Manhauling
Encyclopedia
Manhauling, often expressed as man-hauling, means the pulling forward of sledges, trucks or other load-carrying vehicles by human power unaided by animals or machines. The term is used primarily in connection with travel over snow and ice, and was particularly prevalent during Arctic
and Antarctic
expeditions before the days of modern motorised traction.
In the years following the end of the Napoleonic wars
the British Royal Navy
took up polar exploration as its chief peacetime activity. Man-hauling was adopted by the early British naval expeditions, and became traditional, eventually being hailed as inherently more noble than the use of dogs as practised by the native Arctic-dwelling peoples. The technique’s chief advocate was Sir Clements Markham, President of the Royal Geographical Society
during the latter part of the 19th century. A figure of considerable influence, he brought his prejudices to bear on the series of great British Antarctic ventures during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
, in all of which man-hauling was predominant.
Later writers would condemn man-hauling, particularly with the heavy loaded sledges which were commonly employed, as inefficient and wasteful, citing it as a direct cause of the great Antarctic tragedy of 1910–12—the deaths of Captain Scott and his four companions as they man-hauled their way across the Ross Ice Shelf
on their return from the South Pole
.
, Greenland
, Lappland
and Siberia
had trained dogs to draw sledges. Attempts by the early polar explorers to adopt these techniques were rarely successful—the handling of “Eskimo” dogs was recognised as a specialized art; This led to the use of man-hauling as a simpler alternative, when the Royal Navy began its long association with polar exploration. The first example of man-hauling on a naval Arctic expedition was the journey by William Edward Parry
across Melville Island in 1820, when he and his party dragged 800 pounds (362.9 kg) of equipment on a two-wheeled cart. Thereafter man-hauling began to be seen as a natural, even a “nobler” alternative to the use of dogs. Francis Leopold McClintock
earned the title of "Father of Arctic Sledging" for his feats of man-hauling travel during one of the many expeditions
despatched to search for the missing Franklin expedition
. Among McClintock’s admirers on that expedition was a 21-year-old midshipman, Clements Markham
, became a fervent believer in the principle that man-hauling was the noblest form of polar travel. Markham became the driving force behind British Antarctic exploration endeavours in the early 20th century, and was the mentor of Robert Falcon Scott
, to whom his prejudices were transferred. After his unhappy experiences with dogs in the Antarctic on the Discovery Expedition
, 1901–04 Scott wrote, in his account of the expedition: "In my mind no journey ever made with dogs can approach the height of that fine conception which is realised when a party of men go forth to face hardships, dangers, and difficulties with their own unaided efforts […] Surely in this case the conquest is more nobly and splendidly won".
(including those led by Ernest Shackleton
), This was baffling to the great Norwegian
explorers Nansen
and Amundsen
. To them man-hauling was "futile toil", to be avoided at all costs. Edward Wilson
, however, on the fatal southern journey during Scott’s 1910–13 Terra Nova Expedition
expressed a profound relief, as the pole-bound party began its ascent of the Beardmore Glacier
after the last of the ponies had been shot: "Thank God the horses are now done with, and we begin the heavier work ourselves", he wrote. His companion Lawrence Oates
thought differently but kept his counsel. Later, when the Pole had been attained and Amundsen’s prior arrival discovered, Oates privately castigated “our wretched man-hauling” as a cause of his party’s defeat.
, a sledge (with a suitable load) and either tether ropes or rigid shafts linking the two. Highly breathable ventil cotton jacket and pants clothing are usually used, to avoid excessive internal water condensation.The sledge is usually loaded with equipment needed to survive in extreme weather conditions such as a tent, suitable food rations and navigation tools.
if travelling across snow bound terrain. In polar or extreme regions, humans are almost totally kit dependent, and equipment quality and selection is vital - but nevertheless the whole philosophy in any such voluntary activity (or sport) in a modern setting is that a balance is chosen between 'challenge' and 'accomplishment'. And so, it is accepted that a certain element of discomfort is to be accepted, indeed welcomed - the human condition, makes it hard to disentangle a glowing sense of achievement from testing physical and mental tasks.
Assisted manhauling is where at least some fraction of the motive power is provided by some other source: most commonly dog power, or by use of a wind assisted sail.
Polar, glacier or snow covered land, is the most common terrain where manhauling takes place; although sledges or tyres are often dragged across sand or rough fields for training purposes.
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
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...
expeditions before the days of modern motorised traction.
In the years following the end of the Napoleonic wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
the British Royal Navy
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...
took up polar exploration as its chief peacetime activity. Man-hauling was adopted by the early British naval expeditions, and became traditional, eventually being hailed as inherently more noble than the use of dogs as practised by the native Arctic-dwelling peoples. The technique’s chief advocate was Sir Clements Markham, President of the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
during the latter part of the 19th century. A figure of considerable influence, he brought his prejudices to bear on the series of great British Antarctic ventures during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration defines an era which extended from the end of the 19th century to the early 1920s. During this 25-year period the Antarctic continent became the focus of an international effort which resulted in intensive scientific and geographical exploration, sixteen...
, in all of which man-hauling was predominant.
Later writers would condemn man-hauling, particularly with the heavy loaded sledges which were commonly employed, as inefficient and wasteful, citing it as a direct cause of the great Antarctic tragedy of 1910–12—the deaths of Captain Scott and his four companions as they man-hauled their way across the Ross Ice Shelf
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...
on their return from the South Pole
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
.
Naval tradition
Long before the nations of Europe and America became fascinated with polar exploration the native populations of Northern CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
, Lappland
Lappland
Lappland can refer to:*Lapland, geographic region in Northern Fennoscandia* Lappland, Sweden* Lapland, FinlandUnlike the English word "Lapland", the Swedish word is not used to indicate the area specifically inhabited by the Sami people. An old Swedish word for the Sami area under Swedish control...
and Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
had trained dogs to draw sledges. Attempts by the early polar explorers to adopt these techniques were rarely successful—the handling of “Eskimo” dogs was recognised as a specialized art; This led to the use of man-hauling as a simpler alternative, when the Royal Navy began its long association with polar exploration. The first example of man-hauling on a naval Arctic expedition was the journey by William Edward Parry
William Edward Parry
Sir William Edward Parry was an English rear-admiral and Arctic explorer, who in 1827 attempted one of the earliest expeditions to the North Pole...
across Melville Island in 1820, when he and his party dragged 800 pounds (362.9 kg) of equipment on a two-wheeled cart. Thereafter man-hauling began to be seen as a natural, even a “nobler” alternative to the use of dogs. Francis Leopold McClintock
Francis Leopold McClintock
Admiral Sir Francis Leopold McClintock or Francis Leopold M'Clintock KCB, FRS was an Irish explorer in the British Royal Navy who is known for his discoveries in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.-Biography:...
earned the title of "Father of Arctic Sledging" for his feats of man-hauling travel during one of the many expeditions
McClintock Arctic Expedition
The McClintock Arctic Expedition of 1857 was a British effort to locate the last remains of the lost Franklin Arctic Expedition. Led by captain Francis Leopold McClintock aboard the steam yacht Fox, the expedition spent two years in the region and ultimately returned with the only written message...
despatched to search for the missing Franklin expedition
Franklin's lost expedition
Franklin's lost expedition was a doomed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845. A Royal Navy officer and experienced explorer, Franklin had served on three previous Arctic expeditions, the latter two as commanding officer...
. Among McClintock’s admirers on that expedition was a 21-year-old midshipman, Clements Markham
Markham’s obsession
Based on his experiences with McClintock and his love for naval traditions, Markham, future President of the Royal Geographical SocietyRoyal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
, became a fervent believer in the principle that man-hauling was the noblest form of polar travel. Markham became the driving force behind British Antarctic exploration endeavours in the early 20th century, and was the mentor of Robert Falcon Scott
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
, to whom his prejudices were transferred. After his unhappy experiences with dogs in the Antarctic on the Discovery Expedition
Discovery Expedition
The British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, generally known as the Discovery Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since James Clark Ross's voyage sixty years earlier...
, 1901–04 Scott wrote, in his account of the expedition: "In my mind no journey ever made with dogs can approach the height of that fine conception which is realised when a party of men go forth to face hardships, dangers, and difficulties with their own unaided efforts […] Surely in this case the conquest is more nobly and splendidly won".
Scott and Shackleton
An aversion to the use of dogs pervaded all the British expeditions during the Heroic Age of Antarctic ExplorationHeroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration defines an era which extended from the end of the 19th century to the early 1920s. During this 25-year period the Antarctic continent became the focus of an international effort which resulted in intensive scientific and geographical exploration, sixteen...
(including those led by Ernest Shackleton
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...
), This was baffling to the great Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
explorers Nansen
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
and Amundsen
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....
. To them man-hauling was "futile toil", to be avoided at all costs. Edward Wilson
Edward Adrian Wilson
Edward Adrian Wilson was a notable English polar explorer, physician, naturalist, painter and ornithologist.-Early life:...
, however, on the fatal southern journey during Scott’s 1910–13 Terra Nova Expedition
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...
expressed a profound relief, as the pole-bound party began its ascent 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...
after the last of the ponies had been shot: "Thank God the horses are now done with, and we begin the heavier work ourselves", he wrote. His companion Lawrence Oates
Lawrence Oates
Captain Lawrence Edward Grace Oates was an English Antarctic explorer, known for the manner of his death, when he walked from a tent into a blizzard, with the words "I am just going outside and may be some time"....
thought differently but kept his counsel. Later, when the Pole had been attained and Amundsen’s prior arrival discovered, Oates privately castigated “our wretched man-hauling” as a cause of his party’s defeat.
Some conclusions
Some chroniclers have suggested that excessive reliance on man-hauling may have cost the lives of Scott’s polar party. Each man pulling a sledge was burning around 6,000 calories a day, and consuming rations producing only 4,500 calories. Max Jones concludes that they were slowly starving to death. Much earlier, an expedition account by James Gordon Hayes had highlighted two principal causes of Scott’s disaster: dietary deficiencies and the decision to rely on men instead of dogs. In 1997, in another history of the expedition, Michael de-la-Noy concludes: “…the whole expedition had been founded upon a blind and very British belief in the moral superiority of human muscle power…Scott thought it more manly for men to haul the sledges themselves. Five of them died as a result”.Modern perspective
Although no longer a matter of necessity, given the availability of modern mechanised equipment, man-hauling is widely practised in the modern context of physical or sporting challenges.Equipment
Typical equipment includes a harnessHarness
A harness is a looped restraint or support. It can also be referred to as an "hitcharness", especially by the Jordanian Armed Forces. Specifically, it may refer to one of the following harness types:* Bondage harness* Child harness* Climbing harness...
, a sledge (with a suitable load) and either tether ropes or rigid shafts linking the two. Highly breathable ventil cotton jacket and pants clothing are usually used, to avoid excessive internal water condensation.The sledge is usually loaded with equipment needed to survive in extreme weather conditions such as a tent, suitable food rations and navigation tools.
Ideals
Similar to the modern, fast, free and equipment light Alpine climbing ideals, modern manhaul purists seek to achieve mileage on their journey where possible solely through their own physical efforts. Most adherents would accept however that, it is acceptable to augment this pure, non-mechanically assisted travel, by the use of skis or ski sticksSki pole
Ski poles are used by skiers to improve balance and timing. Early ski poles were simply sticks, then bamboo , then steel . In 1958, Ed Scott invented the aluminium ski pole...
if travelling across snow bound terrain. In polar or extreme regions, humans are almost totally kit dependent, and equipment quality and selection is vital - but nevertheless the whole philosophy in any such voluntary activity (or sport) in a modern setting is that a balance is chosen between 'challenge' and 'accomplishment'. And so, it is accepted that a certain element of discomfort is to be accepted, indeed welcomed - the human condition, makes it hard to disentangle a glowing sense of achievement from testing physical and mental tasks.
Variations
The practice of pre-caching supplies of food or equipment along a route, or utilizing external help also results in a less than pure, and ultimately less satisfying, final outcome. Each individual or team, will eventually find their own 'rules' that they will be happy with.Assisted manhauling is where at least some fraction of the motive power is provided by some other source: most commonly dog power, or by use of a wind assisted sail.
Polar, glacier or snow covered land, is the most common terrain where manhauling takes place; although sledges or tyres are often dragged across sand or rough fields for training purposes.
Sources
- Berton, Pierre: The Antarctic Grail Viking Penguin Inc. New York, 1988 ISBN 0 670 82491 7
- 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...
: The Last Place On Earth Pan Books Ltd London, 1985 ISBN 0 330 28816 4 - Jones, Max: The Last Great Quest OUP Oxford, 2003 ISBN 019 280483 9
- Preston, Diana: A First Rate Tragedy Constable Co Ltd London, 1997 ISBN 0 09 479530 4
- Scott, Robert F.Robert Falcon ScottCaptain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
: The Voyage of the Discovery Smith, Elder & Co London, 1905