Shackleton's Heroes (27 page)
Read Shackleton's Heroes Online
Authors: Wilson McOrist
Joyce:
After we had our meal we started to dig out our sledge which we found right under. It took us 2 hours one would hardly credit how weak we were two digs of the shovel + you were out of breath, this was caused through our laying up and practically no food.
38
Hayward:
It took us (Joyce Richards & myself) over 2 hours to dig out sledge, during which process we discovered that we were very weak indeed, & had great difficulty in getting our breath. I must say that I have never experienced such weakness in my life before & we all attributed it to short rations & the ill effects consequent upon our inactivity.
39
About 2 o/c we got everything stowed, with Smith wrapped up in the best manner possible, the drift & wind being more violent than at any other time during this blizzard, altho the Sun appears at times fitfully.
Before getting under way the Skipper complained at being unable to walk & we told him to tie on alongside the sledge, easing his weight by it.
The surface we found to be very soft & deep, & at frequent intervals the sledge bogged badly & in our weak state it was as much as we could do to restart her, the 4 dogs we have altho having been on short rations for some days, worked splendidly and were as ever of the greatest help.
40
Richards:
Just set under way at 2 p.m. this day after totally unexpected lay up of 6 days. Commencing this period with little food we are now reduced very low indeed. Dog food has been totally exhausted tonight despite the fact that we have for a few days been to a certain extent denying ourselves that they may have a better chance.
41
It was after 2pm on 23 February before the six men and the four dogs had started towards the Minna Bluff depot, about 10 miles away. Richards wrote in
The Ross Sea Shore Party
that it was incredible weather and they âcouldn't see anything, and it was howling wind, difficult to stay on your feet'. They were âlurching along' due to the force of the wind and from being so weak, having had little food for the past six days. The wind was buffeting everything, a whirling snow, âa sort of milky whiteness that was over everything', and they found it difficult to even move the sledge.
42
Richards felt that they must have presented a pathetic sight as they staggered along in their traces. Spencer-Smith was lashed to the sledge in his sleeping bag and protected as far as they could manage from the whirling snow, while Mackintosh teetered along holding on to the sledge at its rear.
43
Joyce tells us that within an hour Mackintosh collapsed and called out:
âStop Joyce I cannot go any furtherâ Just wrap me up in a deck cloth let me lie there in the snow'.
He told me he was not feeling fit as his legs were swollen black. I had a look at his gums they were also black. I think he has got scurvy.
44
In Hayward's words: âAfter covering perhaps ¾ m in what must have been somewhat over an hour, the Skipper declared himself done up & unable to proceed.'
45
Richards:
â¦the Skipper gave in and could not possibly go any further. He wished us to wrap him in a sheet and leave him. He has for weeks been suffering from a strained knee and bleeding from the bowels⦠The Skipper has completely gone. I had to hold him up to prevent him falling.
46
Years later Richards remembered his conversation with Mackintosh:
Mackintosh said, âI can't go any further, I've got to stop'.
We said, âDon't be a bloody fool'.
He said, âOh my hands, my hands'.
47
Joyce now appears to take command of the party. He, Richards and Hayward discussed the situation and quickly decided that Mackintosh would have to stay while some of the others would push on to Minna Bluff. Richards remembered that all the fitter men made the decision, not simply Joyce. The conversation with Mackintosh was brief â they told him they would put the tent up and he would stay with Spencer-Smith and Wild. In Richards's recollection of events Mackintosh âwasn't all there, mentally'. He recalled that they said to Wild: âYou've got to stay with him because you've been looking after them and we'll go on and see what we can do to get food.' They told Wild he had to stay because Richards, Joyce and Hayward were a compact party and were the obvious ones to go on.
48
Richards wrote in his book that, given the conditions prevailing, there was no time for discussion and arguments and âWild accepted this decision
without comment'. It was essential that a fit man be left to look after the sick men and as Wild had been looking after Spencer-Smith it appeared at the time the obvious course to follow. Richards thought that, in hindsight, it might have been better to have taken Wild, leaving Hayward to look after the two sick men, but they felt that Wild was the better man for maintaining their morale.
49
They left practically all the food with Mackintosh, Spencer-Smith and Wild, which Joyce noted as â20 biscuits, no oil, 4 cubes of Bovril a little tea'.
50
Joyce: âI held a consultation amongst Wild + party decided to pitch their tent leaving Wild to look after them + make the best way to the depot which was anything up to 12 miles away.'
51
Hayward: âIt was decided by all hands that the only thing for it, was to leave the Skippers party (himself Smith & Wild in camp) whilst we carried on in an endeavour to make the Bluff Depot.'
52
Richards:
We had been immobilised for 6 days with blizzard. At the end of this period our tent party took the initative in deciding as the lesser of two evils to strike camp and endeavour to reach the Bluff Depot.
Had gone no more than a few hundred yards when Mackintosh collapsed. We made a quick decision in impossible conditions to leave the two sick men with Wild who was well. I do not think he liked the idea but he was in their tent we told him he had to do it. I would have felt the same as Wild in the conditions prevailing.
When their tent disappeared in a few moments after starting I rather thought we would never see them again.
53
Joyce:
I told Wild I should leave as much as possible and get back 26th or 27th â weather permitting.
So we made them comfortable & left them about 3-40, but just as we left them it came on to snow pretty hard.
54
The blizzard picked up again after the men separated but Joyce, Richards and Hayward struggled on and covered about 3 miles to the north. Under those conditions the heel of the leading foot was never placed beyond the toe of the other and the gain with each pace, two or three inches at most, was often lost by back-slipping as the weight was brought forward. When they came to a particularly soft spot, they could do little more than mark time.
55
Richards was clearly bothered that they had left the three men behind, so much so he now started to keep a more detailed diary, starting this day, 23 February 1916. The reason, as he explained some years later, was that he was becoming concerned. First of all, when they left the others he had no idea whether they would ever see them again. He did not know whether they would even find the Minna Bluff depot. Secondly, his diary record would be his account of what had gone on, in addition to Joyce's diary. Richards remembered that he saw Joyce keeping a meticulous diary, writing it up every night, but in Richards's words: âJoyce was just a little bit unreliable, inclined to draw the long bow and to embroider a bit at times'.
56
On this day, 23 February, Hayward wrote over 300 words on the day's events, his first detailed diary entry for some weeks. He gave no reason for suddenly reverting back to his earlier ways of keeping a complete record of the day. Possibly he was now thinking like Richards and was worried about their chances of surviving, or the day may have been so momentous (leaving Mackintosh, Spencer-Smith and Wild behind) that he was inspired to start writing again. He continued this expansive diary-taking until he was back at Hut Point, but all his notes from now on were on the events of the day. There was only one more mention of his fiancée, on 7 March.
They were now losing the sun for four hours a day. That evening Joyce, Richards and Hayward had a tiny meal. Hayward could not understand why they couldn't sleep.
Joyce:
Sun going in & we found even with the 4 dogs we could not make more than ½ to ¾ miles per hour. The surface is that hard that sometimes you go in up to your waist still in spite of all this we carried on until 6-35.
Camped in a very howling blizzard. I found my left foot badly frostbitten. After this march, we have gone into our banquet â 1 cup of tea + half a biscuit. Sleeping bags wet through, but still cheerful living in hopes for it to clear up. Turned in 9 o'clock.
Situation does not look very cheerful + this is really the worst day's surface I have ever come across in all of my journeys here.
57
Richards:
â¦We have left Smith, Wild and Mackintosh camped roughly 9½ mile from Bluff Depot. Our idea is to push on and try and pick up the Bluff Depot in time to save the lives of the dogs â our own too for that matter as we are out of food all round.
He added later:
Note: The reason for emphasizing that we are primarily concerned with saving the dogs was a selfish one; we knew we could not get back if they gave up.
The weather is still full blizzard and our travelling conditions do not favour rapid work nor good steering. This afternoon we did roughly three miles.
Haywood Joyce and self are weak and feel the effect of the lay up. Our gums are swollen and slightly black â mine seem to be shredding.
58
Hayward:
Since the 21st we have had no kerosene & have been unable to use our Primus â Between us we have formulated a scheme whereby we heat our grub, what there is of it, (a cup of tea each & half biscuit) with methylated spirit, the process taking something like 2 hours & a half.
However we eventually turned in but found it impossible for some cause or causes unknown to sleep a wink.
59
Mackintosh, Spencer-Smith and Wild were in their tent, their first night of waiting, and hoping, for the return of the others from the Minna Bluff depot. Spencer-Smith compared Wild's gesture, to stay and look after he and Mackintosh, to a Charles Dickens character, Emma, in the book
David
Copperfield
. (She is the long-suffering wife of Mr Micawber, whom she swears she will never leave despite his financial difficulties.)
Wild summed up their day:
Made a start about 3 o'clock, then the Skipper went crook so we had to stop again. After a bit of a palaver the other three went on. I stopped behind with the invalids. They are going to the depot and are going to bring food and oil back to us.
I'm afraid they will have to pack up though as it is blizzarding worse than ever. However I hope to see them in 3 or 4 days time. I wonder if I'm right.
60
Spencer-Smith:
After less than a mile â deep snow, terrible graft they say â poor Mac collapsed. Symptoms very much the same as mine: aggravated, of course, by the long enforced rest.
It was decided almost at once that Joyce, party and dogs shall dash on as lightly loaded as possible and bring back grub and oil as soon as possible. We wanted Wild to go too but he stoutly refused to desert Mr Micawber. So here we three are with a few biscuits, a few sticks of chocolate, 2 âmeals' of oil, a ¼ tin of methylated and a few oddments, vegetables, Bovril and lime juice tablets. The weather did not improve as the afternoon went on, so the others have probably not gone far yet.
We had a great and glorious cup of tea (Te Sol!) to warm us up and sat up talking pretty late, the wind still howling.
61
The six men were now in two parties. Joyce, Richards and Hayward with the dogs had travelled 3 miles north since leaving the others. Mackintosh, Spencer-Smith and Wild were tent bound, completely dependent on these three men returning from the Bluff depot.
1.
Hayward diary, February 1916
2.
Wild diary, 18 February 1916
3.
Ibid.
4.
Joyce field diary, 18 February 1916
5.
Spencer-Smith diary, 18 February 1916
6.
Richards,
The Ross Sea Shore Party
7.
Joyce field diary, 19 February 1916
8.
Hayward diary, 19 February 1916
9.
Spencer-Smith diary, 19 February 1916
10.
Richards, interview with L. Bickel, 1976
11.
Hayward diary, 3 March 1915
12.
Joyce field diary, 20 February 1916
13.
Wild diary, 20 February 1916
14.
Spencer-Smith diary, 20 February 1916
15.
Richards,
The Ross Sea Shore Party
16.
Joyce field diary, 21 February 1916
17.
Wild diary, 21 February 1916
18.
Spencer-Smith diary, 21 February 1916
19.
Hayward diary, 21 February 1916
20.
Richards,
The Ross Sea Shore Party
21.
Richards letter to L. B. Quartermain, 7 March 1963
22.
Richards, interview with P. Law, December 1980
23.
Richards letter to L. B. Quartermain, 7 March 1963
24.
Hayward diary, 22 February 1916
25.
Joyce field diary, 22 February 1916
26.
Joyce diary transcripts, 22 February 1916
27.
Ibid.
28.
Wild diary, 22 February 1916
29.
Spencer-Smith diary, 22 February 1916
30.
Richards, interview with L. Bickel, 1976
31.
Richards,
The Ross Sea Shore Party
32.
Richards letter to L. B. Quartermain, date unknown.
33.
Mackintosh,
Shackleton's Lieutenant
34.
Richards, interview with L. Bickel, 1976
35.
Hayward diary, 23 February 1916
36.
Joyce field diary, 23 February 1916
37.
Spencer-Smith diary, 23 February 1916
38.
Joyce field diary, 23 February 1916
39.
Hayward diary, 23 February 1916
40.
Ibid.
41.
Richards diary, 24 February 1916
42.
Richards, interview with L. Bickel, 1976
43.
Richards,
The Ross Sea Shore Party
44.
Joyce field diary, 23 February 1916
45.
Hayward diary, 23 February 1916
46.
Richards diary, 24 February 1916
47.
Richards, interview with L. Bickel, 1976
48.
Ibid.
49.
Richards,
The Ross Sea Shore Party
50.
Joyce field diary, 23 February 1916
51.
Ibid.
52.
Hayward diary, 23 February 1916
53.
Richards diary, 24 February 1916
54.
Joyce field diary, 23 February 1916
55.
Scott,
Voyage
56.
Richards, interview with L. Bickel, 1976
57.
Joyce field diary, 23 February 1916
58.
Richards diary, 23 February 1916
59.
Hayward diary, 23 February 1916
60.
Wild diary, 23 February 1916
61.
Spencer-Smith diary, 23 February 1916