allowed him to relax, a task he found difficult on land, and being physically marooned enabled him to cast off his anxieties, too. He relished the contained world of an ocean-going ship, just as he was to relish an Antarctic hut.
They reached Fremantle, the port twelve miles south of Perth in Western Australia, on 17 June, just over a month after leaving England. The passengers crowded the decks as the ship hooted up to the mouth of the Swan River and into Princess Royal Harbour accompanied by a flotilla of tiny craft. The two men went straight up to Perth, and Apsley tagged along as Woollcombe toured around addressing meetings. The Church of England Men’s Society was already well established in Australia, and at one venue 2,500 men turned up. From Western Australia the tour moved south to Adelaide, continued round to Tasmania (‘the Bishop is a great Men’s man’) and travelled up to sub-tropical Queensland. At the end of September they surfaced in Brisbane, where Apsley heard the official news that Scott was planning a second expedition (it had been announced in
The Times
on 13 September).
From the start, Apsley was sure that this was for him. In his short acquaintance with Wilson he had glimpsed something he badly wanted: a clear sense of purpose and the chance of adventure. The newspapers reported that Wilson had been appointed chief of scientific staff, and Apsley immediately wrote to him to apply for service. He sent the letter via Reggie and informed both men that if necessary he could shorten his trip and sail straight home for an interview. It was not an empty gesture. He was determined to let nothing stand in the way of his application.
Leaving Woollcombe in Brisbane to continue his tour, Apsley struck out alone. He took a series of cargo ships up the coast of Queensland, through the Arafura Sea and on to the island of Celebes (now Sulawesi), sandwiched on the Equator between Borneo and the Spice Islands (now the Moluccas) in the Dutch East Indies. On the way up to China and Japan he passed through the Singapore Straits Settlements, then British. His arrival was anticipated by a raft of references unleashed on the expatriate community by Arthur Farrer, his lawyer, whose fulsome letters focused on Apsley’s rowing achievements – it’s difficult to see how these were going to come in handy in Singapore – and talked him up as ‘a very cultivated, capable, nice fellow and a particular friend of mine. His father was a very good class and the son is like him.’ After steaming up through the South and East China Seas, Apsley’s ship stopped at the new dock in Nagasaki. Four years after emerging victorious from their war with Russia, the Japanese were well disposed towards the English, and Apsley particularly enjoyed travelling among them. The highlight of his adventures was a partial ascent of Mount Fuji.
By the end of the year he was in Calcutta, the capital, at that time, of British India. The expatriate community was large enough even to sustain Old Wykehamist dinners, though the leisurely pace of colonial life had been quickened that year by nationalist unrest, and the government was busy banning Gandhi’s article on Indian Home Rule. Apsley left by rail for Lucknow, where his mail pursued him. Reggie wrote to say that he had discussed Apsley’s application with Wilson, and reassured his cousin that he was not risking the chance of a place by remaining abroad. Expeditionary finances were perilous, and to further Apsley’s cause Reggie had told Wilson that if he were accepted, he would not expect to be paid a salary. Smith went loyally on to thrash out the pros and cons of an Antarctic adventure, one of the cons being a delay on Apsley’s planned call to the Bar. No doubt in some place in his heart Apsley put this on the ‘pro’ list.
He saw some of the Himalayas, including Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world, and at the beginning of 1910 he was back in Calcutta in time for his
They reached Fremantle, the port twelve miles south of Perth in Western Australia, on 17 June, just over a month after leaving England. The passengers crowded the decks as the ship hooted up to the mouth of the Swan River and into Princess Royal Harbour accompanied by a flotilla of tiny craft. The two men went straight up to Perth, and Apsley tagged along as Woollcombe toured around addressing meetings. The Church of England Men’s Society was already well established in Australia, and at one venue 2,500 men turned up. From Western Australia the tour moved south to Adelaide, continued round to Tasmania (‘the Bishop is a great Men’s man’) and travelled up to sub-tropical Queensland. At the end of September they surfaced in Brisbane, where Apsley heard the official news that Scott was planning a second expedition (it had been announced in
The Times
on 13 September).
From the start, Apsley was sure that this was for him. In his short acquaintance with Wilson he had glimpsed something he badly wanted: a clear sense of purpose and the chance of adventure. The newspapers reported that Wilson had been appointed chief of scientific staff, and Apsley immediately wrote to him to apply for service. He sent the letter via Reggie and informed both men that if necessary he could shorten his trip and sail straight home for an interview. It was not an empty gesture. He was determined to let nothing stand in the way of his application.
Leaving Woollcombe in Brisbane to continue his tour, Apsley struck out alone. He took a series of cargo ships up the coast of Queensland, through the Arafura Sea and on to the island of Celebes (now Sulawesi), sandwiched on the Equator between Borneo and the Spice Islands (now the Moluccas) in the Dutch East Indies. On the way up to China and Japan he passed through the Singapore Straits Settlements, then British. His arrival was anticipated by a raft of references unleashed on the expatriate community by Arthur Farrer, his lawyer, whose fulsome letters focused on Apsley’s rowing achievements – it’s difficult to see how these were going to come in handy in Singapore – and talked him up as ‘a very cultivated, capable, nice fellow and a particular friend of mine. His father was a very good class and the son is like him.’ After steaming up through the South and East China Seas, Apsley’s ship stopped at the new dock in Nagasaki. Four years after emerging victorious from their war with Russia, the Japanese were well disposed towards the English, and Apsley particularly enjoyed travelling among them. The highlight of his adventures was a partial ascent of Mount Fuji.
By the end of the year he was in Calcutta, the capital, at that time, of British India. The expatriate community was large enough even to sustain Old Wykehamist dinners, though the leisurely pace of colonial life had been quickened that year by nationalist unrest, and the government was busy banning Gandhi’s article on Indian Home Rule. Apsley left by rail for Lucknow, where his mail pursued him. Reggie wrote to say that he had discussed Apsley’s application with Wilson, and reassured his cousin that he was not risking the chance of a place by remaining abroad. Expeditionary finances were perilous, and to further Apsley’s cause Reggie had told Wilson that if he were accepted, he would not expect to be paid a salary. Smith went loyally on to thrash out the pros and cons of an Antarctic adventure, one of the cons being a delay on Apsley’s planned call to the Bar. No doubt in some place in his heart Apsley put this on the ‘pro’ list.
He saw some of the Himalayas, including Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world, and at the beginning of 1910 he was back in Calcutta in time for his
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