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JAMES CAIRD SOCIETY JOURNAL, EDITED BY STEPHEN SCOTT-FAWCETT FRGS
JCS JOURNAL NO.5: ANOTHER FIRST-RATE CONTRIBUTION TO SHACKLETON STUDIES
Praise has been flowing in for JCS Journal no. 5, edited once more by Stephen Scott-Fawcett FRGS. The layout is splendid and the illustrations (some specially commissioned) handsome, imaginitive and well-chosen.
Centred around an extensive report by James Wordie on the Natural History of Pack Ice in the Weddell Sea, reproduced courtesy of the SPRI, JCS Journal 5 embraces articles on Antarctic personalities, expeditions and related matters, amounting to an impressive small archive in itself of great interest and use for Shackleton and Antarctic enthusiasts.
Frank Bickerton, mechanical engineer on Sir Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic expedition of 1911-14, is a case in point. Stephen Haddelsey, who has published a biography of Bickerton entitled Born Adventurer, summarises Bickerton's contribution, including as engineer to the expedition's ill-fated Vickers aircraft, and then as leader of the Western Sledging Party (Dec 1912-Jan 1913), surveying 160 miles of territory west of Mawson's Cape Denison base, for which he maintained an important and valuable sledging journal.
Most exciting of all was the discovery of a transcript of a broadcast Bickerton gave for the BBC, detailing his aerial pioneering and his collaborations with Shackleton (on a 'wingless aeroplane') and later with Wild and McIlroy (exploring in Africa).
Of similar interest is Haddelsey's discussion of J. R. Stenhouse, of the Aurora party, in which he draws on the original journals of both Stenhouse and Aeneas Mackintosh. Though the pair never journeyed together to the Antarctic, Stenhouse and Bickerton eventually became good friends. 'As their biographer', Haddelsey observes, 'I can only hope that readers of both books will share something of both the joy anfd the thrill which researching and writing about two such extraordinary men entailed.'
Next comes Robert Stephenson's piecing together of Shackleton's U.S. lecture tour following the Nimrod expedition. Philadelphia, New York's Carnegie Hall and Symphony Hall, Boston are all covered. Sir Ernest and his wife Emily, who travelled with him, were well received. The Boston visit is examined in detail, including the plans for the lecture and Shackleton's reception at various clubs in the city. The visit was not without hazard, for in the smaller townships audiences were disappointingly small. However the tour lasted several months, taking in Canada as well as the USA. There is an intriguing postscript reminding us that Edward Shackleton, Sir Ernest's son, was himself an eminent explorer who lectured in the United States.
Michael Smith's invigorating and inspiring contribution is a survey of the lives of two of the greatest 19th century Polar explorers, James Clark Ross and Francis Crozier.
Their joint expedition to the Southern seas commanding the Erebus and the Terror led to the discovery of the Ross Sea, Ross Island, Mt. Erebus - most southerly volcano on earth - and McMurdo Sound. Other prominent sites, including Cape Adare, Mt. Melbourne and what was more recently renamed the Ross Ice Shelf, were also located and named.
It was Britain's first attempt to unlock the inner secrets of the Antarctic. Ross had already, between 1818 and 1836, spent some twelve seasons exploring in northerly Polar regions. Crozier was his best friend and was specially chosen by him to command the second ship.
Michael Smith looks at the character of both men and shrewdly assesses the merits of both ships before going on to discuss their expedition's progress during the Antarctic summers of 1840-41 and 1841-2 sometimes driving the ships through an obstructing barrier of ice. Possession Island was another of their discoveries. A year later the two crossed to South Georgia and began exploration where James Weddell had previously led the way in the 1820s.
Michael Smith is a fine storyteller and his ability to summarise while giving many facts in lively manner makes this substantial nine-page resume a splendid read. Crozier tragically died on Sir John Franklin's ill-fated attempt last attempt to locate the North West passage. Michael Smith's well-turned biography of him, Captain Francis Crozier - Last Man Standing?, has already been highly praised and well received.
If the above article adds strength and substance to this fine latest journal, J. M Wordie's observations on 'The Natural History of Pack-ice as observed in the Weddell Sea', which with illustrations, even abridged, covers some 20 pages, is a masterly addition to our knowledge of Shackleton studies.
Wordie's observations date from the period of the 1914-16 Endurance expedition, and are thus of special and added interest to Shackleton enthusiasts. But it Wordie the scientist who shines through, his observations on the formation, congregating and interacting of the ice, well informed of the findings of those expeditions which preceded the Endurance but scrupulous in reinforcing the existing terminology and defining new detail.
His introductory glossary ('hummocking', 'pool', 'growlers') is helpful, and his discussion of the 'early stages' (including 'ice-flowers') tidy and compact.
He devotes very considerable detail to Ice in Motion ('cracking','pressure'
'rafting') and other tensions within floes. Physical changes in the ice and changes in structure are addressed; and decay - the dissolution of the ice - rounds off. There is no doubting that even in abbreviated form this is a first-rate study, far too substantial to summarise; and its inclusion is an editorial masterstroke - a superb choice to lend added scholarly value to the latest JCS Journal. The paper was first given on Wordie's behalf by a colleague at the Royal Society, Edinburgh in June 1921.
There is much else to admire. Shane Murphy's introduction of diary references by Frank Hurley and his reflections on the images Hurley took covers another nine pages, and Michael Gilkes's South Georgia observations are a contribution from someone of eminence with over half a century's deep familiarity with the region. The Editor provides a clutch of some well thought-out book reviews and in two cases has invited authors to reflect on the background and purpose of their work.
All in all, JCS Journal 5 does honour to both the James Caird Society and to Shackleton studies and those of the southern region. It is heartily to be welcomed.
LATEST EDITION OF THE JCS JOURNAL WIDELY WELCOMED
A JOURNAL IN THE BEST SCHOLARLY TRADITION
At the last JCS meeting there was considerable appreciation and interest expressed in the newest issue of the James Caird Society Journal.
This handsome publication (JCS Journal Number Four), edited by Stephen Scott-Fawcett FRICS FRGS, includes a first-rate selection of essays and book reviews.
Of particular interest are the very substantial extracts from the personal diary of one of the crucial (and also intriguing and controversial) members of Shackleton's Endurance expedition: Harry McNish, the ship's carpenter and - crucially - the reconstructer of the James Caird, in whom defence many have spoken out in recent years, not least because of Shackleton's decision, on whatsoever grounds, not to award McNish a Polar Medal.
These colourful, well-written and strikingly positive entries by McNish run for over 20 pages (prefaced by a valuable introduction), spanning the period December 1914 (the setting off of Endurance) to May 1916 (the party's rescue from Elephant Island), with substantial extracts from each month. The present selection has been collated and edited by Stephen Scott Fawcett from the full version originally issued on CD-ROM by Shane Murphy.
Just turned 40, Harry McNish was the oldest member of the ship's party. His diary entries reveal McNish's sensitive and often enthusiastic responses to the beauty of place, to temperature and weather conditions. They cover day-to-day things like meals and rations, birthdays and events, McNish’s fondness and concern for animals (not least the dogs), his thoughts for his wife and family, the party’s various hopes and plans for escape to various northerly islands, and (during November) McNish’s essential work not just building up the James Caird, but strengthening the Dudley Docker and then the Stancomb Wills. It was on these that their survival hung.
So far from suggesting any intemperate anger and resentment following the loss of Mrs. Chippy, his beloved cat, he concedes with sad resignation in the diary that she could not come with them once they disembarked from the ship.
These fascinating entries conclude with McNish at King Haakon Bay, far from exhausted, preparing the James Caird for a possible onward voyage round South Georgia island by sea, and McNish being left by Shackleton in charge of the three-man group left behind at the landing point.
Tom Crean's acclaimed biographer, Michael Smith, launches Journal Volume 4 with a stimulating 12-page essay on the Nimrod expedition (culminating in Shackleton's 'Furthest South' in 1909) in celebration of the expedition’s centenary this year. It includes striking pictures of the southern party upon its return, and of the Nimrod upon its rearr8ival at civilisation at Lyttelton harbour, New Zealand. As well as An Unsung Hero – Tom Crean, Antarctic Survivor (2000) and two books for children: Tom Crean – Iceman and Shackleton – The Boss (2004), Michael’s other books include I Am Just Going Outside – A Life of Captain Oates (2002); Sir James Wordie – Polar Crusader (2004); Tom Crean – An Illustrated Life (2006, shortlisted for the Irish Published Book of the Year 2007); and Captain Francis Crozier – Last Man Standing? (2006).
Penguins get a good innings in the new Journal, both in colour photographs and in a lively article on the Palmer penguin by Meredith Hooper; and there are some first-rate colour reproductions of Antarctic stamp first-day covers.
One issue which could yet one day yield problems is the conflicting British, Argentinian and Chilean claims to the Weddell Sea side of the Antarctic continent. Martin Williams introduces, summarises and then lists in detail, Article by Article, the provisions of that 1960 treaty, including the signatories and dates of accession - many in 1960 but some (such as Estonia, Venezuela, India, China and both Koreas) much more recently.
Awareness of other eminent polar explorers is enhanced by a book review by the Editor of No More Beyond - The life of Hubert Wilkins, by Simon Nasht, published (see earlier article on the JCS website) by Birlinn Books (ISBN: 978 1 84158 5192).
Born George H. Wilkins but dubbed, at his own request, ‘Sir Hubert’ by King George V, the Australian explorer (1888-1958; as a war photographer he showed extraordinary courage, winning the MC and bar for rescuing the wounded in the opening stages of the third battle of Ypres during 1917 and in the final advance of 1918) was one of the first to see and capitalise on the potential of aerial photography in recording and mapping out-of-the-way places. In this respect above all Wilkins was a true Antarctic pioneer. Stephen Scott-Fawcett's extended summary of this Australian maverick's remarkable trysts with death makes good reading in itself, and he gives one a healthy appetite to acquire and read the book itself.
Another important book feature (part of the main section) is the description by Michael Rosove of how he came to explore the correspondence between Emily Shackleton and Hugh Robert Mill, the explorer's first biographer (and still one the most perceptive).
Published as Rejoice My Heart, this fascinating series of exchanges (the title comes from Lady Shackleton's delighted and enthusiastic initial exchanges on the subject with the future biographer), full of deep personal insights, is issued by Adelie Books (ISBN: 0 9705386 2 8), and is reviewed positively by the Editor ("Make no mistake about it, this is a remarkable book...") on page 68; while a feature from Stephenie Barczewski draws attention to the contrasts in personality, background and approach of a range of key Antarctic figures in her book Antarctic Destinies - the changing face of heroism (Hambledon Press, ISBN: 978 1 84725 1923).
Reviews of the Dictionary of Falklands Biography, edited by led by the islands' former governor David Tatham assisted by a distinguished editorial committee, and of Stephen Haddesley's biography of J. R. Stenhouse, a key member of the Nimrod expedition, are promised for volume 5, and are to be keenly looked forward to.
Jonathan Shackleton's letter praising Volume Three of the JCS Journal draws added attention to the huge value and significance of this publication in the Society's life, and in enhancing its now tangible and considerable contribution to Shackleton and Antarctic studies.
Sponsors and supporters of the Journal whose service may be of value to readers include the eminent Antiquarian Booksellers J & SL Bonham (bonbooks.dial.pixel.com); polar and travel specialists Meridian Rare Books (www.meridianrarebooks.co.uk); Glacier Books, Scotland's leading polar specialists (www.glacierbooks.com); auctioneers Bonhams (www.bonhams.com) whose regular sales in London and Oxford include valued Antarctic books, maps and MSS; the Canadian company Aquila Books (www.aquilabooks.com), who are based in Alberta but make twice-yearly trips to the UK to buy book collections; and Kingsbridge Books in Devon, purchasers and sellers of books and ephemera (contact: Paul Davies, email paul@daviesdev.freeserve.co.uk); and not least, the Editor himself, who is to be congratulated upon another handsome publication.
JAMES CAIRD SOCIETY JOURNAL NO. 3 PUBLISHED
ATTRACTIVE, DETAILED AND SCHOLARLY JOURNAL
The third James Caird Society Journal was published in spring 2007 and its appearance has been met with general appreciation and acclaim.
A handsome volume printed on quality paper and in A4 format, the Journal runs to 76 pages and is edited by Stephen Scott-Fawcett, FRICS FRGS, who is a member of the James Caird Society Committee. In the initial article he introduces the detailed plans of the Antarctic Heritage Trust Conservation Plan for the preservation and restoration of Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds, Ross Island, which was used by Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod expedition in 1907-9, and also by members of Captain Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova expedition (1910-11), on which all members of the South Polar party died.
Three members of Shackleton's Endurance expedition figure prominently in Journal Number Three: Dr. Jan Piggott reviews Michael Smith's new biography of Sir James Wordie (it will be remembered that Michael Smith contributed a handsome and informative essay on Wordie to JCS Journal Number 2; Wordie went on to found The Arctic Club in 1932, and won renown for his journeys not just to Antarctica with Shackleton, but to Svalbard, East Greenland and Baffin Island); and Wordie's own obituary of both Sir Ernest Shackleton (1922) - recalling that 'it was Shackleton who initiated the Australian Antarctic Expedition (1910-13) finally organized and commanded by Sir Douglas Mawson' and suggesting that Scott, Bruce and Shackleton 'set an example of heroism and created romance for the generations to come' - and Frank Wild (in The Scott Polar Research Institute's journal Polar Record, vol. 3, No. 19, January 1940) are also reprinted.
Frank Wild was born in 1873, went on no less than five Antarctic expeditions and died on 19 August 1939, of pneumonia and diabetes, aged 65) are both included. 'No other Antarctic figure has so impressed himself on the rank and file as Wild', writes Wordie, the Antarctic Circle website recalls 'If Oscars were given out to Antarctic explorers, Frank Wild would surely have picked up a few in the "best supporting" category' and Stephen Scott-Fawcett in his valuable introduction calls Wild 'very much the "unknown giant" of the Heroic Age.' As well as Shackleton's three expeditions, aboard Nimrod, Endurance and Quest, the Yorkshire-born Wild (like Shackleton himself) went on Scott's Discovery expedition, and following the Nimrod Expedition of 1907-9 was sledge-master on Sir Douglas Mawson's Antarctic expedition of 1911-13, assuming command of their Western Base and exploring for the first time Queen Mary Land.
Stephen Scott-Fawcett contributes an article about Endurance member Walter How and reviews Kelly Tyler's book on Shackleton's Aurora crew, The Lost Men. Shackleton himself is a contributor, for included are his 1909 recollections based on an interview 'In the Days of my Youth: My first success,' embracing his early days at sea, his voyage on the Discovery and three-month poleward journey with Scott and Wilson, as well as some amusing anecdotal memories ('What an Explorer Eats', and so on) of the Nimrod expedition, and a tribute to the inventions of Fridtjof Nansen. Shackleton remained on the best of terms with both Nansen and his compatriot Roald Amundsen, as with his Antarctic explorer colleagues from France, Germany and Belgium.
The detailed surveying of South Georgia from the 1950s onwards features in an extended article on Duncan Carse, who died in 2004 aged 90, after whom Mount Carse (2,331 m), the 'highest and most beautiful peak of the Salvesen Range', is named. Carse had himself planned to complete Shackleton's ambitions by leading a Transantarctic Expedition in 1955-8, an ambition which was instead fulfilled at just that same time by Sir Vivian Fuchs. Antarctic-related music is given a scientific treatment in an artile by Craig Vear, and Tina Ferris looks for Polar related implications and references in the work of poet and novelist D.H.Lawrence, reminding us that Shackleton himself was much drawn to literature and poetry, as Jan Piggott revealed in his essay 'A Man of Action, and Yet a Man of Books' (in the catalogue of the Dulwich College Exhibition 'Shackleton, The Antarctic and Endurance').
Read a tribute to Duncan Carse at the Falklands Islands Govt website
Any items for further editions of the James Caird Society Journal should be sent on paper to: Stephen Scott-Fawcett, FRGS, Shackleton House, 2 Burrell Close, Holt, Norfolk NR25 6DT, UK., and should also be sent by email attachment, please, to sdfsurveyor@btopenworld.com
Details of the First and Second James Caird Society Journals, edited by Dr. Jan Piggott, former Archivist of Dulwich College, can be found on the accompanying 'Journals' page. The Second includes a contribution from Henry Worsley, descendant of Shackleton's great navigator and prospective leader of the 2008 Shackleton Centenary Expedition, of a trip to Antarctica, an essay on Shackleton's colleague Dr. Alexander Macklin, a description of Shackleton's 1902 Sledge Journey and amplified extracts from a lecture by Jan Piggott on life on Elephant Island under the leadership of Frank Wild.
Frank Wild's last years are usually adjudged to have been unfulfilling, partly because he was perceived to have 'lost his way' after Shackleton's death. But he also embarked on a change of lifestyle from his gregarious role and leadership achievements in Polar Expeditions. The Antarctic Circle website reports that Lt. Evans was apparently the last of the British Antarctic explorers to see Frank alive: 'Wild's death certificate recorded his occupation as Belasco Mine storekeeper, at Klerksdorp, in the Transvaal. His funeral was a simple, brief service at the Brixton Cemetery in Johannesburg. There was no funeral oration and little ceremonial. A boy bugler sounded the last post. Apart from his wife and her relations, the funeral was attended by officers and sea cadets of the Witwatersrand branch of the Navy League of South Africa, a soldier VC, a farmer from Kenya who had known Wild in Nyasaland and two farmers who had also suffered from the severe drought in Mkuzi. There were wreaths from the South African Geographical Society and the Explorers Club of New York (report in the Rand Daily Mail, 24 August 1939). Wild's body was cremated and the ashes later interred in a grave in the cemetery. On 18 April 1966 Johannesburg daily, The Starreported that Wild's grave could now not be found.'
As his biographer Michael Smith points out, James Wordie went to Spitsbergen in 1919 and 1920 with the Scottish explorer, William Speirs Bruce, and in 1921 sailed to the desolate Jan Mayen Island where he made the first ascent of Mount Beerenberg. Over the next 17 years Wordie led five more expeditions to the Arctic, including voyages to East Greenland and Baffin Bay. Once he considered attempting to navigate the North West Passage, but chose to turn back. His last major expedition was in 1937, though he made a brief final visit to the ice in 1954 at the invitation of British North Greenland Expedition.
Few expeditions left Britain without first consulting Wordie. When his active Polar career came to an end he became Chairman of the Scott Polar Research Institute in 1937 and held the post for 18 years. During the war, Wordie was instrumental in the Naval Intelligence's top-secret Operation Tabarin, which framed British policy towards the Antarctic and its dependencies like the Falklands and South Georgia. He was responsible for establishing the first permanent British base on the Antarctic continent. In 1951 Wordie became President of the Royal Geographical Society and was thus a key figure in the planning of the successful first climb of Mount Everest.
The National Library of Scotland has amassed an extensive collection of printed materials on exploration and disovery in Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic regions. The foundation of this collection is the personal library of Sir James Mann Wordie, the Wordie Collection, which was bequeathed to the Library in 1958. Presented to the Library in 1959, it contains over 4,600 printed items, comprising books, journals (including runs of foreign journals such as Meddelelser om Grønland), around 2,000 pamphlets, 16 maps, and 68 volumes of correspondence and papers, many concerned with the Colonial Office’s Discovery Committee.
Visit the Wordie collection at the National Library of Scotland (NLS) website
The last of the three men specially featured in Journal Number Three is Walter Ernest ('Wallie' or 'Ernie') How (1885-1972). Stephen Scott-Fawcett is well placed to write about How ('an agreeable and competent little chap' according to Alfred Lansing's Shackleton biography), from first-hand information, in that he found himself to be living in the next village to How's daughter, Grace Turzig. How was an able sketcher - some of his lighter-hearted Endurance cartoons doubtless provided as unforgettable entertainment as Hussey's banjo - and both a positive, popular member of the crew and a courageous sailor who, the article reminds us, won two medals during World War I, during which he was blinded in one eye. His gifts as a handyman were confirmed by the handsome model he produced of Endurance. He nearly sailed with aboard Quest, but a last-minute family bereavement put paid to that.
Read about How and other members of the Endurance crew at the Cool Antarctica website
Able Seaman Walter How, Charlie Green (the versatile and capable ship's cook, whom Shackleton specifially invited to join the Quest; Green died in September 1974), and the First Officer, Lionel Greenstreet (who died in January 1979, and was thus by a little over four years the very last crew member) were the final three survivors of the Endurance Party. How, brought up in humble Bermondsey in South London, and like Shackleton and other comrades a seaman from an early age, who married just a year before the Endurance expedition, was complicit in the stowaway Blackborow's concealment and assisted both doctors in the amputation of the unfortunate youth's toes on Elephant Island.
SECOND ISSUE OF JAMES CAIRD SOCITY JOURNAL PUBLISHED
The second issue of the James Caird Society Journal, edited by the Dulwich College Archivist and JCS Committee Member Dr. Jan Piggott, was first made available in November 2004.
Again, it is a handsome and highly informative publication. 220 copies were issued, of which 55 went to Society members overseas.
In addition to many interesting articles and reviews submitted by various contributers, Henry Worsley & Hannah Mornement described trips to Antarctica; the late David Yelverton wrote on Shackleton's First Sledge Journey of 1902; Jan Piggott adapted and amplified the text of his detailed lecture to the Society on life on Elephant Island after the James Caird left, and paid tribute to the leadership of Frank Wild.
Ann Savours wrote on A.H.Macklin, one of the doctors on the Endurance expedition and also aboard Quest, where he attended Shackleton at the time of his death in 1922. Michael Smith wrote about James Wordie's part on the Endurance expedition and his many later achievements.
THE JAMES CAIRD SOCIETY JOURNAL
As an experimental initiative the James Caird Society has just launched a Journal for articles and reviews of books on matters connected with Shackleton and Antarctic Exploration. There is a surplus of good material for the James Caird Society Newsletter, and many good pieces have to be cut to length. The Committee felt that a Journal to supplement the Newsletter would allow the Society to print longer and perhaps more academic pieces.
Volumes 1-4 have now been published and provide a firm foundaation of research work. The Journal's Founding Editor was the Keeper of the Archives at Dulwich College, Dr.Jan Piggott, F.S.A., who curated the recent highly praised Shackleton, the Antarctic and Endurance Exhibition at Dulwich College. He was succeeded by Stephen Scott-Fawcett, FRGS, FRICS, who has continued the tradition of producing first class work in the society's name.
It was decided initially to print about 150 copies of the Journal, in A4 format. A copy will be issued, free of charge, to members who fill in and return the slip sent out with the last James Caird Society Newsletter, on a first come, first served basis. Copies can be either collected at Society Meetings or sent out for the cost of postage and packing.
The Editor is keen to solicit items for future publication. Material for the next issue of the JCS Journal can be submitted on paper to: Stephen Scott-Fawcett, Apartment 6, Sutherland House, Overstrand Road, Cromer, Norfolk NR27 OAQ, UK, or emailed to stevescottfawcett@googlemail.com
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