Читать книгу The Heart of the Antarctic, Volume 2. - E. H. Shackleton - Страница 10

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I HAD left instructions at the winter quarters that a party should proceed to Minna Bluff at the beginning of the new year, and place at a point opposite the Bluff a depôt of stores for the use of the Southern Party on its return journey. Joyce was to take charge of this work, and it was of very considerable importance, since we four of the Southern Party would be depending on the depôt to supply us with the provisions necessary for the last hundred miles or so of the journey back to the winter (quarters. Joyce was accompanied by Mackintosh, Day and Marston, and he found that as the snow surface was very soft it would be necessary to make two journeys to the Bluff, one with ordinary sledging provisions, and the other with special luxuries from the ship. The party left the winter quarters at Cape Royds on January 15, with one sledge and 500 lb. of provisions, drawn by eight dogs. Early in the afternoon they encountered soft ice, sticky with salt, and the travelling became very heavy. They kept well away from the land, but Joyce, Mackintosh and Marston all fell through at different times, the soft surface giving away under them, and they got wet up to their waists. Their clothing froze stiff at once. They camped for the night at Glacier Tongue, and the next morning found the weather so bad that they were unable to march. There was a strong southerly wind, with drift, and this soon turned into a howling blizzard. A calm succeeded at midnight, and on the morning of the 18th they got under way again. The dogs had been buried under the drift by the blizzard, only their noses showing at the surface, and it was necessary to dig them out before they could be harnessed up. A seven-foot sledge was loaded with 300 lb. of store from the depôt at the Tongue, and the four men took on the two sledges, with a total weight of 800 lb. They had a heavy day's work, over soft ice and snowdrift, but reached the old Discovery winter quarters at Hut Point at midnight. The dogs pulled very well, and seemed to be enjoying their work after the long spell of semi-idleness at Cape Royds.

19. A DOG TEAM WITH LOADED SLEDGE GOING SOUTH TO

LAY A DEPOT FOR THE RETURN OF THE SOUTHERN PARTY

20. DEPOT PARTY PITCHING A TENT

21. THE BLUFF DEPOT

On the morning of the 19th the party proceeded on to the Barrier. The surface was fairly good, and the dogs ran practically all the time, Joyce finding it necessary to put two men on the sledge in order to reduce the speed, for the men would not travel at the pace set by the dogs. The weight per dog was well over 100 lb., though only one sledge had been taken on from Hut Point. The temperature was low during the days that followed, and the men's beards were constantly coated with ice, but their progress was rapid. On January 23, when they were travelling over a deep snow surface covering sastrugi, they sighted a depôt about three miles to the west of their course. This was the depôt at which some pony fodder had been left in the spring. Soon after this the party came upon crevasses running at right angles to their course, and the travelling became difficult. Joyce had the members of the party roped together, as the crevasses were hidden by treacherous snow lids and were therefore dangerous. The crevasses became worse in the following two days. Some of the pressure ridges were over thirty feet in height, running in an east-south-east and west-north-west direction, with enormous crevasses between them, and they all had the experience of falling through, to be hauled out again by means of the rope, after they had dropped to the length of their harness with a heavy jerk. On one occasion the four centre dogs fell through a snow lid into a crevasse, and were got out with great difficulty. Day and Joyce, with two leaders, were on one side of the crevasse, and Mackintosh and Marston, with the two rear dogs, were on the other side. Day and Joyce had to unharness and ease the dogs, while the other two men pulled them back to the sledge. The dogs meanwhile were hanging over the abyss, and evidently did not like their position. Joyce had to keep altering his course in order to avoid these crevasses, but after steering in a south-west direction for about six hours he reached a better surface. The crevasses were getting smaller, although the surface of névé caused many falls. An attempt to steer south, straight for the spot at which the depôt was to be laid, resulted in the party getting into the badly crevassed area again, and once more Joyce had to steer east-south-east. Finally they got clear of the crevasses, and at midnight on January 2.5, reached the spot at which it had been decided to place the depôt, about fourteen miles off Minna Bluff.

An early start was made on the 26th, and for seven hours the party laboured erecting a mound of snow ten feet high. On top of the mound they put two eleven-foot bamboos, lashed together and carrying three black flags. The total height of the depôt was twenty-two feet, and it could be seen at a distance of eight miles. The bearing of this depôt I had arranged with Joyce during the spring depôt journey, before my departure for the southern journey. It was on a line drawn through a sharp peak on the Bluff, well-known to Joyce, and the top of Mount Discovery, with a cross bearing secured by getting the centre peak of White Island in line with a peak of Mount Erebus.

The party started north again on the morning of the 27th, and after they had travelled a short distance Day sighted a pole projecting from the snow, some distance to the west of their course. Joyce was able to identify this as the depôt laid out for the Discovery's Southern Party in the spring of 1902. There was a bamboo pole about eight feet high projecting from the snow, with a tattered flag attached to it, and a food tin on top. The guys to which the pole was attached were completely buried under the snow. The men dug down for about five feet with the idea of ascertaining how deeply the depôt had been covered by snow, but as the bottom had not been reached and time was limited, they put fresh flags on the pole and proceeded on their way, intending to visit the depôt on the second journey. A fresh southerly wind was blowing, and rapid progress was made to the north towards Cape Crozier. A sail was hoisted on the sledge, and this assisted the dogs so much that three men were able to sit on the sledge, while a pace of about four miles an hour was maintained. Soon the area of crevasses, caused by the impinging of the Barrier ice on the land to the west, was reached again, and for thirty-seven miles the party twisted and turned in making a course past the obstacles; Joyce counted the crevasses that were passed, and he reported that he had seen one hundred and twenty-seven, ranging from two feet to thirty feet in width. The larger ones were open, and therefore easily detected, but the smaller ones had the usual snow lids. On the 30th the men were held up by another blizzard, which completely buried the dogs and sledge, but they reached Hut Point at 11 p.m. on January 31.

A second load of stores was secured from the depôt, including some luxuries, such as apples and fresh mutton, brought by a party from the ship, and on February 2 the party started south again. Joyce decided to take a new course in order to avoid the crevasses. He kept a course towards Cape Crozier for two days, and then marched south on the 5th and reached the depôt without having seen any crevasses at all. I think that the crevasses run right across to Cape Crozier from the district around White Island, but they are evidently more snow covered along the outer course. When the party was close to the depôt a blizzard came up from the south, and there was just time to get the tents up before the drift became thick. The tents were completely snowed up before the weather cleared, and the men had some difficulty in getting out again. The dogs were covered, but they seemed to be quite happy in their "nests" deep in the drift. When dogs and sledge had been dug out the party started again, and at 2 a.m. on the 8th they reached the Bluff depôt for the second time.

B. THE DEPOT PARTY AMONGST CREVASSES

"We expected to find the Southern Party camped there, and to surprise them with the luxuries we had brought out for them," wrote Joyce in his report, "but they were not there. As our orders were to return on the 10th if the Southern Party did not turn up, we began to feel rather uneasy. It came on to blow again from the south, and presently the wind turned into a howling blizzard, and did not ease down until the 11th. During every lull we climbed the depôt and looked round the horizon with the glasses, expecting every minute to see the Southern Party loom up out of the whiteness, but they did not appear. On the 11th, after a consultation, we decided to lay depôt flags in towards the Bluff, so that there would be no chance of the other party missing the food depôt. We knew that they would be run out of provisions, as they were then eleven days overdue, and the position caused us great anxiety. After we had laid the flags, three miles and a half apart, with directions where to find the depôt, we decided to march due south to look for the Southern Party. At every rest we would get on the sledge with the glasses, and look around, thinking that each snow hummock was a man or a tent. On the 13th Day sighted some marks in the snow that looked unusual, and on examination we found them to be the hoofprints of the ponies, evidently made on the outward march of the Southern Party three months before. The tracks of the four sledges showed distinctly. We followed these tracks for seven hours, and then we lost them. We camped that night at 10 p.m., and early the next morning proceeded south again, thinking all the time that we would see something appear out of the loneliness. It is curious what things one can see in circumstances like these, especially with a bad light. We started back to the depôt with all sorts of fears for the Southern Party."

They reached the depôt again at noon on the 16th, and Joyce states that as they approached the mound they were all sure that they could see a tent up and men walking about. When they got close, however, they found that everything was just as they had left it. They put all the provisions on top of the mound, lashed everything securely, and examined the flags to the eastward, and started on the march back to the coast, full of gloomy thoughts as to the fate of the Southern Party, which was now eighteen days overdue.

They proceeded first to the old Discovery depôt found on the first journey, Joyce wishing to take some measurements in order to ascertain the movement of the Barrier ice, and the amount of the snowfall. The depôt had been laid six years previously on bearings off the Bluff, and after its original position had been ascertained as exactly as possible, the distance to the bamboo pole was measured off by Day and Marston with a forty-foot length of rope, which had been measured off with a tape measure. The distance was found to be 9600 ft., and the direction of the movement was about east-north-east. The Barrier ice at this point must therefore be moving forward at the rate of about 1500 ft. a year. The party then worked till 1 a.m. digging down in order to find what depth of snow had been deposited on top of the depôt during the six years. It was found that the level at which the stays of the depôt pole had been made fast was eight feet three inches down in hard compressed snow. A measured quantity of this snow was melted in order to ascertain the actual amount of the snowfall. The interesting points involved in these investigations will be dealt with in the reports on the scientific work of the expedition.

The party started north again on the following day, and covered a distance of thirty-three miles. The dogs pulled splendidly, and three men were able to ride on the sledge. On the second day crevasses were encountered again, and several times men fell through to the length of their harness. The general direction of the crevasses was east-south-east and west-south-west. The party had a narrow escape from complete disaster at this stage. "We were going at a good trot over a very hard surface," wrote Joyce, "when I felt my foot go through. I called out 'Crack!' and rushed the dogs over, and as the sledge touched the other side of the hard ridge, the whole snow-bridge over which we had passed fell in. Marston, who was running astern of the sledge, felt himself falling through space, but the pace of the dogs brought him over the crevasse, at the length of his harness. We found ourselves standing on the edge of a yawning gap that would easily have swallowed up sledge, dogs, and the whole party, and on the far side we could see our sledge tracks leading right up to the edge. It seemed almost a miracle how we had managed to escape. Day took a photograph, and we altered the course for Cape Crozier, getting out of the crevasses about 5 p.m. Then we camped for the night, having all had a good shaking up."

22. DIGGING TO ASCERTAIN THE DEPTH OF SNOW COVERING

A DEPOT LEFT BY THE DISCOVERY EXPEDITION

23. A TYPICAL CREVASSE ON LEVEL SURFACE. THE SNOW BRIDGE FELL IN JUST AFTER THE BLUFF DEPOT PARTY HAD PASSED OVER IT

24. THE WINTER QUARTERS, WITH MOUNT EREBUS IN THE BACKGROUND. THE DOG KENNELS ARE SEEN ON THE LEFT

A long march the next day over a good surface brought the party to Cape Armitage at midnight. Joyce found that the ice in the sound had gone out, and it was therefore necessary to climb through the gap at Observation Hill. A blizzard came up, and with great difficulty the party reached the old Discovery hut at Hut Point at 2 a.m. The distance covered during the day had been forty-five miles, an unusually good performance. The surface had been good, and the wind favourable, and the dogs had pulled splendidly. Joyce speaks very highly of the work of the dogs on this journey. They were pulling over 100 lb. per dog, and yet ran most of the time. They suffered a good deal from snow-blindness, and then they used to dig a hole in the snow and bury their faces right in; this method of treatment seemed to ease their eyes and they recovered from the attacks very quickly. "One day I released Tripp, because he had a chafed leg," wrote Joyce, "and for the whole day he ran in his place in the team, as if he had been harnessed up. He slept about half a mile from camp that night, and when I tried to coax him over in the morning he would not come, but as soon as we got under way he came running up to his old place. I fed the dogs on one pound of biscuit a day each, and this seemed to satisfy them; as they went on their condition improved. The dog harness was generally satisfactory, but could have been improved with a few more swivels, in order to avoid tangling when the dogs jumped over their traces. I think that all dog teams should be taught to be driven, as a man cannot keep pace with dogs, and holding them back in order that a man may go ahead causes them to get fagged out. If they were let go at their best pace, one could, with a light load, say 80 lb. per dog, get forty miles a day out of them over a good surface."

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