No one had ever seen this panorama before Shackleton, Wild, Adams, and Marshall attained the southern reaches of the Great Ice Barrier. At the left of the photograph is Mount Hope and near the centre is The Gateway through which the Southern Party was able to reach the Great Glacier. The main body of the glacier joins the Barrier farther to the left, outside this photograph.
Raymond Priestley sitting contentedly beside an erratic granite boulder, which lies on kenyte at Cape Royds. Priestley later joined Scott's last expedition and became one of the founders of the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge.
Expedition biologist James Murray holding an Adelie penguin chick.
While the attempts were being made on the South Pole and the South Magnetic Pole, and the Western Party examined the geology of the mountains across McMurdo Sound, five men remained at Cape Royds during the summer of 1908-09. Here Ernest Joyce works on the sewing machine, while sitting next to him is Bernard Day. Standing behind are, from left: William Roberts, James Murray and George Marston.
On 16 January 1909, the three-man party of (from left) Alistair Mackay, T W Edgeworth David, and Douglas Mawson reached the vicinity of the South Magnetic Pole, at 72°15'S, 155°16'E, and a measured height of 7,260 feet. Mackay and David hoisted the Union Jack while Mawson set up the camera so that it could be triggered by a string, which can be seen in David's hand.
The rescue of the Northern Party by Nimrod, which 'docked' next to the edge of the ice in Relief Inlet, on the northern coast of the Drygalski Ice Barrier. Several crewmen help the members of the Northern Party move their sledge down toward the ship.
As Nimrod approaches Hut Point, Shackleton and Wild wait to be picked up at the end of the southern journey. The men aboard ship were ecstatic to find the pair waiting for them, when Captain Evans' gloomy predictions had indicated they were about to start a search to 'find the bodies'.
On 4 March 1909 all members of the Southern Party were finally safely aboard Nimrod, looking a little the worse for wear. From left: Wild, Shackleton, Marshall, and Adams.
14
NEW WORLDS TO CONQUER
Worse than being cut off from the world to the north was the elimination of the road south. Cape Royds is an extension of Mount Erebus as it tumbles down to the sea - cones and ridges of lava with snow valleys in between. Although it was possible to reach Cape Barne overland, immediately to the south of that was the Barne Glacier, which terminated in an ice cliff into the sound. Beyond the crevasses of the glacier were the ice falls around Turks Head Ridge, which extended several miles and some 4,000 vertical feet up the slopes of Erebus. With the climbing technology available at the time, these were essentially impassable.
Therefore the only way to reach Hut Point, and from there the Great Ice Barrier, was over the sea ice. By the time Nimrod steamed north, the ice that had halted the initial efforts to gain the old Discovery quarters had blown out to sea. South of Cape Royds was now open water - and until it froze over again they were trapped. There would be no autumn sledging on the Barrier, no depots established to help the polar party. Not only had the attempt on the Pole been hindered before it even began, but the lack of potentially useful work could prove soul-destroying for the men.
Morale could also have been a problem for those heading back to New Zealand, but Shackleton had kept most of them in the dark about certain unpleasant issues that would surface when they reached civilisation. Thus, it was not until the ship reached Port Chalmers, New Zealand, that the conflicts plaguing the expedition in the south returned to haunt England.
Shackleton had decided that he could no longer work with the captain. As early as 15 February he had written to Emily: 'I cannot have England down again he is ill and has lost his nerve and it has given me an awful time of it. I have asked Mackintosh to tell you everything.' Remarkably, although Mackintosh and Dunlop knew of their leader's plan, Shackleton had not told England, who carried with him directions for the relief of the expedition the next spring.
Dunlop, in fact, held a letter of instruction from Shackleton to Joseph Kinsey, the English-born, Christchurch-based shipping magnate who was serving as the expedition's New Zealand agent. Enclosed with this letter was another for Kinsey to forward to England. Both letters would supersede the orders that Shackleton had given his captain and would indicate that England was to resign due to illness and retire on full pay until the expedition returned. The following summer Nimrod was to be taken south by Mackintosh, unless his injured eye prevented him from so doing, in which case Kinsey was to appoint Evans of Koonya, William Colbeck (formerly captain of Morning) or another appropriate seafarer as captain.
When Nimrod reached Port Chalmers, the documents were passed to Kinsey by Mackintosh, who then headed to Sydney 'to consult an oculist and have a glass eye fixed in'. Dunlop, meanwhile, felt it incumbent upon him to help prepare England for the approaching shock, so he informed him of the existence of the despatches. England was devastated.
There is little doubt that Shackleton truly believed England was ill. 'He has not been well and has delayed things greatly by loss of nerve,' he had written to Emily only hours before Nimrod departed. 'I am very sorry for him but must consider the safety of the Expedition.' This view was backed by not only the shore party but Mackintosh and Dunlop, the latter writing:
He is the most careful Navigator ever I have seen or heard of, but in my opinion, he was totally unfitted to occupy the position as Master of the NIMROD, because of the nervous state in which he was in, and his absolute loss of self-control, nor was he able to bring to bear clear judgment of the manner in which the ship should be best navigated . . . I place on record my firm belief that it was nothing but the splendid qualities and firm determination of Commander Shackleton . . . which saved the Expedition from total disaster . . . [England's] faults and mistakes were not by any means imaginary but were, I regret to state, only too real.
England begged to differ, believing he had done his job satisfactorily. The entire issue of illness, he wrote to Kinsey, was fabrication: 'since the question of my health in mind and body has been quoted as the reason for my resignation, I beg to inform you that I am perfectly sound both in body and mind, and that my resignation has been forced upon me.' However, he was much too dignified to debate any failings of the expedition in public, so he did resign. But 'my resignation was not of my own choosing: it was Mr Shackleton's request and command,' he wrote to Emily. 'It was his own statement that I resigned through illness and I have merely consented to that without comment.'
Although England had been caught unawares, his termination was common knowledge among the wintering party. Shackleton had realised that to uphold his authority with the men staying in the south, he needed to show he had taken decisive action. The members of the shore party clearly approved, none more than Marshall, who wrote after the ship departed: 'England got his conge. . . Ship to clear off suddenly, leaving 4 sledges. . . glad to see last of her & England. Davis nervous towards end. Unnecessary rush. . .whole thing damned disgrace to name of country!'
If the members of the shore party thought that the departure of the ship would somehow improve their lot, they were sadly wrong. The first week on their own showed that the next year would consist of arduous labour, unpleasant tasks, rotten weather and rising personal antagonism increased by isolation and close proximity. Immediately upon waking on 23 February they had to set to work with picks, axes and crowbars to break through the thick envelope of concrete-like ice that covered hundreds of packing boxes, which had been picked up by the gale and distributed over a wide area.
This was bad enough, but in addition, on that day Marshall recorded 'Looks as if another blizzard is coming up' and 'another slaughter of penguins (104) a sickening performance some running round shot & covered with blood . . . winter store now amounts to 129 penguins must get a number of seals.' Marshall also registered his growing disenchantment with Shackleton, who had, he felt, betrayed him by announcing that Adams was second-in-command. 'Shac
ks and I are polite but distant,' he wrote, 'never will be confidence between us. Having not an iota of respect for him it is only course & I am content . . . took photo at which Shacks appeared & worked hard for 5 min then left.'
This was only the beginning of a litany of complaints by the surgeon. 'What a different show this is to what I anticipated when I first joined exped,' he wrote several days later, having found that the realities of an Antarctic expedition did not meet the romantic popular image. 'I thought I should be under a man. Soon disillusioned, but always hoping he would be all right on ice. Vacillating, erratic, &£ a liar, easily scared, moody & surly, a boaster.'
Shackleton had, in turn, expressed concerns about Marshall when writing to Emily in late January: 'Keen on his work; a bit young in mind was inclined to resent discipline; did not like the increased staff; had not quite settled down.' His comparative assessment of Adams - 'a splendid chap, keen on his work no change in any way to what he was in London just lives for the Expedition and for me: I have the greatest possible confidence in him' - made it clear why, if he actually had considered Marshall as second-in-command, he had ultimately selected the former naval officer.
For a week, life consisted of little more than finishing the hut, building the stables, and chipping stores out of their icy tombs. Even this had its lighter moments:
Brocklehurst took great interest in the recovery of the chocolate, and during this work took charge of one particular case which had been covered by the ice . . . He carried it himself up to the hut so as to be sure of its safety, and he was greeted with joy by the Professor, who recognised some of his scientific instruments which were playing the part of the cuckoo in an old chocolate box . . . Brocklehurst's joy was not as heartfelt as the Professor's.
Shackleton knew that such amusements would not last long. Deprived of the opportunity to work towards the true purpose of the expedition the journey south - he cast around for other endeavours to keep his men occupied and avert frustration. It has been suggested that the solution came from David. This is possible, but it might just as easily have come from looking up at nature's smoking chimney high above their camp. They would conquer Erebus.
Sixty-seven years previously, the active volcano had first been seen by James Clark Ross, who had named it - and its extinct sister to the east after his ships, Erebus and Terror. In Greek mythology Erebus was the part of the underworld through which the dead passed before reaching Hades. Although several expeditions had visited the region dominated by Mount Erebus, no one had ever climbed it, and the only men ever to ascend its foothills were Wild, Joyce and Arthur Pilbeam, who had reached about 3,000 feet above sea level in January 1904. This was only a small part of a peak measuring 12,448 feet.
On the night of 2 March, Shackleton, David, Adams and Marshall first discussed an ascent. Two days later, in typical hasty fashion, Shackleton announced that the climb would commence the following morning. David, Mawson and Mackay would form a summit party, to be supported in the early stages by Adams, Marshall and Brocklehurst. None had significant mountaineering experience, but Shackleton saw the effort as an opportunity for the six to demonstrate their energy and resourcefulness, while engaging in both a scientific excursion and an adventure that would unite the entire company.
The base exploded into frenetic preparations, and it was hardly noticed that the previous day the pony Zulu had died, his stomach destroyed somehow by corrosive poison. The summit party was provisioned for eleven days and the support party for six. An effort was made to overcome a lack of mountaineering equipment by improvising: crampons were produced by poking nails through pieces of leather that were then attached to the bottom of finnesko. The last bits of equipment were not completed until after midnight, and, all in all, it was not the best-prepared party that departed on the morning of 5 March.
At Blue Lake, half a mile from the camp, the well-wishers turned back and the six men continued up a snow slope, pulling a sledge weighing some 600 pounds. About a mile on, they had to carry it over a glacial moraine, just the beginning of a brutal day pushing and dragging it up steep grades of blue ice, their progress impeded by a series of sastrugi. By 6.00 p.m., when they stopped, they had reached approximately 2,750 feet above sea level, some seven miles from base.
The next day, Adams' birthday, was more of the same, except that the gradient became steeper and the sastrugi increased. These caused the sledge occasionally to flip over, requiring that it be pulled back on to its skis and the supplies restowed. By evening, when they reached a campsite near the base of the main cone, they had travelled only three miles, although ascending another 2,800 feet.
The following morning Adams announced that the support party would continue with the others. Although he had Shackleton's blessing for this, the decision revealed weaknesses in the original plan. The steep slope required that the sledge and part of the provisions be depoted, but there were no rucksacks to carry necessary items onward, and not enough safety equipment for a party of six. 'Mac Mawson & David each took a single man bag & food each for four days, also a tent &
poles,' recorded Brocklehurst after noting that it was his twenty-first birthday. He continued:
Marshall started with the three man bag, Adams with the primus cooker & tent, & I had the food & spare kit in a brown canvas bag, Marshall & I used the sledge straps to fix our loads & Adams had cod line & rope. This make shift way of fixing our loads made it much more awkward to carry and we must have had 40 lbs each at least. Getting to the actual foot of the Mt we found it was quite impossible to carry the tent poles, so Adams went back with them and we went on climbing slowly, very slow and all of us suffered badly from thirst. Adams & I had ski boots and no nails, the others had finskoe & crampons.
By evening they had reached a rocky arete (a sharp, ascending mountain ridge or spur) some 8,750 feet above sea level. The combination of altitude and a temperature that dropped to — 340 meant that the cooker was exceedingly slow and all they could do was stay in their sleeping bags while waiting for dinner. The view, Marshall thought, was worth the struggle. 'Never forget sunset,' he wrote. 'Sound freezing over with wonderful opal tints on open sea. W. mountains topped with gold & base of Erebus with glaciers a sea of gold & purple. Sun dipped, whole scene changed to cold purple. Temp falls rapidly.'
As the temperature crashed, the wind picked up, and by the middle of the night a blizzard was screaming over the party. The snow was so thick and the roar of the wind so loud that the groups could not see or hear each other, despite being only ten yards apart. The lack of poles meant that the tents had not been set up and had simply been doubled over the sleeping bags to protect their toggled ends from the snow. The drifting powder was so fine, however, that it worked its way inside the bags.
When the blizzard finally subsided around 4.00 a.m. on 9 March, they had been confined to their sleeping bags for thirty-two hours, having had nothing to drink and only a biscuit and a piece of chocolate to eat. Brocklehurst's feet had been very cold ever since he had temporarily left the sleeping bag to answer a call of nature. Never the less, David determined to climb on, so the entire party slogged toward the summit of the lower, main crater. The angle of the ascent was steeper than ever, and more than once someone slid downhill before arresting his fall wtih his ice axe. Then, suddenly, Mackay left the group and started cutting steps up a long and very steep slope of neve, a granular snow with a chalky consistency, which is in the process of being transformed to ice. Ignoring their calls, he finally reached the rocky summit just before fainting.
While David, Mawson and Adams established a camp at the summit of the main crater and cooked a meal, Marshall examined Brocklehurst's feet. Sir Philip had refused to change from ski boots to finnesko and the crease across the boots, which were too large, had cut off his circulation, resulting in six toes being severely frostbitten, particularly the two big ones. That afternoon he remained in the sleeping bag while the others examined the way to the upper, active crater.
When the par
ty arose at 5.00 the next morning, they were greeted with a stunningly beautiful sight. 'All the land below the base of the main cone, and for forty miles to the west of it, across McMurdo Sound, was a rolling sea of dense cumulus cloud,' David wrote.
Projected obliquely on this, as on a vast magic lantern screen, was the huge bulk of the giant volcano . . . Every detail of the profile of Erebus, as outlined on the clouds, could be readily recognized. There to the right was the great black fang . . . far above and beyond that was to be seen the rim of the main crater, near our camp; then further to the left, and still higher, rose the active crater with its canopy of steam faithfully portrayed on the cloud screen . . . All within the shadow of Erebus was a soft bluish grey; all without was warm, bright, and golden.
Leaving Brocklehurst, the others roped themselves together and headed towards the summit of the active crater. The cold and altitude made breathing difficult and progress painfully slow, but after four hours they reached the edge of the steam-filled crater, a massive abyss half a mile across according to Mawson, and 900 feet deep. 'After a continuous loud hissing sound, lasting for some minutes,' wrote David, 'there would come from below a big dull boom, and immediately afterwards a great globular mass of steam would rush upwards to swell the volume of the snow-white cloud which ever sways over the crater.'
The scene was magnificent even though the view of the Barrier was obscured by clouds. But they had little time to enjoy it. The effects of the high altitude were exacerbated by high latitude - where the air is thinner - and they needed to conduct their tests and depart. Marshall attempted to find out the correct elevation by means of a hypsometer, an instrument that measures the temperature at which distilled water boils. Since the temperature of boiling drops as height above sea level increases, it allows a determination of altitude. The figure they arrived at was 13,500 feet, which was eventually shown to be about 1,000 feet too high.
Shackleton’s Forgotten Expedition Page 22