OslundKaren - The worst journey in the world: Antarctic 1910-1913

The Worst Journey in the World
Antarctic 1910-1913
From a 1922 edition.

ISBN 978-1-775414-31-5

2009 THE FLOATING PRESS.

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This volume is a narrative of Scott's Last Expedition from its departure from England in 1910 to its return to New Zealand in 1913.

It does not, however, include the story of subsidiary parties exceptwhere their adventures touch the history of the Main Party.

It is hoped later to publish an appendix volume with an account of thetwo Geological Journeys, and such other information concerning theequipment of, and lessons learned by, this Expedition as may be of use tothe future explorer.

APSLEY CHERRY-GARRARD.

This post-war business is inartistic, for it is seldom that any one doesanything well for the sake of doing it well; and it is un-Christian, ifyou value Christianity, for men are out to hurt and not to helpcan youwonder, when the Ten Commandments were hurled straight from the pulpitthrough good stained glass. It is all very interesting and uncomfortable,and it has been a great relief to wander back in one's thoughts andcorrespondence and personal dealings to an age in geological time, somany hundred years ago, when we were artistic Christians, doing our jobsas well as we were able just because we wished to do them well, helpingone another with all our strength, and (I speak with personal humility)living a life of co-operation, in the face of hardships and dangers,which has seldom been surpassed.

The mutual conquest of difficulties is the cement of friendship, as it isthe only lasting cement of matrimony. We had plenty of difficulties; wesometimes failed, we sometimes won; we always faced themwe had to.Consequently we have some friends who are better than all the wives inMahomet's paradise, and when I have asked for help in the making of thisbook I have never never asked in vain. Talk of ex-soldiers: give meex-antarcticists, unsoured and with their ideals intact: they could sweepthe world.

The trouble is that they are inclined to lose their ideals in thiscomplicated atmosphere of civilization. They run one another down likethe deuce, and it is quite time that stopped. What is the use of Arunning down Scott because he served with Shackleton, or B going forAmundsen because he served with Scott? They have all done good work;within their limits, the best work to date. There are jobs for which, ifI had to do them, I would like to serve under Scott, Amundsen, Shackletonand Wilsoneach to his part. For a joint scientific and geographicalpiece of organization, give me Scott; for a Winter Journey, Wilson; for adash to the Pole and nothing else, Amundsen: and if I am in the devil ofa hole and want to get out of it, give me Shackleton every time. Theywill all go down in polar history as leaders, these men. I believe Bowerswould also have made a great name for himself if he had lived, and fewpolar ships have been commanded as capably as was the Terra Nova, byPennell.

In a way this book is a sequel to the friendship which there was between Wilson, Bowers and myself, which, having stood the strain of the Winter Journey, could never have been broken. Between the three of us we had a share in all the big journeys and bad times which came to Scott's main landing party, and what follows is, particularly, our unpublished diaries and letters. I, we, have tried to show how good the whole thing wasand how bad. I have had a freer hand than many in this, because much of the dull routine has been recorded already and can be found if wanted: also because, not being the leader of the expedition, I had no duty to fulfil in cataloguing my followers' achievements. But there was plenty of work left for me. It has been no mere gleaning of the polar field. Not half the story had been told, nor even all the most interesting documents. Among these, I have had from Mrs. Bowers her son's letters home, and from Lashly his diary of the Last Return Party on the Polar Journey. Mrs. Wilson has given her husband's diary of the Polar Journey: this is especially valuable because it is the only detailed account in existence from 87 32' to the Pole and after, with the exception of Scott's Diary already published. Lady Scott has given with both hands any records I wanted and could find. No one of my companions in the South has failed to help. They include Atkinson, Wright, Priestley, Simpson, Lillie and Debenham.

To all these good friends I can do no more than express my very sincerethanks.

As to production, after a good deal of experience, I was convinced that Icould trust a commercial firm to do its worst save when it gave them lesstrouble to do better. I acknowledge my mistake. In a wilderness of firmsin whom nothing was first class except their names and their prices, Ihave dealt with R. & R. Clark, who have printed this book, and EmeryWalker, who has illustrated it. The fact that Emery Walker is not onlyalive, but full of vitality, indicates why most of the other firms aremillionaires.

When I went South I never meant to write a book: I rather despised thosewho did so as being of an inferior brand to those who did things and saidnothing about them. But that they say nothing is too often due to thefact that they have nothing to say, or are too idle or too busy to learnhow to say it. Every one who has been through such an extraordinaryexperience has much to say, and ought to say it if he has any facultythat way. There is after the event a good deal of criticism, ofstock-taking, of checking of supplies and distances and so forth thatcannot really be done without first-hand experience. Out there we knewwhat was happening to us too well; but we did not and could not measureits full significance. When I was asked to write a book by the AntarcticCommittee I discovered that, without knowing it, I had intended to writeone ever since I had realized my own experiences. Once started, I enjoyedthe process. My own writing is my own despair, but it is better than itwas, and this is directly due to Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Shaw. At the age ofthirty-five I am delighted to acknowledge that my education has at lastbegun.

APSLEY CHERRY-GARRARD.

Lamer, Wheathampstead,

1921.

Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of havinga bad time which has been devised. It is the only form of adventure inwhich you put on your clothes at Michaelmas and keep them on untilChristmas, and, save for a layer of the natural grease of the body, findthem as clean as though they were new. It is more lonely than London,more secluded than any monastery, and the post comes but once a year. Asmen will compare the hardships of France, Palestine, or Mesopotamia, soit would be interesting to contrast the rival claims of the Antarctic asa medium of discomfort. A member of Campbell's party tells me that thetrenches at Ypres were a comparative picnic. But until somebody canevolve a standard of endurance I am unable to see how it can be done.Take it all in all, I do not believe anybody on earth has a worse timethan an Emperor penguin.