Book description
Scott's Northern Party played an integral role in his iconic last
expedition, but how did they survive? Through the eyes of the men
involved, Meredith Hooper recounts one of the greatest tales of
adventure and endurance, which has often been overshadowed by the
tragedy which befell Scott. Their tents were torn, their food was nearly
finished and the ship had failed to pick them up as planned. Gale-force
winds blew, bitter with the cold of approaching winter. Stranded and
desperate, the six men of the Northern Party faced disaster. Searching
out a snow drift they burrowed inside. Lieutenant Victor Campbell drew a
line across the floor in the gloom to establish naval order: three
officers on one side, the three seamen on the other. A birthday was
celebrated with a carefully hoarded biscuit and they sang hymns every
Sunday, so what kept these men going? Circumstances forced them closer
together, their roles blurred and a shared sense of reality emerged.
This mutual suffering made them indivisible and somehow they made it
through the longest winter. To the south, the men waiting at
headquarters knew that the Polar Party must be dead and hoped that
another six men would not be added to the death toll. Working from
expedition diaries, journals and letters written by expedition members,
Meredith Hooper tells the intensely human story of Scott's other
expedition.
