The seven survivors of the Ross Sea Shore Party came back to a changed world. As they adapted, one of the hardest jobs was visiting the families of their lost men. It was Stevens who gave Hayward’s relatives the diary telling the story of his greatest adventure.

After the initial surge of publicity and hero-worship faded, the men found new ways to fit in. With war still raging, Cope, Wild, Gaze and Stevens signed up. Others found jobs in science, technology and teaching*.

In 1918, nine of the shore party were awarded a silver Polar Medal and in 1923 Hayward, Joyce, Richards and Wild received the Albert Medal for gallantry. But only Joyce had the heart to keep fanning the flames of interest in those two years of suffering. Soon very few people could remember anything about the Ross Sea Party.

Nearly thirty years after the survivors returned, the United States launched a strategic military exploration of Antarctica. The progressive visitors of 1947 were amazed to discover the primitive wooden huts and an icy body of a chained dog at Cape Evans. The copper tube containing Shackleton’s tribute to Mackintosh, Hayward and Spencer-Smith lay in the snow close by.

In 1955 a National Geographic photographer took pictures of Cape Evans – frozen in time since the Ross Sea Party had rushed back towards civilization. And somewhere out there, untouched since 1916, a lifeline of depots still waits for the explorers who never arrived.