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EA-Biography

(J. M. Scott)

AUGUSTINE COURTAULD

        Augustine Courtauld (1904 - ). Member of half a dozen arctic

expeditions, including Gino Watkins' Greenland expedition of 1930-31,

during which he maintained the Ice Cap Weather Station throughout most of

the winter. Augustine Courtauld was born at Bocking, Essex, on 26 August,

1904, the elder son of Samuel Augustine and Edith Anne (Lister) Courtauld.

He was educated at Charterhouse and at Trinity College, Cambridge, taking

his degree in Engineering and Geography. From an early age his favorite

pastime has been sailing small boats and his efficiency in this sport has

more than once proved of value to his companions in the North.

        His first visit to the Arctic was a fishing trip to Lapland in 1925.

The next year he went with J. M. Wordie to the Franz Josef area of East

Greenland. Courtauld's particular responsibilities were to look after the

cameras and act as assistant surveyor.

        In 1927, with Francis Rodd (now Lord Rennell) and Peter Rodd he made

a journey of some ten months duration in the country of the southern Tuareg,

in Air (French West Africa), and west of the Sahara plateau, doing anthro–

pological and geographical work. This was his only visit to hot climates

but it is interesting to suggest that the experience he gained was not

without value to his later arctic work. A desert has a lot in common with

an icecap, while the principles of making a running survey are the same whether

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EA-Biog. Scott: Augustine Courtauld

one is riding on a camel or a sledge. In 1929, Courtauld again vis i ted East

Greenland with Wordie and was a member of the Petermann Peak party.

        In England during the early spring of the next year he became one of

Gino Watkins' closest associates in planning and making practicable the plans

of the British Arctic Air Route Expedition. In the field his essentially

individual contributions to this expedition may be tabulated as follows:

Assistant surveyor to Stephenson, being responsible for the astronomical

observations, and "skipper" of the refactory outboard motorboat which was

the map-makers' form of transport during the survey of the East Greenland

coast between Kangerdlugssuak and Angmagssalik; the occupant of the Ice Cap

Station during five winter months; the experienced sailor of the 600-mile open

boat journey from the expedition base near Angmagssalik round the southern tip

of Greenland to Nanortalik on the west coast. The first and last of these have

been covered in Watkins' biography, the second will be our main concern.

        Although the expedition carried specialists in all the natural sciences

which are profitably studied in out-of-the-way places, its primary expressed

object was to examine this part of Greenland with reference to a future air

route. Therefore the weather was as important as topography, and it was planned

that two sets of meteorological observations should be carried on throughout

the year, at the coastal base and also at a station to be set up on the highest

level of the inland ice. [ ?]

        Scott's party had established the Ice Cap Station in August. It was

about 130 miles northwestward from the coastal base and at an altitude of

8,200 feet. It consisted of a dome-shaped tent, nine feet in diameter and

six feet high at the apex. It was covered with two layers of windproof cloth,

one being stretched outside the curved wooden ribs (in much the same way as

an umbrella is covered) and the other layer of cloth hanging suspended from

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EA-Biog. Scott: Augustine Courtauld

the ribs. There was thus a few inches of air space between the two layers.

The entrance was by means of a snow tunnell which came up in the floor. A

brass tube two inches in diameter projected from the apex provided ventila–

tion. There were no windows or doors. The instruments were naturally set

up outside [ ?] though near enough to be reached in bad weather. A Primus

pressure stove provided for cooking and heating; candles and a paraffin lamp

for light. Difficulties of transportation rules out the possibility of radio

communication.

        It was intended that this station should be occupied by two men at a

time, each pair remaining for six weeks, or somewhat more if sledging communi–

cation proved difficult. Riley and Lindsay were the first pair, their occupa–

tion lasting from August 30 to October 2. Bingham and D'Aeth then took over

until they were relieved on December 3.

        The relieving party, consisting of Chapman, Courtauld, Wager, Leømon,

Stephenson, and Hampton had left the base on October 27. But their start

coincided with the beginning of the winter storms which were unexpectedly

early and violent. The first gale experienced at the base registered at

129 m.p.h. on the wing gauge before the wind guage blew away. From then

onward similar gales blew two or three times a week throughout the winter.

        It will be appreciated that this sudden deterioration of the weather

had a drastic effect upon icecap sledging. The six-man relieving party

which, as has been said, left the base on October 27, managed to cover only

15 miles in the first 15 days. On November 11 they were met by Watkins and

Scott who were returning from their own somewhat difficult southern journey.

Chapman, who as the only man with previous sledging experience was in charge

of the party, asked Watkins if he might send back the radio equipment

intended for the station and three of his men, himself and two companions

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pushing on with only food and fuel on the sledges. Watkins gave him a

free hand both as to how he reached the station and whether he closed it

down. Chapman, with Courtauld and Wager, finally reached the station on

December 3, after 37 days of most exacting travel.

        Since the journey had taken so much longer than had been anticipated,

much food and fuel intended for the station had been consumed on the way.

No records of winter icecap travel existed — for no one had previously

attempted it — but it was evident that it would not be practicable to

bring up fresh supplies by sledge until the spring. There were not enough

supplies at the station to last two men until the spring. Therefore the

choice was between abandoning the station and leaving one man alone. On

reduced rations a single man could exist until May. Courtauld volunteered

to remain a t lone. On December 6, Chapman and Wager, with Bingham and D'Aeth,

started for the base.

        It is possible to give here only a brief factual description of

Courtauld's experiences during the next five months. His stores consisted

of: six ration boxes, each designed to last two weeks at full rations;

26 gallons of paraffin for the lamp and Prismus stove; two bottles of con–

centrated lemon juice; one bottle of cod-liver oil. His luxuries were

about a dozen books, some tobacco, and the chocolate in the ration boxes,

although a good deal of this was found to have been previously extracted.

Since the station had been first established, a snowhouse had been built

over the dome-shaped tent. Two other small snowhouses had also been con–

structed. These could be entered by short tunnels which branched off at

right angles from the 16-foot-long main entrance tunnel. (The tunnel plan

was the shape of a Christian cross, the top ending in the tent, the foot

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EA-Biog. Scott: Augustine Courtauld

connecting with the outside world, and the arms with the two small snow–

houses.) Around this trio of shelters a snow wall had been built. A

Union Jack was planted in this wall.

        Although Courtauld crawled through the main tunnel about a half a

dozen times a day he found that it was forever being narrowed by drift

snow. And it became increasingly difficult, in spite of his labor, to

widen the diameter because the snow was compressed by the pressure of his

body as he wormed his way through. His digging in any case was hindered

by frostbite in both fingers and toes. On January 4 a particularly severe

gale closed the entrance, leaving the tunnel too full of drift to be dug clear.

Apart from the difficulty of digging in a prone position he had no means,

except by drinking it, of disposing of the excavated snow. He therefore

out a door in the roof of one of the snowhouses, closing it with a ration

box. The general snow level was by now almost up to the roof of the houses

but this improvised exist worked well enough until, on March 19, a gale from

an unusual quarter blew a small hole at the junction of the ration box and

the snow roof. In came a jet of drift, as fine and powerful as if from a

pressure hose. By morning this snowhouse was full.

        So Courtland out a hole in the roof of the other snowhouse. He blocked

this also with a ration box, but on this occasion less satisfactorily. For

the snow level had by now risen well above the roof of the house. Therefore

the vertical shaft was long, and the "door" had to be near the bottom of it.

Three days later a protracted blizzard packed such weight of snow into the

top of the shaft that his exi s t was also closed for good.

        Courtauld was now imprisoned, for to make a hole in the roof of the

main tent would have been as suicidal as puncturing a boat in mid-ocean.

Apart from barometric readings, his meteorological records were inevitably

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EA-Biog. Scott: Augustine Courtauld

at an end after over a hundred days of faithful and regular observance.

This annoyed him. "A man dislikes changing his habits," he write, "and

this business of the weather had become a very absorbing habit... Now

that I was prevented from doing my job I naturally felt that I was wasting

my time."

        His enforced inactivity reduced his appetite and spared his food

but a serious lack was caused by four gallons of fuel leaking away. At an

early date he had to use the stove only for cooking, not heating. Later

he ate food raw and used heat only for melting snow to drink. He could

only lie in the dark.

        In this context it is appropriate to quote a paragraph he wrote

within a day or two of his ultimate return to the base. He was referring

to his experience as a whole: "One cannot be bored living an entirely

novel life under such interesting conditions. My physical and mental

condition, the weather, speculation about the work of the expedition and

the doings of friends at home were subjects that fully occupied my mind.

I never had the slightest doubt with regard to my relief, though I fully

realized that it might be delayed."

        In fact the Moth airplane had several times tried to find the station.

But since the winds were generally strong and variable and the machine had

only a compass for navigation it is scarcely surprising that the pilot

failed to see the tops of two weather instruments and the tattered remains

of the Union Jack, which were all that projected from the desert of snow.

At the time of the five days' blizzard that finally shut Courtauld in,

Scott, Riley, and Lindsay were in the Vicinity, according to their observa–

tions, and beating up and down within a mile of the station. Courtauld was

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finally relieved by Watkins, Rymill, and Chapman on May 5 after having

been alone for five months and shut in for six weeks. He felt a slight

weakness due to lack of exercise but otherwise was perfectly fit in every

way.

        To conclude, the following points can be made. Courtauld's vigil was

undertaken as a result of a considered judgement, weighing what had to be

done with the means that were available for doing it and the risks involved.

The station had to be occupied by one man alone, or closed down. The risks

were: of a physical accident to himself, such as breaking a limb; of the

tent being destroyed, say by wind pressure or the weight of snow; of no

relief party being able to find him; of the wild solitude affecting his mind.

As a careful and experienced traveler he discounted the danger of accident;

he had implicit belief in the equipment, and the rations too; he had still

more confidence in Watkins himself. With regard to the fear of solitude,

this appears never to have weighed with him at all. Perhaps the reason for

this is contained in the one word, Appreciation. Being possessed of an

unusual store of this quality he found good and interest in everything,

while his mind thus occupied had no room for doubt or fear.

        Back at the base, he joined in the discussion about the exceptionally

high range of mountain which Watkins had sighted in 1930 while flying to the

northeast of Kangerdlugssuak Fjord. This range had appeared to rise high

above the 7,000-foot coastal mountains, which were the foreground of the

view, and might itself be in the nature of 12,000 feet. In that case it

would be the highest mountain in Greenland, if not of the entire Arctic.

Watkins thought that it might be impossible to reach this range from the

coast because the interland appeared too rough for sledging and the dis–

tance too great for back-packing. It might be necessary to attack the range

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from the rear by approaching it over the icecap from the west coast. This

problem could not be put to the test during the stay in East Greenland of

the British Arctic Air Route Expedition, but it provided a very fruitful

source of argument.

        Courtauld completed the expedition by making, with Watkins and Lemon,

an open-boat journey from the east coast base near Angmagssalik, round the

southern tip of Greenland to Julianahaab on the West Coast, a distance of

some 600 miles.

        Back in England among his books, Courtauld was let to wonder whether

the mountains Watkins had seen in 1930 might be the legendary landmark

[ ?] Hvitserk referred to in the old Norse Sailing Directions. Jules de

Blosseville might have seen the range in 1833 from far out to sea, but he did

not return to describe it. Amdrup in 1900 could not have seen it because in his

small boat he had had to hug the coast. No other recorded traveler had ever

been in the vicinity.

        Naturally Watkins' discovery attracted a good deal of interest. In 1932

the Scoresby Sound Committee sent out an expedition under the leadership of

Einar Mikkelsen. In 1933 a second expedition in which the Danish Government

cooperated was led by Knud Rasmussen. The object of these expeditions was

not to reach the new mountains but to map the area by a method based on

oblique photography, which was begun by Michael Spender. With the aid of

a stereo-plotting machine an excellent map was made from the large number of

photographs obtained.

        In 1934 the French explorer Charcot (with Lawrence Wager in his party)

planned to make a dash for the new mountains, now named the Watkins Mountains

by the Danes, and an Italian expedition was formed during the same year with

the same objective. But neither of these parties succeeded in reaching a

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suitable part of the coast from which to start their land journey.

        Then Courtauld and Wager planned a joint expedition for the following

year. Their stated objectives were to make a closer examination of the

Watkins Mountains, to check the new map, to study the geology and Eskimo

archaeology of the coast. An actual ascent of the mountains was mentioned

only as a possibility. L. R. Wager, with his brother H. G. Wager, Dr.

Fountains, W. A. Deer, P. B. Chambers, Mrs. L. R. and Mrs. H. G. Wager

were to remain for the winter. Courtauld and Mrs. Courtauld, Jack Longland

and Mrs. Longland, and Ebbe Munck would remain only for the summer months.

Women, it will be noticed, were included in the party, an experiment which

both sexes afterwards described as most successful. One male member told

the present writer that the feminine influence proved good for morale and

maintained a laudably high standard of social behavior — much like changing

for dinner in the jungle. The expedition's ship was the veteran Quest , with

that experienced ice pilot, Captain Schjelderup, in command.

        Some members of Wager's wintering party set up a base at Skaergaard

Peninsula at the mouth of Kangerdlugssuak Fjord, and began archaeological

and geological work, which was designed to be carried on until the following

season. In the present article only the journey to the Watkins Mountains

will be described.

        The mountaineering problem was briefly as follows: In the region of

Kangerdlugssuak, the east coast of Greenland runs almost east and west, with

only a very slight trending to the North. Although the coast line is chipped

and contorted like a jigsaw puzzle there are on deep-water indentations other

than Kangerdlugssuak Fjord. But about 50 miles east of the fjord, and

running roughly parallel to it, is the Christian IV Glacier, an immense

river of ice, about ten miles wide and one hundred and ten miles long.

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This flows from the icecap and into the sea at Nansen Fjord. It flows

directly under the west wall of the Watkins Mountains which are about

forty miles in a direct line from the coast. Because of the vast size

of this glacier, Courtauld and Wager imagined that it would be scarred by

crevasses too big to jump across. Therefore they decided when leaving

Kangerdlugssuak to sail beyond Nansen Fjord and the glacier and land at

Wiedemann Fjord, some 45 miles farther east. Using air photographs and

the map, they had planned a 75-mile route from this fjord to the mountains.

They calculated that if the country proved too rough for sledging they

could just make the double journey of 140 miles carrying everything on

their backs.

        The voyage to Kangerdlugssusk had been extremely difficult, the drift

ice being exceptionally heavy. But when the Quest started eastward from

Kangerdlugssuak she found open water along the land and was able to go

full speed — for a short time. These conditions suddenly changed. A

strong east wind sprang up, driving the ice against the coast. Captain

Schjelderup just managed to get his ship into shelter behind Cape Irminger,

thirty miles short of the mouth of the Christian IV Glacier.

        Although it entailed a radi c al change of plans and a longer land journey,

Courtauld and Wager decided to start for the mountains where the ship then

lay. Accordingly, they set out on August 7. The main party consisted of

Longland, the two Wagers, Ebbe Munck, and Courtauld. The supporting party

was Fountaine, Chambers, and Deer.

        Striking at first directly inland to gain height, the two sledge

parties reached the upper levels of the Sorgenfri Glacier, a comparatively

small glacier parallel with the Christian IV. Sorgenfri means Sorrow-free,

but the glacier is ill named. After five days the supporting party turned

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back. And two days later the main party found themselves looking directly

at the Watkins Mountains across the wide expanse of the Christian IV Glacier,

2,000 feet below them.

        With some difficulty they got down to it and then found to their

relief that it was virtually uncrevassed. Two days were spent in crossing

it obliquely, in a northeasterly direction, wearing skis. Then the climb

was made. The summit was reached after a long and weary ascent followed

by a lot of step-cutting in steep, hard ice, Munck set up the Danish flag

on this highest point of Danish territory. Photographs were taken and obser–

vations made, with the theodolite and boiling-point apparatus which were

carried. The altitude was later computed to be 12,200 feet.

        A different route was followed on the return journey, the party travel–

ing much farther down the Christian IV Glacier. Their worst hardship now

was sunburn and cracked lips. Those who had celluloid instead of the best

quality snow glasses also suffered slight snow blindness. But the journey

was completed without any mishap.

        The Quest was rejoined, the wintering party were left at their base on

August 30, and the rest of the expedition returned to England.

        During the war Courtauld served in the R.N.V.R. — in the Admiralty,

with coastal forces, and Commandos, in landing craft, destroyers, and corvettes.

He is now on the Council of the Royal Geographical Society and one of its two

honorary secretaries. He is a member of the Alpine Club and on the Committee

of management of the Scott Polar Research Institute. He has also accepted a

large number of social responsibilities. He is a Justice of the Peace and a

member of Essex County Council. He and Mollie Courtauld (Montgomerie), whom

he married in January 1932, have five children.

       

J. M. Scott