Into the Abyss by Benedict Allen

Author:Benedict Allen [Benedict Allen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571264858
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2010-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Back indoors I found the others already asleep. The candles had burned a whole inch lower – I must have been outside for half an hour. But when I tried to sleep myself, I couldn’t. At what price, I kept asking myself, would this journey be achieved?

Amundsen and the Eating of His ‘Brave’ Dogs

Amundsen was fastidious in his care of the dogs throughout, beginning on-board the Fram as he journeyed south to Antarctica, when he screened them from the sun with awnings and protected them from the damp by placing them on a raised platform. He was proud of ‘landing them in a far better condition than when we received them’. He knew that his success in reaching the South Pole was bound up with the health of his dogs. Yet Amundsen also cherished them. ‘Coming out of your tent in the morning, one was instantly greeted with joy by one’s twelve dogs. They barked and howled in emulation.’ Then he’d greet each in turn with a ‘Good morning’, pat them on the head and say a few words to each. He took time to learn their individual needs and traits. ‘It was really touching to see the joy they showed on meeting again,’ he wrote of two reunited dog friends.

However, on the way to the South Pole, with the Norwegian team at last up on the plateau, the moment came. ‘There was depression and sadness in the air – we had grown so fond of our dogs … Twenty-four of our brave companions and faithful helpers were marked out for death. It was hard but it had to be so. We had agreed to shrink from nothing in order to reach our goal.’ The place was named the ‘Butcher’s Shop’, a most apt choice. The dogs were chopped up, and ‘The delicate little cutlets had an absolutely hypnotizing effect as they were spread out one by one over the snow.’ As for the dogs eating their companions: ‘all the survivors were not yet in a mood for dog’s flesh, and it therefore had to be served in the most enticing form. When flayed and cut up, it went down readily all along the line; even the most fastidious then overcame their scruples.’

Scott’s actions, in pursuit of the Edwardian virtues displayed in the ‘fine conception’ of man-hauling, though well-meaning, resulted in both animals and men suffering. He chose to spread the task of reaching the Pole between ponies, mechanized sledges and men: the latter would drag the loads for the final leg. Although tested by Robert Peary in the Arctic, Scott had decided that dogs would play only a minor supporting role: ‘Among those acquainted with the Eskimo dog, I do not suppose I was the only one who was startled on first hearing this,’ commented Amundsen. From the start the dogs proved a great success, though the ponies less so. They reached only the foot of the glacier, and there they were either butchered for meat as thought necessary or returned as an act of kindness – although two of these three died anyway.

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