A very good copy of Bagshawe’s account of the final Heroic Age expedition. The inscription reads: “With the Compliments of Thomas Bagshawe 29/8/40.”
The object of the expedition was to build on the discoveries of Otto Nordenskjöld’s Swedish Antarctic Expedition (1901-03). The original plan was to land at Hope Bay in the Antarctic Sound. Ice made that impossible and so the expedition, which was so under-resourced they didn’t even have their own ship, were landed at Paradise Bay, opposite Lemaire and Anvers islands, at 64°48’S / 62°43’W on the western side of Grahamsland. An abandoned Norwegian factory ship was beached here and so they named it Waterboat Point. The ship itself was immediately used for accommodation. Nonetheless, of the complement of four, the two senior members, John Cope and George Wilkins opted against spending the winter there (Wilkins left the expedition entirely) and so it was left to Bagshawe and Maxime Lester to attempt the expedition’s objectives.
They supplemented their meagre rations and survived largely on seals, penguins and their eggs and set about making scientific observations. “A meteorological screen was erected on a hill nearby, and regular readings of wind speed and temperature were made. Tidal measurements were taken almost every hour, glacier movements were recorded and comprehensive notes were kept of their observations of zoological subjects: whales, seals, penguins and birds. A small camera was used to provide a photographic record, but pictures could not be developed until their return to England. Bagshawe celebrated his twentieth birthday on 18.4.21 by producing a Christmas pudding brought from England. Lester’s birthday was celebrated in a similar fashion on 25.9.21, but by then their clothes were in tatters and since March the pair had eaten nothing but minced seal” (Howgego).
Rosove writes that this “well-written narrative, by one of two plucky and enthusiastic youths who should have known better but didn’t, is a reminder that an individual or two can make an important mark, and that a measure of glory can be achieved by the meek, not just the mighty.”
Conrad p229; Howgego III, C29; Rosove, 23.A1; Spence, 79; Taurus, 111.
