 | Meteorologist
Endurance 1914-17 (also
referred to as "banjo player" in the credits to the film "South"!) |
| Meteorologist, assistant surgeon
Quest- Ernest
Shackleton 1921 - 1922 |
 Like countless other young men, Hussey wrote to
Shackleton to request a position on what would become the Endurance expedition, at the time of his application,
he had just returned from an expedition to the Sudan where he had been
employed as an anthropologist. Hussey was lucky enough to be called
for interview with Shackleton, in Hussey's own words, it went like this:
"He called for me, looked me up and
down, walked up and down when he was talking to me, didn't seem to take
any notice. Finally he said, "Yes, I like you, I'll take you." He told
me afterwards he took me because he thought I looked funny!"
Shackleton's judge of character was to prove uncanny
as Hussey became an invaluable addition to the crew in particular helping
to raise the spirits and moral of the other men with his ready wit and
banjo playing during the long days lost in the ice floes and while waiting
for rescue on Elephant Island.
He was not at all expert at playing the banjo,
though his instrument had been with him on previous adventures,
having even been played to an audience of cannibals in Africa.
Hussey had been prepared to leave the banjo behind when the men were
deciding what to take across the ice with them and what to leave
behind:
"We must have that banjo
if we lose all our food, it's vital mental medicine".
Shackleton
The banjo was brought forth to celebrate the
capture of food in the form of a seal or penguin and during the time
on Elephant Island, a concert was held each Saturday night in the
soot and tobacco darkened confines of the "Snuggery." Favourite
songs were Swannee River, Massa's in the Cold Ground, Little Brown
Jug and John Peel. There were also many songs written by the men
themselves to existing tunes usually about and ridiculing each
other.
The Rookery, the
scientific laboratory with Hussey (left)
examining the Dimes anemometer and James
(right) removing rime from the dip-circle, the electrograph
is on the right.
Leonard Hussey was born in Leytonstone, London, England,
one of nine children, his father was in the printing industry.
He enrolled at the University of London in 1909 gaining degrees in psychology, meteorology and anthropology
from the University of London at Kings College.
On return to England, like many of the other expedition
members, Hussey became a part of the War effort being commissioned as
a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery and rising to the rank
of Captain by the end of the war. He saw much battle action in France,
including St. Quentin and Dixmunde and on the North Russia front where
he served once again with Ernest Shackleton on operation Syren.
He remained in contact with Shackleton and completed
the final editing of Shackleton's book of the 1914-17 Endurance expedition
"South" - without payment. In 1921, Shackleton invited Hussey to join
him on his last expedition to Antarctica aboard the Quest as
meteorologist and assistant surgeon as Hussey had qualified in
medicine since his return from the Endurance expedition.
Shackleton had been ill with suspected heart disease
(suspected because he would not allow himself to be examined by a doctor)
for some time. He had put on weight and was smoking and drinking too
much, despite surviving a heart attack in Rio de Janeiro he pressed
on, but died of another heart attack on South Georgia.
Hussey accepted the duty of escorting Shackleton's
body back to England, but by the time he reached Montevideo (Uruguay)
a telegraph was received from Shackleton's widow requesting that her
husband be laid to rest on South Georgia. Hussey returned with the body
and made the necessary arrangements. On March 5th 1922 Shackleton's
body was laid to rest at the Norwegian cemetery alongside the whalers.
After the end of WW1, Hussey's career had
turned towards
medicine, by 1923 he was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and
a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians. He was in general medical
practice in London up until 1940.
During WW2, he joined the Royal Air Force as a medical
officer being posted to Iceland with the rank of Squadron Leader and
then stationed at RAF Benson in London. He had a distinguished war record
being twice mentioned in despatches. (01/01/1945 and 14/05/1945) and
receiving the Military OBE.
Hussey published his own book "South with Endurance"
in 1949, in the same year he served as ship's surgeon on the S.S.Clan
Macauley which sailed from England to South Africa and Australia.
He continued to practise as a G.P. in Hertfordshire
until around 1957 the same year that he became president of the Antarctic
Club. Having been on so famous an expedition, Hussey gave many lectures
about his Antarctic adventures until ill health in retirement prevented
him from continuing. He gave his notes and lantern slides to a friend,
Ralph Gullet, a local Scout Leader. His famous banjo was donated to
the British Maritime Museum in 1959.
He was married to Grace Muriel Hellstrom for many
years - they had no children. Leonard died in 1964 aged 72. Grace died
in 1980.
Dr. Hussey's medals. Includes
the Board of Trade's Permission to Wear the WWI Mercantile Marine War
Medal
(green, white and red ribbon).
These are held in a private
collection in North America. Picture by courtesy
Glenn M. Stein References to
Leonard Hussey
in Shackleton's book "South!"
buy USA
buy UK
| The ship was blocked at one point by
a wedge-shaped piece of floe, but we put the ice-anchor
through it, towed it astern, and proceeded through the
gap. Steering under these conditions required muscle as
well as nerve. There was a clatter aft during the
afternoon, and Hussey, who
was at the wheel, explained that "The wheel spun round
and threw me over the top of it!" |
|
| During the afternoon three adelie
penguins approached the ship across the floe while
Hussey was discoursing
sweet music on the banjo. The solemn-looking little
birds appeared to appreciate "It's a Long Way to
Tipperary," but they fled in horror when
Hussey treated them to a
little of the music that comes from Scotland. The shouts
of laughter from the ship added to their dismay, and
they made off as fast as their short legs would carry
them. |
|
| Later there was a really splendid
dinner, consisting of turtle soup, whitebait, jugged
hare, Christmas pudding, mince-pies, dates, figs and
crystallized fruits, with rum and stout as drinks. In
the evening everybody joined in a "sing-song."
Hussey had made a
one-stringed violin, on which, in the words of Worsley,
he "discoursed quite painlessly." The wind was
increasing to a moderate south-easterly gale and no
advance could be made, so we were able to settle down to
the enjoyments of the evening. |
|
| The quarters in the 'tween decks were
completed by the 10th, and the men took possession of
the cubicles that had been built. The largest cubicle
contained Macklin, McIlroy, Hurley, and
Hussey and it was named
"The Billabong." |
|
| As the drift was mostly affected by
the winds, the weather was closely watched by all, and
Hussey, the meteorologist,
was called upon to make forecasts every four hours, and
some times more frequently than that. A meteorological
screen, containing thermometers and a barograph, had
been erected on a post frozen into the ice, and
observations were taken every four hours. |
|
| "About a mile from Patience Camp we
had a welcome surprise. Sir Ernest and
Hussey sledged out to meet
us with dixies of hot tea, well wrapped up to keep them
warm. |
|
| "Rickenson, who was still very weak
and ill, but very cheery, obtained a place in the boat
directly above the stove, and the sailors having lived
under the Stancomb Wills for a few days while she was
upside down on the beach, tacitly claimed it as their
own, and flocked up on to its thwarts as one man. There
was one ‘upstair' billet left in this boat, which Wild
offered to Hussey and Lees
simultaneously, saying that the first man that got his
bag up could have the billet. Whilst Lees was
calculating the pros and cons
Hussey got his bag, and had it up just as Lees
had determined that the pros had it. There were now four
men up on the thwarts of the Dudley Docker, and the five
sailors and Hussey on those
of the Stancomb Wills, the remainder disposing
themselves on the floor." |
|
| Heavy bales of sennegrass, and boxes
of cooking-gear, were lifted bodily in the air and
carried away out of sight. Once the wind carried off the
floor-cloth of a tent which six men were holding on to
and shaking the snow off. These gusts often came with
alarming suddenness; and without any warning.
Hussey was outside in the
blizzard digging up the day's meat, which had frozen to
the ground, when a gust caught him and drove him down
the spit towards the sea. Fortunately, when he reached
the softer sand and shingle below high-water mark, he
managed to stick his pick into the ground and hold on
with both hands till the squall had passed. |
|
| After supper they had a concert,
accompanied by Hussey on
his "indispensable banjo." This banjo was the last thing
to be saved off the ship before she sank, and I took it
with us as a mental tonic. It was carried all the way
through with us, and landed on Elephant Island
practically unharmed, and did much to keep the men
cheerful. Nearly every Saturday night such a concert was
held, when each one sang a song about some other member
of the party. If that other one objected to some of the
remarks, a worse one was written for the next week.
|
|
| The demons of depression could find
no foothold when he was around; and, not content with
merely "telling," he was "doing" as much as, and very
often more than, the rest. He showed wonderful
capabilities of leadership and more than justified the
absolute confidence that I placed in him.
Hussey, with his cheeriness
and his banjo, was another vital factor in chasing away
any tendency to downheartedness. |
|
|
Endurance
Personnel
Summary
Bakewell, William
Able Seaman
Blackborow, Percy
Steward (stowaway)
Cheetham, Alfred
Third Officer
Clark, Robert S.
Biologist
Crean, Thomas
Second
Officer
Green, Charles J.
Cook
Greenstreet, Lionel
First Officer
Holness, Ernest
Fireman
How, Walter E.
Able
Seaman
Hudson, Hubert T.
Navigator
Hurley, James F.
(Frank)
Official Photographer
Hussey, Leonard D. A.
Meteorologist
James, Reginald W.
Physicist
Kerr, A. J.
Second
Engineer
Macklin, Dr. Alexander
H.
Surgeon
Marston, George E.
Official Artist
McCarthy, Timothy
Able Seaman
McIlroy, Dr. James A.
Surgeon
McLeod, Thomas
Able
Seaman
McNish, Henry
Carpenter
Orde-Lees, Thomas
Motor Expert and Storekeeper
Rickinson, Lewis
First Engineer
Shackleton, Ernest
H.
Expedition Leader
Stephenson, William
Fireman
Vincent, John
Able
Seaman
Wild, Frank
Second in
Command
Wordie, James M.
Geologist
Worsley, Frank
Captain |
