Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
125
their tent through the following day. Miserably cold and cramped, they turned out on
January 9 for what was to be the last day of the outward march. Without the weight of
the sledge they half-walked, half-ran for five hours due south. At 9:00 A.M. they stopped,
sighted their location, raised the Union Jack, took possession of the plateau in the name
of King Edward VII, and recorded a photo. Shackleton wrote of the moment, “We have
shot our bolt, and the tale is latitude 88° 23′ South, longitude 162° East.”
The inward march was bound to be a tenuous aVair. The famished party would need
to average fifteen to twenty miles per day or run out of food before reaching each of the
six depots that had been laid on the outward journey. They would first need to find each
of the six depots. They would need to march even if weather was bad. From here on
Death would stalk the party's every step, draining energy and body heat from the desper-
ate four.
But Providence also guided their course. On the plateau the headwinds that had been
so cruel on the outward march now aided the return, as the men rigged a sail from the
tent floor and propelled the sledge along. Abandoning all caution, the weary foursome
plowed over crevasses without testing bridges, even though each of them had his share
of freefalls into the slots. Somehow they managed to make their distances. On January 11
they were back to their last depot (Depot F), on the 17th they reached the Christmas de-
pot, on the 20th, the depot at Buckley Island at the head of the glacier. There they loaded
up the food, the second tent, the extra clothing, and samples of rock.
On the traverse down the glacier the party ran out of food the day before reaching
the Lower Glacier depot by Granite Pillars. They were so exhausted that they collapsed
two miles short of it, and Marshall hiked the last distance to bring back a meal. Three
times he fell into a crevasse, but he caught himself each time with his arms. Revived by
the nourishment, the party moved on to the depot. Here too Wild collected a final sample
of limestone breccia on the moraine at Granite Pillars, and the men loaded their supplies
for the next leg, fifty miles to Grisi depot on six days' rations. Another hardship now
was added to the burden of the party. First Wild developed dysentery, then Shackleton
too, probably from the horse meat. They reached Grisi depot essentially out of food on
February 2 and had a filling meal. The following day the entire party was wracked with
dysentery but marched anyway. The next several days were miserable, but eventually the
diarrhea ran its course and the men's health improved. Aided by a strong following wind
and their sail, the party reached Chinaman depot on February 13, again with no remain-
ing rations. A good meal, including the pony's liver, and the party moved on. On Febru-
ary 20 the men reached Depot A, the one laid by Shackleton's party in the early spring.
Here were three days' rations to see them the distance to the BluV depot, where Joyce's
party was supposed to have left ample supplies for the last leg to Cape Royds. If they
made it to the BluV, they knew they would survive.
On February 21 the party pulled twenty miles in a blizzard. The following day the
weather cleared and their spirits surged as they crossed the tracks of four men with dogs.
These had to have been from Joyce's depot party. The next day the southern party set oV
at 6:45 A.M. At 11:00 A.M. Wild caught sight of flags on the depot reflected in a mirage.
The men immediately devoured their remaining few biscuits and hurried toward the
flags. However, the distance was deceiving because the flags were on bamboo poles atop
