These pages tell the story of the Ross Sea Party with special reference to Victor George Hayward. He was one of the willing amateurs of the Ross Sea Party – a group of ten men charged with laying a lifeline of essential supply depots for Sir Ernest Shackleton’s attempt to cross Antarctica via the South Pole between 1915 and 1917. Shackleton’s journey ultimately took a very different course, but the Ross Sea men achieved all their aims, even after their ship left them stranded in Antarctica with only ten-year old food, second-hand provisions, homemade clothes and faulty equipment. Instead of looking after their own needs, they made extraordinary sacrifices to ensure that Shackleton’s team would have enough food and fuel on the final 350 miles of their journey. Their suffering turned out to be in vain, but their story lives on.

Hayward’s greatest adventure is vividly illustrated here through extracts from his official Trans-Antarctic Expedition leather-bound journal, which survived after he was lost.

All Hayward quotes are from the origional Hayward diary or as referenced in Kelly Tyler-Lewis The Lost Men (2006) Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London for all other party members.