Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
114
was hard won. Mileages were a respectable fourteen to sixteen miles per day, but already
it appeared that food would be a critical factor. The weather was generally good as the
party crossed the ice shelf, its surface “as wayward and changeful as the sea,” and the
men's spirits were high.
The party reached Depot A on November 15. The first of the ponies to play out was
Chinaman, which was shot on November 21. The horsemeat was an important part of the
men's diet, with a portion carried along and the remainder depoted with the carcass for
the inward march. Probably thanks to this supplement of fresh meat, none of the party
suVered from scurvy throughout the journey, although dysentery became a worrisome
problem on the return leg.
On November 22 the party spotted new land beyond Mount LongstaV, the south-
ernmost sighting of Scott's party in 1902. Because they were farther out on the ice shelf
than Scott, the men of Shackleton's party were also able to see high peaks beyond the
foothills to the south of the strait. For the next four days the party pulled toward that un-
marked line in the snow touched by the toes of Scott, Wilson, and Shackleton five years
before.
On November 26 the party crossed Scott's “farthest south,” the men congratulat-
ing themselves with a four-ounce bottle of curaçao and smokes as they turned in for the
night. During that day the mouth of the strait had opened wide to the west. On the north
side of the channel a new range with high summits appeared running northward, which
Shackleton guessed connected through to Mount Albert Markham farther to the north.
On the south side of the strait, a long, intricate ridge system branched down to the west
from the summit of Mount Markham. And as far in the distance as one could see there
were vague mountains, more of them right out to the horizon. Surely this was a major
outlet glacier, but a straight line at the horizon like Barne and Mulock had seen was not
so sure between the distant blocks. On his map of the expedition's surveys, Shackle-
ton showed only “Shackleton Inlet” for this breach in the mountains, although he soon
would know that the ice sheet that Scott had penetrated for 150 miles to the west of Ferrar
Glacier continued along the backside of the western mountains to this southerly latitude
and on to the pole.
Given that the new mountains appearing to the south were arching toward the
southeast, it became clear that the chain would eventually cross the meridian that the
party was following to the pole. Consequently, the men altered their course to the east of
south, hoping still for an end run. During this stretch of the journey, Shackleton noted,
“It falls to the lot of few men to view land not seen by human eyes, and it was with feel-
ings of keen curiosity, not unmingled with awe, that we watched the new mountains rise
from the great unknown that lay ahead of us.”
As the men passed Mount LongstaV, they could see that it was actually an elongate
range trending north-south that had appeared as a solitary summit when the mountain
was viewed end on and from a distance. Now the range opened to their right. A series of
graceful spurs rose steeply to a ridgeline punctuated by a row of peaks rising to between
nine thousand and ten thousand feet. Narrow, heavily crevassed glaciers dropped be-
tween the spurs, merging into smoothness at the foot of the range. The distance from the
coast to the crestline of these mountains was only about twelve miles. Nowhere between
