Delving in to South Africa’s Antarctic legacy can sometimes be a treasure hunt: look for one thing, unexpectedly find another. But I did not expect to find what might well be South Africa’s first Antarctic book hidden in my own bookshelves!
Taking out and about to replace an Antarctic book from my collection I noticed a tiny booklet in the gap that did not look at all familiar. Intrigued, I took it out to find a booklet of poems dedicated to the maiden Antarctic voyage over January-March 1962 of the mv. R.S.A., South Africa’s first Antarctic supply ship. With no recollection of when or from where I obtained the book I looked through it to find it written (and signed) by a Mary V. Bennet. There is no publisher or place of publication given but the book was produced in Durban, South Africa by the Knox Printing Company. There is also no year of publication, but a preface by J.J. “Hannes” La Grange, Leader of the first South African Antarctic Overwintering Team over 1959/60 (SANAE 1), is dated 22 August 1962, so it is a good guess the book was published in that year.
La Grange refers to the author as “Mrs Bennet”. According to the appended officer list in the book The Eternal Ice the ship’s Chief Steward on her maiden voyage was a N. Bennet, perhaps the poet’s husband or son. Her dedication says she was inspired by the ship’s “epic voyage” to write the poems and it may be that the steward was her source of that inspiration.
The first poem entitled “Antarctica” has been penned as a couplet sonnet (taking the form aabb ccdd eeff gg) and alludes to the death of the ship’s Radio Officer, Tom Moriarty, according to La Grange’s preface. Moriarty died aboard of a suspected heart attack on 8 February 1962 while the R.S.A. was tied up at the edge of the ice shelf – in which he was buried a few days later.
Any more information about the booklet and the poet will be welcomed. Note this is not the first book coming out of what became the South African National Antarctic Programme as No Pathway Here, the story of the annexation of the Prince Edward Islands, was published in 1948.
References:
Bennet, M.V. 1962? “Antarctica”. A Collection of Verse on the Maiden Voyage of m.v. ‘R.S..A.’. 14 pp.
Marsh, J.H. 1948. No Pathway Here. Cape Town: Howard B. Timmins. 200 pp.
McNish, K.T. 1971. The Eternal Ice. Cape Town: Tafelberg. 110 pp.
John Cooper, Principal Investigator, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, Department of Botany & Zoology, Stellenbosch University, 29 April 2016
Would love to get a copy of no pathway here. My son is on Marion island and is reading the book while on the island. I would love a copy as he has said what a wonderful book it is. Please could you tell me if it is available. Many thanks Jill Duck jillduck2ic@gmail.com
Hi Jill.
Unfortunately there is only a few copies in South Africa and I suggest that you ask at every second hand book shop you pass. I picked up a copy recently in Franschhoek. The only other way is for him to copy the book thats on the island.
Good luck and all the best.
Anche Louw