The Coldest Coast: The 1873 Leigh Smith Expedition to Svalbard in the Diaries and Photographs of Herbert Chermside PDF
Preview The Coldest Coast: The 1873 Leigh Smith Expedition to Svalbard in the Diaries and Photographs of Herbert Chermside
Historical Geography and Geosciences P. J. Capelotti Editor The Coldest Coast The 1873 Leigh Smith Expedition to Svalbard in the Diaries and Photographs of Herbert Chermside Historical Geography and Geosciences Advisory Editors Jacobo García-Álvarez, Humanities: History, Geography and Art, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Getafe, Madrid, Spain Stefan Grab, School of Geography, Archaeology & Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Ferenc Gyuris, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary André Reyes Novaes, Department of Human Geography, Rio de Janeiro State University, Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Helen Rozwadowski, Department of History, University of Connecticut Avery Point, Groton, CT, USA Dorothy Sack, Department of Geography, Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA Charles Travis , School of Histories and Humanities, The University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland This book series serves as a broad platform for contributions in the field of Historical Geography and related Geoscience areas. The series welcomes proposalsonthehistoryanddynamicsofplaceandspaceandtheirinfluenceon past,presentandfuturegeographiesincludinghistoricalGIS,cartographyand mapping,climatology,climatehistory,meteorologyandatmosphericsciences, environmentalgeography,hydrology,geology,oceanography,watermanage- ment,instrumentation,geographicaltraditions,historicalgeographyofurban areas, settlements and landscapes, historical regional studies, history of geography and historic geographers and geoscientists among other topically related areas and other interdisciplinary approaches. Contributions on past (extreme) weather events or natural disasters including regional and global reanalysisstudiesalsofitintotheseries. 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J.Capelotti Division of Social Sciences PennState Abington Abington, PA,USA ISSN 2520-1379 ISSN 2520-1387 (electronic) Historical GeographyandGeosciences ISBN978-3-030-67879-1 ISBN978-3-030-67880-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67880-7 PublishedinassociationwiththeGrennaMuseum. ©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2021 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeor part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway, andtransmissionorinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware, orbysimilarordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthis publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationin thisbookarebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material containedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.Thepublisherremains neutralwithregardtojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations. ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland Svalbard/Spitsbergen with prominentplace namesfromthe1873LeighSmithExpedition. MapcreatedbyAstheCrowFliesCartography,Canada.©P.J.Capelotti Foreword by Charlotte Moore “He has personal influence that subtle thing that makes a person a power without even uttering a word.” This was how Benjamin Leigh Smith’s sister Nannie described her older brother. Her observation is borne out by the facts. Without that “influence,” orcharisma,LeighSmithcouldnothaveconductedhisfoursuccessfulArctic expeditions, let alone guided the entire crew to safety when on the fifth and last expedition his ship sank, leaving them stranded in Franz Joseph Land facingtheprospectofalongArcticwinterwithnomeansofcommunicating news of the disaster to friends at home. IamBenjaminLeighSmith’sgreat-great-greatniece.“UncleBen”isboth heroandvillaininourfamily.Hero,because,ashisoakengravemarkerputs it, “five times he sailed the Arctic seas and for his country’s good braved countless hardships and perils.” Villain, because that powerful “personal influence” was not always put to good use. After the death of his father in 1860, Ben became head of the family. In this role, he exercised excessive control over the professional and personal lives of his nephews and nieces. HispossessiveaffectionforhisbeautifulnieceAmy(mygreat-grandmother) was so strong that he blocked her marriage for more than four years. Eventually,shesucceededinmarryingthemansheloved,butitwasanother 20 years before Ben would abandon the feud and re-establish contact with her. Uncle Ben was a complex character with an unusual background. His father, Benjamin Smith, was a radical member of the British House of Commons, one of the ten children of William Smith MP who had been a closeassociateofWilberforceandClarksoninthecampaignagainsttheslave trade.TheSmithswereUnitarians.ThisvariantoftheChristianfaithupholds “Freedom, Reason and Tolerance,” and puts emphasis on deeds, not words. Philanthropy, altruism and a belief in social progress are all essential. Uni- tarians reject belief in the Holy Trinity, and regard Jesus as a man to be followed rather than a God to be worshipped. They have strong family and friendship networks and are involved in each other’s lives to an unusual extent.ThewealthyandculturedSmithfamilyspreaditsinfluencewidelyin nineteenth-century Britain; Florence Nightingale, pioneer of hospital and army reform, is its best-known member. She was Uncle Ben’s first cousin. BenjaminSmithseniorrejectedmarriageasarestrictiveinstitutionwithin which the wife became little more than one of her husband’s chattels. On a visit to his Nightingale cousins in Derbyshire, he fell in love with a vii viii ForewordbyCharlotteMoore working-class girl, a milliner named Anne Longden. When she became pregnant, he set her up in a house in Whatlington, East Sussex (he owned muchpropertyinthearea)andtreatedherashiscommon-lawwife.Thefirst child,Barbara,wasborntherein1827,followedbyBenjaminin1828.There were three more children–Nannie, Bella and Willy–before Anne Longden died of lung disease at the age of 32. The bereaved father enlisted the help of Anne’s sister, “Aunt Dolly Longden,” and his own sister, “Aunt Ju,” in looking after the five children, who therefore had theinteresting and unusual experience ofbeing reared by two surrogate mothers, one upper class, one working class. The family took up residence in two houses in Pelham Crescent, Hastings, one house for the adults, one for the children. Pelham Crescent was an elegant newly built terraceoverlookingtheEnglishChannel.Iimaginethatthisproximitytothe sea–duringstorms,waveswouldcrashwithinfeetofthehouses–gaveyoung Benhistasteforoceanadventure.Aninterestintravelwasencouragedbyhis father, who commissioned an enormous horse-drawn coach in which the entirefamilyjourneyedthroughEuropeandtheBritishIsles.Mountainswere climbed, rivers were swum in, landscapes were sketched, plants were col- lected.TheLeighSmithchildren(theirfatheraddedthefamilyname“Leigh” to distinguish them from the mass of their Smith cousins) had an unusually free and adventurous upbringing. Their schooling was similarly unconven- tional. Ben attended Bruce Castle, a progressive school in Tottenham founded by the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham, where science and engineering were taught at a time when the English public school syllabus was dominated by Latin and Greek. There was no corporal punishment. Outdoors activities were encouraged; there was a swimming pool. Ben’s headmaster was Rowland Hill, inventor of the postage stamp. BenwentontoJesusCollege,Cambridge,wherehestudiedmathematics. He was already a proficient yachtsman and an excellent shot, and though, after Cambridge, he began reading for the Bar, he was never cut out for an indoor career. His restlessness was solved when the death of his father left himwithaconsiderableinheritance.(Thediscoveryattheirfather’sdeathof a second illegitimate family, raised in London, was a shock to the Leigh Smiths; nevertheless, they buried old Ben next to their own mother Anne). The 32-year-old inheritor could now abandon his fledgling legal career and take over themanagement ofhis Sussex estates; all his life,Ben was deeply interested in farming, especially hop-growing, and in rural pursuits such as shooting and beagling. Family life took up much of his time. Letters and diaries from the family archive show him taking his nephews and nieces to LondontheatresandtripstoParis,holdingpartiessotheycouldgettoknow their multitudinous Smith cousins, providing party frocks for the girls, and sportingequipmentfortheboys.Hetookhisturnwithfamilydifficulties,too, sittingupallnightwithhissisterBellawhenshesufferedpsychoticepisodes, bringing toys and invalid foods to the sickbed of a 4-year-old victim of diphtheria, lending houses to invalids in need of country air. In 1865, another relative bequeathed Ben a handsome fortune. He was now rich enough to launch himself as an explorer. He had already obtained theBoardofTrade“ticket”enablinghimtocommandhisownship,andhad ForewordbyCharlotteMoore ix travelled extensively in Europe, Egypt and the British Isles. By 1870 his thoughts were turning to the Arctic and the lure of unchartered territory. On 28April1871Ben’sbrother-in-lawandfriendGeneralJohnLudlownotedin hisdiary,“Benhasboughtabig&stoutyachtwithouthavingseenher.She has been cased in the North Sea & was built for going among the ice. Ben says he is ‘going to the North Pole’ ... his object is sport.” Sport, of course, meant shooting bears, reindeer, seals and seabirds, but if this was the main objective of Ben’s first voyage, his scientific and enquiring mind soon rea- lised that there were more interesting things to do in the Polar regions. On each of his subsequent voyages, Ben pushed forward the frontiers of knowledge, as this book amply demonstrates. The three voyages of the 1870s increased the already high standing of “Uncle Ben” in the eyes of the family. He came home bearing gifts of haunchesofreindeervenison,theskinsofreindeer,sealsandPolarbears,and a wolverine tippet and mufffor his little niece Milicent. The children could visit the live bear, Samson, donated to London Zoo, and revel in the tale of how,onthereturnjourney,Samsonhadmadeabreakforfreedom,butUncle Ben had grabbed him and wrestled him to the deck as he was about to dive into the sea. They pored over Ben’s sketches and Lieutenant Chermside’s thrilling photographs, quite unlike anything they had seen before. After the 1873 relief of the Swedish expedition, they gloried in their uncle’s heroism and fame. The extended family had gathered at General Ludlow’s large houseandthechildrenwerestagingsomeamateurdramaticswhen,asyoung Harry Ludlow wrote, “a cab drove up to the door and we found to our joy thatitwasUncleBen.”Thechildrenquicklyincorporatednewsofhisvoyage intotheirplay,“asreportedinanewspaperbroughtinbyapage.Itwasvery effective, and it amused Ben mightily,” General Ludlow recorded. “He was the spirit of our party last evening- and told [the governess] that he was ‘game for anything.’” Family acclaim was one thing, but Ben shrank from public attention, dreadingfame“morethanice,”ashetoldtheGeneral.Hisreticence,andhis failure to “write up” his travels, plus the fact that he was illegitimate and a non-Conformist,thereforeneveramemberoftheBritish“establishment”and not likely to be awarded a knighthood or peerage, explain why his achievements have been overlooked by polar historians. Ben’s Arctic career now suffered an interruption, partly because of the family crisis that blew up when his favourite niece Amy announced her intention of marrying Norman Moore, an impoverished but talented Irish doctorinaccuratelydenouncedbyBenasa“gold-digger.”Theromancewas fostered by Ben’s sister Barbara Bodichon, the remarkable feminist pioneer andartist;Ben’sbitteroppositioncreatedapainfulrift.AmyhadbeenBen’s favourite person in the world. Now, he rebuffed her attempts at explanation with icy clarity: “I am very glad I am not your father. Please do not write again or think of coming here.” Another reason for the seven-year gap between voyages was a cab acci- dent in 1878; Ben’s left hand went through the window and an artery was severed. No sooner had he recovered than he fell dangerously ill with typhoid. His cousin Florence Nightingale kept him supplied with flowering x ForewordbyCharlotteMoore plantsthroughouthisconvalescence.Afteranoperationtocutthetendonsof his wrist in order to restore movement in his hand, he revisited his Polar ambitions, and a year later had the Eira built to his own specifications. Eira’sfirsttrip,in1880,wasaresoundingsuccess.Thefamilywasproud that Ben named previously unchartered territory after them–Cape Ludlow, Mabel Island and more–though as Amy was still in disgrace there was no AmyIsland.InthefollowingJune,Eirawaslaunchedonhersecond,and,as itproved,finalvoyage.Familyanxietymountedwhenshefailedtoreturnby the end of September. All through the long winter following the wreck of Eira, Ben and his crew sheltered in their makeshift “Flora Cottage,” sub- sisting on Polar bear meat augmented by the rations they had managed to salvage from the sinking ship. They survived ten months in territory never before inhabited by humans, due in no small part to Ben’s dauntless and disciplined leadership. Back at home, guessing that disaster must have befallen, his siblings and cousins helped organise a rescue expedition to which they contributed generous sums. Therescuevessel,theHope,setsailinJune1882,bearingfamilylettersto Ben;youngMilicentLudlowkissedthelettersforgoodluck.InAugust,she learned that the kisses had worked. “What do you think?” she wrote in her diary, “We got a telegram from Uncle Ben! He is all right, he says I think ‘Got back safe but Eira is awa.’” Not long after Ben’s astonishing return, General Ludlow died suddenly, leavingBeninlocoparentistohisthreeorphanedchildren.Heinstalledthem in a house in Hastings and presided as Lord of Misrule. “The meals are wonderful affairs,” wrote Amy’s mother, “a very long table a very dirty tableclothandallkinds ofqueer dishes–Uncle Ben’sidea ofbringinguphis youngfamilyistogo&buythemendlessquantitiesofgoodies...chocolate creams—candied fruits—and all sorts of incongruous things appear.” Ben’s newresponsibilitiesputplanstoreturntotheArcticonhold,especiallywhen one niece suffered a mental breakdown and became suicidal. Ben kept her incarcerated in his London house, 64 Gower St, for months, appointing himselfasnurseandjailer.“Iwilltaketheresponsibility,”hetoldthedoctor. “You will have to,” was the doctor’s disapproving reply. Though now well into his fifties, Ben certainly intended to continue exploringandmadeenquiriesaboutships.Plansweredelayedwhen,in1887, to the astonishment and dismay of the family, he became engaged to Char- lotte Sellars, beautiful, penniless, half French, Roman Catholic, and only 19 yearsold.“MencertainlyaboutyourUncleBen’sageseemtogocrazy,andI amsureitoughttobeillegal,”NanniewrotetoAmy.UncleBen,forsolong single, childless and rich, was no longer the source of bottomless financial and practical support. Ben and Charlotte (“Aunt Charley”) had two sons, Valentine and Philip. Several factors–another cab accident, advancing years, the needs of his sons, marital difficulties–combined to crush Ben’s dream of returning to theArctic.Hecontentedhimselfwithmanaginghisestatesandrebuildinghis largest house, Glottenham Manor. But the longing never disappeared. In his eighties, deaf and showing signs of dementia, Ben was interviewed by Dr. NormanMoore(Amy’shusband,buttherifthadatlastbeenhealed)toassess
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