The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1955–58 was unusual among such ventures in that it employed an advance party. The main duty of this was, over the winter of 1956, to prepare a base camp for the main expedition, the camp to be named after Sir Ernest Shackleton, close to Vahsel Bay in the Weddell Sea. The party had the additional tasks of conducting scientific observations and of seeking possible routes southwards for the main party when it arrived a year later. This included the laying down of depots of stores. The question of why this departure from usual practice was deemed necessary is addressed in the preface of this work. The author states that it enabled Vivian Fuchs, the leader of the expedition, who accompanied the advance party on its voyage south in Theron, and who, after depositing the men and a large volume of stores at the site, returned northwards in that vessel, to complete some useful preliminary tasks. These included looking ‘at the ice shelf,’ finding ‘a camp site,’ and scouting ‘in an aircraft to look for an inland route’. . .‘all before the main commitment was made.’ The author raises the question of whether this was ‘over-cautious leadership’ and notes that it involved ‘unnecessary cost and duplication.’ And had ‘the expedition been mounted in one strong bite — rather than a strong one preceded by a weak and tentative one — the eight unfortunate Advance Party members would not have had to endure the grim lean winter of 1956.’
This book is the first account of the group's ‘struggle to survive at Shackleton Base, between February 1956 and January 1957’ and goes some way towards filling an important gap in the historiography of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. The primary source upon which it is based is the diary of Rainer Goldsmith, ‘medical officer, veterinary surgeon and dentist’ of the party. At the time of his appointment to the expedition, Goldsmith had no experience of exploration. The author suggests that this detachment enabled him to be more objective in his ‘questioning of the effectiveness of the Expedition and Advance Party leadership’ than would have been the case if he were ‘steeped in the ethos of the British gentleman-explorer, where [sic] “roughing it” was seen as noble and “comfort” as suspect.’ There is much criticism of Fuchs and in particular of his choice of route through the Weddell Sea, which seriously delayed Theron, causing her to arrive at the selected site very late in the season and resulting in ‘over hasty and chaotic unloading.’ This left the advance party with ‘no proper protection and almost nothing done, so condemning them to a winter of purgatory.’
The outline of the story is simply told. The advance party comprised eight men, of whom no fewer than three were meteorologists. The leader was K.V. Blaiklock, who had had the experience of four winters in the Antarctic. Theron departed from London on 14 November 1955 and, travelling via the Cape Verde Islands and Montevideo, arrived at Grytviken on 16 December. Leaving South Georgia on 20 December and after a difficult passage through the Weddell Sea, Theron arrived at a suitable site — ‘a fringe of bay ice, to which the ship could be made fast backed by a gently rising slope’ — for the base camp on 29 January 1956. Unloading proceeded apace and this operation did not escape Goldsmith's critical eye. ‘They blundered on without any real direction.’ ‘The lack of organisation caused chaos.’ ‘No one seemed to be fully in charge.’ And so forth. The stores were deposited on the bay ice and, due to water flowing over them, much was engulfed. By 5 February, sea ice was approaching and there was danger of the ship being trapped, so the members of the advance party left the ship just as the last of the cargo was being unloaded and ’all semblance of order broke down.’ In the event, the ice receded and so the ship was able to stay a little longer, enabling reconnaissance flights to be conducted by the aircraft carried on board. Theron finally left on 7 February, leaving the advance party alone.
The ‘crate’ in the title was the container for a sno-cat, in which the party lived until the expedition's prefabricated hut was sufficiently constructed as to be habitable. This however, was not until 20 September, and so for several months the party was confined, for daily living, to a space 19 feet (5.79 m) long, 9 feet (2.74 m) wide, and 8 feet (2.44 m) high. The men slept in tents pitched around the crate. Over the winter, when conditions were suitable, which they rarely were, the party laboured on constructing the hut, and it soon appeared that its design was ‘over-elaborate.’ For example, each truss comprised ‘twenty pieces of wood, marked with letters and held together by twenty bolts and four enormous plates,’ and, moreover, although the wood had been pre-drilled, much of it had warped in the passage through the tropics and the holes did not line up. In addition, the bolts were of varying lengths and there were no spares. That the hut was habitable after such a relatively short period of time, and in such conditions, speaks volumes for the dedication of the party.
Daily living, however, presented inevitable difficulties, and Goldsmith recorded several personality clashes, although none of them had a deleterious effect on the progress of the work. In addition to hut construction this included keeping the dogs in trim, maintaining the vehicles — a time consuming task as, for example, the tracks of the sno-cat had no fewer than 236 grease nipples — and moving of stores from the sea ice up to the hut site. Many of these stores, including supplies of fuel and a boat, were lost when the ice on which they were resting broke off. Eventually the hut was rendered habitable, although it was not complete, and they moved in.
This enabled the party to proceed with the task of undertaking reconnaissance journeys, and the opportunity of getting away from the base was, understandably, greeted with enthusiasm. The first journeys were to Vahsel Bay and were intended to get the dogs fit and to secure seals for their food. Then a depot was established at a distance of 50 miles (80 km) from Shackleton. The most substantial journey completed was to what became known as the Theron Mountains, with 360 miles (580 km) covered in 20 days.
The party had radio communication with the outside world for much of their stay at the base. On 30 December there was a visit by a party from USS Staten Island, from which an IGY base some 50 miles from Shackleton was being established, and the vessel carrying the main party of the Commonwealth expedition, Magga Dan, arrived on 14 January 1957. Relations with Fuchs, who was ‘his usual brusque self’ continued poor. Apparently ‘he said some very uncomplimentary things,’ about the work of the advance party ‘when he had time to say anything at all.’
Goldsmith, who was one of the very few members of the advance party not to participate in the main expedition or to be assigned to work in other Antarctic bases, returned home in Magga Dan, and undertook an academic career.
Sufficient has been written in this review to indicate the interest and usefulness of this book. It comprises large sections of prose from the author based upon Goldsmith's diary together with shorter direct quotations from that document. The problem with this approach is that in the former part of the text it is not at all clear how much of the writing, and most importantly, what proportion of the opinions expressed, are those of the author and how much derives directly from the diary. This is unsatisfactory and in this reviewer's opinion it would have been much better if the diary had been printed in toto with the author inserting such editorial apparatus as she considered necessary. In particular, this comment is of importance in considering the question of the privations suffered by the party. The author stresses this several times and quotes Fuchs that ‘apart from Scott's marooned northern party theirs was the most severe ordeal in the history of Antarctic exploration.’ This reviewer is second to none in his admiration of the work of the advance party, as revealed in this book, but surely that is overstating the case more than somewhat.
The presentation of the book is attractive. There are some excellent photographs and interesting plans, of, for example, the interior of the crate itself. Everyone with interests in the twentieth century history of the Antarctic should read this book.
