plants were busily etching the
surface of the granite just as in more clement climes,
Beautiful rounded and polished platforms were quite abundant
on the ridge. Occasionally a hard band of porphyry would
Oreake pircted om Si¥ smell slrnus,
oe Gon dota Ridge. ufifi2
project and show almost a glaze where the coarser granite had
been weathered and dulled.
We could now see uninterruptedly to the great ice
plateau. Only one nunatak lay between us and the outlet ice-
falls near Mount Gran. We saw many examples of perched
blocks, some being deposited on top of polished faces of
granite. One huge block, which I sketched, had been lowered
gently by the ice on to four “legs,” at one corner composed
of two small stones. Between Mount Suess and Gondola
Ridge was a definite “col” or low pass containing small tarns
and covered with debris. We returned to the camp by this
route, and had no difficulty in clambering down its eastern
outlet.
The 2nd of January was a cold gloomy morning. The
clouds settled down and swathed everything in a clammy
388 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
mantle. I dared not move far from the tent, and so we broke
up shales and collected more of what Evans called “ sarpent
critters.” I found a few brilliant blue plates with a lustre
like that on the elytre of beetles! I walked over the north
end of the ridge where the solid granite was broken into
large “bricks”’ separated by several inches. These blocks
seemed to have moved to the east, and this movement may be
due to glacier “plucking”; but I think it is merely the
result of frost cleavage followed later by rock “creep.” At
any rate it was very common on the “floors” left by the
recession of the ice-sheet.
Debenham in his prowl for specimens had discovered a
coal-mine! In this case it was not a large one, and consisted
of a fine lump of brown coal about four inches across.
On the 3rd Gran and I determined to circumnavigate
Mount Suess. This most striking mountain lay about one
mile south of us. It towered 3000 feet above Gondola ridge
and was a most impressive sight. The upper layer consisted
of black dolerite, largely showing columnar structure. The
main mass was formed of reddish granite. It stood out four-
square like some gigantic castle keep (see Fig., p. 383).
The centre was hollowed out and three cusps or peaks rose at
the north, west, and south angles respectively. In fact, it
resembled more than anything an ancient molar tooth,
though this parallel libels its rugged grandeur.
As we marched round its east face we came on more and
more dolerite in the moraine. This had evidently been
swept round the south of the mount, and as this moraine
contained the sandstone fossils it was very important to see
where the moraine originated. Between the mount and the
glacier to the south was a low col of granite from which
talus debris reached upwards almost to the dolerite cap. The
mount itself looked yellow, but I found this was due to a
yellow tint in the granite.
The sky was clouding, and we had still a long way to go.
So we hurried round to the west side of the mount, and here
I saw what I had expected, that between the granite base and
the dolerite capping there was a long “lenticle” of yellow
sediments. It was, however, quite inaccessible from below,
and after making a sketch we marched on the north. On this
side there was very little talus. We clambered along over
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 389
granite terraces some 300 feet above the glacier. We crossed
the top of the north col without difficulty and proceeded
over Gondola Ridge to the tent. Later, Debenham and Forde
appeared. They had found an easy route to the central hollow
of the mount, which we called “The Deck,” but had not had
time to ascend one of the peaks.
On the 4th the morning was clear, and | felt that we could
not do better than get the theodolite on the top of Mount
Suess, and so connect up many of the distant peaks with our
survey.
Debenham decided to stay below and continue his plane-
table survey. Gran took his camera, and Forde and I carried
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the theodolite, etc. We climbed up the gap at the north
corner, and then scrambled along a slope full of snow-covered
boulders which lay between the main peaks and the 1800-feet
Rampart. This latter feature seemed as if pierced for guns
also! Possibly the gap and the “ports” were due to the
weathering away of volcanic dykes in the granite. They did
not look as if ice had cut them out. Where the gap emerged
on the “ Deck” were two little tarns at about 1200 feet above
the tent.
Gran proceeded to climb the central-west cusp of the
mount, thinking it the highest. Forde and I attacked the
south-west peak. The slope was very steep and covered at
first with grey granite, black dolerite, and yellow sandstone
390 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
blocks. At 2000 feet only the dolerite blocks were seen, so
that I feel sure that the sandstone crops out inside the hollow
of the mount (between the granite and dolerite) as well as on
its western face.
At 1.40 I reached the top and found that it was 3000 feet
above the tent. I set up the theodolite and obtained a fine
series of angles. Sighting on Gran’s peak, which he had just
surmounted, I found it was two degrees lower, which I
estimated at about a hundred feet, whereat he was somewhat
crestfallen. However, he walked across after obtaining a
splendid set of photos of the landscape spread out before us.
The actual summit was fairly flat for a few yards, with a
thousand-feet precipice on the south and west. Far out to
sea we could see miles of open water, especially to the south,
with floes drifting in it, but it did not seem much nearer than
a month ago.
To the south a deep fiord-like valley seemed to pierce
right through the Gonville Range. It was of course filled
with ice, and was, I think, what the Americans call a tran-
section glacier. Probably it connected the Mackay Glacier
with the Debenham Glacier. The cliffs at its west portal were
cut into giant “ forts,” and bands of beacon sandstone showed
clearly enough above the granite.
To the south lay the Sperm nunakol. It was only a mile
away, and we seemed to be right over it. It showed a flat
surface covered with debris much like the Flat Iron. The
Peg Top nunakol seemed to have lost its knob-like appear-
ance. It was somewhat T-shaped, the front bar rising like a
crocodile’s head from the covering of ice. To the south of
this rock island there seemed an easy route up to the Plateau
—good enough for ponies, if the first step up to the “ Flat
Iron”’ could be negotiated.
A very high mountain, possibly 10,000 feet, showed to
the west. We could not estimate its distance properly, for all
our survey angles to it were so acute.
After spending two and a half hours on the summit we
hurried back to the camp, and found that Debenham had
passed a useful if uneventful day.
On the 6th of January we took down the tent and trans-
ported our gear across the rugged moraines to the sledge.
While [ was packing the fish scales in cotton-wool, the other
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Gondola Ridge from the top of Mount Suess, looking north-east, January 4, 1912, showing the,“
392 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
three had found more coal near the sledge, and they soon
collected five specimen bags full. It was undoubtedly derived
from Beacon Sandstone beds close to our camp, and possibly
from the outcrop we had seen on Mount Suess.
We marched straight back to the Flat Iron, camping for
lunch about halfway. It was interesting to note the way
the snow lay in various regions. Small cwm valleys at low
levels were filled with snow and ice, while large plains at
higher elevations to the west were seen to be almost bare.
Perhaps the snowfall varies with height, while the ablation
(evaporation) may depend largely on the wind direction.
Next day we devoted toa survey of the Flat Iron. I went
to the northern face to see if we could drag or lower the sledge
down the glacier without unloading it. I had a light camera
and was able to take a few interesting photographs. The
first looking over Cuff Cape to the north illustrated the
following physiographic features: the ice-face, crevasses,
skauk, young calf-bergs, moraines, retreating glacier, granite
pavements, shear-cracks in bay-ice, the ice tongue, facets on
the cliffs, cwms, overflows, hog-bag ridges, the junction of the
granite and dolerite, and the Kar Plateau—all on one quarter-
plate negative !
To the south was the small tarn I have mentioned earlier.
The furrowed face of Mount England was reflected in its
still water, and a solitary skua gull was preening his feathers
on a boulder in the lake. I managed to get a successful
photo here also.
Meanwhile a sea-fog was rolling in from the east. Gradu-
ally it blotted out all the features below us. I had just time
to hurry back to the tent before everything around us vanished.
Debenham turned up a minute or two later, but I was getting
anxious when Forde and Gran returned. It is impossible to
find one’s way in these fogs, and exposure to Antarctic
weather is a thing to be dreaded even in summer.
Next morning we started transporting our gear down to
the bay-ice. We followed our former route, which certainly
seemed to have been the best. We had now to carry down
many specimens, for the Flat Iron was a wonderful collecting
ground. The main mass is grey granite, but it includes many
varieties of schist and bands of altered limestone ; gabbros,
amphibolites, quartz porphyries, marble, mica-schists, felsites
GRAN’S MIDSUMMER BATH, Dec. 21, 1911.
A small tarn of the Devil’s Ridge overlooking the Punchbowl (300 feet below).
Across the latter appears the Dewdrop Glacier. ‘The tarn is held back by a
snow-drift glacieret. [See p. 378.
Photo by Gran.]
THE COULOIRS OF MOUNT ENGLAND (WHICH DEVELOP INTO
CWMS LATER).
The Flat Iron hides the base of the mountains. In the foreground the ice-foot
of Cuff Cape.
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 393
and rhyolites were mostly in situ, while erratics of basalt and
sandstone were common.
The rough shaking to which our gear was subjected re-
sulted in our losing the top of the theodolite tripod, the
pump-knob on the Primus, and the sight-ruler! Debenham
found the latter, but we had to use makeshifts for the other
lost articles.
At 7 p.m. we were back at Cape Geology. Each time
we returned we found the pressure ridges and tide crack off
the cape had altered in shape and made our approach more
difficult. The skua gulls had found our blubber store and
were gobbling it up as rapidly as they were able. Our hut
floor was inches thick in ice, but we gave up trying to make
the hut comfortable, and the cook shivered out there at the
stove, and then brought the food down to the tent, where we
ate it in comfort.
At this time we were devoutedly hoping for wind, so that
some of the sea-ice should blow away and permit the ship to
reach us, Captain Pennell was eum
due any day now, but the bay-ice
looked as solid as when we had
entered in November.
We inspected the ‘“ vege-
table garden” and found that
twelve dicotyledons had sprouted ! puvi
I imagine these are the first Sea-kale at // >:
grown in the open air within the Bae
Antarctic circle! They seemed thirsty, so I gave them some
water. But, alas! the weather rapidly grew colder. Every
day a few were blighted, and, finally, I carefully gathered the
remnants and placed them in my pocket-book as a record
of Gran’s well-meant experiment.
I was much disappointed with the moss. It lay in peaty
clods between the boulders, usually in lumps about the size
of a large bath bun, and had formed a considerable amount of
humus, But it remained almost black and dead all this
summer. Usually January 15th is the warmest day, but this
season December was much warmer than January, and | think
the backward condition of the moss showed that it was an
exceptionally severe summer.
I was now cook again, and will copy some of my cooking
RRL SR
SOS RORT s,
394 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
notes. ‘At 4.30 I dug up the seal-meat cache, and found a
whole liver buried deep under a layer of ice. It all seemed
fresh, and Forde helped me to cut it up on a board outside the
hut. Then I got the stove lighted by blubbery paper pretty
easily, and the cooker full of water. I heated this for cocoa till
it began to sing, and then put on the frying-tray. This latter
was the base of our cooker, but served excellently as a pan ;
except that it was so large that one part of the meat would
freeze while the rest was frying! I put in some fat, and
tipped in four mugs of cut up seal and liver. It took about
three-quarters of an hour to cook, being stirred continuously.
I fear me I used my dagger as poker, cutter of blubber, as
scraper of soot, stirrer and taster, all indiscriminately! How-
ever, with onion powder and salt it doesn’t taste badly, though
it makes my teeth ache chewing it. The cooker of warmed
water boiled in no time, though it had been cooling for three-
quarters of an hour, and we had hot cocoa to time. I had
only one biscuit, so that it was a cheap indigenous meal.”
The weather had been rather disagreeable during the last
month, about four days fine alternating with five days over-
cast. This is not usual in midsummer, but we chiefly required
strong winds to blow away the sea ice, so that Pennell could
reach us. With a sailor’s superstition Gran hung up his
most dilapidated headgear “ for a favouring wind.” He said
it always took effect in twenty-four hours. However, as was
often the case with our sanguine prophet, nothing came of his
forecast, and his stock was flat again.
On the 11th Debenham swore that he saw the Terra Nova.
Gran confirmed this, and said the sails were set. I got hold of
the binoculars, and alas! I saw three Terra Novas. They were
miraged bergs, I fear. I thought it would be a good plan to
have a signal on top of Discovery Bluff, and so Gran and I
carried paper, blubber, and dried moss, to the summit, and
left them there in readiness for a flare, if the ship approached.
I carried up the theodolite, but did not take many angles, for
it began to snow. When I returned, I found that Forde had
kindly done my cooking—or rather greatly improved on it.
He made some excellent chupatties from “thickers” and
raisins, of which we had a small surplus.
That evening we had a great argument about the possi-
bility of a German invasion, Gran versus Debenham, in
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 395
which Forde and I took sides to keep things lively. ‘“ We
agreed that Germany could not conquer a colony, even if it
were handed over to them ; that the Kaiser’s aspirations ought
to be humbled, and that the British officers were not so highly
educated as the German.” Gran had many tales of the vast
amount of linguistic and mathematical knowledge which they
amassed.
Friday the 12th.—No sign of the ship! This is the day
I backed for our meeting. However, my cookery is over for
a time.
Gran and I walked over to the Tongue to measure the
movement of the ice. On the 26th of December I had sighted
on to the stake with the theodolite, and obtained a movement
of thirty feet in twelve days. ‘She is fairly galloping to sea.”
On this occasion we both wore spiked boots, and so had
little difficulty on the glacier, though the recent snow had
hidden all but the largest crevasses. On arrival at the stake
—which had not suffered from the blizzards—Gran lay on
the snow with the field glasses, and observed Debenham, who
was posted with the theodolite at the camp station. Meanwhile
I moved east or west, and Debenham signalled to Gran until
I stood on the transit with the crack in the Kar Cliffs. Now I
made a direct measurement from this line to the stake, and
found a movement to the east of eighty-two feet. Therefore
the glacier has a velocity of almost a yard a day. The sketch
(Fig., p. 374) shows exactly how this determination—which I
believe to be the most accurate in Victoria Land—was made.
Gran suggested trying another route back, so we moved
into one of the huge gullies (which nearly dissect the Tongue
every half-mile) and we found it remarkably easy. There
were three little lakelets between thirty-feet walls, showing
there was no drainage into crevasses here, and we reached the
bay ice with great ease.
I discussed pushing off for Cape Roberts instead of waiting
close to the Bluff. There was no possibility of the ship coming
in to us, and we could meet them as easily from the entrance.
On the other hand, there seemed no way out of the cul-de-sac
at Cape Geology if the ship did not arrive, and the sea-ice
broke away. So, after talking it over, I decided to leave our
headquarters on the 14th.
On the 13th Debenham and Gran went to the Bluff, and
396 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
Gran climbed to the top to scan the ice in Ross Sea. Deben-
ham visited the flag, and made a chart of the great shear-cracks
in the bay ice, due to the Mackay Ice Tongue.
Forde and I packed everything which we should need for
sledging at Evans Coves on the good sledge. We packed the
specimens, and some articles not now necessary on the “ roof-
tree” sledge. This necessitated dismantling Granite Hut,
and very woe-begone it looked, with the sealskins flapping
dismally on its walls. They had turned into fine d/ack fur
now, but were not beautiful enough to warrant transport
on our heavily laden sledge. The skuas enjoyed our removal.
They pounced eagerly on our specimen bags, and flew off some
distance with several, in the hopes of finding a dainty morsel.
I was much amazed at the unusual sight of two skua gulls
amicably tearing a piece of blubber up between them, and
bolting half each. I never saw another instance of so much
sociability.
“On Sunday, January 14, 1 woke the others at 6 a.m.,
having had to keep awake an hour or so to do it. We had
food quickly, packed up, and were ready to start about twenty
to eight. 1 should think our sledge had goo lbs. on it, which
is about a record down here. We got over our ‘ Pressure
Pier’ to the bay ice without much difficulty, though it is very
narrow now. Later parties will have to find a new route.
“‘ We found the sledge pretty hard to pull, and it took us
over an hour to do the first mile. When you are going
slowly it is always twice as hard, and lasts twice as long!
This looked bad with nine miles to do. We got over the
first tide crack, near the signal flag, by means of an island.
Then we halted for a rest, and marched along the front of the
Bluff towards the Piedmont Ice Tongue. The east was very
gloomy now, and it started to snow. When you are pulling
half a ton, and know that the ice you are on was breaking up
in January, 1903, this is not cheerful. However, I turned in
nearer the land, so as to reach Avalanche Bay, where it was
possible to ascend the cliffs. The snow got no worse, and
the surface improved slightly. We could see two seals far
ahead on the next big crack, and we found thirty feet of wet,
mushy snow at the first spot.”
A little searching showed us a possible track. Debenham
and I, tied together, crossed first, and then the others, and
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 397
then we judged the sledge might do it. I expect it would
have sunk like a stone if the ice had given way ; but we had
to get over here, or nowhere.
The snow came down thickly now, and we plugged ahead
by compass for the small Piedmont Tongue, where we had
been held up two days on our arrival. Suddenly we seemed
to run into a snow slope, and by a mighty expenditure of
energy we got the sledge up on to the tongue, and were safely
on fixed ice for the time.
We soon got the tent pitched, for there was not much
wind, and had some tea. I will quote my diary.
“We were all in a cold sweat, for the work is very hard,
and yet you don’t keep warm. However, we got into our
bags, and were soon warm, if damp. The blizzard was but
temporary, and about 4 p.m. it blew over to the west. I
crossed the Tongue to see the descent on the other side. It
was about five feet down a steep snow slope. Beyond was a
narrow shear crack with two seals; but the big crack at the
end of the tongue went further east. We pulled over the
glacier and down the slope past the seals without difficulty.
Then on a little further, and saw a crack to our right.
*‘It seemed only about a foot wide, and I was testing this
weak spot with the ski stick, when the foot of soft snow on
which I was standing collapsed, and I went into the water.
Luckily I grabbed Deb’s hand, and Forde and Gran got my
harness. 1 was jerked out like a cork from a bottle, and was
never so near flying. None saw the others pull, and they
thought I felt very light. We plugged on to the east, and
came to the main wavy crack, an ugly thing, thirty feet across,
of mushy water. Luckily this also narrowed at the bend,
and after some searching we pulled over him also.”
I was getting thoroughly tired here. However, we could
see our destination at last, and so pushed on. A keen wind
came up from the south-west, and swept over the one hundred
feet glacier wall to the south, driving snow across our course.
We crossed a little crack which Debenham thought was new
since the snowfall. To our left were many birds, about a
mile away, and black patches of ominous appearance were
showing. Debenham climbed on the sledge, and was sure
it was open water, and I agreed ; but we couldn’t do anything,
and pushed on. “I got some relief for my tired legs by
398 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
marching a longer stride, and we plugged on, hoping it would
hold firm another hour. However, at long length we began
to see details in the never-ending glacier wall on our left—icicles,
crevasses, and snowdrifts,—and at last could make out a feasible
slope up on to the Cape, and felt safe. I had cramp from the
pulling, and couldn’t move for a time.” Then it was a
distinct anticlimax, when we got to the top of the Cape, to
see that we had been misled by some queer shadows, that there
was firm ice for at least seven miles, and no sign of water
anywhere! However, our experience at New Harbour made
both Debenham and myself realize the risk we were running
if the break-up of the ice, now long overdue, had eventuated.
“Monday, the 15th January, 1912 ; the day on which we
were to be relieved. ’Nary a relief, nor any sign of it, and
skuas squawking round us !
“‘ We surveyed our cape expecting to find pools of water
in plenty, but there is none anywhere. Everything is covered
with snow except the big boulders and two or three patches
of gravel, of which we have annexed the largest. When we
arrived each gravel patch was inhabited by a pair of skua
gulls, which we may call White, Black, and Gray respec-
tively.”
We dispossessed the Blacks, and I put young “ Blackie”
in a new nest—just as well made as his own—a little distance
away. Meanwhile Debenham set up the blubber stove on a
rock ledge near by, to get to which he crossed the Grays’ nest
rather frequently.
The chronicle of these three families have been done
into rhyme by the “Sledge Poet,” and will be found to be
pathetic in the extreme.
A TRUE ANTARCTIC TRAGEDY
On the Cape by Granite Harbour, where the Glacier shrinks away,
Happy dwelt three pairs of Skuas, fighting gaily night and day.
Skua-/Vhite possessed but one egg. Young Skua-Black to walk begins ;
Skua-Gray was just expecting the arrival of some Twins !
To that Cape by Granite Harbour stagger in at bright midnight,
Blizzard-blown and Ice-tormented, Four exhausted men of might.
Boulders carpeted their refuge, each within a snow-field set,
pe A inviting tent-sites crowned the Cape . . . and they were
rr — =
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 399
Operates the law primeval, “ Shove the weaker to the floe.”
Fix the tent there in the middle, Skua Black has got to go.
With a shriek of rage and anguish fled the parents of S. B.
Little cared the callous leader ; “‘ Hurry up, and boil the tea.”
By the nest of Skuas grayish, quick was placed the Blubber Stove,
And the incense thence proceeding made the skuas murmur “ Jove !”
They had to seek another refuge. Bitter feelings filled their cup.
It tore their hearts to leave their offspring, so they sighed—and ate
them up.
Very loudly yelled young Blackie, crawling round the tent all night,
So that kind and humane leader took him off to Skua White.
“Lo! a miracle hath happened,” said returning Skua White ;
“ Here’s our nest just fu// of chicken, full of howling appetite.”
Said Skua White, “ It would be best, for fear this should become a habit,
To feed ourselves upon our egg. (Besides, you may be sure he’d grab it.)
So little Blackie reigned supreme
Until one day when he was fed
(By that kind and humane leader
Foster-father, foster-feeder)
On rich and tasty lumps of blubber,
His little tummy stretched like rubber,
Stretched too much
and now HE’s dead !
The skuas are the most quarrelsome birds I know. They
would fight for hours over the carcase of a freshly-killed seal
until they realized there was enough food for ten times as
many skuas—and by this time the flesh would be frozen so
hard they could make no impression on it. The penguins
have their own peculiar propensities, while the seals used to
amaze us by their callousness. The day after we reached
Cape Roberts we killed a large seal and cut it up, while
another twenty yards away watched us quite casually, and did
not budge for hours.
There was nothing much to do on the Cape. It was
triangular in shape, rising about fifty feet above the sea ice.
The broad base of the triangle was covered with snow, which
gradually merged into the Piedmont Glacier. There was no
ice-wall here, so that the glacier was presumably stagnant at
this corner. The great granite tors of the Cape were all
flattened, showing that they had been planed off by a former
400 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
extension of the ice-sheet. Debenham spent some time
making a detailed plane-table survey. 1 fixed several theo-
dolite stations, but as the days went by our life settled into
a monotonous round,
I cut the meals down to two a day. We had plenty of
seal meat and biscuit, but all the other stores were approaching
their last week.
We used to have a meal about 7 p.m. every other day,
a half ration of pemmican ; for although seal meat is not so
black as it’s painted (and it’s very black indeed), yet we had
eaten little else for a month, and were all heartily sick of it.
Then we turned in, and used to yarn or read till about 3 a.m.,
when we managed to get to sleep. We turned out at noon,
and had a biscuit and seal lunch. During the afternoon we
used to walk over the cape and inspect the cracks in the
sea ice. One man was kept fairly busy cutting up seal meat,
and the cook coaxed the stove to cook the fry.
Debenham was our only smoker, and certainly found
tobacco a great solace. I had brought socks instead of tobacco,
and had looked forward to jeering at him when his tobacco
and socks gave out. Unfortunately our socks lasted much
better this trip, as our boots were stronger, and I never used
my spare socks !
Gran started a drama—a great nature play full of storms
and wrecks, with a strong substratum of melodrama. It was
called “‘Tangholman Lighthouse,” and we used to urge him
to fill it full of incident, and cut out the “nature”’ part of it.
I read “ Martin Chuzzlewit” for the ninth time and found it,
as always, very interesting; while Forde tackled “Incom-
parable Bellairs’’—-a book which charmed Gran—but luckily
Forde made it last a very long time.
We played chess with our cardboard pieces. I think we
were fairly even, though Debenham tried risky openings to
my advantage. The place of Evans as Society Entertainer
was taken by Gran. His varied adventures in Arctic seas,
among the Andes, in Turkey, Venezuela, and others of the less-
known regions of the earth interested us much. He was, I
remember, very anxious to experience the delights of station
life as pourtrayed by Debenham.
The 20th of January was Gran’s birthday. I was sorry
I couldn’t return his kindly present (of Savoy sauce, etc.),
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 401
but I told him I would give him a ship during the day. The
Sledge Poet contributed the following Birthday Ode, dealing
with Gran’s Nietzschian principles ; which is here published
with Gran’s gracious permission.
ODE TO TRYGGVE
ON His 23RD Birrupay, Cape Roserts.
(Chanted at ye Full Pemmican Feast.)
O Trygge Gran, O Trygge Gran,
I would thou wert a moral man,
And yet since we
(The other three)
Are just as moral as can be,
A “soupgon de diablerie”
Improves our. little company.
O Tryggve Gran, a holy calm
Is most essential in a psalm.
But prose should be a thought less calmer
When elevated into drama.
And yet though we
(The other three)
Are critical to a degree,
We wish success some future day
To the first Polar “ Nature Play.”
O Tryggve Gran, thou art a man
Who hath compressed within a span
Of three and twenty years, such deeds
That hearing which, each man’s heart bleeds
Among us three.
And yet though we
Are kind to every girl we see,
I have no doubt each lovely creature
Would rather help you follow Nietzsche !
Oh, Tryggve Gran, you should be dead
A-many years ago—instead
Of which, he saves you oft,
That “ Little Cherub up Aloft.”
And therefore we
(The other three)
In this new principle agree,
(As with your luck no man can quarrel)
Twill serve us best to be un-mora/! ! !
402 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
I was just writing the last line of the poem when Gran
yelled out “Ship ho!” We had seen ships many times
already, but he was certain of this, so we turned out, and
there, under the fang of Erebus, we could see some topmasts.
Later we could make out three masts and black smoke, so we
knew it was the good old Zerra Nova, and not the Fram,
which burned smokeless oil fuel.
We set about elevating our flags further up the glacier.
We took them up a long way, nearly to the top, as we thought.
On our return we saw they were only one quarter of the way
up, a good example of the trickiness of snow-slopes in this
respect. I arranged night watches to observe any signals or
sledge parties, and we turned in hoping to be aboard in
twenty-four hours.
[Nay, gentle reader, you are not at the end of my
narrative ; it was just twenty-four days before we were
relieved. |
Next day she was in much the same position, about twenty
miles away across the screw-pack and broken floes. About
two miles away a great crack stretched from north and south.
It was fully eight miles long, and seemed to presage the
breaking up of the sea ice.
On the 22nd we could not see the ship. A strong south
wind sprang up, and the gradually clouding sky seemed to
portend a blizzard. “The stronger the better,” I write, “if
it will only drive out this blessed floe.” We took a few
photographs. There were two Emperor penguins moulting
on each side of our Cape, but Debenham reported that they
were too frightful to photo! Forde and I had a day with my
stereo-camera, taking various interesting details around the
Cape—planed granite blocks, pressure ice in the bay, and
then the Emperors, awful as they were, several seal and berg
pictures, etc.; but sad to relate all these negatives were
smashed when the sledge fell over the glacier cliff. However,
I made sketches of the most interesting features ; for instance,
one corner of a berg showed very well how flexible are large
masses of ice.
I did not entertain the idea of trying to reach Pennell
across the screw-pack. We should get into more precarious
regions each mile, and we could not communicate with the
ship to ensure her awaiting us. Pennell could send a party
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 403
with safety at either end if he desired. I was, however, very
glad later to find that Pennell also considered the pack abso-
lutely impossible for sledging from the ship.
We saw her during the next few days, and then she never
showed up again.
On the 27th a blizzard started, which we hoped would
move out the ice. It tore our sledge flags badly, so that we
brought them down from our distress signal 350 feet up the
glacier, leaving the big depot flag there.
It was very trying work with the blubber stove, for there
was no shelter on the Cape. When there was any wind the
flames would blow out of the door and gave no heat at all.
The water did not get tepid in half an hour, whereas on a
OS ———e —
; ———————
SS ———
ee ————
——————
eS
Flexure in So fr. Berg , Cape Roberts 20-112
calm day it would boil in twenty minutes. I spent an hour
trying to cook the fry, and barely succeeded in melting the
fat. We decided that the stove could not be used in high
winds, even though it was in a sort of ice cave and the cook
sat in the door to keep the wind out !
Our rations had been cut down by half for a fortnight.
We now had three or four biscuits a day ; butter, every other
day ; chocolate, one stick ; pemmican, one-eighth ; sugar and
tea, two-thirds a day. However, we had plenty of seal meat,
and as we were not working we required much less food.
So passed several days. The tide-crack was groaning all
round the Cape, large pieces of floes floating loose in it, and
jostling each other as the swell came in from the open water
404 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
twenty miles away. Gran spent all one afternoon making
chupatties. The lid of the camera box was his pudding-
board. He used the wheat-meal thickers for dough, and
commandeered our allowance of raisins. The cakes were cut
out with the rim of a cup, and then fried in a mixture of
butter, fat, blubber, and soot. Anyhow, the result was highly
successful, though the inside was somewhat wet, and the
whole, I should now consider, distinctly heavy.
Each day we started the last bag of something precious.
First the pemmican, then the chocolate, then the butter. Only
one seal had been visible for some days, and I decreed his
doom. He lay ona large piece of ice which was rising and
falling with the swell. We reached this across an ice island,
surging about in a large pool. In spite of all this move-
ment no more of the ice moved north, as far as we could
judge.
On the evening of the 1st of February I held a council.
Captain Scott’s instructions read, “1 am of the opinion that
the retreat should not be commenced until the bays have re-
frozen, probably towards the end of March. An attempt to
retreat overland might involve you in difficulties, whereas you
could build a stone hut, provision it with seal meat, and remain
in safety in any convenient station on the coast.”
However, he gave me permission to begin the retreat
if we were not relieved in January, and | began to prepare for
this event.
Cracks seemed to be spreading in the sea-ice even while
one was watching it. The surging ice in the tide-crack, now
twenty feet wide, rose several feet. Now and again a huge
shock-groan, like a big rock bumping on another, announced
a new crack, while a constant roar, like that of a distant lion,
announced the periods of maximum of the swell rolling in
from twenty miles away.
On the 3rd of February Debenham, Gran, and I climbed
the glacier slope behind our camp to prospect for a path. We
roped up and proceeded about three miles southward, keeping
well behind the crevasses. These are numerous on the steep
seaward slope, but we met with none on the fairly level
ground, though we could see them just below us. The
surface was fair, usually two inches deep in snow and occa-
sionally a foot deep. This did not promise easy sledging ;
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 405
but the snow was dry now, and I was going to cut down the
weights to a minimum.
We could see open water about twenty miles off, but a
huge mass of ice-pack was apparent as far north as we could
see. There seemed to be a broad belt at least sixty miles
long, which was quite absent in January, 1902.
Obviously our exploration of Terra Nova Bay was impos-
sible now, and it looked as if the ship would never reach us at
Cape Roberts. With good luck we might cross the Piedmont
Glacier to Cape Bernacchi in a few days, and Pennell might
find it easier to reach us there, while we should at any rate be
nearer to Headquarters. There was also a week’s food there,
and we had now only a fortnight’s sledging stores left.
On February 4th Gran and I explored the sea ice below
the Piedmont for about four miles to the southward. We
passed through the fifteen bergs in the little bay and then got
among the screw-pack. This was covered with snow and
afforded extremely heavy going, as may be imagined. Near
the shore was a perfect network of new cracks with the ice
“‘ working” all the time. Below the glacier wall was a deep
tide-crack four feet wide, but where the ice had fallen in we
managed to get across to fixedice. Asa result of this journey
I decided to march first along the sea ice and then climb up
the Piedmont at this point.
Next morning I wrote a long letter to Pennell, which we
all signed. We made a depdt on the highest point of the
Cape and fixed a flag alongside, with the letter in a little
matchbox. The journal for Captain Scott I left in my ditty
bag. I remorselessly weeded out every one’s gear. We took
nothing but what we stood up in, and our notes and the in-
struments. Luckily, most of Debenham’s and all Gran’s
negatives were films, but I had to leave nearly all my plates
and my cherished Browning. I knew we had some bad cre-
vassed country to traverse—thirty miles of this, and then I
expected thirty miles of coast work largely over moraine and
rock, where we should have to portage the sledge and all our
gear on our backs. With a light sledge it was just possible
we might be able to raise it if it slipped down a crevasse ; and
this was quite a probable event, for in traversing along a pied-
mont glacier the party moves parallel to the crevasses, It thus
reaches them imperceptibly, and the whole outfit may be over
406 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
a crevasse together, whereas in crossing them at right angles
this is rarely the case.
We turned our backs finally on Cape Roberts at 11 a.m.
on the 5th. Our flag waved bravely, and below was the cairn
of stones covering the food left there by Scott’s orders. If we
had to return it would give us a breathing space, but I never
saw the Cape again. For many months the flag was left in
solitude. The screw-pack never broke adrift that winter. In
the next spring, six desperate men sledging southward, as they
thought, to more endurable though no less solitary quarters,
here found the first news of the main party. Our depdét pos-
sibly saved Browning’s life. It certainly gave the Northern
party their first bearable day for many months. Brave old
flag! it hangs in Tewkesbury in Priestley’s home, and there
my old Browning was restored to me after many months!
So we marched on ; we were all stiff and out of training,
and the sledge did not pull easily, but we reached the tide-
crack and crossed it much more easily than I expected. After
lunch we pulled up the steep slope of the glacier, and to our
delight found the surface grow harder almost every hour.
But other troubles were upon us. For three days I felt it
would not benefit any one to write my diary. However, on
the evening of the 8th I wrote up the sth, 6th, 7th, and 8th
of February as follows :—
“Then quite suddenly we came on huge crevasses all
round ; some open, which I took care not to keep too close
to, and others bridged. They seemed too wide to do anything
with ; but after cautioning the others to tread quietly, I
prodded across safely, though the ice-axe pushed in all its
length easily. Then the others followed, and the sledge after.
Gran fell in at the near edge and saw the straight wall. Several
of these were over twenty feet wide, but we had to chance
them, and tested them all before the sledge started. Then we
marched along between two fairly visible ones, and luckily
they didn’t join. The surface got flatter and they died out
gradually so that we made fair progress. We came to another
enclosed snow basin, and I felt sure the seaward slope would
be safer. So it was, though Forde went down a small cre-
vasse. We pulled along this up to a sort of col—about eight
miles from Cape Roberts,-—and here, as we were well beyond
the mouth of the Big Valley, we camped.
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION —§ 407
“‘ My only fear now was that bad weather might cover the
glacier with soft snow, for I felt that all the big crevasses
would be lidded, and the little ones could hardly swallow the
lot of us.”
Next morning we made the harness traces longer, so that
only one man at a time need cross even a wide crevasse. We
had to traverse the mouth of another large valley glacier.
Three of these debouched on the Piedmont Glacier from the
western mountains, and the pressure from the northernmost
(the Debenham Glacier) was responsible for the crevasses of
the 5th of March. The second valley glacier was not so large,
but we anticipated trouble. We had a stiff pull uphill for
three-quarters of a mile, but some of the snow was so hard
that the sledge-runners made no mark. This was an ideal
surface, for one’s feet did not slip on it, though occasionally
the sledge skidded. We were about seven hundred feet above
the sea here, and entered a col just below a huge snow hill.
“ Afterwards we were cutting around the hill aforesaid,
when suddenly appeared many crevasses. So we deviated
abruptly and ascended sharply. We encountered three, into
one of which I fell, but they were not very wide. The moral
of this is—Don’t go for the break of a hill facing and near
the sea, but stick to humdrum grades if possible ; if not, still
don’t go for the break of a hill!”
The somewhat frivolous tone of the above note is evidence
that it was written when we had traversed the worst of the
Piedmont. It was always the case “down South.” One
never got photographs or “instantaneous pen-pictures” of
anything really exciting. It was always a case of “Get a
move on, and get out of this good and quick,” so that one’s
diary lost most where it would have been most interesting.
We were now behind Dunlop Island, and about 1250 feet
up the Piedmont. We were astonished to find that the floe
had all broken up to south’ard. Long curved cracks parallel
to the coast marked where pieces were continually floating off.
We congratulated ourselves on our safe position on the Pied-
mont, for we should have sledged into this without knowing
it had we continued much further on the sea-ice. Small bergs
looking just like white yachts dotted the open water, which
seemed to extend south to Castle Rock. There was no sign
of the Terra Nova, We began to think she had come to
408 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
grief, for Pennell knew we were free to move off on the 1st of
February.
After supper Debenham got out his plane-table and con-
tinued his survey. He was much puzzled by the position of
his station on the stranded Glacier Tongue to the south-east.
He realized soon, however, that it had twisted round, and
was even now preparing to continue its journey to the Nirvana
of warm northern waters.
We had been blessed with sunshine the last few days. I
don’t believe we should have managed to dodge the crevasses
otherwise, for in dull weather you cannot tell any difference
between a ten-foot hollow or a ten-foot hummock when it is
only a yard or two away. However, as a result, Forde got a
bad touch of snow-blindness. Debenham got out the medical
chest. He ground up some ZnSO,, picked it up on a paint-
brush, and dropped it in the corner of Forde’s eye. Later in
the night 1 gave Forde another dose, for the pain is pretty
considerable.
The next day my right eye was sore and watering, in spite
of the amber glasses, and I feared 1 was to become a patient
also. We plugged along over an absolutely level snow-plain,
when Debenham dropped into a crevasse, over which I had
crossed without puncturing the lid.
In the afternoon my eyes gave out, and I put on bandages
on the right eye, and gave up the lead to Debenham. It was
an astonishing relief to cease from staring at the glaring surface,
and either pull along with shut eyes or keep one eye on the
gratefully dirty back of Debenham’s jacket.
Debenham led us safely past three huge crevasses, and
we halted for a spell among a cluster of smaller ones. That
evening we climbed up the snow hill behind Gneiss Point,
about 1350 feet above the sea; and as we had now passed
the third valley glacier, I felt we had finished with the cre-
vasses for the time being. We camped on hard snow, and
Debenham treated me for snow-blindness. The zinc sulphate
may truthfully be described as an eye-opener, but later the
cocaine in the mixture calms things down. You are advised
“to keep your face cool.” But 1 had to keep my head in the
bag to get warm. However, Forde was pretty right next day,
and mine had stopped aching, though everything appeared
double for many hours !
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 409
On the 8th we reached the land near Cape Bernacchi.
There was a steep ice-slope two hundred feet high, at an angle
of 30°. Luckily it was much honeycombed and sun-eaten.
We put grummets (rope brakes) on the sledge, and managed
to get it down about 130 feet. We had a very cheerful lunch,
for we knew the depdt was only a few miles south. Then
we found an ice-foot all the way along the edge of the rocks
and moraine which led us right to the Bernacchi cairn. This
was a regular ice pathway about twenty yards wide. It was
due to sea-ice which had become cemented to the shore, the
tide crack being further away from the rocks, and defining
that part of the floe which had lately drifted away to sea.
No one had visited our depot. New Harbour was full of
new broken floe, but a fine ice-foot seemed to promise well for
our next march.
We stayed a day at Cape Bernacchi, for I wished to get a
good station for the triangulation of this coast. Gran and |
took the theodolite to the top of a hill 2900 feet high, at the
north-east end of Dry Valley. We named this Hjort’s Hill,
in honour of the maker of our trusty Primus lamp. As we
were climbing this hill, Gran swore he could see the ship off
Cape Evans through the binoculars. It seemed clear to me
also—smoke, crosstrees, hull, and three masts; but after an
hour or so we decided it was only a mirage crack in the Barne
Glacier. The disappointment was rather keen, though I am
now not so sure that we did not really see the ship, some forty
miles away. We could see the forty-foot debris cones behind
the hut quite easily on a clear day.
I wrote the usual letter to Pennell. I had left two in
Granite Harbour and two on the Piedmont now, and it did
not look as if any would ever be read.
All through the roth we skirted New Harbour, finding a
fairly feasible ice-foot between the granite-strewn slopes and
the open water. We came across a Spratt’s biscuit box here,
which was evidently left by the 1902 expedition. We saved
a considerable detour by crossing the head of the harbour on
the sea-ice, and camped below the Kukri Hills, where I halted
rather early to get a round of angles. We were held up
here all next day by the snow, which we spent reading and
sewing.
On the 12th we rounded the Kukri Hills, and when the
410 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
ice-foot petered out we were luckily able to continue on the
sea-ice. We had lunch amid a colony of over forty seals, and
then reached the southern side of the Ferrar Glacier, where
we camped on a rather wet and muddy heap of “ road-metal”
moraine.
We were now safely round New Harbour, and, curiously
enough, crossed the sea-ice at the mouth of the Ferrar on the
same day of the year as when we nearly went out to sea on
our first sledge journey. Henceforward we knew our route.
We had plenty of food at the Butter Point depét, which we
reached that evening, and knew we could reach the old Dis-
covery hut before the end of the month.
The depét had been blown over and wrecked generally.
We took some pemmican, butter, and chocolate, and next day
proceeded south along the Butter Point Piedmont. The
surface was much better than the preceding year, but, curi-
ously enough, we found quite a number of small crevasses.
Debenham and Forde fell in together in one of these, and
the burly Irishman jammed so tightly it was quite a business
pulling him out of it. In the evening we reached the Strand
Moraines. These are great piles of ancient silt, gravel, and
erratic blocks, which were dropped here by the ancestor of the
present Koettlitz Glacier.
At the southern end of these moraines, which were several
miles long, was quite a large lake. We tobogganed down to
this and across to a nice little gravelly delta just made for the
tent. We found that the open water reached just to this
point, the sound still being frozen to south’ard, though
obviously breaking away in great sheets. I wrote that night,
“No Terra Nova. We should be picked up at Evans Coves
(Terra Nova Bay) to-morrow!” We had the choice of two
routes now: either to cross the snout of the Blue Glacier,
or to take to the sea-ice and coast round the latter. We
had done the former and knew it would only take a day.
The latter might be quicker, though a great calved berg
blocked the route about two miles ahead. Debenham pre-
ferred the glacier, the other two the sea-ice. I considered it
unsafe to march on the sea-ice if it could possibly be avoided.
I made a bet with Gran that we couldn’t get the sledge
between the calved berg and the glacier without unloading
it. This had a rather interesting outcome. I decided to
GE OF THE BLUE
OVER THE ED
GLACIER.
From a drawing by D. Low.
SAFETY :
THE!RUSH TO
THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 4Il
keep to land ice, on the principle of the “Devil you know
being preferable to the Devil you don’t.”
It was annoying to find that the Blue Glacier had so
completely changed its complexion in the twelve months. In
place of clear blue ice where one could see every crevasse, it
was one uniform sheet of smooth snow, and we soon began to
fall into the crevasses. In a very short time we had all been
in a couple of times, and it was evidently an unpropitious
region for sledging. I deviated to the edge of the glacier
to try and lower the sledge on to the sea-ice, for we were
now abreast of the calved berg, where we halted a few minutes.
Away to the south-east we could see a blizzard brewing,
and I wanted to get a snug camp in the gullies south of the
Blue Glacier. We had an argument as to who had won the
bet, for there was a jumble of ice where the calf jammed
the parent glacier. The other two decided in my favour, and
so we pushed off on the top of the glacier-edge to the wished-
for camp. Gran was dissatisfied with the court’s decision, and
kept glancing back to the scene under discussion. Just as
we were dipping down the slope he yelled out “Ship ho!”
and there she was over the top of the black moraines.
“¢ We turned back at full speed to retraverse the crevasses,
for she was four miles off and we were afraid might miss us,
as a snowstorm was brewing in the east. She steamed along
past the berg and out along the floe. We pulled back hard,
crossing crevasses carelessly, but not falling in much, and
finally could make out that she had a flag on the gaff, ap-
parently recognizing us. We kept ‘along the edge of the
glacier till we could find a place to get down. Here was
a drop of thirty feet almost vertical with a big tide crack and
a tide-pool at the bottom! Gran went down first, and then
I got down halfway. Unluckily as we were lowering the
sledge Forde was pulled over by his harness and fell right
on to Gran, who was pressed into the snow while the sledge
came down on top of us. It nearly broke in the middle ;
however, we lugged it over to the ice and set off hot-foot over
the two miles of ice. The ship now anchored near the floe
and four men came to meet us. They harnessed up and
told us the news. We heard that the Southern party were
going very well, that there were no signs of Amundsen, and
that there had been no accidents of importance. Also that
412 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
they had not been able to communicate with Cape Evans
until a week before, and had been unloading stores every
available moment before they came over to search for us.
And then the world’s news made us feel safer in the Antarctic
at first hearing : the disruption of China, the Franco-German-
English trouble in Morocco, the Italians and Turks in Tripoli,
and the great strikes in England. We had missed an event-
ful year during our sojourn in the peaceful regions of the
South,
VII
| ‘THE VOYAGE BACK
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Coves and Granite Harbour and the dominant winds determining the
ship’s course.
THE VOYAGE BACK
Wuart does it feel like to be in touch with civilization after
a year’s absence? Man is an ungrateful creature, and I can
remember what we missed, better than what we gained on
reaching the Terra Nova. However, the letters were there.
They had been put ready for us in the wardroom. No small
bag would suffice, our literary matter ran to pillow-slips. I
had one well filled, and Debenham, lucky beggar, had two!
Poor Gran’s home mail failed to reach him, and he had only
a few bills, which he could have spared. I rapidly skimmed
through all the news and then opened up the packets, One
young soldier friend sent along a huge gift of pipes and
tobacco. Said he, “I know you didn’t smoke, but 1 expect
you've learnt to! Anyhow they'll be useful.” They truly
were most acceptable, and were most prized by the party
remaining. ‘To balance this gift he sent along “ The Geology
of Nigeria.”
After the first glance through, however, I turned to more
pressing needs. Clean clothes and a bath seemed the greatest
treat one could wish to enjoy.
Two factors blocked us. All our clean clothes were on
land, some in our own hut, some in the Old Discovery Hut !
Moreover, Ponting came along and after complimenting us
on our villainous appearance, begged us to remain picturesque
until the sun showed enough light for a photograph !
Luckily we had only to wait a few hours for this specimen
of “ponting” ; and after four months a day’s more or less
grime mattered little.
One disappointment we met with. Our first cry was
“ Letters,” and our second “Fruit.” Drake sympathized
with us and said that all fruit except apples had been landed
at the hut a week ago. However a box of apples had been
415
416 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
reserved for the Western Party. We rushed that box. The
apples were icy cold and frozen solid. Eagerly we placed
some on the top of the wardroom stove. We waited until
they were well warmed and then voraciously bit into them,
to encounter a stony iceberg in the middle! They took an
incredible time to thaw, and then all the plant cells had burst,
and the apple was a poor thing all brown and almost
rotten !
In my cabin I found a small tin trunk with better fare :
cakes, sweets and nuts of all descriptions, everything but
chocolate. After hearing the yarns of some of Shackleton’s
men, I expected to be surfeited with chocolate, and so warned
my people not to send any down by the ship. However,
the other luxuries were well-chosen and abundant. Every
officer aboard had selections each day, and not till we reached
the Circle nearly a month later was that tin box depleted.
Indeed, one cake from Parramatta friends was so large that
a half was sent to gratify the mess deck !
When I was free from Ponting I bolted into the engine
room and was provided with a huge bucket of scalding water.
Rennick and other officers had lent me some clothes, and I
can still remember that bath. The only available space was
over the boilers! I was jammed into a narrow passage next
the ship’s timbers. If one bare foot slipped an inch too far
it touched the boiler plates; if the ship gave a lurch I
cannoned against huge baulks of oak. Still, I started as
a toil-worn and wild-eyed refugee and finished a semi-respect-
able roustabout !
Pennell soon gave up all hope of reaching Cape Evans.
The blizzard which was brewing at noon, on the 14th, soon
enveloped us, and we were driven far north. Under these
circumstances he deemed it advisable to make the best of it,
and proceed to Evans Coves to try and rescue Campbell's
party.
Among my mail I found a book sent by Professor David.
This was “ Queed,” by Harrison, a writer new to me. This
novel fairly gripped me, and I turned into my bunk all
standing, and read until I had finished it. I hope all Mr.
Harrison’s readers derived as much pleasure from it.
“Jim” Dennistoun was a welcome addition to our mess.
He had been eager to see Antarctica in any capacity, and so
THE VOYAGE BACK 417
came along as mule-overseer. His remuneration was “all
found, and one shilling a month.” We often used to discuss
what he would do with the treasure accruing to him when he
was paid off! An ashtray, beaten out of the four-shilling
piece, was the memento he favoured.
But it was fairly uncomfortable on board. It was now
very cold, and the sun rarely showed for long. Spray was
driven over us, and froze where it fell, so that we spent hours
chipping the decks free from some of the icy layer. The
wardroom seemed all doors, and draughts assailed us every-
where. As usual, on approaching civilization, the Antarctickers
contracted influenza. Debenham was really quite ill, and 1
had a fearful attack of neuralgia, which lasted a fortnight, due
to a gaping tooth. We used to think of our snug little tent
on terra firma, and after a week of storm at sea decided that
we were sorry we had been picked up by the trusty whaler.
Such is man’s ingratitude.
“¢ February 23rd—We spent a most forlorn day. The ship
absolutely jammed in zew ice, formed of pancakes only three
or four inches thick, but gummy, not brittle (so that the ship
couldn’t break through). These were formed of still smaller
cakes, cemented together. I was sure they had grown in situ,
perhaps in the lee of a huge piece of pack which had drifted off.
This was very serious, for every hour increased the risk of
our being frozen in, and this was obviously still more probable
when we returned to Cape Evans than in our present position,
so much further north. However, very suddenly the soggy
ice was broken by long leads—lying rather far apart—and we
managed to push and butt our way considerably to the east.
I was down below when I heard the ominous “three
whistles,” which signifies “all hands on deck.” However,
in this case it was a call to “rock ship.” We all lined up at
the port bulwarks, in the waist of the ship. Then Bruce
gave the word, and we “set to partners” across the hatches,
and through the narrow spaces to the starboard side. The
ship swung very slightly in consequence. Bruce timed its
swing, and then we all ran back in unison. This time the
swing was a little larger. So by degrees the ship became a
self-acting pendulum, and gradually rocked herself free from
the close embrace of the ice. At the same time the propeller
revolved about 14 times the normal speed, and the ship began
2£E
418 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
to give a little, and finally went astern. Then more butting,
and a jam or two, and finally we got into looser pancake,
where she could do four knots,
Emperor penguins were interested spectators of our
manceuvres, while the distant coast-line was really of great
interest when we had time to observe it. Mount Melbourne
was a finer sight than Erebus, for its cone was more sym-
metrical, recalling that of Etna. Mount Nansen, further
south-west, was a huge, flattened scarp, resembling Mount
Lister.
On the 24th we emerged again from the pack to be
greeted with a pretty stiff wind. We steamed south to try
and communicate with headquarters. Lillie told me of some
of his results. He believed he could apply the teachings of
Mendelism to the question of colour in half-caste Maoris.
He had made some large collections of fossil plants in New
Zealand, and had dredged up enough of the rare tunicate
Cephalodiscus (a primitive sessile early vertebrate) to supply
every museum in the world! I found out that my thousand
insects were probably Gomphocephalus, of which previously
only a few odd heads and legs had been collected in specimens
of Antarctic moss,
We got back to the Sound off Cape Evans about noon on
the 25th. A howling gale was blowing so much frost smoke
into our teeth that we could only just see Inaccessible Isle,
now covered with a pall of snow. We manceuvred in North
Bay with the 120-foot wall of the Barne Glacier looming very
close. There was a touch of east in the blizzard, so that the
glacier was not quite on our lee. Pennell dropped anchor
when the soundings showed twenty-five fathoms, but we
drifted back quickly, and when we reached fifty fathoms (three
hundred feet) the anchor dragged.
We had an awful job hauling up the anchor! Whenever
I hear the phrase “ Merrily round the capstan, boys,” I think
of that weary time in North Bay. Each capstan bar had
two and sometimes three men pushing it round. The foc’sle
deck was iced over, and even a layer of ashes afforded little
grip, for the blizzard heeled the vessel over, till the deck
sloped like a roof. ‘They tried to help the capstan by a
chain to the steam winch, but the latter ‘took charge’ and
nearly flung Bill Heald off the foc’sle! There was precious
BERNARD DAY ON THE CAPSTAN.
.
-
»
.
.
.
THE VOYAGE BACK 419
little room between the capstan bars and the rails, and I got
jammed, and received a nasty bruise on the leg. Awful stiff
on one’s hands, and on the calf muscles—like pushing for
hours in a football scrum! Pawls (or stops) prevented the
capstan from releasing the chain. Clink... clank, clink...
clank ; these pawls would sound every minute or so, and then
we had to rest. Each clink meant only an inch or two of
cable, and we had to haul in three hundred feet! When the
ship twisted, and the cable lay along the side of the vessel, it
was impossible to raise the anchor an inch. Finally the
anchor caught a firm hold on the third attempt, about 7 p.m.,
and we lay steady with ninety fathoms out. The gale
increased, and we all turned in to try and get some rest, and
be ready to land if it lulled. At 11 p.m. Pennell roused us,
and I got into the whaleboat. Bruce was in charge, and I
rowed three. We were less than half a mile from the shore,
and found the lee of the cape quite calm. So I reached the
hut, after five months’ absence. It was eleven days since we
had been picked up, all but a few hours, and this was the first
opportunity of communicating with our headquarters.
I stumbled up the shore, nearly waist-deep in snow, where
in the preceding March there was hardly any! We found
them all asleep, and by no means ready to come off. Simpson
and Day were soon dressed. I had, luckily, left all my gear
packed in November, and I hauled my boxes down to the ice-
foot. Simpson, Day, Anton, and I returned, and after some
bumping against the ice-ridged quarter of the Terra Nova we
got safely aboard.
The gale began again, and all access to the shore was
blocked. Simpson and I yarned till 5 a.m. He told me
that Hooper and Day had reached the Hut on December 21st
from the Barrier, They had found their four-man sledge toc
heavy, and having no suitable tool had burnt it in half with
the Primus lamp! They had been caught in a blizzard, and
had marched blindly north in the ensuing thick weather.
Later, they saw their tracks led right between two parallel
crevasses, either of which would have engulfed them !
“ Next day we could not bring off Meares, Clissold, and
Forde. Archer had gone ashore, so that the ship was now
without a cook! The wind was fairly shrieking, and at
10 a.m, the anchor dragged.
420 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
“We spent a most wretched day trying to get it up. Not
a budge out of it, though you burst a blood-vessel! The
seamen couldn’t say (as before) that this was due to work on
a Sunday. We found that a cog had broken in the gears of
the capstan ; but when they again tried the steam winch to
aid the capstan it stripped off more teeth !
Another method was tried in the afternoon, which was
very slow, but not so spendthrift of human energy. It was
called “luff upon luff,” and depended purely on a series of
pulleys ; whereby a small amount of force at one end of the
rope can slowly move a great weight at the other. The
capstan was now practically useless.) So the small steam
winch was connected to a set of heavy pulleys (a “ five-ply
purchase,” I believe, is the nautical term) to whicha claw-hook
wesiZ=
SSSSSO
coe SSS =
pe
Diagram illustrating the way we managed to “raise anchor” by “ luff
upon luff,” February 26, 1912.
was attached. This was hooked into the anchor-chain, at the
hawse hole, inside the dark foc’sle. I was halfway man, and
it was my duty to yell to the engineer at the winch, as Bruce
advised me he was ready. Another yell meant that the
purchase had done its part, and then Rennick put the capstan
brake on (which would still hold, luckily), and the claw hook
was taken off, and attached some links nearer the anchor. By
6 p.m. we had raised anchor. It came up as bright as silver,
and with the crossbar (stock) broken clean off !
All this time we were drifting to the north-west, and had
to keep up steam to hold her from yawing, and to try and
keep the cable from “binding” on the side of the ship.
Throughout the 27th we were nosing up against the fixed ice
off Castle Rock, trying to shelter from the blizzard. By noon,
on the 28th, the blizzard dropped enough for us to lie along-
THE VOYAGE BACK 421
side Glacier Tongue. At 3 p.m. the ice anchors held, and it
was possible to get ashore, and start “icing ship,” for the
tanks were nearly empty. We had to lie bow on, and get the
ice in by a basket slung from the foreyard. A very slow and
laborious business ; it took us six hours to get 44 tons of ice
aboard.
We then moved off to Hut Point, where we landed some
stores and newspapers for the Pole Party if they should
be isolated from Cape Evans, as we had been in April, 1911.
Here I met Wright again. We learnt that Evans was very
seriously ill with scurvy. They wrapped him up in his
sleeping-bag and, dragging him to the ice edge, brought him
aboard in the ship’s boat. We let down ropes to the seamen
below, and they lashed him safely, and he was hauled up,
Hole 18” deep
nethod 2 fours ee, Ponchor
Pee ares
-/2
looking more like a corpse than a live man. However, he
could speak cheerfully enough, as usual !
We returned post haste to our hut to take advantage of
the unusually calm weather. We unloaded more stores—
chiefly fodder, coal, mutton, and dog biscuits, and then moved
north immediately to make a second try for Campbell at
Evans Coves (lat. 75° S.). Day, Dennistoun, and I spent
the morning of the rst of March shifting cargo. Indeed, we
seemed to spend a large part of our time during the ensuing
month in that abode of gloom—the empty hold of the Terra
Nova !
At 10 p.m. we were about fifteen miles from Cape Wash-
ington, in very heavy pancake ice, with a slight swell. There
was a thick ice-mush between the blocks, and this jammed the
422 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
propeller. For about ten minutes the engine could not move
the shaft. They managed to prise the ice away finally by
poking rods down the rudder post. The grinding and
bumping of the blades on the ice was physically painful. It
jarred one’s whole system just like having a tooth out. The
shock to the propeller, mainshaft, and engine must have
been enormous. Luckily our propeller was four times the
usual size for a ship of our tonnage; but Williams thinks the
main shaft might go quite easily, and then we should be ina
mess |
‘2nd March.—During the morning we skirted the pack
southward, doing a sort of ‘ blanket-stitch’’ course in a vain
endeavour to find a passage through to Campbell.”
Dr. Atkinson was on board attending to Evans, who was
unable to move from his bunk until the day we reached New
Zealand (2nd April). We had again to give up hope of
rescuing Campbell, and turned south to land Atkinson. At
9.30 p.m. we were about thirty miles S.E. of the Drygalski
Tongue, and soon had to heave-to on account of bad weather.
But in the afternoon of the 3rd the wind dropped, and in
about ten minutes the sea was frozen over !
However, this time we reached the Cape fairly readily,
and when I woke on the morning of the 4th I found that we
were off the Hut and that a boat was going to fetch Keohane.
He and Atkinson were then landed at Hut Point, and we had
to ice ship again at Glacier Tongue.
Every man was busily employed. Heald, McCarthy,
Parsons, and Cheetham quarried the ice at the nearest spot
where it seemed solid and free from snow. They filled baskets
which Dennistoun, Leese, and myself pulled to the ice edge.
Here Simpson and Rennick linked the baskets on to the rope,
and Lillie, Drake, and Ponting hauled it aboard. Day and
Mather carried it to the tanks, and Meares and Bruce tipped
the baskets into the latter. It was hard work, and kept us
going from 3 p.m. till 10 p.m. Still there was some fun at
times. Leese harnessed the brown sledge dog Tsigan to help
him with his sledge, and Tsigan occasionally bolted over the
glacier. One basket fell into the sea, and Bill Heald lowered
me on a rope till I could grab it; then (as usual) he hauled
up too quickly, and I was dragged shrough the snow cornice
and pretty well filled with soft snow !
THE VOYAGE BACK 423
“ We shifted eleven tons, and now Pennell’s notice * can
be withdrawn. We now have enough to get back. Thank
goodness !”’
We had a fairly uncomfortable time on board. The stove
below was faulty, and a change of wind filled the wardroom
with smoke. With a huge skylight, various hatchways and
companion ladders, and numerous portholes, it was hopeless
to keep out of draughts.
Early on the 7th I was awakened by the fiendish clamour
which the propeller was making about a foot under my bunk !
“[ found that we were held up in a hole about twice the
size of the ship in heavy fixed pancake. We were over two
hours alternately advancing, sticking, putting on more steam,
reversing, and getting out. All the time huge blocks of ice
were being churned round and battered by the propeller. We
had been heading about N.E. when the ship struck, and in
next watch we had to turn round and retreat as we had come.
We were now about forty miles east of Mount Mel-
bourne.
‘She would steam steady for about ten minutes and
delude one into going on deck to see our progress, and we
were still in the same ice-hole! Then we would reverse
with more regular vibrations, then catch a huge bit of ice in
the blades, and it would feel as if you were having three teeth
out yourself !”
At noon Pennell abandoned hope of getting near Camp-
bell. At each attempt the ice was thicker and wider. Each
time we got into worse positions and spent longer in extri-
cating ourselves. ‘“ We are later than any former ship, not
allowing for the extraordinary ice-bound conditions, this
autumn.” So we turned homeward on the 7th March, and
headed for Cape Adare.
On this voyage the ship was in charge of Lieutenant
Pennell, while Rennick and Bruce were the other officers,
assisted by Cheetham and Engineer Williams. Lillie carried
on his biological work, while Drake was busy as ever with
secretarial duties, varied by readings of the meteorological
instruments.
We had left the rest of the Western Party at Cape Evans,
* Until the ship is able to ice ship again no water is to be used for the
purpose of washing clothes.—Harry Pernnett, Lieutenant.
424 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
while Atkinson and Keohane were stationed at the Old
Discovery Hut to receive the Pole Party.
The members of the headquarters staff who returned to
take up other duties were Simpson, Taylor, Ponting, Meares,
and Day. With the addition of Lieutenant Evans, who was
at first seriously affected by scurvy, and Jim Dennistoun (of
New Zealand), we formed a very happy family during the
month of “ wind-jamming ” which now awaited us.
This was Jim Dennistoun’s birthday, and to celebrate it
and our start for home, I brought out the huge cake sent
down from home. Half went forward to the mess deck, and
it was much appreciated. We had a sing-song with banjo
accompaniment by Ponting and Bruce, both of whom could
sing pleasantly. Alf Cheetham gave us some typical sailor
chanties in his humorous falsetto voice. Neuralgia kept
me from adding to the entertainment, and I listened from the
after cabin.
During the next few days the afterguard were glad to get
warm either coal-trimming or hauling sails. We would be
shivering in the wardroom when Pennell would come to the
“balcony ”’ and yell, “ Any volunteers to trim coal?” Den-
nistoun was shipped as mule-overseer for the voyage down,
and there was apparently a moral obligation that he should
earn his shilling a week on the return by trimming coal! So
he always turned out and climbed into the bunkers. We
followed suit after a few days’ rest, and worked away in
the hold and in the warmer dusty “ bunkers ” next the boilers.
Then another naval “tyrant ’’ would look down at the coal-
trimmers and yell, “ All hands on deck to haul mainsail!”
We were true sailormen in that a chorus of anathemas saluted
our naval colleague! However, we'd go upon deck and get
into oilskins and sou’westers, and then search out the special
halyard in question, usually finding that the operation had
been concluded some minutes previously !
With two Liberal Socialists like Simpson and myself, it is
not to be supposed that this continued long! We went on
strike and delivered our ultimatum—
“Either coal-trimming or sail-hauling—but not both.”
Pennell grinned cheerfully, and said we could do all the coal-
trimming if we liked. Personally I felt this was more
scientific, as touching the departments of statics and applied
THE VOYAGE BACK 425
mechanics as well as geology! So we decided to shift all the
coal and so leave the engineers and stokers free to attend to
the furnaces where they were somewhat shorthanded.
Never was such an incongruous set of coal trimmers.
Down in the hold a high official in the Indian Weather
Service shovelled the coal into baskets, assisted by our motor
expert (Day). A Cambridge M.A. (and the authority on
whales) hoisted the basket with the help of a well-known New
Zealand climber and stockowner. Ponting bent his artistic
intellect to the work of unhooking the basket and throwing
the coal through a door into the bunkers, and inside a
Ta
me
Shoot fz } 0 aE
Boilers, . .
a
Thibetan explorer and the Physiographer to the Common-
wealth “‘ trimmed” the coal in the bunkers, packed it, and
raked it level !
Simpson and I were busy comparing meteorological data
before he took his notes back to India. I copied such
memoranda as seemed to affect Australian weather. The
“upper-air ’’ results were very interesting. The balloon
ascents showed that there is a gradual decrease of temperature
with elevation in summer, but that in winter it grows warmer.
Thus there is a tendency to approach the same temperature
in winter and summer at high elevations. He recovered one
record which had ascended nearly twice as high as Erebus, or
five miles.
426 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
Priestley’s log for the Northern Party showed that we at
Cape Evans had been having calms while they, at Cape Adare,
had experienced a twelve-days’ hurricane !
One morning I visited the scene of the pump’s disaster of
December, 1910. There is a wooden shaft enclosing the two
pump tubes and just large enough to enable a man to climb
down a ladder at one side. It reached the bilge, and here
the pump tubes dipped into the latter. Before the gale it
was only possible to get into the shaft by the main hatchway.
We inspected it by a lighted matchbox, for the electric lamp
was out of order. Under the main deck and at the side of
the engine-room was the hole * cut through the iron bulk-
head during the great gale February 12, 1910, and then the
pump shaft was entered by tearing off the side boards at Y.
For it was impossible to raise the hatches and enter in the
ordinary way. Now the nozzles were made removable, and
the entry from the engine-room was kept clear, so that the
same danger could not recur. The sounding rod was let
down a tube in one corner of this well also.
On the 7th the temperature had been +7°, and now five
days later we reached freezing-point (32°). Thus the weather
was about 5° warmer for each day’s run north.
“ 12th March.—I had a queer dream about the School of
Geology at Sydney, which was quite consistent, and ended
with some one going out and banging the door violently. . . .
So violently that I awoke—to find the rudder nearly banging
itself off with the heavy swell. It is funny how the sleeping
mind adapts itself to real sounds !
“‘ There was no wind, but we had most awful rolling, 41°
from the vertical, so that the swinging lamp in my cabin is
nearly lying on its side. My books sling off the shelves, my
boxes come adrift, I was tossed across the cabin, and all the
plates, etc., on the tables jump right over the fiddles! When
we turned in I couldn’t keep still, though jammed by my
knees, toes, back, and head. I stuck in a drawing-board to
prevent my being flung out, and got no sleep, but a stiff neck
through using it as a strut.”
Simpson amused us with some early recollections of
Sunday schools. ‘“ How did Absalom die?” Loud chorus
from the afterguard, “Caught by his hair and hanged.”
* See sketch, p. 42.
‘ATOUIO OLLOUVLNVY AHL SNISSOUO
‘2061 ‘HOUVIN ‘NOSdINIS ‘OD ‘9 YOd GYOOIU AHL SCIOH OHM ‘INVHLAXHO “Ff ‘Vv
THE VOYAGE BACK 427
Simpson, “The Bible doesn’t say so!’’ ‘Who was the
oldest man?” Frantic chorus by aforesaid, “ Methusaleh.”
Simpson, “No, Enoch, his father, because Methusaleh died
before he did!’’ Then Simpson quoted an essay by one
school, ‘ Moses’ mother was very cruel, and she put him in
the bulrushes, when she got sick of beating him.” Asked to
explain this the boy said, “Well, isn’t that what the Bible
says—when she could Aide him no longer ?”
During the next few days we were busy writing the cables
for the Associated Press, and I got Drake to type a report of
the last western journey for Captain Scott (which he never
saw). The hard-worked afterguard were now set to wash the
wardroom! On the 15th I note—
“ Day, Meares, and Dennistoun are doing a bit of charing.
This morning Meares dropped a rag on me as I was working
below and missed. Then Dennistoun asked me to pick it
up, and as I looked up, got me in the eye. Sol went for him,
and scrubbed his face muchly with soft soap, amid hilarity.”
At noon on the 16th we passed the Balleny Isles. We
could see Buckle Island about thirty miles to the south as a
snow-covered mountain occasionally showing through the
clouds. Only one or two ships have been so close to these
islands since they were charted by Balleny. We crossed
the circle that evening, and celebrated it by another sing-song.
Most of us sang something, Ponting’s contribution with its
refrain of “Boil—my mother” (a study in wrong punctu-
ation) bringing down the house !
_ Very early on the 17th every one on deck was busy
furling sail when MacCarthy suddenly spotted an iceberg
dead ahead. Luckily we just had time to steer clear. We
had been having “ iceberg-watch” for some time now. I
had been on duty from 12 to 2a.m., though I could see
nothing through the snow. The ship was going about five
knots, and the white spume spreading from the bows was
about all that was visible. A berg shows up merely as a
greyish cloud under these circumstances.
There were many visible during daytime. At noon, for
instance, we passed another much weathered, and resembling
a decayed molar tooth. Possibly this resemblance is based
on similar causes—a hardened outer skin cemented by spray,
etc., and a softer core weathering from above.
428 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
I went on iceberg-watch again from 8 p.m. till 10. There
was some snow again, and it was difficult to see anything.
All this week we had been driving to the west, so as to pick
up the constant west winds and sail on a slant up to New
Zealand. We had only forty-seven tons of coal left now,
and if we got blown past New Zealand with no coal—as was
quite probable—it would take weeks for this bluff old whaler
to beat back against head winds.
Poor old Nigger has gone overboard, finally we fear. We
were all proud of our black Tom. He fell overboard on the
last voyage, and luckily was seen manfully (or catfully ?)
swimming along in the wake of the ship. The crew got
out a boat, saved him, and were back in twelve minutes !
But no one saw the last tragedy. In the hold we found two
rabbits having a thin time, and fed them on carrots and bread
and milk. I don’t know their ultimate fate. (There’s a
black welcome for bunnies in Australia, which I thought
extended to New Zealand also.)
I can see the afterguard becoming regular sailor-men !
On the 20th we had another mutiny—about food this
time.
The Mutineers. “When are you going to give us a
change from this everlasting mutton, Frankie ?”’
Store-keeper Drake. ‘“ Mutton’s very good food.”
Mutineers. “ Why can’t we have ‘ True-egg’ omelettes ?”
Drake. ‘Well, perhaps we could have that as an
additional dish.”
Mutineers. ‘ Why additional, Frankie ?”
Drake. ‘“ Because Frankie doesn’t like True-egg!” And
he added, “ If you want more mutton, just say so!”
(A very finished “ cagger” is Frankie Drake.)
We had very variable weather during the last week or so
of our voyage, and I give herewith the record of the worst
gale ever experienced by any man on the Terra Nova. My
journal suffered in consequence, but I will copy my notes
written just after the gale, verbatim, First of all, here is a
copy of the ship’s log for the worst days of the gale.
(‘19311 OY)
‘aAOdIae# NO TIANNadd wNVANVGUS AUVNIGHUO, AYHA V
THE VOYAGE BACK 429
1912. Distance. Bey Course. | Wind. Force, Sea, |Barom.|Temp.
March 22
a.m. 50 5°9 at} N.30W.| Aleats 7 |28°99] 30°8
p.m. Borg: 7 ata] IN. 7 W.. 3}8 — |37
March 23
ee sie WS), Seale | 8 [2879137
p-m. 48 noon —- 9 9 | — |—
March 24
a.m. 52 5 N. 8 28°73] 40
p.m. oF 7 p.m. N.N.w,}| S.W. rofeale Be ek
March 25
a.m. 49°5 4°8 | N. 22 gto II 9 |29°03| 37
p.m. 48°3. |noon|. W. } Leake 8 jeale 8 | — 143
March 26 :
a.m. Ae | 34 | N. 50) | 7 7 |29°66| 42°2
p-m. /|Becalmed.|7 a.m. } fi by. 2 5 | — |44°5
“96th March.—It is now 12.40 p.m. We have had a
satisfactory lunch of roast mutton and treacle duff (soujours
mouton !). It is nearly calm, and we have all sail set, and are
hurrooshing along at nearly two miles an hour !
©] am five days behind in my diary. We have had a pretty
sudden gale—the worst ever felt by any one on board, I believe.
It culminated about midnight on the 24th or 25th. For several
days it had been blowing almost storm-force from the S.W.,
and so helped us along O.K., though rather too much
westerly, and we could only drive along in front of it. With
three stormsails (main lower topsail, fore lower topsail and
inner jib) we went along for days at five miles an hour.
“On the evening of the 24th Dayand I had First Watch.
I was told off to assist Pennell from 10 to 11 p.m. I put
on my paraphernalia and turned out ona wild stormy night,
after prolonged bumping in my bunk for three or four hours.
It was awful on deck, the ship mostly with her lee scuppers
under water, and kept there at a constant heel, with only
three small stormsails. We were running before the gale
(an unusual experience nowadays, as Penelope cheerily pointed
out !), luckily just on our course. To windward (in south-
430 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
west) the sky was covered with gloomy clouds—several black
bows, which always mean squall-storms, being hideously
apparent! White horses raced past the bows, and were all
one could see in the darkness. They looked just like
detached floes! The whole time we had to clutch the bridge
rails to prevent our rolling down to leeward.
“Then the sky got darker all over, the stars disappeared.
A sudden squall hit us, and then the shrouds started shrilling
and booming. The canvas screen on the bridge bulged in;
your nose nearly blew off your face if you looked over it,
while the canvas made eddies which deflected the wind into
your face.
“The ship plunged forward into the black, sometimes
partially righting, but mostly lying over at 30°. Then the
black squall passed (in about ten minutes) and a patch of
clear sky showed to windward. Another squall-bow appeared,
and we were battered and driven over again. This lasted
longer, about twenty minutes. Penelope asked me to go to
the standard compass (near the foremast) to check the
steersman. I got the electric torch and managed to crawl
on to the ice house which supports the compass. Up a silly
little ladder with no grip, and in flapping oilskins to find
Rennick there before me. Then I had to crawl round and
see that the helmsman was keeping his course. I clutched at
his screen-posts and wondered if they would blow overboard
next gust. (The screen went over next day!) About 10.40
a thick black cloud enveloped the horizon to the west and
gradually reached us. This accompanied a squall where
nature fairly burst her bounds! The sea was blown flat, and
the air filled with horizontal hurtling arrows of sleet and
water. I didn’t know that wind could show such malig-
nancy! Don’t know how the storm-sails stood it, | suppose
because the rigging would do for a ship about twice this size !
It was a snorter. Couldn’t see more than a hundred feet,
though there was no snow in the air. Just solidified wind, I
uess.
“Tf the sails had not held it would be called force r2—
the maximum, as it is they are content with force 11.
Penelope said he enjoyed this sort of thing, but I can’t say
I was thrilled with enthusiasm, and I preferred to be where
the hurricane force was not quite so obtrusively obvious! So
THE VOYAGE BACK 431
at 11 p.m.I unselfishly called Bernard Day for his share of the
hell-broth, and went down below to try and forget it in sleep.”
It culminated at 3 a.m., when the starboard whaler was
torn from one davit. Just as they got a rope under the loose
end the other broke loose. So they cut it adrift after it had
been bumping on the ship’s side for some hours a few inches
from Lieutenant Evans’ sick-bed !
Bernard Day was nursing Evans, who was progressing
satisfactorily, though still very weak. However, by now he
was nearly as cheerful as usual, and his cabin was chiefly
noticeable from the amount of laughter emanating therefrom.
He had onions, oranges, and beer in excess of our ration, and
got up for a few moments just before the gale.
“< Now that the engines are stopped (to save coal) we have
to use the hand-pumps continuously—about a quarter of an
hour each four hours. In the storm, owing to the rolling, it
takes longer, for the well only fills slowly through its small
holes, and most of the bilge lies on the lee side.
“The pump-handles (across the waist) are left on all the
time now, and with ‘life-lines’ they make something to grip
as you sidle along the deck. Ponting didn’t see the handle,
and running to dodge a big wave he was knocked silly by a
blow on the brow. Result—two lovely black eyes, and a
thankful heart that his nose wasn’t broken !”’
The same day a big sea pooped the ship and covered the
steersman (MacCarthy) in fifteen feet of water! It broke
down the canvas screen protecting him, but didn’t dismay
MacCarthy. He had bad luck later, also. For climbing the
ratlines to free some tackle his helmet was knocked off. It
nearly came inboard on an incoming wave over the lee
bulwarks, but not quite. However, all that cheery MacCarthy
said was, “ Maybe ’twill make the gale lessen a bit !”’
There was naturally not much comfort anywhere on
board, not even in the cabins. I think the following extract
speaks for itself—
“My bunk is just over the counter, where the waves
bump every few minutes, just over the screw ; just under
the chilled feet of the steersman who dances on the deck,
which is like a sounding board ; and just next the rudder,
which has two dozen squeaks and groans of its own. Add
to this rolls varying from 30° to 50° each way.
432 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
““T have made a fine hanging candlestick from a chain of
safety-pins and a bent wire, and this swings out and bangs
my head. I stick in my drawing-board at the side of the
bunk, and so try to get some sleep in the fearful rolling.
“ There I lay, throughout the day,
Lying this and then that way,
Pain and cramp from toe to shoulder ;
Up and down the tempest rolled her.
Pitch and toss, athwart across—
Never worse befell old Ross.
Waves belched round, above, right over
Poor old storm-tossed Terra Nova.”
On the 26th we had discussion of Amundsen’s chances,
and I got Pennell to draw a map of his winter quarters.
This has some interest, as we did not know anything of his
movements for over a week yet.
Q2
Q
oe
@
a,
oy,
Q
a Ee
7s
ae
ee
CX
Kh
LAO
LLL
LO
ots ~
--~.
Chart of Bay of Whales, 78° S. + 164° W., after Amundsen.
“The Discovery in 1902 found several deep bays in the
edge of the Ross Ice Barrier. Balloon Bight went in about
ten miles. Shackleton in 1908 found that these had merged
into one and he was stopped by sea ice at the head.
THE VOYAGE BACK 433
“ Pennell in the Terra Nova found Amundsen’s Hut (in
February, 1911) to be about two miles from the water on
a ridge of.old sea-ice about thirty feet high, but hidden from
the ship by another ridge of the same nature.
“To the west was an indifferent lane half a mile wide which
reached behind the hut. Here the sea-ice was only a few feet
above the water except where pressure occurred. The ice in
the west of the lane was breaking out. Behind this about
four miles off was an eighty-foot cliff of Ice Barrier with a
path up in the south-east. I wouldn’t like his winter, though
if he lasted through the autumn he might be O.K. afterwards.
Anyhow, we'll know in about a week now. We had a great
cag to-day. Some are still sure that Amundsen did nothing
at the Pole. The arguments are : (2) Amundsen never liked
sledging ; and (4) if he meant to go up another glacier than
the Beardmore, he’d have acquired merit and said so !
“< Contrariwise (a) if he found going easy he might have
prospected up an easy one, perhaps in 1911 ; and (8) if he'd
gone astray, the Fram would have come to us to investigate
this year.”
“On the 27th we finished off the cable. It runs to 7,500
words, of which the western party contributed goo. It is to
be delivered to the agent at Akaroa on Monday (first of
April). A funny day to send off a big cable, but it won’t be
published till the 2nd in England, and ten hours later in
Australia. Meanwhile we loaf about till Wednesday morning
(minimum 36 hours), and then land at Lyttelton as soon as
possible.”
On the 30th the coal gang put in about six hours filling
the bunkers, so as to rest on Sunday. We shifted seven tons.
The gale had rounded the large lumps of coal, the impacts
turning them into egg-shaped boulders. The coal-dust was
packed into a hard layer which we could hardly break out
with a pick! This is what clogged the pumps in 1910,
and in that gale Teddy Evans was head and shoulders under
the bilge water groping for the mud clogging the pump-roses.
During Sunday we slowly cruised towards Akaroa. After
lunch we sighted a school of eight sperm whales. We turned
off and followed them. Mostly one saw their broad rounded
brown backs. Then one would raise his head a little and
blow off “steam,” not up straight but diagonally forward.
2 F
434 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
Sometimes their large triangular tail fins showed, and once
or twice the huge torpedo head appeared above water. Our
harpoon gun was out of order, but they were too shy to let
us approach within striking distance. Each of these whales
was worth £300, so that there was a small fortune in the
whole school.
Monday, April 1.—About 6 a.m. we approached Akaroa.
It was a bright morning as we entered the very fine harbour,
the Heads reminding me of those of Sydney. We could see
the friendly light of the lighthouse twinkling a greeting to us.
Then we saw ragged clumps of the first trees—two on the
skyline resembling a pair of roosters fighting, and sheep, like
rabbits, browsing on the steep hillsides. We lay about a mile
off the little town, while Pennell and Drake went off in the
cutter and were met by a launch. All communication was
forbidden with the shore, but later two men in a small launch
hovered around us. As they pushed off they called out—
“Why didn’t you get back sooner? Amundsen got the
Pole in a sardine tin on the 14th December.”
“Pennell returned about 11 a.m. and confirmed it.
Amundsen has done wonderfully. His risky hut-site was
not so bad as we expected. In place of howling blizzards
four days in each week, he seems to have had calm weather !
But his bold dash up another glacier, his getting five men
there, and his nice behaviour after returning with regard to
Scott and his work have changed our opinion of him in soto.
“Scott will have reached the Pole about January 16.
When he sees the tent and flag there he will get a most
unpleasant shock. Amundsen started eleven days before
Scott and was eighty miles nearer. He got there only thirty
days sooner, so that he didn’t march much quicker.
“In the west Gran and J agreed that he had a very good
chance, and Gran has written down in my sledge diary the
day he (Amundsen) would get there. I haven’t looked at it,
but believe he was at the Pole at the day Gran said !”
This prophecy has aroused some interest among psycho-
logists at home! So I will explain the circumstances. Gran
woke up on December 20, 1911, when we were camped
in the Punch Bowl and had been sledging over a month. He
declared that he knew that Amundsen was turning back. As
natural we ‘pooh-poohed this. He said, ‘‘ Well, I'll write it
| z
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‘
' ; fi ey
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- wa . 4)
= Zs s
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1 i] 7 i i aN tr
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i . © 7 14 ~ \ uy
€ i J! ui ind
; io 9
so Fs h , ; A is @ 7: J
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é
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at
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Sa
aS ee SRA
PONTING IS HERE ARRANGING THE CREW FOR A PHOTO
OFF AKAROA. PROBABLY
HIS LAST EFFORT AT
“PONTING” ANY OF US.
The dog Tsignan in the foreground.
THE VOYAGE BACK Aas
down in Grif’s book here.” He did so ; but in my Browning
and not in the diary (as I say above).
This copy of Browning was left on Cape Roberts with all
other non-essentials on February 5. It remained there until
picked up by Priestley, six months after I had reached Aus-
tralia. It was restored to me in Priestley’s home at Tewkes-
bury in 1913, nearly two years after Gran’s inscription. I
looked through it and came on Gran’s note, which I here
reproduce. This is one of the most extraordinary coinci-
dences I know of, and owing to Gran’s isolation from a//
outside information is perhaps unique.
I am personally of opinion that coincidence and not tele-
pathy is involved ; though it is a fact that Gran never made
any other attempt to get an undoubted record of a dream, and
he certainly believed this to be something supernatural at
the time !
During Monday we idled off Akaroa. Some fish were
caught, Day hauling in a huge barracouta and Evans a rock
cod, which he caught as he was sitting in a deck chair, and so
celebrated his first day out of the cabin. They tasted good
at lunch! We trimmed eight tons of coal during the day,
so that only five were left! Then I had a huge bath, borrowed
a shirt, and got into clean clothes ready for civilization !
On Tuesday I packed all my gear, which was lucky, for
I only had half an hour to catch the Sydney boat finally. On
Wednesday morning we entered Lyttelton Harbour early in
the morning. A tug came to meet us, carrying Mrs. Wilson
and Mrs. Evans. Pennell asked me to steer the ship into
harbour—why, I know not; unless he thought I looked too
respectable and might look more natural after a trick at the
wheel. However, one of the seamen did all the heavy brain
work, and I merely assisted at the tricky corners !
Simpson, Meares, and I hurried for the first train to
Lyttelton. Simpson was not specially noticeable except for
his ski-boots, I had on his shirt and Evans’ cap. Meares was
clothed in a suit lent by Jim Dennistoun, who said it was an
old one of his father’s, I think Meares’ departure was hastened
by the advance of Mr. Dennistoun senior to greet his son !
I spent only one day in Christchurch, for finding that a
ship left for Sydney that evening, I transhipped all my gear to
the mailboat and was back in Australia on the 7th April, rg12.
”
Vill
gn END OF THE EXPEDITION
—s
~
THE END OF THE EXPEDITION
I nave brought the story of the Expedition up to April, 1912,
so far as my own part in it is concerned. But it will be of
interest to give a brief
résumé of the much more Soy
arduous journeys of the |
other divisions of the Ex-
pedition.
Let us consider the
distribution of the personnel
in the middle of December.
In the far north at Cape
Adare, Campbell and his
five mates were awaiting
the arrival of the Terra
Nova to take them to fresh
fields of work. The sea- \ /
ice had blown out early in 4
spring, and they had been Drs Meores
cooped up on the rocky eos WP» |
promontory unable to ex- Mee i
plore the hinterland, just
as had Borchgrevinck ten
Ross Seo
‘ Day rept"
years earlier. The ship was
not due until early in
January, but Levick’s pen- rae
guin studies and Priestley’s i
ice-notes testify to the in- Chart of parties, December 14, 1911
dustry of the scientific staff (Amundsen reaches the Pole).
during their imprisonment.
Further south my own party was preparing to climb the
Mackay Glacier, as recorded previously. We were to be
taken north on the ship to Evans Coves (to spend five weeks
439
440 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
there during January and February) as soon as the Terra Nova
could reach us.
At Headquarters Simpson was completing his meteoro-
logical log—certainly the most valuable record of Antarctic
weather which has yet been obtained by any of the numerous
expeditions to the southern continent. Ponting was living
at Cape Royds, and obtaining many of his most successful
studies of animal life.
To the south stretches the Great Ice Barrier, and some-
where off White Island a party of two men are doggedly
pursuing their homeward path. They are dragging a queer
contraption—a sledge burnt in half—and each night have
great difficulty in erecting their four-man tent. Neither Day
nor Hooper understands navigation, and their plight, if they
miss one of the old pony shelters, will be pitiable. They lie
up during a heavy blizzard, and then start off, desperate,
through the drifting snow. They arrive safely, and a few
days later, returning on their path, see their blindfold tracks
passing along the narrow ridge between two huge crevasses !
Another stage of some two hundred miles shows us, at
the foot of the Beardmore Glacier, a second supporting party,
which has just bidden farewell to Captain Scott. Meares,
with Demetri and the dog-teams, is proceeding north again
for his last journey on the Great Ice Barrier. For three
months he has been forwarding stores ahead of the pony
parties, and now the Pole party pushes on, unsupported by
ponies or dogs, on the two hardest stages to the Pole.
Scott has just finished the hardest day’s work he expe-
rienced on the ascent of the Beardmore. ‘ A most damnably
dismal day,” he calls it. Next day, the 14th—which is that
on which all the positions in the preceding figure have been
charted—they begin to reach better surfaces, and the three
parties, under Evans, Bowers, and the leader, swing along at
an encouraging rate.
Far to the south—indeed, at the uttermost south—five
Norwegians have reached their goal: Amundsen, Bjaaland,
Hanssen, Hassel, and Wisting. After a few days’ rest they
have verified their position, and made sure of the Pole by a
circular journey round the apparent site. And now they are
preparing to return to Framheim and the north.
Prestrud, Amundsen’s lieutenant, has just carried out his
THE END OF THE EXPEDITION 441
trip to King Edward VII. Land. There, beyond the Barrier,
he reached high land. Rocky cliffs appeared in a few nuna-
takker above the snow mantle. To these they gave Scott’s
name.
The next chart shows the position of the parties on the
18th of January, 1912. Cape Adare is now deserted. Camp-
bell has been picked up
by the Terra Nova, and
safely landed at Evans
Coves for five weeks’
exploration between
Mount Nansen and
Mount Melbourne.
Then the ship _ sails
south to pick up the
western party at Granite
Harbour, and to com-
municate with Head- ry
quarters. The pack-ice hy Makinson
is still solid in Mac- b :
Murdo Sound; the ship /, \ :
can do nothing till well Cys h
into February. The le Evans TE '
western party are wait- Lay Ly,
ing on Cape Roberts nS j
oh
? Amundsen
;
some twenty miles from
the ship. As narrated
previously, they realize
that there is no hope
of relief in that quarter, »
and later march over- Chart of parties, January 18, 1912
land to the hut. (Scott reaches the Pole).
Day and Meares
have reached the hut, and Atkinson is now halfway home across
the Great Barrier. They have had an anxious rush to keep the
balance between food and time. Only one day—Christmas—
has been different from the many weary days of sledge-hauling.
Among the moraines near the “Cloud-maker,” Wright dis-
covered a piece of marble containing the first large Archzo-
cyathine fossil from Antarctica. Although vastly larger than
Shackleton’s specimens, this is only a centimetre long !
442 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
Lieutenant Evans has now also turned northward, and,
with Lashley and Crean, is nearing the foot of the Beardmore.
For him worse troubles are approaching. Worn out by con-
stant sledging and unsuitable food, he is attacked by scurvy,
and only saved by the gallant devotion of his naval mates.
Captain Scott has accomplished his task, and within the
time he had allotted to it. Realizing that if Amundsen came
successfully through the winter his methods must be speedier
than those of the English party, Scott proceeded steadily along
the lines he had decided upon when he left England. It was
a bitter disappointment. Since Amundsen had reached the
Pole the year 1911 had passed away; and so the record
stands: “The South Pole: Amundsen 1911, Scott 1912.”
How few will realize that but a few weeks intervened between
the two achievements !
Meanwhile the Norwegian is speeding back to the Fram,
and already the hardest part of his journey is over. In mid-
. January the conditions of the
Pnee fe Barrier bear no remote resem-
blance to those in mid-March.
No one who has not experi-
t enced it can picture the enor-
Cian aay mous difference due to the
4 lapse of those two months. ;
The third chart shows the
scene of the last tragedy. Far
to the north the ship is nearing
civilization. Campbell’s party
is isolated at “ Hell’s Gate,”
their cheerless home at Evans
Zs Coves. Here ina hole in the
Chart of parties on March 21, 1911 SROW they wear out a weary
(the last camp). existence for eight never-ending
months. No other Antarctic
party has ever experienced such a test of courage and endur-
ance. Even Mawson’s three weeks alone gave less opportunity
for utter despair than the life of these six men from March
to October, 1912.
All communication is now cut off between Cape Evans
and the Barrier. At the 1910 Hut are Nelson, Debenham,
Wright, and Gran with some of the men, and fourteen miles
¢
THE END OF THE EXPEDITION 443
south in the old Discovery Hut are Atkinson, Cherry-Garrard,
Keohane, and Demetri. But two of these are invalids—worn
out by wild weather on the Barrier when they carried further
supplies to One Ton Depot.
Eleven miles south of this depot—and just beyond where
Bowers and Gran reached in the depét trip of February, 1911
—is the last camp of the Pole party. All the world has
been moved by Scott’s messages from this formless yet
historic site. It would be presumption in me to try and
describe it.
Why did the tragedy occur? I am convinced that no
reason beyond that of Seaman Evans’ illness is required.
When Wilson was coaching us as to how we should meet
the hazards of Antarctic sledging, he told us of frostbites,
chills, blizzards, and so forth. I said that these seemed sur-
mountable, but I added, “‘ What are we to do if one of the
party breaks his leg ?” which seemed by no means impossible
in the rough rocky region before us. Dr. Bill replied, “ Well,
you will have to make a more or less permanent camp, kill
plenty of seals, and wait there until you are relieved, or until
the leg is usable again.” Two factors were vital—rest for
the invalid, and seal-meat for the party’s sustenance. When
Evans met with his accident, there could be no rest for any,
sick or well. It was a race with famine, in which only strong
men had any chance. There was no need for a severe acci-
dent to handicap the party hopelessly, as in the case of Dr.
Mertz. A slight ailment rapidly becomes mortal. A sick
man must be kept warm, and in the Antarctic the only warm-
ing agent is the human one. Very literally a man “keeps
himself warm” with the most wonderful furnace in nature—
fed with fuel in the form of biscuits and pemmican. And so,
I believe, that, short of abandonment, the party had no hope
with a sick man on their hands. Scott and. Wilson would
remember, however, that they had managed to bring back
Shackleton to safety in 1903, and would hope to do the same
again, even though the distance was four hundred miles instead
of a hundred and fifty.
With each hour’s delay each man grew weaker. Each day
the weather grew worse than the preceding. The sun now
sank below the horizon at night and the Antarctic cold, un-
opposed by his warm beams, spread resistless through both
444 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
animate and inanimate nature. Each night was longer, each
march a harder fight against the blizzard drift.
I used to wonder how Shackleton managed his wonderful
feat with an unsupported party. He told me that he would
never have got through if it had been calm, nor if the wind
had been but a trifle different. For days, on their return
Barrier journey, they were marching through drift which did
not rise to their eyes and so block their view ; but was due to
a southern blizzard wind just strong enough to fill their sail
and push them to the north. Captain Scott met with no such
fortune. He was a month later than Shackleton, and when
Oates fell sick their chance had gone.
I do not believe that unaided the three men would have
survived even if they had reached One Ton Depot. There
was no chance of thorough rest there, and nothing else could
have saved them. At their slow rate of marching they were
still ten days from Discovery Hut, and such a period of
exposure would have been too much for them.
Their journey was a supreme struggle against
all the powers of Nature, and when all human
effort had been expended they succumbed, win-
ning a deathless renown which has aroused the
envy of all brave men and the admiration of the
world.
On their last few marches, when everything
was fighting against them, they kept the speci-
mens gathered by Wilson at the head of the
Beardmore Glacier. Scott writes, “The geo-
logical specimens carried at Wilson’s request
will be found with us or on our sledge.” It
is pleasant to think that these specimens, which
must have a greater sentimental value than any
others of their kind, have also a greater scientific
value than any hitherto obtained in the Antarctic.
Glossopteris, At the Australian meetings of the British Asso-
‘ Permo-Car- ciation Professor Seward gave two lectures deal-
oniferous fern . : : ° ;
from the Upper 128 With the fossil leaves which they contained.
Beardmore Perfect examples of the fern-like plant Glossopteris
Glacier. were preserved—closely related to those occurring
in India, Australia, South Africa, and South
America. In fact, this plant is the emblem of the ancient
THE END OF THE EXPEDITION 445
continent of Gondwanaland ; and the Polar specimens give
positive and invaluable evidence of the condition of the world
in Permo-Carboniferous times, of a sort which can truly be
called epoch-making.
I can here give no account of the doings of the small band
during the last months spent by the expedition in Antarctica.
The record of the survey of Erebus by Priestley and Deben-
ham and of the search for the Polar party can be read in other
volumes.
However the world knew nothing of this disaster until the _
ship returned in February, 1913. Remembering the pleasure
I had felt from Professor David’s gift of “ Queed,” I sent
down a few books by the ship in the preceding December.
In each case I tried to’ suit the recipient’s taste. Thus Nelson
received ‘‘ Queed ” (Harrison) ; to Wright I sent “ Marriage”’
(Wells) ; to Cherry “ The Dreadnought on the Darling,” in
memory of his Australian travels. To Debenham and Uncle
Bill I sent books in the writing of which I had had a part.
To Bowers (in the character of “Farmer Hayseed”) I sent
Bean’s fine book “On the Wooltrack’’; and to Priestley,
“We of the Never Never” (Gunn). Atkinson, I hope, had
a fellow-feeling for pugilist “‘ Shorty McCabe”; while Oates
' would have been carried back to Africa by “ The Dop Doctor.”
I knew Rex Beach would attract Gran—so he was furnished
with “ The Silver Horde.”
I was carrying out a geological survey at the Federal
capital, and in the solitary evenings I managed to pile up a
huge budget of letters for my returning mates. Some of them,
alas! were returned unopened.
In February Bernard Day reached Australia and was in
Sydney with me when we heard the sad news. 1 had never
anticipated any serious accident to the Pole party—chiefly, I
expect, because Shackleton had managed to pull through safely.
But I should not have been surprised to hear of disaster in
Campbell’s northern party, for no one had lived through a
winter in such fashion before.
A solemn service was held in the Cathedral at Sydney, and
later at a meeting to initiate a memorial fund, Professor David
gave an eloquent justification of Antarctic exploration and
paid a touching tribute to the characters of the lost men. Asa
446 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
result of similar appeals in this and other states, the Empire
contributed most generously to the Captain Scott Fund.
The Federal Government kindly granted me leave to
collaborate with the scientific members in London; and
Priestley and I returned home in the Mongolia. We arrived
in London in time for the Albert Hall meeting in May.
Commander Evans here described to the large and deeply
interested audience the chief features of the 1910 Antarctic
Expedition.
The office in Victoria Street was the rendezvous of the
surviving members of the Expedition, who were nearly all
reunited within the next month ortwo. Simpson was too busy
in India to visit England, Day was in Sydney ; but with these
exceptions we were all present at Buckingham Palace when
the King’s medal was presented in July. The men under
Lieutenant Rennick marched from Victoria Street, and joined
the officers in the Palace. Here we were marshalled in three
lines—naval officers, scientific and other officers, and seamen.
Lady Scott and Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Bowers, Mrs. Evans, and
Mrs. Brissenden,* were received first by His Majesty. The
others were presented by Prince Louis of Battenberg, and as
each advanced the King shook hands, gave him the medal,
and said a word or two.
We returned to the Caxton Hall, and after drinking some
farewell healths, the expedition, as a whole, was disbanded.
But the scientific work will take several years to complete,
and thanks to the generosity of the public, the means for
carrying this out are adequate. No less than £75,000 was
placed at the disposal of the Committee, while in addition to
this the Government is paying out various sums from the
Pension Fund.
Some £34,000 was allocated from the Public Fund to the
widows and dependants of the lost explorers. A bonus was
paid to the officers and men; the debt of the Expedition was
paid, and £17,500 was set apart for the publication of the
scientific results.
Some £18,000 remains for a memorial to the men who
died. Of this amount half will be expended on a suitable
monument, which will probably be placed in Hyde Park, and
on a tablet in Saint Paul’s. The balance will be devoted to
* Brissenden, one of the seamen, was drowned in New Zealand.
THE END OF THE EXPEDITION 447
an endowment fund in aid of future Polar research. ‘ This
is an object which it is believed would have commended itself
greatly to the late Captain Scott.” So concludes the report of
the Mansion House Committee.
This narrative began amid the Colleges of Cambridge, and
may very fittingly close there. Dear Uncle Bill will never
return to his rooms in Caius College ; but on the old arch-
way through which he reached his quarters, are blazoned the
names of Wright and Debenham. For Debenham has joined
Caius, and “ keeps” just below his sledge-mate, between the
the Gates of Wisdom and Honour.
In a spacious room in the Old Court of John’s, Lillie
ponders over problems of Antarctic Biology. Priestley is a
Fellow Commoner of Christ’s, and for a time I had diggings
in the Hostel at Emmanuel. Priestley and I “‘ kept” almost
next door to each other, and almost always had our meals
together ; and during the day Debenham joined us in the
huge “ Antarctic Room” in the Sedgwick Museum. Here
the specimens from the South were labelled, sectioned, and
described. Here often appeared Wright and sometimes Lillie,
while Pennell, Nelson, Atkinson, and others visited us not
infrequently.
The various researches are being carried out under the
supervision of the British Museum authorities, while Captain
H. G. Lyons is acting as general editor of the scientific
publications.
I have finished. In this account I have tried to show that
a Polar expedition is a microcosm in its own peculiar way.
Here are labours of a strenuous type, but not insuperable in
the main. Here are dangers which the city dweller never
meets, but which lose half their terrors with familiarity. Here
are pleasures—like the labours and the danger—more con-
centrated than those met with in times of ease. Here, lastly,
is fellowship, which is the chiefest charm of exploration.
It is a truism to declare that friends of the sledge-trace
and sleeping-bag are friends for aye. My mates, in the 1910
Expedition, have forged yet a closer bond for our future
sledge journeys. When this cruel war is past, we trust that
Priestley will join forces with a relative of Debenham’s, while
Wright and I have started anew on life’s journey with Priestley’s
sisters to help us in the traces !
448 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
I shall, in all probability, never again see the Antarctic ;
but my advice to any volunteer, who has that opportunity
offered him, is to take it. Especially is this the case if he be
a scientist or writer, for the present tendencies of modern
life are all opposed to the multiplication of such experiences.
Only in Polar lands is to be found the joy of a “real return
to the primitive,” in association with the best types of strenuous
youth. There, if anywhere, is life worth while, and effort
sure of recognition. To few explorers is it given to serve
under a leader with Scott’s kindly sympathy for every detail of
his work ; but after each and every expedition, the hea
cloud of discomforts, dangers, and disaster gradually fades from
memory, and nought remains but the brightness of the silver
lining.
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FROM SURVEYS BY
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b al a
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APPENDIX
RECENT AND FUTURE EXPLORATION
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APPENDIX
RECENT AND FUTURE EXPLORATION
Hucu Rosert Mitt has given a masterly account of Antarctic Explo-
ration in his work “ The Siege of the South Pole.” He deals fully
with the voyages which took place before Shackleton’s great exploit. I
have found it so difficult myself to get a comprehensive idea of the later
expeditions that I have drawn the two charts shown herewith. If we
divide Antarctica into four quadrants (as shown in Fig. A) we see that
no expedition among the eleven charted has attacked the African quad-
rant, and only two (Amundsen and Charcot) have explored the Pacific
quadrant. A survey of these maps shows that two great problems as
regards the sixth continent are still unsolved. First, Is there a low-
level, ice-covered strait connecting the floating Barrier seen by Filchner
in the Weddell Sea with that crossed by Amundsen south of the Ross
Sea?
In a paper published by the Royal Geographical Society in October,
1914, I have advanced arguments in support of this possibility. We
hope that Shackleton, in his forthcoming journey between Filchner’s
and Scott’s bases, will answer the question.
The other problem deals with the character of Antarctica to the
west of Enderby Land, for the whole coast-line south of Africa is
unknown. One can only hope that some future leader following
Mawson’s example will set aside all idea of transcontinental journeys,
and devote his energies to detailed coastal surveys, which are infinitely
more profitable from the purely scientific standpoint. However, under
present political conditions there is little chance of any extensive work
succeeding Shackleton’s present enterprise until several years have
elapsed.
I have, however, felt that it would be useful to collect the results
of my experiences in the Antarctic in so far as they touch details of
scientific equipment. These may be grouped under the following
heads: (1) Personnel; (2) Tents and Sledging Stoves; (3) Note-
books ; (4) Instruments ; (5) Cameras; (6) Clothing ; (7) Food.
Personnel.—It may be that I am prejudiced by training, but to my
mind these coastal parties should consist essentially of geologists, who
must be capable of using theodolite and plane-table. The refined
knowledge of an expert navigator or surveyor is wasted in such a
451 25 Ge2
452 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
journey, where only the lunch hour or evening halt is available for a
hurried “round of angles.” The recognition of topographic forms
should be a specialty of modern geologists, if they have had an adequate
physiographic training, and (again, me judice) this is more probably
found in the geologist than in the naval officer or professional surveyor.
It is unnecessary to point out that a biologist—whether botanist or
zoologist-—would be wasted on such a journey. Most geologists, how-
ever, have studied some botany and zoology, and are capable of collect-
ing such mosses and lichens, etc., as they may come across, and with a
little advice can make useful notes on the types and habits of the fauna
encountered.
(I am not here referring to the Plateau or Inland journeys, where the
main essentials in an explorer are a knowledge of navigation on track-
less plains, such as naval men obviously possess to a high degree, coupled
with indomitable pluck and endurance, in which they also have an
unrivalled record.) -
Too little stress has been laid on ability to take successful photo-
graphs and to make numerous sketches. ‘The latter is all-important.
With practice quite valuable sketches can be made in quarter of an
hour, which are far ahead of any verbal description.
Outside these qualifications nothing is so essential as a cheery
temperament. It is worth more than strong biceps, for the latter
develops en route, while humour has a tendency to become diluted after
four months’ stiff sledging. Certainly the latter is not an ideal environ-
ment for its birth and growth.
Equipment for Scientific Coastal Exploration.—So far as the sledging
outfit is concerned, it would be difficult to improve on that provided
on Captain Scott’s Expedition. But I am sure that a dog team would
have enabled us to do twice as much work while along the coast. They
could, I feel sure, be left tethered at the coast for a week or so, while
inland journeys were made, with some provision of seal meat. Pro-
bably they would eat all the food in the first few days, but in the
warmer summer months they could (and have been known to) exist
without food for many days after suchagorge. Seals are very abundant
in December, January, and February. For instance, in New Harbour
we saw two herds totalling about a hundred individuals.
Iron Runners were undoubtedly of immense assistance to the
Northern party on sticky sea ice. We tried them on rugged glacier ice
and they were useless, for they had no “grip” at all, and on any sort
of slope would not follow the traces, but simply slid down the “dip”
of the ice.
Tents—The larger floorcloth was much preferable where many
instruments were carried. I should make it the full size of the tent-
floor and shut out all snow. In the ordinary pattern there was over a
foot margin inside the tent. A small tomahawk would be very useful
for cutting up seal meat. We had none. Also one of Priestley’s small
ice-picks would be well worth carrying if there were the slightest risk
APPENDIX 453
of being abandoned, even fora month. ‘The ice-axes were not often
used for their legitimate purpose of chipping steps. ‘They were cer-
tainly valuable as supports on the slippery glaciers, but should have been
stronger, even if it added a few pounds to the load.
The Blubber Stove was worth its weight in gold, It was made by
Day, of sheet iron, and was simply a rectangular box, 18 inches long,
and about 10 by 10 inches in cross-section. A round hole (about 8
inches in diameter) was cut in the top. A chimney of sheet iron,
about 3 inches diameter, was riveted in one end, and was about 4 feet
high; but we found that the length was not essential, as there was
always sufficient wind to make about 18 inches of chimney act.
The only objection to Day’s pattern was the door, which occupied
the other end of the oven and was hinged at the top. It would have
been better if the opening had been stiffened and the door also, so
that it would shut readily, even when the oven was warped and
dinted. ;
More important still, there should have been a “sill” at least one
inch high to keep the blubber oil from all escaping from the floor of the
oven. We took a grid to carry the “fids”’ of blubber and asbestos
wicks, but they were unnecessary ; the ashes from the burnt skin or
bits of bone acted as a suitable burning surface. We never needed to
“render” the blubber, but just fed it in its native state. This stove
must be completely sheltered from strong winds, and we built a granite
hut for its use. It cannot be used in the tent, for in spite of all pre-
cautions it evolves the filthiest oily soot that ever disfigured scientific
note-books,
Note-Books.— Plain good paper with linen-covered cardboard backs,
opening sideways, with a loop and pencil and rubber tied on with
string. “Take four thin books (8 X 5 or so) rather than one thick one.
For long panoramic sketches, fold down one inch of the right-hand
page and sketch over this fold, then the panorama can be sketched
continuously and to scale on the next pair of pages, and so on.
An ordinary geological hammer of medium weight, a small cold
chisel (wrapped in canvas to prevent it sticking to you), and a stout
ruck-sack are essential.
Instruments.—The prismatic compass is almost useless for accurate
work in the magnetic area. Wright and I used two independently,
and found we differed about three or four degrees. This would not
perhaps matter for a very small area. ‘The needle is extremely
sluggish ; but we found them useful for route marching with thick
snow falling, and one should certainly be taken.
The plane-table is the instrument par excellence. Debenham
deserves great credit for taking one south, for Captain Scott was
extremely sceptical as to their value on sledge journeys. In open
country with a prominent peak (as a referring object) in the line of
traverse—conditions such as one always gets in coastal work—the plane-
table was extremely rapid and enabled Debenham to do excellent work
454 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING
each day. For details of the geology of a cape or cliff area the plane-
table is simply magnificent.
A light theodolite (4-inch) was carried, of course, to tie on to
prominent distant peaks and for elevation and base-line measurements.
Latitude and longitude and sun azimuths were taken as checks on the
triangulation, which later in our journeys was tied on to Mount
Erebus.
Cameras.—We had large experience with these, Debenham taking
Ponting’s place when the latter returned. We carried Zeiss and
Goerz panorama-stereoscope cameras. ‘They had two grave faults for
southern work. ‘The rubber focal plane shutters froze stiff, and used
to crawl down and then stop halfway, when one wished to give =},
of a second !
Secondly, they were arranged for glass plates. In spite of advice
given me by Mawson and other photographers in the South, I am
convinced that a hundred films would give one ten times as many good
photos as ten plates, for plates get scratched and broken, and the weight
(the only important factor) is the same. When we went a long side-
tramp we always relied on the two fi/m cameras, and they succeeded in
producing many splendid photos, while the trouble of changing plates at
—20° F. (with your head inside a moulting fur sleeping-bag) can be
imagined by any one. For geologists I would recommend the Goerz
outfit with front shutters and a film-pack attachment. As it was, my
exposures in a very expensive camera of this type (guaranteed to give
+slyo Of a second) were made by means of a red cotton handkerchief
presented to me by Charles Wright !
For physiographic details, a stereoscopic camera is sine gua non; for
topographic work a panorama camera is essential ; for lantern slides a
1 plate is advisable. The two cameras I have specified fulfil all these
conditions, and both have, of course, magnificent lenses.
Clothing.—No one altered the regulation rig very materially. The
geologists had to wear the strong corduroy trousers, which were hot
for sledging, because the rocks tore wind-proof to pieces, As it was,
mine were darned in fifty places with strong twine, and even so were
disintegrating when we were picked up. I did not carry my note-books
ina case as Wilson preferred, for they slipped easily into the huge
pockets on the Wolsey knitted jacket. Aesthetics are perhaps out of
place when sledging, but some grey or brown colour would have been
an improvement on the white of these otherwise excellent jackets.
The white jackets soon gave us an even more filthy appearance than
necessary, and one sees too much snow and ice to appreciate white
clothing. A neutral colour would really have been a welcome object
in the view when sledging over the Barrier.
Boots were, however, the one article in which the expedition was
weak. We had all sorts of ski-boots made of fine supple leather,
but nothing shod with nails to resist the granite moraines of the
western area. When damp, the nails which we inserted soon pulled
APPENDIX 455
out of the soft leather. Real workmen’s Bluchers—size 12 to accom-
modate four pairs of socks—are advisable. The uppers might be made
less stiff; but one’s legs are swathed in putties, so that matters little.
Perhaps professional Alpine boots of the right size might suffice ; but
plenty of spare spikes and nails should be taken.
Socks—We took spare socks in our personal gear, but on the first
journey, owing to bad boots, we were always darning. On the second
I reinforced the heels of my outer socks with an oval patch of
canvas (about three inches long), and I never had to darn a pair,
These trivialities bulk extremely large on a sledging trip, so that
I make no apology for mentioning them.
Crampons are illustrated in “ Scott’s Last Expedition,” The canvas
tops acted admirably over the fur “finnesko.” I should prefer the
steel spikes to be even longer, and I should think they might be
screwed into the aluminium sole so that new spikes could be inserted.
They did not make the feet cold to any marked degree.
For use with the leather boots I liked the 1902 type of Steigeisen.
These were strapped under the instep, and enabled me to walk with
great ease on slippery glacier ice, though some of the men found
they hurt the feet considerably, and so preferred to risk numerous
tumbles.
Food.—The regular ration of pemmican, biscuit and butter was
grand, and suited all our party. Chocolate, some flour for “ thickers,”
sugar, tea and cocoa cannot be surpassed as the less important staples.
I should be inclined to issue a regular ration of simple condiments or
flavourings, especially if the party is going to live largely on seal meat.
Onion powder was worth its weight in gold, for we became very
tired of seal meat after several months. The latter is practically
tasteless (if it is not fishy !), but with onion powder, one did not
need a strong imagination to conjure up “steak and onions.” The
meal is often the only comfort when sledging, and these condiments
weigh so little that I think they might be issued.
The Primus and cookers worked very well indeed. We had no
trouble in six months, part of which consisted of extremely rough
glacier work, which was calculated to jolt to pieces the anatomy of
anything less staunchly built than a Hjorth primus,
INDEX
ApaRE, Cape, Borchgrevinck’s winter
quarters, 79 ; Campbell’s party at, 439
Air, ionization of registered, 279
Alcove Camp, described, 133-134;
Evans’ “ whisker stones,” 137 ; return
to, 145
Algz deposits, 136, 155, 296
Alph Avenue, 173
Alph River, 170, 172, 173
Alps, glacial erosion in, 8, 9
Amphipods, 360
Amundsen, chances discussed, 432-433 ;
news of his success, 434 ; Gran’s pro-
phecy, 434-435; charts of his and
Scott’s parties, 439, 441
Anchor, ice, 60; method of fixing
(sketch), 421
“ Ancient cups” (sketch), 256
Anemometer, described, 220, 222 (sketch),
306
Antarctica, attraction of, 14 ; ice erosion
in, 14; map showing recent expedi-
tions , 37 ; charts of recent and future
exploration, 450 ; personnel of coastal
parties, 451 ; notes on outfit, 452 seq.
Anton, ignorance of English, 107 ; ac-
companies Granite Harbour expedi-
tion, 332, 336, 339
Appetite when sledging, 124
Aptera, 381
Arch berg (sketch), 227 ; photographed,
250
Archeocyathina, 256, 303 ; Wright's dis-
covery of, 441
Arguments, in hut, 273-274
Armadillo Camp, 163
Armitage, Cape, Discovery hut at, 189,
visited, 202-203
Arthropod, found, 303
Astronomy for travellers, 50-52
Atkinson, Dr. E. L., 4, 13 ; his blubber
stove, 63; excavates Discovery hut,
18g ; institutes physical measurements,
225 ; successes with fish-trap, 240 241 ;
tests for scurvy, 245 ; lecture on, 292-
293; meteor seen, 247; lost in bliz-
zard, 275 seg.; (sketch), 276 ; landed
at Hut Point, 422 :
Augites, on Observation Hill, 204; at
Flat Iron Rocks, 379
Aurora Australis, first seen, 203 ; watch
instituted, 226 ; observation of, 231-
232
Australian harbours, geology of, 23 ;
maps, 24
Avalanche Bay, 352
BauueEny Isles, 427
Balloon Meteorograph, described, 234 ;
(sketch), 7b. ; results obtained, 425
Barne, Cape, 85
Barne Glacier, cliff-like edge of, 88;
first crossing, 103 seg.; features of,
220 ; movement noted, 322-323
Barrier, first sighted, 81 ; height_of, 82
Barrier shudder, 151, 313
Bath, on board Terra Nova, 45 ; hot,
75, 416
Beacon Sandstone, 131 ; worm burrows
in, 148; not of desert origin, 7b. ;
debris, 385
Beardmore Glacier, fossils from, 10,
(sketches) 255, 256, 257,444; Tay-
lor’s lecture on, 255; sponge corals
from, 256; Glossopteris from, 444
Beaufort Island, 85
Beaumont, Sir Lewis, gift of books, 283
Bernacchi, Cape, depot, 341; minerals
found, 341 ; camp at, 409
Bets, currency used, 163, 369
Bicycling, in Alps in winter, 4; in
Antarctica, 315, 316
Biological station at South Bay, 262
Bird, Mt., 334
Birds, catching, 55 ; shooting, 64
Black Sand Beach, rolled pebbles on, 320
Blizzards, signs of, 157 ; snow in, 158;
wind velocity, 251, 279, 2933 ex-
plorer in (sketch), 263; higher tem-
peratures during, 293, 295, 363 seg. ;
thick drift of, 294 ; local nature of,
319
“ Blizzometer,”” 220, 222
Blubber, as food, 158, 176, 455; fork
for (sketch), 176
Blubber-lamp (sketch), 201
Blubber-stove, Dr. Atkinson’s, 63; in
Discovery hut (sketch), 193 ; at Cape
Geology, 358; difficulties of, 403;
value of, 453
456
INDEX
Blue Glacier, snout examined, 153 ;
surroundings of, 154; dangerous sur-
face of, 411
Bonney, Lake, 8, 134, 136, 139, 145
Bonney, Professor, 8, 134
Bonney Riegel, 134, 136
Books, discussed, 50 ; stock of, in hut,
282
Boots, damaged, 117, 128, 153 ; sketch
of worn, 154; “ browning” the, zd, ;
sealskin “ brogans ” for (sketch), 159 ;
cause sore heel, 169 ; method of cob-
bling; 253; Oates’ hobnails, 309 ;
crampons for, 322-323 ; thawed, 333 ;
“jronclads,” 373 ; (sketch), 2b, ; best
type for Antarctica, 455
Borchgrevinck, winter at Cape Adare, 79
Botany Bay, 371
Bowers, Lieut. H. R., first meeting with,
9; adrift on sea-ice, 197-198; as
geologist, 199 ; lectures by, 250, 300;
Christmas tree, 268 seg. ; Cape Crozier
expedition, 270, 285 seq. ; Polar books
read, 283; provisions bagged, 294 ;
list of stores for Granite Harbour ex-
pedition, 332
Breadmaker, Clissold’s electrical (sketch),
216
Bruce, Lieut. Wilfrid, 76
Buckle Island, 427
Burdens, various methods of carrying,
138
Butter Point, name and description, 117 ;
depot, 120; ice breaks up, 152 ; Tay-
lor’s camp at, 338 ; depot damaged by
weather, 410
CaMERA,“mousetrap,”’ 121, 289; (sketch),
ib,, 296 ; damaged by sun, 377. See
also under Photography
Campbell, V. L. A., independent com-
mand of, 6 ; stores for Eastern Party,
66; attempted relief of, 421, 423;
winter at Evans Coves, 442
Castle Rock, composition of, 186; de-
scribed, 206
Cathedral Rocks, appearance of, 1273
depot at, 150
Catspaw Glacier, 132
Cavendish Icefalls, 148-149
Cephalodiscus, 418
“ Chad,” Lake, 145
Chanties, 48
Charcot, Dr., 264, 451
Cheetham, 75
Cherry-Garrard, A., gifts to comrades,
13 5 penguin skinning, 66 ; adrift on
sea-ice, 197-198 ; editor of South Polar
457
Times, 231, 233, 265 seg. ; hut build-
ing by, 262 ; Cape Crozier expedition,
270, 285 seq.
Chess, 271, 384, 400
Christchurch, N.Z,, Expedition offices
at, 23
Christmas on Terra Nova, 73-74
Cinematograph, tabular berg recorded,
59; subjects for, 89 ; football played
for, 321
Cleveland Glacier, 334
Clissold, T., his electrical breadmaker
(sketch), 216 ; fall from iceberg, 316
Clothing, Antarctic, 6; on Terra Nova,
36-37 ; windproof, 120; Wilson’s
nose-guard, 262 ; Bowers’ lecture on
300 seq. 3; Taylor’s notes on, 454. See
also under Boots, Socks, Goggles
Clove hitch, with one hand (sketch), 163
Coal, loading of, 39-40 ; found in Ant-
arctica, 388, 392
“Cold Feet” stalactites, 287
Commonwealth Glacier, 143
Cook, Mt., and the Matterhorn, 25 seq.
Cook, his duties on sledge journey, 121 ;
methods, 350-351
Copepods, in Polar seas, 74
Copper pyrites found, 309
Coral, sponge, from Beardmore Glacier
(sketch), 256
Coral-reef surface, 121, 128
Corethron, staining of floes by, 74
Corner Camp, Evans’ journey to, 193
Course, the, 233
Crater Heights, origin of moraines on,
197
Crampons, 322-323, 455
Crevasses, 152, 353) 375, 406
Crow’s nest, 35-36
Crozier, Cape, desired as headquarters,
80; visited by boat, 83; midwinter
expedition to, 271-272, 285 seq.
Cuff Cape, 376
Current meter, 68
Cwms (armchair valleys), 127 ; forma-
tion of, 136; on Davis Glacier, 161 ;
on Mt. Lister, 167, 340; theory of,
174 seg. ; diagrams, 175
Cycle of life in Polar seas, 74-75, 83-84 ;
rhyme, 84
Daitey Island, 177, 178
Danger Slope, 113, 186
David, Protessor F. W. E., work under,
73; advice by, 10; letter by, found,
105 3 120, 142, 257, 346, 416, 445
Davis Bay, 158
Davis Glacier, 161 ; (sketch), zd.
458
Davis, Professor W. M., 8, 160
Day, B. C., 9, 66, 85; binding for
South Polar Times, 254, 265; lecture
on motor sledges, 264; ingenious
turning, 307; difficulties with motor
sledges, 322 seq. ; dangerous journey
of, 440-441
Debenham, Frank, 11, 66; visits Inac-
cessible Island, 95; geological and
photographic work, 119; black lava
found, 134 ; as cook, 176, 350 ; frost-
bitten, 179 ; painting, 248 ; collection
of sixpenny novels, 283 ; Cape Evans
mapped, 295 ; long distance geology,
307 ; Tent Island explored, 311, 316 ;
trip to Shackleton’s hut, 319 seq. ;
knee strained, 321 ; excellent sight of,
369 ; coal found, 388 ; value of plane-
table, 453
Debris cones, 296, 297, 385
Demetri, 91
Dennistoun, Mr. J., 416, 424
Descent Pass, 127, 130, 151
Devil’s Punch Bowl, and Thumb, sketch
map of region, 376 : features of, 378
Dewdrop Glacier, 378
Diatoms, 74
Discovery, pack crossed, 78
Discovery Bluff, 371
Discovery Hut, condition of, 106 ; com-
pared with Shackleton’s hut, 113 ; de-
scribed, 189 seg. ; environs of (sketch),
190; plan of (sketch), 191 ; difficult
approach to, 192; blubber stove at
(sketch), 193 ; routine at, 194; litera-
ture at, 195 ; storm at, 196; sleeping
quarters, 198 ; sunsets at, 199 ; Scott's
visit to, 216, 223. See also under Hut
Point
Distances deceptive, 150
Dogs, Antarctic born, recognise water,
10; put on board Terra Nova, 30;
hangar for on ship, 46 ; character of,
52, 281, 290; exercised on floes, 69 ;
and penguins, 69, 88, 91 ; and seals,
116, 332; “rifle pits” for, at Hut
Point, 193 ; “ Macaca” found, 260;
puppies born, 290
Dog-sledging, 91 ; Scott, 106; Taylor,
115
Dog-teams, Peary’s use of,
voice, 69, 91, 116
Dolerite sills, 131
Double-Curtain Glacier, 125-126
Drake, F. R. H., 66, 428
Dry Valley, 9, 130, 132, 142 seg.; Lt.
Evans’ chart of, 280
Dun Glacier, 131
3 guided by
|
|
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INDEX
Dunlop Island, minerals found on, 309 ;
features of, 344
EarTH, shape deduced, 272, 279
England, Mt., 380
Erebus, Mt., compared to Vesuvius, 85 ;
appearance of steam cloud on, 88, 218,
281 (sketch), 7b., 295, 325, 3465 cre-
vasses on, 189; signs of heat from,
217 3 activity of, 288
Erosion : frost, 380: glacial, study of in
Alps, 8-9, 14 ; problem in Antarctica,
14-15; in New Zealand Alps, 23-29,
120, 132 ; stages of, 133 ; wind action,
134, 145; on Taylor Glacier, 136;
nolateral in Antarctica,148; on Mackay
Glacier, 377: water, 138, 159; at
Tent Island, 311
Erratic (sketch), 387
Euchre, 302
Euphausia, 63, 65, 75
Evans, Cape, named, 86 ; site described,
87,215; sketch of, 90; landing at, 89
seq. ; lakes at, 87, 215 ; planof hut at,
212; music at, 223; magnetic varia-
tion at, 261; pull of gravity at, 279 ;
physiographic features of, 298 seg. ;
map of, 299; ice-forms at, 310-311 ;
Terra Nova’s return to, 418
Evans Coves, 439, 441
Evans, Lieut. E. R. G. R., 6, 9 ; journey
to Corner Camp, 193; chart of Dry
Valley, 280 ; coast survey by, 295 ; trip
to first depots, 313 ; attacked by scurvy,
421, 442
Evans, Edgar, P.O., 5, 137; “Football
Fields” named, 139 ; straw hat, 145 ;
a fall, 148; former expedition, 151 ;
and literature, 151, 284, 302 ; on Blue
Glacier, 153; humour of, 153, 157;
one-handed clove hitch, 163 ; as steers-
man, 165; losesabet, 171 ; imaginary
frostbite, 182 ; on blizzards, 185 ; pru-
dence of, on Danger Slope, 186 ; lessons
in cobbling given, 253, (sketch), 7. ;
as bezique player, 259
Eyes, effect of Antarctica on, 49
Fexspar, from Erebus, sketch of, 145
Fern, sketch of fossil, from Beardmore
Glacier, 444
Ferrar Glacier, former accident on, 75 ;
explored, 121-131; surface altered
since 1902..129 ; movement of, 151,
202, 309; shape of ice at mouth of,
257-258 ; Scott's trip to, 304, 309
Ferrar, Mr. H. T., on ice slabs, 162
| First View Point, 349
INDEX
“First Western Expedition,” 113 seq.
Fish, caught by floe, 70 ; Notothenia, 97 ;
in ice, 180, 202 ; remains of, on glacier,
164, 165 ; trap for, 240-241; parasites
in Notothenia, 241 ; caught, 251; fos-
sils of, found, 386
Flagellata, at Cape Evans, 215
Flat Iron, 377; unusual minerals on,
379; survey of, and composition, 392
Flea, primitive, 125
Food, biscuit packing, 119 ; allowance
on sledge journeys, 335 ; cooking of,
350-351 3 suggestions for, 455
Football in Antarctica, 236,:238, 247 ;
for cinematograph, 321
“ Football Fields,” 139
Forde, R., P.O., attacked by gangrene,
313,331 5 cave discovered, 352 ; reser-
voir constructed, 354, (sketch), 7b, ; as
seal butcher, 355; as cook, 360; and
literature, 363 ; snow-blindness, 408
Foraminifera (Orbulina), 68, 74
Fossils, from Beardmore Glacier, 10, 255
seq, ; sketches of, 255-257; on Gon-
dola Ridge, 386
Frostbite, pain of, 116; Taylor’s toe,
202 ; Forde’s hand, 313, 331
Games in Antarctica, 271. See also
Football, Euchre, Chess
Geology, Cape, blubber-stove at, 358 ;
view from (sketch), 374
George, Lake, rain gauge in, 240
Glacial erosion, See Erosion
Glacier Tongue, nature of, 113 ; bulbous
icicles on, 117; sea-ice broken away
from, 189; broken fragments from,
309, 342; features of, 315; waved
edge of (sketch), 316
Glaciers, of New Zealand visited, 25
seq. ; map, 27; of Antarctica, organic
remains on, 127, 177; tables, 132;
twin, 130, 149; in Luzern valley
(sketch), 26. ; movement measured, 151,
202, 309
Glasson, 7
Glenroy, parallel roads of, 160, 296
Globigerina ooze, 75
Glossopteris from Beardmore
(sketch), 444
Gneiss Point, 342
Goggles, fogging of, 335; benefit of
amber glasses, 369
Gold, washing for, 145
“Golden Stairs,” 233
Gomphocephalus, found at Granite Har-
bour, 356 (sketch), 7b. ; Lillie’s catch
of, 418
Glacier
459
Gondola Ridge, 384; fish fossils on,
386; sketch of, 391
Gramophone records, at Cape Evans,
265
Gran, Lieut. Tryggve, former ex-
periences, 13; as ski expert, 68, 69;
and white magic, 76; ice caves dis-
covered, 230; guesses at South Polar
Times authors, 278; debris cones
dissected, 297; ski slope constructed,
312; birthday present to Taylor, 357 ;
as cook, 357; latitude and longitude,
simple method of calculating, 357 ;
sea-kale planted, 370; golden mica
found, 377 ; midsummer bathe in open
air, 378; as surgeon, 379; Mt. Suess
circumnavigated, 388; birthday ode,
401 ; prophecy of Amundsen’s success,
434-435
Granite, on Dunlop Island, 309
Granite Harbour, expedition to 321, 331
seq. ; Bowers’ list of stores for 332 ;
reached, 348; seals at, 3533 pressure
ridges in sea-ice (sketch), 361
Gravity, pull of, at Cape Evans, 279
Grummets, 409
Gully Bay, algz deposits above, 296
Harr clipping, 38
Harbours, Australian, geology of, 23 ;
maps, 24
Hat, straw, 146
Heald Island, 167-169
Hedley Glacier, 131
Hjort’s Hill, 409
Hobbs Glacier, 158-159
Hooker Glacier, 28}
Horses, Oates’ lectures on, 246-247. See
also under Ponies
Hut, building of, 98 seq.; map of
locality, 107; life at, 26.; interior
arrangement of, 108
Hut Point, geological sketch of, 114-
1153 arrival at, 186; seals killed at,
192; wind at, 196; difficult approach
to, 192; telephone to, 319. See also
under Discovery Hut,
Ick, pack : met, 58 ; scene in, 60 ; width
of, 76, 78; pressure blocks, 77 ; map
of course through, 77
Ice problems, Wright’s lecture on, 248
Ice-age, future (sketch), 281
Ice-anchor, 60 ; method of fixing (sketch),
421
Icebergs : the first, 56 ; origin of various
kinds, 56, 59; watch for, 57, 64, 75,
427; effect of wind on, 59; sketches
460
of, 64; a white-back, 70, 71 ; Tunnel
berg, 96, (sketch), 97; mistaken for
islands, 345 ; various shapes of, 347 ;
flexure of (sketch), 403
Ice-forms: pancake, 58, 60, 77; sun-
holes, 93 (sketch), 7b., 121 ; coral-reef
surface, 121, 128 ; topsy-turvy icicles,
124; fan crystals, 124, 128; arabes-
ques, 126, 132, 2913; ploughshare,
128, 148, 162; thumb marks, 148; |
icefalls, 148, 149; slabs, 155, 162;
bottle-glass, 156, 384; glasshouse,
156, 157, 162, 3843 various, 163;
armadillo, 163; frozen park, 164 ;
honeycomb, 165; Stonehenge, 168 ;
stalactites, 170; caves formed by
crevasses, 230; at Cape Evans, 310-
311; crystals, 288-289; screw-pack,
338-339
Ice-houses, 101, (sketch), 102
Inaccessible Island, visited, 95, 287 ;
direction of blizzards on, 294 ; wind-
ridge on (sketch), 294
Infusoria, 74
Instruments, value of various, 453-454
Invertebrates, Nelson's lecture on, 303
Ionization of the air, registered, 279
Island Lake, 233
“ JAM-JAR,” 128
Jeannette, 283
Kar Plateau, cliffs
(sketch), 375
Kea Point, 28
Keerweer Camp, 179
Kenyte, 87; felspar in, 145; on Land’s
End moraine, 291 ; at Cape Bernacchi,
365; granite
309
Killer-whales, attacks on men, 75, 95,
1525 ON ponies, 198
Knob Head Mountain, features of, 149 ;
magnetic variation at, 261
Koettlitz Glacier, moraine deposit from,
160 ; explored, 167-173 ; stream from, |
168
Kukri Hills, 127; coaly debris, 134 ;
Wales Glacier named, 143; age of
rocks, 146-147 ; cwm valleys on, 340 ;
camp below, 409
Lacroix Glacier, 140, (sketch), 7b., 162
Lakes, at Cape Evans, 87 ; Flagellata in,
215
Land’s End, features of, 230; named,
233
Lashley, W., former experiences, 75 ;
Polar journey, 442
:
INDEX
Lateral moats. See Moats
Latitude and longitude, simple method
of calculating, 357
Lectures, list of winter, 229
Levick, Dr. G. M., 49 ; and seal killing,
120; penguin studies, 439
Lichens, at Cape Geology, 360, 387
Lillie, D. G., former adventures, 7 ;
caricatures by, 65; collections made,
418
Lister, Mt., 127
Literature, on sledge journeys, 151.
also under Books
Lots, novel method of drawing, 357
See
| Luzern, Lake, formed by twin glaciers,
130, 149
Lyons, Capt. H. G., 447
Lyttelton, reached, 11, 21; geology of,
233 experiences at, 23 ; return to, 435
Mackay Glacier, 348, 353; ice-tongue,
359, 365 ; tongue movement measured,
373» 375, 3955 erosion on, 377;
journey over, 382 seq.
Mackellar, Mr., gift of books, 283
McMurdo Sound, 85
Magic, white, 76
Magnetic needle, dip calculated, 261
Magnetic variation, See Variation
Marble Cape, 342 '
Marine animals in sea ice, 177
Markham, Sir Clements, gift of books,
283
Marr, Dr., 3
Matterhorn, 25 seg. ; the Antarctic, 25 ;
described, 145
Mawson, Dr., 5, 7, 9
Meares, C. H., dogs and ponies collected,
11; and dog sledges, 69; penguin-
charmer, 72 ; return from Hut Point,
245; Barrier journey, 440-441
Melbourne, Mt., 418
Meteorograph, balloon. See Balloon
Meteorology, Simpson’s lecture on, 288 ;
station routine, 305
Mica, golden, found, 377
Microscopic life, 74
Midnight sun, See Sun
Midwinter Day celebrations, 264 seg.
Mill, Hugh Robert, 451 '
Mirabilite, 155 ; evidence of upheaval, id.
Moats, lateral, 126, 134, 147, 3773
measured, 147-148
Monteagle, Mt., 79
Moraines, medial, 146, 3873; silt, 155,
156; crater lakes in, 156; on Crater
Heights, origin of, 197; Gondola
Ridge, 386-387 ; “road metal,” 410;
INDEX
Strand, 410 ; Archzocyathine fossil in,
441
Morning, voyage of, 58 ; pack crossed, 78
Morse Code, keywords, 35
Mosses, at Cape Geology, 360, 393
Motor-sledges, See under Sledges
Mueller Glacier, 28
Murchison Glacier, 26
Music, on Terra Nova, 48;
Evans, 223, 254
at Cape
NANSEN, Mt, 418
Natrolite, found, 379
Nelson, E. W., 7 ; tow-net captures, 65 ;
soundings at Cape Evans, 249 ; bio-
logical station, 262 ; “star performer”
at games of skill, 271 3 propensity to
argument, 273 ; sounding tackle frozen
in, 293 ; lecture on invertebrates, 303 ;
accompanies Granite Harbour expedi-
tion, 332, 336, 339
New Glacier, 377 ; erosion on, 380-381
New Harbour, crossed, 340; signs of
1902 expedition, 409
New Year's Day on Terra Nova, 79
New Zealand Alps, ice conditions in,
23-29
Nicknames of the officers, 213
Nimrod, 21
North Bay, 233
Notothenia, in ice, 97, 180, 202, 203;
eye lens, 98 ; parasites in, 241
“Nursery,” the, 46, 66
Nussbaum, Dr., 9
Nussbaum, Mt., 143
Oates, Capt. L. E. G., 13, 66; sack-
cloth helmet (sketch), 200; bunk built
by, 227; lectures on horses, 246-247 ;
taste in literature, 283, 284 ; departure
on Southern Journey, 326
Observation Hill, telephone to, ror ;
Scott’s cross on, 113; augite crystals
on, 204
Ocean soundings. See Soundings
Officers, travels of, 242, maps, 12 ; list
of, 15 seq. 3 nicknames of, 21 33
musical abilities, PE physical
measurements of, 225, 248; occupa-
tions in the hut, 248-249; list of
returning, 4243; presented to King
George, 446
Orca gladiator, See Killer-whales
Organic remains on glacier, 127
Overflow Glacier, 127, 128
Pack ice. See under Ice
“ Paddock,” the, 233
461
Palimpsest theory of glacial valleys, 174
seq. ; diagrams, 175
Parasites in Notothenia, 241
Park Lane Camp, 164
Parties, list of, 15 seq.
Paton, 75, 85
Peary, Commander, lecture by, 9
Pendulums, ice grotto for, 278-279;
show pull of gravity, 279
Penguins; Adeélie, first seen, tricks of,
AE Emperor, first seen, 71 ; contents
of stomach, 71; frozen in, 82; on
Ferrar Glacier, 127-128 ; hardness of
bones, 128 ; swimming, 154; at Cape
Crozier, 271, 286; eggs examined,
325: hunting on floes, 72 ; appearance
of swimming, 85 ; spoor ‘of (sketch),
943 Wilson’s lecture on, 244-245
Pennell, Lieut. H. L. L. 34, 66, 76, 423
Perched Block (sketch), 387
Pets on Terra Nova, 53, 428
Photography, in field work, 119;
Taylor’s outfit, 224; Antarctic, 224,
452. See also under Camera
Physical measurements of officers, 225,
248
Piedmont Glacier, 152 seq., 342, 345, 405
Ponies, landing of, 89; ‘Hacken-
schmidt,” 89, 100; “ Blucher,” ror ;
“Guts,” 101; “ Weary Willy,” ror;
lost on sea-ice, 197-198 ; Oates’ lec-
tures on, 246-247; verminous, 278 ;
arrangement of on Southern Journey
325
Ponting, H. G., 11, 703 and killer-
whales, 95; and Tunnel berg, 96;
work at Cape Evans, 214, 215, 2505
lecture on Burmah, 242; cinemato-
graph films exhibited, 282 ; lantern
slides exhibited, 295; coaches Scott
and Bowers in photography, 304 ;
successful studies obtained, 440
Port Chalmers, 35
Potholes, 282, 383
Pram (Norwegian dinghy), 61, 62, 72
Pram Point, 202
Prestrud (Amundsen’s lieutenant), 440
Priestley, R. E., 10, 85; old footprints
of, found, 286 ; ice notes, 439
Pulpit Rock (sketch), 370
Pumps, choked in storm, 42 ; plan of, id.
Quartz found, 309
“ Quick runs,” in magnetic work, 261
Ramp, the, named, 233 ; origin of debris
cones on, 296; cones dissected, 297,
(sketch), 74. ; composition of, 298
462
Range-finder for icebergs, 46, 57
Referring Facet, 384
Rennick, Lieut. H. E.de P., 4, 34, 66, 76
Riegels, 134, 136, 141, 143
Roberts, Cape, features of, 399 ; camp at,
400 seq. ; depot left at, 406
Rocks, age of (sketch), 147 ; sedimentary,
near Taylor Glacier, 141; solitary,
132-133, 147
Ross Island, sketch-map, 81 ; survey of,
85; Discovery hut on, 189
Round Valley, 144-145
Royal Society Range, 127
Royds, Cape, Shackleton’s hut at, 105-
106 ; Taylor’s visit to, 260
SaBINE, Mt., 79
Sails, Bay of, 343
Salmon Peak, 160
Schizopods, 75
Science men as seamen, 35, 424
Scotia, 46
Scott, Captain R. F., 4; first impressions
of, 5 ; old adventure on Ferrar Glacier,
753 visits Hut Point, 106 ; geological
sketch of Hut Point, 114; facsimile
of sledging orders, 122-123 ; One Ton
depot laid, 189 ; variety of interests,
196; journey to Cape Evans, 207 5¢q.;
takes party to Discovery hut, 216, 223 ;
Sunday services at Cape Evans, 225 ;
institutes aurora watch, 226; main
features of winter quarters named, 233 ;
lecture on Plans of the Expedition,
241-242; belief in discussions, 248 ;
discussion on Ferrar Glacier, 257-258 ;
speech at Midwinter Day dinner, 268 ;
Taylor Glacier named, 280; taste in
literature, 283, 325; trip to Ferrar
Glacier, 304, 309; Taylor's summer
plans discussed, 311 ; Taylor’s sledg-
ing orders, 321; departure on Southern
Journey, 325; charts of his and
Amundsen’s parties, 439, 441, 442 5
hardest day’s work, 440; reason of
disaster to, 443-444
Scurvy, Atkinson's tests for, 245; his
lecture on, 292-293; Lt. Evans at-
tacked by, 421, 442
Sea, winter temperature of, 262
Seal Rock, 233
Seals, crab-eater, 62-63, 65 ; flensing, 63,
358; killing, first experiences, 116,
120; twenty miles up glacier, 141,
167-168 ; lassoed, 155; killed at
Hut Point, 192, 196; method of en-
larging ice-holes, 317, (sketch), i. ;
and dogs, 116, 332; at Gneiss Point,
|
INDEX
342; at Granite Harbour, 353; me-
thod of butchering, 355; meat as
substitute for pemmican, 360
Sedimentary Rocks. See Rocks
Seward, Professor, 3, 444
Shell, found on Ferrar Glacier, 125
Simpson, Dr. G. C., 5, 13, 66; meteoro-
logical instruments, 221 ; balloons sent
up, 234 (sketch), 2b. ; lectures by, 236,
288 ; magnetic work, 261; return
sun first seen, 295 ; value of weather
records, 440
Siphonophora, 262
Sketching, Wilson’s lecture on, 251-253 ;
value of, in Antarctica, 452; note-
books for, 453
Ski, 68, 293
Ski-ing, learning on the floes, 69; on
Erebus slopes, 103
Skua gulls, mode of killing, 11, 100;
young learning to fly, 179; quarrel-
some nature of, 355, 399; eggs ob-
tained, 372, 378; sketch of embryo,
373 signs of intellect in, 380
Skua Lake, 233
Sledge diary, 181 seq.
Sledge-flags, 49, 73
Sledge foods, Bowers’ lecture on, 250
Sledges, loads of, on First Journey, 117-
119; stee] runners for, 119,452; motor,
91; loss of, 99 seg.; Day’s lecture on,
264; difficulties with, 322 seq.
Sledging, stores, how calculated, 53;
weights carried, 54 ; literature carried,
151; facsimile of orders, 122-123 ;
food allowance, 335; cooking, 350-351
Slippery Slope, 233, 296
Smith, Mr, Reginald J., gift of books,
50, 283
Snow, as thirst quencher, 373
Snow-blindness, 408
Snow Valley, 116, 169, 173
Socks, patent heel-tip (sketch), 308, 455
Soil-creep (solifluxion), 115, 300, 388
Sollas Glacier, 139, 162
Solitary Rocks. See Rocks
Soundings, depth of ocean, 61, 79;
apparatus (sketch), 67; off glacier
mouths, 120 ; off Cape Evans, 249
South American Glacier, 131
South Bay, named, 233 ; biological station
at, 262
South Polar Times, Wilson’s sketches,
156 ; resumed, 231 ; Day’s binding for,
2543 volumes produced, 265 seg., 302-
303, 317 guesses at authors, 270, 303
Spiders, sea-, 303
“Sponge-coral ” (sketch), 256
INDEX 463
Sponges, in the ice, 177, 180
Springtail, Antarctic, See Gomphoce-
halus
Stalactites, how formed, 287
Stamps, surcharged, 80
Steig-eisen (sketch), 197
Stocking Glacier, 28, 132
Storm, on outward voyage, 40-44; on
homeward voyage, 428-432
Strand moraines, 410
Straw hat, 146
Suess Glacier, and sketch, 141-142
Suess, Mt., 362 ; nunatak (sketch), 383 ;
map, 3853 circumnavigated, 388,
(sketch), 389
Sun, midnight, 59 ; lowest point of, cal-
culated, 269, (sketch), i6.; return of,
celebrated, 294 ; first seen, 295
Sunholes, 93, 121
Sunshine recorder, sketch of, 306
Swinging ship. See Terra Nova
Tasman Glacier, 26 ; sketch of, 2
Taylor, Griffith: official position, 7; a
walker, 7, 103; visit to Alps, 8, 9;
survey work in Australia, 10; his
problem in Antarctica, 14; bowie-
knife disturbs compass, 34 ; midnight
watch, 59; retrieves fish from floe, 70;
sledge work on landing, 92; visits
Inaccessible Island, 95
First WESTERN JOURNEY, 111 Seq. 5
a geologist’s equipment, 144; washes
for gold, 145 ; fall into “ moat,” 147 ;
dreams, 150, 182; adventure among
crevasses, 1523; lassoes a seal, 155; a
week’s cooking, 165-166 ; flooded out,
174 3 unfulfilled prophecy, 177; sledge
diary, 181 seg. ; hallucination, 185
A Monru 1n Discovery Hut, 189
Seq. ; visits Crater Heights, 197; cook,
200, 202 ; dreams, 201 ; frostbite, 202;
fall into sea-ice, 205 ; journey to Cape
Evans, 207 seq.
In WINTER QUARTERS, 211 Seq. ;
plan of hut, 212; first aurora seen,
218 ; report on Western Journey, 219;
musical abilities, 223; photography,
224, 296; ice caves visited, 230;
night watchman, 231, 243, 264; main
features of winter quarters named, 233 ;
lectures by—on principles: of physio-
graphy, 238-239 ; on Beardmore Gla-
cier, 255 ; on physiography of Western
Mountains, 270; on glaciation, 295 ;
on corals, 303 ; list of officers’ travels,
242-243 3 physical measurements, 225,
248; articles for South Polar Times,
2A, 2435) 287. 288 .3¥25 GrS5 hut
routine, 247-249 ; chart of mean tem-
peratures, 255; visit to Cape Royds,
260; speech at Midwinter Day dinner,
268; sun’s lowest point calculated, 269 ;
competition with Gran, 270; chess,
271; hut arguments, 273-274; dreams,
277-278, 2873; night watch supper
(sketch), 274 ; “ jam day,” 279; Tay-
lor Glacier named, 280 ; Erebus steam
cloud sketched, 281; books read, 283-
2843; book-binding, 293 ; Cape Evans
mapped, 295, 298 seq.; plane-table
improvised, 295; debris cones dis-
sected, 297; Wilson’s caricature of,
301 3 meteorological work under-
taken, 303, 305; ‘“‘ patent heel-tips,”
308 ; Tent Island visited, 311, 317 3
summer plans discussed with Scott,
311; bicycling to Turk’s Head, 314-
315 3 trip to Shackleton’s hut, 319 seq. 5
sledging orders for Granite Harbour
expedition, 321; Barne Glacier tra-
versed, 322-3233 last impressions of
Oates and Wilson, 326-327
GRANITE Harpour EXPEDITION,
329 seq.; sledges packed, 331; Bowers’
list of stores, 332 ; blizzards met, 333,
335, 362 seq.; magnetic variation,
3373 steering on the march, 337 ;
Butter Point reached, 338; relaying,
339 3 Survey, 340 ; ice-yacht, 342-343 5
dreams, 342, 364; night marching,
345 ; Granite Harbour reached, 348 ;
View Point camp, 349; foods on sledge
journey, 350-351; cave discovered,
352 ; cloud effects, 353 ; water supply,
354; seal hoosh, 355; Gomphocephalus
found, 356 ; birthday of, 356 ; adven-
tures on sea-ice, 366; benefit of
goggles, 369; finger cut, 371, 376,
379 3 Snow as thirst-quencher, 373 ;
value of “ironclad” boots, 373;
Mackay Tongue movement measured
373> 3753 unusual minerals found, 379 ;
Christmas Day celebrations, 380 ; in-
sects embalmed, 3813; journey over
Mackay Glacier, 382 seg. ; peaks and
glaciers named, 384 ; fish fossils found,
386 ; Mt. Suess circumnavigated, 388 ;
Mackay Glacier movement measured,
3953 return journey begun, 396 ; fall
into sea, 397; as “sledge poet,” 398,
401 ; Cape Roberts camp, 400 seq. ;
Terra Nova seen, 402 ; crevasses met,
406 seg. ; snow-blindness, 408 ; picked
up by Terra Nova, 411
Tue VoyacE Back, 413 seq. ; gifts
464 INDEX
from home, 415-416; gale off Cape
Evans, 418-419; “luff upon luff”
(sketch), 420; coal-trimming, 424-
425, 433 ; cables for Associated Press
prepared and despatched, 427, 4333
“iceberg watch,” 427, 4283; record
gale, 428-432; sperm whales seen,
4335 Akaroa reached, 434
THE END oF THE EXPEDITION, 437
seq. ; résumé of journeys of other par-
ties, 439 seg. ; books sent to remaining
members of Expedition, 445; presented
to King George, 446; allocation of
funds, 446
APPENDIX, 449 seg.; paper pub-
lished by Royal Ceoprshicd Sottety,
4515 lessons of Antarctic experiences,
451 Seq.
Taylor Glacier, 132-138 ; sketch of mo-
raine on, 135; wind action on, 136;
crater near, 136, (sketch), 137; previous
visit to, 139 ; and valley, 141 ; named
by Scott, 150, 280
Telephones, 101, 103, 294, 315, 319, 326
Temperature, of sea in winter, 262; 0
hut, 263, (sketch), ib.; high during
blizzards, 293, 295, 363 seg.; snow
melted, 305 ; heat of solar rays, 345
Tent, advantage of wider floorcloth for,
333. 452
Tent Island, 286 ; features of, 311; seals
at, 317
Terra Nova, 6, 21; voyage to New
Zealand, 11; plans of, 22, 393 leak
stopped, 30 ; arrangement of, 30 seq. ;
swinging ship, 34, 46, 80; storms, 40
Seq., 428 seqg.; dinner on, 46; icing
ship, for fresh water, 61, 421, 422;
Pennell’s notice, 423 7. ; Christmas on,
73-743 returning officers, 76 ; sketch
of course through pack, 77; landing
at Cape Evans, 87 seq.; stranded, 108 ;
picks up Taylor's party, 411; return
voyage of March, 1912; map, 414;
“rocking ship,” 417; gale off Cape
Evans, 418-419; anchor raised by
“luff upon luff” (sketch), 420; coal
trimming, 424-425, 433; Akaroa
reached, 434
Terror, Mt., 346
Tesselations, 158, 160
Thermometer screens, erected, 272 ;
names for, id,
Thomson, Alan, 10
Travels of the officers. See Officers
Tremolite found, 379
Turk’s Head, 113 ; features of, 314, 315
Twin Glaciers, sketch of, 280
Universitas Antarctica, 228
VaRIATION, magnetic, 80, 337 ; at Cape
Evans and Knob Head Mountain, 261
Vegetation, three types found, 125 ; algz,
136, 155,296 3 mosses, 125, 360, 393 ;
lichens, 360, 387
Vince's Cross, 113
“ Virtue Villa,” 191
Watcorrt Glacier, 169
Wales Glacier, 143
Ward Glacier, 169, 171-172
Weather, local types of, 426; value of
Simpson’s records, 440. See also
Blizzards, Temperature, Wind
Whales, 69, 433. See also Killer-whales
Whales, Bay of, chart, 432
“ Whisker-stone,” 137
Wilson, Dr. E. A., 3, 13,65, 66; penguin
hunting, 72; on tone values, 199;
truth of his sketches, 199, 203 ; lectures
by, 235, 244-245, 251-253; sketch of
nose-guard, 262 ; Cape Crozier expe-
dition, 270, 285 seg.; caricature of
Taylor(sketch), 298 ; hiskindness, 304 ;
“Barrier Silence” poem written, 313 ;
Emperor penguin eggs examined, 325 ;
departure on Southern Journey, 325
Wind, tolerable without snow, 144; at
Hut Point, 196 ; changes in direction
(sketch), 217 ; record velocity, 279 ;
maximum velocity of winter, 293
Windproof clothing. See Clothing
Wind Vane Hill, 233
Winter Quarters, main features named,
2
Worn burrows in sandstone, 148
Wright, C. S., 3, 7, 663 work on ice
crystals, 119, 134; Kukri Hills visited,
147 ; judging distances, 150 ; fall into
crevasse, 152; Davis Glacier examined,
161 ; and seals, 173 ; journey to Corner
Camp, 193; lecture on ice problems,
248; time observations, 272 ; pendu-
lums, 278-279 ; ice-section “rubbings,”
282; diary entries, 289; Archeocyathine
fossil] found, 441
Wyatt, Mr. G. F., 31
THE END
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