McNish point blankly refused to go one step further. Shackleton ordered Worsley, the skipper, to order McNish to move on. McNish pointed out that according to Ship's Articles, Worsley and Shackleton only had authority over him as long as he was attached to the ship – no ship – no contract. One can imagine Worsley locking personalities with McNish, a battle Worsley was hopelessly ill equipped to win. Worsley, brilliant navigator and seaman he was, had a tendency to hysteria in leadership that had caused Shackleton to raise an eyebrow on the voyage south. Shackleton intervened, pointing out that the contract in fact bound McNish to his command until the end of the expedition, ship sunk or not. Shackleton had and was perfectly willing to use a revolver if push came to shove. As it was, NcNish climbed down. Whether his frustration and anger and concern for his boats had passed or Shackleton’s reason had swung it or perhaps he woke up to the reality of the situation. Whatever it was, he never again questioned the authority of the Boss. Shackleton ordered Worsley to ‘Log’ the carpenter in the Ship’s log. McNish’s act would be on the record.
Two days later, the party having made more progress backwards than forwards due to the ice drift and with increasing risk of damage to men and boats on increasingly rough and broken ice Shackleton called a halt to the attempt.
At the time Shackleton said in his diary: “Everyone working well except the carpenter. I shall never forget him in this time of strain and stress"
The two largest personalities had clashed openly. It’s quite possible that McNish was expressing what many of the others felt. Shackleton knew this and knew that they would have no chance at all if the group broke down. Shackleton’s huge personality could have possibly kept others from grumbling. We know that the other awkward personality on the expedition Hans Orde-Lees, the Quartermaster, had his qualms but he also despised McNish and wold never have backed him. The irony was, of course, that both men were right. Irreparable damage to a boat was only a matter of time with the man hauling and that would have finished the expedition as good as a mutiny. But Shackleton was always very aware of what had happened to other polar expeditions when discipline had broken down. He probably agreed with McNish on the point of the boats and had McNish been a more sophisticated communicator or there been an officer who would speak straight to Shackleton he would have possibly been able to make his concerns known less dramatically. But this direct challenge, the evocation of the Ship’s Articles and the public nature of it meant that not only did Shackleton have to end it there but he had to push on for two further days. Now, it has been speculated that Shackleton initiated the whole ‘bid for land’ to prove to the men the futility of such an attempt and the necessity of sitting and waiting. However, I’m not convinced. The Antarctic peninsula was within striking distance, had the ice conditions been more favourable then it was a possibility of making it and, of course there may have been a limit to the ice only a few miles away before a relatively short boat journey to land would have been possible.
McNish (R) and the Orcadian, McLeod, his closest companion on the expedition, raising the strakes on the James Caird at Ocean Camp. reproduces with the permission of the National Library of Australia, Frank Hurley Collection
We mustn’t let the benefit of hindsight make this bid out to be something it wasn’t. Whatever the reason, the men settled down in what became known as Patience Camp to wait the drift to the north and their possible escape
As the expedition battled with its predicament McNish’s skills became absolutely vital to the survival of the men. The boats were repaired and made more sea worthy for the voyage. The sleds were broken up and the runners and wood utilised. By the time they got to Elephant Island Shackleton ordered Worsley to strike McNish’s logging from the record, the carpenter’s behaviour and skills had been exemplary. McNish was also needed to ensure the James Caird would survive the voyage to South Georgia, 800 miles of the world’s roughest ocean. He used the mast of the Dudley Docker to strengthen the keel, he used sledge runners to build a deck and he used the Stancomb-Will’s mast as a mizzen to allow the Caird to be yawl rigged and to help with the steering. Lug sails were made, with lower centre of force than gaff rig they wold have made the boat more stable.
The men whom Shackleton selected for the voyage to Elephant Island were all professional seaman. There’s been a great deal of speculation that by talking along of Vincent and McNish, being tricky characters, Shackleton was helping Frank Wild out by removing any barrack room lawyers. I don’t buy this. Frank Wild was hard as nails and universally respected by the men. There is nothing to indicate that McNish or Vincent didn’t share this respect for Wild. I also doubt very much that Wild would have stood for any nonsense. The crew Shackleton chose were all prime seaman with years and in McNish’s case, decades of experience of the sea. The trawler man Vincent a tough character and who may have been a bully on the land whose behaviour Shackleton had brought to heel early in the expedition but Vincent would have been highly experienced hand in small boats in the dangerous cold and stormy North Sea off the east coast of Britain. Tim McCarthy a natural seaman from Kinsale in Ireland, was greatly respected for his abilities by both Shackleton and Worsley. Crean, the 2nd Officer, had been at sea since a possible argument with his father resulted in him running away as a boy to join the Royal Navy. He’d served with Scott with distinction, twice, and was a mainstay of Scott's fatal expedition, keeping up spirits in the hut when it was obvious to all that Scott and his south party had perished. He was a member of the team who found Scott and his men, frozen in their tent. Scott utterly trusted the big Irishman and Shackleton would have put him high on the list for this expedition.
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