Shackleton’s Forgotten Expedition

by Beau Riffenburgh

  On 6 October they established Depot A at 79 ° 36'S, approximately 120 miles from Cape Royds, having experienced temperatures as low as — 590. There they piled up 167 pounds of maize, added a gallon tin of oil, and marked it with an upturned sledge and a black flag. Remarkably, the conditions for the return journey were even worse, and they arrived at Hut Point having run out of food. The next day they started for Cape Royds and had the good fortune of meeting Day with the motor-car a mile and a half south of Cape Barne. They returned the rest of the way in style.

  Shackleton and the depot party reached their base on the evening of 13 October. There they relaxed, had a cup of cocoa and ate a meal. But the hut seemed emptier than normal, and, as they looked around, they realised that three of their friends had disappeared.

  16

  ACROSS THE GREAT ICE BARRIER

  That evening, as Shackleton and his five companions relaxed in the hut at Cape Royds, David, Mawson and Mackay - the members of the Northern Party - were spending a much less pleasant time at Butter Point, a low-lying ice cliff on the west side of McMurdo Sound. They had left the winter quarters eight days before with a task every bit as daunting as that facing those heading south.

  David had received Shackleton's written instructions before The Boss left on the depot trip. The key objective was, '(i) To take magnetic observations at every suitable point with a view of determining the dip and the position of the Magnetic Pole. If time permits. . . you will try and reach the Magnetic Pole.' The instructions also told them: '(2) To make a general geological survey of the coast of Victoria Land . . . [and] (3) I particularly wish . . . Mawson to spend at least one fortnight at Dry Valley to prospect for minerals of economic value on your return . . . I consider that the thorough investigation of Dry Valley is of supreme importance.' In the last, Shackleton had mentioned what was actually important to him. It was his long-term fascination with treasure.

  Shackleton had hoped that David's party would depart on 1 October, but thick weather and an injury to Day meant that they could not leave until four days later, after, with the help of the motor-car, they had left two depots ten and fifteen miles from base. Uncertain ice conditions forced them to start south toward Glacier Tongue before turning west and crossing to Butter Point, which had been named by Scott's party for a tin of butter that had been left there. The plan was for them to head north along the coast of Victoria Land, hoping to find a passage up to the high Polar Plateau, which Albert Armitage had been the first to reach six years before, while Scott, Shackleton and Wilson had been on their southern adventure.

  The first day - having been given a ride part way by Day - they reached the ten-mile depot. It was there that the reality of their task hit them. Not able to pull both sledges, which totalled 710 pounds, they immediately had to settle into relay work. They would haul one sledge nicknamed the 'Christmas Tree' sledge because so many things remembered at the last moment had been tied on to it willy-nilly - for anywhere up to a mile, then return for the 'Plum Duff sledge on which most of the provisions were kept. In this way, they progressed about four miles per day.

  The partially thawed sea ice made a slow, sticky surface for the sledge runners, and the work was cruelly difficult. The strain quickly led Mawson to tire of the eccentricities of his mentor. 'Prof finds it necessary to change his socks in morning before breakfast, also has to wear 2 per day,' he grumbled on the fourth day out. 'And comes in late for [three-man sleeping] bag and sits on everybody. God only knows what he does . . . He is so covered with clothes that he can hardly walk and hardly get into bag - that is to say, hardly leaves any room for us as he very nicely made us take side places.'

  After a day lost to blizzard conditions, on 13 October the party finally reached Butter Point. They realised that at their present speed they would not be able to attain the Magnetic Pole, estimated at 500 miles from Cape Royds, and return in time for the relief ship. So they depoted seventy pounds, 40 per cent of which was biscuits, and left a note warning they would likely not return until 12 January. Then they moved off north across New Harbour, the wide, ice-covered entrance to the Ferrar Glacier and Dry Valley (known today as Taylor Valley). On the morning of 17 October, they reached the northern edge of the harbour at Cape Bernacchi, a low, rocky promontory dominated by a pure white crystalline marble. Here, following Shackleton's instructions, and with a flag that Day had laboriously made out of a red handkerchief with white spots, some blue fabric, and the light duck material for the cubicle dividers, they took possession of Victoria Land for the British Empire.

  While David and his party worked north, Shackleton finalised his preparations for his journey the other direction. He wrote a series of letters, clarifying the goals and movements for each party, and setting out contingencies if rescue were required (although these were vague). He also outlined a new financial arrangement with each man.

  Most important was the responsibility he delegated to Murray. If Shackleton were not to return, Adams would assume command, but if neither did, Murray was to take charge, over the heads of David and Marshall. That this burden was not passed to David would be surprising except that Shackleton had no way of knowing when, or if, David would return to Cape Royds. If the ice were to break out early, his party could be trapped on the western shore, and Shackleton needed someone he could trust, including dealing with the master of Nimrod, whoever that might be. Murray fit the bill. 'You have never for one moment caused me the slightest anxiety in any way: I am most deeply indebted to you for the good quick influence you have had on the Expedition; also for the good sound advice you have given me,' Shackleton wrote. 'I am not a good hand at saying things in praise but I hope you will know that your high character has been an incentive to me keeping up my heart in downward times.'

  Outlined in the three letters that Shackleton wrote to Murray were the plans for the rest of the expedition. When the support party returned, Priestley was to be allowed to investigate the geology of the north slope of Erebus. Then, at the beginning of December, Priestley, Brocklehurst and Armytage - the Western Party - were to leave for a survey of the western mountains. The Northern Party, upon its return, was to meet these three at Butter Point. Mawson, Priestley and Brocklehurst were to investigate the 'economic side of the geology' of the area, while David, Mackay and Armytage were to proceed to Cape Royds to confirm their safe return. David could then take stores back to Butter Point and continue his geological work. Although Shackleton's orders included directions of where to leave messages and how to signal across open water if it prevented them reaching base, the difficulty in planning for all contingencies was shown by a lack of precise instructions should the Northern Party not be able to return south at all.

  Shackleton also ordered Day and Marston to move supplies to Hut Point in late December. From there, in the middle of January, the two of them and Joyce were to make a depot on the Barrier eight miles off Minna Bluff - a narrow peninsula running east from Mount Discovery - with enough food to allow the Southern Party to return to the Discovery hut.

  Murray was put in charge of making certain that all the collections and scientific gear were loaded on to Nimrod when she arrived around 15 January. He was additionally assigned to give Shackleton's letter of instructions to the ship's master. These took into account conditions of the ice as well as variables relating to the two parties on the western shore, and directed the captain to pick up the men and gather the scientific material. Included was the order that if the Southern Party had not returned by 25 February, Murray was to land sufficient coal and provisions at Cape Royds to support seven men for a year. He would then select three volunteers to stay behind (or appoint three if no one volunteered), who would proceed at once in search of the Southern Party and would continue the search, if necessary, the next summer. Shackleton's solicitors would arrange for the relief of the party the following year.

  As a final point, Shackleton noted that Murray

  suggested that it might be as well if latitude were given you and th
e acting master of Nimrod to consult as to a further detention of the ship beyond the 1st of March 1909. I therefore give you permission to do so: but the ship must on the first of March steam to the entrance of MacMurdo Sound to see the ice conditions and if there is no heavy pack . . . she can return to Cape Royds again: but I think the utmost limit you should remain here is the 10th of March.

  After dealing with his men, Shackleton turned his attention to Emily. 'My own darling Sweeteyes and Wife,' he wrote in a letter that was supposed to be read only in case of his death.

  I want to tell you beloved that whatever I may have been all the time I have loved you truly and you have been an angel of light and an arm of strength to me . . . Child o' mine think kindly of me and remember that if I did wrong in going away from you and our children that it was not just selfishness . . . your husband will have died in one of the few great things left to be done . . . I have written to you my life with a trembling hand for it is too hard to think that it means that if you get this it will be years before we meet in another life.

  The letter was not unlike that he wrote before the southern journey with Scott and Wilson, attempting to comfort Emily by convincing her of his faith in God and their everlasting unity. He did not believe it, of course. As with a number of other supposed tenets in his life, such as his Irishness or his 'firm' political stance, Shackleton professed to religious devotion when it was convenient or helpful - in this case helpful to Emily. His true beliefs were somewhat different. 'He used to say to me that he didn't believe in calling on the Almighty when you were in a hole,' Leonard Hussey, a colleague from a later expedition said. 'If he didn't believe in the Lord when things were going well, he wasn't going to call on His protection when they weren't going well.' And one can see in Shackleton's diary that his true belief was in 'providence', in good fortune, in luck. And, as he recorded, the sign of his good luck came to him the night before the journey south finally began:

  Last night as we sat at dinner the evening sun entered through the ventilator and the circle of light shone full on the portrait of HM . . . Slowly it moved across and found the portrait of Her Majesty: it seemed an omen of good luck for only on this day and at that particular time could this have happened and today we started to strive & plant her flag on the last spot of the world that counts as worth striving for.

  It was thus with boundless enthusiasm that on 29 October 1908 began what Wild called 'the Great Southern Journey'. At 9.00 a.m. the motor-car left with two sledges and the five members of the support party: Joyce, Marston, Armytage, Brocklehurst and Priestley. 'We had tremendous faith in Shackleton's ability, but like him we had no idea what he had to meet with,' Brocklehurst recalled almost half a century later. 'If we'd known what a high altitude they'd have to get to, I think we'd have had much more doubt as to whether they'd reach the Pole or not. But Shackleton was so enthusiastic and so confident in his own ability that he didn't leave very much for us to think other than success.'

  Shackleton, for the moment, was ecstatic. 'A glorious day for our start,' he wrote, 'brilliant sunshine and a cloudless sky. A fair wind from the north in fact everything that could conduce to an auspicious beginning.' At 10.00 a.m. the polar party said their farewells to Murray and Roberts - the only men left at base - and turned south, each guiding a pony harnessed to a sledge: Wild with Socks, Adams with Chinaman, Marshall with Grisi, and Shackleton with Quan. 'At last we are out on the long trail after 4 years thought and work,' Shackleton wrote. 'I pray that we may be successful for my Heart has been so much in this.'

  Even from the beginning, however, there were problems. Within an hour Socks went lame, and it became obvious that they would have to give him a few days' rest. Then, when they stopped for lunch, Grisi suddenly kicked out, catching Adams three inches below the knee and exposing the bone. 'He was in great pain but pluckily said little about it,' Shackleton wrote. 'It is a mercy that Adams is better tonight. I cannot imagine what he would have done if he had been knocked out for the Southern Journey.'

  That night was spent at Glacier Tongue with the support party, and the following morning the four members of the Southern Party proceeded to Hut Point, while the others ground the quarter ton of maize that had been depoted there by Nimrod into pony food. The next few days most of the men remained at Hut Point, weighing and stowing provisions while Socks improved. Shackleton made a trip back to Cape Royds, returning with edible luxuries for the men, salt for the ponies, and wire rope, as the ponies had been eating through their leather halters. It was not all that the ponies ate. On the night of i November a heavy snow fell, and the next morning the men found that Quan had bitten through his tether and headed directly for the food. 'The sledges with maize, pony rations, and fodder on looked as if they had been attacked by a herd of elephants who had been without food for a century or more,' Priestley recorded. Quan then led them a merry chase before being caught.

  It was the ponies' last great escape. The next morning the real start towards the Pole began, as they headed out on to the Barrier, 'Quan pulling 660, Grisi 615, Socks 600, Chinaman 600. 5 men hauling 660: 153 being pony food.' At the edge of the Barrier, Brocklehurst photographed the group, complete with sledging flags and the Queen's Union Jack. Then they plunged ahead, on to a surface that was exceptionally soft, 'the ponies at times sinking in up to their bellies and always over their hocks'. It was just as hard for the men of the support party, who rotated with the others pulling the sledge. Never the less they could not keep the pace of the ponies, and Shackleton decided he could not afford to be slowed down by them.

  On the morning of 4 November they depoted 100 pounds of paraffin and provisions, and as a result the support party managed to pull all day at a marvellous rate, totalling sixteen miles. The next day they again started well, but a driving snow after lunch made it difficult to navigate and they found themselves too far west. They had stumbled into an area where the Barrier becomes heavily crevassed due to its proximity to White Island - Shackleton's destination on his first jaunt in 1902 - and Minna Bluff. Shortly after Grisi and Marshall almost disappeared down a crevasse, the party halted to await better weather. It did not come soon. The following day a blizzard kept them in their tents, and Shackleton reduced their lunch ration to two biscuits to make up for the lost time. 'We must retrench at every setback if we are going to have enough food to carry us through,' he noted. 'We started with 91 days food but with careful management we can make it spin out to 110 days.'

  Shackleton's decision had been based on elementary arithmetic. He had calculated that the Pole was 859 statute miles from Cape Royds, which meant that his party needed to travel almost nineteen miles a day to reach it and return on the allotted food. With the delays due to Socks and the weather, they had so far averaged only seven miles. His cutting of the daily allowance meant that they would need to cover only fifteen miles. It was still a large distance, but it gave him hope, which the early problems had begun to take away.

  On 7 November conditions were still not ideal, but the four men said farewell to the support party and moved south to the ringing of three cheers. The light proved extremely poor, however, and they pushed into 'a dead white wall with nothing even in the shape of a cloud to guide our steering'. Within minutes of starting, Marshall put his left leg through a hole into a crevasse, Grisi just missing the same. 'Examined hole, could see no bottom,' Marshall wrote laconically, 'most uninviting.'

  They were still too far west, but marching east was courting disaster, as the light was such that they could not identify crevasses until they were on top of them. Within the next hour each member of the party stepped into a hole that could have meant the end of him and his pony. The group was forced again to camp, and they remained there for almost forty-eight hours, between two large crevasses. To conserve oil and protect their valuable four-hoofed partners they forfeited a hot lunch, instead boiling up a 'maujee hoosh' for the ponies.

  The wait again demonstrated Shackleton's understanding of psychology. The four men were i
n two tents, and in order not to break into two cliques, he decided that each week they would rotate tent-mates, as well as cooking duties. Unfortunately, neither he nor the others showed such comprehension of the equine species. The ponies had constantly broken through the crust of snow that dogs would have lightly run across; this was also true of the men, whose weight would have been advantageously distributed on skis. But unlike the men, who could retire to tents, the ponies were forced to bivouac outside, exposed to the bitter cold and wind. Whereas this would not have troubled dogs, the ponies were not designed for it, as they sweated throughout their bodies, and had hides that helped dissipate heat rather than retain it. Each evening the men were forced to build snow walls to protect them from the wind, to rub them down and to cover them with blankets. Then in the morning they had to scrape the snow off their hooves.

  Through all of this the ponies suffered miserably, and the men showed a remarkable lack of understanding as to why. 'Poor little Gresi & Socks who are the most intelligent & domesticated of 4 ponies seem very unhappy at being left out in blizzard without companionship & are off their feeds,' Marshall wrote, echoing what Wild had written about the two most 'sensitive' ponies.

  Finally, on 9 November, the weather cleared. They initially moved ahead at a snail's pace because they found themselves in the centre of a maze of crevasses. 'There was nothing for it but to trust to Providence,' wrote Shackleton. 'We had to cross somewhere.' They made their way across or around many crevasses before, right in front of Shackleton, Chinaman went down a crack some two feet wide. They managed to get him on to firm ice only just in time, as the crack suddenly broke out into a great, fathomless chasm. 'But when things seem the worst they turn to the best,' wrote Shackleton, paraphrasing Browning's poem 'Prospice', which had long been the secret greeting between him and Emily. 'For that was the last crevasse we encountered.'