Shackleton's Heroes (17 page)

T
O STOCK DEPOTS
out to Mount Hope required a huge volume and weight of stores, far more than the men could haul in one load, so a number of intermediary trips were planned, with three three-man teams taking out a portion of stores and then returning to base to take out more.

Mackintosh planned for the depots to be placed at each line of latitude, about 70 miles apart. The stores that would be left at each depot on the outward journey had to be sufficient for the returning men to reach their next depot. This was usually one week's worth of provisions, to cover the 70 miles. If men were delayed for any reason on their homeward journey, such as losing days because of a blizzard – and it took longer than a week to cover the distance between depots – they would be forced to go on reduced rations to make the food and fuel last until they made the next depot.

Mackintosh had worked out the total volume of stores needed, and it was a complex calculation. In the first season of sledging they had placed some stores at 80°S, at 79°S at Minna Bluff, at the three Cope depots, and at Safety Camp.

In the second season, stores had to be left at Mount Hope for Shackleton's anticipated team of six men; then stores all the way back to Hut Point for his use – at 83°S, 82°S, 81°S, 80°S, the Bluff depot at 79°S and at the Safety Camp depot on the edge of the Barrier. They were just the stores that Shackleton would need. In addition, stores had to be carried for their own use – in travelling out to Mount Hope and back. To move from one depot point to the next on their return journey they would pick up stores that had been deposited on the outward journey.

The first stage for the ten men at Cape Evans would be to take all stores from there to Hut Point. This was planned to be carried out in September, involving a multitude of trips between the huts.

The second stage, in October, November and December, would involve five trips taking stores from Hut Point to the Minna Bluff depot, a journey of approximately 70 miles each way, plus a trip to add stores to the 80°S depot, 140 miles from Hut Point. Their plan was to have the Bluff depot well stocked because it would be a base from which stores would be taken further out on the Barrier.

Once this work was completed, the third and final stage would begin. It was then planned for nine men to be at or near the Minna Bluff depot towards the end of December, and push on south from there. They would take from the Bluff depot all the stores they would need to lay the depots out to Mount Hope.

The taking of all the required stores to Hut Point commenced on 1 September. The leading sledge party left Cape Evans with 600 lb of stores and it was quite an occasion. Richards wrote in his book that the others gave the leading team an enthusiastic send off as they set out tugging their load over the sea-ice. They pitched a tent halfway across to Hut Point and left this ‘halfway house' for the use of subsequent parties on journeys between the huts.
1
The five dogs were used.

At this time, the dogs hauled sledges between the huts. The sea-ice
surface would have been hard and smooth and on that surface the men would have skied, which meant they could have worked in harmony with the dogs. Skiing speed was similar to the dog's normal rate of hauling; faster than a man's normal walking pace.

The Joyce diary entry from 1 October below describes the usual routine as stores were taken across the sea-ice to Hut Point. Mackintosh wrote only a few notes in September, one on the cold affecting his right eye (his glass eye), and his enjoyment in meeting inquisitive penguins.

By early October all the stores and equipment needed for the sledging program were at Hut Point and the dogs were taken back to Cape Evans, as the men planned to now haul the sledges themselves.

Mackintosh's diary entry, before leaving Cape Evans for the last time, includes a list of the men in the sledging teams. He also mentions ‘another book' in which he would continue his diary notes but that ‘book' has never been found. There are no more diary entries from Mackintosh after 30 September. All that has survived from that date onwards are a number of letters he left at various depots, which were usually instructions for Joyce, and two long letters he wrote on 28 February 1916.

On 30 September Spencer-Smith wrote a poignant letter to his parents, mentioning they had had some ‘misfortunes', presumably meaning the loss of the
Aurora
and the death of most of the dogs. He appeared to have doubts he would survive.

Hayward: ‘Saturday 18 Sept 15 to Friday 8 Oct: During this time have made trips between Cape Evans & Hut Point sledging stores I got very useful work out of my dogs Con, Gunboat,
*
Towser, Oscar & a little bitch Nell, they were good up to 600lb.'
2

A typical Joyce daily entry:

Mackintosh:

Spencer-Smith letter of 30 September 1915:

In early October, stage two of the second season started, the sledging of stores from Hut Point to replenish depots on the Barrier that had been
laid back in February and March. They were delayed by a blizzard until 9 October then a start was made with nine men pulling three sledges, one behind the other. Progress was very slow towards the start of the Barrier, owing to overladen sledges and a heavy surface, and camp was made that first evening by a very tired and dispirited party.
8

Joyce: ‘Distance done during day about 4 miles. I don't think in all my experience down here I have had harder pulling – Temp -18. Turned in wet through.'
9

They tried nine men hauling three sledges at first and then three men pulling one sledge, but their progress was still slow. Joyce was very critical of Mackintosh and some (or all) of the Australians (Richards, Gaze and Jack) did not impress Wild.

Joyce:

Hayward: ‘After loading up got under way for a couple of hours & did 3 miles. Going slow & heavy in fact I am quite sure that with such loads it will be imposs. to carry out the seasons programme.'
11

Wild: ‘We pulled the heaviest sledges & the others couldn't keep up. It's the foreigners that do it; they give everybody a bad heart.'
12

Mackintosh then decided that he, Spencer-Smith and Wild would travel as a separate unit, while the others (Joyce, Richards, Hayward, Cope, Gaze and Jack) would operate as a six-man party under Joyce's leadership. There is no indication from their diaries why Mackintosh decided to split up the party. All Richards could say later was that progress was almost impossible with the heavy loads so Mackintosh, Wild and Smith went on as an independent party while the rest under Joyce's command undertook four depot-laying journeys from Hut Point to the Bluff depot, some 70 miles south.
13

Joyce:

Wild felt for (Ernest) Joyce: ‘We've left the others behind with poor old Ern in charge, d___d glad.'
15

From this date, 12 October 1915, until early January 1916, Mackintosh, Spencer-Smith and Wild travelled separately from the others. Possibly Mackintosh preferred working with only two men, leaving Joyce in charge of five others. Travelling away from Joyce meant he could leave him written instructions from time to time; which he did, placing notes for Joyce at various depot points.

Their first task for both teams was to restock the Bluff depot. Joyce's team immediately started relaying. Joyce was now maintaining a daily diary record and his 18 October diary entry is similar to many other days. He writes without any fanfare. The first trip to the Bluff depot for Mackintosh, Spencer-Smith and Wild was also uneventful, but now and again they commented on the conditions.

‘Rouse out! Rouse out!' would be a common call to the men start a day. ‘Right-oh', would come any replies. To pull down their tents they would first clear snow blocks from the skirting, lift it up from the windward side so it blew out and then shake off some of the more icy lumps, then fold it up. After packing they would look at each other's faces for frostbite. A dead-white nose tip or a white spot on a cheek were common signs and these would be nursed back to life with the warmth of their bare hands.
16

Joyce: