Chapter XXIV: Appendix: II

THE EXPEDITION HUTS AT McMURDO SOUND

By SIR E. H. SHACKLETON

The following notes are designed for the benefit of future explorers who may make McMurdo Sound a base for inland operations, and to clear any inaccuracies or ambiguities concerning the history, occupation, and state of these huts.

(1) THE NATIONAL ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION’S HUT AT HUT POINT—THE HEAD OF McMURDO SOUND

This hut was constructed by Captain Scott in 1902, by the Expedition sent out by the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Society, the Government, and by private subscription. Captain Robert F. Scott was appointed to the command of the Expedition. I served as Third Lieutenant until February 1903, when I was invalided home through a broken blood vessel in the lungs, the direct result of scurvy contracted on the Southern journey. The _Discovery_ hut was a large strong building, but was so draughty and cold in comparison with the ship, which was moored one hundred yards away, that it was, during the first year, never used for living quarters. Its sole use was as a storehouse, and a large supply of rough stores, such as flour, cocoa, coffee, biscuit, and tinned meat, was left there in the event of its being used as a place of retreat should any disaster overtake the ship. During the second year occasional parties camped inside the hut, but no bunks or permanent sleeping quarters were ever erected. The discomfort of the hut was a byword on the Expedition, but it formed an excellent depot and starting-point for all parties proceeding to the south.

When the _Discovery_ finally left McMurdo Sound, the hut was stripped of all gear, including the stove, but there was left behind a large depot of the stores mentioned above. I was not aware of this until I returned to McMurdo Sound in February 1908, when I sent Adams, Joyce, and Wild across to the hut whilst the _Nimrod_ was lying off the ice.

On the return of the party they reported that the door had been burst open, evidently by a southerly blizzard, and was jammed by snow outside and in, so they made an entrance through one of the lee windows. They found the hut practically clear of snow, and the structure quite intact. I used the hut in the spring, _i.e._ September and October 1908, as a storehouse for the large amount of equipment, food, and oil that we were to take on the Southern journey. We built a sort of living-room out of the cases of provisions, and swept out the debris. The Southern Party elected to sleep there before the start, but the supporting party slept outside in the tents, as they considered it warmer.

We still continued to use the lee window as means of ingress and egress to avoid continual shovelling away of the snow, which would be necessary as every southerly blizzard blocked up the main entrance. The various depot parties made use of the hut for replenishing their stores, which had been sledged from my own hut to Hut Point. On the night of March 3, 1909, I arrived with the Southern Party, with a sick man, having been absent on the march 128 days. Our position was bad, as the ship was north of us. We tried to burn the Magnetic Hut in the hope of attracting attention from the ship, but were not able to get it to light. We finally managed to light a flare of carbide, and the ship came down to us in a blizzard, and all were safely aboard at 1 a.m. on March 4, 1909. Before leaving the hut we jammed the window up with baulks of timber, to the best of our ability, in the storm and darkness. The hut was used again by the Ross Sea Section of this last Expedition. The snow was cleared out and extra stores were placed in it. From reports I have received the _Discovery_ Hut was in as good condition in 1917 as it was in 1902.

The stores placed there in 1902 are intact. There are a few cases of extra provisions and oil in the hut, but no sleeping gear, or accommodation, nor stoves, and it must not be looked upon as anything else than a shelter and a most useful _pied-à-terre_ for the start of any Southern journey. No stores nor any equipment have been taken from it during either of my two Expeditions.

(2) CAPE ROYDS HUT

For several reasons, when I went into McMurdo Sound in 1908 in command of my own Expedition, known as the British Antarctic Expedition, after having failed to land on King Edward VII Land, I decided to build our hut at Cape Royds—a small promontory twenty-three miles north of Hut Point. Here the whole shore party lived in comfort through the winter of 1908. When spring came stores were sledged to Hut Point, so that should the sea-ice break up early between these two places we might not be left in an awkward position. After the return of the Southern Party we went direct north to civilization, so I never visited my hut again. I had left, however, full instructions with Professor David as to the care of the hut, and before the whole Expedition left, the hut was put in order. A letter was pinned in a conspicuous place inside, stating that there were sufficient provisions and equipment to last fifteen men for one year, indicating also the details of these provisions and the position of the coal store. The stove was in good condition, and the letter ended with an invitation for any succeeding party to make what use they required of stores and hut. The hut was then locked and the key nailed on the door in a conspicuous place. From the report of Captain Scott’s last Expedition the hut was in good condition, and from a still later report from the Ross Sea side of this present Expedition, the hut was still intact.

(3) CAPE EVANS HUT

This large and commodious hut was constructed by Captain Scott at Cape Evans on his last Expedition. The party lived in it in comfort, and it was left well supplied with stores in the way of food and oil, and a certain amount of coal. Several of the scientific staff of this present Expedition were ashore in it, when the _Aurora_, which was to have been the permanent winter quarters, broke adrift in May 1915, and went north with the ice. The hut became the permanent living quarters for the ten marooned men, and thanks to the stores they were able to sustain life in comparative comfort, supplementing these stores from my hut at Cape Royds. In January 1917, after I had rescued the survivors, I had the hut put in order and locked up.

To sum up, there are three available huts in McMurdo Sound.

(a) The _Discovery_ Hut with a certain amount of rough stores, and only of use as a point of departure for the South.

(b) Cape Royds Hut with a large amount of general stores, but no clothing or equipment now.

(c) Cape Evans Hut with a large amount of stores, but no clothing or equipment and only a few sledges.

(4) DEPOTS SOUTH OF HUT POINT

In spite of the fact that several depots have been laid to the south of Hut Point on the Barrier, the last being at the Gap (the entrance to the Beardmore Glacier), no future Expedition should depend on them as the heavy snowfall obliterates them completely. There is no record of the depots of any Expedition being made use of by any subsequent Expedition. No party in any of my Expeditions has used any depot laid down by a previous Expedition.

INDEX

Adare, Cape Admiralty Range Agag Aitken Albatross Allardyce Range Allen, James Amphipods Amundsen (dog) “Ancient Mariner,” Animal life in Weddell Sea _See also_ Penguins Seals _and_ Bird life Annewkow Island Antarctic Circle Derby Argentine Armitage, Cape Lieut. Atmospheric effects _See also_ Mirage _and_ Sun Attempt to cut ship out _Aurora,_ Aurora Australis Australia

Bakewell Barne Glacier Barrier Great Ice surface Beardmore Glacier Beaufort Island Belgica Straits Bergs Bergschrund Bernsten, Mr. Bird life in Weddell Sea Black Island Blackborrow Blizzards, severe Blue Ice Glacier Bluff depot Boats Bovril British territory Brocklehurst, Capt. H. Courtney Browning Bruce, Dr. W. S. Buenos Ayres Burberry clothing Butler Point depot

Caird Coast Sir James _Caird, James_ (boat) Candlemas Volcano Cape Barne Bernacchi Bird Cotter Crozier Evans Horn weather Hudson pigeons Ross Royds Valentine Wild Castle Rock Cave Cove Cheetham Chile Christmas celebrations Clarence Island Clark Coal, Antarctic on deck Coats’ Land Con (dog) Cook Cope Corner Camp Coulman Islands Crean Current meter Cyclone

Danger Islands Davis, Captain John K. Daylight saving Deception Islands _Diatoms_ _Discovery_ Discovery Bay Mount Distances, Ross Sea Party Dog-pemmican Dogs Dominican gulls Dudley Docker Mr. _Dudley Docker_ (boat) Dunlop Island Dump Camp

Eclipse of moon
Elephant Island
_Emma_
Empire Day celebrations
_Encyclopædia Britannica_
Enderby Land
_Endurance_
abandoned
beset
crushed
sunk
Erebus Mount
Expedition ships
first made public
Mawson
Scott
Shackleton
Swedish

Falkland Islands Wireless listened for Farthest South Scott’s Filchner Financial help, appeal for failure to materialize promised Fish, dead from sea-leopard new species Föhn effect Fortuna Bay Glacier Franklin Island

Galley Gallipoli Garrard, Mr. Cherry Gaze Girling tractor-motor Glacier Bay Tongue _Glasgow_, H.M.S. Gold Graham Land Greenstreet Grytviken Gunner (dog)

Half-way Camp Harding, Mr. _Harpoon_ Hayward Hercules (dog) Hobart Holness Hooke Hope Bay Mountain Howe Hudson Hurley Hurtado, Admiral Muñoz Hussey Husvik Hut, Cape Evans Cape Royds Elephant Island at Hut Point; Hut Point

Ice-blink Ice-hole Inaccessible Island _Instituto de Pesca_

Jack Jaeger sleeping-bags James Joinville Land Joyce

Kavenagh Kelvin sounding machine Kerr Khyber Pass Killer whales King Haakon Bay King George V, flag to inspect _Endurance_ telegram from telegram to

Lambton, Miss Elizabeth Dawson Lamps Larkman Leap Year Day Leith Lucas sounding machine Luitpold Land _Lusitania_

Mackintosh Macklin Macquarie Island Magnetic Pole storm variation Magellan Straits Marston Mauger McCarthy McDonald, Allen McIlroy McLeod McMurdo Sound McNab, Dr. McNeish Meteorology Midwinter’s Day celebrations Minna Bluff Mirage Montevideo Morell Land Morell’s Farthest South Motor crawler sledge tractor Mount Haddington Melbourne Murchison Sabine Mugridge Mutton Island

New South Greenland New Year Island New Zealand Nigger (dog) _Nimrod_ Ninnis Nordenskjold Ice Tongue North Polar Basin Norwegian Whalers Nurse Cavell

Orde-Lees _Orita_ _Orwell_ Oscar (dog)

Pack-ice described _See also_ Pressure Paddies Pardo, Captain Luis Paulet Island Peak Berg Foreman Peggotty Camp Penguins Adelie Emperor Gentoo Ringed Peter (dog) Petrels _See also_ Bird life Pinkey (dog) _Plankton_ Pompey (dog) Porpoises Port Chalmers Positions Possession Bay Islands Potash and Perlmutter Pram Point Pressure in Ross Sea in Weddell Sea _See also_ Pack-ice Prince George Island Programme of Expedition Public Schools Punta Arenas Pups

Queen Alexandra

_Radiolaria_ Rain Rats on South Georgia Rampart Berg Razorback Island Reeling Berg Refraction, _See_ Atmospheric effects Reindeer Richards Rickenson Rio Secco Rocky Mountain Depot Ross Island Sea Sea Party Royal Geographical Society Ryan, Lieut. R.N.R.

Safety Camp Saint (dog) Sally (dog) Samson (dog) Sanders Island Santiago Saunders, Edward Scientific observations commenced work proposed _Scotia_ Scott Sea-elephants Sea-leopard Seal blubber meat Seals Crab-eater Ross Weddell Semaphore for sledging parties on bridge Shags Shackleton, Sir E. Shoaling, of sea-floor Shore party Sledging parties, proposed Snapper (dog) Snow Hill Soldier (dog) Sorlle, Mr. South Georgia Orkneys Sandwich Group _Southern Sky_ Spencer-Smith Splitting ice-floes Stained Berg Stancomb Wills, Dame Janet _Stancomb Wills_ (boat) Stenhouse Stevens Stove Stromness Sue (dog) Sun disappears _See also_ Atmospheric effects Swell

Temperature, air sea Tent Island Tents orderlies Terns, _See also_ Bird life Terriss, Ellaline “The Ritz” Thom, Captain Thompson Tide-rip Tobacco substitutes Towser (dog) Transcontinental party Tripp, Mr. Leonard Talloch, Mr. Turk’s Head

Uruguayan Government

Vahsel Bay Victoria Mountains Vincent Vinie’s Hill Virol

Wave, enormous Weddell Sea ice conditions in plateau winds in Weather at Cape Evans at Elephant Island at Ocean Camp at Patience Camp, _See also_ Temperatures Western Mountains Whales blue humpback and finner seen sperm Wilhelmina Bay Willywaw Winston Churchill Wild, Ernest Frank Wordie Worsley Wreckage at South Georgia

Yaks _Yelcho_ Young, Mr. Douglas Young Island