| CHAP | PAGE | |
| I. | The Expedition | [11] |
| II. | Supplies and Equipment | [15] |
| III. | The Ship, the Hut, and Other Necessities | [18] |
| IV. | The Staff and the Royal Visit | [23] |
| V. | We Leave Lyttelton | [26] |
| VI. | The Antarctic Circle | [31] |
| VII. | The Attempt to Reach King Edward VII Land | [36] |
| VIII. | Landing of Stores and Equipment | [46] |
| IX. | The "Nimrod" Leaves Us | [52] |
| X. | Winter Quarters at Cape Royds Outside | [58] |
| XI. | Winter Quarters—Inside | [63] |
| XII. | Sledging Equipment | [68] |
| XIII. | Our Ponies and Dogs | [74] |
| XIV. | Mount Erebus | [78] |
| XV. | Attacking Mount Erebus | [80] |
| XVI. | The Conquest of Mount Erebus | [87] |
| XVII. | Preparations for the Winter Months | [95] |
| XVIII. | Still in the Hut | [98] |
| XIX. | Preliminary Journeys | [104] |
| XX. | Arrangements and Instructions | [108] |
| XXI. | The Start to the South Pole | [112] |
| XXII. | Onward | [117] |
| XXIII. | Beyond All Former Footsteps | [122] |
| XXIV. | The Highway to the South | [126] |
| XXV. | On the Great Glacier | [130] |
| XXVI. | On the Plateau to the Farthest South | [135] |
| XXVII. | Farthest South | [142] |
| XXVIII. | The Return March | [146] |
| XXIX. | Struggling Back | [151] |
| XXX. | The Final Stage | [158] |
| XXXI. | Notes on the Southern Journey | [164] |
| XXXII. | The Return of the "Nimrod" | [173] |
| XXXIII. | The Western Party | [178] |
| XXXIV. | Instructions for the Northern Party | [184] |
| XXXV. | The Narrative of Professor David. We Start for the Magnetic Pole | [187] |
| XXXVI. | Across the Ice Barrier | [193] |
| XXXVII. | The Drygalski Glacier | [199] |
| XXXVIII. | Crevasses | [203] |
| XXXIX. | Upwards and Onwards | [208] |
| XL. | The Magnetic Pole | [212] |
| XLI. | Returning | [216] |
| XLII. | Obstacles In Our Course | [222] |
| XLIII. | Safe Aboard | [226] |
| XLIV. | The Return to New Zealand | [231] |
| XLV. | Penguins. (Some Notes by James Murray, Biologist to the Expedition) | [238] |
| XLVI. | The Adelies and Their Chicks | [245] |
| XLVII. | Notes | [254] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| PAGE | |
| Section Showing Interior of Nimrod | [13] |
| Seal Suckling Young and Taking no Notice of Motor-Car | [17] |
| Their Majesties King Edward and Queen Alexandra Inspecting the Equipment on the Nimrod at Cowes | [21] |
| The Towing Steamer Koonya as Seen from the Nimrod in a Heavy Sea. This Particular Wave Came Aboard the Nimrod and Did Considerable Damage | [25] |
| View of the Great Ice Barrier | [29] |
| Pushing Through Heavy Floes in the Ross Sea. The Dark Line on the Horizon is a "Water Sky" and Indicates the Existence of Open Sea | [33] |
| Flight of Antarctic Petrels | [37] |
| Nimrod Moored Off Tabular Bergs | [41] |
| Adelie Penguins at Cape Royds | [45] |
| The Nimrod Lying Off the Penguin Rookery, Cape Royds | [49] |
| The Ponies Transporting Coal on Sledges at Back Door Bay | [53] |
| Digging Out Stores After the Cases Had Been Buried in Ice During a Blizzard | [57] |
| Winter Quarters | [61] |
| The First Slopes of Erebus | [65] |
| Marston in His Bed | [69] |
| Plan of the Hut at Winter Quarters | [73] |
| A Group of the Shore Party at the Winter Quarters | [77] |
| Ice Flowers on Newly-Formed Sea Ice Early in the Winter | [81] |
| One Thousand Feet Below the Active Cone | [85] |
| The "Lion" of Erebus | [89] |
| The Crater of Erebus, 900 Feet Deep and Half a Mile wide. Steam is Seen Rising on the Left. The Photograph was Taken from the Lower Part of the Crater Edge | [93] |
| The Type Case and Printing Press for the Production of the "Aurora Australis" in Joyce's and Wild's Cubicle known as "The Rogues' Retreat" | [99] |
| Preparing a Sledge During the Winter | [103] |
| The Leader of the Expedition in Winter Garb | [107] |
| The Motor-Car in the Garage, Maize-Crusher on the Right | [111] |
| The Southern Party Marching into the White Unknown | [115] |
| Cape Barne and Inaccessible Island by Moonlight | [119] |
| New Land. The Party Ascended Mount Hope and Sighted the Great Glacier, up which They Marched Through the Gap. The Main Body of the Glacier Joins the Barrier Further to the Left | [129] |
| Lower Glacier Depot. The Stores Were Buried in the Snow Near the Rock in the Foreground | [133] |
| The Camp below "The Cloud Maker" | [137] |
| Facsimile of Page of Shackleton's Diary | [141] |
| The Farthest South Camp After Sixty Hours' Blizzard | [145] |
| Farthest South, January 9, 1909 | [149] |
| The Camp Under the Granite Pillar, Half a Mile from the Lower Glacier Depot, Where the Party Camped on January 27 | [153] |
| Shackleton Standing by the Broken Southern Sledge, Which was Replaced by Another at Grisi Depot | [157] |
| Return Journey of the Southern Party: At the Bluff Depot | [161] |
| The Southern Party on Board the Nimrod | [165] |
| The Nimrod Pushing Through Heavy Pack Ice On Her Way South | [171] |
| The Nimrod Held Up in the Ice | [177] |
| The Bluff Depot | [181] |
| The Motor Hauling Stores for a Depot | [185] |
| Loaded Sledge Showing the Distance Recorder or Sledge-meter | [191] |
| The Northern Party on the Plateau, New Year's Day | [201] |
| The Northern Party at the South Magnetic Pole | [209] |
| Ready to Start Home | [217] |
| A View of the Hut in Summer | [227] |
| Emperor Penguins | [237] |
| An Adelie Calling for a Mate after Commencing the Nest | [243] |
| Adelie Trying to Mother a Couple of Well-Grown Strangers | [247] |
| Penguins Listening to the Gramophone During the Summer | 251 |
CHAPTER I
THE EXPEDITION
Men go out into the void spaces of the world for various reasons. Some are incited simply by a love of adventure, some have a keen thirst for scientific knowledge, and others are drawn away from trodden paths by the mysterious fascination of the unknown. I think that in my own case it was a combination of these factors that determined me to try my fortune once again in the frozen south.
I had been invalided home before the conclusion of the Discovery expedition, and I had the keenest desire to see more of the vast continent that lies amid the Antarctic snows and glaciers. Indeed the stark polar lands grip the hearts of men who have lived on them in a manner that can hardly be understood by people who have never got outside the pale of civilisation. I was convinced, moreover, that an expedition on the lines I had in view could justify itself by the results of its scientific work.
The Discovery expedition had performed splendid service in several important branches of science, and I believed that a second expedition could carry the work still further. For instance, the southern limits of the Great Ice Barrier had not been defined, and it was important to the scientific world that information should be gained regarding the movement of the ice-sheet that forms the barrier. I also wanted to discover what lay beyond the mountains to the south of latitude 82° 17′ and whether the Antarctic continent rose to a plateau similar to the one found by Captain Scott beyond the western mountains.
There was much also to be done in the fields of meteorology, zoology, biology, mineralogy and general geology, so much in fact that apart from the wish to gain a higher latitude the expedition seemed to be justified on scientific grounds alone.
The difficulty that confronts most men who wish to undertake exploration work is that of finance, and for some time I was faced by financial problems; but when the governments of Australia and New Zealand came to my assistance, the position became more satisfactory.
In the Geographical Journal for March 1907, I outlined my plan of campaign, but this had materially to be changed later on owing to circumstances. "The shore-party of nine or twelve men will winter with sufficient equipment to enable three separate parties to start out in the spring," I announced. "One party will go east, and, if possible, across the Barrier to the new land known as King Edward VII Land, the second party will proceed south over the same route as that of the southern sledge-party of the Discovery, the third party will possibly proceed westward over the mountains, and, instead of crossing in a line due west, will strike towards the magnetic pole. The main changes in equipment will be that Siberian ponies will be taken for the sledge journeys both east and south, and also a specially designed motor-car for the southern journey. I do not intend to sacrifice the scientific utility of the expedition to a mere record-breaking journey, but say frankly, all the same, that one of my great efforts will be to reach the southern geographical pole."