If you can believe this is was a day without any significant events to report other than I may get to guest D J the local radio station here in the near future. That's something I've always wanted to do. I'll let you know how it goes. I'll take this blank space to send you some pictures I recently took.

15 November 1911:
Scott’s party reach One Ton Depot, 130 miles from base camp at Cape Evans, 620 miles from the pole:
“…we have decided to give the animals a day’s rest here, and then to push forward at the rate of 13 geographical miles a day.”
-Scott

Today turned out to be the most beautiful day we’ve had since I’ve been here. The temperature approached 40 degrees, the sun was up (of course) and the wind was down. I took the opportunity to walk around town and to take pictures of many of the places I frequent. I’ll begin posting them tomorrow. Today look for three of the pictures I took at the Thanksgiving meal. I had to be careful waking though as there are little gullies everywhere full of rushing water. They all act like little tributaries to larger flows until it all ends up in a growing lake of water on the ice in the sound. During the day you can see steam rising from the ground as the earth dries. Everyone hopes the ice will go completely out of the Sound this year. If it does it will be the first time in about seven years. There has been a huge iceberg (B-15) off shore keeping the natural sea action from breaking up the ice.

The ice on the sound is also melting.The thickness of the ice no longer permits the landing of the C-17 so effective tomorrow (Thursday Nov 30) we will open two airfields to replace the one now in use. One of the airports (which will have a control tower) will handle only the ski equipped C-130’s. The other airport will handle the wheeled aircraft. This is another first for me as we will need to learn a whole new set of approach and departure procedures for each airport.

I met an Air Guard Chief Master Sergeant this morning at breakfast. Turns out he’s from Prattville, Alabama which is near Montgomery Alabama. We spent a good half hour talking about the area and what he does there. It felt a little like “old home week”.

Today I’m going to start giving you an entry per day from the journals of some of the explorers (mostly Scott) who made that ill fated trip to the South Pole1

Journal Entry:

November 1911: Captain Scott’s team sets off on the 1500 mile journey to the South Pole:
“The future is in the lap of the gods. I can think of nothing left undone to deserve success”
-Scott
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I just saw the best movie I have seen in a while. The title is “In America” if you get a chance go rent it and hang on for a great emotional ride.

Sunday night I went to the screening of a new movie that was produced for the Discovery Channel. It has not aired yet but the title is “White Diamond”. The film maker Werner Herzog is here making a movie, also for the Discovery channel,about life in Antarctica. He spoke for about 30 minutes before the movie began about how he goes about making a movie. It was very interesting. I think the movie may be available at Amazon now.

Last night I went to listen to one of the people who work here. He is Russian and presented a travelogue of a trip he took last spring in Southern Siberia. I freely admit I had preconceived ideas about that area of the world. I was amazed by the beauty of the region. Apparently it is still very difficult to get a tourist visa to travel in the area due to the Russian bureaucracy in their embassies around the world. One of the electronics maintenance people (Bob) who works with us speaks Russian and had traveled in the area. He says the people are very warm and helpful especially if you get away from major tourist areas.

I also met the commodore of the McMurdo Yacht Club. (Yes they have a club; no they don’t have any sailboats) I’ve been invited to the next meeting and plan to attend. Apparently there are members who have made long crossings who have some interesting tales to tell. It’s interesting to me that women seem to be the real adventurers in sailing (at least among this group). I’ll let you know more after I attend the next meeting in about a week.

One last note, this morning at breakfast I met Marsha. She is from Austin, Texas and is part of an improv group there. As you may or may not know improv is one of my loves. They have had a group here in the past but do not currently have one. Who knows maybe we can get one started again.

More of the Scott Story:

The Journey South

On October 24, 1911, two motor sledges with Teddy Evans, Day, Lashly, and Hooper left Cape Evans heading towards One-Ton Depot. A week later, on November 1, Scott and the other eight men on the polar expedition left Cape Evans. As they started out on the journey, only ten of the 19 original ponies were left. They still had dogs, but none of the men were accustomed to them, and Scott felt that dogs were unreliable. He also felt that harming animals was wrong, and more than once he put the lives of his men in danger in order to save an animal. On December 20 the party had reached their safety camp. The first four men were sent back to the Cape Evans hut. Atkins, Wright, Cherry-Garrard, and Keohane were upset that they had come so far and would not be seeing the pole, but they left in good spirits nonetheless. Two weeks later, three more were sent home and the five remaining men set out for the pole. On January 6 they crossed the line of latitude that marked the point where Shackleton (previous attempt to reach the pole) had turned around. They were farther south, they believed, than anyone had ever been before. Unfortunately, they were wrong. One week later they crossed the 89th parallel and laid out their last depot. Three days later as they walked towards the pole they began to see something in the distance. What had first appeared to be a fuel cairn turned out to be a flag and a tent. Norwegians had beaten them to the pole. The group was tired and dispirited. All were happy that they had reached their goal, but the ultimate prize had been stolen from them.

The return trip would not help them. Soon after they left the pole the weather got worse. Each day was torture. They were moving much slower than they had originally planned. They were all tired, and many days were unable to move because of blizzards. Two of the men died along the route: Oates by walking out in the cold in order to relieve the rest of the men of the burden he had become. On February 11, 1912, they took a wrong turn and ended up in a horrible storm. Only miles from the next depot, they were unable to move. All three remaining men were too tired to brave the storm, and all three had been suffering from frostbite for a long time. The stayed in their tent, and that is were the search party, led by Atkinson, would find their bodies. Next to them were their journals and letters that they had written home in their last moments before death. Beside Scott was a book of Browning’s poems. Inscribed in the book was a quote from Tennyson’s Ulysses. The men etched the quote into the cross that they erected on Observation Hill commemorating the men in Scott’s South Pole Party.

A quiet calmness has descended on Mac Town. The pristine whiteness of the snow continues to yield to the unrelenting sun. The once soft texture has given way to a speckled brown and white hardness as the earth ever more rapidly reveals itself. The people are responding likewise. The pristine happiness that once graced the faces of all has slipped away replaced by the hardened stare of a wanderer who knows that his little time here is almost half gone. The wanderlust, the unrelenting pull to move on to the next adventure is apparent in the thoughts and speech of these worldly vagabonds. Where will they go next? Who will they travel with? What sights remain unseen? These are the questions that pepper almost every conversation now. To some extent I feel like a voyeur looking into their lives from the safety of a happy settled existence. Do we all have a little of that wander lust? Do we repress those thoughts for the safety and security of life as we know it? I thank my wife and family for supporting me in this adventure out of the norm. What an experience it has been.

More of the Scott Story:

Wintering at Cape Evans

Although they didn’t have much, spirits in the hut remained high during the winter. Scott credited that to the fact that everyone stayed relatively busy during this time. There were a number of scientific experiments being done. The equipment that was going to be used for the polar traverse had to be checked and mended. The men kept detailed records of the weather around McMurdo Sound. Cherry-Garrard began producing the South Polar Times once again, and kept a good record of life in the hut at Cape Evans. The men celebrated Mid-winter Day on June 22nd as if it were Christmas. The men were good at livery. They often had evening lectures. One of the scientists would talk about the recent findings of his work, or they would simply tell stories and laugh. When the weather was good they would even go out on the sea ice and play soccer. During the winter three of the men, Wilson, Cheery-Garrard, and Bowers, left on an expedition to Cape Crozier. Wilson wanted to study the incubation of Emperor penguins. Although the expedition was successful in the fact that the men did collect samples from the penguins, it was almost deadly. The men made it back to Cape Evans barely alive, and when Cherry-Garrard published a book about the journey it would forever be known as “The Worst Journey in the World”. On August 23, 1911, the sun rose for the first time in six months. After two more near tragedies, Atkinson almost being lost in a blizzard and the ponies nearly dying of colic, all thoughts were turned toward the pole. As the supplies were readied for the journey, the men wondered who would get to be in Scott’s final polar party.

The Meal

We had a great time at the Thanksgiving meal last night. The Dining Hall was decked out in its holiday finest. The presentation of the food was inventive especially the desert table. I went to the 5:00 seating and the place was jammed. Many people, myself included, came dressed in their Sunday Best. Forgive me for saying it but everyone “cleans up” pretty good. I saw many people I’d never seen before. I think part of that is that many of the people at remote sites come back to town for the meal. There was a genuine sense of holiday as most people got two days off in a row (a rarity here). The kitchen staff was so proud (and rightly so) of their accomplishment that they came out and took a bow to a standing ovation from the Thanksgiving revelers. I guess the only difference here is that none of us will be lined up at Best Buy tomorrow morning at 3:00 a.m.

More of the Scott Story:

The Hut at Cape Evans

The hut that was originally built in New Zealand the previous October was unloaded onto the shore, put together, and occupied within two weeks. The hut is 50 feet long, 25 feet wide, and reached to nine feet at the peak. Its double doors, during Scott’s expedition, were insulated with quilted seaweed and lined with felt. The roof was covered with three-ply rubberoid and the floor was laid with linoleum. The hut was equipped with acetylene gas jets, stoves, clotheslines, clocks and a gramophone. The stoves were used to heat the hut. The floor was kept below freezing so that any snow that got into the hut could be easily swept out. Mid-body level was kept at about 50 degrees, and the rafters would get up to 70 degrees (all Fahrenheit). The warmth of the air at the top of the hut was used to melt buckets of ice for the men to use for their baths once a week. The two sides of the hut were separated using crates, mostly of wine. On the left side of the hut were the officer’s quarters, and the crewmen slept on the right. Scott slept by himself in the far left corner of the hut. His room was separated from the rest using sheets. He used a linoleum-covered table as a desk for work. It is the table that now holds books and the penguin. Across from Scott’s bed were the beds of Edward Atkinson, the expedition’s surgeon, and George Simpson its meteorologist. On the other side of the wall from Scott’s room there is a grouping of beds. That is where the rest of the officers, including Oates, Cherry-Garrard, Bowers, and Meares slept. This section was known as “The Tenements” because it was so cramped and there were very few items other than necessities. Oates’ only luxury was a bust of Napoleon that he kept next to his bed. Ponting made himself a darkroom and slept in it.