Transcript of (Andrew) Keith Jack’s Diary
Mentioned a little time ago that I was waxing poetical - here is a sample after the
R.W.Service style The Lone South land
Land of the Great White Silence, grim land of
the polar night;
Land of the blighting blizzard, ice fields glittering
bright;
Land where the white fanged mountains,
nameless and cleaving the sky;
Whisper of unknown spaces as the drifting
clouds sweep by Clouds all afire like opals in a setting of
burnished gold,
Amethyst, green and purple - Exquisite!
Beauty untold!
Where the endless day continues with
its ceaseless, pitiless glare,
Scorching the sight with its brightness
driving one to despair Where the shimmering mirage dances
o'er the billowy Barrier plain
Luring, tempting, enticing, oft-time
too - not in vainAnd the lone sledge trail leads onwards
into the vast unknown
With ever the frost fiend waiting,
waiting to claim his ownWhere the great Antarctic winter
sweeps down with its awful gloom
Week after week of darkness, only the
light of the moon,
Naught save the moon and the swinging
stars agleam in the heavens on high
With the weird auroral streamers
sweeping across the skyAnd yet with it all there is something a wild beauty that seems to enthral
A mystery, sadness and stillness and a
heaven sent peace over all.
Wonder what they would say to this at home pretty crude of course but at times you feel
as if you can't help trying to put your feelings into a rhyme, rough though it is.
at all events don't suppose anyone will ever see this so it doesn't matter much.
53
[Joyce] cooked for both tents tonight. Thank heaven I finished my weeks cooking night
before last, & Hayward now has that pleasure. Will soon have Xmas day round again
now, only 3 weeks off, can scarcely realize it. Exactly a year today since I lefyt Melb. to
join Expedition. Seems almost impossible. Where shall we be this time next year – at
home or looking out for a relief ship? Then again how is the war progressing? –
Sunday Dec 5th 1915 –
8.30 AM. +23.0; +32.0, + 13.0 snow in sun +22.0
Wind 5 N. Calm clear sunny. Cu 2
1.15 pm +28.0; Snow in sun + 26.1
Plume?; wind 5 N. Sign of partial thawing of snow. Cloud Cu over land masses 2.
(Esp. over dark land)
6.30pm +26.5. Snow in sun +24.0
Very hot all day. Cloud Cu &b Str Cu over dark land. Erebus plume ? . Wind 0.
Slightly hazy over towards N & E
Sastrugi much interlaced Showing variability of winds in this quarter.
Under way 9.10 – 12.30 pm. Sun very hot all day. In afternoon started at 2.45 &
marched till 6.15 doing 14 miles all told & leaving us 25-26 M to do if we are to make Hut
Pt. tomorrow – a rather tall order & especially so if the surface is like we had today for it
was simply shocking. All day we have been ploughing through deep pie crust snow
sinking with each step nearly up to our knees. The dogs too felt it keenly & like us all
pretty tired. We are very much nearer White Is. Theis trip than previously & this possibly
accounts for the bad nature of the surface owing to the accumulation of drift. Camped for
lunch just near the line of the two “Pimples” mentioned in earlier notes. Has been so hot
today that I have been traveling in boots underpants, socks and singlet – not another
stitch on – not even a hat. Some of the party are starting to feel the effect of sun & wind
on lips & face. Snow blindness too is becoming troublesome again. Glad to say have not
suffered in any way. Temperature in sun in air at lunch time was + 36.0.
54
Monday Dec 6th 1915 6.30 AM
+16.5; +29.0; +11.0 Clear, fine, warm; Cloud Str 1 and low down NE horizon.
Wind 0. Slight haze N. Erebus & Terror outlined clearly. Plume (?) invisible.
Remarkable development of frost xtls [crystals] on snow that has been disturbed
– some reaching over 1 cm in length.
1.15 pm
Swing +24.0; snow in sun +23.0. Very hot; wind 0; cloud Cu along to hor[izon]
over dark land value 1. Plume long drawn out NW.
6.30 pm
Swing +20; snow in sun +21.0 Wind 0; Cloud Str Cu over land masses
SW. Str to E & NE value 2. Plume thin – Sastrugi interlaced tending N &
S. Large snow crystals again noticeable.
Hours today 9.10am – 12.45pm & 2.15pm – 6.15pm. Another hot day though not quite
so warm as yesterday. Again we travelled in vest & underpants. Made direct from our
camp which lay about opposite middle peak of White Is., for Petrol Depot, which we
reached after lunch at 4.30pm. We continued our march until 6.15pm doing in all about
14 ¼ miles for day. Could not reacah Hut Pt. today as hoped – distance 25 miles or so
too great. Will get in tomorrow though – weather permitting, in easy march of 12-13
miles. It is beautiful evening, in fact all day the weather has been simply perfect.
Tuesday Dec 7th 1915
6.30 AM +12.0, +22.5; + 4.5. Calm, clear, fine. Wind 6.5. Cloud Str Cu & Str & Cu
much as at last reading.
12 noon Swing +22.0 Snow in sun +22.0
Fine warm as at 6.30AM. Cloud Str Cu & Ci with two or three small Whalebacks
over Erebus & Terror value 3. Sastrugi N & S direction ie from S to N
7.30 pm Swing + 28.5. Snow in sun +28.0
Wind 10 N. Cloud heavy banks Str to W & N value 4.