Shackleton's Heroes (34 page)

I
N THE MORNING
of 8 March Mackintosh was left behind, 30 miles from Hut Point. Joyce, Richards and Wild, and the four dogs were then to haul the sledge with both Spencer-Smith and Hayward on board, although Hayward was hobbling along at times.

They pitched the conical tent over Mackintosh and set him up with provisions. In Richards's memory he was comfortable there, quite willing to comply with the others and made no complaint or any comment. He thought Mackintosh seemed ‘a bit dull', as though he didn't seem to know what was happening.
1

Spencer-Smith made no diary entry.

Richards clearly remembered the night of 8 March. They turned in at about 10.30 p.m., very cramped for space as there were five in a three-man tent. It was a terrible night; pitch dark and so cold that they all shivered violently the whole night through. Their sleeping bags were threadbare and filled with ice condensed in the fur.
2
Mackintosh had written previously about the cold nights of March, how he ‘shivered most of the night' and the ‘lower temperature caused the bags which were moist to freeze
hard'. None of the men slept and spent the night ‘twisting and turning'. To Mackintosh: ‘sleep in these conditions is impossible'.
3

Spencer-Smith said he had stomach pains, and he was bleeding from the bowels. They could see the blood seeping through his sleeping bag.
4

Joyce: ‘Wished the Skipper goodbye. Took Smith + Hayward on. Had a fair wind, going pretty good. Hope to arrive in Hut Pt in 4 days. Lunched at Copes No. 2 depot. Did about 4½ miles.'
5

Hayward:

Richards: ‘Marched approximately 8 miles. Haywood just  staggering.'
7

Wild wrote: ‘Very cold.'
8

They camped 20 miles from Hut Point.

Spencer-Smith died in the early morning. Even though he had taken some opium, Richards believed this was to relieve his stomach pains, not to take his own life. Richards remembered taking a vial of opium tablets out of Spencer-Smith's vest pocket and saw that it was full except for four. Richards was sure he had not poisoned himself. He did not believe Spencer-Smith took enough tablets – four would not have hurt him even if he had taken them all that night.
9

Richards wrote more on Spencer-Smith in his book
The Ross Sea Shore
Party
. He tells us that from 29 January, until 8 March when he died, Spencer-Smith was on the sledge. They tried to do what they could to make life more comfortable for him and they were upset that they had not done more. Richards felt that the jolting of the sledge must have been almost
unbearable at times. Now, within two days' march of comparative safety, his loss seemed so tragic after what he had been through.
10

Richards believed that Spencer-Smith had a high sense of duty and this led to him losing his life. He no doubt felt that the final depot just had to be made for Shackleton and he pushed himself to the limit to carry this out. Richards felt that a man with a lesser sense of obligation would have turned back earlier.
11

They dug a grave and buried him. They had to roll his body (in his sleeping bag) to the grave dug in the snow as they were too weak to lift it. Hayward sat against the sledge with his back towards the operations refusing to look.
12

Wild: ‘Woke up this morning and found poor Smith dead at 6am.'
13

Joyce:

Richards remembered that Spencer-Smith spoke to Wild in a jocular manner, as Wild got up from his sleeping bag to relieve himself, saying: ‘Have you lost your bearings Tubby?'
15

Wild: ‘He asked me the time at 4 o'clock and spoke to Richards afterwards. It was very cold last night, that and all the hardships he has gone through did it.'
16

Richards:

Sometime later Richards looked across at Spencer-Smith. Joyce said Richards called out: ‘I think he has gone.'
18

They thought he had been dead for some little time as ice had formed on his eyelashes and beard.
19
Here's Hayward: ‘On getting up we found that Smith had died during the night & we're able to fix the time from various incidents at about 5 o/c AM.'
20

Joyce:

Wild:

Richards:

Joyce: ‘We buried him in his bag at 9 o'clock at the following position: Ereb. 184 – Obs. Hill 149 Dis 93. We made a cross of bamboos + built a mound + cairn, with particulars.'
24

Richards: ‘Bearings Erebus 184°, Observation Hill 149°, Mt Discovery 93°.'
25

Hayward: ‘We buried him at 9 o/c erecting a cairn & cross. It was bitterly
cold in the night, & this combined with his weak condition was no doubt the cause of death.'
26

And Wild, a day later, wrote: ‘We buried Smithy as reverently as possible at 9am, yesterday. We built a cairn over him, & put a rough cross made of two bamboos. It's a great pity, him dying within 20 miles of Hut Point.'
27

(A January 1917 medical report by Cope stated: ‘Spencer-Smith's death. Although he was in such good spirits and so near safety, his death was due to the effects of scurvy reaching his heart, an almost invariable effect in prolonged cases. But it is also possible that his previous heart trouble may have made this organ liable to an early attack. Another factor which aggravated his case was that he took opium to send him to sleep.'
28
)

Their mood of the four men was understandably sombre as they set off for Hut Point without Spencer-Smith, and with Mackintosh out on the Barrier on his own. If the dogs were in good spirits there would have been a joyous clamour of welcome as the men arose for the day but they too were tired. On the march the men saw the lack of effort from the dogs by their low-carried heads and trailing tails, showing an utter weariness of life.

Typically Joyce was out in front for the day's march, with the harness slung over his shoulder, bent forward with the whole weight of the trace. Now and again he would raise and half turn his head to cheer on the others. That night there was little joy in their diaries.

Richards: ‘We marched perhaps 10 miles today and made very hard work of it.

‘We are weak and the dogs too have scurvy, I think. They have no heart.'
29

Hayward: ‘All realizing the necessity of getting into Hut Pt if we are to save our lives & of course that of the Skipper. Dogs do not seem to do anything much & progress is slow. Put up 9 M for day.'
30

Joyce:

On the morning of 10 March Joyce, Richards, Hayward and Wild were only 10 miles from Hut Point. They had 5 miles to travel across the last of the Great Ice Barrier and from there it would be a few more miles around the edge of the sea-ice to be within 2 miles of Hut Point. These 2 miles would be a last small step, if the sea was frozen over, otherwise it would be a
two-day
trek around the hills to get to Hut Point.

The first part of their day went well, as did the trek to the edge of the sea-ice, but the sea-ice was not frozen, which meant they could not walk directly to Hut Point. They then had no alternative but to climb the steep slopes and camp for the night. They were so exhausted they could take no more than a couple of steps up the hills before having to rest. They even thought of sleeping in the snow.

A serious problem now confronted them – how would they get the incapacitated Hayward around the slopes to Hut Point the next day?

Joyce:

Hayward: ‘We were disheartened to find that a big lane of open water & fissures barred further progress forcing us to turn.'
33

Joyce:

Wild:

Hayward, stricken with scurvy, was aware that he was of little help: ‘After getting tent up they returned for bags &c. whilst I fixed the camp & we all turned in exhausted & utterly played out.'
36

Joyce: ‘I think this is the worst day I ever spent. What with the disappointment of not getting round the Point, and the long day and the thought of getting Hayward over the slopes, it is not very entertaining for sleep.'
37

Mackintosh spent the night alone in his tent, out on the Barrier, 30 miles from Hut Point.

The next day started well when Joyce, and then Richards with Wild, checked the state of the sea-ice from the hills and saw that it looked secure.
This meant they might be able to descend the hills and cross to Hut Point over the ice. They found a way down to the sea-ice and even though the sea-ice was not firm they took the risk and kept going. Finally, they arrived at
Discovery
hut.

The hut was only an empty wooden shed with no heating or bunks. However, they were now safe, and to these four men the hut represented security. As Richards wrote in his book: ‘There was no one there, and of course we had expected no one'. They found that snow had seeped into the hut and they had to pass Hayward through a window to enter.
38

Many years later he recalled having an overwhelming desire for fresh meat when they were getting close to seals. He tells us it was rather extraordinary how his system reacted when they crossed a crack in the ice to go into the hut and there were several seals there. He says he had a strong urge to kill one of them ‘and to drink the blood'. To him it was an amazing feeling, an almost overpowering one and he believed that if the hut had been further away than just a hundred yards he would have killed one of the seals there and then. He remembers that his system was crying out for the blood – and that feeling he had never forgotten – it remained very vividly in the forefront of his mind, sixty years later.
39
But their first step on arrival was to have a meal of cooked dried vegetables, and then to kill seals for fresh meat.