Part 22 (1/2)
From Gran's diary the following is taken:
”It has happened--horrible, ugly fate, only 11 miles from One Ton Depot, Scott, Wilson, and Birdie. All ghastly. I will never forget it as long as I live: a terrible nightmare could not have shown more horror than this 'Campo Santo.' In a tent, snow covered to above the door, we found the three bodies. Scott in the middle, half out of his bag, Birdie on his right, and Uncle Bill on the left, lying head towards the door. .. Bowers and Wilson seem to have pa.s.sed away in a kind of sleep.... Concerning our unlucky Polar Party we learned that Petty Officer Evans died at the Lower Glacier Depot; he was done, and had fallen coming down the Glacier: death was the result of a concussion of the brain. On the Barrier they met with extreme low temperatures. Down to -50 degrees in the night time for weeks, also head wind.
”'Soldier' had got his feet frost-bitten badly and suffered enormously. He understood that the salvation of the party depended on his death--but as death would not relieve him he went out of the tent in a blizzard to meet it. The three others arrived here at this camp March 21 with food for two days and fuel for one meal. A terrible blizzard prevented them from getting in, and on March 29 all was finished.
”Scott writes in his diary: 'There is no more hope, and so G.o.d look after our people....' All this only a day's march from plenty.... We buried them this morning, a solemn undertaking. How strange it was to see men bareheaded whilst the wind blew with the thermometer at -20 degrees. We are now going to look for 'Soldier' and then return to look for Campbell. I must say our Expedition is not given much luck ... the sun is s.h.i.+ning beautifully in this place of death: over the Bluff this morning stood a distinct cross in clouds.”
It continues: ”November 12, Lunch time:
”We have built a cairn--a 12-foot cairn--and put a cross made of a pair of skis on it....” Gran says later, and it is worth quoting: ”When I saw those three poor souls the other day, I just felt that I envied them.
They died having done something great. How hard death must be for those who meet it having done nothing.”
Atkinson in his account says:
”We recovered all their gear and dug out the sledge with their belongings on it. Amongst these were 35 lb. of very important geological specimens which had been collected on the moraines of the Beardmore Glacier: at Doctor Wilson's request they had stuck to these up to the very end, even when disaster stared them in the face and they knew that the specimens were so much weight added to what they had to pull....”
The following record was left:
”November 12, 1912, Lat.i.tude 79 degrees, 50 minutes, South. This cross and cairn are erected over the bodies of Captain Scott, C.V.O., R.N., Doctor E.A. Wilson, M.B., B.C., Cantab., and Lieutenant H.R. Bowers, Royal Indian Marine--a slight token to perpetuate their successful and gallant attempt to reach the Pole. This they did on January 17, 1912, after the Norwegian Expedition had already done so. Inclement weather with lack of fuel was the cause of their death. Also to commemorate their two gallant comrades, Captain L.E.G. Oates of the Inniskilling Dragoons, who walked to his death in a blizzard to save his comrades, about eighteen miles south of this position; also of Seaman Edgar Evans, who died at the foot of the Beardmore Glacier. 'The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'”
This was signed by all the members of the party.
”I decided then to march twenty miles south with the whole of the Expedition and try to find the body of Captain Oates. For half the day we proceeded south, as far as possible along the line of the previous season's march. On one of the old pony walls, which was simply marked by a ridge of the surface of the snow, we found Oates's sleeping-bag, which they had brought along with them after he had left.
”The next day we proceeded thirteen miles more south, hoping and searching to find his body. When we arrived at the place where he had left them, we saw that there was no chance of doing so. The kindly snow had covered his body, giving him a fitting burial. Here, again, as near to the site of the death as we could judge, we built another cairn to his memory, and placed thereon a small cross and the following record: 'Hereabouts died a very gallant gentleman, Captain L.E.G. Oates of the Inniskilling Dragoons. In March, 1912, returning from the Pole, he walked willingly to his death in a blizzard, to try and save his comrades, beset by hards.h.i.+ps. This note is left by the Relief Expedition of 1912.'”
Atkinson writes also, and it should be inserted most certainly here, referring to their return after hunting for poor Oates's body:
”On the second day we came again to the resting place of the three and bade them there a final farewell. There alone in their greatness they will lie without change or bodily decay, with the most fitting tomb in the world above them.”
Atkinson could not have expressed himself more beautifully. My book should end here, but there is an epilogue to it: it is the illuminating story of Campbell and his northern party, with a short indication of what was done elsewhere by the Expedition's men. The homeward journey was made in sorrow and doubt, for Atkinson's little band of brothers had to shoulder another responsibility--the determination of Campbell's fate.
On November 27, 1912, Gran's diary gives as follows:
”Great news again--great, good news. Campbell here and his party safe at Cape Evans. They just missed us going out. They lived a winter a la Eskimo, Igloo and so on, and have been quite comfortable, so they say.
Campbell is looking very well. He is now in command, and intends to do only small trips--Erebus and so on....”
Atkinson now handed over to Campbell, and whilst mentioning this it is just as well to call attention to the splendid services of Dr. Atkinson.
Grit and loyalty were his outstanding qualities. He was later on specially promoted to Surgeon Commander for his work in the Expedition.
CHAPTER XVIII
ADVENTURES OF THE NORTHERN PARTY
To set forth concisely the adventurous story of Campbell's Northern Party in a single chapter is no light task. Raymond Priestley has written it in book form already, just as Griffith-Taylor has published his particular narrative of the Western Journey in ”The Silver Lining.” Both books are of absorbing interest to those who are fond of Polar literature.
I have, I hope, made clear the reason of Campbell's landing at Cape Adare. Mr. Borchgrevink in his ”Southern Cross” Antarctic Expedition used this position as his winter quarters, and found, just as Campbell did, that it was not a suitable part of the Antarctic continent for making extensive sledge journeys from. Still, King Edward's Land was denied him.
Amundsen was established before him in the Bay of Whales, and in spite of diligent search the Cape Adare choice was the only one left to Victor Campbell and his five companions. Scott's instructions have already been reproduced in this volume: he mentioned Robertson Bay, and Cape Adare is at the N.E. extreme of the Promontory bounding the Bay to the Eastward.