Victor Hayward
Encyclopedia
Albert Medal (lifesaving)
The Albert Medal for Lifesaving was a British medal awarded to recognise the saving of life. It has since been replaced by the George Cross.The Albert Medal was first instituted by a Royal Warrant on 7 March 1866 and discontinued in 1971 with the last two awards promulgated in the London Gazette of...
(1888–1916) was a London-born accounts clerk whose taste for adventure took him to Antarctica as a member of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition , also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent...
, 1914–17. He had previously spent time working on a ranch in northern Canada and this experience, combined with his “do-anything” attitude, was sufficient for him to be engaged by Shackleton as a general assistant to the Ross Sea party
Ross Sea Party
The Ross Sea party was a component of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914–17. Its task was to lay a series of supply depots across the Great Ice Barrier from the Ross Sea to the Beardmore Glacier, along the polar route established by earlier Antarctic expeditions...
, a support group with a mission to lay depots for the main cross-continental party.
Hayward quickly proved himself to be hard-working and resourceful. He was one of the ten members of the shore party that was marooned when the Ross Sea party’s expedition ship Aurora broke from its McMurdo Sound
McMurdo Sound
The ice-clogged waters of Antarctica's McMurdo Sound extend about 55 km long and wide. The sound opens into the Ross Sea to the north. The Royal Society Range rises from sea level to 13,205 feet on the western shoreline. The nearby McMurdo Ice Shelf scribes McMurdo Sound's southern boundary...
moorings during a storm and was unable to return. In difficult circumstances he played a full part in the efforts of the stranded group to fulfil its mission, despite its shortages of food, proper clothing, and equipment. During the main depot-laying journey on the Great Ice Barrier
Ross Ice Shelf
The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica . It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface...
in 1915–16 Hayward was one of the six who marched to the Beardmore Glacier
Beardmore Glacier
The Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica is one of the largest glaciers in the world, with a length exceeding 160 km . The glacier is one of the main passages from the Ross Ice Shelf through the Queen Alexandra and Commonwealth ranges of the Transantarctic Mountains to the Antarctic Plateau, and was one...
to lay the last of the required chain of depots. On the return leg the party was struck with scurvy, which caused the death of Arnold Spencer-Smith
Arnold Spencer-Smith
Arnold Patrick Spencer-Smith was a British clergyman and amateur photographer who joined Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–17, as Chaplain and photographer on the Ross Sea party. The hardship of the expedition resulted in Spencer-Smith's death...
. Although suffering badly himself, Hayward helped bring the rest of the party off the Barrier to the relative safety of the Hut Point shelter.
Hayward disappeared on 8 May 1916 while walking across the frozen surface of McMurdo Sound in the hopes of reaching the expedition’s base at Cape Evans
Cape Evans
Cape Evans is a rocky cape on the west side of Ross Island, forming the north side of the entrance to Erebus Bay.The cape was discovered by the Discovery expedition under Robert Falcon Scott, who named it the Skuary. Scott's second expedition, the British Antarctic Expedition , built its...
. His body was never found. Seven years later Hayward was posthumously awarded the Albert Medal
Albert Medal
Albert Medal may refer to:* Albert Medal , awarded for lifesaving.* Albert Medal , awarded by the Royal Society of Arts....
for his efforts to save the lives of his stricken companions on the Barrier journey.
Early life
Hayward was the son of a railways executive who became a local vice-president of the Anti-German LeagueBritish Empire Union
The British Empire Union was created in the United Kingdom during World War I, in 1916, after changing its name from the Anti-German Union, which had been founded in 1915...
, a political group which espoused nationalistic policies. Hayward was educated at an Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
boarding school, and after attending a London business college was employed as an accounts clerk in the City
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
. From an early age he had been fascinated by stories of adventure, a particular favourite, acquired as a Sunday School
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
prize, being R M Ballantyne’s The World of Ice, or Adventures in the Polar Regions. Unprepared for a life of "bourgeois complacency", Hayward took leave from his employers to spend seven months working on a ranch in northern Canada. On his return he found settling back into an office routine difficult, and applied to Shackleton’s office for a position on the newly announced Trans-Antarctic expedition. His offer to "do anything" secured him his place in the Ross Sea party.
First season
The Ross Sea party’s expedition ship Aurora arrived in Antarctica in January 1915. During the short season before the onset of winter Hayward volunteered for everything—helping Ernest JoyceErnest Joyce
Ernest Edward Mills Joyce AM was a Royal Naval seaman and explorer who participated in four Antarctic expeditions during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, early in the early 20th century. He served under both Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton...
with the dogs, assisting the motor tractor party and man-hauling
Manhauling
Manhauling, often expressed as man-hauling, means the pulling forward of sledges, trucks or other load-carrying vehicles by human power unaided by animals or machines...
depot supplies on the Barrier. When the shore party was marooned after Aurora was blown from her moorings, Hayward became an accomplished seal hunter, helping to boost the party’s depleted stocks of food.. Described as a "quiet, brawny man", Hayward’s closest bond was formed with the party’s leader, Aeneas Mackintosh
Aeneas Mackintosh
Aeneas Lionel Acton Mackintosh was a British Merchant Navy officer and Antarctic explorer, who commanded the Ross Sea party as part of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–17...
, with whom he shared a common yearning for home and loved ones.
Second season
The main depot-laying journey of the expedition began in September 1915. Although privately recording that he thought the programme to be followed "impossible", Hayward threw his physical might into the job.. He was one of the party of six that undertook the longest stage of the depot-laying journey, from 80°S to the Beardmore Glacier. This journey was completed on 26 January 1916. On the return journey MackintoshAeneas Mackintosh
Aeneas Lionel Acton Mackintosh was a British Merchant Navy officer and Antarctic explorer, who commanded the Ross Sea party as part of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–17...
and parson/photographer Arnold Spencer-Smith fell victims to scurvy and had to be carried on the sledge, drawn by Joyce, Ernest Wild
Ernest Wild
Henry Ernest Wild AM , known as Ernest Wild, was a British Royal Naval seaman and Antarctic explorer, a younger brother of Frank Wild...
, Dick Richards and Hayward. When the food situation became acute Hayward, by now showing scurvy symptoms himself, nevertheless went forward with Joyce and Richards to obtain life-saving food and fuel for the rest of the party. Eventually, after suffering both physical and mental breakdown, Hayward was lashed to the sledge and on 18 March was hauled to the shelter at Hut Point where, since the doorway was iced up, he was hoisted in through the window. Spencer-Smith died and was buried in the ice; Mackintosh barely survived. Joyce had expected Hayward to die, but he too survived.
Disappearance
Albert Medal
After the remainder of the Hut Point party had crossed to Cape Evans in mid-July a series of searches instituted by Joyce failed to establish the fate of Mackintosh and Hayward. Further searches took place when Aurora finally returned to relieve the party, in January 1917. A memorial cross was erected to Mackintosh and Hayward at Wind Vane Hill, a weather observation post near Cape Evans.Seven years after their struggle on the ice, in belated recognition, on 4 July 1923 Joyce, Richards, Wild and Hayward (the last two posthumously, Wild having died on active service in 1918) were awarded the Albert Medal
Albert Medal
Albert Medal may refer to:* Albert Medal , awarded for lifesaving.* Albert Medal , awarded by the Royal Society of Arts....
, in recognition of their efforts to save the lives of Mackintosh and Spencer-Smith on the Barrier.
Sources
- Bickel, Lennard: Shackleton’s Forgotten Men Random House, London 2001 ISBN 0 7126 6807 1
- Fisher, Marjorie and James: Shackleton James Barrie Books, London 1957
- Huntford, RolandRoland HuntfordRoland Huntford is an author, principally of biographies of Polar explorers. He lives in Cambridge, and was formerly Scandinavian correspondent of The Observer, also acting as their winter sports correspondent...
: Shackleton Hodder & Stoughton, London 1985 ISBN 0 340 25007 0 - Tyler-Lewis, KellyKelly Tyler-LewisKelly Tyler-Lewis is a filmmaker and author. Kelly is best known for winning a 2002 Emmy for her historical documentary film, Shackleton’s Voyage of Endurance, which won as 'Best Historical Documentary'. The film had also been nominated for 'Best Documentary'...
: The Lost Men Bloomsbury Publications, London 2007 ISBN 978 7475 7972 4