There are many famous tales of polar exploration. We’ve covered a lot of them already, from Scott and Amundsen, to Shackleton and Worsley, and even the likes of Tom Crean or the Nordenskjold expedition.
But that’s the beauty of this area. As you delve deeper, rather than running out of stories, you instead find more incredible tales of heroism and survival. And amongst those, lost against the drama of Scott’s tragic push for the pole, is one of the most remarkable.
This is the story of Victor Campbell and the Northern Party.
The Background
The background is simple enough. The Northern Party, consisting of six men and led by Victor Campbell, was part of the crew of the Terra Nova Expedition in 1910. For reference, the Terra Nova expedition was the one known for a famous race to the South Pole by Robert Falcon Scott and his party. It was a race that they eventually lost to Roald Amundsen, before then all losing their lives. This is by far the most famous story of this expedition, overshadowing other incredible side expeditions like the so-called “Worst Journey in the World”, or this one of the Northern Party.
The Northern Party’s plan was clear: To explore and carry out scientific missions on the Edward VII Peninsula. However, unable to make it to land, they instead sailed to Cape Adare, where they were dropped off to make a base. They spent a winter here, but the prevailing sea ice and conditions meant they couldn’t do much research at all. So, in mid summer they were met by the returning Terra Nova ship (coming back from New Zealand) and were dropped off further down the coast. This new location, about 320 kilometres north of the main Terra Nova base, was only meant to last them a few weeks. The plan was the Terra Nova would come back by then and pick them up to return to base.
A few weeks later and with dwindling supplies, they waited for the ship.
The ship never came.
A Long, Lonely Winter Approaches
It was an unseasonable year, and the ‘impossible’ February sea ice arrived and blocked any approach to land. However, the Northern Party didn’t know that. To them, it was just as likely that the ship had sunk, leaving them stranded on the coast. After a few weeks waiting in their sleeping bags, and with winter fast approaching without enough supplies to make it back to base, the team were left to fend for themselves. All they had was lightweight summer clothing, summer tents and minimal rations. This overwinter, the second in a row spent by this team, is arguably the most uncomfortable winter ever spent in Antarctica.
The general consensus back at the main Terra Nova camp was that the Northern Party would be fine, and they were more concerned about the missing Scott polar party. After all, it was assumed the Northern Party were on a good stretch of land, surrounded by countless penguins and seals to use as food. In reality, the area was prone to incredible katabatic winds, earning it the title ‘Hell's Gate’. The countless penguins and seals all departed as winter approached. The party managed to catch and cache a number of them before they left, doing this arduous and awful work with only pocket knives and geological hammers. With this food supply, they then moved their base off their exposed area to a small island they named “Inexpressible Island”. Based on the name alone, they clearly had strong feelings about their predicament. Realising their summer tents weren’t going to be good enough to survive winter, they found a large snowdrift and immediately set to work cutting into the snow to make a cave. A backbreaking job, it could only be worked on by a few men at a time. By March, with the animals departed and the winds howling, they moved into their ice cave. With the exception of a few emperor penguins in April, no other animals were even sighted until late July.
Trapped in the Dead of an Antarctic Winter
Imagine for a minute what it would be like to live in this cave for months on end. The wind was ceaselessly howling outside, and there wasn’t even enough room to stand up properly. It was freezing cold, there was no sun over winter at all and there was barely any food. The only source of fuel was blubber, which they used to light their stoves and ‘cook’ food. There were also problems with the ventilation and visibility, both with the smoke from the lamp and the darkness of the cave, made worse from the lack of sun outside. It also didn’t help that the entrance collapsed under a snowdrift and they then had to dig their way out. But, over time they made improvements, fashioning a stove, some lamps and even a chimney.
The countdown for the group was for August, which is when the sun should return and was the absolute earliest they could begin to march back to the main camp. The main supply of meat was stored outside in the ‘cache’, so every few days a few men had to head outside to get more, battling the katabatic winds in the darkness to lug the heavy carcasses into the cave. From there, they then used a hammer and chisel to chip away chunks of flesh to fit in the pot, some of the chips flying away in the wind. If it helps, imagine taking a large chunk of fatty meat out of the freezer and then trying to fit it in a small pot, using only a candle and a small hammer.
Later on in the winter they fashioned themselves an oven which made it easier to soften the meat to break it up, but even then cutting it was dangerous work. It was so cold in the cave that your extremities froze, so much so that it was incredibly easy to cut through the meat and into your own fingers without realising it, as happened on more than one occasion. In one such instance, the man cut the tendons in three of his fingers, only realising when the fingers no longer worked. When that was done, cooking the meat was almost worse. The fumes from the blubber stove irritated the eyes and nose, and so cooking was done in pairs so that one man could take a break in the corner, tears streaming down his face, whilst the other continued. And despite their hunger, the food quickly got monotonous.
Every day was some sort of variation of blubber and meat soup, with a portion of a biscuit. They ran out of freshwater and it was difficult to melt ice in the cave, so they used a mix of salt water in their meals to make the soup, which caused diarrhoea at first until most of them adjusted. Rations from their supplies were used sparingly, and they also experimented with various parts of the medical kit as food flavouring. Citric acid tablets with water were offered once a week to great acclaim as a warm drink, and other flavourings that got attention was a length of old rope (giving the soup a woody flavour), and an old penguin flipper used as a pot scraper that was accidentally left in the soup. A big winner in the flavour stakes was a meal of fish they had, one that was found in the stomach of a seal they butchered. Nothing went to waste. Tea was boiled on Sundays, reused on Mondays and then used as pipe tobacco on Tuesdays.
Stiff Clothes and Stiff Upper Lips
Interestingly enough, the party of six men were really of two separate social classes of people. Three of them were naval officers or a similar ranking, the other three of them crew members. They also had different societal backgrounds. A strict naval officer and in an effort to keep the order and the peace, Campbell drew a line in the snow and instructed everyone to imagine that there was a wall there, so that each class of person could have their own area free to talk and relax without worry. It was, essentially, a frozen wardroom. There were forced exercises each day to maintain some level of fitness and optimism, hard to do when you are in the dark, in a cave and surrounded by storms. Each night one of the men would read a chapter from a book to the group, after which they would discuss it in great detail, savouring the diversion from their predicament.
The burning of the blubber provided warmth for cooking and some light, but it soon got everywhere. Their lightweight clothes wore out and became threadbare, but were caked in blubber. This meant they then froze stiff on the body and were not only uncomfortable and cold, but also chafed. Their skin blackened and was caked in blubbery grease, whilst their hair froze against them. Each of them suffered melancholy and medical issues, caused by conditions and the unvaried diet. To steal the name from famous ship to follow, it was simply a matter of Endurance.
The men weren’t expecting rescue, and it was up to Campbell and the team to find their own way home.
A Light at The End of The Cave
Finally, in August, the sun came out briefly. Spirits raised, but it then disappeared again until late August and strong winds stopped them from venturing outside. It was only September when it came back more consistently and the winds died down, allowing them to venture out. The return of the sun also meant a return of penguins, and the team quickly restocked their supplies as best they could. Despite illness, sores and hunger, and after a series of exercises to fix their bent postures, the team set off for the 300km journey across the polar landscape to their home base. This included a treacherous journey across a massive glacier, filled with crevasses that could doom the whole party. A month into their journey, running low on supplies, they found a supply depot, left by the main party the previous summer. Included in the cache along with biscuits, butter and other goodies, was a letter stating that the Terra Nova hadn’t sunk and had headed back to New Zealand. Spirits buoyed, and for the first time in nine months, they ate a full meal. After seven or so months in a cave, living off poor food and in terrible conditions, this supply cache gave them the energy and hope they needed. A week later they made it back to base, where they shocked their crew mates with blackened skin and wild eyes.
Welcomed back to relative safety, it was here that they had the news broken to them about the fate of Scott’s party. After only a few days to recover, and as the most senior remaining naval officer, Campbell then assumed command of the expedition for the final few weeks. The expedition then sailed the Terra Nova home to England with news of Scott’s passing, and with that, any heroics of the Northern party were largely overshadowed.
What makes this story different from other survival stories is the unique nature of their predicament. They were equipped for a short summer stay, but survived months through a frozen winter in a snow cave before making their own way back to safety. Despite their illnesses and injuries they all survived.
And thankfully many years on, so does their story.
The Antarctic expeditions of today bear no risk of explorers being stranded in ice caves for months on end, forced to fend for themselves with no certainty of survival. We’re lucky to be able to visit this vast continent in the comfort of purpose-built expedition ships, alongside expert guides who know how to show you the wonder of Antarctica, including its incredible history. The destination hasn’t changed, but the method of experiencing it thankfully has.
