Part 9 (1/2)
Long before his departure to the south, Scott had given instructions that the _Discovery_ should be prepared for sea by the end of January.
Consequently, after the boats had been freed, there was still plenty of employment for everybody, since 'preparations for sea' under such circ.u.mstances meant a most prodigious amount of labour. Tons and tons of snow had to be dug out from the deck with pick-axes and shoveled over the side; aloft, sails and ropes had to be looked to, the running-gear to be re-rove, and everything got ready for handling the s.h.i.+p under sail; many things that had been displaced or landed near the sh.o.r.e-station had to be brought on board and secured in position; thirty tons of ice had to be fetched, melted, and run into the boilers; below, steam-pipes had to be rejointed, glands re-packed, engines turned by hand, and steam raised to see that all was in working order.
Not doubting that the ice would soon break up and release the s.h.i.+p, this work was carried on so vigorously that when the southern travelers returned all was ready for them to put to sea again.
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But eleven days before Scott and his companions struggled back to safety the great event of the season had happened in the arrival of the _Morning_. How the funds were raised by means of which this s.h.i.+p was sent is a tale in itself; briefly, however, it was due to the untiring zeal and singleness of purpose shown by Sir Clements Markham that the _Morning_, commanded by Lieutenant William Colbeck, R.N.R., was able to leave the London Docks on July 9, 1902.
Long before the _Discovery_ had left New Zealand the idea of a relief s.h.i.+p had been discussed, and although Scott saw great difficulties in the way, he also felt quite confident that if the thing was to be done Sir Clements was the man to do it. Obviously then it was desirable to leave as much information as possible on the track, and the relief s.h.i.+p was to try and pick up clues at the places where Scott had said that he would attempt to leave them. These places were Cape Adare, Possession Islands, Coulman Island, Wood Bay, Franklin Island and Cape Crozier.
On January 8 a landing was effected at Cape Adare, and there Colbeck heard of the _Discovery's_ safe arrival in the south. The Possession Islands were drawn blank, because Scott had not been able to land there, and south of this the whole coast was so thickly packed that the _Morning_ could not approach either Coulman Island or Wood Bay.
Franklin Island was visited on January 14, but [Page 142]
without result; and owing to the quant.i.ties of pack ice it was not until four days later that a landing was made at Cape Crozier. Colbeck himself joined the landing party, and after spending several hours in fruitless search, he was just giving up the hunt and beginning despondently to wonder what he had better do next, when suddenly a small post was seen on the horizon. A rush was made for it, and in a few minutes Colbeck knew that he had only to steer into the mysterious depths of McMurdo Sound to find the _Discovery_, and practically to accomplish the work he had set out to do.
On board the _Discovery_ the idea had steadily grown that a relief s.h.i.+p would come. For no very clear reason the men had begun to look upon it as a certainty, and during the latter part of January it was not uncommon for wild rumors to be spread that smoke had been seen to the north. Such reports, therefore, were generally received without much excitement, but when a messenger ran down the hill on the night of the 23rd to say that there was actually a s.h.i.+p in sight the enthusiasm was intense. Only the most imperturbable of those on board could sleep much during that night, and early on the 24th a large party set out over the floe. The _Morning_ was lying some ten miles north of the _Discovery_, but it was far easier to see her than to reach her. At last, however, the party, after various little adventures, stood safely on deck and received the warmest of welcomes.
During the last week of January the weather was [Page 143]
in its most glorious mood, and with some of the treacherous thin ice breaking away the _Morning_ was able to get a mile nearer.
Parties constantly pa.s.sed to and fro between the two s.h.i.+ps, and everyone--with unshaken confidence that the _Discovery_ would soon be free--gave themselves up to the delight of fresh companions.h.i.+p, and the joy of good news from the home country. To this scene of festivity and cheeriness Scott, Wilson and Shackleton returned on February 3, and though the last to open their letters they had the satisfaction of knowing that the _Morning_ had brought nothing but good news.
By a curious coincidence Colbeck chose the night of the Southern party's return to make his first visit to the _Discovery_, and soon after Scott had come out of his delicious bath and was reveling in the delight of clean clothes, he had the pleasure of welcoming him on board. 'In those last weary marches over the barrier,' Scott says, 'I had little expected that the first feast in our home quarters would be taken with strange faces gathered round our festive table, but so it was, and I can well remember the look of astonishment that dawned on those faces when we gradually displayed our power of absorbing food.'
But however difficult the appet.i.tes of the party were to appease, for a fortnight after they had reached the s.h.i.+p their condition was very wretched. Shackleton at once went to bed, and although he soon tried to be out and about again, the least exertion caused a return of his breathlessness, and he still suffered from [Page 144]
the violent fits of coughing that had troubled him so much on the journey. With Wilson, who at one time had shown the least signs of scurvy, the disease had increased so rapidly at the end that on his return he wisely decided to go to bed, where he remained quietly for ten days. 'Wilson,' Scott wrote on February 16, 'is a very fine fellow, his pluck and go were everything on our southern journey; one felt he wouldn't give in till he dropped.' And this collapse when he got back to the s.h.i.+p was in itself a proof of the determination which must have upheld him during the last marches.
Scott, though the least affected of the three, was also by no means fit and well. Both his legs were swollen and his gums were very uncomfortable, but in addition to these troubles he was attacked by an overwhelming feeling of both physical and mental weariness.
'Many days pa.s.sed,' he says, 'before I could rouse myself from this slothful humour, and it was many weeks before I had returned to a normally vigorous condition. It was probably this exceptionally relaxed state of health that made me so slow to realize that the ice conditions were very different from what they had been in the previous season.... The prospect of the ice about us remaining fast throughout the season never once entered my head.' His diary, however, for the month shows how he gradually awakened to the true state of affairs, and on February 13 he decided to begin the transport of stores from the _Morning_ to the _Discovery_, so that the former s.h.i.+p 'should run no risk of being detained.' And on the 18th when [Page 145]
he paid his first visit to the _Morning_ and found the journey 'an awful grind,' he had begun to wonder whether the floe was ever going to break up.
[Ill.u.s.tration: LUNAR CORONA.]
A week later he was clearly alive to the situation. 'The _Morning_ must go in less than a week, and it seems now impossible that we shall be free by that time, though I still hope the break-up may come after she has departed.' Some time previously he had decided that if they had to remain the s.h.i.+p's company should be reduced, and on the 24th he had a talk with the men and told them that he wished n.o.body to stop on board who was not willing. On the following day a list was sent round for the names of those who wanted to go, and the result was curiously satisfactory--for Scott had determined that eight men should go, and not only were there eight names on the list, but they were also precisely those which Scott would have put there had he made the selection. Shackleton also had to be told that he must go, as in his state of health Scott did not think that any further hards.h.i.+ps ought to be risked; but in his place Scott requisitioned Mulock who by an extraordinary chance is just the very man we wanted. We have now an immense amount of details for charts... and Mulock is excellent at this work and as keen as possible. It is rather amusing, as he is the only person who is obviously longing for the ice to stop in, though of course he doesn't say so. The other sporting characters are still giving ten to one that it will go out, but I am bound to confess that I am not sanguine.'
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The letter from which the last extract is taken was begun on February 16, and before the end of the month all hope of the _Discovery_ being able to leave with the _Morning_ had been abandoned. On March 2 nearly the whole of the _Discovery's_ company were entertained on board the _Morning_, and on the following day the relief s.h.i.+p slowly backed away from the ice-edge, and in a few minutes she was turning to the north, with every rope and spar outlined against the black northern sky. Cheer after cheer was raised as she gathered way, and long after she had pa.s.sed out of earshot the little band stood gazing at her receding hull, and wondering when they too would be able to take the northern track.
In the _Morning_ went a letter from Scott which shows that although in a sense disappointed by the prospect of having to remain for another winter, both he and his companions were not by any means dismayed. 'It is poor luck,' he wrote, 'as I was dead keen on getting a look round C. North before making for home. However we all take it philosophically, and are perfectly happy and contented on board, and shall have lots to do in winter, spring and summer. We will have a jolly good try to free the s.h.i.+p next year, though I fear manual labour doesn't go far with such terribly heavy ice as we have here; but this year we were of course unprepared, and when we realized the situation it was too late to begin anything like extensive operations. I can rely on every single man that remains in the s.h.i.+p and I gave them all the option of leaving...
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the s.h.i.+p's company is now practically naval-officers and men--it is rather queer when one looks back to the original gift of two officers.'
Referring to the Southern journey he says, 'We cut our food and fuel too fine.... I never knew before what it was to be hungry; at times we were famished and had to tighten our belts nightly before going to sleep. The others dreamt of food s.n.a.t.c.hed away at the last moment, but this didn't bother me so much.'
But characteristically the greater part of this long letter refers not to his own doings, but to the admirable qualities of those who were with him. Wilson, Royds, Skelton, Hodgson, Barne and Bernacchi are all referred to in terms of the warmest praise, and for the manner in which Colbeck managed the relief expedition the greatest admiration is expressed. But in some way or other Scott discovered good points in all the officers he mentioned, and if they were not satisfactory in every way his object seemed to be rather to excuse than to blame them. He was, however, unaffectedly glad to see the last of the cook, for the latter had shown himself far more capable at talking than at cooking, and had related so many of his wonderful adventures that one of the sailors reckoned that the sum total of these thrilling experiences must have extended over a period of five hundred and ninety years--which, as the sailor said, was a fair age even for a cook.
By March 14 even the most optimistic of the company were compelled to admit the certainty of a second winter, and orders were given to prepare the [Page 148]
s.h.i.+p for it. Compared with the previous year the weather had been a great deal worse, for there had been more wind and much lower temperatures, and under such conditions it was hopeless to go on expecting the ice to break up. But it was not to be wondered at that they found themselves wondering what their imprisonment meant.