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Sailing South
Sailing South
The journey to get to the Antarctic, via Trinidad, South Africa and New Zealand, took five months with William not getting his first sight of Antarctica until January 8th 1902. The ship explored the coast looking for likely landing places and reaching the furthest south of any ship. Eventually, as much by circumstances as choice, and with the Antarctic summer season drawing to a close, Discovery anchored in McMurdo Sound at the south-west corner of Ross Island. William kept a detailed diary of these days, recording the sighting (and capture) of different kinds of seals and penguins, as well as writing descriptions of the landscape.
William's diary for January 9th 1902 reads:
William's diary for January 9th 1902 reads:
“Last night being clear the sun was shining beautifully all night - quite summer weather we are having now. Sighted Mount Sabine at 11.30pm 120 miles off at the back of Cape Adare. I have been on shore for a look round. There is nothing here except volcanic eruption and stones. This is where the members of the Southern Cross wintered while they were here… I have left a letter here to my wife – she may get it some day if the postman should happen to come this way.”
William also records the events of the day when they tried out two balloons that had been loaned to them by the War Office. William was part of the ‘balloon party’ and had been to Aldershot for instruction in their use. He helped to prepare the balloons and Captain Scott (despite not having had the training) was first to go up. William records that he reached 700 feet. But it was difficult to keep the balloons inflated and the wind speed made further trials too dangerous, so William was never able to make use of his training.
At this point they were still using the ship to explore the Antarctic coast and William frequently refers to “getting up steam”, the auxiliary engine being intended for situations just like this when careful manoeuvring among the ice in its various forms was essential.
Once they had found somewhere for a base their main work was to prepare for the winter. William was part of the team responsible for erecting the huts and the windmill, which sat on the deck of the ship and was to be used for generating electricity. But he also had time on February 2nd to play “a very good game” of football on the ice.
Throughout the Antarctic winter months, they made preparation for the scientific work and the exploring they would do when the sun returned. This included working with the dog teams, packing the sledges and preparing for camping out on the polar ice.
William was busy organizing the base so he didn’t join the first big sledge party. (In fact, it wasn’t until September that he went on his first full sledge trip). When the party returned after an eventful time, which including the loss of seaman George Vince (the only death to occur in the Antarctic on either of Captain Scott’s expeditions until the polar party), William wrote at untypical length in his diary, analyzing in detail the report of the sledge team’s battle with the weather and the difficult terrain. His account of them venturing out when they should have remained in the tent, protected from the bitter winds, and how inept they were in using the equipment and adopting safe procedures illustrates how much the expedition members still had to learn about life in the Antarctic.
William (bottom row, second from the left ) on the Discovery
By the middle of March the ship was frozen in for the Antarctic winter. Further attempts at sledging were not much more successful. Captain Scott wrote in his report, “in one way or another each journey had been a failure, we had nothing to show for our labours”. The outstanding journeys completed later in the expedition prove that at least they had learned from their mistakes.
When September came round William was eager to go on his first tripand wrote in his diary of the preparations he was making. He made a full list of all the rations he would have to carry. The party left the ship on September 9th in a temperature of 33 degrees below freezing. They camped at 5 o’clock.
“First of all up tent, then get cookers ready and start the evening meal, which we all very much enjoyed after the first day’s tramp…It don’t take very long to get these things ready as the primus lamp very soon fetches the water to boiling pitch… As soon as the meal is over there is nothing to be done but clear out the gear for the sleeping bags to be brought in and then turn in. This is the worst of sledging – nights, specially in such low temperatures as we are experiencing the first night out 48° below zero is a little below the ordinary sledging done before.”
By January it was well into the Antarctic summer and the relief ship Morning visited with mail and provisions and collected those from the party who needed to return. William volunteered to stay for a second winter.
Next: A Second Year
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