The Endurance_ Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition - Caroline Alexander [25]
The processing, too, was conducted under less than ideal conditions.
“Darkroom work rendered extremely difficult by the low temperatures it being –13 outside,” he wrote towards the end of the winter. “The darkroom situated abaft the engine room is raised to above freezing point by a primus stove.…Washing [plates] is troublesome as the tank must be kept warm or the plates become an enclosure in an ice block. After several changes [of water] I place them in a rack in Sir E's Cabin—which is generally at an equable temperature. The Dry plates are all spotted & carefully indexed. Development is a source of annoyance to the fingers which split & crack around the nails in a painful manner.”
Hurley aloft, Shackleton on deck
“Hurley was very busy with his camera and cinematograph machine, getting photos. He … fixed his machine on the extreme end of the top-gallant yard, to get panoramic views of the Pack.” (Macklin, diary)
Elsewhere he dryly notes “difficulty in obtaining sufficient water for washing operations.” All water, of course, had to be melted from blocks of ice.
April, in Shackleton's words, “was not uneventful.” Twice that month, the ice groaned around the ship, nipping her sides and causing the Endurance to vibrate slightly; it was the first palpable hint of the pack's deadly potential.
On the last day of the month, the ship's company were entertained by a rare spectacle. Shackleton and Worsley took a break from inspecting Lees's motor sledge and, inspired by some private whimsy, danced together in a stately waltz on the ice, while a member of the crew whistled “The Policeman's Holiday.” Lees's record of this improbable event was perceptive.
“That is Sir Ernest all over,” he wrote of the famous polar explorer's courtly gyrations. “He is always able to keep his troubles under and show a bold front. His unfailing cheeriness means a lot to a band of disappointed explorers like ourselves. In spite of his own great disappointment and we all know that is disasterous enough, he never appears to be anything but the acme of good humour and hopefulness. He is one of the greatest optimists living.… [H]e enters the lists every time with the spirit that every prize fighter enters the ring with.”
Hurley with camera
In June began the darkest part of the year. Save for the moon and a couple of hours of dim twilight at noon, there was no light. The temperature had dropped to the minus twenties and leads of water that had been clear only the day before became encrusted with six inches of ice overnight.
During this darkening period of dead calm, on June 9, heavy pressure broke. Some 500 yards from the ship, colossal plates of ice screamed and groaned against each other, exploding now and then with the muffled boom of distant artillery. Guided by hand lanterns, several men went out to observe the pressure as it piled huge blocks of ice, each many tons in weight, one atop the other, to a height of fifteen feet. The roaring continued through June 12, but the weather thickened, making more excursions impossible.
Endurance in the Ice, 4 April 1915
“During the night of the 3rd we heard the ice grinding to the eastward, and in the morning we saw that young ice was rafted 8 to 10 ft. high in places. This was the first murmur of the danger that was to reach menacing proportions in later months.” ( Shackleton, South)
By June 15, all was calm again, and a race between dog teams was planned for the following day. The rollicking Dog Derby was a much welcome diversion after the ominous bout of pressure. In the twilight, the track was lit with hurricane lamps, and Shackleton himself acted as starter. He had given all hands the day off, and several of the able seamen entered into the spirit of the day by appearing dressed as bookies, although, as Hurley remarked, “as they look a trifle ‘disreputable,' their odds are not accepted.” With a flutter of handkerchiefs and cheers of encouragement, the dogs were off. Wild's team won, having