Antarctic letter hints at dissent in the ranks

From the Dominion Post: Antarctic letter hints at dissent in the ranks
Terse field instructions written in pencil in 1915 by one of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition team members is up for auction.

The letter written by Ross Sea Party member John Cope to fellow party member Richard Richards orders him and his team, in no uncertain terms, to return to Hut Point.

"You are to proceed straight back to Hut Point and you are not to take anything from any depot unless you are absolutely forced to do so, except from the depot we laid on the 21st ultimate.

"From there you will take as follows – 1 empty kerosene case, 1 ice pick, 3 ski sticks, 1 pair of skis and 2 coils of rope," the letter said.

Mowbray Collectibles owner John Mowbray said he had never seen a working document written in Antarctica from this era before.

"It is very rare. It appears there was some dissent in the ranks – disobey orders at your own risk," he said.

The Ross Sea Party was part of Shackleton's doomed 1914-17 expedition. Its task was to lay a series of supply depots to prepare for Shackleton's third expedition to march across the continent to the South Pole and on to the Ross Sea.

Disaster struck the expedition in early 1915 when its ship, the Endurance, was trapped in pack ice and slowly crushed. It sank 10 months later.

Shackleton's main expedition was unable to land. He eventually led his men to safety but the transcontinental march did not take place.

Despite setbacks, the Ross Sea Party survived squabbles, extreme weather, illness and the deaths of three of its members to carry out its mission during its second Antarctic season.

Along with an envelope hand-addressed by Shackleton, the letter is being auctioned at an estimated value of $2500 at John Mowbray International's annual public stamp auction at the West Plaza Hotel in Wellington today, where 1000 lots will be offered.