Read Shackleton's Heroes Online
Authors: Wilson McOrist
Shackleton's Heroes (29 page)
The blizzard continued and Joyce again compared their predicament to that of Scott, and his struggles with Wilson and Bowers to reach their One Ton Depot in 1912. Joyce knew they had to keep moving.
They covered about 3 miles in the morning and Richards had fond memories of the dogs at this time, especially Oscar. He wrote in an unpublished document titled âFour Dogs' that although they now had little on the sledge, the dogs had lost their spirit. Three were losing heart, but in the crisis the massive Oscar just lowered his head and pulled as he never did when things were going well. He even at times got a bit of a run on the sledge and tried to bite the heels of the dog ahead to make him work. To Richards the dogs were just as individual as humans, and by this time they had become very close to them and recognised their every mood. They, like the men, had been very short on food for days. It seemed to Richards that Oscar was aware that they were looking for something that would give him a full meal once more. When things were going well he was inclined to be lazy, but in Richards's opinion it was âno exaggeration to say that Oscar alone gave them that little extra strength' to keep going.
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Hayward:
Spent a hideous night, lack of food allowing cold to do its worst upon us. We all feel we are about all in and I am sure that unless the weather changes for the better immediately and allows us to take our bearings there will be very little hope of us getting in as we are rapidly getting weaker.
However, we get underway! And to add to our troubles our tent has developed a rent 3 ft long during the night, needless to say neither of us has sufficient energy to attempt to repair it.
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Joyce's actual diary for the day is barely legible:
Turned out 4.45. Richards prepared our usual Banquet ½ cup of tea ¼ biscuit which we relished.
Under way at 7 â carried on halting every 10 min or ¼ of an hour. Weather Snowing + blowing â same as yesterday.
We are in a very weak state but we cannot give in. We often talk about poor âCapt Scott' + the Blizzard that finished him + party. If we had stayed in our tent another day I don't think we should have got under way at all + shared the same fate. Anyone would go to Hell for pasture after this.
But if the worst comes we have made up our minds to carry on, on the trek + die in harness.
If anyone were to see us on trek they would be surprised â 3 men staggering on with 4 dogs very weak; practically empty sledge with fair wind + just crawling along. Our clothes are all worn out & finescoes + sleeping bags torn. Tent is our worst point, all torn in front + we are afraid to carry on a/c of it + it is too cold to mend it
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Hayward: âJoyce leading sets a good pace, the dogs especially Gunner, Oscar and Towzer are struggling on gamely, they seem to realise as much as we do ourselves.'
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Richards: â4a.m. Turned out and had ½ biscuit and tea. Wind has sprung up and nothing can be seen.'
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At their lunch stop, they had no idea where they were and no idea where the Minna Bluff depot was. Richards did not want to travel on any further. He tells us he said to the others: âLook, there's no use going on, we may overshoot the depot. We might as well wait here and see what happens.' He does not know whether they would have lasted much longer, saying
in an interview decades later that if they had to go another day he did not know whether they would have been able to see it out.
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They did discuss eating the dogs, for their own survival, but realised such an action would not have saved their lives. Richards remembered it was the only time they thought of eating the dogs but without them they would not have been able to reach the Bluff depot, so they discarded that idea. They realised that if even they ate only one dog they would be signing their own death warrant â they could not make progress without the help of four dogs.
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25 February had been a day with no food, except a piece of biscuit and half a cup of warm tea for breakfast, another small piece of biscuit and some warm tea for lunch. They had travelled about 3 miles on the 23rd, 3 on the 24th and possibly 3 the morning of the 25th. They thought they must be close to the Minna Bluff depot.
Hayward outlined their morning progress:
12 o/c noon. Have done perhaps 2½ to 3 miles, there is nothing to see on which to steer & it has been snowing more heavily than ever, & we still have no idea as to where the depot lies.
At 2.30 pm at which time we had managed to obtain a warm cup of tea & hoped to proceed, the snow was thicker than ever accompanied by very strong wind, & we could not move. I hope we can make the depot before we are forced to pitch again. Our pace is approx. ¾m per an hour, quite knocking us out.
There is nothing to see on which to turn and it has been snowing more heavily than ever and we still have no idea where the depot was.
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Richards:
Later noon. Sun through murk ⦠at times in the morning. Heavy wind and heavy snowfall and we do not know how we stand in regard to the depot or whether in thick weather we have strayed from the course. We are very weak.
The Canadian huskies are working pluckily but obviously weak and they have had no food for 2 nights. Con very groggy.
The weather is now thickening again and the wind very strong. The method of
cooking entails ⦠a loss of a good deal of time. A meal ⦠takes a lot of preparation and at the end the warmth of the tea does not stay with one for very long.
Later. This afternoon we had perhaps the heaviest snowfall in this blizzard accompanied by heavy wind. Impossible to travel in this so have decided to camp till storm abates.
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We sat down in the tent to wait, as though our rough reckoning of distance had led us to believe that to go further might put us beyond the depot.
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Joyce:
We camped after our grand lunch at noon after 5 hours struggling I think we done about 3 miles. After lunch sat in our tents talking over the situation decided to get under way again as soon as soon as there is any clearance. Snowing + blowing force about 50 or 60. I do not think we will be able to pitch camp again.
Mackintosh, Spencer-Smith and Wild could do nothing but stay in their tent. They were 81 miles from Hut Point, but only 10 miles south of the Bluff depot, from where they hoped Joyce, Richards and Hayward would soon return, to save their lives.
All Spencer-Smith could write was: âBlizzard again!'
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But Wild was optimistic: âBlowing worse than ever and snowing all the time. I hope the others reached the depot yesterday. Then they will be able to feed up. This ought to be the final blow now before it clears.'
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On the morning of the 26th, four days after leaving their three colleagues, Joyce, Richards and Hayward were in a critical situation. They were now completely without food and they knew this day might have been their last if they had not reached the depot.
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However that morning (at 1 a.m. it was light enough to see) the weather cleared early and they could see the depot. On reaching the Bluff depot they knew, to quote Richards from an interview, âwe were in clover'. They could eat as much food as they liked because the depot was well stocked with plenty of food for Shackleton and themselves.
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They made the decision to rest up and recover before heading back to pick up Mackintosh, Spencer-Smith and Wild. In addition, their tent was one of Scott's old tents and a few small rips had appeared. The steam from the cooking used to freeze on the tent and they had been desperately frightened one of the rips would tear completely. They fixed the rips using a canvas food bag with Joyce sewing from the inside and one of the others outside.
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The tears in their tent had to be fixed before they could start back.
Richards remembered that it was at the Bluff depot where he first saw that Hayward could not straighten his legs. They were blue and black at the back so Richards started rubbing methylated spirits on them.
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He wrote in his book that Hayward's condition was worse than that of either Joyce or himself, although he and Joyce had some stiffness and discoloration behind the knees and on the gums. Richards recalled that by then Hayward was more or less ineffective as a unit of the party; he had broken down.
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At the Bluff they had expected to find some news of the
Aurora
. It had been arranged with Stevens to leave a message at the Minna Bluff depot but there was no news. Richards tells us he felt âsomewhat gloomy' as he had hoped the ship might have returned to Cape Evans and sent a party out to the Bluff. They did not speculate a lot about what might have happened to the
Aurora
. They simply guessed she hadn't come back and thought they might be in Antarctica for another winter. But uppermost on Richards's mind was their own predicament, in that they still had to reach the safety of Hut Point. When interviewed many years afterwards he could
not remember even saying âwell now we've got food we're alright' because they knew they had another 90 miles to go â 10 to go back and pick up the other three men and then 80 to Hut Point. He knew that would be a very hard 90 miles.
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Joyce:
Saturday 26th AM: Richards went out 1-10 and found it clearing a bit, so we got under way as soon as possible. At 2.25 Richards sighted the depot which looked like a mountain right on top us.
I suppose we camped no more than ¾ of a mile from it. The dogs sighted it which seemed to electrify them they had new life + started to run but we were that weak that we could not go more than 200 yds then spell.
I think another day would have seen us off.
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Hayward:
Unspeakable night. At about midnight weather cleared somewhat & we decided to get under way & we each knew that it would be the last time, in the event of our not making the depot.
Imagine our feelings when we found on a break occurring that we had been camped within a short distance of the depot which we made in somewhere under an hour, all absolutely played out, but thankful indeed for our deliverance.
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They struggled to cover the short distance to the depot.
Richards:
Under way at 2.am. Fairly heavy drift and thick weather. Shortly after start saw the depot practically ahead. We had been camped within ¾ mile of it and could not have seen it through thick weather.
We could not even travel more than a few yards without halting so short was our wind. Dogs bucked up at sight of depot but are weak.
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Years later, he modestly said: âI laid the course and to this day I don't know how we did it, I really don't know.'
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Joyce:
Arrived at Depot 5-25 found it in a dilapidated condition. Cases all about the place. I don't suppose there has ever been a weaker party arrive at any Depot either N. or S.
After a hard struggle got our tent up + made camp then gave the dogs a good feed of Pemmican.
If ever dogs saved the lives of anyone they have saved ours let us hope they will continue in good health so that we can get out to our comrades.
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Richards: âDecided to halt here till dogs have had a couple of meals as it would be fatal to them to turn ⦠too soon and we depend on them for the lives of Mackintosh and Smith.'
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Joyce:
I started on our cooking. Not one of us had any appetite although we were in the land of plenty, as we call this Depot, plenty of Biscuit etc we could not eat. We decided to have Oatena
â¡
+ milk for a start which went down very well + then a cup of tea.
How cheery the Primus sounds, it seems like coming out of a thick London fog into a drawing room. After a consultation we decided to have a meal of pemmican in 4 hours + so on until our weakness was gone.
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Hayward found it surprising they were not hungry:
We camped immediately, afterwards preparing a meal which strange to relate we could not go being quite past hunger. The dogs apparently did not suffer similarly as they easily disposed of the heavy feed given them.
We turned in for 3 or 4 hours then had another go with rather more success & a still further attempt about 10 o/c showing marked improvement.
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Joyce adds: âMended our torn tent with food bags â this took 4 hours. Feeding the dogs every 4 hours + Richards + Hayward built up a Depot.
It is really surprising to find it takes 2 men to lift a 50 lb case. It only shows our weakness.'
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Richards:
We occupied the day in a rest and several meals very light in amount but at fairly short intervals ⦠Joyce spent afternoon mending tent. This was most pressing job as if we needed to pitch camp again in a blow tent would rip to pieces before we could get it up.
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They packed the sledge, planning to head back south early the next morning.
Richards: âHayward and Self arranged depot stores and stores to take back to the other party. The depot was in an untidy condition and took considerable digging out. Weather is dull and heavy wind and drift continues. We intend to start at 5am tomorrow on a forced march back.'
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