Shackleton's Heroes
Page 25
They were starting to realise that their position was becoming serious. Their food was running out and the sick men were not improving. The dogs were weakening and they now had no more fuel for the primus cooker, but Wild seems to retain his sense of humour. The men wrote about their food supplies dwindling and running out of fuel but they rarely wrote about the abhorrent conditions inside their tents. Hayward, twelve months before, had described what it was like trying to sleep in a wet sleeping bag, describing his ‘bag coated with frost inches thick, inside also frosty’. The bag became ‘positively wet, as it became warmed’ and he ‘did not sleep a wink & felt like an old man of 290’ when he got up, ‘stiff & sore all over. It was hell.’11
Joyce :
Still blizzarding. Things are serious what with our patient + provisions running short. Let us hope for the best. Dog provisions nearly out. Have to half their rations.
We are now on 1 cup of ‘hoosh’ amongst the 3 of us & 1 biscuit, 6 lumps of sugar. No tea or cocoa. The most serious of calamities our oil is running out. We have plenty of tea but no ammunition to cook it with.12
Wild: ‘We are on one meal a day again, about the same place too.’13
Spencer-Smith noted it was the ninth Sunday before Easter: ‘Septuagesima. Somewhat calmer in the morning, but as wild as ever in the afternoon. We are now on one hot meal per diem: any further desire to be satisfied with hard biscuit and chocolate.’14
21 February 1916
With no sign of a break in the weather their position had now become critical, although Wild continued to look at their situation in a light-hearted manner. They had reduced their daily rations to a quarter of a pint of pemmican and one biscuit. Their oil was exhausted, and the only way to get something warm was to pour some methylated spirit into a mug and ignite it, which Richards recalled as being a very slow process.15
Joyce :
Still blizzarding. We are living in pools of water made by our bodies through lying in the same place for such a long time. I don’t know what we shall do if this does not ease. It has been blowing continuously without a lull.
We made one cup of pemmican amongst the 3 of us + 1 Biscuit each & 2 cups of tea divided.
Richards improvised a spirit lamp out of an enamel tray although it takes half an hour to melt 1 mug it. It is the means of keeping up our strength as we are getting very weak.16
Wild: ‘Still reducing rations. I shall have to make more holes in my belt.’17
Spencer-Smith: ‘Même jeu!* And the barometer going down again, after a short rise – Cheer O! N.B. though not particularly hungry I keep on thinking of new milk, creamy butter, cheese, salad, new brown bread, and jam: sometimes new laid eggs and pickles intrude – all at Althorne.’18
Hayward was still optimistic: ‘Proceeded again as yesterday confident that we should wear it down by the morning.’19
22 February 1916
The blizzard surpassed in length and fury anything Richards had experienced. He wrote later that it was impossible to see or communicate with the other tent because of the howling of the wind. The snow was now almost covering their tent, and exiting might be difficult. The drift had banked up against the frail walls and gradually restricted the space inside. Their three sleeping bags were crowded together side by side, and ‘hour after monotonous hour’ was spent in them as the days went by. By this time there was plenty of ice adhering to the hairs inside the bags and they found real rest impossible.20
Their position on the Great Ice Barrier was ominously close to where Captain Scott perished. On 19 March 1912, Scott, Wilson and Bowers were camped just 11 miles from their next food depot, the One Ton Depot, which was at latitude 79° 30´S. The six men of the Mount Hope Party were camped 10 miles from their next food depot, the Minna Bluff depot, which was close to latitude 79° S. Richards recalled some years later that they knew scurvy had taken hold on them and one of the effects of scurvy was to lose one’s will-power.21 He also related in one of his interviews that he was thinking at this stage that ‘it was very easy to die’. He added that he had no thought of dying; only that it occurred to him that it was quite easy to do so.22
On this day the food for the dogs ran out. For themselves they had only one meal, to have just before they started again. Richards, Joyce and Hayward then decided they would just have to make the effort to reach the Bluff depot, or they would suffer the same fate as Scott, who in Richards’s opinion lost his resolve to travel and died in his tent. They were aware that they were held up just a few miles north of where Scott died, and that they were a similar distance away from their depot as Scott was from his One Ton Depot.23
Hayward: ‘Still no let up of the blizzard, in fact it seems to have increased in fury and with more drift and we naturally began to realise the seriousness of our situation and still further curtailed our ration.’24
Joyce:
Same old thing. No easing of this Blizzard. I think it has come to stay. Hardly any food left except tea & sugar.
Richards, Hayward + I after a long talk decided if possible to get under weigh tomorrow in any case or else we shall be sharing the fate of Scott + his party.
The other tent seems to be very quiet now + again we have a burst of song from Ernie so they are in the land of the living.25
We gave the dogs the last of their food tonight so we shall have to push on as a great deal depends on them.26 We are keeping 1 feed of pemmican to get under way with.27
Wild’s only note for the day: ‘Have had two biscuits and a chunk of snow.’28
Spencer-Smith: ‘Sleeping bag sopping wet. Slight rise of Bar. No hot meal. The lee-side of the tent is drifted up as high as the roof: it will be a great struggle to get out tomorrow – or the next day. But Wild did it!’29
23 February 1916 – a momentous day
At the end of six days with no progress, and the blizzard continuing, Joyce, Richards and Hayward talked the matter over again and they felt the six of them had to make the effort and get under way.30 They knew they just had to march, no matter what risk of disaster might be involved, even though the wind and drift were still as violent as ever. Richards recalled that under normal circumstances they would not have contemplated travelling.31
Richards recalled that they had difficulty in making Mackintosh start as he believed they could not march in the conditions prevailing. To Richards that was correct but only for Mackintosh and Spencer-Smith. He and the three fitter men knew they could march and they just had to make a start that day.32
There was an incident with Mackintosh on the Nimrod Expedition in 1909 that bears a correlation to the situation he was now in. He and a colleague had become lost in the hills around Mount Erebus and were attempting to reach their hut, but found their way blocked by impassable crevasses. Mackintosh later wrote that it was his companion, a sailor, who took control of the situation, over him, the officer. Mackintosh admitted to being morose and dejected: ‘I became despondent and did not care what happened,’ he wrote in his diary. Mackintosh said the other man was in better spirits.33 This aspect of Mackintosh’s character, becoming despondent when under pressure, not caring what happens when in a tight situation and allowing a non-commissioned officer to lead, appears to have now resurfaced. Sixty years later Richards could remember the situation of 23 February 1916 and in his opinion Mackintosh had lost all initiative and was quite content to remain. He was not particularly anxious to move as he did not feel well; however, he agreed to make the effort.34
Fortunately the weather eased slightly mid-morning.
Hayward: ‘About 10 o/c we made out the sun dimly shining through our tent & immediately started preparations for getting under way, although the wind had abated nothing & still very heavy low drift.’35
Joyce:
About 11 o’clock saw a break in the clouds + the sun showing decided to have the meal we kept for getting under way for.
Sung out to the Skippers party that we should shift as soon as we had a meal.
Skipper asked if
we had any Pemmican to spare. I told him we were on our last bit. I asked Wild + found they had a bag of oatmeal some Bovril cubes + 1 bag of choc + 18 biscuits so they are much better than us.36
Spencer-Smith heard Joyce’s call:
Still blowing – but at about 12 came a shout from the other tent ‘She’s breaking!’ – and so we are having some hot Bovril and we are going to try to start.
Poor dogs! There’s no food for them. They get snowed clean over and only occasionally emerge to howl a protest.37
Joyce:
After we had our meal we started to dig out our sledge which we found right under. It took us 2 hours one would hardly credit how weak we were two digs of the shovel + you were out of breath, this was caused through our laying up and practically no food.38
Hayward:
It took us (Joyce Richards & myself) over 2 hours to dig out sledge, during which process we discovered that we were very weak indeed, & had great difficulty in getting our breath. I must say that I have never experienced such weakness in my life before & we all attributed it to short rations & the ill effects consequent upon our inactivity.39
About 2 o/c we got everything stowed, with Smith wrapped up in the best manner possible, the drift & wind being more violent than at any other time during this blizzard, altho the Sun appears at times fitfully.
Before getting under way the Skipper complained at being unable to walk & we told him to tie on alongside the sledge, easing his weight by it.
The surface we found to be very soft & deep, & at frequent intervals the sledge bogged badly & in our weak state it was as much as we could do to restart her, the 4 dogs we have altho having been on short rations for some days, worked splendidly and were as ever of the greatest help.40
Richards:
Just set under way at 2 p.m. this day after totally unexpected lay up of 6 days. Commencing this period with little food we are now reduced very low indeed. Dog food has been totally exhausted tonight despite the fact that we have for a few days been to a certain extent denying ourselves that they may have a better chance.41
The afternoon of 23 February
It was after 2pm on 23 February before the six men and the four dogs had started towards the Minna Bluff depot, about 10 miles away. Richards wrote in The Ross Sea Shore Party that it was incredible weather and they ‘couldn’t see anything, and it was howling wind, difficult to stay on your feet’. They were ‘lurching along’ due to the force of the wind and from being so weak, having had little food for the past six days. The wind was buffeting everything, a whirling snow, ‘a sort of milky whiteness that was over everything’, and they found it difficult to even move the sledge.42 Richards felt that they must have presented a pathetic sight as they staggered along in their traces. Spencer-Smith was lashed to the sledge in his sleeping bag and protected as far as they could manage from the whirling snow, while Mackintosh teetered along holding on to the sledge at its rear.43
Joyce tells us that within an hour Mackintosh collapsed and called out:
‘Stop Joyce I cannot go any further– Just wrap me up in a deck cloth let me lie there in the snow’.
He told me he was not feeling fit as his legs were swollen black. I had a look at his gums they were also black. I think he has got scurvy.44
In Hayward’s words: ‘After covering perhaps ¾ m in what must have been somewhat over an hour, the Skipper declared himself done up & unable to proceed.’45
Richards:
…the Skipper gave in and could not possibly go any further. He wished us to wrap him in a sheet and leave him. He has for weeks been suffering from a strained knee and bleeding from the bowels… The Skipper has completely gone. I had to hold him up to prevent him falling.46
Years later Richards remembered his conversation with Mackintosh:
Mackintosh said, ‘I can’t go any further, I’ve got to stop’.
We said, ‘Don’t be a bloody fool’.
He said, ‘Oh my hands, my hands’.47
Mackintosh, Spencer-Smith and Wild are left behind
Joyce now appears to take command of the party. He, Richards and Hayward discussed the situation and quickly decided that Mackintosh would have to stay while some of the others would push on to Minna Bluff. Richards remembered that all the fitter men made the decision, not simply Joyce. The conversation with Mackintosh was brief – they told him they would put the tent up and he would stay with Spencer-Smith and Wild. In Richards’s recollection of events Mackintosh ‘wasn’t all there, mentally’. He recalled that they said to Wild: ‘You’ve got to stay with him because you’ve been looking after them and we’ll go on and see what we can do to get food.’ They told Wild he had to stay because Richards, Joyce and Hayward were a compact party and were the obvious ones to go on.48
Richards wrote in his book that, given the conditions prevailing, there was no time for discussion and arguments and ‘Wild accepted this decision without comment’. It was essential that a fit man be left to look after the sick men and as Wild had been looking after Spencer-Smith it appeared at the time the obvious course to follow. Richards thought that, in hindsight, it might have been better to have taken Wild, leaving Hayward to look after the two sick men, but they felt that Wild was the better man for maintaining their morale.49 They left practically all the food with Mackintosh, Spencer-Smith and Wild, which Joyce noted as ‘20 biscuits, no oil, 4 cubes of Bovril a little tea’.50
Joyce: ‘I held a consultation amongst Wild + party decided to pitch their tent leaving Wild to look after them + make the best way to the depot which was anything up to 12 miles away.’51
Hayward: ‘It was decided by all hands that the only thing for it, was to leave the Skippers party (himself Smith & Wild in camp) whilst we carried on in an endeavour to make the Bluff Depot.’52
Richards:
We had been immobilised for 6 days with blizzard. At the end of this period our tent party took the initative in deciding as the lesser of two evils to strike camp and endeavour to reach the Bluff Depot.
Had gone no more than a few hundred yards when Mackintosh collapsed. We made a quick decision in impossible conditions to leave the two sick men with Wild who was well. I do not think he liked the idea but he was in their tent we told him he had to do it. I would have felt the same as Wild in the conditions prevailing.
When their tent disappeared in a few moments after starting I rather thought we would never see them again.53
Joyce:
I told Wild I should leave as much as possible and get back 26th or 27th – weather permitting.
So we made them comfortable & left them about 3-40, but just as we left them it came on to snow pretty hard.54
The evening of 23 February for Joyce, Richards and Hayward
The blizzard picked up again after the men separated but Joyce, Richards and Hayward struggled on and covered about 3 miles to the north. Under those conditions the heel of the leading foot was never placed beyond the toe of the other and the gain with each pace, two or three inches at most, was often lost by back-slipping as the weight was brought forward. When they came to a particularly soft spot, they could do little more than mark time.55
Richards was clearly bothered that they had left the three men behind, so much so he now started to keep a more detailed diary, starting this day, 23 February 1916. The reason, as he explained some years later, was that he was becoming concerned. First of all, when they left the others he had no idea whether they would ever see them again. He did not know whether they would even find the Minna Bluff depot. Secondly, his diary record would be his account of what had gone on, in addition to Joyce’s diary. Richards remembered that he saw Joyce keeping a meticulous diary, writing it up every night, but in Richards’s words: ‘Joyce was just a little bit unreliable, inclined to draw the long bow and to embroider a bit at times’.56
On this day, 23 February, Hayward wrote over 300 words on the day’s events, his first detailed diary entry for some weeks. He gave no reason for suddenly reverti
ng back to his earlier ways of keeping a complete record of the day. Possibly he was now thinking like Richards and was worried about their chances of surviving, or the day may have been so momentous (leaving Mackintosh, Spencer-Smith and Wild behind) that he was inspired to start writing again. He continued this expansive diary-taking until he was back at Hut Point, but all his notes from now on were on the events of the day. There was only one more mention of his fiancée, on 7 March.
They were now losing the sun for four hours a day. That evening Joyce, Richards and Hayward had a tiny meal. Hayward could not understand why they couldn’t sleep.
Joyce:
Sun going in & we found even with the 4 dogs we could not make more than ½ to ¾ miles per hour. The surface is that hard that sometimes you go in up to your waist still in spite of all this we carried on until 6-35.
Camped in a very howling blizzard. I found my left foot badly frostbitten. After this march, we have gone into our banquet – 1 cup of tea + half a biscuit. Sleeping bags wet through, but still cheerful living in hopes for it to clear up. Turned in 9 o’clock.