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n Apsely Cherry-Garrard prepared to die. Calmly, withoutnweeping, he thought about the missed opportunities, the roads not taken, thenchances missed. “Men,” he wrote, “do not fear death, they fear thenpain of dying.” He considered overdosing on the morphine in the medicalnkit. And what he wanted most was tinned peaches in syrup. These are the thingsnthat occupy the minds of dying men.
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nThe blizzard had now reached force twelve,nthe highest that storm forces measure; the tent had been lost on Saturday Julyn22nd, the roof of the igloo the next day, they were pinned down bynthe rocks of the walls with snow drifting over their bodies, and they had notneaten for thirty-six hours. Monday brought a slight lull in the storm, and theynhumped their way from under the rocks and snow, dragged the groundsheet overntheir heads, managed to light the primus and melt some snow, into which theynboiled pemmican and made tea, full of penguin feathers, dirt and debris – thenbest meal they had ever eaten.
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| The Knoll behind the Cliffs at Cape Crozier |
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nThen they went out to see if there was anythingnto salvage. Down the icy slope, ‘Birdie’ Bowers came upon the tent – it hadnbeen snapped shut like an umbrella and half buried in a drift, complete withnbamboo poles; if it had remained open, it would have been carried off in thenstorm. They carried it back up the slope, pitched it and ‘dug it in as tentnwas never dug in before,’ before making another meal and debating what tondo next. Bowers wanted to make another attempt on the penguins and Cherrynagreed with him, but Wilson thought they should try and get back to McMurdonSound. They packed what they could onto one sledge and left the other, with annote fastened to an ice-axe, behind. The journey back was every bit as bad asnthe outward leg.
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| Down a Crevasse by Edward Wilson |
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nBowers fell into a crevasse and Wilson and Cherry had greatndifficulties in hauling him out. Their sleeping bags froze solid, their clothesnfroze solid, the tent froze solid. But mile by mile, frost-bitten and so wearynthey fell asleep whilst walking, they retraced their steps until they came tonthe Barrier edge and sea ice. They reached Hut Point at Cape Armitage, wherenthey found more fuel oil, two primuses, and some cocoa, which they gorged on.nThe following day, they made a hard push for Cape Ross, and arrived at aboutn11pm on August 1st – they had been gone for thirty-six days and hadntravelled sixty-seven miles.
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nAnd thus, as Cherry-Garrard wrote, “… ended thenworst journey in the world.”
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| Wilson, Bowers and Cherry-Garrard on their return to Cape Evans |
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nIn his Journal, Captain Scott made thenfollowing entry;
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n“Wednesday, August 2. The Crozier Party returned last nightnafter enduring for five weeks the hardest conditions on record. They lookednmore weather-worn than anyone I have yet seen. Their faces were scarred andnwrinkled, their eyes dull, their hands whitened and creased with the constantnexposure to damp and cold, yet the scars of frostbite were very few and thisnevil had never seriously assailed them. The main part of their afflictionsnarose, and very obviously arose, from sheer lack of sleep, and to-day after annight’s rest our travellers are very different in appearance and mentalncapacity.”n
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nCherry wrote that after they were cut out of their frozennclothes, they slept for ten thousand thousand years but soon made a quicknrecovery, although he lost some toe-nails and had a bad blister on his heel. BynOctober 1911, they were well enough to participate in Scott’s push for thenSouth Pole.
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| The crew of the Terra Nova |
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nThe expedition began with a Motor Party carrying supplies, but bothnmotor sledges broke down after 50 miles and the four-man team man-handled then740lb load 150 miles to latitude 80o 30´ South. Three other four-mannteams caught up to them there on November 21st, and they proceeded to thenBeardmore Glacier with ponies and dogs. A blizzard in early December haltedntheir progress, the exhausted ponies were shot and the dogs turned back, withnorders that they be sent out to meet the returning party. After ascending thenglacier and reaching the polar plateau, others (including Cherry) also returnednto Cape Evans and Scott, with Wilson, Bowers, Lawrence ‘Titus’ Oates and EdgarnEvans pressed on for the Pole.
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| At the Pole |
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nThey arrived at the South Pole on January 17thn1912, only to find that the Norwegian Roald Amundsen had been there 33 daysnearlier. Scott wrote of the Pole, “Great God! This is an awful place.”
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| The Polar Journey |
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nIn the meantime, those that had returned earlier set outnto make supply depots for the returning Polar party. Cherry and thendog-handler, Dmitri Gerov, supplied the One Ton Depot in late February 1912,nand waited, on the off chance of encountering Scott and the rest, until Marchn10th, when supplies for the dogs were running low.
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| Beardmore Glacier |
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nScott and the rest started back from the Pole and began tondescend the Beardmore Glacier on February 7th, in poor conditions.nOates was suffering with badly-swollen, frost-bitten feet and Evans wasnparticularly run down. He had suffered a hand injury that would not heal, wasnalso frost-bitten and had head injuries from falls. On February 17th,nhe collapsed and died at the base of the glacier. On or about March 17thnCaptain Oates, his feet worsening, calmly said to Scott, “I am just goingnoutside and I may be some time,” and walked out of the tent and intonhistory. His heroic self-sacrifice was not enough to save the others.
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| Captain Lawrence ‘Titus’ Oates |
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nAnblizzard pinned them down just eleven miles from One Ton Depot, and as suppliesnran out, their conditions worsened. Scott’s diary entry for March 29thn1912, reads:
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n“Every day we have been ready to start for our depotn11 miles away, but outside the door of the tent it remains a scene ofnwhirling drift. I do not think we can hope for any better things now. We shallnstick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the endncannot be far. It seems a pity but I do not think I can write more. R. Scott.nFor God’s sake look after our people.”n
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| Captain Robert Falcon Scott |
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nBack at Cape Evans, acting commandernEdward Atkinson began to fear for Scott’s safety and set out with a reliefnparty, but they were driven back by bad weather. In October, he led anothernparty south and on November 12th, they found the bodies of Scott,nWilson and Bowers in their tent. A further search found Oates’s sleeping bagnbut not his body.
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| Terra Nova Back – Evening Post Feb 10 1913 |
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nThe Terra Nova arrived back in New Zealand in February 1913, andnwhen Cherry returned to England his health deteriorated. He suffered fromnclinical depression, irritable bowel syndrome and what today we would diagnosenas Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and in a bid to cure himself he wrote a twonvolume account of the Terra Nova expedition, which, at the suggestion of GeorgenBernard Shaw, he called The Worst Journey in the World (1922). This wasnvoted the greatest true adventure book ever written by National GeographicnMagazine in May 2004 (and I thoroughly recommend it).
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| The Worst Journey in the World – Apsley Cherry-Garrard 1922 |
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nCherry was haunted by thenloss of Scott and the Polar party for the rest of his life and the guilt fednhis depression; he was convinced that he should have done more when he was atnOne Ton Depot (not going on with the dogs to meet them, a mere eleven milesnaway, was one deep regret. But he had no idea where they were, nor what statenthey were in).
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| The eggs from Cape Crozier |
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nAnd what of the Emperor Penguin eggs? Cherry deliverednthem by hand to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington in 1913. He wasnmet by an unhelpful caretaker, who referred him on to the Chief Custodian ofnEggs, who took the three eggs from Cherry without comment or thanks. Cherryninsisted on a receipt, which was, at length, grudgingly given. He returnednlater with Scott’s sister, who asked to see the eggs, only to be told that nonsuch things existed. Now Miss Scott was her brother’s sister, and threatenednthat all of England would soon learn of the fate of the eggs if they were notnproduced. A letter was delivered, informing them that the eggs had been passednon to Professor Assheton for microscopic examination but he had died beforenbeginning the work, so the eggs had passed to Professor Cossar Ewart atnEdinburgh University, who concluded his report with the words,
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n“If thenconclusions arrived at with the help of the Emperor Penguin embryos about thenorigin of feathers are justified, the worst journey in the world in theninterest of science was not made in vain.”n
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nRecapitulation theory was laterndiscredited and is not taken seriously anymore (this is how science works.nThings are examined and tested, and rejected if found wanting).
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nIn 2007, the BBC produced a docudrama The Worst Journeynin the World, starring Mark Gatiss as Cherry-Garrard. I’m sure you can findna copy on tinternet.
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| The remains of the Cape Crozier igloo |
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nThe Cape Crozier igloo was re-discovered by thenFuchs-Hillary Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1957–58.
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| Apsley and Margaret Cherry-Garrard |
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nApsley Cherry-Garrard was married in 1939, to AngelanTurner (1916-2005), although fear of inherited mental illness prevented themnfrom having any children. He died on May 18th 1959.
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n“And I tell you, if you have the desire for knowledgenand the power to give it physical expression, go out and explore. If you are anbrave man you will do nothing: if you are fearful you may do much, for none butncowards have need to prove their bravery. Some will tell you that you are mad,nand nearly all will say, “What is the use?” For we are a nation ofnshopkeepers, and no shopkeeper will look at research which does not promise himna financial return within a year. And so you will sledge nearly alone, butnthose with whom you sledge will not be shopkeepers: that is worth a good deal.nIf you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all younwant is a penguin’s egg.”n
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nA Cherry-Garrard The Worst Journey in the World.
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nThis is my 250th post. Thanks for continuing to read.
nThis is my 250th post. Thanks for continuing to read.