Ernest Joyce

His effectiveness in the field was widely acknowledged by many of his colleagues, but other aspects of his character were less appreciated – his capacity for bearing grudges, his boastfulness and his distortions of the truth.

This commenced in May 1891 as a Boy Second Class on the St. Vincent, and over the following ten years he served on a number of ships; the Boscawen, Alexandra, Victory 1, Duke of Wellington, etc.

He did not figure in the main journeys of the expedition, although towards the end he joined Arthur Pilbeam and Frank Wild in an attempt to climb Mount Erebus, ascending to some 3,000 feet (910 m).

[10] During the expedition Joyce encountered several men who would feature prominently in Antarctic polar history during the following years, including Scott, Wilson, Frank Wild, Tom Crean, William Lashly, Edgar Evans and, most significantly, Ernest Shackleton.

[19] The site finally chosen as a base was at Cape Royds, some 20 miles (32 km) north of Scott's old Discovery headquarters at Hut Point.

During the extended and often difficult process of unloading the ship Joyce remained ashore, looking after the dogs and ponies, and helping to build the expedition hut.

[20] Joyce was witness to an incident during unloading, where a crate hook attached to a barrel swung across and struck one of the watching officers – Aeneas Mackintosh – on the face.

[24] Frank Wild, who along with Marshall and Jameson Adams was selected for the southern journey, wrote in his diary after the party's bid to reach the Pole had fallen short: "If we only had Joyce and Marston here instead of these two useless grub-scoffing beggars"—Marshall and Adams—"we would have done it easily".

[25] Joyce showed no particular resentment at his exclusion; he assisted the preparatory work and accompanied the polar party on the southward march for the first seven days.

[4] Joyce was not invited to join Scott's Terra Nova Expedition, although several of Shackleton's men were, including Frank Wild who declined.

[30] Whatever the reason, it appears that there was a falling-out; Mawson reportedly distrusted Joyce, saying that "he spent too much time in hotels", which suggests that drink was an issue.

[34] In his subsequent book, The South Polar Trail published in 1929, Joyce also misrepresented the nature of his appointment to the Ross Sea party, omitting Shackleton's order that placed him under an officer and claiming that he had been given sole authority over dogs and sledging.

[36] Only Joyce and Mackintosh had been to the Antarctic before, and Mackintosh's participation in polar work had been brief; he had been invalided from the Nimrod Expedition before the initial landing, after an accident led to the loss of his right eye and had returned only for the final stages of the expedition[37] Aurora's departure from Australia was delayed by a series of organisational and financial setbacks,[38] and the party did not arrive in McMurdo Sound until 16 January 1915—very late in the season for depot-laying work.

Mackintosh, who believed that Shackleton might attempt to cross the continent in that first season, insisted that sledging work should begin without delay, with a view to laying down supply depots at 79° and 80°S.

Initial attempts at travelling on the Barrier were thwarted by the condition of the surface, and Mackintosh's team got lost on the sea ice between Cape Evans and Hut Point.

[50] After being delayed for ten weeks at Hut Point by the condition of the sea ice, the party finally got back to their base at Cape Evans on 2 June.

They then learned that Aurora, with most of the shore party's stores and equipment still aboard, had been torn from its moorings in a gale, and blown far out to sea with no prospect of swift return.

[51] However, the shore party's own food, fuel, clothing and equipment had been largely carried away; replacements would have to be improvised from supplies left at Cape Evans after Scott's 1910–13 Terra Nova expedition, augmented by seal meat and blubber.

[51] In these circumstances Joyce proved his worth as a "master scavenger" and improviser,[52] unearthing from Scott's abandoned stores, among other treasures, a large canvas tent from which he fashioned roughly tailored clothing.

Before beginning the march south—a return distance of 800 nautical miles (1,500 km; 920 mi)—approximately 3,800 pounds (1,700 kg) of stores had to be taken to the base depot at Minna Bluff.

[58] With Mackintosh and Joyce in the final party were Spencer-Smith, Ernest Wild (younger brother of Frank), Dick Richards and Victor Hayward.

On the homeward journey the effective leadership of the party fell increasingly to Joyce, as Mackintosh's condition deteriorated until, like Spencer-Smith, he had to be carried on the sledge.

This seemed particularly to affect Mackintosh, and on 8 May, despite the urgent pleadings of Joyce, Richards and Ernest Wild, he decided to risk the re-formed ice and walk to Cape Evans.

[66] Joyce also organised journeys to recover geological samples left on the Barrier and to visit the grave of Spencer-Smith, where a large cross was erected.

They learned then that their depot-laying efforts had been futile, Shackleton's ship Endurance having been crushed by the Weddell Sea ice nearly two years previously.

[75] In 1929 Joyce published a contentious version of his diaries under the title The South Polar Trail,[76] in which he boosted his own role, played down the contributions of others, and incorporated fictitious colourful details.

[77] Thereafter he indulged in various schemes for further expeditions, and wrote numerous articles and stories based on his exploits before settling into a quiet life as a hotel porter in London.

Bickel's assertion that Joyce lived into his eighties, beyond the date (1958) of the first Antarctic crossing by Vivian Fuchs and his party,[78] is not supported by any other source.

[77] Specific examples of this "fabulism" include his self-designation as "Captain" after the Ross Sea expedition;[75] his invented claim to have seen Scott's death tent on the Barrier; the misrepresentation of his instructions from Shackleton regarding his sledging role, and his assertion of independence in the field; his claim to have been offered a place on the transcontinental party when Shackleton had made it clear he did not want him there;[34] and his habit, late in life, of writing anonymously to the press praising "the famous Polar Explorer Ernest Mills Joyce".

[34] Lord Shackleton, the explorer's son, named Joyce (with Mackintosh and Richards) as "one of those who emerge from the (Ross Sea party) story as heroes".