Overview

A Pimlico Original which tells for the first time a breathtaking story of Antarctic survival and of the man who made it possible. On 29 March 1912, as Scott and his two companions lay dying in their tent, elsewhere on the polar ice-cap six members of his ill-fated expedition were fighting for their lives. This was the so-called Northern Party, hand-picked by Scott to undertake his most significant programme of scientific research. The unsung hero of this group was Dr Murray Levick, whose attention to diet and mental and physical fitness played a major part in their survival. The doctor was a sensitive recorder and a talented photographer, it is on his previously unpublished diaries, monographs, photographs and sketches that this book is based. The six men were landed by Terra Nova in January 1911 at Cape Adare, 450 miles north of Scott's base camp at Cape Evans. They spent nearly a year there, living in a rudimentary hut, surveying and collecting specimens from the beautiful but inhospitable bay and shoreline fringed by inaccessible mountains. They were then dropped off mid-way between the two Capes to continue their work. The ship was due to pick them up on 17 February 1912. A month later she still hadn't come, and the men were forced to face the Antarctic winter in an igloo dug out of a snowdrift on 'Inexpressible Island'. After spending six-and-a-half months entombed in their underground ice-cave,in conditions of unimaginable physical and mental hardship,

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9780712679954

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Reviews

Hell with a Capital H is a wonderful book and the result of painstaking research. Katherine Lambert has produced a well-balanced analysis of Scott and of many of his expediiton team. The main focus of her gripping story centres on the horrendous tribulations of the isolated Northern Party. Better than any of the many Scott biographies I have read, this book brings out the real characters of the participants and the interplay between them as they dally in their icy and all but fatal Hell. * Ranulph Fiennes *

In this absorbing book, Katherine Lambert recounts one of the greatest survival stories ever to emerge from the age of polar exploration - that of the Northern Party, a scientific team on Scott's final Antarctic expedition. From 1911 to 1912, the Northern Party pursued two research missions. The first was planned and comfortable by polar standards. The second rapidly spiralled out of control. The party became stranded when their rescue ship failed to penetrate the pack ice. Their six-week sledging trip turned into an epic struggle to survive the polar winter with only an igloo for shelter. When spring came, the six men struggled to walk 230 miles to base camp. Battling malnutrition and illness, as well as a harsh environment, the men finally made it to their destination. Lambert teams her own crisp prose with extracts from previously unpublished diaries. This lends immediacy to the story and wins our empathy for these men from the outset. The unassuming Murray Levick emerges as the true hero of the Party. Levick's concern with mental and physical fitness undoubtedly saved lives, and he created a sense of solidarity between very different characters. As well as bringing the men to life, Lambert evokes Antarctica with grim accuracy, charting the psychological effects of being exposed to such eerie beauty and outrageous weather conditions. Her descriptions of polar midwinter are as visceral as her descriptions of the men's failing health. The photographs, mainly Levick's, are often poignant. Lambert's epilogue includes three haunting photographs of the party at different stages in their ordeal. She shows how suffering damaged the men but also eroded the class boundaries between them. Lambert pieces together a rich story of adventure and misadventure. This is a humbling tale of men who struggled against the limitations of their environment and their times. (Kirkus UK)

Hell with a Capital H is a wonderful book and the result of painstaking research. Katherine Lambert has produced a well-balanced analysis of Scott and of many of his expediiton team. The main focus of her gripping story centres on the horrendous tribulations of the isolated Northern Party. Better than any of the many Scott biographies I have read, this book brings out the real characters of the participants and the interplay between them as they dally in their icy and all but fatal Hell. Ranulph Fiennes 20021120

Author Information

Katherine Lambert has worked as a magazine editor and then a book editor and producer. Currently managing editor of the annual Good Gardens Guide, she also worked with Peter King on Scott's Last Journey.Journalist Peter King's 35 books include Scott's Last Journey and an edition of Shackleton's South (Pimlico).

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