The Worst Journey in the World

  He decided to use the only route towards the Pole of which the world had any knowledge, that is to go up the Beardmore Glacier, then the only discovered way up through the mountains which divide the polar plateau from the Great Ice Barrier: probably it is the only possible passage for those who travel from McMurdo Sound. The alternative was to winter on the Barrier, as Amundsen did, so many hundred miles away from the coast-line that, in travelling south, the chaos caused in the ice plain by the Beardmore in its outward flow would be avoided. To do so meant the abandonment of a great part of the scientific programme, and Scott was not a man to go south just to reach the Pole. Amundsen knew that Scott was going to McMurdo Sound when he decided to winter in the Bay of Whales: otherwise he might have gone to McMurdo Sound. Probably no man would have refused the knowledge which had already been gained.

  I have said that there are those who say that Scott should have relied on ski and dogs. If you read Shackleton's account of his discovery and passage of the Beardmore Glacier you will not be prejudiced in favour of dogs: and as a matter of fact, though we found a much better way up than Shackleton, I do not believe it possible to take dogs up and down, and over the ice disturbances at the junction with the plateau, unless there is ample time to survey a route, if then. "Dogs could certainly have come up as far as this," I heard Scott say somewhere under the Cloudmaker, approximately half-way up the glacier, but the best thing you could do with dogs in pressure such as we all experienced on our way down would be to drop them into the nearest chasm. If you can avoid such messes well and good: if not, you must not rely on dogs, and the people who talk of these things have no knowledge.

  If Scott was going up the Beardmore he was probably right not to take dogs: actually he relied on ponies to the foot of the glacier and man-haulage on from that point. Because he relied on ponies he was not able to start before November: the experience of the Depôt Journey showed that ponies could not stand the weather conditions before that date. But he could have started earlier if he had taken dogs, in place of ponies, to the foot of the glacier. This would have gained him a few days in his race against the autumn conditions when returning.

  Such tragedies inevitably raise the question, "Is it worth it?" What is worth what? Is life worth risking for a feat, or losing for your country? To face a thing because it was a feat, and only a feat, was not very attractive to Scott: it had to contain an additional object—knowledge. A feat had even less attraction for Wilson, and it is a most noteworthy thing in the diaries which are contained in this book, that he made no comment when he found that the Norwegians were first at the Pole: it is as though he felt that it did not really matter, as indeed it probably did not.

  It is most desirable that some one should tackle these and kindred questions about polar life. There is a wealth of matter in polar psychology: there are unique factors here, especially the complete isolation, and four months' darkness every year. Even in Mesopotamia a long-suffering nation insisted at last that adequate arrangements must be made to nurse and evacuate the sick and wounded. But at the Poles a man must make up his mind that he may be rotting of scurvy (as Evans was) or living for ten months on half-rations of seal and full rations of ptomaine poisoning (as Campbell and his men were) but no help can reach him from the outside world for a year, if then. There is no chance of a 'cushy' wound: if you break your leg on the Beardmore you must consider the most expedient way of committing suicide, both for your own sake and that of your companions.

  Both sexually and socially the polar explorer must make up his mind to be starved. To what extent can hard work, or what may be called dramatic imagination, provide a substitute? Compare our thoughts on the march; our food dreams at night; the primitive way in which the loss of a crumb of biscuit may give a lasting sense of grievance. Night after night I bought big buns and chocolate at a stall on the island platform at Hatfield station, but always woke before I got a mouthful to my lips; some companions who were not so highly strung were more fortunate, and ate their phantom meals.

  And the darkness, accompanied it may be almost continually by howling blizzards which prevent you seeing your hand before your face. Life in such surroundings is both mentally and physically cramped; open-air exercise is restricted and in blizzards quite impossible, and you realize how much you lose by your inability to see the world about you when you are out-of-doors. I am told that when confronted by a lunatic or one who under the influence of some great grief or shock contemplates suicide, you should take that man out-of-doors and walk him about: Nature will do the rest. To normal people like ourselves living under abnormal circumstances Nature could do much to lift our thoughts out of the rut of everyday affairs, but she loses much of her healing power when she cannot be seen, but only felt, and when that feeling is intensely uncomfortable.

  Somehow in judging polar life you must discount compulsory endurance; and find out what a man can shirk, remembering always that it is a sledging life which is the hardest test. It is because it is so much easier to shirk in civilization that it is difficult to get a standard of what your average man can do. It does not really matter much whether your man whose work lies in or round the hut shirks a bit or not, just as it does not matter much in civilization: it is just rather a waste of opportunity. But there's precious little shirking in Barrier sledging: a week finds most of us out.

  There are many questions which ought to be studied. The effect upon men of going from heat to cold, such as Bowers coming to us from the Persian Gulf: or vice versa of Simpson returning from the Antarctic to India; differences of dry and damp cold; what is a comfortable temperature in the Antarctic and what is it compared to a comfortable temperature in England, the question of women in these temperatures...? The man with the nerves goes farthest. What is the ratio between nervous and physical energy? What is vitality? Why do some things terrify you at one time and not at others? What is this early morning courage? What is the influence of imagination? How far can a man draw on his capital? Whence came Bowers' great heat supply? And my own white beard? and X's blue eyes: for he started from England with brown ones and his mother refused to own him when he came back? Growth and colour change in hair and skin?

  There are many reasons which send men to the Poles, and the Intellectual Force uses them all. But the desire for knowledge for its own sake is the one which really counts and there is no field for the collection of knowledge which at the present time can be compared to the Antarctic.

  Exploration is the physical expression of the Intellectual Passion.

  And I tell you, if you have the desire for knowledge and the power to give it physical expression, go out and explore. If you are a brave man you will do nothing: if you are fearful you may do much, for none but cowards have need to prove their bravery. Some will tell you that you are mad, and nearly all will say, "What is the use?" For we are a nation of shopkeepers, and no shopkeeper will look at research which does not promise him a financial return within a year. And so you will sledge nearly alone, but those with whom you sledge will not be shopkeepers: that is worth a good deal. If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg.

  Glossary

  *

  BLIZZARD. An Antarctic blizzard is a high southerly wind generally accompanied by clouds of drifting snow, partly falling from above, partly picked up from the surface. In the daylight of summer a tent cannot be seen a few yards off: in the darkness of winter it is easy to be lost within a few feet of a hut. There is no doubt that a blizzard has a bewildering and numbing effect upon the brain of any one exposed to it.

  BRASH. Small ice fragments from a floe which is breaking up.

  CLOUD. The commonest form of cloud, and also that typical of blizzard conditions, was a uniform pall stretching all over the sky without distinction. This was logged by us as stratus. Cumulus clouds are the woolly billows, flat below and rounded on top, which are formed by local ascending currents of air. They were rare in the south and only formed over op
en water or mountains. Cirrus are the "mare's tails" and similar wispy clouds which float high in the atmosphere. These and their allied forms were common. Generally speaking, the clouds were due to stratification of the air into layers rather than to ascending currents.

  CRUSTS. Layers of snow in a snow-field with air space between them.

  FINNESKO. Boots made entirely of fur, soles and all.

  FROST SMOKE. Condensed water vapour which forms a mist over open sea in cold weather.

  ICE-FOOT. Fringes of ice which skirt many parts of the Antarctic shores: many of them have been formed by sea-spray.

  NUNATAK. An island of land in a snow-field. Buckley Island is the top of a mountain sticking out of the top of the Beardmore Glacier.

  PIEDMONT. Stretches of ancient ice which remain along the Antarctic coasts.

  PRAM. A Norwegian skiff, with a spoon bow.

  SAENNEGRASS. A kind of Norwegian hay used as packing in finnesko.

  SASTRUGI are the furrows or irregularities formed on a snow plain by the wind. They may be a foot or more deep and as hard and as slippery as ice: they may be quite soft: they may appear as great inverted pudding bowls: they may be hard knots covered with soft powdery snow.

  SLEDGING DISTANCES. All miles are geographical miles unless otherwise stated, 1 statute or English mile = 0.87 geographical mile: 1 geographical mile = 1.15 statute miles.

  TANK. A canvas "hold-all" strapped to the sledge to contain food bags.

  TIDE CRACK. A working crack between the land ice and the sea ice which rises and falls with the tide.

  WIND. Wind forces are logged according to the Beaufort scale, which is as follows:

  No. ... Description ... Mean velocity in miles per hour.

  0 ... Calm ... 0

  1 ... Light air ... 1

  2 ... Light breeze ... 4

  3 ... Gentle breeze ... 9

  4 ... Moderate breeze ... 14

  5 ... Fresh breeze ... 20

  6 ... Strong breeze ... 26

  7 ... Moderate gale ... 33

  8 ... Fresh gale ... 42

  9 ... Strong gale ... 51

  10 ... Whole gale ... 62

  11 ... Storm ... 75

  12 ... Hurricane ... 92

  * * *

  Endnotes

  *

  [1] Cook, A Voyage towards the South Pole, Introduction.

  [2] Cook, A Voyage towards the South Pole, vol. i. p. 23.

  [3] Ibid. p. 28.

  [4] Cook, A Voyage towards the South Pole, vol. i. p. 268.

  [5] Ibid. p. 275.

  [6] Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. i. p. 9.

  [7] Ibid. p. 14.

  [8] Ross, Voyage to the Southern Seas, vol. i. p. 117.

  [9] Ross, Voyage to the Southern Seas, vol. i. pp. 216-218.

  [10] Ross, Voyage to the Southern Seas, vol. i. pp. 244-245.

  [11] Leonard Huxley, Life of Sir J. D. Hooker, vol. ii. p. 443.

  [12] Ibid. p. 441.

  [13] Nansen, Farthest North, vol. i. p. 52.

  [14] Nansen, Farthest North, vol. ii. pp. 19-20.

  [15] Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. i. p. 229.

  [16] Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. i. p. vii.

  [17] Ibid. p. 273.

  [18] See Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. ii. pp. 5, 6, 490.

  [19] Wilson, Nat. Ant. Exp., 1901-1904, "Zoology," Part ii. pp.

  8-9.

  [20] Wilson, Nat. Ant. Exp., 1901-1904, "Zoology," Part ii. p.

  31.

  [21] Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. ii. p. 327.

  [22] Scott, The Voyage of the Discovery, vol. ii. pp. 347-348.

  [23] Priestley, Antarctic Adventure, pp. 232-233.

  [24] Priestley, Antarctic Adventure, pp. 236-237.

  [25] Priestley, Antarctic Adventure, p. 243.

  [26] Atkinson has no doubt that the symptoms of the Northern Party

  were those of early scurvy. Conditions of temperature in the

  igloo allowed of decomposition occurring in seal meat. Fresh

  seal meat brought in from outside reduced the scurvy

  symptoms.

  [27] This tenderness of gums and tongue is additional evidence of

  scurvy.

  [28] Published by Fisher Unwin, 1914.

  [29] Vol. ii., Narrative of the Northern Party.

  [30] A. A. Milne.

  [31] Ross, Voyage to the Southern Seas, vol. i. pp. 22-24.

  [32] Bowers' letter.

  [33] Vide Scott's Last Expedition, vol. ii. pp. 454-456.

  [34] "Atmospheric Electricity over Ocean," by G. C. Simpson and

  C. S. Wright, Pro. Roy. Soc. A, vol. 85, 1911.

  [35] See B.A.E., 1910, Nat. Hist. Report, vol. i. No. 3, p. 117.

  [36] Ibid. p. 111.

  [37] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 6.

  [38] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 7.

  [39] Ibid. p. 9.

  [40] Ibid. p. 8.

  [41] Wilson in the Discovery Natural History Reports.

  [42] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 11-12.

  [43] Wilson's Journal.

  [44] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 14-15.

  [45] Raper, Practice of Navigation, article 547.

  [46] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 13.

  [47] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 21-22.

  [48] Ibid. pp. 24-25.

  [49] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 2.

  [50] My own diary.

  [51] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 25.

  [52] Ibid. p. 60.

  [53] Wilson.

  [54] Wilson, Discovery Natural History Report, vol. ii. part ii.

  p. 38.

  [55] Wilson's Journal.

  [56] Levick, Antarctic Penguins, p. 83.

  [57] Levick, Antarctic Penguins, p. 85.

  [58] Wilson in the Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology,

  vol. ii. part i. p. 44.

  [59] Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology, vol. ii. part i.

  Wilson, pp. 32, 33.

  [60] Ibid. p. 33.

  [61] Antarctic Manual: Seals, by Barrett-Hamilton, p. 216.

  [62] Ibid. p. 217.

  [63] Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology, vol. ii. part i.

  by E. A. Wilson, p. 36.

  [64] Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology, vol. ii. part i.

  by E. A. Wilson.

  [65] Terra Nova Natural History Report, Cetacea, vol. i. No. 3,

  p. 111, by Lillie.

  [66] Terra Nova Natural History Report, Zoology, vol. i. No. 3,

  Cetacea, by D. G. Lillie, p. 114.

  [67] Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology, vol. ii. part i.

  pp. 3-4, by E. A. Wilson.

  [68] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 22.

  [69] Wilson's Journal, Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 613.

  [70] Minute plants.

  [71] Killer whale.

  [72] Officers' mess on the Terra Nova.

  [73] Griffith Taylor in South Polar Times.

  [74] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 35.

  [75] Ibid. p. 39.

  [76] Ibid. pp. 54, 55.

  [77] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 56.

  [78] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 73-75.

  [79] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 62.

  [80] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 68, 69.

  [81] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 77.

  [82] Thomson.

  [83] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 80.

  [84] Wilson's Journal, Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 613,

  614.

  [85] See Introduction, p. xxxv.

  [86] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 87.

  [87] The extreme south point of the island, a dozen miles farther,

  on one of whose minor headlands, Hut Point, stood the

  Discovery hut.

  [88] Scott's Last Expedition, vo
l. i. pp. 88-90.

  [89] Ibid. p. 91.

  [90] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 52-93.

  [91] Ibid. pp. 92-94.

  [92] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 111.

  [93] Ibid. p. 94.

  [94] Ibid. p. 100.

  [95] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 230.

  [96] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 113-114.

  [97] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 94-96.

  [98] Ibid. p. 106.

  [99] My own diary.

  [100] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 111.

  [101] My own diary.

  [102] The South Pole, vol. i. p. 278.

  [103] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 128.

  [104] Ibid. p. 129.

  [105] My own diary.

  [106] See Introduction, p. xxxiv.

  [107] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 122.

  [108] Ibid. pp. 122-123.

  [109] Priestley's diary.

  [110] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 127.

  [111] Ibid. p. 134.

  [112] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 136.

  [113] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 138.

  [114] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 180-81.

  [115] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 187-188. Scott

  started for the Pole on November 1, 1911. Amundsen started

  on September 8, 1911, but had to turn back owing to low

  temperatures; he started again on October 19.

  [116] Priestley's diary.

  [117] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 185.

  [118] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 190-191.

  [119] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 191-192.

  [120] Wilson camped with the two dog-teams on the land, and in the

  morning saw us floating on the ice-floes through his

  field-glasses. He made his way along the peninsula until he

  could descend on to the Barrier, where he joined Scott.

  [121] I think he was stiff after standing so many hours.—A. C.-G.

  [122] Scott, The Voyage of the Discovery, vol. i. p. 350.

  [123] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 201.

  [124] Bowers.