The Worst Journey in the World (14 page)

The Admiral Commanding the Australian Station came on board. The event of
the inspection was Nigger, the black ship's cat, distinguished by a white
whisker on the port side of his face, who made one adventurous voyage to
the Antarctic and came to an untimely end during the second. The seamen
made a hammock for him with blanket and pillow, and slung it forward
among their own bedding. Nigger had turned in, not feeling very well,
owing to the number of moths he had eaten, the ship being full of them.
When awakened by the Admiral, Nigger had no idea of the importance of the
occasion, but stretched himself, yawned in the most natural manner,
turned over and went to sleep again.

This cat became a well-known and much photographed member of the crew of
the Terra Nova. He is said to have imitated the Romans of old, being a
greedy beast, by having eaten as much seal blubber as he could hold, made
himself sick, and gone back and resumed his meal. He had most beautiful
fur. When the ship was returning from the Antarctic in 1911 Nigger was
frightened by something on deck and jumped into the sea, which was
running fairly rough. However, the ship was hove to, a boat lowered, and
Nigger was rescued. He spent another happy year on board, but disappeared
one dark night when the ship was returning from her second journey to the
South in 1912, during a big gale. He often went aloft with the men, of
his own accord. This night he was seen on the main lower topsail yard,
higher than which he never would go. He disappeared in a big squall,
probably because the yard was covered with ice.

Wilson rejoined the ship at Melbourne; and Scott left her, to arrange
further business matters, and to rejoin in New Zealand. When he landed I
think he had seen enough of the personnel of the expedition to be able to
pass a fair judgment upon them. I cannot but think that he was pleased.
Such enthusiasm and comradeship as prevailed on board could bear only
good fruit. It would certainly have been possible to find a body of men
who could work a sailing ship with greater skill, but not men who were
more willing, and that in the midst of considerable discomfort, to work
hard at distasteful jobs and be always cheerful. And it must have been
clear that with all the energy which was being freely expended, the
expedition came first, and the individual nowhere. It is to the honour of
all concerned that from the time it left London to the time it returned
to New Zealand after three years, this spirit always prevailed.

Among the executive officers Scott was putting more and more trust in
Campbell, who was to lead the Northern Party. He was showing those
characteristics which enabled him to bring his small party safely through
one of the hardest winters that men have ever survived. Bowers also had
shown seamanlike qualities which are an excellent test by which to judge
the Antarctic traveller; a good seaman in sail will probably make a
useful sledger: but at this time Scott can hardly have foreseen that
Bowers was to prove "the hardest traveller that ever undertook a Polar
journey, as well as one of the most undaunted." But he had already proved
himself a first-rate sailor. Among the junior scientific staff too,
several were showing qualities as seamen which were a good sign for the
future. Altogether I think it must have been with a cheerful mind that
Scott landed in Australia.

When we left Melbourne for New Zealand we were all a bit stale, which was
not altogether surprising, and a run ashore was to do us a world of good
after five months of solid grind, crowded up in a ship which thought
nothing of rolling 50° each way. Also, though everything had been done
that could be done to provide them, the want of fresh meat and
vegetables was being felt, and it was an excellent thing that a body of
men, for whom every precaution against scurvy that modern science could
suggest was being taken, should have a good course of antiscorbutic food
and an equally beneficial change of life before leaving civilization.

And so it was with some anticipation that on Monday morning, October 24,
we could smell the land—New Zealand, that home of so many Antarctic
expeditions, where we knew that we should be welcomed. Scott's Discovery,
Shackleton's Nimrod, and now again Scott's Terra Nova have all in turn
been berthed at the same quay in Lyttelton, for aught I know at the same
No. 5 Shed, into which they have spilled out their holds, and from which
they have been restowed with the addition of all that New Zealand,
scorning payment, could give. And from there they have sailed, and
thither their relief ships have returned year after year. Scott's words
of the Discovery apply just as much to the Terra Nova. Not only did New
Zealand do all in her power to help the expedition in an official
capacity, but the New Zealanders welcomed both officers and men with open
arms, and "gave them to understand that although already separated by
many thousands of miles from their native land, here in this new land
they would find a second home, and those who would equally think of them
in their absence, and welcome them on their return."

But we had to sail round the southern coast of New Zealand and northwards
up the eastern coast before we could arrive at our last port of call. The
wind went ahead, and it was not until the morning of October 28 that we
sailed through Lyttelton Heads. The word had gone forth that we should
sail away on November 27, and there was much to be done in the brief
month that lay ahead.

There followed four weeks of strenuous work into which was sandwiched a
considerable amount of play. The ship was unloaded, when, as usual, men
and officers acted alike as stevedores, and she was docked, that an
examination for the source of the leak might be made by Mr. H. J. Miller
of Lyttelton, who has performed a like service for more than one
Antarctic ship. But the different layers of sheathing protecting a ship
which is destined to fight against ice are so complicated that it is a
very difficult matter to find the origin of a leak. All that can be said
with any certainty is that the point where the water appears inside the
skin of the ship is almost certainly not the locality in which it has
penetrated the outside sheathing. "Our good friend Miller," wrote Scott,
"attacked the leak and traced it to the stern. We found the false stern
split, and in one case a hole bored for a long-stern through-bolt which
was much too large for the bolt.... The ship still leaks but the water
can now be kept under with the hand pump by two daily efforts of a
quarter of an hour to twenty minutes." This in Lyttelton; but in a not
far distant future every pump was choked, and we were baling with three
buckets, literally for our lives.

Bowers' feat of sorting and restowing not only the stores we had but the
cheese, butter, tinned foods, bacon, hams and numerous other products
which are grown in New Zealand, and which any expedition leaving that
country should always buy there in preference to carrying them through
the tropics, was a masterstroke of clear-headedness and organization.
These stores were all relisted before stowing and the green-banded or
Northern Party and red-banded or Main Party stores were not only easily
distinguishable, but also stowed in such a way that they were forthcoming
without difficulty at the right time and in their due order.

The two huts which were to form the homes of our two parties down South
had been brought out in the ship and were now erected on a piece of waste
ground near, by the same men who would be given the work to do in the
South.

The gear peculiar to the various kinds of scientific work which it was
the object of the expedition to carry out was also stowed with great
care. The more bulky objects included a petrol engine and small dynamo, a
very delicate instrument for making pendulum observations to test the
gravity of the earth, meteorological screens, and a Dines anemometer.
There was also a special hut for magnetic observations, of which only the
framework was finally taken, with the necessary but bulky magnetic
instruments. The biological and photographic gear was also of
considerable size.

For the interior of the huts there were beds with spring mattresses—a
real luxury but one well worth the space and money,—tables, chairs,
cooking ranges and piping, and a complete acetylene gas plant for both
parties. There were also extensive ventilators which were not a great
success. The problem of ventilation in polar regions still remains to be
solved.

Food can be packed into a comparatively small space, but not so fuel, and
this is one of the greatest difficulties which confront the polar
traveller. It must be conceded that in this respect Norway, with her
wonderful petrol-driven Fram, is far ahead of us. The Terra Nova depended
on coal, and the length of the ship's stay in the South, and the amount
of exploration she could do after landing the shore parties, depended
almost entirely upon how much coal she could be persuaded to hold after
all the necessaries of modern scientific exploration had been wedged
tightly into her.

The Terra Nova sailed from New Zealand with 425 tons of coal in her holds
and bunkers, and 30 tons on deck in sacks. We were to hear more of those
sacks.

Meanwhile stalls were being built under the forecastle for fifteen
ponies, and, since room could not be found below for the remaining four,
stalls were built on the port side of the fore hatch; the decks were
caulked, and deck houses and other fittings which might carry away in the
stormy seas of the South were further secured.

As the time of departure drew near, and each day of civilization appeared
to be more and more desirable, the scene in Lyttelton became animated and
congested. Here is a scientist trying to force just one more case into
his small laboratory, or decanting a mass of clothing, just issued, into
the bottom of his bunk, to be slept on since there was no room for it on
the deck of his cabin. On the main deck Bowers is trying to get one more
frozen sheep into the ice-house, in the rigging working parties are
overhauling the running gear. The engine-room staff are busy on the
engine, and though the ship is crowded there is order everywhere, and it
is clean.

But the scene on the morning of Saturday, November 26, baffles
description. There is no deck visible: in addition to 30 tons of coal in
sacks on deck there are 2½ tons of petrol, stowed in drums which in turn
are cased in wood. On the top of sacks and cases, and on the roof of the
ice-house are thirty-three dogs, chained far enough apart to keep them
from following their first instinct—to fight the nearest animal they can
see: the ship is a hubbub of howls. In the forecastle and in the four
stalls on deck are the nineteen ponies, wedged tightly in their wooden
stalls, and dwarfing everything are the three motor sledges in their huge
crates, 16' x 5' x 4', two of them on either side of the main hatch, the
third across the break of the poop. They are covered with tarpaulins and
secured in every possible way, but it is clear that in a big sea their
weight will throw a great strain upon the deck. It is not altogether a
cheerful sight. But all that care and skill can do has been done to
ensure that the deck cargo will not shift, and that the animals may be as
sheltered as possible from wind and seas. And it's no good worrying about
what can't be helped.

Open the bones, and you shall nothing find
In the best face but filth; when, Lord, in Thee
The beauty lies in the discovery.
GEORGE HERBERT.

Telegrams from all parts of the world, special trains, all ships dressed,
crowds and waving hands, steamers out to the Heads and a general
hullabaloo—these were the incidents of Saturday, November 26, 1910, when
we slipped from the wharf at Lyttelton at 3 P.M. We were to call at
Dunedin before leaving civilization, and arrived there on Sunday night.
Here we took on the remainder of our coal. On Monday night we danced, in
fantastic clothing for we had left our grand clothes behind, and sailed
finally for the South the following afternoon amidst the greatest
enthusiasm. The wives remained with us until we reached the open sea.

Amongst those who only left us at the last minute was Mr. Kinsey of
Christchurch. He acted for Scott in New Zealand during the Discovery
days, and for Shackleton in 1907. We all owe him a deep debt of gratitude
for his help. "His interest in the expedition is wonderful, and such
interest on the part of a thoroughly shrewd business man is an asset of
which I have taken full advantage. Kinsey will act as my agent in
Christchurch during my absence; I have given him an ordinary power of
attorney, and I think have left him in possession of all the facts. His
kindness to us was beyond words."
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"Evening.—Loom of land and Cape Saunders Light blinking."
^[38]

The ponies and dogs were the first consideration. Even in quite ordinary
weather the dogs had a wretched time. "The seas continually break on the
weather bulwarks and scatter clouds of heavy spray over the backs of all
who must venture into the waist of the ship. The dogs sit with their
tails to this invading water, their coats wet and dripping. It is a
pathetic attitude deeply significant of cold and misery; occasionally
some poor beast emits a long pathetic whine. The group forms a picture of
wretched dejection; such a life is truly hard for these poor
creatures."
^[39]

The ponies were better off. Four of them were on deck amidships and they
were well boarded round. It is significant that these ponies had a much
easier time in rough weather than those in the bows of the ship. "Under
the forecastle fifteen ponies close side by side, seven one side, eight
the other, heads together, and groom between—swaying, swaying
continually to the plunging, irregular motion."

"One takes a look through a hole in the bulkhead and sees a row of heads
with sad, patient eyes come swinging up together from the starboard side,
whilst those on the port swing back; then up come the port heads, while
the starboard recede. It seems a terrible ordeal for these poor beasts to
stand this day after day for weeks together, and indeed though they
continue to feed well the strain quickly drags down their weight and
condition; but nevertheless the trial cannot be gauged from human
standards."
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