Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
76
the depot of March 5. With storm clouds threatening and the hut in sight only seven miles
away, the men decided to cache their sledge and gear and make a dash for it. Although the
morning was overcast so that definition on the sastrugi was lost, the blizzard never quite
descended, and everyone was back by 11:00 A.M. Shackleton broke out the champagne to
toast the returning conquerors, who filled the hut with stories of their exploits.
When it came to food, Shackleton relates,
Except to Joyce, Wild and myself, who had seen similar things on the former
expedition, the eating and drinking capacity of the returned party was a matter of
astonishment. In a few minutes Roberts had produced a great saucepan of Quaker
oats and milk, the contents of which disappeared in a moment, to be followed by
the greater part of a fresh-cut ham and home-made bread, with New Zealand fresh
butter. The six had evidently found on the slopes of Erebus six fully developed, polar
sledging appetites. The meal at last ended, came more talk, smokes and then bed for
the weary travelers.
Winter passed favorably for the fifteen men at Cape Royds. Everyone was active enough
with chores and pastimes. The dogs and ponies needed regular tending. Birthdays and
holidays were celebrated without fail. Wild and Joyce produced a 120-page book, Au-
rora Australis, and printed one hundred copies on a press donated to the expedition and
bound them with board from packing cases.
Every two hours the expedition made a meteorological observation, which required
someone to go outside. In starlight or moonlight the plume on Mount Erebus was always
noted for determining the wind direction at twelve thousand feet. The progress of activ-
ity at the summit was a focus of continuing interest. On numerous occasions, a red glow
from the crater was reflected on the bottom of the plume, and at times someone would
report “great bursts of flame crowning the crater.”
They planned two major traverses for the following summer. The southern party, led
by Shackleton, would attempt to reach the South Pole, and the northern party the Mag-
netic South Pole. Spring was filled with a number of sledging trips designed to provide
experience to the uninitiated for the more sustained eVorts later on. These trips mainly
involved laying depots for the southern party.
The northern party consisted of Professor David (leader), Mawson, and Mackay.
Their route would cross McMurdo Sound to Butter Point and proceed northward from
there along the coast, on sea ice if possible, on the piedmont glaciers if not, to a point
where they could gain access to the plateau through some gap in the mountains (Fig. 3.8).
Except for the motorcar, which successfully hauled loads on sea ice around winter
quarters but was of no use on rougher terrain, the party had no support. On September
20 the men hauled one of the two sledges the party would be using ten miles out onto the
sea ice. The motorcar pulled the second sledge, and the three-man party began its odyssey
on October 5 from Cape Royds. The vehicle had driven only two miles when thickening
snow forced it to turn around, leaving the men to haul for the remainder of the day in
mixed conditions, reaching their previously deposited sledge at 7:00 P.M.
Because the combined weight of the two sledges was too great for the party to pull as
