The South Pole Ponies, Theodore Mason - The men of the expedition called them "devils" - those headstrong,
mischievous, untrained ponies brought from the top of the world. The
little horses made the lives of their handlers miserable during the initial
stages of two attempts on the South Pole, yet endeared themselves so much
that the men shared their own precious rations with them. Each handler
could hardly bear it when his pony's turn came to be sacrificed for the good
of all.
The names of the
men of these expeditions are well-known - Scott, Shackleton, Mawson,
Cherry-Garrard, Ponting, Wilson, Bowers, Oates - but few know the names of
the ponies, or even that there ever were Manchurian and Siberian ponies in
Antarctica.
Through meticulous
research, the author brings Nobby, Snatcher, Snippets, Bones, Socks,
Chinaman, poor Jimmy Pigg and the other ponies alive again while telling of
the two trouble-plagued expeditions to the South Pole.
This edition is
being produced in an effort to raise awareness of the need to preserve the
four huts in Antarctica used by the British explorers, along with all of the
remarkable memorabilia and ice-bound supplies preserved within their frozen
walls. Having endured nearly a century of harsh weather and official
government neglect, the scientific headquarters still symbolise the nobler
aspects of human nature which took these talented and brave men to
Antarctica. The tiny buildings are now listed as some of the most
endangered sites in the world. Visit
Amazon.co.uk or
Barnes & Noble.
To read a touching
poem about these little heroes by Professor George Kalamaras, please
click here.
