a CAPT. ROBERT F. SCOTT, RN. | ie Given in Loving Memory of Raymond Braislin Montgomery Scientist, R/V Atlantis maiden voyage 2 July - 26 August, 1931 KK KKK KK Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Physical Oceanographer 1940-1949 Non-Resident Statf 1950-1960 Visiting Committee 1962-1963 Corporation Member 1970-1980 KKK KKK Faculty, New York University 1940-1944 Faculty, Brown University 1949-1954 Faculty, Johns Hopkins University 1954-1961 Professor of Oceanography, Johns Hopkins University 1961-1975 Prom Melb ¥ Pirlhhay 1qZ/ LAE “VOYAGE OF THE ~~ DISCOVERY’ VOL. II. [SEE PaGE 158. EMPEROR PENGUIN ROOKERY. ) THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ BY > CAPTAIN ROBERT F. SCOTT G.V.0., BN. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS NEW EDITION IN TWO VOLUMES - VOL. II. ‘ 25 = ak : > . 7 . = NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS LONDON: SMITH, ELDER, & CO.” oo .. erv 7 + od - a » J rr 4 CONTENTS OF THE SEQGOND=VOLUME CHAPTER XIII JOURNEY TO THE FARTHEST SOUTH Future Plans Modified by Reconnaissance Journeys—Trip to Cape Crozier—Start of the Southern Journey—Depot ‘ A ’—Descrip- tion of the Dog Team—Equipment of Sledges—Return of Sup- porting Party—Failure of the Dogs—Relay Work—Dog-driving —Dog-food—Atmospheric Phenomenon—Cracking of the Sur- face Crust—New Land in Sight— Beautiful Effects produced by Snow-Crystals—Dogs Weakening—Slow Progress—Depot ‘ B’— The Chasm—Pushing_ Sehthiverds SBietsesc of Hunger—Further Land—Scurvy Appearing— Cooking Arrangements—Soft Snow— Experiences with the Dogs—Christmas Day and its Good Cheer CHAPTER XIV RETURN FROM THE FAR SOUTH Result of Shortage of Food—Nature ot the Coastline—Snow-blind- ness—Approaching the Limit of our Journey—View to the South —New Mountains—Blizzard at our Extreme South—Turning PAGE Homeward—Attempt to Reach the Land—The Passing of our — Dog Team—Help from our Sail—Difficult Surfaces—Running vil THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ before a Storm—Finding Depot ‘ B ’— Scurvy Again—Shackleton Becomes Ill—The Last of our Dog Team—Bad Light for Steer- ing—Anxious Days—Depot ‘ A’—Over- oe Last Lap— Home Again—Our Welcome ‘ . : ‘ CHAPTER XV PAGE 49 WHAT HAD HAPPENED DURING OUR ABSENCE IN THE SOUTH Royds’ Journey to Cape Crozier—The King’s Birthday—Athletic Sports—The Western Journey—Difficulties amongst the Moun- tains—Ascent of the Ferrar Glacier—Approaching the Summit— First Party on the Interior of Victoria Land—Return of Western Party—Summer Thawing—About the Islands to the South-West —Curious Ice Formations—Recovery of the Boats—Preparing for Sea—History of the Relief Sera es of the ‘Moming’ . : : ° . CHAPTER XVI OUR SECOND WINTER Effects of the Strain of the Southern Journey—Communication with the ‘ Morning’—Change of Weather—Stores Transported— Delays in the Break-up of the Ice—Closing of the Season —De- parture of the ‘ Morning’—Making Provision for the Winter— Settling Down— Hockey—Departure of the Sun—Fishing Opera- tions—Record Temperatures—The Electrometer—Midwinter Feast—Our Growing Puppies— Hodgson at Work—The ‘ Flying Scud’— Return of the Sun—Signs of Summer—Plans for the Future—General Good Health . : = : > “ CHAPTER XVII COMMENCEMENT OF OUR SECOND SLEDGING SEASON Parties Starting—Away to New Harbour—We Find a Good Road, > Establish a Depot, and Return—Sledging in Record Tempera- tures—Experiences in Different Directions—Emperor Penguin Chicks—Eclipse of the Sun—A Great Capture—Preparing for the Western Journey—-Ascending Ferrar Glacier—Our Sledges Break Down— Forced to Return—Some Good Marching— Fresh 94 120 sat IE CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME Start—More Troubles with the Sledges—A Heavy Loss—Wind from the Summit—The Upper Glacier—A Week in Camp—We Break Away and Reach the Summit —Hard Conditions — Party Divided—Eight Days Onward—An Awe-inspiring Plain—We Turn as the Month Ends . : CHAPTER XVIII RETURN FROM THE WEST Returning over the Great Plateau—Doubts about Provisions and Oil —Harrowing Effect of Fresh Snowfall—Thick Weather—No Sight of Landmarks—Sudden Descent into Glacier—Escape from a Crevasse—Exploration of North Arm—A Curious Valley— Return to the Ship—Results of other Sledging Efforts—Ferrar’s Journey-—Barne’s Journey—Royds’ Journey—Shorter Journeys— Review of Sledging Work CHAPTER XIX ESCAPE FROM THE ICE Indigestion—Arrival at the Sawing Camp—Sawing Operations— _ Break-up of Sawing Party—The Open Water—Arrival of the Relief Ships—Unwelcome News—Stagnant Condition of the Ice—Depressing Effect —Preparations for Abandoning the ‘ Dis- _covery’—Ice Breaking Away—Explosions—Anxious Days— Final Break-up of the Ice--Dramatic Approach of the Relief Ships —The Small Fleet as uns Sete Discovery ’ Free ; . - CHAPTER XX HOMEWARD BOUND Memorial to our Lost Shipmate—Gale Commences—Ship Driven on Shore—Gloomy Outlook—Sudden Escape—Coaling—Driven North—Departure of ‘Morning ’—Wood Bay—Trouble with Pumps—Possession Islands—Rudder Disabled—Robertson Bay— Rudder Replaced—Towards Cape North—Heavy Pack—Skirting ~ Pack—‘ Terra Nova’ Parts Company—Balleny Islands—Over PhD vii PAGE 151 197 227 eat viii THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY ° Wilkes’ Land—Turning North—The Last Iceberg —Auckland Islands—Reassembly—New Zealand Again— Voyage Homeward -—Completion of our Work—Our First Monotony—Home. GENERAL SURVEY OF OUR OBSERVATIONS . APPENDIX I Summary of the Geological Observations made during the Cruise of the s.s. ‘Discovery,’ 1901-1904. By H. T. FERRAR, M.A., F.G.S., Geologist to the National Antarctic Expedition APPENDIX II On the Whales, Seals and Birds of Ross Sea and South Victoria Land. By Epwarp A. WILson, M.B., F.Z.S., Bice on the National Antarctic Expedition : é . INDEX 323 352 375 ILLUSTRATIONS IN Geers SECOND VOLUME - Empzror PENGUIN ROOKERY (Cooured Pirate) . From a Water-colour Drawing by Dr. Edward A. Wilson. Depot ‘A’ ; : ‘ : : ‘ A nee CREVASSE WHICH ENDED THE CHASM WE Pe ie ye IN THICK WEATHER. < 4 : : : CHASM WHICH PREVENTED US FROM REACHING THE LAND. ‘ : : ‘ : ; . ee re 62 CHRISTMAS CAMP AMONGST THE ICE-BORNE BOULDERS . 5 102 A SWEEP OF THE GLACIER. SANDSTONE CLIFF WITH INTRUDED BASALT : J . Frontispiece : : ‘ ee J 104 THE HIGHEST DEPOT (7,500 FEET) . : : , WHERE NEWS OF US WAS AT LAST FOUND dum first GREETINGS’ . . . ' ae Leek BERNACCHI AND THE ELECTROMETER Our BIOLOGIST IN HIS SHELTER i , ; ‘ i =o LOOKING UP FROM NEW HARBOUR. ; Rats By 152 DowN A CREVASSE : : : ; , : ; 2 210 From a Drawing by Dr. Edward A. Wilson. A HANGING GLACIER . : : : ‘ -) A VALLEY FROM WHICH THE Ice HAS RECEDED) * * Lee Saks DESPERATE Hurry: No TIME To TALK) To GAzE AT THE STRANGE INTRUDER .| ° E ; aig _A PIECE OF THE ANCIENT SHEET NEAR CAPE CROZIER THE BEACON OF THE UPPER AIR CURRENTS . # 2 EMPERORS’ ROOKERY UNDER THE BROKEN ICE-CLIFF AT CAPE CROZIER. eo, 370 CHART OF SLEDGE JOURNEYS FROM WINTER QUAR- TERS. ° ‘ : ‘ ° . : . » acing p. 374 id (RSS Re ee i cone tae Battie ee Te ae “Yoh 32, alesis, Cesare anata i Age mee tie # 4 oh ara eR ta ore CHAPTER XIII . JOURNEY TO THE FARTHEST SOUTH Future Plans Modified by Reconnaissance Journeys—Trip to Cape Crozier —Start of the Southern Journey—Depot ‘A ’—Description of the Dog Team—Equipment of Sledges—Return of Supporting Party—Failure of the Dogs—Relay Work—Dog-driving—Dog-food—Atmospheric Phenomenon—Cracking of the Surface Crust—New Land in Sight— Beautiful Effects Produced by Snow-crystals—Dogs Weakening —Slow Progress—Depot ‘B’—The Chasm—Pushing Southward—Increase of Hunger—Further Land—Scurvy Appearing—Cooking-arrange- ments—Soft Snow—Experiences with the Dogs—Christmas Day and its Good Cheer. Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit To his full height... . . . - Shew us here That you are worth your breeding, which I doubt not. For there is none so mean or base That have not noble lustre in your eyes. I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start. —SHAKESPEARE. ALTHOUGH the gravity of our outbreak of scurvy was not under- rated, and we had been busied in measures for the prevention of its recurrence, it must not be supposed that we had allowed it in any way to interfere with our plans for the future. Our preparations were pushed on as vigorously as though no such cloud had come to overshadow the brightness of our outlook. The general results of the spring journeys had enabled us to lay our plans for the summer with greater definition. Our reconnaissance to the south had ingicated that the main party VOL. II. B “ ab din 2 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Ocr. after leaving the Bluff, would have to travel directly over the snow-plain at a long distance from, and possibly out of sight of, land; the probability was that no further depots could be established, and hence it was desirable that the party should be supported as far as possible on their route. This theory added another object for our sledging efforts, for if the coast ran sharply to the west after rounding the Bluff it was evidently desirable that we should gain some information concerning it. To meet these requirements it was decided that Barne, with a party of twelve men, should accompany the dog team until the weights were reduced to an amount which the latter could drag without assistance. He was then to return to the ship, and, after a short rest, to start again, with a party of six, and endeavour to follow the coastline west of the Bluff. With such a plan as I have outlined it was hoped that there would - be a good chance of solving the mysteries in a southerly direction ; and as soon as this was in train Armitage was to have at his disposal all the resources of men and material in the ship for his attack on the western region. In considering his earlier observations, Armitage had come to the conclusion that it was impossible to force a way through the entrance to New Harbour, where for so many miles he had seemed to see a chaos of ice and morainic material, and he thought his best chance lay in ascending to the foothill plateau, in the neighbourhood of the so-called ‘ Eskers,’ as from this he hoped to find a pass which would lead him over the main ridge of mountains. In busily preparing for this programme we did not forget the advantage we possessed in the fact that our surfaces and general travelling conditions were likely to improve rather than otherwise as the summer advanced ; we should have little of the sea-ice to cross, and we knew that with our cold summer this would not develop into the same treacherous condition that it does in the North, whilst the surfaces to the south or inland could not possibly grow moist and sludgy. With these conditions we could arrange our movements to take advantage of what we hoped to find the warmest and 1902] MODIFICATION OF PLANS 3 finest summer months; and since there was no chance of the ship being released from the ice until February, there was little object in our sledge parties being back much before that date, while we should travel during the time that the sun was circling at its greatest altitude. As a further result of our reconnaissance journeys, we were now better able to judge of the requirements of each individual party as far as smaller matters of equipment were concerned. It was evident that the western travellers would have to be provided with ice-axes, crampons, ropes, and other necessaries for climbing ; but it seemed that in going to the south we should be safe in omitting these accessories, and in preparing for a journey in which there was no formidable obstruction. As we proposed to begin our journey to the south at the end of October, it can be imagined that, with so many minor details to be attended to, the last weeks of the month were not a slack season for any of us. On Friday, October 24, Royds and his party returned to the ship, having achieved the object of communicating with our ‘ Record’ post at Cape Crozier. We now had the satis- faction of knowing that we had done all in our power to guide a possible relief ship to our winter quarters ; should she make a diligent search on the northern slopes of Terror, as had been arranged, she would at least have a good prospect of receiving the latest information concerning us. It was alsoa very great source of satisfaction to find that the party returned in excellent health, for they had left us almost immediately after the outbreak of scurvy, and that they should have come back safe and well went far to show that hard sledging work would not necessarily cause a return of the disease. From our experience of the previous season we had con- cluded that Terror Point, as the eastern extremity of the land mass was called, was an extremely windy region, and the adventures of this party left the matter beyond much doubt. Skirting the large bay south of Erebus to avoid the deeper snow, they had carried fine but cold weather with them on the outward march, and until October 10, when they were B2 4 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Ocr. able to make their most advanced camp, ready to proceed over the bare rocks towards the rookery. The 11th proved a beautifully calm, bright day, and Royds, having injured his ankle, deputed the task of reaching the ‘Record’ to Skelton. The latter left the camp at noon with Evans, and by 6 p.m. returned, having accomplished his errand ; in the bright, clear afternoon he had little difficulty in finding the spot, and came to the conclusion that they must have been within a very short distance of it in their autumn wanderings. On the 12th Skelton set out again with two companions, this time intent on photographing the immense ice disturbance caused by the barrier pushing around the land. After taking several photographs he returned, and the homeward route brought him close to the edge of the Crozier cliffs, where they rise with magnificent grandeur and form a frowning precipice more than 800 feet sheer above the sea; from this point of vantage he looked down directly on the barrier edge and into the small bay which breaks its outline near the land. Whilst he was admiring the beauty of the scene, his quick eye caught sight of numerous small dots on the sea-ice far below ; it was not long before he decided that they must be Emperor pen- guins. He asked himself what they could be doing here in such numbers, and wondered if it were possible that at last the breeding-place of these mysterious birds had been discovered —it seemed almost too good to be true. Assurance must wait for some future occasion, and in the meanwhile he returned to the camp in no small state of excitement. ) To-morrow the mystery must be cleared up; but to-morrow brought the wind, and not a yard from their tents could the party stir. This was the 13th. On the 14th the weather proved equally bad, save for a short lull, when they were able to prepare a hot meal; directly afterwards, the blizzard swept down on them again and continued without intermission throughout the 15th, 16th, and 17th. Before the gale they had built elaborate protecting snow walls to windward of the tents, and these almost proved their undoing; for the never-ceasing drift collected deeper and 1902] TRIP TO CAPE CROZIER 5 deeper behind these walls, and the occupants of the tents were conscious that the snow was gradually accumulating around them and that they were now powerless to prevent it. It soon reduced the light within to a mere glimmer, and then, becoming heavier and heavier on every fold of canvas, it diminished their interior space to such an extent that all were obliged to lie with their knees bent double. In the end they were practically buried in the heart of a snowdrift; but whilst the stout bamboos bent under the load and still further narrowed the space within, they luckily withstood the strain to the end. It was now only by observing the extreme summit of their tents that the prisoners had any indication of what was happening without. Though in some respects this was a relief, yet for want of space they were unable to cook any food, they could barely turn from side to side, and they suffered a martyrdom from cramp. Their enclosed position brought them comparative warmth, but what advantage they gained in this way was largely discounted by the sodden dampness of articles which had thawed. On the 17th the snow ceased to drift. The occupants of one tent were able to free themselves after some difficulty, but the other tent had literally to be dug out before its imprisoned members could be got into the open ; whilst the sledges and all that had been left without were buried completely out of sight. The tale of five days spent in the manner which I have described is soon told—Mr. Royds dismisses it in half a page of his report—but I, and I believe the reader may, find that no great effort of imagination is needed to grasp the horrible dis- comforts that it involved; and yet when this party were recounting their adventures on board the ship, one might have imagined that the incident was all extremely amusing. The hardships had been forgotten, and all that the men seemed to _ remember was how So-and-so had launched out with the cramp and kicked someone else fair in the middle, or how the occu- pants of one tent had declared that they had been awakened by the snoring of some particular member in the other. It was not until the 18th that the wind ceased, and they 6 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Oct. were able to make shift to dry their equipment and to look out on the scene about them. When they had arrived the whole Ross Sea had been frozen over as far as their eyes could see, and now they gazed on a sheet of open water. Nota scrap of ice remained in sight, except in the bay to which Skelton had directed his footsteps at an early hour; in this bay the ice still hung, and it was doubtless the permanency of this sheet which had caused the Emperor penguins to adopt it as a breeding-place. For Skelton had not been deceived in his observation: on reaching the sea-ice in this bay, after a stiff climb over the high-pressure ridges, he found again his colony of Emperors, numbering some four hundred, and, to his delight, amongst them several that were nursing chicks. Upon the great interest of this find, and upon the many important notes which were made concerning the colony, both at this time and at a later date, I will not dwell, as these facts are dealt with in the excellent appendix which our zoologist, Dr. Wilson, has contributed to this volume, describing the habits of these extraordinary birds far more clearly than I could hope to do; I will only testify to the joy which greeted this discovery on board the ship. We had felt that this penguin was the truest type of our region. All other birds fled north when the severity of winter descended upon us: the Emperor alone was prepared to face the extremest rigours of our climate: and we gathered no small satisfaction from being the first to throw light on the habits of a creature that so far surpasses in hardihood all others of the feathered tribe. Full of their exploits the party started for home on the roth, and, as I have said, reached the ship on the 24th. Before the end of the month everything was prepared for the southern journey, instructions for various sledge parties and for the custody of the ship had been given, details of the conduct of affairs had been discussed and rediscussed. Every eventuality seemed to be provided for, and nothing now re-— mained but to wait for the date which had been fixed for our departure. 1902] START OF THE SOUTHERN JOURNEY 7 The southern supporting party, as I have said, consisted of Mr. Barne with eleven men ; and as it was expected that at first, at any rate, the dogs would outstrip the men, it was decided that this party should start on October 30, but that the dog team should not leave until a few days later. All were to meet at the depot which I had laid out, and which was now known as Depot ‘ A.’ Accordingly, on October 30, I record: ‘The supporting party started this morning, amidst a scene of much enthusiasm ; all hands had a day off, and employed it in helping to drag the sledges for several miles. The sledges carried some decora- tions: Barne’s banner floated on the first, the next bore a Union Jack, and another carried a flag with a large device stating “ Vo dogs need apply”; the reference was obvious. It was an inspiriting sight to see nearly the whole of our small company step out on the march with ringing cheers, and to think that all work of this kind promised to be done as heartily. Later Shackleton had a trial trip with the dogs to get our runners in better order, and the animals started so strongly that they carried away the central trace and started to gallop off ; but luckily they all wanted to go in different directions, and so didn’t get far, and, luckily also, there were a few of us about to prevent the worst effect of the inevitable fights.’ ‘ November 2.— . . . We are off at last. By ten this morning the dogs were harnessed and all was ready for a start ; the overcast sky was showing signs of a break in the south. Every soul was gathered on the floe to bid us farewell, and many were prepared to accompany us for the first few miles, A last look was given to our securings, the traces were finally cleared, and away we went amidst the wild cheers of our comrades. The dogs have never been in such form ; despite the heavy load, for the first two miles two men had to sit on the sledges to check them, and even thus it was as much as the rest of us could do to keep up by running alongside. One by one our followers tailed off, and by noon we three were alone with our animals and still breathlessly trying to keep pace with them. Soon after lunch we saw a dark spot far ahead, and 8 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ '[Nov. about 5 P.M. we made this out to be our supporting party ; we caught them up just as they were rounding the corner of White Island, and learnt that they had had very bad weather which had confined them to their tents. Relieving them of some of their loads, we camped, whilst they pushed on to get the advantage of a night march.’ ‘ November 3.— ... At 2 P.M. we came up with Barne’s people. They are doing their best, but making very slow progress. The difficulty is the slipperiness of the wind-swept snow, the surface being particularly hard amongst the sastrug¢ opposite the gullies of the island. They can get no hold with their fur boots, and find their leather ski boots dreadfully cold for the feet; the result is that they scarcely cover a mile an hour. The only thing is for us to take life easy whilst they go on in the best manner possible; we have relieved them of over 150 lbs. of weight, so that they now only help us to the extent of 500 lbs. I have told Barne to go on quite indepen- dently of us.’ In this manner we journeyed slowly to the south outside the White Island, the parties constantly passing and repassing ; it was impossible at this part to keep together, as men and dogs took the march at quite a different pace. To add to the slowness of our journey, the weather proved very unpropitious, for the wind constantly sprang up and obliged us to camp, and we were forced to lie up during the greater part of the 8th and oth, whilst a heavy blizzard passed over us. On the oth I wrote: ‘ The wind still blows with exasperat- ing persistence, though the sun has been peeping out all day; it adds to the trying nature of this inactivity to watch the sun pass pole after pole of our tent and to know that the support- ing party are cut off from their slow daily progress. We are now south of the Bluff, and cannot be more than eight miles from the depot. To-night the wind is dying; the cloud mantle on the Bluff has vanished, and for the first time for many days one can catch a view of the western lands. ‘On our outward track we have kept rather too close to the White Island, and consequently have had to traverse a good CREVASSE WHICH ENDED THE CHASM WE CROSSED IN THICK WEATHER. (WEI OS .v Sm! - nes : B ar od oa” 6_an : “wr - .¥ ot v * { : : ‘ 1902] DESCRIPTION OF THE DOG TEAM 9 many undulations; it was curious to watch the supporting party dipping out of sight on what appeared to the eye to be a plain surface. Disturbed by much barking from the dogs, we crawled out of our bags to-night about eleven o’clock, to find, much to our satisfaction, that our supporting party had arrived ; they camped close by, and Barne tells me they have had a hard, cold pull up against the wind.’ * November 10.—Started early this morning, leaving the supporting party quietly slumbering. Had much difficulty in forcing the dogs along in face of a low drift and cutting wind, but managed to make good progress. At one o’clock, sighted the depot and were soon camped beside it, when the wind died away, the sky cleared, and we have again the whole splendid panorama of the northern and western mountains in full view. ‘On the march to-day a small snow petrel suddenly appeared hovering above us, and later it was joined by a second; these are the first birds we have seen since the departure of the skuas in the autumn, and form a very pleasant reminder of summer. We are left in wonder as to why they should be so far from the sea. We were first apprised of their coming by the conduct of the dogs, and for a moment or two we could not understand why these animals should sud- denly begin to leap about and bark furiously, but their wild dashes soon drew attention to our fluttering visitors. ‘ Already it seems to me that the dogs feel the monotony of a long march over the snow more than we do; they seem easily to get dispirited, and that it is not due to fatigue is shown when they catch a glimpse of anything novel. On see- ing the men ahead they are always eager to get up with them, and even a shadowy ice disturbance or anything unusual will excite their curiosity. To-day, for instance, they required some driving until they caught sight of the depot flag, when they gave tongue loudly and dashed off as though they barely ae the load behind them.’ It would perhaps be as well to introduce the reader to our dog team, as they played so important a part in this journey, and before the tale of its ending will have disappeared from fe) THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Nov. the scene for ever. Their origin and the names by which they had been formerly known are, as I have explained, mysteries which we could not penetrate, but long before the commence- ment of this journey each had learnt to answer to his own title in the following list :— ‘ Nigger,’ ‘ Birdie,’ ‘ Wolfe,’ ‘Jim,’ ‘Nell,’ Wes | ‘ Spud,’ ‘ Blanco,’ ‘ Bismarck,’ ‘ Snatcher,’ ‘ Grannie,’ ‘ Kid,’ ‘ FitzClarence,’ ‘ Lewis,’ ‘ Boss,’ ‘ Stripes,’ ‘ Gus,’ ‘ Brownie.’ « Joe,’ Each of these dogs had his own peculiar characteristics, and altogether they displayed as great a variety as could well be comprehended in a team of the size; it can be imagined that what we did not know concerning their individuality we had ample opportunities of learning during the weeks that followed. I have already given some idea of the dignity of character of our leader, ‘Nigger.’ He was a black dog with some tawny markings, and possessed the most magnificent head and chest, though falling off a little in the hinder quarters. A more perfect sledge dog could scarcely be imagined ; he chose his place naturally as the leader, and if put into any other position would make himself so unpleasant to his neighbours, and generally behave so ill, that he was very quickly shifted. In the happy times before sickness fell on our team, it was a delight to watch ‘ Nigger’ at his work: he seemed to know the meaning of every move. He would lie still as a graven image till he saw the snow being shovelled from the skirting of the tent, when up he would spring and pace to and fro at his picket, giving out a low throaty bark of welcome as any of us approached, and now and again turning towards his neigh- bours to express his opinion of them in the most bloodthirsty snarl. A few minutes later, as the leading man came to uproot his picket, his keen eye would watch each movement, and a slow wagging of his tail would quite obviously signify approval ; 19022] DESCRIPTION OF THE DOG TEAM II then as the word came to start, he would push affectionately against the leader, as much as to say, ‘ Now, come along,’ and brace his powerful chest to the harness. At the evening halt after a long day he would drop straight in his tracks and remain perfectly still with his great head resting on his paws; other dogs might clamour for food, but ‘ Nigger’ knew perfectly well that the tent had to be put up first. Afterwards, however, when one of us approached the dog-food, above the howling chorus that arose one could always distinguish the deep bell- like note of the leading dog, and knew that if disturbance was to be avoided, it was well to go to the front end of the trace first. ‘Lewis’ was a big, thick-coated, brindled dog, a very powerful but not a consistent puller ; always noisily affectionate and hopelessly clumsy, he would prance at one and generally all but succeed in bowling one over with boisterous affection. He was very popular with everyone, as such a big, blustering, good-natured animal deserved to be. ‘Jim’ was a sleek, lazy, greedy villain, up to all the tricks of the trade; he could pull splendidly when he chose, but generally preferred to pretend to pull, and at this he was extraordinarily cunning. During the march his eye never left the man with the whip, on whose approach ‘Jim’ could be seen panting and labouring as though he felt sure that every- thing depended on his efforts; but a moment or two later, when the danger had passed, the watchful eye would detect Master ‘ Jim’ with a trace that had a very palpable sag in it. Yet with all his faults it was impossible not to retain a certain affection for this fat culprit, who was so constantly getting himself into hot water. The general opinion of ‘Spud’ was that he was daft— there was something wanting in the upper storey. In the middle of a long and monotonous march he would suddenly whimper and begin to prance about in his traces ; in dog- language this is a signal that there is something in sight, and it always had an electrical effect on the others, however tired they might be. As a rule they would set off at a trot with 12 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Nov. heads raised to look around and noses sniffing the breeze. It was ‘Spud’ alone who gave this signal without any cause, and, curiously enough, the rest never discovered the fraud ; to the end he openly gulled them. On ordinary occasions ‘Spud’ would give one the impression of being intensely busy ; he was always stepping over imaginary obstacles, and all his . pulling was done in a jerky, irregular fashion. He was a big, strong, black dog, and perhaps the principal sign of his mental incapacity was the ease with which others could rob him of his food. Amongst the team there had been one animal who was conspicuous for his ugliness: with a snubbish nose, a torn ear, an ungainly body, ribs that could be easily counted through a dirty, tattered coat, and uncompromisingly vulgar manners, he was at first an object of derision to all; and being obviously of the most plebeian origin, he was named ‘ FitzClarence.’ Kindness and good food worked wonders for ‘Clarence,’ and although he never developed into a thing of beauty or of refined habits, he became a very passable sledge dog. ‘Kid’ and ‘ Bismarck’ were the only two dogs of the team that bore an outward resemblance, both being short-legged animals with long, fleecy, black-and-white coats. But the likeness was only superficial. Inwardly they differed much, for whereas Bismarck was counted amongst the lazy eye- servers, ‘Kid’ was the most indefatigable worker in the team ; from morn to night he would set forth his best effort. The whip was never applied to his panting little form, and when he stopped it was to die from exhaustion. With all our efforts we could never quite tame ‘ Birdie,’ who had evidently been treated with scant respect in his youth. At the ship he would retire into his kennel and growl at all except those who brought him food, and to the end he remained distrustful and suspicious of all attempts to pet him. He was a large, reddish-brown dog, very wolfish in appearance, but a powerful puller when he got to understand what was required of him. Of the rest of the team, ‘Gus,’ ‘Stripes,’ ‘Snatcher,’ and 1902] DESCRIPTION OF THE DOG TEAM 33 ‘Vic’ were nice, pleasant-mannered dogs, and good average pullers. ‘ Brownie’ was a very handsome animal, but rather light in build. He was charming as a pet, but less gifted as a sledge-puller, and always appealed to one as being a little too refined and ladylike for the hardest work ; nor did he ever lose a chance of utilising his pleasing appearance and persuasive ways to lighten his afflictions. ‘Wolf’ was the most hopelessly ill-tempered animal ; his character seemed to possess no redeeming virtue. Every advance was met with the same sullen, irreconcilable humour, and the whip alone was capable of reducing him to subjection. On the principle that you can lead a horse to the water but you cannot make him drink, ‘ Wolf’ had evidently decided that we might lead him to the traces but nothing could make him pull ; and, as a consequence, from start to finish no efforts of ours could make him do even a reasonable share of his work. We should have saved ourselves much trouble and annoyance had we left him behind in the first place. To the effort to swell the numbers of our team Bernacchi had sacrificed his own property, ‘Joe,’ and poor ‘Joe’ had a history. He had been born in the Antarctic Regions at Cape Adare ; later in life he had learnt to behave himself with proper decorum in a London drawing-room ; and now he had returned, no doubt much against his will, to finish his career in the land of his birth, He was a very light dog, with a deceptively thick coat; much pulling could not be expected from his weight, and he certainly gave but little. Such was our team as regards the dog element ; but a word may be added about the three of the other sex, whom at first I was very reluctant to take. ‘Nell’ was a pretty black animal with a snappish little temper but attractive ways ; ‘ Blanco,’ so called because she ought to have been white, had few attrac- tions, and was of such little use that she was sent back with the supporting party ; and poor ‘ Grannie’ was old and toothless, but lived and died game on the traces. Whilst the loads for this dog team had been heavy from the start, it had not been proposed to bring them up to full 14 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Nov. weights till after our departure from Depot ‘ A,’ and from that spot we proposed to assist by pulling ourselves ; it may be of some interest, therefore, to note the weights which we actually dragged. The table given on page 15 was one of a number of sheets which I prepared in order that we might know at each place exactly how we stood, and it seemed to simplify matters to draw rough diagrams of the sledges on the margin. The total of 1,850 lbs. was of course a heavy load for our team of nineteen, especially as the team possessed a few animals which were ot little account ; but it must be remembered that we expected to pull ourselves, and that each night, after the first start, would see a reduction of between thirty and forty pounds by the time all creature comforts had been attended to. The load here shown allows for nine weeks only for our own food, and it was in order that we might increase this allowance to thirteen that the supporting party was arranged to accompany us for some part of our journey. On the afternoon of the 11th the supporting party hove in sight, and we were soon busily engaged in arranging matters for an early start on the morrow. The 12th proved a misty, raw, cold day—not a happy omen for our start—but we got away betimes, and with a cheer set off for the first time on a due south course. The dogs were in such high feather that they quickly caught up the men, and little by little we had to increase their load until they were drawing no less than 2,100 lbs. When we camped for the night we had made 114 miles, and, in the slightly misty weather, already appeared to be lost on the great open plain. I note in my diary: ‘The feeling at first is somewhat weird; there is absolutely nothing to break the grey monotone about us, and yet we know that the mist is not thick, but that our isolation comes from the immense expanse of the plain. The excellent pulling of the dogs is likely to modify our plans, and I think of sending half the supports back to-morrow.’ ‘ November 13.—Sights to-day showed us to be nearly up to the 79th parallel, and therefore farther south than anyone has Weights on Leaving ‘A’ 1902] lbs. Dog-food . ; ; - 400 Pane, .j; >. 3 i ; Bes Fe Sledge . : 5 : aay: Bamboo . : . 3 evita Tomahawk . , ‘ en ae 7, aso ah r ¢ AY { ‘ ' Pea Dog-food ; ‘ : . 400 : : Tank : : : a RL ‘ , Sledge . ; : 4 es Sy ABE Bamboo . : : sXidhees \ : —— 446 Il ' tH i ‘ ne byes Ready provision eee. : EG iO} Kit bag . : : + 20 Spare foot-gear bag . : - fo 7? 6 = te fi 1903] FIRST EXPLORERS OF VICTORIA LAND 103 On December 31 they were abreast of one of the last of these isolated summits, and as it formed a most conspicuous landmark they determined to leave at its foot a depot of a week’s provision. They were able to approach the high weathered basaltic cliffs with ease, and found a sheltered position amongst the rough talus heaps at its base. Continuing to the west, they were faced by a steep rise over which the surface was much broken; but, selecting the smoothest route, they were able to surmount this obstacle, when, after crossing some wide bridged crevasses, they found themselves on a plateau which continued for many miles to a second steep rise. New Year’s Day found them on this plateau at a height of 7,500 feet; the temperature had fallen to —2°, and a strong wind was blowing from the W.S.W. It was whilst they were marching under these conditions that one of their number, Macfarlane, suddenly collapsed. Armitage says: ‘At first I was very much alarmed; he could neither move nor speak, and his face, which had turned to a dull grey, looked positively ghastly. I had a tent pitched immediately, and soon the colour began to flow back into his face. He then complained of pains under his heart and shortness of breath, but these troubles gradually subsided. Being anxious to push on, after waiting some time, I decided to leave half the party in camp and continue to the west with the remainder. I came to the conclusion that Macfarlane’s breakdown was due to some form of mountain sickness.’ Proceeding to the westward the advance party ascended another very steep rise, and then travelled over a gradual slope, at the top of which they camped on the night of January 3. This Armitage decided should be his last camp. They had now reached a height of 8,900 feet, and as far as they could see in every direction to the westward of them there extended a level plateau ; to the south and north could be seen isolated nunataks, and behind them showed the high mountains which they had passed. On the sth the party left their camp and proceeded to the south-west for some miles on ski. Armitage says: ‘We ascended seventy feet in the first 104 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY? [1o02- two miles; this was the highest elevation we reached, being about 9,000 feet. We then proceeded along a dead level for two miles, then we gradually descended thirty feet in a mile. At this point we stopped; the weather was beautifully clear, and observations showed that the horizon was rather below our level in every direction except to the north and north-east, whence we had come. On all sides the surface was quite smooth, and there was very little sign of wind ; it looked as though the plateau on which we stood was the summit of the ice-cap.’ On the 6th the party started to return, and whilst descend- ing the upper falls met with an incident which shows the treacherous nature of the irregular snow-slopes over which they were travelling. I quote the story from Armitage’s report: ‘We descended the upper falls with ease, and whilst crossing the smooth ice at their foot I was talking casually to Skelton when I suddenly became conscious that I was taking a dive, then I felt a violent blow on my right thigh, and all the breath seemed to be shaken out of my body. Instinctively I thrust out my elbows and knees, and then saw that I was some little way down a crevasse. It was about four feet wide where I was, but broadened to the right and left of me; below it widened into a huge fathomless cavern. Skelton sang out that my harness had held, and threw down the end of the Alpine rope with a bowline in it. I slipped this over my shoulders, and was hauled up with a series of jerks, and landed on the surface, feeling rather as though I had been cut in two and with not a gasp left in me. ‘They told me that below my face had appeared to them to be covered in blood ; the force of my fall had scattered everyone right and left and pulled the sledges up to the brink of the chasm, so that I was let down about twelve feet. It shook me up very much, and I could only hobble very lamely after the sledges as we proceeded on towards the camp where Macfarlane had been left.’ After this the party continued to descend, following more or less the track by which they had come. Macfarlane, who had shown some signs of improvement, had further trouble with his SALT. ITH INTRUDED BA SANDSTONE CLIFF W A SWEEP OF THE GLACIER. 500 FEET) b i ( ST DEPOT THE HIGHE Se yr. a - . 1903] THE DESCENT 105 breathing, and was carried for most of the way on the sledges ; but it soon became evident that there was nothing very wrong with him, and that he was more alarmed about himself than others were for him. On the way down, visits were made to the cliffs on each side, and specimens of the rock were obtained zz s¢fu as well as from the various moraines which were passed. By January 11 the party were well on towards the lower reaches of the glacier, and they found that the temperature of the valley had risen considerably ; it was frequently above 40°, and the air inside the tents was often oppressively warm. ‘This led to several minor and unexpected troubles ; for instance, it was found that the sleeping-bags gradually melted the surface of ice or snow on which they were laid, and in the morning were sur- rounded with a pool of water. The high temperatures also gave rise to a very great amount of thawing in the valley. We never again found it in this condition, and it is probable that it only lasts for a period of a fortnight, or at the most three weeks. This season of thaw is an extremely interesting matter, and no doubt it plays an important part in the denudation of the country. It will be remembered that before our arrival in winter quarters, in February 1902, we had landed on the tongue of a glacier and observed the beds of considerable glacial streams, though at that time the thaw had ceased. It may therefore be worth while to quote some remarks from a report made by Skelton, who, as a member of this party, saw the glacier in its most melting mood. Skelton writes: ‘During the hot days of the latter part of December and early in January an immense amount of melting goes on in the valley. On the glacier surface there is quite a loud “buzzing” sound, caused by the air bubbles confined in the ice being freed and coming to the surface through water. On the way back we found every boulder in the moraines standing in a large pool of water, often three or four feet deep, and during the night frequent rumblings could be heard as the boulders lost their equilibrium and shifted their positions. Some boulders could be seen in the 1066 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [r902- clear ice several feet below the surface, having melted their way down. There was quite a torrent of water running down past the Cathedral Rocks, where it flowed into a lake nearly half a mile in diameter ; from there it ran in a rapid stream past Descent Pass towards the sea. The water in this stream was about nine inches deep and seven feet across, and on measuring its speed I calculated the flow of water to be about fifty-three tons per minute ; this was only one of many streams.’ On January 12 the party began to climb the steep slopes of Descent Pass, and had to resort to their old device of hauling the sledges up with the help of ropes and blocks. As some parts of these slopes stood at an average angle of 45°, the task proved so laborious that they did not reach the summit of the pass till the evening of the 14th. From this time their work was easy, and by the 17th they had again reached the sea level. Here they were fortunate enough to find numerous seals basking on the ice, and it was not long before they regaled themselves on fresh meat. The remainder of the journey was uneventful, and on the nineteenth, when the party reached the ship, Macfarlane had practically recovered, whilst the remainder were in the best of health and condition. Some months elapsed before I was able to go closely into the results of this journey, and by that time unexpected circumstances had made it evident that we should have a further chance of exploring the interesting region which it had brought to our knowledge. By that time also the several rock specimens which had been secured had passed into the hands of the geologist. A rough map had been constructed and a series of photographs taken by Skelton had been de- veloped, all going to show the valuable information which the party had collected, and opening an exceptionally interesting field of investigation for a second visit to the region. There was no doubt that a practicable road to the interior had been discovered and traversed, and that the grim barrier of mountains which had seemed so formidable an obstruction from the ship had been conquered, but the portion of this road 1903] INTERESTING PROBLEMS 107 which led over the foothill plateau and down the steep slopes of Descent Pass still appeared as a serious impediment in the way of speedy approach to the ice-cap. It remained to be seen whether some easier route might not be found to the base of Cathedral Rocks, and, in spite of Armitage’s observations, I could not help thinking that there must be some way by which sledges could be dragged from the New Harbour over the foot of the Ferrar Glacier. It was evident that this party had reached the inland ice- cap and could claim to be the first to set foot on the interior of Victoria Land ; but it was clear, too, that they had been forced to terminate their advance at an extremely interesting point, and to return without being able to supply very definite in- formation with regard to the ice-cap. As I have already pointed out, the view of the sledge-traveller on a plain is limited to an horizon of three or four miles; beyond this he cannot say definitely what occurs. This party appeared to have been on a lofty plateau, but the very short advance they had been able to make over it could not give a clear indication of what might lie to the westward; the nature of the interior of this great country was therefore still wrapped in mystery. The photographs, the rock specimens, and the enthusiastic descriptions of the rugged cliffs which bordered the glacier valley showed that here lay the most promising field for geological investigations that we could possibly hope to find, and that at all hazards our geologist must be given the chance of exploring it. Inthe original programme it had been im- possible to guess in what direction this important officer should direct his footsteps, and it had been decided that his ends would best be served by making short journeys in various directions. It was now evident that this deep glacier valley cutting a section through the mountain ranges was incom- parably more interesting than any other region known to us, and what could be learnt of it from the returned travellers only went to show more clearly the extreme importance of a second visit. But perhaps the most promising circumstance of all that pointed to the interest of this region was that amongst the Pro) ie 4 € iets 108 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [1902- rock specimens brought back were fragments of quartz-grits. These, with other observations, showed the strong probability of the existence of sedimentary deposits which might be reached and examined, and which alone could serve to reveal the geological history of this great Southern continent. On the whole, therefore, the western party had done excellent pioneer work ; they had fulfilled their main object, and in doing so had disclosed problems which caused the greater part of our interest to be focussed in this direction throughout the remainder of our stay in the South. | The extensive preparations for the western journey had almost denuded the ship of sledge equipment, and the travellers who embarked on the shorter journeys in the vicinity of the ship were obliged to do as best they could with the little that remained. It was of course a rule that everything must give way to the extended efforts. However, this did not baulk the energies of other travellers, who were willing to resort to all sorts of shifts and devices rather than forego their share of exploration, and, in consequence, many short journeys were made which added much to our knowledge of the very interest- ing region about the ship. A glance at the chart will give some small idea of the con- fused conditions which existed to the south-west of our winter quarters, and it can be imagined that before our sledging commenced this district, on which we gazed at a distance of twenty or thirty miles, seemed to hold many mysteries. We could not tell whether the closer masses of land were connected, or whether, as seemed more probable, they were detached islands. Far away we could see long lines of irregular debris- strewn ice, but we could not say whence they came or what they indicated. Taken as a whole, from the point of view of the map-maker, the general outline of the coast of Victoria Land is simple. The land is bold and well marked, and the coast is of a nature that lends itself to rough contouring ; but, in marked distinc- tion, the region of Ross Island has very intricate geographical features. The complication seems to start with that very a am a” ‘ Che * e te se 1903] ‘THE ISLANDS TO THE SOUTH-WEST 109 curious formation which we called the Bluff, and which runs out in such a singularly thin, straight strip from the isolated volcanic cone of Mount Discovery. North of this, as will be seen, there are three large volcanic islands and a number of smaller islets, amongst which lie the rock-strewn remains of an ancient ice-sheet, with numerous vast and partly hidden moraines ; while finally comes the great upheaval of Ross Island itself. The land masses as a whole, with their thousands of craters, great and small, show the result of a very remarkable volcanic outburst. For such light as was thrown on this region during the summer of 1902-3 we had to thank Koettlitz, Ferrar, Hodgson, Bernacchi, and others, who managed from time to time to collect a rough sledging outfit and to make short trips of a week or ten days towards the various points of interest. In this manner Koettlitz proved the insularity of the Black Island by surmounting the obstacles which had checked the first reconnaissance party, and succeeded in walking com- pletely round it. On another occasion he examined the northern side of the Bluff, and on a third traversed much rough ice and ascended to the summit of Brown Island (2,750 feet), whence he and his companions were able to get some idea of what lay beyond. In journeying to the south-west our travellers found it advisable to make for the northern coast of Black Island. As I have mentioned before, on such a track after crossing some four or five miles of recently formed ice, they rese from ten to fifteen feet in level to the surface of an older ice-sheet. The travelling continued good till within two or three miles of the island, when disturbances were met with, and it was necessary to cross lines of morainic material which streamed north from the eastern end of the island. This morainic material was principally composed of the black volcanic rock of the island, but amongst it could be found numerous blocks of granite, altogether foreign to the region. ‘The island was surrounded by a well-marked tide-crack, which showed that the ancient sheet of rubble-strewn ice to the north was afloat. Amongst the huge heaps of rock material which it bore were found . a. 1to THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ f{1902- numerous remains of marine organisms, shells, polyzoa, worm- casts, and sponge spicules. There could be no doubt that in some manner the movement of the ice had lifted this material from ‘below the water-level to its present elevation of perhaps fifteen or twenty feet above; but precisely how this had been accomplished it was impossible to say. From any of the small peaks which fringed the Black Island the travellers could get a good view of the surface of the strait which separated them from the Brown Island, and this was a very impressive sight. From the base of Mount Discovery in the south, long ridges of morainic material spread out and entirely filled the strait, where they were disposed in wonderfully regular parallel lines which at first ran towards the | north-east, but later swept round with perfectly uniform curves towards the north, in which direction they continued for some fifteen miles to the sea. Here, then, was the origin of that rough, water-worn tongue on which we had landed on our way to winter quarters. The finer material of these long lines of rock debris was naturally blown by the wind in all directions, and, settling liberally between the lines, it had caught the rays of the sun, melted deep and irregular channels, and left standing a wild confusion of fantastic columns and pinnacles of ice. Seen from the distance the whole, as Koettlitz says, ‘appeared like a tumul- tuous frozen sea with high crested waves curling towards us.’ To cross this confusion was no easy matter: long distances had to be done by portage, and in the thaw season the travellers had sometimes to take off shoes and stockings to cross rapid streams of water two and three feet in depth. Whilst Black Island was formed of a very hard black volcanic rock, Brown Island was principally composed of lava and volcanic ash. The rock was much weathered, and had a deep, reddish-brown appearance, while scattered over this island to a height of 500 or 600 feet were found erratic blocks of granite. There seemed every reason to suppose that Brown Island is joined to Mount Discovery, and at least our travellers were 7 $ Bab. 1903] CURIOUS ICE FORMATIONS III certain that there was no flow of ice between the two; away to the west they could see the long sweep of the Koettlitz Glacier growing rough and disturbed as it fell to the level of the sea. The snow plateau to the south of Black Island was found to be from 100 to 150 feet above the level to the north, rising to the general barrier level ; it afforded a comparatively smooth, easy crossing, undisturbed until within two miles of the Bluff, to reach which the travellers had again to cross lines of morainic material in which the volcanic rocks of the region were mixed with numerous boulders of granite. Taken together, these various observations gave a moderately clear outline of the ice condition in this region. The space inside the Brown Island is governed locally by the Koettlitz Glacier, but it is evident that the ice of the barrier itself is moving, or has moved, around the end of the Bluff, and close along its northern shore ; thence it is pressing, or has pressed, northward through the two channels which separate the islands, the greater part pass- ing round to the west of Black Island. All this led up to a highly important and interesting dis- covery. We could not doubt that the decayed and water-worn ice on which we had landed on February 8, 1902, marked what was nothing less than the end of the lateral moraine of the Great Ice Barrier. When it is considered what a colossal agent for transportation this moraine must be, it is curious to find that it ends in such a tame manner. Whilst these efforts at exploration had been going on in various directions, the ship had been left in the charge of Mr. Royds. With people constantly going and coming, the numbers on board varied much; sometimes there might be ten or a dozen hands available for work, at others no more than four or five could be got together ; but, whatever the number, all were kept steadily employed on the one most important task—that of freeing the boats. I have already explained the calamity that had befallen us in this respect—how these indispensable articles of the ship’s furniture had been placed on the ice, how they sank below the water level, and how we were forced to shovel away the snow 112 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [1902- to prevent them from going still deeper. This work of clearance was continued well on into the sledging season, as it was hope- less to attempt extrication until the night temperature had risen sufficiently to prevent the work of the day being wasted. This condition was not reached until the middle of December, and even then it was rarely that the thermometer stood above the freezing-point of salt water throughout the whole of the twenty- four hours, so that the work was greatly retarded. When it was decided that the time had come to make an effort to free the boats, many shifts and expedients were tried. At first it was thought that something might be done by sprinkling ashes and dark volcanic soil over the ice, but it was found that the sun’s rays were not sufficiently powerful or constant to make this device a success. As a next step, after all the snow was cleared off the surface of the floe, the ice-saw was brought into action, and a complete cut was made around that part of the ice-sheet in which the boats were embedded ; but when this cut was finished it was found that, contrary to our hopes, the centre square refused to rise. Then efforts were concentrated on a single boat; the saw-cut was com- pleted about it, not altogether without injury to the boat, but even this small detached piece was held down in some inexplicable manner. Finally, in order to bring it up, small tins of gun-cotton had to be employed, and it was only after several explosions that the block was successfully brought to the surface. In this position, the men, working knee-deep in slush, were able to dig out the inside of the boat, and bit by bit to clear away the ice which clung to the outside ; then with shears and tackles she was slowly dragged from her icy bed. In this manner the first boat was got out, and then one by one the rest were extricated in like fashion. As can be imagined, with so much sawing and blasting going on in the unseen depths of the ice below, it was not likely that the task could be accomplished without considerable injury to the boats, and when at length they had all been brought to the surface they presented a very dilapidated 1903] RECOVERY OF THE BOATS 113 appearance, very different from that which they had possessed when first they had been incautiously placed on the floe. Of all our staunch whale-boats two only were in a condition to float, and it was evident that there would be many weeks of work for our carpenter before the remainder could be made seaworthy. Still, even the skeleton of a boat is better than no boat at all, and when on January 17 the last had been raised it was justly felt that a big load of anxiety had been removed. Long before my departure to the south I had given in- structions that the ‘ Discovery’ should be prepared for sea by the end of January ; consequently after the boats had been freed, and as the sledge parties returned, everyone was very busily employed. To the non-nautical reader it may not be very clear what preparations for sea may mean in such circum- stances, nor is he likely to understand what a lot of work they entailed on the few men who were available. From the deck, tons and tons of snow had to be dug out with pickaxes and shovelled over the side; aloft, sails and ropes had to be looked to, the running-gear re-rove, and everything got ready for handling the ship under sail; many things which we had displaced or landed near the shore- station had to be brought on board and secured in position ; thirty tons of ice had to be fetched, melted, and run into the boilers; below, steam-pipes had to be rejointed, glands repacked, engines turned by hand, and steam raised to see that all was in working order. But, not doubting that the ice would soon break up and release us, all this work was pushed forward vigorously, and in consequence, as I have remarked, on returning to the ship I found her looking trim and smart, and was told that all was ready for us to put to sea again. But meanwhile the great event of the season had happened. The ‘Morning,’ our relief ship, had arrived; and here, per- haps, I may be permitted to make a digression in order to explain how this had come about. I have already shown the manner in which the necessary funds were raised for the ‘ Discovery,’ and how, after arduous VOL, II, I 114 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [1g902- efforts, enough money was collected to equip our expedition in a thoroughly efficient manner. This being the case, and there being no reason to suppose that the ‘ Discovery’ was in distress, it may not be quite clear why it was thought necessary to send a relief ship in the following year. Indeed, the reason will probably not be plain to anyone who is incapable of putting himself into the position of those who bore the responsibility of the expedition. Taking any general case where an expedition is sent forth to the Polar Regions, it is evident that when it has passed beyond the limits of communication, the authorities who despatched it must bear some burden of anxiety for its safety ; whilst they may hope that all will be accomplished without disaster, they cannot blind themselves to the risks that have been taken, and must inevitably ask themselves whether on their part they have done everything possible to avert mis- chance. If the expedition has departed without any definite plan, or has passed into a region in which it would be hopeless to search, those at home can do nothing ; if, on the other hand, it has planned to pass by known but unvisited places, then it is obvious that its footsteps can be traced with the possibility of ascertaining its condition and of relieving distress. In this last case the proper action of the authorities is clear: they must endeavour to take no risk of their relief arriving too late, but do their utmost to despatch it as early as possible in the track of the first venture. Such has always been the attitude of those responsible for North Polar voyages, and in the South there is a further reason for its observance in the fact that the Antarctic Regions are surrounded bya belt of tempestuous ocean, across which it would be impossible for explorers to retreat should they have suffered the loss of their ship. As soon as the ‘ Discovery’ had departed on her long voyage all these facts began to be practically considered, and the necessity of safeguarding the enterprise by the early despatch of relief was realised. To raise the necessary funds for this second venture was no light task, but the Geographical Society recognised its 1903] THE RELIEF EXPEDITION 115 responsibility and energetically supported its President in the campaign which he immediately opened with his customary energy and pertinacity. Urgent appeals were issued; a sub- scription list was opened and graciously headed by H.M. the King and H.R.H. the Prince of Wales; Mr. Longstaff again came to the front with an addition of 5,o00/. to his former munificent donation ; Mr. Edgar Speyer most generously sub- scribed a like sum. From this start the fund gradually grew by the arrival of gifts from the most diverse and interesting quarters—from five great City Companies,! from boys at school, from members of the Stock Exchange collected by Mr. Newall, from sub- lieutenants at Greenwich, from officers of a Gurkha regiment in Chitral, from the New Zealand Government, from officers in South Africa, and from a thousand private individuals who gave what they could afford. But, great as was the interest shown, as always on such occasions, its manifestation was slow, and there were times when it seemed almost impossible that the urgency of the case could be met. Sir Clements Markham, however, refused to acknowledge defeat ; as usual, having set his shoulder to the wheel, he worked on in good times or bad with the same untiring zeal and singleness of purpose, and, as all who know of this troublous time most freely acknowledge, it was due to this alone that the sum of 22,600/. was eventually raised in time to make the despatch of the projected relief expedition possible. Even this sum did not admit of elaborate plans in the equipment of the relief expedition ; the greatest economy was necessary. | A stout wooden whaler named the ‘ Morgenen,’ or ‘ Morn- ing,’ was purchased in Norway, and after being thoroughly refitted and overhauled by Messrs. Green, of Poplar, was stored with the requisites for the voyage. At an early date her commander had been appointed, and this proved in every respect a most fortunate selection. ' Goldsmiths, Fishmongers, Drapers, Mercers, and Skinners. 12 116 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ {1902- Lieutenant William Colbeck, R.N.R., was at this time in the employment of Messrs. Wilson, of Hull, who generously lent his services; he had already been in the Antarctic Regions, having spent a winter at Cape Adare with Sir George Newnes’s expedition, and he was therefore chosen as the most fitting person to command this new venture. Colbeck selected some of his officers and most of his men from amongst those with whom he was personally acquainted ; many had served at one time or another in the Wilson Line. The Admiralty showed their interest in the enterprise by permitting two naval officers to join the expedition. At length, all being prepared, the ‘Morning’ left the London Docks on July 9, 1902, and after a long sea voyage, in which she rounded the Cape of Good Hope without touching land, on November 16 she duly arrived at Lyttelton, New Zealand, the base of all our operations. Here she received the same generous treatment which had _ been accorded to the ‘Discovery,’ and on December 6 made her final departure for the South, stored with many an additional present supplied by the kindly thought of our New Zealand friends. Here perhaps it is necessary to pause for a moment to consider the work which lay before Captain Colbeck and his crew. Long before the ‘ Discovery’ had left New Zealand the idea of a relief ship had been mooted, and although I saw the great difficulties that were to be overcome in sending her, I felt confident that if the thing was to be done, Sir Clements Markham would do it. From any point of view it was desirable to leave as much information as possible in our track, and with this idea I had foreshadowed the positions at which I hoped to be able to leave records, and had laid down a rough programme for any ship which might follow us. These instructions could only be indefinite ; but such as they were, they stated that attempts would be made to leave in- formation at one or more of a number of places—Cape Adare, Possession Islands, Coulman Island, Wood Bay, Franklin 1903] THE PRE-ARRANGED PROGRAMME 117 Island, and Cape Crozier. Especially in the last place, as the most southerly, I hinted that news of us might be looked for ; the relief ship was to endeavour to pick up such clues as might be found in this way, but if this was unproductive or signified that we had passed to the eastward without returning, she was to turn homeward after having landed provisions and stores at certain definite spots. It will be seen, therefore, that it was in order to act up to this pre-arranged plan that we had left records at such of the named places as we could approach, and that I had been so anxious to establish sledge communication with the record at Cape Crozier. For this enabled me to start south with the knowledge that a relief ship might gather meagre information at Cape Adare and Coulman Island, whilst, should she recover the Cape Crozier record, she would at once ascertain our whereabouts. Captain Colbeck’s instructions were to fall in with the purport of my letter, but the manner in which he should do so was left entirely to his discretion, and wisely, for with such slender information as was available no one could have acted more promptly or with greater discretion. Thus it came about that whilst we were surmounting the difficulties of the great snow-plain and finding a way amongst the mountain ranges, the gallant little ‘ Morning’ was hurrying towards us, eager to perform her helpful mission and bring us news of our distant home. Small as she was, and without the ability to force a way through heavy pack-ice, her voyage to the South was full of adventure, and is a record of difficulties overcome by sturdy perseverance; but of this I hope that Captain Colbeck will himself tell one day. On December 25 he crossed the Ant- arctic Circle, and a short way to the south, to his great surprise, discovered some small islands which he has since done me the great honour of naming the Scott Islands. The pack was negotiated successfully, if slowly, and on January 8 a landing was effected at Cape Adare, where the notice of the ‘Discovery’s’ safe arrival in the South was found. The 118 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [1902- Possession Islands were drawn blank, since we had not been able to land there. South of this the whole coast was found thickly packed; it was impossible to approach Coulman Island or Wood Bay, and the ship was obliged to keep well to the eastward to get any chance of an ice-free sea. Franklin Island was visited on January 14, but without result, and again quantities of pack had to be skirted in making a way to Cape Crozier, so that it was not until 1 A.M. on the 18th that a landing was effected at this spot. Captain Colbeck himself joined the landing party, which spent some hours in searching for a sign of us. He had almost given the matter up in despair, and was despondently wondering what to do next, when suddenly our small post was seen against the horizon; a rush was made for it, and in a few minutes the contents of the tin cylinder were being eagerly scanned. It can be imagined with what joy the searchers gathered all the good news concerning us and learnt that they had but to steer into the mysterious depths of McMurdo Sound to find the ‘ Discovery’ herself; their work seemed practically accomplished. But though they got hastily back to their ship, and started westward with a full head of steam, the goal was not yet reached. The channel between Beaufort Island and Ross Island was filled with an ugly pack in which the ‘ Morning’ could do little more than drift idly along, but fortunately this drift carried her steadily to the west, and on the 23rd our friends were able to free themselves from the ice, and, turning south, to round Cape Royds and recognise the landmarks which had been described and sketched for their instruction. On board the ‘ Discovery’ the idea that a relief ship would come had steadily grown. For no very clear reason the men had gradually convinced themselves that it was a certainty, and at this time it was not uncommon for wild rumours to be spread that smoke had been seen to the north. It was there- fore without much excitement that such a report was received on the night of the 23rd ; but when, shortly after, a messenger. came running down the hill to say that there was a veritable WHERE NEWS OF US WAS AT LAST FOUND. THE FIRST GREETINGS. 1903] ARRIVAL OF THE ‘MORNING’ 119 ship in sight, it was a very different matter, and few found much sleep that night whilst waiting and wondering what news that distant vessel might bear. Early on the 24th a large party set out over the floe, and after marching a few miles could see clearly the masts and yards of the relieving vessel, which lay at the limit of the fast ice some ten miles north of the ‘ Discovery,’ and comparatively close to the Dellbridge Islets. The last mile was covered with difficulty, as here the ice was only a thin sludgy sheet which had formed since August, and which would only bear those who were fortunate enough to be wearing ski. There was much shouting and gesticulation, and one or two of the most eager, sinking waist-deep in the treacherous surface, had to be rescued with boards and ropes; but at last our party stood on the deck of the ‘ Morning,’ and the greetings which followed can be well imagined. Those who had remained in the ‘ Discovery’ were not forgotten, and soon the sledges were speeding back, dragged by willing hands and stacked high with the welcome mail-bags. During the last week of the month the weather remained gloriously fine ; some of the treacherous thin ice broke away, allowing the ‘ Morning’ to approach us by about a mile; other- wise all was placid. In the bright sunshine parties were constantly passing to and fro, and all gave themselves up to the passing hour in the delight of fresh companionship and the joy of good news from the home country, and with an unshaken confidence that the ‘ Discovery ’ would soon be freed from her icy prison. It was thus that I found things on my return on February 3, and when I and my companions, the last to open our letters, could report that all was well, we had the satisfaction of knowing that the ‘ Morning’ had brought nothing but good news. 120 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Fss. CHAPTER XVI OUR SECOND WINTER Effects of the Strain of the Southern Journey—Communication with the ‘Morning ’—Change of Weather—Stores Transported—Delays in the Break-up of the Ice —Closing of the Season— Departure of the ‘ Morn- ing ’—Making Provision for the Winter—Settling Down—Hockey— Departure of the Sun—Fishing Operations—Record Temperatures— The Electrometer—Midwinter Feast—Our Growing Puppies—Hodg- son at Work—The ‘ Flying Scud ’—Return of the Sun—Signs of Summer—Plans for the Future—General Good Health. And so without more circumstance at all I hold it fit that we shake hands and part. SHAKESPEARE. Come what come may Time and the hour runs through the darkest day. SHAKESPEARE. Ir was a curious coincidence that Colbeck should have chosen the night of our return for his first visit to the ‘ Discovery.’ Up to this time he had felt reluctant to leave his ship, not knowing when a change of weather might occur, but on this day he had decided to visit the company to which he had brought such welcome intelligence, and soon after I had emerged from my first delicious bath and was revelling in the delights of clean garments, I had the pleasure of welcoming him on board. In those last weary marches over the barrier I had little expected that the first feast in our home quarters would be taken with strange faces gathered about our festive table, but 1903] STRAIN OF THE SOUTHERN JOURNEY tar so it was, and I can well remember the look of astonishment that dawned on those faces when we gradually displayed our power of absorbing food. As we ate on long after the appe- tites of our visitors had been satisfied, there was at first mild surprise ; then we could see politeness struggling with bewilder- ment ; and finally the sense of the ludicrous overcame all forms, and our guests were forced to ask whether this sort of thing often happened, and whether we had had anything at all to eat on our southern journey. But although we found our appetites very difficult to appease, for a fortnight after our return from the south our party were in a very sorry condition. Shackleton at once took to his bed, and although he soon made an effort to be out and about again, he found that the least exertion caused a return of his breathlessness, and more than once on entering or leav- ing the living-quarters he had a return of those violent fits of coughing which had given him so much trouble on the journey ; now, however, after such attacks, he could creep into his cabin and there rest until the strain had worn off and some measure of his strength returned. With Wilson, who at one time had shown the least signs of scurvy, the disease had increased very rapidly towards the end. He had slightly strained his leg early in the journey, and here the symptoms were most evident, causing swelling and discolouration behind the knee; his gums also had dropped into a bad state, so he wisely decided to take to his bed, where he remained perfectly quiet forten days. This final collapse showed the grim determination which alone must have upheld him during the last marches. If I was the least affected of the party, I was by no means fit and well: although I was able to struggle about during the daytime, I had both legs much swollen and very uncomfortable gums. But the worst result of the tremendous reaction which overcame us, I found to be the extraordinary feeling of lassi- tude which it produced ; it was an effort to move, and during the shortest walks abroad I had an almost unconquerable inclination to sit down wherever a seat could be found. And this lassitude was not physical only ; to write, or even to think, 122 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Fzs. had become wholly distasteful, and sometimes quite impossible. At this time I seemed to be incapable of all but eating or sleeping or lounging in the depths of an armchair, whilst I lazily scanned the files of the newspapers which had grown so unfamiliar. Many days passed before I could rouse myself from this slothful humour, and it was many weeks before I had returned to a normally vigorous condition. It was probably this exceptionally relaxed state of health that made me so slow to realise that the ice conditions were very different from what they had been in the previous season. I was vaguely surprised to learn that the ‘ Morning’ had experienced so much obstruction in the Ross Sea, and I was astonished to hear that the pack was still hanging in the entrance of the Sound, and as yet showed no sign of clearing away to the north; but it was long before I connected these facts with circumstances likely to have an adverse bearing on our position, and the prospect of the ice about us remaining fast throughout the season never once entered my head. My diary for this month shows a gradual awakening to the true state of affairs, and I therefore give some extracts from it, more especially as when the news of our detention first reached England it was half suspected that the delay was intentional, and it is doubtful whether that view has been entirely dissipated even yet. ‘ February 8.—We are expecting a general break-up of the ice every day, but for some reason it is hanging fire. This is the date of our arrival at Hut Point last year, and then the open water extended as far as the Point; it is evident that this season is very backward, and I do not like the way in which the pack is hanging about in sight of the “ Morning.” It must go far to damp all prospects of the swell necessary for a general break-up. The “ Morning” is eight miles away ; very slowly she is creeping closer, but I do not think that she has advanced more than a quarter of a mile in the last week. We have been arranging the stores which are to be transferred, but it will be rather a waste of labour to transport them whilst the distance remains so great. 1903] COMMUNICATION WITH THE ‘MORNING’ 123 ‘To-day England, Evans, and nine men came from the ‘*¢ Morning,” bringing us a fresh load of papers and some more luxuries, especially potatoes. At present I feel that if I had the power of poetic expression I should certainly write an ode to the potato. Can one ever forget that first fresh “hot and floury” after so long a course of the miserable preserved article ?’ ‘ February 10.—To-day we gave a dinner party, the invita- tion being delivered across six miles of ice through the medium of the semaphore. Colbeck, Doorly, Morrison, and Davidson arrived as guests clad in good stout canvas suits and quite ready for the feast. They brought good news, for they re- ported that more than a mile of ice has broken away yesterday and this morning. We entertained our guests principally on the luxuries they had brought us, and there was little to be complained of in the fare; we had giblet soup, skua gull as an entrée, then our one and only turkey, and a joint of beef, with plum-pudding and jellies to follow. Truly we are living high in these days, and I ask myself whether it was really I who was eating seal blubber a fortnight ago. After dinner we had the usual musical gathering, to which our guests brought a great deal of fresh talent. We have had a right merry night, and now all are coiled down to sleep; those who cannot find berths are snoring happily on the wardroom table.’ ‘ February 12.—The weather has changed very much for the worse. The day of our return seemed to mark the last of the fine sunny summer ; since that it has been almost con- tinuously overcast, and our old enemy the wind returns at all too frequent intervals. Colbeck was weather-bound yesterday, but it gave us an opportunity of discussing the situation. If the ice is to be very late in breaking up, I think it is advisable that the “Morning” should not delay to await our release ; she at least should run no risk of being detained, and it is to be remembered that she has little power to push through the young ice. We have decided to commence the transport of stores to-morrow ; it will be tiresome work, but we ought to get it over in less than a fortnight.’ 124 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Fss. On February 13 the work of transferring the stores was commenced ; it was arranged that the loads should be taken half-way by the ‘ Morning’s’ men, and from thence brought in by our own. It seemed at first that the ‘ Morning,’ with her smaller company, would have the heavier task, but this was avoided by a very liberal interpretation of the half-way point ; in fact, the distance they covered gradually became little more than a quarter of the whole, whilst our parties took 33 hours to fetch the load in from the junction. The loads ran from 1,500 lbs. to 1,800 lbs., and in good weather two could be got across in the day, but the biting cold east wind was a great hindrance, and was felt more keenly at the ‘ Discovery’ end. It was in general especially strong about Hut Point, showing that, as we had suspected, chance had placed our winter quarters in the most windy spot in the vicinity. Owing to this interference of the weather, by the zoth only eight loads had been brought in; on that day, therefore, we started an extra party, which went to the ‘ Morning’ in the forenoon and returned with a whole load in the afternoon. In this manner ten more loads were transported by the evening of the 23rd, and this completed the work except for sundry light articles. ‘The manner in which the officers and men of the relief ship stuck to this very monotonous task was beyond praise ; if anything had been wanting to show their ardent desire to assist us by every means in their power, this surely would have proved it. On our side, our people laboured for their own comfort, though, whatever the cause, they were little likely to jib at hard work ; in fact, on this occasion there were not a few who, like Mr. Barne, volunteered to make the double journey each day—a matter involving eleven or twelve hours of solid marching. The goods which we thus obtained from our relief ship were none of them necessary to our continued existence in the South, but they were such as added greatly to the comfort of our position, and I do not use the word ‘necessary’ here in its strictest sense; as far as food is concerned, the absolute necessities of life are very limited, and in the South they were 1903] STORES TRANSPORTED 128 amply provided by the region in which we lived, for life could have been maintained on the seals alone. But although existence may be supported in this simple fashion, it is scarcely to be supposed that civilised beings would willingly subject themselves to such limitations, and therefore it is reasonable to include as necessaries such articles as not only make existence possible, but life tolerable. From this broader point of view we were well equipped in the ‘ Discovery,’ and experience had taught us that we could continue to live with comparative comfort on very modest requirements. We had an ample stock of flour—enough to have lasted us for at least three years. To this might be added a large store of biscuit, which had been rarely used except on our sledge journeys. We were well provided with sugar, butter, pea-flour, tea, chocolate, jam, and marmalade, and had a moderate supply of lard, bottled fruits, pickles, cheese, and milk. With our holds thus stored we should have had little cause for anxiety for at least two or three years to come, but with the relief ship so well stocked it can be imagined that we were not long in considering how we might still further increase our comfort and provide for a greater variety in our fare. Our vegetables, both tinned and dried, had been a distinct failure, and it was in this, therefore, that we made our first call on the resources of the ‘Morning.’ But besides this we had run very short of sauces, herbs, tinned soups, and articles of this nature, which were particularly desirable for cooking and seasoning our dishes of seal-meat. Our cheese, too, was not very satisfactory, whereas that brought by the ‘ Morning’ from New Zealand was in excellent condi- tion ; and although our tinned butter was very good, we were not long in discovering that the fresh New Zealand butter brought by the ‘Morning’ was a great deal better. The sledge loads which were dragged across the ice with so much hard labour during this month of February went, therefore, as far as food was concerned, to supplying minor deficiencies and to ensuring for us in the second winter a greater degree of comfort than we had: enjoyed in the first ; 126 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Fxss. but, besides food, they contained other stores which, although we could have done without, we were exceedingly glad to have. In this manner we took the small quantity of engine-oil which the utmost generosity could spare, nearly a hundred gallons of paraffin, some finneskoes, mits, and socks, and some canvas and light material to repair our tattered garments. ‘ February 18.— .. . Yesterday I paid my first visit to the ‘‘Morning,” and although I took the journey very slowly, I found it an awful grind. Hodgson accompanied me and shared in a royal welcome. During the night the ship broke away twice and had to steam up and re-secure to the floe ; it was strange to feel the throb of the engines once more. A few small pieces of ice are breaking away, but there is practically no swell, and the pack can still be seen on the northern horizon. At this time last year we had a constant swell rolling into the strait, but as I returned to-day the ice conditions were so stagnant that one begins to wonder whether our floe is going to break up at all. It is rather late in the day, but I have arranged to send some people down to the ice-edge to try the effect of explosions.’ ‘ February 22.—Yesterday I took the explosive party down to the “ Morning.” We made a hole about three hundred yards from the ice-edge, and sank a charge of 19 lbs. of gun- cotton about six feet below the surface. It blew up a hole about twenty feet in diameter, but the effect was altogether local ; there were no extending cracks. We next tried closer to the edge, and sank the charge about thirty feet. The effect was better: a similar hole was made, but from it a few long cracks ran to right and left. ‘To-day two more charges were exploded near the cracks already formed; the cracks were increased in length and number, but no part of the floe was detached. I came to the conclusion that it was only a waste of material to continue these experiments further, and sent the party back. On the whole, I think, something might be done in this way towards breaking up the ice, but, if so, the business must be undertaken in a thoroughly systematic manner; we must be prepared to employ everyone at the 1903] DELAYS IN THE BREAK-UP 127 work, and to expend gun-cotton with a lavish hand ; it is far too late to commence such a big undertaking this year.’ ‘February 25.— ... There is no doubt things are looking serious. The ice is as stagnant as ever; there has been scarcely any change in the last week. I have had to rouse myself to face the situation. The ‘“‘ Morning” must go in less than a week, and it seems now impossible that we shall be free by that time, though I still hope the break-up may come after she has departed. I have been busy all day writing despatches, and have drawn up a summary of our proceedings, as well as a more detailed description of our present position. ‘Some time ago I decided that, if we are to remain on here, it will be with a reduced ship’s company, and certainly without the one or two undesirables that we possess. ‘Yesterday I had a talk to the men. I put the whole situation before them ; I told them that I thought we should probably get out after the “Morning” had left, but it was nécessary to consider the possibility of our not being able to do so, and to make arrangements for such a contingency at once. I said that I wished nobody to stop on board who did not do so voluntarily, and I hinted that I should be glad for a reduction in our numbers ; anyone who wished to leave would be given a passage in the ‘‘ Morning.” ‘ To-day a list has been sent round for the names of those who desire to quit, and the result is curiously satisfactory. I had decided to reduce our number by eight, and there are eight names on the list, and not only that, but these names are precisely those which I should have placed there had I under- taken the selection myself. ‘As regards the mess-deck, therefore, we shall be left with the pick of our company, all on good terms, and all ready, as they say, to stand by the ship whatever betides. Of course, all the officers wish to remain; but here, with much reluctance, I have had to pick out the name of one who, in my opinion, is not fitted to do so. It has been a great blow to poor Shackleton, but I have had to tell him that I think he must go ; he ought not to risk further hardships in his present state 128 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Fss. of health. But we cannot afford to lose officers, and Colbeck has already kindly consented to replace Shackleton by his Naval sub-lieutenant, Mulock, and the latter is most anxious to join us.’ ‘ February 26.—We have 84 tons of coal left in the “ Discovery.” This will be enough for more than one winter, but will not be sufficient to allow us to do any further exploration if, as I hope, we get out of the ice; so I asked Colbeck to leave 20 tons on the Erebus glacier tongue. He came on board to-night with Skelton and Davidson to say that this was done yesterday. It appears that they had a great excitement last night, for as they came back to the ice-edge, for the first time they found a northerly swell rolling into the strait, and the ice was breaking up with extraordinary rapidity. In little more than half an hour nearly a mile and a quarter went out, and bets were being freely made that they would be up to Hut Point in the morning ; but, alas! the swell lasted little beyond the half-hour, and after that all was quiet again.’ ‘ February 28.—Colbeck has spent the last few days with us ; he goes back to-morrow early, and with him go those of our party who are homeward bound. ‘Then in the evening we are invited to a last feast before our gallant little relief ship turns her bows to the north.’ ‘March 2.— ... Yesterday early our guests left us, and our returning members soon followed with their baggage. In the afternoon all our company, except two or three men and Wilson, set forth for the “ Morning,” there to be entertained for the last time by our good friends ; there was much revelry on the small mess-deck forward, and at the eight-o’clock dinner aft seats had to be found for no fewer than sixteen ; as the utmost seating capacity of the wardroom table was eight, the overflow had to be accommodated in the tiny cabins at the side, but this in no way detracted from the excellence of the dinner or the merriment of the evening. After a most satisfy- ing meal we all gathered about the piano, the air became thick with tobacco smoke, and for the last time we raised our voices in the now familiar choruses. It was well into the small hours 1903] DEPARTURE OF THE ‘MORNING’ 129 before this final merry-making came to an end, and the occupants of the crowded wardroom rolled themselves into blankets to snatch a few hours’ rest. } ‘During the night the temperature had fallen to zero, and young ice had formed over the open water ; it needed no great experience to see that it was quite time that our farewells were said. ‘The morning proved overcast and gloomy, and as we snatched a hasty breakfast a strong south-easterly wind sprang up, drifting thick clouds of snow across the floe and dissipating the young ice to seaward. It was not a cheering scene for our leave-taking, but delay was impossible. ‘At length we of the ‘ Discovery,” with our belongings, were mustered on the floe; the last good-byes had been said, and the last messages were being shouted as the ‘ Morning” slowly backed away from the ice-edge ; in a few minutes she was turning to the north, every rope and spar outlined against the black northern sky. Cheer after cheer was raised as she gradually gathered way, and long after she had passed out of earshot our forlorn little band stood gazing at her receding hull, following in our minds her homeward course and wondering when we too should be permitted to take that northern track. ‘Then we turned our faces to the south, and, after a long and tiring walk against the keen wind, have reached our own good ship; so now we must settle down again into our old routine. If the ice does not break up we are cut off from civilisation for at least another year, but I do not think that prospect troubles anyone very much. We are prepared to take things as they come, but one wonders what the future has in store for us.’ ‘ March 13,—I have abandoned all hope of the ice going out. The most optimistic members of our community still climb up the Arrival Heights in hopes of bringing back favour- able reports, but it is long since they have been able to return with cheerful faces. We had a strong north-easterly blow on the 5th and 6th, during which hope ran high, and was followed by much excitement when Dellbridge dashed on board to say that nearly all the ice had gone out, and that the open water VOL, ‘Il. K 130 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Mar. was little more than a mile from us. We ran out to see this pleasing prospect, but only to find that the report was based on a curious mirage effect, and that it would have been nearer the mark to have given four miles instead of one as the distance of the open sea. Since this incident there has been no change ; heavy pack has again been seen to the north, and it is evident that there is no swell entering the strait. ‘The weather is a great deal worse than it was last year; we have had much more wind and much lower temperatures ; the thermometer has not been above zero since the 6th, but possibly this is due to the absence of open water about us. We were frozen in last year on the 24th, but the old ice had ceased to break away some time before that, and so I fear the chance of more ice going out now is very small. ‘But meanwhile we have not been idle; we have deter- mined to stick rigidly to our fresh-meat routine throughout the winter, and whenever the weather has permitted, our seal-killing parties have been away on their murderous errand. Already the snow-trench larder contains 116 frozen carcases. We have now thirty-seven mouths to feed, and an average seal lasts about a day and a half; later, when appetites fall off, it ought to run to two or two and a half days, so that we shall be safe in allowing an average of two days per seal. ‘Our sportsmen, too, have been adding to our food supply, and have succeeded in killing over five hundred skuas; one would not have thought there were so many to be killed. These birds will form a good change to the regulation seal. Our ideas and customs have certainly changed: last year we regarded the skua as an unclean, carrion-feeding bird. It was Skelton who first discovered the error of our ways. Whilst sledging to the west he caught one in a noose, and promptly put it into the pot; the result was so satisfactory that the skua has figured largely on our menu ever since. In summer each appetite demands its whole skua, but in winter a single bird ought to do for two people ; the legs and wings are skinny, but the breast is full and plump. Like all polar animals it is protected with blubber, and unusual precautions have to be 1903] PREPARING FOR OUR SECOND WINTER 131 taken to prevent the meat being impregnated with its rancid taste. The birds that have been shot for the winter have been cleaned and hung in the rigging, with their skins and plumage still on. It is found that when they are taken below and thawed out the skin can be removed without difficulty, ‘Summing up our food supply for the winter, therefore, we seem to be in pretty good case: 116 seals should last about 230 days 551 skuas ,, we as Ae 20 sheep ,, Pee Bo? ts Total. 275. iss Of course some of the seal-meat will be required for sledging operations, and we must allow margins for accidents, but on the whole I think we ought to steer through the winter without difficulty. We deplore very heartily that we cannot add pen- guins to the variety of our fare, but it is long since any have approached the ship, and they are not likely to come now, across so many miles of ice. ‘March 14.—We have admitted the certainty of a second winter, and to-day orders have been given to prepare the ship for it. It is like putting the clock back: all our care and trouble in getting ready for the sea voyage are wasted. The boilers will be run down again, the engines pulled to pieces, small steam-pipes disconnected, ropes unrove and coiled away, the winter awning prepared, and snow brought in on the decks. The awning is in a very dilapidated state, and looks anything but fit to face the rigours of another season, but I suppose we shall be able to patch it up somehow. One thing we shall not do this year, and that is, place the boats out on the floe; those in the way of the awning will be carried over on to the land, in which it is to be hoped they will not sink out of sight.’ ‘March 20.—To-day I went out on ski to Cone Hill, close to Castle Rock. The day has been fine, calm, with a bright sun, but the temperature has fallen to —20°. From the hill it was clear that the old ice had broken away a good deal since the “ Morning” left, but it is still a long way from the ship— K 2 132 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Mar. quite three and a half miles. The young ice nearly covers the sea, and must be getting pretty solid. There were a good many open leads in it, but very few seals were up, which is curious on such a fine day; yesterday we added twenty-eight to our stock, which ought now to be ample. ‘On my walks I can rarely think of much else but our position and its possibilities. What does our imprisonment mean? Was it this summer or the last which was the excep- tion? Does the ice usually break away around the cape, or does it usually stop short to the north? For us these must be the gravest possible questions, for on the answers depend our prospects of getting away next year or at all. It is little wonder that I think of these things continually and scan every nook and corner in hopes of discovering evidences to support my views ; for I hold steadily to a belief that the answers are in our pyoee and that our detention is due to exceptional conditions. ? ‘The Ross Sea has certainly never been found in such a heavily packed state as it was this year, but how far this bears on the question one can only surmise. Coming more im- mediately to our neighbourhood, we have but one thing which can help us in the comparison of the two seasons—namely, the state of the old ice on our arrival. If this was one year’s ice, as we supposed, then there must have been open water round the cape for two years in succession, and we could reasonably complain of ill fortune if there are many close seasons to follow ; but the question is, Was what we found one year’s ice? On our arrival we never doubted the fact, but for this reason we never looked critically at it, and now it is most difficult to remember the indications which we observed so casually more than a year ago. All sorts of complicated difficulties arise in thinking out this problem, yet if it were purely an academic one, I should long ago have given my opinion unhesitatingly in the direction I have indicated. But, alas! it is far too serious to be disposed of by the strongest expression of opinion, and no certain answer will come until we have waited to see what happens next year. 1903] SETTLING DOWN 133 ‘So at the end of all my cogitations on this most important matter, I get little further than the knowledge that patience is an invaluable quality, and that it is not the least use worrying about the question now. I think this is pretty well the attitude of everyone on board, for although the subject sometimes crops up in conversation, it is generally dismissed as unprofit- able : all are content to make the best of the present and hope for the best in the future. ‘It is certainly a great matter for congratulation that we are rid of the undesirable members of our community ; although they were far too small a minority to cause active trouble, there was always the knowledge that they were on board, mixing freely with others, ready to fan the flame of dis- content and exaggerate the smallest grievance. No doubt it would have been possible to suppress this element as effectually during a second winter as during the first, but one grows tired of keeping a sharp eye on disciplinary matters, and it is an infinite relief to feel that there is no longer the necessity for it. With such an uncertain future before us, it is good to feel that there is not a single soul to mar the harmony of our relations, and to know that, whatever may befall, one can have complete confidence in one’s companions. ‘It is not until lately also that I realised how easily we could spare the actual services of those who have left ; in fact, the manner in which the work is done now seems to show that they were a hindrance rather than a help to it. For instance, though I was unaffectedly glad to see the last of our cook, I was a little doubtful as to how we should manage in the galley department, but as things have turned out, we are doing infinitely better. It has been arranged that the cook’s mate, Clarke, should be nominally the cook, and that volunteers from the crew should take spells of a fortnight or more as his assistant ; this means practically that Clarke continues to make the excellent bread and cakes which we have always enjoyed, whilst the cooking is conducted more or less by a committee of taste, who collectively bring considerable knowledge to bear on the subject and take a huge delight in trying to make 134 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Mar. pleasing dishes. Of course, as is natural with such an arrange- ment, there are occasional failures, but on the whole it works admirably ; the men are delighted with what might be termed the freedom of the galley, and at least they know now that everything is prepared with a proper regard for cleanliness.’ ‘ March 23.—The sun is sinking rapidly, and already lamps are lit for dinner. It is curious to observe the varying effect which the summer has had on the ice about us. At the end of the winter it was from six to seven feet thick, but now at its thickest, in Arrival Bay, it is only five feet, whereas a few hundred yards away off Hut Point at one time it was almost melted through, while off.Cape Armitage there was a large hole where it had disappeared altogether. | Under this hole we have recently found a shallow bank of three fathoms, and we know there is another bank off Hut Point ; there can be no doubt, therefore, that the melting takes place where the current runs rapidly over shallow places. In our small bay the ice is eight or nine feet thick, and in some places much more, but this is due to the quantity of snow which has fallen on its surface. ‘It is strange how the tracks of footsteps remain indicated in the snow round about; as a rule, the compressed snow under each footprint remains firm, and is left like a small islet after the surrounding deposit has been swept away by the wind. In this manner the whole nature of the surface about our colony has been altered ; it is surrounded by a hard trodden area from which radiate beaten highways in all directions. The hill slopes round about are quite spoiled for skiing purposes.’ ‘April 7.—With the exception of spreading the awning our preparations for winter are now pretty well completed. Snow has been brought in and distributed liberally over the decks, and has been banked up on each side opposite the living-quarters ; guide-ropes to the screen and to the huts have been erected ; one of the boats has been placed on the ice- foot, and the remainder so secured that they will be clear of the awning ; leading away in various directions can be seen long lines of sticks and cask staves, which go to different 1903] HOCKEY 135 fishing holes and other outlying stations for work. All these are due to the industry of Hodgson and Barne. ‘The great game for the season is hockey; whenever the weather permits all hands join in the keen contests we hold on the floe. ‘The game is played with light bandy-sticks anda hard ball made on board ; it is just as well we have not the heavier sticks, as few rules are observed and figures can be seen flying about with sticks held high above their heads ready to deliver the most murderous blows, back-handed or front, as suits best. There is really no time to consider rules, and although there is the proper organisation of backs and forwards on each side, no one wants to take the part of umpire Occasionally there is a cry of ‘‘ Off side!” but no one pays very much attention. ‘ However, in spite of this, we have very exciting matches. Sometimes the officers play the men, sometimes we divide by an age limit, and sometimes in other ways. To-day it has been ‘‘ Married and Engaged v. Single,” and as the former side lacked numbers we had to include in it those who were accused of being engaged, in spite of protest. The match was played in a temperature of —40°, and it was odd to see the players rushing about with clouds of steam about their heads and their helmets sparkling with frost. We played half-an-hour each way, which was quite enough in such weather. We shall, I hope, keep to this capital exercise until the light fails.’ ‘ April 24.—On Wednesday the sun left us, and darkness is coming on apace ; and so we are entering on the course of our second winter, but withal in the highest spirits, just as happy and contented a community as can be, It would be agreeable to know what is going to happen next year, but otherwise we have no wants. Our routine goes like clock- work ; we eat, sleep, work, and play at regular hours, and are never in lack of employment. Hockey, I fear, must soon cease, for lack of light, but it has been a great diversion, although not unattended with risks, for yesterday I captured a black eye from a ball furiously driven by Royds. ‘Our acetylene plant is now in full swing, and gives us 136 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [May light for twelve hours at an expenditure of about 3 lbs. of carbide. The winter awning is spread, and all is as snug as we can make it; but the temperature is extremely low, and we have the old trouble with the ice inside our living-spaces.’ ‘ May 6.—A brilliant idea struck us a fortnight ago. We thought of putting our large fish-trap down on the shallow bank off the cape, and weighing it every few days to see what it contained. Visions of supplying our whole company with this delightful luxury were before our eyes. The fish-trap consists of a large pyramidal frame, six feet square on the base, and covered with wire netting, in which there are cone- shaped openings. ‘In accordance with our idea, this trap was taken out to the bank, which is about a mile from the ship, and over which the ice is still comparatively thin. Here a high tripod was erected, a hole made, and the trap lowered ; two days after it was got up again, and to our great joy we found it contained. 105 fish. Our visions seemed realised ; down went the trap again, and without a moment’s delay we set about making another and digging a second hole close to the ship. This was no light task, and the workers were lost to view from above long before they reached the bottom of our solid ice, which proved to be more than eight feet thick. However, at length both traps were down, and since that we have been getting them up every other day; but, alas! there has been a most terrible falling-off in the catches. The outer trap fell from 1o5 to thirty, then to ten, and lately we are lucky if we find more than five or six. The inner has never had more than this last number, and sometimes comes up empty. One of the reasons for the failure of the outer trap is, I think, that the seals have found it, and feel that they ought to have first choice of the fish that it attracts, and this would naturally not be encouraging to the latter. Sometimes the seals must run full speed into the trap, because it often comes up badly dented ; one can only hope it gives them a bad headache. Another great enemy to our fishing industry is the small shrimp-like amphipod ; these small creatures collect in 1903] FISHING OPERATIONS 137 millions, and eat things up with extraordinary rapidity ; they are submarine locusts, and vast armies of them settle on the bait, or even on the live fish, and in a few hours not a remnant remains of what they have attacked. ‘The small bottom fish which we catch are very ugly little creatures ; they have an enormous head, a protruding under lip, and a gradually tapering body-—rather the shape of a whiting, only exaggerated. They are extremely good eating, but unfortunately the majority are very small; it takes two of the largest to make a decent meal for one person, and of the average size four or five will scarcely suffice. They are of the genus /Vofathenza, and I believe there is more than one species ; the Weddell seals feed principally on these, but they also catch other sorts, whose present habitat we cannot discover by any of our fishing methods. Besides what we may call the Ant- arctic whiting, our people caught a quantity of a surface fish that frequented the pools and cracks in the ice during the summer. ‘This was whilst I was absent from the ship, and I have neither seen nor tasted this fish, but I hear that it gave very good sport. Some of the men would go out for an hour or two with quite a short line and bread for bait, returning with a dozen or two decent-sized fish, which report declares to have been much better eating than even the whiting. Now that all the cracks are frozen over we do not get a glimpse of these fish, except when they are brought to view from the interior of a seal. We know that there must be lots of fish about from the continuance of the seals in our region, and we have strong reason for supposing that there must be some of a much greater size than any we have caught, but we have tried all sorts of methods and all sorts of baits without success in capturing anything but our whiting. ‘The seal is certainly the best fisherman, and very frequently when one is captured our people have the benefit of its latest prey as well as the animal itself. ‘As far as our fish-traps are concerned, I’m afraid as the darkness deepens our catches are likely to get smaller and smaller, Recently we have been saving up, so that the mess- 138 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [May deck should have a fish breakfast one Sunday and the officers the same on the next, but this will not continue, as we cannot hope to keep up the supply for so many months. ‘Our winter routine of feeding is now pretty well fixed. We shall have mutton on Sunday as long as it will last, skua on Tuesday, seal’s heart on Thursday, and plain seal on the other days. The kidneys are used to make seal-steak pie, an excel- lent dish ; the liver comes at breakfast twice a week ; and the sweetbreads I suppose pass as cook’s perquisites, as we never see them aft. I am thinking of having cold tinned meat one night a week, so as to give the galley people a night off.’ | ‘May 16.—We are getting record temperatures. Yester- day the minimum at the outer thermometer was — 66°, and to-day I read it myself at —67°7°; the screen thermometer has not been below — 55°, showing that we still enjoy the shelter of our comparatively warm corner. It would appear that this year is going to be much colder than last, but since March we have had far less wind than during the corresponding period of last year, and we could welcome a far severer cold if it assures us an absence of this scourge. ‘Some of our costumes this year are very quaint. Our gaberdine wind clothes are badly worn, and what remains of them is being reserved for sledging ; to take the place of these we have served out all sorts of odd scraps of material together with a large green tent which was brought south by the ‘Morning.’ This has resulted in the most curious outer garments, and one may see a figure approaching in a pair of gaily striped and patched trousers and a bright green jumper, a combination of colour which in any other place could scarcely fail to attract marked attention.’ ‘ June 12.—This week we have had the first blizzard for the winter, with some rather novel features. ‘The wind has come and gone with surprising rapidity. Sometimes it has been blowing with extreme violence, harder than I have ever known it; at others it has been almost calm, with the air still filled with snow. The barometer has been hurrying down and up 1903] THE ELECTROMETER 139 over a range of nearly an inch, and the thermometer rose at one time to +173°. Last night the floor of the entrance porch was a swamp, whilst water was dripping from the sides and roof. It has never been in this state before during the winter. In many respects the gale has been the worst we have had, and yet, thanks to experience, we have weathered it with- out any of the minor mishaps of last year, except the temporary loss of our stove-pipe exhaust. From without the ship looks to be completely buried in snow. ‘We are still at a loss for any warning of our approaching blizzards. The barometer only commences its vagaries after the storm is on us. There has been a suggestion that strong mirage is a sign of bad weather to come, but this fortunately is not the case, as very extraordinary mirage effects are constantly seen. At one time we had an idea that the electrometer might be taken as a guide, but this, again, seems to show little until the gale has actually begun. ‘But although the electrometer may not serve us in this way, it has yielded some extremely interesting results. Bernacchi has continued to take regular observations with this instrument ; he mounts it on a tripod and takes observa- tions with the match conductor just above it, or hoisted on a pole fifteen feet high. He is thus able to discover the electrical potential at both these heights, though the task is not always a pleasing one, as the small screws of the instrument have to be manipulated with bared fingers. Once or twice Skelton has assisted Bernacchi in taking hourly observations over a con- siderable period. Perhaps the most interesting point is that there is almost continuously a negative potential in our regions, whereas in temperate regions the air is generally electro-positive to the earth. ‘The observations at four feet and fifteen feet show that the difference of potential increases considerably with the altitude. During the summer months there is a perceptible daily range, with a maximum at midnight and a minimum at noon, and the potential is higher than in winter when there is no measurable range. When the air is filled with falling or drifting snow the & of he ae et P Sih y opety - 140 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [june potential becomes very large and the tension is often great enough to discharge the instrument.’ ‘ June 23.—Our second mid-winter day has come and gone, finding us even more cheerful than the last. We made a great night of it last night; the warrant officers dined aft, and we had soup made from a real turtle sent to us by our kind friend Mr. Kinsey, of Christchurch, and brought over in the last sledge-load from the “Morning.” After this came tinned halibut, roast beef with artichokes, devilled wing of skua as savoury, and the last of our special brand of champagne. On ordinary nights we are now reduced to enamelled plates and mugs, but we still hold in reserve some crockery and glass for these special occasions, and it adds to our cheer to see our table well appointed again. ‘ After dinner we felt we must have some novelty, so some- one suggested a dance. The table was got out of the way, Royds went to the piano, and the rest of us assembled for a set of lancers, one of the most uproarious in which I have ever indulged. Then came cock-fighting and tugs of war, and altogether we had as festive an evening as we have ever spent.’ ‘July 3.—Our winter is speeding along in the pleasantest fashion, and all are keeping in good health and spirits. Our puppies of last year are puppies no longer, but have developed into dogs, showing all the unmerciful, bullying traits of character of their parents. In all there are eight survivors of last year’s litters: “ Blackie,” ‘ Nobby,” “Toby,” and “Violet” are descendants of poor “Nell,” “Roger” and | “Snowball” of “ Blanco,” and “Wolf” and “ Tin-tacks” of “Vincka.” The different families are not at all fond of one another, nor is there any wild attachment between members of the same. However, we have decided they must take care of themselves and settle their own grievances, as, although they may be useful next year, we do not propose to take them on long journeys; they are therefore allowed to roam about as they please, though kennels are provided for them, and of course they are regularly fed. The result of this freedom is that there are already new families of puppies arriving on the BERNACCHI AND THE ELECTROMETER. OUR BIOLOGIST IN HIS SHELTER. [See p. 141. 1903] HODGSON AT WORK 141 scene. The greater number of these must be removed, as it cannot be hoped that they will be anything but poor creatures ; meanwhile there has been a searching for names, and the latest suggestion is a series including “Plasmon,” ‘ Soma- tose,” and ‘‘ Ptomaine ” ! ‘Tam taking rather longer walks over the hills than I did last winter, as I want to be thoroughly fit for the sledging. Asa rule four or five of the dogs come with me, and my appearance outside is the signal for a chorus of welcome ; as we go up the hills my companions scrimmage, playfully or otherwise, the whole time ; then their delight is for me to roll stones down ‘the steeper slopes, when they dash after them at a prodigious speed and in a smother of snow. ‘They are wonderfully sure- footed, and will sometimes bring themselves up in mid-career with extraordinary suddenness, and come trotting up the slope as though it was the easiest of feats.’ ‘July 13.—Yesterday Wilson reported an eruption of Erebus, a considerable sheet of flame bursting forth and light- ing up the rolls of vapour, so that he could clearly see the direction in which they were going—a fact impossible to dis- tinguish either before or after ; the flare only lasted for five or ten seconds. These eruptions have been seen before, and possibly many have occurred without being seen, but they are certainly not frequent, and never last for more than a few seconds. I myself have never seen more than a red glare on the cloud of vapour immediately over the crater.’ ‘ July 16.—Hodgson has been working away throughout the winter in the same indefatigable manner as before. His fish- traps and tow-nets merely go down through a hole in the ice, and there is no great difficulty about working them, but the manner in which he has carried out his dredging is really very cunning, and deserves description. Now and again, and “especially after a cold snap, fresh cracks are formed in the ice- sheet across the strait, and these open out perhaps two or three inches. Before the space left has time to freeze thickly, Hodgson goes out with a long line, and presses the bight down between the sides of the crack until it is hanging in a long eo, ae 142 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ {juty loop between points two or three hundred yards apart. Then at each end of the loop he starts to dig a large hole; this is the work of several days, and meanwhile the ice along the crack has become solid and thick, but this does not matter when once he has got what he wants—namely, two holes connected by a line which passes underneath the ice. ‘Later on, when the holes are completed and shelters have been erected about them, the more important work commences. A net is secured to the line and lowered to the bottom at one hole, whilst at the other the line is manned and gradually hauled in ; thus the net is dragged along the bottom to the second hole, where it is hoisted out and its contents emptied into a vessel. Then the process is repeated by hauling the net back to the first hole. Finally the vessel, usually an old tin-lined packing-case, with its precious contents of animals buried in a mass of hardening slush, is sledged back to the ship and deposited close to the wardroom fire. ‘On the following day the table is littered with an array of glass jars and dishes, with bottles of alcohol, formalin, and other preservatives, and soon we are able to examine the queer denizens of our polar sea-floor, and to watch their contortions as they are skilfully turned into specimens for the British Museum.’ ‘July 31.—For some days there has scarcely been any wind, and we have been able to enjoy delightful walks in the light noontide. The northern horizon at this hour is dressed in gorgeous red and gold, and the lands about are pink and rosy with brightness of returning day. Iam not sure that a polar night is not worth the living through for the mere joy of seeing the day come back. ‘The latest addition to our forces, in the shape of Mulock, has been a great acquisition. In one way and another we have ~ collected a very large amount of surveying data, but the trouble was that we none of us had sufficient knowledge to chart it. Mulock came in the nick of time to supply the deficiency ; he has been trained as a surveyor, and has extra- ordinary natural abilities for the work. He has done an *. ce ' 3 ote Pa Z si: : “s Sie P Se ae e's *. oe THE ‘FLYING SCUD” 143 astonishing amount this winter, first in collecting and reworking all our observations, and later in constructing temporary charts. A special table was fixed up for him in my cabin, where he now spends most of his time. The result of his diligence is most useful to me, as I can now see much more clearly what we ought to try to do during our next sledging season.’ ‘ August 1.—Walks over the hills are now delightful. However cold one may be on starting, by the time one reaches the crest one’s blood is circulating freely, and the rest is wholly enjoyable. A good look at the glorious scene round about, a long trot over the hill plateau, an observation of Erebus with its gilded coil of smoke, a half slide, half shuffle down some convenient snow-slope amidst two or three scrambling, sky- larking dogs, a sharp walk back over the level, and a glorious appetite for tea to follow: there is not much hardship about this sort of life. ‘Perhaps Barne has enjoyed himself as much as anyone this winter in his own queer way. The improved weather has given him a chance to spend many a day at his distant sound- ing holes, and he has constantly departed soon after breakfast to vanish from our ken until dinner. But this winter he has rigged his small sledge with sails, and if it has not aided his work much, it has given him a deal of extra amusement. The sledge carries a small sounding machine, mounted high on a box in the centre. The box contains a miscellaneous collection of sinkers, thermometers, &c., together with the owner’s light midday repast. In front of and behind the box are the main and mizzen masts, to which are hoisted a dashing suit of sails, made from the drop scene of the Terror Theatre. ‘There is also a drop keel or lee board, made from a piece of boiler- plate, and a wooden outrigger, which can be placed on either side and weighted with a sinker to increase the stability of the machine. Barne declares that if there is any breeze his noble craft sails like a witch, on or off the wind, but this is scarcely the opinion of others who have watched his movements. How- ever, when the “ Flying Scud,” as she is called, is lying astern of the ‘“ Discovery ” with sails neatly furled, or when with all 144 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Aue. canvas spread she is prepared for her voyage over the floe, she at least looks a very imposing and business-like tender.’ ‘ August 13.—For three days we have had a furious blizzard, which has kept us closely confined. On the few occasions when we attempted to reach the ship side we found it almost impossible to stand, and there was a curious suffocating feeling in battling with the whirling drift. Some gusts were so violent that the ship was shaken, and things hanging in the wardroom were set on the swing, notwithstanding that the ice must now be from eighteen to twenty feet thick immediately around us. On Tuesday, with a lull, the glass rose three-quarters of an inch in six hours—about the steepest gradient we have known. It then fell again sharply, and the wind returned in full force. To-day it is quite calm again, and we can see that there has been an immense deposition of snow; the ice-sledges are covered, and the surface has risen to the level of the meteoro- logical screens. From the hills I could see no sign of open water—a curious difference from last year, when after such a gale the sea would certainly have been open up to the Northern Islets.’ ‘ August 20.—Some time ago poor little ‘‘Tin-tacks,” who has a litter of pups in the after deckhouse, was found with her mouth covered with blood; she was unable to eat, and on examination Wilson found that her tongue had been torn or cut off within an inch or two of the root. The only fitting theory seems to be that the poor beast got it frozen to a tin and then became frightened, and jagged or bit it off. It wasa horrible accident, but it shows the astonishing vitality of these dogs that within a few days she was able to eat and ran about as though nothing had happened ; she had evidently quite ceased to suffer pain. But although she can feed herself she cannot keep herself clean, and she is likely to get into such a bad state in this way that I fear we shall have to kill her. ‘Wilson has found a hard, calcareous growth in the seals’ hearts which appears to show that these animals suffer from gout ! ‘We have seen some very beautiful ‘ mother-of-pearl ” 1903] RETURN OF THE SUN» 145 clouds to the north lately—little patches of yellowish-white close to the horizon, edged with pale green passing to red and yellow, this bordering extending all around. ‘The pris- matic colouring we have hitherto seen in the light high cirrus has been horizontal only. The Danish Lapland Expedition noted prismatic clouds as having a height of thirty miles ; ours are certainly nothing like so high.’ ‘ August 21.—The rim of the refracted sun could just be seen above the northern horizon at 12.30 to-day. I climbed Arrival Heights and got a view of the golden half-disc. It was a glorious day ; everything was inspiriting. For the first time for many a month the sun’s direct rays were gilding our sur- rounding hills ; little warm, pink clouds floated about, growing heavier towards the south, where the deepening shadow was overspread with a rich flush ; the smoke of Erebus rose straight in a spreading golden column. It was indeed a goodly scene ! One feels that the return of day is beyond all power of descrip- tion—that splendid view from the hills leaves one with a sense of grandeur and solemnity which no words can paint. ‘And now our second long polar night has come to an end. I do not think there is a soul on board the “ Discovery ” who would say that it has been a hardship. All disappointment at our enforced detention has passed away, and has been replaced by a steady feeling of hopefulness. There is not one of us who does not believe that we shall be released eventually, however difficult he might find it to give his reasons. All thoughts are turned towards the work that lies before us, and it would be difficult to be blind to the possible extent of its usefulness. Each day has brought it more home to us how little we know and how much there is to be learned, and we realise fully that this second year’s work may more than double the value of our observations. Life in these regions has lost any terror it ever possessed for us, for we know that, come what may, we can live, and live well, for any reasonable number of years to come.’ ‘August 25.—The earth shadows on the southern sky thrown by the sun as it skims along the northern horizon have VOL. Il. E 146 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Seer been very distinct this year, and there is much that cannot be explained and therefore gives rise to hot argument. Between nine and ten in the morning a dark shaded line, inclined to the right at an acute angle to the horizon, appears to the west- ward of the Black Island; this line gradually rises to the vertical to the east of Black Island, and then sinks to the left with a diminishing angle. Just before noon its extremity rests on the Bluff, when it is inclined well to the east, but sometimes at about this time two other shadows spring up, one vertical and the other inclined to the west; the whole phenomenon then has the appearance of an inverted broad arrow. ‘It is very curious and interesting, and we have failed to produce any sound explanation for it. It must in some way be connected with Erebus, as it is on the opposite side of it to the sun ; but what particular parts of the mountain mass trace these confused shadowy lines we cannot guess. Some of us have tried to drag in the western mountains as reflecting agents, but I think this theory has little to support it. Mean- while we have all been busy with candles and sheets of paper trying to reproduce the various effects, but so far without much suCCESS. ‘Beyond the region of our bay the snow which has fallen during the winter is heaped into patches which are clearly distinguishable from the old surface, on which can still be seen in large numbers the pellets of the cartridges used in the skua battues of last autumn. We have started our hockey matches again, and had some excellent games, but the ground is in very poor condition, with patches of soft snow where the ball gets half buried.’ ‘ September 3.—After the return of the sun there are some very pleasing signs of summer, for which we watch eagerly. Amongst these are the first records of our solar instruments, one of which, the radiation thermometer, gave its first indica- tion on the 28th, when there was an extremely slight difference between the black and silvered bulb thermometers. This instrument faces the sun on Hut Point, and to-day it showed a very marked difference between the two readings ; and at the 1903] SLEDGING PREPARATIONS 147 same time another instrument, the sunshine recorder, gave its first sign of life. The sunshine recorder consists of a crystal sphere, by which the sun rays are focussed on a circular strip of graduated paper; when the sun is out, the track of the focus is marked by a burnt line, and in this way the hours during which the sun shows are recorded. Last year we got several papers burnt for the complete twenty-four hours, and doubtless we shall get the same again ; I believe this is the first time such a record has been got.’ Such extracts as I have given from my diary show that our second winter passed away in the quietest and pleasantest fashion. Throughout the season the routine of scientific observations was carried out in the same manner as it had been during the previous year, whilst many new details of interest were added. The weather on the whole, though colder, had been far less windy, and this, together with the help which experience gave to our methods of living, had greatly added to our comfort. Whilst everything was taken calmly and easily, the work of preparation for the coming season had been steadily pushed forward. An examination of our sledge equipment showed that there was scarcely an article which did not need to be thoroughly overhauled and refitted, and throughout the winter our men had been systematically em- ployed in repairing the sledges, sleeping-bags, tents, &c., in weighing out and packing the various provisions, and generally in preparing for the long journeys which had been arranged. With our best efforts, however, it was evident that our outfit for this season would be a somewhat tattered and makeshift affair compared with what it had been at the commencement of the last. For our sleeping-bags we were obliged to employ skins that we knew to be of inferior quality ; our tents were blackened with use, threadbare in texture, and patched in many places ; our cooking-apparatus were dented and shaky ; our wind clothes were almost worn out; and for all the small bags which were required for our provisions we were obliged to fall back on such sheets and tablecloths as could be scraped together. L2 148 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY? [serr. As in the previous year, the plan of campaign for the coming season had been drawn up in good time, so that everyone might have ample opportunity of preparing himself for the work ; and in the peaceful quiet of the winter it had been easy to see the weak places in our former explorations and the directions in which the future journeys should be made. Perhaps here, therefore, it would be well to mention briefly the considerations which led me to the adoption of the pro- gramme of sledging carried out during our second year. The first point was of course to review our resources ; as before, I knew that extended journeys could only be made by properly supported parties, and an easy calculation showed me that our small company would only admit of two such sup- ported journeys, though numbers might permit of a third more or less lengthy journey without support. The next thing was to decide in what direction these parties should go. In this connection, as I have already explained, the principal interest undoubtedly lay in the west ; to explore the Ferrar Glacier from a geological point of view and to find out the nature of the interior ice-cap were matters which must be attempted at all hazards. In the south it was evident to me that however well a party might march, or however well they might be supported, without dogs they could not hope to get beyond the point which we had reached in the previous year ; but our journey had been made a long way from land, and had consequently left many unsolved problems, chief amongst which were the extraordinary straits which had appeared to us to run through the mountain ranges without rising in level. It was obviously absurd for us to pretend that we knew all about these places when we had only seen them at a distance of twenty or thirty miles ; any further light thrown on these, or on the junction of the barrier with the land, must prove of immense interest to us. It was therefore with the main object of exploring one of these straits that I decided that the second supported party should set forth. 1903] THE PROGRAMME 149 The credit for arranging the direction in which the un- supported party should go really belongs to Bernacchi, for it was he who first asked me what proof we had that the barrier surface continued on a level to the eastward. Since the previous year, and having regard to the barrier edge in this direction, we had assumed this fact, but when I came to look into it I found we really had no definite proof. The only way to obtain it was to go and see, and this was therefore named as the objective of the unsupported party, who affected to believe that they were destined to discover all sorts of interesting land arising through the monotonous snow-plains for which they were bound. Besides the longer journeys, the programme for the season included, as before, a number of short journeys for specific purposes. ‘The most important of these were periodic visits to the Emperor penguin rookery, as we hoped that this year our zoologist would be able to observe the habits of these extraordinary creatures from the commencement of their breeding season. The next step in this programme was the most difficult of all ; it was to name the individuals for the various journeys. When all had supported me so loyally, and when all were so eager to go to the front, it can be imagined what a hard task lay before me in making a selection. However, this difficulty, like others, was gradually overcome by much thought, and the various parties were told off. The journey to the west I de- cided to lead myself, that to the south I entrusted to Barne and Mulock, whilst the two officers named for the south-eastern effort were Royds and Bernacchi. Finally, it was decided that one important factor must dominate all our sledging arrangements. We knew that we were mainly at the mercy of natural causes as to whether the ‘ Discovery’ would be freed from the ice in the coming year, but at least I determined that as far as man’s puny efforts could prevail, nothing should be left undone to aid in the release of the ship. At the earliest date at which we could hope to make any impression on the great ice-sheet about us, the whole force of our company must be available for the work of extrication ; 150 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [szpr. consequently the last of the summer must be sacrificed, and it was ordered that all sledging journeys should start at such a date as to assure their return to the ship by the middle of December. Thus when the sun returned again in 1903 it found us ready to start on our journeys once more, and only waiting with impatience for the light which was to guide us on our way. The story of these journeys I reserve for a future chapter, but in what state of health and spirits we undertook them can be gathered from the following :— ‘ September 6.—To-morrow we start our sledging; the — Terror party go to Cape Crozier. The ship is in a state of — bustle, people flying to and fro, packing sledges, weighing loads, and inspecting each detail of equipment. To judge by the laughter and excitement we might be boys escaping from school. The word “scurvy” has not been heard this year, and the doctor tells me there is not a sign of it in the ship. Truly our prospects look bright for the sledge-work of the future.’ 1903] I51 CHAPTER XVII COMMENCEMENT OF OUR SECOND SLEDGING SEASON Parties Starting—Away to New Harbour—We Find a Good Road, Es- tablish a Depot, and Return—Sledging in Record Temperatures— Experiences in Different Directions—Emperor Penguin Chicks—Eclipse of the Sun—A Great Capture—Preparing for the Western Journey— Ascending Ferrar Glacier—Our Sledges Break Down—Forced to Return—Some Good Marching—Fresh Start—More Troubles with the Sledges—A Heavy Loss—Wind from the Summit—The Upper Glacier —A Week in Camp—We Break Away and Reach the Summit— Hard Conditions—Party Divided—Eight Days Onward—An Awe-inspiring Plain—We Turn as the Month Ends. Where the great sun begins his state Robed in flames and amber light.—MILTON. Path of advance ! but it leads A long steep journey through sunk Gorges, o’er mountains in snow.—M. ARNOLD. WHEN the great sun had begun his state in 1903 we were all, as I have said, eager to be off on our travels once more. Royds and Wilson were the first to get away, on Septem- ber 7; they had with them four men—Cross, Whitfield, Williamson, and Blissett ; their mission lay on the old track to Cape Crozier, and the object of going thus early was to catch those mysterious Emperor penguins before they should have hatched out their young. Barne and his party were timed to start some days later, with the idea of laying out a depot beyond the White Island, in preparation for the longer journey to come. On the oth I got away with my own party, which included Mr. Skelton, Mr. Dailey, Evans, Lashly, and Handsley. Our 1s2 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [surr. object was to find a new road to the Ferrar Glacier, and on it to place a depot ready for a greater effort over the ice-cap. I pause a moment to recall to the reader the position of affairs in this region. The Ferrar Glacier descends gradually to the inlet, which we named New Harbour, but it will be remembered that Mr. Armitage had reported most adversely on this inlet as a route for sledges, and in conducting his own party had led it across the high foothills. I had not been to this region, but in the nature of things I could not help thinking that some practicable route must exist up the New Harbour inlet, and I knew that if it could be found our journey to the west would be made far easier. It was in this direction, therefore, that I set out with my party. Half-way across the strait we had the misfortune to en- counter a blizzard, which delayed us in our tents and effectually covered all our camping equipment with ice ; then the tem- perature fell rapidly, and we knew that our discomfort for the trip was ensured. Owing to the delay we did not reach the New Harbour until the 13th, and it took us the whole of the daylight hours of the 14th to struggle up the south side of the inlet to the commencement of the disturbances caused by the glacier. The night of the 14th was an anxious one, and I remem- ber it well. On each side of us rose the great granite foothills. The light had been poor in the afternoon march, and now that the sun had sunk behind the mountains in a crimson glow, we were left with only the barest twilight. We had been forced to camp when we had suddenly found ourselves on a broken surface, and all about us loomed up gigantic ice-blocks and lofty morainic heaps. ‘To-morrow was to decide whether or not these obstructions could be tackled ; meanwhile the temperature had fallen to —49°, and in the frigid gloom our prospects did not look hopeful. On the following day, however, with cheerful sunshine to aid our efforts, we proceeded for some way up the bed of a frozen stream, still on the south side of the glacier. On our right was the glacier itself, distorted into a mass of wall faces “HNOdUVH MAN WOU da DNIMOOT 1903] ~A GOOD ROAD 153 and pinnacles, which looked unscalable, whilst on our left were the steep bare hillsides ; soon the glacier stream came to an end, and we were forced to consider what was next to be - done. . As a result of our consultation some of the party climbed _ the hillside to prospect, whilst Skelton and I attacked the glacier. We fully expected to discover a mass of broken ice extending right across the inlet, but were agreeably surprised to find, first, that by carefully selecting our route we could work our way to the summit of the disturbance ; and, secondly, that beyond our immediate neighbourhood the high, sharp » ice-hillocks settled down into more gradual ridges. This im- plied that to the north things were smoother, and after our | short reconnaissance and a confirming report from the hills, We occupied the rest of the day in carrying our loads and sledges in the direction we had chosen across the disturbance. It was a difficult portage, but by night we were camped in a small dip well in on the glacier surface. Those who have seen glaciers in a mountainous country will recall the regular and beautiful curves they present in sweeping around the sharp turns of the valleys they occupy. It was such a curve that the Ferrar Glacier now showed us as we looked westward on the morning of the 16th; its surface, as we afterwards found, was comparatively regular, but in the distance it looked like a smooth polished road—a ribbon of blue down the centre of which ran a dark streak caused by a double line of boulders. On each side towered the massive cliffs and steep hillsides which limited its course. But the foot of this promising road was some way from us, and we had still four or five miles of unviewed surface to cross before we could reach it. Here, again, we were agreeably surprised, _ for instead of further ice disturbances we found our way gradually growing smoother, and in the afternoon we reached — the incline without further difficulty. : What followed was easy. We proceeded to ascend the smooth icy surface of the glacier until we came abreast of Cathedral Rocks, and when their lofty pinnacles towered three 134 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY? {szpr. or four thousand feet immediately above our heads we selected a conspicuous boulder in the medial moraine, about 2,000 feet above the sea, and, ascertaining its bearings, ‘cached’ the provisions which we had brought, and turned homeward. The result of our short journey had been really important. | It had taken the western party of the previous year three weeks to reach the spot at which we had left our depot; I ~ knew now it would go hard with us if we could not get there | on well within the week, and if in the future we found a still easier Me road, avoiding the portage stage, we might hope to jouer out in four or five days. On our return, therefore, we steered more to the none : and to our further delight found that the route in that ee tion was much easier, so that eventually we reached the sea- ice without having to carry our sledges across any difficult rs ; places. a The fact which was thus discovered, and which was amply — supported by further observations, is a general one that 1s) highly important to future explorers. In all cases in the Antarctic Regions where glaciers run more or less east and oe west, the south side will be found very much broken up and > decayed, whilst the north side will be comparatively smooth and even. ‘The reason is a very simple one-—so simple that it . seems to argue some obtuseness that we did not guess its effect. The sun of course achieves its greatest altitude in the ” north, and consequently its warmest and most direct rays fall on the south side of a valley, and on the loose morainic material and blown débris that rest on that side of a glacier. Here, therefore, the greater part of the summer melting takes place with irregular denudation, causing the wild chaos of ice disturbance that I have described. At the foot of the Ferrar Glacier, Armitage had seen the disturbance on the south side, and had concluded that it must extend right across; our fortunate step had been to push over the southern disturbance and find the easier conditions beyond. Throughout this short journey we had exceedingly low ¥. a ” > 1903] EXPERIENCES IN OTHER DIRECTIONS ss temperatures. Nearly every night the thermometer fell below —50°, and in the daytime it was very little above that mark. After the effects of our blizzard we were extraordinarily un- comfortable ; it was partly for this reason, and partly to test the real marching capabilities of my party, that, our object attained, I decided to put on the speed in crossing the fifty miles of sea-ice which lay between us and our snug ship. We crossed this stretch in less than two and a half days ; we were to do better marching still under better conditions, but at the time we were very pleased with this effort, and considering the excessive cold and our heavily clad and ice-encumbered con- _ dition, it was certainly worthy of note. It was on the night of _ the 2oth, therefore, that we tramped into our small bay and *. Ten “~ saw the pleasantly familiar outlines of the ship. We were inclined to be exceedingly self-satisfied ; we had . oat accomplished our object with unexpected ease, we had done a "record march, and we had endured record temperatures—at = 4 least, we thought so, and thought also how pleasant it would be to tell of these things in front of a nice bright fire. As we a approached the ship, however, Hodgson came out to greet us, and his first question was, ‘What temperatures have you had ?’ We replied by complacently quoting our array of mznus fifties, but he quickly cut us short by remarking that we were not in it. It was evident, therefore, that we should have tales to listen to as well as to tell. For such tales I draw once more on my diary: ‘ September 22.—It is pleasant to be back in the ship again after our hard spring journeys. They have awakened us all and given us plenty of fresh matter to talk about, so that there is a running fire of chaff and chatter all day. Every- thing looks very bright and hopeful : the journeys have accom- plished all that was expected of them, and there is not a sign of our old enemy the scurvy; and this in spite of the fact that our travellers have endured the hardest conditions on record. ‘It is no small tribute to our sledging methods that our people have come through temperatures nearly seventy degrees Be 156 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [szpr. below zero without accident or injury; a tent and a sleeping- bag have never protected men under such conditions before. ‘Whilst we have been away there seems to have been a cold snap throughout our region. Barne with his party got the worst of it, as they were away out on the barrier, where conditions are always most severe. He was absent for eight days, and succeeded in laying out a depot to the S.E. of White Island. His party consisted of Mulock, Quartley, Smythe, Crean, and Joyce; all have tales to tell of their adventures, and agree that it was pretty “parky.” The temperature was — well below —40° when they left the ship ; it dropped to —50° as they reached the corner of White Island, and a little way beyond to —60°; but even at this it did not stop, but con- tinued falling until it had reached and passed —65°. At —67°7° the spirit-column of the thermometer broke, and they found it impossible to get it to unite again; we shall never know exactly, therefore, what degree of cold this party actually faced, but Barne, allowing for the broken column, is sure that it was below —70°. ‘ Joyce was the only one who suffered seriously from these terribly severe conditions. After his features had been frost- bitten several times individually, they all went together, and he was seen with his whole face quite white. Though, of course, it is in a very bad state now, the circulation was restored in it at the time without much difficulty ; but worse was to follow, for on the march he announced that one of his feet was gone, and, having pitched the tents, Barne examined it, and found that it was white to the ankle. It was quite an hour before they could get any signs of life in it, and this was only accom- plished by the officers taking it in turns to nurse the frozen member in their breasts. ‘All the party, and especially the owner of the frozen foot, seem to regard this incident as an excellent jest; but for my part I should be slow to see a joke when I had a frost-bitten foot myself, or even when I had to undo my garments in a temperature of —70° to nurse someone else’s. It appears that those who were giving the warmth found that they could keep 1903] EMPEROR PENGUIN CHICKS 157 the icy foot in contact with their bodies for nearly ten minutes, but at the end of that time they had to hand it on to the next member of the party ; they own that it was not a pleasing sen- sation, but think that it increased their appetites. However, their ministrations have brought Joyce safely back to the ship with his full allowance of toes, which is the main point. ‘Royds and his party also had very low temperatures, as their thermometer often showed —60°, and at the lowest —62°. Blissett was the chief sufferer on this journey, as he also had his face very severely frost-bitten ; the rest seem to have stood it well, and Whitfield is described as standing outside the tent with his pipe in his mouth, his hands in his pockets, and the air of cheerful satisfaction of one who contemplates his garden on a warm summer day at home. ‘This party have had a great stroke of luck. On arriving at Cape Crozier it was found, in spite of calculations, that the Emperors had already hatched out their young; about a thousand adult birds were seen, and a good number of chicks, but at first there appeared to be no eggs. The _ luck came when the travellers examined the ice towards the land and found that there had been a recent fall of ice- blocks ; close to this they discovered a number of deserted eggs. It seems evident that the avalanche frightened away the sitting birds, much to the benefit of our collection. Including the single find of last year we have now seventeen specimens of this new egg; some are cracked, but a good number are whole ; they weigh about a pound apiece. ‘As may be imagined, the party were highly elated with this find, and Wilson was glad of the opportunity of studying the chicks at a more tender age than they were seen last year. In spite of the severe temperature, Cross determined to try to bring two of these small mites home. He sacrificed his sleeping-jacket to keep them warm, and tended them with such motherly care that he has succeeded in his design, and now these small creatures are housed in Wilson’s cabin, much to our amusement. They chirrup like overgrown chickens, and possess the most prodigious appetites.’ 158 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Szpr. These chicks continued to afford us entertainment; they had no fear whatever, and when they thought that the time had come for more food, they clamoured loudly for it. At first they were fed on crustaceans, and afterwards on seal-meat, but both of these were chewed up by the person who fed them, so that there should be no chance of indigestion. It was obvious from their shape that they were well designed as regards capacity for containing food, but even allowing for the fact that they did not study the symmetry of their waists, one paused aghast at the amount they swallowed. From the first we had to regard them as small tanks, but as they grew they almost seemed to be bottomless caverns, into which any quantity of material might be dropped without making any appreciable difference. After meals their small heads would sink back on their round, distended little bodies, and they would go placidly off to sleep in their well-lined nest, when they were covered up and for the moment forgotten; but as the next meal-hour approached there would be a great ‘to-do,’ and the box would be uncovered to show the small heads bobbing up and down and giving forth shrill demands for more food, nor was there peace till they got it. Things went on like this until our small friends suddenly took it into their heads that there was much too long an interval between supper and breakfast, and after this they used to go off like alarum clocks in the middle of the night. There was only one way of pacifying them, and their custodian had perforce to get out of his warm bed and to chew up more seal- meat until they were satisfied. Of course we could scarcely hope to rear these birds under such artificial conditions, and we were not surprised when one of them pined away and died ; but the other lived and throve for a long time, and only met his end when the warmer weather came on and he was incautiously put in one of the deck-houses for a short time; this exposure brought on the rickets, from which he never recovered. During the interval between the return of our spring 1903] ECLIPSE OF THE SUN 159 expeditions and the start of the longer summer ones we had several small excitements on board. In one of these we suffered a grievous disappointment. Our nautical almanac told us that there would be an eclipse of the sun on September 21. It was not to be a total eclipse for us, but nine-tenths of the sun would be obscured. Bernacchi was especially busy in preparation for this event, and all placed themselves under his orders for the occasion. When the great day came all telescopes and the spectroscopic camera were trained in the right direction, magnetic instru- ments were set to run at quick speed, and observers were told off to watch the meteorological instruments, the tide gauge, and everything else on which the absence of sun could possibly have a direct or indirect effect. Everything, in fact, was ready but the sun itself, which obstinately refused to come out ; from early morning a thick stratus cloud hung over our heads, and as the hours went by we were forced to abandon all hope of a clearance. There may have been an eclipse of the sun on September 21, 1903, as the almanac said, but we should none of us have liked to swear to the fact. After our return from the spring journey, appetites had increased to such an alarming extent that we began to have renewed doubts as to the adequacy of our stock of seal-meat, and by this time all the especial luxuries in the shape of livers and kidneys had entirely disappeared. Seals rarely came up on the ice, and when they did our wretched dogs, the puppies of the previous year, did their best to worry them down again. It was at this juncture that our hunters were called upon, and their chief, Skelton, devised an excellent harpoon with hinged barbs which proved the most effective weapon. With a line attached, it was kept in readiness at one of the nearer fishing holes, and the keenest sportsmen would go out and wait by the hour, harpoon in hand, ready for the first unfortunate seal which should come up to breathe. The long wait in the cold was rather a drawback, but when at last a black snout appeared on the surface and the murderous weapon was plunged down- ward there was great excitement, and loud shouts were raised 160 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Szpr. for assistance to haul in the line. In this way our larder was kept well supplied, whilst a few obtained feasts of the fish which we had long ceased to catch by our own efforts. There was great excitement one day when one of the men went to this hole in the ice and, seeing a disturbance in the water, plunged the harpoon down. Evidently striking some- thing, he rushed back to the ship to say that he had hit a big fish. There was a general stampede for the hole, and the harpoon line was soon being hauled in, in spite of the very lively something at the other end ; but when at last this some- thing was landed on the floe it was found to be nothing more unusual than a large seal, and naturally there was a chorus of jeers at the expense of the man who had claimed to have struck a big fish. In spite of ridicule, however, this individual stuck to his story that there had been a fish, and soon after it was proved that he had been quite accurate, for, searching amongst the brash ice in the hole, Skelton suddenly raised a shout, and in a moment or two produced the headless body of the large fish for which we had angled so ineffectually. It was borne back in triumph to the ship and hung up for general admiration ; in its mangled condition it was three feet ten inches in length and weighed thirty-nine pounds. The importance of this capture deserves some description. Large fish are very uncommon in polar waters: as a general tule, the colder the water the smaller the fish. We had known, however, that large fish existed in our regions, as more than once we had found the skeletal remains of one on the ice. But this was the first time we had actually seen the creature itself, and now, alas! it had no head, and therefore lacked the most important detail for its scientific classification. The most scientific, and, in fact, the only account we ever had of the missing head was from the originator of the incident, who declared that ‘it was like one of Mr. Barne’s crampons.’ This account, whilst it delighted those who not infrequently entered into discussions with Barne as to the size of his feet, failed to supply the accuracy necessary for scientific description. There was one consolation, howeyer, in the fact that if the head had 1903] A GREAT CAPTURE 161 remained on, the fish would have sunk and we should have seen nothing of it. Piecing together the facts of the capture, we came to see how it had all happened, and the whole makes a curious story. We found that the seal was a female with young, and had not had food for a long time. In this condition it had attacked the large fish, and evidently had had a tremendous tussle with it. ‘The seal must have been almost at the end of its diving powers when it had dragged its struggling prey to the surface, and at this point the harpoon must have transfixed both it and the fish. Whether the seal had mutilated the head of the fish we could not tell, but close to the tail and on the tail-fin of the latter were found distinct wounds caused by the seal’s teeth. It shows the great swimming powers of the seal that it should have been able to capture so powerful a victim. When we had safely got our big fish on board, a dreadful fear arose that our biologist would demand its preservation in spirit. I do not know whether it was the absence of the head or his own appetite that prompted his decision on_ this question, but to our relief he announced that as long as he had the skeleton, the rest, after he had examined it, could go to the cook. As we had no use for the skeleton, we were perfectly contented with this arrangement, and on the follow- ing day our fish provided the most sumptuous repast for our whole company. It is difficult to say exactly what this fish tasted like. Science would, I suppose, dismiss its qualities in this respect by the single word ‘edible,’ and we, whilst we could muster a good many adjectives to express our apprecia- tion, found it difficult to liken it to anything we had previously tasted. It had a firm, white flesh, and a most deliciously delicate flavour, and that perhaps is all I can say of it. Not long after this great capture the ship was once more busy with all the preparations for the coming sledging cam- paign. Barne and Mulock were the first to get away, on October 6. This was one of the two extended journeys of which our complement would allow. In the advance party with these two officers went the men who had accompanied VOL. Il. M 162 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ § [Ocr. them on their severe depot journey, whilst the supporting party consisted of Dellbridge, Allan, Wild, Pilbeam, and Croucher. The whole party were to journey south around the Bluff, and thence to strike across for the entrance to the big strait since called the Barne Inlet. After about a fortnight the supporting party were to turn back, whilst the advance party made the best of a ten weeks’ absence from the ship. By October 11 all preparations for my own western effort had been completed, and on the following day we started full of high hopes of penetrating far into the interior. I have already pointed out what great interests lay to the west at this time, and how incomplete our knowledge was of this region. The long hours of our second winter had given me ample time to consider the importance of the problems which yet remained to be solved there, and these thoughts had not only resigned me to our detention in the ice, but had gradually shown me that if all went well in future, it might turn out to be an unmixed blessing. If we could do all that I hoped in the Ferrar Glacier and beyond, during a second season’s work, I knew that the value of our labours of the first year would be immensely increased. As I have said before, the interest centred in this region ; there were fascinating problems elsewhere, but none now which could compare wlth those of the western land. It was such considerations that made me resolve to go in this direction myself, and I determined that no effort should be spared to ensure success. Rarely, I think, has more time and attention been devoted to the preparation of a sledge journey than was given to this one. I rightly guessed that in many respects it was going to be the hardest task we had yet undertaken, but I knew also that our experience was now a thing that could be counted upon, and that it would take a good deal to stop a party of our determined, experienced sledge travellers. I am bound to confess that I have some pride in this journey. We met with immense difficulties, such as would have brought us hopelessly to grief in the previous year, yet 1903] THE WESTERN JOURNEY 163 now as veterans we steered through them with success ; and when all circumstances are considered, the extreme severity of the climate and the obstacles that stood in our path, I cannot but believe we came near the limit of possible performance. It is for this reason, and because the region in which much of our work lay was very beautiful and interesting, that I pro- pose to take the reader into the details of one more sledging excursion. The party with which I left the ship on October 12, 1903, numbered twelve members in all. It was really the combina- tion of three separate parties. First came my own advance party, which I had selected with great care, and which included our chief engineer, Skelton, our boatswain, Feather, and three men, Evans, Lashly, and Handsley; secondly, there was a small party for our geologist, Ferrar, with whom went two men, Kennar and Weller ; and thirdly, there were the supports, consisting of our carpenter, Dailey, and two other men, Williamson and Plumley. The original scheme was that the whole party should journey together to the summit of Victoria Land, and as far beyond as could be reached within a certain limit of time ; then the advance party should proceed and the remainder turn back. An absence of nine weeks was calculated for the advance party. The supports were to return direct to he ship, but stores were to be so arranged in the glacier depots that Ferrar was allowed an absence of six weeks in which to make a geological survey of the region. We started from the ship with four eleven-foot sledges, and with an outfit of permanent stores which the reader will find on referring to the chapter dealing with sledge equipment. Altogether our loads were a little over 200 lbs. per man; but most of us were in pretty hard condition by this time, and we found little difficulty in dragging such a weight. And so we started away with the usual cheers and good wishes, little thinking how soon we should be on board again. As I had determined that from first to last of this trip there should be hard marching, we stretched across over the forty- M 2 1644 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [ocr. five miles to New Habour at a good round pace, and by work- ing long hours succeeded in reaching the snow-cape on the near side early on the 14th—a highly creditable performance with such heavy loads. This snow-cape was in future to be known as ‘ Butter Point.’ It was here that on our return journey we could first hope to obtain fresh seal-meat, and, in preparation for this great event, a tin of butter was carried and left at this point for each party. And here I fall back on my diary as may be required to continue the thread of my tale. ‘ October 14.—Had to camp early to-night, as Dailey and Williamson are a bit seedy, probably a little overcome with the march. At supper the third member of this unlucky unit, Plumley, cut off the top of his thumb in trying to chop up frozen pemmican. He is quite cheerful about it, and has been showing the frozen detached piece of thumb to everyone else as an interesting curio. For the present we are comparatively comfortable ; the temperature has not been below —20°, and I do not expect anything lower till we get to the upper reaches of the glacier.’ On the 15th we struck the glacier snout well on its north side, and found, as I had guessed, an easy road ; from there on to the first incline of the glacier we crossed only mild undula- tions and had no difficulties with our sledges. It was extra- ordinary, after we had discovered and travelled over this easy route, to remember what a bogey it had been to us for more than twelve months. On the 16th we reached our spring depot under the Cathe- dral Rocks, and after picking it up and readjusting our loads, proceeded a few miles higher to a spot where Armitage had planted some sticks in the previous year to mark the move- ment of the glacier. We camped in gloriously fine weather, and I wrote: ‘To-night it is difficult to imagine oneself in a polar region. If one forgets for the moment that there is ice under foot, which it is not difficult to do as it is very dark in colour and there are many boulders close about us, one might 1903] ASCENDING FERRAR GLACIER 165 be in any climate, for nearly all around is dark bare rock. We are in a deep gorge, not narrow, as the glacier here is probably four or five miles across, but the cliffs on either side are so majestic and lofty that the broad surface of the glacier is wholly dwarfed by them. ‘We are on the south side of the valley, and towering precipitously between three and four thousand feet above our heads are the high sunlit pinnacles of the Cathedral Rocks; they were well named by Armitage, for their lofty peaks might well be the spires of some mighty edifice. Low down the rock itself is gneiss, I believe ; in colour a greyish black, but veined and splashed with many a lighter hue. The high weathered pinnacles have a rich brown shade ; this is basalt, which here directly overlies the gneiss. On the further side of our valley the hills rise almost as abruptly as on this ; reddish brown is the predominant colour there also, but where the sunlight falls on the steeper cliffs it is lightened almost to a brick red. A little snow can be seen amongst the peaks and gullies opposite to us, and here and there the sparkling white of some hanging glacier is in marked contrast to the rich tones of the bare rock. ‘We are camped in the medial moraine, a long scattered line of boulders of every form and colour. Looking east one can see this line winding down with graceful curves over the blue surface of the glacier, towards the sea; far away beyond is the ice-covered sea itself, pearly grey in the distance. One can follow this highway of boulders to the west too, till it vanishes over the undulating inclines above us; in this direction the glacier wears a formidable aspect, for in its centre is an immense cascade. It is exactly as though this was some river which had been suddenly frozen in its course, with the cascade to show where its waters had been dashing wildly over a rocky shallow; it is very beautiful, with its gleaming white waves and deep blue shadows, but we shall have to give it a wide berth when we travel upward. The upper valley is perhaps our most beautiful view ; the dark cliffs form a broad V and frame the cascading glacier, and 166 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ | [ocr. above it the distant solitary peak of the Knob Head Mountain and a patch of crimson sky.’ ‘ October 17.—We have been climbing upward all day, at first over a gentle incline on smooth, hard, glassy ice, where the sledges came very easily but unsteadily, skidding in all directions ; later the incline increased and the surface was roughened with tiny wavelets like those formed by a catspaw sweeping over a placid lake. We walked on without crampons, getting foothold in the hollow of these wavelets. Later still we came to a stiffer rise, and transverse cracks appeared across our path, growing more numerous and widening out as we ascended till we found ourselves crossing miniature crevasses lightly bridged with snow. We had to step across these, and often it meant a long step. In this manner we steered round to the north of the cascade, and by lunch-time had ascended almost to the higher basin of the glacier. ‘Immediately before lunch we had to get over a very stiff little bit, where the cracks were sometimes three or four feet across, and the ice very rough between ; it was heavy work getting the sledges up, and I rather feared someone would get a strain or sprain, but we all got over it in safety. In the afternoon, at a height of 4,500 feet, we topped the last rise that led to the glacier basin ; and then, on a surface covered with the usual tiny wavelets, and from which the cracks rapidly disappeared, we travelled over a stretch of seven or eight miles with a gradual fall of 600 or 700 feet, and at length reached a stream of enormous boulders which ran right across our track. This is what Armitage called the Knob Head Moraine. He was twenty-seven days out from the ship before he reached it ; we have got here in six. ‘The changes of scene throughout the day have been bewildering. Not one half-hour of our march has passed without some new feature bursting upon our astonished gaze. Certainly those who saw this valley last year did not exaggerate its grandeur—indeed, it would be impossible to do so. It is wonderfully beautiful. As we came up the lower gorge this morning, we passed from side to side with frowning cliffs a 1903] SCENIC GRANDEUR 167 towering over us on either hand ; ahead between these dark walls the sky, perhaps by contrast, looked intensely blue, and here and there in the valley floated a little wisp of feathery white cloud; again and again these appeared under some forbidding rock-face only to melt impalpably away. As we emerged into the great ice-basin we turned towards the north to face a new aspect of this wonderful country. ‘To describe the wildly beautiful scene that is about us to-night is a task that is far beyond my pen. Away behind us is the gorge by which we have come; but now above and beyond its splendid cliffs we can see rising fold on fold the white snow-clad slopes of Mount Lister. Only at the very top of its broad, blunt summit is there a sign of bare rock, and that is 11,000 feet above our present elevated position ; so clear is the air that one seems to see every wrinkle and crease in the rolling masses of névé beneath. ‘The great basin in which we are camped has four outlets. Opposite that by which we have come descends what we call the south-west arm; it is a prodigious ice-flow, but falls steeply and roughly between its rocky boundaries. Away ahead of us is the north-west arm; we have some twisting and turning to get to it, but shall eventually round a sharp corner and steer up it to the westward. To the right of this and ahead of us also is the north arm, which seems to descend sharply towards the sea. Besides these main outlets or inlets, there are some places to the west of us where smaller ice-flows fall into our basin with steep crevassed surfaces, and in many places around are lighter tributaries descending from the small local névé fields. But for the main part we are surrounded with steep, bare hillsides of fantastic and beautiful forms and of great variety in colour. The groundwork of the colour- scheme is a russet-brown, but to the west especially it has infinite gradations of shade, passing from bright red to dull grey, whilst here and there, and generally in banded form, occurs an almost vivid yellow. The whole forms a glorious combination of autumn tints, and few forests in their autumnal] raiment could outvie it. 168 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [ocr. ‘The most curious feature about us is the great mass of rock immediately in front. It appears to form two islands, for the great body of ice which occupies the basin seems to join again beyond it. Armitage called these islands the “Solitary Rocks” ; they are comparatively flat on top, and rich brown in colour, save where two broad bands of yellow run horizontally through them. These bands are so regular and uniform in thickness that one might almost imagine they had been painted on. Geologically all this should be of immense interest, for the bands which are broken off so sharply at the cliffs of these islands can be seen to appear again in the high hills beyond, and no doubt would appear everywhere if many of the hill- sides were not covered with loose rubble. The whole structure of the country seems to be horizontal, but exactly what the rocks are, we have not yet ascertained ; the brown is probably basalt, and the yellow, Ferrar hopes, is the sedimentary rock which he has found in the moraines.’ As Mr. Ferrar has added an appendix to this volume dealing with the geological formation of this interesting region, I shall in future omit all remarks of mine which bear on the subject. I have only included the foregoing to give some idea of the task which Ferrar had before him. Both before and after this he found in the various moraines a large variety of rocks—granites, gneisses, sandstone, quartz, &c.—but as this was all transported material it told very little. It was. only as we ascended this great glacier and saw the curious horizontal stratification of the hills that the problem gradually unfolded itself before him, and he arrived at some notion of the places to be visited when he commenced his investigations. It was on the night of the 17th, whilst we were still absorbed in the beauty and novelty of the scene about us, that the first cloud of trouble loomed above our horizon, for it was on this night the carpenter reported that the German silver had split under the runners of two of our sledges. As this matter was of the gravest import to us, it perhaps needs a little explanation. I have pointed out before that the wood runners of our sledges were quite capable of running on snow 1903] OUR SLEDGES BREAK DOWN 169 without protection ; on the hard, sharp ice, however, it was a different matter. In such circumstances, a wood runner would be knocked to pieces in a very few hours, especially if the sledge was heavily laden. At all hazards, therefore, it was necessary to protect our runners over this hard ice, but un- fortunately the German silver protection had already stood one season’s work, and this had worn it thin without giving any outward sign. We only found out how thin it had become when it gave out on this journey, and hence the troubles which I am about to describe were quite unexpected. From start to finish of the Ferrar Glacier there were about ninety miles in which hard ice might be expected, and the problem that soon came before us was how to get our sledges over this without damage. On the 17th I scarcely realised myself the full importance of the carpenter’s report, but on the 18th matters came to a crisis, as will be seen. ‘ October 18.—We got away early this morning, crossed the moraines and continued our ascent over hard, wavy ice. It was quite calm about us, with the temperature at about —20°, but a short distance ahead we could see the wind sweeping down from a gully on our left, carrying clouds of snowdrift. We did not at all like the look of this wind-swept area, but it had to be crossed, and we plunged into it after adjusting our wind-guards. It took us over an hour to get across, and several of us got badly frost-bitten, as immediately opposite the gully the wind was extraordinarily violent, and it was as much as we could do to hold up against it. Once past the gully, however, it was nearly calm and comparatively warm again ; by lunch-time we had reached a new meandering moraine, almost abreast of the Solitary Rocks, and had achieved a height of over 6,000 feet. ‘I, with my party, was some way ahead when I decided to camp, but the supports soon came up, bringing, alas! a woeful tale—another sledge had split its runners. ‘ After lunch I had all the sledges unpacked and the runners turned up for inspection, with horrid revelations. On two 170 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ §[0cr. sledges the German silver was split to ribbons and the wood deeply scored, a third was only in slightly better case, whilst the fourth still remained sound. I could see nothing for it but to return home ; if we had two sound sledges we might struggle on with the advance party, but with one we could do nothing. It was no use even discussing the matter—there was only one course; so we left the sound sledge with everything else except the half-week’s provisions necessary to take us back, and after crossing the windy area once more, we are now _ back at our old encampment in the Knob Head Moraine. It is a bitter disappointment to my hopes ; everything will have to be reorganised, and Heaven knows what sacrifices of time we shall have to make. However, there shall not be more than I can help, and things which have gone fast in the past, will positively have to fly in the future.’ On the following days we came as near flying as is possible with a sledge party. We had eighty-seven miles to cover on the morning of the 19th, when we were up and away with the first streak of dawn ; then we started our rush, at first up the slight incline to the summit of the pass, and then down through the steeper gorge towards the sea. We did not pause to pick a road, but went straight forward, scrambling as best we could over steep places and taking all obstacles in our stride. Once only we halted to snatch a hasty lunch, and then were off again over the rugged, slippery ice. That night we camped at sea level twenty-seven miles below our starting point. The next morning brought us a hard pull with our torn runners over the long stretch of rough snow-covered glacier tongue, but at lunch-time we had reached the end, and devoted an hour to stripping the broken, twisted metal from our sledges. By this time I had determined to test my own party to the utmost, but I did not see that the supporting people need be dragged into our effort ; so telling the latter that they might take their own time, I started away with my own detachment over the sea-ice towards the mouth of the inlet at the quickest pace we had yet attempted, When the brief night descended ee 1903} RLU RN FO THE SHIP 171 on us we camped with twenty-four miles to our credit for the day, and as our tents were being secured I looked round to find that the supporting party were still gallantly struggling on in our wake ; seeing our tents go up, they halted about a mile and a half behind us. At dawn on the 21st we were away once more, and stretch- ing out directly for the ship ; far away we could see Castle Rock and Observation Hill, small dots on the horizon. Hour after hour went by, but we never eased our pace till at our lunch hour we came on a fat seal and paused to eat our meal and to secure the certainty of a good supper from the animal that had been unwise enough to bask in our track. In the afternoon our home landmarks grew more distinct, and as the sun dipped we came on the last six miles of wind-tossed snow that skirted our peninsula. The semi-darkness found us struggling on over this uneven, difficult surface, but at half-past eight we were through and reached the ship, having covered thirty-six miles in the day. We had accomplished a record for which the glow of satis- faction that we felt was excusable ; but more was to follow, for later that night a shout of welcome announced that our undefeated supporting party had also struggled home. Ferrar soon told me his tale; at first they had not intended to come in at racing speed, but seeing the advance party striding off at such a pace, their feelings of emulation had been excited, and they had felt bound to follow. On camping behind us on the previous night they had determined to catch us in the early morning, but as they roused out with that intention they saw that we also were preparing to be off. Then followed the long march, when, despite all their efforts, the leading party grew more and more indistinct. It was not until late in the after- noon that they lost sight of us altogether, and then there could be no doubt of our intention to reach the ship before night. In spite of their lame and exhausted condition, they deter- mined to follow. Once or twice they had halted to brew tea to keep themselves going, but not one of them had suggested that the halt should be extended. In the hard struggle of the 172 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ §[ocr. last few hours some of the men had kept things going by occasionally indulging in some dry remark which caused every- one to laugh. Kennar’s attitude had been one of grieved astonishment ; presumably referring to me, he had kept repeat- ing, ‘If he can do it, I don’t see why I can’t: my legs are as long as his.’ And so it was that this party made the record march of all, for they started more than a mile behind us, and must have covered over thirty-seven miles in the day. In spite of our marching, it was a blow to be back in the ship so soon after we had made our first hopeful start, and, as can be imagined, I did not allow time to be wasted in pre- paring to be off again. Our carpenter was soon at work repairing the sledges with all the assistance that could be afforded him. Meanwhile I saw that it would be necessary to reorganise our arrangements. Without going into the reasons which guided me, I may say that I now thought the best scheme was for the advance party to start off on its own account, to pick up the glacier provisions, and to dispose of them on a new plan. I arranged that Ferrar should start with a small sledge of his own, and should be entirely indepen- dent ; but as he signified his wish to remain with us as long as possible, it was still a party of nine that started out on October 26, five days after our flying return. Our material for repair- ing sledges was very scanty, but at length out of the parts of various broken ones we had succeeded in producing one sound eleven-foot sledge for our own party and a short seven-foot one for Ferrar’s glacier work. With these we once more started to cross the long stretch of sea-ice to the mainland. ‘The night of the 27th found us at the end of the glacier tongue, and I. wrote: ‘ We can fairly claim to be in good marching condition, having crossed the strait at an average of over twenty-five miles a day. This morning we met a small group of Emperor penguins; they were going south towards the “ Eskers,” for what reason one cannot guess, travelling on their breasts and propelling them- selves with their powerful feet at a speed of at least five miles 1903] A FRESH START 173 an hour. Of course when they saw us they made in our direction, and when quite close stood up and squawked loudly. They watched us for some time with every manifestation of amazement, and then started to follow in our wake, but of this they soon tired, and resuming their old course to the south, were shortly out of sight.’ In preparation for our renewed struggle with the hard ice of the glacier, we had brought with us some under-runners shod with German silver, and at the glacier tongue we picked up all the scraps of this metal which we had formerly discarded. * October 28.—We are camped opposite Descent Pass after a hard day. This morning early we had a glorious view of the glacier valley. The sun shone brightly on the great gaunt cliffs which rose one above the other towards the inland, and every outline was sharp against the deep blue sky. Later, low sheets of stratus cloud spread across the valley and shimmered in the sunlight. ‘This afternoon a nimbus cloud crept in over our heads, bringing a trifling snowfall; the sun struggled against it, but for the time the valley was clothed in mists. ‘Troubles have already come upon us ; the under-runners of our sledge split on the first incline, and we had to take them off. The metal on one of the runners on which we now rely is badly laminated, and may go at any moment. These difficulties are very annoying, but I have determined to get to the top this time, even if we have to carry our loads.’ From this time on we had constant worries with these wretched runners. On the 2gth Ferrar’s small sledge gave out, and we had a long delay to get it into working order again. Notwithstanding this we got within a few hundred yards of the Knob Head Moraine before we called a halt for the night. On the broad surface of this glacier there were few places in which we could camp for want of snow to secure our tents ; for this reason we generally kept moderately close to the long lines of morainic boulders, as under the largest of these there was usually sufficient snow for our purpose. In a few places elsewhere we found a thin sheet or isolated patches, but this was not common. 174 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [ocr. On the night of the 29th we camped in a calm, with the sun shining brightly, and had a fair view of grand hills that surrounded the glacier basin, but now also we again observed a fact which was not so cheering. On each occasion when we were in this basin it was calm all about us, except in two regions where the wind evidently swept down with great and almost continuous violence. One of these was what we called the ‘ Vale of Winds,’ across which we had passed before, and the other was unfortunately the north-west arm, up which we proposed to go. We had never seen the latter without clouds of drift pouring down over its surface, and we shrewdly suspected that we were in for a pretty bad time when we reached it. ‘ October 30.—We have grown a little careless in leaving our things about outside the tent, and this morning we had a lesson. Our sleeping-bags, with socks, finneskoes, and other garments, lay scattered about on the ice whilst we were having breakfast, when suddenly the wind swept down on us; before we could move everything was skidding away over the surface of the ice. The moment we realised what was happening the tents were empty and we were flying over the ice as fast as we could after our lost garments. The incident would have been extremely funny had it not involved the possibility of such serious consequences. The sleeping-bags were well on towards the steep fall of the north arm before they were recovered, and by good luck the whole affair closed with the loss of only a few of the lighter articles. ‘As soon as we had struggled back against the heavy wind that was now blowing, we packed our sledges, put on our crampons, and started onward ; but by this time the wind had increased to a full gale, and we could hardly stand against it, so we steered to the westward to get under shelter. This brought us on a slope which gradually grew steeper till it ended in the perpendicular side of the glacier. Proceeding down as far as we thought safe, we entered the moraine and pitched our camp again. I do not know what to make of this moraine, which, starting from the side of the glacier, runs CSS ee 1903] DELAYED BY THE WIND 175 directly across it, and, after first rising for several hundred feet, descends again steeply down the north arm towards the sea.’ I may here mention that these crampons to which I refer were manufactured on board the ship ; those used in the previous year were voted wholly unsatisfactory, and gave rise to many blisters, whereupon our chief engineer took the matter in hand, and with the assistance of the boatswain produced an article which rendered us excellent service on this journey. Each crampon had two steel plates studded with mild steel spikes, one for the sole and the other for the heel ; the plates were riveted on to a canvas overall half-boot which could be put on over a finnesko and kept tight with thongs. The device was heavy, but as quite the best sort of thing in the circum- stances it is well worthy of imitation by future travellers in these regions. The moraine which at this time bewildered us so much was one of those signs of a former greater extension of the ice to which I shall refer in my final chapter. The wind kept us in this wretched moraine for two days— a tiresome delay—but we managed to get out for an hour or two and make an interesting excursion to the side of the glacier. After a short search we found a way by which, with some aid from a rope, we could climb down the steep ice-face and visit the land beyond. We afterwards found that the side of this glacier was more or less typical of other places. It must be understood that from the top of this wall the surface sloped rapidly up, whilst the bottom layer of ice would naturally have sloped down into the valley, so that in the middle the glacier must have been very many times as thick as at the side. The ice was curiously stratified ; the white part contained numerous air vesicles, the darker parts were in many cases due to included dirt, but a broad dark band running through the middle had no dirt in it at all—it was the cleanest ice we saw. A piece split off it was like the purest crystal without a sign of grit or air bubble to obstruct its perfect transparency. 176 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Nov. Between this ice-wall and the mountain side lay a deep trench, showing the smooth glassy surface of frozen thaw-water. The mountain side itself, except for one place lower down where there was an outcrop of red granite, was thickly strewn with boulders of every kind of rock which the region produced, whilst here and there could be seen enormous perched blocks ranging up to three or four hundred tons in weight. All this vast quantity of débris had evidently been carried by ice, and it was now that we first realised to what vastly greater limits our glacier had once extended, for these thickly strewn boulders covered the mountain side to a height of three thousand feet above our heads, where a horizontal line signi- fied their limit and the extent of the glacier at its maximum. ‘ November 1.—It was overcast and dull this morning, but the wind had fallen light and we decided to push on; although the air was comparatively still about us, close ahead the ‘ Vale of Winds ” was sending forth its snow-laden gusts as merrily as ever. Before we came to this unattractive area we passed two more carcases of Weddell seals ; the last was at the greatest altitude we have yet found one, nearly 5,000 feet above the sea ; it grows more than ever wonderful how these creatures can have got so far from the sea.’ We never satisfactorily explained this matter. The seal seems often to crawl to the shore or the ice to die, possibly from its instinctive dread of its marine enemies; but unless we had actually found these remains, it would have been past believing that a dying seal could have transported itself over fifty miles of rough steep glacier surface. ‘We got safely past the ‘‘ Vale of Winds” with only one or two frost-bites, and a few miles beyond found our depot with- out much difficulty. At first we thought that everything was intact, but a closer examination showed us that the lid of the instrument box had been forced open and that some of the contents were missing. Evidently there has been a violent gale since we were here before. When we came to count up the missing articles, we found that Skelton had lost his goggles and that one or two other trifles had disappeared ; but 1903] A HEAVY LOSS 177 before we could congratulate ourselves on escaping so lightly, I found to my horror that the “Hints to Travellers” had vanished, ‘The gravity of this loss can scarcely be exaggerated ; but whilst I realised the blow I felt that nothing would induce me to return to the ship a second time ; I thought it fair, however, to put the case to the others, and I am, as I expected, fortified by their willing consent to take the risks of pushing on.’ I must here explain what this loss signified. In travelling to the west, we expected to be, as indeed we were, for some weeks out of sight of landmarks. In such a case as this the sledge traveller is in precisely the same position as a ship or boat at sea: he can only obtain a knowledge of his where- abouts by observations of the sun or stars, and with the help of these observations he finds his latitude and longitude. To find the latitude from an observation of a heavenly body, how- ever, it is necessary to know the declination of that body, and to find the longitude one must have not only the declination, but certain logarithmic tables. In other words, to find either latitude or longitude, a certain amount of data is required. Now, all these necessary data are supplied in an excellent little publication issued by the Royal Geographical Society and called ‘ Hints to Travellers,’ and it was on this book that I was relying to be able to work out my sights and accurately fix the position of my party. When this book was lost, therefore, the reader will see how we were placed ; if we did not return to the ship to make good our loss, we should be obliged to take the risk of marching away into the unknown without exactly knowing where we were or how to get back. As will be seen, this last is precisely what happened, and if the loss of our ‘ Hints to Travellers’ did not lead us into serious trouble it caused me many a bad half-hour. ‘Having decided to push on, we lost as little time as possible in packing our sledges, and in the afternoon we were off once more, steadily ascending over the rough ice. The Solitary Rocks have fallen behind us, and our camp YOL. Il. N 178 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ | [Nov. to-night looks out on the broad amphitheatre above them where the glacier sweeps round from the upper reach. On our left is the Finger Mountain, a precipitous mass of rock showing the most extraordinary “fault” in that yellow-banded structure which now seems to surround us on every side.’ The reader will understand the significance of this fault from Mr. Ferrar’s notes on the Beacon Sandstone formation. ‘Finger Mountain forms the pivot about which the glacier turns, and the great difference in the level of the ice above and below the mountain is taken by two heavy broken falls. We are encamped under the lower and smaller one, but the upper, some three or four miles beyond, is a magnificent mass of twisted, torn ice-blocks. To-morrow we have to rise over these falls, but I propose to take a very roundabout way to avoid difficulties. ‘The scene behind us is glorious; we look down now on the great glacier basin with the dark rugged mountains that surround it, and far away beyond, the summit of Mount Lister shows above a bank of twisted sunlit cloud. But, alas! pleasant as it is to look at this beautiful scene, trouble is never far from us, and this afternoon we have had our full share. First one sledge-runner gave out and then another, and we arrived at camp with three out of four disabled. Now, however, there is a fixed determination in the party to get through somehow, and each difficulty only serves to show more clearly their resourcefulness, This particular trouble has called on the metal workers, and no sooner had we halted and un- packed the sledges than Skelton and Lashly were hard at work with pliers, files, and hammers stripping off the torn metal and lapping fresh pieces over the weak places. They have estab- lished a little workshop in this wild spot, and for hours the scrape of the file and the tap of the hammer have feebly broken the vast silence. ‘We have hopes of the lapping process which is now being | effected, but it needs very careful fitting ; each separate piece of metal protection is made to overlap the piece behind it, like slates on a roof! I should doubt whether such work could 1903] WIND FROM THE SUMMIT 179 be done by people unaccustomed to dealing with these matters.’ ‘Vovember 2.—This morning it was perfectly calm and still, with a bright sun and the temperature at +2°. There was little difficulty in finishing off our repairing work, and when the sledges were ready we started to march upwards again. _ ©We steered well to the eastward to make a wide circuit of Finger Mountain and its dangerous ice-falls, and on this course gradually approached the northern limit of the great amphi- theatre beyond. The precipitous mountains that fringe this limit show in the clearest and most beautiful manner the horizontal stratification of their rocks, and now there can be no doubt that this simple, banded structure is common to the whole region about us, and that the sharp clear lines of the strata are singularly free from faulting. ‘In ascending we gradually passed from hard ice to snow. Apparently there is a considerable snowfall in this amphi- theatre ; it has made our pulling much harder, but, on the other hand, it saves our sledge-runners from injury, and the more we can get of it the better we shall be pleased. After lunch we passed on to ice again, and the wind sprang up. Coming at first in eddying gusts, it increased with great rapidity, and very soon we were all getting frost-bitten. It was obviously desirable to camp as soon as possible, but never a patch of snow could be seen, and we pushed on with all haste towards the base of the mountains and the fringing moraines of the glacier. We had to search long amongst the latter before we could find the least sign of snow, and when at length we found some, it was so hard that it took us nearly an hour to get our tents up. ‘ We are now at the base of the upper glacier reach. From here it rises directly to the inland, and it is over this broad surface that the wind seems to sweep perpetually. The whole valley is very ugly with wind and driving snow, and there cannot be a doubt that this is its usual condition, and that we shall have a hard fight with the wind in our teeth; it will be no child’s play battling with this icy blast from the summit. N2 180 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ | [Nov. We have had a foretaste of it this afternoon, and at the present moment it is straining our threadbare tent in no reassuring manner.’ On the following day the wind was as strong as ever, but we knew it was useless to wait, so pushed on once more. For a brief half-hour we got some shelter in a curious horseshoe bay which we entered to repair Ferrar’s sledge-runners. Here the cliffs rose perpendicularly, and immediately above our heads the broad band of sandstone ran with perfect uniformity around the whole bay. On rising to the open glacier again, I struck off for the south side, hoping to get better conditions, and with very happy results, for shortly after lunch we walked out of the wind as easily as we had walked into it on the previous day. And now I made an error, for I started from this point to ascend directly upward. It is impossible to describe all the turns and twists which were taken by this glacier, or to mention the numerous undulations and disturbances which obliged us constantly to alter our course from side to side, but it must not be imagined that our route was all plain sailing and easy travelling. From a very early time we saw that it was desirable to map out our course a long way ahead, and to do so with reference to the various land masses so as to avoid disturbances which we could not see, but at which we guessed. I mention this matter because it impressed on us a golden rule for travelling in this region, which was, ‘ Always take a long sweep round corners.’ We were often tempted to break this rule when a shorter road looked easy, but we never did so without suffering. It was an error of this nature that I made on the afternoon of the 3rd, and which after an hour’s work landed us in sucha dangerously crevassed region that we were very glad to struggle back by the way we had come. The note I made at this time may perhaps be quoted: ‘The whole of this glacier can be made easy by taking the right course—a course such as a steamer takes in rounding the bends of a river. The tempta- tion to cut corners is excessive, but it is always a mistake. By walking round obstructions such as cascades, not only does ee 1903] AN EVENTFUL DAY 181 one avoid danger to life and limb, but also the chance of relay work, which alone would allow the longer distance to be three times as far, without loss of time. ‘Whilst we were in difficulties this afternoon there occurred one of those extraordinary climatic changes which are such a menace to sledge travellers. The cold had been so intense that we had been walking all day in our wind clothes and with our heaviest head-gear ; but now we suddenly found ourselves perspiring freely, and within half an hour we had stripped off our outer garments, and the majority were walking bare- headed.’ That night we camped in gloriously fine weather, after crossing to the south side of the glacier and finding another long stream of boulders. Here we had our usual trouble in repairing our battered, torn runners; and, to add to this annoyance we had come to the end of our scraps of metal, nails, and everything else necessary for repairing work. It was evident that we could not stand many more miles of this rough ice, and that it would be touch-and-go whether we ever reached the snow above without having to carry our belongings. We had now attained a height of 7,000 feet, and whilst the summits of the mountains on each side still stood high above our level, they no longer overawed us or conveyed that sense of grandeur which we had felt so keenly at our former camps. The majestic cliffs of the lower valley were beneath us, and we gazed over the top of many a lesser summit to the eastward. To the west the glacier still wound its way upward, and we saw that there was a stiff climb yet to come; but already the character of the valley was altering, the boundary cliffs were cut by the broad channels of tributary glaciers, the masses of dark, bare rock were becoming detached and isolated, whilst the widening snowfields were creeping upward with the ever- increasing threat to engulf all beneath their white mantle. November 4 was such an eventful day that I quote its incidents from my diary : ‘Started in bright sunshine, but with a chill, increasing wind in our teeth, At first we made good progress over hard, 182 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Nov. smooth ice, but soon came to a broad field of snow where a large tributary entered the main ice-stream. It was heavy pulling across this snow with our ragged runners, and to add to our discomfort, the wind swept down the side valley with the keenest edge. Beyond this valley lay the ‘“‘ Depot Nunatak,” a huge mass of columnar basalt, and at length we were able to get our breath beneath its shelter. Here Evans told me that one of his feet was “gone.” He was foolishly wearing a single pair of socks in remembrance of the warm march of yesterday. As soon as we had got his unruly member back to life we proceeded. ‘Ahead of us there showed up an immense and rugged ice-fall, one of those by which the glacier signifies its entrance into the valley ; at this I knew the bare blue ice would come to an end, and with it our difficulties with the sledge-runners, so I determined to push on to the foot of this fall before camping. The way led up a steep crevassed slope of rough, blue ice, and before we had even reached this slope the weather assumed a most threatening aspect. The sun was obscured by stratus cloud, which drifted rapidly overhead, and the wind momentarily increased. We went on at our best speed, but when we were half-way up the bare icy slope, which proved much longer than I had expected, the full force of the gale burst upon us, and the air became thick with driving snow. ‘We pushed on almost at a run to reach the summit of the slope, and then started to search in every direction for a camping spot. By this time things were growing serious, everyone was badly frost-bitten in the face, and it was evident that the effects might be very ugly if we did not find shelter soon. I shall not forget the next hour in a hurry ; we went from side to side searching vainly for a patch of snow, but everywhere finding nothing but the bare blue ice. The runners of our sledges had split again, so badly that we could barely pull them over the rough surface ; we dared not leave them in the thick drift, and every minute our frost-bites were increasing. At last we saw a white patch, and made a rush for it; it proved to be snow indeed, but so ancient and wind-swept that it was almost 1903] A WEEK IN CAMP 183 as hard as the solid ice itself. Nevertheless, we knew it was this or nothing, and in a minute our tents and shovels were hauled off the sledges, and we were digging for dear life. ‘I seized the shovel myself, for my own tent-party, but found that I could not make the least impression on the hard surface. Luckily, at this moment the boatswain came to my relief, and managing the implement with much greater skill, succeeded in chipping out a few small blocks. Then we tried to get up the tent, but again and again it and the poles were blown flat ; at last the men came to our assistance, and with our united efforts the three tents were eventually erected. All this had taken at least an hour, and when at length we found shelter it was not a moment too soon, for we were thoroughly exhausted, and fingers and feet, as well as faces, were now freezing. As soon as possible we made a brew of tea, which revived us greatly ; afterwards we got our sleeping- bag in, and since that we have been coiled up within it. ‘The temperature to-night is —24°, and it is blowing nearly a full gale ; it is not too pleasant lying under the shelter of our thin, flapping tent under such conditions, but one cannot help remembering that we have come mighty well out of a very tight place. Nothing but experience saved us from disaster to-day, for I feel pretty confident that we could not have stood another hour in the open.’ Whilst we congratulated ourselves on the fortunate manner in which, in the nick of time, we had been able to find shelter in this camp, we little thought of the dismal experience that we were to suffer before we left it. It was Wednesday, November 4, when we pitched our tents so hurriedly; it was Wednesday, November 11, before we resumed our march ; and if I were asked to name the most miserable week I have ever spent, I should certainly fix on this one. Throughout this whole time the gale raged unceasingly ; if the wind lulled for a few brief minutes, it was to return with redoubled violence immediately after. Meanwhile not a vision of the outer world came to us; we were enveloped continuously in a thick fog of driving snow. 184 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ §[Nov. It is difficult to describe such a time; twenty-two hours out of each twenty-four we spent in our sleeping-bags, but regularly in the morning and in the evening we rolled these up, prepared and ate a hot meal, and then once more sought the depths of the bag. To sleep much was out of the question, and I scarcely know how the other long hours went. In our tent we had one book, Darwin’s delightful ‘Cruise of the “ Beagle,”’ and sometimes one or another would read this aloud until our freezing fingers refused to turn the pages. Often we would drop into conversation, but, as can be imagined, the circumstances were not such as to encourage much talking, and mest of the commoner topics were thread- bare by the end of the week. Sometimes we would gaze up at the fluttering green canvas overhead, but this was not inspiriting. I find I have written a great deal in my diary, obviously as an occupation ; but the combination of all such things was far from filling a whole day, and therefore for the greater part of the time we lay quite still with our eyes open doing nothing and simply enduring. Communication between tents was only possible in the lulls; we therefore watched for these eagerly, and in the quietest, rushed round to shout greetings and learn how our comrades fared. One task only we were able to perform throughout the time, and that on the first day of our imprisonment, when, thinking all would soon blow over, we hauled our sledges beneath one of the tents and stripped the German silver ready for the onward march. At first, of course, we went to sleep each night with the comforting hope that the next morning would see a change for the better; but as day followed day without improvement, it was impossible to cherish this hope. And yet I do not believe we ever grew despondent ; the feeling that there must be a change if we had the patience to wait, never left us. By the fifth day of our imprisonment, however, sleep threatened to desert us, and matters in general began to take a more serious aspect. Our sleeping-bags were getting very icy ; some complained that they could no longer keep their feet eet 1903] A DASH FOR THE SUMMIT 185 warm in them, and there could be no doubt that the long inactivity was telling on our circulation and health. On the evening of this day, therefore, realising that things were beginning to go badly for us, I determined that whatever the conditions might be, we would make an attempt to start on the following morning. ‘To show the result of this attempt I again have recourse to my diary. * November 10.—Before breakfast this morning we shifted our foot-gear ready for the march, and during a lull the boat- swain and I dug out our sledges and provisions. After break- fast the wind came down on us again, but we went out to complete our work. In ten minutes we were back in the tent ; both my hands were ‘‘ gone,” and I had to be assisted in nursing them back. Skelton had three toes and the heel of one foot badly frost-bitten, and the boatswain had lost all feeling in both feet. One could only shout an occasional inquiry to the other tents, but I gather their inmates are in pretty much the same condition. I think the wind and drift have never been quite so bad as to-day, and the temperature is —20°. Things are looking serious ; I fear the long spell of bad weather is telling on us. The cheerfulness of the party is slowing waning; I heard the usual song from Lashly this morning, but it was very short-lived and dolorous. Luck is not with us this trip, and yet we have worked hard to make things go right. Something must be done to-morrow, but what it will be, to morrow only can show. Weller complained of feeling giddy to-day, but Ferrar says it is because he eats too fast. *‘ November 11.—Thank heaven we have broken away from our “ Desolation Camp ” at last. It is impossible to describe how awful the past week has been; it is a “nightmare” to remember. When we turned out this morning there was a lull, but the air was still as thick as a hedge. We hurried over breakfast, dreading each moment that the wind would return, then we bundled everything on to the sledges anyhow, seized our harness and were away. I had just time to give a few directions to Ferrar, who turned back to seek shelter under 186 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Nov. the Depot Nunatak. Then we started for the icefall, and since that we have got to the top, but how, I don’t quite know, nor can I imagine how we have escaped accident. On start- ing we could not see half-a-dozen yards ahead of us; within a hundred yards of the camp we as nearly as possible walked into an enormous chasm ; and when we started to ascend the slope we crossed any number of crevasses without waiting to see if the bridges would bear. I really believe that we were in a state when we none of us really cared much what happened ; our sole thought was to get away from that miserable spot. ‘At the top of the slope, after ascending nearly 500 feet, we passed suddenly out of the wind, which we could still see sweeping down the valley behind us, and here we halted for lunch, after which all six of us got in one tent whilst the other was hauled in for repairs, which it badly needed after its late ill-usage. While we were chatting over this work, it would have been difficult to recognise us as the same party which had started under such grim circumstances in the morning.’ We rose nearly 700 feet on the 11th, and over another steep fall of about the same height on the rath, but the 13th found us on a more gradual incline, and at the end of the day we camped with our aneroids showing an elevation of 8,900 feet above the sea. We had at length won our fight and reached the summit. We had nearly five weeks’ pro- visions in hand, and I felt that things would go hard if we could not cover a good many miles before we returned to the glacier. During these few days the weather had been overcast and dull, but on the 14th it cleared, and we got a good view of our surroundings. We found ourselves on a great snow-plain, with a level horizon all about, but above this to the east rose the tops of mountains, many of which we could recognise. Directly to the east and to the north-east only the extreme summits of the higher hills could be seen, but to the south-east Mount Lister and the higher peaks of the Royal Society Range still showed well above our level. It was a fortunate view, for it gave me a chance of fixing our latitude by bearings and of 1903] HARD CONDITIONS 187 noting the appearance of objects which would be our leading marks on returning to the glacier. The latitude also assisted me in putting into execution a plan which I had thought out, and which, though it is some- what technical, I give for the benefit of explorers who may be in like case in future. I have already mentioned the loss of the tables necessary for working out our observations, and the prospect which lay before us of wandering over this great snow-plain without knowing exactly where we were. The matter had naturally been much in my thoughts, and whilst I saw that there was no hope of working out our longitudes till we got back to the ship, it occurred to me that we might gather some idea of our latitude if I could improvise some method of ascertaining the daily change in the sun’s declination. With this idea I carefully ruled out a sheet of my note- book into squares with the intention of making a curve of the sun’s declination. I found on reflection that I had some data for this curve, for I could calculate the declination for certain fixed days, such as the day when the sun had returned to us, and the day when it first remained above our horizon at mid- night ; other points were given by observations taken at known latitudes on the glacier. To make a long story short, I plotted all these points on my squared paper, and joined them with a freehand curve of which T have some reason to be proud, for on my return to the ship I found it was nowhere more than 4’ in error. On the journey I did not place so much reliance on my handiwork as it deserved, for there is no doubt it gave us our latitude with as great an accuracy as we needed at the time, We had scarcely reached the summit of the ice-cap and started our journey to the west, when troubles began to gather about us once more. Our long stay in ‘ Desolation Camp’ had covered our sleeping-bags and night-jackets with ice, and now the falling temperature gave this ice little or no chance to evaporate, so that our camping arrangements were attended with discomforts from which there seemed little prospect of relief. Each night the thermometer fell a trifle lower, until on 188 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Nov. the 16th it had reached — 44°, and although it rose slightly in the daytime, the general conditions of our work were such as we had experienced on the spring journeys at sea level. The snow surface in places became extremely hard and slippery, so that we were obliged to wear crampons, and between the hard patches lay softer areas through which we had the greatest difficulty in dragging our sledges. But the worst feature of our new conditions was the continuous wind; it was not a heavy wind—probably its force never much exceeded 3 or 4 in the Beaufort scale—but, combined with the low temperature and the rarefied air, its effect was blighting. It blew right in our teeth, and from the first it was evidently not the effect of temporary atmospheric disturbance, but was a permanent con- dition on this great plateau. I do not think that it would be possible to conceive a more cheerless prospect than that which faced us at this time, when on this lofty, desolate plateau we turned our backs upon the last mountain peak that could remind us of habitable lands. Yet before us lay the unknown. What fascination lies in that word ! Could anyone wonder that we determined to push on, be the outlook ever so comfortless ? And so we plodded on to the west, working long hours and straining at our harness with all our strength, but in spite of every effort our progress became slower. Up to the 17th we kept a fairly good pace, but on the 18th and 1oth there was a visible slackening. By this time we had divided our sledges ; Feather, Evans, and I pulled one of them, whilst Skelton, Handsley, and Lashly pulled the other. It was customary for my sledge to pull ahead whilst the other followed as best it _ could, but soon I found that the second sledge was only keeping up with the greatest difficulty, and it was borne in on me that the excessive strain of our labour was beginning to tell on the party. The realisation of this fact placed me in a rather amusing but awkward predicament, because, whilst I knew my own strength was unimpaired, I was forced to admit that some of my companions were failing, and in order to find out which of 1903] FEELING THE STRAIN 189 them it was, I was obliged to keep a constant watch on their actions. As was natural with such men, not one of them would own that he was ‘done’; they had come to see the thing through, and they would have dropped in their tracks sooner than give in. And so it was only by the keenest attention, and by playing the somewhat unattractive part of a spy, that I could detect those who from sheer incapacity were relaxing their strain on the traces. Even when the knowledge came to me, my position seemed no clearer, for how could I tell these lion-hearted people that they must turn back? Thus it came about that all six of us marched onward, though I knew that progress would have been bettered had the party been divided. But this state of affairs came to a climax on the 2oth, as the following extract shows : ‘We have struggled on some miles to-day, but only with difficulty. Late last night Handsley came to me to ask if there was anything in the medical bag to relieve a sore throat ; of course there was nothing. I asked his tent-mates about it, and they told me that for some time he had suffered from his chest, and that on getting up in the morning he had been un- able to speak. This morning he could only answer my ques- tions in a whisper, but declared that he was feeling perfectly fit and quite up to pulling all day. I didn’t like the look of things, but we pushed on. After about two hours, however, Skelton ranged alongside to say that Handsley had broken down ; it appears that the rear sledge party is finding it terribly hard work to keep up with us, and Handsley has been overstraining himself in attempting to do so. We camped and had lunch, after which Handsley said he felt sure he could go on, so we packed up, but this time I put all hands on a single sledge, marched it out about three miles, and leaving Handsley to pitch camp, went back to fetch the other one. This sort of thing won’t do at all, but what is one to do? ‘Handsley came to me to-night to beg that he might not be made an example of again. I tried to explain that I had no intention of reflecting on his conduct, but apparently 190 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Nov. nothing will persuade him but that his breakdown is in the nature of disgrace. What children these men are! and yet what splendid children! They won’t give in till they break down, and then they consider their collapse disgraceful. The boat- swain has been suffering agonies from his back ; he has been pulling just behind me, and in some sympathy that comes through the traces I have got to know all about him, yet he has never uttered a word of complaint, and when he knows my eye is on him he straightens up and pretends he is just as fit as ever. What is one to do with such people ?’ ‘ November 21.— . . . There was nothing for it this morn- ing but to go on with relay work. We started over heavy sastrugi, but soon came to a space where there was a smooth glazed crust, which made travelling easier. The wind blows continuously from the W.S.W., and the temperature has not been above —30° all day; conditions could not be more horrid. Handsley is better, but our whole day’s work has only yielded four or five miles. Whatever disappointment it may entail, we cannot go on like this.’ ‘ November 22.—After a night’s cogitation, I determined this morning on a separation of our party. Till lunch we went on in the usual order, but at that meal I was obliged to announce my decision. Those told off to return took it extremely well ; they could not disguise their disappointment, but they all seemed to understand that it had to be. The boatswain was transferred to the other tent, and Lashly to mine. After lunch the whole party manned our single sledge and marched out with us for two hours, then as the sky looked threatening, the three returning members turned back to seek their own camp, whilst I and my chosen two marched steadily on to the west.’ We had now lost sight of landmarks for several days, and were marching as straight a course as we could, principally with the aid of a small steering dial such as I described as being in use on our southern journey. The error of our compass had passed from east to west, and was nearly at its maximum of 180° ; although I could not calculate it accurately 1903] MY TWO REMAINING COMPANIONS IgI at the time, I could get a good idea of its amount by observing the direction in which the sun reached its greatest altitude. The reader will see that from a magnetic point of view this was a very interesting region. We were directly south of the south magnetic pole, and the north end of our compass needle was pointing towards the South (geographical) Pole. To show what a practical bearing this reversal of the compass had, I may remark that in directing Skelton on his homeward track to the eastward, I told him to steer due west by the compass card. It is only on this line or the similar one which joins the northern poles that such an order could be given, and we were not a little proud of being the first to experience this distinctly interesting physical condition in the Southern Hemisphere. From the date on which, so reluctantly, I decided that some of my party should turn homeward, there followed for us who remained, three weeks of the hardest physical work that I have ever experienced, and yet three weeks on which I cannot but look with unmixed satisfaction, for I do not think it would have been possible to have accomplished more in the time. I have little wonder when I remember the splendid qualities and physique of the two men who remained with me by such a severe process of selection. Evans was a man of Herculean strength, very long in the arm and with splendidly developed muscles. He had been a gymnastic instructor in the Navy, and had always been an easy winner in all our sports which involved tests of strength. He weighed 12 st. ro lbs. in hard condition. Lashly, in appearance, was the most deceptive man I have ever seen. He was not above the ordinary height, nor did he look more than ordinarily broad, and yet he weighed 13 st. 8 lbs., and had one of the largest chest measurements in the ship. He had been a teetotaller and non-smoker all his life, and was never in anything but the hardest condition. My own weight at this time was about 11 st. 6 lbs. ; it fell so far short of the others that I felt I really did not deserve such a large food allowance, though I continued to take my full share. 192 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ §[Nov. With these two men behind me our sledge seemed to become a living thing, and the days of slow progress were numbered. We took the rough and the smooth alike, working patiently on through the long hours with scarce a word and never a halt between meal and meal. Troubles and discom- forts were many, and we could only guess at the progress we made, but we knew that by sticking to our task we should have our reward when our observations came to be worked out on board the ship. We were now so far from the edge of the plateau that our circumstances and conditions were such as must obtain over the whole of this great continental area at this season of the year. It is necessary, therefore, to give some description of them. I used to read my aneroid with great regularity, and I find that the readings vary from 20‘2 in. to 22°1 in., but both of these limits were under exceptional atmcspheric conditions. By far the greater number of readings lie between 21°1 and 21°6 inches, and these differences were due to change of level to some extent, but, as will be seen, they do not admit of any considerable change in level. It was evident to us as we travelled onward that there were undulations in the plain ; we could sometimes see the shadow of a rise and sometimes a marked depression, but these variations were so slight and so confused that we could make little of them, until we recognised a connection between them and the occurrence of the sastrugz. We then came to see that the summits and eastern faces of undulations were quite smooth with a very curious scaly con- dition of surface, whilst the hollows and the western faces were deeply furrowed with the wind. On our track, therefore, we met with great differences of surface. For long stretches we travelled over smooth glazed snow, and for others almost equally long we had to thread our way amongst a confused heap of sharp waves. I have rarely, if ever, seen higher or more formidable sastrugi than we crossed on this plateau. For instance, on November 24 I wrote: ‘At first there were lanes of glazed surface leading to the W.S.W., but afterwards 1903] LOW SUMMER TEMPERATURES 193 these disappeared, and we struggled over a sea of broken and distorted snow-waves. We were like a small boat at sea: at one moment appearing to stand still to climb some wave, and at the next diving down into a hollow. It was distressing work, but we stuck to it, though not without frequent capsizes, which are likely to have a serious effect on our stock of oil, for I fear a little is lost with each upset.’ Regularly each night, when the sun was low in the south, the temperature fell to —40° or below, whilst during the marching hours it rarely rose much above — 25°, and with this low temperature we had a constant wind. At first it blew from the W. by S., and it was in this direction that most of the hard high sas¢vugi pointed, but we noticed that it was gradually creeping to the southward. Before we left the plateau it had gone to S.W. by W., and now and again it became still more southerly and brought a light snowfall which formed fresh waves in the new direction. There can be little doubt, I think, that the wind blows from west to east across this plateau throughout the winter, and often with great violence, as the high snow-waves showed. What the temperature can be at that season is beyond guess- ing, but if the thermometer can fall to —40° in the height of summer, one can imagine that the darker months produce a terrible extremity of cold. On November 26 I wrote: ‘The wind is the plague of our lives. It has cut us to pieces. We all have deep cracks in our nostrils and cheeks, and our lips are broken and raw; our fingers are also getting in a shocking state ; one of Evans’s thumbs has a deep cut on either side of the nail which might have been made by a heavy slash with a knife. We can do nothing for this as long as we have to face this horrid wind. We suffer most during the first half-hour of the morning march before we have warmed up to the work, as then all these sore places get frost-bitten. There is a good deal of pain also in the tent at night, and we try to keep our faces as still as possible ; laughing is a really painful process, and so from this point of view jokes are not to be encouraged. The worst task of ail is WOE A > i> O i 194 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Nov. the taking of observations. I plant the theodolite as close as possible to the tent to gain what shelter I can, but it is im- possible to get away from the wind, which punishes one badly at such times.’ ‘ November 28.—To-day we have a new development in the weather. The sky has been overcast with a bank of stratus cloud ; the light has been very bad, and we have had the usual difficulty under such conditions in keeping our course. This is really serious. At this altitude I had expected at least the single advantage of a clear sky, but if we are to have over- cast weather, our return journey will be a difficult matter. I almost thought of stopping to-day, but reflecting that days of this sort cannot be common, I resolved to push on to the appointed date.’ ‘ November 29.—Started in moderately bad light, but in half an hour struggled through sas¢vug7 to a decent surface and did a long march. Stopped for a minute or two to dig down in an apparent crevass, but found, as I expected, that the resemblance was superficial We have not seen a crack, crevass, or sign of ice-disturbance since we reached the summit. ‘Our finneskoes are getting very worn. Evans has had to take to his spare pair, but Lashly and I still have ours in reserve. One of the pair I am using, however, is scarcely good for more than two or three marches. We are all in excellent condition and health: not a sign of the scurvy fiend has appeared, though I watch narrowly for it.’ ‘ Wovember 30.—We have finished our last outward march, thank heaven! Nothing has kept us going during the past week but the determination to carry out our original intention Oi going on to the end of the month, and so here we have pitched our last camp. We made an excellent march in the forenoon, and started well after lunch, when we could see the sun gleaming on a more than ordinarily steep incline ahead. I altered course a little to take it square, and soon we were amongst heavy sastrug?. I think it must have taken an hour and a half to struggle through. It is not that it reduces our 1903] OUR LAST OUTWARD MARCH 195 _ pace so much, but it shakes us up dreadfully; falls are constant, and the harness frequently brings up with a heavy jerk, which is exasperating to a tired man. At last we got through, and found on looking back that we must have descended into a hollow, as the horizon was above us on all sides. Ahead the slope was quite smooth, and, in spite of all the dreary monotony of the plain we have crossed, I felt distinctly excited to know what we should see when we got to the top. I knew it was the end of our effort, and my imagination suggested all sorts of rewards for our long labours. Perhaps there would be a gradual slope downward, perhaps more mountains to indicate a western coast for Victoria Land. ‘Greenland, I remembered, would have been crossed in many places by such a track as we have made. I thought, too, what a splendid thing it would be to find a coast in this way. All very vain imaginings, of course, for after 200 miles of changeless conditions there was a poor chance indeed of find- ing a difference in the last one. But so it was. I journeyed up this slope with lively hopes, and had a distinct sense of disappointment when, on reaching the summit, we saw nothing beyond but a further expanse of our terrible plateau. ‘Here, then, to-night we have reached the end of our tether, and all we have done is to show the immensity of this vast plain. ‘The scene about us is the same as we have seen for many a day, and shall see for many a day to come—a scene so wildly and awfully desolate that it cannot fail to impress one with gloomy thoughts. I am not an imaginative person, but of late all sorts of stupid fancies have come into my mind. The sas¢vwgi now got on my nerves; they are shaped like the barbs of a hook with their sharp points turned to the east, from which direction many look high and threatening, and each one now seems to suggest that, however easy we may have found it to come here, we shall have a very different task in returning. ‘But, after all, it is not what we see that inspires awe, but the knowledge of what lies beyond our view. We see only a few miles of ruffled snow bounded by a vague wavy horizon, 02 196 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Nov. but we know that beyond that horizon are hundreds and even © thousands of miles which can offer no change to the weary eye, while on the vast expanse that one’s mind conceives one knows there is neither tree nor shrub, nor any living thing, nor even inanimate rock—nothing but this terrible limitless expanse of snow. It has been so for countless years, and it will be so for countless more. And we, little human insects, have started to crawl over this awful desert, and are now bent on crawling back again. Could anything be more terrible than this silent, wind-swept immensity when one thinks such thoughts P ‘Luckily, the gloom of the outer world has not been allowed to enter the door of our tent. My companions spare no time for solemn thought ; they are invariably cheerful and busy. Few of our camping hours go by without a laugh from Evans and a song from Lashly. I have not quite penetrated the latter yet; there is only one verse, which is about the plucking of a rose. It can scarcely be called a finished musical performance, but I should miss it much if it ceased. ‘We are all very proud of our march out. I don’t know where we are, but I know we must be a long way to the west from my rough noon observation of the compass variation ; besides which we cannot have marched so many hours without covering a long distance. We have been discussing this matter at supper, and wondering whether future explorers will travel further over this inhospitable country. Evans remarked that if they did they “ would have to leg it,” and indeed I think they would,’ 1903] 197 CHAPTER XVIII RETURN FROM THE WEST Returning over the Great Plateau—Doubts about Provisions and Oil--- Harrowing Effect of Fresh Snowfall—Thick Weather—No Sight of Landmarks—Sudden Descent into Glacier—Escape from a Crevasse— Exploration of North Arm—A Curious Valley—Return to the Ship-— Results of other Sledging Efforts— Ferrar’s Journey — Barne’s Journey—Royds’ Journey—Shorter Journeys—Review of Sledging Work. Ceaseless frost round the vast solitude Bound its broad zone of stillness. SHELLEY. THE interior of Victoria Land must be considered the most desolate region in the world. There is none other that is at once so barren, so deserted, so piercingly cold, so wind-swept or so fearsomely monotonous. I have attempted to give some idea of it in the last chapter, but I feel that my pen has poorly expressed the awe-inspiring nature of its terrible solitude. Nevertheless, when the reader considers its geographical situation, its great elevation, and the conditions to which we were subjected while travelling across it, he will, I think, agree that there can be no place on earth that is less attractive. For me the long month which we spent on the Victoria Land summit remains as some vivid but evil dream. I have a memory of continuous strain on mind and body lightened only by the unfailing courage and cheerfulness of my companions. From first to last the month was a grim struggle with adversity, and never a trouble was overcome but some fresh one arose, until an ever-increasing load of anxiety was suddenly 198 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Dzc. and finally removed. Thus it was that on turning homeward on December 1, whilst we enjoyed the relief of having the biting wind at our back, new difficulties soon appeared. Scarcely had we started our return march when the weather again grew overcast, and, though we struggled on for the first part of the day, the sky eventually became so gloomy that we were forced to camp and sacrifice more than an hour of the afternoon. On December 2, this sort of thing was still worse and landed us at one time in what seemed a most serious position, as my diary shows : ‘We started at seven o’clock this morning, the sky very overcast, but the sun struggling through occasionally. All went well until ten o’clock, when the sun vanished and the light became shockingly bad. We plunged on for an hour amongst high sastrug?; our sledge capsized repeatedly and we ourselves sprawled in all directions. At length we could see nothing at all, and our falls became so frequent and heavy that I felt that we were running too great a risk of injury to our limbs, and that there was nothing for it but to camp. So here we are in our sleeping-bag in the middle of the marching-hours, and I don’t like the look of things at all. We are about seventeen marches out from the glacier, but of course this includes the days when, with full numbers, we did poor distances. We have something over fourteen days’ full rations left, and perhaps twelve days’ oil allowance. If we 'could get clear weather, I believe we have not over-estimated our marching powers in supposing we can cover the longer daily distance required to reach the safety of the glacier, but this overcast weather puts an entirely new complexion on the matter ; it is quite clear that we cannot afford delay. I don’t like to think of half rations ; we are all terribly hungry as it is, and I feel sure that we cannot cut down food without losing our strength. I try to think that at this altitude there cannot be long spells of overcast weather, but I cannot forget that if this condition should occur frequently we shall be in “‘ Queer Street.”’ The reader will remember that this same difficulty with an overcast sky had been met by my southern party of the previous 1903] RETURNING OVER THE PLATEAU 199 year, and therefore it was not new to me; but, as I have pointed out, at the high altitude to which we had climbed, and with the low temperatures that prevailed, to find banks of cloud still above us was unexpected and added a most alarming circumstance to our situation. For, as will be seen, we had placed ourselves in a position from which we could only hope to retreat by relying on our hard condition and utilising all our marching powers; a simple arithmetic sum showed that we could not afford an hour’s delay, and to be forced to lie idle in our tent was one of the most serious misfortunes that could overtake us. But this black outlook was not to remain for long, and later this day I was able to make a more cheering entry : ‘After we had lain for two hours in the bag in a highly disconsolate frame of mind, Evans suddenly put his head outside and in his usual matter-of-fact tones remarked that the . sun was shining. We were up ina moment. I do not believe sledges have ever been packed so quickly ; it was certainly less than ten minutes before we were in our harness and away. As this meant shifting foot-gear, packing everything, and hoisting our sail, it can be imagined how we flew about. Strangely enough, by a good light we found the surface we had been struggling with in the morning was by no means bad, and now that we could see where to step, we got on ata great pace. In spite of our distressing delay we have covered a good distance. My companions are undefeatable. However tiresome our day’s march or however gloomy the outlook, they always find something to jest about. In the evenings we have long arguments about naval matters, and generally agree that we could rule that Service a great deal better than any Board of Admiralty. Incidentally I learn a greal deal about lower- deck life—more than I could hope to have done under ordinary conditions.’ ‘ December 3.— .. . About an hour after lunch we suddenly came on one of our outward-bound night camps, and from that we followed our old track with some difficulty till we came to what I think must be our lunch camp of the 200 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Dsc. 27th, which means that we have gained half a day on the outward march. Considering the bad light, this is good enough, but I shall hope to gain at a greater rate if the weather holds. The wind to-day was exceedingly cold, but with our backs to it it was not so much felt, except at packing and camp work, which were simply horrible. The old track we followed is being rapidly drifted up; we are unlikely to see it again. Evans and Lashly have both been suffering a good deal from cold feet and fingers; my feet keep well, though fingers easily go.’ ‘ December 4.— . . . We were up before five o’clock and away early. Started marching along the faint remains of our old track but soon lost it. We kept a good surface for two hours, then fell amongst bad sast¢rugi which gave us the usual trouble ; by lunch we were fairly clear again. Returning now we can see more clearly the undulations of the surface ; they seem irregular depressions rather than waves. We cross the hollows sometimes and seem to skirt them at others ; they average anything from three to five miles across. The sledge has not capsized the whole day, which is a relief. The weather has been very threatening on several occasions during the last two days, but, thank heaven, it has come to nothing, and the sun only disappears altogether for very short intervals.’ * December 6.— . . . I am a little alarmed about our oil, so have decided to march half an hour extra each night. To-night the weather became overcast again, but luckily not until our camping time had arrived. It is still terribly cold work, but we all feel exceedingly fit. My trouble is want of sleep, or, rather, it @oesn’t seem to trouble me except as regards the nuisance of lying awake in the bag. I have had extraordinarily little sleep this last week, and none of us seems to want much; after our long marches we ought to be in a fit state to go straight off into dreamland, but for some reason we are not. ‘This afternoon two skua gulls were suddenly seen circling around us. It was such a pleasant sight that we could almost have cheered ; but how in the world they can have found us 1903) HARROWING EFFECT OF SNOWFALL © 201 at this great altitude and distance from the sea is beyond guessing. Hunger is growing upon us once more, though not to such an alarming extent as it did last year ; still, we practise the same devices for serving out our rations, and are as keen at picking up the scraps as ever. It is curious that last year we used to think mostly of beefsteak pies and what Shackleton called “three-decker puddings,” but this year there is ever before my eyes a bowl of Devonshire cream. If it was only a reality, how ill I should be! I think Evans’s idea of joy is pork, whilst Lashly dreams of vegetables, and especially apples. He tells us stories of his youth when these things, and not much else, were plentiful.’ During this time we were making excellently long marches, and gradually as the days passed we were losing much of our fear of the overcast weather in its power of delaying us, though I still saw that the greatly increased amount of cloud might make it most difficult for us to recognise our landmarks when they should appear in sight. Certainly the ups and downs of sledging life are wonderful ; for instance, on the 8th, I find my record full of hope. We had marched long hours over a comparatively easy surface ; I did not know where we were, but I knew that we must be up to date, and that if conditions held as they were, we should reach the glacier in good time, even if we had to spend some time in looking for landmarks. But on the 9th came a most serious change of surface which seemed to baffle all our hopes at one blow, for we knew well that this new condition had come to stay. I found out afterwards that at this time we must have been somewhere close to the spot which we had crossed on November 16 when outward bound. I have given some description of the surface at that time; it was alternately hard and soft, but the hard places had been so slippery that we had been obliged to wear crampons to pull our sledges over them. Now all this was changed by a recent fall of snow, which had covered everything with a sandy layer of loose ice- crystals and brought terrible friction on the sledge-runners. This layer grew heavier as we approached the edge of the 202 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Dec. plateau: apart from the difficulty which it presented to our travelling, this was an interesting observation, for it shows that the plateau snowfall takes place in December, and that it is far heavier on the edge than in the interior of the continent. Another interesting fact was observable in this connection, for whilst this light snow had been falling the wind had crept round to the south, sometimes to such an angle with our course that it was most difficult to trim our sledge sail to derive any benefit from it. In its most southerly direction it brought a desirable increase of temperature, and on some days we had a fair imitation of the mild southerly blizzards which were such a conspicuous feature at the ship. But at this time, as we plodded on with an eye on our diminishing stock of provisions, it can be imagined that we were not inclined to bless the climatic conditions which had wrought such a change in the surface. December 9g, in fact, seemed to show everything going wrong for us, and the marches on that day and those which followed I can never forget. Our sledge weight was reduced almost to a minimum, and we ourselves were inured to hard marching if ever three persons were, yet by our utmost exertion we could barely exceed a pace of a mile an hour. I have done some hard pulling, but never anything to equal this. The sledge was like a log ; two of us could scarcely move it, and therefore throughout the long hours we could none of us relax our efforts for a single moment—we were forced to keep a continuous strain on our harness with a tension that kept our ropes rigid and made conversation quite impossible. So heavy was the work that I may remark we once tried pulling on ski and found we simply couldn’t move the sledge. It was on the evening of the gth that the seriousness of our position once more manifested itself, and I therefore resort again to my diary : ‘... This afternoon the surface grew worse and worse, and at the end of the march we were all dog tired. The state of affairs is again serious, whereas this morning I thought it would only be a matter of hours before we should be able to increase our rations and satisfy the pangs of hunger, which are f 1903] A GLOOMY PROSPECT 203 now growing very severe. I have had to think things out under this new development, and I don’t find the task is pleasant ; nothing is in sight ahead, and the prospect is gloomy. We have a week’s provision in hand, but it looks mighty little in the midst of this horrible, never-ending plain ; but what is more alarming is that we are well into our last can of oil, and there is only a few days’ allowance left, at the rate we have been using it. ‘We have had a long discussion about matters to-night. I told the men I thought we were in a pretty tight place, and that we should have to take steps accordingly. I proposed that we should increase our marching hours by one hour, go on half allowance of oil, and if we don’t sight landmarks in a couple of days reduce our rations. I explained the scheme for oil economy which we adopted last year, and when I came to the cold lunch and fried breakfast poor Evans’s face fell ; he evidently doesn’t much believe in the virtue of food unless it is in the form of a Zoosk and has some chance of sticking to one’s ribs. Lashly is to do all the cooking until we come to happier times, as he is far the best hand at the Primus, and can be relied upon not to exceed allowance. ‘I have been struggling with my sights and deviations table, but although I believe we cannot be far off the glacier the sense of uncertainty is oppressive. We are really travelling by rule of thumb, and one cannot help all sorts of doubts creeping in when the consequences are so serious.’ ‘ December 10.—This morning we plugged away for five mortal hours on a surface which is, if anything, worse than yesterday. The pulling is so heavy that it is impossible to drag one’s thoughts away to brighter subjects, and the time passes in the most wearisome manner. Then came our new routine of cold, comfortless lunch, and we started once more. We had not been going more than an hour in the afternoon, however, when Evans’s sharp eye sighted the land, and soon some isolated nunataks appeared on both bows. This was very cheering, and we struggled on through the remainder of our march with renewed hope. Later we rose several mountain - 204. THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Dzc. peaks to the S.E., but cloud hangs so persistently about them that I cannot recognise anything. I imagine we are too far to the south, but I am not at all certain. I rather thought | that when we saw the land it would bring immediate relief to all anxiety, but somehow it hasn’t. I know that we must be approaching the edge of the plateau, but now the question is, where? There must be innumerable glaciers intersecting the mountains, and one cannot but see that it will be luck if we hit off our own at the first shot, and that we cannot afford to make a mistake. I hope and trust we shall soon recognise land- marks ; but the sky is most unpromising, and it looks very much as though we were about to have a return of thick weather.’ On the rith we caught only the same fleeting glimpses of the land as on the previous day, but we marched stolidly on, hoping for clearer weather, and on December 12 I wrote : ‘It has been overcast all day. Nowand again this morning I caught glimpses of land, which seems much closer, but I am still left in horrible uncertainty as to our whereabouts, as I could not recognise a single point. The light became very bad before lunch ; everything except the sun was shut out, and that was only seen through broken clouds. Lately we have been pulling for ten hours a day; it is rather too much when the strain on the harness is so great, and we are becoming gaunt shadows of our former selves. My companions’ cheeks are quite sunken and hollow, and with their stubbly untrimmed beards and numerous frost-bite remains they have the wildest appearance ; yet we are all fit, and there has not been a sign of sickness beyond the return of those well-remembered pangs of hunger which are now becoming exceedingly acute. We have at last finished our tobacco ; for a long time Evans and I have had to be content with a half-pipe a day, but now even that small comfort has gone ; it was our long stay in the blizzard camp that has reduced us to this strait. There is one blessing ; the next day or two will show what is going to happen one way or the other. If we walk far enough in this direction we must come to the edge of the plateau somewhere, and anything seems better than this heavy and anxious collar work.’ = 1903] AN ADVENTUROUS DAY 208 ‘ December 13.—Strong southerly wind with blinding drift when we started this morning. Marched steadily on for four hours, when Evans had his nose frost-bitten. Evans’s nose has always been the first thing to indicate stress of frost-biting weather. For some weeks it has been more or less constantly frost-bitten, and in consequence it is now the most curious- looking object. He speaks of it with a comic forbearance, as though, whilst it scarcely belonged to him, it was something for which he was responsible, and had to make excuses. When I told him of its fault to-day, he said in a resigned tone, ‘¢ My poor old nose again ; well, there, it’s chronic!” When this unruly member was brought round we found the storm increasing, and the surface changed to the hard wind-swept one which we encountered on our ascent. On this we slipped badly, and when we stopped to search for our crampons the wind had grown so strong that I thought it necessary to camp. Before this was accomplished we were all pretty badly frost- bitten, and we had to make some hot tea to bring us round. After waiting for an hour there were some signs of clearance, and as we cannot now afford to waste a single moment I decided to push on. We held steadily to the east, and towards the end of our march there could be no doubt that we were commencing to descend. But it was uncanny work, for I haven’t any notion where we are, and the drift was so thick about us that for aught we knew we might have been walking over the edge of a precipice at anymoment. To-night it is as thick as ever; it is positively sickening, but, good weather or bad, we must go on now.’ ‘ December 15.—We all agree that yesterday was the most adventurous day in our lives, and we none of us want to have another like it. It seems wonderful that I should be lying here in ease and comfort to write of it, but as it is so, I can give its incidents in some detail. ‘Very early in the morning I awoke to find that the storm had passed, and that the land was all around us; but the clouds hung about the higher summits, and I was still unable to recognise any peak with certainty. In this bewildered con- 206 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Dec. dition we packed our sledge, and I could see no better course than to continue our march due east. We had scarcely been going half an hour, however, when high ice hummocks and disturbances appeared ahead, and we found ourselves on a hard glazed surface, which was cracked in all directions. Hoping to avoid the disturbed area, we first made a circuit to the right and then another to the left, but in neither of these directions did the prospect look more hopeful; we stopped and had a council of war, but by this time the wind had sprung up again, it was bitterly cold, and the only result of our deliberations was to show more clearly that we did not know where we were. In this predicament I vaguely realised that it would be rash to go forward, as the air was once more becoming thick with snowdrift; but then to stop might mean another long spell in a blizzard camp, when starvation would soon stare us in the face. I asked the men if they were prepared to take the risk of going on; they answered promptly in the affirmative. I think that after our trying experiences we were all feeling pretty reckless. ‘At any rate, we marched straight on for the ice disturb- ances, and were soon threading our way amongst the hummocks and across numerous crevasses. After a bit the surface became smoother, but at the same time the slope grew steeper, and our sledge began to overrun us. At this juncture I put the two men behind the sledge to hold it back whilst I continued in front to guide its course ; we were all wearing crampons, which at first held well, but within a few minutes, as the inclination of the surface increased, our foothold became less secure. ‘Suddenly Lashly slipped, and in an instant he was sliding downward on his back ; directly the strain came on Evans, he too was thrown off his feet. It all happened in a moment, and before I had time to look the sledge and the two men hurtled past me ; I braced myself to stop them, but might as well have attempted to hold an express train. With the first jerk I was whipped off my legs, and we all three lay sprawling on our backs and flying downward with an ever-increasing velocity. 1903] SUDDEN DESCENT INTO GLACIER 207 ‘For some reason the first thought that flashed into my mind was that someone would break a limb if he attempted to stop our mad career, and I shouted something to this effect, but might as well have saved my breath. Then there came a sort of vague wonder as to what would happen next, and in the midst of this I was conscious that we had ceased to slide smoothly, and were now bounding over a rougher incline, sometimes leaving it for several yards at a time ; my thoughts flew to broken limbs again, for I felt we could not stand much of such bumping. At length we gave a huge leap into the air, and yet we travelled with such velocity that I had not time to think before we came down with tremendous force on a gradual incline of rough, hard, wind-swept snow. Its irregu- larities brought us to rest in a moment or two, and I staggered to my feet in a dazed fashion, wondering what had happened. ‘Then to my joy I saw the others also struggling to their legs, and in another moment I could thank heaven that no limbs were broken. But we had by no means escaped scathe- less ; our legs now show one black bruise from knee to thigh, and Lashly was unfortunate enough to land once on his back, which is bruised and very painful. At the time, as can be imagined, we were all much shaken. I, as the lightest, escaped the easiest, yet before the two men crawled painfully to their feet their first question was to ask if I had been hurt. ‘As soon as I could pull myself together I looked round, and now to my astonishment I saw that we were well on towards the entrance of our own glacier; ahead and on either side of us appeared well-remembered landmarks, whilst behind, in the rough broken ice-wall over which we had fallen, I now recognised at once the most elevated ice cascade of our valley. In the rude fashion which I have described we must have descended some 300 feet ; above us the snow-drift was still being driven along, but the wind had not yet reached our present level, so that all around us the sky was bright and clear and our eyes could roam from one familiar object to another until far away to the eastward they rested on the smoke- capped summit of Erebus. 208 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Dec. ‘IT cannot but think that this sudden revelation of our ~ | position was very wonderful. Half an hour before we had ~ been lost ; I could not have told whether we were making for our own glacier or for any other, or whether we were ten or fifty © miles from our depot ; it was more than a month since we had seen any known landmark. Now in this extraordinary manner _ the curtain had been raised ; we found that our rule-of-thumb methods had accomplished the most accurate ‘land fall,” and down the valley we could see the high cliffs of the Depot Nunatak where peace and plenty awaited us. ‘How merciful a view this was we appreciated when we came to count up the result of our fall. Our sledge had not capsized until we all rolled over together at the end, but the jolting had scattered many of our belongings and had burst open the biscuit box, so that all that had remained in it lay distributed over the cascade ; we had no provisions left except the few scraps we could pick up and the very diminished contents of our food bag. As well as our stiffening limbs would allow we hastened to collect the scattered articles, to repack the sledge, and to march on towards the depot. Before us now lay a long plateau, at the edge of which I knew we should find a second cascade, and beneath it the region of our Desolation Camp and a more gradual icy surface down to the Nunatak. By lunch-time we were well across the plateau, and we decided that our shaken condition deserved a hot meal, so we brewed cocoa and felt vastly better after swallowing it. By this time the wind had reached us again, and I had cold work in taking a round of angles, but I got through it, and in an hour we were on the march once more. We soon found ourselves at the top of the second cascade, and under conditions which prevented us from looking for an easy descent ; however, fortune favoured us, and by going very slowly and carefully we managed to get down without accident. ‘Though we were all much shaken and tired, we con- gratulated ourselves on having overcome the worst difficulties, and started off briskly to cover the last five or six miles which 1903] ESCAPE FROM A CREVASSE 209 lay between us and our goal. Feeling quite unsuspicious of danger, we all three joined up our harness to our usual positions ahead of the sledge ; this brought me in the middle and a little in advance, with Lashly on my right and Evans on my left. After we had been tramping on in this way for a quarter of an hour the wind swept across from the south, and as the sledge began to skid I told Lashly to pull wide in order to steady it. He had scarcely moved out in response to this order when Evans and I stepped on nothing and dis- appeared from his view; by a miracle he saved himself from following, and sprang back with his whole weight on the trace ; the sledge flashed by him and jumped the crevasse down which we had gone, one side of its frame cracked through in the jerk which followed, but the other side mercifully held. Personally I remember absolutely nothing until I found myself dangling at the end of my trace with blue walls on either side and a very horrid looking gulf below; large ice-crystals dislodged by our movements continued to shower down on our heads. ‘As a first step I took off my goggles; I then discovered that Evans was hanging just above me. I asked him if he was all right, and received a reassuring reply in his usual calm, matter-of-fact tones. Meanwhile I groped about on every side with my cramponed feet, only to find everywhere the same slippery smooth wall. But my struggles had set me swinging, and at one end of a swing my leg suddenly struck a projection. Ina moment I had turned, and saw at a glance that by raising myself I could get foothold on it; with the next swing I clutched it with my steel-shod feet, and after a short struggle succeeded in partly transferring my weight to it. In this position, with my feet firmly planted and my balance maintained by my harness, I could look about me. ‘I found myself standing on a thin shaft of ice which was wedged between the walls of the chasm—how it came there I cannot imagine, but its position was wholly providential ; to the right or left, above or below, there was not the vestige of another such support—nothing, in fact, but the smooth walls VOL, II. P ‘he co g10 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [prc. « of ice. My next step was to get Evans into the same position as myself, and when he had slipped his harness well up under his arms I found I could pilot his feet to the bridge. ‘All this had occupied some time, and it was only now that I realised what had happened above us, for there, some twelve feet over our heads, was the outline of the broken sledge. I saw at once what a frail support remained, and shouted to Lashly to ask what he could do, and then I knew the value of such a level-headed companion; for whilst he held on grimly to the sledge and us with one hand, his other _ was busily employed in withdrawing our ski. At length he succeeded in sliding two of these beneath the broken sledge and so making our support more secure. The device was well thought of, but it still left us without his active assistance ; for, as he told us, directly he relaxed his strain the sledge began to slip, and he dared not trust only to the ski. ‘There remained no other course for Evans and me but to climb out by our own unaided efforts, and I saw that one of us would have to make the attempt without delay for the chill of the crevasse was already attacking us and our faces and fingers were on the verge of freezing. After a word with Evans I decided to try the first climb myself, but I must confess I never expected to reach the top. It is some time since I swarmed a rope, and to have to do so in thick clothing and heavy crampons and with frost-bitten fingers seemed to me in the nature of the impossible. But it was no use think- ing about it, so I slung my mits over my shoulders, grasped the rope, and swung off the bridge. I don’t know how long I took to climb or how I did it, but I remember I got a rest when I could plant my foot in the belt of my harness, and again when my feet held on the rings of the belt. Then came a mighty effort till I reached the stirrup formed by the rope span of the sledge, and then, mustering all the strength that remained, I reached the sledge itself and flung myself panting on to the snow beyond. Lashly said, “ Thank God!” and it was perhaps then that I realised that his position had been the worst of all. A CREVASSE. DOWN 1903] BACK TO DEPOT NUNATAK 211 ‘For a full five minutes I could do nothing ; my hands were white to the wrists, and I plunged them into my breast, but gradually their circulation and my strength came back, and I was able to get to work. With two of us on top and one below, things had assumed a very different aspect, and I was able to unhitch my own harness and lower it once more for Evans ; then with our united efforts he also was landed on the surface, where he arrived in the same frost-bitten condition as I had. For a minute or two we could only look at one another, then Evans said, ‘ Well, ’'m blowed”; it was the first sign of astonishment he had shown. ‘But all this time the wind was blowing very chill, so we wasted no time in discussing our escape, but turning our broken sledge end for end, we were soon harnessed to it again and trudging on over the snow. After this, as can be imagined, we kept a pretty sharp look-out for crevasses, marching in such an order as prevented more than one of us going down at once, and so we eventually reached the bare blue ice once more, and at six o’clock found our depot beneath the towering cliffs of the Depot Nunatak. ‘As long as I live I can never forget last night. Our camp was in bright sunshine, for the first time for six weeks the temperature was above zero, but what we appreciated still more was the fact that it was perfectly calm; the canvas of our tent hung limp and motionless, and the steam of our cooking rose in a thin, vertical shaft. All Nature seemed to say that our long fight was over, and that at length we had reached a haven of rest. And it has been a fight indeed ; it is only now that I realise what discomforts we have endured and what a burden of anxiety we have borne during the past month The relief of being freed from such conditions is beyond the power of my pen to describe, but perhaps what brought it home to us most completely was the fact that the worst of our troubles and adventures came at the end, and that in the brief space of half an hour we passed from abject discomfort to rest and peace. | ‘And so we dawdled over everything. We were bruised, P2 212 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Dzc. sore, and weary, yet Lashly sang a merry stave as he stirred the pot, and Evans and I sat on the sledge, shifted our foot- gear, spread our garments out to dry, and chatted away merrily the whole time. Evans’s astonishment at the events of the day seemed to grow ever deeper, and was exhibited in the most amusing manner. With his sock half on he would pause to think out our adventures in some new light and would say suddenly, “Well, sir, but what about that snow bridge?” or if so-and-so hadn’t happened “where should we be now?” and then the soliloquy would end with ‘ My word, but it was a close call!” Evans generally manages to sum a case up fairly pithily, and perhaps this last remark is a com- prehensive description of our experiences of yesterday. ‘This morning the sun shines as brightly as ever, and there is still no breath of wind. It is so warm in the tent that as I write I have had to throw open my jacket. Meanwhile out- side I can hear the. tap of the hammer as my companions are arming our sledge runners for the hard ice of the glacier.’ We only found a very small quantity of food at the Depot Nunatak, but it was enough to carry us to the main depot, which lay several miles below, provided we marched hard, as we were quite prepared to do. Luckily, here also we found a new nine-foot sledge which had been left the previous year, and to which we could now transfer the greater part of our load. But one of our most pleasing discoveries at the Depot Nunatak was the small folded notes which told us of the movements of our fellow-travellers. By these I learnt to my relief that Skelton and his companions had safely reached the glacier, and that Ferrar’s party was all well after it had left our Desola- tion Camp. According to previous arrangements I found these notes at various stated points in the glacier, and there were few pleasanter things for us returning wayfarers than to find these cheery documents. Starting our downward march on the afternoon of the 15th, we stretched over the miles with ease. This sort of work was mere child’s play to our hardened muscles, and that night we reached the broad amphitheatre below Finger Mountain. On 1903] EXPLORATION OF NORTH ARM 213 the 16th we picked up the ample supply of food which we had left in our depot opposite the Solitary Rocks, and that evening took up our old quarters in the Knob Head Moraine. I mention these movements because at this point I had deter- mined to do a small piece of exploration which is of some interest. The reader will see that we were now in the large glacier basin which I described, and will remember that I mentioned amongst other outlets its northern arm. This arm of the glacier descended with a very steep incline to the right of the Solitary Rocks, and then its valley seemed to turn sharply to the eastward. The direction of flow of the ice- streams in the glacier basin had always been something of a mystery for us, and we had thought that the main portion of the ice must discharge through this valley. On the 17th, therefore, we started to descend it to see what the conditions actually were, and after rattling down over a sharp gradient for several miles we found ourselves turning to the east. We followed a long string of morainic boulders through a deep valley on a moderate incline, but early in the afternoon the descent became steeper and the surface of the ice much rougher, until at length our sledge bumped so heavily that we thought it wise to camp. Our camp life by this time had become wholly pleasant except to poor Lashly, who had a fierce attack of snow- blindness. We pitched our tent behind a huge boulder which must have weighed at least five hundred tons, and here we were pleasantly sheltered from the wind, whilst close by us trickled a glacier stream from which we were able to fill our cooking-pot and obtain an unlimited quantity of drinking-water. We had a splendid view of the great ice masses sweeping down from above, but looking downward we were much puzzled, for the glacier surface descended steeply, and beyond it stood a lofty groin of rock which seemed a direct bar to its further passage. ‘This sight made us very anxious to proceed with our exploration, and as we could not advance further with our sledge, it became necessary to arrange for a long absence from our camp. Accordingly we rose very early on the following 214. THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Dzc. day, and taking our coil of Alpine rope, with our crampons and a supply of food, we set off over the rough ice of the ~ glacier. As this walk had several points of interest, I give its outline from my diary : ‘Started at seven o’clock with a supply of pemmican, choco- late, sugar, and biscuit in our pockets, and our small provision measure to act as a drinking-cup. It is an extraordinary novelty in our sledging experience to find that one can get. water by simply dipping it up. As we descended, the slope became steeper, and soon the ice grew so disturbed that we were obliged to rope ourselves together and proceed with caution. The disturbance was of very much the same nature as that which we had found on the south side of the Ferrar Glacier; the ice seemed to have broken down, leaving steep faces towards the south. Here and there we found scattered boulders and finer morainic material, and the channels of the glacial streams became visible in places, to vanish again under deep blue arches of ice. ‘ At length we descended into one of these watercourses and followed it for some distance, until, to our surprise, it came abruptly to an end, and with it the glacier itself, which had gradually dwindled to this insignificant termination. Before us was a shallow, frozen lake into which the thaw-water of the glacier was pouring. The channel in which we stood was about twenty feet above its surface, and the highest pinnacles of ice were not more than the same distance above our heads, whereas the terminal face of the glacier was about three or four hundred yards across. So here was the limit of the great ice- river which we had followed down from the vast basin of the interior ; instead of pouring huge icebergs into the sea, it was slowly dwindling away in its steep-sided valley. It was, in fact, nothing but the remains of what had once been a mighty ice- flow from the inland. ‘With a little difficulty we climbed down to the level of the lake, and then observed that the glacier rested on a deep ground moraine of mud, in some places as much as ten or twelve feet in thickness ; this layer of mud extended beyond 1903] A CURIOUS VALLEY 215 the face of the glacier, where it had been much worn by water ; enough remained, however, for Lashly to remark, ‘‘ What a splendid place for growing spuds!” Skirting the lake below the glacier, we found ourselves approaching the high, rocky groin which puzzled us so much last night, but we now saw that a very narrow channel wound round its base. At its narrowest this channel was only seventeen feet across, and as we traversed this part, the high cliffs on either side towered above our heads and we seemed to be passing through a massive gateway ; beyond this the valley opened out again, and its floor was occupied by a frozen lake a mile in breadth and three or four miles in length. As the snow surface of this lake was very rough, we were obliged to skirt its margin; we were now 1,300 feet below our camp, and about 300 feet above sea level. The shores of the lake for several hundred feet up the hillsides were covered with a coarse granitic sand strewn with numerous boulders, and it was curious to observe that these boulders, from being rounded and sub-angular below, gradually grew to be sharper in outline as they rose in level. ‘ At the end of the second lake the valley turned towards the north-east ; it was equally clearly cut, but the floor rose on a mass of morainic material, At first there was a general tendency for this to be distributed in long ridges, but later the distribution was disturbed, and it was easy to see that broad water-channels had made clean breaches in these vast piles of sand and boulders. Quite suddenly these moraines ceased, and we stepped out on to a long stretch of undulating sand traversed by numerous small streams, which here and there opened out into small, shallow lakes quite free from ice. ‘I was so fascinated by all these strange new sights that I strode forward without thought of hunger until Evans asked if it was any use carrying our lunch further ; we all decided that it wasn’t, and so sat down on a small hillock of sand with a merry little stream gurgling over the pebbles at our feet. It was a very cheery meal, and certainly the most extraordinary we have had. We commanded an extensive view both up and down the valley, and yet, except about the rugged mountain 216 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY _[Dsc. summits, there was not a vestige of ice or snow to be seen ; and as we ran the comparatively warm sand through our fingers and quenched our thirst at the stream, it seemed almost impossible that we could be within a hundred miles of the terrible conditions we had experienced on the summit. ‘ Proceeding after lunch, we found that the valley descended to a deep and splendid gorge formed by another huge groin extending from the southern side, but as we approached the high cliffs we found our way again obstructed by confused heaps of boulders, amongst which for the first time we saw the exposed rocks of the floor of the valley smoothed and striated in a manner most typical of former ice action. My object in pressing on had been to get a view of the sea, and I now thought the best plan would be to ascend the neck of the groin on our right. It was a long climb of some 700 feet over rough, sharp boulders. We eventually reached the top, but, alas! not to catch any glimpse of the sea; for the valley continued to wind its way onward through deep gorges, and some five or six miles below yet another groin shut out our further view. ‘But from our elevated position we could now get an excellent view of this extraordinary valley, and a wilder or in some respects more beautiful scene it would have been difficult to imagine. Below lay the sandy stretches and con- fused boulder heaps of the valley floor, with here and there the gleaming white surface of a frozen lake and elsewhere the silver threads of the running water; far above us towered the weather-worn, snow-splashed mountain peaks, between which in places fell in graceful curves the folds of some hang- ing glacier. The rocks at our feet were of every variety of colour and form, mixed in that inextricable confusion which ice alone can accomplish. The lower slopes of the mountains were thickly clothed with similar rocks, but the variety of colour was lost in the distance, and these steep slopes had a general tone of sober grey. This colour was therefore pre- dominant, but everywhere at a height of 3,000 feet above the valley it ended in a hard line illustrating in the most beautiful [See p. 214. A HANGING GLACIER. A VALLEY FROM WHICH THE ICE HAS RECEDED. Ps : ' ioe S ne A ae Set Vee hee Te 19031 A GOOD DAYS WORK ary manner the maximum extent to which the ice had once spread. ‘I cannot but think that this valley is a very wonderful place. We have seen to-day all the indications of colossal ice action and considerable water action, and yet neither of these agents is now at work. It is worthy of record, too, that we have seen no living thing, not even a moss or a lichen; all that we did find, far inland amongst the moraine heaps, was the skeleton of a Weddell seal, and how that came there is beyond guessing. It is certainly a valley of the dead; even the great glacier which once pushed through it has withered away. ‘It was nearly four o’clock before we turned towards our camp, and nearly ten before we reached it, feeling that it was quite time for supper. The day’s record, however, is a pretty good tribute to our marching powers, for we have walked and climbed over the roughest country for more than fourteen hours with only one brief halt for lunch.’ With this short expedition our last piece of exploration came to an end, and on the roth we started to ascend the north arm. By the night of the 2oth we had reached our second depot under Cathedral Rocks, and here for the first time, and with anxious eyes, we looked out towards the sea. Many a time we had discussed this prospect, and agreed that we should not have cared how far round we had to walk if only that stubborn sheet of ice in the strait would break away, But now, alas! it was evident that our homeward track might be as direct as we chose to make it, for the great unbroken plain of ice still bridged the whole strait. Only in the far distance could we see the open water, where a thin blue ribbon ran in from Cape Bird and ended abreast of the black rocks of Cape Royds. We saw with grief that there must be very many miles between it and our unfortunate ship. On rounding Butter Point we had another blow on finding an entire absence of seals, but, thanks to the kindness of Skelton and his party, we were not deprived of our long- expected feast of fresh meat, for close to our tin of butter we 218 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [pxc. found a buried treasure in the shape of some tit-bits of an animal which they had killed. From Butter Point we turned our course south to those curious moraine heaps which we had called the ‘ Eskers,’ and which I had not yet seen. We spent half a day in rambling amongst these steep little hills, and in trying to find skuas’ eggs which were not hard set; but fortune was against us in this last respect, and we found that we were at least a week too late. On the afternoon of the 23rd we started to cross the strait for the last time, and late on Christmas Eve we saw the masts of the ‘ Discovery,’ and were soon welcomed by the four persons who alone remained on board. And so after all our troubles and trials we spent our Christmas Day in the snug security of our home quarters, and tasted once again those delights of civilised existence to which we had so long been strangers. And now, seated at my desk, I could quietly work out my observations, and trace the track which we had made. I found, to my relief, that my watch had kept an excellent rate, as far as my observed positions could check it. This was a matter of great importance, as the longitude of our position on the great plain of the interior depended entirely on its accuracy. This watch has since been given to me by its makers, and I value it highly ; as I think few watches have done greater service ; and here, for the benefit of future explorers, I must again point out the importance of the manner in which a watch is carried on such a journey. I shifted my watch-pocket several times during my earlier experiences before I decided on its best position, and throughout my travels I never failed to treat my watch with the greatest care. The pocket was eventually sewn to my inner vest, in such a position that my harness could not touch it, and I never took the watch out of this warm place unless it was necessary ; when taking sights I held it in the palm of my hand, and as far as possible under the cover of a mit. When I had worked out our various positions and calcu- lated the distances we had travelled, I had before me an array # —~ ee 1903) RETURN TO THE SHIP 219 of figures of which our party might justifiably feel proud. In our last absence of fifty-nine days we had travelled 725 miles ; for nine complete days we had been forced to remain in camp, so that this distance had been accomplished in fifty marching days, and gave a daily average of 14°5 miles. Taking the eighty-one days of absence which had con- stituted our whole sledging season, I found that Evans, Lashly, and I had covered 1,098 miles, at an average of 15°4 miles a day, and that, not including minor undulations, we had climbed heights which totalled to 19,800 feet. I started my account of this journey by saying that I thought we came near the limit of possible performance in the circumstances, and I hope these figures will be considered as justifying that remark. What the circumstances were I have endeavoured to show, but when it is considered that to the rigours of a polar climate were added those which must be a necessary consequence of a great altitude, it needs little explanation to prove that they were exceptionally severe. We may claim, therefore, to have accomplished a creditable journey under the hardest conditions on record, but for my part I devoutly hope that wherever my future wanderings may trend, they will never again lead me to the summit of Victoria Land. The four persons whom we found on board the ‘ Discovery’ on our return were Dr. Koettlitz, our ship’s steward, Handsley (who had not yet fully recovered from his chest troubles), and Quartley (who had received a slight injury on the southern journey). All the remainder of our company had gone to the north, in accordance with our pre-arranged plan, to saw through the ice. I purposed shortly to go in this direction myself, but after our excessive work the usual reaction set in, and I thought that my small party had earned a few days’ rest in which we might renew our energies. Communications with the northern camp were of daily occurrence, thanks to our new team of dogs, which had been brought into capital working order by their driver, Dell. It was not long therefore before I learnt the outlines of the 220 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Dzc. other sledge journeys, and was able to read the reports of the officers who had led them and study the advance which had been made in our knowledge by the sledging work of our second season. Space does not permit me to go in detail into these various journeys, nor do I think that the reader would be grateful for the minute relation of more sledging adven- tures. But this story would not be complete without a summary of the material facts which these efforts produced, nor could I omit to pay a well-earned tribute to those who secured them by prolonged and arduous labour and unfailing spirit. I purpose, therefore, to give in brief the movements of other members of the expedition during our absence to the west. It will be remembered that the party which had left the ship with me towards the end of October had eventually split into three units. At first our geologist, Ferrar, left us to explore the glacier valley, and later Skelton and I parted company on the inland ice. Skelton, returning with his overworked party, had wisely taken matters easily, but on arriving at the Depot Nunatak he had picked up the half-plate camera, and, although he had only a very limited number of plates, he succeeded in taking some excellent photographs of the valley. Ferrar with his two companions had also come down the valley slowly, not because he had lingered on his way, but because he had crossed and recrossed the glacier to examine the rocks on each side. I was quite astonished to learn the numbers of places he had visited and the distances he had traversed in pursuit of his objects, especially when I remem- bered that all had been done with one rickety little sledge which I knew must have broken down repeatedly and have given endless trouble to those who dragged it. The results of this journey are told by the geologist himself in the appendix which he has supplied to this volume, but he has not told of all the difficulties which he had to overcome and which in themselves might well form a chapter of this book. For each 1903] OTHER JOURNEYS 221 specimen of rock which Ferrar brought back was obtained only by traversing long miles of rough ice, by clambering over dangerous crevassed slopes, and by scaling precipitous cliffs ; and all this at a great distance from home, and where a strained limb might have led to very serious consequences. It will be remembered that the main work of this season was thoroughly to explore this valley and the ice-cap which lay beyond ; thus, when to the results of the longer journey were added Ferrar’s survey and Skelton’s photographic work we had the satisfaction of knowing that our object had been well accomplished. - The object before Barne and Mulock on their journey to the south has already been stated. They left the ship on October 6, and, passing around the Bluff, steered for the inlet which has since been named after the former. But ill fortune dogged this party from the start. They were hampered by continual gales from the south, and again and again had to spend long days in their tents, as it was impossible to march onward with the wind directly in their faces. In this manner no fewer than ten days were wasted on the outward march, four of these being consecutive, and con- sequently it was not until the middle of November that they approached the entrance to the inlet, and here they became involved amongst numerous undulations and_ disturbances which greatly impeded their progress. As they advanced these disturbances grew worse, and it was necessary to cross wide crevasses and clamber over steep ridges. On November 19, to their great disappointment, they were forced to turn, having barely passed the mouth of the inlet which they had hoped to explore. From their observa- tions, however, it seems evident that the whole of this area is immensely disturbed, and it is doubtful whether a sledge party could ever cross it unless they were prepared to spend many weeks in the attempt. Although from their farthest position they could see no definite rise in the level of the ice in the inlet, as they travelled towards its northern side they found a moraine of large granite boulders which showed conclusively 222 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY? [pzc. the general flow of the ice-stream and gave some indication of the nature of the land which lay beyond. Throughout this journey Mulock was indefatigable in using the theodolite. The result of this diligence is that this stretch of coastline is more accurately plotted than any other part of Victoria Land, and by the fixing of the positions and heights of more than two hundred mountain peaks a most interesting topographical survey of this region has been achieved. But one of the most important results of this expedition was obtained almost by anaccident. The reader will remember that in my early journey in 1902 I fixed ona position off the Bluff to establish what I called Depot ‘A.’ This position lay on the alignment of a small peak on the Bluff with Mount Discovery. On visiting this depot in 1903, Barne found to his astonishment that the alignment was no longer ‘on,’ and therefore it was evident that the depot had moved. Thirteen and a half months after the establishment of the depot he measured its displacement, and found it to be 608 yards. And thus almost accidentally we obtained a very good indication of the movement of the Great Barrier ice-sheet. To this very interesting fact I shall refer in considering the results of the expedition. Barne and his party safely reached the ship on December 13, after being absent sixty- eight days. I have already referred to the projected trip to the south- east; it will be remembered that its object was to ascertain whether the barrier continued level in that direction. The conduct of this journey was undertaken by Royds, and with him went our physicist Bernacchi, Cross, Plumley, Scott, and Clarke ; the track which was taken by the party can be seen on the chart. It was a short journey, as it only occupied thirty days, and for those who took part in it it could not be otherwise than monotonous and dull; yet it deserves to rank very high in our sledging efforts, for every detail was carried out in the most thoroughly efficient manner. The party went on a very short food allowance, and day after day found themselves marching over the same unutterably 1903] OTHER JOURNEYS 223 wearisome piain, and on a surface of such a nature as I de- scribed in my own southern journey ; yet they marched steadily on, and fully accomplished the main object for which they were sent—a negative but highly important result. It was on this journey also that a most interesting series of magnetic observations were taken by Bernacchi, who carried with him the Barrow dip circle, an especially delicate instrument. The great value of these observations lies in the fact that they were taken in positions which were free from all possible disturbance either from casual iron or from land masses ; the positions also run in a line which is almost directly away from the mag- netic pole, and consequently the series is an invaluable aid to mapping out the magnetic conditions of the whole of this region. To Bernacchi belongs the credit of these observations, but a certain amount of reflected glory must be allowed to those who accompanied him, for whilst he wrestled with the usual troubles of the observer within the tent, his companions had to cool their heels outside ; and as they consented to do this night after night for an hour or more, it may be considered that they showed considerable practical sympathy with his scientific aims. On December 10 Royds and his party arrived on board the ship in an extremely famished state, but with the satisfaction of having accomplished an exceedingly fine journey. Our sledging efforts of 1903 were not confined to the longer journeys, for, as in the previous year, many shorter trips were made. From October 12 Wilson was away for more than three weeks to pay yet another visit to the Emperor penguin rookery. It was on this occasion that he observed the extraordinary manner in which these penguins migrated with their young. It will be remembered that in the previous year these birds had been found with very young chicks in down, and that on a second visit, shortly after, all the chicks had vanished, though it was evident that they could not have been prepared to take to the water. Now this mystery was explained. Soon after Wilson’s arrival the ice began to break 224 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Drc. away, and he watched the parent birds and their young leave their rookery and station themselves in batches near the edge of the ice-sheet. In due coursea piece of ice on which a batch stood was broken off, and slowly sailed away to the north with -its freight of penguins, and there can be no doubt that in this manner these curious creatures are transported for many hun- dreds of miles until the chicks have attained their adult plumage and can earn their own living. Wilson spent twelve days at Cape Crozier, and probably at what is the most interesting season of the year in that region. Whilst the steady emigration of parties of Emperor penguins went on day after day, a little further to the west there was an equally steady immigration of Adélie penguins now coming south to lay their eggs on the lower slopes of Mount Terror. Both these movements were evidently dependent on the seasonal change which was taking place, for on his arrival Wilson found the Ross Sea frozen over, and on precisely the same date as on the previous year a series of S.W. gales com- menced, and swept the sea clear, giving at once a chance for the Emperors to go and the Adeélies to come. Such a long stay as this party made was only rendered possible by a lucky find of seals on the sea-ice, these animals providing them with food and fuel. As this was the only time that our sledge parties cooked their meals with a blubber fire, I quote from Wilson’s report : ‘We killed a seal and brought the whole skin to camp. It was cut into three long strips with all the blubber on, and to each was tied a piece of line. Each of us had one strip to manage in crossing the pressure ridges. When we reached camp a stove was improvised outside the tent by Whitfield and Cross ; it was made out of an old tin biscuit box, which had ~ been left on a previous journey, and some stones, and in this we eventually succeeded in lighting a blubber fire, over which we cooked our supper.’ Altogether this journey to Cape Crozier was more produc- tive of information than any of its predecessors, for Wilson by no means confined himself to his zoological studies. He climbed high on the foothills of Mount Terror and discovered 1903] REVIEW OF SLEDGING WORK 225 a curious ice-formed terrace 800 feet above the barrier level ; he collected numerous geological specimens from this area, and found erratic boulders at great altitudes. Next he made a complete examination of the enormous and interesting pressure ridges which form the junction of the Great Barrier ice-mass with the land, and now and at a later date he spent much time in studying the curious windless area which exists to the south of Ross Island, and thus threw considerable light on meteoro- logical facts that puzzled us, and on the ice condition of an extremely interesting region. I cannot conclude a summary of our last sledging season without referring to an excellent little journey made by Armitage, Wilson, and Heald. This small party crossed the strait towards the end of November and then turned sharply to the south under the foothills of the mainland. In this manner they broke new ground, and reached and examined the Koettlitz Glacier. This had previously been seen only from Brown Island, and its closer examination was important not only to complete the topographical survey of our region, but to verify numerous observations taken in the Ferrar Glacier. Amidst a scene of wild beauty Armitage obtained some excel- lent photographs which give a good idea of the typical moun- tain scenery, and would alone prove the receding glacial conditions of the whole continent. Thus it will be seen that whilst I had been away on my long journey to the west, my companions had been working diligently in every direction which promised to increase our store of information. All, however, had returned before my- self, so that when I arrived at the ship on Christmas Eve, 1903, it was to ring the curtain down on the last of our sledging efforts in this Far Southern region. When all things are considered, it must be conceded that no polar ship ever wintered in a more interesting spot than the ‘Discovery.’ It was good fortune which had brought us to our winter quarters in February 1902, and from the first we saw what great possibilities lay before us, and determined that no effort should be spared to take advantage of our opportunities. VOL. IL. Q 226 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Dsc. During one long season we had laboured hard to this end, but yet its finish found us with many important gaps in our know- ledge. Then fortune decided that we should be given another season to complete our work, and we started forth once more to fill in those gaps. With what success this was accomplished I have endeavoured to show, and I trust it will be agreed that after the close of our second sledging season we were justified in considering that the main part of our work was done. 1903] 227 CHAPTER XIX ESCAPE FROM THE ICE Indigestion—Arrival at the Sawing Camp—Sawing Operations— Break-up of Sawing Party—The Open Water—Arrival of the Relief Ships— Unwelcome News—Stagnant Condition of the Ice—Depressing Effect— Preparations for Abandoning the ‘ Discovery ’—Ice Breaking Away—Explosions— Anxious Days—Final Break-up of the Ice— Dramatic Approach of the Relief Ships—The Small Fleet Together— Final Explosion—The ‘ Discovery ’ Free. And Thor Set his shoulder hard against the stern To push the ship through .. . . and the water gurgled in And the ship floated on the waves and rock’d. M. ARNOLD. On the whole, the few days’ rest which I allowed myself and my party after our return to the ship was enjoyable, and for such sensations as were not I had only myself to thank. I found that Ford had become cook for the few who remained on board, and that, as a result of studying Mrs. Beeton’s cookery book, he was achieving dishes of a more savoury nature than we had thought possible with the resources at our command. It was unfortunate that the highest development of the cooking art should have occurred at this season, as it found us too morally weak to resist its allurements, and, as a consequence, we suffered from the most violent indigestion. Though my limbs craved for rest, I was obliged to be up and doing to silence the worst pangs of this complaint. The ship at this time was in a more snowed-up condition Ors 228 THE VOYAGE OF :THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Dzc. than I ever remember to have seen her, and Koettlitz told me there had been such heavy falls of snow a week earlier that they had been obliged to dig their way out of the lobby entrances. Koettlitz had remained on board to attend on the medical cases; these were now practically off his hands, but he was devoting most of his time, as he had done throughout the summer, to bacteriological studies. Herather feared, how- ever, that his diligence in this line would prove of little avail, as few less promising places could have been found for pursuing such investigations than the wardroom of the ‘ Discovery.’ After two or three days on board I began to grow restless to see what was doing to the north; moreover, I saw that as I could not curb my appetite there was little chance of being rid of my indigestion until I was once more on the march. Our inactivity was also having a most obvious effect on my sledging companions. It had to be acknowledged that they were ‘swelling wisibly’; each morning their faces became a more ludicrous contrast to what I remembered of them on the summit. Lashly was a man who usually changed little, and therefore he quickly fell back into his ordinary condition, but Evans continued to expand, and reached quite an alarming maximum before he slowly returned to his normal size. On the morning of the 31st, therefore, we three, with Handsley, who was now quite recovered, packed our sledge once more, and started away for the sawing camp, some ten and a half miles to the north; in the afternoon we arrived at the camp, to be greeted with cheers and congratulations. I may perhaps now explain how this camp came to be formed. ‘The reader will remember that I had arranged that the sledging parties should return by the middle of December, and that in the meantime a special tent should be prepared and disposition made so that as soon as possible after this date all hands should be available for the projected attempt to saw through the great ice-sheet which intervened between the ‘ Discovery’ and the open sea. In drawing out instructions I could not foretell, of course, how broad this ice-sheet would be when operations were commenced; I could only assume 1903] THE SAWING CAMP 220 that it would be about the same as in the previous year, when the open water had extended to the Dellbridge Islets, about eleven miles from the ship. I directed, therefore, that the camp should be made behind these islets, so that there might be no chance of its being swept away. I had hoped to be back in time to commence the operations myself, but the breakdown of my sledges had made this impossible, and in my absence the command devolved on Armitage. He made all preparations in accordance with my instructions, but was then met with a difficulty, for when the middle of December came the open water, instead of being up to the islets, ended at least ten miles farther to the north. In these circumstances he thought it dangerous to take the camp out to the ice-edge, and decided to pitch it behind the islets as had been previously arranged. But this, of course, meant that the sawing work had to be commenced in the middle of the ice-sheet instead of at its edge, with the result that I shall presently describe. When I arrived at the camp the greater number of our people had been at work for ten days ; the work and the camp life had fallen into a regular routine, so that I was able to judge at once of past results and future prospects. Life at this sawing camp was led under such curious condi- tions that it deserves some description. ‘The main tent was a very palatial abode judged by our standards of sledging life. It was of long pent-roof shape, the dimensions being about so feet long and 18 feet across, and it had a door with a small lobby at each end. The interior was divided into two compartments by a canvas screen; the smaller, about 18 feet in length, was for the officers, whilst the larger accommo- dated the men. Close to this screen in the men’s quarters stood a small cooking-range mounted on boards. The floor of both spaces was covered with tarpaulin as far as possible, and as time went on imposing tables and stools were manufac- tured from packing-cases. All the fur sleeping-bags were in use, but as these were not sufficient for all hands, some slept between blankets. However, this was no hardship, as very little covering was needed and nearly everyone complained of 230: THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [ire the heat of the tent. The temperature had been extra- ordinarily high, sometimes rising to 35° or 36°, and when the sun shone on the dark canvas of the tent a few found the interior so oppressive that they sought outside shelter in the smaller sledging tents, or spread their sleeping-bags on a piece of canvas in the open. Thirty people were at the camp when we arrived. They were divided into three parties of ten, which relieved one another on the saws. The work on the latter was exceedingly heavy, so that a four-hour spell was quite sufficient for one party. It took them twenty minutes to get to their work, and another twenty to get back to the tent when they were relieved ; then, after cooking and eating a meal, they would coil down for five or six hours, and rise in time for a fresh meal before the next spell of work. With three parties work- ing in this manner the preparation of meals practically never ceased throughout the twenty-four hours, and cook succeeded cook at the small range. Luckily this was a land of plenty. The tent lay within 200 yards of the largest of the islets, where the working of the ice formed spaces of open water through which hundreds of seals rose to bask on the floe. Now and again also a small troop of Adélie penguins would hurry towards the tent full of curiosity—to find their way promptly into the cooking-pot. Every other day the dog sledge came from the ship laden with flour, biscuit, sugar, butter, and jam, so that supplies of all sorts were readily available—and con- stant supplies were very much needed, as my earliest impres- sions of the camp assured me. ‘It is a real treat to be amongst our people once more and to find them in such splendid condition and spirits. I do not think there is a whole garment in the party ; judging by the torn and patched clothing, they might be the veriest lot of tramps, but one would have to go far to find such sturdy tramps. Everyone is burnt to a deep bronze colour by the sun, but in each dark face one has not to wait long for the smiles which show the white of teeth and clear healthy eyes. I have been sitting on a packing-case with everyone trying to 1903] LIFE AT THE CAMP 231 tell me stories at once, and from the noise which has come from beyond the screen I know that my sledge companions have been in much the same position. ‘It appears that the work on the saws was felt very much at first, and arms and backs became one huge ache. Every- one had felt that if it had been leg work there would have been no difficulty after the sledging experience, but the new departure exercised a different set of muscles altogether, so that after the first efforts people suffered much from stiffness ; but this soon wore off, and then there had come the emulation of one party against another to show which could complete the longest cut in a four-hour spell. ‘There had been no reason to be alarmed about the appetites even before this work com- menced, but as soon as it had settled down into full swing, it was as much as the dog team and the seal killers could do to keep up supplies. I could scarcely wonder at this from what I saw to-night : one of the returning parties first fell on an enormous potful of porridge, and it was gone before one could well look round; next came a dish piled high with sizzling seal steaks, and very soon the dish was empty ; then came the jam course, with huge hunks of bread and “flap Johnny” cakes, the sort of thing that is produced on a griddle, and which I hear is very popular. Finally, after their light supper, this party composed themselves to sleep, and very soon other people arose and inquired how their breakfast was getting on. ‘Each party have four of these meals in the day, so that twelve meals altogether are served in the tent. Barne’s party seem to hold the record; it appears that they possess an excellent cook in Smythe, and that a few days ago he prepared for them a splendid stew which took seven penguins in the making ; after cooking this he turned his attention to making cakes, and not until these were finished did he demand his share of the first dish, and then he discovered that there was none left! Considering that a penguin is not far off the size of a goose, I think this party deserve to retain the palm. ‘But, apart from this, I do not think I ever saw such exuberant, overflowing health and spirits as now exist in this 232 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ | {[jan. camp. It is a good advertisement for teetotalers, as there is no grog, and our strongest drinks are tea and cocoa, but of course the most potent factor is the outdoor life with the hard work and good food. Apart from the work, everyone agrees that it has been the most splendid picnic they have ever had ; the weather on the whole has been very fine and the air quite mild. But it is certainly well that the conditions have been so pleasant, for I hear on all sides that the work is hopeless. This is a matter I must see for myself, however; for the present I have decided that to-morrow, being New Year’s day, shall be a whole holiday; this will be a treat for all, and will give me time to think what shall be done next. ‘ January 1.—Last night I was irresistibly reminded of being in a farmyard. Animals of various kinds were making the queerest noises all about us. I lay awake in my own small tent for a long while listening to these strange sounds. The Weddell seal is a great musician, and can produce any note from a shrill piping whistle to a deep moan, and between whiles he grunts and gurgles and complains in the weirdest fashion. As there were some hundreds of these animals on the ice, there was a chorus of sounds like the tuning of many instruments. To this was added the harsh, angry cawing of the skua gulls as they quarrelled over their food, and now and again one of the dogs would yap in his dreams, whilst from the main tent came the more familiar snores of humanity. At first I missed one sound from this Antarctic concert, but it came at last when the squawk of a penguin was borne from afar on the still air ; then the orchestra was completed. ‘ Royds, Wilson, and I took a sledge and our lunch, and went out to the ice-edge. It was farther than we expected, and the sledge-meter showed close on ten miles before we came to open water. Everything looked terribly stagnant ; a thick pack, two or three miles across, hung close to the fast ice. The day was beautiful, and one could not feel very depressed in such weather; but I cannot say that it is pleasing to think that there is a solid sheet of twenty miles between us and freedom.’ 1904] SAWING OPERATIONS 233 ‘January 2.—To-day I had all hands on the saws, and then went out to see how matters were going.’ Perhaps it would be well to pause here to describe the nature of an ice-saw. A typical saw such as we had is about 18 feet in length, 8 or 9 inches in depth, and 14 or 2 inches in thickness; the teeth are naturally very coarse. It has a wooden cross-handle at the top, and is worked by the aid of a tripod in a very simple and primitive fashion. A rope is attached close to the handle, and led through a block on the tripod ; it then divides into numerous tails, to each of which a man is stationed. When all these men pull down together the saw is lifted, and as they release their ropes other men on the handles press the saw forward, and it makes a downward cut. From time to time as the saw-cut advances the tripod has to be shifted. The arrangement will probably be well under- stood when it is explained that the action of the men on the ropes is very much that of bellringers, and it can be imagined that four hours of this sort of thing is a very good spell. I must now ask the reader to consider what the sawing of a channel through a solid ice-sheet actually means. It will be obvious of course that two cuts must be made, one on each side of the channel; but the rest is not so evident. It lies in the problem of how to get rid of the ice which remains in the channel. In order to do this cross-cuts must be made at intervals ; but this is not sufficient, for it is impossible to make _ the two side-cuts exactly parallel, so that by a cross-cut alone an irregular parallelogram is left, which will be immovable without being broken up. The simplest manner in which this can be effected is to make a diagonal cut right through it. The net result of the foregoing is to show that, in order to make a channel a mile in length, it is necessary to cut through four miles of ice. What added difficulties there were in our case my diary shows: ‘I found that the result of twelve solid days’ work was two parallel cuts 150 yards in length, and as operations had been commenced in the middle of the ice-sheet, instead of at the edge, 234 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ jan. the ice between the cuts could not be detached, and in some places it seemed to have frozen across again. I started the saws to see how matters had been going, and was astonished at the small result of the work. The ice was between six and seven feet thick, and each stroke only advanced the saw a fraction of an inch. The plain Rule of Three sum before us was, as 150 yards is to 12 days, so is 20 miles to x; and we did not have to work this sum out to appreciate the futility of further operations. I therefore directed that everything except the large tent should be taken back to the ship. The men will attempt to make a cut round Hut Point, so as to ease matters at the end if the ice breaks up, and the officers will be freed for their usual scientific work. Our sawing efforts have been an experience, but I’m afraid nothing more. ‘I have been much struck by the way in which everyone has cheerfully carried on this hopeless work until the order came to halt. There could have been no officer or man amongst them who did not see from the first how utterly useless it was, and yet there has been no faltering or complaint, simply because all have felt that, as the sailor expresses it, “‘ Them’s the orders.”’ ‘January 3.—Most of our company went back to the ship yesterday afternoon; some officers remain in the large tent, Hodgson to do some fishing and Ferrar some rock searching. Twenty miles of ice hangs heavy upon me, and I have decided we must be prepared for another winter. We have fifty tons of coal left and an ample stock of provisions ; also we can now take advantage of every resource that our region provides, for — there are evidently a large number of penguins to the north which will make a most grateful addition to our usual seal-meat. I have therefore told off four of the men—Lashly, Evans, Handsley, and Clarke—to fix their headquarters in the large tent, and to make such raids on the penguins as will assure us a winter stock, ‘This afternoon, after making these arrangements, I started away to the north with Wilson. We are off on a real picnic ; there is to be no hard marching, and we have made ample pro- 1904] THE OPEN WATER 235 vision for the commissariat. We know there will be number- less seals and penguins, and we have brought plenty of butter to cook our unsuspecting victims ; and then also we have jam and all sorts of unheard-of sledging luxuries. Personally I want to watch the ice-edge and see what chance there is of a break-up ; Wilson wants to study the life in that region. There has also been a talk of trying to get some way up Erebus, but this means hard work, for which at present we are neither of us inclined. ‘To-night we are camped near some rocks half way towards the ice-edge ; there are several seals close by, and small bands of Adélie penguins are constantly passing us. It is curious there should be so many, as we know of no rookery near, and it is still more curious why they should be making south, as there is no open water beyond the few cracks near the land. It gives us the idea that they don’t quite know what they are doing, especially since we watched the movements of one small band ; they were travelling towards the south with every appearance of being in a desperate hurry—flippers outspread, heads bent forward, and little feet going for all they were worth. Their business-like air was intensely ludicrous ; one could imagine them saying in the fussiest manner, “ Can’t stop to talk now, much too busy,” and so we watched them until their plump little bodies were mere specks, when suddenly, for no rhyme or reason, they turned round and came hurrying back just as fussy and busy as ever. I can’t tell whether they saw us, but to our surprise they showed no curiosity. When they were about twenty yards beyond us again, three of them suddenly plumped down on their breasts, drew their heads close in, shut their eyes, and apparently went fast asleep. It was the queerest performance ; one can imagine that in an hour or two they will be up and off again without even giving themselves time for a shake.’ ‘ January 4.—We pursued our leisurely way, skirting the land towards the ice-edge this morning. When within half a mile of the open water Wilson suddenly said, ‘‘ There they are.” I looked round; and, lo and behold! on the dark bare a 236 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ jay. rocks of Cape Royds there was a red smudge dotted with thousands of little black-and-white figures—a penguin rookery without a doubt. It is wonderful that we should have been here two years without knowing of this, and it is exasperating to think of the feasts of eggs we have missed. We steered into a small bay behind the cape, climbed a steep little rock- face, and found ourselves on a small plateau, luckily to wind- ward of the rookery. No place could be better for our camp, so we hauled our belongings up with the Alpine rope and pitched our tent on a stretch of sand. ‘Words fail me to describe what a delightful and interest- ing spot thisis. From our tent door we look out on to the open sea, deep blue but dotted with snowy-white pack-ice. Erebus towers high above us on our right, and to the left we look away over the long stretch of fast ice to the cloud-capped western mountains, We hear the constant chatter of the penguins, and find a wonderful interest in watching their queer habits ; the brown fluffy chicks are still quite small, and the adult birds are constantly streaming to and from the sea. Close about us many skuas are nesting ; they naturally regard us as intruders, and are terribly angry. The owners of one nest near by are perched on a rock; whenever we move they arch their necks and scream with rage, and when we go out of the tent they sweep down on us, only turning their course as their wings brush our heads. However, if we do not disturb their nest no doubt they will soon get used to us. ‘We have seen facts to-day which throw some light on the ferocious character of this robber gull. On returning from our walk Wilson saw one of them swoop down on the nest of another and fly off with a stolen egg in its beak. The owner of the nest was only a few yards away, and started in such hot pursuit that the thief was forced to relinquish its prize, which was dashed to pieces on the rocks. It is evident that there is. not even honour amongst thieves in the skua code of morality. ‘To-night we watched another incident in connection with the domestic life of these birds. Close by us there is a nest with two tiny chicks; they might be ordinary barn-door DESPERATE HURRY—NO TIME TO TALK. TO GAZK AT THE STRANGE INTRUDER. - a: el _- 2 = ns " ; Py =e . mm de chickens but for their already formidable bill and claws, and it is quite evident that they have not been hatched out more than a day or two. Suddenly we saw the parent bird come from the sea with a very fair-sized fish in its bill. It perched on a rock and began to tear pieces from its prey and offer them to its offspring ; the latter seized these tempting morsels with avidity, and though they could scarcely stand they tore and gobbled at the food with wonderful energy. But after a bit both chicks found themselves wrestling with the same piece, and for some time there was quite a tug of war until both seemed to realise that this was not the way to settle such a matter, and, as if by mutual consent, they dropped the cause of contention and went for one another. They became perfect little furies as they staggered about clawing and pecking at each other. Of course they were too feeble to do any harm, and soon fell apart exhausted, but the struggle shows that the youthful skua possesses a very full share of original sin. ‘We had a charming walk to the north side of the cape this afternoon, where the sea is lapping lazily on a shelving sandy beach, and where also there are several ponds with weeds and conferve. How delightful it is to look on the sea once more ! Yet how much more delightful it would be if one could lift the ‘ Discovery’ up and deposit her twenty miles to the north ! ‘On our return we got amongst the penguins, much to their annoyance. They swore at us in the vilest manner, and their feathers and tempers remained ruffled long after we had passed them. ‘Before supper we took soap and towels down to a small rill of thaw-water that runs within ten yards of the tent and had a delightful wash in the warm sunlight. Then we had a dish of fried penguins’ liver with seal kidneys ; eaten straight out of the frying-pan this was simply delicious. I have come to the conclusion that life in the Antarctic Regions can be very pleasant.’ : ‘ January 5.—This morning we got up in the most leisurely fashion, and after a wash and our breakfast we lazily started to discuss plans for the day. Our tent door was open and 238 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [jan. framed the clear sea beyond, and I was gazing dreamily out upon this patch of blue when suddenly a ship entered my field of view. It was so unexpected that I almost rubbed my eyes before I dared to report it, but a moment after, of course, all became bustle and we began to search round for our boots and other articles necessary for the march. Whilst we were thus employed, Wilson looked up and said, ‘‘ Why, there’s another,” and sure enough there were now two vessels framed in our doorway. We had of course taken for granted that the first ship was the ‘ Morning,” but what in the name of fortune could be the meaning of this second one? We propounded all sorts of wild theories of which it need only be said that not one was within measurable distance of the truth. ‘Meanwhile we were busily donning our garments and discussing what should be done next. The ships were making towards the ice-edge some five miles to the westward ; our easiest plan would be to go straight on board, but then if we did so our companions on board the “ Discovery” would know nothing of it, and it would mean a long delay before they could get their mails. Our duty seemed to be to consider first the establishment of communications, so, hastily scribbling some notes with directions for the dog team and a sledge party to be sent down without delay, we started southward to search for the penguin hunters in order that these notes might be delivered. ‘We went on for a long time without seeing a sign of them, but after travelling some six miles we caught sight of their tent, though without any signs of life about it ; we had to come within a hundred yards before our shouts were answered and four very satisfied figures emerged, still munching the remains of what evidently had been a hearty meal. Of course I thought they had not seen the ships, but they had, only, as they ex- plained, they didn’t see there was any call for them to do any- thing in the matter. I said, “But, good heavens, you want your mails, don’t you?” ‘Qh, yes, sir,” they replied, “ but we thought that would be all right.” In other words, they as good as said that life was so extremely easy and pleasant that 1904] ARRIVAL OF THE RELIEF SHIPS 239 there was no possible object in worrying over such a trifle as the arrival of a relief expedition. And these are the people whom, not unnaturally, some of our friends appear to imagine in dire straits and in need of immediate transport to civilised conditions ! * However, once they got their orders they were off like the wind, and Wilson and I turned about and faced for the ships. We were quite close before figures came hurrying forth to meet us, but then we were soon surrounded with many familiar faces, and with many also that were quite strange. Of course I learnt at once that the second ship was the “Terra Nova,” and that her captain, MacKay, was an old acquaintance whom I was more than pleased to welcome in this Far South region ; but it was not until I had had a long talk with my good friend Colbeck that I began to understand why a second ship had been sent and what a strangely new aspect everything must wear. Indeed, as I turn in to-night, amidst all the comfort that the kindness and forethought of my “ Morning” friends have provided, I can scarcely realise the situation fully. I can only record that in spite of the good home news, and in spite of the pleasure of seeing old friends again, I was happier last night than I am to-night.’ And now I must briefly explain how it was that these vessels had descended upon us like a bolt from the blue, and what messages of comfort and discomfort they bore. To do so I must hark back to March 2, 1902, when, as will be remembered, the ‘ Morning’ left us bearing despatches which outlined the work we had done and described our situation and the prospect of our detention for a second winter. The ‘Morning’ arrived in New Zealand in April, and the general outline of affairs was flashed over the cables, but received in a very garbled form ; it was not until six weeks later that the mails brought a clear account of the situation to those who had been so anxiously awaiting news at home. And now for a moment I must pause to explain what this account conveyed to those authorities at home who were responsible for the despatch of the expedition. My report informed them 240 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ jan. that the ‘ Discovery’ and all on board her were safe and well and prepared for a second winter, but perhaps rather unfor- tunately it referred to the return of the ‘Morning’ in the following summer as a foregone conclusion and enumerated the stores which it was advisable she should bring ; it spoke also of our attack of scurvy, though stating that there was little chance of its recurrence. I had been tempted to omit this matter as calculated to cause unnecessary anxiety, but, reflecting that the rumour might spread from some other source and become greatly exaggerated, I had finally decided to state the facts exactly as they were. Such a report could leave only one impression on the minds of the authorities to which I have referred—namely, that at all hazards the ‘ Morning’ must be sent South in 1903. But this contingency, which could not easily have been fore- seen, involved a serious difficulty, as the ‘Morning’ fund was found to be wholly inadequate to meet the requirements of another year. There can be little doubt, I think, that had time permitted an appeal to the public and a full explanation of the necessities of the case, the required funds would have been raised, but, unfortunately, time was very limited, and already some weeks had elapsed since the reception of the news. In these circumstances no course was left to the Societies but to appeal to the Government, and after some correspondence the Government agreed to undertake the whole conduct of the relief expedition provided that the ‘Morning,’ as she stood, was delivered to it. These arrange- ments being made, the Government naturally placed the active management of affairs in the hands of the Admiralty, and a small committee of officers was appointed by this department to deal with it. It is scarcely necessary to point out that when the Govern- ment undertakes a matter of this sort it must be with larger responsibilities than can rest on private individuals. Had the Societies possessed the necessary funds, they would have been quite justified in relying on the ‘ Morning’ to force her way to the South as she had done before, but when the Government 1904] THE SECOND RELIEF EXPEDITION 241 undertook that relief should be sent, it could not afford to entrust the fulfilment of its pledge to one small ship, which, however ably handled, might break down or become entangled in the ice before she reached her destination. It was felt, therefore, that to support the Government pledge and ensure the relief of the ‘Discovery’ two ships should be sent. This decision and the very short time which was left for its performance brought a heavy strain on the Admiralty Committee to which I have referred. It consisted of the Hydrographer, Sir William Wharton, Admiral Pelham Aldrich, and Admiral Boyes, and it is thanks to the unremitted labour of these officers that the relief expedition was organised to that degree of efficiency which the Government desired. To meet the requirements of the case the ‘ Terra Nova,’ one of the finest of the whaling ships, was purchased and brought to Dundee to be thoroughly refitted ; whilst there she was completely stocked with provisions and all other necessaries for the voyage, and a whaling crew, under the command of Captain Harry MacKay, was engaged to navigate her. Perhaps never before has a ship been equipped so speedily and efficiently for polar work, and it is a striking example of what can be done under able guidance and urgent requirement. Even when the ‘Terra Nova’ had been prepared for her long voyage in this rapid manner the need for haste had not vanished, and it appeared that the time still left was quite inadequate to allow her to make the long voyage around the Cape under her own motive power. The same high pressure was therefore continued, and her course was directed through the Mediterranean and Suez Canal, on which route cruiser after cruiser took her in tow and raced her through the water at a speed which must have surprised the barnacles on her stout wooden sides. Thanks to this haste, however, she arrived in the South in time to make the final preparations for her Antarctic voyage, and towards the end of November she lay off Hobart Town in Tasmania. In December she was joined by the ‘ Morning,’ and in the middle of the same month both ships sailed for the Ross Sea. Captain Colbeck was directed to take charge of VOL, II, R 242 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ jan. this joint venture until such time as both ships should come under my command. And so it came about that, much to our surprise, two ships, instead of one, arrived off the edge of our fast ice on January 5, 1904. Looking back now, I can see that everything happened in such a natural sequence that I might well have guessed that something of the sort would come about, yet it is quite certain that no such thought ever entered my head, and the first sight of the two vessels conveyed nothing but blank astonishment. But it was not the arrival of the ‘Terra Nova,’ whose captain I saw from the first was anxious to do everything in his power to fallin with my plans, that disconcerted me and prompted that somewhat lugubrious entry in my diary which I have quoted. This was caused by quite another matter, and one which I might equally have guessed had I thought the problem out on the right lines. When the news of our detention in the ice became known in England, it is not too much to say that the majority of those who were capable of forming a competent opinion believed that the ‘ Discovery’ would never be freed. There is no doubt the Admiralty inclined to this opinion, but whether they did sO or not, it was equally their duty to see that the expense of furnishing a relief expedition on such an elaborate scale should not be incurred again in a future season, and consequently they had no other course than to issue direct instructions to me to abandon the ‘ Discovery’ if she could not be freed in time to accompany the relief ships to the North. When I came to understand the situation I could see clearly the reason which dictated these instructions, but this did little to lighten the grievous disappointment I felt on receiving them. It does not need much further explanation, I think, to show that the arrival of the relief ships with this mandate placed me and my companions unavoidably in a very cruel position. Under the most ordinary conditions, I take it, a sailor would go through much rather than abandon his ship. But the ties which bound us to the ‘ Discovery’ were very far beyond the ordinary ; they involved a depth of sentiment which cannot be 1904] UNWELCOME NEWS 243 re) surprising when it is remembered what we had been through in her and what a comfortable home she had proved in all the rigours of this Southern region. In spite of our long detention in the ice, the thought of leaving her had never entered our heads. Throughout the second winter we had grown ever more assured that she would be freed if we had the patience to wait ; we could not bring ourselves to believe—and, as events proved, quite rightly—that the ice-sheet about us was a permanency. When the end of December came and we still found twenty miles between us and the open sea, we had small fits of depression such as my diary showed ; but, as is also shown, they did not interfere with the healthy, happy course of our lives, and any one of us would have scouted the idea that hope should be abandoned. We had felt that at the worst this only opened up for us the prospect of a third winter, and we had determined that if we had to go through with it, it would not be our fault if we were not comfortable. It was from this easy and passably contented frame of mind that we were rudely awakened. The situation we were now obliged to face was that if the twenty-mile plain of ice refused to break up within six weeks, we must bid a long farewell to our well-beloved ship and return to our homes as castaways with the sense of failure dominating the result of our labours. And so with the advent of the relief ships there fell on the ‘Discovery’ the first and last cloud of gloom which we were destined to experience. As day followed day without improve- ment in the ice conditions, the gloom deepened until our faces grew so long that one might well have imagined an Antarctic expedition to be a very woeful affair. As we were very human also, it may be confessed that not a little of our discontent arose from wounded vanity. By this time we considered ourselves very able to cope with any situa- tion that might arise, and believed that we were quite capable of looking after ourselves. It was not a little trying, therefore, to be offered relief to an extent which seemed to suggest that we had been reduced to the direst need. No healthy man R2 244 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ _ [Jan. likes to be thought an invalid, and there are few of us who have not at some time felt embarrassed by an excess of con- sideration for our needs. Although the month that followed the arrival of the reliet ships was on the whole a very dismal one, it was by no means uneventful ; in fact, it was a season which displayed the most extraordinary ups and down in our fortunes, and therefore I take up the tale once more with extracts from my diary : ‘ January 7.—I write again in camp at Cape Royds, where I have joined Wilson to get some quiet in order to read my letters and consider the situation. I don’t know in what state the relief ships expected to find us, but I think they must have soon appreciated that we were very much alive. The messages I sent back to the “ Discovery” on the 5th were carried at such speed that by 10 P.M. the dog team arrived at the ice-edge. This meant that my orders had been conveyed forty miles in twelve hours. Early the next morning the first sledge team of men arrived and departed with a large load of parcels and presents. These by arrangement were taken to the main camp, whence another party took them to the ship, and so our friends saw teams of our distressful company coming north with a swinging march, appearing on board with very brown faces and only waiting for their sledges to be loaded before they vanished over the horizon again. The number of parcels sent by our kind friends in England and New Zealand is enormous, but as one cannot tell what each contains till the owner opens it, I decided to send all. ‘Conditions at the ice-edge have been absolutely quiescent, the weather calm and bright, and the loose pack coming and going with the tide; not a single piece has broken away from the main sheet. I asked Colbeck to start his people on an ice-saw to give them an idea of what the work was like; a single day was quite enough for them. MacKay suggested that he should get up a full head of steam and attempt to break the ice up by ramming, or, as he says, “butting” it. He has little hope of success, but points out that the ‘Terra Nova” is a powerful steamer, and may accomplish something ; 1904) ARRANGING FOR ABANDONMENT: 24s for my part, except as regards damage to his ship, I think he might as well try to “butt” through Cape Royds. However, he is to make the attempt to-morrow or the next day, and it is perhaps as well that every expedient should be tried. We can but try every means in our power and leave Providence to do the rest; but it looks as though Providence will have a very large share, ‘There is a light snowfall to-night ; the penguins are un- usually quiet, and the skuas lie low on the rocks; does this mean a blow? It is a curious irony of fate that makes one pray for a gale in these regions, but at present bad weather seems the only thing that can help us.’ ‘January 9.—At the main camp. Came up from Cape Royds last night intending to reach the ship this morning. This resulted in rather a curious experience. I started early and trudged on towards the ship through snow that has be- come rather deep and sticky. Half-way across the air grew thick and misty. I lost sight of all landmarks, but went on for some time guided by the sun, which showed faintly at my back. After a while the sun vanished, but thinking I might make some sort of general direction I turned towards the land and plodded on; for nearly an hour I saw nothing, but then suddenly came across fresh footsteps; they were my own! I naturally decided that this was not good enough, so turned to retrace the track towards the camp; a mile back I fell across a sledge party, and on inquiring where they were going was told that they had been following my footsteps to the ship. Needless to say, we are all back at the main camp again.’ ‘ January 10.—Reached the ship this morning and this afternoon assembled all hands on the mess-deck, where I told them exactly how matters stood. There was a stony silence. I have not heard a laugh in the ship since I returned.’ ‘ January 11.—I have decided to arrange for the transport of our collections and instruments to the relief ships. To-day the officers have been busy making out lists of the things to be sent.’ 3 ‘January 13.—For some time we have had a flagstaff on 246 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ | [jan. the Tent Islet, ten miles to the north, and a system of signals in connection with it descriptive of the changes in the ice conditions. A flag or shape is hoisted on the staff each morn- ing which has a special meaning in our code, and each morning our telescope is anxiously trained towards it. Up to the pre- sent only one signal has been read: it signifies ‘No change in the ice conditions.” I don’t know whether it is worse to be on board the relief ships and observe the monotony of the changeless conditions or to be here and observe the terrible sameness of that signal. Our people have been steadily struggling on with the ice-saw off Hut Point ; the work is even heavier than it was to the north, as the ice is thicker and more deeply covered with snow. I have kept it going more as an occupation than from any hope of useful result, but to- day it has been stopped.’ ‘January 15.—I thought for some time about the advisa- bility of starting to transport our valuables. The distance is long, and with the recent snowfall the work will be very heavy, but what I think principally held me back was the thought that it might be taken as a sign that we are giving up hope. Bad as things are, we are not reduced to that yet. In the end, however, I reflected that, whether the ‘“ Discovery ” gets out or not, there is no reason why the relief ships should not carry our collections and instruments back to civilisation, and mean- while the work of transport will relieve the terrible monotony of waiting. There is, perhaps, nothing so trying in our situa- tion as the sense of impotence. I have decided, therefore, to set things going ; our parties will drag the loads down to the main camp, and the crews of the relief ships will share the work of taking them on. Royds has gone north to arrange the details, and also to try some experiments with explosives. I have told him not to use much of the latter, as the distance is so great that it would only be waste to undertake serious operations of this sort at present. I merely want to know exactly how to set about the work when the time comes, if it ever does come.’ ‘January 21.—Wilson returned to the ship to-night after a 1904] CAPTURE OF A SEA ELEPHANT 247 long spell at the Cape Royds camp, and told me all about his great capture. It appears that one day he strolled over to the north beach to see what he at first took for a prodigiously large seal lying asleep on it. Ashe got closer he saw, however, that the animal was quite different from any of the ordinary Southern seals, and his excitement can be imagined. ‘Two of the ‘“ Morning” officers were in camp with him, and when Wilson had seized the gun the three proceeded to stalk this strange new beast. Their great fear was that they might only succeed in wounding it, and that it would escape into the sea, so in spite of the temperature of the water they waded well round it before they attacked. ‘These tactics proved quite successful, and their quarry was soon despatched, but it was far too heavy for them to move or for Wilson to examine where it lay. The following day, however, Colbeck came over in the “ Morning,” and with the aid of boats and ropes the carcase was eventually landed on his decks. ‘On close examination Wilson came to the conclusion that the animal is a sea-elephant of the species commonly found at Macquarie Island, but this is the first time that such a beast has been found within the Antarctic Circle: and that it should now have been captured so many hundreds of miles beyond is a very extraordinary circumstance. The sea-elephant is, I believe, a vegetarian ; the stomach of this one was empty.’ I may remark that we got to know this particular sea elephant very well. As a rule, skeletons which are bound for the British Museum are not cleaned until they arrive on the premises, in order that there may be no difficulty in reassem- bling the parts. In accordance with this custom, the skeleton or this animal was carried on the skid beam of the ‘ Discovery’ in a partially stripped state. All went well until we arrived in the tropics, but after that we had no chance of forgetting that we carried the remains of a sea elephant. Shift it from place to place as we would, it made its presence felt everywhere. In the end the Museum came very close to losing a specimen, and I doubt if it possesses many that have caused more woe. ‘ January 23.—Since the start of our transporting work 248 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ jan. more than a week ago, the weather has changed. We have had a great deal of wind from the east and south-east with drifting snow, and an almost continuously overcast sky. The work has been impeded, but by steadily pushing on we have managed to accomplish a good deal. Our people go out all together and drag four heavily laden sledges down to the main camp; there they remain for the night, and return on the following day. The relief ships work the remainder of the distance in much the same way. We keep a cook at the main camp to provide the necessary meals. Hodgson, Bernacchi, and Mulock have been down to the ships to see to the storage of our belongings. Most of them will goin the “ Terra Nova,” which has the greater accommodation. ‘From these sources or from notes which come every other day I receive accounts of the ice. I scarcely like to write that things are looking more hopeful. Nothing happened until the 18th, but on that day some large pieces broke away, and since that the ships have made steady but slow progress. I estimate from reports that they are four or five miles nearer than when I was down a fortnight ago. I learn that the “ Terra Nova’s” “butting ” came to naught, as I expected ; she could make no impression on the solid sheet, though she rammed it full tilt.’ ‘ January 24.—Our people report that the ships were again on the move last night, and this morning did not appear to be more than three miles from the camp. I have been calculating that for things to be as they were in the year of our arrival thirteen or fourteen miles of ice must go out in fifteen days— nearly an average of a mile a day, whereas I scarcely like to think what a difference this would be from what has happened in the last fifteen days. We are at present behind last year’s date as regards the ice, but, on the other hand, the recent winds have swept the pack away—a condition that never happened last year.’ ‘January 27.—Yesterday the large tent was shifted two miles this way, and is now this side of the glacier tongue ; this is by way of equalising the distance for the transporting parties, but our people have still much the longer distance to travel. 1904] THE ICE BREAKING AWAY 249 Advices from the relief ships inform me that the ice is still breaking away, but not so rapidly as at the beginning of the week, I fear, I much fear, that things are going badly for us.’ ‘ January 28.—This morning as I lay in my bunk, I was astonished to hear the ship creaking. On getting up I found that she was moving in the ice with a very slow rhythmic motion. After breakfast we all went out to Hut Point and found that the whole ice-sheet was swaying very slightly under the action of a long swell; its edge against the land was rising and falling as much as 18 inches. This is the most promising event that has happened ; we have not known such a thing since our first imprisonment. It is too thick to see what is happening to seaward, but one cannot but regard this as a hopeful sign. We are all very restless, constantly dashing up the hill to the look-out station or wandering from place to place to observe the effects of the swell. But it is long since we enjoyed such a cheerful experience as we get on watching the loose pieces of ice jostling one another at Hut Point.’ ‘January 29.—Still no definite news of what is happening to seaward. The ship worked loose yesterday, and moves an inch or two in her icy bed. This has caused a great increase in the creaking and groaning of the timbers. This pleasant music is now almost continuous, and one feels immensely cheered till one goes up the hill and looks out on the long miles of ice and the misty screen which hides the sea. I grow a little sceptical of reports which tell of the departure of a mile or half a mile of ice, for if all these distances could be added together the relief ships should have been at Hut Point by now.’ ‘ January 30.—Went up the hill with Koettlitz, and saw a most cheering sight. The ice has broken away well inside the glacier, and the relief ships are not much more than eight miles away. ‘Through the telescope one can see the hull and rigging very distinctly, and even the figures of men walking about. ‘Later came full reports from the ships with excellent news. Colbeck tells me that during the last few days there 250 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ | [Fzs. has been a great change. On the 26th the open water ex- tended to the outer islet, on the 28th to the inner one, and now it has reached inside the glacier. The ice broke away in very large sheets, and so rapidly that he was carried away to the westward. As if to show contempt for our puny efforts, the scene of our sawing labours was carried away in the centre of a large floe ; our feeble scratches did not even help to form one of the cracks which broke up the ice-sheet about them. In the last five days fully six miles of ice have broken away, so that we are all inclined to be very cheerful again. There is only one drawback : the swell is slowly but surely dying away, and there is no doubt that we are entirely dependent on it.’ ‘ February 1.—We seem to be hanging in the balance, with even chances either way. On the one hand, the swell has died away, the ice is very quiet again, and one remembers that we are not really further advanced than we were at this time last year ; on the other, we hear the hopeful sign of a clear sea to the north, and the knowledge that a swell will have full freedom of action. It’s a toss-up. ‘The work of transport has been going on steadily, and a few more days will see its finish. The main tent is now about five miles from the ship, so that the work progresses more speedily. All our scientific collections and most of the valuable instruments were taken across some time ago ; then followed the scientific library, a very heavy item ; and now some of our personal effects and the pictures, &c., from the wardroom are packed for transit. Our living quarters are beginning to look bare and unfurnished, but we shall not mind that a particle if we can only get out. ‘I find myself growing ridiculously superstitious, and cannot banish the notion that if we make every preparation for leaving the ‘‘ Discovery,” Nature with its usual cussedness will free her.’ ‘ February 3.—I imagine the ice all over the sound has been thinning underneath ; off the various headlands it has rotted right through to a greater extent than it did last year. There is a very large open pool off Cape Armitage, and another Ne a et il Boe ed ee, ee Ot Se —se S fou) EXPLOSIONS 251 smaller one off Hut Point, beyond which the ice is very thin and treacherous for three or four hundred yards. The sledge parties have to go a long way round to avoid this, though un- loaded travellers can climb over the land and down on to the firm ice in Arrival Bay. ‘For some days now there has been practically no advance in the ice conditions. Our spirits are steadily falling again, and I am just off to the ‘ Morning” to see if anything more can be done.’ ‘ February 4.--On board the “ Morning.” The ships are lying about one and a half mile inside the glacier, where they have been without change for the last three days. I have discontinued transport work for the present. It has been a lovely calm, bright day—alas! much too calm and bright. I cannot describe how irritating it is to endure these placid con- ditions as the time speeds along. ‘There being nothing else to be done, Colbeck took me round the glacier tongue in the ** Morning,” and we sounded on both sides, getting most extra- ordinarily regular depths of 230 to 240 fathoms, except at one inlet on the north side, where we got 170. In the afternoon we climbed to the top of the Tent Islet (480 feet) and brought down the telescope and flags left by the signalling party. The ice to the westward is not broken away so far as I expected ; altogether the view was not inspiriting. Spent the evening with Captain MacKay, who is excellent company for a depressed state of mind.’ ‘ February 5.—I1 did not want to begin explosions whilst the distance was so great, but on considering the stagnant condition of affairs I decided to make a start to-day. It has been evident to me for some time that if explosives are to be of any use, they must be expended freely, and so to-day we experimented in this direction. To explain matters, it is necessary to describe the condition of the fast ice. Its edge starts about a mile from the end of the glacier, and after a sweep to the south turns to the west, in which direction it runs for five or six miles before it gradually turns to the north ; any point along this long western line is more or less equi- 252 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [¥Fss. distant from the “ Discovery.” As one approaches the open water from the south, one crosses a series of cracks which run for miles parallel to each other and to the ice-edge ; this is the first step that the swell makes towards breaking up the sheet. These cracks are from 50 to 150 yards apart, and according to the dimensions of the swell there may be any number from two or three toa dozen. ‘They are constantly working, those near the ice-edge of course more perceptibly than the others. After one of the long strips thus formed has been working for some time a transverse crack suddenly appears, and then a piece breaks away, usually at the eastern end ; and very soon after it is weakened in this manner the rest of the strip peels away right across the bay. I have now seen two or three strips go in this manner, and it appears to me that what we require to do is to get ahead of Nature by forming the transverse cracks. To-day, therefore, I planted the charges at intervals in line with the ‘‘ Discovery,” and with a specially made electric circuit blew them up together. On the whole the result was satis- factory ; we formed a transverse crack and the strip under which the charges had been placed went out within the hour. It is not a great gain, and the expenditure of material is large, but I think the result justifies an attempt to continue the work on properly organised lines. I have therefore sent to the ‘ Dis- covery ” fora party of our special torpedo men who will continue to fit, place and fire the charges whilst the men of the relief ships go on digging the holes. I feel that the utility of these explosives depends entirely on the swell; we can do nothing unless Nature helps us; on the other hand, we in turn may help Nature. ‘ February 6.—We have started our explosive work in full swing, and all hands are working very vigorously at it. We have had eight men from the “‘Terra Nova” and seven from the “ Morning” digging holes. I went along first and planted small sticks where these holes were to be dug; then the men set to, three at each hole. ‘The ice is from five to six feet in thickness, and the work is quite easy until the hole is two or three feet deep, but then 1904] DANGEROUS WORK 263 it becomes hard and tiresome, and can be continued only by chipping away with long-handled implements and occasionally clearing out the detached pieces with a shovel. The worst part comes when the water is admitted, as this happens before the bottom of the hole can be knocked out, and it is most difficult to continue the chipping under water ; in fact, towards the end of the day we gave up attempting to do this, and decided that it was better to blow the bottom out with a small charge. Whilst the holes were being dug, our own “ Discovery ” party were busily fitting and firing charges ; this is dangerous work of course, and I have been very careful to see that proper precautions are taken. The charge fitters are isolated in a tent some way from the scene of action, and the fitted charges are brought up ona sledge under proper custody, and handled only by our own experts. The battery is kept on a small sledge of its own, and can thus be taken out of reach of the electric circuits when not in use. ‘We are doing things on a large scale ; three charges are fired together, and each charge contains 35 lbs of guncotton. When three holes are finished, a charge is taken to each with a small line five fathoms long attached to it ; then the electric wires are joined up and the charges are lowered under water to the extent of their lines, everyone clears away from the region and the battery is run up to the other end of the wires, a hundred and fifty yards away. When all is ready the key is pressed. Then the whole floe rises as though there were an earthquake ; three mighty columns of water and ice shoot up into the sky, rising high above the masts of the ships ; there is a patter of falling ice-blocks and then quiet again. One might imagine that nothing could withstand such prodigious force until one walks up and finds that beyond three gaping blackened craters there is nothing to show for that vast upheaval—at least, nothing that can be detected with a casual glance; but a close scrutiny of the surface between the holes generally shows that after all something has been effected, for from each hole a number of minute cracks radiate, and one can see that in two or three places these have joined. At first these cracks are so 254 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ | [Fzs. thin as to be scarcely discernible, but if one watches on for ten minutes or more, one can detect the fact that they are very gradu- ally opening ; half an hour later they may be a quarter of an inch in width, and then it is possible to see that the ice on each side is moving unequally. This is the beginning of the end, for in an hour or two the broken floe, small enough in area but con- taining many hundreds of tons of ice, will quietly detach itself and float calmly away to the north. ‘Tt is in this manner, therefore, that we now hope to reach the ‘‘ Discovery,” if only the swell will hold. We have advanced about a third of a mile to-day, though how much is due to our own efforts, and how much to the ordinary course of Nature, we cannot tell, nor do we much care as long as the advance is made.’ ‘ February 7.—We certainly have curious ups and downs of fortune. This forenoon nothing happened after our explosion, and I felt very despondent, but after lunch as I was sitting in Colbeck’s cabin, he suddenly rushed down to say that an enormous piece was breaking away—and sure enough when I got on deck I found that a floe from a half to three-quarters of a mile across was quietly going out to sea. The men of the relief ships are working like Trojans at the hole-digging ; they are taking a keen interest in the proceedings and are especially delighted with the explosions. There is a competition in cutting the holes, and some take particular care in making them very neat and round regardless of the fact that in half an hour their handiwork will be blown to pieces. The best implement for this work is a sort of spud with a sharp cutting edge at the bottom. We are short of good tools of this sort, but the “ Terra Nova’s” blacksmith and our own engineers are busy making more.’ February 8.—Wretched luck to-day. It is quite calm, and the swell has almost vanished ; the floes that broke away last night are still hanging about the ice-edge and damping what little swell remains. Barne has a bad attack of snow-blindness, and so Evans, of the ‘‘ Morning,” relieves him for the present in the charge of explosive operations.’ 1904 | ANXIOUS DAYS 255 ‘ February 9.—On board the “ Discovery.” Our hopes, which were high on the 7th, have fallen again to a low ebb. Last night a few of the broken floes cleared away, but the swell did not return. Explosions were continued, but with little result. However, I felt that we could do no more than work on systematically, and as that has now been arranged I saw no object in my staying on board the “ Morning,” whereupon, asking Colbeck to superintend operations, I jour- neyed homeward again. ‘At this date two years ago the ice had broken back to Hut Point, and now it is fast for six miles beyond; one never appreciates what a distance six miles is till one comes to walk over it, and as I plodded homeward for two hours to-day I am bound to confess my heart gradually sank into my boots. There would be nothing to worry about if we only had time on our side, but each day now the sun is sinking lower and the air getting colder. It is only a matter of days now before the season closes.’ “february 10.—To-day I have done very little but walk restlessly about. Twice I have been up to the observation station on Arrival Heights. On this vantage point some 500 feet up we have a large telescope with which we can see pretty clearly what is happening at the ice-edge, and sad to relate it is very little. ‘The ice about Hut Point is now so thin as to be dan- gerous for a long way out. Crean fell in yesterday, and had a very narrow shave, as he could not attempt to swim amongst the sodden brash-ice. Luckily he kept his head, and remained still until the others were able to run for a rope and haul him out. To avoid this in future we have constructed a roadway over the land so that sledges can be hauled up the steep snow- slope from Arrival Bay. Everyone now is making an effort to be cheerful, but it is an obvious effort. ‘I have made every arrangement for abandoning the ship. I have allotted the officers and men to the relief ships and drawn up instructions for the latter. The ‘ Morning,” I think, ought to be outside the strait by the 25th, but the “ Terra 256 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Fzs. Nova” with her greater power can remain perhaps a week longer. I don’t think I ever had a more depressing evening’s work.’ ‘ February 11.—Awoke this morning to find a light southerly wind and the air filled with snow. We could see nothing but the dismal grey wall all around us, and, as may be imagined, the general gloom was not much lightened by the view of things without ; and yet, as always seems to happen to us, when things look blackest the sun breaks through. This morning I sent the dog team over with the laboured instructions which I wrote last night. A few hours later it returned with a note to say the ice was breaking up fast. A good deal had gone out in the night and more in the morning. At eight o’clock Doorly, of the “ Morning,” arrived with a second letter to say that the afternoon had proved equally propitious, and to ask that more men might be sent to dig holes for the explosives. Half an hour later Royds was away with a party of ten men, and since that I have been able to do nothing but record these pleasant facts. I can’t think that much excitement of this sort would be good for us.’ ‘ February 12.—The weather was clearer this morning, but the sky still overcast. We were out at Hut Point early, and the difference in distance of the ships was obvious at a glance, so from there we dashed up Arrival Heights. From our observation station we could now see everything. The “Terra Nova” was just picking up our large tent, which was a little over four miles from Hut Point, but the ‘‘ Morning” was to the westward and quite half a mile nearer, and it was here that the explosive work was being pushed vigorously forward ; one could see the tiny groups of figures digging away at the holes. This afternoon I went down to the “Morning,” and arrived after a walk of three-quarters of an hour. I learnt that there had been a considerable swell, but that it was now decreasing rapidly and things were growing quieter again ; the explosions to-day had not done much, and the broken ice was again hanging about the edge instead of drifting to the north. To-night matters are not quite so pleasing again; I don’t 1904] FINAL BREAK-UP OF THE ICE 254 fancy another long wait for a swell, yet one has to remember that appearances are very different from what they were two nights ago.’ ‘February 13.—Thick weather again to-day ; have seen or heard nothing from the ice-edge. Very anxious for a clearance.’ ‘ February 14.—So much has happened to-night that I have some difficulty in remembering the events of the day. This morning the wind was strong from the south-east and carried a good deal of drift; although one could see the relief ships, one could not make out what was happening with regard to the work, or whether the ice was breaking away. The afternoon found us in very much the same condition, and even by dinner-time we had no definite news. ‘It was not until we were quietly eating this meal that the excitement first commenced, when we heard a shout on deck and a voice sang out down the hatchway, “The ships are coming, sir!” ‘There was no more dinner, and in one minute we were racing for Hut Point, where a glorious sight met our view. The ice was breaking up right across the strait, and with a rapidity which we had not thought possible. No sooner was one great floe borne away than a dark streak cut its way into the solid sheet that remained and carved out another, to feed the broad stream of pack which was hurrying away to the north-west. ‘I have never witnessed a more impressive sight; the sun was low behind us, the surface of the ice-sheet in front was intensely white, and in contrast the distant sea and its forking leads looked almost black. The wind had fallen to a calm, and not a sound disturbed the stillness about us. ‘Yet in the midst of this peaceful silence was an awful unseen agency rending that great ice-sheet as though it had been naught but the thinnest paper. We knew well by this time the nature of our prison bars ; we had not plodded again and again over those long dreary miles of snow without realising the formidable strength of the great barrier which avis, IT. S 258 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Fes — held us bound ; we knew that the heaviest battleship would have shattered itself ineffectually against it, and we had seen a million-ton iceberg brought to rest at its edge. For weeks we had been struggling with this mighty obstacle, controlling the most powerful disruptive forces that the intelligence of man has devised, but only to realise more completely the inadequacy of our powers. Even Nature had seemed to pause before such a vast difficulty, and had hitherto delivered her attacks with such sluggish force that we had reasonably doubted her ability to conquer it before the grip of the winter arrested her efforts. ‘But now without a word, without an effort on our part, it was all melting away, and we knew that in an hour or two not a vestige of it would be left, and that the open sea would be lapping on the black rocks of Hut Point. ‘Fast as the ice was breaking, it was not fast enough for our gallant relief ships ; already we could see them battling through the floes with a full head of steam and with their bows ever pressing forward on the yet unbroken sheet; working this way and that, they saw the long cracks shot out before them and in a moment their armoured stems were thrust into them and they forged ahead again in new and rapidly widening channels. There was evidently a race as to which should be first to pass beyond the flagstaff round which our small company had clustered, but the little ‘‘ Morning,” with her bluff bows and weak engines, could scarcely expect to hold her own against her finer-built and more powerful competitor. ‘By ten o’clock we could observe the details of the game and watch each turn and twist with a knowledge of its immediate cause. By 10.30 we could see the splintering of the ice as they crashed into the floes and hear the hoarse shouts of the men as, wild with excitement, they cheered each fresh success. Scarcely half-a-mile of ice remained between us, and now the contest became keener, and the crew of the “Terra Nova” gathered together by word of command and ran from side to side of their ship till she rolled heavily and seemed to shake herself, as the force of each rush was gradually expended and she fell back to gather way for a fresh attack; ~ 1904} DRAMATIC APPROACH OF THE SHIPS 259 but in spite of all her efforts the persistent little “ Morning,” dodging right and left and seizing every chance opening, kept doggedly at her side, and it still seemed a chance as to who should be first to reach that coveted goal, the open pool of water at our feet. ‘Meanwhile our small community in their nondescript, tattered garments stood breathlessly watching this wonderful scene. For long intervals we remained almost spell-bound, and then a burst of frenzied cheering broke out. It seemed to us almost too good to be real. By eleven o’clock all the thick ice had vanished, and there remained only the thin area of decayed floe which has lately made the approach to the ship so dangerous ; a few minutes later the “Terra Nova” forged ahead and came crashing into the open, to be followed almost immediately by her stout little companion, and soon both ships were firmly anchored to all that remains of the “ Discovery’s” prison, the wedge that still holds in our small bay. ‘It seems unnecessary to describe all that has followed: how everyone has been dashing about madly from ship to ship, how everyone shook everyone else by the hand, how our small bay has become a scene of wild revelry, and how some have now reached that state which places them in doubt as to which ship they really belong to. Much can be excused on such a night. ‘And so to-night the ships of our small fleet are lying almost side by side; a rope from the “Terra Nova” is actually secured to.the “ Discovery.” Who could have thought it possible? Certainly not we who have lived through the trying scenes of the past month.’ ‘ February 15.—The rapid passage of events has caught us unprepared, and to-day all hands have been employed in making up for lost time. It has been a busy day ; our own men have been on board making things ship-shape and trim, whilst parties from the other ships have been digging ice and bringing it on board to fill our boilers. The small wedge of sea-ice that still remains in our bay is cracked in many places, and no doubt it would go out of its own accord in the course S 2 260 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Fss. of a few days, but I am now all impatience to be away, and therefore contemplate expediting matters by some explosions. To make the necessary holes in the ice I have been obliged to call in the assistance of the officers, who have been digging away busily, but it has been no light matter to get through, for the ice at the edge is twelve feet thick, whilst closer to the ship it runs from fifteen to seventeen feet. We shall work all night till our boilers are filled, but what a very different matter work is under these new conditions! Faces have regained the old cheerful expression, and already the wags are finding new subjects for their sallies.’ ‘ February 16.—I felt much too restless to go to bed last night, and so after spending the evening with my fellow captains I wandered about to see how the work went, and presently mustered the explosion party and prepared a large charge containing 67 lbs. of gun-cotton. We lowered this carefully into a hole some fifteen yards ahead of the ship, and at 1 A.M., regardless of the feelings of the sleepers, blew it up. It shook the whole bay, and I fear awakened all those who slumbered, but its effects were much what I had hoped. The ice, which had been very solid about the ‘‘ Discovery,” now showed cracks in all directions, and I knew I could go to bed with the hope of finding many of these well open when I arose. After breakfast I found this had duly happened. Nearly all had opened out an inch or two, whilst one from the stern of the ship was gaping a foot or more in width ; our ship work was completed, and nothing remained but the last stroke for freedom. ‘So the last explosive charge was borne out and lowered into the yawning crack astern of the ship, the wires were brought on board and everyone was directed to seek shelter. When all was ready, I pressed the firing key; there was a thunderous report which shook the ship throughout, and then all was calm again. For a brief moment one might have imagined that nothing had happened, but then one saw that each crack was slowly widening; presently there came the gurgle of water as it was sucked into our opening ice-bed, and 1904] THE ‘DISCOVERY’ FREE 261 in another minute there was a creaking aft and our stern rose with a jump as the keel was freed from the ice which had held it down. ‘Then, as the great mass of ice on our port hand slowly glided out to sea our good ship swung gently round and lay peacefully riding to her anchors with the blue water lapping against her sides.’ Thus it was that after she had afforded us shelter and com- fort for two full years, and after we had borne a heavy burden of anxiety on her behalf, our good ship was spared to take us homeward. On February 16, 1904, the ‘ Discovery’ came to her own again—the right to ride the high seas. - 262 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Fss. CHAPTER XX HOMEWARD BOUND Memorial to our Lost Shipmate—Gale Commences—Ship Driven on Shore—Gloomy Outlook—-Sudden Escape—Coaling—Driven North —Departure of ‘Morning’—Wood Bay—Trouble with Pumps— Possession Islands—- Rudder Disabled— Robertson Bay—Rudder Replaced—Towards Cape North—Heavy Pack—Skirting Pack— ‘Terra Nova’ Parts Company—Balleny Islands— Over Wilkes’ Land —Turning North—The Last Iceberg— Auckland Islands—Reassembly —New Zealand again— Voyage Homeward — Completion of our Work—Our First Monotony—Home. Now strike yr sails, yee jolly mariners, For we are come into a quiet rode Where we must land some of our passengers And light this wearie vessel of her lode. Here she awhile may make her safe abode Till she repaired have her tackles spent And wants supplied ; and then again abroad On the long voyage whereto she is bent Well may she speede and fairly finish her intent.—SPENSER. I wisH I could convey some idea of our feelings when the ‘ Discovery’ was once more floating freely on the sea, but I doubt if any written words could express how good it was to walk up and down the familiar bridge, to watch the gentle movement of the ship as she swung to and fro on the tide, to feel the throb of the capstan engine as we weighed one of our anchors, to glance aloft and know that sails and ropes had now some meaning, to see the men bustling about with their old sailor habit, and to know that our vessel was once more 1904] SHORTAGE OF COAL 263 able to do those things for which a ship is built. It is sufficient to say that it would have been hard to find a prouder or happier ship’s company than we were that day. But with all our feelings of elation we did not imagine that our troubles were at an end; we knew that it was far from likely that after so long a period of disuse everything would be found to work smoothly, and we knew also that if we were to carry out the remainder of the programme which we had set ourselves there must be no delay in getting to work. It had always been my intention when the ‘ Discovery’ was freed from the ice to devote what remained of the navigable season to an exploration of that interesting region which lay to the westward of Cape North, but now, after two years’ imprisonment, we lacked what constituted a primary necessity for such a scheme ; our long detention had made a deep inroad into our coal supply, and after lighting fires in our main boilers and raising steam afresh we found ourselves with barely forty tons remain- ing—an amount on which it would have been most difficult for us to reach New Zealand, and which absolutely precluded all idea of further exploration. One of my first inquiries, therefore, on the arrival of the relief ships had been to find out the amount of this valuable commodity with which they could afford to supply us in the event of our release. At first they had been able to name a very satisfactory figure, but after the long month of combat with ice and wind which had just passed their powers of assist- ance had been greatly diminished; and now I saw, to my disappointment, that even at the best we should only increase our stock by an amount which would ensure our safe return to New Zealand, without leaving any adequate margin for exploring work. However, it was no use deploring facts which could not be altered. I determined to get all that could be spared without delay, and to use it as far as possible in carry- ing out our original programme. As the ‘Discovery’ seemed to be lying very snugly at anchor, we decided to get in what we could whilst we remained in the shelter of our small bay, and on the afternoon of the 264 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Fss. 16th the ‘Terra Nova’ came alongside us to hand over her supply. Thus a few hours after our release the two ships lay snugly berthed together, busily securing whips and yards for the transfer of coal which was to commence on the following morning. The afternoon was beautifully calm and bright, and the weather seemed to smile peacefully on the termination of our long and successful struggle with the ice. We little guessed what lay before us, and assuredly if ever the treacher- ous nature of the Antarctic climate and the need for the explorer to be constantly on guard were shown it was by our experiences of the succeeding twenty-four hours, of which my diary gives the following account: ‘ February 16.—We have felt that our last act before leaving the region which has been our home for so long should be one of homage to the shipmate who sacrificed his life to our work. We have had a large wooden cross prepared for some time ; it bears a simple carved inscription to the memory of poor Vince, and yesterday it was erected on the summit of Hut Point, so firmly that I think in this undecaying climate it will stand for centuries. ‘To-day our small company landed together for the last time, and stood bareheaded about this memorial whilst I read some short prayers. It was calm, but the sky had become heavily overcast and light snow was falling on our heads. The little ceremony brought sad re- collections, but perhaps also a feeling of gratitude for escapes from many accidents which might well have added to the single name which the memorial bears. ‘The water was oily calm as we pulled back to the ship, and the sky very gloomy and threatening, but this sort of weather has been so common we thought little of it. It had been decided that as to-day was the first time Captain MacKay had set foot on board the “ Discovery,” we should show him and his officers what an Antarctic feast was like. Accordingly by dinner-time our cooks had prepared very savoury dishes of seal and penguin, and we sat down, a very merry party, to discuss them. In the midst of dinner word came down that the wind had sprung up, and although I did not expect to 1904 A GALE COMMENCES 265 find anything serious I thought it as well to go up and see how the land lay. On stepping out into the open, however, I saw we were in for a stiff blow, and had reluctantly to inform our guests of the fact. MacKay took one glance at the sky and was over the rail like a shot, followed by as many of his people as could be collected at such short notice. In a minute or two the warps were cast off, and the “‘ Terra Nova” was steaming for the open, where she was soon lost in the drift. Since that it has been blowing very stiff, and a good deal of ice has come down upon us ; but I have a pretty firm reliance on our ground tackle—the anchor weighs over two tons, and we have a fair drift of cable out. The wind is from the south, and the sea, which has risen rapidly, is dashing over the ice- bound land close astern, but we have not yet dragged. Colbeck is on board with two officers and six men of the “Terra Nova.” I don’t altogether like the look of things, and shall get up steam as soon as possible ; but I don’t want to hurry the engine-room people, or we shall have all sorts of trouble with our steam-pipes, &c.’ ‘ February 17.—We have had a day and no mistake ; I hope I may never have such another. Early this morning the wind lulled but the sky still wore a most threatening aspect, and I sent word for steam as soon as it could possibly be raised. At about 8 a.m. the “ Morning” appeared out of the gloom and sent a boat for Colbeck, who got away as quickly as he could. He had scarcely reached his ship when the wind came down on us again with redoubled fury, the sea got up like magic, and soon the “ Discovery” began to jerk at her cables in the most alarming manner. I knew that in spite of our heavy anchor the holding ground was poor, and I watched anxiously to see if the ship dragged. ‘It came at last, just as Skelton sent a promise of steam in half an hour. The sea was again breaking heavily on the ice- foot astern and I walked up and down wondering which was coming first, the steam or this wave-beaten cliff. It was not a pleasant situation, as the distance grew shorter every minute, until the spray of the breaking waves fell on our poop, and 266 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Fzs. this was soon followed by a tremendous blow as our stern struck the ice. We rebounded and struck again, and our head was just beginning to fall off and the ship to get broad- side on (heaven knows what would have happened then) when steam was announced. Skelton said he could only go slow at first, but hoped to work up. I told him to give her every ounce he could, when he could, and he fled below to do his best. ‘With the engines going ahead and the windlass heaving in, we gradually pulled up to our anchor and tripped it; then we ceased to advance. The engines alone would not send the ship to windward in the teeth of the gale ; we just held our own, but only just. Once around Hut Point I knew we should be safe with an open sea before us; the end of the Point was only a quarter of a mile out, but off the end, some twenty or thirty yards beyond, I knew there was a shallow patch which had also to be cleared to get safely away. So finding we could make no headway I started to edge out towards the Point. All seemed to be going well until we got opposite the Point itself, when I saw to my alarm that although there was no current in our bay there was a strong one sweeping past the Point. ‘Nothing remained but to make a dash for it, and I swung the helm over and steered for the open. But the moment our bows entered the fast-running stream we were swung round like a top, and the instant after we crashed head fore- most on to the shoal and stopped dead with our masts shivering. We were in the worst possible position, dead to windward of the bank with wind, sea, and current all tending to set us faster ashore. 7 ‘We took the shore thus at about 11 A.M., and'the hours that followed were truly the most dreadful I have ever spent. Each moment the ship came down with a sickening thud which shook her from stem to stern, and each thud seemed to show more plainly that, strong as was her build, she could not — long survive such awful blows. As soon as possible I had soundings taken all around and found the depth was 12 feet 1904] SHIP DRIVEN ON SHORE 267 everywhere except under the stern, where the line showed 18 feet ; I sent for the carpenter to know our draught of water and he reported 124 feet at the bows and 14} feet aft. This signified that the midship section must be very hard aground, and that the only chance of release was by the stern, a direction | in which we could not hope to move under present circum- stances. ‘So things stood before the men’s dinner, but by the time it was finished we seemed to have worked another fathom ahead and then the soundings all around were 12 feet except at the extreme bowsprit end, where 15 feet was obtained. I knew the bank must be very small in extent, and asked myself, would it be possible to force her clean over it? I determined to try, and ordered sail to be made. The wind had steadily increased in force, and it was now blowing a howling gale; the temperature was low enough to make the water slushy as it fell on board. In spite of this we got the foresail and foretop- sail spread, and at the same time rang the telegraph to full speed ahead. The ship began to move, but it was only to swing round till her bowsprit almost touched the rocks of the Point ; the seas came tumbling over her starboard quarter and she herself listed heavily to port. ‘In two minutes I saw that we were only making matters worse, and shouted for the sails to be clewed up; and at the same moment Skelton appeared on the bridge and reported that the inlets were choked and the engines useless. Once more we sounded around the ship, to find that there was not more than 9g to ro feet from the bows to the mainmast or from to to 12 feet beyond: she seemed to be hopelessly and irretrievably ashore. After this, for a very short time, we hoped that her high position on the bank would bring less strain from the seas, but soon she had formed a new bed for herself, and within an hour she was bumping more heavily than ever. ‘It was now about three o’clock. We had come to the end of our resources ; nothing more could be done till the gale abated. We could only consider the situation and wait for the hours to go by. 268 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Fsxz. ‘And the situation seemed to have no ray of comfort in it. On deck the wind was howling through our rigging, the ship was swaying helplessly and rising slightly each moment, to crash down once more on the stony bottom; the seas were breaking heavily over the stern and sending clouds of spray high up the masts; the breakers on the shore flung the back- wash over our forecastle ; the water was washing to and fro on our flooded decks. ‘Towering above us within a stone’s throw was the rocky promontory of Hut Point; on its summit, and clearly outlined against the sky, stood the cross which we had erected to our shipmate. I remember thinking how hard it seemed that we had rescued our ship only to be beaten to pieces beneath its shadow. ‘Tf the situation on deck was distressing, that below fairly rivalled it. Each time that the ship descended with a sicken- ing thud into her rocky bed the beams and decks buckled upwards to such an extent that several of our thick glass dead- lights were cracked across, every timber creaked and groaned, doors flew to and fro, crockery rattled, and every loose article was thrown into some new position. With the heavier blows one could see the whole ship temporarily distorted in shape ; through all and directly beneath one’s feet could be heard the horrible crunching and grinding of the keel on the stones below. ‘When it was known that nothing more could be done it was curious to see how different temperaments took it. Some sat in stony silence below, some wandered about aimlessly, and some went steadily on with an ordinary task as though nothing had happened. I almost smiled when I saw our excellent marine Gilbert Scott dusting and sweeping out the wardroom and polishing up the silver as if the principal thing to be feared was an interference with the cleanly state in which he usually keeps all these things. For myself I could not remain still. How many times I wandered from the dismal scene on deck to the equally dismal one below I do not know, but what I do know is that I tasted something very near akin to despair. ‘ But if this afternoon was a horrible experience, it has at 1904] SUDDEN ESCAPE 269 least shown me again how firmly I can rely on the support and intelligence of my companions. For, seeing the utter im- possibility of doing anything at the time, I bethought me that the next best thing was to be prepared to act promptly when the weather moderated. Accordingly I first sent for Skelton to see. by how much we could lighten the ship. I had scarcely asked him the question when he said, “I have been thinking that out, sir,” and in a minute or two he produced a list of our movable weights. I next sent for the boatswain to discuss the manner in which we could lay out our anchors, and he also had his scheme cut and dried ; and so it went on with every- body concerned in this knotty problem, until I knew that if the gale left us with any ship at all we should at least be able to make.a bold bid to get her afloat. ‘And so hour after hour went by whilst we thought and planned as well as our dejected state would allow, and the ship quivered and trembled and crashed again and again into her rocky bed. ‘ The first sign of a lull came at seven o’clock, and then, though the seas still swept over our counter, there was a decided slackening in the wind. Soon after we all assembled for dinner—not that any of us wanted to eat, but because it never does to disturb a custom. It was a dreary meal, the dreariest and most silent I ever remember in the “‘ Discovery.” Yet we were not more than half-way through it, when the officer of the watch, Mulock, suddenly burst in and said, ‘‘The ship’s working astern, sir.” I never reached the bridge in less time. I found that the wind and sea had dropped in the most extraordinary manner, but what surprised me still more was that the current, which had been running strongly to the north, had turned and was running with equal speed to the south. I took this in at a glance as I turned to get a bearing on with the shore ; in a minute or two I was left without doubt that _Mulock’s report had been correct. Each time that the ship lifted on a wave she worked two or three inckes astern, and though she was still grinding heavily she no longer struck the bottom with such terrific force. I had scarcely observed these 270 THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Fes. facts when Skelton rushed up to say that the inlets were free again. Every soul was on deck, and in a moment they were massed together and running from side to side in measured time. The telegraphs were put full speed astern; soon the engines began to revolve, and the water foamed and frothed along the side. For a minute or two the ship seemed to hesitate, but then there came a steady grating under the bottom, which gradually travelled forward, and ceased as the ship, rolling heavily, slid gently into deep water. ‘To this moment I do not know how it has all happened, but thinking things over to-night a fact has been recalled to. my recollection which I noticed without realising its full signifi- cance. It seemed to me that the level of the water at Hut Point, as far as I could judge it in its agitated state, was abnormally low this afternoon, and taking this in connection with the change in direction of the current, I am inclined to believe that events have come about much as follows. The heavy southerly wind tended to drive the water out of the Sound and lowered its level by some feet. We must have run ashore when it was at this low ebb; then came the lull, and the water swept back again, with the happy result of floating us off. ‘But whether things have come about in this natural manner or not, I cannot but regard it as little short of a miracle that I should be going to bed free from anxiety at the end of this horrid day. We were clear of our shoal none too soon, for an hour after the wind blew up from the south again. Early in the day we had caught a glimpse of the “ Terra Nova” far away to the south, so we made in this direction to find her and to seek shelter. At midnight we got up to the edge of the fast ice, where we found our consort secured with ice-anchors, and where we have been able to return her officers and men. We are now anchored close by her; I do not know what has become of the “ Morning.” ‘We have been diligently sounding our wells for signs of extra leakage, but the carpenter reports there is nothing to speak of, and so apparently, beyond the loss of our false keel, 1904] COALING 271 we have suffered little damage. It is an eloquent testimony to the solid structure of the ship.’ When I subsequently came to compare the experiences of the three ships during this long gale, I found that the com- plete lulls, such as I have recorded, took place at different times in their various localities ; and I have no doubt that by this irregular action of the wind the waters of the Sound were pressed down in some places and heaped up in others in a manner that is well known in inland lakes. But, even when all the physical facts are realised, the story of our grounding and release remains a very extraordinary one. Rarely, if ever, can a ship have appeared in such an uncomfortable plight as ours to find herself free and safe within the space of an hour. Such a sudden and complete relief of our distress seemed to argue that we had been rather unnecessarily and foolishly alarmed at our situation, but on looking back I remember that we had no reason to expect that the forces of Nature would so suddenly come to our rescue: the best we looked for was a period of calm when we might lighten the ship and attempt to drag her from her perilous position; and such a prospect, with the weather thoroughly unsettled and the season closing rapidly, was not hopeful. To be in ten feet of water in a ship that draws fourteen feet cannot be a pleasant position, nor can there be a doubt that the shocks which the ‘Discovery’ sustained would have very seriously damaged a less stoutly built vessel. On the 18th the wind was still blowing strong, but had gone round to the south-east, bringing smoother water in our Sound, and now, as we were most anxious to complete our coaling operations, I decided to seek shelter in the inlets of the glacier tongue to the north. So at a comparatively early hour we uprooted our ice-anchors and steered in that direc- tion, closely followed by the ‘Terra Nova.’ In half an hour we were passing close by Hut Point, and the small bay in which we had spent such long months, but which had tendered us such a treacherous farewell. As we sped along we looked for the last time with almost affectionate regard on the scene 272, THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘DISCOVERY’ [Fzs. which had grown so familiar, on the hills of which we knew every ridge and fold, on the paths which our footsteps had so often trodden, and on the huts and other signs of human life which we were leaving behind us. One wonders what is happening now in that lonely solitude, once the scene of so much activity ! In the afternoon we ran alongside the ice-edge in an inlet on the north side of the glacier tongue; soon the ‘ Terra Nova’ was rubbing sides with us, and our whips were rigged for coaling. The weather by this time had cleared and the wind had almost dropped, but we knew that these conditions were not likely to last long, and officers and men buckled to with a will to remedy the alarmingly empty state of our bunkers. Late in the afternoon the ‘Morning’ suddenly appeared around the corner. She had been driven far to leeward by the gale, but at length had worked up and found some shelter in the New Harbour, where also the ice had recently broken away for the first time for two years. By midnight we had received fifty tons of coal from the ‘Terra Nova,’ and that ship stood out in the offing.