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Leaving Hobart
The Aurora in pack ice |
Aurora / Mawson 1911-1914
Bert Lincoln was an Able Bodied ordinary
seaman on board the SY Aurora during a trip lasting just under
three months from Hobart to Commonwealth Bay Antarctica and
back again to relieve Mawson's expedition during its second
summer, the middle of a three summer and two winter expedition.
What follows is Bert's diary of the voyage.
It is typed it as it is written. There is an occasional word
or letters that I have not been able to interpret, at these
points I have written a row of dashes ----- or wrapped question
marks around the word where I have ?guessed?
This page - Page 4 - in Antarctica
Monday Feb 3rd 1913
We are still beating about
in Commonwealth Bay, the wind is from the same direction only
getting gradually stronger. It is now blowing a terrible hurricane
and the ship bulwarks on the outside are covered about 10 inches
thick with ice and from the boat skids, top-gallant sail, davits
and such things the icicles are hanging like stalactites a foot
long, the sailing around the forecastle head which are made
of 1 inch thick iron are now four inches thick with ice, the
rigging and backstays are bars of ice three inches to five inches
in thickness and the rigging lanyards and every coil of rope
are solid blocks of ice. The reel containing the four miles
of wire rope for trawling is covered with canvas and that is
covered again with a thick coating of ice so that it looks like
a small iceberg on deck, as the top of the reel stands about
six feet high. When our watch went on deck at 8 o'clock this
morning one man had to grease and oil the steering gear while
I had to break the ice out of the scupper holes which were all
frozen up, as the maindeck had eight inches of water washing
around it that could not escape, I had to wade in the water
with a crowbar, and as soon as my seaboots went in the water
I felt the cold through although the boots did not leak and
when I cleared the scuppers and the water drained away I stamped
my feet and a coating of ice fell off my boots so you can see
how quick the water will freeze unless there is a big quantity
of it. We did nothing only stand by and keep the scuppers free
in our watches on deck today, and we notice that the mate stays
in his bunk more now instead of nosing around forward on his
watch below giving us unnecessary work to do, but in our dog
watch he was having plenty of lung exercise with his whistle
and the first time he wanted the end of a gasket tucked in on
the upper topsail yard and another time he wanted a door shut
that was slightly ajar. The gasket on the topsail yard was not
adrift but an end about eighteen inches long was left after
the gasket had been made fast some four weeks ago, and this
end had been hanging down ever since and he now wanted it tucked
in the turn round the yard, so a man had to go up and
do it in a wind that is enough to blow a man off the yard and
half way to the horizon., and the rigging slippery and treacherous
as it is covered so thick with ice. This chief mate must want
a term of imprisonment for manslaughter
I think judging from his orders
when the weather is exceptionally bad. The crew would say nothing
and do say nothing to orders for things to be done which are
necessary to the good handling of and good looks of the vessel
or to the saving of gear from damage even if the job is dangerous
but they naturally grumble and curse at the job that is absolutely
unnecessary and is yet saved for weeks till such time as it
will be dangerous and then a sailor is ordered by the mate to
do it at an imminent risk of being lost overboard, and we are
now seven since we left Hobart, and we don't want to go home
with less men just to satisfy the mates spite as that is all
it really is. The mate is thoroughly disliked by every man in
the ship both officer and sailor aft & forward on account of
his dirty principles, but he had better be careful as in this
ship the serious complaints of the A.B.'s are always paid heed
to by the captain and rectified where possible, and the men
forward. sailors, fireman, donkeyman, sailmaker and boatswain
always stick to-gether now when a complaint is to be made and
the old man knows we stick together too as in Hobart when things
were unsatisfactory and one man who was grumbling the most was
going to be paid off we all demanded our discharges making the
old man's knees shake so much as to nearly collapse. I am putting
rather too much in my diary according to the amount of paper
I have so henceforth I must cut down a little and put things
short and sweet.
Tuesday
Feb 4th 1913
The wind is still
blowing strong, in fact it is lifting the water up like smoke
and when one gets in an exposed place it is like getting a smack
with a whitewashed wall. We are doing nothing but take a wheel
and keep the decks and scuppers clear and occasionally brace
the yards when the ship can not bring his head up against it
with the helm hard down. When our watch went on deck at midday
I relieved the wheel and the helm was then hard down as the
wind had forced her head away and the steersman was trying to
get her up again and he warned me that she was jerking heavy
on the wheel, and before he got away I got a hoist in the air
and very near went over the wheel. After that I took good care
she did not throw me. When my relief came along I warned him
and when she jerked heavy he let the wheel go and it span round
at the sort of rate of knots and the old
man went sour and ordered us to rig a relieving tackle
to take the jerk, after which it was much safer at the wheel.
When I was relieved from the wheel I also warned everyone in
the watch so they would know what to expect when their turns
came. But the old chap belonging to Hobart who had third wheel
suppose did not like a younger man giving him a tip as he thinks
he knows everything, for he said "I'll be all right matey, she
won't have me like that" so of course I said no more, but the
big Dane told him that he had better be pretty careful all the
same. When the old chap went to the wheel the relieving tackle
was on, so she did not frisk nearly so hard but all the same
he got a hoist in the air and clean up over the wheel on to
the opposite side, and the "old man" (skipper) ran and held
on to the wheel till he recovered himself. Of course I laughed
at him as he deserved.
We have not been able to steer very
good as we could not put our own faces to the wind as the fine
spray, frozen would put our eyes out, and we could not see a
thing further than a hundred yards away. everything was a blur,
sea, sky, and smoky spray. the rigging decks and everything
was covered with a thick coat of ice excepting the funnel. When
each man came from the wheel his clothes were covered with ice
although he would be warm enough as it was hard work.
Wednesday Feb 5th 1913
This morning between midnight and four o'clock the blizzard
was at its height and the ship had to steam to windward
by tacks like a sailing vessel would sail to windward and the
wind would force her to leeward so much that with the engines
doing every ounce that was in them she was only keeping her
place. The firemen say that they are burning over nine tons
of coal a day on account of the speed the engines are working
whereas usually travelling at full speed the firemen only use
between four and five tons a day. The engineers practically
sleep with their eyes on their engines and the captain looks
as if he had been drunk for a month as he has had practically
no sleep for two days and nights. We have been using every possible
trick of seamanship to keep from being blown to leeward and
to the open sea.
Thursday Feb
6th 191
The wind and sea is still
high although early this morning the wind died down a good lot
and it began to look a bit more cheerful and we were waiting
for it to moderate still more when we could pick up the motor
launch from shore and the men who are going home and get away
for the Gaussberg party but instead of moderating it blew the
hardest we have had as the sun came. Having a warm sun today
caused the thick ice which is covering everything to start thawing
when the ship became in an awful state with loose pieces of
ice and slush and water and everything being wet caused us to
get soaked through and be in general discomfort while large
lumps of ice would keep dropping from aloft, which would give
one a sudden start as they whizzed past ones head. We also had
to work hard shovelling the slush and soft ice overboard and
sweeping the water through the scuppers. The kick at the wheel
is no joke during this weather and the mate is the best officer
to steer for. The second and third mates are arguing with us
all the time when we aer doing our best as they think they know
how much helm she wants better than we do who are always steering,
naturally they don't get near such good steering during this
weather as the mate does in his. The mate can see you are doing
your best and he leaves it to you as he knows that you ought
to know better than him the amount of helm to give seeing that
you spend about four and a half to five hours at the wheel out
of every 24 and the officer never steers of course. Every man
while at the wheel gets innumerable sprays over him which freeze
immediately so that when he comes from the wheel he is white
all over and has to shake the ice off his clothes then dry them,
but then the water does not get a chance to soak in much so
it means that although the wheel is the heaviest work it is
the driest job on board.
The captain put the sailmaker in
the other watch the other day so that they would have the same
number as our watch which have now four men, who all take a
wheel, but although "Sails" has been doing some pretty tall
skiting about his Arctic and Antarctic voyages (he says he has
been eight times to the Arctic and this is the fourth voyage
to the Antarctic) he is not game to take a wheel , and some
of the chaps keep calling out to him that "The captain says
you have to go to the wheel" thus putting Sails in a blue funk.
Sailmaker does not do much skiting now by a long way.
The
Hobart man has been in one watch one week and the other watch
the next week, and this week it is his turn in our watch and
that is the reason that we had a man more than them till "Sails"
went in their watch, but as Sails does not take a wheel, I suppose
him and "old George" will change over on Sunday and we will
have "Sails" for an ornament for a week.
Friday Feb 7th 1913
The weather is very much the same but perhaps a trifle better.
There is a rumour going round that we are leaving here tomorrow
for Gaussberge, but I do not know whether it will prove true
or not although we will have to go soon whether we get the launch
and the party from shore or not as the people ashore here are
safe for provisions etc. for a couple of years, but at Gausberge
the people are only on an ice barrier and if that should break
up they are lost, while here, they are on land with rocks showing
all round about them. Today we were smashing ice off everything
and shovelling it over board, and during our watch eight o'clock
to midday I got wet through three times with sprays and dried
again working. The ice was thawing again and a piece fell on
the Dane's nose scratching it and causing it to bleed and he
went and put a piece of paper on it to keep the cold from getting
into the wound & when he came up again the boatswain growled
at him and bullyragged him & then attempted to hit him for stopping
working and they had a rough and tumble on the deck among the
ice and slush and water, and the Dane had the best of it,
easy so the mate came and stopped
this. If the boatswain is not very careful what he does he may
not go home from this trip as no-one likes him and he is getting
a bit over the mark with some of the chaps, and every man jack
vows that if the boatswain starts his trick with his fists,
they won't take a doing from him so if starts bouncing some
of the smaller chaps as he has a habit of doing it might end
in his skull getting fractured.
Late tonight we heard that
the captain said he would wait another twenty four hours if
the weather continued bad and then he would leave for Gausberg
with or without the launch and the returning party.
Saturday Feb 8th 1913
When our watch came on deck at four oclock this morning
we found there was a great improvement in the weather since
midnight and about 5.30 the mate set us to work to dig the ice
away from the no.1 winch ready for hoisting the launch aboard
should the weather moderate a little more.
By eight oclock
this morning it had fallen almost calm and the sea had gone
down too. We had the eight to twelve watch below and we turned
in about nine o'clock after having breakfast. The launch came
off about 9.30 and returned once or twice to bring off men and
their belongings. and at 10.30 we were called on deck again
to help hoist the launch as the winches were still frozen up
and useless. We had the launch on the chocks and were off to
sea by eleven o'clock. The weather was dead calm by this time.
We had our ensign at the gaff as we steamed up the bay to the
open sea, and the men we left here were up on the hill by the
camp waving farewell to us. We had nice warm sunshine all day
and were busy breaking off ice from the rigging and wherever
it was overhead so that it should not fall on anyone and hurt
then. I had the wheel from seven till eight o'clock in the evening
and the ship steered good in the calm, in fact she only needed
one spoke of the wheel in either direction to keep her perfectly
steady. I was relieved from the wheel at 8 bells (eight o'clock)
and went below. Our watch was just turning in when a man of
the watch on deck came and told us that the operator had just
received a message from the mainbase saying "Mawson
arrived Metz and Ninnis (Mawson's two companions)
dead" Mertz was a native
of Switzerland and Ninnis was an Englishman and a lieutenant
in the Grenadier Guards. The message was faint but was continually
repeated in the hope of it reaching us which it did in spite
of its being sent in the daytime when wireless does not travel
so good. On receiving the message the ship was immediately put
about and headed for the base again. The ship was then heading
from East to South dodging among bergs and making for the coast
and it started snowing and as we got back towards the coast
the wind rose and the weather got worse.
Sunday Feb 9th 1913
The
ship was near to the bay at four o'clock this morning. weather
is very cold and windy and we are in doubt as to whether it
will be calm enough to allow us to launch the motor when we
arrive off the base, although the watch on deck from 4 a.m.
to 8 a.m. are getting the gear ready which is necessary. The
boat has to be shifted from chocks on the forecastlehead and
launched from these with the trawl boom and wire. We expect
to be here some days now as most likely everything and everybody
will be going to Australia now that Mawson
is back.
8.30 p.m. We
arrived off the base about 1 p.m. but as the sea was rather
rough we did not attempt to launch the motor boat but got the
whole boat ready to launch instead. Whilst near the base all
the afternoon we were speaking with them by signals and this
evening at 6.30 p.m. as it was our watch on deck the mate called
me aft and him and I hoisted our ensign at the gaff and dipped
it three times to the people ashore and steamed off or the open
sea. I heard the mate tell one of the men from ashore
"that we know all the people who are left here in the Commonwealth
Bay base (main base) are safe enough for twelvemonths or two
years if necessary, but that Mr. Wild and his party at the second
base at Gausberg are in a very precarious position and that
we are going to Gausberg without delaying here waiting for fine
weather to get them on board, before it is too late in the season".
When we left here yesterday we saw a large ice-pack away on
our starboard bow and beam and as there is more ice at this
time of the year, to the westward we might get frozen in a pack
if it is too heavy to smash through and be hundreds of miles
away from the second base whilst they might be adrift on icebergs
if the ice barrier where their camp is has broken up, or they
may be dead by now.
There was a large ice-barrier close to
this base when the ship was here last year, which has all broken
up and drifted away before the ship arrived here this year.
Whilst the weather was so bad here wind was blowing at a velocity
of from 50 miles up to 132 miles an hour
and some very large icebergs broke off the glacier and drifted
out to sea. One night three broke off.
Monday Feb 10th 1913
We
have been steering N. by E. and N 1/2 E. since leaving the base
thus passing to the eastward of the ice pack which we passed
on Saturday when we steered N. by W. and then N. by W. 3/4 W.
As soon as we were away from the base for a couple of hours
the weather got calmer and this morning the sea only had little
ripples on it. We pounded through several small patches of drift
ice early this morning and at 6.30 there were many large bergs
around us. I counted 37 of varying sizes within a radius of
about six miles. Some of these bergs were only about a couple
of hundred yards long whilst others were 6 and 7 miles in length.
We have to keep look-out again now as we have three or four
hours of darkness during the night and sometimes a fog and other
times falls of snow. About 10 o'clock this morning we entered
an ice pack. it was about two miles through at its narrowest
part whereof course we went but it took us until one o'clock
to break through. The engines were going full speed, and the
old ship would give the ice a smack and if it was too solid
she would bounce back with her masts shivering and the rigging
clattering and then at it again and after a while a piece perhaps
half an acre in size, would slowly glide aside with much grinding
and smashing and allow her to creep a few yards ahead when the
same performance would again take place. We had watch below
from 10 to 12 (midday) and as soon she entered the pack it woke
us up and we were very nearly hoisted from our bunks with
the force of her impacts many a time. We have been put on a
very low whack of water from yesterday. One bucketful per day
for seven men from which all our cocoa and coffee has to be
made, and what is left we can use to wash in. We had no tea
at dinnertime today and very little at breakfast tea-time. The
heavy ice-pack today was composed of fresh-water ice, but the
captain of course does not want to delay it all on the way to
Gausberg, as the party there may be lost through us delaying,
even if they are not already gone out.
We have a good fair
wind but we dare not use it while there is so much ice about,
so we have not set any sails, but are only under steam.
We
sight very many "right whales" also "fin-backs". "sulphur bottoms"
but time is too precious for us to stop to do any whaling. While
in the icepack we passed a great lot of seals sunning themselves
on the ice and we were clearing the remains of the ice off our
decks and rigging so we would occasionally throw a piece of
ice at them which landing close to them would cause them great
alarm. We passed within a few feet of a penguin and her one
chick the chick was more comical than his mother, to look at
and also about twice the size.
Tuesday Feb 11th 1913
Early
this morning the course was altered to W.N.W. as we are
getting pretty clear of the ice. At 8 o'clock p.m. there were
only three or four large bergs in sight. Later on in the morning
the course was altered to W. by N 1/2 N. This brought the wind
on our port bow and then being a cross sea on makes the ship
roll a bit while I was at the wheel in first dog-watch 7-8 the
indicator registered the heaviest roll that hour as 25 degrees
from perpendicular. The ship is getting light now so she heaves,
pitches and rolls more than she would in the same sea if she
was deep loaded. The weather is warm now as we are north of
the Antarctic Circle about one and a half days steaming. The
temperature now is at 32° in the day and about 30° to-night.
It is also getting darker at nights. We have had to use binnacle
lamps since leaving Adelie Land and at night we had to light
them as early as 9.30. This is partly due to the ship being
further north but also to the fact that the sun is drawing to
a close now and winter is coming along. It is doubtful whether
we will get back this Autumn or get frozen in and have to wait
till next summer to get home.
Mr. Hannam the wireless operator
got a faint and indistinct message last night from the main
base, which he understood to be that the two companions of Mawson,
viz Mertz and Ninnis lost their lives falling down a crevasse,
but he could not get all the message, and he could not ask for
it again as our wireless gear only allows us to
receive messages and
not to send any away from the ship
which is a thing I call ridiculous seeing that all that is wanted
is one little instrument besides those we have . But I suppose
the captain does not want news to be sent on ahead of him when
going back to Australia so that he can have all the "swank"
to himself. He is welcome to it.
There are no great happenings these last couple of days, and
I think the officers are hard put to it to invent work to make
us keep busy. Why they don't let us have a good spell before
reaching Gaussberg I don't know because when we are taking the
party and their gear aboard, if all is safe and well, we will
have a pretty hard time of it again. Perhaps they keep us working
just to keep our muscles and to keep us in good hard condition.
Wednesday Feb 12th 1913
Early this morning in the 12 to 4 o'clock watch I steered
the (Australian) "Aurora" close past a large iceberg by the
light of the "Aurora Australis". We see the "Aurora Australis"
occasionally but not every night, although I expect we shall
see it more frequently as winter approaches nearer. The illumination
this morning was to the north of us reaching from N.W. to N.E.
at its strongest part. This is only about the fifth or sixth
time I have seen the Aurora Australis plainly since I have been
in the ship although I was in her all last winter cruising around
Macquarrie & Auckland Islands which are what is called Sub-Antarctica.
Thursday Feb 13th 1913
The weather still continues fine. the temperature averaging
30° with bright sunshine and the wind on the port bow and just
enough sea on to keep the ship gently heaving as if she is nodding
and bowing to something.
We are only 300 miles from the main-base
at noon today so we still have 1000 miles to do to reach Gaussberg.
When we were travelling at our top speed we were using 8 or
9 tons of coal per day so we want to have enough left to take
us to Australia, the captain ordered that they were not to use
more than 5 tons per day so there is not so much speed as there
is less steam now.
The fireman pitched a tale to the chief
mate, that they did not have enough time to trim their own coal
so that one of the sailors has now to go trimming for them while
they sit in the stokehold reading and amusing themselves, they
have four hours on duty and eight off, working only eight hours
out of twenty-four while our side work twelve out of twenty-four
and then has to do their work while they have a right good sort
of time of it. Passed the edge of an ice pack today.
Friday Feb 14th 1913
The wind has been very light today but dead fair so we got
the sails ready and about five o'clock this afternoon when the
wind freshened a bit we set the upper and lower topsails and
reefed the foresail, the reef is so that the officers can see
under the foot of the sail, from the bridge. started doing
about seven knots, but tonight the wind having freshened still
more, she is doing about ten-knots and a big sea is climbing
up. The wind is still dead-fair.
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