Ernest Joyce

Ernest Edward Mills Joyce (1875 - 1940) was a Royal Naval seaman and Antarctic explorer who participated in several of the main expeditions during the "Golden Age" of Antarctic exploration in the first decades of the 20th century. Little is known of his background or private life. A somewhat controversial individual with a strong sense of his own worth, he has attracted adverse as well as positive comments on his character, together with wide recognition of his courage and resolve in conditions of exceptional harshness. He was awarded the Albert Medal in 1923.

Discovery Expedition, 1901-04

Joyce was serving as an Able Seaman aboard HMS Gibraltar, based in Cape Town, when in October 1901 he took the opportunity to transfer to Captain Scott's first Antarctic expedition. As a member of the ship's company rather than the shore party he did not expect to remain in the ice, but when the Discovery became frozen in he p-erforce stayed with the expedition for its duration, gaining his first experiences with sledging, dog-handling - and frostbite. Among his comrades were Ernest Shackleton, on whom he made a good impression, Tom Crean, William Lashly, and particularly Frank Wild, who would become a close associate on later voyages and with whom he explored the lower slopes of the then unclimbed Mount Erebus. All in all Joyce took well to Antarctic life. At the end of the expedition he returned to the Navy and was promoted Petty Officer.

British Antarctic Expedition (Nimrod) 1907-09

Allegedly, Shackleton recruited Joyce to the Nimrod expedition when he spotted him passing on an open-topped bus. Joyce accepted the job of looking after general stores, sledges and dogs. He was also persuaded (along with Frank Wild who had also joined up) to take a crash course in printing so that an Antarctic newspaper might be produced. In order to join the expedition Joyce bought his release from the Navy, and in later years would claim that Shackleton had promise to recompense him for this, but had not done so.

First Season

Shackleton, Joyce and Wild were the only members of the expedition with previous Antarctic experience. On arrival at the ice, searching for an anchorage along the Great Ice Barrier (Ross Ice Shelf, Joyce lobbied strongly in favour of Scott's old Discovery base, despite Shackleton's promise to Scott that he would not go there. The ship reached Ross Island in early February 1908 and deposited the shore party at Cape Royds. Joyce and Wild established themselves in the expedition hut,

Sources

R F Scott: The Voyage of the Discovery Smith & Elder, London 1904

Edward Wilson: Diary of the Discovery Expedition Blandford Press, London 1966

Beau Riffenburgh: Nimrod Bloomsbury Publishing, London 2004