CHAPTER XIWINTER QUARTERS INSIDE
Asregards the inside of the hut the first thing done was to peg out a space for each individual, and we saw that the best plan would be to have the space allotted in sections, allowing two men to share one cubicle. This space for two men amounted to six feet six inches in length and seven feet in depth from the wall of the hut towards the centre.
There were seven of these cubicles, and a space for the leader of the expedition; thus providing for the fifteen who made up the shore party.
One of the most important parts of the interior construction was the dark-room for the photographers, and as we were very short of wood we used cases of bottled fruit to build the walls. The dark-room was built inthe left-hand corner of the hut as one entered, and the cases were turned with their lids facing out, so that the contents could be removed without the walls being demolished. The interior of the room was fitted up by Mawson and the Professor, and as Mawson made the fittings complete in every detail, the result was as good as any one under the conditions could desire.
Opposite the dark-room was my room, six feet long, seven feet deep, built of boards and roofed, the roof being seven feet above the floor. The bed-place was made of fruit-boxes, which, when emptied, served, like those outside, for lockers. My room contained the bulk of our library, the chronometers, chronometer watches, &c., and there was ample room for a table. The whole made a most comfortable cabin.
We set up the acetylene gas-plant on a platform between my room and the dark-room, for our efforts to work it from the porch had failed owing to the lowness of the temperature. The simplicity and portability of this apparatus and the high efficiency of the light represented the height of luxury under polar conditions. The only objectionable feature was the unpleasant smell when the carbide tanks were being recharged, but although we were soon used to this, the daily charging always drew down strong remarks on the unlucky head of Day, who was responsible for the acetylene plant.
As during the winter months the inside of the hut was the whole inhabited world to us, some of the distinctive features of our furnishing may be worthy of mention. The wall of Adams' and Marshall's cubicle, which was next to mine, was fitted with shelves made from Venesta cases, and this apartment was so neat and orderly that it was known by the address "No. 1 Park Lane." The beds of this particular cubicle consisted of bamboos lashed together for extra strength, to which strips of canvas were attached, so that each bed looked like a stretcher. These beds took a little longer than the others to rig up at night, but this disadvantage was more than compensated for by the free space gained during the day. The wall end rested on stout cleats screwed on to the side of the hut, the other end on chairs, and so supported, the occupant slept very comfortably.
The First Slopes of Erebus.(See page 82)
The First Slopes of Erebus.(See page 82)
The dividing curtain between this cubicle and the next—occupied by Marston and Day—had been adorned with life-sized coloured drawings of Napoleon and Joan of Arc, and as the colour of Joan and also portions of Napoleon oozed through, the curtain on Marston's side did not require to be decorated! This cubicle was known as "The Gables," and in it was set up the lithographic press. The beds were solid wood, and as Marston was the artist and Day the handy man of the expedition one naturally found an ambitious scheme of decoration.
The next cubicle on the same side belonged to Armytage and Brocklehurst, where everything in the way of shelves and fittings was very primitive, and next to this cubicle came the pantry.
Beyond the stove, facing the pantry, was Mackay and Roberts' cubicle, the main feature of which was a ponderous shelf, on which socks and other light articles chiefly rested, the only thing of weight being our gramophone and records.
Between this cubicle and the next there was no division, neither party troubling to put one up. The result was that the four men were constantly at war regarding encroachments on their ground. Priestley, who was long-suffering, and who occupied the cubicle with Murray, said he did not mind a chair or a volume of the "Encyclopædia Britannica" being occasionally deposited uponhim while asleep, but that he drew the line at wet and dirty boots. This cubicle was garnished on Priestley's side with bits of rock, ice-axes &c. and on Murray's with biological requisites.
The next cubicle was occupied by Wild and Joyce, and was known as the "Rogues' Retreat," a painting of two very tough characters, with the inscription The Rogues' Retreat painted underneath, adorning the entrance to the den. The couches in this house were the first to be built, and the first bed was made in Wild's store-room for secrecy's sake. It was to burst suddenly upon every one and to create feelings of admiration and envy. Unfortunately, however, in building it he had forgotten the size of the doorway through which it had to be taken, and it had ignominiously to be sawn in half before it could be passed out of the store-room into the hut.
The last compartment was the dwelling-place of the Professor and Mawson, and it would be difficult to do justice to the picturesque confusion of this cubicle. A miscellaneous assortment of cameras, spectroscopes, microscopes and the like lay in profusion on the blankets. Everything in the way of tin cans was collected by these two scientific men, and the Professor made a pile of glittering tins and coloured wrappers at one end of his bunk, and the heap looked like the nest of the Australian bower bird.
The name given, though not by the owners, to this cubicle was "The Pawn Shop."
In order to give as much free space as possible in the centre of the hut, the table was so arranged that it could be hoisted over our heads after meals were over. At first we put the boxes containing knives, plates &c. on top of the table before hauling it up, but after these hadfallen on the head of the unlucky man trying to get them down, we were content to keep them on the floor.
After hearing that the stove had failed to work during the blizzard which had kept me on board theNimrod, I was very anxious about it. My anxiety, however, was dispelled after the stove had been taken to pieces, and it was found that eight important pieces of its structure had not been put in. As soon as this more than trifling omission was rectified the stove worked magnificently, and as it was kept going day and night for over nine months without once being put out for more than ten minutes, it was severely tested.
Looking back to those distant days, it seems strange to me now that we should have taken so much trouble to furnish and beautify what after all was to be but a temporary home. Nevertheless it represented all the world to its inhabitants, and so we tried to make it as bright and cheerful a spot as possible.
Divine service was held in the hut on Sundays during the winter months.