With Scott in the Antarctic

by Isobel E Williams

  Oriana stayed on board as long as possible. But as Discovery sailed slowly westwards along the coast, eventually and all too soon, she had to disembark. In spite of her leaden heart she was courageous about facing an uncertain separation, after only three weeks of marriage and with no certainty that her husband would return. There were only a few tears. The parting was ‘painful but happy and she smiling to the last was just as brave as she could possibly be’.11 She waved until Discovery was just a tiny speck on the horizon. Wilson looked back through field glasses (Oriana’s present) until he could no longer distinguish her. He was proud of her and of her pluck and determination to be cheerful. ‘May God keep us for one another and we shall be ever more happy then’.12

  As the vessel made its way to Madeira, she was an organised chaos of carpenters’ stores, rope, canvas, explosives, equipment for landing in the Antarctic, scientific equipment, engineers’ stores, clothing and provisions (including the tinned meat that was to cause such problems on the voyage). The expedition’s finances were tight, but many firms gave goods at reduced prices. Messrs Colman gave flour and mustard. Cadbury gave 3,500 lbs. of chocolate and cocoa. Bird and Sons gave eight hundredweight of baking and custard powder and Evans, Lescher and Webb, interestingly, in view of the development of scurvy on the expedition, gave lime juice.13 Jaeger gave specially manufactured outer windproof garments. The hold contained soups, fish and meat, thirty gallons of brandy, eighty of port and 800 of rum, thirty-six gallons of sherry and twenty-eight of Champagne. Other essentials were 2,800 lbs of tea and coffee, tobacco and separate supplies of jams and marmalades for officers and crew.14 Also on board were gas cylinders and balloons; Scott had been persuaded that a balloon ascent could provide important information about the unknown Antarctic interior. There were two cats and two dogs: Scott’s pet terrier, Scamp, and second-in-command Armitage’s Samoyed, Vinka.15 The husky expedition dogs were not on board, they travelled separately and joined the vessel eventually in New Zealand.

  Discovery was rigged as a barque (a three mast ship). She was solidly built of several types of wood16 that would withstand the huge ice pressures and strains that she would be subjected to, and double skinned, with airspace between the wooden skins for insulation. She had a coal-fired engine from which water could be drained in freezing conditions. A new design feature was that both rudder and screw could be detached and brought up into the vessel, (as was in fact done in the Antarctic). Although most of the crew viewed her with affection, she was in fact squat and black, her profile lightened by a yellow funnel and masts and white boats painted with a ‘D’ in black and gold. Since an important aim of the expedition was to advance work on terrestrial magnetism, no iron was used within thirty feet of the observatory on deck, rolled brass was used when metal was needed within the proscribed area, hemp was used for the rigging instead of wire. The iron-free area included parts of the officers’ wardroom, so some of the cabin beds had metal springs, others had wooden strips. In spite of these elaborate precautions, however, there were so many tins on board that it was impossible to keep them all out of the sacred ring (as Scott wrote, their contents could not be preserved in brass).17 Reginald Skelton, the engineer, thought that though the work on the hull was satisfactory, ‘the iron steel or metal work performed by the shipbuilders is perfectly disgraceful. … As it is I consider the ship in all main requirements to be well fitted, but this is by no means the fault of the shipbuilders’.18

  Scott thought the discipline of a naval crew would be an ‘immense acquisition’. He worried about his ability to deal with any other class of men.19 On the vessel strict naval discipline pertained and although in fact Discovery was not in government service (and so not subject to the Naval Discipline Act but to Merchant Shipping Laws) she was run exactly as if all on board were under naval command. Each volunteer, whether sailor, officer or non-naval scientist, signed on under Scott as ‘Master’ and voluntarily accepted naval conditions. The scientists, including Wilson, were treated as officers and ate in the wardroom. Wilson was one of two doctors appointed. He was the junior to Dr Reginald Koettlitz. When he was appointed it was planned that he would be one of a landing party of seven to over-winter on the edge of the Antarctic, leaving Dr Koettlitz, the senior man, on the vessel. Scott wrote later that although this idea was abandoned ‘there were few things for which we had greater cause to be thankful than it had originally existed, for the second doctor appointed to the expedition was Edward A. Wilson’.20

  The main problems with the ship were firstly a persistent leak, a problem that came to be known as ‘the Dundee leak’ and which necessitated continuous bailing and repeated examination in dry dock. The leak became more troublesome as the boat approached the equator and the wood expanded and Wilson was one of the many who spent hours of his time bailing out the water. Secondly, in spite of the manufacturer’s hopes, there was excessive fuel consumption and the boat was slow. To reduce coal consumption Discovery proceeded as much as possible by sail but soon fell behind the schedule that demanded that she reached New Zealand by late November and on to the Antarctic for the summer season of 1901–2. Scott abandoned the planned visit to Australia and decided to sail straight to New Zealand. This change meant that the expedition dogs and tons of equipment that had been shipped separately to Melbourne, had to be diverted. Such problems of course, were well out of Wilson’s sphere of responsibility. When, after the expedition, he lectured to doctors in his medical school about the expedition, his main complaint in relation to the ship’s construction related to water condensation, and drips. The skylights either let water drip straight into the cabins, or a frosty rime built up inside the skylights and dripped slowly onto the worktables. He said that he had to keep blotting paper to the ready to keep going, and ‘to pretend not to notice’. A more aggravating problem was that metal bolts, driven through the skin of the hull, allowed moisture to condense inside the cabins, soaking and rotting the mattresses and bedclothes. Damp also extended under the bunks, either soaking clothes in the drawers or, in low temperatures, freezing them into solid lumps of ice. Wilson was concerned that dampness was the precursor of a chronic form of rheumatism and he himself suffered badly with aches and pains on the expedition.21

  As Discovery proceeded on her way from England to Madeira, the officers and crew were able to get to know their new ship and each other. Officers and scientists had individual cabins, which opened onto the wardroom. As an officer Wilson ate in this wood-panelled room at a long central table, using monogrammed china, napkins and table linen. A calendar presented by Sir Clements hung on the wall, listing all the anniversaries (including Wilson’s appointment), in Sir Clements’ spidery handwriting. Naval stewards served at table and there was a piano at one end. Gilbert Scott, one of the mess stewards, found his hours of duty long. He worked in the wardroom from 5.30a.m. until 1.30p.m. and followed this up by work in the stores and further service in the officers’ mess until 10p.m.22 The wardroom quickly became the centre of activity: discussions, debates, chess and card games were played in a fug of tobacco smoke and more than a hint of coal dust that drifted up from the coal bunkers below. The wardroom and cabins were made of mahogany. Each cabin had a bed with lockers underneath, a chest of drawers, a cupboard, a writing table and a place for books. Wilson loved his; he loved ‘its own particular smell, for they all smell, fuggy, but comfortable – a compound of boots, soap, toothpowder, damp clothes, towels and what not’.23

  The separation from Oriana must have been seriously difficult for them both, but Wilson was not actually worried about her. ‘My mind is absolutely at rest about Ory. … I have a happy vision of the last that I saw of her and it will be with me until I come back again’.24 He took to shipboard life and discipline well. He was busy throughout his waking hours both with medical and artistic duties. He made sketches and records of birds and other animals, he had to organise the drugs and surgical appliances in the ship’s small hospital and he had to sort out the taxidermy equipment and the stati
onery. An important medical duty was to inspect and taste the food that was due to be eaten each day. This was to make sure that the tins were not ‘tainted’, a problem thought to be the cause of scurvy, the perpetual terror of long voyages. This disease caused fatigue, swollen spongy gums, bruises and sores in the skin, muscle and bone aches, blood loss, fainting and, in severe cases, death.25 The doctors were obviously determined to do everything possible to avoid this appalling condition which is now known to be due to vitamin C deficiency. In the early 1900s this was not known; the vitamin was not to be isolated for another thirty years. Dr Koettlitz, Wilson’s medical senior, was convinced that scurvy was due to tinned food fermenting and producing a poisonous substance, ptomaine.26 To avoid ptomaine poisoning, and therefore scurvy, the tins had to be tested and tasted by Wilson each morning. This was one theory he did not question. He was inexperienced in clinical medicine and he accepted the views of his senior medical colleagues that putrefaction caused scurvy; certainly his opinion would not have been asked for or wanted. No suspicious tinned meat was ever eaten on the voyage due to Wilson’s attention to this duty. For the rest he was ‘in clover’. ‘My mind wanders back through to three weeks of another and more beautiful life, those last three weeks in England, but I don’t miss it in the least just for the simple reason that it seems to have nothing to do with this world’.27 Though seasick, he kept going, visiting the bridge regularly and drawing birds and a passing Spanish fishing boat.

  Who were his companions of the next three years? They were a relatively young group. The average age of the entire complement was 27 while the officers averaged 30. Robert Falcon Scott was 32 years old when he was appointed to Discovery. As an officer accustomed to the Navy’s rigid discipline, he well understood the concepts of conformity and obedience. He had no previous polar experience; before his posting to Discovery he had been the torpedo lieutenant on Majestic and had previously served on Rover, Amphion and Sharpshooter. When appointed, he was supporting his mother and two sisters financially and the appointment was a unique opportunity for advancement, fame and excitement, although when he actually applied, his chances of selection as expedition leader seemed slim. His application was, according to Sir Clements, strongly supported by his captain on Majestic, Captain Egerton, but in fact there were considerable machinations on the appointments committees before the appointment was formally confirmed on 10 June 1900.28 When Scott was appointed, Sir Clements sent him volumes of advice: about further promotion, about how to deal with problems and about the conditions in the Antarctic.29

  Overall responsibility for the expedition was originally shared with Professor J.W. Gregory (1864–1932), who was appointed chief of scientific staff. Ongoing schisms between the Royal Society and the Royal Geographic Society over the question of overall command eventually resulted in Gregory resigning and Scott being given complete authority and responsibility for the whole expedition. Sir Clements wrote:

  Before handing over charge to Scott it was absolutely necessary to get rid of the useless Joint Committee. … I had suffered almost intolerable worry and annoyance from them during the whole time I had been in charge of the executive work. It was certain that the expedition could never be ready to start unless Scott was given a free hand…30

  The professor’s name however became an integral part of the expedition. The hut designed by him in Australia and erected at base-camp in Antarctica was known as Gregory’s bungalow. It was thirty-six feet square and had a veranda ‘more suitable for a colonial shooting lodge than for a polar dwelling’.31

  On 30 June 1900 Scott was promoted to commander. He began the enormous task of preparing for the expedition in August. His organisational skills were formidable, he was charming and – an unexpected bonus in the absence of a formal scientific leader and Scott’s lack of scientific training – he had a sympathetic and intelligent interest in every branch of the scientific work being undertaken. This interest was a trait that Wilson appreciated. On the voyage each scientist was required to produce a notebook summarising his work, which was kept in Scott’s cabin so that each could see developments in the others’ departments. Wilson quickly grew to admire and like Scott greatly. He thought him a really good man. His initial impression was that Scott was very definite about everything and that there was no fear of the expedition lacking a sense of direction. He liked the fact that Scott joined in all the work rather than standing on his rank.

  Second-in-command and navigator was Lieutenant Albert Borlase Armitage, (1864–1943). He was a merchant naval officer and one of only two officers on board with any previous experience of polar conditions. In 1884–87 he had been part of an expedition to Franz-Josef Land, a group of islands north of Russia discovered in 1873, as part of the Jackson-Harmsworth Arctic expedition, so Armitage’s polar experience was considerable. On the 1901 expedition he was ice-master and took over the sledging organisation. Importantly, on the subject of Antarctic exploration, he favoured ponies over dogs for hauling sledges, arguing that Siberian ponies could withstand the worst conditions and could be eaten when they collapsed. He named his daughter, born when he was in the Antarctic, Cecily Markham, after Sir Clements.

  Armitage was appointed to Discovery soon after First Lieutenant Charles Rawson Royds (1876–1931), Royal Navy. Royds volunteered to join the expedition. He was well connected and came with strong references. He was efficient and popular with everyone, responsible for the day-to-day running of the ship and managed the role of intermediary between Scott and the men with tact. Much of the relatively harmonious relations on Discovery were due to him. He took charge of meteorological observations and helped with magnetic observations. He was also, importantly for the Discovery crew, a talented musician. Sir Clements was happy with his appointment. He thought that Royds was a first-rate seaman and decided he should be ‘one of the Antarctic heroes’.32 He was also satisfied with the appointment of Second Lieutenant Michael Barne (1877–1961). Sir Clements wrote: ‘a charming young fellow and so zealous that he would have thrown up his commission rather than not go and a relation of mine which is also in his favour’.33 Wilson discovered also that he was a cousin of the Mrs Rice who had been so kind to him in Norway.34 Barne assisted in magnetic studies and supervised the deep-sea temperature work and the deep-sea sounding apparatus. Reginald Skelton (1872–1952) was the engineer. Skelton’s initial contribution in overseeing the construction of Discovery in Dundee helped greatly, it is agreed, to reduce the problems with the vessel. Skelton became the photographer of the expedition and helped Wilson to skin and preserve the catches. The third lieutenant, Ernest Shackleton (1874–1922), was to become a famous British Antarctic explorer. He was ‘an excellent and zealous officer, the son of a doctor at Northwoodbut from Ireland. His great grandfather was the Quaker Shackleton who was the instructor of Edmund Burke’.35 Shackleton had a love of adventure and the gift of the gab. He was in the merchant navy and planning to marry his fiancée, Emily Dorman. He was keen to join the expedition to advance his career and to make a name for himself.36 He was put in charge of the ship’s holds, provisions and stores and his scientific contribution was deep-seawater analysis, for which work he received specific training. He was to leave the expedition in 1903, officially because of poor health, when he was replaced by Lieutenant George Mulock (1882–1963) who joined Discovery as cartographer and surveyor from Morning (the ship sent out to relieve the expedition). Wilson initially did not like Shackleton. He was probably a little overawed by Shackleton’s gift of the gab, ‘I don’t care so much for him. He is so beastly scientific’,37 although as he got to know Shackleton better he grew to appreciate and like him. Sir Clements’ assessment of Shackleton was altogether sanguine. He considered him steady, high-principled, full of zeal, strong, hard-working, good-tempered and well informed.38