The South Polar Trail - (Joyce)

The South Polar Trail
Ernest Mills Joyce
The Log Of Ernest Mills Joyce On The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. London, 1929, Duckworth, First U.K. Edition. 220 pp, frontispiece and 60 other B&W photographs. This book is based on diary by Joyce and is the primary, first-hand account of the Ross Sea Party. Joyce was closely tied to the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration, having been with Scott on the Discovery Expedition (1901-04), and then with Shackleton on the Nimrod Expedition (1907-09). Shackleton chose Joyce for the Ross Sea Party support team, part of the British Trans-Antarctic (1914-17). They were the Forgotten Men after the Endurance story became public. However the Forgotten Men had a story to tell, how Joyce and his companions sledged over 1,600 miles to lay depots, which were never used - due to the sinking of the Endurance. The Ross Sea Party consisted of ten men, including Joyce, Aeneas Mackintosh (leader), Ernest Wild (brother of Frank Wild), Joseph Stenhouse, and Dick Richards. For the Antarctic crossing, Shackleton placed Joyce in charge of dogs, provisions and laying out of depots. When their ship Aurora ripped from its moorings, along with most of their supplies, the ten men scavenged equipment and food and set out to set the depots needed for Shackleton and his men. Of the ten, three men died including Mackintosh. Chipped DJ, on corners and chips on spine, front DJ cover intact with photograph of the Ross Sea Party disembarking Aurora with their dogs; below that is the quote to Joyce from Sir Ernest Shackleton. Reference Spence 642. Overall sound copy, clean, not foxed internally, a little foxing on fore edges. Scarce book, facsimile Dustjacket, Very Good. $600