November 30, 2011

Thursday, 30 November 1911

Scott

"A very pleasant day for marching," wrote Scott, "but a very tiring march for the poor animals, which, with the exception of Nobby, are showing signs of failure all round. We were slower by half an hour or more than yesterday. Except that the loads are light now and there are still eight animals left, things don't look too pleasant, but we should be less than 60 miles from our first point of aim. The surface was much worse to-day, the ponies sinking to their knees very often." [1]

"The dogs are reported as doing very well. They are going to be a great standby, no doubt."


Amundsen

Although Amundsen had planned on a rest day for the dogs, a lull in the gale prompted them to start off anyway, eager see the last of the Devil's Glacier. "It was grim to start with," wrote Amundsen in his diary, "and it went agonizingly slowly." The previous night's wind had swept the ice bare of drift. "It looked really gruesome." [2]

They had left their crampons behind at the Butcher's Shop. "Without them, climbing on sheer ice is supposed to be practically an impossibility. A thousand thoughts raced through my brain. The pole lost, perhaps, because of such an idiotic blunder?"

They pressed on, "inch by inch, foot by foot, sledge length by sledge length," over huge chasms and dangerous crevasses and ridges. At last reaching the point to where Amundsen and Helmer Hanssen had climbed the day before, the climb evened out gently, on and on, until they reached the plateau. "Thank God for that," wrote Bjaaland, "it was an everlasting grind to get the load up all the hummocks and ridges that we had to cross." [3]

Up on the plateau, the pressure that had caused such crevassing on the slopes had had a different effect on the ice, forming it into big haycock-like mounds. "Hassel raised his axe and gave a good sound blow; the axe met with no resistance, and went in up to the haft. The haycock was hollow. As the axe was pulled out the surrounding part gave way, and one could hear the pieces of ice falling down through the dark hole. It appeared, then, that two feet from our door we had a most convenient way down into the cellar. Hassel looked as if he enjoyed the situation. 'Black as a sack,' he smiled; 'couldn't see any bottom.' Hanssen was beaming; no doubt he would have liked the tent a little nearer." [4]

"We have not yet been able to see the immediate surroundings," added Amundsen, "but we know with certainty that we are past the glacier, and therefore we are in a party mood."


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 30 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, 1 December, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.155-156.
[3] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 1 December, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.156.
[4] Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, ch.11.

November 29, 2011

Wednesday, 29 November 1911

Scott

"Camp 25. Lat. 82° 21'. Things much better," wrote Scott. "The land showed up late yesterday; Mount Markham, a magnificent triple peak, appearing wonderfully close, Cape Lyttelton and Cape Goldie. We did our march in good time, leaving about 4.20, and getting into this camp at 1.15. About 7 1/2 hours on the march. I suppose our speed throughout averages 2 stat. miles an hour." [1]

"It is curious," Cherry wrote later, "to see how depressed all our diaries become when this bad weather obtained, and how quickly we must have cheered up whenever the sun came out." [2]

Chinaman made "four feeds for the dogs", Scott noted. "We could really get though now with their help and without much delay, yet every consideration makes it desirable to save the men from heavy hauling as long as possible."


Amundsen

Sledges going through the Devil's Glacier. Bjaaland (the photographer) has gone ahead on ski, stamping sideways to test the strength of the snow bridge, but Amundsen and Hassel, in the distance, have decided not to risk the sledges and turned them around to try another way. [3]

Picking their way across an icy surface covered with huge crevasses provoked a heartfelt baptism. "The Devil's Glacier was worthy of its name," wrote Amundsen that evening. "One has to move 2 miles to advance 1. Chasm after chasm, abyss after abyss has to be circumvented. Treacherous crevasses and much other unpleasantness make progress extremely hard. The dogs are struggling and the drivers not less." [4]


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 29 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.
[2] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.IX.
[3] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket. See also The South Pole, ch.11. This image may be reversed from the original, as Amundsen points out that the figures of himself and Hassel are "on the right".
[4] Roald Amundsen, diary, 30 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in The Amundsen Photographs (London : Hodder & Stoughton, c1987), p.126.

November 28, 2011

Tuesday, 28 November 1911

Scott

"The most dismal start imaginable," Scott wrote. "Thick as a hedge, snow falling and drifting with keen southerly wind…. Things got better half way; the sky showed signs of clearing and the steering improved. Now, at lunch, it is getting thick again. When will the wretched blizzard be over? The walking is better for ponies, worse for men; there is nearly everywhere a hard crust some 3 to 6 inches down. Towards the end of the march we crossed a succession of high hard south-easterly sastrugi, widely dispersed. I don't know what to make of these." [1]

"Bowers tells me that the barometer was phenomenally low both during this blizzard and the last. This has certainly been the most unexpected and trying summer blizzard yet experienced in this region. I only trust it is over."

"Chinaman died tonight of senile decay complicated by the presence of a bullet in the brain," Wright wrote in his diary. "Poor old devil, he never shirked and was capable of reaching the Beardmore. Dogs had to be fed was the trouble." [2]


Amundsen

"Fog, fog and fog again," wrote Amundsen, "and in addition fine snow crystals that make the going impossible. Poor beasts, they have struggled hard to get the sledges forward today." [3]

Every time the fog lifted momentarily, it seemed, another surprise was revealed -- glaciers, mountains -- and two great ranges, named, continuing the previous laconic theme, F range and G range (now the group of mountains at the top of the Norway Glacier, and the Nilsen Plateau, respectively, in the Queen Maud Mountains).

"The biggest and most unpleasant surprise was however an enormous, mighty glacier running E-W from F. range, as far as the eye could see. In other words, right across our course."

Arriving at this glacier, in a thick fog, they had to inch their way along, Hassel and Amundsen roped together for safety, and the others following behind. "After climbing a few hundred feet, we encountered such confusion, that we were forced to stop and make camp with crevasses and chasms on all sides."

But, Bjaaland wrote, "It was a lovely sight when the fog lifted again, and mountains and glacier came through in the most wonderful tints, no artist could ever achieve anything so magical; the blue green reflection in the fog ...." [4]

Pretrud's Eastern party reached 77° 32'. "It cannot be denied that at this juncture I began to entertain a certain doubt of the existence of bare land in this quarter." [5]


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 28 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.
[2] Charles Wright, diary, 28 November, 1911, quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.465.
[3] Roald Amundsen, diary, 29 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.150-151.
[4] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 29 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.456.
[5] Kristian Prestrud, "The Eastern Sledge Journey", in Roald Amundsen's The South Pole, ch.15. Note that the date here is given as 29th November; see Hinks' note on dates in "The Observations of Amundsen and Scott at the South Pole" (The Geographical Journal, April 1944, p.169).

November 27, 2011

Monday, 27 November 1911

Scott

Poor surfaces and snowfall made the going heavy. "A tired animal makes a tired man, I find," Scott wrote, "and none of us are very bright now after the day's march, though we have had ample sleep of late." [1]


Amundsen

A 1966 map of the Nilsen Plateau and surrounding area, from aerial photographs taken 1960-1964 by the USGS. The nearby Amundsen Glacier was discovered and named on Byrd's 1929 flight. The Axel Heiberg Glacier is to the north-west, on a separate map. [2]

The going was still through fog and blizzard. The glimpse of a dark mass to the E.S.E. was the discovery of what was later called the Nilsen Plateau after the Fram's captain. Another sighting, of what Amundsen afterwards described in a letter to Helland-Hansen as "a gloriously beautiful mountain, in fact two, in the distant, wonderfully lovely land around the Pole which I have given you" [3], proved -- albeit only many years later -- to have been an illusion, sparked not only by the deceptive play of light in that area but Amundsen's own disinterest in geographic surveys. [4]


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 27 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.
[2] United States Geological Survey, "Nilsen Plateau" map.
[3] Roald Amundsen, letter to Bjørn Helland-Hansen, [date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.454.
[4] See Roland Huntford, Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.454. Amundsen made only sketchy drawings and took few photographs, but it should be pointed out that his dead-reckoning position of the Butcher's Shop, for example, proved later to have been within a mile of its true bearing. His navigational precision is not in question, only his lack of interest in "minor" details.

November 26, 2011

Sunday, 26 November 1911

Scott

"We now keep a steady pace of 2 miles an hour," Scott noted, "very good going." [1]

Here at 81° 35' they left their Middle Barrier depot, with one week's rations for each returning unit. This reduced the weight on their sledges by 200 lbs. (90.7 kg).

"The sastrugi," added Scott, "seem to be gradually coming more to the south and a little more confused; now and again they are crossed with hard westerly sastrugi. The walking is tiring for the men, one's feet sinking 2 or 3 inches at each step. Chinaman and Jimmy Pigg kept up splendidly with the other ponies. It is always rather dismal work walking over the great snow plain when sky and surface merge in one pall of dead whiteness, but it is cheering to be in such good company with everything going on steadily and well. The dogs came up as we camped. Meares says the best surface he has had yet."

The Second Western Geological Party -- Taylor, Debenham, Gran, and Forde -- arrived at Granite Harbour to begin their work in the Mackay Glacier area.


Amundsen

At three in the morning, a break in the weather came, allowing them to jump out of their sleeping bags and get their bearings. By eight they were off again, with sticky going.

After fifteen miles in heavy drift, they reached level ground and 86° S. "Smooth lies the Plateau before us," wrote Amundsen, "flat as a drawing room floor. We have thus won a victory. Dragged ourselves through storm and drift and are lying now on the Plateau in sunshine ... extremely pleased with the prospects.... [Now] the road to the Pole is clear -- may we soon be there." [2]

Amundsen here took up his position as forerunner, to give the dogs something to follow.


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 26 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, [27 November, 1911], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.453.

November 25, 2011

Saturday, 25 November 1911

Scott

Atkinson now joined Lt. Evans and Lashly in the man-hauling party.

"Meares has just come up to report that Jehu made four feeds for the dogs," Scott noted. "He cut up very well and had quite a lot of fat on him. Meares says another pony will carry him to the Glacier. This is very good hearing. The men are pulling with ski sticks and say that they are a great assistance. I think of taking them up the Glacier. Jehu has certainly come up trumps after all, and Chinaman bids fair to be even more valuable. Only a few more marches to feel safe in getting to our first goal." [1]


Amundsen

Despite the continuing blizzard, Amundsen decided to push on. Almost immediately, they came upon huge sastrugi, nearly impossible to see in the bad weather, and the dogs were reluctant to work. "They had overeaten on their comrades," Amundsen wrote brusquely. [2] Eventually the terrain smoothed out, but the ongoing drift made the surface sticky, and difficult for the dogs.

After ten miles, they came to a gradual slope that headed downwards more and more steeply, so much that they decided to camp where they were and wait until visibility cleared.

"According to the aneroid we have descended 1,000 ft. today, Amundsen noted. "We should now be at 9,600 ft. ... Definitely calmer this evening. -23.5°."


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 25 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, 26 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.145-146.

November 24, 2011

Friday, 24 November 1911

Scott

The first of the planned return parties, Day and Hooper, turned back, from Camp 20 at 81° 15'. The original intention had been that they return from 80° 30', but Scott had decided that the unit stay together a few days longer to form a light advance party to make a track.

Day and Hooper took with them a letter from Scott to Simpson, in command back at Cape Evans, changing the orders for Meares and the dogs. "My Dear Simpson. This goes with Day and Hooper now returning. We are making fair progress and the ponies doing fairly well. I hope we shall get through to the glacier without difficulty, but to make sure I am carrying the dog-teams farther than I intended at first -- the teams may be late returning, unfit for further work or non-existent..." [1] With them, they took two of the dogs, including Stareek, who had unaccountably gone on strike. "'Stareek' is a splendid leader and the most intelligent of the dogs," Bowers had written almost three weeks earlier, "and that I think is his undoing. The fact seems to be that he has come to the conclusion that he does not know where he is and that we are still heading away from home, so he has chucked his hand in." [2]

In the evening, the first of the ponies was shot, Atkinson's Jehu, "the crockiest of the crocks" as Cherry put it. This was "a good few miles further South than the lat. where Shackleton shot his first pony," Wilson noted in his diary. [3]


Amundsen

"Bloody horrible lying still," Bjaaland wrote. [4]


Notes:

[1] Quoted by Apsley Cherry-Garrard in a footnote in The Worst Journey in the World, ch.IX.
[2] H.R. Bowers, diary letter to his sister May, 2 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.427.
[3] E.A. Wilson, diary, [date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.427.
[4] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 25 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.144.

November 23, 2011

Thursday, 23 November 1911

Amundsen

Moments after loading up early in the morning, another gale began. "We just had to make a virtue of a necessity and turn in again," wrote Amundsen. "We all benefit from the rest we have here -- even if it is boring." [1]

"We have now had three splendid dinners out of our good Greenland dogs," Bjaaland noted philosophically, "and I must say that they tasted good, a little tough perhaps, they were not boiled enough. Have enjoyed H. biscuit pudding made with dried milk. Bugger this lying still. Hope we can get off tomorrow." [2]


Notes:

[1] Roald Amundsen, diary, 24 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.143.
[2] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 24 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.143.

November 22, 2011

Wednesday, 22 November 1911

Scott
"Leading ponies on the Barrier. November 20, 1911", a drawing by Wilson. [1]

"The weather is glorious," Scott wrote at Camp 18, "and the ponies can make the most of their rest during the warmest hours, but they certainly lose in one way by marching at night. The surface is much easier for the sledges when the sun is warm, and for about three hours before and after midnight the friction noticeably increases. It is just a question whether this extra weight on the loads is compensated by the resting temperature. We are quite steady on the march now, and though not fast yet get through with few stops. The animals seem to be getting accustomed to the steady, heavy plod and take the deep places less fussily." [2]

"There was a homelike air about ["the Owner's"] tent at supper time," Cherry wrote later, here remembering the earlier Depot Journey, "and, though a lunch camp in the middle of the night is always rather bleak, there was never anything slovenly. Another thing which struck me even more forcibly was the cooking. We were of course on just the same ration [as everyone else]. I was hungry and said so. 'Bad cooking, ' said Wilson shortly; and so it was. For in two or three days the sharpest edge was off my hunger. Wilson and Scott had learned many a cooking tip in the past, and, instead of the same old meal day by day, the weekly ration was so manœuvred by a clever cook that it was seldom quite the same meal. Sometimes pemmican plain, or thicker pemmican with some arrowroot mixed with it: at others we surrendered a biscuit and a half apiece and had a dry hoosh, i.e. biscuit fried in pemmican with a little water added, and a good big cup of cocoa to follow. Dry hooshes also saved oil. There were cocoa and tea upon which to ring the changes, or better still 'teaco' which combined the stimulating qualities of tea with the food value of cocoa. Then much could be done with the dessert-spoonful of raisins which was our daily whack. They were good soaked in the tea, but best perhaps in with the biscuits and pemmican as a dry hoosh. 'You are going far to earn my undying gratitude, Cherry, ' was a satisfied remark of Scott one evening when, having saved, unbeknownst to my companions, some of their daily ration of cocoa, arrowroot, sugar and raisins, I made a 'chocolate hoosh. ' But I am afraid he had indigestion next morning. There were meals when we had interesting little talks, as when I find in my diary that: 'we had a jolly lunch meal, discussing authors. Barrie, Galsworthy and others are personal friends of Scott. Some one told Max Beerbohm that he was like Captain Scott, and immediately, so Scott assured us, he grew a beard. '"

"But about three weeks out the topics of conversation became threadbare. From then onwards it was often that whole days passed without conversation beyond the routine Camp ho! All ready? Pack up. Spell ho. The latter after some two hours' pulling." [3]


Amundsen

A gale blew up which kept the Norwegians in their tent -- "luckily the bad weather chose a rest day," wrote Amundsen. [4] The climb had been hard on the dogs.

"From here on," he added, thinking of the flat, featureless plateau ahead of them, "we will build a cairn every other mile. At each degree we will lay a depot with human food for seven days and dog food for six days … this will quickly lighten the sledges of ours."

Prestrud's Eastern Party came to the edge of the Barrier. "To-day," he wrote later, "we were to see something besides sky and snow. An hour after breaking camp this morning two snowy petrels came sailing over us; a little while later a couple of skua gulls. We welcomed them as the first living creatures we had seen since leaving winter-quarters. The constantly increasing 'water-sky' to the north had long ago warned us that we were approaching the sea; the presence of the birds told us it was not far off. The skua gulls settled very near us, and the dogs, no doubt taking them for baby seals, were of course ready to break the line of march, and go off hunting, but their keenness soon passed when they discovered that the game had wings." [5] They took a sounding off the edge of the ice, which showed a depth of 130 fathoms (nearly 238 metres).


Notes:

[1] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, p.206.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 22 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.
[3] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.IX.
[4] Roald Amundsen, diary, 23 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.142.
[5] Kristian Prestrud, "The Eastern Sledge Journey", in Roald Amundsen's The South Pole, ch.15. Note that the date here is given as 23rd November; see Hinks' note on dates in "The Observations of Amundsen and Scott at the South Pole" (The Geographical Journal, April 1944, p.169).

November 21, 2011

Tuesday, 21 November 1911

Scott

Scott's party overtook Lt. Evans and the former motor party, now man-hauling. Evans, determined to prove himself to Scott, had pushed his party ahead, and had been waiting almost a week, killing time by building an enormous cairn they dubbed "Mount Hooper".

"They all look very fit," Scott wrote of the former motor party -- Day, Lashly, Hooper, and Teddy Evans -- "but declare themselves to be very hungry. This is interesting as showing conclusively that a ration amply sufficient for the needs of men leading ponies is quite insufficient for men doing hard pulling work; it therefore fully justifies the provision which we have made for the Summit work. Even on that I have little doubt we shall soon get hungry. Day looks very thin, almost gaunt, but fit." [1]

There were now sixteen men, with sledges, ponies, and dogs. With three different kinds of transport, they had to begin their day's travel with five separate starts, spread out over several hours to allow for different speeds, beginning with the slowest: first the man-haulers, then three pony teams separately, and finally Meares with Dimitri and the dogs. It reminded even Scott of "a somewhat disorganised fleet". [2]

At the cairn here at 80° 32', known more formally as the Upper Barrier Depot, Cherry noted later, they left "three S (summit) rations, two cases of emergency biscuits and two cases of oil, which constituted three weekly food units for the three parties which were to advance from the bottom of the Beardmore Glacier. This food was to take them back from 80° 32' to One Ton Camp. We all camped for the night 3 miles farther on: sixteen men, five tents, ten ponies, twenty-three dogs and thirteen sledges." [3]


Amundsen

Hassel depoted his sledge at the Butcher's Shop, and the eighteen remaining dogs were divided between Bjaaland's, Helmer Hanssen's, and Wisting's teams. "From the Pole," Amundsen added, "12 dogs in two teams." [4]

All unnecessary items were also depoted here, including some items of reindeer-skin clothing, as they were too warm.

"We still have ca. 54 litres of paraffin left."

They were 274 miles from the Pole.


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 18 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[2] R.F. Scott, [diary, 2 November 1911], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.425.
[3] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.IX.
[4] Roald Amundsen, diary, 22 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.

November 20, 2011

Monday, 20 November 1911

Amundsen

"Got out of the thousands of metres deep crevasses where we had our camp," wrote Bjaaland. "The excitement was great as we approached the side of [Mount Ole Engelstad], not knowing if it was snow covered and passable, and it was a pleasant surprise. We got up with single teams, it was heavy, but we managed. It was the hardest day we have had."

"After having managed the worse slope, [the terrain] went in wave after wave with disgusting hummocks hard as flint, and [after twelve hours] we reached the top ... and pitched tent ... and then you can bet that pemmican and chocolate went down and then into the sleeping bag; heigh ho, polar life is a grind." [1]

"We are lying on the plateau at 10,600 ft. altitude," Amundsen wrote. "It has been a hard day -- mostly for the dogs. But 24 of our brave companions received the bitter wage -- death. On arrival they were shot. The 18 best remain... It was a marvel what the dogs did today. 17 nautical miles and 5,000 [ft.] climb. Come and say that dogs cannot be used here. In 4 days, we have climbed from the coast to the plateau -- 44 nautical miles -- 10,600 ft." [2]

"But the part of my work that went more quickly than usual that night was getting the Primus started," he later admitted, "and pumping it up to high-pressure. I was hoping thereby to produce enough noise to deaden the shots that I knew would soon be heard -- twenty-four of our brave companions and faithful helpers were marked out for death. It was hard -- but it had to be so. We had agreed to shrink from nothing in order to reach our goal. Each man was to kill his own dogs to the number that had been fixed."

"The pemmican was cooked remarkably quickly that evening, and I believe I was unusually industrious in stirring it. There went the first shot -- I am not a nervous man, but I must admit that I gave a start. Shot now followed upon shot -- they had an uncanny sound over the great plain. A trusty servant lost his life each time.... The holiday humour that ought to have prevailed in the tent that evening -- our first on the plateau -- did not make its appearance; there was depression and sadness in the air -- we had grown so fond of our dogs. The place was named the 'Butcher's Shop'." [3]

There was in fact an easier way up, via what is now called the Amundsen Glacier, but he was not to know that, and at the time the only sensible route was forwards.

Amundsen's dead-reckoning later proved to have been within a mile of the true one.


Notes:

[1] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 21 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.449.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, 21 November 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in The Amundsen Photographs (London : Hodder & Stoughton, c1987), p.125.
[3] Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, ch.11.

November 19, 2011

Sunday, 19 November 1911

Amundsen

"H[elmer] H[anssen] and Bj[aaland] had found an excellent route up the glacier," wrote Amundsen. "There were many crevasses and chasms, but we found good [snow] bridges everywhere. The glacier ... was fairly steep in a number of places, and relaying with double teams had to be resorted to. We got a good photo of one of these 'claw' drives." [1]

They pitched camp at two in the afternoon, having climbed about 1,500 feet, below the upper ice falls. Amundsen then scouted ahead with Bjaaland and Helmer Hanssen to find a way through "the terribly chaotic crevasses which surround us. Enormous blocks of ice, mighty abysses and wide crevasses blocked the way everywhere. It seemed really rather difficult to find any route ahead, but after a trip of five hours, HH Bj. and myself were able to find a reasonably acceptable pass at the head of the glacier…. Calm, absolutely calm, crystal clear and boiling hot all day."

"It was a grand and imposing sight we had," Amundsen recalled later, "when we came out on the ridge under which -- far below -- our tent stood. Surrounded on all sides by huge crevasses and gaping chasms, it could not be said that the site of our camp looked very inviting. The wildness of the landscape seen from this point is not to be described; chasm after chasm, crevasse after crevasse, with great blocks of ice scattered promiscuously about, gave one the impression that here Nature was too powerful for us. Here no progress was to be thought of. It was not without a certain satisfaction that we stood there and contemplated the scene. The little dark speck down there -- our tent -- in the midst of this chaos, gave us a feeling of strength and power." [2]

"We were 8 miles up," Bjaaland wrote far more succinctly, "and a hard march it was." [3]

Amundsen guessed that they would reach the plateau the next evening. "'Fain would I know, what I once may see over the mountains high,' someone said, quoting a famous Norwegian poem, and someone else finished it for him. "'Only snow will meet the eye.' It came out drily," Amundsen added, "and caused roars of mirth." [4]


Sources:

[1] Roald Amundsen, diary, 20 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole (London : Continuum, c2010), p.135-136.
[2] Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, ch.11.
[3] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 20 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.448.
[4] From the poem "Undrer mig på, hvad jeg får at se" by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson: "Undrer mig på, hvad jeg får at se / over de høje fjælde? / øjet møder nok bare sne".

November 18, 2011

Saturday, 18 November 1911

Scott

Wright with Chinaman, in earlier days at Cape Evans, photographed by Ponting. [1]

Scott, Oates reported, "had a breeze up with Bowers ... about the loads," accusing Bowers of deliberately overloading Scott's pony in order to save his own. Oates, too, had "had words with Scott" that day. "He's a very difficult man to get on with," Oates added. [2] "Scott now realises what awful cripples our ponies are and carries a face like a tired seaboot in consequence."

Scott himself admitted, "I had a panic that we were carrying too much food and this morning we have discussed the matter and decided we can leave a sack." [3]

Scott, Cherry thought, "had begun to feel very doubtful whether the ponies will do their job & evidently thinks Amundsen with his dogs may be doing much better." [4]

"Oates gives Chinaman at least three days," noted Scott, "and Wright says he may go for a week. This is slightly inspiriting, but how much better would it have been to have had ten really reliable beasts! It's touch and go whether we scrape up to the Glacier, meanwhile we get along somehow. At any rate the bright sunshine makes everything look more hopeful."


Amundsen

The Axel Heiberg Glacier. This aerial photograph was taken during the summer of 1956-57. [5]

The dogs climbed the pass easily. On the other side was a descent of about 800 feet, and the sledges had to be braked with ropes around the runners. Then came a small glacier, and another climb so steep that they had to relay and "harness all [42] dogs before two sledges at a time," wrote Amundsen, "and still they found it hard." [6] At the top was another pass; the run down from this, Bjaaland wrote, was "more violent than the first, so dogs and sledges ran into each other. Broke the bow of my sledge and the stern of Hassel's." [7]

They now turned slightly westwards, towards a mountain which Amundsen first called Haakonshallen but later changed to Mount Don Pedro Christophersen after his benefactor. Running suddenly out of the pass, the ground seemed to open up at their feet, revealing "a huge, mighty glacier, absolutely fjord-like, running East-West." [8] It would not be an easy way up, after all.

Mount Pedro Christophersen, 1911. [9]

In the evening, they had difficulty finding a place to camp; when they found a place big enough, they had to tramp down the loose snow before they could pitch their tent, under Haakonshallen with its "mighty ridges," as Bjaaland put it, "that stretched their 15,000 feet up to God." [10]

If only he had listened to the dogs, Amundsen thought, they could have "followed this glacier right up to the tent site we have this evening. Ah, well, we couldn't have done it that way under two days either. [But] this is the glacier that will be our way back when we come down from the plateau." [11]

Amundsen wrote little about the English, but Scott must have been on his mind. Hassel wrote in his diary of bickering between Amundsen and Bjaaland, what Hassel called "a small settling of accounts". Apparently things got to such a pitch that Bjaaland was ordered to leave the polar party, and Hassel to accompany him back to Framheim, as Bjaaland could not navigate. Bjaaland then, Hassel wrote, "ate humble pie and pleaded with the Captain to reverse his decision, which Amundsen then did. However, he reiterated that he would not stand being contradicted." [12]


Notes:

[1] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[2] L.E.G. Oates, diary, 18 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.424.
[3] R.F. Scott, diary, 18 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[4] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.IX.
[5] Wikipedia.
[6] Roald Amundsen, diary, 19 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.442.
[7] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 19 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.442.
[8] Roald Amundsen, diary, 19 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.442.
[9] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[10] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 19 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.445.
[11] Roald Amundsen, diary, 19 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.446.
[12] Sverre Hassel, diary, 19 November, 1911, quoted by Tor Bomann-Larsen in Roald Amundsen (Stroud, Gloucestershire : Sutton, c2006, c1995), p.107. Note that Huntford does not mention this episode in either Scott and Amundsen or Race for the South Pole, nor does it appear in the Vågemot transcription of Hassel's diary.

November 17, 2011

Friday, 17 November 1911

Scott

"Atkinson started about 8.30," Scott noted in his diary. "We came on about 11, the whole of the remainder. The lunch camp was 7 1/2 miles. Atkinson left as we came in. He was an hour before us at the final [evening] camp 13 1/2 geo. miles." [1]

Atkinson was in charge of the slowest pony party, consisting of Jehu, Chinaman, and James Pigg, led by himself, Wright, and Keohane respectively. "This party was known as the Baltic Fleet," noted Cherry drily. [2]

"It is early days to wonder whether the little beasts will last; one can only hope they will, but the weakness of breeding and age is showing itself already," Scott added. "The crocks have done wonderfully, so there is really no saying how long or well the fitter animals may go. We had a horribly cold wind on the march. Temp. -18°, force 3. The sun was shining but seemed to make little difference."


Amundsen
The lower part of the Axel Heiberg Glacier, on a 1966 USGS map drawn from aerial photographs taken 1960-64. [3]

"The terrible climb has begun at last," wrote Bjaaland. "The snowfield where we went was fine and smooth, but the climb was so steep that we had to have 16-17 dogs for the load." [4]

"The dogs have done work today that has surpassed my greatest expectations," Amundsen wrote. [5] The weather remained "pure summer" and they put up their tent in what he called "the loveliest camp site in the world."

Bjaaland, Wisting, and Helmer Hanssen went on up to reconnoitre, reporting back of a navigable pass and a clear way to the summit. "On condition that behind those mountains there is no awkward obstacle of parallel mountains!" Bjaaland added. "Hanssen says he thinks we can reach the Plateau in 2 days. If we do so, well --"


Notes:

[1] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 18 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.441.
[2] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.IX.
[3] US Geological Survey, "Mount Goodale" map.
[4] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 18 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.442.
[5] Roald Amundsen, diary, 18 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.441.

November 16, 2011

Thursday, 16 November 1911

Scott

"Camp 12," wrote Scott. "Resting. A stiff little southerly breeze all day, dropping towards evening. The temperature -15°. Ponies pretty comfortable in rugs and behind good walls. We have reorganised the loads, taking on about 580 lbs. with the stronger ponies, 400 odd with the others." [1]


Amundsen
At Mount Betty. [2]

Amundsen took Bjaaland, Wisting, and Helmer Hanssen to reconnoitre the start of the climb. They went five and a half miles further south, 2,000 feet up. "We were extraordinarily lucky," Amundsen noted. "All crevasses filled. The going in the heights was splendid. Just enough loose snow for the dogs' paws, and a gradient not steeper than they can manage -- the first day, at any rate." [3]

After a quick ski run back down to the camp, Amundsen and Bjaaland decided to make a detour to a rocky knoll in order to feel the ground under their feet again, which they had not done since Madeira, fourteen months earlier. "Bjaaland prepared for an elegant 'Telemark swing,' and executed it in fine style," Amundsen wrote later. "What I prepared to do, I am still not quite sure. What I did was to roll over, and I did it with great effect. I was very soon on my feet again, and glanced at Bjaaland; whether he had seen my tumble, I am not certain. However, I pulled myself together after this unfortunate performance, and remarked casually that it is not so easy to forget what one has once learnt. No doubt he thought that I had managed the 'Telemark swing'; at any rate, he was polite enough to let me think so." [4]

Amundsen named the knoll Mount Betty, after his much-loved old nursemaid and housekeeper.

Matches from the cairn left by the Norwegians in 1911, and discovered by Byrd's geological party in 1929. [5]


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 16 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.
[2] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[3] Roald Amundsen, diary, 17 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.440.
[4] Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, ch.10.
[5] Object list, "Byrd's Flight to the South Pole", Ohio State University Libraries.

November 15, 2011

Wednesday, 15 November 1911

Amundsen

In the early afternoon, the Norwegians arrived at 85°, having come over undulating terrain with at one point, "a hollow full of vile crevasses", as Bjaaland put it. [1] They built another depot, marking it with a gabardine flag on its south side.

They were now making a degree at each stretch, the dogs running easily.

To the north, Prestrud's party reached the 158th meridian. "Should we go on?" he wondered. "It was tempting enough, as the probability was that sooner or later we should come upon something; but there was a point in our instructions that had to be followed, and it said: Go to the point where land is marked on the chart. This point was now about 120 geographical miles to the north of us. Therefore, instead of going on to the east in uncertainty, we decided to turn to the left and go north. The position of the spot where we altered our course was determined, and it was marked by a snow beacon 7 feet high, on the top of which was placed a tin box containing a brief report." [2]


Notes:

[1] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 16 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole (London : Continuum, c2010), p.127.
[2] Kristian Prestrud, "The Eastern Sledge Journey", in Roald Amundsen's The South Pole, ch.15. Note that the date here is given as 16th November; see Hinks' note on dates in "The Observations of Amundsen and Scott at the South Pole" (The Geographical Journal, April 1944, p.169).

November 14, 2011

Tuesday, 14 November 1911

Scott

"Another horrid march in a terrible light, surface very bad," Scott had written the day before. "Ponies came through all well, but they are being tried hard by the surface conditions." A falling snow made the surfaces soft. "The camp is very silent and cheerless, signs that things are going awry."

Debenham, back at Cape Evans, wrote in a letter home, "I must tell you what I think of [Scott]. I am afraid I am very disappointed in him, tho' my faith died very hard. There's no doubt he can be very nice and the interest he takes in our scientific work is immense, he is also a fine sledger himself and as an organiser is splendid. But there I'm afraid one must stop. His temper is very uncertain and leads him to absurd lengths even in simple arguments. In crises he acts very peculiarly. In one, where Atkinson was lost for 6 hours in a blizzard, I thought he acted splendidly but in all the others I have been quite disgusted with him. What he decides is often enough the right thing I expect, but he loses all control of his tongue and makes us all feel wild ... but it is difficult to judge one's leader.... But the marvellous part of it is that the Owner is the single exception to a general sense of comradeship and jollity amongst all of us." [1]


Amundsen
Mount Ruth Gade, 1911. [2]

The fog that had almost completely obscured their surroundings lifted. "Our course," Amundsen wrote, "is now pointing exactly towards a high mountain -- we call it the Beehive Mountain," later renamed Mount Ruth Gade. "Probably we will reach it at about 86° S. lat. Today we estimated that ranged B and C were ca. 20 nautical miles away." [3]

"Today the terrain has been better than ever," he added. "Long stretches like a ball-room floor. Skiing brilliant. Meridian altitude gave 84°29' -- navigational error 3 nautical miles too little."


Notes:

[1] Frank Debenham, letter to his mother, 14 November, 1911, quoted by Diana Preston in A First Rate Tragedy : Robert Falcon Scott and the Race to the South Pole (Boston : Houghton Mifflin, c1998), p.161-162.
[2] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[3] Roald Amundsen, diary, 15 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.124.

November 12, 2011

Sunday, 12 November 1911

Scott

"Our marches are uniformly horrid just at present," wrote Scott. "The surface remains wretched, not quite so heavy as yesterday, perhaps, but very near it at times. Five miles out the advance party came straight and true on our last year's Bluff depot [at about 79°] marked with a flagstaff. Here following I found a note from Evans, cheerful in tone, dated 7 A.M. 7th inst. He is, therefore, the best part of five days ahead of us, which is good. Atkinson camped a mile beyond this cairn and had a very gloomy account of Chinaman. Said he couldn't last more than a mile or two." [1]

The temperature hovered around -10° F during the day.


Amundsen

Two men in front of a depot, November 13, 1911. [2]

"Glittering white, shining blue, raven black lit by the sun, the land looks like a fairytale," wrote Amundsen. "Pinnacle after pinnacle, peak after peak -- crevassed, wild as any land on our globe, it lies, unseen and untrodden. It is a wonderful feeling to travel along it." [3]

They made the "great discovery" of a huge bight running due south, directly in their course. "The S'most and E'most point of C range, which I assumed must lie around 86°, and where our climb must take place, suddenly turned out to be the w'most cape" of this bight. Their journey therefore would be as much as 120 miles less in the high altitudes of the Plateau. "We cannot see land between these two capes, and therefore I assume that we cannot come up against it before 87°. According to the new compass error we have established today, our course runs straight between the capes. We are naturally very excited."

After a day's run of 20.7 miles, they reached 84°. They put out a depot in the afternoon, containing 24 kg of dog pemmican and 6kg for the men, 2 kg of chocolate, four bags of dried milk, 800 biscuits, a can of paraffin, a box of matches, and a few items of equipment.

Prestrud's instructions for his Eastern Party had been to proceed in a north-easterly course from the depot, but as he suspected that land was to be found directly east, and since the dogs were running well, he changed direction. They broke camp in a thick fog. "At 11 a.m.," he wrote later, "we passed the easternmost flag, at five geographical miles from the depot, and then we found ourselves on untrodden ground." [4]

"Stubberud, who for the first day or two after leaving the depot had been constantly stretching himself on tiptoe and looking out for mountain-tops, finally gave it as his heartfelt conviction that this King Edward Land we were hunting for was only a confounded 'Flyaway Land,' which had nothing to do with reality. We others were not yet quite prepared to share this view; for my own part, in any case, I was loath to give up the theory that assumed a southward continuation of King Edward Land along the 158th meridian; this theory had acquired a certain force during the winter, and was mainly supported by the fact that on the second depot journey we had seen, between the 81st and 82nd parallels, some big pressure-ridges, which suggested the presence of bare land in a south-easterly direction."


Notes:

[1] [1] R.F. Scott, diary, 12 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.
[2] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[3] Roald Amundsen, diary, 13 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.121.
[4] Kristian Prestrud, "The Eastern Sledge Journey", in Roald Amundsen's The South Pole, ch.15. Note that the date here is given as 13th November; see Hinks' note on dates in "The Observations of Amundsen and Scott at the South Pole" (The Geographical Journal, April 1944, p.169).

November 11, 2011

Saturday, 11 November 1911

Scott

At Camp 8, Scott wrote, "It cleared somewhat just before the start of our march, but the snow which had fallen in the day remained soft and flocculent on the surface. Added to this we entered on an area of soft crust between a few scattered hard sastrugi. In pits between these in places the snow lay in sandy heaps. A worse set of conditions for the ponies could scarcely be imagined. Nevertheless they came through pretty well, the strong ones excellently, but the crocks had had enough at 9 1/2 miles. Such a surface makes one anxious in spite of the rapidity with which changes take place. I expected these marches to be a little difficult, but not near so bad as to-day."

"I wish the sky would clear. In spite of the surface, the dogs ran up from the camp before last, over 20 miles, in the night. They are working splendidly so far." [1]


Amundsen

Taking an observation on the way to the Pole. At the end of the sledge in the foreground can be seen a distance wheel, propped up. [2]

Bjaaland "suggested we do 25 miles a day, but got the reply that this could not be risked for the sake of the dogs." [3]

Amundsen did increase the daily march to twenty miles, three days for a degree of latitude, and this, he noted, "we polish off ... in 5 hours. With cairn building, 6 1/2 hours in all. The night is thus long. It doesn't seem to strain the dogs. They are a little thinner, but in better condition than ever." [4]

"Heard unpleasant thundering in the ice in the distance," added Bjaaland, "now and then it seemed as if it was beneath us. It began at 4 o'clock but by 8 nothing was heard. Can it be the tide or is it the glacier that is advancing?" [5]

Prestrud's instructions had been to proceed in a north-easterly course from the depot, but as he suspected that land was to be found directly east, and since the dogs were running well, he changed direction. They broke camp in a thick fog. "At 11 a.m.," he wrote later, "we passed the easternmost flag, at five geographical miles from the depot, and then we found ourselves on untrodden ground." [6]

"Stubberud, who for the first day or two after leaving the depot had been constantly stretching himself on tiptoe and looking out for mountain-tops, finally gave it as his heartfelt conviction that this King Edward Land we were hunting for was only a confounded 'Flyaway Land,' which had nothing to do with reality. We others were not yet quite prepared to share this view; for my own part, in any case, I was loath to give up the theory that assumed a southward continuation of King Edward Land along the 158th meridian; this theory had acquired a certain force during the winter, and was mainly supported by the fact that on the second depot journey we had seen, between the 81st and 82nd parallels, some big pressure-ridges, which suggested the presence of bare land in a south-easterly direction."

Late in the morning, Prestrud's Eastern party reached the 80° depot laid earlier in the year. "Captain Amundsen had promised to leave a brief report when the southern party left here, and the first thing we did on arrival was, of course, to search for the document in the place agreed upon. There were not many words on the little slip of paper, but they gave us the welcome intelligence: 'All well so far.'" [7]


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 11 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.
[2] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[3] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 12 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.430.
[4] Roald Amundsen, diary, 12 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.437.
[5] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 12 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.119. Sixty years later, in 1977-78, the US Antarctic Research Program was to prove, when they drilled a borehole through the ice to the underlying water, that the Barrier was in fact afloat, and affected by the tides.
[6] Kristian Prestrud, "The Eastern Sledge Journey", in Roald Amundsen's The South Pole, ch.15. Note that the date is given as 12th November; see Hinks' note on dates in "The Observations of Amundsen and Scott at the South Pole" (The Geographical Journal, April 1944, p.169).

November 10, 2011

Friday, 10 November 1911

Amundsen

In the distance over the horizon ahead, they could now see the peaks of a high mountain range. Later, Amundsen called it the Queen Maud Range. It was his first undoubted discovery, but at the time he merely sketched them in his notebook with the labels A, B, C, D, and so on, adding laconically, "A climb will apparently be unavoidable." [1]

Back in King Edward VII Land, Prestrud's party came in sight of the two cairns from the previous journey.

"We made straight for them, thinking we might possibly find some trace of the southern party. So we did, though in a very different way from what we expected. We were, perhaps, about a mile off when we all three suddenly halted and stared at the huts. 'There are men,' said Stubberud. At any rate there was something black that moved, and after confused thoughts of Japanese, Englishmen, and the like had flashed through our minds, we at last got out the glasses. It was not men, but a dog. Well, the presence of a live dog here, seventy-five miles up the Barrier, was in itself a remarkable thing. It must, of course, be one of the southern party’s dogs, but how the runaway had kept himself alive all that time was for the present a mystery. On coming to closer quarters we soon found that it was one of Hassel’s dogs, Peary by name. He was a little shy to begin with, but when he heard his name he quickly understood that we were friends come on a visit, and no longer hesitated to approach us. He was fat and round, and evidently pleased to see us again." [2]


Notes:

[1] Roald Amundsen, diary, 11 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.438.
[2] Kristian Prestrud, "The Eastern Sledge Journey", in Roald Amundsen's The South Pole, ch.15. Note that the date is given as 11th November; see Hinks' note on dates in "The Observations of Amundsen and Scott at the South Pole" (The Geographical Journal, April 1944, p.169).

November 9, 2011

Thursday, 9 November 1911

Amundsen

The depot at 83°, probably photographed by Bjaaland, who wrote in his diary, "Took a picture of the cairn with HH on top". [1]

A storm allowed the Norwegians a day of rest, but Amundsen himself went back to the previous day's cairn to see the effect of the storm. It was still standing, but bent to leeward. "We shall give the cairns a new form hereafter." [2]

Three of the dogs followed him northwards, and vanished. "They were Lussi's lovers. I am afraid they have taken the road back to where we shot her." They were Bjaaland's best dogs; although his team was now somewhat understaffed and he found it harder to keep up, he still wrote in his diary, "Sun and summer, splendid going." [3]


Notes:

[1] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket. Note that this is dated "9-11-11" by the NB. The quote from Bjaaland's diary is found in Roland Huntford's Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.116.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, 10 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.437.
[3] Olav Bjaaland, diary, [date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.437.

November 8, 2011

Wednesday, 8 November 1911

Amundsen

Rest day at 83°, 8th November, 1911. [1]

A cloud over the southwest horizon they had seen the day before proved through the telescope to be land, probably the mountains observed by Shackleton in 1909.

"Right on our course -- South --" wrote Amundsen, "we can see not a trace of land, and that promises well." [2]

Reaching 83° S., they stopped to build their next depot.


Notes:

[1] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket. Note that this is dated "9-11-11" by the NB.
[2] Roald Amundsen, [9 November 1911], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.437.

November 7, 2011

Tuesday, 7 November 1911

Scott

In the teeth of a blizzard, Meares arrived with his dog sledge to find the polar party tent-bound. He had been told to join Scott at 80° 30' S., just beyond One Ton Depot. Irritated at Meares' unexpected arrival, Scott wrote in his diary, "[he has] played too much for safety in catching us so soon, but it is satisfactory to find the dogs will pull the loads and can be driven to face such a wind as we have had. It shows that they ought to be able to help us a good deal." [1]

"We men are snug and comfortable enough, but it is very evil to lie here and know that the weather is steadily sapping the strength of the beasts on which so much depends. It requires much philosophy to be cheerful on such occasions."

Oates took advantage of Meares' arrival to have a whinge with his friend. "We both damn the motors. 3 motors at £1,000 each, 19 ponies at £5 each. 32 dogs at 30/- each. If Scott fails to get to the Pole he jolly well deserves it." [2]


Amundsen

Forty-five dogs were now left, pulling four sledges. Helmer Hanssen went first, because he was the best driver; being also the best navigator, he had the special non-magnetic sledge with its gimbelled compass. Behind him came Hassel, then Wisting, and Bjaaland at the end because he was the worst driver. Amundsen, on skis, roamed the line as needed, sometimes going ahead as forerunner. They marked the route as they went with a cairn at every third mile built of nine large snow blocks. Each cairn was visible from the next, and contained a record with its position, the distance from the last depot, and the bearing of the previous cairn. The interval between each cairn was deliberately selected to give the dogs a rest every hour.

"We are going like greyhounds over the endless flat snow plain," wrote Amundsen. [3]

"It'll be Dad himself who first sees the mountains!" Bjaaland teased, one evening not long after leaving 82°. "Why do you think that?" asked Amundsen. 'Because you're so ridiculously tall!" [4]

They quickly settled into a daily routine that wasted as little effort as possible. They travelled six or seven hours per day -- ideally a quarter-degree of latitude (17 1/4 miles, or 27.75 km) -- and rested for the remainder of the day and night. Upon stopping for camp, the tent was unloaded first, and Amundsen crawled inside to raise the single pole, while the others drove in the pegs outside and tied the guy ropes. Amundsen would then light the Primus stove and start cooking the meal; with the provisions permanently lashed and loaded, unloading the daily supplies was simply a matter of opening the lid of a case. Each man was responsible for keeping precise record of the supplies he was carrying as each meal was served, in a combined provision and navigation book. The others unharnessed the dogs and gave them their pound of pemmican; Bjaaland detached the leather ski bindings and brought them into the tent so that the dogs would not eat them. The men put up a low wall of snow to keep the dogs from urinating on the tent. Setting up camp and preparing the meals for men and dogs took about an hour.

On the same day, the Eastern Party left Framheim for King Edward VII Land, Johansen and Stubberud with teams of seven dogs each, Prestrud as forerunner.

"It goes without saying," Prestrud wrote later, "that it gave me, as a beginner, a great feeling of security to have with me such a man as Johansen, who possessed many years' experience of all that pertains to sledging expeditions; and as regards Stubberud, I could not have wished for a better travelling companion than him either -- a first-rate fellow, steady and efficient in word and deed. As it turned out, we were not to encounter very many difficulties, but one never escapes scot-free on a sledge journey in these regions. I owe my comrades thanks for the way in which they both did their best to smooth our path." [5]

Now and then along their route, the tracks of the polar party were clearly visible, as well as their marker flags.


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 7 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.
[2] L.E.G. Oates, diary, 7 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.424.
[3] Roald Amundsen, [diary], 8 November 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.437.
[4] Tryggve Gran, Kampen om Sydpolen, p.136, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.436-437. It is not clear exactly how tall Amundsen was, but he was a head taller than most of his Gjøa crew as well as many of those on the South Pole journey.
[5] Kristian Prestrud, "The Eastern Sledge Journey", in Roald Amundsen's The South Pole, ch.15. Note that the date here is given as 8th November; see Hinks' note on dates in "The Observations of Amundsen and Scott at the South Pole" (The Geographical Journal, April 1944, p.169).

November 6, 2011

Monday, 6 November 1911

Scott

"Our fears confirmed," Scott wrote upon finding the second motor abandoned. "A note from Evans stated a recurrence of the old trouble. The big end of No. 1 cylinder had cracked, the machine otherwise in good order. Evidently the engines are not fitted for working in this climate, a fact that should be certainly capable of correction. One thing is proved; the system of propulsion is altogether satisfactory. The motor party has proceeded as a man-hauling party as arranged." [1]


Amundsen

In the bustle of preparing to leave the depot, one of Hassel's dogs got under his sledge and tipped it over. "The Sheep took the opportunity to serve Lussi, who in consequence got a lead bullet in the forehead and was put on the depot," noted Bjaaland. "Distance 20 nautical miles in 8 hours." [2]

This depot at 82° was the farthest they had put out the previous autumn. "Now the journey has begun in earnest," Amundsen wrote. At two in the afternoon, he added, they "passed Discovery expedition's southernmost latitude 82° 17'" [3] and then camped at 82° 20' for the night.


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 6 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.
[2] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 7 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.110.
[3] Roald Amundsen, diary, [7 November, 1911], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.434-435.

November 4, 2011

Saturday, 4 November 1911

Scott

The pony party found a motor sledge broken down and abandoned. "It appears they had a bad ground on the morning of the 29th," Scott wrote in his diary. "I suppose the surface was bad and everything seemed to be going wrong. They 'dumped' a good deal of petrol and lubricant. Worse was to follow. Some 4 miles out we met a tin pathetically inscribed, 'Big end Day's motor No. 2 cylinder broken.' Half a mile beyond, as I expected, we found the motor, its tracking sledges and all. Notes from Evans and Day told the tale. The only spare had been used for Lashly's machine, and it would have taken a long time to strip Day's engine so that it could run on three cylinders. They had decided to abandon it and push on with the other alone. They had taken the six bags of forage and some odds and ends, besides their petrol and lubricant. So the dream of great help from the machines is at an end!" [1]


Amundsen

"At 4 a.m.," wrote Amundsen, "the sun came out for a moment and we were not slow in getting out of our sleeping bags. There the depot loomed up about 2 miles E.S.E. The small flags were just as they had been left, standing out beautifully against the white background.... We took the depot's bearings, and got back into bed again. After breakfast we packed up and set off. [The fog] had then closed in again, but we had our bearing, and after 2 1/2 miles' march we stood by our southernmost depot. Everything was in the finest order." [2]

The weather was fine, and they took a few days to rest the dogs and themselves, basking in sunshine that made Amundsen's thoughts, he said, "stray now and then to the tropics."

With the sledges replenished with paraffin and pemmican from the depot, they were now as fully-loaded as they had been at the start of the journey at Framheim. "[Everything] -- both men, animals and equipment, is in the finest condition. The doggies are now in a far better state than when we started off. All the sore feet have healed, and a little of the superfluous obesity has gone." [3]

They now had supplies for 100 days, which would take them to 6th February. According to the plan that Amundsen had worked out, and at current rates of speed, they would return to Framheim by 31st January, allowing one day in four for rest and bad weather. He assumed that they would have to man-haul from 86° S. on the return journey. There were three tons of supplies in the depots, for five men.

His original intention had been to carry on to the Pole and back with fully-loaded sledges, but having now proved that it was possible "to lay out depots on these endless expanses and mark them so that with careful navigation we can find them again," he suggested a plan he had had in mind for some time: to lay depots every degree of latitude. After a short discussion, everyone agreed. This new scheme would considerably lighten the sledges for the dogs.


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 4 November, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, 5 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.433.
[3] Roald Amundsen, diary, 5 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.104.

November 3, 2011

Friday, 3 November 1911

Amundsen

"Driven in a 'pea souper' the whole day," wrote Amundsen in his diary. "Brilliant going, could not be better. Great change from one day to the other. Yesterday the skiing was sticky as fish glue." Because of the fog, he decided to camp and wait, rather than risk missing the depot. "We halted after having done 16 nautical miles. In so doing, we have covered the distance to 82°. We saw no sign of the depot, but that is only to be expected, since the weather [is] absolutely thick, with no visibility." [2]


Notes:

[1] Roald Amundsen, diary, 4 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.102.

November 1, 2011

Wednesday, 1 November 1911

Scott

Bowers, Wilson, and Cherry with their ponies, 6 October 1911, photographed by Ponting. [1]

The main party set off from Cape Evans. "They had packed the sledges overnight," Taylor recalled, "and they took 20 lbs. personal baggage. The Owner had asked me what book he should take. He wanted something fairly filling. I recommended Tyndall's Glaciers -- if he wouldn't find it 'coolish.' He didn't fancy this! So then I said, 'Why not take Browning, as I'm doing?' And I believe that he did so.

"Wright's pony was the first harnessed to its sledge. Chinaman is Jehu's rival for last place, and as some compensation is easy to harness. Seaman Evans led Snatcher, who used to rush ahead and take the lead as soon as he was harnessed. Cherry had Michael, a steady goer, and Wilson led Nobby -- the pony rescued from the killer whales in March.... Christopher, as usual, behaved like a demon. First they had to trice his front leg up tight under his shoulder, then it took five minutes to throw him. The sledge was brought up and he was harnessed in while his head was held down on the floe. Finally he rose up, still on three legs, and started off galloping as well as he was able. After several violent kicks his foreleg was released, and after more watch-spring flicks with his hind legs he set off fairly steadily. Titus can't stop him when once he has started, and will have to do the fifteen miles in one lap probably!

"Dear old Titus -- that was my last memory of him. Imperturbable as ever; never hasty, never angry, but soothing that vicious animal, and determined to get the best out of most unpromising material in his endeavour to do his simple duty.

"Bowers was last to leave. His pony, Victor, nervous but not vicious, was soon in the traces. I ran to the end of the Cape and watched the little cavalcade -- already strung out into remote units -- rapidly fade into the lonely white waste to southward." [1]

Scott, Gran noted, "rather more than a little nervous" [2], hitched his pony to the wrong sledge and had to transfer before departing.

A few hours later, Scott rang from Hut Point, saying that he had forgotten the flag given to him by Queen Alexandra for the Pole, and wanted it sent on. Gran was ordered to do so, and set off the next day in a strong headwind, skiing the fifteen miles to Hut Point in three hours, and catching the Polar party just before they left. "The irony of fate," Scott said to Gran, that a Norwegian had carried the Union Jack the first few miles towards the Pole. [3]


Amundsen

After a day of thick fog and narrow but treacherous crevasses, the going smoothed out. "We seemed to be rushing along at 9 or 10 miles an hour, just like a rabbit chased by a bear," wrote Bjaaland. [4]

They stopped every five nautical miles to build a marker cairn.


Notes:

[1] Thomas Griffith Taylor, quoted by Apsley Cherry-Garrard in The Worst Journey in the World, v.2.
[2] Tryggve Gran, diary, 1 November, 1911, quoted in The Norwegian With Scott : Tryggve Gran's Antarctic Diary 1910-1913 (National Maritime Museum, 1984), p.139.
[3] Tryggve Gran, interview with Roland Huntford, November, 1973, quoted by Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.422.
[4] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 2 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.432.