THE RETURN OF THE "NIMROD"
During the winter the _Nimrod_ had been laid up in Port Lyttelton, and
had been thoroughly overhauled so that she should once more be ready to
battle with the ice. Captain F. P. Evans had been appointed master of
the ship under my power of attorney, Captain England having resigned
on account of ill-health, and towards the end of the year sufficient
stores were taken on board to provide for a party staying at Cape
Royds through the winter, in case one of the sledging-parties had not
returned, and also to provide for the ship if she herself was frozen
up.
The _Nimrod_ left Lyttelton again on December 1, 1908, and enjoyed fine
weather for the voyage southwards, the experience of Captain Evans
on this voyage going to show that, under normal conditions, the pack
that stretches out from the Barrier to the eastward of the Ross Sea is
impenetrable, and that the _Discovery_ was able to push to within sight
of King Edward VII Land in 1902 because the ice was unusually open
during that season. Twenty-eight miles from Cape Royds fast ice was
encountered, and as there seemed to be no immediate possibility of the
ship being able to proceed, Captain Evans decided to send Mackintosh
with three men to convey a mail-bag to the winter quarters. No very
great difficulties were anticipated for this expedition, but as it
turned out, not only difficulties but also dangers and almost death
were to be met with.
On January 3 Mackintosh set out with McGillan, Riches and Paton, but in
the afternoon Riches and Paton returned to the ship and Mackintosh and
McGillan proceeded alone.
On the second day their way was blocked by open water with pressure ice
floating past, and although they walked for two hours in a westerly
direction to see how far the water reached, they did not get to the end
of it. The whole of the ice to the southward seemed to be moving, and
as the open water seemed to take away any possibility of reaching Cape
Royds, they started back to the ship.
Presently Mackintosh discovered that there was also open water ahead
of them, blocking the way to the ship, and a survey of the position
revealed the unpleasant fact that the floe-ice was breaking up
altogether, and that they were in serious danger of drifting out into
the Sound. Safety lay only in a hurried dash for the shore to the
east, and every two hundred yards or so they had to drag their sledge
to the edge of a floe, jump over a lane of water, and then with a big
effort pull the sledge after them.
After an hour of this work their hands were cut and bleeding, and their
clothes were frozen as stiff as boards, for they had frequently slipped
and fallen when crossing from floe to floe. At last, however, they
approached the land, and came to a piece of glacier ice that formed a
bridge. The floe that they were on was moving rapidly, so they had to
make a great effort and drag the sledge over a six-foot breach. They
succeeded in doing this and were in a safe position again, but had they
been fifteen minutes later they would have been lost, for by that time
there was open water where they had gained the land.
Near this spot they decided to camp, and McGillan was almost at once
so badly attacked by snow-blindness that his face was badly swollen
and his eyes tightly closed. So bad indeed was McGillan that, until
Mackintosh could bear the pain no longer in silence, he did not know
that his companion was suffering from the same complaint as himself.
For several days they stayed in camp, and when their eyes were better
they studied the bird-life of the neighbourhood, until, tired of seeing
no sign of the ship. Mackintosh decided that they would leave the heavy
mail-bag in their tent and march to Cape Royds. Then followed one of
those battles against crevasses and hidden dangers with which those
who take part in polar exploration are too intimately acquainted. Once
McGillan fell into a yawning chasm and was only held up on a projection
of ice, and frequently one slip would have meant the end of all things
in this world for both of them.
At last a point was reached at which their way was blocked in every
direction by crevasses, ascent was no longer possible, and below them
lay a steep slope running down for about 300 ft. What lay at the bottom
they could not tell, but their case was desperate and they decided to
glissade down.
Their knives, which they attempted to use as brakes, were torn from
their grasp, but they managed to keep their heels in the snow and to
reach the bottom in safety.
Hunger had seized them for they had practically no food left, but two
hours after they had dashed down the slope they could see Cape Royds
and hoped soon to be at the winter quarters.
Immediately afterwards, however, such thick snow began to fall that
they could not see two yards ahead, and for hours they were stumbling
along in the blinding storm. Occasionally they rested for a few
minutes, but icicles hung from their faces, and they did not dare to
stay still for long.
Heavy snow continued to cut off all view of the surrounding country,
and they had been wandering for twenty-seven hours after their
glissade, when Day found them in a state of complete exhaustion, and
just staggering along because they knew that to stop meant death. Had
not Day been outside the hut--to which the travellers had no idea they
were close--watching for the return of the ship, that expedition,
undertaken so light-heartedly, must almost certainly have been a fatal
one to Mackintosh and McGillan.
The two weary men reached the hut on January 12, but a week before that
date the _Nimrod_ had arrived at Cape Royds, and had gone north again
to search for them. Doomed to disappointment and horror were the men
at the hut when they learned that not only were they not to have any
letters, but that also Mackintosh and McGillan had left the ship on the
3rd to try to bring the letters more quickly over the sea-ice and over
the bay, which even then was filled with loose pack and which a few
days before had been open water.
[Illustration: The "Nimrod" held up in the Ice. (_See page 178_)]
On January 7 the _Nimrod_ left Cape Royds again to seek for the
lost men, and in a few hours was beset by ice, and so remained for
practically the whole of the time between the 7th and the 15th. On
the afternoon of the 16th, however, the ship cleared the ice, and
approached the only piece of shore on which there was a chance of
finding Mackintosh and McGillan. Near the end of a stretch of beach a
small patch of greenish colour was seen, and the telescope revealed
the details of a deserted camp and a tent torn to ribbons. A boat
was at once sent ashore, and the bag of letters was discovered, and
also a note from Mackintosh telling of his risky attempt to cross the
mountains.
As Murray, who was on the ship, knew the frightfully crevassed
character of the ground which Mackintosh and McGillan had determined to
cross, little hope of their safety remained.
Judge, then, the joy of those on board the _Nimrod_ when two men came
out to meet the ship on its arrival at Cape Royds, and one of them was
seen to be McGillan.