Monday, April 7, 2008

The Worst Journey in the World

There are a few types of diaries: those that are used for institutional purposes and those that we generally think of when we hear the word "diary" - the diaries that record our innermost thoughts and ramblings, frustrations, and dreams. I kept several diaries throughout my childhood and well into my teen years and these continue to be a constant source of entertainment and embarrassment. Reading someone else's diary can be just as entertaining, if not more so, than re-visiting one's own past diaries. And if you hold a possibly unhealthy obsession with early Antarctic explorers like I do, reading their journals is definitely more interesting than opening my Mead notebooks from the past. Indeed, when scientific journals get personal, things can get pretty exciting.

Edward Wilson, known as "Ted" to his family and "Uncle Bill" to his peers, is one of the most prominent figures of early Antarctic exploration. Wilson took part in two British expeditions to the Antarctic: the British National Antarctic Expedition (or Discovery Expedition), and the Terra Nova Expedition. Wilson served as a Junior Surgeon and Zoologist in the former, a trek that, at the time, was the southern-most journey achieved by any explorer. Wilson traveled with Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton during the Discovery Expedition and his easy and professional manner was attractive to Scott and Shackleton, so much so, in fact, that each invited Wilson on subsequent journeys. Shackleton invited Wilson to be Second in Command on another trip, romancing Wilson with several letters filled with sentiments such as "Don't say no 'till we have had a talk. Don't say no at all." I like to imagine Shackleton whispering these words into Wilson's ear, coaxing Wilson to join him in frolicking upon the Antarctic floes, admiring baby penguins from afar. Isn't it picturesque? Alas, Wilson rejected Shackleton and instead opted to run off with Scott on what would later be called "The Worst Journey in the World."

In a letter to his mother written prior to the 1910 journey, Wilson wrote, "I am to go as 'Leader of the Scientific Staff,' a high sounding title with the disagreeable duty attached to it of having to reply to toasts on behalf of the scientific staff at the send off dinners." Despite the sarcastic tone used here, after reading his diary, it is obvious that Wilson possessed the necessary qualities of a great leader and that he took much pleasure in his scientific work. For the most part, Wilson's diary acts as a strictly technical recording of his days aboard the Terra Nova, but occasionally he allows readers a glimpse into his personal experience of being in Antarctica and the overwhelming joy he felt while there. After witnessing a pod of killer whales swimming close to the Terra Nova, Wilson writes: "These days are with one for all time... and they are to be found nowhere else in all the world but at the poles."

In the winter of 1911 Wilson fractured from the rest of the Terra Nova crew and led "The Winter Journey" with Henry Robertson Bowers and Apsley Cherry-Garrard. The three men trekked to Cape Crozier to collect Emperor penguin embryos to study what Wilson hypothesized was the most primitive bird in existence. Wilson's account of this journey is much less descriptive than Cherry-Garrard's. Indeed, peers teased Cherry-Garrard for his lack of Antarctic experience and his lack of specialized credentials for the position of 'assistant zoologist' to which he had been named. It makes sense, then, that this young buck's journal would perhaps be more descriptive and written with a wide-eyed tone, unlike Wilson, a man who had been around the icy block several times.

After the three men returned from The Winter Journey, barely alive after working in complete darkness and -40 degree weather, Wilson set out with another party to reach the South Pole. After weeks of trekking through the harshest conditions one could imagine, the five men reached the Pole on January 17, 1912 only to discover that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen preceded them by merely 21 days. Wilson's journal remains detached; he states the facts and lists what the party found at the site. While one can sense disappointment in his writing, Wilson remains stoic and trudges along, although he writes his final entry on February 27, 1912. Robert Scott's diary, on the other hand, continues almost a month after Wilson's ends. Why? Perhaps Wilson's maxim, "to become entirely careless of your own soul or body in looking after the welfare of others" has something to do with it. Indeed, after reading Scott's diary, one can really see that Wilson was a completely selfless leader: "We none of us expected these terribly low temperatures, and of the rest of us Wilson is feeling them most; mainly, I fear, from his self-sacrificing devotion in doctoring Oates' feet. We cannot help each other, each has enough to do to take care of himself." Despite Scott's sentiments, Wilson continued to help his fellow explorers until he physically could not. It is exhilarating and heart-breaking at the same time to read Scott's last few entries - the men are 11 miles away from safety, but a blizzard, exhaustion, and terrible frostbite prevent them from moving. Reading these entries is similar to watching a horror film: the protagonists are so close to safety yet they can never outrun the villain that constantly nips at their heels.

Although Wilson's journal ends in February, there is a letter he wrote on either March 21 or 22 to his parents and it is astounding how lucid and poised he was: "The end has come and with it an earnest looking forward to the day when we shall all meet together in the hereafter."

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