Shackleton's Heroes (25 page)

Spencer-Smith:

Hayward wrote: ‘Poor old S
†
rotten.'
41

Joyce:

It was a ‘warm' day, only six degrees below freezing.

Spencer-Smith:

At this stage Joyce was still optimistic: ‘Dogs are still in splendid condition + going as well as ever. They are little Marvels. At this rate we shall soon polish off the remainder.'
44

In one of his interviews Richards tells us how Spencer-Smith spent his days on the sledge. He would be down inside his sleeping bag and the other men could not see him. He would have the sleeping bag flap right over his face
and part of the time he was unconscious. Richards was close to him on the bows of the sledge and at times he would hear him uttering ‘wandering' thoughts and at other times he would ‘hear him reciting a prayer in Latin'.
45

Spencer-Smith: ‘Been all over London and Althorne with dear old T&U – a dream surely to be realised in July or August of this year, if only the ship is safe: please God she is.'
46

Hayward: ‘Good going 10½ m by lunch. Breeze petered out after noon & surface bloody awful could only do 8¼ (18¾) before camping. We are in sight of depot at 81° S, 4½ m distant.'
47

Wild: ‘Skipper still as selfish as ever. Letting Smithy lay on a boot while he has got two big bed-fur mitts for pillows. The tent blew inside out like an umbrella the other day. I've just been mending the ribs again.'
48

Joyce's watch stopped, much to the annoyance of Mackintosh: ‘After we had done 2 miles and I looked at the watch and found it had stopped. But decided, to S---- disgust, to place it on the wrong side, the consequence was done over 10½ in the forenoon.'
49

On Monday 7 February they reached the 81°S depot (209 miles from Hut Point – by Hayward's diary entry) and picked up a week's provisions again, to travel the 70 miles onto the next depot, at 80°S.

Spencer-Smith often recorded what his thoughts were during the day but the other five men rarely let on in their diaries what was on their mind as they trudged along, hour after hour, day after day. In an interview sixty years later Richards gave an insight into his thoughts. He tells us he could not talk to the other fellows as they were too far away so he had a world of his own to think about. Sometimes he would look at the peaks of the western mountains and guess the bearing when they were starting the day. Then he would guess the bearing when they had finished. He did it by eye, without the compass, and just for purely something to do, trying to work out in his own mind, the angle between the first two from the known distance they had travelled.

He tells us he did this sort of thing to keep his mind occupied because there was such intense monotony as they trudged along ‘one step a little in front of the other' on the snowy surface. He believed that the others must have had something that occupied their mind because there was not much to see. The Barrier was a featureless surface although when they were close to the Trans-Antarctic Mountains they could look and admire them when it was clear, but there were parts of the journey where they were out of sight.
50

At these times he simply pondered on the simple things that made up his day's existence. He remembered that he seldom thought of the outside world as he had heard nothing from it since December 1914; he had left all that behind. The only reality was what he and the other men saw. However, the pleasures of their day were just as satisfying as for someone in civilisation. There was the shelter of the tent at the end of the day, the easing of a blizzard, a smooth-running snow surface, the sighting of a food depot and ample food after being on short rations. These to Richards were the peaks above the drudgery of their day-to-day existence and he wrote in his book it ‘produced a feeling of profound well-being'.
51

Hayward's diary notes over the five days they took to travel the 70 miles between the 81°S and 80°S depots were very brief but he was now keeping a simple table of the date, distance travelled and miles left to reach Hut Point. The entries over the days from 81°S to 80°S were:

(The first line means on 7 February they had travelled 14 miles and had 209 miles to Hut Point. The last line means that on 11 February they had travelled 16 miles and had 155 miles to Hut Point.)

Hayward: ‘8 Feb: Snow which fell during night made going very difficult,
however with some effort we managed to put in for the day 11 miles not too bad. Old man very bad.

11 Feb: Made depot (80° S) at 14 miles. Time 5 o/c. Camped 1½ miles N. Total 15½ M.'
53

Spencer-Smith:

Wild: ‘8 Feb: Short day & rotten surface. 9 Feb: Fair wind and rotten surface.'
59

Joyce maintained a daily log, such as:

On 11 February they reached the 80°S depot, 155 miles from Hut Point, where they again replenished their supplies and carried on.

Richards recalled that from the 12th onwards their progress became slower because none of the men were in good shape and Mackintosh was usually hanging on to the sledge. As their weakness increased, they gradually jettisoned everything they could to lighten their load. They had already left the second sledge behind and then the sledge-meter, shovels, ice picks and other items were tossed aside.
61

Over these days, lying on the sledge, Spencer-Smith dreamt or thought of England almost every day. He does not gripe or grumble, but simply puts down a brief statement of his ailments now and again. In his book
The Ross Sea Shore Party
Richards tells us that at every camp and at every midday halt Spencer-Smith was lifted from sledge to tent in his bag. Mackintosh, his tent-mate, was also an invalid so practically the entire care of Spencer-Smith fell on Wild's shoulders, he being the only other occupant of that tent. Wild tended to him for forty days with a devotion that in Richards's view could not be surpassed, and for upwards of 300 miles in increasingly difficult circumstances. Spencer-Smith never once complained although his thoughts wandered and at other times he lost consciousness. He was, however, often ready with a cheery word and he did his best to make their task as easy as possible.
62

All their diary entries were meagre over these seven days although they wrote about seeing familiar landmarks. Joyce, who was leading the party out front, may have been becoming despondent at this time, and he was clearly annoyed with Mackintosh. Hayward's table of distances covered for the seven days from 12 February to 18 February shows their slow progress after the 80°S depot to reach a position of 81 miles from Hut Point. On the last three days they only travelled 8 miles a day.

Joyce:

Hayward's table of distances:

His other diary notes were scarce:

Spencer-Smith:

Wild: