Shackleton's Heroes

by Wilson McOrist

  We see that the epic struggle of the six men to return from Mount Hope has been barely documented… In addition, as well as the books of Joyce and Richards, we have a number of interviews with Richards later in his life (with Bickel, his son-in-law Peter Lathlean, Phillip Law, the first Director of Australia’s Antarctic Division, and ABC radio), and letters he wrote to various Antarctic historians.

  Having access to every diary from the one expedition in the Scott–Shackleton exploration era is exceptional and it allows us to glimpse a truer picture of life than would be obtained from the diary of one man, or when only one person’s recollection of events is given. In bringing many of these diaries from obscure library storage to published volume we also honour the courage and spirit of these lesser-known, but equally brave and heroic, Antarctic explorers.

  Apart from Mackintosh, who as the leader had an obligation to write up a daily record of events, the other men had no duty to catalogue their achievements, but fortunately they did write, when times were good and bad. When they were sledging they wrote their notes at lunch stops, when they had finished for the day or while waiting out a blizzard. On most occasions they wrote while inside their tent and lying inside their sleeping bags. Through the diaries we read a remarkable story of six men and their dogs in a battle with nature in a bitter and hostile environment with many illuminating human touches. The diaries not only bring to light their innermost thoughts at times of great stress and conflict but they also give us an insight into all aspects of their life, from their hardships when man-hauling sledges in deep snow to their admiration for their dogs. We read of their thoughts of home and of their dreams while on the Great Ice Barrier. We see the different way each man handles crises and how they react when pushed to the limit. They describe their joyous early days in Antarctica and then later the misery of their final days when they wondered if they would survive. We are privy to an insider’s view; a vivid picture of how six men lived and worked together as they strived to achieve their goal of laying supply depots, which they believed were critical for Shackleton’s survival.

  Although it is not always clear from their diaries, distance measurements would appear to be in geographical miles, not statute miles, which is the measurement we normally use, on road signs and maps for example. A geographical mile is one-sixtieth of a degree of a great circle of the earth. Geographical miles are multiplied by approximately 1.14 to obtain the statute miles. For example, between Hut Point and Cape Evans the distance was given as 13 (geographical) miles, which is 15 statute miles. (For kilometres, the metric equivalent of miles, multiply the miles figure by 1.853. The distance out to Mount Hope is usually quoted as 360 miles and that is 670 kilometres.)

  Heights were recorded in feet, for example Mount Erebus was stated by the men to be about 13,000 feet high, and that is 3,962 metres. (To convert feet to metres, multiply by 0.3048.)

  Temperatures were always in Fahrenheit. (To convert to centigrade, subtract thirty-two and then multiply by five-ninths. For example: 32°F is 0°C, 20°F is -7°C, 0°F is -18°C, -20°F is -29°C, -40°F is -40°C.)

  Weights were recorded in imperial measures.

  The metric and centigrade equivalents are not shown in parenthesis throughout the book because there are so many references, especially to distances and temperatures.

  The diary quotes are shown exactly as they were written at the time.

  In preparation for this book, not all the repetitive routine of the early days of sledging is included and some irrelevant or inexplicable quotations are not shown, but no important event has been omitted. The diary pages published here are unedited and in the main are shown indented. The spelling, punctuation, abbreviations and grammar are left intact as they add to the charm of the words. The men used rounded brackets in their diaries – any square brackets indicate a word edited in.

  The maps are stylised and three-dimensional to give the reader some feeling for the topography of the Antarctic landscape. They are not drawn to scale but give a clearer picture of the distance travelled than would be obtained from a traditional two-dimensional map.

  As a starting point, and to put the diaries in perspective, we begin with background information of the men of the Mount Hope Party, their recruitment in England and Australia and then their voyage to Antarctica. Diaries were issued to the men when they arrived. Most of the six men started their diaries immediately and continued recording notes right through to the end. The vast majority of the book covers the period from when they first set foot on Antarctica, in January 1915, up to the time they finish their depot-laying work in May 1916.

  Notes

  1. E. H. Shackleton, South (London: Heinemann, 1919)

  2. Ibid.

  Chapter 1

  ‘I HAD NOT ANTICIPATED THAT THE WORK WOULD PRESENT ANY GREAT DIFFICULTIES’

  Shackleton in the Antarctic before 1914

  EARLIER BRITISH EXPEDITIONS to Antarctica had a marked influence on how Sir Ernest Shackleton organised his Mount Hope support party. There were three in particular: Captain Scott’s National Antarctic Discovery Expedition of 1901–04, Shackleton’s own Antarctic Nimrod Expedition of 1907–09 and Scott’s Antarctic Terra Nova Expedition of 1910–13.

  These expeditions were all based in McMurdo Sound in the Ross Sea. The southerly tip of the sound is the closest part of Antarctica to the South Pole reachable by ship so it was the logical place for previous expeditions to establish base, and for Shackleton to locate his 1914–17 support party.

  McMurdo Sound is an inlet about 30 miles long by 20 miles wide pointing towards the South Pole. At its most southerly shore is Cape Armitage and nearby is a 750-foot high hill, Observation Hill, named for its use as a lookout for returning sledges in Scott’s Discovery Expedition.1 The eastern shore of McMurdo Sound is Ross Island and the active volcano Mount Erebus (12,448 feet) dominates the region. Also on Ross Island are three other (extinct) volcanoes: Mount Bird (5,900 feet) at the northerly end, Mount Terra Nova (6,988 feet) and Mount Terror (10,700 feet).

  Two significant landmarks on Ross Island are Hut Point, a rocky peninsula at the base of McMurdo Sound, and Cape Evans, a sheltered inlet to the north of Hut Point. These landmarks would become highly significant for the Mount Hope Party. Huts had been built at each of these two places, which were only 13 miles apart, but to travel between these two locations was difficult.

  Icebound rocky cliffs and impassable glaciers follow the coastline from Hut Point round to Cape Evans and make it almost impossible to travel between the huts via that route. Travel between the two locations by ship is only possible for a few weeks in February, when there is water at the base of McMurdo Sound. At that time strong southerly winds push the ice in the sound northward into the Ross Sea, leaving open water or very thin sea-ice in the southerly tip, but only for a limited time. For the other eleven months of the year McMurdo Sound is largely frozen over with sea-ice. This means that for the majority of the year there is only one practical way to travel between Cape Evans and Hut Point, and that is on foot over the sea-ice. Only in the winter months of June or July when the sound completely freezes over with sea-ice about 10 feet thick is it a safe journey. In addition, any trek is made somewhat arduous and difficult by a floating 100-foot-high glacier, Glacier Tongue, which blocks the direct route between these two locations. This mile-wide glacier is surrounded by sea-ice and extends out into the sound for more than 5 miles. These conditions had a huge impact on the Mount Hope Party, who had to travel frequently between Cape Evans and Hut Point.

  A second feature of Shackleton’s planning was for the Aurora to be wintered at McMurdo Sound, as Scott had with the Discovery in 1901–03. The ship would serve as living quarters and in addition his Mount Hope Party would also make use of huts that had been built by previous expeditions. However, it eventuated that the men did not live on the ship. They used two huts, one at Hut Point and the other at Cape Evans.

  In Scott’s 1901–04 expedition, Discovery hut was erected on the location
designated as Hut Point.2 The hut was essentially a wooden shell, prefabricated in Sydney, Australia with an open veranda surrounding it on three sides. It was built entirely from Douglas fir and Scots pine with a pyramid-shaped roof. Unfortunately the hut was too hard to heat and was never used as a base; only as a storeroom, a shelter, for recording scientific observations and for ‘theatrical performances’ by Scott’s men. They lived on board their ship, which was frozen into the sea-ice. Discovery hut was to become a refuge of safety for the Mount Hope Party when returning from their depot-laying journeys in 1915 and 1916.

  On Scott’s second expedition, the Terra Nova Expedition, he set up their base at Cape Evans and the hut built there was far more substantial than the one at Hut Point. It was 50 feet by 25 feet in size, with Ruberoid on the roof, floor, walls and ceiling for insulation. Additional insulation, finely shredded seaweed known as Gibson quilting, was placed on the walls. Lighting was by acetylene gas, and heating from coal-burning stoves.3 Shackleton’s support party would use this Cape Evans hut as their main base. There is also a third hut at Cape Royds, about 5 miles to the north of Cape Evans, which Shackleton built on his Nimrod Expedition. This hut was not lived in by the Mount Hope Party.

  A third aspect of Shackleton’s planning was that his support party would lay depots out to Mount Hope on the same route that he and others had pioneered on previous expeditions.

  A ship cannot go south beyond Hut Point, the southerly tip of McMurdo Sound, because of the Ross Ice Shelf (also called the Great Ice Barrier or simply the Barrier).4 The Barrier is a permanent sheet of ice, 160 to 200 feet above the water and about 1,100 feet thick, that spreads southward from near the foot of McMurdo Sound to the Trans-Antarctic Mountains. It is attached to land and is constantly fed by glaciers.5

  On the Discovery Expedition, Scott, Edward Wilson and Shackleton took a journey south onto the Barrier and they reached a position approximately 260 miles to the south of Hut Point before turning back north. They saw and named Mount Discovery (8,794 feet) on the Trans-Antarctic Mountain range and Minna Bluff, a 3-mile-wide peninsula that extends into the Ross Ice Shelf from Mount Discovery. Scott named it ‘Minna’ in honour of the wife of Sir Clements Markham, who was then President of the Royal Geographical Society. These landmarks would be used by the Mount Hope Party some fifteen years later. They used Mount Discovery as a reference point and at Minna Bluff they would place a large food depot, which became instrumental in saving their lives.

  A more significant southerly expedition was Shackleton’s Nimrod Expedition of 1907–09. Shackleton, in his quest to reach the South Pole, had hoped the pole would be located on the Barrier. He initially described the Barrier as ‘level as a billiard table, with no sign of any undulation or rise’6 but as his party went further south, now some 300 miles from Hut Point, they saw mountains, well over 10,000 feet high, that had been to the west but slowly curved to cut straight across their path. As the days wore on, mountain after mountain came into view but Shackleton was hopeful that they ‘may find some strait’ that would enable them to go through them and continue further south. When they reached the mountains they found them entirely clear of snow, with vertical sides and not less than 9,000 feet in height. After following the mountain range for two days they saw a red hill about 3,000 feet in height which they climbed so as to gain a view of the surrounding country. They named the hill Mount Hope and from the top of a ridge they saw their way forward, to the south. Shackleton wrote in his diary: ‘There burst upon our view an open road to the south, for there stretched before us a great glacier running almost south and north.’7 Adjacent to Mount Hope they found a snow-filled pass flanked by great granite pillars at least 2,000 feet in height which they called the Gap; a gap through the mountains to the glacier, later named the Beardmore Glacier (after a sponsor). It would be at this gap that the Mount Hope Party planned to lay their final depot for Shackleton in 1916 so that it would be visible by the party descending the glacier.

  Shackleton was able to recruit two men who had been on these past expeditions. Ernest Joyce was a member of the supporting parties that laid food and fuel depots for Scott, Wilson and Shackleton to use on their trek back to Hut Point on the Discovery Expedition. A few years later Joyce was a member of the shore party on Shackleton’s Nimrod Expedition. Also on the Nimrod was a man who would later be appointed leader of Shackleton’s 1914–17 support party, Lieutenant Aeneas Mackintosh.

  The final aspect of Shackleton’s planning for the Mount Hope Party was to copy the methods of depot-laying used on previous expeditions. Small teams of men would work together, sharing a tent, food and equipment, and they would be able to travel quite independently of other parties. Dogs were taken, not ponies; no doubt as a result of the success Amundsen had over Scott in their race for the South Pole. Their food and clothing remained virtually unchanged from previous British expeditions. Teams of men would lay food and fuel depots out to the south so a final southbound party would not have to carry supplies for the whole journey, a system Shackleton had used before. For example, while his team was on their southern journey on the Nimrod Expedition, Joyce was in charge of a party which included Mackintosh. This party was responsible for laying support depots for Shackleton’s return and a major depot was located near Minna Bluff, 70 miles from Hut Point. Supplies would be laid at the same Minna Bluff location by the Mount Hope Party in 1915 and 1916.

  Shackleton had his Mount Hope Party travel to McMurdo Sound and use the huts at Cape Evans and Hut Point. They would base themselves at Cape Evans hut but also use Discovery hut at Hut Point, initially as a place to store supplies, but it ended up being lived in for many winter months. They were to lay food depots along the same route Shackleton had used, all the way out to the Beardmore Glacier. Depots were to be placed about a week’s travel apart, at each degree of latitude, which is close to 70 miles apart.

  According to Shackleton: ‘This programme would involve some heavy sledging, but the ground to be covered was familiar, and I had not anticipated that the work would present any great difficulties.’8

  Instead, what transpired was one of the most harrowing and torturous feats of courage in the history of polar exploration. The men of the Mount Hope Party travelled over 1,500 miles, with few dogs, poor equipment, insufficient food and tattered clothing to lay the depots for Shackleton.

  The men of the Mount Hope Party

  The six men of the Mount Hope Party appear to be an ill-assorted lot. There were five Englishmen and one Australian and only two had any experience in Antarctica. Their backgrounds and education were quite varied; a padre, a clerk from London, a school teacher from Australia and navy men, two of which were lower-deck sailors, from a different stratum to their captain.

  AENEAS LIONEL ACTON MACK INTOSH

  Aeneas Mackintosh was the leader of the party. From photographs, he was clearly a handsome man, although not tall, possibly only a few inches over 5 ft. His privileged early upbringing in India and his commissioned officer rank would have set him apart from the two non-commissioned navy men, Joyce and Wild, as would his manner of speaking in what A. P. Spencer-Smith termed an ‘Oxford’ voice.9 The other men often referred to him as Captain, O.M. (Old Man), Mack or Skipper in their diaries.

  He was born in India to British parents in 1879.10 The Mackintosh family papers show that his father was an ‘Indigo Planter’ and that his mother Annie left India with her six young children, moving to Bedfordshire in England when Aeneas was a young boy. His father had Bright’s disease and remained in India. Aeneas never saw his father again but remained fond of him, writing regularly; his father kept every letter but sadly they were found unopened when his father died.11 As a young teenager in the 1890s Mackintosh lived with his mother and his younger brothers and sister in England. He attended Bedford Modern School, an independent school in Bedfordshire, from 1891 to 1894.12

  In 1895, at fifteen years of age, he left school to go to sea to become a commissioned officer in the Merchant Navy, serving
as an apprentice on the full-rigged sailing ship Cromdale. (The Merchant Navy deals with mostly cargo and civilian transports.) His naval papers state that he joined the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), a British commercial shipping company, in 1900.13

  In 1907 Mackintosh’s Antarctic experience commenced when he was recruited by Shackleton as second officer on the British Antarctic (Nimrod) Expedition of 1907–09.14 On this expedition he lost his right eye. In January 1908 the Nimrod arrived in Antarctica but while unloading stores at Cape Royds a crate hook attached to a barrel swung across and struck him on the face. Ernest Joyce, also on the Nimrod Expedition, happened to be there at the time helping with the unloading. After the accident Mackintosh was sent back to New Zealand in the Nimrod, but twelve months later he returned, with a glass eye, and helped to lay depots out on the Great Ice Barrier.

  After the Nimrod Expedition, Mackintosh was given clerical duties in England because the loss of his eye precluded him from being appointed to any of the P&O Company’s ships.15 He remained on-shore until he joined Shackleton’s expedition in 1914. His naval records show that after the Nimrod Expedition he held the rank of 3rd Officer, which is below a normal captain’s ranking. However, as the officer in command of the Aurora, he held the higher rank of Captain, being in charge of the ship, and his men, including Shackleton, referred to him as Captain Mackintosh.