With Scott in the Antarctic

by Isobel E Williams

  Trials were begun at the end of August. Scott concentrated on dog trials. He had already decided that the main expedition of the Antarctic summer of 1902/03 would be a journey south to set a southern record and Wilson was his first choice as his companion. Wilson was surprised but delighted. He wrote to his mother, ‘I believe I shall survive this trip all right and if I don’t I shall still feel that I had no reason to refuse it and was meant to go; it lies straight in my path and I am not going to shirk it. To-morrow is my last night in bed for three months’.82 Why Scott chose Wilson is uncertain; there were three officers with previous polar experience and a shipload of disciplined naval men who could have been chosen. Probably Scott, feeling the loneliness of command, felt at ease with Wilson in a way that would have been impossible in the naval hierarchy. In many ways Wilson’s was a complimentary character to Scott’s. Where Scott was agnostic, Wilson was deeply religious. Where Scott was ambitious, Wilson was content to be a facilitator and not a leader. Wilson was able to put his point of view in a way that Scott could accept. He was self-controlled and detached, whilst Scott could, and did, show his temper. Wilson’s influence and advice was felt before they started out. Scott’s original plan was that two people should make the journey, but he deferred to Wilson who favoured three on the grounds that a third person could seek help if one was injured. Shackleton became the third man. Scott’s plan was to set out in mid-October with the dogs. Barnes would leave earlier to lay a depot, Bluff Depot, at 79.30° S.

  They hoped to reach the Pole. Wilson wrote that they would go as far south in a straight line on the Barrier, reach the Pole if possible or find some new land. To get there would mean crossing 1,480 miles at sixteen miles per day for 100 travel days. He knew how demanding the expedition would be but he thought that he was prepared for all its trials. Also, although unconcerned with personal fame, he knew that success would bring huge prestige to the expedition. But he wrote: ‘I am hoping to be back at the end of two years and to see what my wife is as a companion’.83

  1902 Southern Journey

  8

  Furthest South

  The arrival of spring in late August 1902 meant sledging sorties. Funding for the expedition was only guaranteed to the end of the Antarctic summer, i.e. early 1903. After this time, unless Sir Clements had raised further funds, Discovery would have to return to New Zealand. The activities during the summer would therefore be: scientific work, exploration and, most importantly, a new ‘furthest south’. The aim was to push over the Great Ice Barrier as far as possible and even get to the Pole. Support parties would haul supplies onto the Barrier; the bulk of the hundred-day journey would be done by Wilson, Shackleton and Scott.

  Their early experience on the Antarctic had highlighted British inexperience. The dogs’ teams had modified harnesses that needed testing, as did the pros and cons of large or small dog teams. Scott planned a series of spring expeditions and Wilson was on one of these in early September, a survey of the coast to the north of their quarters and a trial for the dogs. The group included Scott, Shackleton, and Wilson in one tent and Skelton, Ferrar and a Bos’un, Feather, in the other. The group travelled northwards along the Ross Island coast taking four small sledges and fourteen dogs, each sledge pulled by three or four dogs depending on sledge weight. Shackleton and Wilson had a heavier sledge and four dogs, ‘two pullers and two sooners as they are called. Why? because they would sooner do anything than pull’.1 For this sortie Wilson and Shackleton shared a three-man reindeer-skin sleeping bag with Scott. Each night before pushing into the bag they took off their finesco fur boots, turned them inside out, then peeled off two pairs of socks, leaving the third pair on, to be covered by night socks. The two soaking pairs were put inside their shirts to dry in relative warmth.2 Wilson discovered that he was a good sledge cook, an important attribute since fuel consumption was a critical part of any expedition. They used a Nansen cooker, designed by the Norwegian explorer and still used. The cooker sits on a primus stove and has two chambers, an outer one, in which snow and ice are melted and an inner one, in which the food is cooked. Wilson found that he could light the primus, melt snow in the outer section for tea and cocoa and cook the food in the inner part in about twenty minutes. He thought that anyone who doubted his abilities should try the experience for themselves in temperatures where just touching the metal burnt the skin. This first sortie only lasted for three days, so the group did not truly experience the physical privation, monotony, cold, hunger and sleeplessness so evident on the longer journeys. But the outing gave them a taster of this awfulness to come. Their achievement was that in three days they charted a new section of coastline and found new islets.3 Ferrar investigated the geology of the rocks and found they were volcanic. They field-tested the sledge meter and the modified harnesses, which chafed and were not used afterwards. When they turned back, the dogs, knowing that they were pointed homewards, pulled well and made nothing of the weights.4

  It was on an expedition led by Armitage that scurvy first made its dreaded appearance. Armitage’s brief was to explore those formidable mountains west of their base on Ross Island. Armagnetic pole journey was high on Sir Clements’s list of priorities and Armitage’s group set out on 11 September, intending to find a path through the mountain barrier. To general surprise, Armitage took skis on the expedition, the first sledging party to do so. (Armitage had a well-known dislike of skis, and Skelton thought that he had advised Scott against them). Both the conditions and physical problems plagued this group. Seven days out, high into the mountains in a blizzard and fog-bound, the physical worries surfaced. One man complained of a sprained ankle, another of sore gums and others of limb pains. Because of his concern about the men’s health Armitage decided to limit his exploration to short journeys. Leaving his sicker companions, he led a small group to an area that he hoped would give access to the interior, and so discovered the important route stretching inland through the mountains,5 one that was to be used later for inland exploration. He took half-plate photos.6 Back at camp he became alarmed by the deteriorating condition of two men whom, he recognised, were now clearly suffering from scurvy. The dreaded development meant that after thirteen days, he decided to return to the ship as fast as he could. He arrived back on 26 September.

  On Discovery Wilson was busy supervising meteorological observations, doing his medical work, tasting the milk, smelling the food and adding to his seal collection. When he examined the returnees he despondently confirmed the diagnosis. He said it was ‘not pleasant to find that in one of the men, scurvy had fully declared itself, so that we know what to expect from the sledging work this summer. History is evidently going to repeat itself in the south notwithstanding the care that has been taken to avoid it throughout this expedition’s history’.7 Three men had badly swollen legs; Ferrar’s were swollen up to his groin and one man’s legs were badly discoloured. The remainder of the party seemed fairly well but ‘not above suspicion’.8 Wilson noted that the haemorrhages behind the front teeth preceded signs on the front of the teeth for days; he recorded the purple spots on the thighs, legs and arms; the haemorrhages under the nails and the thickening around the knees that could stop the knee bending.9 He worried about sledging parties still out on the ice. Scott was away depositing supplies at Bluff Depot when Armitage got back to the ship with his invalids. He was therefore the senior officer and he acted decisively and well. After consultation with Wilson and Royds he threw away the tinned meat and ordered that fresh meat should be eaten daily. He tried to make the quarters as warm and comfortable as possible, and ordered a more liberal diet.10 He increased the allowance of bottled fruits and put lime juice on the tables. Some thought his finest move was to give the cook, a lackadaisical and uninspired chef, a memorable dressing down, informing Brett that his bonus depended on the food becoming more palatable.11 Scott thought that he had threatened to hang him at the yardarm.12 Whatever persuasive measures were used, the quality of the food improved dramatically. It is now known that i
t is the offal (liver and kidney) in animal food, rather than muscle, which contains ascorbic acid.13 With Brett’s improved efforts, the dishes of seal liver and kidney were pronounced delicious. ‘Suddenly, Brett could cook, a possibility that had vaguely occurred to the men but now, thanks to Armitage’s “encouragement” became a reality’.14

  If the men had had adequate vitamin C reserves in their bodies they could have done without the vitamin for weeks.15 Armitage’s men were away for less than ten days when they developed signs of scurvy, so their diet on Discovery had inadequate amounts of the vitamin for their needs. Scott still believed that ptomaine poisoning in decayed tinned meat was the cause. ‘As long as a man continues to assimilate this poison he is bound to get worse and when he ceases to add to the quantity taken, the system tends to throw it off and the patient recovers’.16 Wilson and Koettlitz examined the entire ship’s company; they found several men with congested gums, two with very unhealthy gums and two with leg problems. Wilson, always an inquiring thinker, was beginning to question the tainted meat theory, but having been persuaded against citrus fruits he had no plausible alternative explanation and was prepared to consider any theory. Infection, or even damp living conditions, were thought to exacerbate or even cause scurvy and Scott and his doctors organised a thorough clean up of the ship. Nothing serious was found. Wilson wrote that the linoleum covering was in good condition and had little damp or dirt below it; the bedding was dry and comfortable. But the scurvy proved slow to resolve and Wilson wrote despondently that ‘It seems almost necessary to fall back on the tinned foods for an explanation and yet these have been regularly and systematically examined and plenty condemned’.17 But on reflection he thought that fresh seal meat had solved the problem and he hoped that the regular serving of fresh meat could permanently avoid it. But the problem did recur famously, both on this expedition and on the expedition of 1910. This suggests that the men were simply not eating enough fresh offal (or adequate fresh citrus fruit). Although they wrote with confidence about seal meat, the confidence was misplaced. Koettlitz and Wilson simply did know the cause of scurvy.

  Wilson was fascinated by emperor penguins. These birds are the largest of the seventeen penguin species and can grow to four feet in height and weigh six stone. They are characterised by broad yellow patches on each side of their heads, which merge with a golden wash on their breasts. In late September he followed a large group going south towards the Barrier away from the open water and food and towards, apparently, starvation. He wondered if warmer temperatures had confused the birds into going south rather than north to breed or if their instinct told them that the ice was going to break up.18 Emperors were to become an overriding scientific interest, so he was fascinated to learn that an expedition that had gone to Cape Crozier to update dispatches for the relief ship, had found a large emperor rookery. The party under Royds brought back three young birds.19 Skelton, a member of the group, photographed the birds. He wrote thoughtful comments on the bird’s habits20 and he was the first to suspect that the emperors never seemed to leave the sea ice. It is now known that emperor penguins are one of the few species that make their home permanently in the inhospitable Antarctic. The species has evolved fantastically to adapt to the conditions in their unlikely habitat. Their feathers are short and spade-like, densely packed on the outside for good waterproofing, but downy and soft on the inside for insulation. Under the feathers is a thick layer of blubber for further insulation. Emperors actually breed on the ice, up to fifty miles inland and in the height of the howling, dark Antarctic winter, when temperatures can average minus 45°F. The birds walk and slide to the breeding sites in March. They engage in their long courtship ritual, standing belly to belly, touching each other’s beaks and cheeks and warbling metallically, in April. They copulate in May and a few days later the female lays her single egg, transferring it almost immediately onto her mate’s feet – both sexes have a protective flap of skin and feathers that drops right down to their toes – and the egg rests in its cocoon. The female then makes the long journey back to the sea to feed and reinvigorate herself. During her absence the male guards and incubates his precious burden in his brood-pouch for nine weeks. He survives in the darkness, without food and drink and at temperatures of minus 45 to 60°F, losing more than 40 per cent of his body weight over this time. He keeps warm in the caterwauling gloom by huddling and shuffling with the other males in a tightly-knit circle. Each bird’s position varies in the group as he shuffles around; sometimes he gets to the relative warmth at the centre of the group, and sometimes he is on the outside. During this time the eggs remain at a steady 35°F. When the fattened female returns, just after the egg hatches, she finds her own mate by his vocal ‘signature’, which she has learned during their extended courtship, amongst the trumpeting hundreds in the colony. After a touching reunion, the chick is transferred to the female and the male leaves for the coast and food.21 These facts, assimilated slowly over the years, were completely unknown in 1902 and Wilson’s scientific curiosity was thoroughly aroused. He asked for permission to go to Cape Crozier himself. When this was refused, with a distinct diminution in enthusiasm about his southern expedition he wrote:

  I am afraid that this long summer journey is taking me right away from my proper sphere of work to monotonous hard pulling on an icy desert for three months, where we shall neither see beast nor bird nor life of any sort nor land and nothing whatsoever to sketch. Anyway it is the long journey and I cannot but be glad that I was chosen for it. If we come across anything but Barrier it will be exceedingly interesting.22

  With daily seal meat now on the menu, more supplies were needed. Wilson went seal hunting again with Barne and three seamen. They brought back 1,000 lbs of meat, cutting up the seals where they were killed. This was an exhausting and revolting job. The skin and blubber could be removed without much difficulty but it was impossible to cut the meat off the bones and to get it onto the sledges without getting covered in blood and blubber and smelling for days.23 But this expedition also had scientific merit. Wilson recorded that flags that had been stuck in the ice the previous season had moved forwards. This showed the first definite evidence of movement in Antarctic glaciers.24

  Scott had led a group of three on a southern reconnaissance journey. Shackleton was a member of the party, which was only out 17–19 September. They had a difficult few days and returned having accomplished nothing ‘except the acquisition of wisdom’.25 But when the group returned Wilson recorded that Shackleton had blistered fingertips and was generally ‘done up’ having lost pounds in weight.26 This was the first indication that Shackleton might not be as strong as he appeared and probably from this moment Wilson began to have doubts about his friend’s fitness to face the extreme conditions ahead of them. In the event Shackleton was to be seriously unwell on the southern expedition; his symptoms may have been due to medical conditions in addition to scurvy. But Wilson does not seem to have mentioned his anxiety about Shackleton’s health to Scott.

  The scurvy outbreak had two important consequences. Firstly, Scott, Wilson and Shackleton would not start before the end of October in order to make sure that none of them showed signs of scurvy. Secondly, the southern expedition would have to carry seal meat. Since they needed to make their sledge loads as light as possible, they cooked the meat in margarine to reduce its weight. This was highly successful from the haulage point of view (140 lbs of meat was reduced to sixty lbs) but hopeless in relation to scurvy prevention; any vitamin C in the carcasses would have been destroyed. They could probably have preserved the carcass’s vitamins by freeze-drying, but this would not have reduced weight and anyway, the method was unknown to the explorers.

  The delay in setting out shortened the length of time that the men could be away from Discovery; they needed to be back in time for the relief ship. This meant that a polar attempt was unlikely, but allowed sufficient time to investigate the south. Scott planned for support parties to carry provisions as far south as possib
le to conserve the dogs’ energy. He calculated that a twelve-man support party would allow the southern party to go a third further than would be possible if they carried all their own equipment and supplies.

  Scott drafted instructions to cover his absence. At Wilson’s request a paragraph was added, which has not survived, suggesting another journey to Cape Crozier to get an emperor’s egg, and if possible, a freshly-hatched chick for the Natural History Museum.27 Wilson wrote to Oriana:

  If anything happens to me so that you can’t see me again in this life and you want to hear about me from those who do get home, will you please make a point of seeing the Captain and Royds in preference to anyone else. … Do not be cast down, kind Lady mine, Don’t give way to despair. … There will be nothing for you to be ashamed of in me, my wife, and the thought of meeting you eventually will keep me cheerful and, I pray God, more unselfish to the end. … God keep you.28

  This does not mean that he wished or hoped to die. It merely means that he was content to put his future in God’s hands. After the southern party had set out, Royds fulfilled Wilson’s request and returned to Cape Crozier. His party found a wonderful treasure, an emperor egg, which they carried back triumphantly. This find showed, definitely and without doubt, that emperors breed in the Antarctic. Wilson was denied this moment of scientific fulfilment because by the time Royds got back to the base, the southern party was far away. He would not see this cherished and historic find for weeks.

  The party had planned to leave on 31 October. They had a pre-departure celebration dinner. But bad weather delayed them for a day so they were treated to Koettlitz’ special offering: a full plate of fresh mustard and cress each,29 the first green food for months. Even today, Antarctic workers say how they crave the crunchiness and flavour of fresh fruit and vegetables. Eventually the three men set out on 2 November, three days after their supporting parties. They had provisions for thirteen weeks and more dog food than they expected to need.30 They were given an enthusiastic send-off. Photographs were taken of them, the nineteen dogs and the five sledges, each decorated with its sledging flag. They carried twelve pairs of skis for the supporting party who were on foot and who, it was considered, would do better with skis. The dogs had never been in such form; for the first few miles two men had to sit on the sledges to slow them down.31 Many of the ship’s company accompanied them noisily as they started off, but gradually dropped back and the three were alone.