Apsley Cherry-Garrard
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Apsley George Benet Cherry-Garrard (January 2, 1886 - May 18, 1959) was a British explorer.
Cherry-Garrard was born at Bedford, the son of an army officer, and was educated at Winchester College and Christ Church College, Oxford. The surname Cherry, with which he was born, was lengthened to Cherry-Garrard by the terms of an aunt's will, through which his father inherited enormous estates. At the age of 24, "Cherry" was one of the youngest members of Sir Robert Falcon Scott's second and last expedition to Antarctica. Initially rejected, he decided to donate money towards the costs of the expedition, and was subsequently taken on as an assistant biologist.
In 1922, he wrote The Worst Journey in the World, which told primarily of the winter trip to Cape Crozier. Over 80 years later this book is still is print and is often cited as one of the classics of travel literature. The only other major publication bearing his name is a remembrance of T. E. Lawrence in the first edition of a volume edited by Lawrence's brother A. W. Lawrence "T. E. Lawrence, by His Friends". (Subsequent abridged editions omit his article.) He also wrote a published obituary of the expedition photographer Ponting and an introduction to "Edward Wilson of the Antarctic: Naturalist and Friend," a book by George Seaver on Bill Wilson.
Cherry-Garrard's life is detailed in Sara Wheeler's biography Cherry.
Works
- The Worst Journey in the World (1922) [1] (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14363)
- T. E. Lawrence, by His Friends (1937)
The Worst Journey
With Bill Wilson and Henry "Birdie" Bowers, Cherry-Garrard made a trip to Cape Crozier during the austral winter in order to secure an unhatched Emperor penguin egg. In almost total darkness and with temperatures ranging from -40°C to -70°C, they manhauled their sledge 60 miles from Scott's base at Cape Evans to the far side of Ross Island. Frozen and starving, they reached their goal only to be pinned down by a terrific storm. The roof of their tent was ripped away and carried off by the wind, condemning the three to almost certain death. For two days the men lay shivering in their sleeping bags under a thickening drift of snow, singing hymns and waiting for the end. Finally the wind subsided and by a miraculous coincidence their tent was found just yards from the camp.
Cherry-Garrard led the party which found the bodies of Scott's party just 11 miles from the safety of One Ton Depot, a huge food cache that he had laid. Guilt plagued Cherry-Garrard in later life — what if he had set the depot just that bit further out? That he had been ordered to deploy it short did not prevent the bouts of severe depression he would later suffer later in life.