WE LEAVE LYTTELTON
By strenuous labour we were in readiness to start from Lyttelton on
New Year's Day, and we were honoured by the Postmaster-General of the
Dominion printing off for us a small issue of special stamps, and
making me a postmaster during my stay in the Antarctic.
The quarters of the scientific staff on board the _Nimrod_ were
certainly small, and as the day of departure approached, Oyster Alley
reached a state of congestion awful to contemplate. The ponies--of
which we finally took away ten known as "Socks," "Queen," "Grisi,"
"Chinaman," "Billy," "Zulu," "Doctor," "Sandy," "Nimrod," and
"Mac"--were carried on deck and ten stout stalls were built for them.
The motor-car was enclosed in a large case and made fast with chains on
the after-hatch whence it could be transferred easily to the ice. Our
deck load, indeed, was so heavy that the _Nimrod_ was low in the water,
and when we left Lyttelton the little ship had only three feet six
inches of freeboard.
In order to save coal I was anxious to have the _Nimrod_ towed south,
and the Government of the Dominion agreed to pay half the cost of the
tow, and Sir James Mills, chairman of the Union Steamship Company,
offered to pay the other half. The _Koonya_, a steel-built steamer of
about 1100 tons, was chartered and placed under the command of Captain
F. P. Evans. The wisdom of this selection was proved by subsequent
events. Before my departure I placed the conduct of the affairs of the
expedition in New Zealand into the hands of Mr. J. J. Kinsey, whose
assistance and advice had already been of great service to me.
January 1, 1908, arrived at last, a warm and clear morning for our last
day in civilisation. Before sunset we were to sever all ties with the
outer world, but we all looked forward eagerly to our coming venture,
for the glamour of the unknown was with us and the south was calling.
All day long the deck of our little vessel was thronged by sight-seers,
who showed the greatest interest in everything connected with the
ship and her equipment. There were many whose criticisms were frankly
pessimistic as to our chances of weathering an Antarctic gale, for the
_Nimrod_ was deep in the water, but we, having confidence in the ship,
were not disturbed by these criticisms.
Oyster Alley was crammed with the personal belongings of at least
fourteen of the shore-party, and if you once got into it the
difficulty of getting out was even greater. The entrance to this
twentieth-century Black Hole was through a narrow doorway and down a
ladder, which ushered one into almost complete darkness. And it was in
this uncomfortable, crowded, murky place that the spirit of romance
grew strong in the heart of George Buckley, until he suddenly jumped up
and asked if I would take him as far as the ice. I was only too glad
to consent, for his interest in the expedition showed that his heart
was in the right place, and his personality had already appealed to
us all. It was then 2 P.M. and the _Nimrod_ sailed at 4 P.M., but in
those two hours he dashed to Christchurch, gave his power of attorney
to a friend, slung a tooth-brush and some underclothing into a bag, and
arrived on board a few minutes before sailing time, equipped for the
most rigorous weather in the world with only the summer suit he was
wearing. Surely a record in the way of joining a polar expedition!
Cheer after cheer broke from the watching thousands as we moved towards
the harbour entrance, and after a most cordial send-off we stopped
to pick up our tow-line from the _Koonya_; and this operation being
completed we signalled the _Koonya_ to go ahead and were soon in the
open sea.
Fortunately we did not know that we were not to take our clothes off
for the next two weeks, and that we were to live in a constant state
of wetness and watchfulness until we arrived in the neighbourhood of
winter quarters. But bad weather was not long delayed, and I was soon
wishing for the splendid modern gear of the _Discovery_, the large,
specially built vessel that we had on the previous expedition.
[Illustration: View of the Great Ice Barrier]
As the wind and sea increased the _Nimrod_ pitched about, shifting
everything that could be moved on deck. The seas began to break over
her, and we were soon wet through, not to be properly dry again for
many days. Our chief anxiety was the care of the ponies, and looking
back now to those days, it remains wonderful to me how they survived
the hardships that fell to their lot.
The _Nimrod_ had--owing to her deeply loaded condition--begun the
voyage like a reluctant child being dragged to school, but as the gale
increased in vehemence she seemed to throw off the sluggishness which
possessed her, when she had found herself outward bound at the end of a
tow-line for the first time in her strenuous life of forty years. Now
that the tow-line was but little use--save to steady us in the furious
gale--the _Nimrod_ began to play her own hand, and marvellously well
did she play it. So furiously did the gale blow that on the morning of
the 5th I told Captain England to signal and ask the _Koonya_ to pour
oil on the water, but although this helped us to a certain extent it
did not prevent the heaviest seas from breaking on board. The _Nimrod_
rolled over fifty degrees from the perpendicular to each side; how
much more than that I cannot say for the indicator was only marked up
to fifty degrees, and the pointer had passed that mark. Under these
circumstances it was but natural that the sturdy ponies had their
strength taxed to the utmost to keep their footing. It was impossible
to sling them, for they were only half-broken, and an attempt to put a
sling under one nearly drove it crazy with fright. On the night of the
5th during an extra heavy roll one of the ponies slipped, and when the
ship rolled the opposite way it turned right over on its back and could
not regain its footing. All our attempts to get "Doctor," as he was
called, upon his legs failed, and regretfully I had to order him to be
shot.