The Endurance_ Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition - Caroline Alexander [28]
“Their howls and roars of terror resound for miles around,” wrote Worsley, one of the many bystanders entertained by the spectacle. “They pursue a devious and uncertain course.… [T]hough each pup possesses the voice of Jeremiah, his paunch is the paunch of Falstaff, and they flounder puff and pant along through the snow until to their joy they are headed for the ship and for a few minutes drag the hated sledge almost as fast as a dog team. Crean expects in two more lessons to teach them to drag a sledge unaided by an old leader. They will then be formally promoted from ‘Purps' to ‘Dags.'”
Taking the dogs out for exercise
After severe ice pressure forced the evacuation of the dogs from the dogloos to the ship, they were disembarked every other day for exercise.
The rest of August passed without incident. Glorious sunrises tinted the ice pink, and delicate ice formations that formed on new leads of water resembled fields of carnations. On the night of August 27, with the temperature at –24°, Hurley set up twenty flashes behind hummocks of ice around the stricken Endurance.
“Half blinded after the successive flashes,” he recorded, “I lost my bearings amidst hummocks, bumping shins against projecting ice points & stumbling into deep snow drifts.” But the image he secured was haunting: the rime-crusted Endurance breasting the ice, a spectral ship, both gallant and vulnerable.
Spring was on the way. The men began to speculate whether on breaking out they would immediately return to Vahsel Bay and embark upon the transcontinental crossing or would return to civilization first for provisions. Bets were placed on
Harnessing the dogs
“The harness is similar to that used by Amundsen, consisting of a padded collar attached to traces, which fit over the dog & is secured by a belly band.” ( Hurley, diary)
Dog team being exercised over pressure ice. “A good leader will ferret out the best track through rough or broken country, will not allow fights in the team, or indulge in any capricious antics.…A team of nine dogs can haul about 1,000 lbs.” ( Hurley, diary)
The dog teams
“One team appears to suffer from heart disease, their owner evidently expecting the whole creation to hold their breath as they pass by. A vulgar person…had the indescribable effrontery to let go his horrid war cry whilst riding on the imposing conveyance drawn by these dignified but nervous creatures, and was reproved by their indignant owner pointing out to the Vulgar Person into what terror his voice had thrown the beautiful but highly strung and delicate doggies.” ( Worsley, diary)
The Endurance at Night
August 27, 1915: “During night take flashlight of ship beset by pressure. This necessitated some 20 flashes, one behind each salient pressure hummock, no less than 10 of the flashes being required to satisfactorily illuminate the ship herself. Half blinded after the successive flashes, I lost my bearings amidst hummocks, bumping shins against projecting ice points & stumbling into deep snow drifts.” ( Hurley, diary) the “breakout” date: McIlroy hazarded November 3; Lees, ever pessimistic, thought it unlikely to occur before mid-February; Shackleton said he believed it would be October 2.
The pressure returned on the night of August 26. For several days it presented no immediate danger, but in the early hours of September 2, it took hold of the Endurance with a vengeance.
“On the night of 2nd September, I had one of the most startling moments of my life,” Bakewell recalled. “I was lying in my bunk, when… the ship literally jumped into the air and settled on its beam.” The iron plates in the engine room buckled, door frames were distorted, beams bulged as if they would splinter. The Endurance struggled and groaned