Ernest Wild
Encyclopedia
Albert Medal (lifesaving)
The Albert Medal for Lifesaving was a British medal awarded to recognise the saving of life. It has since been replaced by the George Cross.The Albert Medal was first instituted by a Royal Warrant on 7 March 1866 and discontinued in 1971 with the last two awards promulgated in the London Gazette of...
(10 August 1879–10 March 1918), known as Ernest Wild, was a British Royal Naval
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
seaman and Antarctic
Antarctic
The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
explorer, a younger brother of Frank Wild
Frank Wild
Commander John Robert Francis Wild CBE, RNVR, FRGS , known as Frank Wild, was an explorer...
. Unlike his more renowned brother, who went south on five occasions, Ernest Wild made only a single trip to the Antarctic, as a member of the Ross Sea party
Ross Sea Party
The Ross Sea party was a component of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914–17. Its task was to lay a series of supply depots across the Great Ice Barrier from the Ross Sea to the Beardmore Glacier, along the polar route established by earlier Antarctic expeditions...
in support of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition , also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent...
, 1914–17. He was one of the group of ten who were stranded ashore when the expedition's ship was blown from its moorings in a gale and were forced to improvise in order to survive. He played a full part in the party's main depot-laying journey, 1915–16, and in recognition of his efforts to save the lives of two comrades on that journey, he was posthumously awarded the Albert Medal
Albert Medal (lifesaving)
The Albert Medal for Lifesaving was a British medal awarded to recognise the saving of life. It has since been replaced by the George Cross.The Albert Medal was first instituted by a Royal Warrant on 7 March 1866 and discontinued in 1971 with the last two awards promulgated in the London Gazette of...
. Having survived the expedition, he died while on active service with the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
in March 1918.
Early life
Ernest Wild was one of eight brothers of whom Frank was the eldest. The family came from SkeltonSkelton-in-Cleveland
Skelton-in-Cleveland is a small town in the civil parish of Skelton and Brotton in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire in the North East of England. It is situated at the foot of the Cleveland Hills and about east of Middlesbrough. Skelton is...
, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, close to Marton
Marton, Middlesbrough
Marton — officially Marton-in-Cleveland — was a village in the North Riding of Yorkshire, which is now within the town boundaries of Middlesbrough, in the borough of Middlesbrough and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. Originally, the parish of Marton extended down to the River...
, birthplace of Captain James Cook, to whom the family claimed relationship, Mrs Wild having been born Mary Cook, but no positive connection has been established. Ernest followed Frank into the Navy in 1894 and remained in service for 20 years before joining the Ross Sea party.
Ross Sea party, 1914–17
Wild sailed to Antarctica on SY Aurora in December 1914, under the command of Captain Aeneas MackintoshAeneas Mackintosh
Aeneas Lionel Acton Mackintosh was a British Merchant Navy officer and Antarctic explorer, who commanded the Ross Sea party as part of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–17...
. Among the expedition's members was Ernest Joyce
Ernest Joyce
Ernest Edward Mills Joyce AM was a Royal Naval seaman and explorer who participated in four Antarctic expeditions during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, early in the early 20th century. He served under both Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton...
, the brother of Frank Wild
Frank Wild
Commander John Robert Francis Wild CBE, RNVR, FRGS , known as Frank Wild, was an explorer...
and the only member of the party with significant experience of Antarctic conditions. The party's mission was to lay depots on the Great Ice Barrier
Ross Ice Shelf
The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica . It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface...
, to support a group led by Shackleton which would be crossing the continent from the Weddell Sea
Weddell Sea
The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha Coast, Queen Maud Land. To the east of Cape Norvegia is...
. The Ross Sea party's base was established at Cape Evans
Cape Evans
Cape Evans is a rocky cape on the west side of Ross Island, forming the north side of the entrance to Erebus Bay.The cape was discovered by the Discovery expedition under Robert Falcon Scott, who named it the Skuary. Scott's second expedition, the British Antarctic Expedition , built its...
in McMurdo Sound
McMurdo Sound
The ice-clogged waters of Antarctica's McMurdo Sound extend about 55 km long and wide. The sound opens into the Ross Sea to the north. The Royal Society Range rises from sea level to 13,205 feet on the western shoreline. The nearby McMurdo Ice Shelf scribes McMurdo Sound's southern boundary...
, and the expedition ship Aurora
Aurora (ship)
SY Aurora was a steam yacht built by Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd. shipbuilders in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1876, for the Dundee Seal and Whale Fishing Company. Her primary use was whaling in the northern seas, and she was built sturdily enough to withstand the heavy weather and ice that would be...
was anchored there.
After participating in the first season's hasty depot-laying journey in January–March 1915, Wild suffered severe frostbite resulting in the amputation of part of a toe and the top of an ear. On 7 May 1915 Aurora, still holding most of the shore party's equipment and stores, was blown out to sea during a gale and was unable to return. Subsequently, Wild and Ernest Joyce showed considerable resourcefulness in fabricating clothes and equipment from materials left over from Scott's Terra Nova
Terra Nova Expedition
The Terra Nova Expedition , officially the British Antarctic Expedition 1910, was led by Robert Falcon Scott with the objective of being the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald...
expedition (which had used this base 1910–13). As a morale booster, for the diehard smokers in the party Wild concoted a mixture ("Hut Point Mixture") of tea, coffee, sawdust, sennegrass and dried herbs. In the straitened circumsatnces in which he party found itself Wild was a universally popular figure – "a cheerful, willing soul" according to Mackintosh.
On the 1915–16 depot-laying journey two three-man teams made the long march from "Rocky Mountain depot" at 80°S to the foot of the Beardmore Glacier
Beardmore Glacier
The Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica is one of the largest glaciers in the world, with a length exceeding 160 km . The glacier is one of the main passages from the Ross Ice Shelf through the Queen Alexandra and Commonwealth ranges of the Transantarctic Mountains to the Antarctic Plateau, and was one...
. Wild was initially teamed with Mackintosh and Arnold Spencer-Smith
Arnold Spencer-Smith
Arnold Patrick Spencer-Smith was a British clergyman and amateur photographer who joined Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–17, as Chaplain and photographer on the Ross Sea party. The hardship of the expedition resulted in Spencer-Smith's death...
, the party's Chaplain and photographer. Ernest Joyce, Richard W Richards and Victor Hayward
Victor Hayward
Victor George Hayward AM was a London-born accounts clerk whose taste for adventure took him to Antarctica as a member of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–17...
formed the other team. As the two parties moved south, conditions worsened and the men's physical condition weakened. Eventually the two groups combined into a single unit. Close to the glacier Spencer-Smith collapsed, and thereafter had to be carried on the sledge. After the last depot had been laid Mackintosh became lame and unable to pull, and the entire team, including Wild, developed scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
. The stricken party , having fulfilled all its depot-laying duties, struggled back towards its base in awful weather, Wild nursing Spencer-Smith who had become helpless. He died before the base was reached. The remaining five reached the safety of Hut Point and slowly recovered their strength. On 8 May 1916 Mackintosh and Hayward risked walking on the sea ice in an attempt to reach Cape Evans,but disappeared during a blizzard and were never seen again. Wild and the other survivors were rescued in January 1917.
Afterwards
In 1917 Wild returned to naval duty on HMS PembrokeHMS Pembroke
Nine ships and a number of shore establishments of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Pembroke.-Ships: was a 28-gun ship launched in 1655 and lost in a collision off Portland in 1667. was a 32-gun fifth rate launched in 1690, captured by the French in 1694 and subsequently wrecked. was a 60-gun...
, later transferring to HMS Biarritz. He died on 10 March 1918 in the Royal Naval Hospital
Royal Naval Hospital
A Royal Naval Hospital was a hospital operated by the British Royal Navy. No Royal Naval Hospitals survive as such, although some have become civilian hospitals and one remains as a tri-service military hospital.Royal Naval Hospitals included:...
, Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, after contracting typhoid. In 1923 he was posthumously awarded the Albert Medal for his efforts to save the lives of Mackintosh and Spencer-Smith. An unassuming man, he published no diaries or records of his Antarctic experiences. Alexander Stevens, who had been chief scientist on the Ross Sea party, paid him this tribute: "There are some things that have great value but no glitter. Consistent...long-suffering, patient, industrious, good-humoured, unswervingly loyal, he made an enormous contribution to our well-being".
Sources
- Bickel, Lennard: Shackleton's Lost Men Random House, London 2001 ISBN 0-7126-6807-1
- Fisher:, M and J: Shackleton James Barrie Books, London 1957
- Huntford, RolandRoland HuntfordRoland Huntford is an author, principally of biographies of Polar explorers. He lives in Cambridge, and was formerly Scandinavian correspondent of The Observer, also acting as their winter sports correspondent...
: Shackleton Hodder & Stoughton, London 1985 ISBN 0-340-25007-0 - Tyler-Lewis, KellyKelly Tyler-LewisKelly Tyler-Lewis is a filmmaker and author. Kelly is best known for winning a 2002 Emmy for her historical documentary film, Shackleton’s Voyage of Endurance, which won as 'Best Historical Documentary'. The film had also been nominated for 'Best Documentary'...
: The Lost Men Bloomsbury Publications, London 2007 ISBN 978-0-7475-7972-4