theterroramc
“Aye. Somerset House. Even there, Ross kept rank. The officers kept their stewards and their wolf blankets, and what salmon we could catch. The rest of us just slept in ice ditches and fought over year-old biscuits.”
goldenpolar
Another moment I geeked out over- the mention of Somerset House:
Sorry for the watermarks, too lazy to get my scanner going but here it is: the house divided. When the Victory was finally abandoned, John Ross had the shelter built at Fury Beach. It was common practice to separate officers from men, the same notion was seen in Scott’s hut in the Antarctic where packing crates were used to separate upper and lower deck on land. It was believed that the men would’ve wanted their own space separated from the officers where they weren’t pressured to maintain strict discipline. That aside, both Rosses were known to be stubborn and imperious. Nephew James tired his crew out by the end of his Antarctic expedition with his insistence to keep going and take magnetic observations long after the desire to be in the southern waters had disappeared amongst his crew. Surprised they didn’t make Blanky mention the infamous Ross arguments that at one point ended in uncle and nephew refusing to speak with each other.
