Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
92
Figure 3.18. In this high-elevation image of Terra Nova Bay looking southwest, seasonal ice has
begun to break up. The light-colored bank of ice on the right side of the image is sea ice that has
persisted for a number of seasons. Embedded within this is the Campbell Ice Tongue issuing in from
the right. The snow-covered ridge in the middle ground is the Northern Foothills. Immediately to the
left (south) of this is the dark face of Inexpressible Island, where Campbell's party wintered over in
1912. hell's Gate is the name given to the gulf between these two features. Reeves Glacier with its
two prominent nunataks is in the center rear of the picture. In the upper left corner Backstairs Pas-
sage cuts the dark, narrow outcrop of rock. Mount Crummer is the small peak to the left (south) of
Backstairs Passage.
pressible Island (Fig. 3.18; see Fig. 3.12). For the remainder of January and half of Febru-
ary, the men explored around the northern end of Terra Nova Bay, mapping along the
base of the towering mountains sighted by David's party (Eisenhower and Deep Freeze
Ranges of today), but they were able to penetrate only about ten miles up Priestley Gla-
cier (Fig. 3.19; see Fig. 3.11), so were unaware that this is the most northerly of the outlet
glaciers that drains across the mountains from the polar plateau.
When the Ter ra No va failed to return that season, the party faced a winter-over with
minimal rations and tents that were all but shredded by the wind. The men survived
by digging a snow cave in a hard drift, lining it with dried seaweed for insulation, and
killing a number of seals for a meager food supply during the winter. Conditions were
squalid and miserable in the ice cave on Inexpressible Island, but the men's temperaments
were buoyant. When the frail survivors emerged from their cave in the spring, hope had
prevailed, and they were determined to rescue themselves by man-hauling back to Scott's
hut at Cape Evans, following the coastal route blazed by David, Mawson, and Mackay.
