Chapter VI: Making Winter Quarters at Cape Evans (15)

However the world knew nothing of this disaster until the ship
returned in February, 1913. Remembering the pleasure I had felt from
Professor David’s gift of “Queed,” I sent down a few books by the ship
in the preceding December. In each case I tried to suit the
recipient’s taste. Thus Nelson received “Queed” (Harrison); to Wright
I sent “Marriage” (Wells); to Cherry “The Dreadnought on the Darling,”
in memory of his Australian travels. To Debenham and Uncle Bill I sent
books in the writing of which I had had a part. To Bowers (in the
character of “Farmer Hayseed”) I sent Bean’s fine book “On the
Wooltrack”; and to Priestley, “We of the Never Never” (Gunn).
Atkinson, I hope, had a fellow-feeling for pugilist “Shorty McCabe”;
while Gates would have been carried back to Africa by “The Dop
Doctor.” I knew Rex Beach would attract Gran—so he was furnished with
“The Silver Horde.”

I was carrying out a geological survey at the Federal capital, and in
the solitary evenings I managed to pile up a huge budget of letters
for my returning mates. Some of them, alas! were returned unopened.

In February Bernard Day reached Australia and was in Sydney with me
when we heard the sad news. I had never anticipated any serious
accident to the Pole party—chiefly, I expect, because Shackleton had
managed to pull through safely. But I should not have been surprised
to hear of disaster in Campbell’s northern party, for no one had lived
through a winter in such fashion before.

A solemn service was held in the Cathedral at Sydney, and later at a
meeting to initiate a memorial fund, Professor David gave an eloquent
justification of Antarctic exploration and paid a touching tribute to
the characters of the lost men. As a result of similar appeals in this
and other states, the Empire contributed most generously to the
Captain Scott Fund.

The Federal Government kindly granted me leave to collaborate with the
scientific members in London; and Priestley and I returned home in the
_Mongolia_. We arrived in London in time for the Albert Hall meeting
in May. Commander Evans here described to the large and deeply
interested audience the chief features of the 1910 Antarctic
Expedition.

The office in Victoria Street was the rendezvous of the surviving
members of the Expedition, who were nearly all reunited within the
next month or two. Simpson was too busy in India to visit England, Day
was in Sydney; but with these exceptions we were all present at
Buckingham Palace when the King’s medal was presented in July. The men
under Lieutenant Rennick marched from Victoria Street, and joined the
officers in the Palace. Here we were marshalled in three lines—naval
officers, scientific and other officers, and seamen. Lady Scott and
Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Bowers, Mrs. Evans, and Mrs. Brissenden,[12] were
received first by His Majesty. The others were presented by Prince
Louis of Battenberg, and as each advanced the King shook hands, gave
him the medal, and said a word or two.

We returned to the Caxton Hall, and after drinking some farewell
healths, the expedition, as a whole, was disbanded.

But the scientific work will take several years to complete, and
thanks to the generosity of the public, the means for carrying this
out are adequate. No less than £75,000 was placed at the disposal of
the Committee, while in addition to this the Government is paying out
various sums from the Pension Fund.

Some £34,000 was allocated from the Public Fund to the widows and
dependants of the lost explorers. A bonus was paid to the officers and
men; the debt of the Expedition was paid, and £17,500 was set apart
for the publication of the scientific results.

Some £18,000 remains for a memorial to the men who died. Of this
amount half will be expended on a suitable monument, which will
probably be placed in Hyde Park, and on a tablet in Saint Paul’s. The
balance will be devoted to an endowment fund in aid of future Polar
research. “This is an object which it is believed would have commended
itself greatly to the late Captain Scott.” So concludes the report of
the Mansion House Committee.

This narrative began amid the Colleges of Cambridge, and may very
fittingly close there. Dear Uncle Bill will never return to his rooms
in Caius College; but on the old archway through which he reached his
quarters, are blazoned the names of Wright and Debenham. For Debenham
has joined Caius, and “keeps” just below his sledge-mate, between the
Gates of Wisdom and Honour.

In a spacious room in the Old Court of John’s, Lillie ponders over
problems of Antarctic Biology. Priestley is a Fellow Commoner of
Christ’s, and for a time I had diggings in the Hostel at Emmanuel.
Priestley and I “kept” almost next door to each other, and almost
always had our meals together; and during the day Debenham joined us
in the huge “Antarctic Room” in the Sedgwick Museum. Here the
specimens from the South were labelled, sectioned, and described. Here
often appeared Wright and sometimes Lillie, while Pennell, Nelson,
Atkinson, and others visited us not infrequently.

The various researches are being carried out under the supervision of
the British Museum authorities, while Captain H. G. Lyons is acting as
general editor of the scientific publications.

I have finished. In this account I have tried to show that a Polar
expedition is a microcosm in its own peculiar way. Here are labours of
a strenuous type, but not insuperable in the main. Here are dangers
which the city dweller never meets, but which lose half their terrors
with familiarity. Here are pleasures—like the labours and the
danger—more concentrated than those met with in times of ease. Here,
lastly, is fellowship, which is the chiefest charm of exploration.

It is a truism to declare that friends of the sledge-trace and
sleeping-bag are friends for aye. My mates, in the 1910 Expedition,
have forged yet a closer bond for our future sledge journeys. When
this cruel war is past, we trust that Priestley will join forces with
a relative of Debenham’s, while Wright and I have started anew on
life’s journey with Priestley’s sisters to help us in the traces!

I shall, in all probability, never again see the Antarctic; but my
advice to any volunteer, who has that opportunity offered him, is to
take it. Especially is this the case if he be a scientist or writer,
for the present tendencies of modern life are all opposed to the
multiplication of such experiences. Only in Polar lands is to be found
the joy of a “real return to the primitive,” in association with the
best types of strenuous youth. There, if anywhere, is life worth
while, and effort sure of recognition. To few explorers is it given to
serve under a leader with Scott’s kindly sympathy for every detail of
his work; but after each and every expedition, the heavy cloud of
discomforts, dangers, and disaster gradually fades from memory, and
nought remains but the brightness of the silver lining.

MAP OF THE REGION TRAVERSED ON THE WESTERN JOURNEYS 1911 AND 1912 FROM
SURVEYS BY GRIFFITH TAYLOR, B.Sc., B.E., B.A., F.G.S., FRANK
DEBENHAM, B.A., B.Sc., & CHARLES WRIGHT, B.A.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

_The Southern portion of the map is based on theodolite angles, the
Northern portion on plane-table angles. The Topography is drawn from
sketches, photographs, and aneroid readings. The upper Mackay region
and the Mount Lister scarp, are based on distant angles. The_
“Discovery” _map has been incorporated for portion of the
Ferrar-Taylor area_.

GRIFFITH TAYLOR 23.9.13.

_The boundaries of the ice and rock in the Lister cairn are only
indicated approximately._
]

APPENDIX
RECENT AND FUTURE EXPLORATION

Period 1898–1908 (based on H. R. Mill).
]

Period 1908–1914
]

Recent and future exploration.