Ernest Joyce

Ernest Edward Mills Joyce (c. 1875 – 2 May 1940) was a Royal Naval seaman and explorer who participated in three Antarctic expeditions during the early 20th century. He came from a humble seafaring background and began his naval career as a boy seaman in 1891. Ten years later he joined Captain Scott's Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, as an Able Seaman. Here he made a favourable impression on Ernest Shackleton, who was serving as one of "Discovery's" junior officers. In 1907 Shackleton recruited Joyce to take charge of dogs and sledges on the Nimrod Expedition, 1907–09. After acquitting himself well in this role, Joyce was engaged in a similar capacity for Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition in 1911, but left the expedition, for reasons which are unclear, before it departed from Tasmania.

In 1914 Shackleton invited Joyce to join the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–17, as a member of the supporting Ross Sea party, again in charge of dogs and sledging work. After a series of misfortunes overtook the Ross Sea party during 1915–16, Joyce emerged as its "de facto" leader, and was later awarded the Albert Medal for saving the lives of three of his comrades. However, this expedition marked the end of Joyce’s association with the Antarctic, and of his exploring career, despite his repeated attempts to join other expeditions. During his career, Joyce attracted adverse as well as positive comments. His effectiveness in the field was widely acknowledged: "Good old Joyce", wrote Frank Wild of his comrade's crucial depot at Minna Bluff, during the Nimrod Expedition. [Riffenburgh, p. 260–61] To many he was a "jolly good sort"; [Tyler-Lewis, p. 28] Dick Richards of the Ross Sea party described him as "a kindly soul and a good pal". [ Huntford, p. 450] By contrast Eric Marshall of the Nimrod Expedition found him "of limited intelligence, resentful and incompatible", [Huntford, p. 234] while John King Davis, when refusing to join the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, told Shackleton: "I absolutely decline to be associated with any enterprise with which people of the Joyce type are connected". [Tyler-Lewis, p. 49] His diaries, and the book he wrote based on them, have been condemned as self-serving and the work of a "fabulist". [Tyler-Lewis, pp. 258–262] Polar chronicler Roland Huntford sums him up as a "strange mixture of fraud, flamboyance and ability". [Huntford, p. 194]

Early years

Details of Joyce's early life are sketchy. It is thought that he was born in 1875 at Bognor, England, but the exact date is unknown. [In "The Lost Men" Tyler-Lewis gives his age as 41 in 1916, and 64 in 1939, both of which suggest he was born in 1875. Confusingly, she gives his age as 29 in 1901, suggesting an earlier birth year.] His father and grandfather had both been sailors; [Tyler-Lewis, p. 55. Huxley, p. 101, describes him as "a coastguard's son from Sussex".] after his father's early death, Joyce's mother, [Joyce's third forename "Mills" may have been his mother's maiden name, added by him at some later date.] with three children to support on her limited earnings as a seamstress, sent the young Ernest to the Royal Hospital School for Navy Orphans at Greenwich. Here, in austere surroundings, he received a vocational education that would prepare him for a lower-deck career in the Royal Navy. After leaving the school aged 15 in 1891, he joined the navy as a boy seaman, progressing over the next ten years to Ordinary Seaman and then Able Seaman.Tyler-Lewis, p. 55–57]

No detailed records of his naval service between 1891 and 1901 appear to have survived. The last-named year saw him serving on HMS Gibraltar in Cape Town where, in September, Captain Scott's expedition ship "Discovery" stopped on the way to the Antarctic. Scott was short-handed; Joyce volunteered to join "Discovery", and sailed south with her on 14 October 1901. [Wilson diary, p. 59 and p. 401]

Discovery Expedition, 1901–04

Joyce was one of four seamen, selected from several hundred volunteers, who sailed with "Discovery" from Cape Town.Tyler-Lewis, p. 56] He kept a relatively low profile on this expedition—Scott scarcely mentions him in "The Voyage of the Discovery" and Wilson's diaries not at all—but took readily to Antarctic life, [Fisher, p. 127] gaining experience in sledging and dog-driving techniques and other aspects of Antarctic exploration. Towards the end of the expedition he joined Arthur Pilbeam and Frank Wild in an attempt to climb Mount Erebus, ascending to some 3,000 feet (920 m). [Riffenburgh, p. 173. The mountain remained unclimbed until the "Nimrod" expedition three years later] Joyce was at times badly affected by frostbite; on one occasion two companions, Michael Barne and George Mulock, held Joyce's frostbitten foot against the pits of their stomachs and kneaded the ankle for several hours to save it from amputation. [Huxley, p. 115] However, such experiences did not daunt him; he was drawn to the Antarctic by "a curious combination of affection and antipathy" that "impelled (him) to return again and again".Riffenburgh, p. 126]

During the expedition Joyce encountered several men who would feature prominently in Antarctic polar history during the following years, including Scott, Wilson, Frank Wild, Tom Crean, William Lashly, Edgar Evans and, most significantly, Ernest Shackleton. Joyce made several sledging trips with Shackleton [Riffenburgh, p. 125] and created an impression of competence and reliability. He also impressed Captain Scott as "sober, honest, loyal and intelligent",Tyler-Lewis, p. 56] and expedition organiser Sir Clements Markham later described him as "an honest and trustworthy man".Tyler-Lewis, p. 56] His reward, at the conclusion of the expedition, was promotion to Petty Officer 1st Class on Scott's recommendation.Tyler-Lewis, p. 56] However, he had been bitten by the bug of Antarctic exploration, [Mills, p. 41] and ordinary naval duty no longer appealed. He left the navy in 1905 but found shore life unsatisfying and re-enlisted in 1906.Tyler-Lewis, p. 56] When the chance came a year later to join Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition, he took it immediately.

British Antarctic Expedition (Nimrod) 1907–09

When Shackleton was selecting the crew for his Antarctic expedition in "Nimrod", Joyce was one of his earliest recruits. The story that Shackleton saw Joyce on a bus that was passing his expedition offices, sent someone out to fetch him, and recruited him on the spot, is frequently told and possibly true. [Riffenburgh, p. 125, Fisher, p. 127 and Huntford, p. 194, all tell this story. Fisher cites it to Shackleton biographer H R Mill, Huntford and Riffenbaugh say "so the story goes".] To join the expedition, Joyce bought his release from the Navy, and in later years would claim that Shackleton had failed to recompense him for this, despite a promise to do so. [Riffenburgh, p126] This was one of several disputes over money which eventually strained his relations with Shackleton. [Tyler-Lewis, pp. 253–58, describes several of Joyce's financial claims] He, Shackleton and Frank Wild were the only members of the expedition with previous Antarctic experience; on the basis of his "Discovery" exploits, Joyce was put in charge of general stores, sledges and dogs. Before departure in August 1907, he and Wild took a crash course in printing at Sir Joseph Causton's printing firm in Hampshire, as Shackleton intended to publish a book or magazine while in the Antarctic. [Fisher, p. 121] "Nimrod" left New Zealand on 1 January 1908, and was towed towards the Antarctic pack ice by the tug "Koonya". [Riffenburgh, pp. 143–45] On 23 January, now under her own power, she reached the Ross Ice Shelf (then known as the "Great Ice Barrier", or "Barrier"), where Shackleton planned to base his headquarters in an inlet discovered during the "Discovery" voyage. This proved impossible, [This inlet, where Scott and Shackleton had taken balloon flights in February 1902, had greatly expanded, to become a bay – the Bay of Whales. This convinced Shackleton that the ice was not secure. Three years later Roald Amundsen would base his South Pole expedition there.] and there being no feasible alternative landing site on nearby King Edward VII Land, Shackleton was forced to break an agreement he had made with Scott and take "Nimrod" to McMurdo Sound. [Riffenburgh, pp. 110–16] The site finally chosen for a base was Cape Royds, some convert|20|mi|km north of Scott's old "Discovery" headquarters at Hut Point. During the extended, difficult process of unloading the ship Joyce remained ashore, looking after the dogs and ponies, and helping to build the expedition hut. [Riffenburgh, p. 166, calls the process of unloading the stores and setting up the shore base "mind-numbingly difficult". This was due to a combination of adverse weather and the alleged over-caution of Nimrod's captain, Rupert England. See Riffenburgh, pp. 157–67] In March he assisted the party that made the first successful ascent of Mount Erebus, although he did not make the climb himself. [Mills, p. 62]

During the following winter Joyce, with Wild's help, printed copies of the expedition book "Aurora Australis", edited by Shackleton. [About 25 or 30 copies of the book were printed, sewn and bound, according to Mills, p. 65 – some sources say more. Copies still in existence are worth huge sums. In 1988 a facsimile edition was published by SeTo Publishing, New Zealand.] Otherwise he was busy preparing equipment and stores for the next season's journey to the Pole in which, in view of his experience, he fully expected to be included. However, various mishaps had reduced the number of ponies to four, so Shackleton cut the southern party to that number. One of those dropped was Joyce, on advice from expedition doctor Eric Marshall, who noted that Joyce had a liver problem and the early stages of heart disease. [Riffenburgh, p. 191] [Wild, who was one of the four who made the southern journey, later wrote in his diary after the party's bid to reach the Pole had failed: "if we only had Joyce and Marston here instead of these two useless grub-scoffing beggars" – (referring to Marshall and Jameson Adams) – "we would have done it easily." Wild, p. 96] Joyce showed no particular resentment; he assisted the preparatory work and accompanied the polar party on the southward march for the first seven days. [Riffenburgh, p. 201] In the following months he took charge of enhancing the depots, to ensure adequate supplies for the returning southern party. He deposited a special cache of luxuries at Minna Bluff, together with life-saving food and fuel, earning Wild's spontaneous praise. [Riffenburgh, pp. 216–18]

Shackleton and his party returned safely, on "Nimrod's" last feasible date for sailing home. They had established a new Farthest South at 88°23′S, only 97 geographical miles (112 statute miles, 180 km) from the South Pole. Joyce had been ready to remain at the base with a rearguard, to wait for the party or to establish its fate if it did not return. [Riffenburgh, p. 274] "Nimrod" finally reached London in September 1909 and was prepared, under Joyce's direction, as a floating exhibition of polar artefacts. Shackleton paid him a salary of £250 a year for this (2008 equivalent approx. £18,000), [cite web| title = Measuring Worth|url = http://measuringworth.com|publisher = Institute for the Measurement of Worth|accessdate = 2008-06-21] a generous amount for the time. [Tyler-Lewis, p. 56] Thereafter Joyce, in the absence of regular paid employment, looked for another expedition.

Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911

Joyce was not invited to join Captain Scott's Terra Nova Expedition, although several of Shackleton's men were, including Frank Wild who declined. Instead, Joyce and Wild both signed up for Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition. Joyce travelled to Denmark to acquire dogs for this expedition, and took them on to Tasmania where, according to one account, he was "dismissed" by Mawson before the expedition left Australia. [Riffenburgh, p. 303] However, this is not conclusive; other accounts simply say that Mawson and Joyce "fell out and parted ways",Tyler-Lewis, p. 57] and in another version Joyce was dropped when Mawson reduced his expedition from three shore parties to two.Mills, pp. 127–28] Mawson reportedly distrusted Joyce, saying that "he spent too much time in hotels",Mills, P. 128] which suggests that drink was behind the problem. Whatever the circumstances, Joyce did not sail; he remained in Australia, obtaining work with the Sydney Harbour Trust.Tyler-Lewis, p. 57]

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–17

Ross Sea party

Joyce, still in Australia, was contacted by Shackleton in February 1914 with outline plans for the Trans-Antarctic Expedition, and a place for Joyce in the supporting Ross Sea party. Should the plan change to a one-ship format, Joyce would join the Weddell Sea party. [Fisher, p. 315] Joyce would later claim, without verification, that Shackleton had offered him a place on the main transcontinental party.Tyler-Lewis, p. 260] Joyce also misrepresented, in his book, ["The South Polar Trail", published in 1929] the nature of his appointment to the Ross Sea party, concealing the detail specifying that he would be working under an officer and claiming that Shackleton had given him sole authority over dogs and sledging.Tyler-Lewis, p. 260]

The task of the Ross Sea party, under the command of another "Nimrod" veteran, Aeneas Mackintosh, was to establish a base in McMurdo Sound and then lay a series of supply depots across the Ross Ice Shelf to assist the transcontinental party. Shackleton saw this task as routine; he wrote: "I had not anticipated that the work would present any great difficulties". [South, p. 242] However, the party had been assembled rather hurriedly, [Tyler-Lewis, pp. 52–53, deals with the last-minute signings-on of crew and scientists.] and was inexperienced. Only Joyce and Mackintosh had been to the Antarctic before, and Mackintosh's participation in polar work had been brief. [He had been invalided from the Nimrod Expedition before the initial landing, after an accident led to the loss of his right eye. He had returned for the final stages of the expedition, and had briefly participated in depot-laying work.]

Major setbacks

"Aurora"'s departure from Australia was delayed by a series of organisational and financial setbacks, [Fisher, pp. 398–99] and it did not arrive in McMurdo Sound until 16 January 1915—very late in the season for depot-laying work. Mackintosh nevertheless insisted that sledging work should begin without delay, with a view to laying down depots at 79° and 80°S. [Tyler-Lewis, p. 69] Joyce opposed this; more time, he maintained, should be set aside to acclimatise and train men and dogs. [Bickel, p. 47] However, he was overruled by Mackintosh, who still believed that Shackleton might attempt to cross the continent in that first season. [In fact, according to Tyler-Lewis, pp. 214–15, Shackleton had ruled out a crossing that season, but had failed to inform Mackintosh. In "South", Shackleton says, on departure from South Georgia: "It seemed to me hopeless now of thinking of making the journey across the continent in the first summer". South, p. 2] Mackintosh further vexed Joyce by deciding to lead this depot-laying party himself, unmoved by Joyce’s claim to have sole charge of sledges and dogs. [Tyler-Lewis, p. 67] The party was divided into two teams, and the journey began on 24 January, in an atmosphere of muddle. Initial attempts at travelling on the Barrier were thwarted by the condition of the surface, and Mackintosh’s team got lost on the sea ice between Cape Evans and Hut Point. Joyce privately gloated over this evidence of the captain’s inexperience.Tyler-Lewis, pp. 69–74] The teams eventually reached the 79° Bluff depot [ The depot was named after Minna Bluff, a prominent landmark at this latitude] on 9 February, Joyce’s party seemingly having had the easier journey. [See comments of Keith Jack, quoted on Tyler-Lewis, p. 83] Another sharp dispute then arose, over Mackintosh’s plan to take the dogs on to the 80° mark.Tyler-Lewis, p. 83] Joyce argued strongly against this; several dogs had already died, and he felt that the remainder should be preserved, but again he was overruled. On 20 February the party reached the 80° latitude and laid their depot.Tyler-Lewis, p. 92] The outcome of this journey was convert|105|lb|kg|abbr=on of provisions and fuel at 80°S and convert|158|lb|kg|abbr=on at 79°S. But convert|450|lb|kg|abbr=on had been dumped to save weight, and never reached a depot at all. [ Tyler-Lewis, pp. 104–05]

The men and dogs were worn out. On the return journey, in appalling Barrier weather, [The Ross Ice Shelf tends to experience extreme weather conditions during the March-April period, such as to make travel difficult. "Barrier weather" was a vital factor in the loss of Captain Scott's party in 1912 (Huxley, pp. 253–56).] all the dogs perished, as Joyce had warned, and the party returned to Hut Point on 24 March exhausted and severely frostbitten. [Tyler-Lewis, pp. 99–102] After being delayed for ten weeks at Hut Point by the condition of the sea ice, the party finally got back to Cape Evans in June. They then learned that "Aurora", with most of the shore party's stores and equipment still aboard, had been torn from its moorings in a gale, and blown far out to sea with no prospect of swift return. [For a full account of this, see Aurora's drift] Fortunately, the rations for the depots had been landed before the ship’s involuntary departure.Tyler-Lewis, p. 131] However, the shore party’s own food, fuel, clothing and equipment had been largely carried away. Replacements would have to be improvised from supplies left at Cape Evans after Scott's 1910–13 Terra Nova expedition, augmented by seal meat and blubber .Tyler-Lewis, p. 131] Joyce proved to be a "master scavenger", [Bickel, p. 80] unearthing from Scott’s abandoned stores, among other treasures, a large canvas tent from which he fashioned roughly tailored clothing. He also set about stitching 500 calico bags, to hold the depot rations. [Bickel, p. 82

Depot-laying journey

The party set out on 1 September 1915. The men were under-trained and half-fit, in primitive clothing and with mainly improvised equipment.Tyler-Lewis, p. 148] With only five remaining dogs [Tyler-Lewis, p. 146] the task would mostly be one of manhauling. Before beginning the march south—a return distance of convert|800|mi|km|sigfig=2—approximately convert|3800|lb|kg|sigfig=2 of stores had to be taken to the base depot at Minna Bluff. Tyler-Lewis, p. 148] This phase of the task lasted until 28 December, with further disagreements between Joyce and Mackintosh over the use of the dogs. [Tyler-Lewis, pp. 158–59] The weaker members of the party—Arnold Spencer-Smith and Mackintosh himself—were already showing signs of physical breakdown [Bickel, p. 127] as the long march south began, towards the Beardmore Glacier at 83°30′S, where the final depot was to be laid.The party was reduced to six when one group of three was forced to turn back because of an equipment failure. [Tyler-Lewis, p. 163] With Mackintosh and Joyce in the final party were Spencer-Smith, Ernest Wild (younger brother of Frank), Dick Richards and Victor Hayward. With four dogs they trekked southward, increasingly afflicted by frostbite, snow blindness and, eventually, scurvy. Spencer-Smith collapsed, and thereafter had to be carried on the sledge. [Tyler-Lewis, p. 171] Mackintosh, barely able to walk, fought on, but by the time the final depot was laid he was incapable, and eventually was forced to join Spencer-Smith on the sledge. The effective leadership of the party had been falling increasingly to Joyce since leaving the Bluff depot on the southward march; he was indisputably leader now. [ Bickel, p. 147] The homeward journey was a protracted struggle which cost the life of Spencer-Smith and took the others to the limits of their endurance. [Spencer-Smith died on 9 March, in the vicinity of Corner camp, about 30 miles (50 km) from Hut Point.] Mackintosh suffered further physical and mental collapse, and had to be left in the tent while Joyce, himself suffering from severe snow blindness,Tyler-Lewis, p, 190–92] led the rest to the safety of Hut Point. He and Ernest Wild then returned for Mackintosh, and the five survivors were all back at Hut Point on 18 March 1916.Tyler-Lewis, p. 193]

Rescue

All five were by now showing symptoms of scurvy. However, within a relatively short time at Hut Point a diet of fresh seal meat enabled them to recover.Bickel, p. 208] [Scurvy is basically a Vitamin C deficiency; fresh meat, rich in Vitamin C, is a natural antidote. Riffenburgh, p. 78] By mid-April they were well enough to consider when they should travel the last convert|13|mi|km across the frozen sea to the base at Cape Evans.

Joyce tested the sea-ice on 18 April and found it firm, but the following day a blizzard from the south swept all the ice away.Bickel, p. 209] The ambience at Hut Point was gloomy, and the unrelieved diet of seal was depressing. This seemed particularly to affect Mackintosh, and on 8 May, despite the urgent pleadings of Joyce, Richards and Ernest Wild, he decided to risk the re-formed ice and walk to Cape Evans.Bickel, p. 210] Victor Hayward volunteered to accompany him. Joyce, who had expended much energy in bringing Mackintosh and Hayward to the relative safety of Hut Point, recorded in his diary: "I fail to understand how these people are so anxious to risk their lives again".Bickel, p. 211] Shortly after their departure a blizzard descended, and the two were never seen again, having most probably fallen through the ice.Bickel, pp. 212–13] Joyce and the others learned this only when they were finally able to reach Cape Evans in July, whereupon Joyce immediately set about organising searches for traces of the missing men. During the subsequent months parties were sent to search the coasts and the islands in McMurdo Sound, but to no avail. [cite web|title=Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-17: SY Aurora and the Ross Sea Party|url=http://www.south-pole.com/p000098a.htm|publisher=www.south-pole.com|accessdate=2008-07-09] Joyce also organised journeys to recover geological samples left on the Barrier and to visit the grave of Spencer-Smith, where a large cross was erected. [Tyler-Lewis, p. 237] In the absence of the ship, the seven remaining survivors lived quietly, until on 10 January 1917, the refitted "Aurora" arrived with Shackleton aboard to take them home. They learned then that their depot-laying efforts had been futile, Shackleton's ship "Endurance" having been crushed by the Weddell Sea ice nearly two years previously. [Bickel, pp. 231–33]

Later life

Post-expedition career

After his return to New Zealand Joyce was hospitalised, mainly from the effects of snow blindness, and according to his own account had to wear dark glasses for a further 18 months. [ Bickel, p. 237] During this period he married Beatrice Curtlett from Christchurch. [Tyler-Lewis, p. 249] He was now probably unfit for further polar work, although he attempted, unsuccessfully, to rejoin the Navy in 1918.Tyler-Lewis, p. 253] In September 1919 he was seriously injured in a car accident, which led to months of convalescence followed by a return to England. In 1920 he signed up for a new Antarctic expedition to be led by John Cope of the Ross Sea party, but this venture proved abortive.Tyler-Lewis, pp. 255–56] He continued to maintain his claims to financial compensation from Shackleton, which caused a breach between them, [Fisher, p. 440] and he was not invited to join Shackleton's "Quest" expedition which departed in 1921. He applied to join the British Everest expedition of 1921–22, [This was the first attempt to climb Mount Everest. The expedition included George Mallory.] but was rejected.Tyler-Lewis, p. 258]

He was in the public eye again in 1923 when he was awarded the Albert Medal for his efforts to save the lives of Mackintosh and Spencer-Smith during on the 1916 depot-laying journey. Richards received the same award; Hayward, and also Ernest Wild who had died of typhoid during naval service in the Mediterranean in 1918, received the award posthumously.Tyler-Lewis, pp. 257–58] In 1929 Joyce published a contentious version of his diaries under the title "The South Polar Trail", [Published by Duckworth's, London 1929] in which he boosted his own role, downplayed the contributions of others, and incorporated fictitious colourful details.Tyler-Lewis, p. 260] Thereafter he indulged in various abortive schemes for further expeditions and wrote numerous articles and stories based on his exploits, eventually settling into a quiet life as a hotel porter in London. He died from natural causes, aged about 65, on 2 May 1940.Tyler-Lewis, p. 263] The claim (by Bickel) that Joyce lived into his eighties, beyond the date (1958) of the first Antarctica crossing by Vivian Fuchs and his party, is not supported by any other sources. [Bickel, p. 236] Joyce is commemorated in Antarctica by Mount Joyce at coord|75|36|S|160|38|E.

Fabulist

Joyce's versions of events recorded in his published diaries have been described as unreliable and sometimes as outright invention—a "self-aggrandizing epic". Specific examples of this "fabulism" include his self-designation as "Captain" after the Ross Sea expedition; his invented claim to have seen Scott's death tent on the Barrier; the misrepresentation of his instructions from Shackleton regarding his sledging role, which clearly make him responsible to an officer rather than giving him independence in the field; his claim to have been offered a place on the transcontinental party when Shackleton had made it clear he did not want him, and his habit, late in life, of writing anonymously to the press praising "the famous Polar Explorer Ernest Mills Joyce". This self-promotion neither surprised nor upset his former comrades. "It is what I would have expected", said Richards. "He was bombastic [...] but true-hearted and a staunch friend". [Quoted by Tyler-Lewis, p. 260] Alexander Stevens, the party's chief scientist, concurred. They knew that Joyce, for all his swaggering style, had the will and determination to "drag men back from certain death".Tyler-Lewis, p. 260] Lord Shackleton, the explorer's son, named Joyce (with Mackintosh and Richards) as "one of those who emerge from the (Ross Sea party) story as heroes". [Bickel, p. vii]

ee also

*History of Antarctica
*List of Antarctic expeditions

Notes and references

ources

*Bickel, Lennard: "Shackleton's Forgotten Men" Random House, London, 2000 ISBN 0-7126-6807-1
*Fisher, M and J: "Shackleton" (biography) James Barrie Books, London, 1957
*Huxley, Elspeth: "Scott of the Antarctic" Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1977 ISBN 0-297-77433-6
*Huntford, Roland: "Shackleton" (biography) Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1985 ISBN 0-340-25007-0
*cite web| title = Measuring Worth|url = http://measuringworth.com|publisher = Institute for the Measurement of Worth|accessdate = 2008-06-21
*Riffenburgh, Beau: "Nimrod" Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2004 ISBN 0-7475-7253-4
*Scott, Robert Falcon:"The Voyage of the Discovery" Smith, Elder & Co, London, 1905
*Shackleton, Ernest: "South" Century Ltd edition, ed. Peter King, London, 1991 ISBN 0-7126-3927-6
*Tyler-Lewis, Kelly: "The Lost Men" Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2007 ISBN 978-0-7475-7972-4
*Wilson, Edward: "Diary of the Discovery Expedition" Blandford Press, London, 1975 ISBN 0-7137-0431-4
*cite web|title=Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-17: SY Aurora and the Ross Sea Party|url=http://www.south-pole.com/p000098a.htm|publisher= www.south-pole.com|accessdate=2008-04-04

External links

* [http://www.coolantarctica.com Cool Antarctica, pictures of Antarctica, information and travel guide ] at www.coolantarctica.com ("History" and "Ships of the Antarctic")